In Eschwege Youth Hotel
The theme of the conference was "Hope."
On the evening of the first day of the conference, John Kim Jr. preached a sermon entitled "Our Hope is Jesus", based on the word of Nehemiah 9:33.
When Israel lost hope, wept Nehemiah and prayed. Israel began to build the wall to realize their hope.
Then Sanballat tried to stop the construction. But Nehemiah encouraged the people and the wall was finished. After that, Nehemiah led spiritual renewal of Israel.
Jesus died for our sin, rose from the dead and ascended to heaven. He thus built a new city for us.
Jesus is our hope. He is absolutely faithful.
After the breakfast of the day, Dirk Störmer, a guest preacher from Berlin, preached on "Hope." He is the director of Martin Bucer Seminary in Berlin.
He preached about Zacchaeus (Lk. 19). Zacchaeus saw in Jesus the hope of being changed.
Zacchaeus met Jesus and was changed, so that he repented for his injustice as a tax collector and made amends to his victims.
Dirk Störmer had no real interest in faith as a teenager. But a woman said to him that he was leading a double life. Then he repented and was changed.
Forgiveness of sins became possible because Jesus died for our sin.
Jesus wants to meet us personally.
Our hope is the result of Jesus' death and resurrection.
Afternoon of July 28, Dirk Störmer continued his sermon. But I attended the youth group and did not hear his sermon.
On Saturday, July 29, I heard the continuation of the sermon by Dirk Störmer. The title is "Jesus Christ yesterday, today and the same forever" (Heb. 13:8).
This time he preached about the hope of eternity.
We Christians have both present hope and future hope.
We are created for eternity. Our hope is Jesus Christ. He will give us new heavens and new earth (Rev. 21:1-6). God will dwell with us. He will destroy death. And there will be no sorrow, no death, and no crying. Jesus is Alpha and Omega.
On the three early mornings, Sarah Park(Frankfurt), Johan Han(Korea), John Kim(Stuttgart) shared their faith experiences.
On the early morning of July 28, Sarah Park from Frankfurt shared her experiences based on Romans 13:11-14.
In Dec. 2019, Isaac, her son, had a car accident. So, she surrendered Isaac's life to God. 2020 was suspected that she had cancer. That's when she repented of her idolatry. In Sept. 2022, Abraham Park was installed as a church leader in Frankfurt. She accepted the word, "obedience is better than sacrifice." She remembered God's promise in Gen. 22 that God will make Sarah a mother of many nations.
Johan Han, who had been a former missionary in Stuttgart and is now a retired professor, shared that he came to faith in Jesus in 1980 in Cheongju based on John 14:8, and then served as a missionary in Stuttgart for 6 years. He learned that trusting God's word is the victory. When he served as a professor and church leader in Sooncheon, 8 missionaries were sent out from his church.
On Sunday, before breakfast, John Kim Senior shared his faith experience based on Naaman's healing in 2 Kings 5:9-10. We are to put away our pride and ego and accept the gospel. And we are to listen to Jesus and do like Naaman.
The Afternoon of Saturday there was the baptism of Eleonor Debus, a sister from Berlin, in the river Werra.
In the evening of July 28, I participated in the youth group and heard the sermon of Guido Min on Luk 19:1-10.
On the Sunday of July 30, Jens Grüther preached "The firm ground of hope" (Jn 15:1-8). We are to cling to Jesus Christ. Then Jesus will give us much strength so that we can bear much fruit.
After this sermon, Martin Bobzin preached before the Lord's Supper. He explained the threefold meaning of the Lord's Supper: (1) thanksgiving for Jesus' love, (2) forgiveness and resurrection, and (3) giving up everything and following Jesus.
This conference was attended by more than 100 people and had celebrated a heavenly Bible conference.
I thank God for His living Word and fellowship with fellow believers, especially Jeremy & Sigrid Goff from Washington, USA.
Jeremy Goff shared his testimony at Sunday's service. That's when I learned that his grandfather had fought on the front lines during the Korean War.
The first evangelical missionary in Korea was a German. After that, many US missionaries came to Korea. Now there are Korean missionaries in Germany.
God is working so that we can help each other and give glory to God. Amen!