This transcript is organized from YouTube’s automatic captions. Names, Bible references, and specialized terms may contain recognition or translation errors.

Holy Father, thank You for calling us this morning. Thank You for granting us more life, guiding us to hear Your word this morning, and allowing us to approach eternal life. We are truly grateful that You sent a precious pastor to prepare such a valuable message for us, and Lord, You know the hearts of those of us who have gathered here from the front rows, longing for that word; please let the word of life flow into our hearts like a river. As we look at the saints gathered here by the cross, we believe we have met again at the throne of God, so Lord, please let us follow where our pastor leads us today. We prayed in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. [Snort] Peace be with you. Amen. I pray in Jesus' name that this precious word spoken by Jesus will be fulfilled according to the Bible for us and our loved ones this morning. Amen. We are Christians.

We are God's people who resemble and follow our Lord at dawn or throughout our lives. We understand the light and darkness in the Christian life harmoniously, and we look for Jesus' life in our faith between that light and darkness, peering into the dawn and living our lives. However, it seems there are many difficult times. When we wake up in the morning and feel that things are hard, what should we do? We try to pray faithfully, trust in God's word again, and try to cheer up, but what should we do when it doesn't go well, or when our will is shaken by our emotions? After a service ends, don't you usually stand in the back and greet each other like this? I was standing in the back greeting people. At that time, a tall elder, like a big brother with white hair, stood next to me. Because he was someone I was glad to see and someone I respected, I talked with the elder. While we were chatting, a deaconess approached us with a loud voice that everyone could hear, saying, 'Pastor, it's nice to see you,' and she walked over with quick steps from a distance.

After the church service ended and we were soaked in grace, everyone paid attention to us because of the sudden loud noise. I was flustered. She was greeting me so happily, but I couldn't remember who she was. I was trying to find the memory for a moment, and she came over and greeted me happily. After greeting me, she said this: 'Oh, Pastor, you look like a pastor whenever I see you.' Is this a compliment? Or not? I felt it was a compliment that day. 'You look like a Christian whenever I see you.' Oh, I felt very good and thought, 'Yes, that's right.' If I have been a believer for about 60 years and a pastor for over 30 years, my walk would probably look like a pastor's, and even when I eat or pray, wouldn't I choose words that sound pious so that who I am is revealed? 'You look like a pastor whenever I see you.'

But she wasn't just happy to see me. She did the same thing to the elder next to me [snort]. So I thought, 'Oh, that's how it is,' but she said, 'Oh, Elder, you really look like Jesus whenever I see you.' We were both there. Oh, I wish you would show the screen with the PPT. I am a person who looks like a pastor whenever seen, and this elder is someone who doesn't say much even when there is a loud noise in the church, just saying, 'It can happen.' When it's critical, he says, 'Let's pray together.' This deaconess greeted me by saying I look like a pastor, but to that elder, she said, 'Wow, you look like Jesus whenever I see you.' I couldn't sleep that night. It felt like something was wrong, but wouldn't it hurt my pride to admit it? Whenever I see the Seventh-day Adventist Church. There are many people who carry a Bible to church every Saturday, and when their children see them, they attend morning and evening worship, and sometimes even fast and pray, but they don't even act like a Seventh-day Adventist.

But that day, I was heartbroken that I couldn't hear, 'You look like Jesus whenever I see you,' rather than 'You look like a pastor.' If I had heard this from my children, there would be no judgment. That deaconess is someone I met briefly at a meeting and will forget if I try to, but if God looked at me and said, 'You lived well as a pastor your whole life, but you didn't resemble Jesus,' oh, this is... When we don't live in the light in our lives, how did God approach and reach out to such lives? The way He leads their lives from darkness to the tabernacle where God dwells. God who appears in our lives without fail like the dawn light. Oh, I really like the expression in the Bible. Without fail. Without fail regarding what? Without fail regarding God's word, like the dawn light, quietly pushing away the darkness. Sometimes He might approach us suddenly, like a lightning strike, startling us, but sometimes He approaches slowly to a sinner like me, who is just thankful to wake up and come here. But there was a problem. However, when God explained the concept of the sanctuary to us, He clearly said, 'I want to be among you, so I am building such a place.'

But when the sanctuary was first introduced to us humans, the tent was set up far away from the camp. Originally, it should have been like this: three tribes on each side, the Levite tribe in the middle, then the pastors living there, and the sanctuary right in the center, where worship was offered, and God wanted the people to see His presence from all sides and think, 'Oh, we are living in the light.' But the sanctuary was actually far away from the camp. So today, it feels normal to go to church far from the camp, the house where I live. After worshiping and being forgiven at church, to return to the camp, one leaves God's presence, and because of regulations, customs, and habits, it feels like nothing. Even if God is not at the center of my life, I feel no guilt. A Seventh-day Adventist Church that looks normal. Why was it like this? As you know, different types of worship were held at the same time. You all know that it wasn't sudden idol worship, right? Regarding the claim to 'make us a God who can be seen' who brought us out of Egypt, or saved me from this or that sect, or from a life without knowing God, they just expressed it through the religious customs and habits of the time, saying, 'Yes, the God who led us must be in this form that you know well from experience,' and they spent their whole lives...

They just expressed it in the religious way they had been familiar with. It was idol worship, but these people were serving God. Just in their own way, in the way I am familiar and comfortable with. It's not important whether the pastor delivers the truth; it's about whether he is close to me or my style. Is it not easy to change churches in the US? It is easy in Korea. There are over ten churches on one bus route. So, in this situation, God said, 'Hey, I cannot be among you in this state.' Because sin and righteousness cannot exist together, it was a heartbreaking reality that the tent was set up far away from the camp. Actually, isn't it the same today? We don't completely leave religion, but there is a distance between the camp—the life I actually live—and the church, God, or God-like things. While thinking about how to bring God to the center of my life, I discovered that there are people who have a kind of faith that comes to God at dawn regardless of their life in the world at that time.

People of the tabernacle. The first group was people who dedicated themselves, just as the Bible says. If you look for the word 'dedication' in Korean in the Bible, this is the very first place it appears. People who refused to participate in a religious life that was prevalent with idol worship—relatively religious, but a bit mixed with truth—and stood on God's side; God evaluated them as having dedicated themselves. It wasn't about donating something big or throwing their lives into a missionary life. God chose the people who separated themselves from sin and stood there, and said, 'I will entrust the sanctuary to you.' Levites were not people who served in the sanctuary from the beginning. They were people who chose which side to stand on between evil and themselves. That was just it. God expressed them as having dedicated themselves. We attach 'dedication' to everything these days. We repeat dedication services endlessly, even after some meetings.

True dedication came from God's side. It was simple. There were people like this, the second group. It is not recorded in the Bible that God chose people with good skills because He wanted to build a sanctuary, but it is written like this: Bezalel and Oholiab. As you know, these appear to be skilled professionals. It doesn't say people who wanted to in their hearts, people with good skills, people with construction experience, or people with financial means, but that He wanted Bezalel and Oholiab in His heart. You came to this place this morning because you wanted to in your heart, didn't you? Therefore, I pray in the Lord's name that God will distinguish you as people of God's sanctuary. The people God kept close were those who wanted to in their hearts. Actually, if you think about it now, it seems natural to entrust construction to someone with construction experience and technical skills. However, if you think about it at that time, it is clear that technical workers were not in the low-income bracket or the upper class in terms of hierarchy. The top-tier clergy—not only Jews but also the Egyptian culture over there—the clergy were the top, then the royal family, then the nobles, and then people with various skills didn't have a long history of being treated well. In human history, however, thousands of years ago, God chose people whose names you had never heard of except for technical workers, Oholiab, but their characteristic was that they wanted to in their hearts.

It wasn't because they were told to, like, 'Since you are the senior elder, please help.' 'Oh, Elder, you have been respected for decades and have knowledge, so please donate this.' It wasn't like that. If someone says they are doing a night walk, they go to the pastor first and say, 'Pastor, what can I help with?' Repeating this work for 43 years, it might be customary for pastors and elders now, but there are still people who want to in their hearts. God puts each and every person who wants to spend this dawn with God in the Bible; this is exactly as it is in the Bible. People who want to in their hearts. And I was deeply moved by this expression. Wise women who were moved in their hearts. At that time, you know the number of people, right? Children, the elderly, and women were all out. If you count the people here. Son Seok-ho, number 1. I don't know if I'm included in the count. But in this era in the Bible, when it says they were moved in their hearts, it is related to God like this.

In such an era, wise women who were moved by the Holy Spirit. Ah, the people of the tabernacle are the people of the sanctuary. They were the people who brought the sanctuary, which had been far away from the camp, into the middle of the camp. It wasn't just great people like Moses who did that. Mothers who are invisible, not well seen, and not noticeable, but who silently dedicate themselves with a heart that still has the desire to want to, and whose hearts are green toward God. And in such an era, wise mothers who are moved by the heart, moved by the Holy Spirit, like Moses, are here. Mothers, sisters, I pray in the Lord's name that you become wise women who are moved in your hearts. And Moses. That famous prayer, 'God, please forgive them. Please give up on me and save these people instead of me.' Isn't it a prayer you've heard often? Because of these people, the sanctuary came into the middle of the camp. The sanctuary came into the center of my life. Becoming a person of God, the Exodus, is more important than just coming out of Egypt. Let's read God's word together this morning. Start.

By day, the cloud of the Lord was over the tabernacle, and by night, there was fire in the cloud, in the sight of all the house of Israel throughout all their journeys. The completion of the Exodus was the presence of the Lord. Going to Canaan was not the completion. Moses would have failed, and Joshua and Caleb were not all failures. Countless people buried their bones in the ground in faith, but the completion of the Exodus was God entering the center of my life. It was seeing Him personally. Long after, Jesus personally entered the center of our lives. To a sinner pastor who felt a distance while praying, 'Our Father in heaven,' the fact that the Lord came to this earth is hope and light itself. Oh, He prays, 'Father, forgive them.' In our lives today, not a prayer like, 'Father, please forgive me,' but a prayer, 'Father, please forgive my wife. Father, please have mercy on my husband.'

Father, yes. Our children who are wandering out there. I have believed in God for 70 or 80 years, and I have dedicated myself a lot, but even if You forget all that, please save my child. Isn't this a parent's heart? Jesus did that. What this was doing was, like Moses, God was showing again the appearance that Jesus once showed as a symbol to those who were far away, yet keeping the Sabbath and building a church, so that God could visit them, enter them, and become the center of their lives. Calling that sinful place His home, today, there are quite a few people who look at the church from a distance. You and I live in an era where there are not many Christians who understand that if the church is corrupt, I am corrupt, as if the corruption of the church is someone else's business. Even if someone in the family openly mocks God, my life is so unaffected. It doesn't even hurt anymore.

Yes, your life is your life. This is the American way. When Jesus was on this earth, He made many efforts to bring the temple to the center of our lives. He purified it. He tried to eliminate many things that were complicated, customary, and regulatory in the way of worship. How desperate He was that He even purified it while making a loud noise. What is all this? It was a process of distinguishing the temple for God once again. He didn't just do that; Jesus paid attention to the dedication of a widow who was ignored in the church, and who was drawn a line philosophically, valuably, or economically, and brought it into the center of faith. So, He brought the true Christian spirit and this love that God pays attention to into the church, not just pushing out the idea of what religion and faith are and how that thinking should change.

He intentionally went to church every Sabbath according to the rules. Later, He intentionally lived a life of word and prayer to the extent that it was misunderstood and deviated into legalism. That was not only a lesson for you and me later, but also a model for the people at that time about how I should live and that God should come to the center of our lives. And the actual dedication was Himself. The dedication of Jesus Christ, who prayed to our Father to forgive these people by tearing and dedicating His own body, even laying down the religious methods and habits of faith you believe in now, or even the dedicated resolutions you make by coming out at dawn, was the cross, where we enjoy the grace of having the One who is the owner of the temple, where we host the temple where we live with God, in the center of our lives. Then, is such a life possible if I come out before God at this dawn by my will and intention? There will be such grace for all of us who obeyed God's call early in the morning.

However, in addition, what kind of grace was God giving us? 'Come with me like this.' Ending with such instruction and teaching, the expression 'a tent far away from the camp' was, in a sense, actually God's grace. What kind of grace was there? In religious commentaries, and in Patriarchs and Prophets, such words appear. This was mercy that considered Moses. I wondered what this was, so I looked into it. What could this be? Moses is at least over 80 years old now. But if God says let's meet, I have to climb to the top of the mountain. Even if we came here for a night walk and I hope the room is assigned on the 1st floor, Moses has to climb to the top of Mount Sinai to meet God. And if you go once, you have to endure for 40 days without eating or drinking. If you ask me to do that, you would say, 'Pastor Kim Jung-geun, please fast and pray on the mountain for 40 days for the Western night walk,' and I would say, 'Then I will invite someone else,' wouldn't you?

From Moses' perspective, it seemed like a difficult loyalty and dedication. I have never thought of it that way. If you believe in God, you should naturally live like this. Even if my knee joints and cartilage are all gone, I should go. Even if I came by car for 10 hours yesterday, I should go at dawn. Even if I sit and doze off. But God didn't say that doing so is worship, but 'Thank you. Once, twice, this is enough. Now I will come down.' That was it. Because He was worried that Grandpa Moses would be tired. When I think that way, it is fully understandable. This is the Father's heart. He couldn't enter where there is sin, so He put it on the mountaintop and surrounded it with clouds, saying, 'Don't come up, only Moses come up,' and met him like that, but Moses was tired, staggering while receiving the word for 40 days, and God, who couldn't watch anymore, said, 'Then I will come down,' and came down, but couldn't enter the camp, so He set up a shabby tent a little far away, and it wasn't even a tent made of gold.

At first, the tent was just like that, and our Father met us there. There is another side to this. While Moses was on the mountain, it took 40 days, so the people below did the strange things I mentioned earlier. So when God saw it, He knew that if they were too far from Moses, who could be shaken? My beloved children could be shaken, so He made the tent far from the camp so that Moses could care for the people up close, so that words like 'Moses went up and won't come down' wouldn't come out, as if they had no leader. When a sinner pastor like me sees it, it's not a position where God ignores me and keeps me far away saying, 'You have sin, stay away from me,' but a Father God who, although He cannot be close, comes as close as possible, considers, and cares for even the steps of an old grandfather. Therefore, we know the Lord. Let us know the Lord earnestly. His appearing is as sure as the dawn; He will come to us. I pray in Jesus' name that this word will be fulfilled according to the Bible in our lives for this week and in the rest of our lives. Amen. Some of you may know this photo. This photo is a place in Korea called Sorokdo, a place where Hansen's disease patients, the true patients, the contagious patients, are isolated.

However, in Sorokdo, these true patients are isolated, but some mothers among them have family lives and get pregnant. After giving birth, it turns out that most of them are contagious. So the children also get Hansen's disease, but in some cases, the children are miraculously healthy. Then what should be done? They must be isolated. The parents have Hansen's disease and the children are healthy, so they are isolated, but when the children are minors, they cannot be sent back to the mainland, so they are kept close. Like a tent far from the camp. So Sorokdo is a place for Hansen's disease patients isolated from the mainland called the Republic of Korea, but healthy children are isolated again within it. But how much do these children or parents want to see their children, and how much do the children want to see their mom and dad? That photo is: the left is the children, the right is the dads and moms. They meet once a week. Inside Sorokdo. The name Sutanjang itself sounds like a plaza where sorrow is buried, like Yeouido Plaza. Once a week, healthy children and sick moms and dads look at each other and do this, this, right now.

Ah, while looking at that photo, my heart... it's just like us and God. But in the middle, there is no electric barbed wire. But those children follow the order according to the way they were taught. You must not cross. Why was that education powerful? If you cross, you die. You are healthy, but if you cross this, you die. Isn't that it? The education that 'to live, I must not cross' was comfortable, familiar, and logical. They follow the order. But on the other hand, how about the people on the right? These people also think, 'Do not cross.' But the reason is different. Children do not cross because 'I want to live.' But for parents, if I cross, who dies? My child dies. Parents follow the order, the reason they were taught is not to live, but to save. When God keeps a distance from us one day, it's not because God is holy and afraid of being defiled, but because we might get hurt or die.

Sometimes we feel like God is keeping a distance from us. It's heartbreaking. But from a parent's perspective, this is understandable. There are times when you have to watch over, times when they have to get up on their own, and times when they have to endure the day even if they wipe their tears roughly. But in that Father's heart, He holds the reason to dedicate and commit the life I have to live forever. The children have no hope in their lives. Yet, the reason they endure and live is that they have a reason to live. When Jesus prayed on the cross, 'Take this cup away,' Jesus prayed that to God three times, yet the reason He went up to the cross was that there was a reason. When the Israelites stood in the middle of the wall, as you know, they were in darkness, as seen in the Bible. Clouds covered them, and they were in darkness, so the Egyptian soldiers who followed them couldn't advance, and in this situation, oh, it's heartbreaking, but looking at the word, it says this:

Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and it became dawn, and the strength of the sea was restored. Now, something happens at dawn, and the Egyptian army is all annihilated, but before this record, there is this word: 'At dawn, the Lord looked down on the Egyptian army from the pillar of fire and cloud.' This was just an ordinary Bible verse, but to me, it was a very meaningful verse of grace. In the middle of the Red Sea, between the Israelites and the Egyptian army, God's pillar of cloud and fire existed in the middle. It was in the darkness, but the One who was in the middle looked at the Egyptian army, and at dawn, the Lord's dawn presence... I pray in the name of the Lord who is present that this morning, at this dawn, the Lord will look at us, or look at those many things in the world that were chasing us, and cut them off, and save us. Amen. Grace. Sometimes keeping a distance is also grace. Coming close and being present is also grace. If you feel a distance from God right now, regardless of your years of faith, if your heart is troubled and not peaceful this morning, I pray that you will meet God with the faith that God kept an appropriate distance and led me here.

If you are in this place with a wonderful experience and gratitude for God's presence, I pray in the name of our Father Jesus that you will also be grateful to God and that this time will be a dawn to experience His presence, and that those moments of prayer will be. Why did Jesus do that, even by sacrificing Himself, even by symbolizing it through the model of the Israelites' lives? Oh, the Bible, especially Moses, seems to have understood it accurately. To always let the children enjoy happiness, it is exactly as the Bible says. You know, I love finding in the Bible that the word 'happiness' was not a 21st-century type, future type, or modern language. Two thousand years ago, God was not a faith between a monarch and a subject where God is absolute and humans must follow as told, but already in that era, God was someone who wanted us to be happy always. I will lead them to My holy mountain. In My house of prayer.

So, usually, people think the holy mountain, house, and altar are very important in the sanctuary theory. What I paid attention to was, what is the reason? Why does God build a church and call it 'My house'? The purpose is to make them what in that place? To make them happy. I pray that we become the people of the tabernacle. I pray in the Lord's name that we become people who dedicate ourselves, people who want to in their hearts, wise women who are moved in their hearts, and Christians who resemble Jesus like Moses at this dawn. Amen. Oh, I was from the countryside. But to become a pastor, I went to Seoul to enter the theology department at 36 University. I thought Seoul was a place where everything was good. I went out as a student evangelist, and there was a church built with a tent in Seoul. This is a story from the 80s. Wow, I thought Seoul was a place where everything was good, just like the US. But when I went, there were 160 people in a tent church about 1/10th of this size, about 30-40 pyeong. I was a sophomore in the theology department, 100 adults, 60 students, when there used to be a student class.

Oh, around summer, it smells terrible, and there are two fans, one in front of the elderly grandmothers and one in front of the pastor, and the rest of us wipe off the sweat and worship, and it smells, and the environment was really like that, but how [snort] faithful Christians. It was a time when we knelt on the floor and worshiped. Sabbath school from 9:30, do you remember the elderly in Korea? When I was young, when I was kneeling and worshiping, if my knees were messy, the deacons would pull me out like this. If I made a little noise, I would get hit on the butt a few times. Ah, the faith of the saints here was so good, so we worked hard together. The students also did, and in those difficult times, hearing that students didn't have 100 or 200 won to offer, I had to transfer buses twice to go from 36 University, and the transportation cost was usually about 400-500 won. This is an old story. But the children couldn't offer 100 or 200 won, so it wouldn't seem right for the pastor to ride a bus.

So I crossed over Bukhansan Mountain. The mountain behind 36 University, if you cross Bukhansan, it's Junggye-dong, Seoul, and that church was the Seoul Junggye-dong Church. If you cross it, it takes about an hour. I crossed it and went like that to be proud in front of the children. I went and had a fun time. But one Sabbath, after finishing the service, I came to the dormitory, and my roommate, who was also going out as a student evangelist to a big church in Seoul—it's still a big church—came and shook an envelope at me. 'What is this?' I asked, and when I took it out, a check came out. 1 million won. At that time, one semester's tuition at a university was 860,000 won. But he was shaking a 1 million won check. A sophomore in the theology department. 'What is this?' I asked, and he said, 'The elder at our church gave it to me as pocket money for my hard work.' I couldn't sleep that night. We serve the same way, but when this is compared, isn't that how people become?

We served the same way, and I was happy, but suddenly seeing the envelope, I was so unhappy. Faith. Still, praying all night, even after going there for a long time, my heart wasn't settled, so I went up to the lake and prayed all night to settle my heart. 'I must be a good person. I am a lifelong believer. I don't eat pork, and I am a Seventh-day Adventist. I have to become a pastor in the future. Since I have to be saved, I fought this great controversy against this emotional desire.' And I won relatively and came down. Pretending to be fine, a week passed, and it was Saturday evening again, and this friend didn't eat dinner that night. At that time, there were quite a few theology students who skipped meals. There were theology students who were working and studying, and it was a time when just eating in the cafeteria was a 'thank you,' so ordering pizza was out of the question. But he didn't eat, so I asked, 'Why are you tired all day today and should eat, why don't you?' and he just smiled.

What, he ate that, and on Sunday morning, we played soccer, and then we were about to eat breakfast, but that friend didn't eat either. Ah, I poked him again, thinking there was something else. 'What is it?' I asked, and he said, 'The elder who gave me that pocket money, another elder invited me to dinner tonight.' But where? He invited me to dinner at the Walkerhill Hotel. Do you know Walkerhill in Korea? Is there a Walkerhill in the US too? Walkerhill in the 80s was a great hotel. He invited me to dinner at the buffet there. So he was skipping meals from the night before to eat a lot there. Oh, do you understand? I fully understood that day. Because he was going to a place he had never been to, he was skipping meals from Saturday night. But a happy hunger. Oh, I wasn't happy at all in my heart. Why? Because the church members I went to had never asked me to eat with them until then. I think it would be really good if you go back to church, pretend not to know, and call a young pastor and give him a meal.

The church members at that time were really having a hard time living. If they didn't have 10 million won, it wasn't Walkerhill, so it was a burden every time I went to church. 'That elder seems to have good faith, why doesn't he give me a meal?' 'That deaconess, why doesn't she ask me to eat even once while riding a good car?' Such thoughts... Oh, seeing such a person become a pastor, God is truly a good person. Then the thought developed to the point where 'Maybe people dislike me.' 'That's why they don't give me a meal.' 'Then if people dislike me, should I do ministry?' 'Maybe I shouldn't.' 'Then should a person who won't do ministry continue to attend the theology department?' 'No.' The thought developed to that point, so one day I thought I should drop out. And I decided to drop out and went to church on the last Sabbath. I went to church, and the church members came and it was a happy Sabbath. I was a Christian, a Seventh-day Adventist, and a servant of the Lord, but because of one meal, a person was like this.

It seems it was a strict and clear, solemn judgment about who is at the center of our lives. Outwardly religious, more legalistic than anyone, perfect, lived with all my might, and fasted a lot. I also rode the night prayer. But I was a sinner. I was going to... just before the Sabbath started, at that time, a couple in their early to mid-40s came to me and said, 'Evangelist, do you have time tonight?' 'I have plenty of time,' and they were surprised, 'How did you know we were going to invite you to dinner?' 'How did you know?' I served that church for a year and was saved at the last meal. That meal prayer made me a pastor. If I hadn't been treated to that dinner, I don't know. I don't know what would have happened. I served happily all day, and after finishing the student class in the afternoon, the children of that deacon couple were attending high school and middle school. They came and said, 'Evangelist, let's go.' So I said, 'Let's go,' and they said, 'The whole student class.' 'Did you call only me?' I asked, and they said, 'No, we called all 60 students in the student class,' and I was happy even though I was included.

The title was a dinner invitation, so I made the justification big by myself, but as the children followed the path I took to church, crossing Bukhansan, and continued to go up the mountain even after the village ended, I asked, 'Where are you going now?' and they said, 'We are going to my house.' 'I come to this church every day, but the village has ended.' Then they said, 'No, that's our house,' and when I saw it, there was a vinyl greenhouse. Ah, I had seen a church worshiping in a tent in Seoul, but it was my first time seeing people living in a vinyl greenhouse. Not sleeping briefly in a house for special crops to make money like these days, but when I opened the door to the family house and went in, it was divided into two rooms, the front was a kitchen with a sink, the middle was the children's room, and the end was the master bedroom. Ah, 60 people were packed in there. Oh, it was the best meal of my ministry. What was the menu? It was a bowl of ramen. But do you remember, elderly people? In the old days, ramen was expensive, so you had to buy it with cash, so you couldn't feed many people with ramen, so there were only a few ramen, and the rest was noodles in a big container, and they put ramen soup in it to make it smell, and while eating it, it would get soggy, so it was a bowl that you ate with a spoon, but it was still good. It was salvation to me.

I was a sinner who was nothing, but 'I like you, so I like you too, let's go together.' Such a heart came to me. I was eating it deliciously and gratefully, and these people knelt down in front of me like this and explained. 'Evangelist, we are very thankful and grateful to the evangelist who cares for our children well, so we wanted to treat you to a meal once, but we thought you wouldn't come if we called you alone, and I would go even if called alone, but they thought you wouldn't come if called alone, so they wanted to call the whole student class, so the work got big, so they said they prepared for three months to feed 60 people.' I was a person who was agonizing for three months, 'No one gives me a meal, should I do ministry or not?' But some Christians, 'Pastor, Evangelist, we lived in the countryside and wanted to let our children receive education once, so we came up to Seoul.' But at that time, middle school and high school tuition had to be paid.

After working for a week and paying the children's tuition, who could we treat, and the house we live in now, this vinyl greenhouse, is hot in summer and cold in winter, and it's so embarrassing to bring someone to our house, so my heart was this big, but I prayed and prayed and gathered courage to treat you to a meal. A sinner pastor like me lives saying, 'I can't eat that good thing, I can't wear good clothes,' but... Oh, while doing that, they were thanking me, saying thank you for eating it so deliciously. I couldn't say a word and was just looking blankly, so the deaconess came to me on her knees like this and said this in my ear. [Snort] 'Evangelist, still, yours is rice cake ramen.' Oh, slicing rice cakes and putting some rice cakes in the ramen to add fullness, to consume more carbohydrates. But they couldn't buy rice cakes for 60 people, so this person found a little bit somewhere and hid it in my bowl as a servant of the Lord, and covered it on top of the ramen. When I looked for it, there were really a few pieces of rice cake.

Ah, I thought the sanctuary could be a vinyl greenhouse. Originally, the sanctuary is made of gold, right? But that day, inside that poor vinyl greenhouse, 'Ah, this is what it's like for God to be with us.' I had already come for a week and suffered, but even so, for us to be able to come to this place today, I sat in that vinyl greenhouse that day and looked out, and the light... God watched over all those dark and difficult tunnel-like lives and moments of our past, and sometimes from a certain distance, sometimes coming down from the mountain, sometimes [snort] entering the center of our lives, sometimes becoming the whole world in my heart. Shall we read it together? With a prayerful heart, start. 'Lord, You have always been our refuge.' The place where we are at this dawn is a refuge with God. Just as the dawn light warms our lives slowly, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ that this morning will be a morning to meet the One who approached me as light when I was in despair inside that pitch-black vinyl greenhouse as the God of the sanctuary, with God's grace that has been with me all my life.

[Snort] Quietly, like our Jesus, let's wake up our lives with prayer at this dawn. While praying quietly and personally, please be with us, God. Please let us meet the God who is in me, the God who is in our family, preciously once again. Let's pray together. After personal prayer, we will return to our daily lives. H