March 28, 2013

By this Gospel You are Saved! Easter Bible Conference Report

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1 Corinthians 15:1-58

Key Verse: 2 “By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you.  Otherwise, you have believed in vain”

We give thanks and praise to God who helped us to work together in the spirit and create a vessel of prayer and hope in Jesus.   This Easter season we wanted to gather together with friends and co-workers in the west suburbs of Chicago and from U of I on spring break.   DuPage and NIU joined together with our new friends to our north Harper College ministry and many special guests came from Chicago UBF and U of C UBF and NU UBF to support our Bible School.

We chose to study 1 Corinthians 15 because we wanted to focus on the gospel and how by the Gospel of Jesus Christ we are saved.  Many growing Christians, both young and old, took this to heart and really poured their efforts into preparing this Bible School.  1 Corinthians 15 is an important message but has some deep theology, even the Apostle Peter mentions in 2 Peter 3:16, “Our dear brother Paul … His letters contain some things that are hard to understand…”   But by prayer we could pull the word of God out of the text and share the work of Jesus’ gospel in our lives.

The first day we were blessed to have the opening message on Jesus’ crucifixion delivered by Pastor Kevin Jesmer form NIU, he drove a long way to come with his children, Mark and Hope, and Steve his Bible student.  Pastor Kevin’s message was titled, “A moment in God’s presence can change a whole story.”  He showed us how all those who came face to face with Jesus’ cross were changed. We learned newly to remember how our lives were transformed when we came face to face with Jesus on the cross. Hope Jesmer shared her testimony as well and gave us great encouragement as a young woman of God who wants to forgive others and live a victorious life changed by Jesus who paid it all for her.  Erik Simon from U of I ministry played 2 trumpet solos giving glory to God in the middle of his MCAT studies for medical school.

The first night’s message was delivered by Matt Cizek on 1 Corinthians 15:1-11.  Matt met Jesus personally and now loves to share the gospel because his life has been changed by the Gospel.  Matt shared how he had a broken spirit but Christ raised him and the gospel of Jesus pulled him out of a life of darkness and into a life following Jesus and teaching the word to his family and to students at Elmhurst College.  We thank God for his transformation and that he was saved by the Gospel.  During the announcements Pastor Abraham Kim who graciously came to support this Bible School, gave us his short testimony and encouraged us with words to remember Jesus  and the life changing power of the cross—that can change anyone, anytime, anywhere. On Friday we had 25 attendees.

The second day we continued our study of 1 Corinthians 15 on the resurrection as the foundation of our faith.  Brittany Polka, from DuPage ministry, shared her heart moving testimony based on Isaiah 53:5, “,,, By his wound, we are healed.”  Everyone was moved to tears to hear of the suffering and deep heartache she endured in her life.  But we gave glory as she shared how Christ pulled her out of that darkness and back into his family as a child of God.   Augustine Park, from Northwestern ministry, came as a guest and shared his life testimony about how he was a proud prince, but the gospel had moved his heart when he saw its power working in others lives.  He had compassion on them and was changed to desire to serve the word of God and help God’s people at Northwestern.

Charles Womak sang a beautiful special song entitled, “Were you there?”  This all moved out hearts and prepared us to listen to Saturday’s main message.   The main message was delivered passionately by John Huber from Harper College ministry.  He invited his family and many friends and he shared the message of how the resurrection is the key to our faith and when we believe it our lifestyle is affected based on 1 Corithains 15:12-34.  He has been changed mightily to a man who loves the word of God and preaches it passionately.  He was moved by Jesus’ sacrifice and his bible teacher, Msn. Daniel Sohn and we all learned how we could solve our sin problem by coming to Jesus and having faith in his resurrection.  On Saturday night 40 people attended.

The third day we had our joint worship service.  Amanda Diapogetti from DuPage ministry shared her testimony about how she had been looking for peace and purpose in the world but could not find it. Jesus did not forget her and called her back because she was worth saving in Jesus’ eyes.    We were all moved by Jesus’ grace.  Next Msn Gideon Bahn and Charles Womak sang a special harmony duet called, “Go ahead.”  It was so amazing to hear them sing and really lift praise to God.    Matthew Monroe, from DuPage ministry, delivered the main message on the glory of the resurrection from 1 Corinthians 15:35-58.  He shared how his physical body has suffered much, kidney failure, heart disease, and nerve problems.  Yet how his hope was not on the earthly body he has but in the resurrection body which will be like Jesus.  Matthew shared how he knows he will not be abandoned by Jesus and that his life on earth is not tragic but being prepared by Jesus as a victory over death and for this he and all of us can rejoice—that we will be victors over death.

The closing message was delivered by Gary Ziemba.  Gary had been separated from DuPage ministry for 10 years.  But recently he repented and returned after giving his life to Christ.  He shared a message on the parable of the sower and how our hearts were like the path, rocky, and thorny soil.  We need Jesus so that our hearts can be good soil and produce 120 times fruit for the glory of God.  Gary prays to be a shepherd for his family his children and he brought his wife and 2 of his grandchildren to hear him share the message. Finally we had the baptism ceremony of Lincoln Hajek.  Lincoln is 8 months old but his parents, Jeremy and Susanna Hajek prayed to dedicate him to be raised in the faith and to know Jesus Christ.  Msn David Kim gave the benediction and gave us the prayer topics to continually share the gospel that we are saved by with others on our campuses and wherever we go in life.  On Sunday we had 42, 36 adults and 6 children attend.

We would like to thank so many guests and friends that came to support us, Pastor Abraham Kim, Pastor Joshua Hong, Msn Daniel and Sarah Sohn, Msn Joseph and Faith King, Msn Rebecca Yoshiba, Shp Adam, Barnabus, and Cheryl Kramarczyk, Alverto and Rosa Camareno and their 3 sons,  Sly and Jaime Marinca, Augustine and Hannah Park and all those who graciously served behind the scenes and prepared all this environment.  I thank God for the beautiful co-working and valuable input from all the ministries involved in crafting this program for the glory of God.   “By this gospel you are saved.”

Jeremy Hajek