Pastor's Message August 2, 2026

Abide” (John 1:1–14)

Grace, Grace, Prevenient Grace!

I imagine many of you may be wondering as you see me standing here today, “Who are you?” Or perhaps, “What brought you here?” To answer that question, I’d like to tell you a story.

 My story doesn’t begin with me. It begins with my maternal grandfather, who was a North Korean defector. Just before the Korean War broke out, he escaped to South Korea by swimming across a river. But because of the hardships he faced there, he became so discouraged that he considered taking his own life.By the grace of God, however, a friend invited him to church. There, during an early morning prayer service, he encountered God in a life-changing way. That day he came a Christian. A few years later, God called him into ministry. My uncle and my father were deeply influenced by my grandfather’s transformed life, and they also became pastors. I am a third-generation pastor. I sometimes joke that pastoring is the family business.

 Conversion

When I was young, I thought I was a good Christian because I was born into a pastor’s family. I always grew up in the church. But in reality, I did not have a personal relationship with God. I believed in God, but my faith did not shape my everyday life or my daily decisions. I was the one in charge of my life. I made my own plans, carried them out, and then asked God to bless them. Yet even during those years, God was patient and merciful with me.

 One of the defining moments of my life came in the year 2000. At that time, I was serving in the Korean army and was deployed to East Timor as part of the United Nations peacekeeping forces.

East Timor was a lonely place. There was no church in the Korean barracks and no spiritual mentors. Instead, temptation and moral compromise surrounded us. During that time, I felt God’s nudge to begin a Sunday worship service in the barracks. But like Jonah fleeing from God’s call to Nineveh, I ran away from that calling.In his grace, God allowed me to become seriously ill with dengue fever. Because I had been sent to a remote area for three weeks, there was no way to receive proper medical care. I suffered from a high fever and a rash covering my entire body. My condition grew worse. That night, I could neither eat nor sleep. Delirious with fever, I instinctively knew I was walking through the valley of the shadow of death.I knelt beside my camp bed and prayed a simple prayer:

“God, help me. Have mercy on me, a sinner. If you spare my life, I will humbly serve you with all my heart for the rest of my life.”

 After praying, I fell asleep peacefully. The next morning, I woke up to find that my fever was gone and the rash had completely disappeared.That healing became a turning point in my life. I became thirsty for God. For the first time, I read the entire Bible from beginning to end because I wanted to know who God truly is. As I carefully read the Scriptures, I encountered the living Christ. Joy flooded my heart. I truly trusted and received Jesus Christ as my personal Savior and Lord.

 Abide

Another formative experience came in 2018.I grew up in a large city near Seoul, South Korea. I was shaped by a culture that equates effectiveness with significance. I was always encouraged to make an impact on as many people as possible and to change the world.Effectiveness is a good thing. The problem was that I made it an ultimate thing. My “effectiveness-first” mentality became an idol.

 So when I was appointed to Houlton, Maine in 2014, my goal was to shake things up—to change the church and the community for Jesus’ sake.But it did not work the way I had imagined.After three years of ministry, I felt stuck. My sense of significance and self-worth diminished because I believed my value depended on my effectiveness. I found myself asking:

“Am I effective?””Is my ministry here making a difference?””Who am I if I do not succeed here?””When will I have the opportunity to serve more people in a larger ministry?”

 Around that time, I attended a spiritual formation conference. Through worship, fellowship, prayer, and times of silence, God spoke to me. The word God gave me was “abide.”At first, I thought I already knew how to abide. But God showed me that what I was doing was enduring, not abiding. I had not made my home among the people or within the community.Then God pointed me to Jesus:”So the Word became human and made his home among us.”(John 1:14, NLT)Jesus chose to abide with us. He brought the kingdom of God to earth.Then God gave me this assurance:”You are called to abide, not to change.”That realization changed everything.It changed me.

 Since then, my pastoral vision is now to abide where I am planted.For me, abiding means staying put, being fully present with people where they are, and loving them as they are.Jesus was born at a particular time. He ministered to particular people in a particular place. Yet his ministry reached the whole world.He walked three miles per hour. He met one person at a time.He touched one person at a time.He did not heal every sick person.He did not solve every problem.That was not his ultimate calling.But through his teaching, preaching, healing, and loving the people before him, he revealed God’s kingdom and brought heaven to earth. And on the cross, he was able to say, “It is finished.”

Here and Now

In the same way, each of us lives in a particular place and at a particular time.Today, we are here.This is where Christ has placed us.We do not have to wait for another opportunity or go somewhere else to meet Christ or do his will. The risen Christ is already here among us. This is holy ground. This is our mission field.

 On one occasion, a woman wanted to join Mother Teresa in Calcutta, India. But Mother Teresa replied:

“Stay where you are. Find your own Calcutta. Find the sick, the suffering, and the lonely right there where you are—in your own home, in your own family, in your workplace, and in your school. You can find Calcutta all over the world if you have the eyes to see. Everywhere you go, you will find people who are unwanted, unloved, uncared for, rejected by society, forgotten, and left completely alone.”

 Where is your Calcutta?As Mother Teresa reminds us, let us begin with the person right next to us.Let us love one person at a time, in our family,in our church,and in our community.As we do, we will begin to see God’s kingdom breaking into this very place where God has planted us.And together we will be able to say,”Surely God is in this place.”Amen.

Pastor Victor