39 min
“The Three Angels of Acts 12” (Acts 12) First Baptist Church Bartow
-
- Christianity
Listen, church: God’s mission cannot be stopped.
I want to tell you the story of a man named Min-jae, a man from North Korea.
Min-jae became a follower of Jesus during a lengthy business trip to China in 2004.
Five months later, after being baptized and receiving his own small Korean Bible, Min-jae returned to North Korea. As he prepared to leave China, someone from the church made a bold request: Would he accept a shipment that included ten hidden Bibles once he returned to North Korea?
At first, he declined. He was already nervous about bringing his own small Bible into the country. If border guards caught him, he could be tortured or killed, or end up in one of North Korea’s notorious concentration camps.
As he agonized over the decision, he remembered that he had given his life to Christ, and it was no longer his own. He decided to trust his Lord.
“Now I believe in God, and in God, everything is possible,” he thought.
The shipment arrived a few months after Min-jae’s return to North Korea. At 1 a.m. on a morning in November 2005, he approached a boat along the bank of the river, praying for God’s protection and guidance with every step.
After retrieving three large vinyl duffle bags, he hoisted them onto his back and ran toward his home in the dark. Once inside the relative safety of his home, he opened the bags to find them tightly packed with pants. But wrapped randomly within the clothing were 10 small Bibles. Min-jae decided to keep the dangerous books hidden until God led him to the right people.
Then, as he walked through his village one day, he heard a man whistling a Christian hymn. Min-jae made note of where the man lived and decided to deliver some Bibles to him that night under cover of darkness.
After midnight, Min-jae rewrapped eight of the 10 Bibles in the pants and left them at the man’s front door. He didn’t leave a note for fear that it could be traced back to him.
Months later, Min-jae returned to China with the intent of defecting, but in November 2006 he was arrested and extradited to North Korea.
In prison, he met a former friend who had been arrested because of his Christian faith. And as they talked, Min-jae came to realize that the man he gave the Bibles to was his friend’s uncle. That man had also been arrested and was being held in a different cell in the same prison.
Min-jae’s friend told him that his uncle had given the eight Bibles to relatives, who had then committed their lives to Christ. The entire family of 27 people began to gather secretly at night to worship God and to read and discuss the Scriptures. But one night, a neighbor overheard the believers singing hymns and reported them to authorities. The secret police raided their home and arrested everyone, including his friend and his friend’s uncle, and sent them all to a concentration camp.
Min-jae was released after seven months in prison, and in 2014, he successfully defected to South Korea.
He remains concerned — even feeling a bit guilty — about the Christian family suffering in a concentration camp. After all, he supplied the Bibles that helped lead to their imprisonment. Still, he knows that God ultimately provided the Bibles and that he is with them as they suffer in His name.
“I just want for North Korean people to hear the gospel and share the gospel,” he said. “That is my only prayer.” (this true story was taken from the ministry called “Voice of the Martyrs”)
Church, God’s mission cannot be stopped.
God’s mission could not be stopped in the Book of Acts, and it cannot be stopped today.
As we continue our study in the Book of Acts, let us read about some of the difficulties of the early Church, and how God’s mission pressed on.
In our study of Acts 1
Listen, church: God’s mission cannot be stopped.
I want to tell you the story of a man named Min-jae, a man from North Korea.
Min-jae became a follower of Jesus during a lengthy business trip to China in 2004.
Five months later, after being baptized and receiving his own small Korean Bible, Min-jae returned to North Korea. As he prepared to leave China, someone from the church made a bold request: Would he accept a shipment that included ten hidden Bibles once he returned to North Korea?
At first, he declined. He was already nervous about bringing his own small Bible into the country. If border guards caught him, he could be tortured or killed, or end up in one of North Korea’s notorious concentration camps.
As he agonized over the decision, he remembered that he had given his life to Christ, and it was no longer his own. He decided to trust his Lord.
“Now I believe in God, and in God, everything is possible,” he thought.
The shipment arrived a few months after Min-jae’s return to North Korea. At 1 a.m. on a morning in November 2005, he approached a boat along the bank of the river, praying for God’s protection and guidance with every step.
After retrieving three large vinyl duffle bags, he hoisted them onto his back and ran toward his home in the dark. Once inside the relative safety of his home, he opened the bags to find them tightly packed with pants. But wrapped randomly within the clothing were 10 small Bibles. Min-jae decided to keep the dangerous books hidden until God led him to the right people.
Then, as he walked through his village one day, he heard a man whistling a Christian hymn. Min-jae made note of where the man lived and decided to deliver some Bibles to him that night under cover of darkness.
After midnight, Min-jae rewrapped eight of the 10 Bibles in the pants and left them at the man’s front door. He didn’t leave a note for fear that it could be traced back to him.
Months later, Min-jae returned to China with the intent of defecting, but in November 2006 he was arrested and extradited to North Korea.
In prison, he met a former friend who had been arrested because of his Christian faith. And as they talked, Min-jae came to realize that the man he gave the Bibles to was his friend’s uncle. That man had also been arrested and was being held in a different cell in the same prison.
Min-jae’s friend told him that his uncle had given the eight Bibles to relatives, who had then committed their lives to Christ. The entire family of 27 people began to gather secretly at night to worship God and to read and discuss the Scriptures. But one night, a neighbor overheard the believers singing hymns and reported them to authorities. The secret police raided their home and arrested everyone, including his friend and his friend’s uncle, and sent them all to a concentration camp.
Min-jae was released after seven months in prison, and in 2014, he successfully defected to South Korea.
He remains concerned — even feeling a bit guilty — about the Christian family suffering in a concentration camp. After all, he supplied the Bibles that helped lead to their imprisonment. Still, he knows that God ultimately provided the Bibles and that he is with them as they suffer in His name.
“I just want for North Korean people to hear the gospel and share the gospel,” he said. “That is my only prayer.” (this true story was taken from the ministry called “Voice of the Martyrs”)
Church, God’s mission cannot be stopped.
God’s mission could not be stopped in the Book of Acts, and it cannot be stopped today.
As we continue our study in the Book of Acts, let us read about some of the difficulties of the early Church, and how God’s mission pressed on.
In our study of Acts 1
39 min