Mark 11:17

"And as he taught them, he said, 'Is it not written: "My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations"? But you have made it "a den of robbers."'"
 

 Welcome to the 8th anniversary of our world mission Bible center dedication. It is hard to believe that eight years have been passed since we moved into this new building. Eight years ago we were homeless and conducted Sunday worship service in the Armory building at UMCP. By the mighty grace of God we were able to dedicate this center as a world mission headquarters to pioneer 206 East Coast campuses. When we had the first Sunday worship service on the 7th of November, 1992, we were like dreaming. Since the opening day God blessed many people to come here and study the word of God. God used this Bible center to serve many overseas missionaries and to establish many new Christian families and to begin children’s worship service. Today, Jesus defines the role of the temple. It is to be called a house of prayer for all nations. In the same way this Bible center must be a house of prayer for all nations. Let’s remember God’s grace and love and experience the power of God through our life of prayer. May God bless testimony speakers to share one word of God. I pray that the Lord may bless you richly.

 The temple was supposed to be the place where men and women could listen to God and talk to God. The temple is also a house of prayer for "all nations." The temple, in modern terms "church" or "Bible house," is the house of prayer not only for one's nation, but also for "all nations." Here we learn an important lesson. Church is not a place for business gatherings. Church must be a place where people meet and worship God and study the word of God and pray for one's nation. The spiritual health of a nation can be measured by the health of the church. Those who come to church must pray for their nation first. Next they must pray for all nations. This is a Biblical constant. But when Jesus went into the temple, it was not a house of prayer for all nations; it was a den of robbers. He expected to hear the joyful sounds of 1:1 Bible studies and many praying people. But instead of prayers he heard the sounds of animals and merchants. The temple lost its function as a house of prayer for all nations. It became a market place like the Wall Street. It revealed the spiritual condition of his people, especially of the religious leaders. So Jesus could not but reveal his righteous anger. Jesus cleared the temple and drove out those who were buying and selling there. The main role of the Bible house is to pray for all nations. Here we can find the importance of prayer. Prayer is our spiritual breathing. It is essential part of our Christian life. Jesus began his gospel ministry by praying in the early morning. Often we found him praying in the mountainside or in the remote place. One night before his death on the cross he went to the Mount of Gethsemane and prayed to obey the will of God. His repeated prayers enabled him to carry out God’s mission. We cannot exaggerate the importance of prayer life. Prayer enables us to stay connected to God. How often should we pray? Should we pray only in our emergency case? Not at all. We should pray regularly because prayer is our expression of faith. What happens when we maintain our prayer life.

First, God enables us to have unity in our family. Family is the basic unit of God’s work. God’s work culminated when he created our first family Adam and Eve. We can say that our family is the blessed work of God. In this individualistic selfish world it is difficult to maintain the family to be united. We excuse by saying, “I am too busy to pray.” The busier the more we have to pray. When we pray, everything is possible. We have to make our home a house of prayer for all nations. Whenever there is a family crisis, we can come to God and ask his help in humble prayer instead of emotional confrontation. When children are in trouble, parents should pray together for their children. When you cannot love your wife or husband and feel like punching his or her nose, pray together. Prayer makes the difference. God makes our family fruitful and harmonious when there are prayers in the family. Several years ago I recognized the importance of children’s Bible study and their spiritual growth and began to have CBF worship service. Now we have dedicated teachers and children are enjoying worship service. Children are hope for our future. We have to invest our time and resources for them. Jesus loved children very much by saying, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them.” (Mk 10:14)  All parents must love their children with God’s love and children must respect their parents with learning mind. Children learn from their parent’s life of faith based on prayer. Praying family will make America a strong nation of God. Sound nation dwells in sound family.

Second, prayer enables us to become shepherds of God’s flock. Moses prayed for his people when they rebelled against God. His prayer made him to become a humble compassionate shepherd for stiff-necked Israel people. It is easy to pray for our own problem. But it is not easy to pray for others. Jesus loved his disciples to the end by washing their dirty feet because he prayed for them one by one.  Apostle loved his own people in spite of their rejection and unbelief because he prayed for them with sorrow and anguish. God called us to become shepherds of his flocks in this generation. Though we cannot do many things, we certainly can pray and live a life as shepherd for God’s flocks.

Third, prayer enables us to experience the power of God. Mark 11:23-24 says, “I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” We call this mountain-moving faith. Do you have any mountain to move? I know you do. How can we overcome mountains in our life? That’s a good question. Let’s share my experience. When we wandered around College Park campus without a place to worship, we did not know what to do. So I asked all UBF members to pray. Though we did not have money, we had faith to pray. One day God opened M. Luke Lim’s eyes and found this spacious land and we bought it by faith. When we prayed, God provided money to build it. Sandy Springs bank rejected our loan because they only looked at our pocket situation. But we did not give up. God moved Commerce Bank loan officer through M. Elijah Park’s powerful prayer like prophet Elijah and we got the loan. This Bible center became a reality. Finally we were ready to move in on the 7th of November, 1992. But the bathroom block did not arrive one day before the opening ceremony. We prayed and we found the truck with the material near our center and put the block in the morning. We began to enjoy this beautiful center. It was a miracle of prayer. Having a little Paul was a mountain to Shep. Paul. Now God gave him a little Paul. CPA exam is a next mountain to move to him. He said, “I passed this time.” Let’s see what happens when we see his result next year. Raising up one disciple of Jesus is a mountain to most of us. Shep. Bruce Hollinger’s mountain is to raise up one Abraham and Sarah for GMU. God will answer your prayer if you do not give up praying.

Fourth, prayer enables us to remain in Jesus. As you know, it is not easy to remain in Jesus these days. Mission is a cross to bear. But prayer helps us to remain in God’s mission. I thought that God’s work would double right away because we have a nice center. I was wrong. God’s work did not double. Contrary to my expectation, many promising young men and women left this ministry. But the remnant God chose by grace remained and suffered with me to advance the gospel for college students. God’s work is the work of the remnant. We cannot become the remnant with human loyalty. It is possible only when we pray. I am very grateful for their dedication and willing to suffer for Christ. At the same time I am thankful for those who received the gospel through me and my prayer is still with them so that they can be leaders wherever they are. Being a remnant in God’s history is a great privilege and it is possible only when we pray. I believe God will use this center to become a house of prayer for all nations. Not only we pray for America but also we pray for all nations. An American missionary, Wynell Nett, shows us that everything is possible when we pray. May God broaden our heart to see his world mission vision through faith that moves mountains. May God bless us to remember his grace and remain as the remnant of God in his redemptive history. Let’s read 11:17.