[A Devotional for Chicago Area Worship Leaders | Evanston Vineyard Church, Evanston, Illinois]

My name is Insoo Kim and I am the assistant pastor at the Hyde Park Vineyard Church where I have been serving for the last 3 years. And this is a very special gathering for me because this will probably be the last time that I will be joining you guys at these events. In March, I will be moving to Ohio to work for Rich Nathan at the Columbus Vineyard as his research assistant, where I’ll be aiding him in his sermon preparation, book writing, and conference speaking, and whatever other speaking engagements he may have. I am really grateful for all of you guys, your friendship, your encouragement, your prayers. It has been an awesome journey.

This is an awesome group. What an eclectic group, huh? We are people from all different kinds of backgrounds and life experiences, people from different parts of the country and the world, people with amazing stories about encountering God in both big and small ways, people with a deep and profound love for Jesus, and because of this Jesus we are involved in this thing called worship, and because of this Jesus we are gathered here this morning. What an incredible group of people that God has brought together today!

And as I have been preparing for our time together, I have been praying for you. Some of you by name, and others just by heart, because I don’t know all of you here today. I have been praying that God will pour out his great love upon you today. I have been praying that God will stir a new passion for some old dreams that he’s given you many, many years ago. I have been praying that God will meet you today. As we come together to worship him and to seek him with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength, he does things that we can not do by ourselves, things that only he can do.

So before we continue, let’s bow our heads in prayer and invite the Spirit of God to come and dwell in our midst, to cause our hearts to awaken, to cause our ears to hear his voice, and to cause our eyes to see him here today, right now. Let’s invite the Holy Spirit to come and transform us from the inside out, as only he can. So, let’s pray.

CALL TO REMEMBER
As I have been praying about what to share with you today, I felt God impress on my heart to call us to a time of remembering, to remember who God is and to remember what he has done. So, what I will doing today is to give us a very short devotional and a time of personal and group reflection, looking back at 2007.

In a world that is so consumed with the next big thing, the next big idea, the next big product, the next big revival, the next big church, the next big whatever, I believe that this message today is a good reminder that sometimes we need to take a moment to step back and simply remember our history. Our story. God’s story. I guess you can say that I want us to worship God this morning simply by remembering Him.

The ability to remember, to recall, to relive a memory of a moment in history is a powerful thing! And the Bible is full of admonitions to remember. Here are just a few from just the book of Deuteronomy:

Deuteronomy 5:15
Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the LORD your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the LORD your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.

Deuteronomy 7:18
But do not be afraid of them; remember well what the LORD your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt.

Deuteronomy 8:2
Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands.

Deuteronomy 15:15
Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and the LORD your God redeemed you. That is why I give you this command today.

And I believe that one of the reasons that God exhorts us so much to remember is because we are very forgetful people. The ability to remember, to recall, to relive a memory of a moment is history is a powerful thing! So let us remember together this morning.

LOOKING BACK AT 2007
It is incredibly difficult to believe that 2007 is almost coming to an end. And it really has flown by hasn’t it? Just to help us remember a little bit, let me share with you some significant events of 2007.

• Microsoft releases Windows Vista
• Mega Millions sets a new world record for the highest lottery jackpot of $370 million.
• South Korea's Ban Ki-Moon becomes the new United Nations Secretary-General, replacing Kofi Annan.
• Nancy Pelosi becomes the first female speaker of the United States House of Representatives.
• Abortion is legalized in Mexico City.
• Virginia Tech massacre results in the death of 32 people making it the deadliest school shooting in U.S. history.
• Gordon Brown becomes the new Prime Minister of Britain.
• The San Antonio Spurs sweep the Cleveland Cavaliers to win the 2007 NBA Finals.
• The Boston Red Sox sweep the Colorado Rockies to win the 2007 World Series.
• Bob Barker airs his last episode of The Price is Right

These are some of what has happened around the world. Now, let’s take some time to remember some significant events of 2007 in your world.

QUESTIONS FOR PERSONAL REFLECTION
Take about 10 minutes now and write down the answers these two questions on your sheet of paper:

1. What was the highlight of 2007 for you?
2. What was the low point of 2007 for you?

SEASONS OF THE YEAR
Most of you may not know this about me but I was born in Korea. And my family immigrated to the States when I was in 3rd grade. Our family settled in Miami Florida. The elementary school that I attended was majority Hispanic. The junior high school that I attended was majority Caucasian, and the high school that I attended was majority African Americans. So wherever I went to school, I always stood out like a sore thumb, I never quite fit in. And then I came to Chicago for college because, like most teenagers, I wanted to get away as far away from my parents as I possibly could. So I settled in Chicago, finally free from the oppression and the laws of my impossible parents. But while I was definitely free, it was anything but comforting. Because you see, I didn’t realize how stinking cold Chicago gets during winter. And the first winter I was in Chicago, it was like one of the coldest winters ever on the planet, and so I got sick and I had to go out and buy this hideous looking winter coat that covered your entire body, and I basically did not want to leave my dorm ever. It was awful. God was using it to humble my teenage self.

And I have now been in Chicago for almost 13 years and I love it. People ask me all the time, when are you going to go back to Miami. And there are times I really like the idea of going back, usually in the winter time, but part of why I don’t want to go back is because something in my spirit resonates with the changing of the seasons. It’s like, as the weather changes, as the temperatures drops and rises, as the leaves fall to ground, as the snow begins to fall, as the flowers begin to bloom, as the heat rises from the earth again, there is something deep inside of me that resonates with the seasons.

I believe that there is something very spiritual in the changing of the seasons. And I believe that there are seasons in our lives that very much reflect the seasons of the year. That there are seasons in our life that reflects the seasons of the year.

SEASONS OF LIFE
For me, summer is a season of rest and renewal. And I remember as a child it was my absolute favorite season, well, mostly because you didn’t have to go to school right. In the summer, the sun is hot. People are out enjoying themselves. There is a sense of taking a deep breath in, and letting all the worries of life simply fade away.

Fall, for me, is a season of preparation and hard work. This is when school would start back up again. You have to find your rhythm in the daily routines of life. The leaves begin to fall from the trees and the earth begins to prepare for the long winter that is to come. Personally, this is my favorite season of the year.

And then we have winter, a season of death (especially in Chicago). It is a season of hibernation. Winter is marked by a forced slowing down of the rhythm of life, often to a complete halt. For many people, winter is an endless secession of dark nights. Something gets lost. Something dies.

And then we enter the Spring, the season of new beginnings. A season of fruit-bearing. A season of hope. It is when the flowers of the field blossom into life. Spring is that time when what began to die in the fall gives birth to new life. And the gruesome winter that you just went through, makes spring all the more sweeter.

QUESTIONS FOR GROUP INTERACTION
Briefly share both your highlight and the low point in 2007 with the group. And briefly touch on these questions:

1. What kind of a season was 2007? Was it Summer, Fall, Winter, or Spring? Or maybe a combination? Why was it?
2. Briefly share what kind of season you think 2008 will be and why?

CLOSING THOUGHTS
We read in Ecclesiastes 3, these profound words:

1 There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven:
2 a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot,
3 a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build,
4 a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance,
5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain,
6 a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away,
7 a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak,
8 a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.
9 What does the worker gain from his toil? 10 I have seen the burden God has laid on men. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end. 12 I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live. 13 That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil—this is the gift of God. 14 I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that men will revere him.

It is my prayer for all of us gathered here this morning that we would keep growing in the discipline of remembering who God is and what he has done.

May 2008 be a year of renewing hope.
May 2008 be a year of recapturing old dreams and visions.
May 2008 be a year of taking great risks to step out if faith to following the voice of God.
May 2008 be a year of learning more about of it means to be a worshiper of God.

Please stand with me as we close in prayer!

Lord we remember you this morning
We remember who you are
We remember what you have already done
We remember your Son, Jesus
We remember the death that he died on the cross
We remember his resurrection
We remember your promise, that you will one day return, and that we will dwell with you forever
So, Lord we wait for you this morning
We wait for you in the silence
We wait for you in hope
Lord we remember you

Amen!