QTin November 2023 Trusting, Dwelling, Rejoicing in the Word of God

By QTM

Publisher's Notes

Table of Contents

QT Guide | How to Use QTin 

I Love QTin | The Family of Elder Eun Hyung Cho And Deaconess Mi Ryung Lim 

QTin Theological Stroll | The Love of God And the Service of the Church 

November Reading Guide | Numbers 28-36, Hebrews, Philippians, Ja

• Language: English
• Publisher: QTM
• Release date: Oct 20, 2023
• ISBN: 9791192205588

Book preview

Publisher's Notes

The Race of Faith image-4-855

The readers of Hebrews were originally Jews who had converted to the Christian faith. They were scattered throughout the Roman Empire, and some of them were thinking of giving up their Christian faith and returning to Judaism because the persecution against them was so harsh. Hebrews was written to encourage these people to persevere in their faith.

The Epistle to the Hebrews is called the footnote of Leviticus because it often refers to the Old Testament. Although the readers converted to Christianity, receiving parts of the gospel was hard because they were caught up in their Jewish traditions and family history and had difficulty accepting that Jesus was their eternal high priest. That is why the author of Hebrews tells them that Jesus, the eternal high priest of the heavens, achieved the complete salvation that the priests of Aaron’s family line could not achieve. The author also explains the essence of redemptive history by telling them that genuine faith is holding onto the essence rather than focusing on shadows and sacrifices.

The Bible does not reveal who the author of Hebrews is. Theologians have estimated the author to be Paul, Luke, Barnabas, or Priscilla, but since the Reformer Martin Luther, the prevailing theory is that the author could have been Apollos. Apollos had much knowledge in the Old Testament, and preached in the Church of Corinth after receiving the Spirit through Priscilla and Aquila. Before Paul left for another missionary journey, he left Apollos in charge of the Church of Corinth where he had preached for a year and a half.

After Paul left the church, however, its members were divided into groups based on whether they claimed loyalty to Paul, Apollos, or Cephas. At the center of this division was Apollos (1 Corinthians 1:11-12; 3:4, 22). Apollos’ name is not mentioned in Romans chapter 16 where Paul greets his fellow believers. Maybe Apollos didn’t get along well with Paul although he received the Spirit and knew redemptive history. A holy person is a person who sees his own sin and makes the people around him feel comfortable. No matter how smart one is, what is most important is that person bears the fruit of the Spirit. I think this is why God does not reveal Apollos as the author of Hebrews.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, (Hebrews 12:1)

Faith is like a race where our ancestors of faith who ran ahead of us encourage us to follow. Many witnesses are looking at me run my race. Witnesses throughout the Old and New Testament times have run this race of believing in and following God and Christ Jesus. Although it seems like we are running alone, we are not alone because people of faith of the past, present, and future are running with us and cheering us to go on. People of Christ run this race of faith in front of witnesses who surround us like clouds.

We must be aware that some of these people might make fun of us. Wooridle Church, where I am pastoring, is full of people who are mocked by the world for their stories of adultery or bankruptcy. But because they are continuing their race bearing the cross in their sufferings, witnesses in the church community are encouraging them in their journeys.

In order to run our race of faith, we need to let go of the shackles of sin that hinder and entangle us to pull us back. Hindering sins could be worries of worldly things, indifference or obsession of one’s family. Entangling sins could be sins that we can easily fall into and cannot escape once we fall into them. Life is a marathon. We cannot run for a long time if we carry hindering and entangling sins. We need to let go of our obsessions, addictions, greed, desires, and worldly riches if we want to pass through the finish line which is heaven, our eternal home. Superficial relationships and a comfortable lifestyle can make us fall.

The most important thing we need in order to run our race of faith is perseverance. A person with true faith is one who perseveres. Those who persevere will win the race in the end. Athletes say that training for the Olympics is like going through hell. Likewise, we who are people of God’s covenant should persevere (Hebrews 10:36). We cannot stop on our tracks or think other people will run for us. We need to introduce other people to the gospel and get up again and run with our spiritual community even if we fall. God has set a track for each of us to run on. We need to run our track and not give up but persevere even though our races are watched by the world. When we accept that our races are watched by the world, Jesus will run with us. Then our heavy burdens will be lightened.

As we approach the end of the year, I hope all readers of QTin let go of hindering and entangling sins and do not give up their race of faith, and pass the finish line.

Thanking Jesus for running the race ahead of us,

Chief Director, QTM

Rev. Kim, Yangjae

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Q. Please introduce yourselves to our readers.

Eun Hyung Cho Hallelujah! My name is Eun Hyung Cho and I am an elder. I was born to a pastor and am the third son out of three sons and one daughter. My mother got sick after she gave birth to me, so my grandparents raised me until I was seven years old. I honestly felt that my parents didn’t love me, so I sought after other people’s approval and focused on worldly success. I met my wife at church and had three children, but I felt them more of a nuisance to my success because they all have ADHD. So I did my best to focus solely on my work. When my father passed away, I followed my wife to a church that engaged in QT ministry. Through the church, I was able to confront my broken past, and I am currently serving as a leader of the youth ministry, of parents’ school, and also of married couples’ small group.

Mi Ryung Lim My name is Mi Ryung Lim and I am a deaconess. I have one older brother. My father was not a believer but my mother was Christian, so my brother and I were raised in the Christian faith. But my parents fought constantly, so being in a hostile environment, I always dreamed of a happy marriage. However, my husband was rarely present in raising our children but still made me feel inadequate. I became depressed due to his constant judgment. One day, my friend recommended a sermon. In that sermon, the pastor said, Repent when you succeed, and give thanks when you fail. I was drawn to such wisdom that I joined that pastor’s church. By God’s grace, my parents also joined the church and we are all now a part of the same spiritual community.

Min Suk Cho I am the eldest son, Min Suk Cho. My parents raised me in love, but I was always afraid of getting hurt in relationships. My victim mentality kept causing problems in my friendships during elementary and middle schools. I was able to break free from my victim mentality after a big confrontation during my high school years and because I had to study another year for my college entrance exam. I started to care less about what others thought of me. God showed me that self-hatred is a great sin, so I am trying to break free from this sin with the help of my church community.

Su Ah Cho I am the second child, Su Ah Cho. Ever since I got diagnosed with ADHD in first grade, I took medication. I was hurt a lot in my relationships with my friends, and I didn’t talk much because I was afraid my friends wouldn’t like me. But when I started to meditate on God’s Word and took my medication as an act of obedience, I started to change. Now, I care less of what my friends think of me, and my school-life has improved. I also attend all services and retreats at church.

Anna Cho I am the youngest, Anna Cho. Because I am the youngest kid, I received a lot of love and attention from my parents. My dad always made me laugh, and my mom listened to me well, and my brother and sister played with me. I don’t remember the time I first went to church, but I was told I started to go when I was one year old. Church is fun because I have many friends.

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Q. How did you start QT? What benefits are there when the whole family does QT with the QTin Series?

Eun Hyung Cho I started QT since I followed my wife to a church that leads a QT ministry. My youngest daughter talked me into starting a family service a few months ago. I am grateful that though each of us are facing challenges and struggles, we can all gain wisdom through God’s Word and pray for one another.

Mi Ryung Lim I started to do QT devoutly since I joined my current church. My family does QT together on the weekends. It is a time when we comfortably share our weaknesses. My three children and I all have ADHD, so we have a lot of weaknesses. We tell each other that we cannot live without God because He has touched our frontal lobe! (laughs)

Min Suk Cho When I was in elementary school, QT was like homework:, something I did because my mom told me to. But when I had a hard time with my friends in middle school, my parents told me, God may be training you. After I heard that, I did QT whenever I met a problem I could not solve. After we did family worship based on that day’s QT passage, our family has been able to talk through our problems or misunderstandings.

Su Ah Cho When I was in elementary school, I did QT to get prizes at church. Eventually, I started playing games and stopped doing QT. I’m doing it again now. I felt good when my mom explained to me about ADHD and said she understood me when we did QT together. I’m happy our family can communicate well because we do QT with the same passage.

Anna Cho Honestly, I didn’t want to do QT. I asked my dad to keep our family worship time short. But in sixth grade, I had a hard time with a friend and prayed to God to help me. After that, I liked doing QT. In the beginning of this year, I worried my parents by taking too many psychiatric pills, and I constantly fought with my mom because I spent too much time on my cell phone. I told my dad that I want our family to do QT together. I am glad I did that.

Q. Can you tell us the time you realized your sins or faults, repented, and applied the Word to your life?

Eun Hyung Cho A few years ago, my wife screamed at my daughter who was addicted to games, and took away her laptop. I went into my daughter’s room to talk to her, but she only snared and said bad things to me. I got so angry that I slapped her face. She cried and shouted, You violent a**! I was so embarrassed of this incident that I didn’t talk about it at church. But my daughter was told to give her testimony at the church youth ministry, and she told the church about what happened in her testimony on Sunday. That day, the QT passage was about the sign put up for everyone to see when Jesus was being crucified on the cross (John 19:19-20). As the head of the youth ministry, I secretly judged parents who were violent towards their children whenever I was asked to meet these parents. My daughter’s testimony was a humbling sign that was set up for everyone to see.

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Mi Ryung Lim I wasn’t disciplined financially, so I didn’t use money wisely. My husband didn’t like this side of me and pointed out my mistakes, so I felt pressured whenever I was with him. One time I asked my husband for money for academy admission fees and books, but I asked him for a larger amount than I needed and kept the extra money to use for my second child’s play therapy. But one Sunday, I heard the Bible verse, …all liars – they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death (Revelations 21:8). I confessed to my husband and gave him back all the extra money I had been hiding. Since that day, I now discuss all financial matters with my husband, no matter how big or small. Through this training, God taught me how to use money wisely and my husband became generous even when our living expenses are high.

Min Suk Cho During the time I was studying for my college entrance exam for the second time, I felt so much pressure. I felt anxious even when I didn’t receive the score I wanted to on practice exams. But during QT, I came across the passage, All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines (1 Corinthians 12:11). A sudden thought came to my mind, ‘Maybe God has a plan for me whether I get good grades or not’ and I felt peace. After that day, I told myself, ‘God has a plan for me’ and felt peace even when my grades were not good, and felt thankful when my grades were good. Since then, studying