Hello, I am Joseph Yosuk Lee. In 1994, I graduated from the University of California at Berkeley as a physics and applied math major. In 1997, I also graduated from UCI in the materials science and engineering department with a Master's degree while I got another Master's degree in the electrical engineering department at the University of Southern California. Now, I work at Samsung in South Korea as a PCB engineer, and I play the piano and violin.
I was very devastated when I was an undergraduate at Berkeley. I realized that I was not as intelligent as I thought, and I had a lot of pride. I was one of the top students at high school. At college, I was average. While I was struggling with a B average, my electrical engineer friend Tony made a 97% on the
midterm. I, myself, received a 70% average on that same exam, and even my professor made a mistake in his own midterm. My professor is an intelligent man when he is a physics professor at Cal-Berkeley. Despite this, I felt that Tony could easily surpass him, although Tony was an electrical engineer and computer science major. While I did not have the faintest clue how to solve any of my 7 physics problems, he could easily solve all of the problems in the textbook spending only three hours per chapter.
I was very hurt, as well as humbled. I thought that my greatest friends were my GPA, test scores, and professors' recommendations until I met Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ became my best friend and He loved me so much that He gave His life for me.
You are My friends if you do what I [Jesus] command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I have learned from My Father I have made known to you. John 15:14-15
There are many stories of mothers dying while giving birth to their children. There are also many stories of men dying for their comrades in a war by throwing their bodies on top of a grenade. However, Jesus died for sinners like myself, for strangers like myself, and for the rest of us, who are chosen. He did it because He loves all of us as His friends. Grades and academics cannot love you nor I. Only the Lord can do that. I depended so much on my happiness on school that I became miserable when I was not doing well. At Berkeley, I was alone and did not have many friends. I used to believe that school was far more important than family, friends, people, and my own life. I almost wanted to use some illegal drugs so that I could enhance my school performance. When I was at the bottom of my life, I finally accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior during a church retreat at the mountains of Santa Cruz. I gave my testimony about my bitter life telling every brother in a circle that I study a lot and that my parents were disappointed in me when I did not make it to MIT or Harvard. After we left the circle, I talked to my pastor outside in the dark and cried on his shoulders during one Saturday night on October 20, 1990, and he comforted me.
After I accepted Jesus Christ, I finally gave up my pride. I really wanted to share my faith with Tony and I realized that it was too late. Tony killed himself by jumping off the Holiday Inn Hotel at Emeryville, California. To this day, I do not know why he did it. All I know is that if I had not accepted Christ, I would have taken my own life. Tony and I took two different paths in our lives. God helped me choose the narrow path while Tony chose the wide and easy path.
"Enter the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it." Matthew 7:13-14 (NKJV)
So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. Ecclesiastes 2:17
Steps in becoming a Christian.
1. You need to know that you are a sinner.
Romans 3:23 'For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.' The Hebrew translation for 'sin' is 'missing the mark (of perfection in terms of thought and action).'
2. You need to know is that there is a price on sin.
I was very devastated when I was an undergraduate at Berkeley. I realized that I was not as intelligent as I thought, and I had a lot of pride. I was one of the top students at high school. At college, I was average. While I was struggling with a B average, my electrical engineer friend Tony made a 97% on the
midterm. I, myself, received a 70% average on that same exam, and even my professor made a mistake in his own midterm. My professor is an intelligent man when he is a physics professor at Cal-Berkeley. Despite this, I felt that Tony could easily surpass him, although Tony was an electrical engineer and computer science major. While I did not have the faintest clue how to solve any of my 7 physics problems, he could easily solve all of the problems in the textbook spending only three hours per chapter.
I was very hurt, as well as humbled. I thought that my greatest friends were my GPA, test scores, and professors' recommendations until I met Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ became my best friend and He loved me so much that He gave His life for me.
You are My friends if you do what I [Jesus] command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I have learned from My Father I have made known to you. John 15:14-15
There are many stories of mothers dying while giving birth to their children. There are also many stories of men dying for their comrades in a war by throwing their bodies on top of a grenade. However, Jesus died for sinners like myself, for strangers like myself, and for the rest of us, who are chosen. He did it because He loves all of us as His friends. Grades and academics cannot love you nor I. Only the Lord can do that. I depended so much on my happiness on school that I became miserable when I was not doing well. At Berkeley, I was alone and did not have many friends. I used to believe that school was far more important than family, friends, people, and my own life. I almost wanted to use some illegal drugs so that I could enhance my school performance. When I was at the bottom of my life, I finally accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior during a church retreat at the mountains of Santa Cruz. I gave my testimony about my bitter life telling every brother in a circle that I study a lot and that my parents were disappointed in me when I did not make it to MIT or Harvard. After we left the circle, I talked to my pastor outside in the dark and cried on his shoulders during one Saturday night on October 20, 1990, and he comforted me.
After I accepted Jesus Christ, I finally gave up my pride. I really wanted to share my faith with Tony and I realized that it was too late. Tony killed himself by jumping off the Holiday Inn Hotel at Emeryville, California. To this day, I do not know why he did it. All I know is that if I had not accepted Christ, I would have taken my own life. Tony and I took two different paths in our lives. God helped me choose the narrow path while Tony chose the wide and easy path.
"Enter the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it." Matthew 7:13-14 (NKJV)
So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. Ecclesiastes 2:17
Steps in becoming a Christian.
1. You need to know that you are a sinner.
Romans 3:23 'For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.' The Hebrew translation for 'sin' is 'missing the mark (of perfection in terms of thought and action).'
2. You need to know is that there is a price on sin.
Romans 6:23 'For the wages of sin is death.'
3. You need to know is that Jesus paid the price.
3. You need to know is that Jesus paid the price.
Romans 5:8 'But God commendeth his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.' You must trust his death on the cross as the sacrifice for your own sins.
4. You need to know is that you must call upon the Lord in order to go to Heaven.
4. You need to know is that you must call upon the Lord in order to go to Heaven.
Romans 10:13 'For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.' 'Whosoever' means everyone-it includes you. 'Calling upon the name of the Lord' means to cry out to God in prayer and ask Him to save you. Being 'saved' means to be saved from your sins and from Hell. You must believe that Jesus Christ is full God and full man in order to be saved. See John 3:16, John 20:28-29, and Colossians 2:9.
5. Last of all, Jesus will sanctify (to purify or make you holy) you as time progresses.
Hebrews 13:12 'So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood.'
5. Last of all, Jesus will sanctify (to purify or make you holy) you as time progresses.
Hebrews 13:12 'So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood.'
Just pray and call out to God through this simple prayer like:
Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner, who deserves to go to hell, but thank you for paying the price for me. I invite you to come into my heart right now and forgive me for my sins that nailed you to the cross. Save me and take me to Heaven when I die. In Jesus' Name. Amen.'He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life; and he that believeth not the son shall not see life;' John 3:36.
Please call me if you become a Christian at (031) 217-2814 and let me help you find a decent church. E-mail: JosephYLee@aol.com , Website: http://www.josephylee.org/ Japanese Translation: http://www.josephylee.org/JapaneseNarrow.html
I would want to encourage you to add one more thing to your post. The sinner's prayer is not biblical and it is not unbliblical. The problem is that when someone asks Jesus into their heart, there is something missing. If I commit a crime and go before a judge and say, "judge, please forgive me of my crime." If he is a good and honest judge, he will NOT over look your crime. He MUST by his very nature, punish you for what you have done. See, if all we do is say, "God, please forgive me of my sins." If He is an honest and just judge, He must by His very nature punish you for breaking His Laws (The Ten Commandments). Remember the first words Jesus spoke in ministry? Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. There must be repentance. Can I give you a webiste to go to that will help you grow in your walk with Christ? Go to:
ReplyDeletewww.wayofthemaster.com
then go to the witnessing clips. Find the one of the seal beach kid that is witnessed to. It will all make sense then. God bless you! (are you the one that had a problem with Ralph Brandt?? So did I.