Today Pastor Choi talks about altar in the church.  3,500 years ago, in the wilderness, while their leader Moses was away, Aaron the priest succumbed to the demand from the people and created a golden calf.  That opened the floodgate of idolatry to Israel for the centuries to come and brought down God’s wrath on the future generations that culminated in the Babylonian Captivity.   Pastor exhorts the congregation to make a wise choice at Manahawkin UMC: worship the LORD God only for the sake of next generations.

     Altar in the Wilderness

Following is a summary of his sermon:
Altar in the wilderness

Acts 7:37-44   NASB

³⁷This is the Moses who said to the sons of Israel, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brethren.’³⁸This is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness together with the angel who was speaking to him on Mount Sinai, and who was with our fathers; and he received living oracles to pass on to you. ³⁹Our fathers were unwilling to be obedient to him, but repudiated him and in their hearts turned back to Egypt, ⁴⁰saying to Aaron, ‘Make for us gods who will go before us; for this Moses who led us out of the land of Egypt—we do not know what happened to him.’ ⁴¹At that time they made a calf and brought a sacrifice to the idol, and were rejoicing in the works of their hands. ⁴² But God turned away and delivered them up to serve the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, ‘It was not to Me that you offered victims and sacrifices forty years in the wilderness, was it, O house of Israel? ⁴³ You also took along the tabernacle of Moloch and the star of the god Rompha, the images which you made to worship. I also will remove you beyond Babylon.’  ⁴⁴ “Our fathers had the tabernacle of testimony in the wilderness, just as He who spoke to Moses directed him to make it according to the pattern which he had seen.

Introduction

I have been doing a sermon series on the “altar.”  I first talked about the individual altar.  All of us have an altar in our hearts built to someone/something we worship and serve.  Build one only to Me and pull down the altars of your idols, God commands us.

Then, I talked about the “family prayer altar.”  We as the family ought to have an altar dedicated only to God not to anything else or to anybody else.  With this altar, we declare to the world that we belong to the Lord God and that we worship/serve Him only.  Every day we gather around this family altar and pray together.  When the family prays together, they stay together.  I encourage you to take up the challenge of the family prayer altar for 30 days.  In fact, I am very pleased to announce that out of my goal of having 100 families, now the number is 51.  Forty nine to go and if you haven’t signed up yet, please do so today before you go home.  The sign-up sheet, daily check-list, and the directions of how to do it are on the table in the Narthex.

Contents

I am going to talk about the corporate altar this morning; the altar in the church.

Come and meet the pastor Moses.  You can’t ask for a better leader than him: He was a top-notch leader in every aspect.  First, academically, he was educated in the Egyptian palace as prince.  Next, for practical training in ministry, he spent forty years honing his skills as a shepherd.  Furthermore, look at his impressive references. For instance, for his personality, God vouched for him that Moses was the most humble man in the world: “Now the man Moses was very humble, more than any man who was on the face of the earth” (Numbers 12:3, NASB).

What about his accomplishments in ministry?  He was second to none.  God helped him to perform signs and wonders for 40 years (E.g. 10 plagues, parting of the Sea, manna).  God accompanied his congregation day and night: clouds to cover them from the Sun during the day and pillar of fire at night to keep them warm.   Moses directly spoke with God and received the living oracles from God and passed them onto the congregation of Israel.  His encounter with God was so supernatural that, after each meeting with God, his face would glow.  The people of Israel were afraid to see his face that he had to cover his face with a towel. “The sons of Israel would see the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses’ face shone. So Moses would replace the veil over his face until he went in to speak with Him” (Exodus 34:35, NASB).

He remained their faithful leader for 40 years until he died at the age of 120.

Let’s think about the congregation this time.  Moses’ congregation—the congregation of Israel—had over one million members!  The largest ever in human history!   It was huge.  There were problems and challenges galore.  Here’s one to begin with: there was an ongoing grumble against their leader Moses.  Why?   Because they loathed their journey to the Promised Land.  They hated what they were physically going through such as the same food for forty years (manna), scarce water, and harsh climate in the wilderness.  But, it was on the surface.

The real problem was this: their heart.  Their heart was never right with God.  They never liked what God was doing with them. They missed their old life-style in Egypt where they were slaves.  They missed it so much that they desired to go back.  They didn’t care if they became slaves again.  They preferred food over freedom.  To them, the freedom in the Promised Land wasn’t worth the hardships in the wilderness.  They wanted the old Egypt back.

In the Bible, Egypt means the world.  It is the world where we didn’t know God; where we didn’t know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.  The world where we would worship idols and do whatever we desired without God; the world where we were slaves to sin and death.   Exodus means God’s action to bring His people, the Church, out of that world.  As we come out of the world, we become separated from the world.  Going through the Red Sea means baptism.  Baptism is the beginning of our life as a new creation in Christ.  The Wilderness means our life on earth as sojourners.  This world is not our permanent or true home.  The Promised Land means Heaven our eternal destination our true home.   The congregation in the wilderness is us as the believers who are separate from the world; the believers who are baptized for the forgiveness of sins through Jesus; the believers who travel through life’s challenges with endurance and with trust in God.  The believers who never turn their hearts back to the world but keep on pressing onto Heaven our eternal destination no matter how hard the journey is.

The fundamental issue is always the heart.  The hearts of the Israelites were not in God but always in the world where they used to live.  Their bodies were in the wilderness, yet their hearts never left Egypt.  They were least interested in God’s purpose and destination, and most interested in the comfort and pleasures of the world they left.  They would grumble against God and Moses wondering why they were brought out of Egypt into the wilderness: They said to Moses, “Is it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you dealt with us in this way, bringing us out of Egypt?” (Exodus 14:11).  Do you hear in every sentence “Egypt?”  They sure missed Egypt.

They desired Egypt and often tried to go back there.  Well, finally a chance arrived to rebel against their leader Moses and against God.  Moses wasn’t in the camp.  He had gone up into the mountains to receive the 10 commandments.  He didn’t come back in the same day.  He didn’t return the next day, either.  His absence became a week; a week turned into two weeks; the two weeks became 40 days.  After 40 days, they went to Aaron, Moses’ brother the second-in-command.  They asked him to create gods that would lead them back to Egypt.

Instead of rebuking them, Aaron succumbed to their demand.  He asked them to bring him gold.  With the collected gold, he created an image of a golden calf calling it god.   People rejoiced and brought their sacrifices to their idol and worshiped it.  That was the saddest day in the history of Israel because the congregation built an altar not to the Lord God but to the idols.  That was the day when idolatry sneaked in and never left from Israel.  Such idolatry continued in the Promised Land and beyond!  In fact, they worshiped idols and relentlessly provoked the Lord to anger for the next thousand years (Moses: 1,500 B.C.  The Babylonian Captivity: 586 B.C.).  Can anyone blame God who brought wrath upon the future generations—which culminated in the Babylonian Captivity?

The story of the golden calf is very poignant to God’s Church today: Do not build an altar in My church to idols.  Keep your heart with Me, God says.   He warns us this morning, “Remove idols in the church.  Do not turn back to the world and follow its lusts.”

In today’s church, the hearts of many believers are not with God but still in the world.  Many church attendees in America have already gone back to the world (or their hearts never left their spiritual Egypt, the world).  They have been backsliding.  Furthermore, what Aaron (who represents priests) did with the Israelites back then is still happening in the contemporary churches.  E.g.  Among the emerging and popular congregations many messages are crowd-pleasing rather than God-pleasing (Romans 2:29).  Many sermons focus on how to cope with life on earth but fail to equip the saints for eternal life.  Few promote Christ-like life-styles.  Many teach believers to seek the crown without the cross.   Resurrection without crucifixion.

Today people look for churches where preachers preach to their itching ears.  Listen to Paul the Apostle who said, “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables” (2 Timothy 4:3-4 KJV).  The scariest thing is this:  when we prefer the world to God, when we love and practice the lusts of the world instead of God’s truth, God gives us over to our idols. “Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity” (Romans 1:24, 1:26, NASB).

The Lord asks us to repent today; both clergy and laity.

For clergy:  We must repent of our sins to please the crowd with sugar-coated messages.  Many a time, we succumb to the pressure from the crowd and end up preaching what they love to hear rather than the sound message of God’s Word.  We must repent of our sins of being a peddler of God’s Word (2 Corinthians 2:17).  We must repent of our sins of adulterating God’s Word (2 Corinthians 4:2).   We must stop preaching the prophecy of greed, flattery, and human glory (1 Thessalonians 2:4-6).   Pray for the clergy that they would be a faithful servant of God’s Word.  Pray that they would preach God’s Word without compromise.  Pray that they would be accurate handlers of God’s Word (2 Timothy 2:15).

As far as the laity is concerned, we must repent our sins of pressuring the clergy to preach only what we want to hear, not the wholesome truth of God’s Word.  We must repent our sins of loving the world and following its lusts.  Do not be conformed to the pattern of the world, God commands (Romans 12:1).   Listen to John the Apostle who said, “If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world” (1 John 2:15-16 KJV).

For us all, both clergy and laity, let us follow not the world, but God by renewing our hearts and minds daily (Romans 12:1-2).  Let us love the Lord with all our heart and soul and mind and strength (Mark 12:30).  Let us set our minds on things above, not on the things that are on earth (Colossians 3:2).  Let us live out a life worthy of God’s calling (2 Thessalonians 1:11).

Conclusion

               Think of one church: the congregation of Israel.  Think of one clergy: Aaron.  Think of one choice: idolatry.  If they both had resisted the temptation of worshiping idols, they could have avoided God’s wrath on their future generations.  The congregation could’ve chosen freedom over food sticking to the Lord their God.  Aaron could’ve chosen to please God instead of the people.  Neither of them did.  The result?  Centuries of idol worship ensued in Israel and God’s people suffered immensely for years.

Think of one congregation: Manahawkin.  Think of one clergy:  Kyewoon Choi.  Think of one choice we make together: The Lord God only.  The result?  God’s blessings on the next generations in our church.   Amen.              

Let’s pray.

Pastor Choi challenges the congregation to join in Family Prayer Altar Challenge for the next five weeks (30 days except Sundays).  Taking the example of Gideon, he explains that God requires us to do two things before we go out into the world and make a difference.  Those two things are: Remove the idols in your life and build an altar to God (worship).

   Family Prayer Altar

Following is a summary of the sermon:

Family Prayer Altar

Judges 6:1-32   New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

6 The Israelites did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord gave them into the hand of Midian seven years. ² The hand of Midian prevailed over Israel; and because of Midian the Israelites provided for themselves hiding places in the mountains, caves and strongholds. ³ For whenever the Israelites put in seed, the Midianites and the Amalekites and the people of the east would come up against them. ⁴ They would encamp against them and destroy the produce of the land, as far as the neighborhood of Gaza, and leave no sustenance in Israel, and no sheep or ox or donkey. ⁵ For they and their livestock would come up, and they would even bring their tents, as thick as locusts; neither they nor their camels could be counted; so they wasted the land as they came in. ⁶ Thus Israel was greatly impoverished because of Midian; and the Israelites cried out to the Lord for help.

⁷ When the Israelites cried to the Lord on account of the Midianites, ⁸ the Lord sent a prophet to the Israelites; and he said to them, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: I led you up from Egypt, and brought you out of the house of slavery; ⁹ and I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians, and from the hand of all who oppressed you, and drove them out before you, and gave you their land; ¹⁰ and I said to you, ‘I am the Lord your God; you shall not pay reverence to the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you live.’ But you have not given heed to my voice.”

¹¹ Now the angel of the Lord came and sat under the oak at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, as his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the wine press, to hide it from the Midianites. ¹² The angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, “The Lord is with you, you mighty warrior.” ¹³ Gideon answered him, “But sir, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our ancestors recounted to us, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has cast us off, and given us into the hand of Midian.” ¹⁴ Then the Lord turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours and deliver Israel from the hand of Midian; I hereby commission you.” ¹⁵ He responded, “But sir, how can I deliver Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.” ¹⁶ The Lord said to him, “But I will be with you, and you shall strike down the Midianites, every one of them.” ¹⁷ Then he said to him, “If now I have found favor with you, then show me a sign that it is you who speak with me. ¹⁸ Do not depart from here until I come to you, and bring out my present, and set it before you.” And he said, “I will stay until you return.”

¹⁹ So Gideon went into his house and prepared a kid, and unleavened cakes from an ephah of flour; the meat he put in a basket, and the broth he put in a pot, and brought them to him under the oak and presented them. ²⁰ The angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened cakes, and put them on this rock, and pour out the broth.” And he did so. ²¹ Then the angel of the Lord reached out the tip of the staff that was in his hand, and touched the meat and the unleavened cakes; and fire sprang up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened cakes; and the angel of the Lord vanished from his sight. ²² Then Gideon perceived that it was the angel of the Lord; and Gideon said, “Help me, Lord God! For I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face.” ²³ But the Lord said to him, “Peace be to you; do not fear, you shall not die.” ²⁴ Then Gideon built an altar there to the Lord, and called it, The Lord is peace. To this day it still stands at Ophrah, which belongs to the Abiezrites.

²⁵ That night the Lord said to him, “Take your father’s bull, the second bull seven years old, and pull down the altar of Baal that belongs to your father, and cut down the sacred pole that is beside it; ²⁶ and build an altar to the Lord your God on the top of the stronghold here, in proper order; then take the second bull, and offer it as a burnt offering with the wood of the sacred pole that you shall cut down.” ²⁷ So Gideon took ten of his servants, and did as the Lord had told him; but because he was too afraid of his family and the townspeople to do it by day, he did it by night.

²⁸ When the townspeople rose early in the morning, the altar of Baal was broken down, and the sacred pole beside it was cut down, and the second bull was offered on the altar that had been built. ²⁹ So they said to one another, “Who has done this?” After searching and inquiring, they were told, “Gideon son of Joash did it.” ³⁰ Then the townspeople said to Joash, “Bring out your son, so that he may die, for he has pulled down the altar of Baal and cut down the sacred pole beside it.” ³¹ But Joash said to all who were arrayed against him, “Will you contend for Baal? Or will you defend his cause? Whoever contends for him shall be put to death by morning. If he is a god, let him contend for himself, because his altar has been pulled down.” ³² Therefore on that day Gideon was called Jerubbaal, that is to say, “Let Baal contend against him,” because he pulled down his altar.

Introduction

Every one of us wants to make a difference in the world.  God says, “That’s wonderful, My child, go for it, but I want you to do things in proper order.  Do these things before you go out and start making a difference.”

We may ask, “What things?”  God says, “Remove the idols, worship Me, and change the world.”  That’s what I see in today’s story.  That’s the proper order of making a difference in the world.  Let me explain how I got that inspiration.

Contents

One day God’s angel appeared to Gideon and commissioned him to deliver his people from the enemies.  God said to him that He was with them.  Gideon said that if it were so, why did God’s people still suffer?  The LORD replied: because you guys abandoned Me.  Because you worship foreign gods instead: “I am the Lord your God; you shall not pay reverence to the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you live.’ But you have not given heed to my voice” (v. 10). 

Please notice here that God didn’t send Gideon right away into the battlefield to deliver Israel.

He required two things of him before changing the world.  What were they?  They were: remove the idols in your own house, worship Me, then go out and rescue My people.

Remember what I said last Sunday?  The revelation of God to His people always prompts them to build an altar to Him.  The same thing happened again here.  God appeared to Gideon, and Gideon built an altar to the LORD.

Something unusual in this picture, though.  Gideon built an altar twice to the LORD in one day.  Nowhere in the Bible was a man ever asked by God to build an altar twice a day.  But Gideon was.  In fact, he was the first and the last one who ever built twice an altar to the same God in one day.  It seems as if his first altar wasn’t good enough.

Think why God asked Gideon to build another altar after the first one in the same day.  Here’s why: because, right next to God’s altar that Gideon built, Baal’s altar was still standing and competing for Gideon’s loyalty.   It is like you dating your girlfriend and her ex-boyfriend is accompanying your date wherever you go.  You wish him to go away!

When it comes down to worship, our God doesn’t like competition.  He deserves and demands an exclusive loyalty from us to Him alone, not to any other gods/not to anybody else or anything else.  Even though Gideon built a genuine altar to the LORD first time, when God saw the altar of Baal still standing next to it, He said, “No way.  Get rid of it, Gideon!”

By the way, what was Baal?  It was one of the foreign gods in the land of Canaan.  It was a fertility god.  It was the rain god.  The meaning of the name is “lord, master, owner, or keeper.”  The people of Canaan worshiped it for centuries believing that it would bring blessings.  When the Israelites entered the land, God forbade them to worship Baal or any other gods in the land.  Yet, the people of Israel went after them.  Like the surrounding nations, they too wanted to worship this god of abundance.  Like the other people, they too loved the graven and molten image of Baal over no image of Jehovah God.

Let me read verses 25 and 26 one more time:  God said to Gideon,

“Pull down the altar of Baal that belongs to your father, and cut down the sacred pole that is beside it; ²⁶ and build an altar to the Lord your God on the top of the stronghold here” (v. 25-26).   

Tear down the altar of Baal and build an altar to Me, God said.  Do it on top of the stronghold of the place where Baal’s altar used to be.  What is a stronghold?  It is a fortified place to protect people in it against attacks.   A castle.   A fortress.  It is built mainly for defense.  It provides a place of refuge (1 Samuel 23:19).

We must realize why God calls the altar of Baal a stronghold:  Once an altar is built, it becomes the place of refuge.   Whatever gods we build an altar to, they become our refuge and master.  E.g.  When you build an altar to money, it becomes your god and master.  When you build an altar to the LORD, He becomes your stronghold and refuge.  Gideon’s father built one to Baal and it became his idol and stronghold.  God wanted Gideon to remove it, repent of his father’s sin, and re-establish the covenant with Jehovah.

Why the family prayer altar?

This morning, I am launching a challenge of a family prayer altar to re-establish our relationship with God.  I urge every family in our congregation to remove their idols first and build a family altar on top of the stronghold of their idols.  At this altar, we give God access to our lives.  At this altar, we provide God with a stronghold and reign at our home.  Our family altar is the base for God to operate in our lives.   E.g.  Consider an altar like the American flag.  Imagine the American Flag flying at the White House, on Capitol Hill, and even in front of our church and our houses.  What does it signify?  It declares to everyone that America has reign over that territory and place.  We agree to live under its law and order.  The residents of the house where the flag is flying pledge their allegiance to America.

Same with our family prayer altar.  By dedicating our family prayer altar to the LORD, we fly the flag of allegiance to God’s sovereignty over our homes.  We welcome God to establish His kingdom and His stronghold in every family member’s life.  We also declare to our spiritual enemies that they have no business in our homes.  We ask them to look at our altar where God’s reign is firmly established; we tell them loud and clear that they are not welcome in our homes, in fact, we are at spiritual war against them.  As we defend our family altar, we defend God’s reign in our homes.  At the family prayer altar, we also invoke God’s help, provision, and protection.

That’s what the family prayer altar is all about.

What Are the Benefits of the Family Prayer Altar?

1. Repentance and forgiveness of our sins.
2. Peace and harmony in our home so that we may as a family hear the voice of God (Lydia Prince).  The peace between husband and wife also trickles down to our children.
3. Family dialogue replacing TV, smart phones, and other things that deprive the family of quality time.
4. Train our children on behalf of our society.  At the altar, the family stays strong in the Lord.  Families that pray together stay together.  We build up our children strong before they go out into the world.  “Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war and then seek to win” (Sun-Tzu).  God prepared Gideon first before He sent him out to the battlefield.  Likewise, God will prepare our children at the family altar before they go out into the world.

How-to?

1. Daily: repeated sin offerings were necessary in the temple of God.   We do it every day except Sundays, because we already worship the Lord at church.
2. 10 minutes max
3. Demonstration with the help of Prayer Group
   1. Sharing.  How was your day?
   2. Scripture (Gospel, Psalms, Proverbs) and Praise
   3. Prayer.  Everyone participates.
   4. Lord’s Prayer

Conclusion

It is time to wake up from our spiritual slumber.  God calls you and your family to the prayer altar!  I am looking for 100 families.  Our church has three hundred families.  We can have at least 100 families who would build their family prayer altar to the LORD daily.  Please sign up today and start praying for your family and for our community and society!  Amen.

Today Pastor Choi remembers Isaac—son of Abraham— as the man of maturity, peace, and altar.  Isaac was wise and mature, because he practiced his strength under control despite the temptations to strike back against his enemies.   The LORD blessed him for his peaceful approach to conflicts.  Isaac also built an altar to God to worship the LORD only.

    Isaac the man of maturity, peace, and altar

Following is a summary of the sermon:

Isaac: the man of maturity, peace, and altar

Genesis 26:12-33New American Standard Bible (NASB)

¹² Now Isaac sowed in that land and reaped in the same year a hundredfold. And the Lord blessed him, ¹³ and the man became rich, and continued to grow richer until he became very wealthy; ¹⁴ for he had possessions of flocks and herds and a great household, so that the Philistines envied him. ¹⁵ Now all the wells which his father’s servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines stopped up by filling them with earth. ¹⁶ Then Abimelech said to Isaac, “Go away from us, for you are too powerful for us.” ¹⁷ And Isaac departed from there and camped in the valley of Gerar, and settled there.

Quarrel over the Wells

¹⁸ Then Isaac dug again the wells of water which had been dug in the days of his father Abraham, for the Philistines had stopped them up after the death of Abraham; and he gave them the same names which his father had given them. ¹⁹ But when Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and found there a well of flowing water, ²⁰ the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with the herdsmen of Isaac, saying, “The water is ours!” So he named the well Esek, because they contended with him. ²¹ Then they dug another well, and they quarreled over it too, so he named it Sitnah. ²² He moved away from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it; so he named it Rehoboth, for he said, “At last the Lord has made room for us, and we will be fruitful in the land.”

²³ Then he went up from there to Beersheba. ²⁴ The Lord appeared to him the same night and said,

“I am the God of your father Abraham;
Do not fear, for I am with you.
I will bless you, and multiply your descendants,
For the sake of My servant Abraham.”

²⁵ So he built an altar there and called upon the name of the Lord, and pitched his tent there; and there Isaac’s servants dug a well.

Covenant with Abimelech

²⁶ Then Abimelech came to him from Gerar with his adviser Ahuzzath and Phicol the commander of his army. ²⁷ Isaac said to them, “Why have you come to me, since you hate me and have sent me away from you?” ²⁸ They said, “We see plainly that the Lord has been with you; so we said, ‘Let there now be an oath between us, even between you and us, and let us make a covenant with you, ²⁹ that you will do us no harm, just as we have not touched you and have done to you nothing but good and have sent you away in peace. You are now the blessed of the Lord.’” ³⁰ Then he made them a feast, and they ate and drank. ³¹ In the morning they arose early and exchanged oaths; then Isaac sent them away and they departed from him in peace. ³² Now it came about on the same day, that Isaac’s servants came in and told him about the well which they had dug, and said to him, “We have found water.” ³³ So he called it Shibah; therefore the name of the city is Beersheba to this day.

Introduction

I love the book of Genesis in the Bible.  I love it, not only because it is God’s Word, but also because it has plenty of real life stories of real people that I can relate to: Adam and Eve, Cain, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph and many more.  In the past couple of months, I spoke about Adam and Eve’s temptations.  I talked about Noah and his preparation for God’s judgment.  I also spoke about Abraham twice already (lies and generosity).

The same Abraham got his son Isaac when he was 100 years old.  Isaac was the miracle baby, the promise child, and the “laugh” child (the meaning of ‘Isaac’).  Isaac’s birth taught Abraham and his wife a lesson: the lesson to believe that nothing is impossible with God.  Because of his unwavering faith in God, Abraham was considered righteous before God.  Today’s sermon is about that blessed child of Abraham—the next generation of faith in God.

Contents

How would I remember Isaac in the Bible?   In today’s terms, he was an entrepreneur.  Truly a successful business man was he!  Did you know that he was engaged in three different types of business: shepherding, digging wells, and even farming?  He was not a farmer, yet, one year he ventured into farming; he sowed seed in the land, and in the same year he reaped a hundredfold (v. 12).  A hundredfold return in a year!  That would be any farmer’s dream!  Any investor’s (any hedge fund manager’s) dream!   Whatever he did, he flourished.

That’s the business side.  As far as his life as a person, three things stand out in today’s text.  He was the man of maturity, the man of peace, and the man of altar.

1. The man of maturity

Isaac, on the outside, was a mild mannered man, yet inside he was mature, prudent, and strong.  I also believe that digging wells shaped him into a man of maturity.   You may wonder: how in the world well-digging has anything to do with his wisdom and maturity.   Let me explain.  I have to begin with his father Abraham.   Abraham passed away at the age of 175 (Genesis 25:7).  Isaac became the head of his household when he was 75 years old.  Throughout his life, he dug several wells (v. 18, 21, 22, 25, and 32).

Last week, I explained to you that digging a well in the land of Canaan—the wilderness—was not a small task.  Many a time the wells had to be dug at least 100-foot deep.  It involved many men and days to dig one.  Isaac did it several times.  Most of the time, he did so, not by choice, but rather he was forced to.  Originally, he inherited the wells that his father had dug.  However, as you read in today’s story, his neighbors were not kind.  In fact, they were very hostile to him, because they were very envious of his success and his wealth.  Compared to their well-being, Isaac the foreigner was filthy rich.  So, you know what they did to him?   They went to Isaac’s wells and filled them up with dirt.  They went to another well that also belonged to Isaac and claimed it was theirs, although they never lifted a finger to dig it.  Talking about persecution of Jews for no reasons—such anti-Semitism has been around thousands of years.

1. The man of peace

What impressed me is this: whenever the locals disputed Isaac’s right to the wells, he didn’t contest.  He just gave up and moved to a different place and dug a new well.  Four times he did so in today’s story alone.  You see, when things happen, we can tell what kind of people we are by looking at how we handle the situations.  I like Isaac’s approach here: he didn’t fight back.  Each time the locals harassed him and stopped up or confiscated his wells, he kept moving on and avoided confrontations.

Mind you that he was not a wimp at all. On the contrary, he surely had a power to fight back for his own rights and win, too.  Did you know that Isaac had his own army ready to fight any battles?  To begin with, he inherited a private army from his father.  Remember this: Abraham defeated the armies of five kings with his own army of 318 men, all born and trained in his house (Genesis 14:14).   On top of his father’s men, Isaac must have had hundreds more men who were capable of bearing the sword.  Look at today’s text.  He was very powerful in the eyes of enemies (Genesis 26:16) to the point where King Abimelech (the king in the region) came to him at his own will to cut a peace treaty with Isaac (Genesis 26:31).  You see, Abimelech realized that Isaac was a powerhouse in the region that he wanted to keep peace with him.

Despite all his military strength as such, Isaac chose not to strike back when he was wronged repeatedly.  He practiced strength under control.  I think it was a smart move.  I believe he was prudent.  He was a man of peace.  Had there been the Nobel Peace Prize back then, he would have won it.  War seems a good choice at times, but pursuing peace brings forth the best result in the end.  You want a proof?   Isaac thrived more than ever.  Look at verses 12 and 13:  “¹² …the Lord blessed him, ¹³ and the man became rich, and continued to grow richer until he became very wealthy;” (Genesis 26:12-13).

1. The man of altar

Here’s another thing that deserves our attention: Isaac built an altar to the LORD.  I am talking about something very significant here.  In fact, this is far more important than being mature and keeping peace with neighbors.  Look at verse 23 where God appeared to Isaac.  He assured him that He would bless and multiply his descendants as He promised to Abraham.  Then, look at verse 25.  In response, Isaac built an altar to God and called upon the name of the LORD (v. 25).  God appears to God’s people and they build an altar to God.  In fact, this is a pattern repeated over and over in the Bible: Noah was the first person in the Bible who built an altar to God after the Great Flood.  Abraham followed suit (he built an altar at four different places), followed by Isaac, and followed by Jacob.  And centuries later Moses built an altar twice to God.  King Saul, King David, King Solomon did the same.  So did the Prophets.

Think with me one more time about altar.  What’s the purpose of altar?  What’s the significance of altar?  It’s not a nice piece of furniture in the sanctuary for decorations.  Rather, altar is the place where we meet God.  God initiates the meeting and people of God meet Him at the altar.  He reveals Himself and invites us to a relationship—the covenant relationship—at the altar.  We respond to God’s invitation with allegiance and gratitude at the altar.  At the altar we offer sacrifices (typically burnt offerings), because they were pleasing to the LORD (Genesis 8:21).  All these revelations of God and all our responses to Him take place at the altar.

Let me repeat what I said: altar is a place of covenant.  Altar is the witness between the two parties in covenant: God and us (Acts 7:44).  Altar is where God is present.  It is a holy ground because God is there (Acts 7:34).  Altar is where our heart is.  God meets us there and proclaims Himself who He is to us.  He is the Almighty and God WHO I AM.   He also sets the terms of our relationship with Him: He is our King and Lord.  He is our Provider and Protector.  He is our Refuge.  He is our Comforter.  He is our Peace.  He is our Shield.  He is our Strength.  He would be all of these for us as long as we stay loyal to Him.  He would do all of these in exchange of one thing: Worship Him only, no other gods.  With trust and confidence, we accept these terms.  We pledge our allegiance to Him and express our gratitude through offerings.  All of these take place at the altar.

Conclusion

In our hearts, everyone builds and has an altar.  To whom is your altar dedicated?  Too many people build altars to their idols and worship them (money, power, lust, desires, etc.).  However, God’s people build an altar only to Him; to no one or to nothing else.  Let us build an altar to God for daily worship and prayer.  Let us build an altar where we present our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is our spiritual worship (Romans 12:1).   Next week, I will talk more about altar: this time, family prayer altar.  Don’t miss it.

Let’s bow our heads and pray.

Today Pastor Choi talks about another lesson from Abram: generosity (the quality of being kind and generous to others).  When Abram’s herdsmen and those of Lot (Abram’s nephew) had the strife among them, Abram resolved the conflict by pursuing peace in the family.  He was also generous to his nephew by giving the first choice to choose whatever he wanted.  The lesson is that when we treat others with generosity, God rewards us for our generosity.

      Generosity

Following is a summary of the sermon:

Generosity

Genesis 13:1-18 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

13 So Abram went up from Egypt to the Negev, he and his wife and all that belonged to him, and Lot with him.

² Now Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver and in gold. ³ He went on his journeys from the Negev as far as Bethel, to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai, ⁴ to the place of the altar which he had made there formerly; and there Abram called on the name of the Lord. ⁵ Now Lot, who went with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents. ⁶ And the land could not sustain them while dwelling together, for their possessions were so great that they were not able to remain together. ⁷ And there was strife between the herdsmen of Abram’s livestock and the herdsmen of Lot’s livestock. Now the Canaanite and the Perizzite were dwelling then in the land.

⁸ So Abram said to Lot, “Please let there be no strife between you and me, nor between my herdsmen and your herdsmen, for we are brothers. ⁹ Is not the whole land before you? Please separate from me; if to the left, then I will go to the right; or if to the right, then I will go to the left.” ¹⁰ Lot lifted up his eyes and saw all the valley of the Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere—this was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah—like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt as you go to Zoar. ¹¹ So Lot chose for himself all the valley of the Jordan, and Lot journeyed eastward. Thus they separated from each other. ¹² Abram settled in the land of Canaan, while Lot settled in the cities of the valley, and moved his tents as far as Sodom. ¹³ Now the men of Sodom were wicked exceedingly and sinners against the Lord.

¹⁴ The Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, “Now lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward; ¹⁵ for all the land which you see, I will give it to you and to your descendants forever. ¹⁶ I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth, so that if anyone can number the dust of the earth, then your descendants can also be numbered. ¹⁷ Arise, walk about the land through its length and breadth; for I will give it to you.” ¹⁸ Then Abram moved his tent and came and dwelt by the oaks of Mamre, which are in Hebron, and there he built an altar to the Lord.

Introduction

Two weeks ago, I spoke about Abram’s distrust and lies.  He lied twice calling his wife sister.  He did so, because he was afraid of losing his life.  It’s a lesson for us too.  When it comes down to protection, God is our shield (Genesis 15:1).  Our best protection in times of need is God, not our own schemes.  It is a far better choice to call on God trusting in Him and in His mighty power than to rely on our own wisdom and might when the chips are down.

Today’s text is the continuation of Abram’s journey.  This time it brings us another lesson: generosity (the quality of being kind and generous).

Contents:

Let me recap today’s story in my own words:  after God intervened for Abram in Egypt, Pharaoh returned Sarai to her husband and ordered them to leave the area.  So, he headed out for the land of Canaan—the wilderness.   Abram traveled together with his nephew Lot.  In those days, it was an advantage to travel together, especially if you were a foreigner.  The greater in number, the better protection it brought.  Abram and Lot both were shepherds, both were wealthy, and both had many hired herdsmen to take care of thousands of sheep and cattle.

As you can imagine, to feed and water the flock would be a huge challenge.  Mind you that in the wilderness you don’t have a nice river or even a small lake that provides a steady supply of water.  Therefore, you solely rely on a well.  By the way, no one shares his well with you either, so you have to dig one for yourself.  Furthermore, digging a well was not a small task.  “Many of the hand dug wells in the ancient Holy Land exceeded 100′ in depth.” (http://ptl2010.com/2010/12/27/the-tale-of-the-tel-wells-in-ancient-palestine-2/)  It involved trials and errors.  It took many workers and days to dig one well that was good.

Once a well is dug, you would like to stay there as long as you could until either water or grass, whichever first runs out.  That’s what they did.   They shared the land and the well which seemed at first sufficient for the both.   Then, one day the strife broke out between the herdsmen of Abram and those of Lot.   Someone must have started claiming they had the first right to the well and the land.  The other party said no way.  Their verbal quarrel got noisy.  They yelled at each other.   Some rough ones might have had a fist fight.  Luckily, no one was killed.  I believe the same strife very likely happened more than once (although the Bible doesn’t say how many times).

Of course, the herdsmen reported to their bosses respectively.  Each side complained and blamed the other side for the strife: “We were absolutely right and the other guys were absolutely wrong.”  Sound familiar?

Finally, all these matters came to the boss: Abram.  That’s where the buck stopped.

How did he handle the whole situation?  How would you handle the situation if you were him?   Let me tell you what I believe he could have done:  He could’ve chastised his nephew and his herdsmen for the strife.  He could’ve reminded Lot who was in charge in his household.  After all, he was his uncle.  He also could’ve called for a committee meeting to come up with the feeding and watering schedule for both sides.  He did none of the above.

Rather, he called for a one-on-one meeting with his nephew.  He said to Lot, “Look!  Please let there be no strife between you and me, nor between my herdsmen and your herdsmen, for we are brothers. ⁹ Is not the whole land before you?  Please separate from me; if to the left, then I will go to the right; or if to the right, then I will go to the left.”

I love Abram’s approach here to resolve any conflict between him and his nephew.  Call for a one-on-one meeting.  No mediators.  Just you and me.  We are brothers.  The same approach is also recommended by Jesus our Lord.  In Matthew 18:15, He said, ¹⁵ “If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother.”

Abram said to Lot: Hey, look.  We are family.  Let’s have peace between us.  Here, he acknowledged that peace is the most important thing among his family members.  Not just between uncle and nephew, but even among their employees.  He was conscientious in setting a good example before the world (see verse 7: the Canaanite and Perizzite).  He was determined not to allow anything to come between him and Lot.   I believe many families today can use this approach.   E.g.  Have you ever seen some families fight over an inheritance taking each other to the court?  Perhaps that’s the way some people in the world settle their disputes, but not for God’s people.  We are peace makers.  We seek peace and pursue it among us (Psalm 34:14).

I also like Abram’s perspective on the way we gain material things.  “After you!” approach.  He was kind and cool giving the first choice to his nephew: Look, you go first.  Choose whatever suits your needs.  If you go to the left, I will go to the right.  If to the right, then I will go to the left.  Don’t you love his solution?   I do.  E.g.  If we yield to each other in driving, how much less stressed out would all of us be?

I would call Abram’s attitude generosity: let others have the first choice.  Such an attitude only comes from a mature person who has a room in his/her heart for others.  Some of us may be afraid that by being generous to others would make us a loser.  Not really.  On the contrary, God rewards us for our generosity.  Indeed, that’s what God did for Abram.  Right after Lot left for his choice land, the fertile, green, plenty of water land, Abram ended up staying in the same place–very harsh, arid, and tough to live with his livestock.  However, in the end it was Abram who was blessed.  He didn’t become a loser.  This is how it happened.  God appeared to him and assured that He would give him forever wherever his feet touched as a permanent inheritance for his descendants.  To make a long story short, do you know what happened to Lot?  He lost everything despite the favorable environments he went after.  Abram and his possessions, however, multiplied despite the harsh conditions.  That reminds me that true blessings always stem from God and stay with God.  God is the source of our blessings.  He Himself is our blessing.  Here’s another spiritual secret.  You don’t choose blessings over God.  You choose God instead and blessings will follow you.   Here’s one good prayer for you: Stop praying “Lord, bless me in what I do.”  Instead, start praying “Lord, help me to do what You bless.”  You will see a huge difference in your life.

E.g. Sundar Singh, a Christian man in India in the 20^th century, once was on his way to India from Tibet, traveling through a high mountain in freezing weather in the Himalayas.  He was traveling together with a friend.  As they approached the next lodge, which was about a couple of miles away, they found a stranger on the ground buried in snow half frozen and dying.  Singh suggested to his friend to take the man with them.  The friend refused saying, “Are you out of mind?  We cannot afford to carry another man in this cold weather!”   Singh insisted.  His friend said no and went ahead alone.  Singh took the man on his back.  The weight of the man on his back made his steps extra heavy and slow.   About a mile later, Singh found another man on the ground—it was his friend who went ahead and collapsed to death.  Singh and the other man, however, made to the next house, both alive.  Later Singh realized that the heavy weight of the man on his back provided the extra heat that kept them both warm.  The lesson: Singh chose what God blessed—help others–and survived.  His friend didn’t.

Closing:

Let’s be generous to others and God will reward us for our generosity.   Amen.

Today Pastor Choi talks about one experience we all have: lies.  Through the story of Abraham, he points out that the root cause of Abraham’s lies was lack of trust in God.  He exhorts the congregation to learn a lesson from Abraham: put trust in God daily in everything so that we may walk uprightly before God (Psalm 84:11).

   Distrust and Lies

Following is a summary of his sermon:

Distrust and Lies

Genesis 12:10-20     New American Standard Bible (NASB)

¹⁰ Now there was a famine in the land; so Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land. ¹¹ It came about when he came near to Egypt, that he said to Sarai his wife, “See now, I know that you are a beautiful woman; ¹² and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife’; and they will kill me, but they will let you live. ¹³ Please say that you are my sister so that it may go well with me because of you, and that I may live on account of you.” ¹⁴ It came about when Abram came into Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful. ¹⁵ Pharaoh’s officials saw her and praised her to Pharaoh; and the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house.¹⁶ Therefore he treated Abram well for her sake; and gave him sheep and oxen and donkeys and male and female servants and female donkeys and camels.

¹⁷ But the Lord struck Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife. ¹⁸ Then Pharaoh called Abram and said, “What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? ¹⁹ Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her for my wife? Now then, here is your wife, take her and go.” ²⁰ Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him; and they escorted him away, with his wife and all that belonged to him.

Introduction

Let me begin with a pop quiz: who was the first human being in the Bible ever told a lie?  The answer is Cain.  He was the eldest son of Adam and Eve.  He was a farmer.  His brother Abel was a shepherd.  In due time, when both of them brought their offerings to the LORD, He accepted Abel’s but not Cain’s.  Out of jealousy and anger, Cain killed his brother.  Later, when asked by God where his brother was, he said he didn’t know (Genesis 4:9).

Everyone lies: The Bible declares that everyone is a liar (Romans 3:4).  Although many of us don’t want to believe that, somehow we know deep in our heart that’s a truth.  Throughout human history, people lied.  They did.  They do.  They will.  East and west, old and young, male and female, we all lie.  It is not surprising (and strangely comforting) to discover in the Bible that even the people of faith lied, too.  In fact, that’s why I love and trust the Bible.  God’s Word doesn’t hide or embellish.  It calls a spade a spade.   When the people of God lied, it says they lied.  It never justifies lying.  Rather, it painfully reveals both the good and ugly side of God’s people.

Here’s the list of the people in the Bible who lied: Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Jacob’s sons, Saul, David, even Peter the apostle (he denied the Lord three times in one night).  It tells me that we are all human and no one is perfect except Jesus who was sinless and never told a lie.  Everyone else lies from time to time.

My own records: Looking back at my own life, I remember several instances when I lied.  Five times I lied when I was a child under the age of ten.  Twice I did after I became a believer (I was over 30 years old, too!).  The last one I did was twenty three years ago.  One day a member of the church whose car was very old asked me if I got a new car.  I said instantly “no” in order not to hurt her feelings.  I told her a half-truth, but still a lie (it was a replacement car under the Lemon Law in NJ yet still a new and upgraded one).

Contents

Definition: I looked up the definition of lie: “Statement that one knows to be untrue” (Oxford).  Here’s my own extended definition: to lie is to say two different things with one tongue: to tell only what benefits and omit the rest.  To alter the facts due to fears, desires, or feelings such as hate, anger, and etc.

The name Abram: Some of you may wonder why the name of Abraham in today’s text is spelled Abram.  It is not a typo.  Today’s story took place long before God gave Abram a new name Abraham.  Abram means an exalted father.  Abraham means a father of multitude.  God first called him, when Abram was 75 years old.  God didn’t give him the new name until he was 99 years old.  So, whenever you read his name Abram in the Bible, that means, he wasn’t given a new name yet (same with Sarai).

The life style of Abram: one more information to help you understand the text better.  The life style of Abram wasn’t a settled one.  He was not a farmer.  He was a shepherd.  He had to be on the move always.  He had hundreds and thousands of sheep and cattle.  He had to move around wherever he could find grass and water for his flock.  Keep in mind too that he was a foreigner—someone from outside who had to be on his toes always.  The Bible recorded three places Abram traveled over 25 years.

1. Egypt (Genesis 12:10-20).  Abram was 75 years old when God called him out of his homeland Ur (modern day Iraq–close to Kuwait border) and commanded him to go to the land of Palestine.   He traveled over 1,000 miles to Palestine.  There was a famine in the land.  He had to move.  He kept going south until he reached Egypt.  Note here that he was a foreigner (non-documented and even illegal in today’s terms) in the land of Egypt.  He had enough challenges, but the biggest trouble was that his wife Sarai was so beautiful that he was afraid the king in the land would kill him and snatch his wife.  So, Abram came up with a self-protection mechanism (v. 11- v.15); pre-meditated, well-planned-out, and mutually agreed between him and his wife: let’s call you my sister then they would not kill me.  Sarai his wife consented.   At first, it seemed working.  His life was spared, he was rewarded with lots of gifts, and Sarai was taken into Pharaoh’s palace to be his wife.  Later, before it got too late, God intervened and revealed the truth to Pharaoh.  This was Abram’s first lie.  Did he learn a lesson here?  Not really, because he repeats the same mistake twenty four years later.
2. Mamre (Genesis 18:1-15).  Move your time table 24 years.  Abram was 99 years old.  He was back in Palestine.  God appeared to him and gave new names to him and his wife—Abraham (Genesis 17:5) and Sarah (Genesis 17:15).  God also gave him a promise of a son by Sarah.  Later, God appeared to him again and reassured of the son by Sarah (Genesis 18:10).
3. Gerar (Genesis 20:1-18).  Two chapters later, Abraham was still 99 years and residing in Gerar (capital city of Philistines).  He was still a foreigner.  He faced the same challenge and the same fear—the fear of losing his life due to his beautiful wife.  So, he dug out the same old plan, self-protective action (v. 11-v. 13), pre-meditated and mutually agreed plan.  The old plan almost worked twenty four years ago in Egypt until God intervened.   Sarah condoned again.  The truth of the matter was she was indeed Abraham’s half-sister— the same father but different mother (Genesis 20:12).  Abraham was telling the half-truth.  He just hid that she was his wife.  The king of the land took Sarah to be his wife.  Once again God intervened.  This time Abraham learned a lesson: trust in the Lord, not in your own wisdom.

We would be gravely mistaken if we called Abraham a coward.  Rather, we can learn a lesson or two from his mistake and apply it to our lives.

Lessons

1. God always reveals the truth: nothing will stay hidden forever.  We’d better not believe that our lies will stay hidden forever.  Lies are never good for God’s children in the first place, and they never work, either.  Choose to tell the truth.
2. Lack of trust in God causes us to lie.  Consider Abraham’s case again.  When he first lied under the hostile circumstance in a foreign land, it is very understandable:  he was afraid to lose his life.  Perhaps, under the same condition, I would have lied, too.  But, when he did it again twenty four years later, that made me realize that Abraham lacked trust in God (for the same matter God tested him later: near sacrifice of his own son Isaac—Genesis 22).   He forgot that the LORD was his shield (Genesis 15:1).  Twice he lied because he was afraid of losing life.  Twice God convinced him that it was God who protected him from threats, not his own plan.   Had he chosen to tell the truth from the very beginning, I am convinced, God would have protected him.  Remember God’s way is always better than our ways.  His wisdom is far greater than ours.   What’s the lesson here?  Put trust in God every day in everything.  Learn to trust in God to avoid lies.  E.g.  In 1985, God helped me to secure my visa to America through honesty.
3. Family: parents, how do you help your kids to stay away from lying?  Do not choose the “fear of punishment” approach (e.g. my personal experience: the fears made me lie).  Rather, take the “assurance and love” approach.  Reason with them.  Explain the consequences of lies (that is, the disappointment to the parents).
4. Self: none of us may ever be completely free from lying.   However, when it happens, we repent and ask for forgiveness.   At the same time, to avoid more lying in the future, we can train ourselves to tell the truth and to describe things accurately without omitting.  We can also surround ourselves with trustworthy friends for accountability.  E.g.  When I was accepted to the Korean Air Force officers program by an administrator through an unsolicited practice of favoritism, a Christian friend gave me a verse in the Bible Psalm 84:11, which reads “For the Lord God is a sun and shield; The Lord gives grace and glory; No good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly.”   So, I ended up going to Army as a private and that helped the person who was wait-listed because of me to enroll.

Conclusion

Are you in a situation you feel you have to lie?  Don’t be afraid.  Trust in God and tell the truth.   God is your shield.  He will keep you and protect you.  No good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly.   Amen.

Today Pastor Choi talks about Jesus’ blessing of the children: permit them to come to Me and do not stop them (Mark 10:14).  Sharing his own experience in parenting, he exhorts the parents to keep eternal perspective and to remember the law of harvest in parenting.  Finally, he recommends the parents to bless children daily, equip them with God’s Word, and have family devotions in order to raise healthy and happy children in the Lord.

    Blessing of the Children

The following is a summary of his sermon:

Blessing of the Children

Mark 10:13-16  New American Standard Bible

¹³ And they were bringing children to Him so that He might touch them; but the disciples rebuked them. ¹⁴ But when Jesus saw this, He was indignant and said to them, “Permit the children to come to Me; do not hinder them; for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. ¹⁵ Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all.”  ¹⁶ And He took them in His arms and began blessing them, laying His hands on them.

• Think about it!   What Jesus did and said towards children were revolutionary in the first century standards in Israel.  Back then, children and women were not equal to men.  They were considered and treated as inferior to men in many aspects.  They were not even counted as individuals.  For instance, in a room, let’s say, there are 10 men, 10 women, and 10 children.  Today, the head count would be 30.  However, if someone counted back then, he would say 1o people besides women and children.  In fact, that’s how they counted the crowd in the time of Moses when the Israelites came out of Egypt (approximately 3,500 years ago).  That’s also how they counted the crowd when Jesus fed the multitudes with the five loaves and two fish—5,000 people.  Had women and children been counted, the number would have been at least 15,000.
• One thing is for sure.  Jesus was different.  He kept the children dear in His heart.   He loved them so much that when His own disciples shooed away the parents who brought their children to Jesus for blessing, He got indignant.  You don’t see Him often angry, but this time He got really upset.  I understand why the disciples rebuked the parents.  They believed that their master had no time to see the little ones.  There are so many other people to look after, not the children!   To such disciples Jesus said, “What are you doing?  Let the children come to me and do not stop them.”  In my imagination, I almost see His red face.  I almost hear His raised voice.  The message was clear.  Let the children come to me.
• The same Jesus still loves the children and welcomes them into His kingdom.  As Jesus said in today’s text, I expect to see a lot of children in God’s kingdom.  I also expect to see in our congregation a lot of adults who are child-like, not childish.  The child-like adults receive God’s kingdom like a child does—with simple trust and obedience, not with doubts or calculations.  Let me repeat Jesus’ warning: Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all (v. 15).
• Jesus commands us to welcome children in God’s house.   That’s why we as Christ’s body always welcome children.  So, next time, when you hear a baby crying in the middle of service, don’t get annoyed like the disciples did.  Rather, remember and thank Jesus that we still have children in our midst.  Children are always welcome in our midst.  Listen to what Jesus said: “Whoever receives one child like this in My name receives Me; and whoever receives Me does not receive Me, but Him who sent Me” (Mark 9:37, NASB).  By welcoming children among us, we welcome God among us.
• God also commands us not to cause little ones to stumble in their journey to Heaven.  Listen to Jesus again: “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe to stumble, it would be better for him if, with a heavy millstone hung around his neck, he had been cast into the sea” (Mark 9:42, NASB).   If we made the children sin against God by our poor examples, Jesus said, we would be better off dying than facing the consequences.   In other words, God will hold us accountable with what we have done with our children.
• This morning, we will briefly think about children and parenting.  If this topic doesn’t concern you, you can still pass along this message to the parents of young children.
• First, children are a gift from God.  God gave them to us.  We don’t own them.  They are precious, adorable, and wonderful.  They bring us joy, laughter, and sometimes tears and headaches.  With them we walk our life’s journey together.  Together we create wonderful memories with children.  We are the family.
• In family, parents take the crucial role: it is called parenting.  We are the caretakers of our children.  We are the stewards in whose hands God entrusts children.  It is our privilege as well as responsibility to raise them as children of God and as responsible citizens in our society.   In fact, the future of our society depends on your family: you and your child.
• I wish that parenting were a piece of cake.  Most of the time, it is rewarding, but sometimes, it gets challenging.  It is wonderful and horrible at times.   We all wish that each child were born with a customized manual, but they are not.   Don’t despair, though.  God can help you and so can the Church.
• Two things helped me in parenting: First, eternal perspective.  When you look at your child’s life through the lens of eternity, everything looks different.  You will realize that the life on earth is only the stepping stone to eternal life.  The goal of parenting would be different.  The means of parenting would change as well.  When you begin with eternal life in mind, you would realize that what you do here and now prepares your child for eternity.   Many of parents would say, I want my child to have a good education and enjoy a happy life, and so on, but those goals are all about the life here on earth.   What about their eternal life?   Therefore, ask questions like “What can I do to prepare my child to be in the presence of God forever?” “What do I want them to be like in the end?” or “What should be their first priority in life?”
• My wife and I wanted our child to be with Jesus in Heaven.  We always prayed that she would know God and that she would love God and her neighbors.  Once our priorities were set, we organized everything around the priorities and executed them.   E.g. Sunday morning sports vs. worship, no sleepovers on Saturdays.
• Next, the law of harvest.  We harvest what we sow.  We cannot harvest corn where we planted tomatoes.  My personal observation tells me that there’s a 20-year cycle.  What I sow today, I will harvest the fruit twenty years later.  Today I enjoy the fruit of my twenty years of investing my life in my child’s life.  Love and trust.  Fun and laughter.  Blessings and prayers.  I still plant today for the next twenty years of relationship with my child.
• Three things I recommend to the parents:
  • Pray:  lay hands on your child’s head and bless him/her in the name of the Lord.  Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and even Jesus did it.  This will instill security in your child’s heart.  This biblical practice is too good to miss.  Remember: who will pray and bless your child if you don’t?  E.g.  I used to do daily blessings for my daughter one in the morning and one at night.
  • Bible:  Equip your child with a life-long help: the Bible.  After all, it is a divine and supernatural means to help your child.  “Bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord” (Ephesian 6:4, NASB).   E.g. In my family, we chose an age appropriate Bible for our child to instill early in her heart a godly habit of getting into God’s Word.  Daily.  It would have been foolish of us if we had failed to do so.  Why?  Because, God’s Word will help our children to develop a life-long relationship with God.  It will equip them with a right understanding of people.  For instance, everyone is equal under God, no one is under or above others.  It will also help them to cultivate a healthy self-esteem in God.
  • Family Devotions: Have family devotions once a day after dinner.  Have everybody participate.   Read a short passage from the Bible.  Share joys and concerns, and pray together.  End the devotions with the Lord’s prayer.  It takes about 10 minutes.  You will be blessed beyond your imagination.  I will follow up on this topic next month.
• My blessings and prayers are with every family to raise a healthy and happy child in the Lord.    Amen.

Today Pastor Choi reminds God’s people of Christ’s Second Coming and God’s judgment.  Unlike His first coming (He came for the forgiveness of sin), this time Christ will come for the judgment of the world.   Based on the water judgment during Noah’s time, the sermon points out to the cause of divine judgment—the wickedness of humankind.   Pastor Choi also exhorts the congregation to be ready for the coming, to beware of the scoffers, to love fervently, and to pray for the salvation of family members.

    Water and Fire

Following is a summary of the sermon:

Water and Fire                                                                                      Genesis 6:5-8, 2 Peter 3:1-15

Genesis 6:5-8 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

⁵ Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. ⁶ The Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. ⁷ The Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them.” ⁸ But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.

2 Peter 3:1-15  New American Standard Bible (NASB)

This is now, beloved, the second letter I am writing to you in which I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, ² that you should remember the words spoken beforehand by the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior spoken by your apostles.

³ Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, ⁴ and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation.” ⁵ For when they maintain this, it escapes their notice that by the word of God the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and by water, ⁶ through which the world at that time was destroyed, being flooded with water. ⁷ But by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.

⁸ But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day. ⁹ The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.

¹⁰ But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.

¹¹ Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, ¹² looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat! ¹³ But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.

¹⁴ Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless, ¹⁵ and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation;

Introduction

One of Jesus’ promises that has yet to be fulfilled is His second coming.  “Surely I am coming soon,” said He (Revelation 22:20).  Yes, He will be back again one day, but this time, unlike His first coming, it won’t be for the forgiveness of sins, but for the judgment of the world (Hebrews 9:28—“²⁸ so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him.”

Although some of us don’t want to hear a sermon on God’s judgment or Jesus’ second coming, it is my duty as preacher to speak about it lest we forget.  After all, Jesus talked about it, so did all the apostles, and so should I.  By the way, if you think you hear too often such a sermon from me, think again.  I preach on this topic once a year.  That’s about my average: one out of about 45 sermons each year.  Wouldn’t you agree that this important topic deserves at least one sermon a year, if not more?

This morning we are going to think about God’s judgment and Jesus’ second coming.  Let me begin with the history of God’s judgment.  The first universal judgment of God recorded in the Bible fell upon humanity many years ago in the time of Noah.  We are familiar with the story of Noah and his Ark.  Some of us even watched the recent movie “Noah”—by the way, don’t believe everything the movie says about God and Noah.  Some of them are untrue:  “The film’s director Darron Aronofsky, even he’s described the movie as the least biblical film ever made…” (http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/noah-controversial-biblical-film-critcized-taking-liberties-23047843.)   Rather, read the whole story in the Bible—God’s authentic script.

Who was Noah?  He was the man who built a huge boat called an ark on top of a mountain.  The ark was huge—450 feet-long, 75 feet-wide, and 45 feet-high!  It was longer than a football field (360’ x 160’) and almost three-stories high.

Let’s not forget.  The ark wasn’t just for the sake of having fun with the animals!  That’s in the children’s storybook.  The real reason for it was that God wanted to have a fresh start with a new humanity after wiping off the old sinful humanity from the earth.   Do you know what brought down the water judgment to the old humanity?  The wickedness of man, the Bible says. “⁵ Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Genesis 6:5).  God was sorry that He made humanity and was grieved in His heart (Genesis 6:6).  The wickedness of man brought down the judgment on the earth.

I need to speak a little about God’s judgment.  Some of us don’t like the idea of God’s judgment claiming that God is the God of love.  But, that’s not the entire picture of God in the Bible.   Yes, the Bible indeed says that God is love and He loves the people in the world (John 3:16).  However, that’s only one part.  The other side of God is holy and righteous in whose presence no sin, wickedness or evil can stand (like no darkness is allowed in the presence of light).   We need to have the healthy balance of the both: love and judgment, grace and holiness, mercy and truth.

You may argue that in Noah’s time there must have been some good people who did some good that the world didn’t deserve to be punished.  I understand your reasoning.  However, you must remember that it is God who makes the judgment call, not we humans.  I would rather leave it to God who is the fairest of all and who knows what He is doing.  In my opinion, He makes the fairest judgment call.  If He says that He was grieved because the world was corrupt, and if He says that He would make an end of all flesh because of the violence that filled the earth (Genesis 6:11), who am I to say “no” to God?  After all, it was His creation and He owned them.  Whatever He does, I accept His judgment call as righteous and fair.  We may not like what He does, we may disagree with His criteria, we may even pray to change His mind, yet as far as the final decision is concerned, it rests with Him.

So, when the wickedness of man became too much for God, He decided to blot out any trace of evil and wickedness with water: by sending rain for forty days that resulted in a universal flood.  He only saved Noah and his family (all together eight) along with all the animals (two of every kind—male and female, Genesis 6:19.  Compare Genesis 7:2, 3—seven pairs of clean animals, two pairs of unclean animals, and seven pairs of birds).  The rest of the world all drowned.  None survived the flood except the ark and those in it.  Why were Noah and his family spared from the water judgment?  Because, the Bible says, he alone was righteous before God in his generation (Genesis 7:1).

I hope you begin to see the pattern of judgment—what causes it, who is spared, and who aren’t.  It began with the human sins/wickedness that covered the entire world.  It was so bad that God was sorry for His own creation.  It grieved Him very much.  God came up with a plan to fix the problem.  Only one way, He concluded, start anew.  So, that’s what He did with Noah’s family.  After the flood, God gave them a promise that He would not bring another water judgment to humanity.  As a token of His promise, He gave them the rainbow in the sky (Genesis 9:13-17).

Now, move the time table from Noah and enter the world of Jesus and His disciples, Paul and Peter.  Welcome to the first century.  Was humankind in the first century any better or morally improved than the people in the time of Noah?  Not really.  They were more or less the same, if not worse.  A wicked, adulterous, and sinful generation, Jesus called them (Matthew 12:39, Mark 8:38).  Paul the apostle picked up where Jesus left and continued in Romans 1:29-32 (NASB).   “ ²⁹ being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, ³⁰ slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, ³¹ without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; ³² and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.”

Now, fast forward the time 2000 years into the 21^st century.  What about now—the present world we are living in?  Are we any better than those folks in the first century?  I wish I could say so in a heartbeat.  But, I cannot.  I am afraid we are worse than they.  Here’s one example.   E.g. “The Guilty Go Free—-I saw it the other day.  It was in the paper.  You probably saw it also.  It wasn’t headline news, but it might have served a good purpose if it had been.  It read something like this: ‘Sensation hungry spectators, disappointed when a 19-year-old gas station attendant abandoned a suicide attempt, taunted him into jumping to his death from a 104-foot water tower Thursday.   A fire department official said the youth, Juergen Peters, climbed an iron ladder to the top of the tower and threatened to commit suicide following a dispute at the filling station where he worked.  He changed his mind and was climbing back down when the taunts began.  ‘Jump, you coward, jump!’ someone shouted from the crowd.  As Peters moved lower the taunts became louder.  He hesitated, looked at the crowd, then began to climb back to the top.  At the top he moved out on a parapet and flung himself off.”  (Don E. Wildman, March 1996).

I believe we are already living in the end times.  Perhaps, we are in the end of the end times.  Listen to Paul who prophesied what it is going to be like in the last days: “But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. ² For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, ³ unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, ⁴ treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, ⁵ holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power;”  (2 Timothy 3:1-5, NASB).

Once again, hold onto your urge to argue that the world is not as bad as the Bible says that deserves a divine judgment.  Let’s leave it to God.

Let me sum up how God’s judgment works: the wickedness of people and corruption of the world grieves God, which leads Him to a judgment.  The next judgment won’t come with water, but with fire.  In fact, that’s what Peter the apostle saw coming.  He says that there will be a judgment from God through fire against the ungodly.  Listen to 2 Peter 3: 6-7 (NASB): “the world at that time was destroyed, being flooded with water. ⁷ But by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.”

Applications:

Knowing all about the coming judgment, I would like to recommend us to do the following.

First, be ready for His coming (Matthew 24:36-44), for we don’t know when He is coming (Matthew 25:13).  Watch and pray (Matthew 24:42).  Two thoughts God gave to me in this regard: stay alert in prayer and do not be deceived by false prophets and false christs (Matthew 24:4, 24).  There will be many of them in the last days and we are already seeing some of them.

Next, beware of the scoffers.  Peter warns that some folks will make fun of us waiting for Jesus’ coming.   2 Peter 3:3-4, 8 says, “…in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, ⁴ and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation…. ⁸ But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day. ⁹ The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.”

Thirdly, love one another fervently.  Peter exhorts us as follows:  ⁷ The end of all things is near; therefore, be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer. ⁸ Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins (1 Peter 4:7-8).

Listen to Peter once again.  “ ¹¹ Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, ¹² looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat! ¹³ But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.

¹⁴ Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless, ¹⁵ and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation;” (2 Peter 3:11-15).

One last thing: be sure to pray for your family members to be included in salvation.  Pray fervently for their salvation.   E.g.  I pray daily for my family for 40 years.

Conclusion:

As far as the exact time and date go, no one knows except God and it is not for us to know (Acts 1:7).  But, I know it is getting closer.   We don’t have to panic about the coming judgment.  He is coming for us.  All we need to do is to prepare.  Like Noah was.  God promises to save the righteous like He did Noah.  You and I are righteous before God because of Jesus.  Mind you that the righteousness here is not our own, but that of Jesus.  Our righteousness is through the redemptive blood of Jesus Christ our Lord, not self-righteousness or a good moral life-style.  Never forget that.

John Wesley once was asked what he would do today if tomorrow would be the last day of the earth.  He said, “I will live as exactly as I did yesterday.”  He was ready.  Are you ready?

Amen.  

Today Pastor Choi talks about the nature of temptation.  Taking the story of Adam and Eve, he reminds the congregation that the devil always promotes his own agenda not our interests, that he is a liar and father of lies (John 8:44), and that his strategy is deception.  He urges the believers to submit themselves to God and resist the devil (James 4:7) not giving him any footing to tempt them.

Understanding Temptation

The following is a summary of the sermon:

Understanding Temptation       Genesis 3:1-24

Introduction

There are temptations galore.  As long as we live in our physical bodies, we will live with a variety of temptations: physical, emotional, and spiritual.   We all wish that we were mighty strong when it comes down to resisting temptations.  Like Jesus was.  Like Joseph or Daniel.  Yet, we often find ourselves overcome by the temptations instead of overcoming them.  Even our forefather Adam and his wife Eve succumbed to their first temptation.

Contents

One question arises: Why did Eve yield to the temptation so easily?  Where was her fight to resist the temptation?  Where was Adam when she needed him the most?  He could’ve assisted her not to listen to the tempter.   After all, why did he not stop her from eating the forbidden fruit?

By the way, I was always curious to know where Adam was when Eve was tempted.  My research reveals that at the time of Eve’s temptation, Adam was beside her.  The Bible doesn’t say how close he was to her, but it says he was with her: “She took the fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate (v. 6).”  In other words, I can safely say that Eve wasn’t alone when she was approached by the serpent.  In my opinion, it is highly likely that Adam was at her side and condoned his wife’s action and participated in the act of disobedience to God.

Another point to consider: the temptation was coming.  In other words, it was not out-of-the-blue.  It was rather a deliberate attempt carefully made by the serpent after a prolonged observation on Adam and Eve’s behavioral patterns.  Let me elaborate what I mean by that.  The tempter, in the shape of serpent, was cunning, the most cunning creature among all God’s creation (v. 1).  So cunning that he carefully studied and contemplated the best way to carry out his scheme.  He observed what Adam and Eve did in the past, made a chart, analyzed, and came to the conclusion that they were curious about this tree and very interested in the fruit.  Therefore, the best way to lure them into the snare was the same “forbidden” fruit—the tree of knowledge.

In fact, hovering around the tree was what Adam and Eve must have done before the day of temptation.  Here’s why I believe so.  In Genesis 2:16-17 God commanded Adam not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  If he did, God said, he would surely die.  Now, most of us understand what it’s like to be told not to do something.  At first, we pay attention to the warning.  We are careful not to do as we are told.  Then, as time goes by, our self-control wears out, our curiosity grows, we get itchy to try it against the warning.  E.g.  A child is warned not to eat candy before dinner.  Her craving for the candy grows stronger.  E.g. 2.  When I was a child, I was warned not to play with the fire.  Then, I wanted to play with it more!  E.g. 3.  Remember Pandora’s box?  She was warned not to open it but her curiosity overcame her self-control and she eventually opened it.

The same idea must have worked here.  Adam and Eve knew which tree God forbade them eating from.  However, like us, they must have been very curious and itchy to try it!  So, imagine this.  When they walked by the tree, at first they just glanced at it.  Next time, they went a little closer to the tree and took a closer look, and so on.  As long as they didn’t eat it, they thought, it was alright.  They might have repeated this behavior scores of times before the temptation.

Enter now the deceiver, the serpent, in the picture.  The cunning creature watched and observed the behavioral pattern of Adam and Eve.  In fact, he’d been looking for a way to mess up the purpose and the order in God’s creation.  What was God’s purpose?  It was to have a loving relationship with Adam and Eve.  What was God’s creation order?  He remains the Creator and Adam and Eve remain the created.  The boundaries between the Creator and the creatures were set by His command to them: you can eat all things in the garden but this one (Genesis 2:17).  The serpent wanted to change that.  He wanted to destroy the covenantal relationship between God and the first couple.  He wanted to undermine the creation order by challenging God’s command.  And, he finally figured it out!   The tree!  The forbidden fruit!  Let it be the bait!

So, one day, the tempter in the form of serpent approached Eve first who might have shown the stronger interest and desire than Adam.  Or, more likely, the serpent chose her the more vulnerable target because she didn’t receive God’s warning directly.  She received it second-handedly from Adam not from God.  Adam was the one who received a direct warning from God.  The serpent began seducing Eve with a question, “Did God really say that you must not eat from any tree in the garden?”

I think it is appropriate here to talk about the tempter, the devil.

First, the devil always promotes his own interest never yours.  In the story, his true motive was not the benefit of Eve or Adam.  When he threw the question at Eve, he was not promoting the happiness of the couple.  No, that was the last thing in his mind.  In fact, he was the least interested in their gaining the knowledge of good and evil.  Rather, he was promoting his own agenda.  What was his agenda, then?  To disrupt the harmony and order in God’s kingdom and His creation.  He wanted Adam and Eve to do what he wanted to do.  That was, to disobey God.

Next, by nature Satan is a liar and deceiver.  In the garden, he brazenly contradicted what God said.  God said to Adam that he would surely die when he disobeyed God’s command.   Satan contradicted saying, no, you shall surely not die (v. 4)!  That’s a blatant attempt to make God a liar!  Who’s the liar, here?  The tempter, the serpent, Satan.  Jesus says Satan is a liar and the father of lies (John 8:44).  Everything Satan says is a lie, therefore, it always contradicts everything God says which is the truth.

Thirdly, beware of Satan’s strategy: deception.  When confronted by God, Eve said, it is the serpent who beguiled me (v. 13).  Basically, she was saying, the serpent talked me into it and I ate!   I looked up the definition of Hebrew word “beguile,” it means to deceive someone or make somebody believe what is not true in order to get what you want.  Eve and Adam fell for the deception believing that the tempter was helping them when actually he was hurting them big time.  Remember: whenever you are tempted, you are dealing with the deception.  It may look great at first, it may even seem promising.  Beware of the outcome.  It’s always bitter and empty.

Applications

What lessons can we learn from today’s story?

First, beware of the tempter.  Behind every temptation, there’s the tempter.  He is the most cunning creature of all.  He is a liar and father of all lies.  Never believe that he promotes your good.  It is always the other way around.  He never helps you, but always hurts you in the end.

Next, don’t allow your enemy to gain a foothold in your life.   Adam and Eve should’ve never hovered around the tree.  Ravi Zacharias said, “It is better to shun the bait than to struggle in the snare.”  Don’t go near the hook, or Satan will observe your pattern and deceive you with an irresistible temptation.

E.g. If you have a habit of watching TV, especially Saturday night, then the devil can prompt a thought in your heart at midnight to watch a late night movie.  After watching it, around 2 a.m., you go to bed, and can’t get up early the next morning for church.  The devil achieved his goal to keep you from worshiping the Lord.

E.g. 2. The sermon just started and Satan prompted a thought in your heart.  Soon, a train of thoughts led you astray for the next five minutes and by the time you came back to the sermon, you lost the track and didn’t get much out of it and wished the pastor to end it soon.  Satan achieved his goal of snatching God’s Word from being planted in your heart.  When this happens again next time, shake it off right away.  Don’t allow it to lead you astray, or Satan will keep using that strategy on you.

E.g. 3.  Same with the way you handle your anger.  When it comes down to handle your frustrations, if you often go to violence instead of obeying God’s command, Satan observes the pattern and prompts the angry thoughts which will drive you into violence.

There are many other examples.  The bottom-line is: don’t give any chance to your enemy to tempt you.

We must remember why Adam and Eve couldn’t resist the temptation even after God in no uncertain terms warned them not to eat the forbidden fruit.  Their fall started with their curiosity.  They first allowed then contemplated the thought of trying the forbidden fruit and later their behavioral pattern gave away their interest to the enemy.   That invited in the tempter.  Likewise, when we are saturated with desires to do something that God forbids, God’s warning becomes powerless and we become an easy target of the tempter.

Conclusion

Whatever temptations you face now, don’t let Satan tempt you.  Submit yourself to God.  Resist the devil and he will flee from you (James 4:7).  Don’t give him any footing to tempt you.  Stop visiting the area where you are tempted.  Stop hovering over it.   Stay away from it.  Take your vulnerable areas to God and ask for His help.  He will help you out (1 Corinthians 10:13).  Amen.

Today Pastor Choi informs the audience what the Word of God, the Bible, says about creation: Who created the universe and everything in it?  Based on his study of the Bible, he presents the following: 1. God makes an exclusive claim that it is He, no one else, who created the entire universe and all creatures in it.  2. A cloud of witnesses testify to the truth that God created the universe and everything in it.  3. The same God expects and commands God’s children to declare the same in worship and in faith.  At the end, Pastor Choi urges the audience to make up their minds in believing God’s creation.

   In the Beginning

Following is a summary of the sermon:

Genesis 1:1          New American Standard Bible (NASB)

The Creation

1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

Introduction

I was born and raised in South Korea.   I wasn’t a Christian until I was 17.  I was educated in the public school system.  I still remember the first time I was ever exposed to the evolution theory—in high school biology class.  The textbook presented Darwin’s hypothesis on how all living things might have been evolved from one single living organism.

In the same textbook, no other theory besides Darwin’s was introduced.  Just the evolution theory.  Its argument was convincing.  Showing a few pictures of embryos of different species such as fish, frog, bird, ape, human and so forth, especially in the very early stage, let’s say, a week or two weeks old ones, it pointed out that they look very much alike.  Then, it deduced a theory that all these species share the common origin (otherwise, they wouldn’t look alike)—they come from the same parent—very likely from one single simple life form—amoeba!  Over the next millions of years through natural selection, it argued, that simple life form evolved into more complicated life forms and branched out into many different life forms that make up the present world of plants, animals, and humans.

I must say, it was an interesting theory, and I was impressed.  Then, I became a believer in Christ and started reading the Bible.  Of course, right in the first page, Genesis 1:1 says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”  I never doubted that God has created all the creatures in every kind.  Not that my faith was strong, but I just believed what the Bible says about creation.

Contents

Over the years, I always had a puzzling question in my mind regarding creation: Why is it so hard for some believers in the Church to believe as I do?  That God has created the entire universe (heavens, earth) and everything in it including humans.

There can be several answers to the question, but the following three come to my mind:

1.  Some folks don’t believe that God has created all things, because they follow the crowd: they blindly follow the crowd in the world without a critical thinking.  Since many believe in evolution, they reason, let’s go with the crowd.
2. Some other folks, claiming that they are “scientifically minded,” don’t believe in God’s creation.   They rather believe in evolution.  They follow the arguments based on scientific discoveries establishing their own convictions on tangible, concrete, and visible evidence such as fossils, bones, skeletons, and even DNA.
3.  Other folks doubt that God has created them all, because they are ignorant of the Word of God (the Bible).  They don’t read the Bible.  Neither they study or research this topic looking into the Bible.  They doubt God’s power.  Based on a few negative comments they heard on creationism (such as how can God create everything in six days?  It is impossible! Or, the age of the earth is billions of years according to science, yet, why some scholars say a few thousand years—unbelievable!), they reject God’s claims on creation in the Bible.

My intention this morning is not to prove how wrong the evolution theory is but to educate and inform God’s people of what the Bible says about creation: Who created the universe and everything in it?  I pray that the Lord would open your heart and mind to listen to the Word of God the Bible on this subject.

What does the Bible say about creation?

The following three things:

1. It is God, no one else, who created everything in the world for His glory and by His will.  God makes an exclusive claim on that.  For instance, in Isaiah 45:8, God declares, “I have created it.”  In Job 38:4, He declares to Job, “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?”  The Bible repeatedly says that God created all the creatures for His pleasure and for His glory (Isaiah 43:7, Colossians 1:16).

In fact, there are scores of references on God’s creation: from the very first page of the Bible (Genesis 1) to the last page (Revelation 22).  He created light and darkness (Isaiah 45:7), heavens and earth (Genesis 1:1), waters (Genesis 1:9-10), vegetation/plants/trees (Genesis 1:11-12), sun/moon/stars (Genesis 1:15-18), sea creatures (Genesis 1:21-22), animals and humans (Genesis 1:23-30) and so forth.

God’s exclusive claim on creation also shows in His title: God has many titles such as God (El), LORD (Yahweh–YHWH), Yahweh Jireh (the LORD who provides), Yahweh Rapha (the LORD who heals), God the Almighty (El-Shaddai), God the LORD, God Most High (El-Elyon), LORD of hosts (Yahweh Zebaot), and so forth.  Here’s one more title that He never intends to share with any other gods: Creator (הקֹנֵ֖) of Heaven and Earth (Genesis 14:19, 22).

One more note: There are three Hebrew verbs that are used in the context of God’s creation: אבָּרָ֣ (create), השֶׂ֥עֲ (make) and הקֹנֵ֖ (possess, buy, acquire—God originated and created heaven and earth, therefore, He owns them.  E.g. Like an inventor who has 100% right to his inventions).  These three words leave no room for any speculation that we are a product of random chance/accident.  Indeed, we are created by God for God’s glory.  We are connected to the Creator and we owe our life and existence to Him.

2. There’s a cloud of witnesses who would testify to the same truth that God created them all.  In the Old Testament, we have Melchizedek the King of Salem and Abram (not Abraham yet) who called God Most High Creator of Heaven and Earth—Genesis 14:19,22.  Prophet Isaiah declared, “God created them all, brings out their host and numbers them, calling them all by name” (Isaiah 40:26).  Another prophet Malachi said, “Did not one God create us?” (Malachi 2:10)  King Solomon even once said, “Remember your creator” (Ecclesiastes 12:1).

In the New Testament, our Lord Jesus said, “In the beginning of the creation, God made them male and female” (Mark 10:6).   Apostle John said in Revelation 10:6, “God created heaven, the earth, and the sea, and what’s in them.”  Paul the apostle said, “God created all things” (Ephesians 3:9).  I didn’t even mention angels and countless believers.  Every single one of these witnesses would testify even to the point of death that it is indeed God who created everything in the universe.   For thousands of years, all God’s people consistently and faithfully shared the same conviction.

This time, let’s consider witnesses for evolution: Charles Darwin, Thomas Henry Huxley (a.k.a. Darwin’s Bulldog), communists, atheists, many scientists, naturalists (nothing beyond what you see), and people in academia.  These witnesses are not comparable to the witnesses for God’s creation for the following reasons: They can change their theories and convictions any time whenever new evidence comes out.  Next, the evolution theory has been around only 150 years.  Who knows how long it will last?  Finally, I am not sure how many of the followers would risk their own lives for their beliefs.

3. God expects/commands us His followers to declare in worship and in faith that He is indeed the Creator of all.  In Revelation 4:11, we witness the heavenly worship where four living creatures (angels with six wings) and twenty-four elders fall before God, cast their crowns before the throne, saying, “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things….”

Based on these three discoveries in the Word of God, I am more convinced than ever before that it is God who created everything in the world.  We are God’s creation with purpose: He wants us to enjoy Him and to bring glory to Him through our lives.

Make up Your Mind

It is time that we made up our minds.  It is time that we stopped being double-minded in following God’s truth on creation.  It is time that we stopped kidding ourselves.  It is time that we stopped standing on both fences.  It is about time that we paid a serious attention to God’s claims on creation.

I made up my mind this way: I do believe that God has created all things with purpose and by His will.  I do believe so, not because of all the evidence but because of the integrity of all the witnesses and because of the authority of God’s Word.  I believe in God’s creation because I believe in God who never lies.  I believe in God’s creation because of the Word of God, the never-changing truth.

As much as I believe in Jesus’ redemption, I do believe in God’s creation.  As much as I believe in Jesus’ resurrection, I do believe in God’s creation.  As much as I believe in God’s love, I also believe in His creation.  As much as I believe in eternal life, I do believe in God’s creation.  As much as I believe in Heaven, I do believe in God’s creation.

Conclusion             

Ask yourself: Does God ever lie?  (That’s one thing God cannot do).

Is the Bible the Word of God to you?  If so, believe His claims on creation.  Believe that He created the universe and everything in it especially you for His glory and honor.  He has a purpose for you.  You are not an accident or a by-product of evolution.  You are God’s child.  You are wonderfully and fearfully created by God.  He originated you, created you, and therefore, He declares to you, “You are Mine!”  He knows you and calls you by name.  You’re God’s creation.  Give Him the glory.

Let us pray.

Today Pastor Choi continues his series on gratitude.  After recapping his past three sermons, he points out three blessings of being thankful: Christ’s peace, effective prayers, and God’s deliverances.  He exhorts God’s people to stay thankful so that they may be in the will of God.

     Three Blessings Not to Miss

Following is a summary of his sermon:

Three Blessings Not to Miss                         1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18    New American Standard Bible (NASB)

¹⁶ Rejoice always; ¹⁷ pray without ceasing; ¹⁸ in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

Introduction

Let’s read 1 Thessalonians 5:18 (bolded in bulletin) one more time in unison:  ¹⁸ in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.  

We cannot be in the will of God without giving thanks.   Anyone who wants to be in the will of God must be thankful.   If we are not thankful for whatever reason, we are not in the will of God.  To be thankful is also a command of God. That means if we are not thankful, we are disobedient to God.  Anyone who wants to be obedient to God must master and practice it all the time: be thankful in all circumstances.

I would like to recap the messages I preached so far on gratitude. First, I made a distinction between the two words ‘thankful’ and ‘grateful’: grateful is to be appreciative of something good that happened.  Thankful covers more: it is an intentional act of trusting God even in adversity.

Next, I talked about what helps us to stay thankful: worship.  Worship is the key to staying thankful because it shifts our focus from ourselves to God.  Even when we have nothing to be grateful for in our lives, in worship we can remain thankful for God’s attributes—that God is good; His mercies endure forever; His faithfulness lasts from generation to generation.

Last time, I talked about ten lepers who were all healed by Jesus.  Only one came back to Jesus to thank.  The lesson for us is not to put off the opportunity of giving thanks both to God and to people.

Today, I am going to talk about three blessings that we will miss out on if we are not thankful.

In our Methodist teachings, we believe in two means of God’s grace: that is, two ways/channels through which God’s blessings flow unto us.  We call those ‘means of grace’ sacraments. There are two sacraments: baptism and the Lord’s Supper (communion).  Each time we partake in these sacraments, we are blessed.

Personally, there’s one more sacrament.  You may want to call it a personal means of God’s grace.  A personal way of receiving God’s blessings.  It is thanksgiving.  If I don’t do this, I miss out on God’s blessings that are lavishly poured out unto me.  My lack of thankfulness, in fact, blocks the flow of divine grace in my life: like the lid of a cup would keep the water from freely flowing into the cup.  Now, if you agree with me so far, then we can proceed.

Contents

In the Scripture, I can identify three blessings that we will miss out on if we are not thankful in any circumstances.  They are: the peace of Christ, effective prayers, and God’s miracles.  Let’s think about them one by one.

Christ’s peace

Colossians 3:15-17   New American Standard Bible (NASB)

¹⁵ Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful. ¹⁶ Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. ¹⁷ Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.

Look at verse 15.  Thankfulness is equal to the peace of Christ in our heart.  Giving thanks is the foundation of God’s peace.  No thanksgiving means no peace.  Please note here that Paul the apostle is not merely talking about any kind of peace (not human peace, not the world’s peace, nor the peace money can buy), but Christ’s peace.  The peace that only Christ can give.  The peace that the world cannot give, understand, or take away.  God’s promise of such peace is given to those who are thankful.  Please note here in verse 15 the semi-colon ‘;’ between the two sentences: in Greek grammar, by separating the two sentences with the semi-colon, the author further explains in the second sentence what he means in the previous sentence.  In other words, the preceding sentence is not complete without the following sentence.  Sometimes, the author repeats the same thing twice in a different way to emphasize the point.

Here, the apostle tells us that without the second sentence we cannot have the first sentence and vice versa.  In other words, only those who are thankful in all circumstances can have the peace of Christ and only Christ’s peace helps us to be thankful even in bad circumstances.  Please also note here that Christ’s peace is a gift from God to which we are called.  God has called every child of God to receive this gift of peace in their hearts.  It is God’s will for us to have it, keep it, and use it as an umpire to rule in whatever we do and say.

I am sure every one of us wants that peace of Christ to dwell in our hearts: the peace that surpasses all understanding and the peace that transcends all circumstances.  How can we have it?  By being thankful.   E.g.  Before my college entrance exam, my heart was in turmoil until one night God flooded it with thankfulness.  For the next two weeks until the day of exam, I was in total peace.

Experiment with the following this week: Try to be unthankful (or even grumpy) all week-long and see if you can still have Christ’s peace in your heart.  I bet you can’t.  On the other hand, try this one, too.  Try to be thankful in everything this week, and see if you have God’s peace in you all the time.  I bet you will.  Let’s move on.

Effective Prayers

Philippians 4:6-7    New American Standard Bible (NASB)

⁶ Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. ⁷ And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Thankfulness is a key to effective and answered prayers.  If you want to enhance your prayer life, bring your requests to God in thanksgiving.

Look at verse 6.  What’s the best antidote to your spiritual infection called “worries”?  It’s prayer.  People of God have tried this medicine for thousands of years and proved it works.  Prayer cures/kills our worries.  In fact, Christ commands us to regularly practice two things as a means of curing our worries: prayers (for self) and supplications (for others).

Let me share with you a secret of prayer that would make your prayers and petitions far more effective than before.  That is, “Wrap them up with thanksgiving.”  In other words, present your prayers with thanksgiving.  Many of us, when we pray, bring our requests to God like a shopping list.  We ask Him, “God, please do this and that for me.  Amen.”  How about wrapping them up or “sandwiching” them with thanksgiving?  Why don’t we begin our prayers with words of thanks for what God has done for us and our family?  E.g.  One night I decided to pray differently than usual.  So, I started with thanksgiving for all the things God has done for me in my entire life.  It was a long list for over 50 years of life.  For the next hour, I was totally immersed in thanksgiving and my heart was overflowing with gratitude.  My soul was in heaven.  By the time I wanted to bring my prayer list, I didn’t have to.  I felt God already heard and knew what I needed.

One more point here on supplications: when you make a plea on behalf of your loved ones (especially prodigal ones), do not intercede against them.  In other words, do not start the prayer like this: “Lord, my son has been very bad, you know.  He hurt so many people.”  Instead, intercede with thanksgiving.   Begin with one thing or two that you are thankful for him no matter how small they may be: like, “Lord, it’s been a while since I heard from my son, but he called me once on Mother’s Day long time ago, and I am still grateful for that.” Then, move onto your petitions.  The point is to wrap up your prayers and petitions with thanksgiving.  You will see the difference.

Here’s another thing you can try this week: Whenever you pray to God, wrap up your requests with thanksgiving.  See what happens.

God’s deliverances

Psalm 50:23    New American Standard Bible (NASB)

²³ “He who offers a sacrifice of thanksgiving honors Me;
And to him who orders his way aright
I shall show the salvation of God.”

Once again, here we see giving thanks to God is directly related to God’s deliverance.  When you thank God, it prepares the way of God’s salvation for you.   Thankfulness precedes God’s deliverance.  Do you want God to rescue you from troubles?  Do you want God’s miracles in your life?  Then, offer your thanksgiving to God.  Thanksgiving is like cleaning your living room before you invite the President of the U.S.A. to your house.  Do your part of being thankful and God will do His part of delivering you from your troubles.

Here are a couple of people who have experienced that: Jonah and Jesus.

First, Jonah.  He was stuck in the belly of the big fish in a complete darkness and covered with salt water and seaweed.  He stayed there three days.  He was miserable.  Read Jonah chapter 2: in verse 9, he thanked God in the midst of his misery and in verse 10, immediately; the fish spat him out onto the dry land!  His thanksgiving paved the path for salvation.

Jonah 2     New American Standard Bible (NASB)

Jonah’s Prayer

1. Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the stomach of the fish, ² and he said,
2. “I called out of my distress to the Lord,
                 And He answered me.
   …
             9        But I will sacrifice to You
                 With the voice of thanksgiving.
                 That which I have vowed I will pay.
                 Salvation is from the Lord.”

1.      Then the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah up onto the dry land.

The other person who experienced God’s miracle after thanksgiving was Jesus: He fed 5000 people with five loaves and two fish.

John 6:11 ¹¹ Jesus then took the loaves, and having given thanks, He distributed to those who were seated;

Notice the sequence of actions: Jesus took the bread, gave thanks, and then God’s miracle happened.  You will see over and over again God’s miracles done this way: thanksgiving followed by deliverance.

Conclusion

Do you want to be thankful?  Then, do not rely on your feelings, because they may never come.  Rather, learn to use your will power to be thankful to God in all circumstances.  Begin with small thanks and do it more often every day until it becomes a part of you.  Practice makes perfect.

Why thankful?  Because it prepares the way to have Christ’s peace, effective prayers, and God’s miracles.

Be thankful in all circumstances.  It is God’s will for you.

Amen.

Today’s sermon is a patriotic celebration of those things that make America unique such as our Revolution and the God-given principles of Liberty and Equality This sermon was developed from material graciously provided by the producers of the movie America, Gerald Molen, the Academy-award winning producer of Schindler’s List, and Dinesh D’Souza, the creator of 2016: Obama’s America.

• America: A Celebration of Liberty

Summary:

The writings of some of the founding fathers shows that they were God-fearing men and created a nation based on the self-evident truths of God. As Thomas Jefferson wrote in the opening of the Declaration of Independence:

―We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Everything about America seems to have been touched by God. Unlike most revolutions, instead of bringing economic disaster, inequality, and tyranny, the American revolution brought liberty, equality, and greater rights to all citizens such as was unheard of in the known world of the time.

These truths were “self-evident” because they are the eternal, inerrant truths of God. Liberty is the freedom to choose but, more importantly, the God-given power of the Holy Spirit to choose right, not for selfish pursuits but to serve one another, humbly, in love. Equality, which means that all persons are treated the same in the eyes of the law, in the eyes of each other, and in the eyes of God.

We have much to be proud of and our great country deserves our patriotism. Let’s each do what we can individually and together to stand up for righteousness. As Alexis de Tocqueville said, “Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits aflame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power. America is great because she is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, she will cease to be great.”

In today’s sermon we look at what it means to receive a messenger. And when we receive a messenger, Jesus says that we receive the reward of a prophet when we receive a prophet and the reward of a righteous person when we receive a righteous person. But, most importantly, when we receive a messenger of God, we receive Jesus Christ, and when we receive Him, we receive the Father.

  ReceivingTheMessengers

Summary:

Matthew 1:40-42 (NKJV)

⁴⁰  “He who receives you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me. ⁴¹ He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward. And he who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man’s reward. ⁴² And whoever gives one of these little ones only a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple, assuredly, I say to you, he shall by no means lose his reward.”

In Matthew Chapter 10, Jesus gives the apostles their marching orders to go to the lost sheep of Israel and proclaim that the kingdom is at hand. As they go, they are to take nothing with them, minister to the people, and, in turn, be ministered to. In each city they are to find someone worthy and, when they are received, give their hosts the apostle’s peace and stay with them till their work in the city is done. We look at Matthew 10:40-42 which is the end of the chapter. In these passages, Jesus tells us that those who receive an apostle receives Him, and those who receive Him, receive the Father. Also, those who receive a prophet receives a prophet’s reward, receive a righteous person and receive a righteous person’s reward, and receive a disciple and receive a disciple’s reward.

This sermon addresses some key questions that arise out of this passage. Who is “worthy” to have an apostle come into their house and enjoy their hospitality? What does it mean to “receive” an apostle? What is a prophet’s reward? A righteous person’s reward? A disciple’s reward? The reward in each case, is Jesus Christ. And who can be a messenger? A messenger is every believer. Every brother and sister who has put their faith in Christ, is then filled with the Holy Spirit who will lead them where they need to go and give them what they need to say. Give yourself up and let the Holy Spirit lead you to be the messenger that God has called you to be.

Today Pastor Choi urges the congregation to cultivate sensitivity to the Holy Spirit.  Using the example of Philip in Acts 8, he points out that God only works with those who are willing to do God’s will and with those who put their trust in the Lord one day at a time and one step at a time.

  Holy Spirit. Sensitivity

Following is a summary of his sermon: 

Holy Spirit: Sensitivity                                                            

 Acts 8:26-40     New American Standard Bible (NASB)

²⁶ But an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip saying, “Get up and go south to the road that descends from Jerusalem to Gaza.” (This is a desert road.) ²⁷ So he got up and went; and there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure; and he had come to Jerusalem to worship, ²⁸ and he was returning and sitting in his chariot, and was reading the prophet Isaiah.²⁹ Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go up and join this chariot.” ³⁰ Philip ran up and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet, and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?”³¹ And he said, “Well, how could I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. ³² Now the passage of Scripture which he was reading was this:

“He was led as a sheep to slaughter;
And as a lamb before its shearer is silent,
So He does not open His mouth.
³³ “In humiliation His judgment was taken away;
Who will relate His generation?
For His life is removed from the earth.”³⁴ The eunuch answered Philip and said, “Please tell me, of whom does the prophet say this?  Of himself or of someone else?” ³⁵ Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from this Scripture he preached Jesus to him. ³⁶ As they went along the road they came to some water; and the eunuch said, “Look! Water! What prevents me from being baptized?” ³⁷ [And Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” And he answered and said, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”] ³⁸ And he ordered the chariot to stop; and they both went down into the water, Philip as well as the eunuch, and he baptized him. ³⁹ When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; and the eunuch no longer saw him, but went on his way rejoicing. ⁴⁰ But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he passed through he kept preaching the gospel to all the cities until he came to Caesarea.

Introduction

There was a family who lived in New York City.  They were the Thomas’s: father, mother, and their kids.  The mother, Mrs. Thomas, stayed home taking care of the kids.  The father, Mr. Thomas, was the only bread earner in the family.  In fact, he was a pastor who ministered to the poorest of the poor in the City.  As you can see, the income he brought home was far from enough to feed the entire family.  Although the two oldest kids worked part time, it didn’t help the situation much.   Moreover, no one outside the family would support them on a regular basis.

Although the family was poor, they were never down.  One thing they always kept in their hearts was God’s promises in the Bible, especially Matthew 6:33 “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.”  They believed deep in their hearts that as long as their father served God in faith, and as long as they sought God’s kingdom first, their needs would be met according to God’s riches (Philippians 4:19).  Indeed, most of the time their needs were met timely, but sometimes their faith was tested.

One afternoon, as usual, the father was out busy working for the poor.  The mother found out that she had no bread for supper, not even for one person.  No money to buy bread, either.  She immediately went to the Lord in prayer, pouring out her heart to Him, “O, Lord, what shall I do? The kids are hungry, and we have no bread, let alone money to buy it.”  While she was waiting on the Lord in silence, she heard God speaking softly in her heart, saying, “Arise, go to the kitchen, and start cooking right now!  Fill the pot with water and put it on the stove.  And call out the children to the table!”  Wow!

Even though she couldn’t understand a bit why the Lord commanded so, she simply obeyed the voice of the Lord.  As the children were gathered around the dining table, while the water was boiling, she offered her words of grace, saying, “O heavenly Father, thank you for giving us our daily bread…”  Before she finished her grace, there was a knock at the door.  One of the boys ran toward the door to answer.  As soon as he opened the door, the family saw three gentlemen standing on the porch with grocery bags in their hands, six bags in total.  One of the strangers asked, “Is this Mr. Thomas’s residence?”  “Yes,” answered Mrs. Thomas in curiosity.  “Ma’am, this afternoon we were gathered together in my place for prayer,” said one of the men.  “While we were deep in prayers, all three of us heard God speaking to us urgently, ‘Hurry up!  Go to the supermarket, get some groceries, and go to Mr. Thomas’s residence, 123 Apple Street Apt. 1B.”  “We don’t fully understand what this is all about,” he continued, “but we brought some groceries to your family, and hope you can use them.”  That night the family had a feast with a grateful heart.

Contents

                The story shows us one thing that the family and the three men shared in common: sensitivity to the voice of the Holy Spirit.  When they both heard the voice of the Holy Spirit, they obeyed and experienced God’s miracles in their lives.  God worked with them because their hearts were trained to discern God’s voice and their minds were trained to obey God’s will.  That’s the topic I am going to talk about this morning: how to be sensitive to the voice of the Holy Spirit so that we may work with God. 

Sometimes we hear Christians claim that they indeed have heard the Lord speaking to them in such and such a manner.  Or, some would say, “The Holy Spirit spoke to me such and such...”  We should be very careful before we believe every single story or every detail of what they claim, but one thing is certain.  Only those who are sensitive to the voice of the Holy Spirit, or trained to discern it, can receive clear directions from the Spirit and therefore have the privilege to work with God.

In today’s passage, we see such a man who was well trained in discerning the voice of the Holy Spirit and ended up working for the Lord.  His name was Philip.  Every time the Spirit of God spoke to him, he knew right away that it was from God.  He didn’t have to spend the next seven days to figure out whether it was from God or not, because he was sensitive to the Holy Spirit.

Philip was one of the deacons in Jerusalem Church.  He was well known among the believers.  He served as one of the dynamic witnesses for Christ.  He worked with God because he was sensitive to the Spirit of God.  For instance, verse 26 reads, “Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Go south to the road – the desert road – that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.”  Also, in verse 29, it says, “The Spirit told Philip, “Go to that chariot and stay near it.”  Both times Philip was able to clearly hear the voice of the Holy Spirit and obeyed.  The result?  The Ethiopian eunuch and his household, later the entire kingdom of Ethiopia, came to know the Lord Jesus through the Gospel (the eunuch returned home and became an evangelist— Eusebius, W. Willimon, p. 72).  Many lives were touched and saved because of one believer who was sensitive to the voice of Spirit.

A question arises.  Does every believer in Jesus have such a keen sensitivity like Philip’s to the voice of the Holy Spirit?  I wish I could say yes, but the answer is ‘unfortunately not.’  Why?  Here’s why.  After we accepted Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, after we were born again, many of us remain spiritual babies—the babies who do not grow spiritually: many of us are not growing in the knowledge of the Lord.  Neither are we trained in discerning the voice of the Holy Spirit.  Consequently, God cannot use us or work with us, even though He wants to,…. like a chef cannot use a dull knife for cutting vegetables.

What keeps us from growing spiritually?  What keeps us from being sensitive to the voice of God?  In my humble opinion, the single most important reason for our inability to discern God’s voice is unwillingness to obey the Lord.  Many of us still live a life where we are in charge not God.  We are the king and queen not God.  Our will rules, not God’s.  That’s why we don’t hear God’s voice, even though God still reveals Himself through various ways (audibly, visibly, through our dreams or visions, and through our daily devotions).  When we don’t hear God’s voice, then we miss the opportunities to participate in God’s mighty works.

E. g.  One year I asked my adult Sunday school, which consisted of 12 students, saying, “Suppose God appears to you tonight in your dream and ask you to go to an inner city and minister to one of the lonely, dying AIDS patients.   How many of you are willing to go and minister to the patient?”  To my surprise, only two of them raised their hands.  The rest of them weren’t sure.  What surprised me more was a man’s response.  He said, “I would make sure if the dream is actually from God or not.”  Although I made it clear that it was from God, the man still wouldn’t go.  A good example of unwillingness to do God’s will.

Jesus says in John 7:17, “If anyone chooses to do God’s will, he will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own.”  If you want to know the truth and true God’s will for you, you need to be willing to do what God wants you to.  Do you want to know God’s will clearly?  Then get your heart ready with absolute obedience to God.  When your heart is ready to do God’s will, He will make known His will to you.  His clear guidance is revealed only to those who are ready to do His will.  And once God makes His will known, and then all that is left is to obey and do it.

Philip was one of them.  He was a man of obedience.  Whatever the Lord commanded him to do, he was ready to do it, and did it immediately.  For instance, look at verse 26.  “Go toward south (kata membrian), which also can be translated into at noon.  If that’s the case, God asked Philip to travel at noon.  And, if I were Philip, I would negotiate with God for another time or gently protest why I should go out into the desert in the middle of the day when the sun is extremely hot right above my head.  Yet, Philip never raised such questions but simply went out as he was told.

Another point I see in today’s passage is Philip trusted in the Lord even though he didn’t know what was ahead of him.  Consider the passage once again.  When the Lord spoke to Philip, He didn’t tell him everything ahead of him.  He didn’t say, “Hey Philip, this is what’s going to happen to you today.  Go south, and you will meet an Ethiopian eunuch.  You will find him reading the Prophet Isaiah.  He will invite you onto his chariot and you will explain to him the book of Isaiah.  After that, you will baptize him in the water, and I will take you back to Azotus.”  No, the Lord rather simply revealed His plan one thing at a time.  At first, He said, “Go to the desert road.”  And, when Philip arrived there, He spoke to him second time to run to the chariot and stay by it.  And, when he got there, the Lord gave him another direction.  This is the way the Lord leads us.  He leads us one step at a time, not showing the whole picture.  This is where our trust in the Lord comes in.  The Holy Spirit works with only those who put their trust in Him and obey one day at a time, and one step at a time.

Conclusion

              Today the Lord anxiously waits to work with His children.  He speaks to us through the Holy Spirit as He did to Philip.  He is ready.  You need to get yourself ready, too.  How?  By cultivating your sensitivity to the voice of the Spirit.   By training your senses to discern of God’s voice through the Holy Spirit (Hebrews 5:14).  By getting our hearts ready to do God’s will.  Cultivating sensitivity to the Spirit is a process, which means it takes time and practice.  So, we can start it today and as time goes by, we will get better each day.  The more we practice it, the more sensitive we will become to the guidance of the Spirit.  The less we do it, the less sensitive we will become.  May the Lord fill our church with such spiritually sensitive believers.

I am going to lead in prayer those folks who would like to live a life guided by the Holy Spirit.  Say after me the following prayer: “Lord, help me train my heart and mind to listen to Your voice.  I am ready to do your will.  I put my trust in You.  I know You will guide me into the right path.  Use me for your Kingdom.  In Jesus’ name I pray.  Amen.”

Today Pastor Choi talks about fatherhood.  Based on Peter Chin’s article, he begins his message with the reasons for a poor self-image of fatherhood among men today: the wrong assumption on “born perfect” and the bad influence from the media.  Then, presenting how God the perfect Father does His fathering for His children, he exhorts the earthly fathers to do the same: love your children by putting their interests first, know your children by spending time together, and instruct them with God’s Word.

Concerning Fatherhood

Following is a summary of his sermon:

Concerning Fatherhood

Ephesians 6:4  New American Standard Bible (NASB)

⁴ Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

Introduction

Happy Father’s Day!

The message this morning is for all dads present: dads in their 20s and dads in their 90s.  Dads who are raising kids at home and dads whose children are grown up.  It is for the adoptive/step/ biological fathers.  It is for every father.

It is also for the “perfect” fathers and the not-so-great fathers.  It is for the fathers who consider themselves “bad” or even “the worst” father in the world.  It is for all fathers who would like to grow mature.

My intention is not to remind us of what a lousy job we have done as fathers.  Rather, I would like to give all fathers a glimpse of hope; the hope of improvement in fathering no matter how old we are or no matter how a bad job we have done (parenting is not over until we die).  I also would like to encourage every father to do a better job and go on unto perfection (Hebrews 6:1).

Now, before I dig deeper, let me remind you that my message is for fathers not for children.  My heart goes out to those children who struggle with their not-so-great earthly fathers.   They may have a hard time getting along with their fathers.  Some of them may have not forgiven their “terrible” fathers yet.  Others may not talk to their dads at all.  I don’t have time today to cover the topic “how to get along with our hard-to-forgive dads,” however, be patient with me.  I may come back to that topic at a later time.

Contents

So, let me begin with a simple question to all dads: What kind of self-image do you have when it comes down to fatherhood?  Why do some of us fathers, if not many, carry a poor image or a mediocre image at best?

I think the answer comes from Peter Chin.  He points out a couple of sources of the poor image of fatherhood among men (Confessions of a Bad Dad, p. 52, Christianity Today, June 2014).

First, we carry the wrong assumption/understanding of “perfect” fathers.  We believe that some fathers out there were born with a natural aptitude to do a great job of fathering.  They are cut out for the job.  It comes naturally for them.  They do it with no sweat!   We think this way: Look!  Those “perfect” dads are always loving, they are cool all the time, everything seems under control in their homes, they never lose their tempers, they know all the right answers in every single situation, they are strong both physically and emotionally, they provide everything the family needs, and so on.  We feel somehow that those fathers were born with a genetic superiority, while we weren’t.  From their birth, they know it all (A to Z) in parenting, while we are clueless.

The second thing that contributes to our poor self-image of fatherhood is the influence in the world, particularly from the media.  Peter Chin continues, “On television, I watched Al Bundy from Married with Children.  Homer from the Simpsons, and Peter Griffin from Family Guy.  These fathers were bungling and lazy, oblivious and indifferent to the needs of their family.  They normalized mediocre fatherhood, creating the impression that these types of fathers were, by their nature, irrevocably incompetent.  Not only was there little possibility of improving as a father, but there was little need because nothing more was expected from a dad than to sit on the couch all day, a beer in one hand and a remote control in the other” (Ibid.)

These two factors (the wrong assumption of born perfect and bad example to follow) undercut any inclinations in us to grow as fathers, therefore, keep most fathers unmotivated in fathering.

So, if we want to be better dads, we need to alter our course and start going into the right direction.  We need to replace the wrong assumption about perfect dads with the right understanding about ourselves.

What is the right understanding, then?  No father is born perfect.  No father knows it all; no father is equipped so well with skills that he scores a bull’s eye in every parental duty from day one.  That means that you and I have hope.  Every father makes mistakes.  We all do.  Every father has room to grow.  No one is born perfect, yet all of us can grow mature and go on unto perfection in parenting.  Onward and upward.

Another part of the right understanding is this: growing as a father requires time and occasions.  No father learns about fathering instantaneously.  No father masters the knowledge by reading books only.  It takes time and occasions for us to grow mature in our relationship with our children.  E.g. Peter Chin shares his lesson on fathering through his wife’s cancer and treatments.  Before her diagnosis, he didn’t know much about fathering.  Thrown into daily parenting duty to help his wife, after the initial despair, he began to grow mature as a father.  He learned about cooking, doing dishes, cleaning, laundry, taking kids to school and activities, and so on.  By spending time with his kids, he began to know them better—their personalities and idiosyncrasies.  “In those nine months, I went from a terrible father to a good one, or at least a better one.  And it didn’t take all that much for this to happen, only my wife falling gravely ill.” He concludes, “I’m not sure anything less would have gotten the job done” (op. cit., p. 54).  Likewise, we need to welcome and embrace the time and occasions God provides for us to learn lessons for fathers, rather than avoiding or running away from them.

I talked about the bad influence from the world.  It is time that we turned to the good influence and the right role model.  For that purpose, let me introduce to you God the Father, who is a perfect parent for His children.  We earthly fathers can imitate Him in our parenting.  In fact, the Scripture reveals how God does His job as our loving dad so that we can model Him after.  At least a dozen ways, but I have condensed them into the following three:

First, God the Father loves His children (John 8:42).  What’s that mean ‘loving His children’?   Love never forces anyone, so it means God never forces His children to do anything against their own will and wishes.  The lesson for fathers is that we too never force our own will or plan for our children against their will.  If we do, we may provoke them to anger (Ephesians 6:4).  I am not saying that we should let our children do anything they want.  There are times that we should insist on certain things for their best interests (E.g. don’t play with the knife, brush your teeth before bed).  But, here I am talking about the danger of pursuing our parental dream against the child’s wish.  E.g. My experience with my child’s violin future.  Let’s always put the child’s best interest before ours.

Next, God the Father knows His children (John 10:15).  Every good father knows his children.  Not just about them, but of them.  Like the Heavenly Father knows of us through and through.  Do you know your children?  By the way, how do you get to know them? By spending time together, right?   Do you spend enough time with your children, with each of them?  E.g. Guess Mr. Warren Buffet promises a reward of $ 1 million each to 1,000 fathers who would spend 30 minutes every day with their children for the next 30 days.  I bet in no time he will spend $ 1 billion.  I am sure all of you would apply for the reward as well.  Let me tell you something.  Even though you don’t get $1 million after spending time with your children, you would get a far greater reward than money.  You know what that is?  A wonderful relationship with your children.  You cannot buy such a thing with money.  I bet there are some billionaires out there who would rather exchange their entire wealth for wonderful relationships with their children.  Know your children by spending time together.

Thirdly, God the Father instructs His children (John 12:49) and disciplines them in the way they should go.  So should we.  God gives His children His law, the Torah, the Bible and disciplines them in the fairest way.  So should we.  He provides with them the best tools for life, here on earth and the life beyond.  So should we.  If you, fathers, really love your children, you would make sure that they would take God’s Word seriously, more than anything in the world, and far more than education and money.

I have seen some Christian parents with all good intentions providing what they think their children need: education and some cash in the bank.  Sadly, however, many of them don’t include God’s Word in the list.  Here’s a thing:  if God the Father takes His Word very seriously, so should we.  From the very beginning of His relationship with humanity, He provided His commandments to Adam and Eve.  He did it with Noah.  He did it with Abraham.   He did it with Moses.  Jesus the Son also took God’s Word very seriously.  He said man cannot live by bread alone, but by the word of God that proceeds from His mouth.  Paul the Apostle said the same: bring up your children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord (Ephesians 6:4).  How much more should we emphasize the Word of God in our children’s life?

Do you want to be a good father to your children?  Introduce them to the Bible.  Instill in their hearts early on a habit of getting into God’s Word daily, and your children will forever appreciate it (by the way, you need to set the example first before them).  E.g. I am a father too.  The best thing I ever have done for my child is to introduce her to God’s Word, the source of wisdom, courage, insight, hope, love, assurance of salvation, and strength.  In times of need, she doesn’t need to rely on human wisdom and might, because she can tap into the divine resources.

Closing

Fathers, turn your hearts to your children (Luke 1:17), and your reward will be great.  What’s the reward?  A wonderful relationship with them.  When you turn your heart to them, your children also will turn their hearts to you.  Not the other way around.  You have to do your job first before you expect your children to do it.  My hope and prayer is this: all the fathers in our church enjoy such a wonderful relationship with their children.

Let us pray.

Today Pastor Choi explains the biblical meaning of confirmation.  It is more than just for the youth.  It is for all God’s children.  It is also a daily, on-going, life-long process of strengthening one’s faith in Jesus Christ.  It is a must for all believers so that they may not lose their salvation.  Every believer is called to work with God for daily confirmation both for their own sake as well as for the future generations.  They are encouraged to support their faith with virtue, knowledge, self-control, endurance, godliness, kindness, and charity.

Pass It On

Following is a summary of the sermon:

Pass It On                                            2 Peter 1:3-11

• The Christian’s Call and Election
• ³ His divine power has given us everything needed for life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. ⁴ Thus he has given us, through these things, his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may escape from the corruption that is in the world because of lust, and may become participants of the divine nature. ⁵ For this very reason, you must make every effort to support your faith with goodness, and goodness with knowledge, ⁶ and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with endurance, and endurance with godliness, ⁷ and godliness with mutualaffection, and mutual affection with love. ⁸ For if these things are yours and are increasing among you, they keep you from being ineffective and unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹ For anyone who lacks these things is short-sighted and blind, and is forgetful of the cleansing of past sins. ¹⁰ Therefore, brothers and sisters,be all the more eager to confirm your call and election, for if you do this, you will never stumble. ¹¹ For in this way, entry into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be richly provided for you.Introduction
• Today is Confirmation Sunday.  Four youths will be confirmed at the 11 a.m. service and will officially join as members of the United Methodist Church and of our congregation.  It is a great day for those who are confirmed after three months of lesson.  It is also a great day for us to welcome them as a part of Christ’s Body.  Please keep them in your prayers and care.
• Since I don’t do a message on confirmation often, I would like to take this opportunity to explain the biblical meaning of confirmation.  The Greek word for confirmation is bebaio/s.  It literally means to strengthen/verify/sustain.  So, confirmation in the Bible means a process to strengthen/sustain your faith.  Keep that in mind.
• It seems to me that there’s a wide spread misunderstanding, or myths, on confirmation among God’s people.  I can identify at least two.
• Myth 1: Confirmation is just for the youth.  Truth: It is for everyone.  God is in the confirmation business (1 Corinthians 1:8).  He has every child of His registered in it.  Even Jesus was in it (Hebrews 2:9, 18).  It is for those members in their 90s and it is also for the toddlers.  It is for the pastor and for the laity.   It is for the choir director and for the members in the choir.  It is for the youth and their leaders.  It is for the Sunday school teachers and students.  It is for the life-long members and for the beginners.  It is for you.  It is for me.  Everyone is in.
• Myth 2: Confirmation is a graduation from the Church.  Truth: It goes on life-time.  Like there’s no graduation from the Church, there’s no graduation from confirmation until we get to Heaven.  As long as you remain a follower of Christ, your confirmation continues until you pass onto the eternal life.   Confirmation doesn’t last only three months, or six months or a year.   It lasts a life-time.
• Reality Check: This notion of “done with the Church” is prevalent especially among the youth.  In my 24 years of ministry, I have confirmed about 50 youths so far.   Five of them (about 10%) are active within the Church beyond confirmation Sunday (Praise God for that!).  Sadly, however, the majority of them disappeared from my sight into the world.  Statistics say that those youth who leave the church after confirmation class are likely to come back when they are married and have children.  This means about 20 years of lost years in their lives!  That’s when as parents, they feel inadequate themselves to raise their children in a godly home, so they bring back their children to the Church.  Then, the cycle of confirmation, getting lost, and coming back repeats in the next generation.
• Of course, our God is very merciful and gracious to welcome them back anytime.   But in my opinion, this is unhealthy and a huge loss to the Kingdom of God, because we lose 20 years in their 20s and 30s—the most productive time in the believer’s life!  As long as this cycle continues, we cannot build strong Christian families who are dedicated to God’s Kingdom work.  I would like to see the reversal of this vicious cycle, and that begins with the right understanding of what confirmation is all about.  The right understanding comes from the Word of God, the Bible.  So, let’s listen to what it says about confirmation.Contents
• First, confirmation is a daily, on-going, and life-long process of getting to know who God is and what Jesus has done for us.  Confirmation Sunday is a beginning of our faith journey, not the end of it.  Yes, you get confirmed, you get a certificate for it, and become a full member of God’s Church, but it doesn’t mean that you have mastered the knowledge of God.  In fact, you’ve just started.  E.g.  Let’s say Sally just got a doctorate degree in biology.  That doesn’t mean that she doesn’t have to study anymore, because she got the highest academic degree in her field.  Rather, now she is equipped with and knows how to use all the tools, so she can start studying by herself.  Her life-long learning just begins.   So does your confirmation.   You never stop learning of God’s Kingdom and His salvation as long as you breathe.  The Scripture says, “God shall confirm you to the end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ” (NASB, 1 Corinthians 1:8).  He promises a thorough confirmation (through and through).  He starts confirming you today, and His eyes are already set on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Last Day.  You can count on His faithfulness.
• Next, confirmation is a must so that we may not lose our salvation.  It is like daily meals that would keep us healthy and strong.  It keeps us going strong and well-founded in our faith.  Peter the Apostle urges us to confirm our call and election from God (v. 10).  Why is it necessary for us to make every effort to confirm our call and election from God?  Because by doing so we pave the path and build steps to Heaven accessible both for us and for the future generations of believers (v. 11).
• Peter also points out that there’s a huge difference between those folks who keep confirming their call and election and those who don’t.  Those folks who confirm their call and election will be effective and fruitful in their walk with God (v. 8).  He also warns about those folks who don’t: they are near-sighted and blind (means don’t see the future—only wrapped up with the earthly life and don’t see what awaits us next after we die), and even forget of the cleansing of their past sins (v. 9).  Whoa.  Listen again.  Forgotten that they have been cleansed from their past sins.  Yes, if we neglect the on-going confirmation, the worst thing will happen to us.  What is it?  We may forget we have been cleansed from our sins.  We may forget we are sinners in need of forgiveness from our sins.  We may forget who has redeemed us from our sins.  We may even forget who Jesus is and what He has done for us on the cross.
• What’s the benefit of confirmation?  What happens when we are diligent in confirming our call and election from God?  It keeps us from being blind and near-sighted in our journey to Heaven.  It keeps us from forgetting that we were sinners and that Jesus redeemed us from God’s judgment by His own blood.  It keeps us from getting corrupt with worldly lust and evil desires (v. 4).  It keeps us pure and blameless until the Day of the Lord.  It keeps our life as believers rich and effective and fruitful that benefits everyone around us.  When we are diligently engaged in confirmation, it prepares our path to Heaven straight and strong.  It equips us to travel with confidence.  We will never stumble (v. 10).  It paves our road to Heaven solid.  No one wants to travel on an unpaved and muddy road, though.  Do you?  That leads me to the final point.
• The question is who’s going to do that job of confirmation for us.   “I will,” God says, “but, you have to work with Me, too.”  Like a coach promises the championship, yet, he asks for the commitment from the players.  God begins the confirmation and He will finish His good work for us.  However, in between, you need to work with Him.  It’s like God provides the daily bread, but you have to cook, eat, and clean yourself.  Nobody else will do it for you.  You’re called by God to self-confirmation that requires awareness and discipline.   Here’s why I say so.  Look at verse 10.  “Therefore, brothers and sisters,be all the more eager to confirm your call and election, for if you do this, you will never stumble.”  Here, Peter uses an imperative sentence to make effort, be eager, and be diligent to make sure your calling and election.  Who’s going to do the job?   You.  God will help you.  So will the Church.  So will the pastor.  But, eventually it is you who needs to work.  God provides all the materials you need for your eternal life and godliness (v. 3) to build up the steps to Heaven, but it is you who need to get on your knees and get your hands dirty to lay one brick at a time on your path to Heaven.
• Very briefly, Peter points out seven steps to Heaven’s door.  Seven things we need to ensure in our confirmation process.   They are: virtue (moral excellence, basically anything that is pleasing to the Lord).  Add knowledge to your moral excellence.  The knowledge here, of course, is the knowledge of Jesus Christ our Savior and Lord.  Therefore, we cannot neglect getting into the Word of God, the Bible, for this task.  Thirdly, add self-control to the knowledge.  Then, you add endurance/patience to the knowledge.  Then, add godliness to endurance.  Next, you add kindness to godliness.  And, on top of everything, you add charity, the divine love–agape.   Today, I don’t have time to expound on these seven steps in life-long confirmation, but you get the picture.Closing
• What is Confirmation?  It is a life-long process for God’s children not only to stay in salvation but also to pass on the message of salvation to the next generation.  You are in.  Let’s get on with it today.
• After the message:  Form rows of believers (those who have been a believer 50+, 30+, 10+, and the rest).  Ask them to lay a hand on the person’s shoulder before them.  Proclaim with me: “Lord Jesus.  I confirm your love for me today.  Thanks for loving me.  Thanks for choosing me.  Thanks for saving me from my sin.  Thanks for the eternal life.  I believe and confirm that the gospel message is true.  I pass it onto the next generation.  In the name of Jesus, I proclaim.”  Amen. 

   

On Sunday, May 11, Pastor Choi concluded his sermon series on Grow in Christlikeness.  So far, he talked about signs of growth in Christ such as love, humility, purity, honesty, and faith.  He added one more sign: Good works.  God has created us His children for good works and for the good of the world (Ephesians 2:10).  Any believer who claims to be a follower of Christ naturally demonstrates good works in their daily lives.

Good Works

Following is a summary of his sermon:

Grow in Christlikeness (6): Good Works

• Matthew 5:14-16    New American Standard Bible (NASB)
• ¹⁴ “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; ¹⁵ nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. ¹⁶ Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.
• Galatians 6:9-10    New American Standard Bible (NASB)
• ⁹ Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary. ¹⁰ So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith.

Introduction

Today I am completing my sermon series on “Growing in Christlikeness.”  Love, humility, purity, honesty, and faith are the marks of Christ’s believers, I said.   This morning I am going to talk about another sign of growth in Christ: good works.  Anyone who grows in Christ naturally demonstrates good works in their lives.

Growing up in Korea, I was educated in the public school system.  In middle school, we had a weekly moral lesson (or civic duties) class (not religious but based on the teachings of Confucius).  I still remember a few lessons that I learned such as honoring parents, respecting our teachers, obeying the government authorities, and so on.  “Do one thing good every day” was another one.  In those days, I just tried to do one thing good a day without asking the question why I needed to.  I simply followed the instructions from my teachers (reasoning ‘if it weren’t good, they wouldn’t teach me’).  40 some years later, though, after I ran into some biblical commands like today’s readings, I seriously began to look into good works asking why and what.

Contents

Definition of good works:

Before I dig deeper, let me define what I mean by good works:  Good works: kind acts to help others (Oxford Dictionary).  Good enough, but I like the one from the Bible better.  Good works are things that are excellent and profitable to everyone (Titus 3:8).  Such good works are pleasing to God in Heaven.

Why good works? 

I began with a question: why do we need good works?  After studying the Scriptures and after I prayed for God’s wisdom on the topic, I discovered three reasons.  Why good works?

First, good works are for our own good.  Everyone knows this: when we do acts of kindness for others, it always makes us feel good about ourselves, doesn’t it?  However, that’s not what I am talking about here.  To make us feel good about ourselves is not the reason why we strive to do what is good.  Here’s what I mean when I said, it is good for our own good: good works help us to stay away from doing bad things.  Good works prevent our selfish nature from further degenerating.

This is how it works.   When we do something good for others, it shifts our focus from ourselves to others.  It keeps us from living a self-centered life (of course, unless you do the good to promote your own image rather than serving others).  Good works also serve as a positive reinforcement in our moral life.  They work far better than, let’s say, doing nothing bad against others.  To me, doing nothing bad is a passive approach.

Imagine that you try to keep your boat floating in the middle of the ocean on the same spot.  Unless the boat is anchored, of course, before you know it, it will be pushed away by the waves.  The same principle applies to our moral condition both personally and corporately.  Left alone, like the boat in the ocean, our selfish nature will take us further away from God and our moral standards will degenerate by the worldly influences.  Good works, however, like an anchor, keep us from being drifted away from God.  Good works along with personal holiness are one of the best offenses against moral decay in our society (you heard of the expression before: the best offense is the best defense).  Good works are good for us.  They keep us close to God.

Next, good works are good for others around us.  No need to explain this one.  When we do something good for others, people benefit and profit from our deeds.  No one calls anything good if it hurts the people.  Good works always benefit the recipients.

Thirdly, and most importantly, good works are good for the Lord in Heaven.  If I used a little fancy word here, good works are for God’s glory.  When we the children of God do the good, it always pleases our Heavenly Father.  Do you know why God has created us?  He created us in Christ for good works and for the good of the world (Ephesians 2:10).  We have good works in our spiritual DNA.  God has given us a unique identity: the light and salt of the world.  He expects us to do good works in the world, like the inventor of light bulbs expects the bulbs to emit the light when plugged in.  As God has created the lights in the universe such as the Sun and the Moon, so has He created us to be the light to shine in the world we live in.

You are the light of the world (Matthew 5:14).  Ponder the phrase one more time: the light of the world.  We are the light that the world needs, the light the world cannot live without.  Imagine the Earth without the Sun.   It would remain in the complete darkness.  You don’t want to live in such a place.  (E.g. Michigan weather in one November—29 days out of 30 were overcast).   Likewise, without us, the world would be a much gloomy place where people would live in complete darkness.

Just remember: our good works are equal to God’s glory.  That’s why Jesus commands us to do the good so that people may praise our Heavenly Father when they see our good works: like you achieve something wonderful, it brings your parents glory and honor.   E.g. I remember my mother’s pride and joy when her two sons got into a prestigious college in Korea.

One reminder: good works are good for us but they are not about us.  Rather, it is about God.  They are for God’s glory.  Furthermore, we must remember that good works are not a condition for our salvation.  We don’t strive to do the good to be saved.  On the contrary, no matter how moral we are, no matter how many times we do what is good for people, good works alone will never get us into Heaven.  Theologically speaking, no human merits would guarantee our place before God’s eternal presence.  No one can boast about their own merits/goodness for salvation before God (Ephesians 2:8-9).  Only by God’s grace and only by Christ’s merit of what He has done on the cross combined with our faith make us qualified for salvation.

Two things are worth noticing in Matthew 5:16.

First, every one of us is called to shine his/her own light.  Notice here where Jesus says let your (second person plural possessive pronoun) light shine.  Your light, not someone else’s light.   Are you a child of God?  Then, you have a light to shine, because every child of God has light.  Maybe some of us have bigger lights and others may have smaller ones, but all of us have our own lights.  Let that light of yours shine unto the people around you.  That’s your mission.  That’s your call.

Next, the word Lampsato (λαμψατω)—to shine.   English word lamp comes from this word.   Think of a lamp in Jesus’ time.  The area the lamp could keep bright wasn’t huge.  It was rather small within a few feet from the lamp.  The lamp on the stand was enough for one small room, perhaps.  In the same way, each one of us is called to be the light and shine upon wherever we are: not globally, but locally.  Not globally like the Sun.  Rather, like a small lamp that shines in the corner where it is.  Let your light shine where you live, stand, and walk around daily: at your home, at your school, at your workplace, at your church, and in your community.

What are the good works?

Finally, let’s think about what consists of good works.

What are considered the good works?   There could be many.  Use this criterion: whatever you do and say, if it pleases the Lord, and if it profits the people, it is a good work.   Anything that would make our Heavenly Father proud and pleased.   Here are a few examples from the Bible: Love your enemies and doing something good for them (Matthew 5:44-45, Luke 6:35).  Forgiveness of others.  Working hard with own hands is also a good thing, for it is not only an honest living but also gives you something extra to share with the needy (Ephesians 4:28) .  Honor your father and mother is another example (Ephesians 6:2)—appropriate for a Mother’s Day sermon J.  Helping the orphans and the widows is another one.  Even the words of encouragement would count.

God’s Promise

One last thing: whatever good you do, remember God’s promise: He will reward you with glory, honor, and peace (Romans 2:10).

Conclusion

I am going to close with John Wesley’s quote on good works.   “Do all the good you can. By all the means you can. In all the ways you can.  In all the places you can.  At all the times you can.  To all the people you can.  As long as ever you can”—John Wesley.  He did all the good he could as long as he lived till the last day of his life on earth.  On the day of his funeral, according to John’s prearranged instructions, the executor hired six homeless men to carry his casket paying them each a pound.  He lived a life that was pleasing to the Lord—the life of good works.  May God help us to live the same as he did.   Amen.

Pastor Choi talks about how important faith is in the believer’s life.  Without it, it is impossible to please God and anyone who comes to God must believe that God is (exists here and now) and that He rewards those who diligently seek Him.  Pray today Lord, I believe/ that you exist/ here and now.  Help me/ to experience/ your power today.

Faith

Following is a summary of the sermon:

Today Pastor Choi talks about resurrection: Christ was the first fruit of resurrection to give us a hope of resurrection.  He begins with his encounter with deaths and moves onto the importance of believing in resurrection.  He concludes that we believe in Christ’s historical and bodily resurrection not because of scientific proof but because of the integrity of those witnesses of Christ’s resurrection.

  He Has Risen

Following is a summary of today’s sermon:

He Has Risen!               Luke 24:1-12

Luke 24:1-12    New American Standard Bible (NASB)

The Resurrection

24 But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared. ² And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, ³ but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. ⁴ While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men suddenly stood near them in dazzling clothing; ⁵ and as the women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living One among the dead? ⁶ He is not here, but He has risen. Remember how He spoke to you while He was still in Galilee, ⁷ saying that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.”⁸ And they remembered His words, ⁹ and returned from the tomb and reported all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. ¹⁰ Now they were Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James; also the other women with them were telling these things to the apostles. ¹¹ But these words appeared to them as nonsense, and they would not believe them. ¹² But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen wrappings only; and he went away to his home, marveling at what had happened.

Introduction

Have you ever heard of an expression “Atheist Pastor?”  Yup, you heard me right.  A pastor who doesn’t believe in God.   His name is Klaas Hendrikse.  This Dutch pastor wrote a book titled Believing in a God That Does Not Exist.  He is a pastor in the Protestant Church in the Netherlands.  In his book he claims that he believes in the idea of God but not in the existence of an actual God (Christianity Today, April 2010, p. 13).

I said, “Whoa!  Can you actually do that?”  Preaching every Sunday on everything about God yet you don’t believe in the very existence of an actual God?  What shocks me more is that the congregation decided to keep him on his preaching post!

Some folks take the same stance as far as resurrection is concerned.  They believe in the idea of resurrection, but don’t believe in the actual bodily resurrection.

This morning, I am going to talk about resurrection.  Let me begin with my encounter with deaths in the lives of my loved ones, because, in my humble opinion, without talking about death no one can take resurrection seriously.

My first encounter with death was through my own father’s.  It was June 1968 in Korea.  I was 11 years old.  My father was 59 years old when he was struck and killed by an American military truck.  When I first heard the news of his death, I don’t remember that I cried: perhaps a few drops of tears caused by a numb feeling in me that my father was gone and no longer going to be around.

We had a wake in our house.  In a room, the casket was kept behind a divider so that it wouldn’t show to the public.  In front of the divider, on a table at the center, my father’s picture was placed along with an incense bowl that filled the room with fragrance.  There, next to the table, my three older brothers stood in a row garbed in sack-cloth with a black band around their arms, properly dressed for mourning.  They wailed each time visitors came into the room to pay their respect by burning the incense to my deceased father.  The next day, they buried my dad at a sunny place on a mountain.  I wasn’t allowed to go–too young to participate in the funeral.

The first time my family took me to my father’s grave was about six months later in January.  We walked a couple of miles in snow to arrive at my father’s grave.  In my young mind at the time, I didn’t fully understand what death meant to me and my family.  Death appeared to be a series of events such as physical separation, funeral, and gravesite visit.  All these memories still linger in me like a summer haze: foggy, distant, dull, yet sad.

Since then, in the next few years, I have seen more deaths: a friend in middle school died two years later followed by my aunt’s.  All these deaths created a yearning in me: I wanted to see them again.  Even though I wasn’t a Christian in those years, I hoped that there has to be something beyond our physical death.   Death shouldn’t be the final.

Contents

The Bible calls such a yearning the hope of resurrection.  In fact, the Bible says, on the Day of Judgment everyone, good and evil, will all come to life again (that is, resurrected) in the presence of God and Jesus the Judge will decide each one’s eternal destination: the righteous will enter into eternal life and the wicked into eternal punishment.  Christ Jesus, the Bible says, was the first fruit of resurrection.  Two thousand years ago, in that early morning on Easter, He showed His resurrected body to the women who went to the tomb: (Matthew 28:9, Mark 16:9, John 20:18, Luke 24:10).  We call that historical event the First Easter.

This morning, I would like to share with you my thoughts on resurrection.

Messengers and Witnesses:

When it comes down to proclaiming and believing in Jesus’ body resurrection, God provides no other means but His angels (messengers) and witnesses.  In other words, neither God nor His Church offers any other proof including scientific evidence than the accounts of 500+ people who personally saw the risen Christ with their eyes and touched His body with their hands (I Corinthians 15:6).

For the next two thousand years, their accounts stood sufficient for the countless believers, including myself, to believe in the resurrection of Jesus.  To many others, including the skeptics, that’s not the case.

C. S. Lewis, one of the prominent theologians in the 20^th century, asserts that the biblical accounts of Jesus’ resurrection are sufficient to believe.  He says that we the Christians believe in the resurrection of Jesus solely based on the words of witnesses.  Lewis takes an example of believing in the existence of NYC.  He says that he’s never been to the city to see it with his own eyes.  However, he argues, the accounts of those folks who have been there are good enough for him to believe in its existence.  Because, he says, he believes in the integrity of those folks who tell him the truth.  Likewise, we the Christians believe in the resurrection of Jesus the Christ, not because we have a scientific proof, but because we believe in the integrity of those witnesses of Christ’s resurrection.   Furthermore, their accounts have been attested through their own lives and the lives of the believers for 2000 years (that is, they gave up their lives for the truth of resurrection).  Their accounts still stand strong as the only reliable source of Jesus’ resurrection.

Think about it.  If the Almighty God chose to make everyone believe in Him, He could take a simple approach to convince everyone of His existence.  Let’s say, if He sends out lightning and thunder for 30 days on the dot of 12 noon every day, then everyone would believe in God, right?   Yet, He never does such a thing, because He is the God of love and love by nature never forces anyone to do anything they don’t want to.  God would never force anyone to believe in Him against their own will.  In other words, God would honor our free will to choose whatever we wish: either we believe or reject even the very existence of God.  God never overrules our free will.

The same principle of free will applies to the beliefs in the miracles.  Whether or not we believe in all Jesus’ miracles in the Bible such as virgin birth, healing, walking on waters, turning water into wine, and feeding 5000+ people with five loaves and two fish, His suffering and death on the cross, His resurrection, and His ascension to Heaven, God leaves it entirely up to us.  He simply presents His case, not through scientific proof, but through the accounts of witnesses and leaves the decision to us.

In fact, He has been that way from the very beginning of the creation.   He used this very method of oral accounts to proclaim the truth.   Even in the 21^st century, He still does so for Jesus’ resurrection.  He simply urges you this morning to decide yourself whether or not to believe in the accounts of the women who witnessed Jesus’ resurrection, later those of the Eleven disciples and 500+ witnesses.  Many of them became martyrs claiming that they have seen the resurrected Lord.  I believe in their accounts, because I do believe in their integrity that vouched for Jesus’ resurrection with their own lives.   I believe in what the Bible says, because its truth has withstood the fiery trials for centuries.  I believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ and mine, because I do believe in Jesus’ integrity who claims that He is the resurrection and the life, the way and the truth.

As far as the seekers are concerned, one thing always comforts me: God is very kind and understanding with our lack of faith.  Here, in today’s text, God showed His patience with the women’s slowness of faith in resurrection.

Please reason with me here.  If the three women had believed without a doubt in Jesus’ body resurrection, why did they bring the spices?  The spices were used for the dead body; therefore, they would not have needed them for the risen body, would they?  Yet, to such forgetful souls, Jesus graciously showed His resurrected body (Matthew 28:9)—the clear evidence of God’s grace and patience in dealing with our human hearts that are often slow and stubborn to believe the unbelievable.

Later, to His unbelieving disciples including the famous Doubting Thomas, Jesus demonstrated the same grace and patience.  Each time they were in doubt, instead of rebuking them for their lack of faith, Jesus showed them one by one His resurrected body.

I am speaking to some of you who are still skeptical of Jesus’ body resurrection, let alone of your own.  I am sure all of you demand the tangible scientific proof of resurrection.  Some of you even would call the resurrection either a myth or wishful thinking.  Whatever your reasons of unbelief in Jesus’ resurrection and mine, I pray that the same Jesus would extend the same patience and grace to you.  May the Lord either grant you the evidence you’re looking for or increase your faith to believe.

One warning, though.  If Jesus ever grants the proof of resurrection, He does so only to those who are genuinely seeking Him in their lives.  He would never grant the proof to those who are not sincere in their search of truth.   Because He never plays by their rules.

If you are one of those sincere seekers, the Lord will speak to your heart this morning that you too come to know Jesus, believe in the resurrection, and eventually claim your own resurrection through faith in Jesus.

Conclusion

Christ has risen first.  We will too someday.  He was the first fruit of resurrection and the rest of us will follow.   Christ is risen.  He is risen indeed!   Amen.

Today Pastor Choi talks about honesty.  Pointing out that we believers are the light and salt of the world, he speaks about three reasons why we ought to be honest: 1. Honesty is to the glory of God  2. Honesty protects individuals from vices.  3. Honesty preserves society.   He also mentions what helps us to lead a life of honesty: Awareness of God, accountability to God, and God’s commandment.

  Honesty

Following is a summary of the sermon:

Grow in Christlikeness (4): Honesty              Leviticus 19:11, Acts 24:16

• Leviticus 19:11  New American Standard Bible (NASB)
• ¹¹ ‘You shall not steal, nor deal falsely, nor lie to one another.
• Acts 24:16  New American Standard Bible (NASB)
• ¹⁶ In view of this, I also do my best to maintain always a blameless conscience both before God and before men.

  Introduction

  A fellow in Long Branch went into a fried chicken franchise to get some chicken for himself and the young lady with him.  She waited in the car while he went in to pick up the chicken.  Inadvertently the manager of the store handed the guy the box in which he had placed the financial proceeds of the day instead of the box of chicken.  You see, he was going to make a deposit and had camouflaged it by putting the money in a fried chicken box.  The fellow took his box, went back to the car, and the two of them drove away.  When they got to the park and opened the box, they discovered they had a box full of money.  Now that was a very vulnerable moment for the average individual.  However, realizing the mistake, he got back in his car and returned to the place and gave the money back to the manager.  Well, the manager was elated!  He was so pleased that he told the young man, “Stick around, I want to call the newspaper and have them take your picture.  You’re the most honest guy in town.”  “Oh, no, don’t do that!” said the fellow.  “Why not?” asked the manager.  “Well,” he said, “you see, I’m married, and the woman I’m with is not my wife!”  (Dallas Times Herald, September 23, 1966)

  In the past three Sundays, we focused on Christ-like character such as love, humility, and purity.  Today, we are going to think about growing like Him in honesty.

  If there’s one area where we all can do a better job, it would be honesty.  In our society, there is plenty of corruption in leadership (political, religious, and financial), cheating in marriage, cheating at work and in school (especially high school and college).  It gets worse every day; we suffer from poor work ethic and performance, distrust, manipulation, and more corruption.  Left undealt with, in the end, dishonesty will bring down our entire nation.  And, God calls us to stand in the gap on behalf of our society.

  Let’s do some numbers first around the world.

1. The least corrupt countries in the world (2012):  Every year Transparency.org ranks nation’s integrity on a scale of 0 to 100 (0 the most corrupt, 100 the least corrupt) “based on a number of surveys that seek to gauge hard-to-find metrics like bribes paid to government officials or transparency in corporate reporting.”  Denmark, New Zealand, and Finland are tied for least corrupt (90/100).  The United States is 19^th (74/100)  (http://www.transparency.org/cpi2012/results)

1. The most honest cities in the world:  some years ago Reader’s Digest did a project in 16 cities around the world.   The magazine asked “its reporters to ‘lose’ the wallets in public places, such as shopping centres, car parks and on pavements.   Each wallet contained a contact number, a family photo, business cards, coupons and the equivalent of $50 or £31.”  Helsinki, Finland, was the most honest city in the world with 11 out of 12 wallets handed in, while Lisbon, Portugal was the most dishonest with only one wallet being returned to its owner.  New York City came on third (8 out of 12).  (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/the-most-honest-cities-in-the-world-8839046.html)  Where would Manahawkin stand?   E.g.  My lost umbrella at Home Depot was never returned to customer services.

    

2. How honest are Americans at work?

“Anyone looking for an honest man or woman in the U.S. today would have lots of problems, according to Lousig-Nont and Associates, Nevada.  Out of 7,443 people it tested for honesty in 1993, 52% were ranked as low desirability for employment because they admitted to stealing or thinking about stealing regularly or said they would steal if they thought they had a good enough reason.   14.5% stated that the temptation to steal can be too hard to resist; 12.2% admitted to prior job dishonesty and rationalized this behavior; 11.2% said they would not give lost money back to the owner even if they knew who he or she was; 10.7% indicated that they would steal if they knew for sure they would not get caught; 9.3% admitted that they would bribe a police officer; 6.8% believe you can have a good reason to steal from work; and 5.9% feel they have a good reason to steal from work.” (http://www.thefreelibrary.com/How+honest+are+Americans%3f-a016227269)   (You can’t be honest in one way and dishonest in another.)

In 2013, another survey, “How focused are you during the workday?” found that almost one third (29%) visits Facebook each day while they’re at work.   (http://mashable.com/2013/10/02/facebook-workday/)

Contents

Definition: Let’s check out a standard definition of honesty.  Honesty is “the quality of always telling the truth, and never stealing or cheating” (Oxford Dictionary).  Here’s a biblical definition: the quality of being truthful to God and people in word and action.

Why Be Honest?  If your child asks you why she needs to be honest, especially when many others at school cheat on tests, how would you answer her?  We would answer it is wrong to cheat.  We would say God wants all people, especially His children, to live an honest life.  For those who want to know more than just “it is God’s command,” here are three reasons I found in the Scriptures for why we should be honest.

1. Honesty is to the glory of God:  dishonesty is to the glory of Satan.  God commands us to deal with each other with honesty so as to please Him and to bring Him the glory.  Remember our God is the God of truth.  He is the God of light.  He cannot stand dishonesty, falsehood, or darkness.  Imagine every Christian in our society tells a lie.  Our Heavenly Father wouldn’t be pleased with us at all, would He?  Dishonesty has no place before God.  It has no place in our family or church, either.  Why?  Because, it belongs to darkness and we the children of light must have nothing to do with it.  If we are dishonest, it will actually honor our enemy Satan and help him to gain more territory over our society.  The Bible says it right about the devil: he is a liar and the father of all lies (John 8:44).

    

2. Honesty protects individuals from vices.   It keeps us from unwanted troubles such as more lies, cover ups, slanders, and future embarrassments.  Honesty morphs us into a character of virtue.  It also builds more trust and credibility around us among peers.  Furthermore, God will reward you when you walk uprightly.  He will withhold no good thing from you (Psalm 84:11).   E.g.  My IRS refunds.   Honesty is a best policy.  E.g. “which tire was flat?” the professor asked when two cheating students rescheduled the test due to “flat tire” on their way to school.

3. Honesty preserves society.  It keeps our society healthy and sound.  Honesty strengthens our families.  It also protects us from God’s judgment.  E.g. Jeremiah 5:1.  God looks for ONE person honest and upright to spare the entire city of Jerusalem.  E.g.2. Abraham’s plea for Sodom and Gomorrah / 10 righteous people would have prevented the divine judgment (Genesis 18:32).  Christians are the light and salt of the world.  We are standing in the gap on behalf of our society.  We are called to keep our society from getting darker.  We are called to preserve our society from corruption.  Honesty does that job.

How can we be honest?  Before we ask how we can be honest, perhaps we need to ask what makes people dishonest?  What makes people cheat?

• Fear: My first lie about my brother’s necklace.
• Greed: Jacob lied to his father to steal blessings from his brother (Genesis 27:19).
• Hatred/Envy/Jealousy: Joseph’s brothers (Genesis 37:9, 32) lied to their father after they sold Joseph to slavery out of hatred.
• Desires (ambition, lust) for success without hard works (e.g.  students cheating on tests).

   

  What would help us to live a life of honesty?   Three things.

  1. Awareness of God: God watches over you.  E.g. Joseph—how can I do evil to fellow people and sin against God (Genesis 39:8, 9)?

  2. Accountability to God.  God is my witness in all I do and say.  On the Day of Judgment, He will hold me accountable for whatever I have done.  Think before you act.  Begin with the end in mind.

  3. God’s commands: Love God?  Obey His commandments.  Follow the principle of honesty in every intent (Genesis 20:5—everything in the integrity of heart and the innocence of hands), words (Proverbs 12:17—be a truthful witness), life style (Acts 24:16—maintain a blameless conscience both before God and before people) and business practices (Leviticus 19:36—use honest scales and weights).

   

  What if I struggle with honesty?  Check on those fear factors that keep you from being honest.  Trust in God.  God will take good care of you.  Be content with what you have (E.g. Wall Street bankers).  Do no harm to others.  Love others and stick to God’s principles.  Ask for God’s help.  Repent if you haven’t been truthful to your loved ones.  Practice being honest on small things first.  Do it again and again.  Before long, you will become a character of honesty and be able to be honest in everything to the glory of God.  One more thing.

   

  Don’t despair.  You are not alone.  You are not any worse than many people in the Bible.  God will teach you throughout your life and help you to grow up, one lesson at a time until you get it.  Embrace His training with gratitude and trust.  E.g. Abraham: trust over fear.  Jacob: stop being manipulative and start being truthful to others.  God will train you through and through in your life until honesty becomes a part of you.  You can count on His faithfulness and patience.

   

  Conclusion  

  God commands us, “You shall not steal, nor deal falsely, nor lie to one another.”  Let us honor Him by being truthful always in all we do and say.  Amen.

   

Pastor Choi talks about purity today which we the believers are called to pursue in our lives.  Examining the biblical and historical background of Greek word porneia (which was translated as sexual immorality, fornication, sexual promiscuity, and adultery in various translations of the Bible), he urges the congregation to avoid sexual immorality by all means, let no vulgar talk or greed be among the saints.  Instead, honor God with body, be thankful, and be content, he exhorts them.

  Purity

Following is a summary of the sermon:

Grow in Christlikeness (3): Purity                     Ephesians 5:1-7

5 Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children. ² Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God.

³ Let there be no sexual immorality, impurity, or greed among you. Such sins have no place among God’s people. ⁴ Obscene stories, foolish talk, and coarse jokes—these are not for you. Instead, let there be thankfulness to God. ⁵ You can be sure that no immoral, impure, or greedy person will inherit the Kingdom of Christ and of God.  For a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world.

⁶ Don’t be fooled by those who try to excuse these sins, for the anger of God will fall on all who disobey him. ⁷ Don’t participate in the things these people do.   (New Living Translation)

Introduction

As children of God, we do have a promise and assurance of being in Heaven.  We are invited to the wedding in Heaven between Christ and His Church.  We are Heaven-bound with the wedding invitation (that is, salvation) in our hands.  As you have guessed right, our enemy Satan makes every effort to snatch it from us.  We are fully aware of such schemes so we need to be very careful not to lose our salvation.  If the Devil fails to snatch it away from us, then he tries his next strategy: making us unfit for the occasion. 

Here’s how:  I am sure most of us have attended a wedding or two before.  Imagine that you are ready to go to the wedding.  You are all washed up and dressed up to spit and polish.  Then, out of nowhere, as you walk to the church, someone throws dirty water on you so as to stain your clothes entirely.  You know that you are no longer acceptable at the wedding with such soiled clothes.  Your day is totally ruined!   In the same way, on your way to Heaven, the Devil throws dirty water on you.  He wants to defile you in every possible way so that you may be unfit for the Heavenly wedding of Christ and His Church.  Beware of the Devil who wages a constant war against your soul. 

Contents

Let’s recap: it is God’s will for us to be holy, pure, and blameless (Leviticus 19:2).  Yet, our enemy would make sure that the opposite is true.  He employs and deploys all kinds of sins to defile us.  In today’s text, three contaminants of our soul and body are identified: sexual immorality, vulgar talk, and greed.

1. Sexual immorality (v. 3): In various Bible translations, Greek word porneia (πορνεια) was translated as sexual immorality, fornication, sexual promiscuity, and even adultery.  From this word English words such as pornography or pornographer originated.  Here’s a little background information how the word was understood in the 1^st Century when Apostle Paul wrote this letter to the Ephesians.  I am going to quote a paragraph from the commentary by Gordon D. Fee:

“The word porneia (“sexual immorality”) in the Greek world simply meant “prostitution,” in the sense of going to the prostitutes and paying for sexual pleasure.  The Greeks were ambivalent on that matter, depending on whether one went openly to the brothels or was more discreet and went with a paramour.  But the word had been picked up in Hellenistic Judaism, always pejoratively, to cover all extramarital sexual sins and aberrations, including homosexuality.  It could also refer to any of these sins specifically, as it does here (meaning 1 Corinthians 5:1–mine).  In the NT the word is thus used to refer to that particular blight on Greco-Roman culture, which was almost universally countenanced, except among the Stoics.  That is why porneia so often as the first item in the NT vice lists, not because Christians were sexually “hung up,” nor because they considered this the primary sin, the “scarlet letter,” as it were.  It is the result of its prevalence in the culture and the difficulty the early church experienced with its Gentile converts breaking with their former ways, which they did not consider immoral” (The New International Commentary on the New Testament, Gordon Fee, p. 200).

My research on the same word in the New Testament reveals that porneia covers prostitution, adultery, and sexual indulgence (1 Corinthians 10:8: 23,000 perished in the desert after an orgy and debauchery provoked God to anger).  Basically, it means any sexual activities outside God-defined/sanctioned boundaries, that is, marriage between a man and a woman. 

The same porneia became an issue at the Church of Corinth in the first century.  Back then, the Church of Corinth was a hip church.  It took pride in being open-minded, sometimes even more progressive than the secular culture.  Here’s an example:

One day, Paul received the news that a member of the church was living with his father’s wife (1 Corinthians 5:1).  It wasn’t even a “one-night stand” but continuous living with her sexually (it’s not clear whether it was the mother or step-mother).  When Paul heard about this, he couldn’t hide his dismay because it was unheard of even among pagans: such a practice, cohabiting of father and son with the same woman was forbidden by all ancients, both Jewish and pagan (G. Fee, ibid.).   Paul lamented that such a life style was accepted among the saints.  He was even more horrified that the church didn’t do anything about it! 

Comparing the two cultures, I am not sure America in the 21^st century is any better than Corinth in the 1^st century in terms of sexual morality.  Our sexual standards today are so lax and low that many people even believers fall into this trap of fornication.  The sex revolution in the 1960s started it and the following decline in morality has broken too many individuals, marriages, and families to count.  E.g. Some years ago, one marine “was in a hut of forty-eight fellows.  Over ninety percent of them then or in the past had venereal disease.  The whole unit was shot through with an illicit lifestyle” (Swindoll’s Ultimate Book of Illustrations and Quotes, p. 292).

E.g. 2.  The Lost Children in Rockdale County (pbs special, 1997: many young affluent white teenagers acquired syphilis):

Here are some alarming statistics:  In 1996, the U.S. had the highest rate of sexually transmitted disease (STD) among industrialized countries.  12 million Americans would acquire a STD every year; 1 out of 3 Americans will acquire an STD in their lifetime (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/georgia/outbreak/stats.html)

The 2010 CDC (the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) estimated 19 million new infections every year in the United States (http://www.cdc.gov/std/stats10/trends.htm).

“According to The New York Times, a new study has found that American youth have the highest rates of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) among wealthy nations. The U.S. also ranked highest in teen pregnancies.  According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Americans between ages 15 and 24 are diagnosed with nearly 50 percent of all new STDs in the nation in a 2009-2010 study, though young people only make up a quarter of the national population” (http://www.stdtestexpress.com/std-news/us-has-highest-std-rates-among-developed-countries-800943204/).

We must guard ourselves against sexual immorality.   Here’s why.  (You are about to hear of the consequences of fornication.)   When it comes down to fornication, God commands us to repent, abstain, avoid, shun, flee, and put it to death (Colossians 3:5).  Why guard against sexual immorality?  Because, it has no place before the holy God.  God judges those who practice fornication (Hebrews 13:4).  Furthermore, the Bible repeatedly says that those who practice fornication will not enter the Kingdom of God (Ephesians 5:5, 1 Corinthians 6:9).  In fact, the final destination for those who practice fornication (along with murderers and sorcerers) is Hell known as “the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death” (Revelation 21:8).  That’s why I would avoid fornication by all means.  And, I urge you to do the same.

One more thing before I move on.  As much as we blame Satan for the sin of sexual immorality, and as much as forgiveness is available when we repent of this sin, Jesus also points out that we need to curb the desire for fornication in our own heart (Matthew 15:19, Mark 7:21): out from what we have stored up in our hearts, the desire comes and says ‘YES’ to the Devil’s temptation.  So, we need to diligently watch what goes in and comes out of our hearts daily so that, when tempted, we may be able to control the desire of the flesh. 

Consider the case of pornography.  Many a people are addicted to pornography and easy access to the Internet makes things worse.  E.g. Ted Bundy’s warning 2o years ago (one day pornography will invade your living room and lure so many vulnerable souls into this sin) has been fulfilled.

One of the children’s Sunday school songs: 

O be careful little eyes what you see

O be careful little eyes what you see

There’s a Father up above

And He’s looking down in love

So, be careful little eyes what you see

O be careful little feet where you go

O be careful little feet where you go

There’s a Father up above

And He’s looking down in love

So, be careful little feet where you go

2.  Let there be no foolish/vulgar talk and things that are inappropriate for the children of God.  Rather, let there be thanksgiving.  Be careful about what you hear and say.

O be careful little ears what you hear

O be careful little ears what you hear

There’s a Father up above

And He’s looking down in love

So, be careful little ears what you hear

O be careful little mouth what you say

O be careful little mouth what you say

There’s a Father up above

And He’s looking down in love

So, be careful little mouth what you say

3. Greed:  “a strong desire for more wealth, possessions, power, etc. than a person needs” (Oxford Dictionary).  Our society promotes greed big time: you deserve it, you are entitled to more!   Greed is an act of idol worship.  Why?  “It takes ownership of the love and trust that belongs to God” (Matt Katzenberger).  Anyone who worships wealth, possessions, and power beyond their needs fits this category.  Like idol worship, greed is violation of the first Commandment.    Alternative is contentment.

Conclusion

The Bible says that those who partake in those things (fornication, vulgar talk, greed) will have no part in the Kingdom of God.  God has called us not to impurity but in holiness (1 Thessalonians 4:7).  Honor God with your body.  Be thankful.  Be content.  That will help us to stay pure and blameless until the Day of the Lord.    Amen.

Today Pastor Choi talks about another attribute of Christ: humility.

He points out to three signs of humility: consider others more important than self, look out for the interests of others before one’s own, submit to one another.  He also explains why we need humility: 1) because it is God’s will 2) without humility, no one can see God 3) it is necessary for God’s Kingdom to be realized in our lives, in our families, and in our churches.

    Humility

Following is a summary of the sermon:

Grow in Christlikeness (2): Humility    Philippians 2:3-4        1 Peter 5:5-6

• Philippians 2:3-4   New American Standard Bible (NASB)
• ³Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; ⁴ do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.
• 1 Peter 5:5-6   New American Standard Bible (NASB)
• ⁵ You younger men, likewise, be subject to your elders; and all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.
• ⁶ Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time

Introduction

Christ is the true image of God (2 Corinthians 4:4): whoever has seen Him, Jesus says, has seen God.  Whoever has experienced Him has experienced God.   Whoever has known Him personally has known God personally.  We are called to imitate the same Christ in every aspect: thinking patterns, perspectives, even words and actions.  We are called to grow into His image day in day out.  No Christian should ever stop growing.  It is God’s will for us to partake in Christ’s character to its fullness.  He expects us to grow in Christ.  In fact, God already sees us fully grown into Christ’s image (like any great coach visioning the championship of his players).

Last Sunday, we talked about one of Christ’s attributes: love.  Christ commands us to love one another as He has loved us; both unconditionally and sacrificially.  By this love, people will know that we are Christ’s disciples.

Today, we are going to think about the second attribute of Christ: humility.  E. g.  A pastor was voted by his congregation most humble pastor in America.  They recognized him during service one Sunday and presented him a medal.  On the following Sunday, in appreciation of what the congregation had done, the pastor wore the medal around his neck.  As soon as the congregation saw that, they were shocked and took the medal away from him (Swindoll’s Ultimate Book of Illustrations & Quotes) saying that such an act of boasting automatically disqualified him for the title!

It is my sincere prayer and hope that we all learn about Christ’s humility this morning and start living it out in our lives.

Contents

What is humility? 

Humility is one of the Christian virtues along with others such as compassion, kindness, meekness, and patience (Colossians 3:12); mercy, love, joy, peace, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23).   Humility is the work of the Holy Spirit: no matter how hard we may try, our own efforts will not make us humble.  God must help us on that.  We become humble when we seek God.  We become humble when we obey God’s truth and His will.   The end result is peace and joy in Christ.

What is humility?  Let me begin with a dictionary definition: the quality of not thinking that you are better than other people; the quality of being humble (Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries).  It is pretty close to what I am thinking.  Actually, I believe it borrowed the idea from the Bible, particularly from today’s text Philippians 2:3; with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves.

The opposite of humility, of course, is arrogance.  The definition of arrogance is: the behaviour (sic) of a person when they feel that they are more important than other people, so that they are rude to them or do not consider them (Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries).

Arrogance is one of the vices listed in the Bible such as fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing (Galatians 5:20), selfishness, slander, gossip, and disorder (2 Corinthians 12:20).  Arrogance, unlike humility, is the work of the flesh (Galatians 5:19-20).  It is self-seeking.  It puts self above others.  It promotes own interests before those of others.  It says ‘No’ to mutual submission.   It doesn’t obey God’s truth.  It cannot, because it doesn’t pursue God’s will.  The end result is wrath and fury from God (Romans 2:8).

Signs of humility

1. Consider others more important than yourself  (Philippians 2:3)
2. Look out for others’ interests before your own (Philippians 2:4)
3. Submit to one another (1 Peter 5:5-6)

What humility is not:  I would call it ‘wrongly directed humility.’  Self-imposed abasement is not humility.   True humility never makes you believe or act like you are nobody or ‘zero.’  It never makes you a door mat for everybody, either.  Think of Jesus who was humble.  His humility was not self-abasement, because He at times sounded outrageously arrogant.  E. g. People wanted to stone Him to death when He made Himself equal to God and claimed that whoever has seen Him has seen God the Father (John 14:9).  Furthermore, He wasn’t a wimp, when it comes down to confronting evils (e.g. driving out money changers from the Temple) and hypocrisy (e.g. Woe to Pharisees and Sadducees).  He was rather like a roaring lion and a champion of justice.  Humility is not self-imposed abasement.  Rather, it is strength under control guided by God’s will and truth.

Times we live in: humility is hard to come by nowadays.  The American society doesn’t seem to consider humility a virtue.  It rather promotes arrogance and pride.  The Bible prophesied that in the end times arrogance becomes prevalent (2 Timothy 3:2).   We shouldn’t be surprised.  Actually, we see more and more people who are filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, covetousness, malice, full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, craftiness.  We also see more gossips, slanderers, God-haters, people who are insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, rebellious toward parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, and ruthless (Romans 1:29-31).  In such time as this, God calls you and me to conduct our lives with godliness and humility.

Who’s our role model?  Jesus is.  He calls us to learn from Him about humility (Matthew 11:29), from Him directly: Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me; for I am gentle and humble in heart.  Let’s learn from Christ who, being equal to God, yet did not regard equally with God (Philippians 2:6).   Let’s learn from Christ who emptied Himself taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness (Philippians 2:7).  Let’s learn from Christ who humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death (Philippians 2:8).   Let us learn from Him by having the same mind in us that was in Christ Jesus (Philippians 2:5).  He is our role model.

Why humility?  Three reasons God’s Word provides why we need humility.

1. Because it is God’s will for us.  Arrogance is not.  God commands us to humble ourselves in the presence of the Lord, then He will exalt us (James 4:10).    Humility is particularly significant in prayer.  Every prayer requires humility.  What is prayer?  It is the act of having an audience with God.  We cannot imagine going into God’s presence with arrogance or with the attitude of entitlement.  Rather, we would show our utmost humility to the Almighty God before we even think of presenting our petitions.
2. Without humility, we cannot see God.  To enter the Kingdom of God, we must be humble like a child (Luke 14:11).  The rich, the mighty, and the kings have a great disadvantage on this one, because they often trust not in God but in their own strength, power, and money.  Furthermore, when people put them on a pedestal, it doesn’t help them at all.  It is very hard for them to be humble.  Perhaps, that’s why Jesus says, it is very difficult for the rich to enter God’s Kingdom; lack of humility.   Remember: God is opposed to the arrogant.  Arrogance belongs to the flesh and the flesh itself refuses to obey God’s truth.
3.  Humility brings forth the realization of God’s kingdom in our personal lives, in our families, and in our church.  To realize God’s kingdom among us, we need mutual submission, and we cannot submit to one another without humility.  How can you submit yourself to an individual, when you think yourself better than the other person?   Here’s what I have discovered through the Bible study what humility is all about.  Humility is the quality of willing submission to God and to one another (Philippians 2:8, James 4:10).  The meaning of mutual submission is this like this: think of the human body where all members and organs work together in ultimate submission to the head (E.g. you want to go to church on Sunday morning; your hands get your body ready—washed, combed, dressed up / your feet take you to the car or walk/ the rest of body goes with them!  All under the decision made by your brain).  Can you imagine the body with mutiny against each other?  It is called cancer.  Likewise, under the headship of Christ, we the members of Christ’s body submit to each other.  The key word is submission: willing submission to God and to others.  When we submit to one another, it brings forth unity, order, and harmony in our family and the church.  Arrogance, on the other hand, brings forth division, disorder, and contention in our family and church.

Conclusion

Live a life worthy of God’s calling that would make God proud of you.  Live a life with all humility and gentleness (Ephesians 4:2).  Let us clothe ourselves with Christ’s humility and start living it out today.

Amen.

Today Pastor Choi talks about growing in Christlikeness: love.  After we commit ourselves to Christ as our Savior and Lord, we begin to grow in faith.  As we grow in faith, one thing we will demonstrate in our lives and one thing that people will notice from us is love.  It is Christ’s command to love one another as He has loved us.  Pastor Choi exhorts the congregation to start small in their homes and workplaces putting into practice Christ-like love for one another.

  Love

Following is a summary of the sermon:

Grow in Christ’s Likeness (1): Love              John 13:34-35, 1 John 3:18

John 13:34-35   New International Version (NIV)

³⁴ “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. ³⁵ By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

1. John 3:18     New International Version (NIV)

¹⁸ Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.

Introduction

I am starting a new sermon series today: Grow in Christlikeness.  There will be six sermons altogether.  Today is series number one: love.  When we have committed ourselves to Jesus as our Savior and Lord, the Bible calls it spiritual rebirth or “born again.”  From then on, as a new born baby in Christ, we begin to grow in faith.  As we grow in Christ-likeness, the first thing we will demonstrate in our life and the first thing people will notice from us is love.  Not the love for self but the love for others, because Christ in us gradually transforms us from a self-centered person to a Christ-centered person.

My sermon is not about love itself or quick tips on “how to love,” or that sort of self-help tips on love.  Rather, it is about Christ.  It is about growing into Christ-like character; it is about “how to be like Jesus” and partaking in His character.  This is how I see it.

When we become like Christ, Christ’s attributes such as love, grace, gentleness, kindness, truth, justice, and mercy will form in our character and naturally flow out from us in our daily lives.  E.g.  In John 15, Jesus says He is the vine and we are the branches.  Being in Christ and attached to Him, we will learn, draw strength from Him, and naturally demonstrate or bear fruits of His character and attributes.

Once again, my goal this morning is to help all of us to imitate Christ in every aspect so that we may become “little Christs” (C. S. Lewis).  Let’s dive into today’s topic: love.

Contents

Let’s look at the first text again: John 13:34-35.   ³⁴ “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. ³⁵ By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

First of all, to love one another is not an option or suggestion.  It is a commandment, isn’t it?  Therefore, we can’t be choosy to love or not love depending on our moods and circumstances like we can’t be choosy with the Ten Commandments.  Christ commands us to love one another.  Period.

Next, let’s ponder the meaning of “love one another as I have loved you.”  Just as Christ has loved us, we are to love each other.  That means; unless we know His love and unless we have experienced His love for us first-hand, we cannot fully love one another as Christ has loved us.   We can read or hear about Christ’s love and try to understand intellectually how Christ has loved us, but it’s not the same as, in fact, far inferior to the first-hand experience of Christ’s love.  E.g. You can read all the books in the world about love between man and woman, but all those information cannot trump (or even come close to) your own experience of falling in love with your sweetheart.

I told you that the first-hand experience of Christ’s love is the key to love one another with Christ’s love.   So, as I prepared my sermon, I asked a question for myself: O.K.  I am going to talk about Christ’s love for us, and do I know what I am talking about?  That question led me to three more questions: how Jesus loved His disciples back then; how Jesus loved me now; and what the Bible says about His love for us all.

First question, “How did Jesus love His disciples 2000 years ago?”  Here’s how He did.   He loved them as God loved Him.  Jesus experienced God’s love first hand and then passed the same love onto His disciples.   He loved them with truth and grace.  He loved them through His examples.  He also loved them with grace and forgiveness (E.g. forgiving Peter’s denial three times, John 8—not condemning the adulterous woman).  He loved them with humility washing their feet—John 13.   Jesus loved them by laying down His own life on the cross.  He died on their behalf.  That’s how Jesus loved them.

Next question, “How did Jesus love me?”  Have I experienced Christ’s love in my life personally?  Can I testify and explain to anyone how Jesus loved me?  So, one day, I asked the Lord, “How did you love me, Lord?”  Then, I took time recalling every single incident that I remember when Christ appeared and demonstrated His love for me.

Here are some examples: Jesus patiently tolerated my foolishness when I gave Him a silly ultimatum of 2 hours demanding His answer right away for my question.  Numerous times, He put up with my stubbornness of heart.  He forgave my sins over and over again.  He would answer my questions in ways that I understand (E.g. Daniel 1:5, dialogue style answers in prayer).  He was there for me in moments of anxiety, fears, and confusion.  He kept His promise of providing my daily needs.  He gave me life and health every day.  He granted me wisdom and courage in crises.  He gave me a free gift of eternal life and the hope of resurrection.  He protected me from the Evil one.  In a nut shell, Jesus loved me in the same way a loving parent loves his/her child.   He was there for me, kept His promises, provided my needs, protected me from any harms, and guided me with truth and grace through my life.

Thirdly, I checked out the Word of God to discover how Christ has loved us all.  In a nutshell, He loved us sacrificially and unconditionally.  Remember John 3:16?  God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son and whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16).   God loved you and me that He gave His only Son to us.  Christ, the sinless, died on the cross and paid the penalty of our sins on our behalf.  He died in our place as the Lamb of God, that’s why His love is sacrificial.   In fact, His love is great because He loved us even when we didn’t deserve His grace.  He loved the undeserving and unlovable.  What amazing about His love is that He didn’t wait until all of us became lovable (that moment perhaps would never come).   His love doesn’t depend on how we have been good or bad.  His love, like the Sun, shines on the evil and the good.  His love, like rain, comes down on the righteous and on the unrighteous (Matthew 5:45).  He is gracious to all—both good and bad.  He even loved Judas Iscariot till the end (John 13:1).  Aren’t we glad that His love is not based on our goodness or on His own mood?  Rather, it is absolutely based on His will to obey God no matter what.   That’s how He went to the cross.  That’s why the Bible says Jesus loves us unconditionally and sacrificially.

Into the practice of such great love of Christ, God calls us.  His call is for us to imitate Christ and to practice His love for one another.  He wants us to live out our faith with the same love as He has demonstrated for us.  I am sure all of us are overwhelmed with such a tall call or high expectation from God.  Remember, though, God would not command us to do something impossible.  Of course, with our own might, we cannot love each other with Christ’s love. However, we can do it with the help of the Holy Spirit.   That’s why obedience to the Lord is essential.  We also can love others with Christ’s love when God pours His love into our hearts through the Holy Spirit (Romans 5:5).  E.g. Mr. Ho, a Christian parent, whose son was murdered by gang members on the streets of Philadelphia asked the judge to pardon the perpetrators.  When you love one another as I have loved you, Christ says, all the people will know that you are My followers.  By your love, He says, they will know that you are My disciples.

Of course, the real question is where do we start?  How do we put Christ’s love into daily practice?

As much as we admire Mr. Ho and his Christian love, let’s not begin with big things like that.  Let’s not even think of loving everyone in the world at this point.  Rather, let’s begin small in our daily lives and in the places where God has planted us.  E.g.  During WWII there was a young man (Mr. Yong-ki Kim) who wanted to liberate Korea from the Japanese occupation.  He wanted to join the Liberation Army to fight the tyranny of colonialism.  He went to his mentor one last time for advice.  The wise mentor asked him if he truly loved his country.  Kim said yes.  Then, he gave him a huge piece of bread and asked him to finish the whole thing in one bite.  Of course, Kim couldn’t do it.  He had to eat the bread one bite at a time.   The mentor said to Kim, “Go home instead and start with small things that matter to the community.  One day at a time.”  The lesson was clear: begin small from where you are and with what you can.

So, how about being like Jesus in your home first?  Begin with your thoughts and words you say.  Start with small actions and interactions with your family members.  I don’t have to reiterate how many homes and families today are dysfunctional or broken.  I can say that had Christ-like love been practiced in our homes, the problems would have been far less than what we have today.  So, let’s start loving our family members as Christ has loved us, sacrificially and unconditionally.  Let’s restore our homes and heal our wounds with Christ’s love.  Let’s ask the question of “What would Jesus do?”  Let’s serve others as Christ has served us.  Let’s lay down our lives for our loved ones as Christ did.

Conclusion

Three action points:

Write your own statement of “How Jesus loved me.”

Pray that the Holy Spirit would pour out God’s love in your heart.

Start loving others with Christ’s love.

Amen.

Today Pastor Choi talks about the importance of evangelism.  He challenges the congregation to hear Jesus’ call: Testify for Me.  Testify to what I have done for you to all the world.  Tell the truth and nothing but the truth about Me. 

He points out three characteristics of Jesus’ witnesses: they know who Jesus is, they know who they are, and they know what to tell.   The sermon concludes with the need of Holy Spirit’s power in evangelism.

  Witnesses for Jesus

Following is a summary of the sermon:

Witnesses for Jesus: Be Christ’s Disciple (6)

• Acts 1:8
• New American Standard Bible (NASB)
• ⁸ but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”
•  Matthew 28:18-20
• New American Standard Bible (NASB)
• ¹⁸ And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. ¹⁹ Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

   Introduction

• The sermon title “Witness for Jesus” has nothing to do with Jehovah’s Witnesses.  I was compelled to choose that title after studying of today’s texts.
• Testify for Me (Acts 23:11).  Testify to what I have done for you: That’s what Jesus calls us to do.  Testify for Me.
• We the believers are called to testify to Jesus: His life, death, resurrection, and His teachings.  We are called to testify to the Word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all the things that we have seen in Jesus.  We are called to testify to the things in which Jesus appeared to us.  We are to bear witness to Him, because we have been with Him for some time.  As much as we are called to keep the commandments of God, we are also called to hold the testimony of Jesus.  We are called not to shrink from declaring to the world the whole purpose of God in Jesus.  That’s our call.

  Contents

• This morning, I invite you to explore with me the meaning of being a witness for Jesus and what we need for dynamic evangelism.
• Three Characteristics of Jesus’ Witnesses:
• A. They know who Jesus is: Many people in the world don’t know Jesus; some know Him as a good moral teacher.  Others understand Him as a miracle maker; even more others perceive Him as someone totally different from what the Scriptures say about Him.  E.g. a missionary in India at one village once talked to a man asking if he knew Jesus.  The man said, “No, there’s no one in my village with that name.”  Many don’t know who Jesus is.
• We, Jesus’ witnesses, however, know who Jesus is.  We know Jesus is the Son of God the Messiah as God has testified in the Bible.  We don’t just know about Him but know Him personally: we have experienced Him (1 John 1:2, 4:14).  We have walked with Him.  We have seen and heard Him.  We have the testimony in our hearts (1 John 5:10).  E.g. Samaritan woman: Come and see the Messiah who told me everything I have ever done (John 4:39).  She discovered who Jesus was and told everybody her story.
• B. They know who they are:  We not only know who Jesus is, but we also know who we are and what we are called for.  We are Christ’s followers.  We clearly understand whose witnesses we are.  We are Christ’s witnesses.  In Acts 1:8, Jesus says to His disciples, “You shall be My witnesses.”
• Think of the image of witnesses and their oaths in court: tell the truth nothing but the truth to the world.  Jesus solemnly charges us the witnesses: You as My witness shall bear witness to Me and tell the truth and nothing but the truth about Me to all the world.  That is our call.  That is our charge.  We know who we are.  We are Christ’s witnesses.
• C.  They know what to tell:  We also know what to tell: the truth.  To testify to the truth is the bottom-line for any witness.  Truth determines the validity of the testimony.  There’s always a danger of perjury.  A true witness must tell the truth.

  We have a cloud of witnesses who make the claims on Jesus valid.  All of them testified to the truth and their testimonies point to one person: Jesus.

  Who are these witnesses to Jesus?  They are God, Jesus, Holy Spirit, the works of Jesus, and the prophets.  They all testified to the coming of the Messiah, the suffering and death, resurrection, the Second coming of the Messiah, and the Lordship of Jesus over all creation.

• What’s our testimony?  John the Apostle sums up quite nicely the truth about Jesus this way: God gave us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.  Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life (1 John 5:11-12).  That’s the testimony.  That’s our story to tell to the world.
• Go into the World:  With this testimony, we are called to go to the world.  It is God’s plan to send us out with the Good News of the kingdom.  The Gospel will be proclaimed throughout the world, as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come (Matthew 24:14).  God never wants us to keep the Good News to ourselves.  He doesn’t want us to stay within the church walls, either.  He sends us out to all the nations.  We are being sent out as witnesses for Jesus to proclaim the message of repentance and forgiveness.  We bring the message of reconciliation and peace with God.  We tell the truth that everyone who believes in the name of Jesus will receive the forgiveness of sins.
• We go out there to make Jesus’ disciples.  Making disciples is the call.  Going, baptizing, and teaching are our missions.  E.g. Methodist Slogan is “making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.” Don’t get confused here.  Transformation of the world itself is not the purpose.  Transformation of the people in the world is.  Change the world is not.  Reconciliation of people in the world with God is.  E.g.  pig in a clean room vs.  clean person in a pig-sty.
• Power that we need: Reality check.  We do very poorly in witnessing to Jesus, don’t we?  The grade on our report card is an F.  Evangelism nowadays is a taboo word.  The United Methodist Church in America is declining.  It seems we are desperately doing everything else but witnessing nowadays.  The numbers don’t lie: we don’t have many genuine converts (or profession of faith/baptism).  We may bring some people to church, but how many of them are serious about following Jesus to death?  E.g. Willow Creek’s own study “Reveal.”   Let’s face it: our witness stinks.  Our evangelism efforts are ineffective and even secular (e.g. marketing strategy).  So, what’s the fix?
• Power from the Holy Spirit: We must begin with the Holy Spirit.  We need the Holy Spirit’s power and initiative in our evangelism.  We shouldn’t even think of going out to the world without the Holy Spirit’s power and guidance.
• Now, this is what happens when we have power from the Holy Spirit: witnessing becomes dynamic and evangelism explodes.  Historically, whenever there was an anointing of the Holy Spirit, and wherever the outpouring of the Holy Spirit was, there was always an explosion of evangelism.  E.g. Methodism exploded in the 19^th century in America.  I have seen and experienced it once in my life.  E.g. in the 1970s, in my home church in Korea, it all began with fervent prayers and fasting of a few young adults in the prayer room at the basement of the church.  Then, for the next 5 years, there was an explosion of witnessing: outdoor evangelism, street evangelism, and even workplace evangelism took place.  The results?  Hundreds of young souls came to the Lord (300 young people in a 1000-member church!).
• We need power here!: So, folks, if you agree with me that the Church needs new converts and that we need to do a better job in our witnessing, then we must begin with prayers.  That’s what the disciples did in the Early Church.   Before you are amazed with 3000 conversions with Peter’s sermon, you have to think what had preceded first: after Jesus commanded them to wait in Jerusalem for the Holy Spirit, for the next ten days, they stayed at one place.   With their hearts and minds united, they devoted themselves to prayer.  On the tenth day, the Holy Spirit came down upon them and the rest was history.
• I really want to see the same thing happen in our church.   I pray that our 40-40-40 challenge would grant us a break-through in our church prayers.  I pray that it would ignite our hearts in enthusiasm and passion for God.  I pray that the Holy Spirit would come down upon us and grant us the power that would turn us into a dynamic witness for Jesus.

  Conclusion

• We need the power of the Holy Spirit; the power from above that brings people to the Lord.   E.g. my mom, Jehovah’s Witness, refused to come back to the Church.  She came back to the Lord only after she saw the demonstration of the Holy Spirit through prayers (that is, my brother came out of comatose after fervent prayers).
• People need the Lord.  The Church needs the Holy Spirit.  We need the demonstration of the Holy Spirit in evangelism.
• Lord, grant us the power of the Holy Spirit.   Amen.

Tonight Pastor Choi talked about three characteristics of repentance.  First, everyone needs to repent of evil in the sight of God.  Kings, rulers, old and young, male and female, parents and children, even priests and churches.   Next, in our repentance, God wants us to rend our heart, not outside clothing.  Genuine repentance always brings forth inner change.  It never means only carrying outward signs such as sitting in ashes and tearing the clothing we wear.   Finally, repentance never brings us down.  It, rather, brings us up to where we should be: the children of God.  It restores the joy of salvation to us.  It also restores our relationship with each other.

  Concerning Repentance

Following is a summary of the sermon:

Title: Concerning Repentance

Joel 2:12-17

New International Version (NIV)

Rend Your Heart

¹² “Even now,” declares the Lord,
    “return to me with all your heart,
with fasting and weeping and mourning.”

¹³ Rend your heart
    and not your garments.
Return to the Lord your God,
for he is gracious and compassionate,
slow to anger and abounding in love,
and he relents from sending calamity.
¹⁴ Who knows? He may turn and relent
    and leave behind a blessing—
grain offerings and drink offerings
for the Lord your God.

¹⁵ Blow the trumpet in Zion,
    declare a holy fast,
call a sacred assembly.
¹⁶ Gather the people,
    consecrate the assembly;
bring together the elders,
gather the children,
those nursing at the breast.
Let the bridegroom leave his room
and the bride her chamber.
¹⁷ Let the priests, who minister before the Lord,
weep between the portico and the altar.
Let them say, “Spare your people, Lord.
Do not make your inheritance an object of scorn,
a byword among the nations.
Why should they say among the peoples,
‘Where is their God?’”

Psalm 51: 10-12, 16-17

¹⁰ Create in me a pure heart, O God,
    and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
¹¹ Do not cast me from your presence
    or take your Holy Spirit from me.
¹² Restore to me the joy of your salvation
and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

¹⁶ You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it;
    you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.
¹⁷ My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit;
    a broken and contrite heart
you, God, will not despise.

I.  Introduction

Begin with the story of Professor Hong Won Tak in my graduate school days: “Summarize the entire article in one sentence.”

II. Content

One word that summarizes all the texts we read tonight: REPENTANCE.

Before I proceed, though, I need to talk about sin first.  Without sin, there is no repentance.  Without sin, there’s no need to talk about repentance.

What is sin?  It is “an offence against God or against a religious or moral law; the act of breaking a religious or moral law” (the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary).

The Scripture defines sin in the following five ways: a. violation of God’s commandments (Leviticus 26:43):  any violation of the Ten Commandments is sin.  Here are some examples from Jesus’ own mouth: Sin is what defiles a person before God and it comes from our own heart such as evil intentions, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, and slander (Matthew 15:19-20).  More specifically, people commit the sin of worshiping money and idols, the sin of self-loving and God-hating (there are flagrant and blatant attacks against Christianity in America). People live a life unholy, ungrateful, and unforgiving.  They are haughty and boastful.   Many are rebellious and disobedient to parents.  Greed, covetousness, cheating, sexual immorality, gossip, and false testimonies are rampant in our society.  b. violation of the covenant between God and His people (Joshua 7:11)  c. all types of wrong doing (1 John 5:17)  d. not believing in the name of Jesus (John 16:9)   e. whatever is not from faith (Romans 14:23).

The Hebrew word (hataat) or Greek word (hamartia) both carry the meaning of “missing the mark” when you shoot an arrow.  Therefore, I can say that sin is missing God’s way, missing the mark of God’s glory and honor; sin is wrong-doing (trespassing) against God and against others.

Now, we are ready to talk about repentance.

Tonight, I would like to share with you what God has spoken to me through Psalm 51 and Joel 2.

Three characteristics of repentance stand out in tonight’s readings.

First, repentance is for everyone.  Repentance is a good thing, because it restores us back to God after we have committed a sin.  It not only is a good thing, also is a necessity.  We need it available to us, 24/7 and unlimited.  Who can afford a life without repentance—the second chance?   Everyone needs repentance; only God is exempt from it.  The rest of us must have it, because we constantly trespass against God and against each other.  You may claim, “Not I!   I have nothing to repent of, because I haven’t done anything wrong in my entire life.”  Really?  How then would you think of Jesus who said, “No one is good except God”?   The Bible also differs from you.  It clearly states that no one but Jesus in human history can make a claim of sinless-ness.  Rather, listen to the Word of God that declares we all are sinners; if we have sinned, then we are in need of repentance (Romans 3:23).   When we break the human laws, we need to repent.  When we do and say hurtful things to each other, we need to repent and ask for forgiveness.  Sometimes we may think we are perfectly right in human laws, but our lifestyle may be in a clear violation of divine laws.  E.g.  The rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16.  Is it right to live in a 12 million dollar worth of three bed-room apartment with floor and a bath tub made of Italian marble (in NYC)?  It may be perfectly legal (after all, it is your money, but is it right before God?)

Consider King David for a while.  One night, he was strolling at the roof of his palace looking down around.  Obviously, the palace was built on a hill higher than all the houses around in those days.  Lo and behold, he saw in a distance a woman bathing on the roof of her house.  Immediately, he felt his male hormone surging to its maximum level, and soon he summoned the woman and that night he lay down with her.  The trouble was that she was the wife of one of David’s soldiers who was away in a war at that time.  Later, David got a message from the woman: I am pregnant.  What would I do? He thought.  Cover up!   How?   Bring the husband back and send him home so that he may sleep with his wife.  Clever, isn’t it?  Well, it didn’t work as David wished.  Back in town, Uriah the husband never went to his house.  Why?  He felt guilty being home while others were dying in the battlefields.  So, instead of sleeping in his own bed, he chose to sleep outside home along with other soldiers in town.  So, it’s time for Plan B!  Kill him!  So did he.  David ended up murdering the innocent husband.

Well, David covered up everything very nicely before human eyes, but not before God.  The Bible says that his act was evil in the sight of God.  One day, God sent His messenger Nathan and confronted him.  Then, David humbly admitted of his sins (adultery and murder) before the Lord and before people (2 Samuel 12).   Psalm 51 was his confession as he was repenting of his sin before God.

Kings and rulers need to repent.  So do the old and young, great and small, male and female, parents and children.   So does God’s Church.  In the book of Revelation Christ wrote letters to seven churches in Asia.  He asked them to repent of their sins (all five churches received Christ’s warning except the two that were going through severe persecution).

Even the ministers of the Gospel ought to repent at times their sins of hypocrisy, professional mannerism, laziness, and lack of empathy or compassion.  As a minister of the Gospel, I must confess that I haven’t spoken often enough about ‘sin’ or ‘repentance’ in my teaching and preaching in the past 24 years of ministry.  I also repent of the preachers’ sin in America that we failed to preach the wholesome Gospel, the whole truth of the Gospel.  We chose to please the crowd, not God.   We chose not to offend them at the expense of God’s truth.  It is no secret that believers in America don’t like to hear such words as sin and repentance from the pulpit.  They want to stay away from anything that sounds negative or anything that would make them feel guilty.  So we the preachers stay mum about those words.   Although we need a healthy balance between God’s holiness and goodness, we the preachers have been preaching the goodness of God too often and too much at the expense of God’s holiness and righteousness.  We’ve been silent too long on sin, repentance, and God’s holiness in pursuit of God’s goodness.   For that, I repent and ask for God’s forgiveness.

Please bear with me.  If you read the New Testament very carefully, you will find that there is an inseparable relationship between repentance and the Good News we preach.  Almost anywhere we turn to in the New Testament, we see John the Baptist, Jesus, and Christ’s apostles proclaim both repentance and the Good News together, never separately.  Repent, for the kingdom of God is near; Repent and believe in the Good News; Repent and be baptized; Repent and turn to the Lord….  Repentance and the Gospel always go together hand in hand.  If the Church of God had been preaching only the Good News, only baptism, and only turning to the Lord, all without repentance, then, are we not guilty of preaching only the half-truth?  Are we not guilty of being not faithful messengers of God?   That’s the sin I believe the churches in America should repent of.

Second, repentance means inner change, not carrying outside signs.  In the Old Testament times, to demonstrate their repentance to God, the people of Israel would wear sackcloth, sit on ashes, throw ashes on their heads, and even rend their clothes in front of others.  Although all those outward signs were begun with good intentions, as the time went on, people began to focus more and more on the outward signs and less and less on the inner change of the heart.  “As long as I do these outside acts,” they believed, “I will be OK with God.”  The skeleton of tradition continued on strong, while the inside, the heart of repentance, was gone.

Don’t be fooled: To God, those outward signs of repentance mean nothing, because He always looks on the heart inside.  King David knew exactly what God wanted from him during his penitence.  In Psalm 51:17, he said, God wants a broken and contrite heart, not sacrifices or burnt offerings.  Joel echoes with David; rend your hearts, not clothing (Joel 2:12ff).

When John the Baptist baptized the crowd, they asked him, “What shall we do?” He answered them to bear fruit worthy of their repentance.  For instance, to soldiers, he said, “Stop being cruel to civilians and use your strength to protect the weak.”  To the tax collectors, he said, “No more exploitation.  Be fair to all.”   To those rich folks who had not been sharing their wealth with others, he exhorted, “Share your blessings with others.”  It is simple and clear that true repentance brings forth a fundamental change in heart and life-style, rather than just lip service.

Thirdly, repentance never brings us down.  Rather, it builds us up and always restores us back to where we should be: the children of God.  It restores our relationship with God that was broken due to our sins. Repentance always restores unto us the joy of salvation.  It removes the barrier that blocks our prayers to God.  It also restores our relationship with others.  When we repent, there is joy among us and in heaven.  Consider Luke 16—the story of Prodigal Son—the story of Rod Colby (who repented of his racial prejudice after years of practice against African-Americans).

III. Concluding Remarks

Lent is a period of “repentance, preparation for baptism, and renewal of baptism into the Easter (Paschal) mystery” (United Methodist Book of Worship).  It is a great time to pause and ponder over our Christian life.   Since nowadays we virtually have no time to ponder how we are doing before God, these forty days of Lent will serve us well to reflect on our Christian walk with God. 

 May the Lord help us to use this time wisely to count God’s blessings upon ourselves, our family, our church, and our society. 

 May the Lord also open our eyes wide to clearly see the areas that we have lapsed and help us to turn away from our sins. 

 Finally, it is my prayer that the Lord would restore the joy of salvation through our genuine repentance and enter into Easter with great joy and thanksgiving.    Amen.  

Today Pastor Choi talks about another mark of Christ’s disciples: Give generously.  He exhorts the congregation to honor the LORD with their giving realizing how critical giving is in the life of believers.  He also points out that liberal giving allows us to meet the living God and that every type of giving to the LORD ought to be acceptable to Him.

Give Generously 

Following is a summary of the sermon:

Give Generously: Be Christ’s Disciple (5)

Proverbs 3:9-10

New American Standard Bible (NASB)

⁹ Honor the Lord from your wealth
And from the first of all your produce;
¹⁰ So your barns will be filled with plenty
And your vats will overflow with new wine.

2 Corinthians 9:6-7

New American Standard Bible (NASB)

⁶ Now this I say, he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.⁷ Each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

Introduction

Recap: In the past few weeks, we’ve been talking about what distinguishes Christ’s followers from mere church goers.  The marks of Christ’s disciples are: put Christ first (before anybody or anything else), separate from the world (be transformed daily by the renewal of mind), be steadfast (our life is built on Christ the Rock), serve others (we fulfill God’s will by serving others to build up their lives).  Today we are going to think about another characteristic of Christ’s follower: Give generously.

Reason for the sermon: Today, in America, the average believer has a poor attitude towards giving, if not negative, due to their poor understanding on giving.  I want to change their perspective on giving with my sermon this morning.

I also want to make clear one thing before I proceed: I am not doing this sermon because our congregation needs more money.   In fact, I am glad that I talk about this topic when our church is in a good financial shape; actually we are doing better than the last year.  I give thanks to God for His provision.  I also thank you for your generosity in giving. 

Let me repeat: I am not doing this message to ask for more money from you.  That’s not my intention this morning.  Rather, the purpose of the sermon is to help you to understand how critical giving is in your life as Christ’s follower: show me a person who is a genuine disciple of Christ, then I will show you a person who is very generous in giving (not necessary in the absolute amount but rather in proportion to the income).  No matter which way we may put, the level of commitment in giving gives away the depth of our faith and commitment to the Lord.  Remember what Jesus said: where your money is, there’s your heart (Matthew 6:21).  Young Christians must learn early to give to the Lord as they grow in faith.  The life of a faithful giver must begin with a sound understanding on giving.   

Reasons for Giving: The Scripture commands us to give generously to the Lord.  When it comes to giving, I have been practicing it for 40 years.  From the day when I gave my first tithe to the Lord until today, my joy and level of giving has not diminished at all.  In fact, it has increased as I have grown mature in understanding of what my giving means to the Lord and to His Church.   

Let’s be honest with ourselves this morning and ask the question: why do I give?  Why do you give?  Why do people give?  Here are some possible answers to the question: some folks give tithes to the Lord simply because God commands them to (Malachi 3).  They don’t think twice.  They don’t ask why.  They just do it, because God says so.  Others give because they love the Lord.   More others give to the Lord, because they want to support God’s church to advance God’s kingdom here on earth.  Many more others give, convinced that giving is a good thing; it’s a good thing to share God’s blessings with others.  And, all of us believe that giving is good because whenever we give, we feel good about ourselves.  Giving is more blessed than receiving (Acts 20:35).  I thought I have listed all the possible reasons for giving to the Lord, well, until I read today’s text.

Honoring the LORD: Proverbs 3:9 offers us one more excellent aspect of giving that few of us are aware of: giving is an act of honoring the LORD.  In other words, each time we give to the Lord, we obey His command in Proverbs 3:9.  And, each time we obey His command, we honor God.  Please stay with me as I continue unpacking the verse Proverbs 3:9. 

Command:  First, look at the verb ‘honor’ in verse 9.  It is an imperative.  It is a command.  It is not a suggestion or an option.  The LORD commands us to honor Him with our offerings. This command is not just for a few godly people.  It is a command for all; rich and poor, male and female, old and young, baby Christians and mature Christians.  It is even given to those who live paycheck-to-paycheck.  It is for everyone who confesses his/her faith in Christ.  We are called to honor God by giving.

Think with me about the meaning of Hebrew verb (kabad— ‘honor’) here.  Yes, that’s the same verb used in the context of ‘honor’ your mother and father (Exodus 20:12).  The root of the verb ‘honor’ carries the meaning of glorifying someone (in this case, God).  To honor God means to glorify Him; to glorify Him means to make Him pleased with and proud of what you do, in this context, with our giving.  Simply put, do you want to honor and glorify God? Then, take giving seriously. 

Here’s an analogy.  We are called to honor God in our lives like the athletes honor their mother countries by winning medals in the Olympics.  E.g.  Have you lately watched the Sochi Olympics, especially the medal ceremony?  As the winners stand on the stand, medals and flowers are presented to them.  Then, the national anthem of the gold medalist is played as her national flag is being hoisted.  Often, the camera zooms in on the face of the winner and we see the winner’s eyes welled up with joy and pride.  In that very moment, the gold medalist’s emotions are flooded with pride because she has honored her country.  That’s the meaning of honoring and glorifying.  As the winners honor their mother countries with medals, we too honor our Heavenly Father with our giving.  We seldom think or practice that way, though.  On any given Sunday, many of us just drop the offering envelopes or a few dollars in the offering plates without any thoughts.  Next time, as you do it, remember that you are honoring the Lord with your giving.  Do it so with pride and joy!

Encounter the Living God:  There’s a great advantage of liberal giving, too.  When we give generously to the Lord, it opens wide the door of opportunity to experience the living God in often unforgettable ways: the more sacrificially you give to the Lord, the higher chance you have to encounter God who not only knows your needs but also provides them according to His riches (Philippians 4:19). 

Imagine two individuals this morning: Mr. Stingy and Mrs. Generous.  Mr. Stingy claims that he is a believer in Jesus.  Each time he goes to church, he drops a couple of dollars in the offering.  It’s not that he doesn’t have money.  On the contrary, he has plenty of money to live comfortably for the rest of his life; over a million dollars in his bank accounts.  Yet, he doesn’t believe he has enough.  Most of the time, he doesn’t feel any need of God thinking “Why would I need God when I am well taken care of by money?”  (I think that is the biggest curse on the wealthy) Such a life-style deprives him of the chance to meet the living God in person. 

Now, let’s think about Mrs. Generous.  She lives paycheck-to-paycheck: many a time she feels that she has no money to spare let alone give to God.  Yet, somehow, she decides to give anyway.  You know what’s going to happen to her?   She will definitely meet the living God in an unforgettable way.  Here’s one person who just did that.  E.g. Brother Andrew (author of God’s Smuggler), after giving his last money to a homeless friend, received in the mail the same amount of money for his tuition in the nick of time!  Had he not given away the money to his friend that afternoon, I am sure he would have continued on his walk with God, yet he would have definitely missed the great opportunity to know such an awesome God.  Never would he have learned to totally rely on God for his finances!

Acceptable to the LORD:  One more very important aspect of giving is this: any type of giving to the Lord ought to be acceptable to Him.  We must give Him the best of all, because God always looks into the heart of the giver.  The giver’s heart must be right with God in every giving.   Now, it is true that God blesses those who honor Him with their giving; however, blessings must not be the main reason why we give to the Lord.  The wealth, and becoming rich, is never the purpose of our giving.  It can’t be the ulterior motive for our giving.   E.g. I want to live in a mansion, so, I give tithes.  Wrong.  I want to drive a Rolls-Royce, so I give 10% of my income.  Wrong.  I want to win 20 million dollars from the lottery, so I promise God that if I win, I will give the half of my winning.  Wrong.  You never use your giving as bait for more returns from God.  Giving is not a way of fattening your portfolio.  E.g. At one church finance workshop, someone complained to the speaker that her church refused to accept her offer of the half of her winning if she won the lottery.  The speaker said he would have no problem of accepting the offer.  I had to differ with the speaker on this, because such a donation lacks righteousness in the sight of God.  It is as wrong as accepting donations from a pimp who keeps his business going while he gives a regular donation to the church out of his guilt.  Every type of giving to God must be in sync with God’s righteousness.  I say so, because the Scripture says so.

Honor God with righteousness:  In the Septuagint Bible (the Greek translation of the Hebrew Scripture), the same verse Proverbs 3:9 reads as follows: Honor the LORD from your righteous labor/hard works and from the first fruits of righteousness.  Lottery earnings and gambling are never honorable before the Lord, because they fail the litmus test of righteous labor and hard works.  So do donations through prostitution; those monies extorted from the victims are not right with God. 

Giving is a Heart Matter: One more thing.  In 1 Corinthians 9, Paul the Apostle briefly points out the eternal spiritual truth: whatever we sow, and however we sow, we will reap accordingly.   Sow sparingly, reap sparingly.  Sow bountifully, reap bountifully.  Don’t expect otherwise.  Everything we do and say, and everything we give to the Lord, we will harvest in the Day of the Lord.  Paul also points out to a right attitude in our giving.  Give it cheerfully.  Give it from your heart. 

Closing:

Action point: Starting today, each Sunday, as you drop your offerings in the plates, remind yourself by saying, “Lord, I am honoring you today by giving this offering to you.  This is my best!  It is from my heart!  May it be acceptable in your sight.  Amen.” 

Today Pastor Choi talks about another mark of Christ’s disciples: serve others.  God has called the believers in Christ and appointed them to be His servants.  He points out that to serve God and others in Christ’s name indeed is a privilege and honor rather than a burden or even a duty.  The sermon focuses on what God’s will for His servants is and proper attitudes with which we are to serve others.

    Serve Others

Following is a summary of the sermon:

Serve Others: Be Christ’s Disciple (4)

• Mark 10:45
• New American Standard Bible (NASB)
• ⁴⁵ For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”
• 2 Corinthians 4:5
• New American Standard Bible (NASB)
• ⁵ For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond-servants for Jesus’ sake.Introduction:
• Recap: I have been talking about marks of Christ’s disciples: what distinguishes us as a follower of Christ from a mere church goer?  They are: put Christ first, separate from the world, be steadfast.  Another mark of Christ’s disciple I am going to talk about today is: to serve others.
• We are called to a life-long servant-hood.  When Christ calls us to follow Him, He also calls us into a life of service.  He came to this earth, not to be served, but to serve (Mark 10:45).  The same Lord calls us this morning to follow His steps by serving others in His name.  You are called to God’s service.  Don’t think that being in God’s service is only for clergy; but it includes all of you too:  You are called to serve God and people in your lives.  You are a servant of God.
• The meaning of servants of God:  Nowadays, the phrase “servant of God” and its concept are foreign to us.  We are living in a democratic society where everyone is considered and treated as equal (we use the words ‘employee (not servant)’ and ‘employer (not master).’  You occasionally hear the phrase “servant of God” in church, and many of us have no idea what it is all about.
• The phrase “servant of God” has a very special meaning for us.  First of all, we must understand that this title is not for everyone in the world.  Rather, it is reserved only for those who are called in Christ and appointed by God.  Only they can use the title.  In fact, we are privileged to follow this special line of God’s people who worked as servants of God.  Here are some examples: Abraham, Moses, David, Daniel, all the prophets of God, Mary (the mother of Jesus), Jesus (Luke 22:27), Peter, Paul, and all the apostles of Christ.
• Next, to be God’s servant is a privilege and honor, rather than a burden or even a duty.   Why?  Because it is God who has appointed us Christ’s disciples to serve Him and to serve others in the name of Jesus our Lord.  Have pride in serving Him in this capacity.  E.g.  A butler in uniform was preparing the State Dinner in the British Kingdom paying attention to the final details at the table.  He was going over one seat at a time, meticulously examining and wiping the glasses with a clean towel.  I could clearly see in his face the pride of serving the Queen.  How much more we ought to be proud of serving God who considered us worthy to be in His service!  We are God’s servants, bond-servants.
• Meaning of bond-servant:  The Scripture calls us bond-servants (to be exact, the original Greek is ‘doulos’—slave).  The bond-servants are the servants that are bound with a contract (the Bible calls it Covenant).  When we were baptized washing away our sins, and when we declared to the church that we would follow Christ, we entered into this covenantal relationship with God where God says that He is our God and that we are His people.  In this covenant, God promises that He is with us, that He provides our needs and that He protects us from the Evil One.  In turn, we promise our allegiance and loyalty to Him in worship and service.  Please note here that no covenant was ever made without a sacrifice.  That’s where Christ comes in.  God has cut a new covenant with us through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.  The New Testament puts this way: we are bought with a price.   That price was Christ the Passover Lamb, and His death on the cross paid the wages of our sins.
• Accountability:  Where there is a servant, there is a master.  Servants work for their masters.  Servants are there to serve their master’s wishes and needs.  They do what their masters command them to do.  They don’t serve themselves.  If they do, they are no longer servants.
• For each servant, there’s a certain set of expectations from the master.  As our Master, Jesus our Lord also has a certain expectations from us.  What are they?
  • Understand the master’s will:  First and foremost, servant must understand what the master wants.  Any servant who is ignorant of the master’s will is a useless servant.  If we claim that we are God’s servants, we ought to make every effort to clearly understand what God wants us to do in our lives and with our lives.  This is what God wants us to do: Serve others, using God-given talents and resources.  He wants us never to serve our own selfish needs and desires neglecting (or at the expense of) others’ needs.  God’s blessings on us are always meant to be shared with the less fortunate.  E.g. a rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31).  The rich man feasted sumptuously every day.  At his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man’s table; even the dogs would come and lick his sores…. The problem of the rich man was to fail to take care of his neighbor.
  • Serve with good attitudes:  Next, every servant is expected to serve with good attitudes.  Serve others—
    • A. with a purpose: Understand how your service to neighbors is connected to the Lord.  When you serve others, you serve the Lord.  By serving others, you please the Lord.  E.g. three masons working on God’s temple: the first one says, “I’d rather do something else, but nothing else is available for me.”  The second one says, “I don’t want to do this, but if I don’t, my family will starve.”  The third one says, “It is my joy working here.  I am doing it for the Lord and His people.”  He was the only one who can see how his service was connected to the Lord.  The Bible says, “Do everything for the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31).
    • B. out of love, not out of duty:  Make sure that you serve others in love (Galatians 5:13), not out of duty.  E.g. Jacob served Laban his father-in-law for 7 years to marry Rachel.  “Those seven years seemed to him but a few days because of the love he had for her (Genesis 29:20).”
    • C. with humility (Acts 20:19):  Consider others better than you are when you serve them.   “Do nothing from conceit, but regard others as better than yourselves (Philippians 2:3).”   E.g.  A group of all white Christians went down to the Deep South during the 1960s to help a black congregation for repairs.  The program coordinator from the black church noticed that some of the white group doing their services out of conceit.  When he politely yet firmly confronted them with that attitude, the white folks got offended and left for home.
    • D. with God-given strength:  When you serve others, do it with God-given strength, not with your own.  There is a huge difference between services done by own strength and those done in God’s power.  It is like a difference between going to New York City by walking and driving.  It is much easier when you serve with God’s strength than with your own.  E.g. Last fall, 17 new members joined our church.  It was all done by God’s power and initiation, not by my own.  When you serve others, be sure to ask God for His strength and His wisdom (Psalm 86:16, 119:125).

What’s the reward for our services?

1. Here on earth, lives changed and transformed.  Through our services, we build up each other’s life for good.  We see lives changed.  God commands us to contribute to each other’s spiritual and emotional growth.  E.g.  The other day I was doing my devotion reading Romans 15.  Verse 2 stood out to me: “Each of us should please our neighbors for their good, to build them up.”  I felt as if God was telling me to daily offer my service to build up my neighbor’s life through words of encouragement and love.  I envisioned myself standing by my neighbor who is building his house with bricks and I offer him the building material—one brick at a time.
2. In Heaven, praise and honor from God.  In Heaven, God will acknowledge us by saying, “Well done, good and faithful servant!  Come and share in your master’s happiness!” (Matthew 25:21).  God will honor those who serve Christ (John 12:26).

               Closing:

A king delights in a wise servant and a shameful servant incurs his wrath (Proverbs 14:35).  May God bless us to be a wise servant who brings delights to Him through our daily life of service for others.  Amen.

Today Pastor Choi talks about the languages people use to convey their love messages to each other based on Gary Chapman’s sermon tape.  Pastor Choi begins with his own definition of love languages: love languages are the means of communication to say “I love you” to each other.  They are the languages that the recipients of love would understand in the ways that the givers mean.  They are languages that would instantly register our love messages in the hearts of the recipients.  Then, the sermon explores the following five love languages (defined by Gary Chapman): words of affirmation, gifts giving, quality time, physical touch, and acts of service.

  Five Love Languages. based on Gary Chapman

Following is a summary of the sermon:

“Five Love Languages”—based on Gary Chapman’s tape                      

1 Corinthians 8:1b

“Knowledge puffs up, while love builds up.”

Introduction

• Everyone lives on love:  Everyone wants to be loved.  Everyone, in fact, needs to be loved.  We are creatures of love.  We live on love; when we are loved, we thrive.  When we are not loved, we wither.  We give one another love and we receive love from others.
• How are we doing in this business of loving one another?  Why do we see so many people clamoring for love?  Why are there so many people, children and adults alike, deprived of love?  They don’t receive love; therefore, they have nothing to give. Or, they don’t give love to others, so they don’t receive love back.    Everyone wants to be loved.  We need love.
• How do you say it?  So, if you want to love someone, let’s say, by saying ‘I love you,’ how do you communicate your love message to the recipient?  Just say it, you may think.  But, have you ever wondered that whatever you have said doesn’t always register in the person’s heart in the way you meant?  In other words, you need to say the love message in the ways that the recipient would surely understand it.  We need to communicate in the same language between the giver and the recipient.
• E.g. If I speak to you “I love you,” in Korean, 100 times until my face becomes blue, you still won’t be able to understand what I am saying, because the Korean language is not your language of communication.  You would have no idea what I am talking about.  However, if I say “I love you,” in English, everyone here would get it right away, simply because it is your language.  It registers immediately in your heart.  The key is the means of communication.  The means to convey our love to each other.  I would call them love languages.
• Credit to Gary Chapman: That’s the topic for today: the love languages we use daily.  I must give a proper credit here to the person who coined this terminology: love languages.  His name is Gary Chapman.  He came up with his theory that there are five different love languages people use daily.  About three years ago, my wife and I listened to an old sermon tape (18 years old to be exact) by him.  The sermon was very entertaining and informational that improved my marriage in understanding and practice.  My sermon this morning is heavily based on the tape that I heard.  I pray that my message would help every one of you to build up your relationships with spouses and children.  I also believe if you practice these love languages well, it will improve the relationships with friends, neighbors, and even coworkers.

  Contents

• Definition of love languages: Before I dig deeper, let me repeat what I mean by love languages:  Love languages are the means of communication to say “I love you” to each other.  They are languages that the recipients would understand in the ways that the givers mean.  They are languages that would instantly register our love messages in the hearts of the recipients.
• Emotional Tank:  Note here that Chapman mostly focuses on the emotional aspect of love and how-to’s thereof (in other words, the more important spiritual side such as ‘God’s love poured out into our hearts’ [Romans 5:5] or ‘love does no wrong to a neighbor’ [Romans 13:10] are not covered in his message.  Neither will I cover that this morning).
• This is how it goes with the emotional aspect of love:  Each individual has his or her emotional tank that is filled up with love.  For instance, if someone loves you by saying, “You are wonderful,” then it increases the level of love in your tank.  If someone spends a quality time with you, you feel loved and the level of love in your tank rises up as well.  Out of that reservoir, you are able to give love to someone else in your life.  In these languages, people communicate with each other, build up each other in love, and help each other feel loved.  When these languages are practiced faithfully by couples in marriage, especially in a troubled marriage, their marriages can be healed and even thrive.
• Five Love Languages:  Chapman identifies five languages.  I encourage you to follow along my sermon outline that is printed on your bulletin.  The first language of love is “Words of Affirmation.”
• Words of Affirmation: Here are some examples of words of affirmation: “I Love You.”  “You look great today!”  “You did a fantastic job!”  “You’re the best!”  “You are beautiful!”  “You’re awesome!”  The list goes on.  Many of us are fluent in this love language.  However, some of us are not so good at this, so we say nothing to our loved ones.   Some of us are so poor on this language that we end up saying hurtful things to our children and spouses.  E.g.  One father would say to his son, “You, no good bum!” This became a permanent scar in the son’s emotions for the rest of his life.  E.g.2.  Faramir who yearned for his father’s affirmation to no avail in “the Lord of the Rings.”    E.g. 3.  One night, after the political rally on their campaign trail, George W. Bush drove home late with his wife Laura sitting next to him.  Still his truck running in front of his garage, he asked Laura, “What do you think of my speech tonight?” Laura obviously didn’t give him the highest mark, and he was so upset that he drove his truck into the garage wall.
• Gifts Giving:  Clearly this is the language some people are very familiar with.  They are the masters of remembering special days and events in your life.  They would never fail to give you flowers/cards/presents.  E.g.  One husband would save up money for five years to buy a diamond ring for his wife on their every fifth anniversary.  The wife was really appreciative of that she still talks about it years later.    For someone with this language, if you don’t give gifts to her/him, guess how s/he would feel about the relationship.   Love deprived.  Love missing. Unloved.
• Quality Time: I don’t have to tell you about the importance of spending time together.  Out of sight out of mind.  When you spend time with your loved ones, be sure to give undivided attention to each other.  E.g. I have seen a married couple eating T.V. dinners watching evening news on T.V.   No communication.  Nothing to talk about.  Nowadays, young couples communicate with smartphones even in their beds.   It is very important for parents to spend quality time together with their children.  E.g. 2.  A son was a star quarterback in his high school football team.  His dad never showed up at his son’s games, not even once.   So, next time, if your son wants to play a game with you, don’t refuse.  Drop everything and play with him.  One thing is for sure:  You will fill up his emotional tank and he will remember it for a long time.
• Physical Touch: This one includes sex/hugs/holding hands.  Some of us love hugs.  Others avoid hugs by all means, because physical touch is not their thing.  But, there’s a sure merit to it.  Even Jesus gave a special blessing to the children by laying his hands on each of them.  E.g. Miura Ayako (Japanese novelist and Christian author): right after WWII, in her 20s and she was still single, she contracted tuberculosis that attacked her spine (known as caries of the spine or Pott disease).   Because of that condition, she was confined to bed for 13 years, “seven of them in a body cast that restricted all movement” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayako_Miura).   During this time, she married a wonderful Christian Miura Mitsuyo.  In her books, she wrote about her marriage life: basically, devoid of all sexual relationships, yet holding her hand with her husband sufficed her need of love.
• Acts of Service: Simply put, this means, “Talk is cheap.  Show me your action!”  Husband can say to his wife a million times, “I love you.”  Wife replies, “If you truly love me, help me with house chores.”  “Here’s the vacuum cleaner!”  The Bible puts this way: “Let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action” (1 John 3:18).   It also puts this way in James: “What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works?  If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,” and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that?”  (James 2:14-16)

  Closing

• Case Study:  pastor couple of 17 years of marriage.  Their love languages were different: Husband’s was Words of affirmation.  Wife’s was Gifts.  For their entire marriage, each one would speak to the other in their own love language instead of the other’s, so they always felt that something was missing in their unfulfilled marriage.  For instance, to make her husband happy, the wife would buy gifts for him on every single special occasion: birthdays, anniversaries, and Christmas.  He always thought that those gifts were a waste of money.  What about the other side?  The husband thought that his wife needed words of affirmation so he would tell her everyday how much she meant to him; how precious and beautiful she was.   All the words of affirmation without buying one single gift!  This practice went on for 17 years!  Then, one day, they discovered their language differences, so they started communicating in their spouse’s language, rather than in their own: the wife now tells her husband how great the sermon was on Sundays.  The husband begins to get something special for his wife.  So, their marriage has improved and they are still married.
• My family:  Mine: words of affirmation. My wife: acts of service [results are important]. My daughter: quality time.  She cherishes every moment we spend time together.  She still talks about all the Bed Time Stories I told her many nights, and also remembers the times that we watched movies together.
• Action points:  Remember this: these love languages work and work well only if when each of us practices them out of a sincere and selfless heart.  Otherwise, when ill-practiced, it will turn out as another expression of selfish desires we clamor.
• This week, take some time to analyze your loved ones’ complaints, identify their love languages, and start loving them in their love languages in order to fill up their emotional tanks.   Before long, they will start giving back the love to you, and you will see the positive changes in your relationships.
• Let’s pray.

   

Today Pastor Choi talks about another mark of Christ’s followers: steadfastness.  He begins his message with the inseparable relationship between foundations and buildings; foundations determine the fate of buildings–to stand or to fall.  The same goes with believers.  He points out that Jesus is our foundation because He is our Rock that is immovable, unchanging, and never shifting.  On Him, we build our lives.  At the end of the message, he talks about an antidote for spiritual weariness and discouragement.

   Be Steadfast

Here’s a summary of the sermon today:

Be Steadfast: Be Christ’s Disciple (3)

1 Corinthians 15:58

• New American Standard Bible (NASB)
• ⁵⁸ Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.

  Hebrews 12:3

• New American Standard Bible (NASB)
• ³ For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

  Introduction: Foundations determine the fate of the building

• The Leaning Tower of Pisa (a city in Tuscany, Central Italy): the twelfth century edifice still stands today (August 9, 1173, the foundations were laid; construction lasted for the next 199 years).  As of today, the tower leans at an angle of 4 degrees.
• “The tower’s tilt began during construction, caused by an inadequate foundation on ground too soft on one side to properly support the structure’s weight.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leaning_tower_of_pisa)

  Why foundations?

• Anyone who’s in the building business knows how critical the foundations are for the buildings.  Building a house without firm foundations would be a disaster and a waste of time and money.
• Why are foundations so important?   Because, without foundations, no house or building will stand strong.  Think of all the old cathedrals in Europe standing today.  Somebody had done a great job laying foundations of those churches.  Even though we cannot see the foundations from outside, every one of them has stood on firm foundations for centuries.
• Why do foundations matter?  Because, they support the buildings.  Same thing goes with our life.  We need foundations for our lives.
• Everyone conducts a life.  Everyone’s life is built on something, whether it’s built on principles or convictions such as education, relationships, money, fame, or ambition.  Our Christian life is built on repentance and forgiveness (Hebrews 6:1).  Our relationship with God is built on faith and hope.  The relationships that are built on love and commitment (Ephesians 3:17) last forever.

  God the Master Builder:

• When it comes down to firm foundations where our lives stand, we don’t have to look further.   Meet God.   He is an expert architect and a master builder.  He knows what we are talking about.  He knows what we need for foundations of life.  He has been in this business for thousands of years.
• Here are some of His credentials just in case you wonder.  God knows how to create things.  He knows how to sustain them, too.  He created the universe according to His brilliant design.  He created the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1:1).  He is the architect who laid foundations of the earth (Hebrews 1: 10).  He is the builder of the City in Heaven (Hebrews 11:10).   It’s worth talking about Heaven here.
• In Heaven, there is the Holy City (New Jerusalem) that radiates with the glory of God. The city’s street is pure gold, transparent as glass. The Holy City has a great, high wall with twelve gates, and the twelve gates are twelve pearls. At the gates are twelve angels, and on the gates are inscribed the names of the twelve tribes of Israelites; on the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates. The wall of the city has twelve foundation stones, and on them are the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb (Revelation 21:11-14, 21).
• The foundation stones of the city are adorned with every kind of precious stone: jasper (red-yellow-brown-green), sapphire (blue), chalcedony (various colors), emerald (green), sardonyx (various), carnelian (brownish red), chrysolite (yellow-green), beryl (green-blue-yellow), topaz (blue-brown-yellow-orange), chrysoprase (green), jacinth (red), amethyst (purple) (Revelation 21:19).   Wow!
• Why am I talking about foundations this morning?  Because, depending on what kind of foundations we build our lives on, in the end, we will either harvest wind (that is, nothing) or eternal life.  Also, the stability of our life as believers solely relies on the foundations.  God wants us to be steadfast and immovable in Christ.  He doesn’t want our lives to collapse whenever adversities strike us.  God wants us to stay strong in our life’s journey to Heaven.  He wants us to be rooted and established in love, hope, and faith (Ephesians 3:17) (Colossians 1:23).  He perfects us, confirms us, strengthens us, and establishes us in Christ (1 Peter 5:10).  And, He begins His work in us with the foundation.

  Who is our foundation?  Jesus Christ.

• Remember Jesus’ parable on the wise and foolish builders? (Luke 6:48-49)  One built his house on the rock; the other built on the sand without a foundation.  One day rain came down. A flood arose, and the river burst against the houses. One house stood strong; the other fell and great was the ruin of the house!
• Consider this: the two builders used the same materials for their houses. They had the same trouble at the same time: the torrential rain and the waves of waters.  But, the result was a night and day difference; one fell and the other stood.  Why?  All because of the foundation.
• The house that withstood the torrents was built well on the rock (Matthew 7:25).
• Jesus is the Rock in our lives.  Upon Him, we build our lives as a believer (1 Corinthians 3:11).  On this foundation of Jesus, we build our covenantal relationship with God.  When we build our lives on Him, we will be steadfast and strong, because Jesus Himself is immovable; we will withstand life’s challenges far better than those whose foundations is not Christ.

   

  Unpacking of 1 Corinthians 15:58

• Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.
• Be steadfast (Εδραιοι):  The Greek root carries the meaning of ‘support’ and ‘foundation.’  In other words, you can only be steadfast with a foundation. No foundation, no steadfastness.  No foundation, no stability or longevity.  The same goes for us.  We cannot be steadfast without Jesus the Rock the firm foundation in our lives.
• Immovable (Αμετακινητοι): this word ‘immovable’ comes from the Greek root ‘kineo’—where the English word “kinetic” comes from.  ‘Kineo’ means moving, shifting, and dislodged.  A house built on shaky foundation will be shifted and eventually fall to the ground and vice versa.
• Always abounding in the work of the Lord: knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.   There’s no such a thing as retirement in the Christian vocabulary.  As long as God grants us a healthy body and mind, we need to be actively engaged in the work of the Lord all the time.  E.g. Professor Moffett at Princeton Theological Seminary.  In 1990s, over 90 years old, he would jog a couple of miles on a treadmill and work on his book daily, well beyond his retirement age.  I hope every one of us to be like him.  What’s the incentive for abounding in God’s work?  Your labor is not in vain.  God watches and will reward you for your labor.  We shall reap what we have sown in due time (Galatians 6:9) if we faint not (grow weary, give up).  That leads me to the next verse.

  Unpacking of Hebrews 12:3

• ³ For consider Him (Jesus) who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary (original Greek: be sick in soul) and lose heart.    
• Consider Him:  Have you ever got discouraged after you worked so hard for the Lord?  In fact, it is normal for us to get discouraged or lose heart once in a while when we are involved with God’s work.  E.g.  Someone said an insensitive word that hurt your pride.  Others failed to give credits that you deserve.  The list goes on.  In those moments, the author of the Hebrews urges us to consider Jesus as an antidote for discouragements (sick in soul—like flu in body) or burn-outs: Look!  You’re not alone.  Consider Jesus who went through much worse than what you are going through now.  Consider how He endured hostility by sinners.  Indeed, on the cross, Jesus endured all the mockery from the sinners for whom He was dying.  Jesus endured hostility and His cross by focusing on the glory of crown.  If He did it, we the followers can do it, too.  By focusing on the glory and honor we will receive from the Lord, we can overcome temporary spiritual weariness.

  Closing

• Build your life on Jesus the Rock.  He will keep you immovable and steadfast.  Abound in the work of the Lord and God will reward you eternally.  In moments of discouragement, consider Jesus.  Amen.

Today Pastor Choi urges the congregation to follow Jesus remembering one of the marks of Jesus’ followers: separate from the world.  Expounding on 1 John 2:15-17, he warns the believers not to love the world–the lust of flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.  He exhorts them to choose God over the world keeping the end result in mind–the eternal life in the presence of God.

Separate from the World

Following is a summary of his sermon today:

Be Christ’s Disciple (2): Separate from the World

• 1 John 2:15-17
• New American Standard Bible (NASB)
• Do Not Love the World
• ¹⁵ Do not love the world nor the things in the world.  If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. ¹⁶ For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. ¹⁷ The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.

  Introduction

• We are on the sermon series of “Be Christ’s Disciple” focusing on what makes a person a follower of Jesus.  Jesus invites us all to follow Him to Heaven.  He leaves the decision to each individual.  Do you want to be His follower?  If you do, then you had better pay attention to what He says about discipleship.  One thing is for sure: going to church doesn’t automatically make you Jesus’ disciple.  Joining the church as official member doesn’t necessarily turn you into Jesus’ disciple, either.  That’s why I am doing this series on “Be Christ’s Disciple” where I am going to tell you the several marks of Jesus’ follower.
• Last time, I talked about the first mark of Christ’s disciple: Put Christ first.  The one who follows Christ must (not a suggestion but a command) put Christ first, even before family and even before self.  Is it too tough to follow Him?  I decided to follow Him for the following two reasons: first, Jesus is worth dying for.  Next, He knows what’s best for me, so I trust in Him.
• Today, I am going to talk about the second mark of a follower of Jesus: separate (set apart) from the world.  We the disciples of Jesus are not of the world.

  Contents

• Spiritual World: Before we think about the meaning of being separate from the world, let’s think of the world we live in first.  It would be very naïve and even foolish of us to think that the world we see and feel is the only world there is.  Sun and moon, mountains and forests, animals and plants, ocean and fish and so on.  It is called the physical/natural world.  Anyone would agree that there are other worlds such as the mental world that we create/imagine in mind (E.g. Stephen Hawking with ALS disease created the universe in his head) and the spiritual world (invisible and incomprehensible without God’s help).
• Spiritual Battle: When God created the world, the original plan was for us to enjoy His creation and have a right relationship with Him through worship and service.  Something went wrong, though.  One of God’s created angels rebelled against God.  His name was Satan—Lucifer—the Evil one.  He wanted to usurp God and take the place of God himself—to be worshiped by all.  He tempted Adam and Eve in the beginning.  He even tempted Jesus saying, if you worship me, I will give you all the kingdoms, glory, and power of this world (Matthew 4:9).   Two thousand years ago, God sent Jesus to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8).  At the cross, Jesus won the decisive battle and won the victory over Satan.  Satan put Him to death, but Jesus rose again!   The Bible prophesied it this way in Genesis 3:15: He (referring to Jesus) shall bruise you (the Devil) on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel.  In this spiritual world, we find ourselves still engaged in skirmishes with Satan’s followers until the Day of Judgment when God will throw Satan and his followers along with the fallen angels into Hell the eternal fire.  Today, Satan tries to deceive and destroy God’s people by all means including deception, fear, and persecution (that’s a topic for another sermon).
• Jesus’ Prayer: Jesus was fully aware of this spiritual environment in which His disciples would be.  The night before He was crucified, He prayed to God on their behalf (John 17).  This is what He said to God in His prayers:  They are in the world but not of the world.  The Evil one tries to harm them, so protect them from him.  Sanctify them with your word.  Send them into the world, not out of the world, as holy (set apart) people of God.
• Separate from the World:  We are of God not of the world.  We are set apart from the world.  Jesus said that we don’t belong to this world but to God.  Being of God means to be united with God.  We are one with God, which means that what goes well with God goes well with us.  What doesn’t go well with God doesn’t go well with us, either.  For instance, God is holy, therefore, we are to be holy.  God is the Light, therefore, we walk in the light not in the darkness.  What God rejects, we do the same.  E.g. God rejects hatred and sin.  So do we.  God practices truth and mercy.  So do we.  (E.g. 1 John 3:10–The one who doesn’t love his brother is not of God).  The same goes with us not being of the world.  We are not one with the world.  We are separate from the world, therefore, what the world loves and promotes, we don’t agree or accept.  E.g. sad reality: the worldly way of thinking permeates today’s church.
• Consequences of being separate from the world: Jesus says, since we are of God and not of the world, the ruler of the world, the Evil one, hates us.  He hated Jesus first.  Here’s an example.  We are living in an age, where the persecution of Christianity becomes more and more intense (E.g. Kindergartner was forbidden to bring his children’s Bible for show- and-tell.  E.g. 2.  Gideons are forbidden to bring the Bibles to school nowadays).  Jesus says it is normal if the world hates us and persecutes us.  Because, we don’t follow what the world promotes.  Don’t worry, though: we do have God’s protection from the Evil one.
• 1 John 2:15-17:  Now, let’s listen to John the Apostle what he says about the world we live in.
• ¹⁵ Do not love the world nor the things in the world.  If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. ¹⁶ For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. ¹⁷ The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.
• John is right:  In one sentence in v. 15, John sums up what the things in the world are all about: the lust of flesh (self-will), the lust of eyes (self-wanting), and the pride of life.   I think he is very accurate in his assessment.  E.g.  Recently sitting in doctor’s office, I watched two programs on TV: Who wants to be a millionaire?  & The Chew.  One promotes the love of money and the other eating pleasure.  Both the desires of flesh.   If you watch TV, movies, and internet for hours every day, then don’t tell me that you don’t get influenced by the lust of flesh, the lust of eyes, and the pride of life.
• Unpacking of v. 15:  Do not love the world nor the things in the world.  If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him:   The Message Bible puts this way: Don’t love the world’s ways. Don’t love the world’s goods. Love of the world squeezes out love for the Father. There’s a myth among Christians: You can love both God and the world.  The truth is we must choose either God or the world, not both.  Jesus says no one can serve both God and money at the same time.  We still try, though.  If you chase two rabbits, you will lose them both—Native American saying.  There will be a rude awakening one day if we do chase both.  I would rather choose God over the love of the world because I know what would happen to me when I love the world and fill my heart with the love of the world.  In the end, it would turn me into a monster who loves nothing but money/ loves no one but myself and I would die miserably with no hope in Heaven (E.g. Mr. Koo of LG).
• Unpacking of v. 16:  ¹⁶ For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.  The Message Bible puts this way: Practically everything that goes on in the world—wanting your own way, wanting everything for yourself, wanting to appear important—has nothing to do with the Father. It just isolates you from him.
• Unpacking of v. 17:  ¹⁷ The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.  Choosing God over the world is no brainer for me for the following three reasons:  First, God matters eternally; the world doesn’t last forever. Next, everything from God is good.  Third, you become more like what you love and pursue over the years.  I want to be like God.   Make your choice with the end in mind.

  Closing:

• Being separate from the world is not about rules and regulations.  It is, rather, about understanding who we are and what we are called for and pursuing the relationship with the Holy God and obtaining the outcome—the eternal life. One thing is for sure:  whatever we sow daily in our character and life, we will harvest years later: either the life eternal in the presence of God or the eternal death (simply put, Heaven or Hell).
• Are you a disciple of Jesus?  Don’t follow the world.  Do not love the world.  You are not of the world.  You are set apart by God.  Stay pure and blameless until the Day of the Lord.
• Let’s pray.

   

   

Today is Sunday School Sunday and our lesson will take place during both Services.  Everyone is in class today.  Our teachers and children will actively participate in both services by being Greeters, Acolytes, Ushers, and Readers. Today’s sermon will be a lesson given by Sunday School Superintendent, Rosemary Molinaro.  The name of the lesson is “BE.” The word “Be” is a small word but has a powerful meaning – it describes the qualities of a person.  Good qualities are pleasing to God – to be faithful, to be honest, and to be kind, are just a few.  Everyone has hopes and dreams of being something when they grow up, but no matter what we choose to be, we can all have the same good qualities.  Reading through the Bible we can find many ways God wants us to be.  Today we will talk about how blest we are to be loved by a God who created us to be all that we can be.

  Sunday School Sunday

Following is a summary of the sermon:

Good morning everyone, and on behalf of our Sunday School Teachers and the children, I welcome you to Sunday School Sunday.  Today, you are all in class with us and Matthew tells us in Chapter 18:20  “For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”

Pastor Choi has asked me to speak in his place, and I would like to challenge him as he does each week.  Pastor Choi, I would like you to see if you can count how many times I say the word “Be” OR “BEING” in my lesson.

Okay, the challenge starts now!

As I do each Sunday, I have prepared a lesson for everyone.  My lesson for today is called “BE.”  Tiny little word, only two letters, B-E, but has a powerful meaning.  According to the Dictionary, BE is a verb \ˈbē\

—used to indicate the identity of a person or thing

—used to describe the qualities of a person or thing

—used to indicate the condition of a person or thing”

I would like to talk about the meaning of “BE” that refers to the  “qualities of a person.”  “Qualities” means how good or bad someone is. For example, a person can have good qualities or bad qualities.  For this lesson, we will talk about good qualities and how God wants us to BE. 

So let’s talk about  a very basic question:  what do you want to BE when you grow up?  Now keep in mind, we are always growing UP, right?  No one grows down.  So whatever your age, you are always growing up and will always BE something!

Would anyone like to tell us what they would like to BE when they grow up?  Remember, you are all in class today!

(Wait for responses)

What do you need to do to become that?

(wait for responses)

What will you do in that job?

(wait for responses)

OK.  So BEING a _____________ will tell people what you do.   But it won’t tell people what kind of a person you are.  You have to show them your qualities by the way you act.

Way, way back in 1986, there was a commercial for the Army that said  “BE all that you can BE” and I think God would respond by saying “I have created you, and if you follow Me, you can BE all that you can BE.”

Everyone has hopes and dreams of being something in their lifetime.   

We have hopes and dreams when we are very young for what we want to BE when we get older – maybe its whatever our Moms or Dads are, or something completely our own; maybe you love animals and want to BE a Vet; maybe you love flowers and trees and you want to BE a landscaper or own a flower shop.

No matter what we choose to BE, God wants us to all have the same good qualities.

Someone can BE the smartest or richest person in the world, but if their qualities are not good, do you think God is pleased with that person? 

Whatever it is that you want to BE is special and important, but what matters most is how you “BE” it.   Wow, that sounds like very poor English, doesn’t it? 

So let’s see how God wants us to “BE all that we can BE….”

Where do you think you can find that?

Let’s see some of the ways the Bible tells us:

First, BE Faithful –  Deuteronomy 6:5:7  

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.  Keep these words that I am commanding you in your heart. Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise.”

Another is BE Kind – no matter what type of job or career you have, remember to BE kind to people.  Who remembers the “Golden Rule?”  ( “Do unto others as you would have them do to you.”)  What does that mean?  (Treat people how you want to be treated.)

Matthew 7:12  

“In everything do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the Law and the prophets.”

Next BE Honest – there is an old saying “Honesty is the best policy” and that will BE true to the end of time.  Lying is hurtful in so many ways.  Telling the truth and taking responsibility for something we may have done, is not always easy, but it is always the right thing to do.

In the book of Exodus, Chapter 20:16 The Ninth Commandment given to Moses by God, tells us:

Thou shalt not bear false witness against they neighbor. 

 If something is false, what does that mean?

(wait for response)

And who is our neighbor?  Just the person who lives next door to us? 

There is a very old movie called “The Fly” and one of the lines in that movie is “BE afraid, BE very afraid” The movie wanted to scare people.  It was a silly science fiction movie, but the line is still used when people want you to think that something scary is going to happen. 

But God says in Isiah 41:10

Do not fear, for I am with you.  Do not BE afraid, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you……”

Did you ever hear the saying “Children should BE seen and not heard?” That saying means that children can BE in a room, but they are not allowed to talk.  Who would want that?   If that were true, who would tell us funny stories to make us laugh?  How would we hear “I love you Mom and Dad” or “I miss you Grandpa.”

Jesus says in Mark 10:14:    “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.”  Jesus actually got angry when the people tried to stop the children from talking to Him.

And then there is “BE careful what you wish for.”  That means you may wish for something that turns out to BE not really what we wanted.  But when Jesus taught us to pray, He said, “Give us this day our daily bread” That means we don’t have to wish for anything, God knows what we need.

What other ways to “BE” can you think of?

(wait for responses)  

BE fair, BE helpful BE good, BE happy !

BE Thankful – Pastor Choi has dedicated 2014 as the year of Gratitude.  Remember everyday to thank God for loving us and for all He has given us.

Psalm 30:12 That my glory may sing your praise and not BE silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever!

Here is a real challenge for Pastor Choi:

No matter what you decide to BE, remember to always BE how God wants you to BE, and you will definitely BE all that you can BE.

God Bless us all.   Thank you all for coming to class!

Today Pastor Choi expounds on the meaning of being Christ’s disciple.  It is more than attending church services and claiming that we are the followers of Christ.  Being Christ’s disciple requires us to put Christ first before anything or anybody else.  Otherwise, Christ says, we cannot be His disciples.  It also means to seek God’s kingdom and His righteousness, to deny self, to take up own cross and follow Him daily.

  Put Christ First

Following is a summary of his sermon today:

Put Christ First: Be Christ’s Disciple (1)            Matthew 6:33, Luke 9:23

• Matthew 6:33
• New International Version (NIV)
• ³³ But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
• Luke 9:23
• New International Version (NIV)
• ²³ Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.

  Introduction

• United Methodist mission statement: “making Disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.” –Not many of us fully understand what the word “disciple” means.
• Disciples of Jesus:  What’s that mean to be Christ’s disciple?  Simply put, it means to follow Jesus.  Jesus is the Teacher and Master and we are His followers.  To follow Jesus—what’s that mean?  We no longer follow Him physically, do we?  Does it just mean that I go to church every Sunday morning and present offerings to God?  Is it good enough to allow me to claim that I am a disciple of Jesus?
• For the next six Sundays, we are going to think about what it means to be Christ’s disciple.  In particular, we will focus on what makes a person follower of Jesus.  We will also look into what distinguishes Christ’s disciple from a mere church goer.  The six marks of Christ’s disciples are: 1) Christ first, 2) separation from the world, 3) steadfastness, 4) service for others, 5) generous giving, and 6) world vision.

  Contents

• The first mark of Christ’s disciple is to put Christ first before anything or anybody else.  Two verses demand our attention.
• First, Matthew 6:33:  But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

• Context: In the preceding few verses (v. 25-v. 32), Jesus talks about daily cares and worries.  Then, he concludes His lesson on cares and worries in life with verse 33: in the midst of life’s journey, you will struggle with cares.  However, don’t get mixed up in your priorities. Keep God as your number one priority in life, then you will do well.

   

• Seek: Desire, Aim at, and Practice.  Seek Continually (Greek grammar—present tense—not one time action but on-going).  Day and night.  All the time.
• The Bible says, “Seek and you shall find” (Matthew 7:7).  Whatever you seek you shall find: you shall find material things if you seek them.  You shall find God if you seek God.  Before we seek anything, though, we need to know what exactly we are seeking.  We are called to seek God’s Kingdom and His righteousness.  So, what exactly are the Kingdom of God and His righteousness all about?
• God’s Kingdom: is the kingdom where God is King.  It never ends.  It lasts forever.  It is from generation to generation.  It is the kingdom where He rules and He reigns.  He calls the shots.  No one else does.  No one can challenge Him what He has done.  He is in charge.  He is in control.  To seek God’s kingdom in our life means to desire His reign, to aim at His reign, and to practice His reign in our life.  It means to align our life and its goals with the divine will and work for the extension of God’s reign (p. 39, The Wesleyan Bible Commentary).    It also means to “Overcome the evil of care by filling the mind and heart with the concerns of the Kingdom of God” (p. 967, Abingdon Bible Commentary).  It is to pursue His reign as the ultimate goal of our daily activities (p. 646, the New Jerome Bible Commentary).

• Righteousness: Hebrew word: tzedakah– its root: speak the truth, straight, perfect, just, excellent.  Tzedek: rightness of weights and measures.  This is God’s attribute as sovereign.
• Therefore, I can safely say that God’s righteousness means whatever is right in the sight of God such as truth, justice, and mercy.
• Seek God’s righteousness: it means to desire, aim at, and practice what is right and just in the sight of God.  It means to seek what pleases God and to do what God desires in our lives such as truth, peace, justice, mercy, humility, and divine strength.  E.g. The Lord loves justice (Ps. 33:5).   So should we.  The Lord practices mercy.  So should we.  The Lord speaks the truth.  So should we.
• E.g. Micah 6:8  ⁸ He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?  King James Version (KJV)
• Self-righteousness: It is worth mentioning here what the opposite of God’s righteousness is: self-righteousness.  Self-righteousness promotes/glorifies self before God and people.  Self-righteousness seeks to please self and do what self is pleased to do.  Seeking God’s righteousness makes one desire what pleases God and do His will.   Pursuing self-righteousness makes one proud.  Pursuing God’s righteousness makes one humble.
• All these things: things that we need, not necessarily what we desire.  (Cf. Beware of health/wealth teachings.  Jesus never promises us to be rich and healthy all the time).  Rather, if God blesses us with material things, it is meant for us to share with others.  When we do what pleases the Lord, He will add all the things that we need in life.
• E.g. King Solomon asked for God’s wisdom to rule God’s people (1 Kings 3:9-13).  Pleased with the request, God added all other things that Solomon didn’t ask for such as wealth and power.  When we pursue God’s righteousness, God will grant us with strength, peace, quietness in our souls, confidence, as well as all our needs.
• My Paraphrased translation: Don’t be bogged down with daily cares and anxiety, because you may lose the focus and forget what matters most in your life on earth.  Here’s the remedy that will help you stay focused on your journey to Heaven:  Continually and pro-actively speak God’s truth and love others as God has loved you. Continually (as long as you breathe and like you eat three meals a day) and pro-actively (don’t wait until you are overwhelmed and stressed by life’s cares that would force you to make unhealthy choices) speak God’s truth and love others as He has loved you.  Then, peace, humility, confidence, wisdom, strength, and even life’s necessities will follow you.  Do it all under His leadership.  Ask for His wisdom every day and in every matter.  Walk with Him humbly and you will do well.

• Next: Luke 9:23: Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.”

• Disciples in Jesus’ days: They lived together with Jesus, ate together, slept together, walked together, and went wherever the Master led.  They saw all the miracles and healings that Jesus performed.  They heard all the wonderful teachings of Jesus and learned from the Master through His daily examples, and memorized the teachings and passed them on to people.  After Jesus ascended into Heaven, they boldly witnessed to the Way of Jesus to the world.
• Disciples today: Many of us have quite poor conviction of Jesus the Messiah.  We suffer from a loose understanding of who we are.  We are quick to claim that we are the followers of Jesus, yet in reality we deny His lordship: we live a life without Him most of the time.  We only seek Him when we are up against crisis.  We are still in charge of our own lives.  We are still in control in our lives.  We still call the shots, not He.  We ask Jesus to bless what we do, rather than doing what He blesses.  We are the kings/queens in our lives, not Jesus.  Jesus is the servant for us to bring what we desire, not the other way around.  That’s the modern day picture of Christ’s disciples.
• It wasn’t so when Jesus first extended His invitation to all (everyone, without restriction) to follow Him.  He set out three conditions: self-denial, bearing the cross, and obedience (p. 170, the Interpreter’s Bible).
• Meaning of self-denial: Self-denial is more than giving up chocolate during Lent.  It means a radical re-orientation of the center in your life.  It means inviting God to the center of your life.  It means stepping down from the throne of your heart and yielding the seat to the Lord.  It means serving Him and His causes as servant. It means to put ourselves in the service of God, not the other way around.  It means to put Him first and put ourselves last.  E.g. J.O.Y. (Jesus – Others – You).   It means to say “no” to our selfish desires and life-styles and say “yes” to God’s will. It means to declare that we’re dead but Christ lives in us (Galatians 2:20).   “You can’t be a self-pleaser and a Christ-pleaser.  It’s impossible” (p. 22, The Grace of Yielding, Derek Prince).
• Meaning of taking up your own cross:  Your cross is not your wife/husband/sickness.  Rather, it is the place “where your will and the will of God cross” (p. 23, Ibid.).  That is where you lay down yourself.  Some scholars put it this way: to bear the cross means to “Run the risk of being misunderstood as criminals” as Jesus did (p. 194, Jesus and the New Age, Danker).  To some of us, it may mean literal martyrdom, but for most of us it means living sacrificially: not a death wish, but obedience to the reign of God (p. 130, Interpretation, Craddock).  In the course of fulfilling God’s will, there will be “prices to be paid, pain and hurt to be accepted” (Ibid.).   Are you ready to die for Christ?  Are you willing to pay the price for the name you carry every day?
• E.g.  Nabeel Qureshi’s (a Muslim convert) testimony: his family denounced him because he became a follower of Christ (Jan. 2014, Christianity Today).
• Daily: Taking up the cross is an ongoing process in our faith journey.  It continues day in day out.  It is a daily decision.  We declare “a daily steadfast loyalty to the master and his way of life” (p. 700, the New Jerome Bible Commentary).  We submit ourselves to God’s will daily (p. 262, The Wesleyan Bible Commentary).

Conclusion:

• A disciple’s life is a life led by God and lived by kingdom priorities.  Put God first.  Pursue what God pursues.  Do what God blesses.  Live a life that is worthy of God’s name, willing to go through pain and suffering, then you will be a true follower of Christ.

For the Manahawkin Methodist Congregation, Pastor Choi designates 2014 to be the Year of Gratitude.  He begins his message with a comparison between secular understanding and biblical knowledge on words such as ‘grateful,’ ‘thankful,’ and ‘gratitude.’   He exhorts the people of God to become a character of gratitude through daily practice of being thankful to the Lord in all circumstances.

 2014- The Year of Gratitude

The following is a summary of his message:

2014—the Year of Gratitude                                    1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

¹⁶ Rejoice always, ¹⁷ pray continually, ¹⁸ give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

Introduction

• I praise and thank God for His continued loving kindness and faithfulness to our congregation throughout 2013.  I also thank every one of you for your partnership in the ministry of the good news.  We indeed work together as partners for God’s Kingdom both here at Manahawkin and in the surrounding communities.  Your presence, services, and gifts are always appreciated.  I very much look forward to working with you again this year.
• As pastor of this church, I plan to designate each year for our common goals—something that would strengthen our faith and enhance the practice of our beliefs.   I designate 2014 to be the year of gratitude: that all of us stay thankful throughout the year.  And, I chose 1 Thessalonians 5:18 for my sermon today.
• Now, I know that a lot of us have a trouble accepting 1 Thessalonians 5:18: how can I be grateful / thankful when bad things happen to me?

  Definition

• Such a question requires some study on words such as ‘grateful,’ ‘thankful,’ and ‘gratitude.’
• Let’s begin with definitions of those words that are most accepted by the people in America.
• Grateful: is “feeling or showing thanks because someone has done something kind for you or has done as you asked” (Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary).
• Thankful: is “pleased about something good that has happened, or something bad that has not happened” (Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary).
• Gratitude: is “the feeling of being grateful and wanting to express your thanks” (Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary).
• Under such an understanding of ‘grateful,’ and ‘thankful,’ the people in America interchangeably use ‘thankful’ and ‘grateful’.  That’s the exact mindset people have, even the people of God, when they read a text such as 1 Thessalonians 5:18: be thankful in all (both good and bad) circumstances.  They cry out, “I can be grateful for all the blessings, but don’t ask me to be thankful for something bad!  I can’t do it!”  We are all conditioned to be thankful / grateful for only good things.
• This is why we need to listen to what the Bible says about gratitude so that we may understand today’s passage: to be thankful in all circumstances.
• First of all, the Bible clearly differs from the world in terms of understanding and using of those words.  The Bible, like the secular world, uses the word ‘grateful’ for things that are considered good.  When it comes down to all things both good and bad, however, unlike the secular world, the Word of God employs the word ‘thankful’ rather than ‘grateful’.  In other words, the Bible brings up and expands the secular definition of ‘gratitude’ to one higher level.  ‘Gratitude’ in the Bible and in the lives of the believers means more than ‘being grateful for something good that has happened to you.’  It, rather, means ‘being thankful’ than ‘being grateful’.  In all circumstances.
• Based on such biblical understanding, here are my own definitions of the three words:
• Grateful: is same as the Oxford Dictionary.  It is “feeling or showing thanks because someone has done something kind for you or has done as you asked” (Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary).
• Thankful: is “pleased about something good that has happened,” (same as the first half of Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary) or “trusting in the Lord for something bad that has happened” (the second half is mine).   
• Gratitude: is “being thankful in all circumstances, not just in good ones.”
• Now, we are ready to talk about gratitude.  Gratitude is our call.  God has called us the Christians to be thankful in ALL circumstances.  Be thankful always.  That’s our call.
• Why?

  Why Gratitude?

• For three reasons: It is God’s will, it is better than ingratitude, and it is good for your health.
• First of all, it is God’s will for us to be thankful in all circumstances.  God wants every child of His to be thankful.  He wants you and me to stay thankful in all life situations: both good and bad.  When we live out a life of gratitude, it brings glory and honor to the Lord.  When we live out a life of thankfulness that transcends circumstances, it sets us apart from the people in the world that show their gratitude only in good circumstances.
• Sometimes, I don’t understand why bad things happen when I never want them to.  Neither do I understand why good things don’t happen when I badly need them to.  However, over the years, I’ve learned a lesson: that is, when I obey God’s command to be thankful whether I like it or not, whether I understand it or not, in the end, I always harvest wisdom and the fruit of my obedience.  I’ve seen in my life that simple obedience to God brings forth unexpected benefits.  I will get to this later in the sermon.
• Why be thankful?  Because when we are thankful, it brings us closer to God.  Because it keeps our communication lines open with God.  For instance, did you know that gratitude is a prerequisite to prayers?  Do you want your prayers answered?  Then, begin them with thanksgiving, because gratitude paves the way for our prayers to God just like when we are thankful to people, it lubricates our relationships with each other.  The more we say thanks to people, the better relationships we enjoy with each other.  Same thing with God.
• Being thankful also deepens our trust in the Lord.  Trust in the Lord means to acknowledge God even in bad circumstances when nothing makes sense to us.  Trust in the Lord means to tell God that He knows what He is doing when we don’t.  E.g. Cancer survivors.  Almost all of whom I know say that they were thankful that it happened to them, because it taught them the life’s priorities.  Gratitude is a sign of trust in God while ingratitude and grumbling is a sign of distrust in God.  By being thankful in all circumstances we declare that we believe in God’s ultimate good will for us and that the same God will make all things good in the end as He promised (Romans 8:28).
• Show me anyone who walks with the Lord, and I will show you a life filled with gratitude.
• Next, gratitude is a better option than ingratitude or grumbling.  If you continue on the path of daily complaint and grumbling, soon it will turn you into a seasoned complainer.  The opposite is true with the path of gratitude. Which character path would you like to take?
• Think of Job in the Bible: After he lost everything he owned, after all of his ten children perished in one day, and even after he lost his health, Job didn’t sin against God with his lips (c.f.  His wife wanted him to curse God and die).  His action not to complain to God in such a difficult time was more than the result of sheer human will.  Such a character wasn’t developed overnight, either.  It was rather a by-product of Job’s life-long practice of gratitude.
• Lastly, gratitude is good for your health.  It’s the real chicken soup for your soul.  A lot of us are into body exercise for our physical health hoping that it would keep us fit and healthy for the coming years.  Indeed, physical exercise is important and a bit of help for your body.  However, very few of us realize that godliness is profitable for all good things: in all areas of spiritual, emotional, and physical well-being, not only in this life but also in the life to come (1Timothy 4:8).  So, why not be thankful if you care so much about your well-being?
• Remember I promised at the beginning of my sermon to talk about unexpected benefits of obeying God’s command to be thankful?  Here we go.  E.g.  My triglycerides number was 205 three years ago.  It’s a borderline between healthy and unhealthy life style (below 200 is all right, and above 200 is not good).   Some doctors would put you on cholesterol medicine with such a number.  Instead of putting me on medication, though, my doctor wanted me to monitor my stress level for the next year.  Almost at the same time, unrelated to this medical finding, I started practicing being thankful every day.   Six months later, I had blood work done again.  This time the number went down to 150.  Mind you that there was no change in my diet or exercise habits during that time.  The only reason I can think of that contributed to this positive change was gratitude: just being thankful everyday improved my health.  When the level of gratitude goes up, the level of stress comes down, and so do the bad numbers.

  Closing

• The Year of Gratitude kicks off today.  Throughout the year, I urge everyone to be thankful in all circumstances so that we may become a character of gratitude and bring glory and honor to our Lord in Heaven.
• I plan to remind you of gratitude every other month: six times this year on the first Sunday of January, March, May, July, September, and November.
• I will also introduce you some practical ways to hone your gratitude skills daily.
• As a starter, please pick up your scroll today during communion.  One for each person.  I prayerfully have chosen 18 verses from the Bible—all are related to thankfulness.  Your scroll will have one of those verses.  You can memorize the verse or post the scroll on the most visible place where you can see it often throughout the day, such as a bathroom mirror, bedroom, even the refrigerator door so that you may ponder it throughout the year.  Let us take every opportunity to give thanks to God for His blessings, for unfulfilled dreams, and even for the things we consider bad.  In the end, we will abundantly harvest the fruit of gratitude in all areas of life: physical, emotional, financial, and spiritual.
• Let’s pray.

   

Summary:

John Parker is our guest speaker for today filling in for Pastor Choi who is on vacation.  Our text for today is a wonderful account where God steps into his creation, watches over and takes care of His children, and ensures that His plans always succeed.  It is a message of encouragement, hope, and faith as Joseph is guided by angels to protect Mary and Jesus. We can feel secure knowing that God knows what we are facing and will protect those doing His will.  Our faith is further sustained in the knowledge that while Jesus is fully God, he came to us in the most humble of circumstances showing the love that He has for us.

  Flight to Egypt

On this Christmas Eve, Pastor Choi exhorts the congregation to have faith and trust in Jesus by giving all their cares and anxieties to Jesus the new born King as they celebrate the birth of Jesus.  Jesus intends to keep all their cares with Him and not give them back to them.

   A Christmas Reflection 2013

The following is a summary of the sermon:

A Christmas Reflection                          Dec. 24, 2013

Have you been out lately, either in the mall or at the stores for last minute shopping?  I just did that yesterday, stopping at a couple of stores.  Every store I visited was packed with people.   All of them, children and adults alike, were busy getting things they needed, either food or gifts—all for Christmas!

Speaking of gifts, last Sunday, our Sunday School threw a birthday party for Jesus.  Rosemary, our Sunday School superintendent, asked the kids what birthday gifts they would bring to Jesus besides anything with monetary values.  One child said love.  The other said faith.  The third child said friendship.  I was deeply touched with their answers and, in fact, was very proud of these 6-8 year old kids!

As the kids gathered for Jesus’ birthday party, we too are gathered here tonight to celebrate the birth of Jesus the new born King.  If I may ask, what gifts would you bring to Him, besides anything with monetary values?

Some of us may present the gifts that would fit and honor the new born King like the three wise men did: gold, incense, and myrrh.  We may bring adoration, praise, and worship to Jesus.

Others may bring their broken dreams and hearts, wounded spirits, weary souls, and tired bodies for healing and restoration.  In fact, our lives are full of such broken relationships, hurts, abuses, hatred, sorrow, confusion, sadness, tears, spiritual hunger and thirst, …the list goes on.

Most of us, however, would bring personal concerns, anxieties, and even doubts on behalf of our loved ones (E.g. A concerned wife asked for a pastoral help for her husband’s spiritual backsliding).  Even for ourselves, we would bring our worries about the uncertain future at work, financial struggles, health problems, school situations, relationships, and even for the world peace.

No matter what concerns you bring, one thing is certain: Jesus intends to keep them with Him, not give them back to you.  He doesn’t want you to take them back home!  (That’s actually what a lot of us do in our prayers.  We pray for God to take over, and then at the end of the prayer, we take them back!).

No matter how big your concerns may seem to you, remember that Jesus is greater than any problem in the world.  He can handle them.  He will wipe your tears.  He will restore your spirit and grant rest and peace to your soul.  He will quench your thirst and heal your body.  He will answer your prayers.  He will be with you forever!  Just come to Him.

Tonight, Jesus grants you repentance for forgiveness.  He offers Himself to every one of us: His life, His truth, and His love.  He offers us eternal life.  He gives us the hope of resurrection and takes away the fear of death.  He sets us free from the bondage of sin.  He grants us rest, peace, strength, and courage to face tomorrow!

As you go home tonight after the service, remember that Jesus is Immanuel (God is with us).  He is with you.  Have faith and trust in Him.  And remember once again that Jesus loves you.  That’s why He came to the earth after all.

Merry Christmas to you all!

Today Pastor Choi talks about the most powerful name of all: Jesus.  Encouraging the congregation to ponder the name Jesus, he answers carefully three questions on the name of Jesus:

Q1: Do I know the name ‘Jesus’?

Q2: Do I know the meaning of the name ‘Jesus’?

Q3: Do I claim the name and do everything in the name of ‘Jesus’?

In the end he exhorts the congregation to do everything in the name of Jesus and start experiencing Jesus in a new way.

   The Name Jesus

Following is a summary of his sermon:

The Name Jesus                                                                                                    Matthew 1:18-25

• ¹⁸ This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. ¹⁹ Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yetdid not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. ²⁰ But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. ²¹ She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”²² All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: ²³ “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).  ²⁴ When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. ²⁵ But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.

  Introduction

• Do the Bible trivia insert before the sermon.
• Let me begin with a story of a woman in the 19^th century in America (There Is More, Tae-Hyung Lee, p.76).   She was an African-American woman who was a believer in Jesus.  She loved the Lord with all her heart.  Naturally she desired to know more of Jesus.  Where could she do so?  Of course, in the Bible.  Yet, she had a problem.  She couldn’t read.  Since she was a slave serving a white family and like many other slaves in those days, she was illiterate.  No one sent her to school.  Her daily responsibility was to take care of the children of her master.  One day she asked the children if they would teach her to read some words in the Bible such as “Jesus Christ.”  So, the children taught her how to recognize those two words in the Bible.  She was delighted with her new gained knowledge.   One day she got her own Bible.   Whenever she had a chance to be alone, she opened the New Testament and started searching for the word “Jesus” using her index finger going page after page.  Each time she found the name Jesus, she was the happiest woman in the world, because the Name Jesus gave her a great comfort and strength.
• This morning we are going to discover and rediscover the joy and the significance of the name Jesus in the believer’s life.  Did you know that the New Testament (NT) literally begins and ends with this Name ‘Jesus’?   E.g. Matthew 1:1 (“A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham”) and Revelation 22:21 (“The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all”).   All nine authors and their 27 books in the NT (without having a conference together), yet under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, focused on one single theme: Jesus.  As a matter of fact, this name consistently appears in every single chapter of the NT except 3 John.  Therefore, we can safely say that the NT is all about Jesus.
• Here are some trivia for those curious-minded people: the name ‘Jesus’ (Greek Ἰησοῦς) appears 923 times in the NT (cf. the word ‘God’ — appears about 1200 times).  This alone tells us how important the Name Jesus is in the NT.
• More trivia: the average APB (appearances per book) of ‘Jesus’ is 34 (that is, 923 divided by 27 books).  The average APC (appearances per chapter) of ‘Jesus’ is 3.6 (923 divided by 260 chapters).  The Gospel ‘John’ has the most entries (245 times in 22 chapters: 11.7 APC—almost 4 times more often than the average.  This is the book I recommend to every beginner to read).
• The Name “Jesus” is ‘awesome,’ ‘amazing,’ ‘incredible,’ and ‘extraordinary.’  This is the name we are going to think about this morning.
• Let’s ask three questions for ourselves.

  Q1: Do I know this Name ‘Jesus’?

• Did you know that this Name ‘Jesus’ is the most powerful name in the world?  Did you know that this is the very name that has power and authority over all creatures in the world?  This is what the Bible says about this name: it is above all names in the world, both visible and invisible.   It is the name that is exalted above all nations and rulers both in heaven and on earth.  This is the name to which every knee shall bow and worship (Phil. 2:9-10).
• This is the name that we must love, fear, honor, and revere above all other names.  E.g. imagine having an exclusive audience with Queen Elizabeth II.   You would show the utmost respect to her and her name.  The same queen once said that she would lay her crown at the feet of Jesus upon His return.  How much more respect should we show to this Name ‘Jesus’?
• The reality: people tend to misuse this name and profane this name with no idea of what they are doing to and with the name.  Never ever treat this name casually.  Never ever misuse or profane this name.  E.g.  Almost all ‘R’-rated movies are filled with profanity using the name of the Lord in vain.  Screenwriters, beware how you use the name ‘Jesus’, because God concerns His holy name and will hold you accountable.

  Q2: Do I know the meaning of the Name?

• The name ‘Jesus’ means ‘God saves.’  It is a Greek counterpart of Hebrew word ‘Joshua.’ –Jehovah saves.
• What kind of image comes to your mind when you hear and think about the Name Jesus?  E.g. around Christmas time, Jesus is a cute little baby boy in a manger—as soon as Christmas is over, we all forget about Him for the rest of year.  Next year, we bring out the cute baby image again.  No, this is not how we should remember Jesus.  We should remember as His name says: God saves.
• Who is Jesus?  He is the savior of the world.  He came here to save you and to save me.  His name tells us about His destiny (why He was born in human flesh) and His mission (why He had to die on the cross): He died on the cross to save you and me from our sins.  For us, He was crucified; for us, He resurrected from the dead; for us, He ascended into heaven; and for us, He will come again to judge the world.
• This is the only name given to humanity for their salvation.  See Acts 4:12: “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”

  Q3: Do I claim this Name and do everything in the Name?

• The Bible says, “In whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (Colossians 3:17–NIV).
• We are Christ’s bearers.  We represent Christ Jesus in the world.  We are called to do everything in the name of Jesus.  Jesus is our life.  He is our breath.  He is our strength.  He is everything to us.
• Here are some Scriptural examples of doing everything in the name of our Lord: In the name of Jesus we “Bless, rejoice, praise, pray, forgive, love enemy, prophesy, preach, proclaim, confess, call on, walk, minister, raise the dead, heal, cast out demons, do miracles, welcome, gather, baptize, ask, endure hardships, suffer for the Lord, and remain true to this name.”—All in the name of Jesus.  E.g. Peter healed the beggar in the name of Jesus.    See Acts 3:6-8: ⁶ Then Peter said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” ⁷ Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man’s feet and ankles became strong. ⁸ He jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping, and praising God.
• Reality Check:  How many of the things above do we actually do in the name of Jesus?  Maybe a couple?  None?  It is time that we obeyed God and did everything in the name of Jesus and experienced the wonderful Jesus in our lives.
• Amen.

   

   

2,000 years ago, Gabriel the angel visited a young woman named Mary in Nazareth.  She was told that she would conceive a boy child by the power of Holy Spirit.  Based on the story of Mary’s conception, Pastor Choi expounds on three qualifications of God’s worker: any believer who wants to work with God must bring “a willing heart,” “courage,” and “communication with God.”

 Work with God

Following is a summary of his sermon:

Work with God    Luke 1:26-38

• The Birth of Jesus Foretold

• ²⁶ In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, ²⁷ to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. ²⁸ The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”
• ²⁹ Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. ³⁰ But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. ³¹ You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. ³² He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, ³³ and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”
• ³⁴ “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”
• ³⁵ The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. ³⁶ Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. ³⁷ For no word from God will ever fail.”
• ³⁸ “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.

Introduction:

• This is a fascinating story from a human’s perspective, isn’t it?  We see God working with a human, a mere country girl.  I am going to point out three things that stood out to me in the story, the things that are required of the believer who would like to work with God.  They are: a willing heart, courage, and getting into God’s Word daily.
• First, here’s a brief recap of the story: 2,000 years ago, God sent Gabriel, His Chief-of-Staff, to a young woman whose name was Mary.  Mary was engaged to Joseph at the time, and the both resided in a small town called Nazareth whose population was less than 500 (James Strange).  [In 1918, 8000 people.  In 2011, 80,410.  60% Arabs and 40% Christians—wikipedia].   That day, Gabriel told Mary that by God’s power, not by man, she would conceive a boy child.  The child would be called the son of the Most High.  He would forever reign over the house of David and His kingdom would never end.  Then, he left.
• That’s so great, isn’t it?  So far so good.
• Let’s try to understand what was going through in Mary’s mind and heart at that time.  One of the best ways for us to understand her mind and heart is to put ourselves in her shoes.  Had you been Mary, how would you have felt and reacted to this very unusual yet awesome visit from an angel?Willing Heart:
• After the angel left, I believe, fears for the future began to arise in the heart of Mary.  She might have reasoned in her mind as follows: “Wow!  It’s so great that God has chosen me to work with Him.  I am truly blessed.  Now, how am I going to break the news to my fiancé?  I know he is a good man, and I hope he will listen, but will he believe me?  What’s going to happen if he breaks the engagement?  What about my family and friends?  Who’s going to believe my story anyway?  Everyone will eventually find out about my pregnancy, too.  I’d better hide from people.  How else will I cover my belly for several months since it will be obvious to everyone?  Oh, will I be able to endure the cold stares and malicious gossip from the townsfolk afterwards?  I will be lucky if I am not pelted with stones.  Furthermore, how will my child endure the town gossip?  (Indeed, in later life, Mary and Jesus endured a malicious rumor which called Jesus “Mary’s son (not Joseph’s)—understood at that time as illegitimate child”).
• I love the way Mary responded to God’s call in verse 38: here I am, Lord.  Let your will be done.  She could’ve easily said, “No, I don’t want to!  Choose someone else, God!”  Yet, she embraced God’s will with courage.  God never forces anyone to follow His will against their wish.  Rather, He only and always works with those who say a willing yes to His invitation.   My prayer for all of us is that we too, when invited by God, respond to God’s call with amen saying, “Here I am, Lord.  Use me according to your will.”  That leads me to the next point: courage.Courage:
• Being favored by God doesn’t always mean that everything in life will be exciting and wonderful.  In fact, being chosen by God to work with Him never means an easy road.  E.g. Abraham, Moses, Jesus, John the Baptist, and Paul.  On the contrary, working with God often means uncomfortable or even painful experiences.  A narrow and rugged road, for sure.  For a long time, too.  In fact, the greater the task is, the harder the road that lies ahead of you.  Only a few will choose to take this road.  Yet, the reward is great!  God’s call is always worth saying yes to.  That was the path that Mary chose to follow.
• Think of her again.  God already knew everything Mary would face or had to go through in the years to come.  Yet, He went ahead with His plan.  A poignant reminder here: no special provisions or protections were promised to Mary except His presence with her: except the fact that He sent the same angel Gabriel to Joseph, Mary’s future husband, to assure him that her pregnancy was from God’s Spirit, not from man.  “This is happening according to God’s salvation plan,” the angel assured Joseph.   “Therefore, take her as your wife (Matthew 1:20-21).”
• That’s all what God did for Mary.   No other special provisions or protections.  What’s that mean for us?  Sometimes, when God calls us to work with Him, He provides us with one or two promises or assurances about the plan.  The rest, until its fulfillment, we must endure with courage, patience, and trust in the Lord clinging to His faithfulness.  E.g. My response to God’s call to work in English speaking congregations.  When we work with God, we ought not to despair.  Rather, we should cling onto God, because the Lord will see us through, providing us with His sufficient grace and presence.Encounter with God: 
• One more thing and I will be done.  Notice here how God communicates with His people.  For Mary: an angel appeared.  Not just an ordinary angel but God’s Chief-of-Staff.  It demonstrates the extreme significance of the case, because Christ’s birth was a water-shed event in human history.  Christ’s birth divided the human history in two periods: B.C. and A.D.
• God also used prophets to convey His messages to His people.  He also uses dreams and visions to communicate with us.
• For most of us today, though, God uses the Bible to reveal Himself and His will to us.  The Bible is the best, the clearest, and the surest way to know God’s will for us.  In the Bible, we meet with God and communicate with Him.  In the Scripture, He points us in the directions we need to go.  If the Bible is the meeting place, then our devotion time is the time to encounter with God.  That’s why it is so crucial for us to get into the Bible daily.  E.g. God speaks to me in my daily devotion reminding me of His will in my life.  The other day’s message was “Love does no harm to its neighbor (Romans 13:10).”  The same God in the same way sends His message to us every day.
• One of the greatest tragedies among believers is this: many of us are so naïve as to neglect this opportunity to meet with God.  Too many of us never meet with God in the Bible, because we never expect to meet with Him in the Bible or to discover His will for us through the Bible.  Consequently, we end up living out our lives as if we are on our own; living life our ways, rather than God’s.  We live every day with no eternal perspective on life.   Let’s get into the Bible daily.Closing:
• The Almighty God had a plan for Mary and Jesus.  He also has one for you.  You are not an accident.  Nothing is a coincidence in God.  You may not plan to be at a certain place at a certain time, but if God has meant you to be there, He will arrange accordingly, and it will happen (E.g. meeting old friends from Texas at Costco one time).  As Mary served as the instrument of God’s salvation plan, so can you.  God wants you to be part of His plan.  You alone can fulfill that part.  He invites you to work with Him.  His invitation for you may not be as drastic as Mary’s, yet God still works with you in your life.  Are you willing to say yes to His call?  Are you willing to take the narrow path for God? Are you willing to suffer on behalf of Jesus the Lord?  If you do, the reward will be great and eternal.  You will never regret it.  Let’s work with God.
• Amen.

“Comfort Ye, Comfort Ye, My People,” says your God (Isaiah 40:1).  Today God speaks to us contemporary believers in Christ though the mouth of Prophet Isaiah that it is not the time that we focused on our own comforts.  Rather, it is time that we focused on others’ needs and comfort them by speaking to their hearts.   Pastor Choi explains the meaning of comforting the afflicted and what’s the best way to comfort them–by speaking to their hearts.  He challenges the congregation to reach out to the afflicted throughout the Advent season.

  Comfort Ye My People

Following is a summary of the sermon:

Comfort Ye My People                           Isaiah 40:1-2

• Isaiah 40:1-2
• King James Version (KJV)

• 40 Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.
• ² Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.

Introduction:

• Explanation of the Church Calendar: Unlike the regular calendar, it begins with the Advent season, the four Sundays before Christmas, typically falling at the end of November.  It has the seasons of Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter, and Pentecost until the next Advent.  We are entering the season of Advent today.
• The word Advent originates from the Latin word— “coming.”  In this season, we remember and anticipate the coming of the Lord Jesus.
• During the season of Advent, we anticipate the second coming of Christ, because His first coming has already been fulfilled.  The Bible says, the first time, Jesus came to save us from our sins.  When He comes second time, He will come, not for the redemption of the world, but for the judgment of the world.  He is coming as the Judge, not as the Savior: “²⁸ so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him” (Hebrews 9:28).
• This morning, let us ponder the reasons why God sent Jesus to earth for the first time two thousand years ago: to comfort God’s people and deliver them from the bondage of their sins.  In fact, hundreds of years before Jesus was born, through the mouth of Prophet Isaiah, God revealed Jesus’ mission for His people: comfort.
• Begin with listening to “Comfort Ye My People”–one of the songs in Handel’s Messiah: “Comfort ye, comfort ye My people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to
  Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned” (lyrics are based on Isaiah 40:1-2). 

Comfort:

• Definition: “to make somebody who is worried or unhappy feel better by being kind and sympathetic towards them” (Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary).
• Pay attention to the word “Comfort” in verse one: it’s a verb and a double imperative.  Twice God commands to comfort.  E.g. To make sure the news is clear, the reporter used to say “Repeat” between the same news.  Here we see God do the same showing His clear intention to comfort His people.
• Note here that God doesn’t command to comfort those who are already comforted.  There’s an old saying among the preachers: Comfort the afflicted and afflict the comforted.  Obviously, here in the verse, God wants to comfort His people, because they were already afflicted.

Ye:

• Comfort Ye (Second person plural).  Who are ‘Ye’ here?  Whom does God speak to?  Three possibilities: 1) Septuagint Bible (Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures in the 3^rd Century B.C.) says ‘priests’—the preachers like me.   2) Other commentaries say ‘heavenly court.’    3) God speaks to you this morning: comfort.
• If God still uses the Bible to speak to us, this verse is for us: God wants you and me to comfort the afflicted.  In other words, it is not the time for us to focus on our own comfort.  Rather, it is time that we focused on others’ needs and the comforts of the afflicted around us.

My People:

• God is interested in comforting the people, particularly His people.  Who are God’s people here?  You may say, Israel.  You are right, but there’s more.  It is true that God has called Abraham and his descendants Israel to be His beloved children in the Old Testament.  He also calls you and me to be His people in Christ in the New Testament: we call Him Abba Father.  He calls us children.  As our Heavenly Father, He minds our welfare, both physically and spiritually, both temporal and eternal.  We are His people and His business.  We are the object of God’s comfort.
• Did you also know that God has chosen you long before the creation of the world?  Long before you were even born.  Mind boggling, isn’t it?   Listen to what Psalmist says to God in prayer: “Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be” (Psalm 139:16).  Yes, He has chosen you long time ago and has mapped out your entire life: He knows not only what happened to you, what’s happening to you now, but also what will happen to you in future.  He sees the entire picture of your life.  So, you can relax and put your trust in Him.   You are God’s People and He is your God.   He never regrets that He has chosen you to be His child, because His gifts and call are irrevocable (Romans 11:29).  Rest assured that you are His child forever.
• As our God, the LORD considers our business His.  As God’s people, God’s business is ours, too.  God protects us, cares for us, and cares about our needs.  As much as He provides us with His presence, protection, and promises, He also expects us to stay faithful to Him: worship Him only, to gladly obey His commands, and to bring honor and glory to His name in our daily lives.  He loves those who gladly submit themselves to Him every day, not grudgingly.  He works with those who offer themselves to Him as an instrument of peace and righteousness.  We are in such a relationship with our heavenly Father.  The Bible calls it a covenant relationship where the LORD is our God and we are His people.   In this relationship, if we go astray from Him, God holds us accountable and brings us back to Him through chastisements.  E.g.  Like the one Israel had with Jehovah God—the background of today’s text: after the Babylonian exile for 70 years due to their idolatry and disobedience, God brings them back home.
• A little bit of historical background: after the people of God committed the sin of idol worship and injustice, the nation of Israel was destroyed by a foreign enemy.  They, for the next 70 years, paid their wages of sin through the humiliation of slavery.  After the time of hardship had passed, God spoke softly to them saying, “My people, your humiliation and hardships are over.  It is time that you were restored and comforted.”

Speak tenderly (v. 2):

• How do you comfort someone?  One way to do it is to speak tenderly [literally, speak to the heart] (v. 2).  It is like you saying to a crying child, “Come on now, child” wiping the tears from his/her eyes and giving a hug.  Whatever you do or say, it must register to the heart of the one afflicted.
• By the way, have you ever tried to comfort someone who was afflicted with either physical pain or emotional suffering?  Was it easy?  Was it hard?  In my experiences, it was never easy.  E.g. I once paid the pastoral visit to one family who lost their precious child due to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.  I discovered that it was not the time for theological elaboration explaining why bad things happen to us.
• So, how do you comfort someone?  Of course, we can do that with God’s word of assurance and hope like the one in today’s text.  We can also comfort people by being empathetic (being in their shoes) with them.  By being sympathetic with them (suffering together).  By simply being there for them.   A lot of times you don’t even need to say a word.  Just be there.  Your presence will do it.
• Action point: Reach out this month to at least one person who is afflicted and speak to their hearts in the name of Jesus.
• Let us pray.

Today, Pastor Choi concludes his sermon series on “Rely on God’s Resources.”  He gives an overview on the topic of temptation covering the characteristics of temptation.  He also identifies two sources of temptation: human heart within and Satan the tempter without.  The sermon also provides practical ways to “shun the bait”: flee from the tempting circumstances, resist the devil, and filter out thoughts.  Pastor Choi exhorts the congregation to lay up God’s Word in their hearts, to pray, and to ask for help from the Holy Spirit so that they may lead a victorious life in Christ.

   Rely on God’s Resources (6): His Help in Temptation

Following is a summary of today’s sermon:

Rely on God’s Resources (6): His Help in Temptation

Hebrews 2:18

New International Version (NIV)

¹⁸ Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

Psalm 119:9-11

New International Version (NIV)

⁹ How can a young person stay on the path of purity?
By living according to your word.
¹⁰ I seek you with all my heart;
do not let me stray from your commands.
¹¹ I have hidden your word in my heart
that I might not sin against you.

• There’s no way to extensively and adequately cover the topic of temptation with one sermon.  Today I will give you an overview of temptation.

Temptation is a common human experience: 

• You are not alone.  When you are tempted, your experiences are not unique.  All of us are tempted.  Everyone, old and young, male and female, goes through temptations almost every day. No human being is exempt from temptations.  Even Jesus was tempted, although He never succumbed to them.  He understands what you are going through, because He’s been there.
• Temptations are all over, although they may vary among individuals:  drugs (Tim), drinking (Sam), smoking (Kay), eating (Lisa), pornography (Ted), greed (Mitch) (those who want to be rich fall into temptation: 1 Timothy 6:9), gambling (Harry), pride (Paul), vanity (Sue), self-pity (Bea), and so forth.  One of the mysteries in life is that God never removes temptations from our lives (this requires another sermon).
• Temptations are unavoidable; however, you don’t have to fall into or succumb to them.  “It is better to shun the bait than to struggle in the snare” (Ravi Zacharias).

Understanding of the nature of temptation:  

• Some of us wonder where in the world the temptation comes from.  The Bible identifies two sources of temptation: the human heart within and Satan without.   The heart of man and Satan the Tempter, the ultimate cause of evil.  One thing we never do in times of temptation: blame God.   Listen to James: “When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; ¹⁴ but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed” (James 1:13).
•  Where does God stand in temptation, then?  He sets the boundaries of our temptations—how far we can be tempted.  God knows how much each of us can handle temptations and never allows us to be tempted beyond what we can bear.  Furthermore, He helps us by providing the way out (1 Corinthians 10:13).

Three Factors in Temptation:

• Imagine you are standing in the middle of Temptation Coliseum.  Welcome to the arena of real life temptations.  You will see three factors involved in your battle with temptation.   First, Circumstances/situations.   Look at your surroundings when you are tempted.  In our daily lives, often we find ourselves in a situation where it is almost impossible to resist the temptation.   E.g. Sam the alcoholic is sitting in a bar with drinking buddies.  The best strategy is to flee from those tempting situations (1 Timothy 6:11).  E.g.2. Consider two men with sexual/sensual temptations.  First, Joseph, in Genesis 39, ran from the master’s wife who seduced him to commit adultery with a perfect circumstance where no one was around them.   Next, consider King David who fell into the temptation.   Joseph ran away from the temptation.  David ran into it.  The outcomes were quite different: Joseph became the prime minister of Egypt, while David murdered Uriah, Bathsheba’s husband, to cover up his adultery.  So, do not put yourself in a situation where you are going to be tempted.   Do all you can to flee from the situation where you will be vulnerable to temptations.  Flee.
• Next, beware of the tempter—the Devil.  He tempts everyone.  He tempts you.  He tempts me.  He even tempted Jesus.  Our enemy’s goal is very simple and clear: to destroy us and to nullify God’s work in our life (1 Thessalonians 3:5).  E.g. David Wilkerson said, “I believe Satan’s most powerful weapon against God’s people is temptation and lust that leads to sin.  His purpose is to engulf believers in guilt, fear, and condemnation—to make them discouraged and downcast (bolded for emphasis).  And the more they love Jesus, the hotter and heavier their temptation will be.”  By the way, Satan knows exactly which button to push to tempt you.  This is how he works: he makes a careful observation of your life pattern (the way you act and react) and knows to push the button which you cannot refuse.  E.g. Think of Eve in the Garden of Eden.  Before the serpent approached to tempt her, I bet, Eve herself went near to the forbidden tree often looking and admiring the beauty of tree more often than Adam did.  And, guess who the tempter approached first and how he did it.  “Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” (Genesis 3:1)
• Guess what: If Harry the gambler frequented a casino in A.C., Satan would push the button in him–the desire to become rich quick.  He would assail him by all senses (eyes, ears, nose, tongue) to make him succumb to the temptations.
•  The Bible prescribes the best way to handle our enemy: it is to resist the Devil and he will flee from you (James 4:7).
• Third, we need to understand our inner disposition.  I don’t have to tell you that our heart and mind are a spiritual battleground.  We feel the tug of war constantly—between the desire to have instant gratification and the heart that resists the very same temptation.  The Bible commands us to “Take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5).  We need to learn how to discern and filter out thoughts in our hearts and minds, because some of them are from our enemy who puts the thoughts of temptation in our hearts and minds.  E.g. John 13:2—the Devil put the thought of betrayal in Judas’s heart.  Do not give any chance to our enemy to tempt you through thoughts.

Help is available in times of temptation:

• Finally, we must not forget that help is available.  Remember that God never leaves us alone in times of temptation.  He provides us with means to resist and overcome the temptations and to lead a triumphant life in Christ.  His help comes in three forms: the Word of God— “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you” (Psalm 119:11), prayer—“Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matthew 26:41), and the Holy Spirit—who constantly offers intercessory prayer on your behalf–“the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans (Romans 8:26).  Therefore, surround and gird yourself with this three-way protection.  You will lead a victorious life.
• Recap: Flee from temptations.  Resist the Tempter.  Guard your heart and mind with God’s Word, prayer, and the Holy Spirit.

• Amen.

Today Pastor Choi talks about God’s provision for His people.  He draws his insight from two verses in the Bible: Romans 8:32 and Philippians 4:19.   He expounds on the basis of provision (love), how God provides all things good along with Christ, and what all things entail.

    Rely on God’s Resources (5)

Following is a summary of the sermon:

Rely on God’s Resources (5): His Provision                    Romans 8:32, Philippians 4:19

• Romans 8:32
• New International Version (NIV)
• ³² He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?
• Philippians 4:19
• New International Version (NIV)
• ¹⁹ And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.

Introduction:

• Group discussion for 3 minutes: “When was the last time you experienced God’s provision for your needs?”

Romans 8:32 (Underline He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all, how will he not, along with him, all things?)

• He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?   This reminds us of the truth that our salvation was costly to God: free to us, but very costly to God.  It was not done casually, but very seriously.  It was not done lightly, but it cost the very own life of Jesus, God’s own son, to save us.  That means, in God’s sight, you and I are extremely valuable and precious that God did not hesitate to give up His own son to save us from our sins.
• Your own child vs. everything else:  Which is more important to you?  E.g. No parent would give up her/his child for anything else.  But, God did because He loves us.  Therefore, let us be forever thankful for our salvation.  Let’s be always proud of what God has done for us in Christ.  Let us never forget that we are children of God.
•  how will he not : He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?  Logic behind this verse is this: If God didn’t spare His own son to save us from our sins, how do you think He will not give the rest of the things we need? The logic goes on: No good thing will be withheld from us (Packer, p. 264, Knowing God).  Basically, Paul says here, it is impossible for God not to do this for us.  God provides us with everything that is good in Christ.  Love is the driving force for the provision.  E.g. Sunlight and rain even to the wicked (Matthew 5:45).  His overwhelming and amazing love provides for every need we have.
• Along with him:  He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?    All the things we receive from God come along in a package—that package is the Son of God.  E.g. A Story of Portrait of a Son

A wealthy man and his son loved to collect rare works of art. They had everything in their collection from Rembrandt’s to Van Gogh’s. They would often sit together and admire the great works of art. When the Vietnam War broke out, the son went to war. He was very courageous and died while saving the life of another soldier. The father was notified and grieved deeply for his only son.

About a month later, around Christmas, there was a knock at the door. A young man stood at the door with a large package in his hands. He said, “Sir, you don’t know me, but I am the soldier for whom your son gave his life. He saved the lives of many men that day, and he was carrying me to safety when a bullet struck him in the heart and he was killed instantly. He often talked about you and your love for art.”

The young man held out his package. “I know this isn’t much, and I’m not really a great artist, but I think your son would’ve wanted you to have this.” The father opened the package. It was a portrait of his son painted by the young man. He stared in awe at the way the soldier had captured the personality of his son. The father was drawn to the eyes that his own eyes welled up with tears. He thanked the young man and offered to pay him for it. “Oh, no sir, I could never repay what your son did for me, it’s a gift.”

The father hung the portrait over his mantle. Every time a visitor came, he directed them to the painting of his son, recounting the story, before taking them to see any other works of art.

The man died a few months later. There was to be a great auction of all his paintings. Many influential people gathered, excited to see the vast collections of Picassos and Raphaels the man had amassed and having the opportunity to bid on the collection. On the platform sat the painting of the son. The auctioneer pounded his gavel. “Who will start the bidding on the picture of the son? Who will bid for the son?”

There was silence. Then a voice from the back of the room said, “We want to see the famous paintings. Skip this one.”

But the auctioneer persisted. “Who will start the bidding, $100, $200?”

Another voice shouted angrily. “We didn’t come to see this painting. We came to see the Rembrandts and Van Gogh’s.  Get on with the real bids!”

But still the auctioneer continued. “The son, the son!  Who will take the son?”

Finally, a voice came from the back of the room. It was the longtime gardener of the man. “I’ll give $10 for the picture.”

Being a poor man, it was all he could afford. “We have $10, who’ll give $20?”

“Give it to him for $10. Let’s see the masters!”

“$10 is the bid, won’t someone bid $20?” The crowd was becoming angry. They didn’t want the picture of the son.  They wanted the more worthy investments for their collections. The auctioneer pounded his gavel.

“Going once, going twice, sold for $10” A man on the front row shouted “Now let’s get on with the collection.”

The auctioneer laid down his gavel. “I’m sorry, the auction is over.”

“What about the paintings?”

“I am sorry. When I was called to conduct this auction, I was told of a secret stipulation in the will. I was not allowed to reveal that stipulation until this time. Only the painting of the son would be auctioned. Whoever bought that painting would inherit the entire estate, including the valuable paintings. The man who took the son gets everything.”

God gave his Son 2,000 years ago to die on a cruel cross. Much like the auctioneer, his message is, “The Son, the Son, who’ll take the Son?” because, you see, whoever takes the Son, gets everything! 

Author unknown (http://www.crystal reflections.com/stories/story_130.htm)

• All things:  He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?:  Mind you that all things here never mean to be plethora of material possessions.  E.g. J.I. Packer: “The passion for possessions has to be cast out of us in order to let the “all things” in.  For this phrase has to do with knowing and enjoying God, and not with anything else (bolded for emphasis).  The meaning of “he will give us all things” can be put thus: one day we shall see that nothing—literally nothing—which could have increased our eternal happiness has been denied us, and that nothing—literally nothing—that could have reduced that happiness has been left with us.” (p. 270, Knowing God). 
• Here, all things include, but are not limited to 1) God’s calling us to be His children, 2) His justification that made us righteous before the Holy God because of Christ’s redemption, and 3) His commitment to sanctify us into the Christ-like image for His kingdom, and 4) His promise to have us in His presence for eternity.
• Furthermore, all things that are good, not that we can think of, but that God can think of.  We may think hotdogs and hamburgers are good enough, but God may think of fillet mignon.  We may be content with a cottage, but God may have a palace in mind.  Listen to Packer again: “If God denies us something, it is only in order to make room for one or other of the things he has in mind” (ibid.).  E.g. Lilly Endowment Application: had I been accepted to the program, I wouldn’t have been able to come to Manahawkin congregation this year.
• Philippians 4:19: (Underline all, needs, and riches)
•  All: “And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus— Original Greek says, every need: spiritual, mental, emotional, financial, and physical need.  All our needs in daily life.  Beware of the brainwashing of the worldly teachings that all we need is physical and material.
  Rather, listen to Jesus who says, “Man cannot live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4).
• Needs: And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus- Note here: needs not wants.   It would be foolish of us to believe that God grants us anything and everything we desire.  Never think or treat God as a genie in the bottle.
• Riches: And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.  Ponder the riches of God who owns everything in the universe.  Will He ever run out His supply for our needs?  This verse is Paul’s everlasting testimony that God supplies all our needs.  So it is mine.  May God help us to prove this truth in our lives, too.    Let our lives demonstrate God’s faithfulness to His promise: God provides.
• Amen.

Today Pastor Choi continues focusing on God’s resources that are available to God’s people.  This time it is God’s peace that transcends circumstances.  He also talks about how we can get God’s peace in our hearts and minds: by trusting in God, by trusting in God’s providence, and by fixing our eyes, hearts, and minds on nothing or nobody but on God.

    Rely on God’s Resources (4). His Peace

Following is a summary of the sermon:

Rely on God’s Resources (4): His Peace                 Isaiah 26:3, 1 Peter 5:7

• Isaiah 26:3
• New International Version (NIV)
• ³ You will keep in perfect peace
  those whose minds are steadfast,
  because they trust in you.
• 1 Peter 5:7
• New International Version (NIV)
• ⁷ Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

Introduction:

• Three Bible translations caught my attention (King James, New American Standard, New International).  They say that God will keep in perfect peace those who trust in Him.  I asked myself, “Why perfect peace? Why not just peace?  What’s that mean?”  In the original Hebrew text, it says, “You will keep in Shalom Shalom (repeats twice);שָׁלֹ֣ום ׀ שָׁלֹ֑ום .”  The literary technique used here is to ensure the readers, God’s people, to understand the meaning of the writer, God: never ever forget that those whose hearts are fixed on the LORD will have peace in their lives.
• Number of the occurrences of “Peace” in the Bible: Total 250 times.  OT: 155 NT: 95.  You may wonder what’s the importance of word frequency in the Bible?  The more frequent a word is, the more significant it is.  Besides some common words such as “the (almost 64,000), and, of, to, that,” and so forth, the most important nouns are LORD (6749), God (3995: by the Psalms it occurs about 2000 times, OT: 2678, NT: 1317—OT as twice many as NT)  (cf. Esther doesn’t mention God).  Money (113: 61 OT 52 NT), Pleasure(s) (38: OT 28, NT 10), Health (22), Heaven(s) (622).  Family (205). Worries (4) (OT:1, NT:3) Anxiety (7: OT 5 NT 2). Fear(-s, -ed, -ful) (336: OT 268 NT:68). Peace is very important for us to know.  So is it to our daily life.  Everyone longs for peace.
• For my curiosity, I checked out how often we have peace in human history.  I put the following question on Google search: How many wars have there been in the world? 
• “Answer:  (bolded certain parts for emphasis)
• There can be no definite answer to this question, given that when speaking of war we can speak of international wars, intra-national wars. Also there is often contention over what constitutes a war.However, estimates suggest that for 362 days of the year, there is a conflict going on somewhere in the world. This excludes internal (or civil) wars. Estimates also suggest that there have only been 250 years of peace in over 3400 years of documented history. (Some people suggest there have only been 26 days of peace). 

  There are currently over 40 wars ongoing, in which over 1000 people die per year (those which result in fewer deaths are excluded from UN statistics), occurring world wide. There have been hundreds since the end of the Second World War. ”

  (http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_many_wars_have_there_been_in_the_world)

• As Lloyd Cory said, “Peace is the brief glorious moment in history when everybody stands around reloading.” (Lloyd Cory, Quote Unquote)
• We desire not only peace in the world, peace in the nation, peace in society, but also peace at home, and especially peace in mind and heart.

Contents:

• If all of us want peace so badly in our hearts and minds, why does it seem like so little people have/enjoy it?   Perhaps, the reason why many people don’t have it is because they may look for peace in the wrong places.   When was the last time that you were disillusioned with broken promises of peace made by either politicians or bank accounts?  E.g. I know a retiree from Lucent Technology with millions of dollars of company stocks.  He lost everything when the company stock lost values.  Let’s not be fooled.  True and lasting peace is found only in God.  God alone gives such peace that is good both inside of our hearts and outside in the world.
• What is divine peace?  It’s the peace God gives to His children.  This is what God’s Word says about divine peace.
• God is the author of peace, establishes peace, gives peace (Isa. 26:12, Jer. 14:13, Jn. 14:27).  He is our peace (1 Co. 14:33).  Christ is our peace (Eph. 2:14).  Jesus is the Prince of peace.
• The God of peace wants us to have the peace of Christ in our hearts.
• The peace that God gives is a kind of peace that doesn’t rely on happy occasions or bad circumstances.  In fact, it never relies on outside circumstances.  It is transcendental.  It is that calm of mind and heart that isn’t shaken by adversity.  It is a rather strange calm that human words cannot explain, but the person knows it when s/he receives it from God.
• How do we get God’s peace?  There is only one way.  You cannot buy God’s peace.  You get it only by trusting in Him.  Trusting in God is same as putting your heart and mind in His care, in His hands, and in His purpose.  The image in Isaiah 26:3 is this: the heart of the one who trusts in the Lord is sustained by God like pottery is in the masterful hands of potter. Imagine that you want to keep a most delicate jewel in the most secure safe in the world.  Let me tell you: your heart is that jewel and the most secure safe in the world is God.
•  Reality Check: what do you trust in?  Really.   E.g. Dollar bill “In God We Trust.”  Really?   Do we not rather trust in our bank accounts, health, family, government?  You can easily find out by yourself what you really trust in by looking at what you constantly think of and where your mind and heart are set on.
• Here’s what I mean by trusting in the Lord.  Trusting in God means that we don’t rely on our own understanding of what’s going on in our lives.  Rather, we believe/profess that God knows what He is doing.  E.g.  A man holding onto a branch of tree on cliff for life, screaming for help.  He prays to God for help…God says, “Let go of the branch.”…Without letting go of the branch, he screams again, “Is anyone else out there?”
• Trusting in God also means that we set our minds and eyes on Him, not anything/anybody else.  E.g. Apostle Peter walked a few steps on water before he began to sink, because he was afraid of what was going around him when his eyes were off from Jesus.
• The same Peter speaks to us in 1 Peter 5:7 about the way we handle our daily anxiety: Cast away (and do not claim back) anxiety to God, because He cares for you (literal translation: Your business is His).  E.g.   When the disciples were about to drown in the middle of lake one night, they woke up Jesus saying, “Master, you sure care about us, don’t you?”

Closing:

• Horatio Stafford, a business man in Chicago, sent his wife and three daughters to Europe by ship while he remained back in the States, intending to join them later.  En route there was a terrible storm and a shipwreck during which their three daughters drowned.  Mrs. Stafford made it to safety and wired back saying, “All of our daughters have been lost.  Only I have been saved.”  He took the next vessel.  As they came near the place where his daughters drowned, the skipper of the ship pointed to the place where the other ship had gone down.  It was there on the deck of the ship he wrote these stirring words: When peace like a river attendeth my way, When sorrows like sea billows roll; Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say, “It is well, it is well with my soul” (John Haggai, How to Win over Worry).
• Horatio’s eyes, his heart and mind were fixed on Jesus, not on the tragedy.  He still declares to us that the Lord knows what He is doing.  He shows us how we dwell in God’s perfect peace: by trusting in the Lord.
• Amen.

Today Manahawkin congregation celebrated Laity Sunday acknowledging and appreciating all the volunteers who served the Lord and God’s people.  Lay Speaker Louise Jones and John Parker (finance chair) shared the pulpit reflecting on the meaning of family and ministry.

 Laity Sunday 2013

Today Pastor Choi talks about the second divine resource that God has made available for us to tap into in times of need: God’s strength.  Expounding on Isaiah 41:10 and Philippians 4:13, he exhorts the congregation to rely not on their own wisdom and might but on God’s.

  Rely on God’s Resources (2)

Following is a summary of his sermon:

Rely on God’s Resources: His Strength                    

• Isaiah 41:10
• New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
• ¹⁰ do not fear, for I am with you,
  do not be afraid, for I am your God;
  I will strengthen you, I will help you,
  I will uphold you with my victorious right hand.
• Philippians 4:13
• New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
• ¹³ I can do all things through him who strengthens me.
• Recap: Last Sunday, I started a new sermon series, “Rely on God’s Resources,” and talked about the resources God has made available to us for our life journey.  The first resource available to us is the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, who dwells in our hearts.  He resides in every believer who confesses that Jesus Christ is the Lord and Savior.
• Today, I am going to talk about the second divine resource that we can tap into: God’s strength.
• Nowadays, we are living in a constant state of fear and anxiety.  Everything today seems fragile, volatile, uncertain, and unpredictable.  Think, for a moment, of our society, our government, our national security and economy, let alone our health and families.  I don’t have to go further.
• We are inundated with heart-wrenching, sad, and fear-raising news every single day.  People in the media, in competition with each other, seem determined to bring the shocking news to us by all means.   Do they even care about the impact of news on the audience?   We cannot completely shut down the news, either.   I wish all of us were free from fears and anxieties.  I wish we would be exempt from all life’s uncertainties.
• However, we are not.  In fact, I, your spiritual leader, am no different from you.  Almost every day, I too go through life’s uncertainties, challenges, struggles, worries, or fears.  I too know what it is like to have worries and fears.  Here’s an example.
• About twenty years ago, I was in Michigan serving a small congregation.  At that time, my daughter was about 3 or 4 years old.  Like today, back then, I would pray for her every night.  I still remember one particular night.  I was on my knees praying for God’s protection on my daughter from any harm and evil forces.  All of a sudden, in my heart, a fear arose about her future.  The fear was about what would happen to her when both of her parents were gone (she had no siblings and no relatives in the States.  All of them lived in South Korea).  The fear totally gripped me and began to take away the peace from my heart.  That feeling of panic bothered me greatly, so I continued on asking God the question: Lord, indeed, who’s going to be there for my daughter in times of need, when neither of us (parents) is around?  I remember how God answered my question that night.  I love the way He did.  He answered my question with a set of three questions.
• The first question He raised in my heart was this: Do you remember when you first came to America?  “Yes, Lord,” I answered.   In fact, I still do quite vividly that summer of 1985, August 2, to be exact.  Both my wife and I landed at the O’Hare International Airport in Chicago with several pieces of luggage and $5,000 in cash.
• The second question from the Lord was: Who took care of you since then?  “No brainer, Lord,” I answered, “It was You.”  Indeed, He provided everything my family needed more sufficiently than we ever imagined.
• The third question from the Lord was the clincher: “Don’t you believe that I will still be around long after you both are gone and be there for your daughter as I always have been for you?”  That did it!  It melted away my fear right away!  That night, the Lord assured me, once and for all, that He is with me and my family forever and takes care of us!  Amen.  The antidote to our fears is the presence of the Lord.
•  That leads us to our first verse: Isaiah 41:10.
• Here, the LORD spoke to His people, Israel, through the mouth of the Prophet Isaiah.  Obviously, Israel as a nation, even back then, was fragile, caught in between the mighty powerhouses such as Assyria and Egypt.  Fear and anxiety of an uncertain future filled up the hearts of the people.  So, God spoke to them,
• ¹⁰ do not fear, for I am with you,
  do not be afraid, for I am your God;
  I will strengthen you, I will help you,
  I will uphold you with my victorious right hand (Isaiah 41:10).
• Let me unpack the verse.  First, God says, “do not fear, for I am with you, do not be afraid, for I am your God;” The English translation doesn’t do us justice here: it barely shows the meaning of the original Hebrew.   The better translation would be: God says, “stop fearing.”  God saw His people already engaged in fear and worries about their future.  So, He says to them, “Stop fearing now!”  In the same way, God sees what we are going through.  He knows you and I are already engaged in constant worries and fears.  And, to us, He says this morning, “Stop fearing, my child!  Stop being afraid!”
• In the next sentence, God provides us with the reasons why we should stop fearing.  Because He is with us.  Because He is our God.  Do you see what I see here?  Throughout the Old and New Testament times, God consistently provides His assurance to His people reminding that He is with them.  However, we the people of God constantly forget that truth and keep worrying about our future.  This morning, He reminds us, once more, “Stop fearing, for I am with you.  Stop being afraid, for I am your God!”  He is not just anyone’s god, but your God.  My God.  E.g.  One pastor, in order not to forget God’s presence with him, would walk for the rest of his life with one hand closed as if he was holding someone’s hand in his.  In this case, he was holding the hand of Jesus.
• Three promises: After the assurance of His presence with His people, God provides three promises to them: I will strengthen you, I will surely help you, and I will surely uphold you with my right hand of righteousness.  I love the way King James Bible puts it:  “I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.”  Three times God repeats that He is our true source of strength and help.  Three times He reminds us that we ought to go to Him for help in times of need.
• One more thing: with my right hand.  In Hebrew language, the right side means strength and might.  Here, God says to us that He will hold us with His mighty hand and will never let go of us.  Let God’s hand have a grip on you, not fear.
• That leads us to Philippians 4:13.
• Philippians 4:13
• New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
• ¹³ I can do all things through him who strengthens me.
• Here, Paul the apostle talks about the true source of his strength: not himself, but Christ who strengthens him.
• Most of us are familiar with this verse and, in fact, this is a favorite verse to many.  How great it sounds!  How wonderful it is to know that we can do all things!  Often, though, focusing on this positive attitude that we can do all things, we easily forget who enables us to do all things.  It would be a great illusion/disaster to believe that we can do all things by our own might.  In fact, Paul is actually saying here that he cannot do anything without Christ who strengthens him.  He declares that Christ alone is the true source of all things possible, not himself.  If we believe otherwise, and if we believe in ourselves, it would be very risky.  E.g. G.K. Chesterton talks about people who are full of themselves in his book “Orthodoxy.” He writes: “Shall I tell you where the men are who believe most in themselves?  For I can tell you.  I know of men who believe in themselves more colossally than Napoleon or Caesar.  I know where flames the fixed star of certainty and success.  I can guide you to the thrones of the Supermen.  The men who really believe in themselves are all in lunatic asylums.” (p. 14).  He clearly points out the danger of being full of self: lunacy.
• Paul wasn’t full of himself, here.  In fact, he discovered a simple yet profound truth in accomplishing anything in life: Do not rely on your own wisdom and might.  Rather, rely on God’s wisdom and His might, and you will never go wrong.    He later went on to say that when he was weak, that was when he was strong (2 Corinthians 12:10).  When he was weak, he relied on God’s strength, which in turn made him strong.  The same line of thinking also helped King David when he was fighting with Goliath.  He said to Goliath, “You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have taunted (1 Samuel 17:45).”
• Do not rely on your strength.  Rely on God’s.
• Let’s pray.

Today Pastor Choi talks about relying on God’s resources for our daily walk with God.  As Part 1 of the series, he emphasizes the importance of knowing that we are God’s temple and that the Holy Spirit dwells in our hearts.

  Rely on God’s Resources

Following is a summary of the sermon:

Rely on God’s Resources: Holy Spirit

• 1 Corinthians 3:16
• New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
• ¹⁶ Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?
• 1 Corinthians 2:12
• New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
• ¹² Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit that is from God, so that we may understand the gifts bestowed on us by God.

Introduction:

• A Christian friend of mine once was walking in his neighborhood.  He heard loud music coming from one of the houses down the street.  Out of curiosity, he headed in that direction.  As he arrived at the house where the music came from, he noticed that the gate was wide open.  There were several bystanders, too.  They all peeked into the house to watch what was going on.  My friend joined the crowd.  Inside the house, a shaman was doing her rituals, dancing to the drums.  Typically, the family would ask for blessings on the house or casting out an evil spirit that made someone sick in the family.  My friend never witnessed this kind of thing before, so he stood there watching for a few minutes.  Then, all of a sudden, the dance stopped along with the music.  Everyone was wondering what happened.  A couple of minutes later, the father of the house came out and asked if there was any Christian among the bystanders.  No one except my friend raised his hand.  Then, the owner begged him to leave the premises so that they could go on with the rituals.  My friend asked the owner why.  The explanation was: in the middle of her rituals, the shaman noticed the nearby presence of a spirit that was far greater than those spirits she was trying to appease.   Furthermore, the presence of that greater spirit prevented her from going on with her dance.  So, she had to stop and asked the father of the house if there was any Christian in the family.  When the owner said no, then, the shaman asked him to go outside and inquire of the bystanders.  That’s how he came out to my friend.  Anyway, as my friend left the place, he realized for the first time that he indeed carried in him a Spirit that is far greater than his own spirit – the Spirit of God, known as the Holy Spirit.
• In the gospel stories, the same thing happened to Jesus.  Whenever evil spirits saw Jesus approach them, they all cried out acknowledging who Jesus was: the Son of the Most High.  These spirits knew who Jesus was long before than people did.   When people failed to see who Jesus was, all the spirits knew right away and recognized the Holy Spirit in Jesus.  You see, in the spiritual world, the spirits all know that there’s a greater spirit than they, and they also know that that greater spirit lives in us—the believers in Christ.  Say after me, please: the Holy Spirit is in me.  How many of us know this truth, though?  Not many.  This leads us to 1 Corinthians 3:16.

1 Corinthians 3:16

• New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
• ¹⁶ Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?
• Do you not know?  Literal translation would be: You sure know, don’t you?  Greek grammar here:  the writer expects an affirmative answer from the readers.  They are expected to say, “Yes, we do.”  The same question is still relevant to today’s Christians.  You sure know about this truth, don’t you?  However, lots of believers still would say, “No, I don’t.”  This is one of the greatest spiritual tragedies among the believers today.  The ignorance of the presence of God’s Spirit in them.
• This is a mere reflection of the spiritual climate in the American Church.  The Bible says that God is with us through His spirit in our hearts.  Yet, lots of believers are simply ignorant of this spiritual truth: we claim and believe that God is with us, but we don’t know how.  Somehow, we believe that God is with us both mysteriously and supernaturally, but never believe that God is indeed with us in our bodies through His spirit.
• Speaking of ignorance of God’s truth, it is never God’s will for us to stay that way, especially on God’s resources available to us such as His spirit.  I believe our poor experiences of God result from the ignorance of God’s resources in us.  God has made divine resources available to us (and the Holy Spirit is the number one resource,) yet seldom do we tap into those resources.  No wonder our walk with God is so dry and boring.
• Jesus says in John 14:21, “They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me.”   I can safely say, then, that those who don’t keep His commandments don’t love Him.  How can we love Jesus when we don’t even know what His commandments are and what He wants us to do?  The ignorance of God’s Word is equal to not loving Him.
• You are God’s temple and God’s Spirit dwells in you:  What is the temple of God?  It is the place where God dwells.  Not physically but spiritually, since God doesn’t have a physical body like we do.  He is a Spirit.  God’s temple is the place where we come and worship.  It is the place where we offer our prayers to God.  Jesus says God’s temple to be the house of prayer.  Paul the apostle here calls our body that temple of God where God dwells.  As God dwells in His temple through His Spirit, so does He in our body through His Spirit.  (Cf. 2 Corinthians 1:22: Holy Spirit in our hearts as mark of salvation, Galatians 4:6, Romans 5:5).  E.g. A person who smokes, as a matter of fact, fills God’s temple with smoke.
• Let’s be clear on the understanding of our body.  Our body is no longer ours but God’s.  It belongs to God not to us.  God is the owner and we are stewards.  Take good care of God’s temple.
• Same truth goes with the Church: the body of Christ.  Church is not one of the social gatherings like clubs, but rather it is the place where God dwells among His children.  Wherever we gather in the name of Jesus as church, so is God in our midst.
• How can it be that God is with us in our hearts through the Holy Spirit?  E.g. A farmer’s wife asked her pastor a question how the Spirit of God can be in millions of believers’ hearts at the same time.  Pastor explained that His presence is like the moon’s reflection on the surface of waters in rice paddies in full moon.  She understood perfectly.

1 Corinthians 2:12

• New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
• ¹² Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit that is from God, so that we may understand the gifts bestowed on us by God.
• Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit that is from God:  We see here a spiritual dichotomy of two spirits around us.  God’s spirit vs. the spirit of the world.  God’s spirit dwells and works among His children.  The spirit of the world dwells and works among the non-believers.  We the believers received the Spirit of God.  People who don’t know Christ receive the spirit of the world.  Notice here the past tense (i.e., we have received).  Not will receive, but already received the Holy Spirit.  We have the Holy Spirit in us.  Yet, a lot of us remain ignorant of this spiritual truth and, therefore, live our Christian life without the aid of the Holy Spirit.  Any Christian who walks life’s journey without the help of the Holy Spirit is like a spiritual orphan to God.  Orphans who are left alone without parental protection and love are often a target of mockery and harassments.
• Naturally, that is exactly what our enemy Satan, the spirit of the world, tries to do to us.  His age old strategy against God’s children is to keep them in ignorance of God’s truth and harassing them like orphans.  In fact, by not getting into the word of God, and therefore remaining in ignorance of God’s truth, we are doing a great favor to our adversary and doing a great disservice to ourselves.  Furthermore, it is far easier for Satan to harass those folks who are ignorant of God’s truth than those who are in the Word of God.
• Here’s what Jesus did to His disciples before He left earth.  He promised to them that He would not leave them orphaned.  Rather, He would send the Helper and Comforter to each believer.  Listen to what Jesus said to them in John 14:18, 25:            
• ¹⁸ “I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you.²⁵ “I have said these things to you while I am still with you. ²⁶ But the Advocate,the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you.”
•  In John 15:26, He also promised to send the Holy Spirit, the Advocate:
• ²⁶ “When the Advocatecomes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, he will testify on my behalf.
• So that we may understand the gifts bestowed on us by God: so that we may understand what God has freely given us such as  eternal life and salvation.
• Also, the fruit of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23): love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.
• Let us never forget that we have great resources from God, the Holy Spirit.  God never leaves us orphaned.  He is not far from us.  He is within us through the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit is our helper, teacher, advocate, truth-teller, and comforter.  It is time that we turned to the Spirit of God in us for wisdom, guidance, and courage.
• Let’s pray.

Today Pastor Choi talks about the importance of sharing the good news, the gospel, with our loved ones.  He talks about not being ashamed of the gospel which is God’s power for salvation to all who believe in the name of Jesus and also about responding to Jesus’ call to be fishers of people so that we all together share the eternal life in the presence of God.

   Live the New Life (6): Evangelism

Following is a summary of the sermon:

Live the New Life (6): Evangelism                 Matthew 4:19, Romans 1:16

• Matthew 4:19
• New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
• ¹⁹ And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.”
• Romans 1:16
• New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
• The Power of the Gospel
• ¹⁶ For I am not ashamed of the gospel; it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

Introduction:

• If you had to choose someone who made a world of difference in your life, who would that be?  If you had to name someone to whom you are most grateful, who would that be?  (Talk with your neighbors for the next minute or two.)
• It could be your parents who gave life and raised you well.  It could be a friend who helped you with finances.  It could be your first grade teacher who instilled the love of books in your heart.  It could be your boss who led you to a great job.  It could be a matchmaker who introduced you to your spouse.  The list goes on.
• In my case, I would choose someone to whom I owe my life, literally.  First, I would choose my friends at high school.  In the summer of 1973, we were vacationing together at one of my friend’s house whose father was an admiral of the Korean Navy.  One afternoon, we all went swimming at the bay.  I almost drowned that day.  Unless my friends had come to rescue me, I would have been a goner.  Next, I would choose my brother as the person to whom I am most grateful.  If I am grateful to my two high school friends who made a difference by adding forty years to my life, how much more should I be grateful to my brother who made an eternal difference in my life?  How did he do so?  With a simple invitation to join him at church.  I still thank God for my brother who made a world of difference both in this life and in the life to come.  I am eternally grateful to him for introducing me to Jesus.
• Wouldn’t you like to be the one who makes the eternal difference in someone else’s life?  I would like to be that one.
• This morning, we are going to think about evangelism.  This is the word that was hijacked and misused by a few Christian politicians especially around election seasons.  It sometimes carries negative publicity among people saying, “Those evangelical Christians!”  It is time that we reclaimed this beautiful word in our faith.  Evangelism is originated from a Greek Word “ευαγγελιον” which means the good news, the gospel.  This morning, I invite you to think with me about the good news, the gospel, especially sharing the good news with others.   What is evangelism?  It is the act of sharing the greatest news of all with others.  This leads us to Romans 1:16.
• Let’s listen to Paul the Apostle:  ¹⁶ For I am not ashamed of the gospel; it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
• Paul was not ashamed of the gospel.  Neither should we.   I pray that none of us are ashamed either of the gospel or of Jesus.  America today is not really a gospel friendly nation.  E.g. Pressures from outside such as government, in the name of separation of church and state, make it extremely hard to share the gospel with others.  E.g. Gideons are forbidden to distribute pocket Bibles to students on school premises.   Sometimes we hide our faith from people in the name of privacy.   We’d rather keep our faith to ourselves.  But, let’s make sure that we are not ashamed of the gospel.  E.g.  A boy during the Korean War: didn’t deny the Lord and the Lord spared him from being executed by the communists.  As much as we believe Jesus’ promise that He will give us eternal life in heaven, we must also believe His word that if we are ashamed of Him in front of others, He too will be ashamed of us in the presence of angels (Mark 8:38).
• It is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith: We tend to think that God’s power is always something supernatural, some miracles and wonders.  Yet, here, Paul says the gospel is God’s power for salvation to those who believe.   The same gospel is foolishness to those who don’t believe in Jesus and what He has done.  But, for us, it is God’s power who rescues us from the bondage of sin and the power of death.
• Here we see that the gospel is for everyone.  Both for Jews and gentiles.  It is for Buddhists and Hindus. It covers all race, gender, and age.   It is God’s power for salvation for all.  Everyone is invited to accept God’s salvation through the gospel.
• Let’s look at Matthew 4:19 where Jesus invited Peter and his brother Andrew to follow Him.  Both of them were full-time fishermen at the time.  At Jesus’ invitation, both dropped everything and followed Jesus.  The same Christ invites us today to be the same: fishers of people.
• Fishers of people, not fishers of fish.  We can learn a lesson or two from real fishermen.  Did you know that none of them is casual about their vocation but dedicated?  They work hard every day, no matter how bad the weather or season may be.  Sometimes they have good catch.  Other times, they have none.  However, they always go out to fish.  Their minds and hearts are always out there where the fish are.  They constantly think of the best ways to catch fish, too.  So should every believer.   As fishers of people, our hearts and minds ought to be with people, constantly thinking of the best ways to bring people to Christ.
• Why does Jesus call us to be fishers of people?  So that people too can come to Him through the message of good news from us.  How can anyone become a believer unless she hears about the gospel first?  And, how can one hear about the gospel unless someone else shares it with her?  E.g. A high school friend of mine.  He and I were buddies, the best friends.  He was a believer before me.  One thing bothered me the most, though, was the fact that he never said one single word to me about becoming a Christian (church, Jesus, salvation, eternal life, or Heaven).  In other words, he had all the good things in Christ yet never shared with me.  Wouldn’t you rather have someone recognize you in the presence of God saying, “Lord, please remember (your name) because s/he shared the gospel with me and led me to Christ?”  This is what evangelism is all about: stand by someone to share the gospel and eternal life together.

Action Points:

• We don’t have to be like Paul to share the gospel with others.  We can begin with someone whom we already know well; it can be our best friends.  It can be our family members.  It can be our coworkers.  It can be our neighbors.  It can be our school friends.  Let’s begin with someone we are familiar with.
• Take your friend’s name to God: Ask God to open the door of evangelism for you.  Ask Him to provide you with the right opportunity to share the gospel with your friend.  Ask God to open the heart of your friend so that s/he may listen to the gospel message.
• Take God’s name to your friend:   After you asked for God’s help in prayer, then go to your friend in the name of Jesus.  Ask God to give the right words that you need to say to your friend.
• Don’t get discouraged with the first try.  Remember too that believing in Jesus doesn’t have to start with church, either.  Some of the people carry a negative image of the church such as “organized religion,” or “full of hypocrites.”  Stick to the salvation message.  Tell them how much Jesus loves them.  In due time, they will join the church as well.  Be friends first.  Let them see your genuine interests and motives.   Be there for them whenever they need you.  Let them see your light in Christ.
• Let us pray.