back to index20th Anniversary Service
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This church, the EM, it became an independent church. 00:00:08.000 |
We're going to go over the history in a later part of this, our program. 00:00:13.520 |
But they called me and said, "We need somebody to come and fill in because the guy who started 00:00:20.520 |
And only reason why I said okay was because, again, I was so burnt out. 00:00:23.960 |
I felt like I couldn't, if I went to any other church, I wouldn't be able to give myself. 00:00:28.760 |
So I really came back to church, one, to assist and second, to see if my heart would be restored 00:00:37.880 |
And that's how this church, again, in a nutshell, got started. 00:00:40.480 |
I came back thinking, like, can I go back into ministry because I could go through the 00:00:45.560 |
motion but I don't know if my heart will ever be here again. 00:00:49.200 |
And to my own surprise, it didn't happen immediately, but as years went by, months, and I started 00:00:56.180 |
to get to know the new people and then the younger people at that time who were in high 00:01:02.360 |
And I started to, to my own surprise, started growing affection for them, that I genuinely 00:01:09.240 |
And I could honestly say that I began to love them. 00:01:13.240 |
And those were the hardest period of our church ministry for the first five years because 00:01:17.760 |
I had my first child and then second one and then the third came. 00:01:24.740 |
The core group of our church was very, very young. 00:01:28.320 |
But the only thing that kept me at the church is because God restored my heart, not necessarily 00:01:34.960 |
It wasn't a heart for, like, I have this vision for bringing community to church, that we're 00:01:37.800 |
going to plant churches and bring people to Christ. 00:01:40.280 |
It was just God gave me this love for the young, young people who are at our church 00:01:45.640 |
and I wanted to be the best that I could be for them. 00:01:51.360 |
If you ask me, you know, what is your vision of the church? 00:01:55.000 |
It was just I wanted to make sure that they were growing and they were maturing and that 00:02:01.640 |
And again, to make a long story short, that's how I was restored back into ministry. 00:02:07.680 |
I really considered walking away because I didn't think I could give my heart to a new 00:02:11.520 |
group of people and God allowed me to have that heart and God's my witness to this day 00:02:17.200 |
that to me, bring community to church is not this organization or what are we going to 00:02:21.520 |
accomplish with this group and all of these things are necessary in a group. 00:02:39.780 |
And so God has placed us together and trying to be faithful with the family that God has 00:02:50.120 |
Like I think, you ask anybody who was here 15, 20 years ago that 20 years later that 00:02:56.400 |
we would be in this church celebrating 20th year anniversary with a church of 500, we 00:03:06.360 |
You know, like we have one visitor per year and that we would have a joke that that would 00:03:11.360 |
I really, that's how we used to joke early on in church. 00:03:17.320 |
So to be here, to be able to celebrate with all of you, it is surreal and very thankful. 00:03:25.880 |
The video is going to summarize some of the different aspects of our church. 00:03:30.320 |
And then I'll come back here and I'm going to read off our church history minute by minute 00:03:33.640 |
and then I'll introduce our speaker for tonight. 00:04:33.800 |
The church at its inception, it was started before April 1997 by the former EM pastor 00:04:43.400 |
that was at Irvine Baptist before I showed up. 00:04:46.360 |
And so I left to join another church for about a year. 00:04:50.840 |
And then the church that I was at ended up splitting. 00:04:52.960 |
So I was in between churches and then found out that the pastor who launched this church 00:05:01.080 |
So I didn't physically join the church launch until August of 1997. 00:05:07.880 |
I grew up at the church called First Korean Baptist Church of Irvine. 00:05:12.200 |
And at that time, when I was basically in college is when there were some issues with 00:05:24.720 |
The pastors at that time wanted to build a second generation church and they had the 00:05:29.400 |
support of the Korean congregation pastors and leaders, various leaders. 00:05:38.600 |
And at that time, Pastor Peter had not even joined the church yet. 00:05:41.960 |
There was a vacuum of leadership and then these guys that I was working with when I 00:05:46.000 |
was their youth pastor and then their college pastor. 00:05:49.160 |
So they found out that I was in between church and they called me and asked me to come and 00:05:54.760 |
Only reason why I came was to kind of be an interim to help out because these are guys 00:05:58.480 |
that I knew that I discipled when they were younger. 00:06:01.760 |
And then once I came, the Korean church had a vision of they wanted to be charismatic. 00:06:09.400 |
And so when I told them that we couldn't do that, they asked us to leave. 00:06:15.920 |
So Tustin Baptist Church asked us or allowed us to stay in and use one of their facilities, 00:06:23.360 |
So that was the first, let's say, total of me about first four or five years of the church. 00:06:28.000 |
And so there was never a time when we said, "Hey, let's launch this church and we're going 00:06:32.840 |
to have this kind of church with this kind of vision." 00:06:35.560 |
It was just a bunch of young guys that if we left, they would have fallen apart. 00:06:41.880 |
So it was more of kind of like I felt responsible for the younger guys who were there. 00:06:46.800 |
And then it ended up turning into a church because we ended up coming out and having 00:06:52.320 |
You know, at the beginning of the church was very small and young. 00:06:57.360 |
You know, even our Bible studies, they were done at UCI and it was probably like 10 people. 00:07:04.720 |
Pastor Peters always reminds me that I was wearing a yellow dress when I came to the 00:07:10.880 |
And I insisted I did not own a yellow dress, but apparently later I did find it. 00:07:15.960 |
So the fact that he could remember what I was wearing indicates that it was a pretty 00:07:19.960 |
small church to give the picture of how small it was. 00:07:23.480 |
I recall when they announced that they were going to start praise, literally half the 00:07:29.440 |
people in the congregation left their seats to do the praise set. 00:07:33.320 |
And that was really funny because the church was very small and everyone who was on praise 00:07:42.720 |
Financially, I wasn't able to take care of my family. 00:07:52.960 |
We paid the church bills and then whatever left over came to my family to support. 00:07:58.280 |
And that was probably the first maybe six years of the church. 00:08:00.800 |
I would say the turning point of the church was when we were at Lakeside Middle School. 00:08:13.120 |
We got to a breaking point where I couldn't pay the bills. 00:08:19.800 |
At least number-wise, it wasn't going anywhere. 00:08:22.280 |
The church, you know, pretty much was at the same size. 00:08:25.720 |
We just kept on having to move around a lot because we had no actual location. 00:08:31.120 |
Every year we didn't really know where we would meet next. 00:08:33.800 |
We didn't know if we'd have enough money, I feel like, because none of nobody was really 00:08:38.560 |
It was just very kind of fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants kind of thing. 00:08:44.040 |
And so it got to a point where either I had to let go of the church or get a full-time 00:08:55.240 |
Pretty much he said, you know, the church is not strong enough. 00:08:58.160 |
If I leave, that they're going to be able to make it. 00:09:01.280 |
If I walked away from church at that time, I wouldn't have a clear conscience. 00:09:06.760 |
We had a house and found out that the equity in the house went up like $60,000, $70,000 00:09:15.200 |
So we made a decision that if we got rid of that and used that to support our family for 00:09:20.080 |
a year, and if at the end of the year we're still in the same place that we're at, then 00:09:28.400 |
I have three kids and I can't take care of them. 00:09:32.600 |
Then I can have a clear conscience and start over somewhere and do something else. 00:09:39.560 |
It was just maybe bring somebody else in, but I don't have that burden of taking care 00:09:46.600 |
We felt like God was waiting for me to make a decision. 00:09:50.440 |
Like, are you going to fully give yourself to this or not? 00:09:53.800 |
Either you're going to commit to this church plant or you're going to have to walk away. 00:09:58.200 |
And so that's when we decided, okay, we're going to give it a year, you know, from where 00:10:02.280 |
The thing is, our church never grew for the first five, six years. 00:10:15.800 |
And then I was thinking about going back to work and just keep doing church at that time 00:10:21.500 |
And that's when the elders stepped in, which was at that time, Vince, Joe and Phillip, 00:10:26.600 |
they offered to take care of our family with their own finances for a year until the church 00:10:34.120 |
So for the next year, they supported our family. 00:10:38.320 |
The year after that, the church grew from 60 to like 70 or 80. 00:10:42.880 |
Each year since then, we've been growing maybe about 30%. 00:10:45.640 |
When we really started to grow was when we came to Utt Middle School. 00:10:49.720 |
I think we had about 80 people meeting at Northwood. 00:10:52.880 |
And then we came to Utt and then we had 110 the first Sunday we met. 00:10:58.340 |
So we just thought, "Oh, they're coming to visit." 00:11:03.240 |
And so basically, one Sunday, we added about 20 people and then we never dipped below 100. 00:11:08.040 |
Then during Utt, we went from probably about 100 to 280 during the three years that we 00:11:15.560 |
After that, we were able to purchase a church in Airway. 00:11:19.840 |
And then from there, the number grew from 280 to like 480. 00:11:25.960 |
To be honest, really nothing has really changed in terms of how we do what we do over the 00:11:34.880 |
I think it's just been people have seen what's happening and there has been a desire for 00:11:43.880 |
And I think during this whole process, I could name a few things that I suspect that caused 00:11:51.240 |
this, but in the end, it was obviously God's sovereignty that he brought people who were 00:11:56.520 |
itching to hear expository preaching and just the emphasis of the Word of God. 00:12:03.880 |
I wouldn't say I was a believer yet at that time, but I was very, very interested and 00:12:10.440 |
it was very different from any other church I had gone to. 00:12:13.160 |
I feel like the biggest difference was that whatever they were preaching, people were 00:12:19.920 |
So it wasn't just like people were there for social reasons or for fun, which was my previous 00:12:27.920 |
And he was speaking about a lot of things about the Bible that I wasn't used to hearing 00:12:39.320 |
I just remember coming in and my first impression of the praise was like, what are these Amish 00:12:45.240 |
people who do not have access to the radio and they just sing hymns? 00:12:55.200 |
And then I remember the sermon feeling very long. 00:12:57.920 |
But I think one thing I remember, just my first service at Berean, was just Pastor Peter 00:13:04.040 |
constantly going through different passages in the Bible. 00:13:07.480 |
And I remember that being the first time that ever happened to me before, because though 00:13:12.320 |
I had gone to church my whole life with the same Bible, I remember having to peer through 00:13:19.160 |
And so I think that was one thing that really struck me about Berean, being different and 00:13:24.160 |
just learning about Berean being a Bible teaching church, a church that really upholds God's 00:13:30.400 |
I feel like after 20 years, for the first time, we have the resources that we didn't 00:13:35.640 |
have in the beginning, or even when I recommitted after six years. 00:13:41.080 |
We can take the blessing that God has given us and really look to what God can do with 00:13:49.320 |
that, whether it's a ministry out in China or supporting missionaries or village pastors 00:13:54.680 |
in India, or even just locally, just discipling and sharing the gospel. 00:13:58.680 |
How are we going to strategically do this with the blessing that he's given us? 00:14:02.560 |
Because prior to this, we were just on survival mode. 00:14:06.400 |
We have this many people, how do we take care of them? 00:14:09.880 |
Well, we have this many people, how do we take care of the church? 00:14:12.760 |
But for the first time, we're actually thinking about, well, five years from now, what are 00:14:20.040 |
I could think of so many instances where we could have just folded. 00:14:29.360 |
I just couldn't because I just didn't have a clear conscience. 00:14:31.720 |
But if something happened and say, "Oh, the church is shut down, everybody left the church," 00:14:36.000 |
and obviously it would have been hard relationally, but I would have been relieved. 00:14:42.640 |
And even the church doesn't know just how close I came to just walking away, as far 00:14:50.280 |
I can't say like, "Oh, because we did this, because we had this strategy and this is our 00:14:54.720 |
vision, these were our doctrines, and because our church was organized this way, we discipled 00:15:00.840 |
And obviously every church has those things in place. 00:15:05.680 |
But I look at 20 years and I don't think that's why we're here. 00:15:12.360 |
I think God was glorified in the midst of our chaos. 00:15:18.280 |
And so after 20 years, we look back and say, "God just wanted to be glorified and we can't 00:15:29.200 |
And we really can't take credit for what we have. 00:15:33.200 |
So that's why when somebody asks me, "So what do you expect in the next 20 years?" 00:15:36.280 |
Like, I don't know how I got here, so I don't know how I'm going to tell you what the next 00:15:41.840 |
All I know is just try to be faithful to what He's placed today, and then that will lead 00:15:50.280 |
So I would definitely say, "By the grace of God, we're here. 00:15:55.080 |
By the grace of God, we're going to go forward." 00:15:55.520 |
We're probably going to put that up on the website at some point. 00:16:25.040 |
But again, it kind of captures in a short detail about what happened in our church. 00:16:31.160 |
I'm going to just briefly go over the history of our church. 00:16:36.880 |
Again, many of you came to the church at different periods of the church, and so you would remember 00:16:47.520 |
In 1997, January, Irvine Baptist Church EM became an independent church under the Southern 00:16:53.360 |
Baptist denomination with the blessing of the Korean congregation and some financial 00:16:58.360 |
assistance from the Orange County SBC Association under the leadership of Pastor Jonathan Kang. 00:17:04.960 |
The name for the church in the beginning was Harvest Community Church. 00:17:10.880 |
In 1997, April 12th, the church was officially inaugurated. 00:17:15.480 |
Soon after the inauguration, Pastor Kang left the church, and a vacuum of leadership was 00:17:22.120 |
Pastor Peter Kim, myself, officially joined the church in August of 1997 as one of the 00:17:26.880 |
pastors to support the church while having worship at Irvine Baptist. 00:17:31.120 |
We were officially asked to take our young group and move out of Irvine Baptist in 1999, 00:17:35.600 |
March, and began to use the facilities in Tustin Baptist Church. 00:17:39.920 |
We changed our name to Berean Community Church to better reflect our church's ministry philosophy 00:17:45.440 |
In 2001, March, we moved out of Tustin Baptist and started having service at Lakeside Middle 00:17:52.960 |
Our attendance there remained around 25 to 35 through those years. 00:17:57.560 |
2001, we also had our first summer mission trip to China. 00:18:01.720 |
And then in 2002, we had our first summer retreat with Pastor Ray Cosley as our guest 00:18:06.200 |
speaker at Palm Desert with about 28 in attendance, which is also including the pastor's family 00:18:13.000 |
This was the first time in our church where we began to focus on the future of the church 00:18:18.000 |
Prior to this time, we were just trying to survive from one year to another. 00:18:22.080 |
2003, we moved to Harvard Community Park and our attendance grew from 30 to 50. 00:18:27.600 |
2004, we moved to Deerfield Community Park and our attendance grew from 50 to 60. 00:18:33.000 |
2005, we moved to Turtle Rock Community Park and our attendance grew from 50 to 70. 00:18:38.400 |
2006, we moved to Northwood Community Park and our attendance grew from 70 to 90. 00:18:43.680 |
In 2008, we moved our church to Utt Middle School in Tustin and our attendance grew to 00:18:50.400 |
2011, with a generous donation from the church, we were able to purchase our first church 00:19:01.200 |
2013, we planted a church, Berean Mission Church, under the leadership of Pastor Aaron 00:19:07.960 |
Choi and his wife, Tina, with a team of 30 members in Millbrae, California. 00:19:13.600 |
2014, we began our first medical missions to India. 00:19:17.480 |
2015, we commissioned Pastor Alex and his wife, Jen, for mission work in China. 00:19:22.400 |
2016, in the beginning, we purchased this new building. 00:19:26.440 |
In 2017, March, we had our first church service at the new building. 00:19:31.760 |
And that kind of pretty much summarizes our church history. 00:19:35.040 |
I want to introduce a logo to the church, if you can put that up. 00:19:41.840 |
Now I know whenever there's change, there's always going to be resistance. 00:19:46.520 |
And I'm already expecting some of you to persecute me after this. 00:19:51.440 |
But we thought it was a good time for us to refresh our church logo. 00:19:55.820 |
And the reason why was what I explained, that up to this point, we really didn't give it 00:20:00.280 |
a whole lot about the thought of going forward, what are we going to do? 00:20:03.480 |
And so we thought it would be a good opportunity for us to be deliberate. 00:20:07.360 |
And again, symbolically, it would be good for us to refresh our church logo and our 00:20:11.840 |
name so that when we put it on this building, it would just kind of symbolize for us that 00:20:16.600 |
from this point on going forward, we want to be intentional with everything that we're 00:20:21.680 |
And so again, I'm not going to go through the details of the explanation of the logo at 00:20:26.760 |
But again, this is the sign that's going to be hanging outside. 00:20:29.480 |
And I'm sure our media team did a great job and put so much time and effort behind all 00:20:36.080 |
And they may be able to give you more explanations on that. 00:20:38.120 |
But I wanted to introduce that to you before it goes up. 00:20:41.800 |
But so that's what you're going to be seeing outside. 00:20:44.340 |
And the program, obviously, all of that is going to change on the website as well. 00:20:49.040 |
At this time, I want to introduce our speaker for this evening. 00:20:52.280 |
I think many of you already know Pastor Aaron. 00:20:55.880 |
Again, he led the church plant to Millbrae about four, you guys celebrated four year, 00:21:05.600 |
And again, we've been praying for their family. 00:21:08.000 |
As you guys know, the hardship that they went through. 00:21:10.800 |
Pastor Aaron was the first associate pastor of this church. 00:21:20.720 |
And he was very beloved and has continued to be beloved. 00:21:24.520 |
And when we sent him and the team up, it created a huge vacuum in our church. 00:21:32.440 |
And again, rightfully so, because he was so effective and he was so loved. 00:21:38.440 |
And again, and when anybody leaves a church, it should leave a vacuum. 00:21:47.560 |
I actually ended up speaking at a retreat just this over weekend and Friday and Saturday. 00:21:53.860 |
And at the end of the meeting, they were giving me an honorarium and they made me this bag. 00:21:59.760 |
And then they said that they contacted somebody from Brienne and they went down the list of 00:22:06.680 |
He likes sushi and then they gave me some socks with sushi on it. 00:22:21.400 |
And so everything that I like, they just nailed it. 00:22:23.880 |
And I remember thinking to myself, I wonder who they asked. 00:22:34.720 |
And then the second person I thought is like, Pastor Mark probably knows because I spend 00:22:39.360 |
the most time with him outside of the church. 00:22:41.880 |
And then the third person that I think of is Pastor Aaron probably knows. 00:22:45.400 |
And so my immediate thought was, that's the most logical person he probably asked because 00:22:51.260 |
And so again, Pastor Aaron and I spent so much time together while he was here. 00:22:55.040 |
And one of the things that I miss about him being up there that we're not able to spend 00:22:58.960 |
that kind of time, but he's a brother that I love and God is using powerfully. 00:23:06.260 |
And again, many guys know he's a gifted speaker. 00:23:08.880 |
I think he'd be a great professor if he wanted to be, great communicator. 00:23:13.280 |
But above everything that I appreciate about him, he genuinely loves the Lord. 00:23:20.400 |
And that's the thing I appreciate about him the most. 00:23:22.880 |
I mean, as gifted as he is, there's a sincerity in his heart that I appreciate and I'm encouraged 00:23:28.600 |
So Pastor Aaron's going to come up here and he's going to give us the encouragement. 00:23:32.600 |
And then I think he's going to introduce a little video from his church before he begins. 00:23:47.360 |
As Pastor Peter mentioned, we do have a little video prepared in preparation for the 20 year 00:23:52.960 |
We were super excited to be able to celebrate with you guys. 00:23:56.640 |
I know a lot of our members up in the Bay, they would have loved to be here this weekend, 00:24:02.440 |
but we're all having babies and stuff, so it's kind of just too hard to do that. 00:24:09.400 |
But please, you know, like the heart and just the love from which this video came. 00:24:29.000 |
I remember when I first went to Berean, we were meeting at a park. 00:24:39.760 |
Everyone's crowded around, sitting on the stairs, overflowing into the kitchen. 00:24:43.320 |
Probably my fondest memories of BCC was just listening to all the sermons by Pastor Peter. 00:24:50.320 |
I just remember all the tangents, the crazy tangents he would go on. 00:24:55.320 |
But in the very end, he would always wrap it up and say something about Christ, and 00:25:00.320 |
Thanks for seeing me through most of my life, through high school, through college, back 00:25:05.520 |
when it was Harvest, through my marriage, and supporting us on our move up to Plant 00:25:14.880 |
I just really want to thank all the pastors, elders, brothers and sisters who were really 00:25:21.080 |
I really feel like BCC was a huge part of why I am the person that I am today, and I 00:25:30.440 |
We're so encouraged by God's faithfulness over your church for these past 20 years. 00:25:35.480 |
And so it's been great also to see how God has brought you guys so far, how big you guys 00:25:41.360 |
I'm thankful for all the relationships that I was able to build there. 00:25:44.640 |
And I'm so thankful and grateful to the leadership, to the members, to my friends down there. 00:25:50.640 |
But really, we want to thank Pastor Peter and the leadership team for just leading the 00:25:56.520 |
For just being men of the word and for always giving us guidance and wisdom. 00:26:02.560 |
Really encouraged by all of you guys and just everything that you've done. 00:26:07.120 |
I want to encourage everyone to follow their leadership. 00:26:11.120 |
One thing that I know for sure is that they've been praying for you and they continue to 00:26:16.200 |
And I pray that for you, Pastor Peter, that God will continue to use you and your ministry 00:26:24.640 |
We're really thankful for all the support that you guys give us. 00:26:28.400 |
There's many of you that supported us moving up here to the Bay Area. 00:26:33.000 |
And we definitely would not be where we are today without you guys. 00:26:39.640 |
I only hope that BMC could be a place that models exactly what you guys have been doing 00:26:46.080 |
through loving each other, following the word, and glorifying God. 00:26:50.440 |
And I hope for many more years of BCC just committing to their community and loving and 00:26:58.600 |
And praying that God would continue to really grow Berean in the next 20 plus years as well. 00:27:07.120 |
I hope that your church grows even more for the glory of God. 00:27:11.680 |
I'm really excited for you guys and what the future holds. 00:27:14.360 |
So I continue to encourage you guys to just keep being faithful to God and preaching the 00:27:19.480 |
gospel and having that fellowship and just enjoying what God is doing in the midst of 00:27:30.560 |
We're very thankful just for all your support and your prayers and just your partnership 00:27:36.240 |
And we can't wait to visit and see you guys again. 00:28:08.240 |
I was watching that video before we showed it tonight and was just reminded of the fact 00:28:15.240 |
that so many people at Berean Mission Church are really originally from Berean Community 00:28:22.240 |
And like Pastor Peter, I've been approached by church planners as well asking me if they 00:28:27.240 |
have any, or if I have any tips or advice or counsel to offer as a recent church planner 00:28:34.120 |
And really the thing that I always return back to again and again is have a solid team. 00:28:42.400 |
And I don't think the team that we planted the church with four years ago would have 00:28:46.360 |
been possible unless they had grown and they were discipled through the ministry that took 00:28:54.080 |
BMC is indebted to Berean Community Church for just so many years of faithful ministry. 00:29:02.080 |
And it's again just awesome to be able to come tonight and to celebrate with you guys. 00:29:06.760 |
When you see the same person day after day, week after week, year after year, it's hard 00:29:15.080 |
to notice the changes they undergo over time. 00:29:19.080 |
Whether those changes are physical or emotional or even spiritual, change is just one of those 00:29:25.360 |
things that's easier to observe from a distance. 00:29:29.080 |
It's kind of like the feeling you get when it's been a while since you last saw a kid 00:29:35.920 |
One day they're just cute, goofy and fun to play with. 00:29:39.120 |
And then you fast forward a few years later and they're six feet tall and they got facial 00:29:44.160 |
Their voice is about three octaves lower than you last remember. 00:29:46.680 |
That's kind of the sensation I had when I saw Jonathan, Phillip and Mary and Son. 00:29:51.760 |
I was like, "Where in the world did all this growth come from?" 00:29:57.320 |
It's really hard for me to believe, but four years have passed since I was last a member 00:30:04.560 |
And so I feel like I have something of a unique perspective that I can offer on how Berean 00:30:12.080 |
I started attending Berean back when I was a freshman at UCSD. 00:30:17.120 |
And like many other believers my age, I was looking for a church near campus that I could 00:30:24.640 |
The problem was home for me was in Irvine, which was only about an hour's drive away. 00:30:29.320 |
And so every two or three weeks, which was basically any time I went to see my parents 00:30:35.000 |
or I had to do laundry, I'd end up hitching a ride with a friend. 00:30:39.760 |
And I would find myself here at Berean on Sunday mornings listening to Pastor Peter 00:30:44.440 |
This was back when we were still meeting in Tustin and our attendance hovered around 30 00:30:51.520 |
And it was about halfway through that first year in college that I decided to abandon 00:30:57.560 |
my search for a church in SD, choosing instead to come home every weekend just so I could 00:31:06.560 |
It definitely wasn't the most convenient thing in the world, but I figured the fellowship's 00:31:12.320 |
good, the preaching's great, and I was growing spiritually, so what more could I ask for? 00:31:21.120 |
And not once did I ever regret that decision. 00:31:27.280 |
Throughout my time at Berean I've seen a lot of change take place. 00:31:32.440 |
I remember us moving from Tustin to Lakeside Middle School and Elder Phillip coming up 00:31:38.040 |
one day after the service was finished to announce that we needed to hold an emergency 00:31:46.920 |
I also remember that back in those days Pastor Peter would jet right after church because 00:31:52.120 |
he needed to drive all the way to Vegas because he had a small business there. 00:31:56.640 |
He did that because our budget at that time wasn't sufficient to pay him an adequate salary 00:32:05.800 |
He needed to work to somehow provide for his family. 00:32:11.400 |
Every single week at the end of that week he'd make that long drive back to Irvine because 00:32:19.080 |
he also needed to provide for his spiritual family as well. 00:32:26.140 |
Every Friday and every Sunday he faithfully preached God's Word to us and we were fed. 00:32:36.040 |
I remember the church eventually outgrowing Lakeside and us moving to Harvard and then 00:32:40.680 |
outgrowing Harvard and moving to Turtle Rock and outgrowing Turtle Rock and moving to Northwood 00:32:44.440 |
and then outgrowing Northwood and us ending up at Utt Middle School. 00:32:50.920 |
I remember walking into Utt on that very first Sunday we were there thinking to myself, "This 00:33:01.480 |
At the very same time I remember feeling this sense of relief because being at Utt meant 00:33:06.800 |
that our church would never ever, ever have to move again. 00:33:14.880 |
Of course little did I know that only a few years later we'd end up outgrowing that space 00:33:19.440 |
Thankfully by then as Pastor Peter described earlier, God's grace had enabled our church 00:33:26.280 |
to grow to a point where we could purchase and move into a building of our very own. 00:33:39.680 |
I know for a lot of you guys you walk into this building and it's still kind of crazy 00:33:46.360 |
but as nice and big and impressive as this place might be you have to understand that 00:33:52.680 |
Bereans back in the day we were used to being a bunch of nomads. 00:33:56.640 |
Switching locations every few years, going wherever the Lord saw fit to lead us. 00:34:03.560 |
And so the mere thought of settling down and anchoring ourselves for a long period of time 00:34:10.280 |
in just one place, I mean that was a paradigm shift for those of us who had been with this 00:34:16.120 |
church from the time that it was first planted. 00:34:19.620 |
So then you can see why moving into our own building four years ago or six years ago rather 00:34:24.720 |
was such a watershed moment in Bereans history. 00:34:30.200 |
But not only did we move into that building but here we are today six years later in yet 00:34:39.440 |
A building that I hope and pray that the Lord will continue to use as he works to advance 00:34:51.720 |
Speaking personally for a moment I remember the exact moment when it dawned on me just 00:34:59.680 |
My family decided to come down on one random weekend and we were coming here to church. 00:35:07.400 |
I distinctly remember looking outside and noticing that I wasn't really recognizing 00:35:13.260 |
a lot of the faces that were outside of the building. 00:35:17.280 |
And it was as we were walking in that morning that one of the college students who was serving 00:35:22.400 |
on welcome team handed me a program and asked me if I was new. 00:35:28.960 |
And I remember thinking to myself as I looked at him, what did you just say? 00:35:36.520 |
I'll be honest with you I was super offended. 00:35:40.760 |
But at the very same time I was super grateful. 00:35:44.740 |
And I was grateful because I understood that all these new people who did not know me and 00:35:51.020 |
whom I did not know were tangible sign and reminder of God's faithfulness to this church. 00:35:59.580 |
All that to say whether you've been at Berean for a short time or a long time it's probably 00:36:04.000 |
somewhat difficult really for any of us to fully appreciate all the changes that have 00:36:12.900 |
But I also think that's the main reason why God has given us tonight, he's given us this 00:36:17.540 |
evening a service celebrating 20 years of ministry to be an opportunity for us as a 00:36:24.340 |
church to take a collective step back and to consider all that he has done and continues 00:36:34.700 |
So to that end let's briefly turn our attention to God's word. 00:36:38.280 |
In addition to being an affirmation I'm also hoping that tonight's message would serve 00:36:42.520 |
as an exhortation as we look to Berean's future together. 00:37:08.580 |
Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. 00:37:13.580 |
Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. 00:37:19.540 |
It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious 00:37:30.900 |
Psalm 127 belongs to a special group of Psalms that's generally referred to by commentators 00:37:41.780 |
Each and every year all God-fearing Jews in Israel, they would make this pilgrimage to 00:37:47.100 |
the city of Jerusalem so they could participate in one of three religious festivals that were 00:37:56.940 |
Since Jerusalem was situated on top of a hill, these worshippers would quite literally have 00:38:02.660 |
to ascend as they drew closer and closer to the holy city. 00:38:09.300 |
And over the course of time it became something of a tradition among these Jews to sing these 00:38:14.480 |
Psalms on their way up to Jerusalem, which is why they've come to be known today as the 00:38:25.300 |
Now in addition to being described as a song of ascent, the inscription that precedes this 00:38:30.540 |
Psalm also identifies King Solomon as its author. 00:38:36.660 |
As you guys probably know, most of the Psalms that we have in our Bibles today were written 00:38:40.900 |
by King David, but at least a couple of them were also written by King Solomon. 00:38:46.900 |
As a matter of fact, 1 Kings chapter 4 tells us that Solomon authored over 3,000 Proverbs 00:38:54.420 |
and 1,000 songs throughout the course of his lifetime, but only two of them have been preserved 00:39:00.940 |
for us on the pages of Scripture, the Psalm that we're looking at this evening, Psalm 00:39:09.660 |
Now I'm calling attention to the fact that Solomon is a writer of this Psalm because 00:39:13.980 |
it helps us to better understand the historical context, the background for what we're reading. 00:39:21.020 |
See Solomon, he was famous for a number of different reasons. 00:39:25.540 |
For one thing, he was famous for being David's son. 00:39:30.100 |
King David was the greatest king that Israel had ever known, and so his posterity was a 00:39:36.940 |
subject of great interest among the nation's citizens. 00:39:42.100 |
Moreover, Solomon was quite famous for being a man who was very wise. 00:39:46.260 |
I think most of us are probably familiar with all the stories in the Bible that describe 00:39:50.500 |
Solomon and his wisdom, his interactions with the Queen of Sheba, his settlement of a dispute 00:39:57.460 |
between two warring women by suggesting that they divide a baby in half. 00:40:04.780 |
But perhaps the defining aspect of Solomon's reign as king was a simple fact that he was 00:40:11.460 |
the one specifically chosen by God to build the temple in Jerusalem. 00:40:20.020 |
Remember, before the temple was first constructed, God had made his dwelling among the people 00:40:26.740 |
of Israel inside of a tent known as a tabernacle. 00:40:35.940 |
As I mentioned before, you know, Berean moved quite a bit throughout its first 20 years. 00:40:41.620 |
Well, in the same way the Israelites of the Old Testament, they were constantly on the 00:40:47.500 |
move in the wilderness before they entered into the Promised Land. 00:40:51.140 |
For 40 years, any time God wanted them to start walking, the pillar of cloud and fire 00:40:59.800 |
Any time God wanted them to stop walking, the pillar of cloud and fire would descend. 00:41:05.500 |
And so the Israelites, the nation of Israel, the people of Israel, they were used to moving. 00:41:11.340 |
Therefore, any house of worship that Israel used during those wilderness years needed 00:41:18.620 |
to be as mobile as the people were expected to be, which is exactly why this tabernacle 00:41:27.140 |
See, not only could it be set up and broken down relatively quickly, but it was also highly 00:41:39.660 |
After Israel had conquered and settled into the Promised Land, the tabernacle had finished 00:41:49.460 |
Now that the nation of Israel had taken up residence in the land of Canaan, no longer 00:41:53.620 |
would the people need a portable tent to worship God. 00:41:56.860 |
Instead, a more permanent solution was required, namely a temple. 00:42:03.340 |
And it was Solomon, the author of this psalm, who was handpicked and chosen by the Lord 00:42:18.460 |
Many years prior, it was David, Solomon's father, who initially proposed the idea of 00:42:27.620 |
In other words, the temple was originally his suggestion. 00:42:33.620 |
Unfortunately for David, God forbade him from building the temple because David was a man 00:42:40.660 |
That is, too much blood had been spilt on David's account in battle. 00:42:45.240 |
And therefore, Solomon, David's son, he was the one who received the honor and the privilege 00:42:55.660 |
Now to his credit, rather than sulking about the fact that he was not allowed to build 00:43:01.500 |
the temple, David took it upon himself to gather all the different materials that his 00:43:07.420 |
son Solomon would later need for the temple's construction. 00:43:11.740 |
Gold, silver, bronze, iron, cedarwood, onyx, marble, and all manner of precious stones. 00:43:21.440 |
And after Solomon assumed the throne, he took all of these different things that his father, 00:43:26.580 |
David, had accumulated and prepared for him over the years, and he wasted no time getting 00:43:45.700 |
And together, all these people, they constructed a temple. 00:43:51.080 |
A temple according to the specifications and design that David, his father, had received 00:43:59.720 |
It was the crowning achievement of Solomon's life, or at least it should have been. 00:44:12.080 |
I believe the AV team will put it up on the slide for you. 00:44:16.440 |
It says there, "In the eleventh year, in the month of Bul, which is the eighth month, 00:44:21.880 |
the house, that is the temple, was finished in all its parts and according to all its 00:44:28.320 |
He, that is Solomon, was seven years in building it." 00:44:36.040 |
And so it took Solomon a total of seven years to finish building a house for God. 00:44:42.040 |
But I want you to notice what it says in the very next verse, in chapter 7, verse 1. 00:44:49.000 |
Solomon was building his own house thirteen years. 00:44:55.760 |
And so it took seven years for Solomon to finish building the temple, but it took nearly 00:45:02.220 |
double that time for him to finish building a house for himself. 00:45:08.400 |
A royal palace befitting the wisest king that the world had ever known. 00:45:16.360 |
I want us to navigate through the remainder of our time together by addressing three specific 00:45:22.400 |
And the first is this, Berean, what are you building? 00:45:32.080 |
You know, if there's anything that we can learn from Solomon's life, it's this. 00:45:36.680 |
Even as we are busy building something for God, we can be just as tempted to build something 00:45:49.720 |
Even as we're busy doing the work of ministry, doing something for the Lord, we can just 00:45:56.280 |
as easily, if we're not careful, end up doing something really for ourselves. 00:46:02.880 |
And if we're not watchful and vigilant, the line between those two things can become 00:46:09.140 |
As much as I hate to admit it, I think church leaders are especially vulnerable to this. 00:46:13.320 |
You know, when we first planted BMC, and I saw the church beginning to grow, I will admit 00:46:21.520 |
And the reason why I got excited was because I knew that there were a ton of church plants 00:46:25.720 |
throughout the Bay Area that were struggling to get off the ground, but for whatever reason, 00:46:32.000 |
People were coming, and the church was getting bigger, and by all accounts, our ministry 00:46:39.360 |
But after a while, in the height of my excitement, I had to do a gut check, and I had to ask 00:46:45.720 |
The question was this, what am I excited about? 00:46:54.920 |
Am I excited because our numbers are increasing, or because God's kingdom is expanding? 00:47:02.840 |
Am I excited because BMC is growing, or because people's faith is deepening? 00:47:09.120 |
I mean, consider all the metrics that we so oftentimes use to gauge ministry success in 00:47:17.360 |
Attendance, the size of the budget, the fruitfulness of our programs, the production value of our 00:47:27.320 |
We should strive for success in all things related to ministry. 00:47:31.080 |
However, if we are not vigilant, we can easily fall prey to the inherent desire that all 00:47:37.960 |
of us struggle with, which is to make much of ourselves, to make much of who we are. 00:47:50.100 |
We need to be careful because we live in a culture of self-promotion, where we measure 00:47:55.840 |
our value and worth based on how many likes we have, how many followers we've gained, 00:48:01.560 |
how much influence we wield, how many people we know, how much recognition we've received. 00:48:08.040 |
I'm not above that, even as a pastor, and neither are you. 00:48:13.320 |
But beloved, this church, Berean Community Church, has never been about any of those 00:48:21.200 |
One of the most important questions that you and this church can ask yourselves is, "What 00:48:38.380 |
We need to ask these types of questions because, frankly speaking, nothing else matters in 00:48:48.400 |
People can come and be excited to be a part of Berean, but at the end of the day, it does 00:48:54.960 |
not mean a thing if all we're doing is building our own little kingdom here on earth. 00:49:00.840 |
Believe it or not, no one knew this better than King Solomon. 00:49:05.480 |
You see, years after he had finished building the temple, years after he had finished building 00:49:11.160 |
a palace complex for himself, he said this in Ecclesiastes chapter 2. 00:49:16.800 |
Go ahead and keep your fingers in Psalm 127, but flip over with me to Ecclesiastes chapter 00:49:27.960 |
This is what Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes chapter 2, beginning from verse 4. 00:49:39.200 |
I built houses and planted vineyards for myself. 00:49:43.080 |
I made myself gardens and parks and planted in them all kinds of fruit trees. 00:49:48.500 |
I made myself pools from which to water the forest of growing trees. 00:49:53.240 |
I bought male and female slaves and had slaves who were born in my house. 00:49:57.320 |
I had also great possessions of herds and flocks more than any who had been before me 00:50:04.560 |
I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and provinces. 00:50:09.920 |
I got singers, both men and women, and many concubines, the delight of the sons of man. 00:50:16.880 |
Verse 9, so I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem. 00:50:23.880 |
Also my wisdom remained with me and whatever my eyes desired, I did not keep from them. 00:50:29.240 |
I kept my heart from no pleasure for my heart found pleasure in all my toil and this was 00:50:38.040 |
Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I expended in doing it and behold, 00:50:56.000 |
All was vanity in a striving after wind and there was nothing to be gained under the sun. 00:51:13.040 |
You guys have great pastors and solid leaders. 00:51:16.560 |
You have an arsenal of volunteers and servants at your disposal. 00:51:21.100 |
You have money and you have manpower and you have resources that virtually every other 00:51:30.440 |
Be encouraged by how much the Lord has blessed you. 00:51:36.040 |
But having said that, know this, it's all vanity if it's not for Christ. 00:51:48.320 |
Again, ask yourselves, what are we building here? 00:52:04.900 |
Is it to build the kingdom of Berean or are we seeking to build the kingdom of God? 00:52:13.040 |
Are we trying to promote ourselves or are we seeking to proclaim Christ? 00:52:21.620 |
If you have reason to celebrate anything tonight, and I believe you most certainly do, it's 00:52:28.200 |
not because this church is big and it's not because this building is nice and it's not 00:52:36.520 |
Instead, the real reason for us to celebrate this evening is because for the last 20 years, 00:52:43.640 |
God by his grace has used Berean Community Church to convert sinners, to make disciples, 00:52:52.080 |
to teach his word and to preach the gospel and lives have been changed as a result. 00:53:08.560 |
We've considered the question, what are we building? 00:53:10.860 |
But I'd like to follow that up with a second question. 00:53:12.680 |
The question is this, how are we building it? 00:53:18.880 |
Turning our attentions back to Psalm 127, let me read it again, it's short. 00:53:24.120 |
Psalm 127 verses 1 and 2, "Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor 00:53:28.280 |
Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. 00:53:32.240 |
It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious 00:53:41.800 |
Here in verse 1, Solomon uses a rhetorical device that's known as Hebrew parallelism. 00:53:48.160 |
It's very common in Old Testament wisdom and poetry literature. 00:53:52.440 |
Hebrew parallelism occurs whenever a single idea is being expressed in multiple ways. 00:53:57.840 |
So again, if you look at verse 1, it says, "Unless the Lord builds the house, those 00:54:03.360 |
It's followed by another statement, "Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman 00:54:08.600 |
So you got two statements that essentially say the same thing. 00:54:13.840 |
Also notice that Solomon, he seeks to further his argument by means of repetition. 00:54:20.080 |
Observe how the phrase "in vain" is repeated three times throughout the course of these 00:54:26.520 |
"Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. 00:54:31.120 |
Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. 00:54:35.480 |
It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest." 00:54:41.400 |
And so the primary idea that Solomon is driving home here is the utter vanity of trying to 00:54:48.360 |
do anything by our own strength and effort alone. 00:54:54.040 |
In other words, the folly of human arrogance and pride is buying into the illusion that 00:55:04.680 |
Pursuing the things that this church has been pursuing for the last 20 years. 00:55:08.360 |
Ministry success, ministry fruitfulness, but doing so without divine enablement. 00:55:20.440 |
Sure, we may achieve some favorable outcomes. 00:55:24.600 |
Sure, we may even see some positive results with little to no dependence upon the Spirit 00:55:31.440 |
of God, but none of it will mean a thing if God is not blessing us. 00:55:38.520 |
Whether we know it or not, you and I and this church is absolutely and totally dependent 00:55:45.360 |
and reliant upon God for everything, for everything that we do. 00:55:53.840 |
No amount of worldly success can deny that truth. 00:55:59.680 |
If we hope for Berean Community Church to continue having an enduring impact, a lasting 00:56:06.720 |
legacy here on earth, it has to come about by a wholehearted commitment, a wholehearted 00:56:18.760 |
Earlier this week, I was having dinner with some people here, and I don't know how many 00:56:24.040 |
times I said something along the lines of, "I wish at BMC we had a Sarah Kim. 00:56:37.240 |
I wish we had a ..." I mentioned all you guys by name, I promise. 00:56:48.160 |
You have an amazing pool of talent and gifts here at this church. 00:56:56.840 |
Talented people and gifted churches are more susceptible to depending upon themselves rather 00:57:09.240 |
As I reflect on the history of this church, the thing that I most appreciate is the fact 00:57:13.400 |
that even though for the most of our 20 years as a church, we weren't the most polished, 00:57:19.920 |
we weren't the most efficient, we weren't the most organized, we weren't the most impressive, 00:57:26.680 |
the one thing that we could always bank on was that this church was a church that prayed. 00:57:36.720 |
That's a legacy that Pastor Peter and the leaders here have established many, many years 00:57:49.040 |
So then as Berean looks to its future, I want to ask the question once again, how will Berean 00:58:02.720 |
Will it be solely based on the talents and skills of the people here? 00:58:06.680 |
Will it be entirely dependent upon the knowledge and the resources that you have been able 00:58:12.760 |
Or will it be because God himself is supplying you with the strength and the energy that 00:58:21.640 |
You are trying to accomplish things that no amount of human ingenuity can possibly engineer 00:58:28.520 |
The conversion of sinners, the making of disciples, you can't do that with clever planning and 00:58:42.120 |
God said so himself, Zechariah 4, 6, "Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, says 00:58:54.000 |
Remind yourself of that again and again and again. 00:58:56.720 |
Not by might, not by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord. 00:59:13.800 |
So let's not only make sure that what we are building is approved by God, but let's also 00:59:17.640 |
be sure that how we are building it reflects our absolute dependence upon him. 00:59:25.240 |
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. 00:59:30.200 |
In all your ways, acknowledge him and he will make straight your paths. 00:59:36.640 |
Before we wrap up, let me go and raise a third and a final question about the church. 00:59:48.560 |
You know, the first ever occurrence of the word church in our Bibles doesn't come from 00:59:56.760 |
Back in the Old Testament, God worked through a geopolitical nation known as the nation 01:00:02.840 |
In the New Testament, God starts operating through a multinational, multicultural group 01:00:12.720 |
And the first time that the word church is mentioned is found in Matthew chapter 16. 01:00:18.880 |
There Peter, upon being asked by Jesus, "Who do people say that I am?" makes this famous 01:00:24.680 |
confession, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." 01:00:30.360 |
And this is how our Lord responds in Matthew 16, 17, and 18, "Blessed are you, Simon bar 01:00:36.200 |
Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. 01:00:41.480 |
And I tell you, you are Peter and on this rock I will build my church and the gates 01:00:53.280 |
Friends, Jesus has pledged to build his church and he vows that the gates of hell shall not 01:01:04.440 |
You know, I think some of you guys may be aware, many of you guys probably are aware 01:01:09.400 |
of the fact that on this Palm Sunday, earlier this morning, halfway across the world, two 01:01:15.640 |
Christian churches in Egypt were bombed by suicide bombers. 01:01:21.440 |
There were 30 people, 30 of our own brothers and sisters were killed. 01:01:28.080 |
And that is just a small reflection of what's taking place all around the world. 01:01:32.160 |
Hostility, opposition, antagonism, persecution are being waged against the church and yet 01:01:37.960 |
still Jesus says, "The gates of hell shall not prevail against it." 01:01:45.220 |
We know, we know this is a sure and certain promise that Jesus makes because Jesus loves 01:01:58.540 |
In the gospel, in the good news of Jesus Christ, we are reminded that for the church, Christ 01:02:06.940 |
For the church, Christ lived a righteous life fulfilling the law. 01:02:11.400 |
For the church, Christ died a horrible death being crucified on a Roman cross. 01:02:17.780 |
For the church, Christ received upon himself the full wrath of God against our sins as 01:02:26.060 |
For the church, Christ rose from the dead three days after being crucified. 01:02:30.860 |
For the church, Christ ascended into heaven where today he sits at the right hand of the 01:02:35.100 |
Father and for the church, Christ has promised to one day return so that we might be taken 01:02:46.780 |
But in the meantime, in the meanwhile, as we wait, Christ builds his church. 01:02:57.200 |
And so it's my hope and my prayer that we as Berean would be eager to join him as he 01:03:05.460 |
Friends there is nothing, nothing quite like the church of Jesus Christ. 01:03:13.300 |
No other human organization, no other earthly institution can compare to it. 01:03:24.220 |
It is blood bought, spirit led, God ordained. 01:03:30.940 |
Berean tonight's anniversary celebration is not just an opportunity for us to look 01:03:34.780 |
backwards, to think about all that God has accomplished in our midst for the last 20 01:03:42.380 |
This is an opportunity for us to look forward, to look ahead and to anticipate what the Lord 01:03:46.580 |
will be doing for the next 20 years and beyond as he continues to bear fruit through you 01:03:54.380 |
So I hope that you would take that as both an affirmation again as well as an exhortation. 01:03:59.300 |
May Jesus be honored and glorified through the body of Christ here at Berean Community 01:04:10.620 |
Our heavenly Father, we are thankful for 20 years of ministry. 01:04:18.540 |
We're thankful Lord God for all the fruit that you produced by your grace Lord God and 01:04:26.260 |
Lord, we confess before you now more than ever, we are in need. 01:04:33.340 |
We are in need Lord God because no amount of resources or manpower or finances that 01:04:38.340 |
are at our disposal is sufficient Lord God to accomplish the work at hand. 01:04:44.820 |
And so we pray Lord that you would empower us, that you would enable us Lord, that you 01:04:48.740 |
would remind us of the fact that we are needy and dependent people and that this church 01:04:56.220 |
And Father Lord as you continue to use Berean Community Church and the saints that you've 01:05:01.620 |
gathered here to accomplish your work, we pray Lord God that Christ, Christ alone be 01:05:21.220 |
Thank you Pastor Aaron for a powerful reminder for our church. 01:05:24.220 |
And again, all of those three points are things that I pray that God would convict in our 01:05:29.460 |
hearts and things that we follow and examine as we go forward. 01:05:35.220 |
Before we ask Dr. Proud to come up and he's going to wrap us up, just a few quick announcements. 01:05:42.460 |
So after this is over, I think the dinner is set up outside, right? 01:05:48.260 |
And then while you're out there getting the dinner, we're going to move the chairs and 01:05:54.780 |
And so you guys can eat in here and then even if it gets dark, we don't have to worry about 01:06:02.580 |
One warning, please do not drag the chairs, okay? 01:06:07.620 |
Because it'll scratch up the floor and we want to keep it, keep the new church smell 01:06:17.100 |
We have what are called dollies to kind of move it. 01:06:19.620 |
So if you can stack it up and then a few of the people who have the dollies will come 01:06:24.340 |
And then meanwhile, the other people will set up the chairs and the tables at the same 01:06:28.740 |
So immediately, if you guys can just move outside after we're done and then just we'll 01:06:35.780 |
And while you're getting it, we'll try to get this room set up. 01:06:40.500 |
Before we close, I want to introduce our Dr. Michael Proud. 01:06:45.380 |
He came and spoke to us several years ago and I think a lot of you guys know because 01:06:50.060 |
I've been telling you about Dr. Proud and how he's become a good friend, you know, and 01:06:56.420 |
part of the reason why we've been getting more involved with the Southern Baptist is 01:07:01.300 |
And I met him through a friend's ordination and then we made a connection and really felt 01:07:06.540 |
like this was a like-minded brother, like-hearted brother. 01:07:09.700 |
And every time I meet with him, I'm reminded that we're not running this race alone. 01:07:15.340 |
And so it's a great encouragement to know that somebody who is working for the Southern 01:07:19.620 |
Baptist in this area is a brother that we can really rely on and lean on. 01:07:23.660 |
And so I've asked him to come and bless us in prayer as we wrap up. 01:07:42.380 |
I've had over the last six years the opportunity to get to know your pastor and Mark and was 01:07:48.460 |
here when Aaron and his family left, when your mission group went to China, and now 01:07:59.420 |
You know, Southern Baptists for years and years have put on the cover of their magazines 01:08:05.640 |
and their publications, those churches that have grown exponentially to highlight the 01:08:11.900 |
things that they have done and how they've achieved success. 01:08:16.500 |
We still use a model of success by counting how many baptisms we've done, how many people 01:08:22.300 |
are in seats, and how many, how our budgets have grown. 01:08:26.980 |
But I think that 1 Corinthians chapter 3, verse 6 tells us that Paul said, "I planted 01:08:33.660 |
a Paulist water, but it was God who caused the growth." 01:08:38.940 |
I wish that Southern Baptists had had a picture of Berean Community Church when it was five 01:08:45.860 |
years old or six years old and struggling and making sacrifices because I think that's 01:09:02.140 |
And I think that as we remember what Pastor Aaron said moving forward, I was challenged. 01:09:09.060 |
As we remember that it's God who causes the growth, our business is obedience. 01:09:16.300 |
And I pray that for the next 20 years and beyond, that Berean continue to move on what 01:09:22.420 |
got you to this place is what will carry you forward. 01:09:26.540 |
I'm just going to ask if everyone, if you'll stand as we dismiss from this evening. 01:09:32.140 |
And thank you, Pastor Peter, for inviting me to partake and be a part of this. 01:09:37.660 |
Heavenly Father, we recognize that as we celebrate this day, not only 20 years of ministry, but 01:09:46.500 |
Father, also remembering the triumphal entry as you entered Lord into Jerusalem to die 01:09:53.940 |
Father, I pray that this time will be etched in our memories, all of us, that we move forward 01:10:05.140 |
We minister out of a love relationship with you and we trust you with everything that 01:10:11.620 |
Father, may we be mindful that without you, we could accomplish nothing. 01:10:21.780 |
And we we ask, Father, that you might bring someone into our path, that we might share 01:10:28.540 |
the story of how you touched our lives and gave us life.