back to indexBAM Retreat Q & A
00:00:00.000 |
One that says, "How many licks does it get, take to get to the Tootsie Roll Center of 00:00:16.060 |
But we are going to do a Q&A time, and we are going to talk briefly about like some 00:00:21.280 |
of the questions that I did receive, even about today and yesterday's sermon, even in 00:00:26.840 |
terms of things like personal stuff, like how did you meet your wife, that kind of stuff. 00:00:34.940 |
You can ask, and I do have about nine questions here, including like spiritual warfare, demons, 00:00:43.440 |
And so I'm sure it'll be of interest, but I just want to start with a word of prayer, 00:00:47.860 |
and then there are two questions that I was already asked quite a bit today. 00:00:51.680 |
And so let's pray, and then we'll get this section of our lockdown, I mean retreat. 00:01:00.800 |
Father, thank you for just your kindness in our lives. 00:01:13.200 |
It's not always easy to understand, but we acknowledge it's a problem with our lack of 00:01:16.840 |
understanding more than it is with contradictions in your Scripture. 00:01:21.880 |
We pray for your help that we would just be engaged in how you work, and I'm sure one 00:01:28.120 |
person's question affects more than just that person. 00:01:33.000 |
And so we pray for just your guidance over this time, and we pray these things in Jesus' 00:01:39.200 |
First question I got was the parable of the soils. 00:01:49.640 |
Like if I can be a third soil, does that mean like I lose my salvation? 00:01:54.400 |
This might be a little bit challenging to understand, but parable of the soils, the 00:02:04.320 |
Parable, the soil two and three, also not Christian. 00:02:09.400 |
Okay, so that, if you guys are like, "Oh, I'm like two," or "I'm like three," that might 00:02:17.520 |
But parable of the soils, soil two and three, not Christian. 00:02:25.400 |
Apostasy is when someone who commits to membership inside the universal church but leaves it. 00:02:36.280 |
You guys ever hear of TULIP, the five points of Calvinism? 00:02:39.880 |
Total depravity, unconditional election, limited atonement? 00:02:44.600 |
Irresistible grace, perseverance of the saints. 00:02:47.600 |
True Christians will persevere to the very end, and that's a theme all throughout scripture. 00:02:52.240 |
But 1 John 2, 18, it says they went out from us, but they weren't really of us. 00:02:59.120 |
Okay, so soils two and three, for whatever the reason, they're not Christian. 00:03:04.800 |
So the mark of your Christianity 20 years from now, 30 years from now, 40 years from 00:03:20.640 |
Acts chapter 8, Simon Magi gets baptized, and he believes intellectually. 00:03:27.440 |
But a few verses down, if you actually look at Acts chapter 8, Simon Peter comes and says, 00:03:31.400 |
"I see you are full of bitterness, and you need to repent," right, because he wanted 00:03:38.260 |
So you see people getting baptized even by the apostles, by the deacons even that may, 00:03:53.660 |
Okay, but you just got to make sure that you had once been saved. 00:03:57.660 |
Okay, but we assume when you're in a church that we're operating under the assumption 00:04:06.260 |
And when church discipline happens, it's basically the church's position that this person is 00:04:12.380 |
not a believer, and you remove them from the church. 00:04:19.780 |
I don't know if you guys know what those three things are, but the first thing that the church 00:04:22.940 |
has in terms of biblical authority is to engage in spiritual warfare. 00:04:27.620 |
Okay, second thing the church was given authority was to proclaim the gospel and entrance into 00:04:36.620 |
So to excise the worthless parts or the wasteful parts in the body. 00:04:42.020 |
And so that's the authority that the church has been given. 00:04:45.660 |
It has been abused for sure throughout history, but those are the things that, I mean, those 00:04:53.500 |
are things that we do need to wrestle through. 00:04:55.580 |
So parable of the four soils, hopefully that's clear and sobering that soil one, two, and 00:05:02.300 |
Okay, second question I got was how in the world do you do Bible study like that? 00:05:11.660 |
Someone like, someone was like, "12 hours, huh?" 00:05:19.300 |
And I'm a storyteller, so I do like to embellish, but when it comes to certain numbers, I try 00:05:25.540 |
not to exaggerate because numbers you want to kind of keep accurate. 00:05:34.380 |
I get up and I start with my memory verses in my head. 00:05:40.860 |
I'm just going to talk about last week, okay? 00:05:44.180 |
Go into the shower and I'm in there like 20 minutes just going through verses. 00:05:48.220 |
First of all, like it takes me a little bit to wake up fully to go through that. 00:05:51.660 |
Get dressed, I'm still going through different verses. 00:05:54.380 |
And then by the time I get to, I get some coffee and then I'm in the car and then I'm 00:06:01.220 |
And I get to church, typically I'm here around 7, every, like Tuesday to Friday. 00:06:08.700 |
So I've already been in the Word about an hour and 45 minutes. 00:06:11.900 |
And when there's traffic, so I turn off the radio, I'm just going through it. 00:06:17.060 |
Seven o'clock to usually nine before the other pastors come in, all I'm doing is I'm spending 00:06:27.160 |
If we have a meeting, then I have to go into the meeting. 00:06:29.200 |
But from nine to until my lunch appointment usually, which is around 11, 30 to 12, I'm 00:06:39.740 |
But Bible study, sermon prep, I'm just in the Word. 00:06:43.540 |
So basically from five to noon, nonstop, the Bible has been going through in my head. 00:06:51.900 |
In my car, I listen to my own voice, "Hebrews 1, 3." 00:06:57.780 |
Every possible way I can have it running through my system, I have it. 00:07:04.140 |
I do five minutes of Bible study prep, and I do 10 memory verses. 00:07:07.980 |
Five minutes of Bible study prep, 10 memory verses. 00:07:10.500 |
It's sometimes frustrating when I have 20 things to do, and I'm like, "Ah." 00:07:16.020 |
It's like almost like spiritual ADD, but I just have to keep going back and forth. 00:07:19.520 |
But I've developed that habit so that I'm always in the Word first and foremost. 00:07:25.760 |
So my sermon prep actually doesn't take that long a time, because all the cross-references 00:07:40.360 |
But on my drive from here to DJ or Diamond Plaza or wherever I'm meeting somebody, I'm 00:07:46.800 |
going through another 15 minutes of the Word. 00:07:49.680 |
I come back to church, that drive, I'm in the Word. 00:07:52.840 |
And then from here until about four or five when I leave the church, I do the same thing. 00:08:18.800 |
And this past week, believe it or not, I worked out six out of the seven days. 00:08:26.800 |
But I lift Bible verses, and then I'm on the treadmill. 00:08:31.160 |
This week I did four days of 35 minutes and two days of 40 minutes on the treadmill. 00:08:35.360 |
Guess what I'm going through on the treadmill? 00:08:37.160 |
And then I go through it in Korean, because I want to retain my Korean. 00:08:42.200 |
But on my Bible verse cards, it's not just verses. 00:08:45.960 |
There are things like, so I actually have my own voice in my head, right? 00:08:51.160 |
929 chapters Old Testament, 260 chapters New Testament equals 1,189 chapters in the Bible 00:09:01.400 |
23,145 verses in the Old Testament, 7,957 in the New Testament, 31,102 verses in the 00:09:15.600 |
What was the major, two major divisions in the church, universal church? 00:09:22.600 |
1054, the Orthodox Church splits from the Roman Catholic Church. 00:09:27.640 |
1054, because the Pope started changing creeds on his own. 00:09:32.680 |
And then the second was the Protestant Reformation in the 1600s. 00:09:39.120 |
I'm reading through, well, when I was reading through Shepherding a Child's Heart, every 00:09:43.960 |
verse that he quotes, if I didn't know it, I would memorize it. 00:09:49.200 |
I don't like John MacArthur, because he quotes too many verses. 00:09:53.960 |
So Master's Plan for the Church, I'm still in chapter one, and I started this in April, 00:09:59.680 |
I just quit, because it's just too, he's like, I'm like, dude, you don't need 18 verses per 00:10:06.820 |
So every book I read, I pay attention, and I actually find out there's a lot of misquoted 00:10:13.720 |
Not on John MacArthur's book, okay, but in other books. 00:10:18.480 |
Because I will forget that human being's perspective, take opinion on the matter, I'll remember 00:10:29.380 |
The very first verse in Shepherding a Child's Heart is Proverbs 4:23. 00:10:34.360 |
Watch your heart with all diligence, for from its flow the springs of life. 00:10:44.860 |
So I'm running, 40 minutes, right, going through verses. 00:10:48.000 |
I get off, I'm driving, six minutes, home, verses. 00:10:52.240 |
Usually I take two showers a day, that's why I never smell bad, okay. 00:10:58.160 |
And then, oh, I'm tired, so another 10, 15 minutes. 00:11:00.880 |
And guess what I do after the kids go to sleep? 00:11:10.960 |
Some days when I'm busy, it's like five or six. 00:11:15.760 |
When I was on my 70 flights a year, obviously my time is a lot more limited. 00:11:22.760 |
Now I'm a full-time pastor, so it's easier to do, but I was a lot more limited. 00:11:28.360 |
But I still did a Bible plan in 2017, still did a Bible plan in 2018, and I don't like 00:11:32.880 |
Bible plans, so I quit that this year just to go slow now. 00:11:37.960 |
Whatever it takes, whatever season of life, and that was one of the questions, how do 00:11:45.000 |
If you're doing, have you guys ever studied for like a graduate school test? 00:11:48.240 |
Raise your hand if you studied for a test to get into grad school of some kind, med 00:11:57.280 |
And some of you, while you do that, you have to work, yes or no? 00:12:07.440 |
No matter what you're doing, you prioritize that and you make time for it because there 00:12:14.680 |
What if it's your family member's soul that you always put on the prayer request sheet? 00:12:18.480 |
I want to pray for my mom, I want to pray for my dad, I want to pray for my sibling. 00:12:22.960 |
But you got to prioritize the Word of God because that's a wasted prayer request if 00:12:27.280 |
all you're doing is just asking other people to pray for you and you're not so saturated 00:12:33.720 |
in the Word of God that when you meet with them, it's coming out. 00:12:37.980 |
So what, over the last 15, 16 years of just memorizing scripture, what has that done? 00:12:45.520 |
I find myself when I'm giving advice or when I'm counseling people through whatever it 00:12:55.200 |
I don't quote chapter and verse all the time, but it's scripture. 00:13:00.160 |
And a lot of you come into my office and talk about all kinds of dating stuff. 00:13:10.400 |
But then you have to go into what is a biblical foundation that will give me wisdom on a topic. 00:13:25.320 |
Obviously, if I was working a nine-to-five job somewhere, I could not do this. 00:13:33.080 |
But you'll be surprised at how much time you have while you drive, while you're in the 00:13:40.840 |
If you just memorize five verses of the Bible and those five verses you went to all the 00:13:44.800 |
time when you have time to kill, there were seasons while I've been back where I started 00:14:03.480 |
But every break I used to have, I would take it out. 00:14:09.560 |
Whenever you're doing something, this always happens when you have time to kill. 00:14:15.440 |
But when you stop doing that and you let the Word of God just fill that time, you genuinely 00:14:24.480 |
And it reminds me to love my wife better, to love my kids better. 00:14:28.760 |
So those are things that I would encourage you to try out. 00:14:32.200 |
And you will only do this if you're actually desperate for it. 00:14:39.640 |
But a lot of you who aren't aware that you're desperate for it, this is where you end up 00:14:58.000 |
I mean, I have to keep talking to fill the hour. 00:15:09.520 |
So, I met my wife in college when I was a senior and she was a freshman, 1999. 00:15:24.440 |
I was the college group president of Berkeley and Stanford Ministries at our church. 00:15:31.080 |
And so her and her friends would come to our apartment all the time because our door was 00:15:38.680 |
After she graduated from college, she came... 00:15:42.560 |
I got her a job at the SAT center I was teaching at. 00:15:45.680 |
And then she also decided to come to my church. 00:15:50.440 |
And we just started seeing each other every day. 00:15:55.560 |
You see each other every day, you start thinking you like each other. 00:15:57.880 |
And then you end up liking each other and then you get married and you have twins. 00:16:04.720 |
But the way I came to Berean was there was a sister I was dating back in 2002 and 2003 00:16:13.560 |
who was at Berean when the church was 30 people. 00:16:15.800 |
And I was about to leave ministry because I'm like, "I have too many issues. 00:16:19.760 |
So I was actually gonna take the LSATs and try to get into law school. 00:16:24.240 |
And then because the church was 30 people and then the sister I was dating was one of 00:16:28.120 |
the members, Pastor Peter's like, "You're dating a youth pastor?" 00:16:32.320 |
I don't know if you know this, but Pastor Peter used to have a business in Las Vegas. 00:16:37.120 |
He may have mentioned it in a sermon, like sculpting. 00:16:41.800 |
And so he quit that completely, folded it, and he was full-time. 00:16:49.240 |
He was praying, "God, what do I do with this time now that I have?" 00:16:52.800 |
So it's like a divine appointment in that regard. 00:16:56.000 |
Came here, that relationship ended very amicably because we didn't cross any lines. 00:17:01.920 |
And it's easier to break up with someone when from the very get-go you're treating them 00:17:05.600 |
like that person might be someone else's wife, right? 00:17:11.480 |
She even asked my wife to help at her wedding reception. 00:17:19.360 |
So we ended up coming here a couple years later. 00:17:21.880 |
I was a youth pastor at a different church, many of whom are now here at this church. 00:17:27.840 |
I mean, now they're grown with kids, most of them. 00:17:42.560 |
Why you guys have been married 12 years and you only have four-year-old kids? 00:17:47.320 |
Even things like that, nothing's off the table. 00:18:16.240 |
So it seems like in Matthew chapter 12, Jesus is saying, "Satan cannot cast out Satan." 00:18:29.000 |
In Matthew 7, it seems like it's the other way around. 00:18:32.480 |
I would say in that regard, Judas at that time was not an apostate. 00:18:41.600 |
He was fully empowered with the Spirit of God to perform miracles and cast out demons. 00:18:51.120 |
And at that point in time, he had authority, right? 00:18:56.720 |
But in the context of Jesus saying that to the Pharisees, he's basically saying, "My 00:19:07.120 |
Satan's interest is preserving the kingdom of hell. 00:19:10.200 |
He's not going to cast out his own demon for that purpose." 00:19:15.180 |
But for Judas during that time, as he had authority over spiritual things at that time, 00:19:26.960 |
So in the context of like spiritual powers, the apostles, if you look at 1 Corinthians 00:19:37.960 |
The signs that mark an apostle, miracle signs and wonders were done among you with great 00:19:43.320 |
And so it could be perhaps at that time he's speaking of in the context of apostles who 00:19:50.620 |
But there aren't too many references, so it's not a contradictory thing, and I think it's 00:19:57.780 |
But I will look into that, and then I'll get back to you, I guess, since we're meeting 00:20:04.340 |
But Judas is a unique case, and that's why I brought him up yesterday. 00:20:09.700 |
Judas had all this authority and then went apostate. 00:20:18.460 |
Can someone have the Spirit of God and lose the Spirit of God? 00:20:28.540 |
Well, if you actually ever read or sing Psalm 51, "Take not your Holy Spirit from me," will 00:20:33.540 |
God ever take away His Holy Spirit from a believer? 00:20:38.300 |
And I'm not saying that's the case, but David saw that happen in King Saul. 00:20:41.620 |
So in the context of Judas, because the Holy Spirit hadn't come yet, my assumption is that 00:20:49.340 |
the Spirit comes and goes in that time, but not today. 00:21:23.700 |
At that time, that was possible because it was before God would indwell or tabernacle 00:21:34.780 |
If you look at the Old Testament, the Spirit of God would come and go, basically take over 00:21:40.860 |
a person, give him strength to do crazy things, and depart if he was not pleased. 00:21:49.200 |
That happens a lot of times in the judges where the Spirit of God stirs up this person. 00:21:54.620 |
But for David, when he's observing the first king of Israel, whom God had appointed because 00:22:00.820 |
of the people's demands, the Spirit of God came on Saul and he did great things. 00:22:06.100 |
And in the power of the Spirit, Saul was victorious in a lot of ways. 00:22:11.900 |
But because of his arrogance and his disobedience, the Spirit of God departed from Saul. 00:22:17.240 |
So David, having observed that, understood what it would be like for the Spirit of God, 00:22:22.980 |
because of his disobedience, could depart and move on. 00:22:29.460 |
So he's like, "I only against you have I sinned." 00:22:33.760 |
He could rape and do whatever he wanted like all the other kings, right? 00:22:37.160 |
But he understood this violated God's command. 00:22:40.340 |
So he was scared that the Holy Spirit will be taken away from him. 00:22:47.880 |
But if you look at John the Baptist, Matthew 11, 11, it says, "There is no one greater 00:22:54.420 |
There was no one who was born of a woman that has arisen that is greater than John the Baptist. 00:22:59.420 |
But he who is leased in the kingdom of heaven has a higher rank than he. 00:23:05.020 |
So what's interesting is the thief on the cross, actually not the thief on the cross 00:23:11.220 |
because the Holy Spirit has not come yet, but for you and me, we may have a higher rank 00:23:17.400 |
than John the Baptist in the kingdom of God because John the Baptist was old covenant. 00:23:22.880 |
Whereas for us, with the indwelling Holy Spirit, that's a privilege that the saints of old 00:23:37.340 |
You're going to just start asking all these hard questions, everybody. 00:23:57.060 |
Third World Country, prosperity gospel and cults are in there now. 00:24:01.980 |
A lot of the prosperity gospel issues and cults are making their way. 00:24:08.300 |
So in Third World Countries, they're being lured perhaps by the promise of wealth. 00:24:17.860 |
Bad theology, bad teaching has caused them to hope and trust and believe in things that 00:24:27.940 |
I mean, if you look at like Hosea 6.6, like my people perish because of lack of knowledge 00:24:33.140 |
or Hosea 4.6, my people are perishing from a lack of knowledge and that's what's happening 00:24:38.380 |
So in a lot of countries in the rest of the world where the church is not as strong, you 00:24:43.380 |
have a lot of false doctrine that's carrying away people, like outright, like false doctrine. 00:24:49.860 |
In a country like Uganda or Eastern Africa, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, in that 00:24:57.580 |
part of the area, they had a lot of witch doctors and it was a very voodoo-ridden culture. 00:25:04.720 |
And so basically, the witch doctor was king in every tribe, in every village. 00:25:11.660 |
But when the gospel went into those countries, a lot of that belief in the witch doctor's 00:25:18.660 |
power actually got transferred over to the pastor. 00:25:21.260 |
So there is now a lot of abuse in our African countries where the pastor actually is just 00:25:30.980 |
And so you have a lot of pastors in a lot of these underdeveloped countries who were 00:25:39.420 |
They don't have beyond maybe even a junior high education. 00:25:42.340 |
So there is a great need for people like you and myself to go to the field to educate the 00:25:50.180 |
locals, not to go and make converts, but to go and train up the pastors in order so that 00:25:59.020 |
So there's a lot of drifting because of a lack of knowledge. 00:26:02.020 |
Us, it's not so much a lack of knowledge, it's deliberate ignorance that causes our 00:26:08.860 |
I don't know if that's adequately answering your question, but that's what I've seen. 00:26:18.260 |
But for us, I feel like here in a first world country, the battle is... 00:26:23.880 |
Like Satan, one of his ploys is to make it seem like there is no battle. 00:26:30.640 |
You know that we have a seminar coming up called Lard Mines, right? 00:26:35.300 |
So some things it's published or it's put up as landmines, some things are lard mines, 00:26:46.140 |
But in other countries, a lot of it is just lack of teaching where there's no persecution. 00:26:55.740 |
Persecution, a lot of times the churches thrive because their loyalty to Christ is tested 00:27:04.740 |
But in terms of drifting, that's kind of the cause, just ignorance. 00:27:26.400 |
My time in China, why I decided to go, and my role currently. 00:27:32.740 |
I mean, this is good for us because, you know, I'm the shepherd over the bam, so for you 00:27:41.620 |
I had no intention of doing anything missional. 00:27:47.600 |
I had told my wife in 2003 when we just were about to start dating, "Hey, if God calls 00:27:59.400 |
So she's like, "Yeah, it'll never happen, but we could work out maybe." 00:28:05.900 |
2008, we both, or 2007, right after we got married, we had a summer send-off team. 00:28:12.640 |
And then we were at Turtle Rock Community Park, and we both sat there listening to just 00:28:17.700 |
the testimonies that were shared and then praying over our summer team. 00:28:23.740 |
And then while we were driving home, we both said that at the same time. 00:28:28.980 |
And as we were walking from, there's a mall, and we're walking to our hotel, which is this 00:28:34.020 |
ghetto motel, but we were walking there, and Becky says, "Huh, if God were to call us here, 00:28:41.220 |
She doesn't remember this, but I was like, "That's a sign." 00:28:44.400 |
So then I came back and I told Pastor Peter, "Oh, Becky said this." 00:28:47.140 |
He's like, "Would you guys consider going for a year next year?" 00:28:50.180 |
Because we had been baton passing one-year projects from our members for about three, 00:28:57.700 |
I think Kevin was on that, he was that first baton. 00:29:00.860 |
But the church was like, "We actually need more spiritual leadership there, one. 00:29:05.580 |
Two, we need an English business there, okay, so that we can get visas." 00:29:10.900 |
So I went out with Becky, and then we had a couple more people join our team. 00:29:16.700 |
Jane Tang actually was on that team back in 2009. 00:29:19.460 |
It was supposed to be for one year with the sole purpose of getting visas ready, getting 00:29:24.460 |
our English camps running, and then providing stability. 00:29:29.220 |
Well, we, as soon as we got there, I was like, "You know how hard it is to get a visa, like 00:29:40.660 |
You know, when you think a one-year abroad, you think it's a long time. 00:29:42.860 |
No, no, when you're thinking to bear fruit, I was like, "One year is way too short." 00:29:46.260 |
So six months in, Pastor Peter came for the winner, and I said, "You know, I think one 00:29:52.580 |
But if we do extend it two more years, let me get into the underground church so I could 00:29:55.460 |
teach Old Testament survey, I could teach New Testament survey, I could teach Greek. 00:30:00.260 |
He's like, "Okay, that's great for you, but what's the rest of our church gonna do? 00:30:05.620 |
So after two years extended, by the end of our third year, I was like, "You know, if 00:30:10.460 |
we keep making plans to leave, we're not gonna bear any fruit." 00:30:16.380 |
I should really be wrestling with the call to stay. 00:30:19.040 |
So we said, "Rest of our lives, we're here until God tells us otherwise. 00:30:23.020 |
I'm good with languages, and I'm already there, might as well." 00:30:29.500 |
And then I was miserable because we decided to stay there long-term. 00:30:31.980 |
I was like, "God, I committed to stay there long-term. 00:30:34.860 |
It was my, you know, my choice, but I'm so scared. 00:30:39.820 |
I'm so like unhappy because I don't know what I'm supposed to do here. 00:30:44.620 |
I work hard, but I feel like I'm just running on a, like a hamster wheel. 00:30:52.080 |
And then he put on my heart a call to children. 00:30:56.080 |
And that was, that may be the only time ever that I've heard God's audible voice. 00:31:01.720 |
"You need to champion the cause of children." 00:31:08.560 |
We had a disabled, and some of you guys have been there, like special needs orphanage, 00:31:13.640 |
because there's one child policy, a lot of children get thrown away. 00:31:18.280 |
I was trying to think of how to, you know, minister to migrant workers' children. 00:31:22.840 |
But I've been a Compassion International sponsor since 1997. 00:31:26.360 |
And at that time, we were celebrating our five-year anniversary, and I went on a trip 00:31:36.060 |
But it happened just at that same moment that Compassion blew up in Korea, because one 00:31:41.080 |
of our famous celebrities came and just shared about Compassion. 00:31:45.200 |
And the inventory, we ran out of children, 25,000 children, boom, gone. 00:31:51.900 |
But it happened that the CEO was on that flight. 00:31:55.560 |
So, well, and the CEO is my cousin, but he never travels with these teams, but he just 00:32:01.360 |
happened to be on that flight going somewhere else. 00:32:05.120 |
And then we met up, and I was sharing with him, "How do I do all of this Compassion 00:32:11.080 |
He said, "You can't, because the church doesn't have the freedom to move in China. 00:32:17.120 |
And I was like, "I just literally three weeks ago told our church, 'Get behind us. 00:32:27.880 |
He actually said, "It's a better fit for you to go to Korea." 00:32:32.260 |
So then we immigrated again, long-term, to Korea. 00:32:36.800 |
And for the last six years, for you guys who don't know what I did, my job was to basically 00:32:41.240 |
vision cast, raise money, and then just take a bunch of people one week at a time or two 00:32:47.880 |
weeks to different countries to show them Compassion's ministry, to show them the role 00:33:06.160 |
It's to preach the gospel, to teach the word. 00:33:11.400 |
I still consider myself a missionary, though I'm not in a different context. 00:33:16.320 |
But more than helping the poor, I think people have... 00:33:18.560 |
A lot of people ask me, "What is your take on the social justice stuff?" 00:33:22.000 |
You know, like that happened a few months ago. 00:33:23.860 |
So a couple people asked me like, "Hey, are you for like all of the social justice that's 00:33:29.800 |
The church's main objective is to preach the gospel against sin and to accurately handle 00:33:35.640 |
But if God's word is accurately handled, social justice is the natural byproduct, but you 00:33:39.480 |
cannot make social justice the chief objective of the church. 00:33:43.320 |
The chief objective of the church is worship and accurately representing God through His 00:33:48.160 |
And so I feel like I'm doing that, not perfectly. 00:33:52.600 |
But my job right now is just to basically bear fruit wherever I'm planted. 00:33:57.600 |
Be here five years from now, 10 years from now, 20 years from now, nor is there for you. 00:34:00.800 |
Every time I've made a plan, God's changed it, so I've stopped. 00:34:08.200 |
But then it timed it where right when I went to China, North Korea opened up our compassion 00:34:14.020 |
And we spent $200,000 investing into 41 orphanages to send blankets into all of them. 00:34:19.480 |
And you know who the only person was that could read Chinese and was a US citizen that 00:34:25.800 |
So at the time, God just kind of moved me there. 00:34:29.980 |
In North Korea, I happened to just meet this lady and I bring up this topic of I met twin 00:34:37.700 |
And these twin brothers actually happened to be her nephews and she let me take pictures 00:34:41.020 |
and videos of everything and let me walk out of there with eight gigs. 00:34:44.100 |
And she actually hugged me at Pyongyang Airport and said, "Go now." 00:34:49.020 |
And I didn't think anything of it until afterward. 00:34:51.900 |
And then afterward, I was like, "I could have been on the news. 00:34:55.820 |
I would be dead walking out with eight gigs of sensitive material." 00:35:06.340 |
Wherever I'm at, that's where God desires for me to be. 00:35:09.180 |
And it's just to preach His Word, all of it, not just one aspect of it. 00:35:13.740 |
And poverty alleviation is one aspect of it, although it's a big one. 00:35:18.220 |
So my role in the Great Commission is basically to equip the saints to carry on the Great 00:35:25.580 |
Go into all the nations and baptize them in the name of the Father and the Son and the 00:35:29.740 |
Holy Spirit, teaching them to do everything I command you and I'm with you to the end 00:35:34.460 |
But the only verb in that whole command is make disciples. 00:35:44.020 |
So my job is to just baptize and teach wherever I'm at. 00:35:51.020 |
And some of you guys are falling asleep, so I'll take it easy on you guys. 00:36:06.300 |
Does believing the existence of hell affect your salvation was a question. 00:36:11.660 |
Does believing the existence of hell affect your salvation? 00:36:16.980 |
I don't necessarily see hell as a place as much as I see it as a full, unbridled pouring 00:36:34.820 |
He's in heaven and he is perhaps in hell in the form of his wrath, in the form of his 00:36:45.920 |
People sometimes say, "Well, isn't hell where God is like separation from God?" 00:36:50.060 |
You're separating yourself from God's grace, his goodness. 00:36:53.140 |
But in Sheol, in hell, that's a full outpouring of the wrath of God. 00:36:58.980 |
So we don't know if it's necessarily down or if it's like, it's difficult because there's 00:37:07.340 |
And the only use of really fire is kind of in the book of Revelation. 00:37:18.680 |
But believing in what it is, it's open to, I think, opinion. 00:37:23.960 |
Recently Ben Shapiro came on a talk saying he doesn't believe. 00:37:26.460 |
John MacArthur and Ben Shapiro had a, it wasn't a debate because they're very respectful to 00:37:30.860 |
each other, but he says he doesn't believe in hell, I think, because it's not in the 00:37:38.260 |
But that's why I say I don't know necessarily if it's a place. 00:37:42.800 |
Like heaven for me is not a place, even though there's a lot of imagery of a place. 00:37:47.780 |
It is in the presence of God and I can see it in face to face. 00:37:54.620 |
Because there are things, there's so much imagery that I don't know exactly what is 00:38:01.820 |
But believing in the existence of judgment and wrath is biblical. 00:38:10.000 |
If you engage in spiritual warfare, how do you handle demonic influences? 00:38:18.480 |
Because charismatic circles, a lot of times they tell you to command the demons to chase 00:38:26.800 |
Satan probably knows a Bible better than you and that's something you want to be very careful 00:38:31.000 |
Jude verse 9, it says, "Even the archangel Michael." 00:38:35.240 |
How many of you guys have read the book of Jude before? 00:38:37.980 |
Even the archangel Michael is very careful when they're arguing with the body of Moses. 00:38:43.100 |
But they're arguing over what to do with Moses' body, Michael and Satan, okay? 00:38:47.740 |
But even the archangel Michael was reluctant to make a proclamation against Satan, but 00:38:56.940 |
So when it comes to demonic forces, we're called to sometimes resist, we're sometimes 00:39:03.280 |
called to flee, we're sometimes called to like stand our ground and take up the shield 00:39:13.260 |
We're never called to command Satan or the demons to do this or that. 00:39:19.580 |
In the book of Acts, they actually, there's seven sons of Sceva, they try to do this and 00:39:25.740 |
Okay, I know Jesus, I know this Paul, but who are you? 00:39:38.520 |
One last question and then we'll put you out of your misery. 00:39:57.020 |
How do I discern a passion for overseas work as a call to missions? 00:40:06.600 |
So again, what is the main call that you have? 00:40:12.360 |
And I would say with the 12 apostles before, including Matthias, excluding Apostle Paul, 00:40:23.240 |
So those 12, all of their ministries was to, you guys know where all of the ministry was 00:40:33.280 |
And even for the Apostle Paul, the first 13 years of his ministry was to the Jews. 00:40:39.520 |
And Paul actually gets commissioned to the Gentiles because his citizenship, his ability 00:40:49.760 |
So his ability to contextualize this gospel to both the Jewish culture and the pagan culture, 00:41:02.500 |
So if you are zero gifted, like zero gifted in terms of language, don't go. 00:41:22.760 |
If you have too much debt and you have family members who are sick and in need of your care, 00:41:32.360 |
So there are a lot of circumstantial things that kind of have to line up for you to be 00:41:40.640 |
So one thing that I have to, like, so I would, I talked to, so in China, I was teaching a 00:41:46.960 |
seminary class and that whole class, 16 students, none of them went to high school. 00:41:54.520 |
And the pastor was instilling in them a vision for Africa. 00:41:59.040 |
So all of them were like, "I want to go to Africa. 00:42:05.720 |
First of all, you're not going to get a passport. 00:42:11.160 |
Because usually to get a passport from a third world, if you're a third world country member, 00:42:16.960 |
Second, when you go there, you can't even speak English. 00:42:23.880 |
And how long is it going to take you to speak Lugandan or Swahili? 00:42:30.920 |
And then how long is it going to take you to actually adapt to their culture? 00:42:35.000 |
I would actually have you go back to your countryside and share the gospel there. 00:42:40.120 |
Because the countryside in China is dying because all the young people are gone. 00:42:44.800 |
Koreans are very mission-minded in South Korea. 00:42:48.840 |
I'm like, "Why do you guys keep thinking of Africa? 00:42:53.120 |
I want to go to the remotest part of the world." 00:42:58.040 |
The farther you go, the more money it costs to take you there, the more lonely you'll 00:43:01.920 |
get, the more likely to get depressed you'll be, and then the more likely it is you'll 00:43:06.320 |
come back before you can be any kind of fruitful. 00:43:09.720 |
I said, "North Korea is in great need of missionaries. 00:43:18.560 |
You can speak the language, and you can just go, 'boop,' and come back the same day. 00:43:27.360 |
So, be passionate about North Korea rather than the remotest parts of the world." 00:43:32.040 |
Because human nature is we want to be the one who goes to the remotest parts of the 00:43:38.520 |
If I were to say, "I want to be a missionary," to where? 00:43:47.560 |
Because it just doesn't seem like all that appealing or sexy. 00:43:51.800 |
So to answer your question, let's see, I would say this. 00:44:09.960 |
And how God created you and how He's thus far led and equipped you, He wants to use 00:44:17.960 |
And then if He propels you somewhere else, you go, "Hallelujah," and you go. 00:44:24.320 |
But you bloom where you're planted and then if He pushes you out, you bloom there too. 00:44:34.680 |
So Saul was in hearty agreement putting Stephen to death. 00:44:39.640 |
And that day, a great persecution arose against the church in Jerusalem. 00:44:46.800 |
And they were scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria. 00:44:52.720 |
And they were all scattered except the apostles. 00:44:56.040 |
So how did the gospel first get spread to Judea and Samaria and the beginning parts 00:45:12.560 |
You are faithful to your task and when God wants to make it clear, He will make it clear. 00:45:19.560 |
But are you supposed to have a heart for the nations? 00:45:23.600 |
But your heart for the nations shall never supersede your passion for His Word. 00:45:28.280 |
But as your passion for His Word affects your heart for the nations, then He will send you 00:45:38.120 |
And that might not be to the places where we think are the most sexy. 00:45:45.320 |
And then if you have other questions, you can ask me later. 00:45:47.320 |
2002, I was at a church called Good Shepherd Korean Presbyterian Church in Roland Heights. 00:45:52.080 |
And that summer, we went to Arizona for the Native American missions, okay? 00:45:59.240 |
Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church Native American missions. 00:46:04.060 |
And then I think we passed by like somewhere near Las Vegas. 00:46:10.400 |
At that same gas station, there was a Korean church from Arizona that said, "Los Angeles 00:46:19.160 |
And for some reason, more than thinking it was comical, it disturbed me. 00:46:28.740 |
So they actually took their TVs because Korea, that's when they advance far. 00:46:32.440 |
We have 40 adults from our church in like six cars going to Arizona to do one week of 00:46:40.320 |
And then you had two bands there from Arizona going to LA to do mission work. 00:46:54.160 |
It would have been better if we just went to LA. 00:47:00.520 |
They should just stay in the Native American area because they can follow up. 00:47:06.000 |
But we're doing this because missions is far away. 00:47:10.000 |
And missions is where you go to sometimes get saved. 00:47:13.600 |
So you send a lot of non-Christians to the mission field. 00:47:15.920 |
So to your question, how should I take my passion? 00:47:25.120 |
Your passion for the nations, you and I all have to have a passion for the nations. 00:47:29.720 |
And every single person has to have a heart for the nations. 00:47:36.840 |
I have strong interests in those countries because I've been there, I have vested interest, 00:47:44.080 |
But I don't really, you know, some people say, you just say North and they're like, 00:47:49.320 |
China, and then they just, because they have such a tender heart for that. 00:47:59.240 |
But I have a vested interest in those countries. 00:48:03.120 |
And so the heart for the nations has to be under the heart for the Word of God and love 00:48:14.240 |
Only one of the apostles really was a missionary abroad. 00:48:17.060 |
Everyone else was ministering in their local context. 00:48:19.280 |
And look what happens to the gospel, it's spread all over the world. 00:48:24.680 |
It's not a call for you to go to the other side of the planet. 00:48:31.000 |
It could happen, and I hope it happens, but our plan should be to go where I will bear 00:48:39.840 |
So right now, you're planted in your families, you're planted in your careers, you're planted 00:48:44.720 |
at your schools, you're planted at our church, you're planted in our community. 00:48:48.080 |
Bloom here, and then God will move you, and then you'll bloom there. 00:48:51.520 |
You can't not bloom here and then try to bloom over in a different culture context. 00:48:56.520 |
God's Word first, passion for the nation second, my role third. 00:49:03.720 |
And then for specific calling to different places, God makes it clear. 00:49:09.240 |
And until He makes it clear, just be faithful.