back to indexBerean Community Church Sunday Service 2.11.24
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Good morning church family, hopefully everyone had a good week in the Lord. 00:06:22.080 |
As always, it's a joy and a privilege for us to come together and to worship our God. 00:06:26.760 |
I'd like to begin by reading Psalm 28, verses 6 and 7. 00:06:31.740 |
Blessed be the Lord, because he has heard the voice of my supplication. 00:06:42.280 |
Therefore, my heart exults, and with my song, I shall thank him. 00:06:47.640 |
Amen, so and with that, let us sing, and let us give thanks to our God. 00:10:04.680 |
Let me get to some announcements before we get started. 00:10:07.680 |
First of all, our Intentional Sisters Fellowship, that's starting in February. 00:10:12.680 |
Today is the last day to sign up, so if you're intending to sign up, 00:10:18.680 |
Our outreach team is having a volleyball event, again, for the purpose of outreach. 00:10:23.680 |
If you are planning to come or bring somebody, 00:10:26.680 |
today is the last day to sign up for that as well. 00:10:29.680 |
And then this coming Saturday, we have a men's ministry fellowship, 00:10:34.680 |
He's going to be coming and addressing the issue of men's purity. 00:10:39.680 |
And so if you are a man in our church, and this is high school and above, 00:10:45.680 |
It is $10, we have light breakfast, and then lunch fellowship afterwards. 00:10:48.680 |
So please sign up for that, and again, this is happening this coming Saturday. 00:10:54.680 |
There's a bunch of other stuff going on, but one other thing. 00:10:58.680 |
We are going to be offering a class on Old Testament survey. 00:11:01.680 |
If you haven't taken that, I highly recommend that you take this class. 00:11:06.680 |
Pastor Peter Chung is going to be going over Old Testament survey for six weeks, 00:11:18.680 |
It's going to be from 2 to 3.30 in the sanctuary. 00:11:23.680 |
If you have a very loose grasp of what's happening in the Old Testament, 00:11:31.680 |
Understanding the Old Testament will help you to open up the New Testament, 00:11:34.680 |
because the New Testament is an extension of what God's doing in the Old Testament. 00:11:38.680 |
So if you feel like you don't have a good grasp of the Old Testament, 00:11:41.680 |
the history, and how the different prophets relate to one another, 00:11:44.680 |
and how it's connected to the fulfilled prophecies in the New Testament, 00:11:48.680 |
this is a class that we highly, highly recommend. 00:11:51.680 |
So if you haven't taken it, that's going to be happening starting from March 3rd 00:12:01.680 |
All the other announcements, I'm going to refer you to our website, 00:12:05.680 |
and more detailed stuff you can find on there. 00:12:11.680 |
Let me pray for us, and I'll give you an opportunity to give online, 00:12:14.680 |
and if you have a physical offering, again, we have a box in the back. 00:12:27.680 |
We thank you, Lord God, for the privilege that we have 00:12:30.680 |
to be able to come and worship you as a corporate body. 00:12:35.680 |
Lord, help us to know the privilege that we have, 00:12:43.680 |
Lord, what a blessing and what a gift that it is that you have given us, 00:12:49.680 |
and help us to understand that, that our worship may be given to you 00:12:54.680 |
as an overflow of gratitude and thanksgiving. 00:12:59.680 |
We pray that even in this giving that we would give joyfully, 00:13:02.680 |
knowing, Father God, that every bit of it ultimately belongs to you, 00:13:06.680 |
that we are stewards to use it for your glory. 00:13:10.680 |
May it be multiplied for your use in your kingdom. 00:14:01.680 |
Church family, let us stand together and take a moment to greet each other 00:22:10.720 |
>>If you can turn your Bibles with me to Luke chapter 7, 00:22:16.560 |
We're finally jumping back into the Gospel of Luke. 00:22:27.800 |
Most of you are aware, but our youth group and our college 00:22:31.340 |
ministry is up at a retreat and they're going to be coming down 00:22:35.040 |
today by 1.30 or 2 o'clock, so please continue to keep them in 00:22:43.240 |
"Soon afterwards, he went to a city called Nain, and his 00:22:45.820 |
disciples were going along with him, accompanied by a large 00:22:49.520 |
Now as he approached the gate of the city, a dead man was being 00:22:55.280 |
And she was a widow, and a sizable crowd from the city was 00:22:59.240 |
When the Lord saw her, he felt compassion for her and said to 00:23:03.840 |
And he came up and touched a coffin, and the bearers came to 00:23:06.580 |
a halt, and he said, 'Young man, I say to you, arise.' 00:23:11.040 |
The dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him back 00:23:15.540 |
Fear gripped them all, and they began glorifying God, saying, 00:23:18.440 |
'A great prophet has arisen among us, and God has visited 00:23:25.440 |
This report concerning him went out all over Judea, and in all 00:23:33.580 |
Father, we pray for deeper understanding and insight. 00:23:38.440 |
We pray that through the study that you would help us not 00:23:41.140 |
simply to understand the word, but to know your very heart. 00:23:46.640 |
Help us to know you, and to see that we may see a greater glimpse 00:23:56.680 |
Sorry, I apologize if my voice sounds twangy. 00:24:05.440 |
So, I haven't gotten sick like this in a long time, so I was 00:24:09.080 |
kind of bedridden this week, and recovering from India, so I feel 00:24:16.740 |
I feel good, but I feel weak, so in my head it sounds twangy. 00:24:26.480 |
As you guys know, we came back from India, and our team members 00:24:29.800 |
last week took turns sharing about what happened, but one of 00:24:33.740 |
the things that I wanted to highlight about our trip was, as 00:24:37.540 |
you guys know, we've been hearing about the persecution 00:24:40.640 |
that's been increasing rapidly out in India, and this year, 00:24:48.000 |
after talking to the pastor, they said that as hard as it's 00:24:51.400 |
been, they see the persecution is going to become much more 00:24:58.140 |
In fact, right before we showed up to do our medical camp, one 00:25:02.640 |
of the pastors in one of the villages that we went to told me 00:25:05.780 |
after the camp that right before we showed up, there was a 00:25:09.440 |
national day of worship that the government, the federal 00:25:12.900 |
government, declared that every citizen in India had to worship. 00:25:18.280 |
And so, it's kind of like the national day of prayer, but 00:25:20.000 |
again, obviously, in our country, it's done voluntarily, 00:25:22.340 |
but they basically said everybody should do this, and 00:25:25.600 |
the problem is, obviously, our pastors and a lot of the 00:25:28.700 |
Christians in the villages did not do that, but part of the 00:25:33.440 |
worship toward this goddess, this temple that they dedicated, 00:25:37.300 |
is that whoever worshiped, they had to hang something outside of 00:25:40.340 |
their house to show your neighbors that you participated 00:25:44.740 |
in this, and so every Christian, especially our pastors who did 00:25:47.940 |
not fly this, it was pretty obvious to their neighbors that 00:25:52.040 |
they weren't participating, and as a result of that, the pastor 00:25:54.900 |
told me that all their neighbors got extremely angry with them, 00:25:58.340 |
and they were expecting some sort of attack, but because we 00:26:02.040 |
were showing up to do the medical camp, they kind of held 00:26:04.880 |
off, and so they were telling us that it looks like they're 00:26:09.440 |
waiting until we're done and we're gone, that they're going 00:26:13.440 |
to probably get attacked, so they're anticipating attack 00:26:16.580 |
coming from their neighbors, but at the end of the camp, they said 00:26:20.100 |
in a positive note that a lot of their neighbors who were angry 00:26:23.380 |
showed up to the medical camp, and so they were treated, and 00:26:26.880 |
they had glasses, and so some of their children participated in 00:26:30.300 |
the VBS, and as a result of that, they were hoping and 00:26:34.040 |
praying that it diffused some of their anger, and so I haven't 00:26:38.340 |
heard anything, so hopefully that's exactly what did happen, 00:26:42.940 |
and so again, the fact that we were able to do that for them, 00:26:47.340 |
and hopefully that diffusion is not just temporary, but that 00:26:51.140 |
their heart, the thankfulness that they have will kind of 00:26:54.340 |
protect them, at least in the villages that we've been to, but 00:26:58.180 |
along with that, they said that one of the things that they 00:27:00.640 |
expect to happen is that when we, when I started going into 00:27:05.040 |
India 13 years ago, we got a notification from the government 00:27:09.840 |
for all the foreigners not to come out of our apartments 00:27:12.680 |
because there was an election that was taking place, and the 00:27:16.780 |
election was between the moderate conservatives with the 00:27:22.880 |
radical Hindus, which is BJB, which is where the Prime 00:27:26.880 |
Minister Modi came from, some of you guys who may know the 00:27:29.520 |
politics in India, and at that time, they were afraid that if 00:27:34.120 |
the BJB party loses, that they're going to get angry, and 00:27:37.280 |
then they're going to focus their anger toward the 00:27:39.280 |
foreigners, so they told us that if they see foreigners out on 00:27:42.280 |
the street, and if they lose, you may get targeted, so they 00:27:45.180 |
asked to stay home, and so after that happened, they ended up, 00:27:51.180 |
actually, BJB party ended up winning by a very narrow margin. 00:27:54.680 |
In fact, many people were surprised that such a radical 00:27:57.580 |
group, and this is a group that wants to outlaw meat, like 00:28:01.780 |
they're not, to make it illegal to have meat in the country. 00:28:04.780 |
That's how radical they are in their Hindu beliefs. At that 00:28:08.380 |
time, they passed by a very narrow margin, but this time 00:28:12.580 |
around, I asked the pastors, "What percentage of the political 00:28:16.080 |
party in India now is governed by them?" and he said, "Almost 00:28:21.880 |
87%." They won 87% of the country's support for these 00:28:27.380 |
radical Hindus. As a result of that, one of the things that 00:28:31.680 |
they said that they're going to pass this year, probably in 00:28:34.880 |
the first half of the year, is they're going to make Hindu 00:28:37.780 |
their national religion, and so I said, "So what does that 00:28:41.780 |
mean?" They said, "Once it becomes a national religion of 00:28:46.480 |
the country, they're going to make it illegal to proselytize 00:28:49.680 |
Hindus," meaning that Christians going in and trying to share 00:28:53.980 |
the gospel is going to be made officially illegal. Up to this 00:28:57.580 |
point, the anger has been coming from their neighbors, other 00:29:01.380 |
Hindus, family members, for trying to convert them, but if 00:29:05.480 |
they make it a national religion, basically, by law, they 00:29:09.880 |
cannot go proselytize, and part of the reason why the Muslims 00:29:13.680 |
don't get attacked is because they don't actively proselytize, 00:29:16.580 |
so even though they live out their faith, they're not being 00:29:20.680 |
targeted for that reason, but Christians, obviously, our 00:29:23.380 |
pastors and many other pastors, like our pastors in India, 00:29:27.080 |
where there's a greatest concentration of unreached people 00:29:30.580 |
groups, especially in that area that we go to, they are 00:29:34.280 |
actively bringing the gospel to hostile places, and as 00:29:38.780 |
difficult as it's been, they all told me that they see real 00:29:43.380 |
persecution coming in the coming years, so we need to pray 00:29:47.380 |
for them. The work that we're doing, every year, we're 00:29:51.080 |
evaluating and praying. We don't want to be reckless, but 00:29:54.380 |
at the same time, if we're able to help them and even be 00:29:58.480 |
there to protect them, even for a short period of time, we 00:30:01.380 |
feel that it's worthwhile to help them to share the 00:30:04.080 |
gospel. I know some of you guys have been praying. Many of 00:30:06.680 |
you guys have been financially supporting, and all of 00:30:09.480 |
this is not a penny is being wasted. It's going to a good 00:30:12.580 |
cause where God is being glorified. The gospel is literally 00:30:16.080 |
being taken to villages where there is no church. Now, I 00:30:19.880 |
say all of this not simply as an opening, not simply as 00:30:22.880 |
an update to what happened out in India, but everything 00:30:28.680 |
that we do, everything that we do, everything that we 00:30:32.280 |
study in the New Testament is in the context of God 00:30:36.280 |
pursuing sinners. You will miss a huge part of even 00:30:42.880 |
properly understanding the Bible when we are disengaged 00:30:46.180 |
with the Great Commission. When we look at Scripture as 00:30:49.680 |
a how to raise children, how to have a good church, how 00:30:52.680 |
to build community, how to disciple people to be good 00:30:55.280 |
Christians, and when that is disengaged with the Great 00:30:59.180 |
Commission, it becomes self-centered. It's like the 00:31:03.080 |
mission that God has placed the church in, not participating 00:31:06.380 |
in that mission, and yet we still want God to walk with 00:31:10.080 |
us and bless us. As difficult as it is in India, what we 00:31:16.780 |
see out in India looks a lot more like what the Bible 00:31:20.880 |
describes a Christian life looks like. Read the 00:31:23.780 |
Scriptures, the warnings that Jesus gave. They hated 00:31:26.880 |
me, so they're going to hate you. Don't be surprised 00:31:28.880 |
if they persecute you because they persecuted me. He 00:31:31.580 |
told us that we're not of this world. Our enemy is 00:31:35.680 |
like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour, so what 00:31:38.380 |
they are experiencing in India looks a lot more like 00:31:41.180 |
what we see in Scripture than the Christian life that 00:31:44.080 |
you and I experience here. What has become normal 00:31:48.080 |
Christian life in our generation, we have to admit, 00:31:52.680 |
doesn't look much like what we see in Scripture. In 00:31:56.380 |
fact, we have to kind of distort it. We have our own 00:31:59.880 |
standards of what is good, what is right, what makes 00:32:02.580 |
a church healthy or not healthy. All of that had to 00:32:05.780 |
be tweaked and contextualized to meet an Orange County 00:32:10.080 |
Christian middle-class life. What's strange in the 00:32:15.480 |
Bible is not what India is experiencing. It's what 00:32:19.880 |
you and I are experiencing. If there's any kind of 00:32:22.480 |
tweaking that needs to be made, it's not what's 00:32:24.680 |
happening out in India. It's what's happening here. 00:32:27.080 |
So, you know, sometimes experiencing what these 00:32:31.080 |
pastors go through, at least for a short period of 00:32:32.680 |
time, kind of recalibrates. I think every single one 00:32:37.780 |
recalibrates because it affects our fellowship, it 00:32:42.180 |
affects our gathering, it affects our prayer life, it 00:32:44.080 |
affects our devotions, it affects our work, our 00:32:46.280 |
gifting, our sacrifice. Ask any one of them that's 00:32:50.480 |
been on these trips. We feel a sense of true church, 00:32:54.480 |
like what God called us to be as a church in the 00:32:58.680 |
context of what we do out in India. The challenge 00:33:03.480 |
is how do we bring this home? How do we make that 00:33:07.080 |
church that we experienced for a short period of 00:33:09.280 |
time a church that becomes normal, that that's 00:33:14.280 |
the standard that we are shooting for, right? Now 00:33:17.380 |
what we do out in India is not just a one week out 00:33:22.280 |
experience that and say, "Oh, that was good. We did 00:33:27.280 |
normal Christian life that we are to live here? 00:33:30.180 |
Everything that Jesus has done, everything that 00:33:33.980 |
we've studied up to this point, everything that 00:33:37.380 |
study going forward, it's all in the context of 00:33:40.480 |
God pursuing sinners. So if you are detached from 00:33:45.080 |
that somehow, it's kind of like, you know, that's 00:33:47.180 |
for the pastors and that's for the outreach team. 00:33:49.780 |
You are completely detached from the Christian 00:33:55.680 |
Christian life, you're going to hear the sermons 00:33:57.580 |
as a time that you put in. And once you're done 00:34:01.180 |
with your time, it's just like, "I'm done." You 00:34:03.080 |
know, go get some coffee, go play with your kids 00:34:05.180 |
and, you know, do whatever you need to do. But 00:34:07.480 |
outside of that, it's not relevant. Because the 00:34:11.180 |
call that God gives us is the same call that the 00:34:14.580 |
pastors have. They don't have a separate call 00:34:16.380 |
than we do. They've been called to live a tough 00:34:19.380 |
life, to share the gospel to people who haven't 00:34:21.380 |
heard. But thank God that that's not me. Jesus, 00:34:26.280 |
even in this story, is in the context of pursuing 00:34:28.880 |
sinners. And let me give you the setting behind 00:34:30.880 |
what happens. This happens in the city of Nain. 00:34:34.680 |
Nain is in the context of Galilee, maybe about 00:34:40.380 |
has been doing ministry. It's an obscure city, 00:34:44.380 |
kind of like Nazareth, that is mentioned. This 00:34:46.580 |
city is mentioned in no other place but is in 00:34:48.780 |
this particular text in the Gospel of Luke. We 00:34:51.280 |
would have never known anything about the city 00:34:53.380 |
outside of the fact that this miracle takes place 00:34:59.980 |
raising this widow's son happens outside of the 00:35:06.080 |
there's two things that are emphasized and these 00:35:08.880 |
two crowds coming. One, in verse 11, it says a 00:35:11.380 |
large crowd accompanied Jesus. And then another 00:35:15.780 |
large crowd met Jesus at the gate. So you had 00:35:19.780 |
two clashing of these large crowds that meet. 00:35:23.380 |
Now, the fact that our author, Luke, is telling 00:35:26.680 |
us about these two large crowds, one, tells us 00:35:29.380 |
two things. One, Jesus' popularity is growing. 00:35:33.580 |
And we're going to see this crowd growing larger 00:35:36.580 |
and larger. Can you imagine? Every time I go to 00:35:40.480 |
India, it reminds me, this is what it must have 00:35:42.280 |
looked like wherever Jesus went. Because every 00:35:45.480 |
time we go to the villages, you know, people are 00:35:47.780 |
crowding at the door. And so initially when we 00:35:49.780 |
started going out to India, we didn't think we 00:35:56.280 |
stand by the door and fight off the crowd all day. 00:35:58.480 |
But that's, you know, one of the toughest jobs 00:36:05.680 |
Garrett, you know, they got to stand by the door 00:36:07.980 |
and they're literally fighting off people all 00:36:13.080 |
done. So at the end of the day, we just have to 00:36:15.180 |
shut the door and people are disappointed and 00:36:17.180 |
we just have to pack up and get in our vans and 00:36:19.080 |
we take off. And that's with a small group of 00:36:22.180 |
people only there for a few hours. And because 00:36:24.580 |
they're desperate, we have doctors who are there 00:36:29.780 |
have access to. So they know that if they don't 00:36:37.980 |
they'll bang on the door, they'll try to cut in 00:36:42.380 |
favor and asking the pastors and leaders just 00:36:45.180 |
kind of walking through and using their position 00:37:05.280 |
medicine. So can you imagine the crowd? That's 00:37:11.680 |
the 5,000, the actual crowd probably over 20,000 00:37:20.580 |
sick, you know, you have a twisted ankle, you 00:37:24.380 |
have heart failure, you have disease, and you 00:37:38.380 |
begin to see. So can you imagine the thousands 00:37:42.280 |
and thousands and the 12 disciples constantly 00:37:50.480 |
of that and that's exactly what was happening. 00:37:52.180 |
It says Jesus is walking. This is in the earlier 00:38:22.780 |
said, "Oh, it happened!" And he said, "Well, I 00:38:24.880 |
didn't see it." And he said, "No, you have to 00:38:26.480 |
believe." I don't know how much of the miracles 00:38:30.980 |
right? It happens behind closed doors. He said, 00:44:57.780 |
you know, after a while, you become callous." 01:10:24.880 |
The grace of God has reached for me, and pulled me from the raging sea. And I am safe on this solid ground. The Lord is my salvation. 01:11:03.880 |
I will not fear when darkness falls. His strength will help me still these walls. I'll see the dawn of the rising sun. The Lord is my salvation. 01:11:31.880 |
Who is like the Lord our God? Strong to save, faithful in love. My debt is paid, and the victory won. The Lord is my salvation. 01:12:10.880 |
When my hope is hidden though, He has each promise of His word. When winter fades, I know spring will come. The Lord is my salvation. 01:12:38.880 |
Who is like the Lord our God? Strong to save, faithful in love. My debt is paid, and the victory won. The Lord is my salvation. 01:13:16.880 |
Glory be to God the Father. Glory be to God the Son. Glory be to God the Spirit. The Lord is my salvation. 01:13:44.880 |
Glory be to God the Father. Glory be to God the Son. Glory be to God the Spirit. The Lord is my salvation. 01:14:13.880 |
Who is like the Lord our God? Strong to save, faithful in love. My debt is paid, and the victory won. The Lord is my salvation. 01:14:41.880 |
The Lord is my salvation. The Lord is my salvation. 01:15:12.880 |
Gracious Father, as you had compassion on the widow, we know, Father God, that to this day, that it is because of your compassion that the world is not consumed. 01:15:32.880 |
Help us, Lord God, to understand this compassion, to celebrate, and to be thankful. It would lead us to worship you in spirit and in truth. 01:15:43.880 |
Help us, Lord God, not to be so entangled with civilian affairs. Help us to know, Father, how fleeting this life is. 01:15:52.880 |
Remind us how our life is truly like a mist. That whether we are young, middle-aged, or seniors, help us to know, Father God, that our home is not here. 01:16:12.880 |
That one day we will be home. That we would live our lives, Lord God, as ambassadors in this dark world. 01:16:22.880 |
As you warned us, that as a wickedness will increase, that love of many, or most, will grow cold. 01:16:30.880 |
Lord, we are tempted. Lord, at times we have succumbed. But help us, help us, Lord God, that our love would not grow cold. 01:16:43.880 |
That we would love you with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. That we may also love our neighbors as ourselves. 01:16:52.880 |
Send us, that we may be your ambassadors wherever we go. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. 01:17:29.880 |
An empty grave is there to put my Savior there. 01:18:06.880 |
And life is worth the living, just because he lived. 01:18:15.880 |
This is amazing grace. This is unfailing love.