back to indexBerean Community Church Sunday Service 9/24/23
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As we begin our service, I'd like to encourage us to reflect on our current lives, 00:04:34.000 |
our situations, our goals, our desires, our successes, 00:04:38.000 |
and that we would share in Apostle Paul's heart to know 00:04:42.000 |
that to know Christ would surpass all of them. 00:04:45.000 |
In Philippians, he writes, "I count all things to be lost in view of the surpassing worth 00:04:53.000 |
For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, 00:04:57.000 |
in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, 00:05:00.000 |
that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, 00:05:03.000 |
and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death." 00:05:08.000 |
So this morning I pray that likewise we would see Christ as the most precious treasure 00:05:14.000 |
and that we would find our full joy and abundant life in him. 00:05:41.000 |
Just the time I think that I'm at peace with the world that's mine. 00:05:55.000 |
I feel at ease, I feel at home, and I know I'm not alone. 00:06:09.000 |
Then in my rest there comes a test that shakes me 'til again I know 00:06:23.000 |
that what I have is not enough, and again I've got to grow. 00:06:47.000 |
Lord, I want to know you and I would give my final breath 00:07:19.000 |
The full supply I find as I move closer to the heart of God. 00:07:33.000 |
To strengthen me, to nourish me, to fill my mind with it. 00:07:47.000 |
I've truly grown, but even so my hunger hasn't gone away. 00:08:02.000 |
Still I long, still I thirst to know him more each day. 00:08:26.000 |
Lord, I want to know you and I would give my final breath 00:08:54.000 |
Lord, I want to know you and I would give my final breath 00:09:29.000 |
Good morning. Welcome to Berean Community Church. 00:09:38.000 |
If you are a college student or if you're parents of college students, 00:09:43.000 |
after service there is a welcome table that's sitting out there 00:09:49.000 |
and some of the college welcome team and they're going to be stationed out there. 00:09:55.000 |
There's a lot of things going on for the college students this week 00:10:02.000 |
But if you are here visiting and you want more information about the college ministry, 00:10:07.000 |
please go to that table and they'll give you more information. 00:10:10.000 |
Okay. I have a few announcements before we get started. 00:10:15.000 |
First of all, they need volunteers for the trunk formation 00:10:19.000 |
and this is for replacement of Halloween on September 30th. 00:10:24.000 |
So basically you're going to decorate your trunk and then the kids come around, 00:10:27.000 |
your car and the candy and stuff like that will be provided for you. 00:10:30.000 |
And so they need more cars to volunteer to do that. 00:10:33.000 |
So if you're willing to do that on that night, please let them know 00:10:37.000 |
and they'll give you more information about that. 00:10:41.000 |
There's a picnic going on today at 11 to 3 p.m. 00:10:47.000 |
So just grab your lunch. It's just kind of a casual fellowship. 00:10:51.000 |
There's other families that will be there and then you'll be able to just meet with them. 00:10:57.000 |
So if you're able to make it, it's at Tustin Heritage Park 00:11:00.000 |
and that's where some of the family members will be going after. 00:11:05.000 |
If you've been married around three years or less, this ministry is for you. 00:11:09.000 |
And this coming Saturday there's a workshop happening in the Sprouts Room upstairs at 10.30 a.m. 00:11:15.000 |
Pastor Peter Chung is going to be covering the subject of a worry-free marriage. 00:11:21.000 |
And so if you haven't signed up for that, please sign up for that. 00:11:24.000 |
And then, again, a heads up, the next Sunday we have communion service. 00:11:28.000 |
Child safety training is happening next Sunday. 00:11:31.000 |
So if you're working with the youth or children of any kind-- 00:11:35.000 |
not any kind--if you're working with children of that particular kind, 00:11:42.000 |
there's training that you will need to sit through. 00:11:44.000 |
So please go to that, and that's happening next Sunday. 00:11:48.000 |
The next round of membership class--so if you are interested in taking membership, 00:11:51.000 |
that's taking place starting next Sunday for eight weeks from 9 to 10.20 a.m. 00:11:56.000 |
And that's going to be taking place in our youth group room across the courtyard. 00:12:02.000 |
And then finally on October 7th, there's an all-church cleaning day from 9 to 12 p.m. 00:12:08.000 |
So if you are able--if you're free that morning, please come and help us to organize 00:12:13.000 |
and clean up the church that we--I think we have this, like, maybe quarterly. 00:12:20.000 |
And, again, if you have physical offering, there's a box on the way out. 00:12:27.000 |
Father, we thank you so much for another day, another privilege that we have 00:12:34.000 |
Thank you for the fellowship that we have with our brothers and sisters in Christ. 00:12:38.000 |
We thank you, Father, that you sustain us, that you who began a good work in us, 00:12:44.000 |
that you will be the one who carry it onto completion until the day of Christ. 00:12:49.000 |
Help us, Lord God, to lean on you, to depend on you, to cry out to you, 00:12:53.000 |
that our lives, Lord, may reflect the tremendous grace that you've given us. 00:12:58.000 |
Help us, Lord, that even in this giving that we would give with a cheerful heart, 00:13:02.000 |
it may be multiplied 30, 60, 100-fold for the sake of your kingdom. 00:54:46.000 |
See, the rich, the temptation of the rich is that we're not hungry. 00:54:54.000 |
We're not hungry. We want Christ, but we don't need Christ. 00:55:00.000 |
There's a big difference in the way you worship God when you need him. 00:55:05.000 |
There's a big difference in the way that you pray when you need him. 00:55:10.000 |
There's a big difference in the way you walk with God when you need him. 00:55:15.000 |
When you want him, it's like, "Yeah, I want that. I want this, I want that, but I want Jesus too." 00:55:22.000 |
There's a huge difference, and it shows. It shows in the way we worship. 00:55:27.000 |
It shows in the way we do Bible study. We did it. We just checked off. I was required, and I did it. 00:55:36.000 |
Do you remember ever praying because you were so desperate 00:55:46.000 |
Just praying just kind of like casually, it just was not enough. 00:55:50.000 |
You needed God to answer your prayers. You needed him to hear you. 00:56:00.000 |
"God, I need you to answer this prayer. I am lost without you." 00:56:08.000 |
A prayer of desperation is a prayer that God promised that he would answer 00:56:14.000 |
when we make up our mind. Do you really want that? Do you need that? 00:56:23.000 |
when that child cries because it's been a habit of crying, 00:56:28.000 |
they just want you to be there and put your hand on them or just hold them. 00:56:35.000 |
But you can't run every time they cry because every time they cry and you hold them 00:56:39.000 |
and they become a habit and then now you can never rest. You can't get in the car. 00:56:43.000 |
So you learn to distinguish between cry for attention and cry because there's a need. 00:56:51.000 |
That they're desperate. They're choking on something. 00:56:55.000 |
They're hurting on something. Something needs my immediate attention. 00:57:00.000 |
So he says, "Blessed are those who are hungering and thirsting for righteousness." 00:57:05.000 |
Because he recognizes the poverty of his state and he's crying out to God 00:57:10.000 |
because only God can answer this prayer. Only God can bring relief. 00:57:15.000 |
Amos chapter 6 verse 1, it says, "Woe to those who are yeas in Zion." 00:57:21.000 |
And the word "yeas" in the NIV, I think it says "complacent." 00:57:26.000 |
"Woe to those who are complacent and to those who feel secure in the mountain of Samaria." 00:57:32.000 |
The biggest problem that we have in a rich country is complacency. 00:57:39.000 |
Complacency. Yes, we have bad doctrines. We have the health and wealth gospel. 00:57:44.000 |
We have crazy things that are happening in the church, but the thing that is eroding the church 00:57:52.000 |
People who have the right doctrine. People who know the proper gospel. 00:57:58.000 |
People who have been walking and in the church, have been cultured in the church, but are complacent. 00:58:04.000 |
We're not in need. Yeah, it'd be great. You never oppose the gospel. 00:58:10.000 |
You're never antagonistic toward the gospel. You're just complacent. 00:58:16.000 |
Luke 6, 25, "Woe to you who are well fed, for you shall be hungry." 00:58:23.000 |
Have you ever eaten when you're hungry? Like really hungry. I'm not talking about... 00:58:27.000 |
I think most of us don't know what that feels like, right? 00:58:30.000 |
I know that right now the intermittent fasting is a big thing, you know, in order to get healthy. 00:58:37.000 |
But have you ever really eaten when you're hungry and how food tastes? 00:58:42.000 |
I remember back in Korea, you know, back in the 70s, Korea was a third world country. 00:58:47.000 |
It was like an abject poverty that all the orphan care and adoption, all this stuff happened in Korea 00:58:56.000 |
So even back in the 70s, it was starting to rise, but it wasn't there yet. 00:59:00.000 |
So I remember we rarely ate meat before we came to the United States. 00:59:05.000 |
And I remember very distinctly whenever we were going to eat, my mom made the announcement. 00:59:11.000 |
You know, it'd be February, so you know in March, March 3rd or something, 00:59:15.000 |
we have a guest coming to our house and we're going to have some meat. 00:59:19.000 |
So make sure that you're in the house at that time. 00:59:22.000 |
Believe me, we knew when that was coming, you know, because it wasn't common, right? 00:59:28.000 |
It was a missionary that would come to town or a special guest. 00:59:31.000 |
And so they would be... and it wasn't like, you know, it wasn't like Korean barbecue like today, right? 00:59:36.000 |
It was just like a small plate of meat and you have all this other stuff 00:59:39.000 |
and then everybody would get a little piece, but that was enough to make it a big deal, right? 00:59:45.000 |
Because we weren't used to eating meat at that time. 00:59:52.000 |
You ever eat rice when you haven't eaten for like two to three days? 00:59:57.000 |
There was a period when, you know, a few of my friends, we were fasting. 01:00:01.000 |
At the end of that, we decided to eat and all we had was rice. 01:00:07.000 |
And I remember eating that rice, I had no idea how good rice was, right? 01:00:12.000 |
I had no idea how good rice. It is so sweet. It tasted like candy, right? 01:00:17.000 |
If you don't believe me, fast three days, right? 01:00:26.000 |
When's the last time you hungered and thirsted for God 01:00:31.000 |
and then you came to the Word of God and you ate? 01:00:40.000 |
Tasting the Word of God, fellowship, worship, praise. 01:00:51.000 |
And you felt so blessed because you had the privilege to be able to, 01:00:58.000 |
But at some point, why did that privilege become an obligation? 01:01:03.000 |
Why did that privilege become a check-off list? 01:01:09.000 |
That's what he's saying. "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, 01:01:15.000 |
Those who hunger for it. Not just people who are casually coming in. 01:01:18.000 |
It's like, "Oh, okay, it's Wednesday. It's time to study." 01:01:24.000 |
You ever have people in your small group or your home group who come in so hungry? 01:01:29.000 |
They don't have to be the most mature Christian. 01:01:31.000 |
They don't have to, you know, it's like, "Oh, they're the expert in, you know, 01:01:40.000 |
Brand new Christian. Or maybe they're a Christian, 01:01:42.000 |
but they're studying the Bible for the first time, and they're like, "Wow. 01:01:48.000 |
And they're just eating it up. We hear it all the time. 01:01:50.000 |
Because the people in that group are so encouraged. 01:01:58.000 |
They didn't exposit. They didn't know the best. 01:02:03.000 |
They weren't Christian the longest. They're not the most disciplined. 01:02:07.000 |
And all they did was brought in a hungering and thirsting 01:02:18.000 |
You ever eat something that somebody loves, like ice cream? 01:02:22.000 |
You have some friends who love ice cream, and you don't normally like ice cream, 01:02:25.000 |
but when they eat ice cream, it makes ice cream taste better. 01:02:30.000 |
Or maybe they like boba, and, you know, it's like, "I'm not a fan of boba, 01:02:33.000 |
but they love it so much that I want to have some." 01:02:37.000 |
He's talking about people who recognizes his hungering and thirsting for righteousness. 01:02:42.000 |
And the impact that it has on you, the way it makes the Word of God taste, 01:02:53.000 |
"If you don't feel strong desires for the manifestation of the glory of God, 01:02:57.000 |
it is not because you have drunk deeply and are satisfied. 01:03:00.000 |
It is because you have nibbled so long at the table of the world, 01:03:04.000 |
your soul is stuffed with small things, and there is no room for the great." 01:03:19.000 |
You have a feast that's waiting for you for dinner, 01:03:21.000 |
and constantly you would like the taste of cup ramen. 01:03:25.000 |
So you're eating cup ramen all day, so when it's time for the banquet, 01:03:41.000 |
I've been to a sushi, and, you know, some of the younger guys think that they can eat nonstop. 01:03:49.000 |
And I remember this one particular guy, some of you guys know who I'm talking about, 01:03:52.000 |
went to eat sushi, and then we were in our second round, and I said, "I am stuffed. 01:04:01.000 |
and literally ate two pieces, and we couldn't eat. 01:04:04.000 |
So the rest of it we were shoving down our throat 01:04:06.000 |
because we didn't want to be charged another $7. 01:04:09.000 |
So him and I were like--you know the Bible says that gluttony is sin, 01:04:15.000 |
And we were eating because we were like, "We don't have any appetite. 01:04:19.000 |
We have to shove it in our mouth because we have to get rid of this because we don't want to be charged." 01:04:25.000 |
I literally got up, and if somebody poked me, it would have just all come back up. 01:04:32.000 |
And I remember there's a video that went viral in our church, Elder James. 01:04:36.000 |
We went to eat sushi because it was someone's birthday, 01:04:43.000 |
I videotaped him, and I couldn't hear what he was saying, 01:04:46.000 |
but he was so intense--this is kind of a side point, but it's a funny story. 01:04:54.000 |
I thought he was exposing the Bible and telling them about the intricacies about the cross. 01:04:58.000 |
And I leaned over, and he was saying, "Do not order more than you can eat." 01:05:15.000 |
"If you order more than what you can eat, we're going to make you eat." 01:05:29.000 |
When you come in full, you're already satisfied. 01:05:33.000 |
You already have everything you need, and then you're supposed to go to church because it's Sunday. 01:05:38.000 |
You don't have to go to Bible study because it's Wednesday. 01:05:40.000 |
You're eating, but you're force-feeding yourself. 01:05:44.000 |
You're doing it more because you don't want other people to judge you, out of obligation. 01:05:53.000 |
Jesus says, "Come and taste and see how good he is." 01:06:00.000 |
In Psalm 63, "Oh God, you are my God. How shall I seek you earnestly? 01:06:04.000 |
I shall seek you earnestly. My soul thirsts for you. My flesh yearns for you." 01:06:07.000 |
In a dry and weary land where there is no water, 01:06:12.000 |
if you're a child of God and we're in the kingdom of God, 01:06:15.000 |
the only thing that can truly satisfy us is Christ. 01:06:19.000 |
Sometimes he will give us poverty, sometimes he will give us wealth, 01:06:22.000 |
but every good gift that comes from God is to lead us to him. 01:06:27.000 |
And anything that distracts us from coming to him is a curse. 01:06:32.000 |
Anything that causes us to come to him is a blessing. 01:06:36.000 |
That is the new perspective in the kingdom of God. 01:06:41.000 |
In Psalm 42, 1-2, "As the deer pants for the water brooks, 01:06:45.000 |
so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God. 01:06:49.000 |
For the living God, when shall I come and appear before God?" 01:06:57.000 |
That we recognize the nibbling of this world that is killing our appetite, 01:07:02.000 |
that we would prioritize, that we would hunger and thirst for God 01:07:09.000 |
that we would experience what it means to be satisfied in Christ. 01:07:15.000 |
Heavenly Father, we pray that the word that you've implanted in our mind and our hearts, Lord God, 01:07:27.000 |
would not return until it has accomplished its purpose. 01:07:36.000 |
Recognize the life that you have come to give and to give abundantly. 01:07:40.000 |
That whether we are poor, whether we are hungry, 01:07:44.000 |
whether we are rich, whether we are in peace, 01:07:50.000 |
that every situation in our life would cause us to cry out to you, 01:07:56.000 |
to desire you, desire Christ more than anything else. 01:08:38.000 |
You alone are my heart's desire and I long to worship thee. 01:09:08.000 |
You alone are my heart's desire and I long to worship thee. 01:09:34.000 |
You're my friend and you are my brother even though you are a king. 01:09:48.000 |
I love you more than any other, so much more than any other. 01:10:18.000 |
You alone are my heart's desire and I long to worship thee. 01:11:27.000 |
You alone are my heart's desire and I long to worship thee. 01:11:57.000 |
You alone are my heart's desire and I long to worship thee. 01:12:11.000 |
You alone are my heart's desire and I long to worship thee. 01:12:38.000 |
My flesh yearns for you in a dry and weary land where there is no water. 01:12:45.000 |
Help us, Lord God, to know that the true water, that the true bread is Christ. 01:12:53.000 |
That there will be a stirring in our hearts and hungering and thirsting for Christ more than anything else in our lives. 01:13:01.000 |
Help us, Lord God, to open our eyes to see the glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ. 01:13:07.000 |
That we would be able to confess as Apostle Paul did, 01:13:11.000 |
that in light of the surpassing knowledge of knowing Jesus Christ, that all things will become rubbish. 01:13:18.000 |
That we would no longer be tempted by the things of this world, but that we would covet the things from you and you alone. 01:13:26.000 |
Send us wherever you desire that we may be the aroma of Christ, that we may be the light of Christ wherever you send us. 01:14:55.000 |
And life is worth the living just because he lives.