back to indexBerean Community Church Evening Devotions 3.30.21
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We are continuing to walk down the path that Jesus took 00:07:01.720 |
to see the heart of our Savior as he goes on his way 00:07:06.720 |
to the cross on Good Friday and to resurrection on Sunday. 00:07:11.720 |
Today we're going to be continuing on with that. 00:07:14.720 |
We're going to be led in a time of two songs of praise 00:07:20.700 |
a testimony of faith given by our very own Ryan Chang. 00:07:23.700 |
So before we start this time, I'd like to invite you 00:07:35.700 |
Thank you that we can gather in such an interesting fashion. 00:07:40.700 |
Lord, many of us here together and for those who are afar, 00:07:46.720 |
God, we want to recognize that every time we come to worship, 00:07:50.700 |
it is not a time set aside for worship that's apart 00:07:55.700 |
from the rest of our lives, but Lord, a continual worship. 00:08:00.700 |
And God, would you be pleased and satisfied by it? 00:08:03.700 |
God, would these songs be coming from our hearts 00:08:11.700 |
into the likeness of your son that we might surrender 00:08:20.700 |
So God, may tonight be filled with meditation of Christ 00:17:01.700 |
♪ When this poor, this weak, stampering tongue ♪ 00:18:13.700 |
I'm a part of the family ministry here at Berean. 00:18:18.700 |
She's my wife sitting right up here in the front. 00:18:36.700 |
I grew up in South Korea with my parents and my older sister. 00:18:41.700 |
And in the eight years that I lived in Korea, 00:18:52.680 |
when I was in about, I think I was third grade, 00:18:56.680 |
my parents took me to church for the first time. 00:19:04.680 |
that were living in the United States in our city. 00:19:14.680 |
I remember having a lot of fun playing games in Iwana. 00:19:17.680 |
I remember going out to eat with my new friends 00:19:21.680 |
But I don't really remember learning a lot about the Bible. 00:19:25.680 |
And I don't say that to insult the church I was going to, 00:19:33.680 |
My family went to that church for about two years 00:19:36.700 |
and the church unfortunately went through a divisive split 00:19:40.680 |
and that's when my family stopped going to church. 00:20:07.680 |
and extracurricular activities to prepare for college. 00:20:13.680 |
So church really became the last priority for me every week. 00:20:24.680 |
And so church became a very inconsistent thing in my life. 00:20:41.680 |
that my dreams and my goals in life were being shaped. 00:21:01.680 |
all my big decisions were made with this question in mind. 00:21:06.680 |
How can I make the most money in the quickest amount of time? 00:21:13.680 |
And what's scary is, as I look back during that time, 00:21:27.700 |
not the God of the Bible, but a powerful higher being. 00:21:34.680 |
than a lot of the people that I saw out in the world. 00:21:39.680 |
but that was the basis for why I would call myself a Christian. 00:22:05.680 |
because people told me that finance is the quickest way 00:22:18.680 |
for the four and a half years that I was in college. 00:22:33.680 |
that seemed to promise the kind of prestigious career 00:22:41.680 |
But that initial excitement quickly wore off. 00:22:54.680 |
But even more so than the cost of sleep and health 00:23:02.680 |
a Pandora's box of sins that money allowed me. 00:23:18.680 |
was that none of that actually made me happy. 00:23:27.660 |
and the more I saved money in my bank account, 00:23:30.660 |
I felt a bigger and bigger gaping hole in my soul. 00:23:49.660 |
and I convinced myself that if I just worked really hard 00:23:52.660 |
for two years, this would be a stepping stone 00:23:55.640 |
to the next job at a more prestigious company 00:24:00.640 |
and that's where I'm going to find my happiness. 00:24:30.640 |
And just the thought of having to do the two years 00:24:48.660 |
and my anxiety and fear and disappointment only grew. 00:24:52.640 |
And I actually became angry by the end of the second day 00:24:56.640 |
because I worked so hard for four years in college 00:25:30.640 |
"I followed exactly what the world told me to go, 00:25:48.620 |
"If everything that the world told me was a lie, 00:26:05.620 |
and to see if there's actual, real answers there." 00:26:08.620 |
And I can't explain to you why in that moment 00:26:54.600 |
it was at that point that I understood the Gospel 00:27:07.600 |
because I wrote it in my journal at that time, 00:27:48.600 |
to find the happiness that I wanted for myself. 00:28:04.600 |
the Word of God also healed my wounded heart. 01:02:47.260 |
Oh God, thank you that we can sing a song that reminds us, Lord, 01:03:05.240 |
Thank you, Lord, that we can really appreciate this week who you are 01:03:13.260 |
And Father, I pray that we would not be people who just say that you are the Lord, 01:03:18.240 |
you are God, but Father, we would be able to say with increasing conviction, 01:03:28.240 |
Father, that we might not delude ourselves into thinking we follow you 01:03:32.240 |
when in fact we follow our own making of you. 01:03:41.260 |
And I pray, Lord, that when we say your kingdom come, we love you so much, 01:03:46.240 |
we understand our place before you enough to say that your kingdom is my kingdom. 01:03:53.240 |
Thank you for every night that we can spend here together. 01:03:56.240 |
And I pray, Father, that we would continue to edify each other, 01:03:58.240 |
encourage each other until the day Christ returns. 01:04:07.240 |
We'll see you again tomorrow night, same time.