back to indexBerean Community Church Sunday Service 01/26/2025
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and then our Korean team came back last Saturday 00:08:11.920 |
So after the announcement, our brother Matt Chong 00:08:14.920 |
is gonna be coming up and giving his testimony 00:08:21.920 |
We have a few announcements before we get started. 00:08:22.920 |
First of all, you probably saw as you were coming in, 00:08:25.920 |
the college group is setting up a fundraiser outside 00:08:28.920 |
and so there will be lunch provided between this service 00:08:34.920 |
a beginning of the year members meeting at 2 p.m. 00:08:51.920 |
I think there might be some chairs and tables set up outside 00:08:55.920 |
If it's after the third service and you can't be outside, 00:09:00.920 |
But anyway, the lunch fellowship is going to be happening. 00:09:11.920 |
'cause we're gonna get started right at 2 p.m., okay? 00:09:17.920 |
there's going to be a vision and purpose meeting 00:09:22.920 |
and kind of set the tone for the rest of the year. 00:09:30.920 |
there will be a brief presentation of each group 00:09:35.920 |
So please sign up for that and it'll take place at 2 p.m. 00:09:39.920 |
and I believe that there is childcare for that. 00:09:42.920 |
Coming up on February 9th, there's gonna be communion. 00:09:51.920 |
that you can devote yourself to prayer is to join that 00:09:59.920 |
the family ministry is gonna be gathering together 00:10:03.920 |
So please come to that and let them know that you're coming 00:10:09.920 |
If you have a child in kindergarten all the way to sixth grade, 00:10:12.920 |
there is a meeting, beginning of the year meeting 00:10:15.920 |
that's happening on February 9th at 2 p.m. in this room. 00:10:19.920 |
who have children from kindergarten to sixth grade. 00:10:22.920 |
Again, there will be a meeting here at 2 p.m. on February 9th. 00:10:28.920 |
We have a quarterly men's ministry that happens at this church 00:10:34.920 |
we will be having, again, men's ministry fellowship 00:10:42.920 |
Again, February 9th is the last day to sign up 00:10:49.920 |
There will be a sign-up table as you go outside. 00:10:52.920 |
So let me pray for the offering and then after that, 00:10:54.920 |
our brother Matt Chong is gonna come up and give his testimony 00:10:57.920 |
and then we'll jump into the rest of the service. 00:11:05.920 |
and thank you for sustaining our mission teams 00:11:10.920 |
We pray, Father God, that you continue to bless our church 00:11:22.920 |
that it would genuinely be an act of worship, 00:12:27.920 |
- Let us all rise and let's spend a few moments 00:12:30.920 |
to greet the neighbors around us before we continue. 00:13:36.920 |
♪ The galaxies can't help but shout his word ♪ 00:14:34.920 |
♪ He done our death and rose up from the grave ♪ 00:15:32.920 |
♪ And in an instant faithful turned to song ♪ 00:17:01.920 |
♪ Who else commands all the hosts of heaven ♪ 00:17:12.920 |
♪ Who else can whisper when darkness trembles ♪ 00:21:59.920 |
Before I start, as I was kind of going through my reflections, 00:22:06.920 |
we got back last night and I feel like I could have had more time 00:22:14.920 |
But just a thought just came to my mind as I was reviewing 00:22:18.920 |
was that God is good, he is sovereign, he is faithful 00:22:22.920 |
and his gospel work is being done everywhere. 00:22:25.920 |
And so, if I'm not able to communicate that through my reflection, 00:22:37.920 |
And I had the privilege of being a part of this year's India missions team. 00:22:41.920 |
Our church has been partnered with the pastors in India 00:22:47.920 |
And ever since I heard the story of Pastor Matthew, 00:22:53.920 |
by the gospel work being done in the villages. 00:22:56.920 |
When thinking about going on Brilliant's missions trips to India, 00:23:03.920 |
Whether it was work, my kids, feeling like I don't have any skills, 00:23:14.920 |
But I remember a year or so ago, I mentioned to my wife, 00:23:18.920 |
it would be nice to go to India one day on the missions trip. 00:23:22.920 |
Just kind of in passing and then kind of left. 00:23:25.920 |
And then my wife just several months later randomly was like, 00:23:29.920 |
"Hey, you should go ask to join the India missions team." 00:23:34.920 |
And so that kind of gave me the encouragement to ask Pastor Peter. 00:23:37.920 |
And by God's grace, some spots opened up and I was able to go. 00:23:42.920 |
Like I mentioned, I don't really have any technical skills, 00:23:47.920 |
and just give everything I could to be useful on the trip. 00:23:51.920 |
But a big part of me of wanting to go was just to meet the pastors 00:23:55.920 |
and just to see the work that was being done. 00:23:58.920 |
Our team, again, was split between a medical team, 00:24:04.920 |
I was recruited to join the VBS team, which was led by Sky. 00:24:17.920 |
And pretty much from day one, we left to the villages, 00:24:20.920 |
which is about an hour, two-hour drive, kind of did our programs, 00:24:24.920 |
and then came back an hour or two drive, had dinner, 00:24:27.920 |
met as a team, and then that was just a repeat, 00:24:29.920 |
and then for four days straight, and then came home. 00:24:34.920 |
I can talk about our VBS team and what we did. 00:24:37.920 |
We ran a program where we sang songs through body worship, 00:24:42.920 |
shared the gospel through kind of the Salvation Bracelet craft. 00:24:57.920 |
It was encouraging to fellowship with our church family, 00:25:08.920 |
It was encouraging just to see we all had different parts, 00:25:13.920 |
and we're all doing our part to further this work. 00:25:17.920 |
There was just something refreshing waking up every morning 00:25:19.920 |
and kind of asking, like, "What's my purpose?" 00:25:21.920 |
And just being very clear, like, "Why am I here?" 00:25:27.920 |
Another reflection I had was I grew a love for the children. 00:25:35.920 |
I haven't been, but, man, I grew a love for those kids." 00:25:40.920 |
And it just reminded me how important children's ministry is. 00:25:46.920 |
When I say I enjoyed serving, it was mainly serving the kids. 00:25:51.920 |
Their smiles, their enthusiasm, and just their gratitude 00:25:55.920 |
and just us serving them made it very easy to serve. 00:26:03.920 |
my prayer is that we had planted some seeds in them, 00:26:06.920 |
and through the gospel we shared, through the love of Christ, 00:26:09.920 |
we were able to show through our actions that God would continue to work 00:26:16.920 |
It was even encouraging to see kind of the adults hovering around 00:26:22.920 |
And my hope is that through our work, the pastors come back to these villages 00:26:27.920 |
and can have opportunities to share the gospel with them as well. 00:26:32.920 |
Another reflection I had was I got to meet some amazing men of God there. 00:26:37.920 |
In the few car rides and dinner times, I got to hear their life stories, 00:26:44.920 |
These men received the word of God for comfort and security 00:26:53.920 |
I'm probably doing a disservice just to how great these men are. 00:26:57.920 |
They're so humble and relatable, yet very powerful 00:27:00.920 |
in just what they've been doing with their lives. 00:27:05.920 |
So I don't really know how to kind of conclude my thoughts. 00:27:12.920 |
My hope is that we all can pray and support and partner with the pastors 00:27:21.920 |
Our team, through our devotions, went through Thessalonians. 00:27:24.920 |
And as we were reading, we kept hearing about how the Thessalonians 00:27:28.920 |
received the word of God amidst much persecution, opposition, and suffering. 00:27:33.920 |
And it was just very humbling to see that these pastors in India are-- 00:27:40.920 |
And as I kind of reflected myself, I was like, 00:27:43.920 |
what's hindering the work of the gospel in my life? 00:27:45.920 |
And I was thinking persecution wasn't the right word. 00:27:54.920 |
And I still have a lot to digest and think through, 00:27:56.920 |
but my mind feels very clear to think about these things, 00:28:01.920 |
to think about my own life and purpose here back home. 00:28:06.920 |
And the last thought was just an encouragement 00:28:21.920 |
Pastor Peter had mentioned that our work in VBS could seem like 00:28:26.920 |
You do these two cool medical missions thing and kind of this side VBS program. 00:28:30.920 |
But the kids, their first exposure to Christians, 00:28:36.920 |
to the enthusiasm, to just the love of Christ, 00:28:44.920 |
So as the pastors go to those villages more and more, 00:28:48.920 |
maybe they're met with less hostility and more intrigued by the gospel. 00:28:54.920 |
Thank you, church family, for your prayers and support. 00:28:57.920 |
My hope is that even in the short reflection, 00:29:01.920 |
you're able to see that God is faithful, God is sovereign, and God is good. 00:29:23.920 |
it's going to be part 2 of what I started a few weeks ago, 00:29:27.920 |
and then I'm going to finish the sermon based on the vision. 00:29:30.920 |
As our brother Matt has shared, we came back from India. 00:29:35.920 |
The flight from the moment we left the hotel until we probably got home 00:29:47.920 |
This was our 10th anniversary of going into India, 00:29:53.920 |
and not going into all the history of how we started going there, 00:29:57.920 |
but Pastor Sake, who was my main contact when we first started the ministry, 00:30:03.920 |
obviously the hostility toward Christianity is growing exponentially over there. 00:30:08.920 |
So we can tell, even now as we check into the hotel, 00:30:11.920 |
before we would just check in, get our key, and get into our room, 00:30:18.920 |
Whether we're coming through the airport or we're checking into a hotel, 00:30:21.920 |
we have to go through and give them our passport, 00:30:29.920 |
and we have to explain to them why we're here, 00:30:31.920 |
and then they have to hand it over to the police station, 00:30:33.920 |
and the police station calls back and says, "Why are these foreigners here?" 00:30:36.920 |
And it's in such large numbers because there's so many of us coming. 00:30:40.920 |
One or two, maybe we won't get flagged, but so many of us are coming. 00:30:43.920 |
And so previous year, last year, they kept on calling all throughout the week, 00:30:47.920 |
checking, "Why is this visa this way? What are they doing every day?" 00:30:51.920 |
And then this time, the security was even tighter than before, 00:30:54.920 |
and so they called Pastor Sake on Monday after we checked in, 00:30:58.920 |
we're in the village, and he told me that he was having a conversation with the police station, 00:31:02.920 |
and they kept on asking him, "What is their purpose here?" 00:31:06.920 |
And we say, "We came to visit," but over and over, that many people, 00:31:12.920 |
and the greatest attraction there is this large rock fork 00:31:19.920 |
that they have sitting on the top of a hill, but they're not dumb. 00:31:27.920 |
And so Pastor Sake, he told me that he told them that these are medical workers 00:31:32.920 |
that have come to help our people in the remote villages, 00:31:36.920 |
He said, "Yes, they are Christians, but they're here to do medical work." 00:31:39.920 |
And he told me that at the end of that conversation, 00:31:42.920 |
the police station actually said, "Take good care of them." 00:31:48.920 |
And then so obviously, Pastor Sake is, "Yeah, that's why we're here. 00:31:53.920 |
And so that was great to hear, that we were kind of concerned 00:31:57.920 |
because the police station was on top of us and was watching us. 00:32:01.920 |
And so that is not how a lot of the Christians are met there, 00:32:07.920 |
Obviously, even those who are hostile toward the faith, 00:32:12.920 |
the fact that we have medical workers coming and helping them 00:32:15.920 |
with their high care and various medical things, they're very thankful. 00:32:19.920 |
But even in the midst of that, there are people who are so bent 00:32:23.920 |
on eradicating Christianity there that even that kind of stuff, they don't want. 00:32:29.920 |
And so we still have to be careful that we don't run into that. 00:32:32.920 |
But I was very thankful that at least this time around, 00:32:35.920 |
that at least whoever was ahead of the police station was calling, 00:32:39.920 |
that they saw us favorably, that we were there. 00:32:42.920 |
And so our whole work is, obviously, we can't communicate with the village people, 00:32:46.920 |
but we're able to be there and set a platform, and they ask questions, 00:32:49.920 |
"Why did these Christians come to help us when we're not even Christians?" 00:32:54.920 |
And that's the most common question that we get. 00:32:56.920 |
And then they are very thankful to the pastors who brought us. 00:33:00.920 |
And so that gives them a platform for them to go back into these villages. 00:33:04.920 |
In fact, the very last village that we went to, they told us that this village is-- 00:33:12.920 |
Christians have been persecuted in this village, but the village leader 00:33:16.920 |
in that particular village welcomed us to come in. 00:33:20.920 |
So when we got there, it was the smallest group 00:33:22.920 |
because typically there are some Christians waiting for us, 00:33:26.920 |
I think two or three families at the most in that village. 00:33:29.920 |
And we saw that the numbers represented that, 00:33:32.920 |
but about 10 minutes into what we were doing, 00:33:37.920 |
and there was about five or six of them with some other assistants 00:33:42.920 |
And even the pastors were kind of surprised that they were coming. 00:33:45.920 |
And so you can tell when leaders come into the village, it's a big deal. 00:33:53.920 |
Everybody grabs a chair, gives them the highest honored seat, 00:33:59.920 |
and then found out that they were the party leaders of that region. 00:34:04.920 |
And the party that they represent are working directly with BJP, 00:34:11.920 |
And so I asked the pastor, "So this political party is against Christianity?" 00:34:19.920 |
And so typically we have somebody share the gospel or share their testimony, 00:34:22.920 |
sing some Christian songs before we get started. 00:34:24.920 |
So I was watching the pastors to see what they would do, 00:34:27.920 |
if they were going to back down from this and try to be cautious. 00:34:34.920 |
and I could tell there was some nervousness in the room. 00:34:39.920 |
He spoke like any other village, and he started to share about Christianity. 00:34:43.920 |
And then our brother Kwon stood up, and he gave his testimony, 00:34:49.920 |
And so because the pastors were willing to preach clearly, 00:34:55.920 |
and I shared my angle of our Christian faith to the leaders. 00:35:06.920 |
because these leaders represent 34 different villages, 00:35:12.920 |
And you could tell because they were wearing a scarf that represented our party. 00:35:16.920 |
And they said this was probably the first time they'd ever heard about the gospel, 00:35:20.920 |
that they were able to hear it three separate times in one meeting. 00:35:24.920 |
And so at the end, we were just kind of watching to see 00:35:28.920 |
what kind of response that we would get from them. 00:35:30.920 |
And so they got the first crack at all the medical and eye care, 00:35:35.920 |
And as they were leaving, they were looking for me 00:35:38.920 |
because I was sitting outside with Pastor Matthew, 00:35:40.920 |
and they went out of their way to thank me for bringing our team over. 00:35:45.920 |
and so the pastors told me that they were very favorable to us 00:35:55.920 |
that they're hoping to break into the following, 00:36:00.920 |
because that's where the majority of the persecution was taking place. 00:36:02.920 |
But because now those leaders are favorable to us, 00:36:06.920 |
that they're going to begin their work in that next village. 00:36:12.920 |
they're going to have a team start to go in there, 00:36:19.920 |
they said we're going to probably have our camp in that village. 00:36:25.920 |
But because the leaders were behind what we were doing, 00:36:37.920 |
and then now that I'm a couple years beyond 50, 00:36:49.920 |
and I was in the front seat, and I said, "Okay, I can get some rest. 00:36:52.920 |
Maybe I can open up my laptop, review my sermon." 00:36:55.920 |
And then I found out that this young lady with an infant baby sat next to me. 00:37:01.920 |
And it turned into the nicest trip to the most difficult trip the whole way back. 00:37:13.920 |
I did have a cup of coffee, so hopefully that helps out. 00:37:20.920 |
and there's about five of us who was in Korea, 00:37:27.920 |
And I come back from India, obviously energized and strengthened, 00:37:38.920 |
I am convinced that we need to be in this country. 00:37:42.920 |
There are some things that I'm going to ask you to pray for in the members' meeting, 00:37:46.920 |
but how quickly Christianity has fallen in this country is mind-boggling. 00:37:55.920 |
Korea has been the talk of conversation among the mission field. 00:38:00.920 |
How quickly and how strongly Christianity came into Korea in the last 100 years, 00:38:10.920 |
how dramatically the country changed because of Christianity. 00:38:14.920 |
And so missiologists, people who study missions, 00:38:19.920 |
like how revival breaks out, how the gospel came in. 00:38:23.920 |
And at one point, it was a country that had less than 1% Christian 00:38:27.920 |
in the 50 to 60 years, went from less than 1% to 33% 00:38:36.920 |
And then to have that fall back down to below 2% 00:38:41.920 |
for people who are 23 and under is mind-boggling, 00:38:45.920 |
how quickly they rose and how quickly they fell. 00:38:48.920 |
Was it the threat of communism because of North Korea? 00:38:52.920 |
Was it their influence that caused this sharp decline? 00:38:56.920 |
Was it because of lack of discipling or organization or the support? 00:39:01.920 |
I don't think anybody can argue that because Korea has become 00:39:05.920 |
an epicenter for seminary education for all of Asia 00:39:09.920 |
because they have so many megachurches who have funding 00:39:12.920 |
and so many pastors and theologians with PhD that have come here to Europe to study 00:39:18.920 |
and they've gone back and established many, many schools over there. 00:39:23.920 |
So I don't think anybody can argue that that was the reason 00:39:25.920 |
or maybe it's because of the great political turmoil. 00:39:28.920 |
Recently, they impeached a sitting president because he declared martial law 00:39:33.920 |
and then just read this morning that he was indicted by their court, 00:39:37.920 |
that he was guilty and they're going to probably send him to prison. 00:39:40.920 |
And this was a sitting president that they did too. 00:39:42.920 |
And so was it because of the great political turmoil that affected the church? 00:39:47.920 |
Every opportunity I get to sit with a Christian leader in Korea, 00:39:52.920 |
What do you think was the downfall of Christianity in this young generation? 00:39:56.920 |
And the universal answer that I get from them is that Korea's fast-growing economy 00:40:06.920 |
As much as Christianity grew rapidly in this country, their economy followed along. 00:40:12.920 |
In the 1950s after the Korean War, they were not one of the poorest country. 00:40:17.920 |
I think it could be argued that they were the poorest country after the Korean War. 00:40:22.920 |
Countries like Haiti and many other Third World countries felt so bad for Korea 00:40:31.920 |
World Vision, Compassion International, so many orphanage organizations 00:40:35.920 |
started out in Korea because there were so many orphans after the war. 00:40:39.920 |
And so a country that may have been the poorest country in the 1950s and '60s 00:40:46.920 |
has become one of the biggest economies in Asia in a matter of four or five decades. 00:40:52.920 |
So as much as Christianity is studied, they also study the economy of Korea 00:40:58.920 |
And so most Christian leaders will say that Christianity has been deeply affected 00:41:06.920 |
because people became rich and riches basically has corrupted the church. 00:41:13.920 |
Seoul, in that one city, nine of the ten largest megachurches. 00:41:19.920 |
In the United States, if you have over 2,000 people, 00:41:25.920 |
In Korea, you're not a megachurch until you have 30,000. 00:41:29.920 |
Three, four, five, 6,000, they consider that a medium-sized church over there. 00:41:33.920 |
Nine of the ten largest churches, which means there's a concentration of finance. 00:41:41.920 |
There's a concentration of scholarship in this one city 00:41:48.920 |
Korea, South Korea, was the number two sending missionary country in the world 00:41:58.920 |
Compassion International says that they have the second largest funding 00:42:03.920 |
to support the orphan work in the world from South Korea. 00:42:13.920 |
than the church has ever experienced outside of the United States, 00:42:16.920 |
and yet they have completely lost the next generation. 00:42:21.920 |
What has corrupted the church is not a lack of manpower, 00:42:25.920 |
is not a lack of know-how, is not a lack of scholarship, 00:42:29.920 |
is that there's a tendency when the church becomes rich, 00:42:33.920 |
just like Jesus said, is more difficult than a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven, 00:42:39.920 |
than a camel to enter through an eye of a needle, 00:42:42.920 |
because riches tend to corrupt more than anything else. 00:42:55.920 |
When I ask the pastors, "How has persecution affected what you are doing here?" 00:43:03.920 |
It's difficult because they don't know where they're going to get stoned. 00:43:06.920 |
In fact, many of the pastors, because the local government is refusing support for them, 00:43:11.920 |
that their children are not able to go to school. 00:43:14.920 |
And so, because of the persecution, some have already fallen out, even among the pastors. 00:43:19.920 |
They said three of the pastors that they were working with, 00:43:22.920 |
that because of fear of the backlash that is coming from their neighbors and from the government, 00:43:29.920 |
But he said what has happened to the church, it has purified the church. 00:43:32.920 |
Nominal Christianity cannot exist in this country. 00:43:36.920 |
No one is going to risk a well-being for themselves physically and financially to be a nominal Christian. 00:43:44.920 |
And so, it may be harder to be a Christian there, but it has purified the church, 00:43:48.920 |
and they are more determined than ever to bring the gospel to the remotest part of the world. 00:43:56.920 |
When we first started going out to China about 1997, 1998, Christianity was beginning to blow up in this area. 00:44:08.920 |
It was just like people are excited every time they come back from India. 00:44:11.920 |
Some of you guys who were there in the early years when we were coming in and out of China, 00:44:14.920 |
every time we came back, it was like it was spreading the gospel. 00:44:18.920 |
Like you don't have to do anything other than sit at McDonald's and open up the Bible. 00:44:21.920 |
Just speak English and talk about Christ, and somebody wants to sit down and have a conversation. 00:44:27.920 |
And as years went by, we began to notice that their hunger for the gospel began to get squashed. 00:44:34.920 |
As the money came in, more and more we began to see the churches over there began to reflect the churches here. 00:44:42.920 |
You have young, up-and-coming college grads who are attending church, 00:44:46.920 |
and their primary goal is they want Christ, and they want to become more like the Christians in the United States 00:45:00.920 |
And so much of the gospel that began to penetrate into China in the later part 00:45:05.920 |
was because they equated Christianity with Christianity here. 00:45:10.920 |
That our life and our blessing will look like the Christians in America. 00:45:19.920 |
When you talk to the underground church and you ask them what the number of Christians is, it's very different. 00:45:24.920 |
You may have heard somewhere between 300 million to 600 million to maybe 100 million. 00:45:31.920 |
But when you ask the underground church what the number of Christianity is, 00:45:36.920 |
they'll give you a completely different number. 00:45:39.920 |
If you're talking about how many people say that they're Christians, yes, you make 300, 400 million. 00:45:44.920 |
If you're talking about people who have been born again genuine followers of Christ, 00:45:49.920 |
it says probably a very small fraction of that number. 00:45:54.920 |
I remember years ago when China was having their Olympic, I think it was 2008, 00:46:00.920 |
we've been in and out of China for almost a decade by that time, and we were all, not just me, 00:46:04.920 |
but all the mission organizations, all the Western church has been waiting and praying for China to open up 00:46:09.920 |
so that we can go in there freely, share the gospel, to plant churches. 00:46:13.920 |
And so because we were so invested in China, we were praying for China to be open, along with everyone else. 00:46:18.920 |
And we were expected, and we were planning, what are we going to do when we get into China? 00:46:27.920 |
What is our English camps going to look like when they're completely open? 00:46:31.920 |
And then we began to talk to some of the underground church leaders, 00:46:34.920 |
and they said that they were praying so that China would not open. 00:46:41.920 |
Because all the Western missionaries and churches have been praying for it to open so that we can have full access to China. 00:46:48.920 |
But the underground church leaders were saying that they're praying that it would not open 00:46:52.920 |
to stop the influence of Western Christianity into the underground church. 00:46:59.920 |
They said that the Western Christianity was beginning to hurt the underground church. 00:47:04.920 |
So as you guys know, recently, during the pandemic and after the pandemic, 00:47:08.920 |
Christianity basically have been weeded out by the government. 00:47:11.920 |
So all the major mission organizations have been chased out. 00:47:14.920 |
There are missionaries still there, but they're not connected to any big organization. 00:47:18.920 |
So the whole Western community has been concerned about this country. 00:47:22.920 |
They said, "We're not able to support them. We're not able to train them." 00:47:27.920 |
But then the recent report that's been coming out of China is that the underground church is thriving. 00:47:33.920 |
They are thriving without the Western influence, without the Western training. 00:47:39.920 |
And so obviously, the prayers of the underground church has been answered above ours. 00:47:46.920 |
We have a tendency to think that because we have money, because we have training, because we have school, we have know-how, 00:47:52.920 |
that somehow if we can spread our version of Christianity, revival will break out. 00:48:01.920 |
You see more power in remote villages in India, 00:48:06.920 |
in parts of the places where they have very little representation of Christianity. 00:48:11.920 |
And every once in a while, we are privileged to interact with them. 00:48:14.920 |
We come back with a clearer sense of what Christianity was meant to look like in those villages than what we experience here. 00:48:24.920 |
If you read the Bible and compare what the Scripture says about what Christianity ought to be, 00:48:29.920 |
and you compare with our average experience of Christianity here, it doesn't even look the same. 00:48:38.920 |
But when you're over there, everything that it says, this is what it must have looked like. 00:48:42.920 |
This is what Christianity must have looked like in the first century. 00:48:45.920 |
This is what pastor's life must have looked like. This is what they were going through. 00:48:50.920 |
In fact, all through Scripture, we are warned that when you are comfortable, that you do not forget God. 00:48:59.920 |
Deuteronomy 8, 10-11, as God is preparing the nation of Israel to enter into the Promised Land, 00:49:04.920 |
He says to them, "When you have eaten and are satisfied, you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land which He has given you. 00:49:11.920 |
Beware that you do not forget the Lord your God by not keeping His commandments and His ordinances and His statutes which I am commanding you today." 00:49:17.920 |
The primary thing that God was concerned about the nation of Israel is that when their prayers are answered, 00:49:23.920 |
and they have eaten, and they have been satisfied, that they would forget God. 00:49:28.920 |
And that's exactly what happens in Hosea chapter 13, 6 as they are taken into captivity. 00:49:39.920 |
Hosea 13, 6, "As they had their pasture, they became satisfied. 00:49:43.920 |
And being satisfied, their heart became proud. Therefore, they forgot Me." 00:49:50.920 |
Now, when He says, "They forgot Me," does that mean that they were worshipping idols? 00:49:53.920 |
Did they have ball worship and asherah polls in their homes? No. 00:49:58.920 |
In the book of Amos and Isaiah, it tells us that they were very busy sacrificing, and singing, and gathering. 00:50:06.920 |
But in the midst of that, God says, "I delight in loyalty rather than sacrifice." 00:50:10.920 |
And in the knowledge of God, then burnt offering. What you are doing is religious activity, but there's no genuine worship. 00:50:19.920 |
Israel fell by two countries, the Assyrians and the Babylonians. 00:50:25.920 |
The captivity in Assyria and Babylonia couldn't have been more polarizing. 00:50:32.920 |
Assyria came in, threatening them, killing them, chopping off their limbs to scare the nation of Israel into submission. 00:50:39.920 |
Babylonians, on the other hand, gave them privilege. 00:50:44.920 |
They integrated them into Babylonia, and they allowed them to have a good life. 00:50:50.920 |
And if you look carefully in the scripture, the world is not called Assyrians. 00:50:59.920 |
The primary way that the church falls is not through persecution. 00:51:05.920 |
It's through comfort. It's through peace. It's through wealth. 00:51:11.920 |
Christianity in the United States has become so intertwined with the health and wealth gospel, even in strong Bible teaching churches, 00:51:21.920 |
it has become so compromised that what we consider to be a blessing from God doesn't look anything different than what the world pursues. 00:51:32.920 |
When we get good jobs, when somebody is sick and they become healthy, when we make good investment, 00:51:37.920 |
when good things happen, which is no different than the eyes of the world, that that's a blessing from God. 00:51:43.920 |
And then when we get sick, we make investments, things that we don't want happening in our life, 00:51:49.920 |
and all of a sudden we say, "Where is God? How come God is not answering our prayer?" 00:51:54.920 |
Again, we have become so intertwined with the deception of the world that even in Bible teaching, Bible studying, 00:52:02.920 |
that our sense of reality of what God has called us to doesn't look anything like what we see in scripture. 00:52:08.920 |
This is why he says, "Devote yourself to prayer." 00:52:12.920 |
Be devoted to prayer, be devoted through prayer, and then he says, "You must be sober." 00:52:18.920 |
You must be sober in prayer. The word "sober" is to be watchful, to be alert. 00:52:25.920 |
In the book of Ezekiel, God calls Ezekiel a watchman. 00:52:31.920 |
Watchman is basically a person that has been set aside on the wall, and his whole job is to stay awake and to watch. 00:52:41.920 |
If that man falls asleep, whatever danger that may be coming, he's not able to warn. 00:52:49.920 |
They say, you know, the pastors are to be sober, the missionaries are to be sober, 00:52:54.920 |
the elders and the leaders are to be sober, and we have a tendency to applaud those who lead and to be sober. 00:53:01.920 |
But you are called, every single Christian has been called to be a watchman, to be sober, to be prayerful, 00:53:08.920 |
because there are your children, your family, there's people around you that we don't have any access to, 00:53:18.920 |
Matthew 26, verse 41, it says, "Keep watching and praying that you may not enter temptation. 00:53:24.920 |
The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak." 00:53:28.920 |
Jesus said that to his disciples as he was resting in prayer before he went to the cross. 00:53:33.920 |
I know your heart, I know your desire, that your spirit is willing, but your flesh is weak. 00:53:39.920 |
He says you must be sober and pray, because you have no idea how committed your enemy is for your downfall. 00:53:49.920 |
Your enemy is stronger than you, your enemy is more organized than you, 00:53:54.920 |
your enemy is more determined than you, and your enemy is more persistent than you. 00:53:59.920 |
If you knew that there was somebody, even one person, with equal strength, 00:54:06.920 |
not more powerful than you, with equal strength, and his determination is to bring you down, 00:54:13.920 |
walking around in your neighborhood, my guess is that knowledge would keep you sober. 00:54:21.920 |
Well, our enemy is more determined, more powerful, more cunning. 00:54:28.920 |
And he says he's like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour, and he is constantly scheming. 00:54:34.920 |
That's why Jesus says, "Even though you are willing, your flesh is weak." 00:54:38.920 |
You have no idea what kind of enemy that you are against. 00:54:44.920 |
You feel safe because you have a ring camera on your door? 00:54:50.920 |
You feel safe because you got a gun, and you practice to become a marksman, expert, 00:54:58.920 |
trained all your children and your wife to handle a gun well? 00:55:03.920 |
Nothing wrong with any of that. We have the freedom in this country. 00:55:11.920 |
The primary enemy that can bring us down are not going to be threatening you with guns. 00:55:18.920 |
They're not going to be at your door banging to come in. 00:55:22.920 |
The enemy that we were warned about is already in your house, is already scheming. 00:55:29.920 |
There's not a single person in this room who has not fallen, to some degree, even right now, 00:55:36.920 |
into the enemy's scheming, because you may have justified certain sins in your life, 00:55:43.920 |
and you don't know that you fell to the scheming of the devil. 00:55:49.920 |
And so, if you're not aware of the enemy's scheming in your life, and just how powerful and determined he is, 00:55:55.920 |
and you feel safe where you are because you live in a big house, because you got a big gun, 00:56:01.920 |
and you've been working out and building your muscle, and you have enough money put away as a safety net, 00:56:08.920 |
you have no clue. You have no clue what battle you're in. 00:56:14.920 |
He says you must be awake and pray and be devoted to prayer. 00:56:19.920 |
You don't know how weak and susceptible you are. 00:56:22.920 |
In Philippians 3, 3-4, it said, "For we are the true circumcision who worship in the Spirit of God, 00:56:27.920 |
glory in Christ Jesus, and put no confidence in the flesh." 00:56:31.920 |
And that's the problem of Western Christianity. 00:56:35.920 |
Because we have resources, because we have money, because we have education, because we have know-how, 00:56:40.920 |
we automatically think that if we apply ourselves, that revival can break out, 00:56:46.920 |
that we can somehow disciple people into the kingdom. 00:56:49.920 |
If we just set them a good example, not realizing the power is not in us. 00:56:54.920 |
Paul says, "We have no confidence in the flesh." 00:56:57.920 |
That doesn't mean that what we do doesn't matter. It matters. 00:57:04.920 |
And that's why he says, first and foremost, to pray. 00:57:08.920 |
If you just study the Bible without devoted prayer, it will ruin you. 00:57:13.920 |
If you evangelize without devoted prayer, it will ruin you. 00:57:17.920 |
Because you're going to come to believe that it was because of your know-how, because of your articulation, 00:57:22.920 |
because you figured out some way to get a non-Christian to agree with you, 00:57:27.920 |
that if you apply that method of what you come to say that it works, 00:57:33.920 |
that somehow that that's what God's been waiting for. 00:57:36.920 |
God's been waiting for some clever, smart, devoted people to figure out how to do this. 00:57:42.920 |
And so now that we've applied our money, we've applied our know-how and our technology, 00:57:52.920 |
God is waiting for us to realize just how susceptible we are, 00:57:56.920 |
and that we have no confidence in our flesh so that He can intervene. 00:58:01.920 |
That's why wealth has a tendency to ruin the church, 00:58:05.920 |
because it makes us proud, because we live in comfortable homes, 00:58:10.920 |
we have wealth in our bank accounts, we don't have a sense of urgency. 00:58:15.920 |
That's why we see more power in a village who has no training, very little, seminaries, 00:58:23.920 |
and yet we are more aware of the power there than here. 00:58:28.920 |
You have no idea the trials that are coming your way. 00:58:32.920 |
Mark 13:33, "Take heed, keep on the alert, for you do not know when the appointed time will come." 00:58:39.920 |
You may not feel the need to stay sober today. 00:58:44.920 |
You have no idea what's coming around the corner. 00:58:48.920 |
You know, what I found is the greatest test of your commitment to Christ is time. 00:58:59.920 |
When you feel urgent when you're young, you get older, 00:59:03.920 |
you get used to going to church, you get used to going to Bible study, 00:59:06.920 |
you get used to paying bills, you get used to serving the church, 00:59:10.920 |
and after a while you think that, "Is this it? Is this it?" 00:59:16.920 |
And everything becomes boring because it's become routine. 00:59:20.920 |
And a sense of urgency and desperateness to cling to Christ begins to die. 00:59:26.920 |
And you just do what you're supposed to do, you just do it day after day, 00:59:32.920 |
and you don't remember the last time you cried out for the lost. 00:59:37.920 |
You don't remember the last time you grieved for those around you who aren't Christians. 00:59:42.920 |
You don't remember the last time you felt unsafe because you didn't pray, 00:59:49.920 |
And the Christianity that we have accepted looks nothing like what we see in Scripture. 00:59:56.920 |
The problem is that you're there and you're okay with it. 01:00:05.920 |
Therefore be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer." 01:00:13.920 |
1 Thessalonians 5, 5-6, "For you are all sons of light and sons of day. 01:00:17.920 |
We are not of the night nor of the darkness, so let us not sleep as others do." 01:00:29.920 |
Let us not rejoice and be sad over what they're sad over 01:00:39.920 |
If Christ comes tomorrow, how will your life change? 01:00:43.920 |
If you had one year to live, all the things that you're concerned about, 01:00:48.920 |
all the things that you're anxious about, all the things that you are working so hard to get, 01:01:01.920 |
So much of our time and effort and energy is poured into things that don't matter. 01:01:08.920 |
In Matthew 24, 38-39, Jesus says, "For as in those days before the flood, 01:01:12.920 |
they were eating and drinking and marrying and giving to marriage 01:01:17.920 |
They did not understand until the flood came and took them all away. 01:01:22.920 |
You notice here, he says, before the judgment came, 01:01:25.920 |
that Christ is going to come like a thief in the night. 01:01:28.920 |
And the reason why, he doesn't say they were idolatrous and sexual immorality 01:01:33.920 |
He says they were eating and drinking and marrying like everybody else. 01:01:42.920 |
What they valued, what they celebrated, what they became sand over, 01:01:45.920 |
what they pursued was no different than the world. 01:01:57.920 |
At the end of the day, the things that we grumble over doesn't matter. 01:02:13.920 |
The things that matter so much to us has no value in eternity. 01:02:25.920 |
he said all of the Israelites went into the desert, 01:02:28.920 |
and they saw the power of God, the miracle of God. 01:02:33.920 |
And yet, he says, most of them, God was not pleased. 01:02:39.920 |
And the reason why he gives in 1 Corinthians 10, 6-10, it says, 01:02:43.920 |
"Now these things have happened as an example for us 01:02:45.920 |
so that we would not crave evil things as they also craved. 01:02:48.920 |
Do not be idolatrous as some of them were, as it is written, 01:02:51.920 |
the people sat down to eat and drink and stood up to play." 01:02:56.920 |
He's talking about all the reasons that God can give 01:02:59.920 |
why these people did not enter the promised land. 01:03:13.920 |
That's what caused them to drift away from God. 01:03:21.920 |
But even the way we ask questions about God's will, is it sin? 01:03:31.920 |
Because the Bible doesn't spell it out to be sin. 01:03:33.920 |
But the fact that we live our lives, as long as it's not sin, 01:03:38.920 |
as long as I'm not going to be prevented from going to heaven, 01:03:52.920 |
Because you don't understand the value of what it is that we have in Christ. 01:03:59.920 |
At the end of the day, the worst thing that can happen to a Christian 01:04:05.920 |
And if you're a parent, the worst thing that can happen 01:04:07.920 |
is that your children get sick and die early. 01:04:11.920 |
But if you're a child of God, the worst-case scenario 01:04:16.920 |
is that we get to be glorified earlier than other people. 01:04:20.920 |
The tragedy in this world is a rich man, a famous man, a comfortable man, 01:04:28.920 |
who has enough possession to take care of his family for the next 10 generations, 01:04:39.920 |
So if a Christian is not living his life with that perspective, 01:04:46.920 |
He has been deceived to value what is temporary, worthless, 01:04:55.920 |
and that's why he says you must be sober to pray. 01:05:01.920 |
Not only do you need to be sober to pray, he says you must be thankful. 01:05:05.920 |
Nothing kills sober praying than a grumbling spirit. 01:05:12.920 |
"Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks, 01:05:16.920 |
for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." 01:05:19.920 |
You may look at that and say there's three imperatives here to rejoice always, 01:05:24.920 |
But these three imperatives, you cannot practice one without the other. 01:05:30.920 |
Even in the world, when somebody wins a lottery or they win the Super Bowl, 01:05:35.920 |
and oftentimes even non-Christians would say, 01:05:42.920 |
Thank God for this money. Thank God for this investment. 01:05:44.920 |
Thank God that my child was sick and now he answered my prayer. 01:05:50.920 |
There's thanking, there's rejoicing, and there is communication with God. 01:06:02.920 |
Just like the world, when something good happens. 01:06:06.920 |
When somebody was sick and they become healthy. 01:06:08.920 |
You're looking for a job and you got a good job. 01:06:18.920 |
every single one of us who deserved eternal damnation 01:06:25.920 |
Every single one of us, the blood of Christ, the Son of God was shed for us 01:06:32.920 |
There is not a single second in a Christian's life 01:06:35.920 |
that when he is sober should not be thanking God for his very breath. 01:06:42.920 |
The only reason that we are not rejoicing, we are not praying, 01:06:46.920 |
we are not thanking is because we have been entangled with this world. 01:06:52.920 |
And our value system has been intertwined with this world. 01:06:58.920 |
That's why he says to rejoice always, pray without sin. 01:07:03.920 |
Because rejoicing is not based upon your circumstance. 01:07:10.920 |
Because giving thanks is not based upon your current circumstance. 01:07:14.920 |
Rejoicing and thanking and praying is based upon what Christ has already done for you. 01:07:23.920 |
You don't worship God because you won the lottery. 01:07:25.920 |
You don't worship God because you're healthy and your kids are safe. 01:07:30.920 |
We worship God because of what He has already done. 01:07:33.920 |
And that's why He can command us, always pray, always give thanks, 01:07:38.920 |
always rejoice when you are sober and you are aware of what you already have in Christ. 01:07:45.920 |
Philippians 4, 6, and 7, "Be anxious for nothing, 01:07:47.920 |
but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God." 01:07:56.920 |
Not only for those things that you can't handle. 01:08:04.920 |
He says the reason why you're anxious is because you haven't prayed. 01:08:09.920 |
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, 01:08:14.920 |
And the peace of God, which surpasses human understanding, 01:08:17.920 |
will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. 01:08:19.920 |
You know why praying gets rid of anxiousness? 01:08:23.920 |
Because if I pray, no matter what circumstance I am in, 01:08:26.920 |
if I pray and leave it to God and ask God to have Your will be done, 01:08:37.920 |
The reason why we're anxious is because this needs to happen. 01:08:44.920 |
So we're anxious, if I pray, will God fix this? 01:08:49.920 |
If we pray, "Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven," 01:08:58.920 |
What, worst case scenario, in my mind, may happen, 01:09:03.920 |
but as long as I release it and say, "Your will be done," 01:09:09.920 |
It's because we have determined what our desire is, 01:09:12.920 |
and we're trying hard to bend God's will toward my will, 01:09:15.920 |
so when my will is not done, we become anxious. 01:09:20.920 |
Whether it's job, circumstance, people, whether I'm married or not married, 01:09:24.920 |
have children or not have children, our anxiousness comes 01:09:28.920 |
because we're concerned that God will not bend His will toward mine. 01:09:35.920 |
If we pray with soberness, and we pray with faith, 01:09:50.920 |
because His will will be done, whatever that may be. 01:09:58.920 |
Is it simply so that our lives would be better? 01:10:02.920 |
Because our lives is hard, and so we need to be devoted to prayer? 01:10:06.920 |
That you didn't get the job because you weren't devoted? 01:10:08.920 |
Your family, you're having relational problems because you were not devoted? 01:10:19.920 |
Because somebody's going to break into your house? 01:10:22.920 |
Because the wrong politician is going to get into the office? 01:10:25.920 |
Why do we need to be sober so that we can pray? 01:10:33.920 |
So that we can have joy in our life and not to be anxious, 01:10:37.920 |
just focus on the positive instead of the negative? 01:10:39.920 |
Is that why He tells us that we need to be devoted and sober and be thankful 01:10:47.920 |
It's because what we need to pray for requires it. 01:10:54.920 |
He says, "Pray at the same time for us as well, that God will open to us a door for the Word, 01:11:00.920 |
so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ, for which I have also been imprisoned, 01:11:04.920 |
that I may make it clear in the way I ought to speak." 01:11:07.920 |
We need to be devoted to prayer, to be sober in prayer, to be thankful in prayer, 01:11:11.920 |
so that we can be the light that God called us to be. 01:11:18.920 |
So that we can recognize if we are being deceived to think that we're going to be here forever. 01:11:24.920 |
That if somehow, that if you don't meet the right husband at the right time, 01:11:30.920 |
that somehow your hopes and dreams are going to be dashed to the floor. 01:11:33.920 |
That if you don't have a child, a boy and a girl, 01:11:37.920 |
if you don't have the right job, if you don't have certain health, 01:11:44.920 |
that that's possibly the worst possible scenario. 01:11:47.920 |
If you've been somehow deceived that your value looks no different than the values of the world, 01:11:54.920 |
the only difference is the means for your joy is through Christ. 01:12:02.920 |
And it doesn't look any different than a Buddhist, or a Muslim, or Jehovah's Witness. 01:12:07.920 |
It's just that the one you pray to, to get it, has a different name than you have been deceived. 01:12:16.920 |
Christ did not come so that you may have a comfortable ride while judgment comes. 01:12:24.920 |
Christ came primarily to save us from judgment himself. 01:12:29.920 |
He is our joy. He is our life. He is the way. 01:12:35.920 |
Our primary call, why we need to stay sober, is because our primary call to life here on earth is to be the light. 01:12:46.920 |
Wouldn't it be easier for you if you accepted Christ and you died, just like the thief on the cross? 01:12:55.920 |
I believe you, Lord. And then when you come and get baptized in the water, you never come out. 01:13:03.920 |
If it kept you in there and you died, wouldn't your life be easier? 01:13:09.920 |
You don't have to worry about raising children. You don't have to worry about—you're in heaven. 01:13:13.920 |
And we say that every time we're at a funeral. We remind them, "Your loved one is in a better place." 01:13:21.920 |
And we're not exactly—it's not empty words because it's 100% true. 01:13:27.920 |
So then why are we here? So he can torture us? So he can see if we're going to make it or not? 01:13:42.920 |
He said, "I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not be able to prevail against it." 01:13:47.920 |
He said, "You are the light of the world." No one lights a lamp and puts it under a table. 01:13:53.920 |
He puts it on top so that the world can see. "You are the salt of the earth, and if it loses its saltiness, 01:13:58.920 |
what purpose does it serve?" What purpose does a church serve if all we are concerned about is ourselves? 01:14:10.920 |
All we are happy about is ourselves. All we grumble about is ourself. 01:14:15.920 |
I'm not comfortable. I don't like this. I don't like that. What good is it? 01:14:23.920 |
It would have been better if we died when we met Christ. 01:14:28.920 |
The reason why you and I are here is so that as Christ came to seek and save the lost, 01:14:35.920 |
that we may also deny ourselves, pick up our cross, and join him. 01:14:42.920 |
A disciple of Christ is not simply because you study the Bible. 01:14:46.920 |
A disciple of Christ is somebody who goes where Jesus goes, says what Jesus says, 01:14:55.920 |
Not simply somebody because you raised your hand because you said the right doctrine. 01:15:02.920 |
Paul prays that the door may be opened. 1 Corinthians 16, 8-9, 01:15:06.920 |
"I will remain in Ephesus until Pentecost, for a wide door for effective service has been opened to me, 01:15:17.920 |
One of the stories that we kept on hearing from the pastors in India 01:15:21.920 |
is that because of this persecution, how do you bring the gospel to the lost? 01:15:25.920 |
And there's one particular story that Pastor David, 01:15:28.920 |
and if you've ever been to India and you met Pastor David, 01:15:34.920 |
His brother is the one who's always talking, and he's joking around with us, 01:15:37.920 |
and Pastor David is always the quiet one in the back. 01:15:40.920 |
He was the one who was halfway through his pharmacy school, 01:15:43.920 |
and he said, you know, I was determined not to be a pastor 01:15:46.920 |
because he saw what his dad went through and what they went through, 01:15:49.920 |
sleeping on the field when they're being chased out. 01:15:52.920 |
He said, "I don't want to bring my children into that." 01:15:54.920 |
And then he said, in the middle of his pharmacy school, 01:15:57.920 |
he said he repented and he decided to follow Christ. 01:16:01.920 |
And he also prayed, not only for himself, that if God gave him a son, 01:16:08.920 |
So he has an older son who's 16 years old who's prepping to go into ministry. 01:16:13.920 |
And we asked him, "How do you handle going into these villages 01:16:20.920 |
And he just said, "I go in there and they kick us out, 01:16:23.920 |
and we wait till they calm down, and they go back, 01:16:31.920 |
He said, "Well, there's one village that he went to after he became a Christian 01:16:34.920 |
to share the gospel because no Christianity has ever touched this area. 01:16:38.920 |
It's in the top of a large hill, and it's very difficult to get to." 01:16:42.920 |
And once he got there, he had to stay there for several months. 01:16:46.920 |
And he said he went back and forth to that village over 12 times 01:16:51.920 |
as they were kicking him out, hostile toward him, throwing rocks, beating him. 01:16:56.920 |
He said eventually somebody came to Christ, and they were able to plant the church. 01:17:03.920 |
Think about how rich people determine a wide open door. 01:17:15.920 |
Is there air conditioning if we're going to go? 01:17:19.920 |
If we don't have what we're comfortable, what we're used to here, 01:17:25.920 |
Compare how they saw the door open and how rich people consider a door open. 01:17:31.920 |
And this is why Christianity is weak where we're at. 01:17:38.920 |
But if wealth blinds you, if wealth makes comfort a necessity, 01:17:45.920 |
if wealth becomes a primary distinction between blessing and not blessing, 01:17:56.920 |
We need to pray and engage the harvest because God has given us resource. 01:18:06.920 |
We can use that resource so that we can be comfortable, 01:18:09.920 |
or we can use that resource for the purpose of gospel ministry. 01:18:23.920 |
1 Peter 3:15, "Sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, 01:18:27.920 |
always being ready to make defense to everyone who asks you 01:18:30.920 |
to give an account for the hope that is in you, 01:18:46.920 |
open our eyes to see how desperate we are when we are not near you, 01:18:53.920 |
how vulnerable we are when we are not clinging to you, 01:19:05.920 |
Help us to be engaged, Lord God, in this dark world, 01:19:12.920 |
that more and more of your elect may come to Christ. 01:19:16.920 |
Help us, Lord God, to be an extension of who you are, wherever we are. 01:19:22.920 |
Help us, Lord God, in our weakness, that we may pray, pray, pray, 01:19:28.920 |
that your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. 01:22:56.920 |
♪ For eternal life to be raised with Christ ♪