back to index4.18.21 sunday sermon
00:03:50.000 |
It's not the same diet that you're following and 00:09:51.480 |
We will now begin our worship service with a time of praise. 00:14:44.480 |
>> Good morning, welcome to Breen Community Church. 00:14:56.480 |
We have a few announcements before we get started. 00:14:59.480 |
But first of all, if you've noticed as you were coming through the parking lot, 00:15:03.480 |
we made a little connection between that building and this building so that the moms 00:15:07.480 |
with small children who have strollers, you can use that little ramp to get to both 00:15:12.480 |
buildings, you don't have to pick the child up and go back and forth. 00:15:16.480 |
And you've also probably noticed that in between the two buildings we cemented so 00:15:19.480 |
that we got rid of the rocks so that the small children don't have to be throwing 00:15:25.480 |
So that portion of it is already dry so you can step on it. 00:15:33.480 |
And one other thing is we've asked the families with small children to park on 00:15:38.480 |
the other side across in the Alliant building. 00:15:41.480 |
But I think it'd probably be safer to have the parents park on that side if you 00:15:46.480 |
have small children so that you don't have to cross the street. 00:15:49.480 |
So we don't have to be concerned about children running back and forth and 00:15:56.480 |
And so if you're single and healthy and you have good legs, try to park on the 00:16:01.480 |
So starting from next week, we'll reserve that side for the parents with small 00:16:05.480 |
children or if you have some ailment and you can't cross the street, then you can 00:16:10.480 |
Otherwise, if you guys can just park, first park across the street and then we'll 00:16:15.480 |
We'll remind you so you don't forget about that. 00:16:17.480 |
All right, next Sunday we have members meeting at 2.30 p.m. 00:16:22.480 |
Most likely this will be the last time we have members meeting online. 00:16:25.480 |
Hopefully by the time we have the next one that things will be open and we'll be a 00:16:31.480 |
But next Sunday's meeting is going to be at 2.30 p.m. 00:16:34.480 |
We have quite a few new members to introduce. 00:16:37.480 |
In fact, I think that's the record number of members being introduced is going to be 00:16:45.480 |
The Zoom meeting and access is going to be given to you and so please come to that, 00:16:51.480 |
Before I say anything else, Pastor Peter Chung, who is head of our family ministry, has a 00:16:59.480 |
This is for you if you got married after 2018. 00:17:06.480 |
We're restarting a ministry called FAM245, which comes from Deuteronomy 24.5, which basically 00:17:13.480 |
says when you are newlywed, the husband in the marriage isn't supposed to be sent off 00:17:19.480 |
to war or have to get any duty laid on him but to really learn how to be just a good 00:17:25.480 |
And so what this ministry is for is just for the couples who haven't been married long 00:17:32.480 |
before habits and traditions have been totally set. 00:17:36.480 |
We really want to just have a ministry where we can nurture and grow you. 00:17:42.480 |
And we're going to be starting that officially May 15th with a big barbecue here at church. 00:17:48.480 |
The older family members, the older family ministry members are going to come and cook 00:17:54.480 |
So if you guys have gotten married any time after January 1st, 2018, you actually can 00:18:07.480 |
It'll be about a quarterly meetings and that's just a heads up. 00:18:13.480 |
So if you guys want to know what this is about, just come and sign up for that. 00:18:17.480 |
If you got married before that, December 31st, 2017, I'm so sorry. 00:18:24.480 |
So a couple more announcements before we get started. 00:18:30.480 |
Okay, this is the fellowship for the Sisters Ministry. 00:18:33.480 |
On May 22nd, they're going to be listening to an audio of a missionary and then having 00:18:43.480 |
So again, the links for that will be on the website, your phone app and Facebook. 00:18:51.480 |
Right after our main worship time, our brother George Wu is going to come up and he's going 00:18:57.480 |
to be sharing his testimony and get baptized this morning. 00:19:01.480 |
We have two high school students back to back being baptized. 00:19:09.480 |
And then again, if you have physical offering, it'll be the boxes in the back. 00:19:16.480 |
Heavenly Father, we continue to thank you for your blessing over our lives. 00:19:23.480 |
With all the changes and different things that are going on around us, help us truly 00:19:31.480 |
Our emotions, our thoughts, our plans, our hope, all of it, Lord God, will be centered 00:19:43.480 |
And even in our offering, may it be a representation of our own heart and our lives that we give 00:19:48.480 |
to you, that it may be multiplied for your use 30, 60, 100 fold. 00:20:32.480 |
As we continue our worship, would you please stand with us? 00:29:47.480 |
I was served in the AV team for the youth group there. 00:29:50.480 |
As time went on, probably around the 6th or 7th grade, these convictions to go to church had failed me. 00:29:58.480 |
I thought I'd found a place where I could have some good friends who were going to be with me forever, but surely it may have failed me. 00:30:14.480 |
I was a student, and I would soon grow to hate the church. The church would become a burden on my life, and I'd hate going to church. 00:30:23.480 |
I'd hate going to church every Friday and Sunday, and try to leave as soon as possible. 00:30:31.480 |
Eventually, I'd stop going to church. In my school life, I would try to be the most popular, trying to gain validation from many of those around me. 00:30:40.480 |
In seeking after this validation, I would often do bad things, where I would go to parties, break rules, curse, and continue to live a life full of sin. 00:30:50.480 |
After many fights with my parents and fears within our family, I'd turn away from the church and continue to live a life full of sin. 00:31:03.480 |
At this point, I had not found any meaning in life, and I'd been very depressed. I was looking for a joy in the world that could never fulfill me. 00:31:12.480 |
My brother Justin had asked us, and many times urged Charles and I, to come out to Brayton. 00:31:23.480 |
But we would always say hurtful things to him, and continuously reject him. 00:31:28.480 |
One thing that I remember him saying to me was, "Hey George, I really think there's something special about the youth group there." 00:31:38.480 |
And all I could remember him saying to him was, or at least in my head, was that he should stop asking me to come every week. 00:31:49.480 |
And one week after Justin had asked me again, I still don't know why, but I had a sudden urge to go, and all I could say was that it was God's grace and love over me that had made me make this decision. 00:32:03.480 |
Ephesians 2 says, "For by grace ye have been saved through faith, and that in all of yourselves is the gift of God." 00:32:11.480 |
God has shown his love and grace to me by bringing me to Brayton. 00:32:18.480 |
After the first week of attending Brayton's youth group, I'd seen how welcoming and loving both the students and teachers were, and I'd felt a sense of belonging. 00:32:25.480 |
Charles and I quickly integrated into the youth group, and would continue to attend every Friday and Sunday through Thursday. 00:32:33.480 |
After listening to many sermons about my sin, and how it was like mold rotting inside me, I'd been very convicted and knew I had to change. 00:32:41.480 |
God then had begun to reveal to me how much of a sinner I was, and at that point, I began to cut off the many bad influences in my life. 00:32:50.480 |
And by God's grace, I would soon find the desire to study and read his word, and to cry out to him in prayer. 00:32:56.480 |
I am reminded that his word is the only thing that can bring me joy, so I'll continue to strive to obey his word, and continue to strive to live a life of holiness. 00:33:05.480 |
The Lord is my strength and my shield, my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. 00:33:09.480 |
Therefore, my heart drowns, and with my song, I shall thank him. 00:34:08.480 |
And also, thank you for all the youth group leaders and teachers who are laboring their life, and again, the faithful parents who've been raising him. 00:34:17.480 |
And so it's always great, you know, when we hear baptism testimonies, but to see the younger ones at our church being baptized, it's a tremendous blessing. 00:34:26.480 |
If you can turn your Bibles with me to Hebrews 11, verse 35. 00:34:31.480 |
It says up to 38, but I'm going to be reading all the way to verse 40. 00:34:48.480 |
Reading out of the NASB, "Women received back their dead by resurrection, and others were tortured, not accepting their release so that they might obtain a better resurrection. 00:34:58.480 |
Others experienced mockings and scourging, yes, also chains and imprisonment. 00:35:03.480 |
They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword. 00:35:08.480 |
They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated, 00:35:13.480 |
men of whom the world was not worthy, wandering in deserts and mountains, caves and holes in the ground. 00:35:19.480 |
And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised, because God has provided something better for us, so that apart from us they would not be made perfect." 00:35:33.480 |
Heavenly Father, we pray for your anointing over this time. 00:35:36.480 |
More than just the words, I pray that you would convict our hearts, our will, our mind, that it may all be surrendered to you, and to be renewed and sanctified according to your purpose and will. 00:35:52.480 |
I'm sure there's many people in this room and people who are even outside who've been affected by Campus Crusade for Christ ministry. 00:36:01.480 |
How many of you know that ministry or have been part of that ministry in some sense? 00:36:05.480 |
Okay, so they're not as prevalent today, but again, when I was younger, CCC on campus was probably the predominant campus ministry, and they had an impact all over the world. 00:36:20.480 |
I had an opportunity to meet him years ago at some conference, and a small number of us, about 30 or 40 pastors, were able to be in a room with him and just kind of pick his brain and ask questions. 00:36:30.480 |
And this was a man who was committed to prayer and committed to fasting. 00:36:34.480 |
And one of the biggest contributions that he made was, at least in that generation, and probably even recent generation, is the four spiritual laws. 00:36:44.480 |
And so I was trained, probably for the first maybe about seven to eight years when I became a Christian, how to evangelize and share the gospel with these four spiritual laws. 00:36:52.480 |
And the four spiritual laws basically goes, God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. 00:36:57.480 |
But number two, but because of our sins, we've been separated from God. 00:37:00.480 |
And number three, Jesus Christ is the answer. 00:37:04.480 |
And then the fourth one is that each person must confess his sins and ask for forgiveness, and God will forgive you. 00:37:11.480 |
And so that, those number, going through step by step, was the way that we were all, my generation, was trained how to share the gospel. 00:37:19.480 |
As years went by, I realized that sometimes that first part of that spiritual law, God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life, can easily be twisted. 00:37:30.480 |
And I know, again, Bill Bright is a godly man. 00:37:36.480 |
But I've seen in many cases where that part, where God has a wonderful plan for your life, and people have mistaken that the primary goal of the gospel is to make sure that we have a wonderful plan, that we have a wonderful life. 00:37:53.480 |
That even in our suffering, God has a purpose for that, because he's trying to make it even better. 00:37:58.480 |
And so what we want to look at today is look at this passage, and this passage basically destroys that idea. 00:38:07.480 |
This health and wealth gospel idea of if you follow Jesus Christ, you're going to have health, wealth, and long life, and your business is going to go well, your family is going to be in order. 00:38:16.480 |
You know, if you, some of you may know that, again, the health and wealth gospel preachers, and you know, they get called out pretty often. 00:38:28.480 |
Joel Osteen, and I'm not shy about saying that because Joel Osteen is a false prophet. 00:38:33.480 |
If you have been reading his book, I strongly encourage you to stop reading his books, because he is not preaching anything that comes out of scripture. 00:38:42.480 |
Joel Osteen is quoted in saying, in his book, Best Life Now, "God didn't make you to be average. God created you to excel. 00:38:50.480 |
Therefore, if you will start acting like it, talking like it, seeing yourself as more than a conqueror, you will live a prosperous and victorious life." 00:39:01.480 |
If you want something, you think it, you name it, and then eventually you will claim it. 00:39:06.480 |
Benny Hinn, again, another false prophet, is quoted in saying, "God will begin to prosper you, for money always follows righteousness." 00:39:17.480 |
This man sounds like a man who's never touched his Bible. 00:39:21.480 |
How can anybody be reading the Bible that says, "Money always follows righteousness"? 00:39:28.480 |
In fact, he warned his disciples, "Foxes have holes, birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head." 00:39:35.480 |
In other words, if you follow me, you're going to be homeless. 00:39:39.480 |
I remember years ago watching a television program by a guy named Fred Price. 00:39:50.480 |
In fact, his church was the church that bought the Coliseum. 00:39:56.480 |
He was able to hit over almost 100,000 people into that place. 00:40:01.480 |
I remember, because he was a great speaker, and I had no idea who he was, he was just very interesting to listen to. 00:40:07.480 |
I remember listening to him one Sunday early morning. 00:40:10.480 |
In the service, he asked, "How many of you here are on welfare, or having some kind of assistance, or having a hard time paying your bills?" 00:40:19.480 |
He made all these people stand up, and they had no idea what he was doing. 00:40:23.480 |
A good number of people stood up in the room. 00:40:27.480 |
As they were standing up, he began to rebuke them. 00:40:31.480 |
He said, "You are poor because you don't have faith, because your faith isn't perfect. 00:40:39.480 |
If you had faith like I have faith, you would have what I have." 00:40:43.480 |
He began to brag about the kind of cars he had, how many Rolls Royces that he had, what kind of house that he lived in. 00:40:49.480 |
I remember just being disgusted by what he was doing. 00:40:54.480 |
Every single one of those people who stood up, not knowing why he was asking them to stand up, obviously began to shrink. 00:41:04.480 |
Hebrews 11, 35-38, completely obliterates any part of anything that these people have said and continue to say today. 00:41:14.480 |
In fact, one of the fastest growing religion, and it's not Christianity, 00:41:19.480 |
one of the fastest growing religion in the world is this health and wealth gospel, prosperity gospel, in the name of Christ. 00:41:27.480 |
If you go to places and they say, "We have so many Christians in China. We have so many Christians in India." 00:41:33.480 |
You have to dig through the numbers to see exactly how many Christians there really are, because they lump all of us together. 00:41:40.480 |
You'll find that I've heard as many as 350 million Christians in China. 00:41:51.480 |
When I had an opportunity to sit down and talk with an underground Chinese leader, they said, "It's nowhere near that number." 00:41:57.480 |
They said, "The majority of these people don't know what they believe, and those who profess to believe are followers of Kenneth Hagen, the health and wealth gospel." 00:42:08.480 |
They think that if they become Christian, that they will become wealthy like the Americans. 00:42:13.480 |
That's the primary reason why they're converted to Christianity, many of them. 00:42:18.480 |
When Hebrews 11.35, it begins by saying, "Women received back the dead by resurrection." 00:42:23.480 |
Up to this point, every part of chapter 11 was saying that because of faith, they did this tremendous thing for God. 00:42:31.480 |
But then at the Talmud, he says, "And others." 00:42:37.480 |
He doesn't name them, but we know who they are because there are more people who fall into this category than the category from 35 up. 00:42:47.480 |
There are specific names that are mentioned for us, and we tend to highlight those people. 00:42:51.480 |
How David, by faith, was able to conquer this, and how Abraham was able to do that, and how Joseph was able to do this. 00:42:59.480 |
But the number of people that actually fall into this category, starting from verse 35b all the way down, are so many they can't be numbered. 00:43:09.480 |
Any one of these things that is being said here can be found in almost every part of Israel's history. 00:43:15.480 |
There's a reason why they're not named, because there's just too many of them. 00:43:21.480 |
Others were tortured, not accepting their release so that they might obtain a better resurrection. 00:43:27.480 |
And others experienced mockings and scourgings, yes, also chains and imprisonment, all because of their faith. 00:43:34.480 |
They were stoned, they were sawn to two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword. 00:43:40.480 |
They went about in sheepskin, goatskin, being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated. 00:43:45.480 |
He doesn't say that all this happened to them because they lacked faith. 00:43:50.480 |
He doesn't say that because they lacked righteousness. 00:43:52.480 |
It's because of their faith, he says, they experienced all of this. 00:43:57.480 |
Men and women whom the world, men of whom the world was not worthy, wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground. 00:44:04.480 |
I remember years ago, I think it's been about maybe 17, 18 years, I was at a conference and John Piper was one of the keynote speakers. 00:44:12.480 |
And he came up to speak and he said, "You know, I had this message prepared, but I'm going to preach something completely different." 00:44:18.480 |
And he said, he literally just changed it, the night before. 00:44:23.480 |
And he preached a powerful sermon about suffering in America. 00:44:28.480 |
How God caused Christians to suffer in America. 00:44:31.480 |
And I remember after he gave this message, I was always wondering what caused him to do that. 00:44:37.480 |
What was interesting was, in the conference, there was about 27 Russian pastors who were part of this former Soviet Union, 00:44:49.480 |
who was coming in and out of prison during the communist era for sharing their faith. 00:44:55.480 |
And they actually paid their fees to be able to come to the United States, you know, house them, to be participating in this. 00:45:02.480 |
And I remember one of the top leaders who spent more than 17 years in prison because of sharing the gospel, 00:45:08.480 |
came up to give his testimony and the first thing that he said was, "Thank you, Pastor John. 00:45:13.480 |
I was actually very shocked to hear a sermon like what you gave in America." 00:45:19.480 |
And it was a thank you to John Piper, but it was a back slap for American Christianity. 00:45:26.480 |
He said, "I would have never thought an American pastor would preach this kind of sermon into American pastors." 00:45:35.480 |
So in other words, even though he was very thankful to be there and to be at this conference, 00:45:40.480 |
their idea of American Christianity is that Americans don't know what it means to suffer. 00:45:46.480 |
In fact, suffering isn't part of their theology. 00:45:52.480 |
You have to remember the author is writing this letter to people who have been fatigued by suffering. 00:46:01.480 |
This whole letter is written to people who were faithful in the beginning, 00:46:06.480 |
but because it wasn't relenting, it wasn't a momentary suffering. 00:46:12.480 |
So in the beginning, they were rejoicing over their suffering, but it wouldn't relent. 00:46:17.480 |
So 10 years went by, 20 years went by, possibly over 30 years went by, 00:46:26.480 |
So instead of outright rejecting the gospel, they began to slowly start to drift back into their own life, 00:46:35.480 |
Backsliding doesn't happen one day you wake up and say, "I don't want to follow Christ anymore." 00:46:41.480 |
Usually the way it happens is you compromise a little bit here, you compromise a little bit there, 00:46:44.480 |
you take a little bit here, next thing you know you're just starting to slip. 00:46:51.480 |
The Word of God is no longer exciting for you. 00:46:58.480 |
And eventually you find yourself far from hearing God's voice. 00:47:04.480 |
And that's what was happening to the people that this letter was written to. 00:47:08.480 |
They were beginning to slide back to their own life, 00:47:11.480 |
because the life that they chose to follow was beginning to hurt them. 00:47:16.480 |
So you would think that the author who was writing this, up to verse 35, said, "Persevere in faith." 00:47:21.480 |
Because look how great things that God did, even in their persecution, even in their suffering, 00:47:31.480 |
He wraps up the story by telling them, "Yes, God did these great things, 00:47:35.480 |
but also many people lived in suffering, and it ended in suffering." 00:47:48.480 |
This is no different than the whole message of the cross. 00:47:53.480 |
Jesus said, "If you want to follow me, pick up your cross. Deny yourself." 00:47:58.480 |
Again, I said, it's stated so plainly in Scripture, 00:48:04.480 |
and yet somehow we hear it, and then it just gets filed away. 00:48:07.480 |
We know it. We know it. We know the Bible says it. 00:48:12.480 |
We memorize it, but what does it mean in our life? 00:48:24.480 |
Broad, the easy path that everybody takes to compromise, 00:48:28.480 |
to wanting to fit in, not sacrificing anything, 00:48:31.480 |
but wanting to be a Christian follower, and to fit in, 00:48:34.480 |
and have everything that the world has to offer, 00:48:37.480 |
the broad way, even though it seems good, it leads to destruction, 00:48:46.480 |
He says, "The heroes of the faith," in verse 35, he says, 00:48:50.480 |
"some of them were tortured, not accepting their release, 00:48:53.480 |
so that they might obtain a better resurrection." 00:48:56.480 |
Some experienced resurrection, and we have records of that. 00:49:00.480 |
Elijah and Elisha, we have both records of both of them 00:49:04.480 |
resurrecting widows' children, but some of them deliberately 00:49:17.480 |
See, that health and wealth gospel is so deeply embedded into our psyche, 00:49:23.480 |
we practice it, we talk about it, we pray for it, 00:49:31.480 |
I remember I was at a conference, and they invited me to ask 00:49:36.480 |
and give a short presentation about the history of our church, 00:49:39.480 |
and what do we do in our church, and why did our church grow? 00:49:43.480 |
Before our church grew, nobody asked me to give that presentation. 00:49:47.480 |
Tell us how you keep your church so small, for so long. 00:49:53.480 |
How do you get visitors to only come once a year? 00:49:59.480 |
As soon as our church started to grow, they said, "Can you come and tell us 00:50:05.480 |
I remember sitting at a round table, and there was about four churches 00:50:15.480 |
deconstructing this, and deconstructing that, 00:50:18.480 |
and how they deconstruct the marriage, and then put it back together, 00:50:21.480 |
and I was listening to all these things like, "Wow, these guys are smart." 00:50:25.480 |
And then, "This is their plan, and this is their five-year plan, 00:50:27.480 |
ten-year plan," and everybody's just nodding, saying, "Wow." 00:50:31.480 |
And I remember when it got to my turn, I said, "We should have died." 00:50:36.480 |
I had no plan. I didn't want to plant this church. 00:50:44.480 |
Even now, there's some kicking and screaming. 00:50:48.480 |
Our church is kind of like, you throw the seed out, 00:50:54.480 |
and then everybody's like, "What? It didn't die?" 00:50:56.480 |
That's our church, so if you want to know the plan, that's our plan. 00:51:04.480 |
But if there's anything I can tell you, I said, "God is seeking his own glory." 00:51:13.480 |
Do what the Bible says, and get out of the way. 00:51:16.480 |
So I remember after I said that, the guy who was moderating this thing said, 00:51:21.480 |
"Oh, that's interesting. Peter's kind of interesting." 00:51:27.480 |
And then he kind of wrapped it up by saying, "Who knows? 00:51:30.480 |
Maybe if you do the same thing, your church can also be big like Berean." 00:51:35.480 |
I was like, "You just ruined everything I just said!" 00:51:40.480 |
I said, "That's exactly the opposite of what I was trying to say." 00:51:46.480 |
In fact, all of those things are things that I could learn from. 00:51:50.480 |
But God's primary thing that he desires is his own glory. 00:52:03.480 |
So having a big church or a small church, or bearing a lot of fruit or little fruit, 00:52:08.480 |
or having a lot of people say thank you and having everybody hate you, 00:52:17.480 |
All he told us is not to turn from the left or to the right. 00:52:20.480 |
But that thought is so embedded in our psyche, 00:52:23.480 |
that if you're faithful, if you pray enough, that if you do the right things, 00:52:28.480 |
certain results that we want is going to happen. 00:52:33.480 |
And sometimes we spiritualize that because it's in the church. 00:52:38.480 |
Like my family's going to be okay, my marriage is going to be okay, 00:52:45.480 |
Sometimes God will allow us to experience suffering for the purpose of his glory. 00:52:52.480 |
It's not recorded in the Scripture, but according to history, according to secular history, 00:52:58.480 |
many Jews believe that Isaiah was sawn in two by Manasseh. 00:53:02.480 |
Isaiah, this great prophet, who told us tremendous things, 00:53:06.480 |
that we quote probably one of the most quoted prophets in the Bible. 00:53:12.480 |
At the end of his life, he didn't end in glory. 00:53:16.480 |
He got sawn in two by Manasseh because they were just so sick and tired of his message. 00:53:21.480 |
The primary message, the false message of the false prophets is not a call to repentance. 00:53:34.480 |
And the reason why so many people follow that is because that's exactly what everybody is looking for. 00:53:39.480 |
Peace. Peace in my family, peace in my business, peace in my future, peace in my relationships. 00:53:45.480 |
This is why I go to school, so that I can have peace in my family. 00:53:50.480 |
And when there is no peace, something has gone wrong. 00:53:56.480 |
We want to re-evaluate, we want to deconstruct, and we want to put it back together so that we can have greater peace. 00:54:02.480 |
Jeremiah. I mean, think how bad his life was that we called him the weeping prophet. 00:54:12.480 |
And one of the letters he writes, one of the books that he writes is lamentation. 00:54:26.480 |
In verse 37b, it says, "They went about in sheepskin, goatskin, destitute, afflicted, ill-treated, men whom the world was not worthy, wandering in deserts, mountains, and caves, and holes in the ground." 00:54:37.480 |
Now, we can probably pick any of the prophets and say they fit this, but nobody stands out more than Jeremiah. 00:54:44.480 |
Every part of this passage, Jeremiah experiences in his life. 00:55:00.480 |
You know, when I think about my life, there are four very specific markers that completely changed my life. 00:55:08.480 |
The first one, I had no choice. It just happened to me. 00:55:12.480 |
When my parents decided to come to the United States. 00:55:15.480 |
So that's the reason why I'm not speaking Korean. 00:55:21.480 |
And so, you know, I spoke Korean until I was about seven years old, and then obviously I transitioned. 00:55:28.480 |
But obviously everything, my culture, my education, where I live, finance, all of that changed because of that. 00:55:36.480 |
The second big change, which was the biggest change of all of them, was when I met Christ. 00:55:46.480 |
Everything that I valued and desired and wanted to do and how I wanted to live my life, how I wanted to die, was all affected when I met Christ. 00:55:55.480 |
Third was when I decided to go into ministry. 00:55:59.480 |
Even as a Christian, you know, I was trying to choose a path that I wanted to live in. 00:56:09.480 |
And the reason why that was such a big decision for me is because I come from two generations of pastors. 00:56:14.480 |
My grandfather was a pastor, my dad was a pastor, and I did not want to live that miserable life. 00:56:23.480 |
Most of my memory of the ministry that I saw was miserable. 00:56:31.480 |
I'm sure all of it wasn't like that, but that's what I remember. 00:56:34.480 |
So when I chose to go into ministry, I was deliberately stepping into something that I hated all my life. 00:56:43.480 |
So I thought, well, if I'm not going to be great in the world, I'm not going to make a lot of money, 00:56:51.480 |
then I'm going to be like a general in God's kingdom. 00:56:57.480 |
And even if I die early, you know, I get to go to heaven. 00:57:00.480 |
I'm going to run my life, you know, run as hard as I can, go to the most difficult places, 00:57:08.480 |
And then I get martyred early and go to heaven early. 00:57:13.480 |
That's why I was doing crazy things because I was like, the worst thing that can happen is I just die early. 00:57:20.480 |
But the fourth thing that really, and probably one of the hardest decisions, 00:57:26.480 |
even more than to go into ministry, was the fourth decision. 00:57:30.480 |
The fourth decision was to embrace, possibly, Jeremiah's ministry. 00:57:36.480 |
I didn't mind the idea of suffering and doing crazy things and preaching at, you know, 00:57:41.480 |
public preaching in open places and, you know, getting yelled at and screamed at. 00:57:46.480 |
And I remember the craziest thing that I did was there was an anti-war rally in Cal State LA. 00:57:52.480 |
You know, this is where the first Gulf War was taking place, 00:57:54.480 |
and they had hundreds of people who didn't want to go to class, you know what I mean, 00:58:00.480 |
And I thought, this would be a great place to preach the gospel. 00:58:04.480 |
And not because I thought it was effective, I just did it because it was crazy. 00:58:09.480 |
So I stood up in the rally and I started preaching the gospel. 00:58:13.480 |
And they were very happy with me until I said, "Jesus." 00:58:17.480 |
You know, and I don't think most people will ever know what it feels like 00:58:21.480 |
to have about 300 people flip you off at the same time. 00:58:27.480 |
But all of that was a badge of honor to me because I did it for Christ. 00:58:33.480 |
But what I started to wrestle with in the beginning of ministry 00:58:37.480 |
was it started to look like that maybe the rest of my life I'm going to commit to 15, 20, 25 college kids. 00:58:46.480 |
You know, and it was a hard time paying bills. 00:58:50.480 |
You know, and I started to withdraw from the outside. 00:58:53.480 |
Prior to building this church or starting this church, I was outside preaching everywhere, 00:58:57.480 |
and then all of a sudden I became a hermit, and all my friends said, "What happened to you, Peter?" 00:59:01.480 |
I said, "I can't pay bills. I have to take care of my family. I don't have time to do any of this stuff." 00:59:11.480 |
You know, Apostle Paul did these great things, and then he died in glory. 00:59:19.480 |
That's a fantastic life. I wouldn't mind that even if I die early. 00:59:27.480 |
Day after day, he's preaching and lamenting and crying out. 00:59:32.480 |
"Why are they doing this? Stop doing this. Don't you know the judgment's coming?" 00:59:38.480 |
And the false prophets would come and say, "That guy's a liar. 00:59:41.480 |
Every time he opens his mouth, we're discouraged. 00:59:45.480 |
Get that guy out of here." So all his life, I mean, Jeremiah, Lamentation, I remember praying, 00:59:50.480 |
"What if God called you to be Jeremiah for the rest of your life? 00:59:56.480 |
You're going to preach to people who don't care, 01:00:00.480 |
and everybody's calling you the false prophet. 01:00:07.480 |
What if that's the way God's going to be glorified?" 01:00:14.480 |
If I didn't come from a pastor's family, I don't think maybe it would have been as hard, 01:00:21.480 |
I was a child in that family, and my dad was a child in the family before him. 01:00:28.480 |
and the thought of, "I can give my life and even my family's life, 01:00:34.480 |
even if I die early, if this means glory for God in a big way, 01:00:40.480 |
but to give my life and family for people who aren't going to care, 01:00:48.480 |
and they're indifferent, and I'm pouring my heart out, 01:00:53.480 |
and the response I get is, "Man, you were loud today." 01:01:03.480 |
"Dude, man, it was five minutes over this week." 01:01:15.480 |
It was gut-wrenching, but I had to surrender. 01:01:20.480 |
I had to surrender, because I realized more people than not in God's kingdom 01:01:36.480 |
We don't know about missionaries who went to the jungle and just died. 01:01:40.480 |
There's nothing written about them because they didn't plant churches. 01:01:44.480 |
We don't know about pastors who went and gave their life, 01:01:47.480 |
and then at the end of their life had no retirement, nothing, 01:01:55.480 |
I've had missionary friends who went to the field for 20-some years 01:01:58.480 |
and came back, and they said, "I feel like beggars," 01:02:01.480 |
because they didn't invest anything for the future. 01:02:11.480 |
I know more people who are just aching and suffering 01:02:18.480 |
in trying to be faithful to God than the books that have been written 01:02:23.480 |
about these great men who are very talented with large churches 01:02:28.480 |
And we all look to that and say, "That's what I want to do. 01:02:38.480 |
But for every one person that is highlighted, 01:02:40.480 |
there's hundreds of thousands of people who are just faithfully 01:02:43.480 |
chipping away in their faith, suffering, struggling, wondering, 01:02:49.480 |
"Do I want to keep doing this because it's hard?" 01:02:54.480 |
These health and wealth gospel people are not only telling lies, 01:03:00.480 |
it's destroying churches because they're causing people 01:03:05.480 |
to put their faith in something that is going to only destroy their confidence. 01:03:11.480 |
Remember when Paul met Jesus while he was blind for three days? 01:03:17.480 |
Jesus says, "I will show him how much he will suffer for my name." 01:03:24.480 |
He didn't call him and say, "I'm going to call him to the Gentiles, 01:03:26.480 |
and he's going to preach the gospel, plant many churches, 01:03:29.480 |
and he's going to do great things for my name." 01:03:31.480 |
He says, "No, I'm going to show him how much he's going to suffer for my name's sake." 01:03:37.480 |
That's why he's sitting in prison longing to fellowship in the suffering of Christ. 01:03:42.480 |
Because he knew from the very beginning that that's what he was called for. 01:03:46.480 |
That he was going to bring glory to God through his suffering. 01:03:51.480 |
In fact, in 2 Corinthians, when Paul's apostleship was being questioned, 01:03:56.480 |
here's these other apostles, these super apostles, 01:04:00.480 |
who are saying they're getting revelation from God. 01:04:02.480 |
They're more articulate. They probably have better backing. 01:04:07.480 |
Apostle Paul was known as a great communicator. 01:04:10.480 |
He says in the book of Acts that he's in the habit of preaching on and on and on and on. 01:04:22.480 |
He's defending his faith, his apostleship, and he said, "Here's my credential." 01:04:27.480 |
2 Corinthians 11.24, "Five times I received from the Jews thirty-nine lashes. 01:04:33.480 |
Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. 01:04:37.480 |
I have been on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, 01:04:41.480 |
dangers from countrymen, dangers from Gentiles, dangers in the city, 01:04:44.480 |
dangers in labor and hardship, through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, 01:04:59.480 |
He's done all of that. He's experienced all of that. 01:05:01.480 |
He said, "You want my credential? Here's my credential." 01:05:05.480 |
But then he says in verse 20, "Apart from such external things, 01:05:09.480 |
there is daily pressure on me of concern for all the churches. 01:05:17.480 |
Who is led into sin without my intense concern?" 01:05:24.480 |
Living a Christian life is hard enough as it is, 01:05:27.480 |
but when you engage in ministry, you're adding upon yourself the extra concern, 01:05:34.480 |
extra heartache that comes with dealing with sins. 01:05:38.480 |
Not only your sins, but now other people's sins. 01:05:43.480 |
On top of all of this external stuff, in fact, the external stuff, 01:05:46.480 |
sometimes you can say is easy compared to the internal struggles. 01:05:52.480 |
The hurt and the pain that comes along with ministry. 01:05:57.480 |
I'm talking about any Christian who chooses to love other people. 01:06:04.480 |
you will experience pain because we're drawing near to sin. 01:06:11.480 |
1 Peter 4, 12-14, "Beloved, do not be surprised at the fire ordeal among you, 01:06:19.480 |
as though some strange things were happening to you, 01:06:21.480 |
but to the degree that you share the suffering of Christ, 01:06:24.480 |
keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of his glory 01:06:31.480 |
If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, 01:06:34.480 |
because the spirit of glory and of God rests on you." 01:06:40.480 |
You know, last week, because it was our church anniversary, 01:06:44.480 |
the leaders got together and we did a little podcast about the history of our church. 01:06:49.480 |
Many of you guys know Pastor Peter Chang was out in China for about four years, 01:06:53.480 |
and he was in Korea for Compassion International for about five or six years. 01:06:57.480 |
So he was gone. He rebelled for about nine years. 01:07:04.480 |
Well, you don't know the back story behind that of why we sent him out. 01:07:09.480 |
We sent him out to China, hoping that he'd be there for about a year. 01:07:14.480 |
And there's two reasons. And the second reason is the bigger reason than the first. 01:07:18.480 |
The first reason was we were doing a lot of ministry out in China, 01:07:21.480 |
and we wanted somebody there to help us to start an English business, 01:07:28.480 |
because we were going there and we were running English camps, 01:07:31.480 |
and that was our primary way of reaching out to the Chinese students, 01:07:36.480 |
And so we were hoping that if we started a business there in Beijing, 01:07:39.480 |
that we can use that as an avenue to reach the students there. 01:07:43.480 |
That was the initial. But what's he going to do in one year? 01:07:49.480 |
But the second reason, the real reason was, he was just finishing seminary, 01:07:54.480 |
and we were debating whether he was going to come in full time or not. 01:07:58.480 |
And I remember thinking, I wanted Pastor Peter and his family to be committed 01:08:08.480 |
If they're only committed to Irvine, after all the difficult part of our church, 01:08:13.480 |
at least the beginning part of the church is behind, 01:08:17.480 |
everybody's going to be taken care of, everybody honors, and things are great. 01:08:24.480 |
We have such great congregational members honoring the pastors and leaders. 01:08:28.480 |
And so we wanted to make sure, really, to test him, to prove him, 01:08:34.480 |
so that he can be out in China and say, "You know what? 01:08:44.480 |
you're not going to be able to challenge other people to do the same. 01:08:48.480 |
Until you've been hurt, until you've gone through the gauntlet, 01:08:51.480 |
you're not going to be able to challenge other people to say. 01:08:58.480 |
And he did it for nine years, and then he came back. 01:09:03.480 |
This health and wealth gospel is so deeply embedded inside of us 01:09:07.480 |
that it even penetrates into the church, even into the pulpit, 01:09:13.480 |
even the way we plant churches, even the way we see suffering. 01:09:18.480 |
Would you still follow Christ if you had to sell your house? 01:09:25.480 |
Would you still follow Christ if it meant the greatest glory is for you to stay single? 01:09:33.480 |
Would you still follow Christ if it meant losing all your friends? 01:09:41.480 |
Would you still follow Christ if you had to risk your health and your retirement? 01:09:48.480 |
Would you still follow Christ if your children are going to suffer as a result? 01:09:57.480 |
Do we have conditions in our following Christ? 01:10:03.480 |
Because if you do, you're not following Christ at all. 01:10:10.480 |
If you are unwilling to suffer for the name of Christ, 01:10:20.480 |
Because it is not for you and I to choose whether our children are going to be okay. 01:10:26.480 |
It is not for you and I to choose we're going to have the nicest house 01:10:37.480 |
All he asks is, "Here's the harvest. Who will go?" 01:10:45.480 |
And we don't know if he's going to send us to Irvine. 01:10:47.480 |
We don't know if he's going to send us to a night place. 01:10:50.480 |
Or like Isaiah, "I want you to go and preach the gospel to these people who are stiff-necked. 01:11:06.480 |
That required more of me than when I first became a Christian. 01:11:11.480 |
Because I remember when I first became a Christian, it was easy. 01:11:22.480 |
I mean, no-brainer. There's nothing to think about. 01:11:28.480 |
You want to receive the love from the God of the universe or not? 01:11:34.480 |
Ministry? Whether you become a successful businessman or whatever you do, 01:11:38.480 |
you're going to be preaching the gospel. How can I not? 01:11:41.480 |
If I know this truth, how can I not tell this to other people? 01:11:48.480 |
But to embrace Jeremiah's life, Isaiah's life, 01:12:08.480 |
That even if you live a miserable life, and I hope you don't, 01:12:15.480 |
there's a better resurrection waiting for you. 01:12:20.480 |
See, Jeremiah 29-11 is a verse that is often quoted 01:12:25.480 |
and is favorite of the health and wealth gospel people. 01:12:29.480 |
"For I know the plans that I have for you," declares the Lord, 01:12:32.480 |
"plans for welfare and not for calamity, to give you a future and hope." 01:12:41.480 |
I mean, it sounds so heartwarming and encouraging 01:12:44.480 |
that even in hardship, that God's plan for you is good. 01:12:52.480 |
even when they suffer, it's a way for them to hold on to the health and wealth. 01:12:58.480 |
It's just like investment. Right now it's hard, but tomorrow it's going to be better. 01:13:04.480 |
You suffer a little bit now, but next year it's going to be a little bit harder. 01:13:09.480 |
And so this verse is quoted even to pervert our suffering. 01:13:16.480 |
To pervert our suffering so that even in our suffering, 01:13:19.480 |
we trivialize it to a better investment for tomorrow. 01:13:24.480 |
But the problem is, when it doesn't get solved, 01:13:32.480 |
they were willing to go through suffering because they knew, 01:13:36.480 |
so something wonderful is going to come as a result of that." 01:13:38.480 |
But when it didn't come, after 10, 20, 30 years, 01:13:43.480 |
because they realized that the God that they wanted wasn't the God of the Bible. 01:13:50.480 |
Hebrews 11.35, "Others tortured, not accepting the release, 01:13:55.480 |
so that they might obtain a better resurrection." 01:13:57.480 |
Verse 39 and 40, "And all these having gained approval through their faith." 01:14:04.480 |
You notice here that some died, some tortured, homeless, their lives were wrecked, 01:14:10.480 |
but they didn't get approval from all of that. 01:14:13.480 |
They did all of that for what? Because they had faith. 01:14:18.480 |
Some people's faith led to victory, some people's faith led to misery, 01:14:29.480 |
What he's saying here is that you don't know how genuine faith, 01:14:39.480 |
but don't think comfort is where everybody, God is taking everybody. 01:14:44.480 |
In fact, I've realized that everybody that I respect that has gone through the gauntlet, 01:14:52.480 |
for whatever the reason, God takes people that he wants to use 01:14:56.480 |
to get to the point where you don't want to do it anymore. 01:15:03.480 |
Because until we're desperate, we don't learn how to cling to Christ. 01:15:12.480 |
What he's saying here is some people's faith, they endured through suffering, 01:15:15.480 |
but yet God delivered them all for what purpose? For his glory. 01:15:20.480 |
Some people experienced torture and even martyrdom. 01:15:28.480 |
He says, "Everything was done for his glory." 01:15:31.480 |
2 Corinthians 4, 17, 18, "For momentary light, affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory." 01:15:41.480 |
So far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, 01:15:46.480 |
but at the things which are not seen, for the things which are seen are temporal, 01:15:49.480 |
but the things which are not seen are eternal. 01:15:52.480 |
He allows us to experience suffering at times, even in the midst. 01:15:57.480 |
You know, the most painful suffering is not suffering that comes just because you made a bad decision. 01:16:02.480 |
"Oh, I shouldn't have invested in here," or "I shouldn't have done that." 01:16:05.480 |
The greatest suffering comes when you are trying to do the greatest good. 01:16:10.480 |
You're being obedient, you're sacrificing, and suffering comes as a result of that. 01:16:14.480 |
He says that's where the greatest blessing comes from. 01:16:18.480 |
Because what God wants to give us is, through temporary suffering, eternal glory. 01:16:25.480 |
For all for his glory. His glory in our comfort, his glory in our suffering. 01:16:32.480 |
His glory in long life, his glory in a life cut short. 01:16:37.480 |
His glory in living in peace, and his glory in living a life full of turmoil. 01:16:42.480 |
His glory when we are financially wealthy, and his glory when we are struggling financially. 01:16:47.480 |
He makes it very clear. His whole purpose of redemptive history is his own glory. 01:16:53.480 |
Isaiah 49, 42, 8, "I am the Lord, that is my name. I will not give my glory to another, nor my praise to graven images." 01:17:03.480 |
The reason why he does what he does is not so that he can take you, and so that you can have your best life now. 01:17:17.480 |
He says all that he does, in comfort and in pain, in turmoil and in peace, is to glorify who he is. 01:17:33.480 |
Now some of us may look at that and say, "Well that's egotistical. He's playing with us." 01:17:40.480 |
He's going to allow children to suffer and get cancer and die and all, so that he can be self-centered and for his own glory? 01:17:52.480 |
First of all, let me answer that by saying, "Yes." 01:17:55.480 |
So no one is confused. Yes. Because that's exactly what the Bible says he's doing, for his own glory. 01:18:01.480 |
But understand this. We were created for the purpose of glorifying God. That's why you and I are here. 01:18:08.480 |
That's why we exist. It wasn't natural selection. 01:18:13.480 |
It wasn't randomly, we decided and we willed ourselves to exist and then evolved from a monkey to who we are. 01:18:19.480 |
We didn't will ourselves here. God created us. 01:18:26.480 |
And so he redeems us in order to restore us back to what he intended to have. 01:18:33.480 |
And I know that what I said still doesn't satisfy you, but it is the truth. 01:18:42.480 |
But it is when he is glorified, you and I experience the greatest life. 01:18:47.480 |
Because you and I were created for his glory, when he is magnified, we feel the greatest life. 01:18:56.480 |
There's reasons why we pay tons of money to watch people we have nothing to do with do crazy things. 01:19:05.480 |
Whether it's soccer or basketball or baseball, you know. 01:19:09.480 |
Imagine if LeBron James walked onto the court and say, "You know, what do you guys think? How can I make you happy today?" 01:19:16.480 |
Imagine if everything that he did on the court was like, "There's 30,000 people and how can I make all of you happy today?" 01:19:24.480 |
He doesn't have to ask that. All he has to do is the best game that he can play. 01:19:32.480 |
All he has to do is to be the best basketball player that he can do on that court and it creates the greatest joy in that room. 01:19:44.480 |
So when the scripture says that he's seeking his own glory, it is in his glory we find life. 01:19:52.480 |
There is a glorifying of God that happens when we are wealthy. 01:19:57.480 |
What we do with our wealth. There is a glorifying of God that can only happen when we are suffering. 01:20:03.480 |
There is a kind of glory that we can give to God for living a long life. 01:20:07.480 |
And there is the only type of glory that God can be glorified in when we live a short life. 01:20:21.480 |
Not simply our well-being. Our well-being is an eternity. 01:20:32.480 |
That's what he meant when he says it is finished. 01:20:35.480 |
His work is finished. What you need is finished. 01:20:38.480 |
What Pastor Peter said, all that we have for a life of godliness has been given to us in the knowledge of his son Jesus Christ. 01:20:46.480 |
Now it is glorifying himself so that others may also see that glory and come to him. 01:20:58.480 |
Sometimes you will die early so that other people may come to Christ. 01:21:05.480 |
Sometimes you will experience wealth so that through that wealth God will be glorified. 01:21:14.480 |
Sometimes you will experience great pain in relationships because through that he will be glorified and others will come to Christ. 01:21:24.480 |
So whether we eat or drink, whether we live long or short, whether it's difficult or not, whether our children are well taken care of or not, 01:21:40.480 |
Why do some people, why are they born in North Korea? 01:21:50.480 |
There's some right now what's happening around the world, 01:21:54.480 |
he said the persecution toward Christians, the suffering that Christians are experiencing are more intense in modern history than we can possibly imagine. 01:22:03.480 |
There are young Pakistani Christian teenagers routinely being raped and martyred simply because they are followers of Jesus Christ. 01:22:16.480 |
It doesn't get a lot of press because it doesn't affect American lives, but this is happening today. 01:22:25.480 |
Just take a little bit of time and dig through the media. 01:22:29.480 |
In North Korea, just because a child had a Bible in his hand, his whole family is sent to a concentration camp for re-education. 01:22:44.480 |
In Afghanistan, there's a young missionary here who gave her life to go to Afghanistan to work with orphans and to proclaim the love of Christ, 01:23:10.480 |
I guarantee you that young lady is not in heaven regretting what she did. 01:23:16.480 |
As horrendous as that may sound, God's ultimate purpose is in eternity. 01:23:24.480 |
It's for his glory, for the salvation of mankind. 01:23:30.480 |
Would you be willing to risk your safety, your comfort, your future, 01:23:37.480 |
if you knew that that would save another soul? 01:23:53.480 |
See, the way that you and I live our life is directly connected to, do we believe this? 01:24:07.480 |
Do we believe this enough to embrace the good and the bad? 01:24:11.480 |
Do we believe this enough to embrace the hardship and the goodness? 01:24:15.480 |
Or have we committed to only embrace what is good? 01:24:31.480 |
If you know that book, it's written during a period when the Israelites are falling out, 01:24:38.480 |
and he's basically crying out to God, "God, why are you allowing this to happen?" 01:24:43.480 |
And it looks like the Chaldeans, the Babylonians are coming into power, 01:24:47.480 |
and God's going to use them to punish Israel. 01:24:49.480 |
Like, how can you let the unrighteous punish the righteous? 01:24:52.480 |
And so he's pleading with God, "Why is this happening?" 01:24:54.480 |
And the Israelites are saying, "You are a false prophet. 01:24:59.480 |
He's not seeing any fruit, and he's starting to lose hope 01:25:04.480 |
that maybe revival is not going to come in his lifetime. 01:25:08.480 |
And he says this, "Though the fig tree should not blossom, 01:25:20.480 |
though the flock should be cut off from the fold, 01:25:38.480 |
for the choir director on my stringed instrument. 01:25:58.480 |
but I thought this was an appropriate song for us 01:26:05.480 |
and then after that, the praise team is going to lead us 01:26:11.480 |
because it summarizes basically what we talked about this morning. 01:27:00.480 |
We pray for your mighty hand to ease our suffering. 01:27:17.480 |
Yet love is way too much to give us lesser things. 01:27:24.480 |
Because what if your blessings come through raindrops? 01:28:07.480 |
We cry in anger when we cannot feel you near. 01:28:23.480 |
As if every promise from your word is not enough. 01:28:46.480 |
Because what if your blessings come through raindrops? 01:29:53.480 |
Because what if your blessings come through raindrops? 01:30:58.480 |
We're going to sing our last song, a closing praise. 01:31:02.480 |
And would you all please stand with us, please? 01:32:57.480 |
♪ For God hath worked his truth to triumph through ♪ 01:34:14.480 |
♪ The Spirit and the gifts are ours through him ♪ 01:38:02.480 |
Again, if we can have this side go out that door,