back to indexCollege Bible Study 6.26.20
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There are just certain days where it feels like lots of things go wrong, and this was one of those days. 00:26:01.000 |
But when you think about things that go wrong, and you kind of put them into comparison and up to this idea of, man, God being in control and God being good, it gives us great perspective. 00:26:17.000 |
And I think it's not just little things that happen in life, but big things. 00:26:24.000 |
All of what has been happening in our lives, these aren't small things. 00:26:28.000 |
And so as Christians, believers have great comfort in knowing that. 00:26:33.000 |
And today we are going to be celebrating the commencement, a graduation for our seniors. 00:26:39.000 |
And I don't know what it's going to look like. 00:26:42.000 |
Everything we've done today has been last minute pretty much because of things that have happened. 00:26:47.000 |
But with all that said, I hope that it is an encouraging time, that it's not based upon our control over situations and things, because this is just a cross-section, a sample size of what has been happening in our lives. 00:27:02.000 |
And for you seniors, this is going to be just a resounding thing that continues on in life. 00:27:12.000 |
Sometimes there are many frustrations, but it's okay. 00:27:16.000 |
And so with all of that said, I'm going to take us into just one quick announcement, and then I'll explain a little bit of today. 00:27:23.000 |
So that announcement is going to be our prayer. 00:27:26.000 |
And on Thursdays, again, we changed our 4 p.m. prayer meetings to 7 p.m. 00:27:33.000 |
And that is so that those of you who work all day have an opportunity. 00:27:37.000 |
It usually won't go for more than half an hour or so to pray together. 00:27:41.000 |
And so you can try to eat dinner before or dinner after. 00:27:45.000 |
I know that's a difficult time for some of you, maybe when it comes to, like, eating with family, but I hope that you have an opportunity to make it. 00:27:58.000 |
Beyond that, though, please do -- I'm going to take this off only when I'm preaching here, but please do make sure to wear these masks whenever you're here. 00:28:08.000 |
We're doing the temperature gauges, and we are walking in and social distancing. 00:28:12.000 |
We have eliminated snacks now, so there are going to be no snacks. 00:28:19.000 |
And for the most part, we're going to be asking you to leave and not loiter here too long. 00:28:23.000 |
And that's as, you know, as the coronavirus has been growing and things like that, we want to be as responsible and wise as possible. 00:28:32.000 |
And I know many of you have been hearing about maybe whispers of what's been happening, 00:28:38.000 |
that there has been some person -- like, it's a few people removed, but exposure to COVID. 00:28:46.000 |
And so that's why we asked some people to go ahead and stay home, and actually there are many who are in the parking lots right now live streaming in from their cars. 00:28:57.000 |
And the seniors who are doing that with us, many of them actually traveled here just for this commencement and just for this graduation and to be with us this weekend. 00:29:07.000 |
And tragically, they're not going to be able to spend as much time with us as we wanted. 00:29:13.000 |
And so it's going to look really lopsided today, but you will see a glimpse of maybe about -- there's going to be four of them in here with us, 00:29:21.000 |
and then about 10 of them that we're going to see coming through those doors. 00:29:25.000 |
And at that point, when we're going into commencement, we're going to be asking those of you who are here to kind of move this way 00:29:30.000 |
so that they will distance themselves out and go out that way. 00:29:34.000 |
And so we are going to be celebrating together with them, and hopefully there will be no more hiccups. 00:29:43.000 |
Well, would you bow your heads with me in prayer as we go into tonight's Bible study and then into commencement? 00:29:48.000 |
Heavenly Father, really we pray that as we think about 1 Corinthians, as we think about your word, that it would be the rock steady thing in our hearts. 00:29:59.000 |
Lord, we are in such great need of you. And when we say that, sometimes we can say it's so arbitrary to the specifics of what we're asking for. 00:30:11.000 |
God, when we ask for you, there is no separation from your word. We need your word. 00:30:17.000 |
And there is no separation, God, from prayer, because it is in prayer where we can draw near to you. 00:30:22.000 |
And so, Lord, I pray that you would help us to be men and women who love the word and who are faithful in prayer. 00:30:29.000 |
And we'll continue to do that no matter what season of life, no matter what things happen in our daily lives, 00:30:36.000 |
that you would be honored and that we would find supreme joy and satisfaction in you alone. 00:30:44.000 |
All right. Usually I print out worksheets, but we are going to be moving to a digital format. 00:30:49.000 |
So if you go on to the link tree, there is a folder in there called First Corinthians. 00:30:54.000 |
And then in that folder, you're going to see the worksheets that I upload week after week. 00:30:59.000 |
Usually I'm going to upload it right on Friday. 00:31:01.000 |
And starting next week, we will likely have questions that go out earlier that you can kind of think about before coming into Bible study. 00:31:09.000 |
But they're not going to be inductive in nature. You can do your own inductive study if you'd like. 00:31:13.000 |
So please go in there today. It's going to be a much shortened Bible study to make room for the commencement. 00:31:22.000 |
All right. The main theme, the main idea of the book is the same. 00:31:27.000 |
Saints of God think and see differently from the world. 00:31:32.000 |
And that's the introduction, the first half of the introduction that we went into last week. 00:31:37.000 |
This week we're going to be finishing up the introduction. 00:31:39.000 |
And so that's why I kind of chose this background as our theme. 00:31:48.000 |
That is that we are trying to look biblically at the world in a God-centered way through the lens of the gospel. 00:31:56.000 |
We think differently. We see differently from anyone else in the world. 00:32:01.000 |
Our desires are different. Our righteousness is different. 00:32:06.000 |
Our hopes are different. And even what we want at the end, here in this world, present day, in this world, 00:32:21.000 |
Paul, as he's saying that he's an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, 00:32:25.000 |
and we see that from the very beginning of time, the people, as they fall into brokenness and sin, 00:32:35.000 |
they start to go after their own desires and their own things. 00:32:40.000 |
Through thousands of years of human history, fallen mankind remains in static rebellion against God. 00:32:51.000 |
As soon as it happens, rebellion against God, fallen before Him, 00:32:58.000 |
who start to view the world differently than the way they were called to view the world. 00:33:03.000 |
Through what they perceived to be right and wrong in their own eyes because they ate of this fruit. 00:33:09.000 |
They inherently said, "I want to be put in the place of God on that throne to be able to judge." 00:33:22.000 |
Last week we said, remember, even when we see, when we are reading this text about Adam and Eve, 00:33:28.000 |
even when we read it through the very beginning portions of the Bible, we can see our own sin there. 00:33:37.000 |
I mean, when we think of Adam and Eve, can't we see ourselves? 00:33:41.000 |
Can't we see the way we desire to cover up and the way we desire to point and blame shift 00:33:48.000 |
and the way we desire to say and twist God's truth? 00:33:56.000 |
So as soon as Adam and Eve die, we see it in their very own children. 00:34:03.000 |
We saw it during the time of Noah that all of the world began to continuously do 00:34:10.000 |
what was evil and wrong in the eyes of the Lord, continuously. 00:34:16.000 |
We saw it in the Tower of Babel as many people congregated together, 00:34:19.000 |
two as one unified people rise up and rebel against God. 00:34:27.000 |
So on and so forth, over and over again, people who are without God, 00:34:33.000 |
people who do not live a God-centered life will continue to look at the world from self-centered eyes 00:34:38.000 |
that desires to make everything about me and not about God. 00:34:47.000 |
The words we speak, the actions we take, all meant to benefit self. 00:35:03.000 |
When I wake up in the morning, it's about self. 00:35:05.000 |
When I go to sleep at night, it's about self. 00:35:10.000 |
But Paul, he comes out of the gate and he makes something very clear in this introductory words he has. 00:35:17.000 |
The word that Paul uses is--this is 1 Corinthians 1. 00:35:21.000 |
Paul called as an apostle of God--apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God. 00:35:33.000 |
Not only that he's just an apostle, but literally he says that I am someone who has heard the voice of God 00:35:41.000 |
and I hear the voice of God and is authoritative in my life. 00:36:00.000 |
He is not someone who does something of his own accord, for his own devices, and for his own purposes. 00:36:08.000 |
In a broken and fallen world where everyone is trying to make themselves heard and themselves voiced, 00:36:16.000 |
where everyone is trying to say, "This is what I think," 00:36:25.000 |
Paul comes out saying, "None of this is about me. 00:36:37.000 |
When you see the word "called," there is someone who needs to do the calling. 00:36:45.000 |
He is also an apostle, which literally means a messenger. 00:36:52.000 |
He carries the message of the one who commissions him. 00:37:02.000 |
He's an apostle, meaning he does not carry his own message. 00:37:05.000 |
He is a messenger, meaning he has been sent by someone with a message that is not his own. 00:37:16.000 |
He doesn't need to do anything to spruce up the message. 00:37:23.000 |
The messenger doesn't change up the content of the message. 00:37:26.000 |
The messenger doesn't look at the message and say, "It doesn't sound nice enough." 00:37:41.000 |
He receives order from the one who commissions him, and he carries it out. 00:37:54.000 |
The messenger doesn't feel ashamed of the message. 00:37:57.000 |
The messenger confidently delivers the message, knowing the power and sovereignty and authority 00:38:02.000 |
and the goodness of the one who sends him or her. 00:38:18.000 |
Jesus Christ is the one who died foolishly in the eyes of the world, 00:38:22.000 |
and you're going to see this all through the book of 1 Corinthians. 00:38:24.000 |
He's going to say, "I do not come bearing my own message. 00:38:27.000 |
I simply preach Christ, and I preach Christ crucified. 00:38:35.000 |
He is like a rabid dog, just grabs on, and he won't let go. 00:38:43.000 |
To the eyes of the believer, it's foolishness, but it is power of God unto salvation for those who believe. 00:39:00.000 |
It's not his own desires that he does things for. 00:39:10.000 |
And then to continue in 1 Corinthians 1.1, we see Ancestor, and he's our brother. 00:39:15.000 |
He says, "Paul, an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, called by the will of God, and he says, 'And Sostenes, our brother.'" 00:39:27.000 |
In Acts 18.17, "And they all took hold of Sostenes, the leader of the synagogue, and began beating him in front of the judgment seat. 00:39:33.000 |
But Galileo was not concerned about any of these things." 00:39:43.000 |
But Paul, when he writes to the Philippians, he reminds them, "This is that Sostenes, the one who took a beating for Christ." 00:39:58.000 |
Remember, in a hierarchical community, he was a leader. 00:40:03.000 |
Man, Philippi should be ringing in your ears right now. 00:40:06.000 |
He went all the way down and took the lashes. 00:40:12.000 |
Now, as we look at these things, a question we ought to be asking ourselves in hermeneutics, 00:40:20.000 |
as we apply hermeneutics to our Bible study and Bible reading, 00:40:24.000 |
it's this, do we take application from Paul or do we take application from Corinth? 00:40:32.000 |
Am I supposed to be taking the application of, "I'm also an apostle, I'm also a messenger of God," 00:40:39.000 |
or do I take the application of the one who is receiving that from Paul? 00:40:46.000 |
Am I supposed to be in the first part here or in this next part that's to come, 00:41:01.000 |
You take these truths about Paul and you take the truths about Corinth. 00:41:09.000 |
He says, "Therefore I exhort you, be imitators of me." 00:41:13.000 |
So as people of Corinth, he is reminding us, "Be like him. 00:41:22.000 |
In 1 Corinthians 11.1, he says it again, "Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ." 00:41:30.000 |
In Philippians, he said the same thing, "Brethren, join in following my example 00:41:33.000 |
and observe those who walk according to the pattern you have in us." 00:41:38.000 |
And Paul says about himself at the end of the book of 1 Corinthians 00:41:41.000 |
that he delivers only--listen to this--that which he also first received. 00:41:47.000 |
What he says is going to be the delivering of a message of something he himself has internalized. 00:41:54.000 |
1 Corinthians 15.3, "For I deliver to you as of first importance what I also received, 00:41:58.000 |
that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures." 00:42:02.000 |
So hermeneutically, when we're trying to figure out, okay, like original audience, 00:42:07.000 |
we're supposed to try to figure out who Paul is, who he's writing to Corinth, 00:42:12.000 |
and what was going on in Corinth and all this stuff, 00:42:14.000 |
and you try to start thinking, like, which part am I? It's both. 00:42:19.000 |
Because we are called to be the people who not only receive the message, but deliver the message. 00:42:29.000 |
Now, this is different than, like, the other things in 1 Corinthians we're going to be doing 00:42:34.000 |
because I'm going to make this try to start sounding more like a commencement speech, okay? 00:42:41.000 |
So I'm going to be addressing many times a class of 2020 here. 00:42:47.000 |
Class of 2020, and to every believer, that means that we must remember that we are also messengers 00:42:54.000 |
called by God to deliver the message of the gospel to this world. 00:43:00.000 |
As you graduate, is that what you've been fixated upon? 00:43:06.000 |
As you think of the job market, as you think of career, and as you think of what am I going to do next, 00:43:13.000 |
do you think of yourself as someone, as Paul addresses himself, to be called by the will of God, 00:43:21.000 |
a messenger of God, a follower of God, someone who heralds a message not for myself, but of God? 00:43:39.000 |
As you sit down and pray, God, what is your desire in my life? What do you want me to do? 00:43:50.000 |
Before you jump to the practical things of who does God want me to marry, what job does he want me to pursue, 00:43:56.000 |
where does he want me to live, remember that God has made it crystal clear, you, the church, are his messengers. 00:44:07.000 |
You do the will of God. You do not live for a building of your own kingdom, pleasures, and comforts. 00:44:14.000 |
You exist to build up the kingdom of the one who created you, redeemed you, adopted you, justified you, 00:44:26.000 |
He will preserve you, and he will take you in his hands all the way until you go home to him. 00:44:32.000 |
Therefore, you do not think like the world. You don't make decisions the same way the world does. 00:44:41.000 |
And this is what we will continue to see through this book of 1 Corinthians this summer. 00:44:45.000 |
Because this is who Paul writes to. It's to the church of God who is at Corinth. 00:44:52.000 |
Remember Corinth. Remember that Corinth was as pagan a place as you could find, 00:44:57.000 |
filled with people who lived for their own desires. 00:45:00.000 |
If you look around America, you'll see people who are espousing things to accomplish their own desires. 00:45:09.000 |
Now if each individual would care to think what is God's desire, it would look very different. 00:45:17.000 |
But Corinth was very much like America in certain ways. 00:45:21.000 |
A bunch of people who just want to voice themselves and to pursue what they want to pursue. 00:45:28.000 |
And they have taken their eyes off of the meaning of their lives. 00:45:34.000 |
Headed towards destruction with no hope in life, pursuing things that will at the end result in nothing. 00:45:42.000 |
And so they continue to pursue something and they achieve it and there's nothing. 00:45:48.000 |
They only thirst for more and then they look for the next thing and then the next thing and then the next thing. 00:45:54.000 |
Everything is just a pit stop. Everything is just a stepping stone to the way to the day you finally die. 00:46:11.000 |
I mean as we think of these people in Corinth, 00:46:16.000 |
even going to the west in Rome, in chapter 8 verse 5 it says, 00:46:19.000 |
"For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, 00:46:25.000 |
but those who are according to the Spirit, things of the Spirit. 00:46:28.000 |
For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace." 00:46:35.000 |
Because the mind set on the flesh is, it's not just going after your own desires. 00:46:49.000 |
People whose minds are set on the flesh are bloodthirsty people. 00:46:59.000 |
"For it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so. 00:47:03.000 |
And those who are in the flesh cannot please God." 00:47:09.000 |
And so class of 2020, if you're a believer, where have you been oriented these days? 00:47:17.000 |
As you look at this bleak outlook of the world, have you been shaken or have you been rock steady? 00:47:32.000 |
Corinth was a place filled with wealthy, intellectual, artistic, clever, philosophical people. 00:47:41.000 |
Again, I wouldn't say it's so different from the America we know today. 00:47:46.000 |
A place where everyone touts their own intellect, everyone touts their own morality, their own esteem. 00:47:58.000 |
And they'll yell louder and louder and louder. 00:48:02.000 |
It's a place where everyone does what is right in their own eyes, but in reality, in reality, 00:48:08.000 |
people who are not of God, this is the reality. 00:48:12.000 |
And you were dead in your trespasses and sins. 00:48:22.000 |
These are the people who are touting themselves, who are boasting. 00:48:27.000 |
You are going to see Paul, who comes up in this very chapter later on, he's going to say, 00:48:39.000 |
We learned in Philippians, he says, "I count it all as loss compared to the surpassing worth of knowing Christ my Lord." 00:48:48.000 |
You are dead in your trespasses and sins in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world. 00:49:01.000 |
The world walks according to the prince of the power of the air. 00:49:07.000 |
Of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience among them, we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, 00:49:14.000 |
indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath even as the rest. 00:49:28.000 |
The church looks different than everyone else. 00:49:37.000 |
So class of 2020, when you look that this is the world, do you look like the world though? 00:49:48.000 |
Don't be fooled into thinking that you can continue to walk that path. 00:49:56.000 |
Romans 1, 21 through 23 says, "For even though they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations." 00:50:14.000 |
Professing to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible men and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. 00:50:39.000 |
And then we look just like the rest of the world following after idols. 00:50:45.000 |
Trading in the image of the incorruptible God for the image of corruptible man. 00:50:58.000 |
But don't you see how easy it is for us to walk that path? 00:51:10.000 |
When he says, "To the church of God," which is at Corinth. 00:51:19.000 |
We are an assembly of people who believe in God and who have left everything behind to say that God is it. 00:51:31.000 |
And it's a group of people who say that same thing. 00:51:34.000 |
All believers come together to say, "All I have is Christ. 00:51:42.000 |
And we come together and say, "Yup, we are single-minded in this endeavor." 00:51:46.000 |
Later on, we're going to be yelling out, "Civil engineering!" 00:51:49.000 |
We're going to be yelling out, "Business administration!" 00:51:52.000 |
We're going to be yelling out and calling this awesome thing that many of you seniors have accomplished. 00:52:01.000 |
To get a bachelor's degree in some field where you're going to be walking. 00:52:05.000 |
But we walk into those fields with the same unified thought. 00:52:21.000 |
It says in 1 Corinthians 12, "For even as the body is one and yet has many members, 00:52:27.000 |
and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ. 00:52:32.000 |
For by one spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, 00:52:36.000 |
and we were all made to drink of one spirit, for the body is not one member but many." 00:52:41.000 |
For you seniors, I'm glad you guys are able to stay with us over the summer. 00:52:48.000 |
You must find a local body of believers to worship alongside. 00:53:02.000 |
I cannot actually live apart from the rest of the body." 00:53:11.000 |
As we read the rest of 1 Corinthians 1-2, it kind of continues in telling who we are. 00:53:17.000 |
"To those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling, 00:53:19.000 |
with all who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours." 00:53:29.000 |
That word is "to be made holy," and it's a perfect passive. 00:53:44.000 |
For those of you who are reading "Mortification of Sin" along with us, 00:54:02.000 |
And he says, "Remember, this is who you are." 00:54:05.000 |
That's why we are so different from the world. 00:54:12.000 |
In fact, in 1 Corinthians 3-17, he says, "If any man destroys the temple of God, 00:54:33.000 |
This is the same root as that word "sanctified." 00:54:35.000 |
You might not be able to make that connection unless you have the literal word out. 00:54:50.000 |
And that is the new nature of every believer. 00:54:53.000 |
We are holy, again, because God makes us holy. 00:54:55.000 |
And there is only one way in which that happens, 00:55:01.000 |
So Paul will say that in his message, that he preaches Christ and him crucified. 00:55:06.000 |
There is no higher philosophy, no greater wisdom. 00:55:10.000 |
There is no eloquent speech that he could put. 00:55:16.000 |
He says that God chooses the weak things of the world to deliver this message, 00:55:20.000 |
because he wants the gospel to be unadulterated by the words of man. 00:55:29.000 |
And for every believer, that is his or her new identity. 00:55:35.000 |
As we go through 1 Corinthians, you're going to see one messed up church. 00:55:39.000 |
You're going to see a church that is so bizarre. 00:55:50.000 |
You're not going to see the same language Paul uses for the Philippians here to this church. 00:55:58.000 |
Remember that Paul spent a year and a half in the church of Corinth, 00:56:05.000 |
reasoning with them day after day after day after day after year and a half with them. 00:56:17.000 |
Not every person who was there, but those who truly placed their faith in Christ 00:56:30.000 |
It says, "With all who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours." 00:56:37.000 |
There's one singular event in every believer's life that overshadows every other thing in life, 00:56:44.000 |
Whether it's a moment in time, whether it's a process, 00:56:47.000 |
our salvation is not just life changing, it is the beginning of life. 00:56:54.000 |
Where there was only death, there is now life. 00:56:57.000 |
The message we preach is not of temporary healing, it's one of eternal salvation. 00:57:01.000 |
And so just like through the rest of the first Corinthians, 00:57:04.000 |
we will continue to see how this is applied in our lives. 00:57:10.000 |
Class of 2020, again, for many of you, this is your story. 00:57:17.000 |
That you have been saved by this gospel, by this God, and by this Christ. 00:57:26.000 |
What is it that your co-workers and family members know about you? 00:57:29.000 |
Will they be able to say what is the first important thing in your life? 00:57:34.000 |
Will they be able to say, "Oh, that person, that person is of God. 00:57:44.000 |
will they be able to see that you live for a singular purpose, 00:57:52.000 |
This is the lens that the saints need to look at the world. 00:58:02.000 |
we don't go after the things we want in our own lives. 00:58:06.000 |
We go after the will and the desire of the one we serve. 00:58:19.000 |
Class of 2020, if you're a believer, we live with unction. 00:58:37.000 |
Your desire is to please your heavenly Father. 00:58:42.000 |
So 1 Corinthians 1-3 says, "Grace to you and peace from God, 00:58:50.000 |
And he lists out all these things he's thankful for. 00:58:57.000 |
And then everything, they were enriched in him. 00:59:06.000 |
That they are awaiting eagerly the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ. 00:59:12.000 |
That they were called into fellowship with the Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. 00:59:21.000 |
So this teaching portion, I did want to keep it a little bit shorter. 00:59:25.000 |
We are going to be going into more of the commencement part of the ceremony. 00:59:29.000 |
So right now we have -- I want to make sure that everyone is here. 00:59:39.000 |
I hope this isn't too cringy, but I brought my high school cap and gown. 01:00:04.000 |
I know you guys lost your graduation and your commencement. 01:00:08.000 |
And then it was threatened to be taken away again through what was happening. 01:00:27.000 |
I think those are the seniors who want to come in. 01:00:32.000 |
So with that, I want to thank you for this invitation to speak at your commencement. 01:00:38.000 |
We have represented here graduates from UCI, Chapman, and Cal Poly Pomona. 01:00:47.000 |
That's why I'm laughing for those of you who are at home. 01:00:50.000 |
I speak on behalf of them in congratulating you on a job well done. 01:00:54.000 |
Around this time of year, I've been so used to going to graduations, 01:00:57.000 |
celebrating this very important and impressive milestone achieved by those who went before you. 01:01:04.000 |
So, you know, these are some of the people that maybe some of you also went to these graduations. 01:01:14.000 |
Some of you guys are right here in this picture. 01:01:16.000 |
And you were thinking, "Man, I can't wait to get there. 01:01:24.000 |
Now, after many years of studying through K through 12 and through your undergraduate degree, 01:01:31.000 |
it feels like what happened is you go out not with a bang but with a whimper. 01:01:39.000 |
I know that you had been building up so many expectations. 01:01:44.000 |
And then with half-hearted goodbyes and zero closure, winter quarter ended, 01:01:54.000 |
You might have looked at the way your college experience ended and had so many complaints, 01:02:14.000 |
We know that Caleb probably said, "Heck yeah," very sadly. 01:02:24.000 |
Kelsey headed to Idaho and Ivy to Washington. 01:02:29.000 |
Our Cal Poly Pomona grads, I still don't even know if you guys know when you're going to graduate. 01:02:35.000 |
And we had a string of you head back to NorCal. 01:02:38.000 |
Theo went into the mountains and grew a beard and became a lumberjack. 01:02:42.000 |
And those of you who are local to SoCal headed back to a familiar home but in an unfamiliar time. 01:02:48.000 |
Everything just feels weird right now and just a little bit out of our control. 01:03:08.000 |
You know that Pastor Peter says it all the time. 01:03:15.000 |
You know that he does all things for the good of those who love him. 01:03:20.000 |
You know that he could say but a word and this virus is gone. 01:03:39.000 |
Saints look and see and say how can this be made to result in more of God's glory? 01:03:50.000 |
How can I be a messenger that delivers his message? 01:03:53.000 |
And though it feels like you've been slided, this is an excellent place to start when it comes to how you view the world. 01:04:00.000 |
You have been given an opportunity that no one else in modern day history has been afforded. 01:04:07.000 |
Which is to be stripped of your commencement, to look at this world and say, wow, even without this though, this particular thing, 01:04:15.000 |
how can I look and see and say with my whole heart, God, how can you be glorified in this situation? 01:04:22.000 |
You are armed with degrees in education, social sciences, math, bio, human services, engineering, computer science, ecology, and business. 01:04:31.000 |
And in it, our deepest prayer is that each of you goes out as saints into those respective places 01:04:37.000 |
who think and see differently from the world. 01:04:43.000 |
That when people see you, they will see someone who loves the Lord with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength. 01:04:50.000 |
This is our prayer that you live not only for yourself, but for him who purchased you and redeemed you with the blood of his very own son. 01:04:59.000 |
That you wouldn't live life as a half-hearted church goer, but one who is deeply plugged into church. 01:05:04.000 |
Not as a place to self-centeredly receive whatever it is that you think you want to extract from the church. 01:05:09.000 |
But to edify, encourage, and serve alongside your brothers and sisters. 01:05:14.000 |
With this singular mission that the church goes out to reach a lost world. 01:05:32.000 |
Many of you are nervous and scared because of COVID, because of civil and political unrest. 01:05:42.000 |
Things aren't written out like you've been used to. 01:05:44.000 |
And for the first time, the next chapter isn't mapped out. 01:05:47.000 |
And you feel the pressure of doing real adult things. 01:05:55.000 |
I'm glad you get to stay with us for the rest of the summer. 01:05:59.000 |
But I also know that there's going to be a time when you're not with us here anymore. 01:06:03.000 |
And so it will be for the rest of your lives. 01:06:11.000 |
But hopefully always going where the one who called you sends you. 01:06:17.000 |
So with that said, man, so is this in real time, Diane? 01:06:33.000 |
Can you message those two senior chat groups and tell the ones who are -- wow, it's dark out there. 01:06:39.000 |
They're going to come through these doorways right here. 01:06:46.000 |
The ones who are going to be coming through those doors right there are going to be the ones who had a little bit of a COVID scare. 01:06:54.000 |
So with that, Jenny, you might want to kind of move this way. 01:07:00.000 |
Right there on that table is going to be their gift and their certificate of graduation. 01:07:06.000 |
And then there are four of us in here -- huh? 01:07:13.000 |
There are four of us in here who I'm going to be asking to come up that staircase here. 01:07:25.000 |
And then grab a gift bag with your name on it. 01:07:29.000 |
And then Jenny is going to come up and take a picture of you all by yourself, and I'll be kind of in the back. 01:07:36.000 |
And then -- so just go like this, and then we'll applaud for them as they go. 01:07:41.000 |
Now, in a regular commencement, people are going on a steady flow. 01:07:46.000 |
It's not going to be quite like that with us here because the four here are going to be able to do that. 01:07:52.000 |
So as the Grad March song goes, we'll see how this goes. 01:08:01.000 |
Do you know if they've kind of made their way? 01:08:16.000 |
And this is the type of ceremony you would think would happen, right, where everything is just kind of pieced together. 01:08:24.000 |
Again, today, all of these people who are going to come through those doors were supposed to be with the other four that are here. 01:08:30.000 |
But whatever the case, this is all -- I think it's going to be a lot of fun as we do that. 01:08:37.000 |
So please, even for those of you who are at home, Diane is just running around back there doing an awesome job. 01:08:44.000 |
It's really hard because everything has kind of changed. 01:08:47.000 |
And so the projector and screens has changed and all that. 01:08:50.000 |
And so just join us in heart if you're at home. 01:08:54.000 |
And you're going to see the faces of four people here and another like eight people who are coming out there. 01:08:59.000 |
And then we're going to roll the slides of everyone else. 01:09:18.000 |
And Brinna, you'll go number five after the first four. 01:09:24.000 |
So can I ask the first four graduates to go ahead and come up here and stand in a single file line about six feet away from each other. 01:09:39.000 |
If you're at home, please clap along with us. 01:09:57.000 |
And we were actually going to have a live band today. 01:10:01.000 |
There were six of our students who were going to come and play, but we decided not to do it because the woodwinds would be spraying everywhere, 01:10:10.000 |
And so Brinna, go ahead and join us in the back there. 01:10:17.000 |
I just realized I'm going to have to stay in front of this mic because I have to talk into this. 01:10:28.000 |
First up, we have Ariana Lee, who's graduating with a bachelor's in biological sciences. 01:10:54.000 |
Fun fact about Ari, she has three graduation honors cords. 01:11:08.000 |
Secondly, we have Ivy Zhao, who's graduating with a bachelor's in graphic design. 01:11:11.000 |
Apparently, she's an amazing singer, super talented, a graphic designer. 01:11:35.000 |
Next up, we have Matthew Choi, who's graduating with a bachelor's in informatics. 01:11:41.000 |
He is a skilled League of Legends and team fight tactics player. 01:11:52.000 |
And he is our resident drummer that we're sad to lose. 01:12:03.000 |
And as he's taking a picture, next we have Sarah King, who's going to graduate with a bachelor's in mathematics next year. 01:12:12.000 |
We're going to go ahead and congratulate her with her class. 01:12:16.000 |
Fun fact, she holds the record for the longest "yeah, boy" ever in college ministry. 01:12:29.000 |
Well, for for the those of you who are up here, we're going to continue on. 01:12:34.000 |
Lastly, with Brenna, who we don't have the slide for her until later, but Brenna is graduating with a bachelor's in language science. 01:12:45.000 |
She is a third year and she is graduating a year early. 01:12:48.000 |
And so for her, we're glad that she's still going to be with us for another year. 01:12:59.000 |
Now, as you five, you can go ahead and make your way back to your seats. 01:13:03.000 |
We're going to be focusing and shifting our attention to that door. 01:13:25.000 |
And then you guys can kind of shift shift over this way. 01:13:29.000 |
First, we have graduating with urban studies and history, Adam Wong. 01:14:00.000 |
Now, please go through that door and out the kitchen. 01:14:09.000 |
So just take a picture of them, like, with the backdrop there. 01:14:17.000 |
All right, next we have graduating with computer science, Boaz Chum. 01:14:33.000 |
Well, Boaz, please go ahead and grab your certificate. 01:14:44.000 |
Next, graduating with data science, Caleb Guan. 01:15:04.000 |
Next is Antoine Lu, graduating with biological sciences. 01:15:14.000 |
He's really good at video games, but even better at school. 01:15:46.000 |
with business administration and education sciences. 01:15:52.000 |
Fun fact, she loves to bake basic traditional Chinese 01:16:16.000 |
Next, graduating civil engineering, Kimberly Ting. 01:16:35.000 |
If you did not know, she is dating Adam Wong. 01:16:41.000 |
All right, next we have-- well, this is Brinna Hobart. 01:16:46.000 |
But Brinna, a fun fact, is a very talented artist, writer, 01:16:53.000 |
I have seen, I think, all of these firsthand. 01:16:58.000 |
All right, next we have-- wait, what's going on? 01:17:29.000 |
We have Daphne Hsu, graduating with psychology and social 01:17:32.000 |
behavior and education science, who is joining us right now 01:17:41.000 |
She is from San Mateo and is a five-star driver out 01:17:47.000 |
All right, next we have Elizabeth Pak, graduating 01:18:15.000 |
Jean Kim, graduating with a bachelor's in mathematics. 01:18:21.000 |
She's earned money on a game show called Let's Make a Deal. 01:18:36.000 |
Joseph Lo, graduating with a bachelor's in civil engineering. 01:18:47.000 |
Julianne Ong, graduating with a bachelor's in biotechnology. 01:18:54.000 |
She really loves bunnies and has many bunny-themed decorations 01:18:58.000 |
Kaitlin Yeo, graduating with a bachelor's in criminology 01:19:18.000 |
Matthew Teng, graduating with a bachelor's in computer science. 01:19:26.000 |
You can always find him at the Arc, heavy lifting. 01:19:29.000 |
Graduating with a bachelor's in psychology and social behavior 01:19:38.000 |
He has shaken hands with a K-pop group twice. 01:19:41.000 |
Graduating with a bachelor's in business administration 01:19:53.000 |
Lastly, graduating with a bachelor's in computer science, 01:19:58.000 |
He is a coding master and has a twin brother named Oscar. 01:20:08.000 |
And so now, graduates, you've finally reached this time 01:20:15.000 |
When you were in high school, you were dreaming of the time 01:20:20.000 |
and the time you'd be doing your graduation commencement 01:20:26.000 |
But in all this cringiness, in this green thing I'm wearing, 01:20:32.000 |
I do confer upon you, by no right that I actually have, 01:20:36.000 |
the degree that your respective colleges already bestowed upon you. 01:20:40.000 |
And so please go ahead and move your tassel from the right, 01:20:47.000 |
Just pretend at home, just pretend and do that. 01:20:56.000 |
I'm proud to have been your college pastor over the last four years. 01:21:00.000 |
I sincerely thank you for all the joy you have given me. 01:21:04.000 |
And this does conclude the 2020 commencement. 01:21:07.000 |
But I do want to say a hearty congratulations to each and every one of you. 01:21:13.000 |
And I will do this all alone in this building. 01:21:22.000 |
Let's pray together, and we'll join our hearts 01:21:27.000 |
as Isaac goes ahead and leads us in a worship song. 01:21:31.000 |
Heavenly Father, this was really silly and God-unnecessary. 01:22:09.000 |
Would you remind them that there is nothing they could have done to earn your love? 01:22:14.000 |
Father, let them always be close to the gospel. 01:22:18.000 |
Let them always remember their Christ who died for them. 01:22:22.000 |
And if there is any senior who is not yet a believer, 01:22:35.000 |
Ever since the time I saw them when I was just guest speaking here for college ministry, 01:22:46.000 |
I love them so much and I won't miss being their pastor. 01:22:51.000 |
God, we just thank you for the time we've had 01:22:54.000 |
and for the little time we will continue to have. 01:23:01.000 |
we will see of great things that you've been doing. 01:23:10.000 |
Let's all rise as we sing our closing praise. 01:27:49.000 |
at your faithfulness throughout all the years, 01:27:52.000 |
and we just thank you for the amazing God that you are. 01:28:14.000 |
Lord, that we would always look to you first. 01:28:32.000 |
We are all so proud of you and thankful for you. 01:28:41.000 |
for rest of tonight, we are going to be asking 01:28:43.000 |
all the college students who are with us physically here, 01:28:57.000 |
about 15 to 20 minutes before we start our table groups. 01:29:07.000 |
if that's not gonna work out for you or whatever. 01:29:09.000 |
Again, for the table group leaders who are physical, 01:29:12.000 |
if you can get home in time and start up that meeting, 01:29:18.000 |
because you have sleeping kids at home or something, 01:29:22.000 |
the church will remain open for the table group leaders 01:29:24.000 |
to go ahead and lead your physical table groups 01:29:29.000 |
So again, please, doen loider, go straight home. 01:29:35.000 |
And then there will be table group discussion questions 01:29:46.000 |
And afterwards, the doulos will kind of put up a time 01:29:51.000 |
I think last I saw Prince of Egypt won by like a hair. 01:29:57.000 |
So we're gonna be watching Prince of Egypt tonight virtually. 01:30:05.000 |
And so please join us, pop some popcorn at home, 01:30:08.000 |
and enjoy watching a movie together through Zoom. 01:30:22.000 |
Okay, all right, so that concludes the night. 01:30:26.000 |
I don't know if you already did, but for the rest of you, 01:30:28.000 |
you can go, please again, please do not stay outside 01:30:33.000 |
Just go, and we'll see you in the table groups, okay?