Alright, if you can turn your Bibles with me to Romans chapter 8. Our main focus is going to be verse 28, but I want to read it in context, verse 26 through 30. Romans chapter 8, 26 through 30. "Likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weakness, for we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.

And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good. For those who are called according to His purpose, for those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, in order that He might be the firstborn among many brothers.

And those whom He predestined, He also called, and those whom He called, He also justified. And those whom He justified, He also glorified." Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we pray that as we've been studying through Romans and refreshing and renewing our perspective and understanding of Your grace in our lives, I pray that it would more than just renew our minds, but our hearts, and more than just our hearts, but our very lives.

I pray that You would give us help by the Holy Spirit to apply all of these things, Lord God, that our life may truly be a living sacrifice. We ask for Your grace this morning as we understand Your grace and Your sovereignty, that it really would make the impact that You desire and that You have ordained in Your Word.

In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. I think one of the most important doctrines, at least the fundamental doctrines, that we need to be convinced about is the sovereignty of God. Because our security in Christ is absolutely dependent, it's linked to His sovereignty. Apostle Paul has been reassuring us that the reason why we can be secure in our salvation is that the Holy Spirit has been implanted.

He didn't just justify us, He also gave us the Holy Spirit that even in things that we are weak in, the Holy Spirit is groaning on our behalf, praying and interceding constantly. But even beyond just the Holy Spirit, the Scripture tells us that we have absolute security because our God is sovereign, absolutely sovereign.

He is absolutely in control. I have oftentimes get into discussions with people who have issues with predestination, and I think I shared this before, in the earlier years of our church when Calvinism or predestination wasn't a very popular term. It was, you kind of had pockets of people who were Calvinists.

But I had people straight up come and tell me, "If you're a Calvinist, I can't come to this church. I don't believe in predestination." Well, sad thing is the Scripture actually uses the term predestination. So if you don't believe in predestination, you have to reinterpret what the Scripture says.

And I think the reason why people have a hard time with predestination is because if God has predetermined salvation, that means we don't have any control. And somehow it seems unfair if God didn't leave it up to us. He just said, "Here's the truth, and here's the way of salvation.

It's up to you to come and get it." And thinking somehow that seems more fair and just than for Him to sovereignly elect and choose and predestine. Well, in human logic, it may sound legitimate, but to say that God is not sovereign, that God has not elected us, is no different than saying to tell an individual who's colorblind, and tell them that if you don't match all the colors in the right places, that you can't be saved.

And somehow that's fair. Or you tell a young toddler, say, "Here, I'm going to give you a hundred bucks, and I'll give you some instructions. Hopefully I can meet you on the other side of the country. And I've given you the free choice to do that. So if I give you the free choice to do that, and if you make it, you're saved." That somehow that is more fair.

See, the scripture describes that we are dead in our trespasses. That we are dead in our, our ability to discern what is right or wrong, what is truth, what is good, has been tainted by sin. So to give that option, saying, "Oh, here's the truth, and you come and get it by your own volition," is no different than telling a toddler, "Here, I'm giving you the choice.

I'm going to be a good parent, and I'm going to be a fair and just parent, and I'm going to tell you all the right thing to do, but it's up to you to choose it and do the right thing." See, that is not how salvation is described. The Bible describes that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

That we've lost the ability in our natural being to be able to discern right and wrong. So by our own effort here in the Gospel, we don't have the ability in our fallen nature to discern what is good and what is right, to even pursue Him, to have an appetite for Him.

So the Bible describes it, and that's what we've been studying in the Book of Romans. The whole reason why we even had an appetite, why we even repented, is because the scripture says it's His kindness that led us to repentance. Why were you able to hear the Gospel and understand it and believe it?

It is His kindness. The Holy Spirit opened your eyes. The Holy Spirit drew you to Him. God's sovereign plan was to elect us. Now, I know when we talk about that, you know, there's always going to be a question, "Well, that doesn't answer all the questions." You're right. We don't have the answers to all the questions.

But the scripture clearly defines and identifies, and the reason why we have absolute security is because our God is absolutely sovereign. The God who justified us, that same energy that justifies us, will also sanctify us, and that same passion that sanctified us will also glorify us. If our God is not absolutely sovereign, absolutely sovereign, we can't have security.

If it's just a, you know, God left that up to us, and He does His part and we do our part and our sovereignty is contingent upon two parts meeting at the center, we can't have security. We're just hoping. The reason why we have absolute security is because our God, who promises, has absolute control.

The text that we're looking at in Romans chapter 8, 28, is a passage that we often quote. My guess is a lot of you have already memorized it. You probably use it to encourage other people who are going through hard times and suffering. But this is one of those texts that is a great passage and is a great source of encouragement.

And just like a lot of other texts in the Bible, that if we're not careful, we can actually misunderstand and misapply what Paul means by this text. So we want to make sure that we understand what it says so that our application is consistent with what God means by it.

So I want to read that passage again because that's going to be our main focus this morning. Verse 28, "And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose." So there's three things that I want to highlight just in this verse.

First of all, he says, "We know," and in summary, he said, "We know that God is sovereign." If you, again, the text that I read previously, Paul says, "The reason why the Holy Spirit is given to us is because we don't know what to pray for." There's a lot of things that we don't understand.

Again, even the things about predestination, we don't fully understand them. Why did God create us? Why is there evil in the world? And we have all of these questions that we don't fully get. But Paul says, "In contrast to the things that we don't get, even though we don't know what to pray for, the Holy Spirit intercedes and cries out on our behalf." But here's what we do know.

What we do know is that our God is absolutely sovereign, that He works all things for good, for those who love and who have been called according to His purpose. That we know. In fact, that's a confession not only of some Christians, but every Christian, that we know this.

See, sovereignty of God, believing in His absolute sovereign power, is directly connected to our eternal security. If God is not absolutely sovereign, and if there is even 1% chance that even after He said everything, that there's even a 1% chance that that is not going to happen, then God is not completely sovereign.

Then we can't be completely secure. The reason why God is able to tell the nation of Israel, "Do not turn from My Word to the left or to the right, if you want to be successful." This is as they're entering into the Promised Land, and about to go into a battle with a city, with a nation of people who completely slaughtered them.

By any human reason, they should have been absolutely slaughtered by the Canaanites. And the only instruction He gives them is, "Trust Me, do not turn from Me to the left or to the right. Carry this box and go in circles. Just do what I say." That would be a ridiculous command, humanly speaking.

The only reason why God is able to say that is because He's absolutely sovereign. The only reason why we're able to have any confidence in the Word of God is because God is absolutely in control. He's not predicting the future as something that the Bible teaches. That is not what the Bible teaches.

See, His promise and comfort would be absolutely nullified if our God is an absolutely sovereign. If we're saying, "You know what? Of all the other things that I can rely on, God is probably better." No, He's not better. He's the only one that we can rely on. I can make promise to my children and say, "You know what?

Don't worry. I will always take care of you." Now, I mean that in my heart. That's my intention, and I will give my best effort to take care of my children, but I don't have control. I don't have control of even my own will. I don't have control of finances, my own emotions.

That's my intent. I don't have the power to carry that out. So it is good advice, or it is good intention. But God's promises are not just simply good intentions. God says it, and He's able to fulfill it because God is absolutely sovereign. Or else, it's no different than me saying, "You know, I'm going to take care of you." Our hope, our hope would be nothing more than wishful thinking.

If the book of Revelation is just a book where God has kind of written because He's looking into a glass, and He's looking into the future, and He sees it. He's just a better fortune teller than any other fortune teller, right? Because He gets it right. If that's all prophecy is, we can't have absolute security.

See, God is sovereign. He says God is working all things for good. He can say that because God is sovereign over all things. If He's not sovereign over all things, there's things that are happening in your life that is completely random, that God has absolutely no control over. He can say what He is saying in Romans 8, 28, because God is completely in control.

He's not only sovereign over some things and have no sovereignty over us. And that's how some people think. That God can sovereignly move the earth. God can sovereignly create the universe. But God doesn't have any sovereignty over us. He doesn't control us because it wouldn't be fair. That's not how the Bible describes it.

In Job 42, 2, it says, "I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted." The reason why no purpose of His can be thwarted is because no one can resist God. Irresistible grace. Psalm 135, 6, "Whatever the Lord pleases, He does in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all the deeps." He is not frustrated.

He doesn't have a plan that somehow we're getting in the way. The Scripture says, "He does what He pleases because our God is absolutely sovereign." Numbers 23, 19, "God is not man that He should lie, nor the Son of Man that He should change His mind." He doesn't plan one thing and then say, "Well, we're going to go to plan B because my plan A didn't work." He doesn't have to change His mind.

He is absolutely sovereign. Has He said and will He not do it? Or has He spoken and will He not fulfill it? If our God is not sovereign, absolutely sovereign, these are good sayings. It may comfort our hearts, but it has no practical application because He's not in control.

The reason why we have absolute security and we read the Scripture as fact, not just encouraging words but as facts, is because the God who wrote them is in absolute control. God is not standing by the sideline watching human history, watching your life and my life unravel and just watching and making predictions.

Scripture says He's actively involved. We don't know how it works. We don't know what to pray for. What we do know is that all things work together for good for those who love Him according to His purpose. That we do know. We don't know how it works, but we do know that our God is in control.

Isaiah 46.10, declaring the end from the beginning. Even from the very beginning, He declared the end. How are you doing that? Well, He's a really good fortune teller. That's because He's God. There's things that He's not in control of that He can see way down the line, millions of years down the line, and that's why He's able to say from the beginning what is at the end.

No, He's able to declare the end from the beginning because He is in control over the end and the beginning. He's the Alpha and the Omega. Declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times, things not yet done. Saying my counsel shall stand and I will accomplish my purpose.

He declares the end from the beginning because He says my purpose cannot be thwarted. In other words, He's in control. He fulfills His own promises. That's why Romans 11.36, it says, "For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be glory forever. Amen." Christianity, it hinges upon the sovereignty of God.

If God is not sovereign, then every promise that He made is a maybe. It's a maybe. It might save you. There might be a heaven. There might be glory. If He's not absolutely sovereign and He doesn't have control and there's some outside force that can stop Him or thwart His purpose, then every promise in Scripture becomes a maybe, not a yes.

Every security that we have hinges upon this doctrine of His sovereignty. In fact, there's a lot of practical application to this. Not just about the big picture in history, but it's even just our daily lives. What causes you to have security each day? Because we believe God is sovereign.

When things go completely out of whack and you don't understand, what causes you to continue to follow Christ? Because of His sovereignty. We wrestle with believing, but what we believe does not change. We may not understand, but what we do know is that our God is in charge. See, this promise that He made, this we know.

But the second observation I want to make with you is that this promise is not a universal promise that covers everything. It is a very specific promise that is made to those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose. Now, He's not distinguishing between two separate people.

He's not saying that God is sovereign or here's a group of people who love Him and here's a group of people who've been chosen. It's the same group. You know what that tells us? Those who have been chosen are the ones who love Him. John 6, 65, He says, "And He said, 'This is why I told you that no one can come to Me unless it is granted to him by the Father.'" The whole reason why we heard the Gospel and repented is because God chose us.

God initiated it. Not you, not me, not the church. God initiated it. The reason why you are in a certain situation, that why you had certain friends, why you were born in a certain family, all of these things that God orchestrated and analyzed because God's sovereign plan was being revealed in your life.

Matthew 11, 27, "All things have been handed over to Me by My Father and no one knows the Son except the Father and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him." How did you come to know Him? Now, we may say, you know, "I met this person and I did that and I did this and that," and all of these things.

We may have chosen to do that, but what caused you to hear that and to believe? We can't even change our appetite. If you like brownies, you didn't wake up and say, "I'm going to like it today." Right? No, you put it in your mouth like, "Mmm, delicious." And somebody else puts it in their mouth like, "Mmm, I don't like it." Right?

You know, when I was a little kid, I didn't like chocolate. And some of you guys are like, "What? How can you?" I just didn't. It just tasted bitter to me because God didn't give me a sweet tongue. Some of you guys have a sweet tongue. Anything sweet, you're tempted.

Right? Anything sweet, you can eat a gallon of, whatever it is. Right? That's just not me. I mean, my taste buds is more sweet and sour, you know, beef jerky, like that kind of stuff. Right? But I didn't choose that. Right? I didn't choose that. We can't even change our appetite.

Your appetite, you just had. I mean, you can learn to change it, but you put it in your mouth like, "Oh, I like it." Or, "I don't like it." To think that we woke up one day and said, "You know what? I'm going to love God." See, the Scripture says the whole reason why even your appetite for the things of God changed, why you all of a sudden heard the Gospel and believed and repented and decided to follow Him was because God called you.

The Son of God chose to reveal Himself to you. And again, Ephesians 1, 4-5, "Even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him in love, He predestined us for the adoption through Jesus Christ according to the purpose of His will." You know, in the earlier part of the church where, again, Calvinism and predestination was not popular, it is kind of like in this generation now, I've had so many conversations, "Oh, I can't believe in predestination." And I would always take him to this text and say, "Well, He says, 'He predestined us.'" In Ephesians 1, 11, "In Him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will." So He predestined us.

In fact, if you wrestle with this doctrine of election and predestination, I encourage you to take time to comb through the first three chapters of Ephesians. The first three chapters of Ephesians is basically the doctrine of election that he goes in depth. And over and over again, he says, "He called us, He elected us, He chose us according to His purpose, according to His pleasure, according to His will." Over and over and over again.

When did He do this? Before the foundation of the world. He had us in mind. And He pursued us. And so human history unraveled in order for this to happen. Now I know, as soon as I say that, "Well, then what about this? And what about the fall? What about this?" We don't understand how it fully works.

God did not reveal to us the intricate details of how predestination and human responsibility come together. And here's a perfect example. And here it is. Because it's not revealed. Maybe it is revealed and we just don't get it. But what He did reveal is His absolute sovereignty. And sometimes we get so caught up in trying to understand this predestination that we end up nullifying predestination.

That here's what I understand, here's what I don't understand. What I understand, I accept. What I don't understand, I reject. And as a result of that, we miss the whole point of what God is trying to say. The whole point of why He talks about election and His predestination and His sovereign will and purpose is to remind us that you have absolute security.

That you can bank on the promises of God. You can bank on even more than your bank statements. Even more than your friends and whatever circumstances that you have. Your personal experiences. Your understanding of right and wrong. You can bank on the promises of God because our God is absolutely sovereign.

That's His main purpose of why He teaches us Romans 8.28. That no matter how chaotic, no matter how our life just goes out of spin and we don't understand it, He says we don't know what to pray for. But what we do know is that our God is working.

He's not just passively watching. Our God is in control. Whatever circumstances that you may be in that you don't fully understand, we don't know what to pray for. We don't know exactly how this is going to fit together. But we do know that God who loves us, who is almighty and all powerful and all sovereign, is working all of this together for good.

Because He called us and those He called are the ones He says that love. So you see how He uses the term, the called and those who love God interchangeably? Romans 5.5 it says, "And hope does not put us to shame because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us." And again, you know this past 1 John 4.19, "We love because He first loved us." So a Christian, a Christian simply is somebody who loves God.

A Christian is somebody who loves God. And it is because you love God you come to church. It is because you love God you go to missions and you share the gospel and you pray because of that. But coming to church doesn't mean you love God. Going to missions doesn't mean you love God.

That's why the scripture says you can pray tongues with men and of angels if you don't have love. It is nothing more than a clanging cymbal or empty gong. It means nothing. In fact, He goes so far as to say even if I give my body to be burned and have not love it means nothing.

Because at the core of what Christianity is and who we are as a Christian is one who loves God. It is not one of many qualities of a Christian. It is the quality of a Christian. Basically to call a Christian basically is to say he's a lover of God.

Maybe we should say that again instead of saying we're Christians. You know, who are you? I'm a lover of God. Because that's how the Bible describes us. In 1 Corinthians 2.9 it says, "But as it is written, 'No eye has seen, no ear has heard, nor the heart of man imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.'" Is he talking about a select group of Christians?

Here's the elect and then here's a group of people who really love God. No, he's talking to all Christians. Ephesians 6.24, "Grace be with all of you, all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with love incorruptible." Is he talking about grace to some people who are elected who happen to love God and then those who don't love God, no grace to you?

No, he's talking to all Christians and he describes them as lovers of God. James 1.12, "Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life which God has promised to those who love him." So loving God and believing in God is equated as same thing.

A Christian is somebody who loves God. So you know, you hear this, the first thing that you're going to start thinking to yourself is like, "Do I love God then? I sing to God. I give to God. I may even serve God. But do you love God?" Now all of us, you know, at some points we wrestle with this, but the most fundamental question we should ask is, "Am I doing enough?" That shouldn't be the question we ask.

"Oh, did I do my quiet time?" That shouldn't be the question we ask. "Oh, how are you doing spiritually?" And oftentimes we get the answer, "Oh, I've been doing quiet time," or "I haven't been doing quiet time." You can do all of that the rest of your life and still not be a lover of God.

If you can give your body to be burned and have not love and be nothing, you can do quiet time and have not love and absolutely be nothing. So when we ask ourselves how we're doing spiritually, the question that we need to be asking is, "Am I a lover of God?" I remember as a young Christian reading through the scripture and I realized just how central this was.

If the greatest commandment, if all of the commandment can be summed up in, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength," it's not one of many qualities, it's the quality that determines whether you are a follower of Christ or not. It is the quality that determines if you've given right worship or not.

It's the quality that causes you to see scripture differently, why you evangelize, why you pray. It is the motivation behind everything that we do. It is not one of many qualities, it is the quality that identifies a Christian, a lover of God. I remember as a young Christian I was wrestling with this and I think, "Well, if it's the quality, I can say I believe in God, but do I love God with all my heart, mind, and soul, strength?" And at that time, I wasn't married, I didn't have children, the only thing I can compare it with, I love my parents, I love my mom.

So I would always compare it with that love. Do I love God the way I love my mom? I said, "I don't think I can say that confidently." And I remember wrestling with that and I would ask people, "What does it mean to love God?" And I would get all kinds of advice, "Just say it.

Say it a hundred times. I love you God, I love you God, I love you God. Eventually you'll love God." So I don't know how many times I would sit in prayer and I would just say, "I love you God, I love you God, I love you God." He said a hundred times, so I had to be a hundred, not 99 times, but a hundred times.

But it never worked. It just, "This can't be right. I know I'm young, but this doesn't make sense." I remember when it really hit me, and again, this commandment to love God, it was during a period when I was trying to move away from my secular friends because they were a bad influence on my life, and I was probably a bad influence on them.

And I was trying to make Christian friends, but I wasn't in the Christian world yet. I was moving away from my old life and trying to embrace a new life, and I was kind of caught right in the middle. And it was during that time when I was working full time, going to school full time, and so I had no time to spend with anybody.

I remember one day, I wasn't living at my parents' house at the time, I was living by myself, and I happened to be in the closet praying and doing my quiet time. And I just had a really depressing thought. I said, "If I died today, how long would it take for somebody to notice that I was gone?" What a depressing thought, you know?

But it just kind of gripped me that morning. And then, as I was thinking that, I was thinking, "Ah, maybe three months. It would take three months." And the first person who would notice is probably my mom. "Hey, I haven't seen Peter in a while." And she would usually send my older brother to come look for me.

So Paul would come and look for me. So it would take, my guess was about two to three months. But it was so depressing to think, right? To think that you could be gone for that long and it would take that long for somebody in your life to even realize.

But at the same time, as I was having this depressing thought, this moody moment, a thought came to me, "You know, God knows I'm here." And then I started thinking, "Not only does God know that I'm here, He sent His only begotten Son to save me." I mean, a God who knows, I mean, I can pray and He's hearing my prayers.

He knows I'm in this closet. I mean, God would know, He even knows what I'm thinking at this moment. And I started thinking, and no thought I had at that moment was any different than what I knew before. But all of a sudden, it made so much sense. It became real to me.

That the gospel that I've been embracing and I've been singing about, that changed me. It became personal. That He didn't just love the world, He loved me. He didn't just die for the sins of the world, He died for me. And I remember just thinking, "Wow, I'm having all these moody thoughts." And yet God used that to remind me why He came.

And as the scripture says, "My love for Him grew because He first loved me, because His love became real to me." It wasn't just some theology, it wasn't just something we were studying, it became real to me. And it is difficult to love something or someone that loves you that much.

Even a dog, those of you guys who own pets, if your dog came and bit you every day, you wouldn't love that dog. I don't care how cute that dog is. "Oh, isn't he cute?" And then you go by him and then boom. Every morning, bite you. I mean, I think a lot of people like pets and dogs because supposedly they give you unconditional love.

I don't think so. Stop feeding that dog for a while, they don't give you unconditional love. It's very conditioned. But whatever the case, it's hard not to love something or someone that loves you that much. You love your parents. You remember, now that even though you're older, despite everything that you've said to them and done to them, they stuck with you and they were patient.

Who's been the most patient in your life? Then your mom or your dad. Your love for them is a response to what they did for you. Husband and wife, after all these years, all the dumb things you'd said and did and selfishness and despite all of that, all these years, they stuck with you.

And they love you, they serve you, they protect you. Try really hard not to love them. It's hard not to love somebody that loves you that much. And then to think that this love that we sing about and profess every single Sunday is beyond anything that you and I have ever imagined, we can articulate.

The only reason that doesn't affect us is because we've been distracted and our faith has become small. But the moment that becomes real to you, we're always searching for something new. It's not something new. It's what's old that needs to become real. If you've lost your first love, he says, remember the height from which you had fallen.

Remember it doesn't say go look for something new. It's the fundamental things that cause you to be a believer of Christ you strayed from. He says, so remember the height from which you had fallen. Maybe the reason why it's harder for us to respond in love is because it's just become a theory.

It's just become theology, but it's not real. That we need to renew our love. We love because he first loved us. And that's why he equates somebody who has been chosen by God is a one who loves God. You've been chosen because God loves you. The motivation behind why he sent his only begotten son is unimaginable.

I mean, isn't that the reason even when you have a tendency to drift that always God brings you back is when God reminds you of his grace and love for you. Even when you rebel, what caused you to repent? What caused you to come back? Wasn't it when the love of God just gripped your heart?

That's why he says all things work together for good for those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. James 1 12, blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial for when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life to which God has promised to those who love him.

We know that God is working together. All things are working together. The word working together is synergy where we get the word synergy. It means that all of these things God is orchestrating to bring it together. Now whenever we talk about the sovereignty of God and predestination, it's really hard to understand because I just raised my hand, right?

I wasn't a robot. I did it. You came to church this morning. You took the shower. You invited your friends. So we always wrestle with how does this work? But even non-Calvinist, when they describe their salvation, always becomes a Calvinist, right? They always talk about how God orchestrated their life to bring them to a certain point.

Even though they have a hard time and they reject predestination going forward, they always become a predestination person when they talk about their past life. Well, how did you become a Christian? Oh, you know, my parents moved here and God somehow allowed me to run into this person and God somehow opened the door for me to come to this church.

And so we become a Calvinist when we talk about our past and how we got here. Whatever your testimony is, every single one of us will confess that we can see God's sovereign hands upon your life that caused you to come to a certain point to hear the gospel and understand and accept and repent and come.

Every single one of us. Whether you like the term predestination or not. Because you know it wasn't you. You know that God orchestrated certain things. I remember before I became a Christian, I was one angry kid. And I didn't realize this when I was, when we first came to the United States, I was just excited about coming to the US and having all the bananas in the world.

You know, like I love bananas and Korea bananas was too expensive. And so I was looking forward to having bananas. And so that's all I remember the first time coming to the United States. My parents decided to go back about four or five years after we were here. And by that time, you know, that the honeymoon of coming to the US has already died down.

You know, I'm being called a dumb chink, you know, so many times I thought that was my middle name, you know, and then going back to Korea, I said, Oh, I'm going back to my home country. And then hearing from, from my Korean friends to go back to your country.

I was like, what? I thought I was at my country. And I got confused and going, you know, you're about to hit puberty. And like, I don't belong in Korea. I don't belong in the United States. Like, who am I? And so second time my parents decided to come back to the United States, I was bitter and I was angry.

And on top of that, my parents moved around so much. And so by the time I was 15, 16 years old, I was, my behavior was so destructive. I was literally on the edge. Anything could have set me off. I was already getting into trouble with the police. And literally, I mean, I could care less if I lived or died at that moment.

I was that angry. And I remember when I met the Lord at the retreat. All of a sudden, that instantaneously, all of a sudden, everything made sense. Because all of that stuff, all of the anger that I had, all the pain that I was experiencing, all was for a purpose.

God orchestrated all of that to bring me to a point so that I could listen to Him and understand Him and desire Him. And so all of that, all this stuff, all this thing that made me angry, all of a sudden, knowing that God was behind it, made sense to me.

And that's why, from that moment on, I said, "You know, I'm going to spend the rest of my life telling people." I mean, I was at the verge of just jumping off a bridge. And all of a sudden, God gives me this new life. And everything that I've experienced up to this point made sense.

I didn't understand the predestination at that time. I didn't understand the sovereignty and how this works. All I knew was that all of it was a purpose, and I clearly saw it. Every single one of us, whether your testimony was dramatic or whether you think it's mundane, God orchestrated your life in such a way so that you would hear the Gospel and that you would believe and repent and come to Him.

So you can clearly see that all things up to this point have been working towards what God desires in your life. This church, oftentimes, now that a church is certain size, we have young pastors coming into town saying, "You're going to plant a church." And I would meet up with them, and they would ask me, "Oh, you've been, your church has been around almost 20 years.

What was it like? And can you give me some advice for church planting?" And my usual advice is, "Hang on for dear life." That's usually what I tell them. Because our church was not a normal church plant. We didn't plant this church. I didn't have this great idea, "We're going to plant this church.

We're going to reach or remind students, and we're going to use this strategy, so we need this much funding, and we need these many people." That's not how it happened. I was completely burnt out. I was almost done with ministry, on the verge of quitting. And then I heard, I got a phone call from a former student of mine who was a college freshman or sophomore, saying that this church, this church, at that time it was called Harvest Community Church.

He said, "The Harvest Community Church got planted, and the pastor who planted the church ended up taking off after two months." And to this day, I don't know why. And I got a phone call saying, "Hey, Peter, we heard that you're in between church." So I was at another church, and that church ended up splitting in half.

So I ended up coming out in between church, and I was really contemplating just going into business. And I get a phone call, "Hey, we need your help, because the church is about to dissolve." And it was an English ministry of a Korean church that became independent. So it was a church within a church.

So the only reason why I ended up going back is because, one, I was burnt out, and I wasn't ready for any kind of ministry. So I thought that would be a safe place for me to be, just kind of go there, and just kind of watch over them, because I already know these kids, and I felt like they're going to dissolve if I don't go.

So it was more to kind of do a supporting work, and hopefully they would stabilize enough. I had no desire, no plans to do church planting. Once we got there, we found out the senior pastor who came in as an interim had a completely different idea. He wanted us to be more Koreanized, speak Korean, sing Korean songs.

It's like, we have people who aren't Korean in our congregation. We can't do that. And he was very charismatic, and theologically that just didn't fit. So he was making certain demands, and so we begged him, I begged him to allow us to stay, because this church, if we go out, we're going to die.

You know, we have college freshmen are the oldest people in our church. You know, we have one or two working people. And I just had a kid, you know, I have a young family. Like, we're not ready to plant a church. We tried for about a whole year, and it just didn't work out.

So they asked us to go, and so we ended up leaving. Long story short, a lot of things happened the first six, seven years of the church, but it was not a church plant. The only reason why we stuck together is because I was afraid that the early members of the church would not survive if I left.

That was the only reason. It wasn't because we had this vision of a church, or we want to reach Irvine, and had this great vision. I may have had that about six, seven years before the church plant, but by the time this church plant was happening, I was burnt out.

I was one leg in, one leg out. And I had a bunch of young guys who had no idea what they were doing, and I didn't think they were going to make it. And so we just stuck together, and just had worship on Sunday, and had Bible study on Friday, and that was it.

And then we had another kid, and another kid, and added more financial burdens to the church. I look back at the first six, seven years of our church history, we shouldn't be here. And trust me, I had every friend that I had in my life who was concerned for me, give me wise counsel to quit.

"Peter, why are you doing that? Come to my church, they'll take care of your needs. You have small children at home." And again, the reason why I share with you all of this stuff is because whatever benefit that you may have benefited from this ministry, human perspective was completely random.

But obviously we don't believe it was random. God orchestrated all of that. I couldn't have foreseen that six, seven years into the church. So we can see God's sovereign plan, why He did what He did. Why He made us go through all of that, and how He used that to bring us where we are today.

It wasn't orchestrated, it wasn't planned, it wasn't because we had this lofty vision, or we implemented the right strategy. And the moment that we forget that our God is sovereign is when we are weak. When we think that if we're smart enough, if we're clever enough, so somehow we can bear better fruit for God.

See, the scripture reminds us that God is the one who's working. He's the one synergizing. He's the one who's putting all of this, even the things that you don't understand, especially the things that you don't fully understand. You know why we started going out to China for missions? During that period, I had to pay bills, and so I became an ESL teacher.

And I was teaching ESL for about five years. And the whole time I was teaching ESL, I was, "What am I doing?" I was spending about four or five hours teaching ESL, and another about hour and a half preparing for ESL. So basically all my day was filled with teaching ESL.

You know, it's just to pay bills. And while the church was struggling, and so for five years I was doing this, I'm like, "Wow, God, you called me into ministry, and I'm doing all this, and I'm spending basically morning till night thinking about how to teach English." And then in the midst of that, I got news that China's beginning to open up and allowing foreigners to come in, and our in is to come and teach English to the students.

At that time, foreigners weren't coming in and out of China like that in 1999, 2000. So because we were able to teach English, and I had the English credential, I contacted our Southern Baptist Mission Board and told them, "Hey, I'm an ESL teacher, and I can train our guys to come and teach English where you need us." And so that's what caused us to come into China.

During the five years, all I was thinking was, "Why? Why am I doing this? Why is this so hard?" See, it's hard to understand looking from here and looking forward, but when you see behind you, you can clearly see the sovereignty of God. Now, we may not know everything.

The Holy Spirit is praying on our behalf on the things that we don't know, but what we do know is that all things are working together for good, for those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose. And that's why we can say with confidence in Matthew 10, 29, "Are not two sparrows sold for a penny, and not one of them fall to the ground apart from your Father?

Yet even the hairs of your head are all numbered." That's the God that we worship. That's why that verse comforts us. And again, I want to read one more passage in 1 Peter 5, 6-7. "Humble yourselves, therefore, unto the mighty hand of God, so that at the proper time He may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on Him, because He cares for you." If our God is not sovereign, that wouldn't be a source of encouragement.

It'd just be nice words. But the reason why it's an encouragement, the reason why it changes us, is because a sovereign God who controls human history is in control. But He's not just in control. He says He cares. He cares. Even the strands on your head, He cares. This God is worth worshiping, and following, and trusting.

I don't know what's happening in your life right now, and I know that there's things that may be happening in your life that you don't fully understand. Why is this happening? Why did God allow this to happen? And I want to encourage you, as we remember the suffering of Christ and His incarnation, as you think about His incarnation, think about why He came.

He didn't just come to save the world, or to give an example. His incarnation was coming after you. He came after you. Where you're sitting. Because He saw your suffering. He saw the pain caused by your sins. He saw the judgment that's waiting for mankind. He saw your pain.

He heard your groaning. And so He stepped off of His throne, and He came after you. That's what Christmas is about. So I pray that as we gear up to celebrate Christmas, that it would not simply be about the theology of Christmas, of Emmanuel, and the meaning behind all of that.

But that you would remember that He first loved you. That we would be able to confess with all honesty, "We love you too." Let's pray. And I want to invite you to take some time to pray and reflect upon Romans 8.28. And I don't know what kind of difficulties or suffering that you, or maybe somebody you love are going through.

And maybe you've filled your mind with things that have nothing to do with God, and you've left very little room for God's love to affect you. Let's take this time to call you for the Lord. "Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief. Help me to move away from these distractions and hopefully take some time during this Christmas season to really think upon the sacrifice that He made for us.

That our worship and love and confession may simply be a reasonable response. So let's take some time to think and to pray as our worship team needs us." you