Good morning, Church family. Happy Lord's Day. As we begin our service, I'd like to encourage us to reflect on our current lives, our situations, our goals, our desires, our successes, and that we would share in Apostle Paul's heart to know that to know Christ would surpass all of them.

In Philippians, he writes, "I count all things to be lost in view of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death." So this morning I pray that likewise we would see Christ as the most precious treasure and that we would find our full joy and abundant life in him.

Sing "Just the Time." Just the time I think that I'm at peace with the world that's mine. I feel at ease, I feel at home, and I know I'm not alone. Then in my rest there comes a test that shakes me 'til again I know that what I have is not enough, and again I've got to grow.

Lord, I want to know you more. Deep within my heart I want to know you. Lord, I want to know you and I would give my final breath to know you in your death and resurrection. Lord, I want to know you more. Lord, I want to know you more.

The full supply. The full supply I find as I move closer to the heart of God. To strengthen me, to nourish me, to fill my mind with it. I've truly grown, but even so my hunger hasn't gone away. Still I long, still I thirst to know him more each day.

Lord, I want to know you more. Deep within my heart I want to know you. Lord, I want to know you and I would give my final breath to know you in your death and resurrection. Lord, I want to know you more. Deep within my heart I want to know you.

Lord, I want to know you and I would give my final breath to know you in your death and resurrection. Lord, I want to know you more. Lord, I want to know you more. Lord, I want to know you more. Good morning. Welcome to Berean Community Church. If you are a college student or if you're parents of college students, after service there is a welcome table that's sitting out there and some of the college welcome team and they're going to be stationed out there.

So they'll give you more information. There's a lot of things going on for the college students this week because the students are coming in town. I think the school's starting next week. But if you are here visiting and you want more information about the college ministry, please go to that table and they'll give you more information.

Okay. I have a few announcements before we get started. First of all, they need volunteers for the trunk formation and this is for replacement of Halloween on September 30th. So basically you're going to decorate your trunk and then the kids come around, your car and the candy and stuff like that will be provided for you.

And so they need more cars to volunteer to do that. So if you're willing to do that on that night, please let them know and they'll give you more information about that. Family ministry picnic. There's a picnic going on today at 11 to 3 p.m. So there's already people there.

So just grab your lunch. It's just kind of a casual fellowship. There's other families that will be there and then you'll be able to just meet with them. And just, again, there's no specific agenda. So if you're able to make it, it's at Tustin Heritage Park and that's where some of the family members will be going after.

FAM 245. If you've been married around three years or less, this ministry is for you. And this coming Saturday there's a workshop happening in the Sprouts Room upstairs at 10.30 a.m. Pastor Peter Chung is going to be covering the subject of a worry-free marriage. And so if you haven't signed up for that, please sign up for that.

And then, again, a heads up, the next Sunday we have communion service. Child safety training is happening next Sunday. So if you're working with the youth or children of any kind-- not any kind--if you're working with children of that particular kind, there's training that you will need to sit through.

So please go to that, and that's happening next Sunday. The next round of membership class--so if you are interested in taking membership, that's taking place starting next Sunday for eight weeks from 9 to 10.20 a.m. And that's going to be taking place in our youth group room across the courtyard.

And then finally on October 7th, there's an all-church cleaning day from 9 to 12 p.m. So if you are able--if you're free that morning, please come and help us to organize and clean up the church that we--I think we have this, like, maybe quarterly. I think that's it for this morning.

Let me pray for us. And, again, if you have physical offering, there's a box on the way out. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for another day, another privilege that we have to be able to come and worship you. Thank you for the fellowship that we have with our brothers and sisters in Christ.

We thank you, Father, that you sustain us, that you who began a good work in us, that you will be the one who carry it onto completion until the day of Christ. Help us, Lord God, to lean on you, to depend on you, to cry out to you, that our lives, Lord, may reflect the tremendous grace that you've given us.

Help us, Lord, that even in this giving that we would give with a cheerful heart, it may be multiplied 30, 60, 100-fold for the sake of your kingdom. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Let us all rise as we sing these praises. See, the rich, the temptation of the rich is that we're not hungry.

We're not hungry. We want Christ, but we don't need Christ. There's a big difference in the way you worship God when you need him. There's a big difference in the way that you pray when you need him. There's a big difference in the way you walk with God when you need him.

When you want him, it's like, "Yeah, I want that. I want this, I want that, but I want Jesus too." There's a huge difference, and it shows. It shows in the way we worship. It shows in the way we do Bible study. We did it. We just checked off.

I was required, and I did it. But when you need him, when you need him... Do you remember ever praying because you were so desperate that just casual praying was not enough? Just praying just kind of like casually, it just was not enough. You needed God to answer your prayers.

You needed him to hear you. And so you cried out to God, "God, I need you to answer this prayer. I am lost without you." A prayer of desperation is a prayer that God promised that he would answer when we make up our mind. Do you really want that?

Do you need that? Every parent, you know, when a child cries, when that child cries because it's been a habit of crying, they just want you to be there and put your hand on them or just hold them. But you can't run every time they cry because every time they cry and you hold them and they become a habit and then now you can never rest.

You can't get in the car. So you learn to distinguish between cry for attention and cry because there's a need. That they're desperate. They're choking on something. They're hurting on something. Something needs my immediate attention. So he says, "Blessed are those who are hungering and thirsting for righteousness." Because he recognizes the poverty of his state and he's crying out to God because only God can answer this prayer.

Only God can bring relief. Amos chapter 6 verse 1, it says, "Woe to those who are yeas in Zion." And the word "yeas" in the NIV, I think it says "complacent." "Woe to those who are complacent and to those who feel secure in the mountain of Samaria." The biggest problem that we have in a rich country is complacency.

Complacency. Yes, we have bad doctrines. We have the health and wealth gospel. We have crazy things that are happening in the church, but the thing that is eroding the church more than anything else is complacency. People who have the right doctrine. People who know the proper gospel. People who have been walking and in the church, have been cultured in the church, but are complacent.

We're not in need. Yeah, it'd be great. You never oppose the gospel. You're never antagonistic toward the gospel. You're just complacent. Luke 6, 25, "Woe to you who are well fed, for you shall be hungry." Have you ever eaten when you're hungry? Like really hungry. I'm not talking about...

I think most of us don't know what that feels like, right? I know that right now the intermittent fasting is a big thing, you know, in order to get healthy. But have you ever really eaten when you're hungry and how food tastes? I remember back in Korea, you know, back in the 70s, Korea was a third world country.

It was like an abject poverty that all the orphan care and adoption, all this stuff happened in Korea because they were so poor after the war. So even back in the 70s, it was starting to rise, but it wasn't there yet. So I remember we rarely ate meat before we came to the United States.

And I remember very distinctly whenever we were going to eat, my mom made the announcement. You know, it'd be February, so you know in March, March 3rd or something, we have a guest coming to our house and we're going to have some meat. So make sure that you're in the house at that time.

Believe me, we knew when that was coming, you know, because it wasn't common, right? It was a missionary that would come to town or a special guest. And so they would be... and it wasn't like, you know, it wasn't like Korean barbecue like today, right? It was just like a small plate of meat and you have all this other stuff and then everybody would get a little piece, but that was enough to make it a big deal, right?

Because we weren't used to eating meat at that time. Man, how good that bulgogi tasted, right? You ever eat rice when you haven't eaten for like two to three days? There was a period when, you know, a few of my friends, we were fasting. At the end of that, we decided to eat and all we had was rice.

But we're so hungry, we'll eat anything. And I remember eating that rice, I had no idea how good rice was, right? I had no idea how good rice. It is so sweet. It tasted like candy, right? If you don't believe me, fast three days, right? Just so you can prove my illustration.

When's the last time you hungered and thirsted for God and then you came to the Word of God and you ate? Do you remember when you first met Christ? Tasting the Word of God, fellowship, worship, praise. Do you remember what that tasted like? Do you remember what it was like?

And you felt so blessed because you had the privilege to be able to, "God allows me to do this." But at some point, why did that privilege become an obligation? Why did that privilege become a check-off list? Something that needed to be done. That's what he's saying. "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied." Those who hunger for it.

Not just people who are casually coming in. It's like, "Oh, okay, it's Wednesday. It's time to study." Those who are hungry and thirsty. You ever have people in your small group or your home group who come in so hungry? They don't have to be the most mature Christian. They don't have to, you know, it's like, "Oh, they're the expert in, you know, in exposition of the Word." No, they're just hungry.

Brand new Christian. Or maybe they're a Christian, but they're studying the Bible for the first time, and they're like, "Wow. This is the Word of God." And they're just eating it up. We hear it all the time. Because the people in that group are so encouraged. And all they did was, they brought hunger.

They didn't exposit. They didn't know the best. They weren't Christian the longest. They're not the most disciplined. And all they did was brought in a hungering and thirsting that they're not used to seeing. And the impact that that makes. It makes other people eating. Right? You ever eat something that somebody loves, like ice cream?

You have some friends who love ice cream, and you don't normally like ice cream, but when they eat ice cream, it makes ice cream taste better. Right? Or maybe they like boba, and, you know, it's like, "I'm not a fan of boba, but they love it so much that I want to have some." He's talking about people who recognizes his hungering and thirsting for righteousness.

And the impact that it has on you, the way it makes the Word of God taste, worship, fellowship. John Piper says in his book, Hunger for God, "If you don't feel strong desires for the manifestation of the glory of God, it is not because you have drunk deeply and are satisfied.

It is because you have nibbled so long at the table of the world, your soul is stuffed with small things, and there is no room for the great." What kills a rich church is cup ramen. Yeah, cup ramen. You have a feast that's waiting for you for dinner, and constantly you would like the taste of cup ramen.

Right? So you're eating cup ramen all day, so when it's time for the banquet, you don't have an appetite. You ever try to eat when you're not hungry? It doesn't matter how good the food tastes. It's torture. I mean, literally. I've been to a sushi, and, you know, some of the younger guys think that they can eat nonstop.

And I remember this one particular guy, some of you guys know who I'm talking about, went to eat sushi, and then we were in our second round, and I said, "I am stuffed. I can't eat anymore." He said, "No, no, we can eat." And then he ordered a table full of food, and literally ate two pieces, and we couldn't eat.

So the rest of it we were shoving down our throat because we didn't want to be charged another $7. So him and I were like--you know the Bible says that gluttony is sin, that we definitely sinned that day. And we were eating because we were like, "We don't have any appetite.

We have to shove it in our mouth because we have to get rid of this because we don't want to be charged." And we ended up doing it. I literally got up, and if somebody poked me, it would have just all come back up. That's how bad it was, right?

And I remember there's a video that went viral in our church, Elder James. We went to eat sushi because it was someone's birthday, and he heard about this story. Some of you guys know who I'm talking about. I videotaped him, and I couldn't hear what he was saying, but he was so intense--this is kind of a side point, but it's a funny story.

He was intense. I thought he was exposing the Bible and telling them about the intricacies about the cross. And I leaned over, and he was saying, "Do not order more than you can eat." Did you hear me? You, you, you, you, you, you, right? If we can't finish it, it's going to be-- "If you order more than what you can eat, we're going to make you eat." He was--you know how he is, right?

That's what eating is like spiritually. When you come in full, you're already satisfied. You already have everything you need, and then you're supposed to go to church because it's Sunday. You don't have to go to Bible study because it's Wednesday. You're eating, but you're force-feeding yourself. You're doing it more because you don't want other people to judge you, out of obligation.

But you don't know the taste. Jesus says, "Come and taste and see how good he is." In Psalm 63, "Oh God, you are my God. How shall I seek you earnestly? I shall seek you earnestly. My soul thirsts for you. My flesh yearns for you." In a dry and weary land where there is no water, if you're a child of God and we're in the kingdom of God, the only thing that can truly satisfy us is Christ.

Sometimes he will give us poverty, sometimes he will give us wealth, but every good gift that comes from God is to lead us to him. And anything that distracts us from coming to him is a curse. Anything that causes us to come to him is a blessing. That is the new perspective in the kingdom of God.

In Psalm 42, 1-2, "As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God. For the living God, when shall I come and appear before God?" I pray that that would be our prayer. That we recognize the nibbling of this world that is killing our appetite, that we would prioritize, that we would hunger and thirst for God more than anything else in this world, that we would experience what it means to be satisfied in Christ.

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we pray that the word that you've implanted in our mind and our hearts, Lord God, would not return until it has accomplished its purpose. Help us, Lord, to recognize our true joy. Recognize the life that you have come to give and to give abundantly. That whether we are poor, whether we are hungry, whether we are rich, whether we are in peace, whether we are in turmoil, that every situation in our life would cause us to cry out to you, to desire you, desire Christ more than anything else.

In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Let's all stand up for the closing praise. Let's sing "As the Dear." As the dear Pantiphor, the water soaked my soul longeth after thee. You alone are my heart's desire and I long to worship thee. You alone are my strength, my shield. To you alone may my spirit yield.

You alone are my heart's desire and I long to worship thee. You're my friend. You're my friend and you are my brother even though you are a king. I love you more than any other, so much more than any other. You alone are my strength, my shield. To you alone may my spirit yield.

You alone are my heart's desire and I long to worship thee. Let's sing "I Want You." I want you more than gold or silver. Only you can satisfy. You alone are the hue, joined together in the emerald blue. You alone are my strength, my shield. To you alone may my spirit yield.

You alone are my heart's desire and I long to worship thee. Let's sing "You Alone." You alone are my strength, my shield. To you alone may my spirit yield. You alone are my heart's desire and I long to worship thee. "You Alone." You alone are my heart's desire and I long to worship thee.

Psalm 63, 1. Oh God, you are my God. I shall seek you earnestly. My soul thirsts for you. My flesh yearns for you in a dry and weary land where there is no water. Help us, Lord God, to know that the true water, that the true bread is Christ.

That there will be a stirring in our hearts and hungering and thirsting for Christ more than anything else in our lives. Help us, Lord God, to open our eyes to see the glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ. That we would be able to confess as Apostle Paul did, that in light of the surpassing knowledge of knowing Jesus Christ, that all things will become rubbish.

That we would no longer be tempted by the things of this world, but that we would covet the things from you and you alone. Send us wherever you desire that we may be the aroma of Christ, that we may be the light of Christ wherever you send us. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.

God sent his Son. They called him Jesus. He came to love, heal and forgive. He lived and died to buy my pardon. An empty grave is there to my Savior lives. Because he lives, I can face tomorrow. Because he lives, all fear is gone. Because I know he holds the future.

And life is worth the living just because he lives. Because he lives, I can face tomorrow.