Good morning, church family. Happy Lord's Day. We're gonna go ahead and start our service with this first hymn, Praise to the Lord. Praise to the Lord. Praise to the Lord. Good morning, church family. For those of you who are new to the church, we want to extend a warm welcome to you.

After the service is done, please stop by our welcome booth. You'll see it in blue right outside in the courtyard. We'd love to connect with you and give you more information about the church. Turning to some announcements for us, we've been announcing that on the 19th, Sunday is our Christmas service where we'll have children's performances and a time of just really remembering our Lord.

But after the service, the Outreach Team has scheduled a special reception for our friends and family who don't know Christ, who we want to reach out to. So please take the opportunity. There's still invitation cards at the front table also available for you. And take the opportunity also to go to the church Facebook or app.

And there's a link where if you would like the Outreach Team to join you in prayer for the people that you're thinking about, you can submit their name or just what your thoughts are, and they'll join you in prayer to lift that person up. And for the other things we have, as again, the year kind of starts winding down, we have our various events.

We have our ping pong tournament that's happening on the Friday, 6 p.m. Please be sure to take a moment to sign up for that. And it's going to be doubles only. And so you'll either, A, sign up to be placed in a team or to have a team that you want to enter into the tournament together.

We'll also have our evening service at 11 p.m. Make sure you make ample time to get washed up, whatever you need to come. It'll be a sweet time for us to just reflect on the year and devote that time together as a church to usher in the new one as well.

So the announcement I'd like to actually highlight too is this past week, our Titus Bible study came to an end. But we're taking sign-ups now for the next Bible study, which is going to be a study through 1 Peter. Pastor Peter Chung will be continuing the inductive study. We'll do our study come and in the smaller settings, share our convictions, et cetera.

Please make sure you take a look at that sign-up and go ahead and sign up so that we can make groups and make preparations for the next session. That's it for the announcements this morning. Today we get the privilege of hearing Connor's testimony after our worship set. He'll be coming up to share with us and then be baptized this morning after the praise set.

At this time, let's join prayer together as we go into a time of offering. Heavenly Father, we want to thank you and praise you. God, we gather together desiring to lift up to you worship that is pleasing. God, we want to be focused on you. And Lord, we desire to gather together collectively to render you our hearts.

And God, as we also lift up to you our offering, we pray, Father God, that our hearts would be eager to lift up to you many things beyond just our finances. But Lord, would you continue to use the finances to the furthering of your kingdom for the work of your ministry and the edification of this church.

We pray for the service, God, this morning. God, this would be both an edifying time for us as we hear, as we sing. God, our hearts would be encouraged to faith. But also, Lord, that in all things it would be to your honor and your glory. We thank you in Christ's name.

Amen. Church family, for those who are outdoors, please remain seated. But for those of us inside, please join with us in standing. Who can light it? Who can light the fires of a thousand burning suns? Blazing in the heavens, there is only one. He is our God. Who commands the nations.

Who commands the nations, building up and tearing down. Silencing his rivals, there is only one. He is our God. Yes, he is. He is our God. Holy, you alone are holy. Matchless in your glory. Holy God. Who would come to save us? Who would come to save us when we turned away his love?

Conquer us with kindness, there is only one. He is our God. Sing it out, he is our God. And he is our God. Holy, you alone are holy. Matchless in your glory. No one is like you. Worthy, you alone are worthy. We adore you only. Holy God. Now to the king.

Now to the king on the throne. Who was and is to come. And to the lamb who was slain. Be glory. Now to the king on the throne. Who was and is to come. And to the lamb who was slain. Be glory. Now to the king on the throne.

Who was and is to come. And to the lamb who was slain. Be glory. Holy, you alone are holy. Matchless in your glory. No one is like you. Worthy, you alone are worthy. We adore you only. Holy God. Amen. Worthy of every song we could ever sing. Worthy of all the praise we could ever bring.

Worthy of every breath we could ever breathe. We live for you. Jesus, the name above every other name. Jesus, the only one who could ever sing. Worthy of every breath we could ever breathe. We live for you. Oh, we live for you. Holy, there is none like you. There is none beside you.

Open up my eyes in wonder. And show me who you are and fill me with your heart. And lead me in your love to those around me. Worthy of every song we could ever sing. Worthy of all the praise we could ever bring. Worthy of every breath we could ever breathe.

We live for you. Yes, Lord. Sing it, Jesus. Jesus, the name above every other name. Jesus, the only one who could ever sing. Worthy of every breath we could ever breathe. We live for you. Oh, we live for you. Holy, there is no one like you. There is none beside you.

Open up my eyes in wonder. Show me who you are and fill me with your heart. And lead me in your love to those around me. I will build. I will build my life upon your love. It is a firm foundation. I will put my trust in you alone.

And I will not be shaken. I will build my life upon your love. It is a firm foundation. I will put my trust in you alone. And I will not be shaken. Holy, there is no one like you. There is none beside you. Open up my eyes in wonder.

Show me who you are and fill me with your heart. And lead me in your love to those around me. Holy, there is no one like you. There is none beside you. Open up my eyes in wonder. Show me who you are and fill me with your heart. And lead me in your love to those around me.

Amen. You may be seated. Hello. My name is Connor Lee, and I'm a college student. And this is my testimony. I was born and raised in a Christian home. My parents were Christian as well. They regularly visited church and Bible study and prayed with us. As such, I followed suit and regularly attended church and youth fellowship every week.

I began to learn more about Christianity and the commands that God has given to us. But I didn't question it or dive deeper to study it. It was just a set of morals to keep, something to memorize. Later on in my life, my family and I moved a couple times, and I left my childhood friends and church near the end of elementary school.

It was then that I started to feel disconnected from my faith. I still outwardly looked like a Christian, attended church, fellowship, and prayed, but I was slowly drifting. The years went by, and I drifted more and more until I had almost stopped praying, reading the Bible, and ultimately having any relationship with God.

I was alone a lot during this time, and I filled my time with school, hobbies, and living more and more for entertainment. It was then when I had more free time than ever before, and I started questioning my life and realized how much sin was going on, at least more than I expected to see.

At first, I just tried fighting it myself, but none of it worked, and I always kept finding myself sinning again and again. It was then I remembered my Christian upbringing and started thinking more about my faith and what God meant to me. I cried out to God in prayer and asked for guidance in fighting these sins, still mostly from my own conscience and with little understanding.

Even so, God heard me and answered, helping me to slowly shift away from the sins that were plaguing me at the time. A verse that helped me through this was Ephesians 5.8. It says, "For you were formerly darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light." Here, Paul is writing to the Church of Ephesus, telling them to be imitators of God, of Christ, to not partake in the sin and immorality of those around them and in the world.

Seeing this, I started to acknowledge that God was there for me and read the Bible to know more about him. It was here where I started wanting to give my life over to God. After this, things started to change quickly. I started to see how important the Word of God is and how it applied to me and started listening more attentively in church and studies.

I saw how it helped me to progress in my fight against sin and finally feeling like I could be set free from it. Even though I was by myself a lot during this time, I did not feel alone or sad, knowing that I had God and that he had plans for me beyond my understanding.

I felt that I had given myself to God, wanting to serve him and have him as my God. However, what was missing was a true understanding of the relationship between us. I positioned in front of him as a sinner and a church fellowship that I could connect with. Then, I started attending Berean regularly, virtually at first because of quarantine, but then in person as well due to school being online.

I gained a good fellowship that I could connect with, and through the youth group and college teachings and Bible studies, I gained more knowledge and finally started to see the reality, both the sin in my life but also the mercy and grace of God. It was then, earlier this year, that I finally felt that I understood my faith and relation to God, truly giving myself to him, repenting for my sins, asking for his forgiveness, and being fully transformed by the love of Christ.

I can now truly say that I am a Christian, have a relationship with God, and can stand forgiven in front of God in heaven by the blood of Jesus Christ, who saved me to walk as a child of God. Thank you. Amen. What a blessing to hear his testimony.

Thank you, brother. Please turn your Bibles over to Colossians 1, verses 24 through 29. Colossians 1, verses 24 through 29. Take a moment to read the text for us this morning, and it says, "Now I rejoice in my suffering for your sake, and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of his body, which is the church, in filling up what is lacking in Christ's affliction.

Of this church I was made a minister, according to the stewardship from God, bestowed on me for your benefit, so that I might fully carry out the preaching of the word of God. That is the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations, but has now been manifested to his saints, to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

We proclaim him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ. For this purpose also I labor, striving according to his power, which mightily works within me." Let's pray. Lord God, we want to truly thank you for all that you are, and Lord, all that you are doing in our lives currently.

We thank you God that you continue just to instruct us, leading us, Lord, in your way. And we thank you Father for we recognize that that is causing us to grow into Christ, causing us to mature, and we desire this in our lives. So we thank you Lord this morning, it's in Christ and we pray.

Amen. This verse that I just read to you is a familiar verse, and if you attend any biblical counseling conference and you have an introductory session where they lay the foundations of biblical counseling, they'll read this verse, because it lays to you the objective and the goal. And this verse is very encouraging and challenging to me every time I attend a pastor's conference, or sometimes as I think about pastoral ministry I come back to this verse because it lays down for us what is the vision, what is the conviction of the ministry we are involved in.

And there was once a time I attended a missions conference, and I heard a pastor who was out on the field come in and give the congregation a strong, powerful exhortation. But within it he was saying to the entirety of the group that was there, it wasn't just pastors and missionaries, but it was just church people too, and he said, "Every single one of you are missionaries, whether you like it or not.

God has sent you. You're a missionary. And so wherever you are, act like a missionary. Behave like a missionary. Serve like a missionary." And it was interesting because when I first heard a sermon like that, because I've heard sermons like that several times, the first time, I don't know why, but in my heart of hearts I was thinking, "Nah.

We're not all missionaries. I haven't been commissioned by the church. They didn't lay hands on me, ordain me, and entrust to me the planting of churches abroad." And I was thinking in that way. But we get the point, actually, is that yes, actually not all of you in here are called to be missionaries in the technical sense of the term.

You haven't been ordained by the church, right? But every single one of us should know how to evangelize. Every single one of us should have an eternal perspective that if we're not evangelizing, we are missing the greatest objective of our day. And what's more, we should seek the joys of a missionary, wanting to present the most precious thing that I have in the gospel of Christ, giving it to somebody and seeing them hear change, be transformed, and to receive.

That should be in the top of our ambitions. That should be at the top of our thoughts, right? You know, we have a baptism today. It reminded me of a time when there was a young sister who got baptized. Great testimony, and I had to kind of walk her out that way.

You know, they go out that way, and they come around to the back. But as she was sharing her testimony, she mentioned that there's somebody in her life who was sitting down with her, talking with her, asking good questions, praying and praying, interceding, sharing the gospel, and was so pivotal to her salvation.

Well, lo and behold, as soon as we walk out that door, that friend is at the back of the building just jumping for joy, doing these hand waves, so giddy, like almost galloping like a horse, running all the way down the full length of the building, just happy, saying, "Yay!" And I'm there sitting, I couldn't help but just smile, share the joy, and I almost wanted to say, "Yeah!" You know, like just joining the fun.

And then realizing, "Oh, shoot, I'm ruining this special moment for these two." That's part of my job, ruining intimate moments. But honestly speaking, there was no way to take that joy from her. As a friend, I mean, it was just sweet. But the challenge for us is like, we should be wanting to experience the joy because the great, great goal of sharing the gospel comes with it, the reaping of the great, great joy as with sharing the joys of heaven, sharing in the angels rejoicing over one soul that was lost but now found, right?

And so likewise, when it comes to the care of souls, not every single one of you are called to be shepherds, right? You may not be called to be a pastor full-time devoted to pulpit ministry, preaching, right, exhorting and challenging and counseling and meeting. You may not be called to that.

But the fact of the matter is every single believer, nevertheless, we need to learn how to love, to admonish, to counsel, sometimes to do the hard work of walking alongside, rebuking if necessary, grieving together, interceding for that person. That's something that we should have as our joys. That should be something we should have as an objective and a greater goal in our life that we are exercising God's overall, we can say objectively, God's will for every single one of you is to be used in that capacity even if it be for one person's life, right?

And there are. There are great joys associated with being able to walk alongside somebody, being able to desire their good in such a way that you want nothing more than for them to be strong and consistent with Christ. And when we do that and devote ourselves, we reap an incredible benefit.

And that benefit sometimes I see, you know, I get to officiate a lot of weddings and attend a lot of weddings, but I actually particularly enjoy officiating because I have a very unique vantage point sitting right here or standing here with the couple right in front of me but also seeing the face of parents who love them.

You know, in a lot of the weddings that I go to, they have that special ceremony where they light the candles. Nowadays, they have, you know, some botany, planting plants and sand and all that stuff. But after they finish, they walk down and they go to their parents and you can see the pride in the parents' faces.

They stand up, you know, like ready. And for parents who are so heavily invested to pray and to raise up their children, to now see them suited up, you know, and entering into that phase of their life, I mean, and then the moments when they hug and they cry, it still pulls at your heart strings because you know that that investment as a parent is deep, and therefore the joy that they receive from seeing their parents, seeing their children go into their next stage of life, that pride is overwhelming, right?

It's sweet. And so what I want to encourage you with today is as I read this passage, this passage is Apostle Paul with a vision for the ministry God has given him. He is establishing the grand goal that he has for his life. And I want to encourage you that every single believer should have a vision for ministry even if you're not called to full-time ministry, even if you're not called to have a title of missionary, small group leader, elder or deacon, whatever it may be, that may not be God's specific role for you.

But we can say objectively speaking it is to God's good pleasure, it is in his design for you to be of service to him and reap the joys of that ministry. Amen? And so with that said, I want to start by reading verse 24 again where it describes here Apostle Paul thinking about his ministry.

And what he says is, "Now I rejoice in my suffering for your sake, and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of his body," which is the church, "in filling up what is lacking in Christ's affliction." From this I want to draw a major point which is we must suffer the difficulty and yet reap the joys of ministry.

We must suffer the difficulties and yet reap the joys of ministry. When you take a look at this passage, a lot of things are actually really profound and some of it sounds even funny. But the thing that probably pops out to you most is this idea of Christ's affliction and somehow Apostle Paul filling it.

There have been entire books wondering like, "What in the world does that mean?" And so I want to highlight to you one observation. Clearly suffering and affliction for the church is a given part of the ministry. Because if you read it in some sense, Apostle Paul is literally saying, "I'm suffering for your sake just as Christ is suffering for your sake, and I'm doing what he has been doing." Yes?

"I am continuing what he's done." And if you kind of read the way that it's sounding, he's saying he is filling up and doing what has been laid out already in terms of Christ's suffering. And we already know the Scripture has warned us, the Scripture has given to us a picture of what this ministry should look like, that one, every believer who desires to live a godly life will suffer.

But what's more, as soon as you name Christ, he says, "It is enough for you to be my disciple. I am the teacher and your master. If they hated me, what do you think they will do to you?" As soon as you name Jesus Christ, you had enemies, and you were going to suffer.

And what's more, specifically the Apostle Paul, Christ himself had told him, "You are going to suffer greatly for my name. You are going to suffer greatly for the gospel." Right? And so what I'm talking about is what pops out from this very first verse is this idea that Apostle Paul saw the suffering within the ministry, saw the affliction and the breadth of it.

There's another passage I want to highlight to you in terms of Apostle Paul's perspective on his suffering. And it comes from 2 Corinthians 4. Verse 5 starts reading this way. to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not of ourselves.

We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed, perplexed, but not despairing, persecuted, but not forsaken, struck down, but not destroyed, always caring about in the body the dying of Jesus so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who are, so for we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus' sake so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.

So death works in us, but life in you. Do you see what he's saying here? He is describing his ministry as one that is wrought with affliction so much so he is describing it literally as a pouring out and of death. He is dying. And if you think about that, I know that for us, every single one of us, having read various parts of scripture, we know that suffering is a given in the Christian life.

But what's more, as soon as you take upon the desire to love somebody, as soon as you take upon the desire to preach the gospel, you know you're gonna face walls, oppositions, and conflicts, yes? Okay, that being the case, I push this point to you because I find in myself sometimes this little inner heart that resists and denies that that should be the case.

Sometimes surprised that ministry is difficult, surprised that people aren't following as they ought to, surprised that they're frustrated. And what I'm saying is I'm sharing this conviction that suffering is a part of the ministry and that we should bear it, we should understand and accept it because in confession, I think there are times where I'm not willing to even be annoyed, let alone suffer.

I think there are times where I'm not willing to be frustrated, let alone suffer. And there is a strange thought in my mind, like why, why aren't you listening? Why, why is it so hard? Da-da-da-da. And I have moments like that, and this passage comes back to me like, what in the world am I doing?

There is a taking up of a burden of love that I voluntarily did when I entered into ministry, let alone not just simply entered into ministry, when I desire to follow Christ. And yet sometimes we can find ourselves doing this way, and what's even more challenging is a second observation that Apostle Paul sees that kind of suffering and he rejoices in it.

He says literally in verse 24 at the beginning, I rejoice in my suffering for your sake. And the point that we're looking at then is he is joyfully taking upon himself all the baggage, the whole bag of responsibility and burden to care for the church, to minister to the church.

He is willing to take guests to sleepless nights, he is willing to take the beatings, he is willing to take the frustrations and all, the whole baggage. We have a lot of people in this country where they're willing to take the whole baggage for a dog, a cat, a bird, a parakeet, whatever it may be.

We understand what it means. And yet we also have a ton of people who hate working with people. It's really interesting to me. But we understand that, that as soon as you decide to care, as soon as you decide to want to be of help, there is a burden of love you take.

You know, as I was thinking about this, I couldn't help but think about this idea of burden of love and it made my memories come back to a moment when I saw a movie in the theaters with my mom, just the two of us. One time it happened. My mom invited me and said, "Do you want to watch this Korean movie with me "called Ode to My Father?" Okay?

Now the thing about it is I said, "Dude, she invited me, of course," so I went. Crazy thing is as soon as I arrived to the theaters, it was the theater right in front of UCI in that plaza next to Target and stuff. And as soon as I arrived, I was like, "Oh, I am the only one of my age." Out of cars and vans were just all these 70, 80, 90-year-old grandmas and grandpas from their church that just filed out.

And when I entered into the theater, it was jam-packed. Some of the people on walkers, some of the people like careful to sit down. And I'm thinking, "Okay, gotta prepare my heart for this." Soon as the movie began, it was about the sufferings during the Korean War generation. The central figure, this young boy, loses his father in a desperate attempt to escape on the boat, so to speak.

But he has this promise to his father he's gonna take care of his family. And in their separation, he says, "We're gonna meet at the store sometime, you know, "the store that your aunt owns," or something like that. And it just trails this young individual growing and going through suffering after suffering just to make a buck, he goes into the coal mines, risks his life, he gets buried in ashes.

Just to make a buck, he goes to the military and gets shot. Just to make a buck, and it just keeps going nonstop, just suffering and suffering. And in the movie, there's a great job showing the individual just getting weathered down. The wife, he eventually gets married, and the wife just worried out of her mind, like, "Is my husband even gonna make it?" And every time she sees him come home with some kind of injury, some kind of pain, she's just like wrecked, 'cause she doesn't want that for him.

And then there was this moment, so already the auditorium or the theater was, had many moments of people just sniffling and watery eyes, but there was a moment in their older age, the husband looked at the wife, and they were just in tears, no movie, and the husband said to the wife, "Aren't you so glad that it was us that suffered, "and not our kids?" She's so glad it was us.

And then I looked over at my mom, and I just lost it, you know? Like, "Ahh!" (audience laughing) And just crying, crying, and then a little old lady in front of me just weeping, and I couldn't, just, just thinking. But that is the heart of our Savior. That's the heart of a good shepherd.

It's the good heart of a good churchman. If you have walked life, and you've seen people go through pains, and you wanna spare them from those pains, that you would be willing to take upon the burden of love on your shoulders for them. That's Apostle Paul saying, "It's my joy "to suffer on your behalf." It's a privilege to carry this burden for you.

Colossians chapter two, verse one, he adds, "I want you to know how great a struggle "I have on your behalf, "that for those who are in Laodicea, "and for all those who have not personally seen my face." I mean, he adds to this by adding that there are people that he hasn't even met yet, and yet his love extends.

Why? Because when you have the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ fueling you, and you know what it means to carry this burden, and you know what it means for an individual to not have Christ, to not walk the right path with God, you know what pains, suffering, and ultimate death there is, you don't have to see that whoever the object of your affection is going to reciprocate to you.

They don't even have to know you. They don't have to know your face. He just knows that it's to God's good pleasure and his own that he would serve them in this way. And so I wanna give this challenge again. For us, there is this paradox for the Christian life.

You're gonna pray for people and grieve with them. Some people will not listen to you. Some people will be hard-hearted, and you're gonna grieve all the more, but nevertheless, carrying that burden to you will be a joy because you are sharing the joy also in ministry with Christ, amen?

Next, as we continue on the vision of this ministry, I wanna give this point that God has given to us, a scope of ministry, and it is the full instruction of the word of God, okay? God gave us a scope of ministry, and it has to be the full instruction of the word of God.

What do I mean? Well, when you take a look at this passage, let's read again, starting from verse 25. He said, "Of this church I was made a minister "according to the stewardship from God, "bestowed on me for your benefit, "so that I might fully carry out the preaching "of the word of God." Apostle Paul has a clear focus.

It is broad. It is incredibly large and huge, but nevertheless, he has a clear focus on the parameters of his ministry that he's supposed to preach. Verse 26, "That is, the mystery which has been given "from the past ages, generations, "but has," ages and generations, "but has now been manifested to his saints, "to whom God willed to make known "what is the riches of the glory of his mystery "among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, "the hope of glory.

"So we proclaim him, admonishing every man "and teaching every man with all wisdom." To me, this is an incredibly encouraging point. Initially, it might not sound like it when I say, God has ordained a scope of ministry, a parameter in which you're supposed to do, and outside that, you don't need to do.

And why is that encouraging? Why is it encouraging is because what that means is God has ordained the means by which he is going to accomplish this ministry, and he's given it to me. I don't have to be a trailblazer making a new religion or a new fad. That's really encouraging to me, 'cause I'm not creative.

I'm not that strong. I'm not a forerunner. I'm not some trailblazer with great ambitions. You know why that's encouraging to me? It's encouraging to me because I don't have all the wisdom of the world. I'm not a financial advisor. I'm not an academic counselor. I'm not a guru and stuff.

Maybe dating, I may be a guru. I'm just kidding, I'm not. Why is that encouraging is because I know what I need to do. Whatever explicitly clear in the scriptures I must preach, and that is the conviction by which I came into ministry. Pastor Peter sat me down as a young 18-year-old and said, let's meet together and read the Bible, 'cause I would regularly tell him I love Jesus, but I have so much sin in my life.

Sometimes I'm out of control. Can't control my own pride. Can't control my own lust. What's going on? Pastor Peter sat me down and said, let's week by week go through scripture, and I remember thinking like, the word of God is so good, so powerful, do you think I could one day be a part of teaching people the Bible?

I remember him saying, that's a good conviction. No. (laughing) Just kidding, he said, there's so much more to ministry than just that. There's so much more to ministry than just that, but nevertheless, that was my conviction. But look at what Apostle Paul is saying. He understands God's gifted stewardship, and Apostle Paul is always humbly like, I was a blasphemer, a reviler, an aggressor to the church, and now he's giving me this mercy to carry the word?

Wow, what privilege. But then also, what focus, and he says, I'm gonna be preaching the mysteries of God, I will be revealing what God wants to make known, which is Christ in you. The Savior and Messiah you've been looking for, hoping he would march into town and overthrow the government, is residing in you.

I wanna teach you that, and how much treasure and wealth and joy comes from knowing that the Savior is with you. And he says, I'm gonna be admonishing every man. That means warning, that means rebuke, that means guiding away and reasoning with the man, changing a person's mind and saying, let's think differently than how you used to think.

And he says, I am gonna teach every man with all wisdom. That is Apostle Paul's ambition in ministry, because that is the scope of ministry God has ordained. Do you see my point? He has clarity because he knows that that is from God. And so I wanna share with you that this is my ambition, but I also have another conviction and confession.

I'm still scared to do it. I've been a pastor now for over 10 years. I am still scared to do it. Sometimes I go out on the, you know, the random EV, going out to the malls and the town centers, and then that first person you talk to, you're just like, hello.

It's so awkward. We're here today. Here, take this survey. What do you think? And then finally you warm up, and the second one's like, oh, okay, yeah. You know, what do you think about this really? And then you start to, but then that initial one is always so wrought with fear.

Guess what? Even though you guys know, like I love biblical counseling, I love sitting down and talking with people one-to-one, sometimes I'm afraid, getting mega awkward. I'll just come sit down with a brother and say, he, you know, like, I've got something to say. Especially if an individual needs some rebuking and correction.

And sometimes I've resorted to silly things, you know? Going on long rants, asking a million questions, beating around the bush. I've learned, I learned a lot from Pastor Peter Chung that if you add an accent, you could say a lot of stuff. You know, it's like, you know, what you do yesterday, no thank you very much, you know?

Like, he does that thing where he says, no thank you very much, and it works. But I'm just confessing to you, we all have the fears of speaking this truth. But if we don't, then there's a lot of implications to that. I am not fulfilling the ordained stewardship that I have.

What's more, from the preaching is where God desired to highlight the transformative, great glory of Christ's grace in you. So that the more you see it, the more you change. And yet here I am afraid, like, I don't know. But I get it, because I wrestle with the same fears.

It's huge risk, risking our friendship, risking the camaraderie we had, risking my own whatever, my face. There's so much risk there. But brothers and sisters, we have to have a greater vision, clear vision, like Apostle Paul. This, this is a scope and means God has ordained to edify and sanctify his church, amen?

Let's move forward to think more about the vision. And the second observation is this. The reason why we can overcome our fears is because the substance and power God has already ordained. You understand this, when Apostle Paul is talking about Christ's glory in you, that is the central idea, and the power behind it, everything.

So what I'm saying is, we need not fear the means, it's because, okay, the content has already been put into it. If I am afraid of speaking, that must mean that I am not so confident in the content. But now as time has passed, I am so confident in the word of God, I can risk sounding prideful.

Let me explain. I believe in the word of God so much that if I faithfully study and I present this to you, but something doesn't go right, and sometimes people have started accusing me, like, oh, you just have it out for me, or sometimes people have been so defensive to fight back, you know, I can say, the problem is you.

It's not this. It's not God's way, it's not God's word, that something is wrong here. I'm gonna recheck my own heart, but something is wrong, and it's not the Bible. Does that sound really arrogant? To some it may, to some it may. But when you're so confident in the content, that Christ, who is to us our treasure, that the Lord and his word is powerful and working in the spirit of God, will not be denied.

That's not arrogance. You're just believing what God has said. And so for some of you who struggle with like, oh gosh, am I just working out of my own strength, or am I working out of God's power? When you trust what God has said, and when you trust the power of his word, there's humility in that.

There's confidence in that, there's clarity in that, and I want everybody to have that kind of vision for ministry. Take a look at this passage, Colossians chapter two. Colossians chapter two, verse one, he says, "For I want you to know how great a struggle "I have on your behalf." He struggled so much, and that's not arrogant, you know why?

Because he goes on to say that he struggled for those who are in Laodicea, and for all those who have not personally seen my face, that their hearts may be encouraged, having been knit together in love, attaining to all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding, resulting in a true knowledge of God's mystery, that is Christ himself, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

When I want for you everything in Christ, when I want for you the fullness of instruction, going from conceptual knowledge to practical living and practical theology, that is having confidence in God promised, that that will produce godliness. Have that kind of conviction. And so, all of that speaks to the ambition and goal that we have.

And so I wanna move to point three. The ambition and goal that we have must be to aim for the completeness in Christ. You must aim for completeness in Christ. And although that may just sound like typical Christian jargon, we know what we're talking about. Our aim is not go to church, good, you went.

Our aim is not have a discipler, good, you have somebody in your life. Our aim is the full maturity of growing wisdom where your mind, heart, desire, and more, your reaction, emotions, and more, are in likeness to Christ. Our desire and our ambition is to see every single Christian grow in the full maturity of our Lord Jesus.

And this is where Pastor Peter, when he was telling me about there's so much more, if you really understand what God has designed for it, you realize that is a massive thing. When Apostle Paul says, "I am proclaiming, admonishing, "and teaching every man with all wisdom "so that we may present every man complete in Christ," do you understand how massive that goal is?

Because then it's not even limited to just preaching and teaching and counseling, right? To want to see somebody complete and mature in Christ, there is no end to that work. But what's more, Apostle Paul is not just thinking about one person, he's not thinking about one church, he's thinking about the churches and even the people he hasn't even met yet.

Take a look at this passage in Ephesians chapter four. Please turn your Bibles there, Ephesians chapter four. Apostle Paul talks about the design of the church and the ambition and the goal that resides in his heart, but is the command of God, the expectation and the work of God.

So Ephesians chapter four, starting from verse 11, Apostle Paul says this, "And he gave some as apostles and some as prophets "and some as evangelists and some as pastors and teachers "for the equipping of the saints for the work of service "to the building up of the body of Christ, "until we all attain to the unity of faith." Think about this.

To a minister of God, who is a servant of God, he should never be okay that his little crew is good but not everybody else. Why? This passage literally says that the ambition and goal is that we all attain to this unity of faith. And he's not okay that there's a bunch of people just falling out in the background.

Truth be told, conviction on my end, after however many years of ministry, there have been so many people who come to church, I build a relationship with them, sometimes meeting with them multiple times a week, sometimes meeting with them when there's immediate, sorry, urgent calls, crisis situations, only to have them literally say later on, it's like, "Guy, you know what?

"I'm done with that stuff." Or even as brazen as to say, "I don't think you preach the gospel. "You guys are wrong, I'm right," and they leave. After a few of those, you kind of think, it's okay if people leave. (laughs) You just start thinking like, yeah, it's better if they kind of shoo away from me.

That can't be the heart of a pastor, right? Because it does break your heart when people leave 'cause sometimes I think I want that person to be here under my teaching and my care, not because I'm an arrogant man, because it breaks my heart to think he doesn't have anything.

It breaks my heart to think he's just going wayward by whatever he's reading online, that he doesn't have a caring brother to ask questions. But unfortunately, if we're not careful, we could. Because of just the nature of the fact that people come and go, you're just completely okay with people going.

But the ambition actually is no. Every one of you in here who has committed to bringing community to church, we want to be united. Amen? We want to be growing together. And he goes on, he says, that we want to have the knowledge of the Son of God to a mature man, to the measure and the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.

And so as a result, we're no longer to be children tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness and deceitful scheming. But speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into him who is the head, even Christ.

Do you see the goal here? Apostle Paul is saying, we want to present you complete in Christ. And he's using the word teleon, which is talking about a fulfillment, a growing fulfillment of the picture that God has for you. I know for some of us, it's really annoying if you've had really controlling parents where they have a very specific idea of what they want you to become.

I want you to become a lawyer is what my parents said to me when I was young. And then I disappointed them royally. It's like, I'm going into ministry, you know? And sometimes that can be annoying also if in our hearts we think, dude, I'm trying my best. Why in the world are we never satisfied?

It's always more, better, faster. But actually between us and God, it's not God who has to relinquish his expectations and standards for us. It's us who have to, we have to regularly break our pride, come to greater conformity, and just keep surrendering to the high standard of God. You know why?

Because God out of his love wants to present you holy. I get challenged by this. I'm like, whoa, wait a minute, in my counseling, have I just succumbed to what is acceptable and census says everyone's okay with this. Have I done that? And I repented like, God, what you say in your word is that God has reconciled us through his son, the bodily death of his son, so that he would present us holy and blameless and above reproach, that there not be a single blemish on us.

God has a meticulous eye to you and me, and we dare not look at that with annoyance, but say, Lord, thank you. You love me like no one loves me, because you're not satisfied with even one imperfection in my life. Is that the goal that you're operating off of?

When have we given some advice, and maybe somebody has come to you and asked you some questions, and you're just kind of like, yeah, I mean, technically, that's not wrong, and then it could go either way, but then you don't wanna say, so then a lot of times, this is what they do.

I think kinda, in my personal opinion, maybe you should, as an act of just doing a little bit extra go and make sure that you serve the Lord in this way, but I don't know. That's the way they typically end their advice. They'll say something great, like, you know, you should really actually take this as an opportunity to dedicate that part of yourself to God, and then they'll end it with, but I don't know, you just do what you need to do.

That's the way sometimes people talk, but I wanna challenge you, do not operate off of the fear, but operate off of this goal. Actually, sometime recently, somebody just asked, out of curiosity, it wasn't like they were doing it, but they asked me, now that marijuana is legal, is it okay?

Would you allow for, and I'm like, I'm not king of re-in, I'm just a dude, I'm like, would I allow it? But would I have something to say if someone smoked marijuana just for rest purposes? And I'm sitting there thinking, this is one of those scenarios where I had to kinda think, 'cause I had a knee-jerk reaction, just been like, you're dumb, or something, right?

But I had to think about it, so what would you say? What would you say, right? But I think the best way to answer that is sometimes, if you're asking the question of just permissibility, I'm not sure if that's the right question at all, is it? That's what this passage is saying to us.

Apostle Paul is working hard, and he wants you to know that he's working hard, and he wants you to know that he's sacrificing, and he wants you to know that he's literally being poured out like he's dying, and he has said, I bear on my body the suffering for you, because I want to present you holy and blameless, complete in Christ, and then are you gonna go and ask Apostle Paul, but, but, do you think it's okay?

So that I just, you know, like relax a little bit easier and better, and now, thank goodness, it's now legal. You think that's the right question to ask Apostle Paul? That's what I'm saying. And that's a challenge to us, because it's all about our standards. We have a habit of lowering standards when it seems too high and big.

God's standard for us, his ambition and goal, do you understand what I'm saying, right? We all know in his perfect love, and in his perfect righteousness, is majestic, is beautiful, and is far beyond our capacities, but we dare not, therefore, bring it down. We say, I surrender to that.

Move in me, change me, work in me as you wish, so that I would continue to grow. We dare not give counsel that's anything less. We would be like those who pad people in their gluttonies, and okay this and that, and it's almost like that scene where it's like, ooh, Hercules, Hercules, when the little kid is obese.

Why would you, do you know that reference? I'm sorry. (laughing) Okay. Let's bypass that one and move forward. You know what I'm saying? It's silly for us to, in many ways, just pad people's emotions to say, that's okay, you know, we all, that's fine, that kind of thing, when we know that we are only contributing to sinful patterns or bad patterns that's going to lead to ruin.

Now, therefore, as we kind of move to the last verse in verse 29, I want to connect that to say, the goal is high, the ambitions for ministry is huge, because it is of God, and therefore, it is actually purposed in the scriptures that it's not by your strength.

Right? Scripture tells to us in verse 29, for this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me. And later, Apostle Paul said that we had to endure through affliction, and we show our weakness in all this because it had to be made sure that this is of the will of God, and not by my flesh.

And the distinction I realize is, I wrestle with this all the time. I want to preach a great sermon that's convicting to you. I want to preach a sermon that's clear, powerful, and really, really awesome, okay? But the thing about it is, I wrestle with that because, then if that's because of motivation, it could be skewed.

But because just the fact that I neglect to reference and give credit to God, it could be skewed. And what I'm saying is, my desire, even though on paper it's clean, it could actually go wrong in so many different ways, right? So how do we combat that? A lot of us has resorted to that I'm not gonna risk it.

I'm not gonna say something to you. I'm not gonna preach here, and I'm not gonna do this, and that's called playing it safe. But guess what? When you play it safe, that means you only play on the bench. Basketball players who only play it safe don't get any playing time.

You're not useful, you're not fruitful. What we need to do is not do the preaching, not do the exhortation, not do the admonishing. No, what we need to do is not trust me. I don't trust my voice to do the effect that we're talking about today. It's always of faith, and therefore it's always of trust.

It's always of confidence, and it's always of hope of glory. And that glory does not come because I did something. The glory comes because the great mystery of Christ in you, the treasure of Christ, has been revealed. And when we as a church see it and have so much confidence in it, then we could both have clarity and confidence in the work, but we also then hold out to hope, and we hold out to trust.

I believe that God will do his work in you. And as weak as I am and as weak as you are, he is going to mature us. We have people in our lives who are just like, I don't know that actually about them. Sometimes you look at yourself and you say, I don't know that about me.

May I encourage your heart today. Christ is in you. And the Savior whom the world was looking for to come and overthrow nations, he is a Savior who can overthrow every nation. He can overthrow every king, including the king that resides in your heart, the sinful king. And every knee will bow, and every individual will lay down their crowns before our Messiah.

That powerful Messiah is in you. And he is going to come. And he says, he who began a good work will perfect it. And therefore our ministry vision is actually glorious. It's not just clear, it's not just good, and it's not just loving. It's glorious, amen. Let's take a moment to pray, everyone.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for the ministry that you have designed, you have empowered, and you have commissioned for us to do. Father, I pray that we would not operate by fear, for that reveals that we were operating also by our own power. Help us, Lord, to know you and your power.

Help us, Lord, to trust you and your grace. Lord, we believe you, that you are doing a mighty work in us. I want to walk with you, therefore, preaching your words, revealing your truth, and all the more loving Christ. I thank you, Lord, for many of us here are recipients of that ministry.

Many saints before us have sacrificed. A lot of us, even when we hear our testimonies, our parents have poured out their love, and we know that all of that, Lord God, is grace from your hand. We thank you, it's in Christ, and we pray, amen. Well, this morning, as we think about the work of our Lord and his ministry, we want to participate together in the communion.

So please take out the cups, and as you do, I would like to remind us of a special passage in the scriptures from 1 Corinthians chapter 11 that tells us that as we take of the communion, we want to take time to pray in remembrance of Christ and examination of self.

This passage comes to us from 1 Corinthians chapter 11, and it reads thus. For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus, in the night in which he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body, which is for you.

"Do this in remembrance of me." In the same way, he took the cup also after supper, saying, "This is the cup "of the new covenant in my blood. "Do this as often as you drink in remembrance of me. "For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, "you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

"Therefore, whoever eats the bread "or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner "shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. "But a man must examine himself, "and in so doing, he is to eat of the bread "and drink of the cup. "For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks "judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly.

"For this reason, many among you are weak, "sick, and a number slumber. "But if we judged ourselves rightly, "we would not be judged." So, as you take of this cup, please take a moment now to pray, and if there is anything that you need the Lord to forgive you of, as you're walking in this earth, our feet get dirty and we need to be washed.

Take time to pray. But also, just simply pray in such gratitude, remembering all the work Christ has done in your life. So, take a moment now to pray, and after a couple minutes, I will instruct us where together, in unison, we'll open up the elements, and then we will take part in it.

Take a moment to pray. (soft piano music) (praying in a foreign language) (soft piano music) (praying in a foreign language) (soft piano music) (praying in a foreign language) (soft piano music) (praying in a foreign language) (soft piano music) At this time, please take your cups, and if you look, there's actually two layers on the top of the lid.

The first layer is clear, and we'll unopen the piece of bread. I wanna remind that being able to take this communion means that we have so desired to receive Christ's grace. So, if you're not a believer here, and you haven't been baptized, please know that this is something unique as a means of remembrance and celebration for the Christian.

Please do observe and carefully think through who Christ is to you, as you observe this observing of the communion. When you're ready, please go ahead and take the bread, and take a bit. And then the second layer is the color layer, and you can take that and reveal the juice.

And when you're ready, please take a bit. Amen. Let's take a moment to join together in prayer. Our God, we are so grateful to you again. We dare not ever stop ceasing giving thanks to you. For God, you have truly made the ultimate sacrifice. And we know also that by your blood we come today.

Even after many years, Lord God, the effectiveness of your sacrifice did not waver at all. But for all those who would believe we're able to come to you, thank you for your grace. Lord, you were broken in our place. Father God, your life, Lord Jesus, your life was poured out for us in our place.

And Father, I pray, God, that truly, if anything we are doing to grow and to learn, help us truly to grow in such faith, where we are so convinced that your heart of love accomplished the task that nobody can do. And so Lord, this morning we wanna take time to render to you our gratitude, to offer to you our worship.

We thank you, Lord, it's in Christ's name, amen. - Church family, let's all rise together for our closing praise. (gentle music) (gentle music) ♪ What gift of grace is Jesus my Redeemer ♪ ♪ There is no more for heaven now to give ♪ ♪ He is my joy, my righteousness and freedom ♪ ♪ My steadfast love, my deep and boundless peace ♪ ♪ To this I hold my hope is only Jesus ♪ ♪ For my life is wholly bound to His ♪ ♪ Oh, how strange and divine I can see ♪ ♪ All is mine, yet not I, but through Christ in me ♪ - The night is dark.

♪ The night is dark, but I am not forsaken ♪ ♪ For by my side the Savior, He will stay ♪ ♪ I labor on in weakness and rejoicing ♪ ♪ For in my name His power is displayed ♪ ♪ To this, to this I hold, my shepherd will defend me ♪ ♪ Through the deepest valley He will lead ♪ ♪ Oh, the night has been won ♪ ♪ And I shall overcome, yet not I, but through Christ in me ♪ ♪ The fate I dread, I know I am forgiven ♪ ♪ The future sure, the price it has been paid ♪ ♪ For Jesus bled and suffered for my body ♪ ♪ And He was raised to overthrow the grave ♪ ♪ To this I hold, my sin has been defeated ♪ ♪ And Jesus now and ever is my King ♪ ♪ Oh, the chains are released, I can sing higher free ♪ ♪ Yet not I, but through Christ in me ♪ ♪ With every breath, with every breath ♪ ♪ I long to follow Jesus ♪ ♪ For He has said that He will bring me home ♪ ♪ And day by day I know He will be new ♪ ♪ Until my stand, with joy before the cross ♪ ♪ Oh, to this I hold, my hope is only Jesus ♪ ♪ All the glory evermore to me ♪ ♪ When the race is complete ♪ ♪ Still my way shall be ♪ ♪ Yet not I, but through Christ in me ♪ ♪ To this I hold, my hope is only Jesus ♪ ♪ All the glory evermore to me ♪ ♪ When the race is complete ♪ ♪ Still my way shall be ♪ ♪ Yet not I, but through Christ in me ♪ ♪ When the race is complete ♪ ♪ Still my way shall be ♪ ♪ Yet not I, but through Christ in me ♪ ♪ Yet not I, but through Christ in me ♪ ♪ Yet not I, but through Christ in me ♪ ♪ In me ♪ - Let us pray together as we close.

Our God, Lord, we desire as a church together to be your ministers, to be your servants. And so we pray as we hear this word from your book, challenging us to have this ambition to bear the burden of loving our brothers and sisters and desiring so eagerly that God, we would all grow in faith together, that we would spur each other on, maturing in every way.

But I pray, God, that we would do that like you would, but that we would speak as you would with great, great authority, yet at the same time, with great patience, great humility, and love. And I pray that as we desire to live, to minister, and to serve, reflecting Christ, that all of that would go to you in glory and thanksgiving.

We truly do trust you. The grace that you have given to us is sufficient. The gospel is power, and your word is true. And so I pray, God, that that would be our everlasting confidence. Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to make you stand in the presence of his glory, blameless with great joy, for the only God our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority before all time and now and forever, amen.

♪ God sent his Son ♪ ♪ They called him Jesus ♪ ♪ He came to love ♪ ♪ Heal and forgive ♪ ♪ Live and die ♪ ♪ To buy my power ♪ ♪ An empty grave is there to prove ♪ ♪ My Savior lives ♪ ♪ Because he lives ♪ ♪ And 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 ♪ ♪ How firm a foundation ♪