back to indexBerean Community Church Sunday Service 12/12/2021
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We're gonna go ahead and start our service with this first hymn, Praise to the Lord. 00:08:53.000 |
For those of you who are new to the church, we want to extend a warm welcome to you. 00:08:57.000 |
After the service is done, please stop by our welcome booth. 00:09:01.000 |
You'll see it in blue right outside in the courtyard. 00:09:04.000 |
We'd love to connect with you and give you more information about the church. 00:09:08.000 |
Turning to some announcements for us, we've been announcing that on the 19th, 00:09:13.000 |
Sunday is our Christmas service where we'll have children's performances and 00:09:21.000 |
But after the service, the Outreach Team has scheduled a special reception for 00:09:25.000 |
our friends and family who don't know Christ, who we want to reach out to. 00:09:30.000 |
There's still invitation cards at the front table also available for you. 00:09:34.000 |
And take the opportunity also to go to the church Facebook or app. 00:09:39.000 |
And there's a link where if you would like the Outreach Team to join you in 00:09:43.000 |
prayer for the people that you're thinking about, you can submit their name or 00:09:47.000 |
just what your thoughts are, and they'll join you in prayer to lift that person up. 00:09:51.000 |
And for the other things we have, as again, the year kind of starts winding down, 00:09:57.000 |
We have our ping pong tournament that's happening on the Friday, 6 p.m. 00:10:01.000 |
Please be sure to take a moment to sign up for that. 00:10:06.000 |
And so you'll either, A, sign up to be placed in a team or 00:10:10.000 |
to have a team that you want to enter into the tournament together. 00:10:14.000 |
We'll also have our evening service at 11 p.m. 00:10:18.000 |
Make sure you make ample time to get washed up, whatever you need to come. 00:10:22.000 |
It'll be a sweet time for us to just reflect on the year and 00:10:26.000 |
devote that time together as a church to usher in the new one as well. 00:10:29.000 |
So the announcement I'd like to actually highlight too is this past week, 00:10:36.000 |
But we're taking sign-ups now for the next Bible study, 00:10:39.000 |
which is going to be a study through 1 Peter. 00:10:42.000 |
Pastor Peter Chung will be continuing the inductive study. 00:10:45.000 |
We'll do our study come and in the smaller settings, 00:10:49.000 |
Please make sure you take a look at that sign-up and go ahead and sign up so 00:10:53.000 |
that we can make groups and make preparations for the next session. 00:10:56.000 |
That's it for the announcements this morning. 00:10:59.000 |
Today we get the privilege of hearing Connor's testimony after our worship set. 00:11:03.000 |
He'll be coming up to share with us and then be baptized this morning after the 00:11:09.000 |
At this time, let's join prayer together as we go into a time of offering. 00:11:13.000 |
Heavenly Father, we want to thank you and praise you. 00:11:19.000 |
God, we gather together desiring to lift up to you worship that is pleasing. 00:11:27.000 |
And Lord, we desire to gather together collectively to render you our hearts. 00:11:32.000 |
And God, as we also lift up to you our offering, 00:11:37.000 |
that our hearts would be eager to lift up to you many things beyond just our 00:11:42.000 |
would you continue to use the finances to the furthering of your kingdom for 00:11:45.000 |
the work of your ministry and the edification of this church. 00:11:51.000 |
God, this would be both an edifying time for us as we hear, as we sing. 00:11:56.000 |
God, our hearts would be encouraged to faith. 00:11:58.000 |
But also, Lord, that in all things it would be to your honor and your glory. 00:13:10.000 |
Church family, for those who are outdoors, please remain seated. 00:13:15.000 |
But for those of us inside, please join with us in standing. 00:13:41.000 |
Who can light the fires of a thousand burning suns? 00:13:57.000 |
Who commands the nations, building up and tearing down. 00:14:47.000 |
Who would come to save us when we turned away his love? 00:17:31.000 |
Worthy of all the praise we could ever bring. 00:17:40.000 |
Worthy of every breath we could ever breathe. 00:18:06.000 |
Worthy of every breath we could ever breathe. 00:18:31.000 |
And show me who you are and fill me with your heart. 00:19:04.000 |
Worthy of all the praise we could ever bring. 00:19:11.000 |
Worthy of every breath we could ever breathe. 00:19:37.000 |
Worthy of every breath we could ever breathe. 00:20:05.000 |
Show me who you are and fill me with your heart. 00:21:38.000 |
Show me who you are and fill me with your heart. 00:22:05.000 |
Show me who you are and fill me with your heart. 00:22:34.000 |
My name is Connor Lee, and I'm a college student. 00:22:43.000 |
They regularly visited church and Bible study and prayed with us. 00:22:47.000 |
As such, I followed suit and regularly attended church and youth fellowship every week. 00:22:52.000 |
I began to learn more about Christianity and the commands that God has given to us. 00:22:57.000 |
But I didn't question it or dive deeper to study it. 00:23:00.000 |
It was just a set of morals to keep, something to memorize. 00:23:04.000 |
Later on in my life, my family and I moved a couple times, 00:23:07.000 |
and I left my childhood friends and church near the end of elementary school. 00:23:11.000 |
It was then that I started to feel disconnected from my faith. 00:23:15.000 |
I still outwardly looked like a Christian, attended church, fellowship, and prayed, 00:23:21.000 |
The years went by, and I drifted more and more until I had almost stopped praying, 00:23:25.000 |
reading the Bible, and ultimately having any relationship with God. 00:23:28.000 |
I was alone a lot during this time, and I filled my time with school, hobbies, 00:23:35.000 |
It was then when I had more free time than ever before, 00:23:38.000 |
and I started questioning my life and realized how much sin was going on, 00:23:45.000 |
At first, I just tried fighting it myself, but none of it worked, 00:23:48.000 |
and I always kept finding myself sinning again and again. 00:23:51.000 |
It was then I remembered my Christian upbringing 00:23:53.000 |
and started thinking more about my faith and what God meant to me. 00:23:57.000 |
I cried out to God in prayer and asked for guidance in fighting these sins, 00:24:01.000 |
still mostly from my own conscience and with little understanding. 00:24:07.000 |
helping me to slowly shift away from the sins that were plaguing me at the time. 00:24:11.000 |
A verse that helped me through this was Ephesians 5.8. 00:24:14.000 |
It says, "For you were formerly darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. 00:24:20.000 |
Here, Paul is writing to the Church of Ephesus, 00:24:22.000 |
telling them to be imitators of God, of Christ, 00:24:25.000 |
to not partake in the sin and immorality of those around them and in the world. 00:24:30.000 |
Seeing this, I started to acknowledge that God was there for me 00:24:35.000 |
It was here where I started wanting to give my life over to God. 00:24:38.000 |
After this, things started to change quickly. 00:24:41.000 |
I started to see how important the Word of God is and how it applied to me 00:24:45.000 |
and started listening more attentively in church and studies. 00:24:48.000 |
I saw how it helped me to progress in my fight against sin 00:24:53.000 |
and finally feeling like I could be set free from it. 00:24:56.000 |
Even though I was by myself a lot during this time, 00:24:58.000 |
I did not feel alone or sad, knowing that I had God 00:25:01.000 |
and that he had plans for me beyond my understanding. 00:25:04.000 |
I felt that I had given myself to God, wanting to serve him and have him as my God. 00:25:09.000 |
However, what was missing was a true understanding of the relationship between us. 00:25:13.000 |
I positioned in front of him as a sinner and a church fellowship that I could connect with. 00:25:20.000 |
virtually at first because of quarantine, but then in person as well due to school being online. 00:25:25.000 |
I gained a good fellowship that I could connect with, 00:25:27.000 |
and through the youth group and college teachings and Bible studies, 00:25:30.000 |
I gained more knowledge and finally started to see the reality, 00:25:33.000 |
both the sin in my life but also the mercy and grace of God. 00:25:37.000 |
It was then, earlier this year, that I finally felt that I understood my faith and relation to God, 00:25:42.000 |
truly giving myself to him, repenting for my sins, 00:25:45.000 |
asking for his forgiveness, and being fully transformed by the love of Christ. 00:25:49.000 |
I can now truly say that I am a Christian, have a relationship with God, 00:25:52.000 |
and can stand forgiven in front of God in heaven by the blood of Jesus Christ, 00:25:56.000 |
who saved me to walk as a child of God. Thank you. 00:26:57.000 |
Amen. What a blessing to hear his testimony. Thank you, brother. 00:27:01.000 |
Please turn your Bibles over to Colossians 1, verses 24 through 29. 00:27:26.000 |
Take a moment to read the text for us this morning, and it says, 00:27:30.000 |
"Now I rejoice in my suffering for your sake, and in my flesh I do my share 00:27:38.000 |
in filling up what is lacking in Christ's affliction. 00:27:41.000 |
Of this church I was made a minister, according to the stewardship from God, 00:27:45.000 |
bestowed on me for your benefit, so that I might fully carry out 00:27:51.000 |
That is the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations, 00:27:58.000 |
to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery 00:28:02.000 |
among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. 00:28:07.000 |
We proclaim him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, 00:28:11.000 |
so that we may present every man complete in Christ. 00:28:15.000 |
For this purpose also I labor, striving according to his power, 00:28:24.000 |
Lord God, we want to truly thank you for all that you are, 00:28:29.000 |
and Lord, all that you are doing in our lives currently. 00:28:33.000 |
We thank you God that you continue just to instruct us, leading us, Lord, in your way. 00:28:38.000 |
And we thank you Father for we recognize that that is causing us to grow into Christ, 00:28:43.000 |
causing us to mature, and we desire this in our lives. 00:28:47.000 |
So we thank you Lord this morning, it's in Christ and we pray. Amen. 00:28:51.000 |
This verse that I just read to you is a familiar verse, 00:28:55.000 |
and if you attend any biblical counseling conference and you have an introductory session 00:29:01.000 |
where they lay the foundations of biblical counseling, they'll read this verse, 00:29:04.000 |
because it lays to you the objective and the goal. 00:29:07.000 |
And this verse is very encouraging and challenging to me every time I attend a pastor's conference, 00:29:13.000 |
or sometimes as I think about pastoral ministry I come back to this verse 00:29:17.000 |
because it lays down for us what is the vision, 00:29:20.000 |
what is the conviction of the ministry we are involved in. 00:29:23.000 |
And there was once a time I attended a missions conference, 00:29:27.000 |
and I heard a pastor who was out on the field come in and give the congregation a strong, powerful exhortation. 00:29:35.000 |
But within it he was saying to the entirety of the group that was there, 00:29:39.000 |
it wasn't just pastors and missionaries, but it was just church people too, 00:29:44.000 |
and he said, "Every single one of you are missionaries, whether you like it or not. 00:29:53.000 |
And so wherever you are, act like a missionary. 00:29:56.000 |
Behave like a missionary. Serve like a missionary." 00:30:00.000 |
And it was interesting because when I first heard a sermon like that, 00:30:03.000 |
because I've heard sermons like that several times, 00:30:05.000 |
the first time, I don't know why, but in my heart of hearts I was thinking, "Nah. 00:30:10.000 |
We're not all missionaries. I haven't been commissioned by the church. 00:30:14.000 |
They didn't lay hands on me, ordain me, and entrust to me the planting of churches abroad." 00:30:22.000 |
But we get the point, actually, is that yes, actually not all of you in here are called to be missionaries 00:30:32.000 |
You haven't been ordained by the church, right? 00:30:35.000 |
But every single one of us should know how to evangelize. 00:30:40.000 |
Every single one of us should have an eternal perspective that if we're not evangelizing, 00:30:45.000 |
we are missing the greatest objective of our day. 00:30:49.000 |
And what's more, we should seek the joys of a missionary, 00:30:54.000 |
wanting to present the most precious thing that I have in the gospel of Christ, 00:30:59.000 |
giving it to somebody and seeing them hear change, be transformed, and to receive. 00:31:10.000 |
That should be at the top of our thoughts, right? 00:31:15.000 |
It reminded me of a time when there was a young sister who got baptized. 00:31:19.000 |
Great testimony, and I had to kind of walk her out that way. 00:31:23.000 |
You know, they go out that way, and they come around to the back. 00:31:26.000 |
But as she was sharing her testimony, she mentioned that there's somebody in her life 00:31:30.000 |
who was sitting down with her, talking with her, asking good questions, praying and praying, 00:31:36.000 |
interceding, sharing the gospel, and was so pivotal to her salvation. 00:31:41.000 |
Well, lo and behold, as soon as we walk out that door, 00:31:44.000 |
that friend is at the back of the building just jumping for joy, doing these hand waves, 00:31:48.000 |
so giddy, like almost galloping like a horse, 00:31:51.000 |
running all the way down the full length of the building, just happy, saying, "Yay!" 00:31:57.000 |
And I'm there sitting, I couldn't help but just smile, share the joy, 00:32:01.000 |
and I almost wanted to say, "Yeah!" You know, like just joining the fun. 00:32:05.000 |
And then realizing, "Oh, shoot, I'm ruining this special moment for these two." 00:32:09.000 |
That's part of my job, ruining intimate moments. 00:32:12.000 |
But honestly speaking, there was no way to take that joy from her. 00:32:20.000 |
But the challenge for us is like, we should be wanting to experience the joy 00:32:25.000 |
because the great, great goal of sharing the gospel comes with it, 00:32:29.000 |
the reaping of the great, great joy as with sharing the joys of heaven, 00:32:35.000 |
sharing in the angels rejoicing over one soul that was lost but now found, right? 00:32:41.000 |
And so likewise, when it comes to the care of souls, 00:32:45.000 |
not every single one of you are called to be shepherds, right? 00:32:50.000 |
You may not be called to be a pastor full-time devoted to pulpit ministry, 00:32:55.000 |
preaching, right, exhorting and challenging and counseling and meeting. 00:33:03.000 |
But the fact of the matter is every single believer, nevertheless, 00:33:07.000 |
we need to learn how to love, to admonish, to counsel, 00:33:12.000 |
sometimes to do the hard work of walking alongside, 00:33:16.000 |
rebuking if necessary, grieving together, interceding for that person. 00:33:22.000 |
That's something that we should have as our joys. 00:33:25.000 |
That should be something we should have as an objective and a greater goal in our life 00:33:29.000 |
that we are exercising God's overall, we can say objectively, 00:33:35.000 |
God's will for every single one of you is to be used in that capacity 00:33:47.000 |
There are great joys associated with being able to walk alongside somebody, 00:33:53.000 |
being able to desire their good in such a way that you want nothing more than for them 00:34:03.000 |
And when we do that and devote ourselves, we reap an incredible benefit. 00:34:08.000 |
And that benefit sometimes I see, you know, I get to officiate a lot of weddings 00:34:13.000 |
but I actually particularly enjoy officiating because I have a very unique vantage point 00:34:18.000 |
sitting right here or standing here with the couple right in front of me 00:34:22.000 |
but also seeing the face of parents who love them. 00:34:26.000 |
You know, in a lot of the weddings that I go to, 00:34:28.000 |
they have that special ceremony where they light the candles. 00:34:31.000 |
Nowadays, they have, you know, some botany, planting plants and sand and all that stuff. 00:34:37.000 |
But after they finish, they walk down and they go to their parents 00:34:40.000 |
and you can see the pride in the parents' faces. 00:34:47.000 |
And for parents who are so heavily invested to pray and to raise up their children, 00:34:51.000 |
to now see them suited up, you know, and entering into that phase of their life, I mean, 00:34:56.000 |
and then the moments when they hug and they cry, it still pulls at your heart strings 00:35:01.000 |
because you know that that investment as a parent is deep, 00:35:06.000 |
and therefore the joy that they receive from seeing their parents, 00:35:10.000 |
seeing their children go into their next stage of life, that pride is overwhelming, right? 00:35:17.000 |
And so what I want to encourage you with today is as I read this passage, 00:35:20.000 |
this passage is Apostle Paul with a vision for the ministry God has given him. 00:35:25.000 |
He is establishing the grand goal that he has for his life. 00:35:31.000 |
And I want to encourage you that every single believer should have a vision for ministry 00:35:35.000 |
even if you're not called to full-time ministry, 00:35:38.000 |
even if you're not called to have a title of missionary, small group leader, elder or deacon, 00:35:43.000 |
whatever it may be, that may not be God's specific role for you. 00:35:48.000 |
But we can say objectively speaking it is to God's good pleasure, 00:35:52.000 |
it is in his design for you to be of service to him and reap the joys of that ministry. 00:36:00.000 |
And so with that said, I want to start by reading verse 24 again 00:36:06.000 |
where it describes here Apostle Paul thinking about his ministry. 00:36:11.000 |
And what he says is, "Now I rejoice in my suffering for your sake, 00:36:15.000 |
and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of his body," which is the church, 00:36:19.000 |
"in filling up what is lacking in Christ's affliction." 00:36:23.000 |
From this I want to draw a major point which is we must suffer the difficulty 00:36:31.000 |
We must suffer the difficulties and yet reap the joys of ministry. 00:36:36.000 |
When you take a look at this passage, a lot of things are actually really profound 00:36:42.000 |
But the thing that probably pops out to you most is this idea of Christ's affliction 00:36:51.000 |
There have been entire books wondering like, "What in the world does that mean?" 00:36:56.000 |
And so I want to highlight to you one observation. 00:36:59.000 |
Clearly suffering and affliction for the church is a given part of the ministry. 00:37:05.000 |
Because if you read it in some sense, Apostle Paul is literally saying, 00:37:08.000 |
"I'm suffering for your sake just as Christ is suffering for your sake, 00:37:17.000 |
And if you kind of read the way that it's sounding, he's saying he is filling up 00:37:22.000 |
and doing what has been laid out already in terms of Christ's suffering. 00:37:27.000 |
And we already know the Scripture has warned us, 00:37:31.000 |
the Scripture has given to us a picture of what this ministry should look like, 00:37:35.000 |
that one, every believer who desires to live a godly life will suffer. 00:37:39.000 |
But what's more, as soon as you name Christ, he says, 00:37:42.000 |
"It is enough for you to be my disciple. I am the teacher and your master. 00:37:46.000 |
If they hated me, what do you think they will do to you?" 00:37:50.000 |
As soon as you name Jesus Christ, you had enemies, and you were going to suffer. 00:37:56.000 |
And what's more, specifically the Apostle Paul, Christ himself had told him, 00:38:00.000 |
"You are going to suffer greatly for my name. 00:38:03.000 |
You are going to suffer greatly for the gospel." Right? 00:38:07.000 |
And so what I'm talking about is what pops out from this very first verse 00:38:11.000 |
is this idea that Apostle Paul saw the suffering within the ministry, 00:38:19.000 |
There's another passage I want to highlight to you in terms of Apostle Paul's perspective on his suffering. 00:38:40.000 |
to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God 00:38:47.700 |
so that the surpassing greatness of the power 00:38:53.020 |
We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed, 00:38:59.420 |
but not forsaken, struck down, but not destroyed, 00:39:02.260 |
always caring about in the body the dying of Jesus 00:39:36.840 |
he is describing it literally as a pouring out and of death. 00:39:53.760 |
we know that suffering is a given in the Christian life. 00:39:57.220 |
But what's more, as soon as you take upon the desire 00:40:00.320 |
to love somebody, as soon as you take upon the desire 00:40:03.320 |
to preach the gospel, you know you're gonna face 00:40:09.200 |
Okay, that being the case, I push this point to you 00:40:16.640 |
this little inner heart that resists and denies 00:40:22.080 |
Sometimes surprised that ministry is difficult, 00:40:26.220 |
surprised that people aren't following as they ought to, 00:40:31.720 |
And what I'm saying is I'm sharing this conviction 00:40:39.280 |
because in confession, I think there are times 00:40:44.020 |
where I'm not willing to even be annoyed, let alone suffer. 00:40:47.020 |
I think there are times where I'm not willing 00:41:12.580 |
that I voluntarily did when I entered into ministry, 00:41:15.680 |
let alone not just simply entered into ministry, 00:41:20.620 |
And yet sometimes we can find ourselves doing this way, 00:41:24.600 |
and what's even more challenging is a second observation 00:41:28.040 |
that Apostle Paul sees that kind of suffering 00:41:32.920 |
He says literally in verse 24 at the beginning, 00:41:44.360 |
all the baggage, the whole bag of responsibility 00:41:54.040 |
He is willing to take guests to sleepless nights, 00:41:57.760 |
he is willing to take the frustrations and all, 00:42:04.700 |
where they're willing to take the whole baggage 00:42:06.480 |
for a dog, a cat, a bird, a parakeet, whatever it may be. 00:42:18.580 |
But we understand that, that as soon as you decide to care, 00:42:32.720 |
I couldn't help but think about this idea of burden of love 00:42:37.720 |
and it made my memories come back to a moment 00:42:40.360 |
when I saw a movie in the theaters with my mom, 00:42:47.040 |
"Do you want to watch this Korean movie with me 00:42:53.780 |
"Dude, she invited me, of course," so I went. 00:42:56.320 |
Crazy thing is as soon as I arrived to the theaters, 00:43:09.740 |
Out of cars and vans were just all these 70, 80, 00:43:13.200 |
90-year-old grandmas and grandpas from their church 00:43:17.480 |
And when I entered into the theater, it was jam-packed. 00:43:25.080 |
And I'm thinking, "Okay, gotta prepare my heart for this." 00:43:29.200 |
Soon as the movie began, it was about the sufferings 00:43:34.000 |
The central figure, this young boy, loses his father 00:43:37.480 |
in a desperate attempt to escape on the boat, so to speak. 00:43:47.520 |
"We're gonna meet at the store sometime, you know, 00:43:50.780 |
"the store that your aunt owns," or something like that. 00:43:53.720 |
And it just trails this young individual growing 00:43:58.720 |
just to make a buck, he goes into the coal mines, 00:44:03.880 |
Just to make a buck, he goes to the military and gets shot. 00:44:06.560 |
Just to make a buck, and it just keeps going nonstop, 00:44:10.760 |
And in the movie, there's a great job showing 00:44:19.040 |
and the wife just worried out of her mind, like, 00:44:27.460 |
she's just like wrecked, 'cause she doesn't want that for him. 00:44:36.000 |
was, had many moments of people just sniffling 00:44:39.040 |
and watery eyes, but there was a moment in their older age, 00:44:49.100 |
"Aren't you so glad that it was us that suffered, 00:45:08.540 |
a little old lady in front of me just weeping, 00:45:40.960 |
the burden of love on your shoulders for them. 00:45:51.800 |
It's a privilege to carry this burden for you. 00:46:06.740 |
"and for all those who have not personally seen my face." 00:46:10.340 |
I mean, he adds to this by adding that there are people 00:46:20.320 |
Because when you have the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ 00:46:26.100 |
to carry this burden, and you know what it means 00:46:32.760 |
you know what pains, suffering, and ultimate death there is, 00:46:36.300 |
you don't have to see that whoever the object 00:46:40.400 |
of your affection is going to reciprocate to you. 00:46:48.440 |
He just knows that it's to God's good pleasure 00:46:50.920 |
and his own that he would serve them in this way. 00:46:57.160 |
For us, there is this paradox for the Christian life. 00:47:01.960 |
You're gonna pray for people and grieve with them. 00:47:11.640 |
but nevertheless, carrying that burden to you 00:47:13.360 |
will be a joy because you are sharing the joy 00:47:19.220 |
Next, as we continue on the vision of this ministry, 00:47:22.660 |
I wanna give this point that God has given to us, 00:47:25.300 |
a scope of ministry, and it is the full instruction 00:47:34.140 |
and it has to be the full instruction of the word of God. 00:47:43.100 |
He said, "Of this church I was made a minister 00:47:50.320 |
"so that I might fully carry out the preaching 00:48:08.900 |
Verse 26, "That is, the mystery which has been given 00:48:21.480 |
"what is the riches of the glory of his mystery 00:48:34.580 |
To me, this is an incredibly encouraging point. 00:48:38.500 |
Initially, it might not sound like it when I say, 00:48:49.800 |
Why is it encouraging is because what that means 00:48:54.340 |
by which he is going to accomplish this ministry, 00:49:10.340 |
I'm not some trailblazer with great ambitions. 00:49:28.540 |
Why is that encouraging is because I know what I need to do. 00:49:35.300 |
Whatever explicitly clear in the scriptures I must preach, 00:49:39.000 |
and that is the conviction by which I came into ministry. 00:49:42.060 |
Pastor Peter sat me down as a young 18-year-old and said, 00:49:48.140 |
'cause I would regularly tell him I love Jesus, 00:50:15.500 |
I remember him saying, that's a good conviction. 00:50:20.640 |
Just kidding, he said, there's so much more to ministry 00:50:24.740 |
There's so much more to ministry than just that, 00:50:36.540 |
I was a blasphemer, a reviler, an aggressor to the church, 00:50:40.580 |
and now he's giving me this mercy to carry the word? 00:50:51.380 |
I will be revealing what God wants to make known, 00:50:55.860 |
The Savior and Messiah you've been looking for, 00:50:59.980 |
and overthrow the government, is residing in you. 00:51:07.740 |
comes from knowing that the Savior is with you. 00:51:11.380 |
And he says, I'm gonna be admonishing every man. 00:51:18.300 |
that means guiding away and reasoning with the man, 00:51:22.900 |
let's think differently than how you used to think. 00:51:25.960 |
And he says, I am gonna teach every man with all wisdom. 00:51:33.440 |
because that is the scope of ministry God has ordained. 00:51:37.980 |
He has clarity because he knows that that is from God. 00:51:41.060 |
And so I wanna share with you that this is my ambition, 00:51:47.460 |
but I also have another conviction and confession. 00:52:00.940 |
the random EV, going out to the malls and the town centers, 00:52:19.460 |
You know, what do you think about this really? 00:52:20.860 |
And then you start to, but then that initial one 00:52:25.300 |
Even though you guys know, like I love biblical counseling, 00:52:27.980 |
I love sitting down and talking with people one-to-one, 00:52:35.220 |
I'll just come sit down with a brother and say, 00:52:37.420 |
he, you know, like, I've got something to say. 00:52:45.540 |
And sometimes I've resorted to silly things, you know? 00:52:49.940 |
Going on long rants, asking a million questions, 00:52:54.660 |
I've learned, I learned a lot from Pastor Peter Chung 00:52:56.580 |
that if you add an accent, you could say a lot of stuff. 00:52:58.980 |
You know, it's like, you know, what you do yesterday, 00:53:09.500 |
we all have the fears of speaking this truth. 00:53:13.620 |
But if we don't, then there's a lot of implications to that. 00:53:18.640 |
I am not fulfilling the ordained stewardship that I have. 00:53:22.400 |
What's more, from the preaching is where God desired 00:53:31.860 |
So that the more you see it, the more you change. 00:53:34.740 |
And yet here I am afraid, like, I don't know. 00:53:37.860 |
But I get it, because I wrestle with the same fears. 00:53:51.420 |
But brothers and sisters, we have to have a greater vision, 00:53:58.060 |
This, this is a scope and means God has ordained 00:54:06.660 |
Let's move forward to think more about the vision. 00:54:17.220 |
is because the substance and power God has already ordained. 00:54:21.580 |
You understand this, when Apostle Paul is talking 00:54:24.360 |
about Christ's glory in you, that is the central idea, 00:54:29.140 |
So what I'm saying is, we need not fear the means, 00:54:31.940 |
it's because, okay, the content has already been put into it. 00:54:43.540 |
But now as time has passed, I am so confident 00:54:46.980 |
in the word of God, I can risk sounding prideful. 00:54:56.360 |
that if I faithfully study and I present this to you, 00:55:00.240 |
and sometimes people have started accusing me, 00:55:06.860 |
to fight back, you know, I can say, the problem is you. 00:55:16.740 |
I'm gonna recheck my own heart, but something is wrong, 00:55:36.240 |
and working in the spirit of God, will not be denied. 00:55:45.720 |
And so for some of you who struggle with like, 00:55:48.400 |
oh gosh, am I just working out of my own strength, 00:55:59.820 |
There's confidence in that, there's clarity in that, 00:56:06.020 |
Take a look at this passage, Colossians chapter two. 00:56:15.140 |
He struggled so much, and that's not arrogant, you know why? 00:56:22.260 |
and for all those who have not personally seen my face, 00:56:32.500 |
resulting in a true knowledge of God's mystery, 00:56:45.020 |
when I want for you the fullness of instruction, 00:56:49.160 |
going from conceptual knowledge to practical living 00:56:52.120 |
and practical theology, that is having confidence 00:56:55.480 |
in God promised, that that will produce godliness. 00:57:32.320 |
Our aim is the full maturity of growing wisdom 00:57:48.720 |
every single Christian grow in the full maturity 00:57:55.960 |
when he was telling me about there's so much more, 00:57:59.240 |
if you really understand what God has designed for it, 00:58:05.360 |
When Apostle Paul says, "I am proclaiming, admonishing, 00:58:12.280 |
"so that we may present every man complete in Christ," 00:58:21.640 |
to just preaching and teaching and counseling, right? 00:58:25.060 |
To want to see somebody complete and mature in Christ, 00:58:32.040 |
But what's more, Apostle Paul is not just thinking 00:58:35.520 |
about one person, he's not thinking about one church, 00:58:41.960 |
Take a look at this passage in Ephesians chapter four. 00:58:45.940 |
Please turn your Bibles there, Ephesians chapter four. 00:58:49.320 |
Apostle Paul talks about the design of the church 00:58:54.680 |
and the ambition and the goal that resides in his heart, 00:59:03.340 |
So Ephesians chapter four, starting from verse 11, 00:59:09.420 |
"And he gave some as apostles and some as prophets 00:59:11.800 |
"and some as evangelists and some as pastors and teachers 00:59:15.160 |
"for the equipping of the saints for the work of service 00:59:24.460 |
To a minister of God, who is a servant of God, 00:59:28.740 |
he should never be okay that his little crew is good 00:59:34.620 |
This passage literally says that the ambition and goal 00:59:37.780 |
is that we all attain to this unity of faith. 00:59:41.520 |
And he's not okay that there's a bunch of people 00:59:51.060 |
there have been so many people who come to church, 00:59:54.840 |
sometimes meeting with them multiple times a week, 00:59:57.340 |
sometimes meeting with them when there's immediate, 01:00:10.260 |
"You guys are wrong, I'm right," and they leave. 01:00:20.940 |
yeah, it's better if they kind of shoo away from me. 01:00:31.760 |
Because it does break your heart when people leave 01:00:35.440 |
'cause sometimes I think I want that person to be here 01:00:48.540 |
It breaks my heart to think he's just going wayward 01:00:54.240 |
that he doesn't have a caring brother to ask questions. 01:00:57.500 |
But unfortunately, if we're not careful, we could. 01:01:08.020 |
you're just completely okay with people going. 01:01:15.400 |
to bringing community to church, we want to be united. 01:01:22.660 |
that we want to have the knowledge of the Son of God 01:01:24.800 |
to a mature man, to the measure and the stature 01:01:33.080 |
And so as a result, we're no longer to be children 01:01:39.200 |
by the trickery of men, by craftiness and deceitful scheming. 01:01:44.380 |
we are to grow up in all aspects into him who is the head, 01:01:59.300 |
a growing fulfillment of the picture that God has for you. 01:02:14.500 |
is what my parents said to me when I was young. 01:02:18.700 |
It's like, I'm going into ministry, you know? 01:02:24.340 |
if in our hearts we think, dude, I'm trying my best. 01:02:37.580 |
it's not God who has to relinquish his expectations 01:02:43.460 |
It's us who have to, we have to regularly break our pride, 01:02:52.200 |
and just keep surrendering to the high standard of God. 01:02:56.780 |
Because God out of his love wants to present you holy. 01:03:04.860 |
I'm like, whoa, wait a minute, in my counseling, 01:03:14.300 |
And I repented like, God, what you say in your word 01:03:17.800 |
is that God has reconciled us through his son, 01:03:23.580 |
so that he would present us holy and blameless 01:03:49.260 |
Is that the goal that you're operating off of? 01:04:08.940 |
so then a lot of times, this is what they do. 01:04:13.380 |
maybe you should, as an act of just doing a little bit extra 01:04:17.860 |
go and make sure that you serve the Lord in this way, 01:04:21.020 |
That's the way they typically end their advice. 01:04:35.420 |
but I don't know, you just do what you need to do. 01:04:39.900 |
but I wanna challenge you, do not operate off of the fear, 01:04:53.220 |
but they asked me, now that marijuana is legal, 01:05:07.540 |
if someone smoked marijuana just for rest purposes? 01:05:13.900 |
this is one of those scenarios where I had to kinda think, 01:05:22.980 |
But I had to think about it, so what would you say? 01:05:28.680 |
But I think the best way to answer that is sometimes, 01:05:31.360 |
if you're asking the question of just permissibility, 01:05:36.080 |
I'm not sure if that's the right question at all, is it? 01:05:43.880 |
and he wants you to know that he's working hard, 01:05:46.400 |
and he wants you to know that he's sacrificing, 01:05:50.080 |
that he's literally being poured out like he's dying, 01:05:52.640 |
and he has said, I bear on my body the suffering for you, 01:05:56.160 |
because I want to present you holy and blameless, 01:06:01.600 |
and then are you gonna go and ask Apostle Paul, 01:06:13.580 |
You think that's the right question to ask Apostle Paul? 01:06:28.220 |
God's standard for us, his ambition and goal, 01:06:52.400 |
Move in me, change me, work in me as you wish, 01:06:58.840 |
We dare not give counsel that's anything less. 01:07:01.760 |
We would be like those who pad people in their gluttonies, 01:07:06.960 |
and it's almost like that scene where it's like, 01:07:08.840 |
ooh, Hercules, Hercules, when the little kid is obese. 01:07:26.800 |
in many ways, just pad people's emotions to say, 01:07:46.480 |
the goal is high, the ambitions for ministry is huge, 01:07:53.060 |
and therefore, it is actually purposed in the scriptures 01:08:30.000 |
I want to preach a great sermon that's convicting to you. 01:08:42.500 |
then if that's because of motivation, it could be skewed. 01:08:46.840 |
But because just the fact that I neglect to reference 01:08:57.000 |
it could actually go wrong in so many different ways, right? 01:09:02.700 |
A lot of us has resorted to that I'm not gonna risk it. 01:09:14.300 |
When you play it safe, that means you only play on the bench. 01:09:26.780 |
not do the exhortation, not do the admonishing. 01:09:45.380 |
And that glory does not come because I did something. 01:09:48.680 |
The glory comes because the great mystery of Christ in you, 01:10:01.380 |
then we could both have clarity and confidence in the work, 01:10:20.520 |
We have people in our lives who are just like, 01:10:36.480 |
And the Savior whom the world was looking for 01:10:41.440 |
he is a Savior who can overthrow every nation. 01:10:48.080 |
including the king that resides in your heart, 01:10:53.520 |
and every individual will lay down their crowns 01:11:02.000 |
And he says, he who began a good work will perfect it. 01:11:06.200 |
And therefore our ministry vision is actually glorious. 01:11:18.340 |
Heavenly Father, we thank you for the ministry 01:11:29.720 |
Father, I pray that we would not operate by fear, 01:11:43.680 |
Lord, we believe you, that you are doing a mighty work in us. 01:11:47.400 |
I want to walk with you, therefore, preaching your words, 01:11:50.960 |
revealing your truth, and all the more loving Christ. 01:12:02.560 |
A lot of us, even when we hear our testimonies, 01:12:12.800 |
We thank you, it's in Christ, and we pray, amen. 01:12:21.680 |
we want to participate together in the communion. 01:12:27.240 |
I would like to remind us of a special passage 01:12:30.320 |
in the scriptures from 1 Corinthians chapter 11 01:12:34.160 |
that tells us that as we take of the communion, 01:12:36.780 |
we want to take time to pray in remembrance of Christ 01:12:41.840 |
This passage comes to us from 1 Corinthians chapter 11, 01:12:46.840 |
For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered 01:12:54.820 |
and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, 01:13:07.780 |
"Do this as often as you drink in remembrance of me. 01:13:11.280 |
"For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, 01:13:13.580 |
"you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. 01:13:18.440 |
"or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner 01:13:21.200 |
"shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. 01:13:32.900 |
"judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly. 01:14:01.960 |
But also, just simply pray in such gratitude, 01:14:04.800 |
remembering all the work Christ has done in your life. 01:14:11.440 |
I will instruct us where together, in unison, 01:15:24.520 |
I wanna remind that being able to take this communion 01:15:29.400 |
means that we have so desired to receive Christ's grace. 01:15:41.280 |
Please do observe and carefully think through 01:15:44.960 |
as you observe this observing of the communion. 01:15:48.280 |
When you're ready, please go ahead and take the bread, 01:15:52.880 |
And then the second layer is the color layer, 01:16:11.640 |
Let's take a moment to join together in prayer. 01:16:19.720 |
We dare not ever stop ceasing giving thanks to you. 01:16:23.640 |
For God, you have truly made the ultimate sacrifice. 01:16:27.440 |
And we know also that by your blood we come today. 01:16:34.000 |
Lord God, the effectiveness of your sacrifice 01:16:47.040 |
Lord Jesus, your life was poured out for us in our place. 01:16:56.040 |
if anything we are doing to grow and to learn, 01:17:04.280 |
where we are so convinced that your heart of love 01:17:17.560 |
We thank you, Lord, it's in Christ's name, amen. 01:17:57.820 |
♪ He is my joy, my righteousness and freedom ♪ 01:18:06.100 |
♪ My steadfast love, my deep and boundless peace ♪ 01:18:31.580 |
♪ All is mine, yet not I, but through Christ in me ♪ 01:19:14.180 |
♪ To this, to this I hold, my shepherd will defend me ♪ 01:19:33.180 |
♪ And I shall overcome, yet not I, but through Christ in me ♪ 01:19:59.380 |
♪ The future sure, the price it has been paid ♪ 01:20:31.420 |
♪ Oh, the chains are released, I can sing higher free ♪ 01:21:02.940 |
♪ For He has said that He will bring me home ♪ 01:21:14.660 |
♪ Until my stand, with joy before the cross ♪ 01:21:21.820 |
♪ Oh, to this I hold, my hope is only Jesus ♪ 01:22:50.480 |
Our God, Lord, we desire as a church together 01:22:59.560 |
And so we pray as we hear this word from your book, 01:23:06.920 |
to bear the burden of loving our brothers and sisters 01:23:18.920 |
But I pray, God, that we would do that like you would, 01:23:25.280 |
with great, great authority, yet at the same time, 01:23:28.680 |
with great patience, great humility, and love. 01:23:32.400 |
And I pray that as we desire to live, to minister, 01:23:39.560 |
that all of that would go to you in glory and thanksgiving. 01:23:45.240 |
The grace that you have given to us is sufficient. 01:23:55.880 |
Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling 01:23:58.480 |
and to make you stand in the presence of his glory, 01:24:03.280 |
for the only God our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord,