The Surprising Blessing of Journal Writing

Today, I took out my journal and read the last entry - it was written four months ago. The reason why I titled this thought "The Surprising Blessing of Journal Writing" is this: You can't even begin to understand the impact and encouragement of the entry that you're writing will provide ten years down the line as you reflect upon your past entries, we don't even write with that aim. I was reading this entry that I have written four months ago and was exhorted and encouraged in so many ways, and it has caused me to look through my journal and I have found precious words of encouragement and exhortation. Here are some things that I wrote:

"There's much I don't know and much I forget to remember."

"Grace has only become my meditations and not the blood that sustains and empowers and lives in me."

"I can talk about the kenosis, hypo-static union, the heresies concerning the person of Christ, but I am reminded that I do not cherish Him as I ought, love Him as I ought, and adore Him as I ought."

Now here is the great surprise: God in His mercy allows your former wretched self to encourage you. Now the reason I bring these entries up is because the best journal entries that I have found to be helpful are those that deal with the personal fight against sin and fight for joy that are grounded on the truths of Scripture. So here's an encouragement and exhortation to all you journal writers, and for those who don't write journals (myself included): Fill the pages of your journals with Gospel truth. This will guarantee their precious value five days, five years, ten years down the line for the truth of the glory of Christ will always be relevant to our lives. Think richly on Christ, and write richly on your pleasure, or lack of, for Him. Stay strong and God bless!

Praise Songs for 5-18-08

As promised, I will try to post links or youtube videos of songs we'll be singing on Sundays. This week, we'll be singing three new songs, but some of them should be familiar to most of you. Here is our song list for praise this Sunday.

Be Thou My Vision
God of Wonders
Wonderful Maker
The Power of the Cross









I hope these were a blessing to you, and that it stirs you to wonder at our amazing God. Stay strong and God bless!

05-11-08 Sermon Review

This week, I had the opportunity to speak at our outdoor service for Mother's Day and though I was only allowed ten minutes, I really did enjoy this great privilege of sharing the Word with the whole congregation. I pray the sermon notes below will be a blessing as you meditate on motherhood a few days after Mother's Day.

The Honor of Motherhood

Pastor Park told me a few weeks ago that I'll have this opportunity to address the mothers of our church, and what an honor to do so. It is my great joy to share with you. Since I only have ten minutes, and usually I take 45 minutes to an hour at our youth services, I'm only making one point today, and I pray this one point will leave a lasting impression. The point I want to make today by taking you through the Scriptures is this: God honors mothers.

The reason I believe this is such a critical issue today in our church is because many don't believe that motherhood is a high calling and a privilege for women. Actually, with the feminist movement infiltrating the Church, many Christian women have given into the lie that motherhood is a hindrance to women individuality, some even claiming that it hinders them from service to the Lord. But I want to show you that is completely against the teaching of Scripture. It is undeniable that the Bible displays motherhood as one of the highest callings for a woman and a great privilege. Here are three ways that I see this in Scripture.

God entrusts the raising of His servants to mothers. There is a countless number of God's servants that were raised by godly mothers. But more so it seems that God had entrusted these men into the care of their mothers. Such examples are Samson (see judges 13 and how God constantly speaks to the wife of Manoah), Timothy (see 2 Timothy 1:5), and even Jesus.

God commands His people to honor their mothers. God also requires that His people honor widows as well, widows who have served as mothers (1 Timothy 5:10). We must realzie that God doesn't simply require this from His people for it's own sake or for posterity's sake. God sees the labor of mothers as truly worthy of such honor.

God directly honors mothers in Scripture. From my recollection, there is no passage in the bible of the excellent husband, but there is one of the excellent wife (Proverbs 31). This wife that is honored was one that took motherhood seriously, and such a woman God honors. Five women are mentioned in the geneology of Jesus in Matthew 1. Timothy's mother and grandmother are praise in 2 Timothy 1:5. And these are but a couple of examples.

Though it was a very short a cursory glance at the honor of motherhood, I hope it was convincing enough to you to show that motherhood is indeed a high-calling and that it is a great privilege. I am not saying that every women should be a mother, but what I am saying is that every mother should take her call to be a mom seriously and joyfully.

I was surprised and overjoyed that God is indeed raising up a young Christian generation that has not given into the lie of feminism, but recognizes the high call of motherhood. I was reading Do Hard Things a couple of weeks ago and came across a girl name Brittany Lewin. She was eighteen years old and was already successful in the world of politics. At the height of her achievement, she says this: "I wouldn't mind a promotion from campaign manager to housewife. Motherhood is a higher calling than politics."

There is a reward for every one who serves the Lord. And as mothers, I pray you're not satisfied with the recognition you get once a year with a genuine hallmark card, or dinner out with the family, or carnations you get at church, or whatever you might do to celebrate Mother's Day. They are all good things, but they pale in comparison with the honor and the reward you will receive when the Lord calls you home and says, "Well done my good and faithful slave." Remember the high calling of motherhood, and remember the reward. God will honor your faithful service. Stay strong and God bless!

05-04-08 Sermon Review

Following Jesus (John 1:35-42)

"Again the next day John was standing with two of his disciples, and he looked at Jesus as He walked, and said, 'Behold, the Lamb of God!' The two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. And Jesus turned and saw them following, and said to them, 'What do you seek?' They said to Him, 'Rabbi (which translated means Teacher), where are You staying?' He said to them, 'Come, and you will see.' So they came and saw where He was staying; and they stayed with Him that day, for it was about the tenth hour. One of the two who heard John speak and followed Him, was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. He found first his own brother Simon and said to him, 'We have found the Messiah' (which translated means Christ). He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, 'You are Simon the son of John; you shall be called Cephas' (which is translated Peter)."

The topic for today is at the heart of Christianity: What does it mean to follow Jesus? Because the term "Christian" has lost much of its significance in our culture, Christians have resorted to calling themselves Christ-followers or disciples. But even this can lose much of it's meaning if not viewed through the biblical lens. Just using the right label will not suffice no matter how good of a term it is, unless we use the term rightly. In the passage for today, the apostle John gives us a narrative of possibly the first two followers of Jesus, and from this short account, we will be able to see four aspects of what it means to follow Jesus.

1. Know who you have to follow - The two men that are mentioned in this passage were very religious. They were very serious about their faith. We know this because they were disciples of John, the very man that was to point out the Messiah. John was called the greatest man every to be born of a women by Jesus. These two men were under the teaching of this great man. Yet, he was just a man. When John the Baptist pointed out the Messiah, his two disciples recognized that they weren't supposed to hang around him any more; someone greater had come.

When we talk about following Jesus, we need to make sure we're following Jesus. Today I heard of a woman who was visitng my friend's church who loved John Macarthur. My friend told me that she would not come to the small home groups because they weren't studiyng one of John Macarthur's books. Yes, there are great men who teach truth boldly and well, but they are simply men pointing to the ultimate. When sitting under good teaching or lead by a charismatic pastor, it is easy to feel like you're following Jesus when you're simply following a man. The two disciples of John the Baptist could have easily fell into that trap, but they moved on because they understood that their duty was not to follow John the Baptist but the Son of God.

2. Know why you follow - Simply knowing who to follow is not enough, at least for Jesus. When he sees the two men following him, Jesus turns around and asks a striking question, "What do you seek?" A more probing question could not be asked. One of the two might be tagging along, but this question calls both of them to consider their purpose in following Jesus. The two replied, "Rabbi, where are you staying?" This seems to be a very random reply to Jesus' question, but it really is not. They first recognized Jesus as Rabbi, meaning they wanted to learn from him. Second, they asked where he was staying, meaning they wanted to have a private encounter with Jesus. They did not follow Jesus because they wanted things. They followed Jesus because they wanted to know Him intimately. How gracious of Jesus to say, "Come and see."

Do we follow Jesus with that sort of motivation? Are we followers of Jesus because we are awed by His majesty and captured by His beauty? Do we eagerly wait to hear His invitation, "Come and see"? We follow Jesus because we want to know Him intimately. Jesus, later in this Gospel account, will say, "This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent" (John 17:3). Let us be overjoyed that the Lord of Glory has revealed Himself to us, and will not deny our plea to enjoy sweet fellowship with Him.

3. Know the reward of following - The text implies that the two disciples spent the night where Jesus was staying, and that the very next day, one of them, Andrew, went to find his brother, Simon Peter. The Greek implies it was the first thing Andrew did that day. When Andrew finds his brother, he tells him, "We have found the Messiah!" The tone of his voice must have expressed great joy, as a man who has found a pearl of great price. The Jews were long awaiting the arrival of the Messiah, eagerly expecting the coming of their King. For Andrew, having found teh Messiah would not have been a small thing; it would have been the greatest joy he ever experienced.

The point in mentioning this is to show that following Jesus is not done for the sake of following. There is a great reward. Following Jesus is not a joyless duty or mechanical necessity. Following Jesus means having the reward, the greatest reward: Jesus the Christ, the Messiah. Though Andrew did nothave at that time the same fuller understanding of the title Messiah as we do, he still reacted with joy from what he did understand. Therefore, we, who live after the cross, have a greater reason to rejoice at our reward. As we understand the person of Christ and the God-man we follow, may we also say with Andrew with joyous conviction, "We have found the Messiah!"

4. Know the cost of following When Simon first met Jesus, he did not introduce himself. Actually, Jesus knew exactly who Simon was and gave him a new name: Peter. Jesus explains the significance of this name in Matthew 16:18, "I say to you, you are Peter and upon this rock I will build My church and the gates of Hades will not overcome it." Jesus had plans for Simon, and He made that clear to him even from day one. Jesus had no ice-breaking moments with Simon, but from the beginning made it unquestionable who the Leader was.

Following Jesus means... you really have to follow Him and let Him lead. Jesus is the leader; we are the followers. Jesus is our Lord; we are His slaves. The cost is great. We are called to submit our wills completely to His and follow him even to death. Death for following Jesus was a reality that Simon faced one day, but he had decided long before that He would rather be called Peter and die for Jesus than to have his own way. Thinking himself unworthy to be executed in the same manner as his Lord, Peter asked that he be crucified upside down. Are you ready to follow Jesus wherever He leads? Are you willing to pay the cost?

Conclusion - Following Jesus means much more than going to church and living a good moral life; it is much more. We have looked at four aspects of following Jesus today, and I pray that it stirs you up, gets you excited to follow after Him. Let us beckon the call of Jesus, "Come and follow Me." Stay strong and God bless!

The Getty's

I am terribly sorry for posting up this so late, but as I promised, I'm posting video clips on youtube of songs that we sing on Sunday worship servies. I pray these posts will be a blessing to you all. We will first start with Keith and Kristyn Getty, a personal favorite! A better introduction must be given, but I'm sure their music will speak for them much more than my words can! The first video is "There is a Higher Throne" on New Song Cafe, the second is "In Christ Alone," and the third is "Pow'r of the Cross." Enjoy!

Radical Christianity pt. 7 (Conclusion)

It seems only fitting to bring this series to a close by making some last observations and exhortations. If you've missed the series, you can find them here. We have in the past six posts introduced the concept of Radical Christianity and looked at five ways in which Christianity is radical. Here are all the points that we went through:

1. Radical Decision for Christ

2. Radical Commitment to His Church

3. Radical Mind Transformed by the Word

4. Radical Measures in Present Living

5. Radical Mission towards Future Glory

Now, the purpose in stating these five points was not to create a new kind of Christianity or even a call for reform in Christianity, but to show that true and historic Christianity was always radical. This was not to suggest that there is a higher level of Christianity, a extreme Christianity, or a "holier" Christianity, but simply Christianity. Frances Chan in his recent book called Crazy love is quoted by Tim Challiess in a recent post, "a lukewarm Christian is an oxymoron; there’s no such thing. To put it plainly, churchgoers who are ‘lukewarm’ are not Christians. We will not see them in heaven." I agree. Why? Because Christianity is radical; it allows no room for lukewarmness or complacency. I hope these seven posts have been sufficient to show that, and I pray we'd all vigorously test ourselves to see whether or not we are in the faith (2 Corinthians 13:5).

Do Hard Things - Alex and Brett Harris

I was extremely surprised that this book was written by teenagers, but I guess that was the point! Alex and Brett are sons of Greg Harris and brothers of Joshua Harris two already well-known pastors in the Christian world. The book is written on the central message of their website which has taken the teenage blog world by storm called The Rebelution. In a very simple style, the brothers present a very bold message that Randy Alcorn thinks will make this book "one of the most life-changing and culture-changing books of this generation," and in some sense I agree. The book is written primarily for Christian teenagers, but that is not to say those of us who are well beyond our teenage years can't benefit from the challenges set forth in this book. The message is this: Teenagers are far more capable and competent than the world would like them to believe, and we should expect them to live up to higher standards (that's their message in my words). Teenagers of our age definitely need to hear this message, and even more so the adults that influence them. This is why I was very thankful to have read this book, it changed my view on young adults and how I want to lead my youth pastorate.
Still, there are things that I thought they could have done better though I really can't complain! The book is well-written, the stories are encouraging/challening, and the message is rooted in a solid biblical world-view. But one thing that bothered me a little was that the brothers didn't touch much on spiritual guidance and biblical decision-making. The book talks about God speaking to someone and God telling someone what he needs to do, but doesn't really give a great amount of help in discerning what God's will is. If they had a chapter on this, it would be truly complete. And also, having been accustomed to expositional type books, I would have enjoyed it a lot more if the style was centered around scripture, but that's just personal taste! Christian teenagers should be very thankful that such a book is available, and the movement that's been growing through the Harris brothers' website proves to me that they are.

Pages - 224
Reading Difficulty - Simple
Rating - 4/5
Buy or Borrow - If you're a teenager or a parent or a youth-worker, this is a definite must-read; buy!