Sunday, April 28, 2013

Saturday, April 20, 2013

John Piper: In the Beginning was the Word

Here's a link to the sermon we started at our last Praise Night 4/19/2013.



http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/sermons/in-the-beginning-was-the-word

I pray that our time spent in John's gospel may be a time of getting to know Jesus in an intimate and personal way.

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Being a Shepherd

The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my sheep. - Jn 21:17

Being a shepherd sounds like a tall task for a high schooler. Yet Jesus asked Peter to love him by taking care of his sheep. How can we do that? Where can we start?

I heard a great acronym about being a shepherd: To shepherd people, we need to B.L.E.S.S. them.
Begin with prayer.
Listen and sometimes you have to listen for a long time.
Eat together with them.
Serve them in whatever way.
Share the word of God.

We should whole-heartedly B.L.E.S.S. God’s sheep and pray for the opportunity to share the gospel and to serve them with the word of God. God’s words are life giving and most precious. So as we are loving our neighbors, serving them, praying for them, eating with them, listening to them, we also need to intentionally seek the opportunity to plant the words of God. We cn do this through casual conversations, or formal one to one Bible studies. But it is important to know that we can still shepherd people who do not want to study the bible. Our love for God’s sheep should not dissipate or lessen when they are not open to the Word. We can still B.L.E.S. others and pray that one day, someday, in God’s right time, God might open their hearts for us to share God's word.

Who can you B.L.E.S.S. today?

Saturday, April 13, 2013

"Made Alive 2013" HBF Easter Reflection

Reflection by Esther Ahn

Romans 6:22 “But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.”

This past Easter, the HBF fellowship had an awesome retreat at Phantom Ranch. We had five messengers who were all graduating seniors: Amanda Melzer, Faith Koh, Jonathan Lee, Marlene Lenthang, and Joe Horvath. We also had group bible studies led by the juniors, Joseph Wang, Angelo Mendoza, Jonathan Cho, and myself. I was so blessed to have time at the conference to have time to focus and reflect on the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

I had the opportunity to lead a bible study on Romans 6. In this passage, Paul tells the Romans that they have been set free from sin. We are all released from our human nature as sinners when we are baptized by the Holy Spirit and given a new life in Jesus. When we die to our sins, we repent and turn our hearts back to God. It is not enough just to turn away from our sin. We need to clean our hearts and then fill it with God’s grace, which is his forgiveness, mercy, and love for us. Only then will we be able to become slaves to God. We are all born slaves to sin and doomed to an inevitable death because of our sin, but we are all so lucky to know God’s unconditional love. Because of his love for us, he sent his son to die a death that none of us would ever want. By his grace we can call ourselves God’s children and have the freedom of eternal life.

I personally know how hard it is to turn away from sin in our everyday life. The devil is smart and he targets us during our weakest times. Christians face spiritual warfare everyday. I have been struggling with my faith for a long time and I took advantage of that and I told myself that it was ok to explore life more now that I am still young, and high schoolers are supposed to have fun. I have done some things that I am not proud of, but I learn that all sin is bad no matter what excuse I might make for myself. Jesus had to die an excruciation death on the cross for those sins I committed. Spiritual warfare is a constant and difficult battle, but God always there beside me and he wants to set me free from all of the burdens and veils of darkness that cloud my life and give me freedom as a slave to righteousness. I need to constantly fight against the temptations of sin and bring all of my struggles to God so that I can die to my sins and be made alive in Christ as a slave to righteousness.

One word: Made alive in Christ as a Slave to Righteousness

Thursday, April 11, 2013

Death through Adam, Life through Christ


Message by Faith Koh

 “For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.” Romans 5:19

Romans 5 Part II guides readers through the two most pivotal characters in history. It provides a side-by-side comparison between Adam and Christ and helps us to see the significance of one man’s influence. The cause and effect in the lives of Adam and Christ: disobedience vs. obedience causes, death vs. life.

I. Death through Adam
            The history of Adam dates back to the very beginning. Genesis 3 gives birth to the original command and the original sin; sin caused by pride. A proud mind is the trunk in which all periphery sins branch out. In the story of Adam and Eve, God said, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden, but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.” (Gen 2:16-17). This was given by God as an act of love for man’s everlasting happiness in paradise. But, prompted by Satan, Eve misquotes God and twists his words saying, “You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.”(Gen 3:2) From Eve’s perturbed perspective, God is restrictive and close-minded. The chain reaction heightens progressively: Satan induces the small seeds of pride to produce doubt and ingratitude. Ultimately, her sin (her history in Adam) led to death (Gen 3:19).
            However, that is not the end. Verse 12 tells us “…just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned—” You may think that this is just another archaic tale of a man’s demise that simply has nothing to do with you. But the fact of the matter is that every single one of us takes part in Adam’s story. Because we all sin, so like Adam we will all die. This is our nature. Adam’s history of sin and death are our human nature, and it reigned from “the time of Adam to the time of Moses” all the way until now, this very moment. Just this last week, I visited Maryland and Pennsylvania with my cousins and friends. It was almost like I was in the Garden of Eden. The time spent in fellowship with my family filled me with the joy and freedom that Adam must have experienced in the garden. But literally out of nowhere during one of the long car rides, Satan attacked me from my blind spot. He took hold of me, and he tempted me to indulge in his poison (sin). When I took a bite, I began to choke on my imperfections both in the spiritual and physical. Fear, hatred, and self-pity poured out of me. It was like I was vomiting darkness…sounds gross, but that’s how I felt. I felt disgusting and in that moment, my life seemed impotent. Taken by sin, I felt unimportant and worthless so much that I wanted to die. Never have I felt so controlled by death. Because of my history in Adam, I know that my sin begets death. Some may say that Adam was then and now is now. But actually, Adam’s sin in disobedience from thousands and thousands of years ago takes part in both you and me today. It’s for that reason that you experience death physically (our earthly bodies are destined to emaciate in the ground) and spiritually (we experience it in elemental form).
Broken relationships with parents or friends. Loneliness. Jealousy. Insecurity—that’s death; you’re always unsure of yourself, your identity is fragmented and confidence is incessantly teetering back and forth. Self-condemnation…like, “Why can’t I be this way, why do I always make the same mistakes all the time?” Lust: evil thoughts and images kill our hearts and minds. Anger. Or guilt—you may look back at past mistakes with yourself or with other people and you can’t help but feel stuck. Or maybe some of you have even come to a certain crossroad in your life where you have considered suicide.
Do you see how in some way or another we have all, every single one of us, been confronted by death? Then my point has been made clear: We know that our sin involuntarily places us in the chronicles of Adam.
            Sin is a deadly epidemic. It has plagued our world in its entirety.
Then what are we to do? We know that by birth, because of our sin, we entered into Adam…so is that it? Are just we doomed to death? Or is there something or someone more powerful that can overcome it all? Paul shares with us something that is not like the trespass. God offers us a gift. He offers us life, and his name is Jesus.

II. Life through Christ
            One act of disobedience by Adam, and the whole world is fated to die. But through one man Christ, the whole world now has life. In vs 15 it says “how much more did…the gift that came by grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many!” The gift of life by grace overflows. All throughout Christ’s prolific history, we see that time and time again he offers life to the many. Can we read verse 16 and 17 together?
                “”Nor can the gift of God be compared with the result of one man’s sin: The
               judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed
               many trespasses and brought justification. For if, by the trespass of the one man,
               death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s
               abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through
                the one man, Jesus Christ!”
There is a story of a woman who was dry, lonely. In her [futile] attempts to quench her desire for something more, she turned to men. 6 men, in fact, yet none could satisfy her thirst. She lived in Adam, and because of her history, she was out casted by society. In Adam, she was what vs. 16 says; judged and condemned. But the gift followed her trespasses and brought justification. Not because of what she did, but purely because of Jesus, who encountered her at a well and gave her living “water welling up to eternal life” (John 4:14). When we consider Jesus’ history from beginning to end, all we can see is life. Luke 17 presents readers with the story of Jesus who healed not one leper, but ten. That’s his abundant provision of grace. In Matthew 9, Jesus restores the paralytic and with one touch, he renews the bleeding woman. On numerous accounts, he gave sight to the blind. In John 9 he raises a young girl from the dead and in John 11, calls Lazarus out from the tomb. Even when Jesus was dying, with his final breath, he offered you life by putting to death all sins. Any records you may have had in Adam have been erased when Jesus said, “It is finished” (John 19:30). Jesus is the source of life.
           With the gift comes a remedy of greatest efficacy, one that completely expels us from our background in Adam. With the life through Christ, we inherit justification and we will be made righteous. So for any of you who were once bound to guilt in Adam, now in Jesus there is peace. Instead of hatred or jealousy, there is love. No more bitterness, but forgiveness and forbearance. Lust and anger are now traded for self-control and freedom. In Jesus’ history, there are no remnants of death; only joy, kindness, and goodness reigning in our hearts.

III. From Adam to Christ, Death to Life
            Let’s take a step back for a moment and look at the bigger picture. Verse 19 puts things into perspective for us. “For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.” Adam’s disobedience brought sin, Jesus’ obedience ushered sin out and brought life. Through Jesus’ obedience to God’s word, all men are saved through faith. One person Jesus Christ obeyed to the point of death and in doing so, he brought forth a saving grace for all of mankind.
            In Adam, our logic is that one man is just another life lived. That’s our logic. That’s what makes sense to us, right? God’s math tells us otherwise. In Jesus, one decision of faith to obey is equivalent to an eternal history in his creation story. Adam sees one as one. But God sees one and then he sees the world. When I was in Adam, I lived under the rule of death. Growing up in the certain situations I found myself in, from an early age my mind was programmed into a very performance-heavy, appearance-driven way. In piano, violin, and art, I had to work towards recitals, competitions and exhibitions to display my work. As a dancer, people judge you based on your “style” and how you present yourself to the community. Even in church, I had this established predilection of what I needed to do and how I needed to look, in order to feel accepted by others. I wanted to be perfect Faith Koh who was known for music, art, dance, academics. Faith Koh who is such a good daughter and sister; well-liked by everybody. The confrontation I had with Satan was one of the many that has been building up over time. I could never seem to keep up with all the standards I laid out for myself. It felt like trying to swim up a waterfall, only to fall once more because of my human limitations and sin. It constantly left me feeling like I could never be good at anything. I was extremely resentful and insecure about my character flaws and my physical appearance. When I was in DC, I struggled a lot with these thoughts. There was one point in the trip where I was so overwhelmed that while everyone went out to enjoy the beach, I stayed in the van and cried myself to sleep. But God saw me, and called out to me through 1Corinthians 15 biblestudy where I learned about the gospel message, power and glory that follows the resurrection. God understood me and in His love, he sent his son to die on the cross. Christ died for these exact sins. Because of the resurrection, I will one day be renewed with a heavenly body and soul (1Corinthians 15:40) I will be wholly refined into a unique and perfect splendor, crafted in the image of God once more. When I stepped out to Jesus in faith, I no longer felt controlled by self-condemnation or meaninglessness.  I could finally break free from my crooked understanding of what happiness was, and I could enter into the true grace that can only be found in Jesus. This is the grace I received in Jesus’ history. Although I deserved death, Jesus died and conquered my sin when he rose from the grave.
           That doesn’t mean all sinful endeavors are over, though. Because the law was given to us, the trespass increases. In fact, the law was brought in for that specific reason—so that the trespass could increase (vs 20). This probably sounds unreasonable at first. Wouldn’t it be so much easier if we didn’t have so many laws to break? It makes much more sense for God to decrease the trespass through the law. But God had a purpose: he gave us the law in preparation for the gospel. The better we understand the law, the more conscious we are of our sins and the stronger our desire for a Savior becomes. In case you didn’t quite catch it—this is again, God’s math. For “…where sin increased, grace increased all the more” Paul portrays God’s grace perfectly. God’s grace is overflowing. It is abundant and it reigns. There’s that one lyric by the David Crowder band “If grace is an ocean, we’re all sinking”. The grace of god is overwhelming because it increases exponentially. When we stand in grace, we don’t need to question God’s love as did Eve. There’s no reason to doubt! We have proof on the cross that Jesus came in love. Though I continue to stumble and fall in trespass of the law, I fully trust that I will fall in the sea of God’s grace.
            Jesus did all this for us, so now you may wonder how one can shift from the history of Adam to the history of Christ. The solution is simple: you need to believe. Believe that Jesus’ blood is your atonement for sin. This change from death to life (Adam to Christ), comes at the foot of the cross. As your sister and friend, it is my earnest hope for each and every one of you to make the clear decision to believe in Jesus’ death and resurrection this Easter. I can promise you from my own experience that His grace is profoundly liberating. I sincerely invite each of you to take part in the history that has been pre-hemmed by the flawlessness of God, for all of you are exceptionally critical in his sight.
            Let me remind you once more how important a person’s decision is. One man Adam led to death, whereas one man Christ led to life. Both plot on an eternal scale. The decision of one man—just one man—to either obey or disobey…can alter history forever, for one is the beginning of totality. Now it all comes down to this: which history will you decide to take part in?

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

WHEN YOU'RE IN LOVE


Message by Joseph Horvath

Romans 6:15-23
Key Verse 6:22
 “But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life.”

Everyone of us, you and me, and anyone who has ever lived; past, present, and those yet to come, fall (and will fall) into either one of two categories. And not one person in existence or who have ever existed or will ever exist is neutral. There is no compromise or "in between" or any sort of "to some degree this and to some degree that." Paul doesn't allow us to assume any of that. The two categories are: You are a Slave of Sin. OR. You are a slave of God. You are a slave to someone, everyone is.

You are a slave of sin OR a slave of God. That's it. Now approaching this passage we cannot connect slavery of the time Paul is speaking to the tragic horror of American history. Being a slave in Paul's day was voluntary for many so they can get fed; they traded their freedom for food and shelter, usually to someone with wealth or who perhaps owned a vineyard, so the family could survive maybe for a number of years. The problem with that was they were completely owned, their masters could do whatever they wanted with them. American slavery was different in that these slaves were held totally against their will, brought into a foreign country and was horribly mistreated for many decades. Therefore; being a "slave" here in what Paul is saying doesn't mean you are being held against your will, it is rather the will that one cannot overcome or change under his or her own power, it doesn't work that way.

This analogy of slavery to this or that was used by Paul for the people in Rome to understand. They were familiar with slaves, it was very common. So that they could understand, Paul describes being slaves of sin as being under the law and being slaves of God (or righteousness) as being under Grace. He notes his analogy's imperfections in verse 19 where he talks about having to speak "in human terms because of [their] natural limitations."

The Mastery and the Misery
So when you are slaves of sin your will is to obey its desires, the flesh; you do not fight against it, but you fall into sin every time given the opportunity. When the opportunity to sin is presented before someone under the law, under being owned by the passions of the flesh, sinning will seem very appealing and enjoyable. You cannot think of anything else and once you have committed the sin you attempt to hide it because of your shame. When you sin you wouldn't want others to know about it, why?

Because it's your master, you cannot hold your hand back and now you are ashamed, regretful, and pitiful. And this is your life. When you are a slave of sin you do not fight against it but rather you fight for it - you are instead in war with God who commands that you leave your life of sin. It goes against your master to obey God, to submit to Him. You are not just in disagreement with God; you are in complete opposition to Him.

Submitting to Him would mean to stop experiencing those temporary pleasures that you've grown so far in love with and to start experiencing some other form of pleasure, meaning doing something that dishonors your master. When you are a slave of sin, sin completely owns you. And the truth is (or once was) “we are all infected and impure with sin,” (Isaiah 64:6.) There is no life when you are ruled by impurity, you are dominated by your enemy; being Satan, sin, and death. When you live your life in sin the only result is death, there is no eternal joy after living a life shackled to sin. "The end of those things is death,” (Rom. 6:21b.)

Consequently your life is ruled by Satan and sin. Your will is in bondage to the rule and choice of the great Enemy. He owns you; you have no power over him. This happens to us when we, by nature and choice, decided to sin. Once we sin, once we fall into temptation, once we choose to enjoy the filth of temporary pleasure, we lay our hands into the shackles of slavery of sin. Later on we may no longer enjoy falling into sin because of the shame it brings us, but again and again we will fall no matter how hard we try. Sin reigns in us.

Being Enslaved to Freedom
Although this all may be very, very true to many of us there is one thing we cannot forget. One thing forever changed the course of history. This is what Christ did on the cross. Though perfect and holy, sinless and pure, he died. Why did he die?

He died for our sin. He died that we may no longer live under the power of sin in our lives but rather live life to the full, a life God offers us for free. Verse 23 in Romans 6 say the free gift of God is what? Eternal life. When we have truly experienced the love of God in our lives and we have turned from our sins, meaning that we fully desire to no longer hold on to those short term pleasures but instead want to let go of all our sins to be forgiven by God who is willing to forgive us if we would just turn… Once this becomes our desire, God does something miraculous in us. In Ezekiel 11:19-21 God himself speaks to Ezekiel in a vision. The Lord God spoke, "And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh… declares the Lord God.” Our hearts of stone, our rebellious nature against God, our self-righteous-feculence that we once held on to, in accepting Christ as our Lord and our Savior was completely changed. It is no longer a cold heart of stone but God has exchanged it with a heart of flesh, a heart that desires God, a heart that wants to be holy and seeks righteousness, this is the heart that God has given us.

When we become slaves to God and righteousness we will fight against the short-term, shameful ways we once walked. Because he has forgiven us we no longer live under the rule of sin in our lives. We no longer have death awaiting us in the end; instead we have eternal life waiting for us on the other side. This is freedom, being slaves to God is true freedom. We fall in love with this God. When you’re in love with God, His grace and forgiveness makes us slaves to righteousness. We are no longer held captive to our will to sin, instead we can't even think about sinning or even about trying not to sin; we can't help it! When we experience His love in our lives more and more we cannot help but being righteous and seeking holiness. Those who have truly been saved will never again live as slaves to sin. God has transformed and renewed their hearts (and their wills) when they converted; when they accepted Christ. Why? Because now they are in chains to the love of God that is in Christ Jesus. That is true freedom.

One Sturdy Discrimination   
"...You are slaves to the one whom you obey, either of Sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which lead to righteousness." (6:15) Proof that one has been saved is by observing whom they obey. They either obey sin and the desires of the flesh, being incapable of stopping themselves - their will isn't to seek righteousness and holiness but instead they seek impurity and lawlessness (Slaves of sin are like the swine who enjoy the filth and the mud, it brings them life and joy. They are completely ignorant of the universe that surrounds them, the multitudes of the wonders that they could be enjoying outside their little 14 x 16 mud pen.) - or, they obey and submit to God, who sets them free from the chains of sin. With this they fight against the desires of the flesh and sin, they go to war against these desires and earnestly seek righteousness for the sake of Christ. It isn't a righteousness they seek for the sake of themselves because that is pride, that is not living under grace and truth that saves them but they instead they try to save themselves and make themselves look holy before God through works. That's not obeying. Paul thanks God in verse 17 when he says, "...you...have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching in which you were committed." This isn't an obedience of self-righteous works to find favor in God; this obedience is found trusting in Jesus. Continually trusting in Jesus, that is the sign that one is a slave to righteousness.

This is the Christian life. If we are a Christian, one who has been made alive in Christ and has had their hearts of stone removed and replaced with a heart of flesh; a heart that desires God and wants holiness, then sin has no power over them. From the swine that had become a precious lamb, when we are thrown into the mud, the filth, the trash, we no longer enjoy it, and instead we want to get out.  Sin has no power over us! Why? Because we're under grace!

Where we go in this determines whether we were genuinely redeemed or we remained as slaves to sin. So, what happens when you are saved and what happens after that? Two things must and will occur when you are saved, meaning when you cross from death to life; when you become a new person; when you belong to a new spiritual, everlasting family.

1. The Acquittal
The first thing is that we are to be forgiven. Preceding our repentance we find our new life in Christ. If our repentance is genuine and we didn't just cry at a conference or have an emotional episode or have some sort of dream we presumed to be from God, then our lives are hidden in Christ and we will seek Him more and more. If our repentance has been genuine we are forgiven. This is justification. Our standing before God is in Jesus; Jesus mediates for us before the Father and we are no longer held as enemies of God. Our shackles of sin have been unlocked and we are freed in the blood of Jesus.

2. Forgiveness isn't enough. 
We must know that we are guilty for sinning and because of it we need forgiveness. This forgiveness is found in Christ, this righteousness is found in Christ. We are justified. But here we are still in the cell, we are free to go, but something needs to happen. After we are saved (justification) there is sanctification. This is our continual growth toward becoming a new, Christ-centered person. This is our walking out of the jail cell to move toward the world outside. In this sanctification, the one who has truly been forgiven begins to fight sin. Now sin no longer holds them captive, now they are in war with their former master. They may sin they may fall but sin is no longer their master. This is a work God does in our lives, but as well this is something that we need to do as well. Our work is dependent on God to give us strength and it is He who enables us to fight sin. 2 Timothy 4:7 doesn't say "God fight for us! We want nothing to do with this war, let us sit back and relax." It says "I've... fought the good fight of faith."  This is a work of God that enables us to fight. This comes through a renewed heart and mind.

3. Our Experiencing Eternal Life is not only dependent on an unequivocal Justification, but as well on an unequivocal

Sanctification
Once you have genuinely fallen in love with God; arrested by His grace and mercy and have been released from the bondage of the gook of sin. You don't want to sin anymore. By grace you wage war against it. With this, we enjoy the fullness of the life that God has for us. This new life with Christ in a walk with Him is a life full of true joy and passion and affection, it's a life free from guilt and it's a life being alive in Christ. We can look back at the question from verse 15. "Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace?...” One who says "because I am justified, I can do all of the sinning I want because God loves me and he will just keep forgiving me because I am justified," is probably not saved. Galatians 5:21 speaks of people living horrible, sin- fallen lives, "anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God."

When You're in Love
When you have fallen in love with God your life is completely different. Your relationships change, your motive changes, your whole life is made new. You are no longer in bondage to your sinful nature. Your will changes.
- The Christian life is a constant battle against the flesh.

- We are not called and redeemed to live comfortable lives; we are called to fight and to leave the cell.

- When you are in love, you wouldn’t just sit down and do nothing to be with the one you love. You will do anything is costs to be with them. In the same way, we must do everything we can to be with Christ, whom is now the aim of our affections.

- We find our need for God, we need Him so much. We come back to Him again and again (because we are in love with Him) to know him more and to not forget about Him.