HBF Easter 2013 Video

Made Alive Conference 2013 video made by Faith Koh.

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.

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?

"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