Monthly Archives: April 2012

Shew Me Wherefore Thou Contendest With Me

by Charles Haddon Spurgeon

From Job 10:2

Perhaps, O tried soul, the Lord is doing this to develop thy graces. There are some of thy graces which would never be discovered if it were not for thy trials. Dost thou not know that thy faith never looks so grand in summer weather as it does in winter? Love is too often like a glow-worm, showing but little light except it be in the midst of surrounding darkness. Hope itself is like a star-not to be seen in the sunshine of prosperity, and only to be discovered in the night of adversity. Afflictions are often the black foils in which God doth set the jewels of His children’s graces, to make them shine the better.

It was but a little while ago that on thy knees thou wast saying, ‘Lord, I fear I have no faith: let me know that I have faith.’ Was not this really, though perhaps unconsciously, praying for trials?-for how canst thou know that thou hast faith until thy faith is exercised? Depend upon it, God often sends us trials that our graces may be discovered, and that we may be certified of their existence. Besides, it is not merely discovery, real growth in grace is the result of sanctified trials. God often takes away our comforts and our privileges in order to make us better Christians. He trains His soldiers, not in tents of ease and luxury, but by turning them out and using them to forced marches and hard service. He makes them ford through streams, and swim through rivers, and climb mountains, and walk many a long mile with heavy knapsacks of sorrow on their backs.

Well, Christian, may not this account for the troubles through which thou art passing? Is not the Lord bringing out your graces, and making them grow? Is not this the reason why He is contending with you?

‘Trials make the promise sweet;
Trials give new life to prayer;
Trials bring me to His feet,
Lay me low, and keep me there.’

2.18a

Weekly Links (4/27/2012)

Such is pure and genuine religion, namely, confidence in God coupled with serious fear — fear, which both includes in it willing reverence, and brings along with it such legitimate worship as is prescribed by the law. And it ought to be more carefully considered that all men promiscuously do homage to God, but very few truly reverence him. On all hands there is abundance of ostentatious ceremonies, but sincerity of heart is rare. (John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion)

by Richard Shin

We have another fantastic set of articles for y’all. There’s quite a bit this time, so take a cup of Joe (or some OJ, up to you), relax, and enjoy. Be enamored with God’s grace.

  • Paul Tautges has a four-part series on choosing love over liberty here, here, here, and here. He lists eight reasons why choosing love over liberty is the better route.
  • Charles W. Colson, the famous prison minister, has gone to be with the Lord. Justin Taylor rallied several articles and videos around the blogosphere that commemorate his passing.
  • R.C. Sproul has a short but fantastic post on three simple ways to encourage your pastor. One would do well to apply these on a regular basis.
  • I’m not sure what you think of British accents, but I love them. So you can imagine how awesome it was to come across C.S. Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters being read by John Cleese. Hat tip goes to Justin Taylor.
  • Because I’ve taken a liking to Paul Tautges, he is featured again (see first bullet) with the help of Dietrich Bonhoeffer from the past who encourages us to be better listeners.
  • Jonathan Leeman shares with us the beauty of church discipline.

Have a grace-filled weekend, everyone. See you on Sunday.

Coram Deo

Signs of Spiritual Maturity #1: Introduction

by Elder Peter Lim

Growing as a Christian is one of the great joys of a Christian’s life. Understanding that we were dead in our sins in which we formerly walked, it ought to be expected that redeemed people would live differently than the world does (Eph. 2). This makes a lot of sense because we are now alive in Christ and no longer slaves to sin. Many non-Christians do not want to become a Christian because it would mean giving up the lifestyle that they want to hold on to so dearly. They understand that if they believe in Christ, their lives will change. In other words, change is expected.

In every Christian’s journey, there are certain signs or indicators by which one can measure progress in our spiritual maturity. This is important because it gives us encouragement that the Holy Spirit is working in our lives. This encouragement lets us know that despite our sinful flesh, God is at work in us (Phil. 1:6). As we grow closer to Christ, we find that more and more of our sins are exposed. Initially we may feel embarrassed or upset and we may even try to shoot the messenger by whom our sins are exposed. But those feelings should quickly turn into recognition that God is at work in our lives. If you never experience this exposure of sins, it could be that you are avoiding fellowship with brothers and sisters and are content to live the life you are living without growing. Then there is no wonder that you are not maturing in Christ. Though you ought to be teachers, are you in need of milk instead of solid food (Heb. 5:12)?

These thoughts lead to a new series that I’m starting here on the Beacon: Signs of Spiritual Maturity. It will be a many-part series on the different ways in which we can measure our progress in becoming more spiritually mature. Believe you me that I haven’t achieved some sort of plateau at which I can look back at where everyone else is. I write these things as one who is in the marathon race alongside you as a fellow runner. But as someone who is on the older end (at least at our church) I hope to encourage you to continue running by pointing out the various milestones that mark our progress together. I am confident that I will recognize even more markers as the years go by because God is the one who is causing the growth. I hope you are looking forward to reading a new article every four weeks on the different Signs of Spiritual Maturity. I know I am looking forward to writing them!

Whereas the Lord Was There

by Charles Haddon Spurgeon

From Ezekiel 35:10

Edom’s princes saw the whole country left desolate, and counted upon its easy conquest; but there was one great difficulty in their way-quite unknown to them-‘The Lord was there‘; and in His presence lay the special security of the chosen land. Whatever may be the machinations and devices of the enemies of God’s people, there is still the same effectual barrier to thwart their design. The saints are God’s heritage, and He is in the midst of them, and will protect His own. What comfort this assurance yields us in our troubles and spiritual conflicts! We are constantly opposed, and yet perpetually preserved! How often Satan shoots his arrows against our faith, but our faith defies the power of hell’s fiery darts; they are not only turned aside, but they are quenched upon its shield, for ‘the Lord is there.’ Our good works are the subjects of Satan’s attacks. A saint never yet had a virtue or a grace which was not the target for hellish bullets: whether it was hope bright and sparkling, or love warm and fervent, or patience all-enduring, or zeal flaming like coals of fire, the old enemy of everything that is good has tried to destroy it. The only reason why anything virtuous or lovely survives in us is this, ‘the Lord is there.’

If the Lord be with us through life, we need not fear for our dying confidence; for when we come to die, we shall find that ‘the Lord is there‘; where the billows are most tempestuous, and the water is most chill, we shall feel the bottom, and know that it is good: our feet shall stand upon the Rock of Ages when time is passing away. Beloved, from the first of a Christian’s life to the last, the only reason why he does not perish is because ‘the Lord is there.’ When the God of everlasting love shall change and leave His elect to perish, then may the Church of God be destroyed; but not till then, because it is written, JEHOVAH SHAMMAH, ‘The Lord is there.’

2.17p

Weekly Links (4/20/2012)

See the man at midnight [described in Luke 11:5-8].  Imitate that man.  Act it all alone at midnight.  Hear his loud cry, and cry it after him.  He needed three loaves.  What is your need?  Name it.  Name it out loud.  Let your own ears hear it. . . . The shameful things you have to ask for.  The disgraceful, the incredible things you have to admit and confess.  The life you have lived.  The way you have spent your days and nights.  And what all that has brought you to.  It kills you to have to say such things even with your door shut.  Yes, but better say all these things in closets than have them all proclaimed from the housetops of the day of judgment.  Knock, man!  Knock for the love of God!  Knock as they knock to get into heaven after the door is shut!  Knock, as they knock to get out of hell! (Alexander Whyte, “The Man Who Knocked At Midnight,” in Lord, Teach Us To Pray (New York, n.d.), pages 174-176; HT Ray Ortlund)

by Richard Shin

Happy Friday! We’re back with a great set of links.

  • Many would say Romans is their favorite book from the Bible. Desiring God attempts to summarize this fantastic epistle with 45 Tweets.
  • Kevin DeYoung shares an article on the implications of theistic evolution.
  • I appreciate this post by Chuck Swindoll very much. He encourages the servant that God will not forget his work, whether it be someone behind the scenes or the senior pastor of a church.
  • You know the article’s a hit when it’s posted four times. Team Pyro has an article on modesty of dress that’s done just that.
  • Jim Stitzinger from The Cripplegate shares an article on five common ways we can misdiagnose our struggles, repackaging sinfulness into holiness.
  • Do you remember when Esau plotted against Jacob, how Esau wanted to kill Jacob for stealing his birthright (Gen 27:41-45)? So you can imagine the shock when the next time we see Esau, it’s with Esau weeping for joy for seeing his brother again (Gen. 33:4). Well, Ray Ortlund pens an article on the ministry of reconciliation that each Christian has.

Have a fantastic weekend, everyone. God bless!

Coram Deo

LBC Weekly SPARK – April 19, 2012

by Pastor Patrick Cho

Dear LBC family and friends!

I hope you are doing well and walking in the Lord. This past Sunday, we heard a message from James 1:21 about the importance of receiving the implanted Word. This is what will help produce spiritual growth and ensure the ongoing process of sanctification in your life. So the obvious question of application is: Are you taking in God’s Word? We hear so many messages about the practical importance of Scripture intake, and all true believers will attest to the necessity of being in God’s Word. It really comes down to being disciplined in this. It is about loving the Lord and praising Him for His revelation, receiving it with meekness, and learning to apply its principles. Like I mentioned on Sunday, we can all appreciate the simplicity of James’ message. Consider this an encouragement to be in the Word today, and to persevere in it for the rest of the week, month, and year.

In His grace,

Pastor Patrick

Here are this week’s ministry opportunities:

  1. MISSION BOWL PEP RALLY. Instead of our regularly scheduled Friday night Bible studies, this week we will be having our annual Mission Bowl Pep Rally to cheer on our ladies’ flag football team. Everyone is encouraged to come out to support the team and join in the festivities! Families, please bring the kids! Everything will begin at 6:00 PM at the church on Friday evening.
  2. MISSION BOWL TOURNAMENT. The ladies have been preparing long and hard and the tournament is finally upon us. The tournament will begin on Saturday, April 21, at 12:30 PM at UCSD’s Muir Field. This is a great way to meet other believers in our community and fellowship together. Come cheer on our gals!
  3. MEMBERS MEETING. Don’t forget that there is a members meeting this Sunday, April 22, from 4:45-8:30 PM, at the church. All members are highly encouraged to come. As always, dinner will be served.
  4. WOMEN’S MINISTRY SEMINAR. The women’s ministry will be hosting a seminar on the works of the Holy Spirit on Satuday, April 28, from 9:00 AM-12:30 PM, at the church. There is no cost to attend, but you need to RSVP with Christine Cho to reserve your spot (christinescho@gmail.com). All ladies, high school age and up, are invited to attend.
  5. BAPTISM. There will be a baptism class on Tuesday, April 24, at 7:00 PM, at the church. If you have not yet been baptized as a believer in obedience to God’s command, please come out to the class. The baptism service will be on Sunday, April 29, at 5:00 PM (please note the time change!). (Editor’s Note: we recently updated the Baptism Hub Post).
  6. ANNIVERSARY BANQUET. The annual banquet will be on Sunday, May 6, at 5:00 PM, at the church. Come out as we celebrate 13 years of God’s faithfulness and focus on our annual theme: Dying to Know Him. The cost is only $25/adult and $15/child (ages 4-12). The dress this year is casual. Sign up with Johnny Kim this weekend!
  7. VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL. VBS will be from June 25-29, from 9:00 AM-5:00 PM each day. More information is forthcoming, but please mark your calendars! We are still in need of volunteers for staff, so please contact Josh Liu or Abram Kim for more information.
  8. GRACE LIFE WEEKENDER. The Grace Life family ministry will be having its very first weekender on July 6-8! This will be a conference style event with meetings at the church. The theme is: “The Lord of the Rings: Marriage to the Glory of God.” The speakers are Dr. Robert and Mary Somerville of The Master’s College. The cost is only $80/person ($160/couple), and includes two meals. Childcare will be provided! You can reserve your spot with Pastor Patrick. Invite your friends!
  9. SISTER CONNECTION. The women of the church will be taking part in Sister Connection once again! College Life sisters will either be paired up with a Single Life or Grace Life sister to get to know each other better and spend some quality time together. If you are interested in participating, please email sisterconnection@gmail.com. You can also sign up with Christine Cho, Janet Shih, or Deborah Wong. The last day to signup is April 29.
  10. LOCAL OUTREACH. Please do not forget about the regular opportunities you have to share the gospel in our community. The Pacific Beach ministry to the homeless occurs every other Sunday, from about 3:00-6:00 PM. We also have a ministry that visits a local convalescent home. Contact Joyce Kang (joycekang84@gmail.com) or Hanka Rodgers (hanka.rodgers@gmail.com) about the PB Homeless Ministry, and Teddy Yu (yu.teddy@gmail.com) about the convalescent home ministry.
  11. BEACON. Helpful articles are provided each week to stimulate godly thinking and growth. Check out the Beacon today (www.lighthousebc.com/beacon)!

EV & Your Degree – Introduction

by Cesar Vigil-Ruiz

When the issue of evangelism comes up at our church, typically it relates to the setting of a university campus, and the participants involved are typically both students: usually a believer and an unbeliever. The interest often arises from either a discouraging incident when that young believer gets flooded with questions by the unbeliever, or when there seems to be a disinterest in the things of God when conversing with that non-Christian. Many stories can be told by Christian collegians about the time they sought to reach out to another student with the Gospel, only to be shut down by simple assertions of superiority, or a sudden high (and often arbitrary) standard of proof. This may come up when students devote specific time on the campus walking around and engaging other students concerning truth and spiritual issues. Other times may include an informal Bible study reading through one of the Gospels, or discussing a book about the fundamental truths of Christianity.

College is filled with opportunities for students of Christ, who for a brief period of time are university students, to proclaim the Gospel of our Lord to those who are perishing. There are stories that can be told where a Christian, who knows their Bible, boldly sets forth the claims of Christ and draw people to see the glory of God in their witness of how He can change a wicked heart.

We have a fairly clear picture of how evangelism looks in the college setting, but what does it look like post-college? Once a Christian student graduates with his or her degree, what happens now? How does one remain faithful after they move out of the university setting, and no longer have as many opportunities as seemed easier to see? Can there still be a fervor for evangelism when one joins the workforce, or is it a new period in life where sharing Christ with others becomes one of deeds more than words?

The singles ministry at our church is not a monolithic group. There are those who have continued to study for a graduate program, or for a specific career. There are also some who have begun work, whether related to their field of study or unrelated; and then, there are those who are in the process of finding work, in transition. Unlike college, not everyone is on the same four-year track, differentiated only by how far they have progressed. The age range is considerably more than four years between oldest and youngest in this group. This is a reminder for me to not be simplistic in how I want to address this issue.

However, how one evangelizes may look slightly different when it comes to the collegian and the post-collegian (or the non-collegian as the case may be). No matter the case, there are some considerations that would be helpful for us as singles to consider in proclaiming Christ. Of course, there is overlap; many principles relating to evangelism transcend the stage in life you are in. However, your affinity group does not determine the importance of evangelism nor should the message be altered to relate to whom you are sharing Christ with.

Hopefully, we can flesh some of these ideas out in the months to come. My goal is to look to the Scriptures to gain a better understanding of what it looks like to be a faithful witness when you have finished college and are still called to be an ambassador of Christ in this postmodern and ‘tolerant’ nation. I pray we all have that mindset in whatever circle we have been providentially placed in by God.

BOB – Outlines – The Pentateuch

by Stephen Rodgers

I know what you’re thinking: “Is this guy ever going to do the Prophetic Books?”

Lord willing, yes.  But not this week. Because this week, (and for the next couple weeks), we’re going to play a little game of catch-up with the BOB series. Let me explain. (“No, there is no time; let me sum up.”)

I recently fielded a question about the BOB series from a church member who wanted me to know that they felt that the BOB series had a particularly glaring deficiency, because it didn’t have a section articulating exactly what happens in each book of the Bible. I explained that wasn’t an oversight, that was deliberate. After all, the hope with BOB is that it will provide a helpful reference for books of the Bible, but it’s not intended to obviate the need to actually read them.

That being said, I do think there’s some value in having an overview of the events and/or structure of the books, so I’ve put together something that I think is interesting. I’ve taken the outlines from three different study Bibles (MSB, NET, NIV), which are published by three different publishers (Thomas Nelson, whoever publishes the NET, and Zondervan). I could be wrong, but I don’t think there’s any crossover when it comes to the scholars and writers on those content committees, so we should wind up with three uniquely sourced outlines. I’ve then laid out those outlines side-by-side, and will be releasing a new section each week until we catch up to the Prophetic books.  From that point on, I’ll include the outlines everytime we get to a new section, so that you’ll have something to refer to as you read the BOB articles. (I’ll also edit the old section articles so that people reading through this series in the future will have them from the beginning).

Now, a couple of disclaimers:

  • I really wanted to include the ESVSB outline, but since they’ve recently relocated that behind their paywall, I’m not sure of the propriety of that. My life is pretty exciting already; I don’t need to be getting C&D letters from Crossway.
  • While these are comparative outlines, they are not parallel outlines.  What’s the difference you ask? A parallel outline is where certain internal markers are used to hold the lines/rows constant with each other. That’s a really cool resource to have, but it would take more time than I have to create. If anyone really wants to give that a whirl, let me know and I’ll send you the editable files.

Alright then. For those of you who are interested, here’s the first outline for the books of the Pentateuch. I’ve also updated the original article on the Pentateuch to contain that as well.  See you next week with the History books!

FOF – Introduction

by Pastor Patrick Cho

Each week, during our Sunday School hour, one of the classes we offer at Lighthouse is Fundamentals of the Faith (FOF). This is a thirteen week study using a workbook that is published by Grace Community Church. In the class, we walk through the basics of Christianity covering topics such as “Introduction to the Bible,” “The Person of Jesus Christ,” and “The Church: Fellowship and Worship.” Unlike other Sunday School classes we offer, Fundamentals of the Faith is offered continually throughout the year except in the summer when we typically take a break from all classes.

FOF is a helpful tool to get the student of the Word better acquainted with basic spiritual truths. The lessons are refreshingly biblical and practical. Even walking through the exercises, the student becomes more familiar with the Bible by answering various questions from the text of Scripture. Each lesson is also accompanied by a weekly memory verse, which the students are encouraged to memorize and internalize.

At Lighthouse, we have actually made FOF a required class for membership. Even if you have grown up in the church and these lessons are very familiar to you, we still ask that you sit in the class. There a couple reasons for this. First, we don’t want to make any assumptions about a person’s salvation or familiarity with the Bible. Many people who took this class later admitted that they didn’t know as much as they thought. We are thankful that as a result of the class, some have even been introduced to the principal doctrine of the gospel. If someone wants to gain a better understanding of the Christian faith, FOF is a great class to recommend.

Second, much of the teaching at LBC assumes the lessons of FOF. Many times when the teachers of the church walk through a particular passage, they don’t have the time to sufficiently explain some of the more basic truths. By sitting in FOF, each member is given the same foundation and can learn where Lighthouse stands on each of these core doctrines. Besides these two reasons, FOF provides a wonderful environment to get better plugged into the church, meet other believers, and get to know the teachers of the class.

Fundamentals of the Faith could even be used as a helpful discipleship tool. If you are have already completed FOF, you could walk through the class again with your discipleship group. Parents might find the class as a helpful spiritual aid to shepherd their children. Think about how profitable it would be to study these things together with your children and discuss them throughout the week.

This series will walk through the lessons of FOF but more as a supplement to the class. For you members who still need to fulfill the membership requirement, this is not a viable alternative. But as we walk through the lessons together, hopefully this series will provide key insights and useful background information to make the class even more enjoyable. If you have already finished the lessons that are covered, you’re encouraged to review each lesson before reading the supplemental article. May the Lord continue to bless His church as its members uncompromisingly and unswervingly strive to grow in their understanding of His truth!