by Pastor John Kim

To the LBC family!

Jonathan Edwards Resolution #61
Resolved, that I will not give way to that listlessness which I find unbends and relaxes my mind from being fully and fixedly set on religion, whatever excuse I may have for it – that what my listlessness inclines me to do, is best to be done, etc.

Listlessness is something that we would often disguise as “I just need to clear my mind” kind of mentality and is ultimately revealed to be an escape from being fixed and focused on seeking Christ. Our tendency to being easily distracted contributes to this as well and the main consequence really is a loss of a discipline for the sake of godliness. While we must be careful that duty alone does not govern our motivation, there are times when the patterns of disciplines are disrupted by seasons of mindlessness that go back to our heart motivations.

Why is it that we are so easily moved away from Christ in our minds? Is it not the enemy that seeks to tempt us with thoughts that would sway us from the Savior? Are we not often pulled to conform to the world instead of being transformed by the renewing of our minds (Romans 12:2)? Knowing that we have this tendency as we face the daily onslaught of worldly thinking, it is no surprise that we are exhorted by the apostle Paul to think about things that are true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent, and worthy of praise (Philippians 4:8). It is only in the Word of God that we find the center of our thinking provided and that is in the person and work of Jesus Christ. When the cross is the focal point of our mind, it will not lead to listlessness because to dwell on the gospel can only result in the glory of God becoming the end to which our whole life can then find its ultimate fulfillment.

Colossians 3:1-2
If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.

If our mind is sent on Christ and the things of Christ, we will be able to transcend the earthly mindedness that we are often found wallowing in and instead we can be seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness (Matthew 6:33). When we are mindful of Christ and following the way of the cross, not only do we individually find benefit but we are then able to truly contribute to the unity of mind that should characterize the church.

Philippians 1:27
Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel,

When we are living in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, it will be revealed through a firm unity shown in one spirit and one mind striving for the faith of the gospel. The work of the gospel is then maximized by our Christ-mindedness.

Philippians 2:1-5
So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,

When we are of the same mind, it will result in a self-sacrificing service of one another that follows in the footsteps of Jesus, who displayed the ultimate self-sacrifice through His obedience to the point of death on a cross so that we might have a Savior who could save us from our sins.

To put it another way, let me ask a series of questions regarding the state of your mind:

1. Do you find yourself easily distracted from the things of God?
2. Does the glory of Christ seem like a fading shadow to you?
3. Do the things of this world seem more attractive than the things of heaven?
4. Are you disinterested in the lives of your fellow brothers and sisters?
5. Do you rarely think of the gospel in your everyday life?

If the answer to these questions are more a “yes” than “no”, you might have some issues with how you take care of your mind. It is not a good thing to be lazy about the care of your mind. In fact, if you do not set a proper guard over your mind, you just mind find yourself listing off so far from the cross of Christ that you no longer even think or feel or act like a Christian. The price for listlessness can be costly so don’t underestimate the amount of time that is lost in your mindless wanderings apart from Christ.

As the Great Command in Matthew 22:37 states, let us love God with all our mind and in so doing offer up our minds in worship along with the rest of our whole being to His glory.

Praying that you would be mindful of Christ,
Pastor John

Announcements:

1. LKC will continue this Wednesday at 6:30pm.
2. There will be no Friday Night Bible studies this Friday as we will be having our all-church Mission Bowl Pep Rally at 6:30pm at the church. Everyone is invited to come for a fun evening as we prepare for the Mission Bowl.
3. The Women’s Mission Bowl will be held at UCSD Muir Fields this Saturday. All participants are asked to meet at the church at 7:30am for a joint service with the other churches. The tournament itself will start at 9:30am at UCSD and end around 5pm.
4. For the Mission Bowl, we need a count of those who are interested in purchasing lunch that day. We need to know ahead of time because of the arrangements that need to be made with UCSD. If you an e-mail Naomi Yu by Wednesday evening with the number of lunches you would like to order, it will be $3.50 per lunch. Please contact Naomi at naomiyu@gmail.com.
5. For the Mission Bowl, there is also a need to help with the food prep and distribution. If you are available to help this Saturday, please contact Naomi Yu as well for this opportunity naomiyu@gmail.com.
6. Project Ahualle is continuing until March 19 and there is still opportunity for you to contribute to their fund as we hope to help the Ahualle family not only enjoy their time here but to also provide for them resources and gifts that would be an encouragement to them in their ministry. You can pick up an envelope at church and then give your contributions to Pastor Patrick by this Sunday. We would like to have all the contributions by this Sunday because we hope to send any additional funds that we raise with them when they leave on March 19. **One thing that we would like to ask is if anyone has any extra guest passes for Disneyland or California Adventure that you can donate, please let me know as soon as possible. We are also continuing the fundraising for Project Ostrava (April 20-28, 2010) so please prayerfully consider supporting that trip as well.
7. This Sunday, we will be having an all-church fellowship at 5:30pm to celebrate our time with Pastor Jorge and his family. It will be a potluck dinner so we are asking if you could bring a contribution of a dish that would be one of your favorites that you would like the Ahualle family to try. If you could bring a generous portion to share with everyone, that would be much appreciated. Please mark any serving dishes or utensils with your name so that we can know who it should go back to at the end of the evening. There is a rumor that Pastor Jorge and Norma will be custom making a 1,000 Tucumanian empanadas so you will not want to miss this event!
8. This Sunday we will be having a special 2nd hour presentation by Pastor Jorge as he will be sharing about the work in Tucuman as well as his perspective on missions. So the adult Sunday School classes will not be meeting this coming Sunday but will resume the following week. Please stick around for this as it is going to be a great opportunity to see what God has blessed our partnership with in the ministry at Tucuman.
9. We will be going over John 10 this Sunday so please read the chapter in preparation for the message. For the children’s message we will be going over the aspect of PEACE from the fruit of the Spirit. Please remind your children to keep a good record of their notes and pictures. They are doing a great job!
10. This Sunday will be the last Sunday to signup for the Singles Retreat, which will be on March 19-21 at Pine Valley Bible Conference Center. The cost is now $150 – please signup this weekend! Also, for those of you who have already signed up, we will be getting hoody sweatshirts so please give the appropriate size to Maria Oh if you have already registered. If it is the same size as the t-shirt size you submitted, then you don’t need to do anything else – we will just use that size. But if you need it a little bigger, please let Maria know by tomorrow no later than 5pm. If you have not yet registered for the retreat, you will need to register by tomorrow in order to get a sweatshirt as we will not be ordering any extras due to the extra cost. If you know someone who wants to register, please make sure they do so by e-mailing Maria Oh at ohmaria@gmail.com.
11. We will be having one last DTR series on the following dates: March 21, 28, April 11, and 18. They will be held on Sunday evenings at the church from 6-8:30pm and will be focused on presenting a God-centered, gospel-oriented, biblical worldview towards the issue of dating. We will be addressing some issues that have not been addressed in previous sessions so it will be mostly new material that will build on previous messages. So invite your friends, both Christian an non-Christian as we will be presenting the gospel through this series as well.