Author Archives: Stephen Rodgers

Serve the Lord with Gladness

by Charles Haddon Spurgeon

From Psalm 100:2

Delight in divine service is a token of acceptance. Those who serve God with a sad countenance, because they do what is unpleasant to them, are not serving Him at all; they bring the form of homage, but the life is absent. Our God requires no slaves to grace His throne; He is the Lord of the empire of love, and would have His servants dressed in the livery of joy. The angels of God serve Him with songs, not with groans; a murmur or a sigh would be a mutiny in their ranks. That obedience which is not voluntary is disobedience, for the Lord looketh at the heart, and if He seeth that we serve Him from force, and not because we love Him, He will reject our offering. Service coupled with cheerfulness is heart-service, and therefore true. Take away joyful willingness from the Christian, and you have removed the test of his sincerity. If a man be driven to battle, he is no patriot; but he who marches into the fray with flashing eye and beaming face, singing, ‘It is sweet for one’s country to die,’ proves himself to be sincere in his patriotism. Cheerfulness is the support of our strength; in the joy of the Lord are we strong. It acts as the remover of difficulties. It is to our service what oil is to the wheels of a railway carriage. Without oil the axle soon grows hot, and accidents occur; and if there be not a holy cheerfulness to oil our wheels, our spirits will be clogged with weariness. The man who is cheerful in his service of God, proves that obedience is his element; he can sing,

‘Make me to walk in Thy commands,
‘Tis a delightful road.’

Reader, let us put this question-do you serve the Lord with gladness? Let us show to the people of the world, who think our religion to be slavery, that it is to us a delight and a joy! Let our gladness proclaim that we serve a good Master.

1.9p

Editor’s Note: August 2010

by Stephen Rodgers

I just have a quick note for everyone related to some minor changes to the blog.

  • I know a lot of people share articles via Facebook, Buzz, Twitter and whatnot, but not very many were using the links at the bottom of the articles to do so (heck, I wasn’t using them, and I post every Beacon article to my Facebook page). Since they weren’t getting use and were just taking up space, I’ve removed them. If you feel that there’s a need for a particular kind of share code, come talk to me.
  • The blog is getting a lot larger than it used to be. We’re currently at 600+ articles and climbing. To make it easier to delve into the archive, I’ve enabled some code to link to 5 articles that seem to be similar (mostly calculated by the recurrence of keywords in the content; we could filter by category, but that seemed unnecessary for now). These links will appear at the bottom of each article under the heading of “Probably Related Posts.” I’m hopeful that this will help you browse particular topics more easily, but please let me know if you spot anything strange.

Pro Rege

Weekly Links (8/13/2010)

by Stephen Rodgers

So we’ve got some good links today, but we’re going to limit it to three distinct topics: church, ethnicity, and Randy Alcorn.

Church

Over at the desiringGod blog they’ve been doing a series on the local church, with each article focusing on a different Bible passage that illustrates a different role or function of the church. All of them are worth the time it takes to read and reflect on them:

Ethnicity

Switching gears a bit, the Mars Hill Church blog has been doing a series that explores various aspects of Biblical manhood, and they posted a couple of articles that caught my eye because they specifically addressed Christianity from an Asian-American perspective. The first article dealt with comparing and contrasting the teachings of Christ and Confucius. (That’s probably going to appeal more to the folks of Chinese descent in our congregation, and might help in talking with unsaved family members). The second article posed ten questions for the Asian Christian man, relating to particular challenges that come up in that heritage or family background.

Let me know if either of those were useful. A while back, we covered desiringGod launching their Chinese website (complete with many Piper articles in Chinese). I know that many folks in our church are on the lookout for good resources for unbelieving family members, or good non-English resources.

Randy Alcorn

And last up, we have two more videos with Randy Alcorn for you. The first delves into How God Uses Evil for Good, and the second asks Are Young Pro-Life Evangelicals Inconsistant?

Enjoy!

Pro Rege

Fireflies Nursery Ministry Update – The Summer Months

by Lillian To

Fireflies is always changing! Every week our staff is rotating, the infants and toddlers are increasing in number; they grow in height and weight and at the end of each month before we switch out our Sunday school lesson the toddlers have developed a further understanding of God’s character.

This week, Fireflies, wanted to take some time to specifically highlight a few more of those significant changes in the life of the Fireflies ministry.

Nursery 1 (0-18 months)

We have been noticing the growing population on this side of Fireflies. And we can only anticipate even more growth as God continues to multiply the families in our church. To help accommodate some of those needs, Fireflies has purchased two new pack and plays with bassinets. This is for our infants so they can sleep while they are in Fireflies.

Nursery 2 (18-36 months)

During the month of June, we saw three of our Fireflies promoted into Sparklers (preschool ministry). This is always a significant time in the life of the child as he or she matures both physically and spiritually. We hope and pray that the seeds sown during Fireflies have fallen on good soil and that we will see these young ones come to know Christ as Lord and Savior!

Curriculum

For the summer months, the truth lessons and memory verses that have and will be covered are:

A project that we wanted to share with you is our MEMORY VERSE project. We’ve found that integrating music has been helpful in bible verse memorization. While we teach the reason for why we memorize scripture – I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you (Psalm 119:11) – and explain and illustrate each verse, we’ve also taught them the verse by singing it.

The Fireflies staff recently began work on making recordings of these verses and placed them online. Currently we have two of the verses online. This project is still in the works and we wanted to share that progress with you (Fireflies Media). We hope you enjoy it and can memorize God’s word with us too!

Staff

Lastly, our staff has been going through a lot of changes. This past year, the staff had been the biggest it has ever been at a little more than 35. However, in the months of May, June and July, we saw many of these ladies transition out as they moved home, started grad school, family transitions, or went on the church plant. Yet through it all we can only testify of God’s faithfulness as he continued to provide more staff to serve in Fireflies. We are excited for our newest staff and welcome them!!!

Although we are sad to see our former staff members leave, we can only anticipate how God will use each of them whether it is in a different region of California, Hawaii, across the country or on the church plant team; we know that God is with them wherever they go. Perhaps something we’ll hear in the coming months will be the start of another Fireflies ministry at LBCSJ!

With all the changes going on here in Fireflies, our personal lives, and in the life of our church, let us be reminded there is one thing that remains the same: Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. (Hebrews 13:8). Let’s find refuge in that truth! Praise God!

LBC Weekly SPARK – August 11, 2010

by Pastor Patrick Cho

Hello to the LBC family and friends!

Greetings from San Jose! Christine, Eden, and I are coming to the end of our family vacation and it has been a wonderful week thus far meeting up with the San Jose church plant team. We had the opportunity to join them for their Sunday service this past weekend and the church is doing well. Everyone sends their greetings, of course!

Please continue to pray for the church plant as they continue on in their infancy. I’m sure things will start becoming more and more challenging for them as they get settled in and start having to adjust
to the new surroundings. Especially as things are significantly more expensive in San Jose than they are in San Diego, please pray that God would provide for them and help them in these early months.

In His grace,

Pastor Patrick

Announcements

  1. LBC Luau – The all-church annual Luau is this Saturday at 10:00am at Mission Bay. The cost for the event is $5/person and kids are free! Come out for a tropical themed day at the Bay! It’ll be a great time with good food, fun, and fellowship! Be sure to wear your Hawaiian gear. Also, if you would be interested in renting a jet ski (additional cost involved), please contact Abram Kim by Thursday at noon (abram.kim@gmail.com). We’ll also have a catamaran for anyone who wants to sail around the Bay (no additional cost). You won’t want to miss out! Hopefully we’ll see you all this Saturday.
  2. Friday Night Bible Studies – The college/singles joint Bible study continues this Friday at 7:00pm at the church. Come out as our very own Tim Yu opens up the Word for us. The youth will also be meeting this Friday at 7:00pm at the home of Joyce Park.
  3. Kids’ Club – Don’t forget that the summer Kids’ Club continues to meet on Wednesday evenings at 6:30pm at the church. All children going into preschool through 5th grade are welcome to participate! Invite your friends as we will be walking through the “I Am” statements of Christ from the Gospel of John. Contact Josh Liu for more information (liu.joshuac@gmail.com).
  4. FITS – We will be having our next Fun in the Sun Day on Sunday, August 22. This is just an informal time to enjoy the summer sun together as a church family! The youth ministry will be preparing lunch for the church for $5/adult and $3/child (ages 3-12).
  5. Vision Quest – We will be bringing back an old tradition on Friday, September 3 at 6:30pm at the church. Like in the days of old at LBC, we’ll be having a Vision Quest night. For those of you who don’t know what this is, it is a time for the church to come together, enjoy some fun together, and be reminded of the MVP. For this Vision Quest, we will be having a finger foods potluck and a music themed talent show. Bring a dish to share and if you have a song you would like to perform, whether singing or playing, please contact Pastor Patrick. Just for clarification: this is NOT a members only event. All are welcome to attend!
  6. Membership Class – Our next membership class will be on Saturday, September 11 from 9:00am-12:00pm and Sunday, September 12 from 1:00-4:00pm. Both classes are required for attendance. If you are interested in becoming a member at LBC or know of someone who might be interested, please contact Pastor Patrick for an application.
  7. Flocks – We are looking to start our monthly flocks in September if possible. If you would be interested in hosting a flock in your home, please contact Pastor Patrick and let him know as soon as possible. We also need to know how many people you would be able to host in your home (including kids!). Thanks!

Living Theology #33 – Justification

by Garrett Glende

Over the past several years, many Christian leaders have recognized a growing trend among young evangelicals towards the virtues and doctrines that were rejuvenated during the Reformation era. Books like Collin Hansen’s Young, Restless, Reformed: A Journalist’s Journey with the New Calvinists and the popularity of churches that pair orthodox doctrine with a modern style, such as Mars Hill in Seattle, show that the fights of the reformers live on today. The central rallying cry for many of these figures was that man could not be made right with God on the basis of his own merit, but only through his faith in Christ. This issue of justification lies at the heart of the gospel message and is one of the main dividing lines between true Christianity and all other world religions. Therefore, it is crucial for us to understand it correctly so that our hearts would be changed and our wills would be affected.

Before we get much further, the precise definition of justification must be explained. Simply put, justification is right legal standing before God. But first, the assumption must be made that all men and women are in need of righteousness. The Bible says clearly that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23) and are unable to save themselves through any good deeds performed (Galatians 2:16). In fact, even the things that we think are good are seen as filthy rags to God because they are marred by our sinfulness and cannot even begin to match His perfections (Isaiah 64:6). Thus, instead of standing right (or righteous) before God, we stand condemned. The only way a person can see God and experience eternal life with Him is if they are righteous. Herein lies man’s greatest problem: how can he, a guilty and condemned sinner, be right with God?

Before answering this question, let’s look a little deeper into what justification is and is not. It was mentioned earlier that it is right legal standing. This is a key idea in understanding the fullness of this doctrine. It is a legal pronouncement in which a sinner is treated as if he was righteous. We can see this slightly better through the lens of a courtroom where the judge makes a declaration of the guilt or innocence of the person on trial. Theologically, God is the judge in the courtroom and we all stand guilty before Him. He declares us innocent even though our hands are stained. The legal aspect of justification is important to make clear because many confuse it with sanctification, saying that it is something that happens internally rather than externally. However, the Bible is clear that justification does not make us righteous; we are simply treated by God as being such. There is no need to rid yourself of certain sins before God justifies you. If this were the case, how could we know that we’ve attained the necessary amount of righteousness? Scripture presents an opposite picture, as the sinner praying in the temple goes home justified rather than the self righteous Pharisee (Luke 18:9-14).

But exactly how was it that this tax collector walked back to his house righteous in God’s sight? God has not simply let him off the hook or pretended that he is righteous. Instead, He has transferred the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ to his account so that when God looks upon the tax collector He sees Christ’s perfections and not our sinfulness. Paul describes this exchange in 2 Corinthians 5:21, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” This transaction is appropriated by the man’s faith in God as the only one who can justify. The letter of Romans is centered around this theme of justification by faith alone and points to the person of Abraham as the prime example. We read in Romans 4:3 that “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” Later on Paul writes that “since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (5:1). Even though we must have faith in order to be justified, we cannot muster this up by our own efforts, as justification is completely an act of God’s grace. “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Eph 2:8-9). Again, Paul writes in Romans 3:24 that we “are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”

To those who have been justified: it’s been done! One of the greatest problems that we face as Christians is thinking that justification is an ongoing process. When these ideas take hold in our heads, we begin to try to work for our salvation. Say we miss a few days (maybe a few weeks) in our quiet times, or our prayer life isn’t as it should be, or we keep struggling with a particular sin, should we feel condemned? If we believe wrongly about justification, we probably will feel this way because we’re now starting to base our standing before God on our own performance. Instead, we need to rely on the righteousness of Christ and His perfect atonement on our behalf. At a church like Lighthouse, it’s tempting to look around and compare yourself to everyone else. “I don’t serve as much as him” or “She seems to have so much more joy than me.” This mentality should have no place in the life of the Christian. We don’t need to be like the “holy people” at church in order to be in God’s favor. God has set the standard for us to meet and He treats us as if we have attained it! Therefore, we are freed from the guilt of sin and can glorify God by living in light of His grace, exercising good works because He has called us to do so.

Encouragement of Family (part 2)

by Elder Mike Chon

In the last article we asked the question, “who is your family?” We saw that as believers we have a new Father and new brothers and sisters. Even though all of us have a natural family, our spiritual family should and ought to be more of a priority than our natural family. So how important is this family?

In the days of antiquity, the family structure was much different than how our families are shaped today. First of all, members of a family never made decisions to satisfy individual needs. They always sought to do what was best for the family or group. In America today, everything is very individualistic in regards to what type of job or career to follow, where to live, who you are going to marry. In the New Testament times, people worked, lived, and married to benefit the family not just the individual. As well, the closest and most intimate relationships that people had were between siblings, not husband and wife. People did not marry so that they would have their emotional and physical needs fulfilled. They viewed their brother and sister as the closest relationships they have and would speak to them in regards to any personal needs or decisions they may need to make. If we are to consider our church as our family, we should live and make decisions in light of our church being our family. I believe too many times as believers we say that our church is our family, but never truly live out those words in our lives.

If the church is your family, then our decisions in regards to our career, where we live, and even who we marry should be considered in light of our church. Can you just leave your family as easily as so many Americans do a church? How many people do you know that jump from one church to another because they are dissatisfied with something or someone? Would you leave your family because someone is hard to get along with? Would you leave your family because you didn’t like what your father had to say during dinner? Do we only consider ourselves when making a decision in regards to work or where to live even though it will take you away from your church? Is a job or a house more important than your family? Is your church truly your family?

Of course there are legitimate reasons to leave a church. But for most of us we have made decisions that are separate from our church being a family. It is not the decision ultimately that shows your view of the church. It is how you made that decision that ultimately will reveal your view of the church. Is it just some institution that is there to benefit my life, to help me grow, to help me know God better, to help me become a better person, to help me meet more friends? If it is, then your decision to leave the church will be based on your personal preferences and goals. Everything will be centered on yourself. Then the church was and never will be truly a family. For those that are married, if you think that you need to do what is best for “your family” by leaving a church so that you can grow, has never seen the church as a true family. Sadly, most believers will affirm that church is a family, but will never live their lives in that way. That is why it is so easy for people to leave for any reason that may meet their individual needs or for someone to never become a member of a church. These believers are the “only child” in God’s family. They have no siblings and have never learned what it means to be part of a family. In the American church culture, there are thousands of these “only children” filling churches throughout the states and it has become the norm for church in America. But if the church is truly a family, with brothers and sisters that have been adopted into one family through the cross of Christ, if we are God’s household, then as members of that household we should live as one family.

Do you truly consider the church your family? Do you consider the church when you are making decisions in your life or the life of your natural family? Do you seek counsel in regards to your decision-making from an older brother or sister in your church? The church is your family. If you love God as your Father, then you would love the church as your family. You cannot separate those two things. In the next article, we will look at the impact our church can make in this world by the love we have for one another as a family.

I Will Be Their God

by Charles Haddon Spurgeon

From Jeremiah 31:33

Christian! here is all thou canst require. To make thee happy thou wantest something that shall satisfy thee; and is not this enough? If thou canst pour this promise into thy cup, wilt thou not say, with David, ‘My cup runneth over; I have more than heart can wish’? When this is fulfilled, ‘I am thy God,’ art thou not possessor of all things? Desire is insatiable as death, but He who filleth all in all can fill it. The capacity of our wishes who can measure? but the immeasurable wealth of God can more than overflow it. I ask thee if thou art not complete when God is thine? Dost thou want anything but God? Is not His all-sufficiency enough to satisfy thee if all else should fail? But thou wantest more than quiet satisfaction; thou desirest rapturous delight.

Come, soul, here is music fit for heaven in this thy portion, for God is the Maker of Heaven. Not all the music blown from sweet instruments, or drawn from living strings, can yield such melody as this sweet promise, ‘I will be their God.’ Here is a deep sea of bliss, a shoreless ocean of delight; come, bathe thy spirit in it; swim an age, and thou shalt find no shore; dive throughout eternity, and thou shalt find no bottom. ‘I will be their God.’ If this do not make thine eyes sparkle, and thy heart beat high with bliss, then assuredly thy soul is not in a healthy state. But thou wantest more than present delights-thou cravest something concerning which thou mayest exercise hope; and what more canst thou hope for than the fulfillment of this great promise, ‘I will be their God’?

This is the masterpiece of all the promises; its enjoyment makes a heaven below, and will make a heaven above. Dwell in the light of thy Lord, and let thy soul be always ravished with His love. Get out the marrow and fatness which this portion yields thee. Live up to thy privileges, and rejoice with unspeakable joy.

1.9a

Weekly Links (8/6/2010)

by Stephen Rodgers

Hey there everybody…it’s been a bit of a strange week. There’s been a couple of very popular topics that I think need to be addressed, and then we’ll fill in the remaining space with some other good stuff.

Anne Rice

The first thing that happened this week was that Anne Rice (of vampire-novel fame), rejected Christianity publicly on her Facebook page. From the few conversations I’ve had, I’m guessing that about 5% of you are saying “Really?,” another 5% of you are saying “Anne Rice was a Christian?,” and about 90% of you are asking “Who’s Anne Rice?” In any event, I thought the responses to this were quite good:

Prop 8

The second item of note this week was the overturning of Prop 8 by a US District Judge. There have been a number of responses and essays written, that run the spectrum from the cool and calculated (Dr. Mohler) to the not-so (Dr. White). First, some required pre-reading (if you’re going to dive into this topic, or Lord protect and shield you, the comments section):

I’ll post some links here for you to read, if you so choose:

Everything Else

For anyone not interested in either of the above (although I think both topics are relevent to us as Christians and our attitudes towards those struggling with a variety of issues), I’ll leave you with these AWESOME gems. (And just because I had someone in mind when I flagged them, doesn’t mean you can’t read them, enjoy them, and talk to others about them):

See you Sunday!

Pro Rege

Ushering Ministry Update – White Slips

by Min Kim

One of the duties of the Ushering Ministry is collecting white slips. It’s the little white slip of paper found in your program (or maybe you dropped it on the way into the sanctuary). The ushers collect the white slips and then I gather them and email the information out to the elders. Anyone may use the white slips to inform the church of changes in address, email, or contact information. On the front of the white slips, you can also indicate what affinity group you belong to, whether you’d like to be added to the weekly email list, want to apply for membership, or if you received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior today. There is also a question you can answer (every week if you wanted to), “If you were to die today, do you know for certain that you would go to heaven?” Y/N. The white slips have changed a little over the years. There is now box for Youth! Maybe one day we’ll have one for Sonlight? Sparklers? I do remember years ago when there was another box, “Would you like a pastoral call?” I used that one from time to time. But that was when the Church was a lot smaller and the pastor was able to visit every home in a week’s time.

On the back of the white slips, you can write down your prayer requests or comments. If it is of a more sensitive and personal nature, then there is a box for you to check off Leadership Staff Only. This means that only the elders and I will see the white slips. If the box is not checked off, then that means that the faithful prayer warriors will pray for you Sunday mornings before Church service begins. The elders will pray for you and I will pray for you as well. Lately, I’ve had the prayer list open on my computer and pray over them through out the week.

One may think that this is an easy and simple job and even an encouraging one at that. But there have been times when it has been difficult. You may wonder how just relaying information can be difficult. I have been collecting, reading, and emailing white slips to the elders for over ten years now. And let me tell you, I have been immensely encouraged by the questions and comments, but there have been times when I have been discouraged by them as well. There have been some strange ones too. I will not say more here because of the sensitive and personal nature of the questions and prayer requests.

I do have a request however. Please write legibly. There have been many times when I could not for the life of me read what it says. So if you have not been getting weekly emails or have not been contacted by the Church, then there might be a reason: I cannot read your writing. Sorry. And lastly, please use them. The leaders of our Church truly appreciate it when you communicate with them, and they welcome your questions and comments.

And finally, if you would like to be an usher or help out with communion setup/cleanup and are a member of Lighthouse Bible Church, please let me know.