Author Archives: Stephen Rodgers

Thanks To God

by Pastor John Kim

2 Thessalonians 1:3
3 We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers, as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing.

If there is anything that I hope to see as a pastor, it would be exactly what Paul shares to the Thessalonian church in this verse. I want more than anything for every brother and sister at Lighthouse Bible Church to be growing abundantly in your faith in Christ as well as to be increasing in your love for one another. Thanks be to God that I see both taking place in the life of our church.

There are a few things that I would like to share with our church family. First, I am learning to be more thankful to God for you. Being the senior pastor often exposes me to more of the problematic side of church life and it doesn’t take too much to get discouraged or a bit darkened in my view towards people, especially as I have to confront or take part in dealing with conflicts or other unpleasant circumstances. These situations frequently narrow my perspective toward a very negative outlook and so it is no surprise that I find myself either discouraged or even depressed.

But God is good to show me that there are also positive things going on in the life of the church and it really does show itself in those who are growing spiritually and those who exhibit genuine love for one another. So instead of focusing on those who aren’t growing or those who aren’t loving, I have become more conscious of those who are and I am incredibly blessed to see what God is doing.

As Paul shares in this verse, I ought to give thanks to God because it is the right thing to do. Now this is not merely an issue of duty or obligation, though it obviously has some aspect of that. It is right to do because it is the most God-honoring thing to do that also brings the greatest blessings. For when I am thankful, I have a greater sense of seeing the hand of God at work rather than just focusing on the immediacy of the circumstances around me. That’s why I can even experience joy in the midst of trials (James 1:2) because the focus is not so much on the trials as it is on the purpose for which God is building my character. I have to admit that it is not necessarily so easy to do. But when I do give thanks out of heart that truly is thankful to God, I realize that there is so much that I can be thankful about because there is so much to be thankful about who God is and what He has designed for me.

The second lesson that I have been learning is to be specific in my thanksgiving. There are two things that Paul shares that he is thankful for and as I mentioned earlier, I am thankful for these two things as well – the growing faith and the increasing love of the members of our church.

I have been greatly encouraged as I consider throughout the church that there are those who are really growing in their faith. Starting with the children’s ministry, I am so thankful to see that the hearts and minds of our young ones are being given every opportunity to be exposed to the truth of God and be directed toward the Savior. I will hear Olivia singing songs that she has learned and she even knows at times how to appropriately engage in our sharing time as a family when we share what we have been learning at church. Alyssa continues to grow in her understanding and has been quite inquisitive about things that she is learning.

The youth ministry continues to be a bright point in the life of the church as the youth soak up what they are learning. My great hope is that they will be spiritually well prepared to face the challenges that come as they look forward to college. I believe the youth staff are doing a great job in helping nurture and cultivate the youth in their walks with God. It gives great hope looking forward to the future.

I have been very encouraged to see our collegians as this year they have been challenged to really expand their capacity for participation. The campus ministries at UCSD and SDSU are continuing to move forward and it has been encouraging to see the staff step up to provide leadership. The third hour on Sundays for a joint time of teaching and fellowship for the collegians reveals how committed some are as they are literally at church for most of the day. It has been great getting to know some of the collegians and hear how they are growing.

The Singles ministry has been enjoying a study on the person and work of the Holy Spirit on Friday nights. It has been encouraging to see the response of many who have not had much background regarding the Holy Spirit. It has actually been a great study for me as well as I had never done any kind of focused study on the Holy Spirit other than in dealing with charismatic issues.

Grace Life has just started their men’s and women’s meetings during the mid-week and it has been good to hear how many of them are actually taking sermon notes for the first time and interacting with what they are learning on Sundays as they discuss the sermon. I know that it is not easy to do this when you are busy with life and work and children and other things that seem to drain you of life energy. But it is definitely a big deal that when the father and mothers of the church are growing spiritually, the benefits will be wide spread.

This past weekend, Pastor Carl Hargrove preached several powerful messages in light of our theme for this year, “For the love of Christ.” One thing that he mentioned was something I thought was very significant, though it was just a side comment he made. It is when we become too familiar with holy things. I think this really is a big factor when it comes to how our faith is growing. If we take the things of God and do not treat them as holy but become so familiar with them to the point of breeding contempt, it should not be a surprise to see that affect our spiritual growth. I think especially of those who come to church and have a very lax attitude or a critical attitude, revealing a self-centeredness that would even demand that God Himself would orient His thoughts and plans around them. It is unfortunate but true that this happens all too often and it can happen to any of us if we lose sight of how precious and holy God is. Carl mentioned the example of how people treat sermons, how even in preaching class he would admonish the men to pay attention when the others are preaching, even if it was for an academic exercise. How often do we treat the time of preaching or teaching lightly by taking care of other business, of being too easily distracted and given over to other things when we should be focused on hearing the word of God?

It is a great challenge but one that I am sure many are up to facing because it was encouraging to hear how many of you shared what you were learning with one another, not only during the retreat but even afterward. It is encouraging even to see how people would note on their Facebook status that they had been blessed in attending the retreat. I hope that we can make it a point to really share how we are growing as often and in as many ways possible through the various relationships as well as even the various media that we have at our disposal.

Coupled with growing in our faith is the increasing of love for one another. Note what Paul writes in his greeting to the Thessalonians – “and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing.” He points out that “every one of you” is involved in the loving of one another. It is not only for some, or for those who find it easy to love. It should be the fact that every one of you at Lighthouse Bible church should be loving one another and increasing in that love day by day, week by week, month by month, and year by year. As God has already granted us ten years as a church, I would hope that in that time the love would have increased tenfold because we have been given the opportunity to be a part of each other’s lives and though it isn’t always easy or convenient, we should see everyone and each year as an opportunity to grow in our love for one another in Christ.

This has been such an encouragement to see in many of you as I see your service of love toward one another. Whether it be through serving in the church in some capacity, writing a note of encouragement, sharing your food with someone who looks hungry on Sundays (i.e. the pastoral staff =), or even coming in after work to help fix things or catalog books, there have been so many manifestations of love and they all are quite meaningful.

I give thanks to God for so many of you who have been growing in your faith and have been increasing in your love for one another. As we approach the holiday season when things get fast and furious and people get impatient and uncooperative, let us continue to walk in faith, exercising love, looking forward with hope in knowing that Christ will complete the work that has been started in us.

Living Theology – Introduction

by Garrett Glende

The applications of systematic theology is a difficult subject to introduce. How do you begin to write about such a topic and its practical application to daily life? Do you dive head first into the weighty doctrine, or do you ease into it, providing the reader with a sense of purpose and direction? This article will do a bit of both, as it is the introduction to what is intended to be a series based on the book Systematic Theology by Wayne Grudem. In the coming weeks we’ll look at each of the book’s chapters, seeking to understand the doctrine and how it can transform our lives.

A few months ago JR and I began to walk through Grudem’s book during our weekly discipleship meetings. We chose to do so after I pointed out that I saw a disparity between my knowledge and my living. I wanted to continue to sharpen my understanding of what the Bible teaches about who God is, how He has redeemed us, and all the necessary effects. Our goal in going over Grudem’s book was to strengthen our theology, but more importantly to attempt to have it change the way we live every day.

This series will simply be an extension of the meetings that I have with JR. I probably won’t have much to say that is completely original, as I’m going to be stealing from either Wayne Grudem or JR (two men who are much smarter and godlier than I). My hope is that those who read these articles will be challenged in not only their understanding of who God is, but also in their personal lives as they strive to conform to Christ-likeness daily.

Why are we doing this? Everyone has seen the book. It’s big. It’s blue. It’s intimidating. Besides its sheer mass, its subject matter doesn’t always stimulate much excitement. This all makes Systematic Theology a very hard book to tackle. But should it be this way? Why are we put off by these things? Should we not be excited that there is so much to learn about our glorious God? And it’s so nicely formatted and organized in one place for us! Having a firm grasp of the deep truths about God is vital to living the Christian life in a manner that is pleasing to Him. In fact, the way in which we live our lives will often reflect what we believe about Him. Thus, we must gain a proper understanding of who God is so that we can live accordingly.

The first eleven chapters of the book of Romans are completely devoted to building a strong doctrinal foundation so that Paul has a basis for the commandments laid out in the rest of the book. He wanted his readers to know the reasons behind his practical exhortations. Jesus said that the Father is seeking true worshipers to worship Him in spirit and in truth (John 4:23-24). The knowledge of the true God should affect our hearts so that our worship can be offered up to God in truth. Do we not distort the character of God when we live in contradiction to what we confess? For example, John tells us that “if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another” (1 John 4:11). When we do not love one another, we demonstrate that we don’t really know the truth about God – that He is love (1 John 4:8). It does us absolutely no good to intellectually assent to orthodoxy, for “even the demons believe – and shudder” (James 2:19). This all goes to say that as we let the truth of God’s word sink into our hearts, we will live more godly lives because of it.

I should say a few more words about what systematic theology actually means. Grudem defines it as “any study that answers the question, ‘What does the whole Bible teach us today?’ about any given topic.” The particular method of study includes gathering all relevant passages for a specific topic and coming to a conclusion based on their understandings. A systematic theology is also organized in such a way so that no one topic is over or underemphasized. It also seeks to harmonize each aspect so as to come to a coherent and non-contradictory conclusion. The order creates a structure that allows each doctrine its appropriate weight. While no single topic is independent of any other, the divisions will help us scrutinize our own lives more closely in relation to a specific doctrine.

If you are passionate about living for God, then you should be passionate about knowing who He is. The two cannot be separated. I’m writing this in hopes that it will force me to further examine my own life first, to see where my living doesn’t match with my thinking, and to encourage you all to do the same so that, as a body, we all might worship God with all our hearts, souls, and minds.

College Life

by Pastor Patrick Cho

When late August rolled around, I couldn’t believe that we were already in full swing for College Life. In previous years we didn’t have to worry about the start of the school year until late September because UCSD’s academic calendar begins then. But with a heightened involvement at SDSU and their semester calendar, we needed to have things up and running much sooner. Even with the quicker start to the year, it has still proven to be a successful start. Pondering the first few months of the school year, I can pinpoint at last four reasons why College Life has gotten off to such a great start.

Fundamental Commitment

We began the school year with a message on the pillars of College Life. What principles do we want to build our ministry on? What commitments do we want to make now that we want to see ourselves faithful to a decade from now? We agreed that we want College Life to be committed to glorifying God, teaching God’s Word, representing Christ on campus, enjoying genuine fellowship, and providing helpful discipleship. We also wanted to help our students understand the importance of being committed to the local church and being a part of the church family. As the opening months of the school year have gone by, we have seen this commitment fleshed out.

Our collegians know that College Life is not just about entertaining them or making them feel good about themselves. In fact, this past summer we went through a series on the doctrines of grace and one of the topics they were most blessed by was the depravity of man. Only Spirit-filled, God-fearing Christians could get excited about learning more about their own depravity! Seeing these students’ desire to grow in the things of God evinces that they are committed to the same things College Life is committed to, and that they have decided to be part of this ministry so that we can all grow together in that direction.

Faithful Staff

College Life has always been blessed with an incredible staff. Their commitment to the students has really benefitted the group and, I believe, has influenced many students to stay at Lighthouse. The College Life senior staff consists of four married couples, one engaged couple, and eight single adults. They are Patrick and Christine Cho, Jin and Grace Lee, Hansol and Angella An, Johnny and Mimi Kim, Tim Yu, Stephanie Shin, Derek Chew, Simon Huang, Randy Tsuchiyama, Teddy Yu, Courtney Chow, Cindy Chu, Karen Yi, and Naomi Yu. Not too churches offer their collegians an opportunity to receive dedicated discipleship and counseling from older, more experienced believers. What is more encouraging is that these staff members applied for these positions. We didn’t have to coax them into serving. They wanted to serve in this capacity because of their love for the Lord and for the collegians.

Besides the senior staff, we have a team of student staff members who help with the planning and administration of the group. Some of them even help lead small groups for the first and second year students. The student staff has been an incredible encouragement as we have gradually given them more and more responsibilities each year. This year, our student staff consists of Daniel Chong, Byron Dang, Ryan Short, Joo Yoon, Amy Cheng, Yuen Kwong, Vicky Williams, and Kristen Yee.

Together, these staff members have committed themselves to the ministries at SDSU and UCSD. The men on staff have been doing most of the teaching midweek and the entire staff has worked hard to make sure the students are growing and being held accountable to their profession of faith. Besides the staff members, many of the upperclassmen have gone out of their way to meet up with the younger collegians and to make themselves available for them.

Freshman Involvement

For whatever reason, in years past, our freshman retention rate was never really good. Perhaps the first years were not used to the longer messages that Lighthouse has come to be known for. Perhaps other ministries were doing more to make the freshmen feel welcome. Whatever the reason, not too many freshmen stuck out their first year of college in College Life. This year, that trend seems to have changed. Of course, there are always freshmen who through their church hopping experiences decide to commit elsewhere. And that’s ok. But we are really thankful for the ones who have decided to stay. We hope we can challenge them in their walks with God and in their thinking to be more conformed to the teaching of God’s Word. They have also added a lot of color to the group with their unique personalities and vibrant spirits. It was especially great to see a number of them at this year’s All-Church Retreat.

Fanatic Excitement

As single adults and married people in the working community know very well, there is a great excitement and enthusiasm during college. This is not anything new, but still it is great to see our collegians channel their energy and enthusiasm for the Lord. This year, we have asked the collegians to stay for a third hour on Sundays for College Life large group. This makes for a guaranteed six hour Sunday. That’s not easy for anyone! Even though we have adjusted the schedule to meet every other week, we understand that we are still asking a lot. Still, the collegians didn’t complain (at least to me!), and we are hoping that in the end everyone will conclude that the effort was well worth it. There is great encouragement to not only see the collegians’ willingness to come out each week, but to also see the evidence of their love for the Lord and their fervent worship.

These are just some of the reasons why I feel College Life has gotten off to a great start. Certainly we haven’t done everything perfectly. With all the changes this year, especially with being more involved at San Diego State University, there was a lot of adjustment that needed to be made. The collegians, though, have shown great patience with me (as always!) and have striven to make the most of the opportunities we’ve had to fellowship. I’m excited to see how much more the Lord will do through the group for the remainder of the school year.

Editor's Note #2: November 2009

by Stephen Rodgers

And we’re off! From this moment on, we will be attempting to keep a weekly schedule here at the Beacon, bringing you 2-5 articles each week from our Pastors, Elders, various Ministry Coordinators, as well as the staff writers here at the Beacon. I would suggest checking back daily if you want to keep up with the latest articles (although we’ll probably take a break over the weekends at first).

Thank you for your prayers and support, and please continue to pray for us as we strive to keep this going for the glory of God.

Pro Rege

(Good) Internet Resources for Christians

by Stephen Rodgers

I get a lot of questions about Christian resources: books, sermons, blogs, software…even Twitter, Facebook, and magazines. I hope that this article will serve as a helpful introduction to some excellent and trustworthy resources that will help you in your walk with the Lord.  And as always, if you need help with any of these, just find me at church.  They day I’m not happy to talk about the Bible and study-aids is the day I stand before my Maker.

Blogs

Sometimes a Christian just needs something good to read! Any of the blogs below would be a great place to start adding to your diet of Christian writing. And all of them support RSS as well, in case you just want to be notified when there’s an update. (If you don’t know what RSS is, ask Stephen Rodgers at church and he’ll explain it to you).

Shine the Light – This is the official blog of the Pastor’s of LBC. If you’re not reading it already, what are you waiting for?

Al Mohler’s Blog – Al Mohler blogs several times a week with a focus on current events and cultural issues. Just reading him is guaranteed to make you smarter!

Pulpit Magazine – Pulpit Magazine is the official blog of the Shepherd’s Conference at Grace Community Church, and they recently redesigned their website to make it much easier to read. They post several articles every week.

PyroManiacs – Updated daily, this is a Team Blog by Phil Johnson, Dan Phillips, and Frank Turk. They are some of the most outspoken voices (who can actually support their statements Biblically) on the internet today, and you would do well to give them a read.

desiringGod Blog – This is the blog of John Piper and several other folks at his church.

Sovereign Grace Ministries Blog – This is the blog of CJ Mahaney and several other folks at his church.

Twitter

Twitter may be a relatively recent phenomenon, but already several Christians have moved into the space and are working hard to encourage fellow believers and redeem this corner of social networking for the King.

JohnPiper – John Piper takes Twitter to a whole new level. His tweets are frequent, timely, and incredibly Bible-centered.

johnmacarthur – John MacArthur mostly uses Twitter to link to relevant articles at either Pulpit Magazine or Grace to You.

Rick_Holland – Rick Holland tweets often about the Bible, pastoral ministry, and life as a pastor/husband/father.

Kim_S_Holland – Kim Holland (Rick Holland’s wife), may actually be more prolific than her husband, and offers interesting comments and insights as a Christian wife and mother.

iamresolved – Even the Resolved Conference is on Twitter! You’ll want to follow them to get the latest information on resources and scheduling related to Resolved.

Sermons

Didn’t get enough of the Gospel on Sunday? Good for you! Listed below are links to a LARGE libraries of available and trustworthy sermons freely available on the internet.

LBC Sermons – Our first stop is the sermon library at our very own church. Ever wish that you could be in two (or more!) Sunday School classes at the same time? Now you can be! And while it may seem that the sermons only go back to 2008, Kyle and his team are busy getting the rest up there soon!

Grace to You – Another fabulous resource is what GCC affectionately calls “The Vault.” Here you will find 40 years (!) of sermons by John MacArthur, organized by title, scripture, date…if you can’t find something here to help you, then you’re just not looking hard enough. And the vast majority of the sermons have a transcript as well, so you can read them if you prefer that to listening.

Desiring God – John Piper has 20+ years of sermons available here, as well as messages from innumerable conferences. And yes, they are organized, categorized, and have transcripts as well. Honestly, I don’t know what DG feeds their webfolks, but the speed, quality and sheer amount of material that they make available is staggering.

Sovereign Grace – Something happened to the old page, and there’s only 3 of CJ Mahaney’s sermons up here now, but if you poke around a bit you can find many more.

Christ Fellowship Baptist Church – And while he doesn’t blog, another fantastic place to get some sermons is from Steve Lawson’s church. The man has a distinctive voice and a distinctive style that really make his messages come alive. And he’s one of my favorite expositor’s to boot.

Software

While there is a variety of Christian software available, I chose to highlight the following two resources because they’re good, easy to use, and best of all: free!

e-Sword – My personal favorite Bible-study software, e-sword makes the ESV Bible freely available. Other study guides such as commentaries, dictionaries, devotionals, and other translations of the Bible are available as well. Some require a small fee, but many are freely available. For ease of use, price, and value, I honestly believe this is the best software out there.

Libronix – If you have an ESV Bible, then you have qualified to download the ESV demo version of Libronix. It comes with the full ESV text, several other resources, and it is quite common for new resources to be made freely available (you’ll receive email notifications after you’ve registered). For example, last week, they gave away John MacArthur’s Study Guide to the book of Romans. It’s a bit more complicated to use than e-Sword, but it does give you access to material that e-Sword doesn’t. And since it’s free…why not have both?

Websites

Let’s be honest, there are a lot of BAD Christian websites out there. But listed below you’ll find that three are actually quite good, and will help you a LOT as you study the Word.

Bible Bulletin Board – BBB collects a variety of sermons, articles, and notes with an emphasis on John MacArthur, Charles Spurgeon, and Christian classics.

Biblegateway – It’s not fancy, but Biblegateway brings together hundreds of translations of the Bible, makes them available, searchable, and free. If you just want to read a passage in several translations, this is a great place to do it.

Blue Letter Bible – Blue Letter Bible is a fantastic resource for Bible translations, notes, commentaries, study aids, dictionaries, and devotionals online.

NET Bible – The NET Bible is a very interesting site. In addition to being a very credible translation in it’s own right, they also make their footnotes, cross-references, index, and translator notes freely available. You can learn a LOT from checking out their site.

And don’t forget…if you have an ESV Study Bible, then you have a code that you can register to get access to the Bible, notes, and account software online for free as well! Anywhere you have an internet connection, you have your ESV Study Bible.

Editor's Note: November 2009

by Stephen Rodgers

Well, it’s almost that time.

And by that time I’m referring to the transition of the Beacon to a weekly update schedule. The last month has been a bit exciting: we’ve redesigned the site, enabled some cool features, and uploaded literally hundreds of old articles. We’ve made some pretty significant announcements regarding new content, and we’ve had some special posts from some special friends. We’ve also prayed a lot of prayers, drank a lot of caffeine, and worked out some of the kinks in getting a group of people in different places able to work together effectively (the prayers and the caffeine helped a lot with that).

If all goes well, starting next week you should be starting to see anywhere from 4-6 articles every week. Eventually we hope to roll out some rather big changes on the way we host the blog, which would allow us to enable some other neat features…but that will probably be a little while in coming.

Please keep us in prayer as we try to make this work.

Pro Rege

Trust in the Lord

by Pastor Patrick Cho

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
And do not lean on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He will make straight your paths.”

This passage really humbled me this morning as God has revealed more and more how self-sufficient I strive to be. It is so sad how sometimes when I am busiest and most in need of God’s aid, I strive to be more independent and reliant on my own strength? Sometimes I feel like I will be crushed by the weight of all that needs to be done, and still I fail to pray and trust in His power. This passage was God’s way of reminding me that this is His church. It is His ministry. And if I would but surrender to Him and allow Him to use me as His instrument, I would see how much better He can do it than I.

Editor's Note #2: October 2009

Well hello again everyone!

As you can see from the site so far, the team has been hard at work uploading the old articles from previous issues of the Beacon. So far, we’ve uploaded about 70 articles and there are even more to come! If we manage to stay on schedule, you should be able to access all the articles from all the previous issues by the end of the month.

Which brings us to the next big announcement: after we finish uploading the old Beacon articles, we’re going to start in on sermon notes! JR has been kind enough to supply us with his sermon notes from 2008 and 2009, and we’re currently looking into the best way to get those included and accessible to you.

Well, that’s it for this week. Tune in next week for an article highlighting some of the best Christian resources available on the internet. Until then, we’ll be copy/pasting as quickly as we can.

Pro Rege

A Letter from Hanka

by Hanka Tomáškova’

Editor’s Note: As you know, we recently had the joy of having Hanka visit us from the KSOP church in the Czech Republic that we partner with for missions every year.  While she was here, she gave her testimony to the church.  I asked her if she would be willing to write it out for us as well, so that we could post it on the Beacon.  She agreed, and what you find below are her own words, completely unaltered.  I hope you will be as encouraged by them as I was.

My name is Hanka, I am from the Czech Republic and I am really happy I can be here, standing in front of you, sharing my testimony.  Lighthouse people have been a very important part of my life and I am so happy I can tell my story here.  I actually think I have imagined this several times before, since though it was only a few LBC people in 2001 who changed my view on God and Christianity, I have always wanted the whole church to hear it and see how God was using their church to reach me.

To help you understand a little more, I should start in the beginning.  I was raised in a kind of Catholic family.  My grandma is a strong Catholic, but the rest of the family was basically trying to make her happy and attended the church because of her.  When I was a child, I enjoyed going to church and probably even believed in God, but at certain age I realized that all I was doing was only because I saw other do it and because somebody told me to do it.  I did not have a real reason for neither believing in God, nor going to church, which slowly became a problem when I was growing up.  At school I heard about evolution as the only possibility, and my friends there sometimes laughed at me when they heard I was going to church.  I had no reason “being a Christian” anymore and I wanted to quit with the church, but I was not allowed to.  I gradually started hating the church and even hearing the word “God” and though eventually we stopped going to church, my grandma did not give up and tried to make us “return”, which made me hate the “whole Christianity” even more.  That was why my closest friends, Lucy and Lenka, knew they could not really talk to me or my sister about God, we not only did not listen, we hated it.  They tried something else though.

Lighthouse started sending their teams for English Camps in Czech in 2000 and I remember that was a camp I was invited to.  One afternoon Lucy and Lenka came over, brought an English Camp flyer and invited me and my sister for that camp.  After they left, my sister and me looked at the flyer, then looked at each other and said: “No way” and we started laughing, since we did not understand how they could think we would come to a camp that is organized by a Christian church.  We did not even think about it, we saw the word “Christian” and “Christian evening programs” and said “no” right away.  So that was why I missed the first camp and why I do not know some of you.  I was invited, but never accepted the offer.  But God did something else to make me come next year.

The girls get back from the Camp really excited and I heard a lot about the team, saw some pictures and heard how much fun it was.  But I was still pretty glad I did not come, since it was Christian, plus, the Americans looked more like Asians.   😉

I do not remember exactly, but I think Lucy and Lenka tried to invite us again next summer, in 2001, and we probably said “no” again.  But right before the summer I was invited to one English class in the church that was taught by Canadians, and I loved the class – it was English and it was fun.  Lucy and Lenka told me that English Camp is even more fun and made me sign up for the camp, though it was actually pretty late and they said they had to make an exception.  So I went to the Camp, only because of the Canadians and only because of English and fun, and I planned NOT to come to the evening programs (since they told me I did not have to).  But there have been a lot that I have planned since then and God decided He would “ignore” my plans.  Anyway, Lucy and Lenka asked me to go to the first evening program and decide after I see it if I want to come again.  So I went there the first evening and then came back every night.  The evening programs turned out to be very important for me.  That was where I found out that I have a very distorted view of Christians and Christianity.  When listening to the messages about evolution and other topics, I realized Christianity is not that illogical and irrational.  When watching the team dancing and singing, I realized Christians can be really, really funny.  And when talking to them, I saw they are not even that stupid.

I was shocked.

I thought all Christians are older people going to the Catholic church, believing in God only because it is what they were told and they do not know any better.  I saw Christians as people who are not smart enough to make their own logical decision not to believe in something so irrational and stupid like “God”.  But the team showed me I have no idea what real Christianity is about.  That was the most important thing that they could do at that time.  I did not convert right away, I did not pray to accept Christ at the Camp.  Honestly I do not even remember I heard the gospel…though I am pretty sure there were people trying to tell me.  I actually did not care that much about Jesus then…for me the first step was to realize that people who believe in God, are not crazy and have good reasons for that, which was exactly what the team did.

Anyway, while at the camp, I started thinking about God and Christianity much more seriously and towards the end was pretty sure there is something worth more thinking.  But already then I also saw what becoming a Christian would have meant and what would have changed.  I knew I would get busier going to church, reading my Bible, praying. And I also knew my family would not understand and some of my friends might laugh at me.  I did not really want any of those and decided I do not want to go to church again after the team leaves.  But again, as the Proverbs 16:9 says: ” The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.”  The day the team was leaving I overslept and almost did not get to the train station on time, but I did, and when I was saying “Bye” to Jane Kim, she hugged me and made me promise I would come to church again.  First I pretended not to hear her, but she did not let me go, so I did promise it…the next Sunday I went to church only to keep my promise but I never stopped coming out since then.

I still took my time, had a lot of questions, talked to Meinolf, Lucy and Lenka.  I think Meinolf said that he thought I would not even make the decision, since I was thinking for too long, but eventually I did.  I was reading a book and at the end there was the author’s testimony and a prayer I could pray to accept Jesus.  With all I already had in my head and with all I had seen and heard, I could not do anything but pray and accept God’s forgiveness.

It has been already almost eight years since then and God has been working in my life as visibly as he was before I became His child.  I started serving in my church and also helping out with the camps.  First, I only helped with games or little stuff, but gradually I could help more and the more I knew about the preparations, the more encouraging it was for me to see people who really love God and want to serve Him, and to see God bringing together different people with almost the only thing in common – desire to serve Him.  I really like your church, but in some ways you are really different, our cultures are different, but at the Camp every year I could see how it did not matter, because we share the same faith in the same God who we want to serve (Romans 12:4-5).

I love my church and there are not many reasons I would be willing to leave it for, it is my home and my family.  Before I went to college, I was praying that God would let me stay in Ostrava and that no colleges in other cities will accept me, because I could not imagine I would leave my church.  And then I came here and felt almost like home.  It is not the same, but I do feel like I came to visit my family.  It is amazing when I think about it – I did not know you in 2001 and I did not understand why everybody was trying to talk about Jesus.  And when I got some emails from LBC people then, the parts talking about God or Bible were my least favorite ones…and now we have been working together to help people see God’s love.  God really is good and though I cannot always see it, His ways are much better than mine.  “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord . For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9)

The last thing I would like to use this opportunity for is saying “thank you” to the whole church.  I know it is not only the team that works hard before the camps, and I know the team would not be able to go without support of the people at church, both financial and prayer one.  God has been using the team and the whole church, and I am really glad I could tell you my story that is a proof of this.

Truth Is What Matters

by Pastor Patrick Cho

A while back, I had a fun little debate posted on my blog about whether Coke or Pepsi is superior. I remembered this earlier today and it got me thinking. People generally have a tendency to go with what feels good or seems right in their hearts. Decisions are not based on objective reasoning. Instead, you often hear encouragement to “go with your gut” or do “whatever seems best.” But how do you know your gut can be trusted? How do you know whether what seems best to you really is best? These strategies only prove themselves to be reliable if we actually possess the ability to make these determinations on our own. Certainly with some decisions the consequences are not all that significant (e.g. “Which flavor ice cream should I order?” Or “Should I go to the mall today?”). However, it is scary when people use this criteria as the basis behind life’s bigger choices.

The fact is, the Bible teaches that the heart is ultimately deceptive. Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” Romans 1:21 speaks of sins effect on the mind, namely that sin causes futility in thinking and foolish darkened hearts. Although feelings and emotions can often be helpful, they can also be very misleading and so must not be the final determiner of truth. I don’t think any true believer would argue that truth is ultimately within them. Obviously, Christians fight for the objective truth of God’s Word from passages like John 17:17. However, many Christians violate their view of authority practically, and they manifest this through their reasoning in decision making. Instead of banking on objective, faithful, biblical principles, the thought that determines choices is, “What do I feel is best?”

Our circumstances and experiences obviously are going to influence how we feel. We like to talk about “getting up on the wrong side of the bed” or “just knowing that it is going to be a good day.” It is difficult to find joy when life is tough and it is easy to feel down when trouble comes our way. We must remember, though, that while circumstances are significant, they ultimately do not make us what we are. Our circumstances are not to govern our emotions. Instead, by the Spirit’s working in our lives, we are to exercise temperance and control our emotions and desires regardless of our circumstances. This is why Scripture calls us to rejoice in the Lord always (Phil. 4:4). This is why Paul and Silas could sing even while in prison (Acts 16:25). This is why even the thought of death cannot steal our joy (Phil. 1:21-23; 1 Cor. 15:55).

Truth matters. Without God’s truth anchoring our hearts, we are likely to follow the inclinations of our hearts. But our hearts are fickle, limited, and deceitful. How much better is it to base our decisions upon principles that have been established by God and have stood the test of time? It is foolishness to forsake God’s truth and exchange it for anything else. What does this have to do with Pepsi or Coke being best? It just means that whatever the decision, it ought to be made based on objective truths and not just on an emotional bias or appeal. All factors considered, Coke is the obvious choice.