Category Archives: Affinity Groups

Grace Life Ministry Update

by Pastor Patrick Cho

This past week for Grace Life, we enjoyed a nice break from our regular Bible study and partook in fellowship over some pizza! During that time, I asked our Grace Lifers if they could share some feedback about how helpful the study on the attributes of God has been thus far. Here are their responses:

“I have enjoyed the fellowship and getting to know others better. I appreciated learning more about God’s truth. Because He is true, we can believe everything about Him.”

“This Grace Life study has been helpful for me because it has helped reveal that my view of God was limited. Our sinful human mind could never understand the vastness of God. When we are diligent to study His character, it will elicit a greater appreciation of His grace to us and how small we are in comparison.”

“The Grace Life Bible study has encouraged me midweek to be accountable for my actions during the week and to reflect on my spiritual discipline.”

“Grace Life has reminded me of the greatness of God in all of the attributes discussed and that He is perfect in them.”

“It has been very helpful to focus on God and have application flow from that, rather than starting with ‘more practical’ things. The lesson on His eternality helped me see the comparative brevity and fragility of my life and it compelled me to be more intentional in time management and stewardship.”

“The lesson on God’s omniscience stood out to me. It gives me comfort to know that even though I don’t know the future, God already has a plan in place before the creation of the world.”

“One lesson that stood out was when we discussed God’s holiness in Isaiah 6. Specifically, the passage showed how God was set apart even to the extent that angels covered their eyes in His presence. Through this passage, I was reminded of how pure and perfect God is compared to anyone else.”

“The lesson on immutability stood out to me. I never thought about how there are passages in the Bible that can be construed as God changing His mind. It was eye-opening in understanding that He is truly unchanging and that those passages are not talking about Him actually changing His mind. Also, it was helpful that God does not have a Plan B. But that every contingency was accounted for from the beginning.”

“This series has been helpful to me in that it stressed the importance of cultivating a deeper understanding of God and His character. A deeper understanding of Him causes my devotion, worship, and service to Him to be deeper. I remember feeling comforted knowing that our God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. I am thankful that our God doesn’t change His mind about the way of salvation. His word is unchanging just like His character.”

“I enjoyed learning about God’s eternality and how He sees all events in time all at once instead of like us experiencing one event at a time. It increases my trust in God that He has perfect understanding of past events in my life as well as my future.”

“Reminders of God’s omnipresence have transformed my thoughts little by little each day for the last few months. Not only is He everywhere at all times, but He is ever near me, personally guiding and comforting me through daily trials.”

“The aseity of God was a helpful lesson because it forced me to more closely examine God’s self-sufficiency, independence and sovereignty. That these inherent qualities of God are not related to us or any of His creation only served to magnify His grace, love, and mercy – that He would choose to create us, choose to love us, and choose to save us.”

“This study has been a good reminder about God’s attributes and what an awesome God we worship.”

“This series has been helpful because it helped me to appreciate and see God in a more grand view. To see God exhibit each attribute perfectly is amazing.”

“I’ve been learning that God cannot change, that He is immutable. This reaffirms that all His promises are sure and will be kept despite my unfaithfulness. I am so thankful that my security in salvation is unchanging.”

“Reviewing the truth of God and His word particularly was helpful for me. Knowing that God’s absolute truth is clearly laid out throughout the Scripture encourages me to keep pursuing to grow in His knowledge and in His grace, all for His glory!”

This study has certainly been impactful and spiritually beneficial. I would encourage all married couples and parents to come out and join us for Bible study on Thursday evenings! It has also been a tremendous joy to teach through this series. Preparation for the lessons has focused my attention on the greatness of God (which is a wonderful theme to focus on!). Walking through these lessons with the group has been a great time of worship together. We’ll still be continuing this series through the month of May so hopefully we’ll see more people come out and join in the blessing!

It’s All Good

Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;
for his steadfast love endures forever!
(Psalm 118:1)

by Kevin Tse

These days the word “good” can be taken many different ways. It can be used to describe a state of being, ability, or a character quality. Usage of the word “good” has also become rather relativistic, being used to denote that something is better than something else. The main issue with this usage of the word “good” is that it is completely divorced from the true definition of “good”, which can only be described as “that which is inherently God”.

God is good, and He defines what “good”-ness means. First, God is good because He is perfect (Matt 5:48). Second, God is good because He is a God of blessing, to believers and unbelievers alike (Matt 5:45). We all experience the common grace of God that sustains our lives on a daily basis. God particularly promises to bless the nation of Israel (Genesis 17:7-8), and the church (Eph 3:20-21). Third, God is good because He is righteous and holy (Is 6:3).

God defines goodness on His terms, and we all fall short of His goodness (Rom 3:10,23). This is called sin, and it is what separates us from God. Our salvation, therefore, cannot come from ourselves because we have no inherent goodness or righteousness of our own. We can only be saved because God, being rich in mercy, bestowed upon us the blessing of the righteousness of Christ. It is Christ’s imputed righteousness that is the ultimate manifestation of the goodness of God to us, and God’s imputed righteousness is what saves us from the punishment of sin (Phil 3:8-9).

Sometimes, even the strongest believer forgets the goodness of God (Ps 13, 73). This is what happens when we take our eyes off the eternal and instead focus on the present. Sometimes it appears that the wicked are getting away with anything they want (right before our very eyes!), while the believer is left to suffer. In those times, we must recall that we were never promised an easy life (John 15:18-20), but instead what we are promised is that our ultimate reward is an inheritance that is stored up in heaven with Christ, imperishable and eternal (1 Peter 3:7).

We have a choice when we are faced with doubting the goodness of God. We can choose to doubt the veracity of His promise that he causes all things to “work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose” (Rom 8:28). We can choose to ignore the answered prayers and faithfulness He has demonstrated to us in the past, and focus only on the present trial. We can choose to forget His eternal promise of blessings to those who have run the race faithfully (Rom 5:3-5, 1 Peter 1:3-9). But the Bible is clear that though we may choose to doubt, God is truly good from everlasting to everlasting.

In Psalm 73 we see that it is only when we can regain our eternal perspective by entering “the sanctuary of God” (Ps 73:16-17) that we are reminded of the goodness of God. Only then will we see that the wicked does not truly prosper (for their reward is a just punishment administered on their day of judgment), but also that our heavenly rewards are super-abounding and an overflowing reminder of the goodness of God towards us. Even more, God has not left us to ourselves, but has blessed us with His Holy Spirit who is continually with us. It is as if God’s infinite goodness lives within us (and walks with us) at all times. This is what caused the Psalmist to write some of the most comforting words in all of scripture, when he writes (Ps 73:23-28):

Nevertheless, I am continually with you;
you hold my right hand.
You guide me with your counsel,
and afterward you will receive me to glory.
Whom have I in heaven but you?
And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.
My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
For behold, those who are far from you shall perish;
you put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you.
But for me it is good to be near God;
I have made the Lord GOD my refuge,
that I may tell of all your works.

Judge with Caution

by Hansol An

Lighthouse Bible Church has always challenged our members with the depth and breadth of teaching offered. Many collegians have told me that they had not been exposed to the type of teaching offered at LBC prior to coming here. While that can be a tremendous blessing, for younger people it can also be a stumbling block, often without realizing it. When a younger person has been deeply impacted by a new teaching or revelation, there is a tendency to take that new found knowledge and want to share it immediately so that it can have the same type of impact on others. Naturally, friends and family are the first to hear what they have learned. At times that enthusiastic application of Scripture to others’ lives turns into premature passage of judgment and can cause unnecessary conflict in the process. That’s not to say we should not judge the lives of others, at all. The Bible clearly calls for believers to apply God’s standards to ourselves and others (e.g. 2 Corinthians 13:5, Matthew 7:16, John 7:24). But it also tells us to be careful how we do it.

Wise discernment starts with fear of the Lord (Proverbs 1:7). Those who do not take heed of their place before God will surely not show humility before others, revealing their foolishness. One cannot hope to judge others in a biblical manner without a biblical measure of humility. Pride exists where humility is absent. When applied to judging others, said pride can manifests itself through self-righteousness, detracting for whatever godly intent a person may have had. Pride can also keep us focused on ourselves and not on the other person’s situation, effectively blinding our spiritual eyes or at the very least, limiting our field of vision. When we are too focused on our own righteousness, we cannot give our full attention to another person’s situation. In general, we shouldn’t think too highly of ourselves (Romans 12:3) but especially when examining the lives of others. It would be ideal for a person’s humility to grow in direct proportion to their growth in knowledge but with young believers, that isn’t always easy. There is a reason the Apostle Peter specifically calls out “you who are younger” to be humble when exhorting the church (1 Peter 5:5).

Christ himself warns us to be careful in the Sermon on the Mount. In the 7th chapter of Matthew we see his warning:

“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.”

Before we begin to look at the deficiencies in the life of another, we need to make sure we don’t have any issues that can blind our judgment and make us look like hypocrites.

Another danger for collegians to consider is their own relative inexperience. Not having a broad base of experience–both blessings and trials–puts a younger person at a disadvantage when trying to fully grasp another person’s situations. This relative lack of experience means that a younger person is more likely to be limited in their ability to see all the possible reasons for someone else’s behavior, thus likelihood of misunderstand another person’s situation is greater. As a person gets older and goes through more in life, they have a greater pool of experiences to reference when carefully examining another person’s life.

Ultimately, when judging others, as in all things, it needs to be done in love. Without it we are merely “a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.” 1 Corinthians 13 describes the love that we are called to have. Examine whether or not your good intentions line up with the description of love in that chapter. If not, perhaps your intentions are not motivated by God’s love. We have to remember that God is the final and true judge to whom we will all answer to for our actions and words (2 Corinthians 5:10). He knows the intentions of our hearts better than we do. It would be wise to pray for his assistance in such matters, asking for our will to be aligned with his.

If you are convinced that your heart is in the right place to judge another, even then we need to proceed with caution. It can be easy to take in a lot of information and regurgitate it to someone and say, “Don’t you know that the Bible says…” but we forget that it also says, “… let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak…” (James 1:19). James warns us to not be so eager to teach others because doing so can have far reaching consequences (James 3). I have witnessed many instances of harsh judgment that have occurred over the years. Most were well-meaning and began with good intentions, but due to a lack of discernment, the judgment often did more harm than good, oftentimes resulting in a broken relationship. I’m sure that was not the intent.

To Affinity and Beyond!

by Josh Liu

Without providing an exhaustive treatise on the subject, I would suggest that the use of affinity groups could be an appropriate and effective means of discipleship in the local church. At Lighthouse Bible Church San Diego, our general affinity groups include the Children’s Ministry (infants to elementary age children), Lumos (youth), College Life (undergraduate students), Single Life (post-undergraduates), and Grace Life (married couples and families). These affinity groups are set up to better minister to the issues and experiences unique to each stage of life. Each group has its own staff, schedule of events, goals, and so on. While continually improving, I believe that Lighthouse does a great job in affinity ministries without usurping the unity, identity, and centrality of the local church body. Having said all this, I wish to encourage you to pursue the one another commands with those beyond your personal affinity group.

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Last December, I wrote a brief article, entitled “One Another-ring,” reflecting on Cesar’s preaching of 1 John 2:10 and the test of love. In it, I exhorted you to actively love one another, and therefore prove to be Christ’s disciple. Now, I encourage you to carry out the one another commands with those outside of your regular affinity group, with those perhaps less convenient, less familiar with, less physically in common with. My hope is that you do not put up a division between affinity groups, which bars you from fellowshipping with, serving, and loving others consistently and frequently outside your affinity group. May you seek to minister the gospel of Christ to the whole church.

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As an example, a married couple–from Grace Life–hosted a Valentine’s Day hangout for the youth ministry early February. They opened up their apartment, provided dinner, and hosted some games with the youth. Although this couple has established friendships with the youth before, it was still a fun time spending an evening together and developing friendships. Invest into each other’s lives; share the gospel; encourage one another with the truth and promises of Scripture; be creative!

From College to Mom of Four

by Jane Kim

The Fireflies Ministry has changed from its small staff of 5 members and 3 babies to the booming ministry it is today of over 30 staff members and 30+ infants and toddlers. Back in 1999 when LBC first started, this ministry, albeit small, was needed even then. As a collegian, I thought it would be a great way to spend time with the cute babies and serve the 3 families of our church. Over the years, however, my views on how I could serve on staff changed. Sure, it was fun for a while holding sleeping babies and playing with the inquisitive toddlers. However, it was definitely not all rainbows and butterflies. I cannot tell you the number of times I held a crying infant through an entire service, changed diapers that had exploded, caught throw-up with my bare hands, or had spit-up run down my hair or shirt. Yuck! However, did I feel any less compelled to care for and love them despite the fact that we were not related by blood? Honestly, no. Even though we were not related by birth, I saw each one as a part of my church family. It was an opportunity to serve not only their parents so that they could have an undistracted time of worship, but it was also an opportunity to show in a physical way God’s love to each child.

Now I’m a mom of four with my last child in nursery. Serving on staff has given me an opportunity to see and work with other members who are dedicated to imparting God’s truth and providing love and care for each child on Sundays and special events. This is a ministry that does not take a break in serving. It has evolved to include teaching toddlers at a young age about who God is and what He has done. Most of these children will not remember to adulthood all the particulars of what they received in our care (e.g., “so and so held me while I screamed in her ear for over an hour,” “she was the one that cleaned up after my accident during my potty training,” or “that lady read me the same book over and over again because I asked her to do so”). No, they will not remember those particulars. I hope and pray though that they will come out of this ministry and our church with a sense of comfort and ease knowing that they had a safe, loving, caring environment that they went to on Sundays to learn about God. As a mom, I am so thankful for this ministry and the staff who serve our children. Thank you Children’s Ministry, in particular Fireflies Staff, for your faithful service to us all! It is a service that is definitely done behind the scenes, and I am so privileged to have been part of it and a recipient of it all these years!

Grace Life Ministry Update

by Pastor Patrick Cho

Grace Life is at about the midpoint of our Bible study for this year and so far it has been a great time of fellowship and study. Wanting to focus on fundamental doctrines of the Christian faith, this year was devoted to theology proper, the study of God. Each meeting, we have been looking at another attribute of God surveying the Scriptures to see what God has revealed about Himself. Since Grace Life is on an abbreviated schedule, meeting roughly every other week, we have covered seven different topics thus far including God’s glory, holiness, omniscience, and immutability.

Of course in an affinity group ministry like Grace Life, which is focused on the church’s married couples and parents, people are always clamoring for practical studies like building godly marriages, biblical parenting, and finances. While these focused practical studies are important and indeed helpful, we need to be careful that we start building our biblical understanding from the ground up. Practical studies are popular because the principles derived can be put into immediate practice, but this does not benefit an individual nearly as much if that person does not have a good biblical or theological framework to think from.

In other words, how do you know that what a certain author writes is helpful? If there isn’t a good understanding of biblical principles and theology to help filter ideas, people will come to conclusions based simply on what sounds right or feels good. This is a dangerous way of coming to conclusions. It is a much sounder approach to lay a good biblical and theological foundation before seeking to build practical structures on top of it. We say we want to live Christ-centered lives and build godly homes, but that is going to be very difficult if we don’t know what the Bible says about who Christ is or what God is like.

Besides all this, a study on theology proper is immensely practical. Let’s not forget that one of the purposes for which God has revealed Himself to us in Scripture is that we might reflect His glory and imitate His character. For example, the basis of our love for one another is His love for us. If we don’t have an accurate understanding of God’s love, we will unfortunately substitute it with a worldly or personal concept of love that falls infinitely short.

With all this said, I would continue to encourage our married couples and parents to come out to Grace Life for the remainder of our meetings. We hope to see you on Thursday evenings! The meeting schedule looks like this:

  • February 27 – No Grace Life (Flocks)
  • March 6 – No Grace Life (Shepherds’ Conference)
  • March 13 – Lesson 9: The Sovereignty of God
  • March 20 – Lesson 10: The Transcendence and Immanence of God
  • March 27 – No Grace Life (Flocks)
  • April 3 – Lesson 11: God Is Truth
  • April 10 – Lesson 12: God Is Love
  • April 17 – No Grace Life (Good Friday)
  • April 24 – No Grace Life (Flocks)
  • May 1 – Lesson 13: The Grace of God
  • May 8 – No Grace Life (Break)
  • May 15 – Lesson 14: The Patience of God
  • May 22 – No Grace Life (Break)
  • May 29 – No Grace Life (Flocks)
  • June 5 – Lesson 15: The Goodness of God

Single Life Update

“What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.” (A.W. Tozer)

by Cesar Vigil-Ruiz

Given the information age that we live in, we have been inundated with facts, news, and videos that stimulate and dull the mind. With the advent of the smartphone, we literally have the world available to us at our fingertips. We can easily receive the latest updates on earthquakes, traffic, celebrity gossip, political events, fitness tips, sales, and so on. The instant availability of data can be overwhelming, and learning something new can be exhausting. The pace at which modern life operates seems to be more rapid in times past, and many are trying to catch up.

Enter the believer. On top of living in this technology craze is the constant call to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord, Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:18). Christianity is a knowledge-revealed religion, and can be difficult for a new believer to become knowledgeable about their faith, especially when so many other sources vie for our attention.

How can we be discerning about what we spend our time doing? What does Scripture place as a priority in terms of knowledge? Is it a deeper understanding of the events leading up to the second coming of Christ? Is it the historical and scientific evidence for creation? Is it a more developed method of apologetics? What should be prominent in our study?

From the perspective of Scripture, God is identified as the being we are instructed to know above all others and above all things. “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction” (Proverbs 1:7), which implies a right understanding of the God whom one is to fear (LORD = Yahweh), and the appropriate stance required to gain true knowledge (fear). In contrast, the fool has a bad relationship with both wisdom and instruction. He is the antithesis to the wise, who correctly identifies the God of Israel as the One to whom he should look to attain real, and not false, wisdom and insight (Proverbs 9:10). Christ Himself is identified as the source of wisdom and knowledge (Colossians 2:3), wisdom identified as “skill in the art of godly living.” Pursuit of this is designed to guide “the way of the saints” (Proverbs 2:3-8). Jesus Christ identifies eternal life with knowing God and Christ, not just intellectually, but relationally.

From this very brief look at Scripture, it’s incumbent upon us to seek knowing God for the sake of our salvation (knowing God as He has revealed Himself and not a god of our own choosing), as well as the sake of our growth in godliness. When we learn more about the life of a painter or musician, there is an increased appreciation not only for that painter or musician, but also the work that initially drew your interest to them. Knowing God is foundational to growing deeper in our relationship with Him, but the main difference between knowing God and knowing a painter or musician is that God radically changes us to become more like God’s Son, Jesus Christ. Christian faith does not rule out knowledge; it forms the basis for true knowledge, because faith given by God to His people is directed to the source of true knowledge.

For this and many other reasons, Single Life has been going through a series of understanding God as He has revealed Himself in Scripture. We have been going over a number of God’s attributes that gives us a clearer picture of whom we are worshipping. It’s been a very helpful series to stop and focus on the character of God and think through the implications of the fact that God has spoken much about who He is, and how that should affect our daily lives. Some of His attributes thus far covered include His glory, holiness, omnipotence, omniscience, eternity, immutability, love, along with His triune nature. Each character reveals truths that have everything to do with how we live our lives on a daily basis, from making big decisions to the most mundane, from taking out the trash to the glory of God to knowing God as triune affect your prayer life.

Though we have a few messages left on this theme, I can personally testify that my love for God and appreciation of His character and work has only increased. To know God as eternal is mind-blowing in and of itself, but to know that He knows everything, can do anything that is consistent with His character, is immutably loving and holy, and is absolutely unique in His triune nature can humble the proud, comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. We need to know this God to avoid putting ourselves as the center of the universe and acknowledge the glorious God of Scripture as the One worth centering and focusing our lives upon. We need to know this God because the church is in dire need of replacing the immediacy that this culture inculcates with the steadfastness of our Holy Creator. We need to know this God because the Gospel needs to be proclaimed with such clarity that those who hear will have such an awe-filled portrait of God that they will be drawn to knowing Him for all of eternity. We need to know this God to replace our affections with lesser things which can only frustrate and disappoint.

May we all attain to the unity of the faith which is founded upon a deep knowledge of the One who has not only made us, but has saved us.

Blessed Is The One…

by Kristen Lim

“Do you want build a snowman?” sang the youth (a song from the animated movie, Frozen) as we drove up to Big Bear for our joint winter retreat with the LBCLA youth group. Earlier this month the Lumos youth ministry had the opportunity to spend a weekend away from home to grow in their walks with God as well as build relationships with one other. The retreat was filled with inner-tubing, snowboarding/skiing, silly games, late-night snacks, and of course digging deeper into God’s word.

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The theme of the retreat was “Blessed” coming from Matthew 5:1-12. Before diving into this passage, Josh did a great job of setting the groundwork that salvation is by grace alone, but it never comes alone because God will transform the heart of one who is truly saved and produce fruit of Christ-likeness. So rather than just reading this description of a blessed person and trying to live up to these standards, we were challenged to examine our lives and honestly ask ourselves if we are in the kingdom of God to begin with. Are we “poor in spirit,” recognizing that we offer nothing good before a holy God but only dirty rags of sin? In Christ alone, by faith alone can one be redeemed from the bondage of sin and have a regenerate heart that in turn loves God and desires to please Him. That has to be the starting point, because if not, then that person is not blessed and the passage is not applicable to them.

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As we embarked on this study of the beatitudes, we found out that the very word “blessed” needed clarification because much of our perception of happiness and joy have been influenced by the world. What does the world define happiness to be? Money, success, admiration, popularity, comfort, no trials, and basically summed up by “life is all about you.” The world tells you to live your best life now and to do whatever makes you happy; God is nowhere to be seen. The Bible speaks clearly that those who are redeemed are not promised a “happy” life, but rather persecution, trials, rejection, loneliness, and suffering. If you knew that you wouldn’t experience any happiness and instead have immense pain in this life, would you still follow Christ? Would you rather have Christ than anything this world may offer? How can one be blessed and rejoice with such a circumstantially grim life?

These heart-probing questions geared us to dive in to the beatitudes and see that true joy can only come from knowing God. Those that choose to reject God and live in rebellion to the Creator and true King will eventually face the just sentence of God’s wrath. But in contrast, the children of God can rejoice because God has shown us unfathomable mercy and love through Christ, and we look forward to being with our Savior for eternity without the weight of sin. We are blessed because we are part of the kingdom of God, we are comforted knowing that one day sin will be gone, we will inherit the earth when Christ returns, we will be satisfied, we will be shown God’s mercy, we will see God, we will be called sons of God, and our reward is great in Heaven.

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But it is the reality that seeing life through God’s eyes is difficult to maintain in the midst of the constant bombardment of worldly ideas and selfishness wanting to take over. That’s why these retreat messages were so timely in reminding us of the great hope we have in Christ alone and that He is the greatest treasure worth giving up everything for. At the very end of the last session, Josh showed us an animation made for the song “All I Have Is Christ.” Honestly, this is a difficult song to sing because I can’t sing it half-heartedly. Do I really believe the words that I’m singing? Is all I really have Christ? Or am I clinging tightly to selfish desires, my plans, my glory, my way? The retreat messages provided much to chew on and helped all of us to refocus our hearts to seeking God’s will.

Not only was this retreat valuable for the immersion into God’s word, but it helped the youth cultivate deeper friendships with one another, and as a staff we got to know the youth better outside of the structured Bible study and small group times. I’m challenged to help the youth (and including myself) see that Christ is not just a sentiment to be tossed around on Sundays or while reading the Bible and praying, but He calls us to worship Him in every moment of our lives. The retreat sessions all of a sudden come alive when faced with a decision whether to give in to the world’s lies of happiness found in selfish pursuits, or truly believe that God’s ways are far superior and offer true joy and blessings. Being together for four days brought ample opportunities to practice applying the retreat messages in the context of relationships. The choice to be upset when others are having more fun than I am, or to rejoice with those who rejoice. The choice to wallow in anger when someone wrongs me, or to forgive and seek to mend that damaged fellowship because of the forgiveness that I have been shown in Christ. The choice to be lazy and wait to be served, or to take the initiative to look out for others’ needs and be a servant. These smattering of instances are only skimming the surface of the plethora of choices we have each day to either choose my way or God’s way.

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The seemingly mundane moments of life are not so mundane anymore if viewed as a chance to become more like Christ and please God by following His will. This is not to say that a Christian will be perfect, but the longing for righteousness and detestation of sin ought to characterize a believer. God is so gracious to not leave us on our own to fulfill this high-calling of obedience to Him. His mercies are new every morning to produce in us a changed life as we allow His Word to take root in our hearts and renew our minds. It is a constant battle to fight against the flesh and the never-ending influences of what the world thinks is true joy, but God promises to be faithful to complete the work that He has started in a believer’s life, so we are strengthened to persevere in the race fixing our eyes on Christ, our treasure and reward. Truly, blessed is the one who delights in the law of the Lord and pursues to live righteously for God’s glory (Psalm 1).

Thank you to those who prayed for the retreat or supported us financially. We had an awesome time! =) Please pray that the youth ministry would be filled with young men and women who genuinely love God and live passionately to make God big!

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Teaching God’s Big Plan to Sparklers

by Kyle Grindley

God’s Big Plan

Teaching in Sparklers has blessed me because, as a staff, we teach through the both Old and New Testaments, every 2 years. We have been using this curriculum since 2008, which means I am on my third lap teaching through the Bible with the Sparklers. Distilling dense Bible passages down to 10 minute lessons that 3-year-olds can understand has really helped me focus on the big overarching themes in the Bible. Going through the Bible like this has shown me two amazing things: God has a big plan, and we have an exciting role in His big plan.

The Bible is one unified story of God displaying His glory through redeeming His people. God made this plan in eternity past, and shared it with us in the Bible through 40 authors over more than a thousand years. God validated His word by writing history in advance, something only God could do. First Peter 1 says that Christ and His work were foreknown before the foundation of the world. God didn’t just predict history, but He planned the redemption of His people through Christ before creation. God didn’t interrupt history by sending Jesus, He orchestrated history to lead up to Christ in a perfect story about God’s glory.

We can see a concise picture of God’s glory when we look at God’s proclamation when He agreed to let His glory pass before Moses. God did not just say “I will let my glory pass before you,” He said “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence.” (Ex. 33:19, emphasis added) God proclaimed that he is Lord and He is good. Time after time throughout redemptive history demonstrates this goodness-lordship couplet. God has the power and right to rule, thus He is “The Lord”, and motivated by His merciful goodness, He uses that rule to bless His people. God is committed to His glory, and the Bible is the story of God displaying His glory, showing the whole of His attributes by using His power for the good of His people, which results in praise from His people.

God has allowed us to join as willing participants in displaying His glory. We display the goodness and lordship of God when we trust Him. His goodness is on display because we trust that God will do what is best for us and keep His promises. His lordship, or sovereignty, is on display because we trust that He knows what is best for us and has the ability to accomplish it. God is worth our complete trust because He is completely good and completely in control.

Teaching God’s Big Plan

This February Sparklers is getting a lot of new kids, not quite doubling our numbers. To accommodate for the growth we are making some changes, trying to mix new ideas with our tried curriculum. One thing we are adding is a Bible outline to try to keep unity of God’s big plan from being lost amongst the many stories. These stories are testaments to God’s glory in and of themselves, but they are so much richer when woven in the context of God’s larger plan of redemption.

The outline we are going to try is based on a telling of redemptive history through a series of “kingdoms”; where a kingdom is defined as “God’s people, in God’s place, under God’s rule and blessing.” (A great summary can be found at davemiers.com; Kingdoms Summary). This struck me as a good way to digest and understand what God is doing throughout history because it specifically highlights His sovereignty in His “rule” and His goodness in His “blessing”.

The Big Picture Story Bible, by David Helm, is a children’s Bible that tells the Bible’s story through the lens of “God’s people, in God’s place, under God’s rule and blessing.” It describes the Bible as “a big book, about a big God, who keeps a big promise.” Teaching about our big God who keeps His big promise falls right in line with the current Sparklers curriculum. Helm’s adaptation for children omits the explicit “kingdom” terminology, while preserving the meaning behind it. We are taking a similar approach in Sparklers. The original alliterated titles were changed for more 3-year-old friendly titles, and the explicit “kingdom” references were dropped so the titles could be more descriptive and point directly to God.

As we teach through the Bible we will use this outline to show the Sparklers God’s plan for bringing glory to himself through saving us. It will also help them understand where each of the individual stories fit in this plan. Hopefully what they learn in Sparklers will feed a sense of wonder at the awesome God behind everything.

A Bible Outline for Sparklers

  • God’s Garden – God created the entire universe; the earth, skies, planets, and people. He put them in a garden where He cared for them. God also gave them a job to do (Gen 1:28), and a commandment (Gen. 2:16-17). Adam and Eve disobeyed God and were cast out of the garden, but God promised that this would not last forever (Gen. 3). God would send His Son to crush Satan and sin’s power (Gen. 3:15). Adam and Eve’s children continued to disobey God.
  • God’s Promise – God called a man named Abram out of idolatry (Gen. 12, Josh. 24:2-3) and promised him that He would make him the father of a great nation and all the nations would be blessed because of him (Gen 12 & 15).
  • God’s Nation – After 400 years God’s promise of a nation began to take shape. God called Abraham’s descendants out of Egypt, gave them His commands, and promises to be their God and make them His people if they obey him (Ex. 19, Lev 26, Deut. 11). God proved faithful in spite of their unfaithfulness.
  • God’s Kings – God established His kings as representatives over His people. He promised David that one day one of his sons will rule on David’s throne forever (2 Sam. 7). However, Solomon turns his heart away from God (1 King 11).
  • God’s Punishment & Prophets – Because the people had turned their hearts away from God, He punished them (by splitting the kingdom, then sending Judah to exile). God did not forget His people, He sent prophets to tell the people to turn back to God so they could receive His blessing again. They also told about God’s promise to send a savior.
  • God’s Son – Just as God has promised, He sent a savior to crush sin’s power. That savior was His son, Jesus, who is both God and man. Jesus showed that He was God through signs and miracles, and teaching God’s Word. Jesus perfectly obeyed God, died, and rose again defeating sin’s power for those who believe in Him.
  • God’s Church – Jesus went to sit at God’s right hand, but He sent the Holy Spirit to be with His people, those who trust in Him. God’s Word spread to people all over the world including us.
  • God’s Kingdom – After God gathers all His people in His church, Jesus will come again to reign on David’s throne forever, just like God promised. God will take all His people to live with Him in heaven under His perfect rule, where they will experience His perfect blessing.

References

The Institution of Marriage

by Pastor Patrick Cho

Since we are at the start of a new year, I know that many people in the church have begun a Bible reading plan for 2014. This probably means that most are reading somewhere in the opening chapters of Genesis. Genesis is a book of beginnings. The opening chapters give the account about the foundation of the world and how God created all there is in six days. Chapter 3 focuses on the fall of man and the entrance of sin into the world. In Abraham, we see the beginnings of God’s people, set apart to Himself to accomplish His grand purpose in this world.

But also significantly implanted in the opening pages of Scripture is the establishment of marriage. Marriage was given according to God’s plan and purpose for His creation. It was designed under His divine prerogative guided by His infallible wisdom. Regardless of whether people are Christian or not, the foundation of their marriages is found in their Creator. The reason we get married and give one another in marriage is because this was in accordance with God’s design from the very creation of man and a gift of grace.

The specific record of the creation of man and the establishment of marriage is given in Genesis 1:26-28. By God’s will, He created man in His own image and after His likeness. He made them male and female so that each equally bears His image, and upon creating them male and female He immediately commanded them to “be fruitful and multiply.” This is the same command God gave to the “swimming things” in the sea and the “flying things” in the air (v. 22). It is implied that this same command was applied to the living creatures of the earth – the livestock, creeping things, and beasts of the earth. This command was specifically given because each animal was to procreate according to its kind in the established order God set for His creation. Fish would produce greater numbers of fish, birds would produce more birds, and beasts would produce more beasts.

It is in this context that the first man and woman were commanded to be fruitful and multiply, which is the general statement of God’s institution of marriage. Chapter 2 goes on to explain more specifically what God meant by this and why Eve was such a suitable counterpart for Adam. Indeed no other “helper” could be found for Adam from any other created thing. God created Eve especially for Adam to serve as his partner and companion. By God’s own admission, it was not good for man to be alone. “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh” (Gen. 2:24).

There is no being fruitful and multiplying with man outside of marriage. God designed marriage to be monogamous between a man and a woman. This was so they could enjoy each other and love one another in the bond of their relationship, and it was also for the purpose of fulfilling His command to fill the earth. Genesis 2:24 helps define what it means to have a family, to leave father and mother and cleave to your spouse.

Any attempt to change the definition of marriage is a perversion of God’s established order. The fact that marriage has become so twisted in contemporary society and cheapened is a testament to the sinful rebellion in the hearts of men. The fact remains that the true definition of marriage is not the result of the latest poll or election. It isn’t left to human opinion regardless of how well-intentioned people try to be. It doesn’t matter if people stand up for what they believe is right under the banner of “love.” Frankly, God never asked our opinion about the way marriage should be. He doesn’t need fallible minds and darkened hearts to correct His infallible and perfect norm. He designed marriage His way because He made us. And that Creator/creature distinction will exist for all of eternity.