by Pastor Patrick Cho

by Pastor Patrick Cho

Pastors struggle, too. For some, this may be difficult to understand because they consider that it is the pastor’s job to be in God’s Word. It’s part of pastoral ministry to be praying for people and showing godly kindness to them. Even though these things are true, the pastor can struggle spiritually. There have been times when on the way to Bible study I didn’t feel like teaching. There are times when I don’t feel like opening up God’s Word. There are times when I am not in the mood to counsel others or pray for them.

Pastors are not impervious to spiritual sluggishness. That really is what it boils down to. We can be lazy, too. Oftentimes, it seems like the hardest thing to do is to crack my Bible open to have my daily reading. There are seasons when I am really inconsistent in my times with the Lord. And really, if I’m honest, it comes down to a lack of discipline in my life. I’d rather do the things that I want to do rather than doing the things I know I need to do.

It’s times like this when I’m tempted to think up clever schemes to get myself back on track. I’ll go out and buy a new journal (I can’t tell you how many journals I’ve started and never completed!) or start a jogging routine because I seem to do better spiritually when I’m more disciplined physically (you can imagine how long that lasts!).

The truth is that clever schemes aren’t the solution for spiritual sluggishness. What is necessary is repentance. I need to be honest with God and confess that laziness is ultimately a sin against Him. I need to ask His forgiveness and direct my life towards Him. This requires that I turn from my sin, and that requires discipline. It isn’t about coming up with clever schemes. It’s about getting back to basics.

First, I need to make time for God’s Word. I say “make time” because finding time doesn’t always work. I am resigned to the fact that I will always be busy. It’s not very hard to fill my day with stuff, but it’s amazing how busyness doesn’t always amount to productivity. In order to be disciplined with God’s Word, I simply need to carve out time in my day and stay committed to it. Certainly, this assumes that I am not just in it, but prayerfully in it. Devotionally in it. Joyfully in it. That takes time. I need to pray that God would bless me through what I read. I need to pray like the Psalmist that God would open my eyes to see wonderful things in His law. With time and patience, God will make time in His Word sweet.

There is a woman I know in Argentina who spends time in God’s Word each morning. Her son says that she weeps over the pages as she considers what the Lord is teaching her. This sort of devotion does not come overnight. It comes from putting in the time to go deeper and deeper in one’s relationship with Him. It comes from coming to the Word over and over as if it is the food you eat and the water you drink, understanding that without it you would die. It requires that you allow God’s Word to fill your heart and mind.

Second, I need to pray. Prayer gives me the opportunity to express thankfulness to God and gets my heart in a worshipful state. It also puts me in the right position of depending on the Lord instead of on myself. When I don’t pray, it becomes easier and easier to fall into the error of thinking that prayer doesn’t accomplish much. But when my life is full of prayer, I experience how God hears, answers, and honors my prayers.

OK, this entry is starting to get kind of long, so I’ll end here and pick up next time.

by Pastor JR Cuevas

Cease striving and know that I am God.

I will be exalted above the nations,

I will be exalted in the earth.

-Psalm 46:10

It was quickly turning out to be a more difficult morning than I had planned. Troubled from circumstances throughout the week, tired from the night before, and having woken up an hour later than I had planned, I found my spirit succumbing to both fatigue and frustration as I galumphed out of the house to my car for another drive up to L.A. But right as I hurriedly shut the trunk door of my car, my eyes suddenly beheld the night sky. With the stars shining brightly, underlined by a wisp of a skyline against the black sky—the most beautiful scene I had ever seen from my house—I immediately remembered Psalm 46:10: “Cease striving and know that I am God.” Frustration turned into admiration as I repented of my sin of forgetting God amidst my busy schedule.

I wouldn’t be surprised if what happened to me that morning happens as a regular occurrence in the lives of many today—not to mention many in history. There’s nothing wrong with having busy schedules; there’s nothing wrong with getting tired. As Christians, we are indeed called to labor to the point of exhaustion. We’re called to fight the good fight like a brave soldier battles in war, to run the race of faith like a marathon runner runs his race. Against the backdrop of the current obsession with comfort and convenience in circumstances, a Christian must fight for Christ-likeness in character. The problem is not busyness. The problem is that, in the midst of busyness, we often forget God. From a mentality that believes that the more we do the better we are, we can allow the burdens of ministry, work, school, relationships, and family to worry us away from God. As we do, we begin to think that we’re in charge, we’re in control, and that—if we don’t accomplish what we perceive to be important—the world would come to an end. In effect, we begin to worship ourselves instead of God.

Psalm 46:10 is simple: God tells us to cease striving in our hearts as if the affairs of the world lie on our shoulders, and to simply know that He is God. While God calls us to fight, run, agonize, and labor to the point of exhaustion, He calls us to remember that He is God. He made the heavens and the earth; we did not. He holds all things together; we do not. He controls the affairs of the nations; we do not. In other words, He is God; we are not. And as God, He reminds us that He will be exalted in the nations and in the earth. In the end, even if we do fulfill our ministries and tasks to the best of our abilities, we will not be exalted amongst people. God alone will be exalted as King before all nations; He alone will be exalted as Mighty Creator in the earth. He is passionate about His name being glorified, and will do everything He needs to do so see that it comes to fruition. Our failures and successes will not prevent Him from doing so.

What good is ministry and service if not done with a heart that marvels at the Creator? God is not simply looking for workers; He is looking for worshippers. Thus, the next time you find yourself tempted to scurry around from task to task with the mentality that your successes and failures will determine the course of history, take some time to be still and meditate on the great Creator, who became the great Savior and calls Himself your Father.

Be still, and know that He is God. And when all else is done, rejoice in knowing that He alone will be exalted.

by Pastor John Kim

Greetings to the few, the faithful, the ones who read this blog =)

It’s nice to know that there are some people praying so I will give an update as to how things have been going. I’ll probably only do this a few times while I am officially on leave.

Healthwise, I am currently wearing an appliance in my mouth 24 hours a day to help correct my jaw alignment. I am taking two different kinds of medication for my blood pressure. I have to wait for a month before I go for the followup with the cardiologist. I have been checked for glaucoma and it looks like I’m in the clear for now (thanks Dr. Jeff Lee!) but he mentioned that my left optic nerve is bent. My skin condition has cleared up for now after getting steroids (thanks the other Dr. Lee!) – don’t worry, my muscles aren’t bulking up. My gastro-enterologist visit will take about a month to setup so it won’t be until November. I still have to start physical therapy for my assorted neck and back and jaw ailments. So pretty much that’s it for now.

I am getting a little more sleep and rest. It’s strange trying to avoid thinking about church. I realize that I have been constantly thinking about church and it is difficult to keep it out of my mind. Trying to visit other churches has also been challenging as I realize it is not easy finding a church that where I would be in alignment with doctrine and ministry philosophy. But it has been interesting observing how other churches do things. I hope to visit other churches in the San Diego area and get to know more of the pastors.

I will be visiting Austin, Texas for a couple of weeks to visit my brother-in-law as well as to have some peace and quiet away from eveything. I hope to really get some good quiet time to rest as well as have my body and spirit renewed. So please pray that it would be a profitable time.

Thank you for those who pray. I truly appreciate it. There are some who tell me they pray and I’m sure there are others who do pray that I am not aware of – your prayers are precious and without them I would definitely be at a loss. Please continue.

I hope to return at the beginning of the year in January so please pray that these next few months will be a beneficial time of recovery.

Pastor John

by Pastor Patrick Cho

As we gear up for another school year, it is an exciting time for the church. In just a few days, all the collegians who have been away for the summer will return and the church family will be back to its seam-busting size! All the exciting beginning of the school year events will be taking place once again. One of those activities is our Orientation Night. This year’s Orientation will be on Friday, October 3, on-campus at UCSD. This is the first real opportunity for the incoming collegians to meet the staff and get acclimated to College Life. Especially for the incoming freshmen, we know that the transition to college can be a bumpy one, so we want to help as much as we can with that transition.

At Orientation Night, we not only introduce the staff, but we also give the students a background to College Life and teach the students about the importance of church during their college years. College is a really important time in a person’s life because it may be the first time they no longer live under the roof of their parents. For the first time in their lives, they may be forced to fend for themselves and do everyday tasks on their own initiative. Some students come into college never having cooked a meal, done a load of laundry, or paid the bills! For many, it will be the first time where they wake up on Sunday morning and decide for themselves whether they will get up and go to church. This is why at Orientation Night we make it a point to focus on the topic of a commitment to the local church for the purpose of growing in godliness. We know how disastrous the consequences can be when believers do not make church a priority in their lives.

Another exciting beginning of the school year event is the College Life Luau. The Luau actually will take place the week before Orientation Night on Friday, September 26. Last year, we allowed the College Life student staff to plan and host this event for the first time, and they completely outdid themselves! It was an incredibly enjoyable event with a good handful of new collegians attending. This year, we hope to make the evening together even more enjoyable and will work to spread the word more effectively.

As for the Friday Night Searchlight Bible study, for the fall quarter, we will continue our study in the Book of Mark by examining the lives of the twelve disciples. After a week of review, we’ll pick up in Mark 2:13-19, which gives the account of the choosing of the twelve. It should be a great study as it will be an entire quarter spent on just a few verses! Hopefully we can become more intimately acquainted with the disciples to see where they have proven to be examples for us to follow and also where they made mistakes that we can learn from.

So as we usher in the new school year, the staff of College Life wants to officially welcome all the collegians back (whatever school you attend)! We hope the summer has been a time of rest and refreshing and that you are all ready to give the 2008-09 school year your best effort. Certainly, we want this year to be excellent academically for each of our students, but more importantly, we want this year to be focused and profitable spiritually. We hope to work together to be a bright shining beacon of God’s truth and love on-campus in San Diego as we spread the gospel message to the thousands of students who have yet to know about God’s grace.

by Pastor John Kim

To the LBC family,

I know that many of you maybe were not at church this past Sunday to hear me share but I am going to explain what I will be doing with my requested leave of absence. These past two years have been incredibly difficult with various issues that we have had to address here at the church. In the summer of 2006, I took what was supposed to be a two month sabbatical and apart from about a couple of weeks and Sundays, I was still immersed in my work as there were some significant challenges that we were dealing with at the time so I really did not get a chance to utilize that time in the way I had hoped. Since then, things have steadily become more challenging and with the trauma of what took place at the end of last year, my physical condition started to deteriorate. This year proved to have no letdown in the stresses that we have been facing within the leadership and it all finally came to an apex a couple of weekends ago when I realized that I could not sustain my responsibilities with my physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual state being broken down as much as it was. So it was with great difficulty that I have had to come to the conclusion that as much as I love the church, I am not indispensible and that I have to trust God with the people of the church whom I love deeply. It is with much reluctance that I step back because I truly love ministering to people and at least for those who really know me, they know that I really care for people. I have been accused of caring too much – I really don’t know how one can care too much. I believe people care too little because they are so preoccupied with themselves that they only care about how they are cared for and not so much how they should care for others. That’s why it is no surprise to me that we have as many relational conflicts as we do in the church. The selfishness and self-centeredness that grips so many people truly reflects a “life is all about me” kind of attitude and the stranglehold it has is very difficult to break. But as we have shared so many times at Lighthouse, “life is not about you” and we need to really carry that out.

So what will I be doing during my leave? I’m not sure yet how long it will be but there are several things that I must do:

1. Address my various health problems. To make a short list, I have to followup with the defective heart valve and find out what is causing my chest pains. I will be visiting a cardiologist to see how things go with that. I have to visit a gastro-enterologist to see what is causing the spasms in my esophagus and stomach. I have to visit an ophthomologist for possible glaucoma as my eyesight continues to worsen. I have to visit a dermatologist to address various skin issues that have been causing me much discomfort over the past year. I also have to go through some physical therapy and/or chiropractics to address all the aches and pains I have all over my body. My blood pressure has been consistently very high over the past year so I will have to start taking medications and monitor the response. I will also have probably do a sleep study to see why I am unable to sleep well. I will also have to address some problems with my jaw as I will be wearing some devices 24 hours a day so as to confront some muscular problems that have been causing me constant pain. It will prohibit me from speaking much so I will not be able to do a whole lot in terms of preaching or teaching.
Hopefully that’s all, at least what I can remember.

2. Let go of all ministry responsibilities. This will probable be the most difficult thing to do but I will be relinquishing all pastoral responsibilities during my leave. That means I will not preach, lead, plan, counsel, disciple, or in any other formal way carry out my pastoral role at Lighthouse. I will have to entrust the elders and pastoral staff to shoulder the load and do their best to carry on what needs to happen at the church. You will need to pray for the pastoral staff and elders extra diligently so that they might have strength and wisdom to carry the extra load.

3. Get rest. I hope to get physical, mental, and spiritual rest by spending extended time in getting sleep, exercise, and personal times in God’s Word and prayer without the pressure of pastoral responsibilities weighing on my shoulders. I also hope to take some time to attend a couple of conferences for my own personal edification.

4. Spend time with my wife and children. While I do my best to care for my family, it is obvious that they have to share me with the church family in many ways that are at a sacrifice to them. So I hope to be an encouragement to my wife in being a husband who loves her and to my children in helping raise them in God’s ways. They are all growing way too fast and I need to take time to just share in the regular daily things of life and create memories that they will hopefully cherish.

So I would appreciate your prayers. I do not know what the future holds but I do hope to return soon and hopefully re-energized and strengthened to go for another 20 years.

In His grace,
Pastor John

by Pastor Patrick Cho

I have had a lot of time to think about ministry this past week especially as I have been walking through 1 Thessalonians in my daily devotions. If there is any principle I am confident we must master, it is to do all things in love for God and for one another. This is so evident in the life and ministry of Paul, and it needs to be evident in us as well.

With the growth of the church body, it can become very easy to reduce ministry to programs. With this mentality, you just treat people as if they are problems that need to be solved. We forget that they are people with hearts that are oftentimes broken and in need of mending. We analyze a person’s situation and treat ministry as if it is simply taking a round biblical principle and plugging it into their round problem hole. I wish ministry was that simple, but unfortunately it isn’t. People are more complicated than that. Problems are more complicated than that. Oftentimes you unravel one problem to realize there are thirty more underneath it.

On top of that, a person isn’t just a problem that needs a solution. People feel. They hurt. They can be broken. Paul’s attitude towards the church was to treat them with gentleness as a nursing mother tenderly cares for her children (1 Thess. 2:7). The idea of gentleness literally means to be “mild, warm or kind.” It is the exact opposite of using “tough love” or treating people coldly as if they are projects that need to be worked on. Paul’s example of love for the church is something I know I need to learn. There is so much to ministry I do not yet know and am still in the process of learning.

by Pastor Patrick Cho

Being a dad really changes a person’s life quite a bit. Ever since Eden came into the world, Christine and I have had to adjust our schedules, constantly care for her, and rework our finances. There’s a lot to think about as a new parent. Why is she crying? Is she hungry? Is she sleeping too much? Etc. It’s not to say that we don’t like parenting. It’s quite the opposite! We love parenting! Having Eden in our home has doubled the fun and exponentially increased the love! Oftentimes you’ll hear even Christians saying, “Don’t have kids for a while. Enjoy your marriage first.” This is a load of baloney. The Bible tells us that children are a gift and blessing from the Lord. To have many children is a sign of tremendous blessing (cf. Ps. 127:4-5). These people might as well tell you to not seek the Lord’s blessing. If you think about it, it’s actually an unloving thing to say and it goes against the principles of God’s Word. So have kids… but get married first.

Being a parent also opens your mind up to other issues that you wouldn’t have thought much of before. Should we send her to public school? What will she watch on TV, if anything? What will her friends be like? You realize more how this world’s philosophy towards childrearing is totally opposed to what God’s Word teaches. For instance, I came across an article the other day on the internet entitled, “Spare the Rod,” and it gave reasons why parents should not spank their children. I thought it was interesting that the author chose that title because the rest of the verse he is quoting says that if you spare the rod, you hate your child (Prov. 13:24). This is just one example of the world looking at the Bible and essentially saying that they know better than God and that God’s principles are antiquated. But if God’s principles were outdated, He would have come out with a second edition of the Bible. He didn’t, so we can conclude that His principles are timeless.

All this goes to show that this world is antithetically opposed to God. We live in a world that hates our Lord and Savior, mocks the cross, and shuns biblical principles (at least the ones they don’t like). Certainly, Christine and I are learning that we can’t shield Eden from all this influence, but we can teach her to guard her mind against it. In the same way, you need to make sure that you maintain the spiritual discernment to know what is of the Lord and what is not. Much of this world’s counsel sounds appealing because it caters to people. Would you be able to tell the difference between worldly counsel and godly counsel?

by Pastor Patrick Cho

23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful;
24 and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds,
25 not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.

Hebrews 10:23-25 is a passage that we refer to often at Lighthouse because of our commitment to the local church and our application of membership. But this passage says much more than simply, “Go to church.” The author of Hebrews is writing to a group of believers who have been tempted to abandon the faith because of the hardships that have come with it through persecution. These believers, who were once practicing Jews, realized that they suffered much less as Jews and so were considering abandoning the faith in order to escape the suffering they were facing. It is in light of this historical context that Hebrews 10:23-25 is written. It is not just a call for believers to be consistent in their Sunday attendance, but to remember how vital it is for believers to congregate together in order to gain the spiritual support that is needed to face difficult trials. Even if it means one would face suffering and persecution, believers must see to it that they do not neglect assembling together in corporate fellowship.

Verse 23 begins, “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering.” This sure confidence is prefaced on the faithfulness of the One who promised salvation. “Faithful” is emphatic in the verse and salvation is saturated throughout the previous context. Since these believers have had their hearts sprinkled clean (vs. 22), they could hold confidently in their faith and have a real sense of assurance. They were not to find strength in themselves. It was not a matter of mustering up enough courage to persevere. It was all about trusting in the One who was ever trustworthy in order to find surety in their faith.

It is in light of the persecution and suffering that the church was in need of greater encouragement, which could only come through the gathering of the saints. This is why it is written, “Let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together…encouraging one another…” Sadly, there are many believers that downplay the importance of congregating together. Some would argue that it is not essential for a believer to go to the church regularly. So much emphasis is placed in the church today upon “personal salvation,” “personal sanctification,” and one’s “personal walk of faith.” We forget that the Bible calls us to a corporate faith. One of the reasons why we struggle so much is that there is an overemphasis on self in the church without enough emphasis on the body. The author of Hebrews is saying that the assembling together is necessary in order to overcome the temptations to fall away during times of difficulty. The other members of the body can help to encourage you and stimulate you to love and good deeds. And likewise, you can help to encourage and stimulate others. Both directions of this mutual edification are necessary.

We need to remove from our minds the thought that church is only there to help us grow in faith, feed us, and equip us. There is too much of this self-centered emphasis on church with an attitude of, “What am I going to get out of it?” The author of Hebrews reminds us that one of the essential elements of Christian fellowship is that you would minister to others and help keep them strong in the faith. It makes me wonder if we would be practicing church discipline as often as we do and having members struggle as seriously as they do if our church body would seek to encourage and minister to one another more.

by Pastor JR Cuervas

On an ever-so-relaxing morning in last June, I found myself on the porch of my uncle’s house in Kuna, Idaho—a rural farm town about 30 miles from Boise that I chose to visit for the purpose of rest.  Having asked my younger cousins (12 and 11 years old respectively) to join me for a time of devotions and games (20 minutes of Bible reading per game of othello), it occurred to me that contrary to the few months previous when I had to persevere through one of the most trying times of my life, I was now in a season when I felt like life could not be better—a season of absolute abundance and blessing.  Perhaps it was why, before the first game of Othello, the Holy Spirit brought me to a passage that I had previously read but had never spent a significant amount of time dwelling on—Joshua 23.

Joshua—now advanced in years—had gathered Israel together for a farewell address.  Having just conquered the promise land and having witnessed God’s incredible power in fighting for them through the defeat of enemy after enemy, Israel could not have been in a more blessed season of confidence and abundance.  What words would Joshua leave with his people?  Would he tell them to expand their territory?  To enjoy the milk and honey?  To relax and take it easy?  What would Joshua tell them?

“So take diligent heed to yourselves to love the LORD your God.” (Joshua 23:11).  Of all the things he could have said to encourage them with, Joshua instead chose to give Israel a warning – a warning to carefully guard their hearts and an exhortation to continue loving God.  In a time where things could not have been better for Israel, Joshua told them to be careful lest they fall into spiritual idolatry (read the rest of the chapter to get the context).

In the Christian walk, times of abundant blessings can also be the most dangerous of times.  Many have become experts concerning what to do in times of trials; passages like James 1:2-4 and Romans 8:28-29 are engraved into our spiritual cerebrum.  During times of trials, our spiritual lives become vibrant.  Our Bible reading becomes more frequent; our prayer lives become more fervent.  Not to mention, our conversations with people become more biblically flavored.  Yet, have you considered what happens to your life during seasons of abundant blessings?  It’s the time when our hearts are most prone to both spiritual complacency and spiritual idolatry – finding comfort, security, and enjoyment in those blessings apart from God.  When school is going well, it is easy to place security in our grades.  When work is going well, it is easy to find worth in our income and social status.  When God provides us with solid relationships, it is easy to value our spiritual brothers and sisters more than Christ.  When God provides blessings that are intended to be enjoyed in the context of our devotion to God, our sinful hearts tend to try to find enjoyment in them in place of God.

Here in San Diego, we don’t have to hold underground church services.  We can read our Bibles and pray in public.  We are allowed to pursue college and post-graduate degrees, pursue careers in whatever field we choose, and live in nice homes.  While it is no sin to enjoy these blessings, be alert to the warning and exhortation in Scriptures to diligently guard our hearts to love God—both in devotion and affection—with all that we have.  Loving God does not simply happen spontaneously; it is not merely an emotional whim.  While it is a supernatural gift of the Spirit characteristic of the regenerate heart, it is still a character quality that we are commanded to cultivate with watchful diligence and discipline.  During seasons of abundance, the more frequently we should take the initiative in challenging ourselves as to whether or not we would love God without the external blessings.  Bible reading and meditation must be more frequent; prayer must be more fervent.  Time spent cultivating our relationship with God alone must be a priority.  Refreshing our minds with the purity of the gospel message is a necessity.  If not, we will indeed fall to spiritual idolatry.

Are keeping watch over the affections of your heart?  Are you absolutely sure that, as of right now (as John Piper likes to emphasize) you treasure Christ infinitely more than His gifts? Unfortunately for Israel, history shows that they did not heed Joshua’s warning.  They allowed themselves to slip and fall into idolatry.  During your time of abundance, will you do the same?