Brief notes from Pastor John's Sermon on Luke 4:14-20

¹⁴And Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about Him spread through all the surrounding district.

 ¹⁵And He began teaching in their synagogues and was praised by all.

 ¹⁶And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read.

 ¹⁷And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He opened the book and found the place where it was written,
    ¹⁸"THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME,
         BECAUSE HE ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE POOR.
         HE HAS SENT ME TO PROCLAIM RELEASE TO THE CAPTIVES,
         AND RECOVERY OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND,
         TO SET FREE THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED,
    ¹⁹TO PROCLAIM THE FAVORABLE YEAR OF THE LORD."

 ²⁰And He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him.

I was so blessed by being able to fellowship with the body again.  As PJ would say, I was starving for fellowship with my fellow brothers and sisters.  I am thankful to have such loving brethren who care for us.

I loved how PJ closed the sermon today about how we should be most thankful if we can see ourselves as being the spiritually poor, those held captive by sin, blind to the truth, without hope because of the weight of our sin.  In my notes I wrote:

1. Poor = having nothing spiritually --> In Christ, treasuring the riches of the gospel

2. Captive = prisoner of sin/Satan --> In Christ, thankful for the freedom from sin

3. Blind = unable to see God's truth --> In Christ, rejoicing because we now have the truth

4. Oppressed = crushed by sin --> In Christ, having the hope of eternal life

What PJ said was so crucial because we need to see ourselves as these things so that the preciousness of the gospel will be more apparent to us.  It's not that the gospel ever loses any of it's actual value.  It's that we often forget it's worth because we see ourselves as rich, in need of nothing.  Or we don't see the trappings of sin.  Or we think we know it all.  Or that sin can't harm us.  We forget where God saved us from.  And that is to our shame.  It is my prayer for myself first, but for others as well, that we would recall from where God saved us.  He who has been forgiven much, loves much.

Introduction to Systematic Theology Part 1

As I said, I wanted to spend more time reading and learning about what the Bible teaches.  So I picked up Systematic Theology by Wayne Grudem.  From my understanding, his book is the easiest to comprehend, though I'm sure that due to the nature of the topic, it's no walk in the park either.  Anywhoo, I'll be trying to read through and take a few notes here and there to give you some highlights of what I've read.  One thing really important that he points out is that "It is Scripture alone, not 'conservative evangelical tradition' or any other human authority, that must function as the normative authority for the definition of what we should believe." (page 25).  That's so crucial.  It's not about being of Dr. Macarthur, or Piper, or Mahaney. It's not about what camp you fall in.  It's about what the Bible teaches.  Sola Scriptura.

So, that being said, what is systematic theology?  It answers the question: what does the whole Bible teach us today about a certain topic.  Only Scripture has the final authority.  But it also includes application to life.  We can't be just knowledge junkies who sit around quoting Scripture but have not love.  What we learn about what we believe must always propel us to live in accordance to such doctrines.  We must not only pursue truth, but godly living as well.

Let us pursue both diligently, with all fervor and earnestness.

Matthew Hojin Lee

On November 5th at 4:04 am, the Lord graciously gave us the blessed gift of life in our first child, Matthew Hojin Lee.  We're so thankful to the Lord for His marvelous creation.  God was sovereign through it all.  My wifey was such a trooper.  I'm so thankful for them.

Looking at baby Matthew is such a wonderful reminder at the uniqueness of our being.  Not that we're so special in and of ourselves, but God did make us different from the rest of creation.

So, why did we choose his name to be Matthew Hojin Lee?  Well, the "Hojin" part was from my dad's side of the family.  Apparently we have a guy in Korea who comes up with names, and the more accurate we are in terms of date and time of birth, the better the name will be (don't ask me...).  Anyways, my dad calls me and tells me his Korean name is "Hojin" and explains that it means great grace of God (sounds good to me) who prospers.  Or something like that.

For his first name, we had thought of a few possible ones, but we always came back to Matthew.  He is one of the first Bible characters I came to really know, for some reason.  It always stood out to me that he was a tax collector name Levi, who became a disciple of Christ named Matthew.  Yet he never forgot where he came from, the sinful life he lived before Christ.  I liked that name because of that dual reminder of our sinfulness, yet God's amazing grace.

We are excited to raise him up in the fear and admonition of the Lord.  We pray that we would be godly examples of Christ-like love and devotion to our Lord.  It's been a pretty smooth transition.  Thankful to have such a wonderful wifey and very caring parents.  We praise and thank the Lord for this gift.

God is Sovereign

As I held baby Mateo in my hands for the first time, I could not help but marvel at God's miracle of life.  Later on I walked to the top of the parking garage roof and lifted of praises to God, the gracious giver of life.  As I sit here now reflecting on how this all came to be, how we got to this point, I cannot but again praise Him for being sovereign.

The birth of Mateo was not a normal one.  First off, we weren't expecting him until December 9th.  Well, God had other plans.  Before I knew it, we were at the hospital listening to the doctor telling us the baby was going to come sooner than planned.  Well, God's will not ours, right?

I want to take this time to give mad props to my wifey.  She got put through a lot, and she handled it like a rockstar.  I praise God for the extra grace given to her to endure through the process.  She's such a trooper. Please continue to pray for her as she recovers.   I'm so thankful for her.  She's already such a loving wife, and now she's a loving momma.

As I gaze at my beautiful baby boy, I thank God for him.  I pray for him.  I love him so much.  And I'm reminded of Matthew 10:30 which comforts us with the wonderful truth that God is sovereign.  He knows everything about us, even the number of hairs on our heads.  He watches over us.  This is not a guarantee of health, wealth and prosperity, lest we fall into the lies and Satanic deception of that heresy.  But it's a promise that God is in control and does all things for His glory.

Thanks be to the sovereign King of glory.

Systematic Theology

We are currently reading "What is a Healthy Church Member?" by Thabiti Anyabwile.  The last chapter I read was on being a biblical theologian.  In other words, to be a lover and student of God's Word.

This has been a wonderful challenge and encouragement to grow in this area.  It was one of those "duh" moments when it hit me: if I say that I love God, shouldn't I know Him as intimately as possible?  Shouldn't I want to know Him so deeply, walking with Him daily?  And how can I know God?  Through His word, illuminated by the Spirit that God gives permanently to indwell in genuine believers as a gracious gift.

An illustration to show the sad state of my own lack of understanding and knowledge of the Bible: I can tell you that Cedric Ceballos once wore a headband around his eyes during a dunk contest while he was on the Phoenix Suns.  I can tell you that Jeff Hornacek would wipe the side of his head before he shot every free throw.  I can tell you that Kobe Bryant was named after the meat, kobe beef, after his dad, Jelly Bean Bryant, ate it at a restaurant.  I can tell you all of these things and more, and yet I still have trouble finding certain books of the Bible, particularly the Old Testament.

Now some may argue, "Richard, Bible knowledge is for old, nerdy scholars.  I'm just a lay person," or "Richard, why do I have read/study/know the Bible to love God?  Can't I just live a good life, have positive feelings towards God, and go to church on Sundays?"  Well, what I'm starting to learn is that the Bible is the only way we can know God, and the only way we can love someone is if we know them.  the Bible is God's self-revelation.  We can't make up stuff about God.  The only truth about God must come from Him.  So if we truly love God, we would want to know Him more and more, and that comes from reading/studying/knowing God's word.

Another argument may be that it's too hard.  Well, my illustration above proves that if you love something/someone, learning things about that subject is not cumbersome or difficult.  It's not like someone forced me to go through the annals of basketball history to learn those random facts.  I enjoyed all things basketball, so it was simply a part of me as I grew up and understood more about the game and the players.  Honestly, I didn't even try to learn these facts, I just did.  Well, how much more so should that apply to knowing God?  I mean, basketball is just a game, a man-made sport that will only last for so long.  God is the infinite, all-powerful, omniscient One.  He is the Creator, Sustainer, and Provider.  He is the very essence of life, truth, joy and love.  He is the purpose in life.  He is the gift.  There is no one and no thing greater.

Lastly, one may argue that there's not enough time to really study the Bible.  Oh really?  Really, Richard?  So you can watch hours of football games, you can spend hours at the gym playing ball, you can waste hours doing nothing, but you can't spend a few minutes studying the Word of Life?  Mmmm.  Something's fishy, eh?  As they say, there's always time for the things you love.

Anywho, not to get too preachy, but if I am, please know that I preach to myself first and foremost.  I've owned "Systematic Theology" by Wayne Grudem for several years now, but I've never read it cover to cover.  I think now is a good time to try to do that.  Hopefully I'll be able to document the things I'm learning on this blog, more for my sake than anything else.  Till then, to God alone be the glory!

Funny but true...and kind of sad

Not sure who this was but he made some good points. We really do take so much for granted. I would take it a step further and say that really every breath we breathe we should be in awe and giving thanks to God.

Thankful for generous people...

I recently received a wonderful gift from a dear friend and true brother in the faith.  I won't embarass him by saying whom, but he's single and available so let me know if you're interested  :) 

Anyways, this book has been a treat to read.  I must admit, I enjoy a bit of history and I've always wanted to learn more about how the church service came together.  This book starts off by going over the history of church liturgy (how the service is organized, order of worship), and it's really interesting to learn about these things.  It helps me appreciate that what we do is purposeful and not just randomly thrown together.  It is good to be intentional in our worship.  As I read the book more, I'll try to update what I'm, but I'd definitely recommend this book. 

Thanks for the book, J, whoops, almost gave it away...