Sermon Rewind 2/3/13 - Fan or Follower?

1 Corinthians 13:1-7, 13

The Message (MSG)

The Way of Love

13 If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don’t love, I’m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate.

² If I speak God’s Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, “Jump,” and it jumps, but I don’t love, I’m nothing.

^3-7 If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love.

Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.
Love doesn’t strut,
Doesn’t have a swelled head,
Doesn’t force itself on others,
Isn’t always “me first,”
Doesn’t fly off the handle,
Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn’t revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.

¹³ But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love.

Benjie Kim kicked off the new series, Fan or Follower. This series is about discipleship. Are we fans of Jesus or really followers of him in discipleship? Dallas Willard defines discipleship as followers who are willing to do anything and everything to master the craft. As followers of Christ, the ultimate craft is to love. From, 1 Corinthians 13:1-7, 13 (The Message), Benjie shares how we must pursue love with intimacy and vulnerability. As we enter vulnerability, we feel naked. Are we willing to be naked in front of God, so He can see our sins and pains? Our pursuit of God involves great fear and pain. Christ became naked and broken for us. When we become naked, God will clothe us in His love. He will heal and redeem us in His timing. Discipleship is relational, not transactional. As we pursue love, the byproducts will be change. God is the one that will change us. The price has already been paid by Jesus, so we’re free. The call for discipleship is to pursue love.

by Arnold Wang

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Sermon Rewind 1/27/13 - Busy With God

Matthew 28:18-20

New International Version (NIV)

¹⁸ Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

What is a disciple of God? Pastor Peter examined this question as Jesus gave the Great Commission to His disciples in Matthew 28:18-20. Simply put, a disciple is a follower of Jesus, one who is baptized and tries to teach and obey all His commands. The prerequisite to being a disciple is that we have to be a follower of Christ first. As disciples, we are able to teach with authority because Jesus promises to be with us until the last days. To be an effective disciple, we must spend time with Jesus. We often show our love for a person by spending time with them, and it is no different with Jesus. Quality time requires quantity time, and we each were made uniquely to spend time with God in our own way. What is one way God has created you to have a relationship with Him, and to reach out to others?

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Sermon Rewind 1/13/13 - Wrestling With God

Genesis 32:22-31

New International Version (NIV)

Jacob Wrestles With God

²² That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two female servants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. ²³ After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions. ²⁴ So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. ²⁵ When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. ²⁶ Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.”

But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”

²⁷ The man asked him, “What is your name?”

“Jacob,” he answered.

²⁸ Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel,^[a] because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.”²⁹ Jacob said, “Please tell me your name.”

But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?” Then he blessed him there.

³⁰ So Jacob called the place Peniel,^[b] saying, “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.”

³¹ The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel,^[c] and he was limping because of his hip.

Benjie Kim shared about ‘encountering God in the midst of ugliness’ from his reflections during a recent vision trip to Thailand. Despite being a deceiver and a liar, Jacob encountered God in Genesis 32:22-31. An encounter with God does not require (a formula for) us to remove our idols. An encounter with God requires us to confront our past; to understand that all we really want in life is blessings; and to embrace your limp. Jacob wrestled with God all night long, and was taken to all the places he doesn't want to go. He gave you your pain and weakness to embrace and empower. God’s blessings communicate He sees you, He loves you, and He has your back. We are all created to receive a blessing from God. It's about our Lord Jesus Christ becoming weak first to save us.

by Arnold Wang

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Sermon Rewind 1/6/13 - Being Thankful

Cindy Park spoke last Sunday about starting the new year with an mindset and heart of gratitude, living in the present and giving thanks for even the smallest things in life. There is nothing wrong in planning for tomorrow, but we cannot be consumed with it. Neither should we be worried about what tomorrow will bring.  Whether we live in the worry of tomorrow or the fantasy of tomorrow, both take us away from today.  We are to be grateful for what we have now. God the Father is not limited by what we do not have, just as when He was able to feed the five thousand with five loaves of bread and two fish.

We are to pause and think on what God has given to us. Just as Jesus trusted the Father, we are called to trust Him, in all things. We are to follow Christ, trust Christ, in this moment, beyond our pains and doubts.



by Ed Chu

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Sermon Rewind 12/30/12 - Seeking The Presence Of God

Exodus 3:1-12
Moses and the Burning Bush
When we do, we will find out three things: What God cares about, what He is doing about it, and how you can be involved. We can spend time with God by purposefully making time in our schedule, engaging in practices (prayer, silence and solitude, etc.), and being involved with our community.

New International Version (NIV)

3 Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.² There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. ³ So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.”

⁴ When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush,“Moses! Moses!”
And Moses said, “Here I am.”
⁵ “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” ⁶ Then he said, “I am the God of your father,^[a] the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.
⁷ The Lord said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. ⁸ So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. ⁹ And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. ¹⁰ So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”
¹¹ But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”
¹² And God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you^[b] will worship God on this mountain.”

As we begin a new year, Tommy Nixon shared what he felt should be our most important to focus in 2013 - to seek to be in the presence of God. Moses’ first encounter with God is recounted in Exodus 3:1-12 in the form of a burning bush. Moses was so close to the presence of God but he didn't even know it. But when he decided to finally move in, God spoke to Him and promised deliverance. God similarly wants to be with us and we need to enter into his presence.


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Sermon Rewind 12/23/12 - The Reason For The Season

Luke 2:8-15 
    

⁸ And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. ⁹ An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. ¹⁰ But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. ¹¹ Today in the town of David a Saviorhas been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. ¹² This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
¹³ Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

“Glory to God in the highest heaven,

and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

New International Version (NIV)

¹⁵ When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”

Newsong NOC celebrated Christmas as a family, with a service BROUGHT together by all ages. Every year, we celebrate Jesus because he did something incredible, all because of love. He came down from Heaven because He loves us so much that He wanted to be with us and build a direct relationship with us. He didn’t wait for us to become perfect so that we could be good enough for Him, but instead chose to come down in a scandalous, messy situation so that He could be good enough for us. May the lights and gifts this Christmas season remind us of the true Light and greatest Christmas present ever - Jesus.


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A Spirit-Led Life

John 3:8, New International Version (NIV)

"The wind blows wherever it pleases.  You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going.  So it is with everyone born of the Spirit."

Dave Brubaker shared one of his favorite Bible verses, John 3:8, a description the Spirit-led life.  It's exciting to see how Newsong NOC is living this out; just look at the retreat this past year, when people waited in line for 3-4 hours to be prayed over by Pastor Dave Gibbons.

What does the Spirit-led life look like?  Two indicators are that we are "out of control, and falling in love." He referenced three Tom Hanks movies that model this kind of living:

(1) "Castaway", a picture of the out of control life.  "Out of control" sometimes sounds like a negative, but it brings us out of comfort and makes us nervous, which can help us grow.  When we are

desperate, we rely on prayer.  

(2) "Sleepless in Seattle", a picture of falling in love, and having eyes of love.  Are you walking around

the world looking with love, and constantly seeing beauty in people?

(3) "Forrest Gump", Forrest was the master of John 3:8.  Like the white feather in the movie, he lived the out of control life, as he went from one thing to another.  Do you have that level of trust when you are out of control?  Plus he showed us a life of falling in love, even when that love wasn't reciprocated.  Ultimately the goal is not just to imitate Tom Hanks, but God himself, who showed his out of control, falling in love heart in John 3:16, giving up everything to be with us.

by Arnold Wang

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