SPEAKER Pastor Richard Kim (Gospel Life Mission Church)
Be Serious and Be Confident 1 John 2:28-3:10
Be Serious
- 1 John 2 – you need to be serious by doing what you are., for doing is a confirmation of being.
- The doing of righteousness is the confirmation of who we are.
- 2:29 – Doing right does not make you a Christian, but it shows and reveals that you are a Christian.
- During John’s time, enemies of his church were sharing with the church goers that they could be righteous without practicing righteousness.
- 3:6,7,9: These verses repeatedly reminds us that doing confirms being, practice of sin confirms that one is not a child of God.
- Be serious about obedience, stop ignoriong your sins. Learn to confess, talk, struggle and transform yourself through relying upon God.
- Being angry is not one’s personality, being people-pleasing, lustful, greedy, discontent are not part of one’s personality. Don’t ignore the sin in your life when God is ready to help you fight through it all.
Be Confident
- Many of us have confused seriousness with confidence, because most of us who are morally upright struggle with this issue.
- Where does your confidence in drawing near to God come from?
- Can you worship God after you: cuss out a person and get into a huge fight with them? watch porn and masturbate? fall into premarital sex? get drunk? cheat on an exam? get really busy and stop meeting with God? have not gone to church for a while? worshiped God all week?
- We unconsciously place our confidence in our work.
- Learn to be serious about doing, but be confident in being.
- Your confidence in Christ makes you who you are! You are a child of God, be confident in your being! Have confidence in your status, rather than your words and works.
- What does it mean to be one of God’s children? It means that you share in the baptism of Jesus Christ. God is pleased with you, because he is pleased with his son. Romans 6:3, Matthew 3:16-17, Zeph. 3:17
- A person who says I believe that Jesus rose from the dead, and says God doesn’t love me, does not understand the Gospel.
Application
- We fall all the time, but God wants us to come to Him because he is not angry or mad because of the cross.
- If you cannot go to Christ after you have sinned, you don’t know the cross.
- Hebrews 4:14-16 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are – yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
1. Prospective Small Group Leader: If you still have a desire to serve the ministry in a way that allows you to focus on deep growth, accountability and vulnerability with three or four brothers, please consider becoming a small group leader. We have extended this deadline for filling out the small group applications ONE MORE WEEK until Monday, May 18, 2009. Please pray about it and ask God whether He wants to use you to serve in this way. I encourage all of you to fill out an application and prayerfully consider being a leader next year.
2. Senior Banquet: We invite all CCM members, present and past, to join us at Shanghai Reds Restaurant in Marina Del Rey for a honoring of the seniors in CCM this year. It will take place at 6:00 pm on Wednesday, May 20, 2009. $25 for Seniors, $30 for CCM members, $35 for guest and alumni. See you there!
3. Beach Night: Are you tired of meeting for CCM at the same old UCLA campus lecture hall? Well, we are going to the BEACH this coming Thursday! If you would like to go, please meet us at Sunset Rec. Turnaround at 5 PM on Thursday for rides! Bring yourself, $5 for food, and an a smile because we are going to enjoy God, each other, and his creation all night long!
4. Prayer: We continue to encourage the ministry to pray for each other, for seekers of Christ, and for those that have not had an opportunity to know God. Stay consistent in your prayers because they are so powerful. 2 Thessalonians 5:16
Take care everyone and God Bless! Notes from Pastor Richard Kim’s sermon will be posted and pictures from the Small Group Outing at the Getty as well!
SPEAKER Pastor David Kim (The Garden Christian Fellowship)
The Posture of Mary Luke 10:38-42
Before we look at the posture of Mary, we will look at the problem of Martha.
- Martha was Distracted, v.40. She was caught up in a lot of good things such as preparing a great meal for Jesus and tidying up the house, but she was distracted by the busyness of life that it kept her from building her relationship with Jesus. It kept her from intimacy with God. We all do good things that are important, however we cannot get caught up by them and lose focus of what is most important – Jesus! (Matthew 6)
- Martha was Distressed, She worried and stressed about many things, but we are too blessed to be stressed. We are worried because we don’t trust in God, but we trust ourselves. If you are worried all the time, something is definitely wrong with your relationship with yourself, others and most importantly God. Psalm 121
- Martha was Demanding, She was upset that Mary wasn’t helping her and she became spiritually unstable. When you lose your intimate connection with God, you lose your JOY. If you serve in your own strength, you will burn out.
The Right Posture of Mary
- She had the posture of a disciple of Jesus, sitting and kneeling at the teacher’s feet.
- Mary not only knelt at Jesus’ feet, but she also gave a whole year’s wage in a matter of seconds in worship to God. John 12.
- Understand that Christ is in charge of not only the heavens and the earth, but the entire universe.
- Luke 6, understand that you can only have one Lord, thus you cannot be the Lord of your life.
- Only when we acknowledge Him as Lord do we lose our life to God, Galatians 2:20.
- Lord means Lord, Lord means maximum authority has been given to Jesus and we need to learn to Listen. We need to learn to take the posture of Mary and listen to God, even if we don’t like to hear or listen to it.
- Understand that the truth is not mean, the truth is truth and it would be mean if it wasn’t told to you.
- We show God our love, by listening to him and being obedient to his Word. John 13 – there is power in obedience.
- Your relationship with God is a dynamic, two-way relationship like David’s relationship.
Jesus weighs in
- He told Martha not to lose sight of the best and most important things in her life.
- He wanted them to understand that intimacy with him is the most powerful and greatest thing to have. It provides peace, power, love, and salvation.
- While men look toward the outward things, Jesus looks towards the heart.
- Jesus wants to commune with you, so stop taking your relationship with Jesus for granted, and start having great intimacy with your Lord, your personal Savior Jesus.
