APA - Appreciating Pastor Appreciation

Yesterday, I attended Pastors' Appreciation Luncheon hosted by a local Bay Christian Area radio station KFAX AM 1100. Here is what I learned at the Pastoral Appreciation. KFAX invited Alistair Begg as the keynote speaker (who is a pastor with a distinct Scottish accent...I appreciate a good Scottish accent by the way). I am thankful that God spoke through Alistair Begg and reminded me why preaching is the fundamental core of any church ministry. Here is my APA - what I appreciated in Pastor's Appreciation luncheon.

Pastor Begg shared that many contemporary churches emphasize prayer and praise but leave out preaching. Some churches even emphasize "all worship" or "all prayer" or "all fellowship" and stress "no sermon". However, the reason preaching is so important is because God shared salvation through His word. Preaching in its essence is to speak God's word to others.

After 24 hours to mull over this, I look back at the Bible and see that God didn't bring salvation through music, prayer, or fellowship, but through the word! John 1:14 (NIV) states that "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth." The Word of God became flesh! The Word of God is Jesus Christ. So when we proclaim God's word, we proclaim Jesus Christ.

This is reminder to me and I think a powerful message to all of us that salvation comes through the Word of God. A person cannot be saved without sharing the Gospel. We must believe in our hearts and confess with our mouths that Jesus is Lord. No matter how powerful a worship session is, no matter how intense a prayer meeting is, and no matter how close a fellowship is, this alone cannot save a person from sin and death. Only preaching the Word and the Gospel of Jesus Christ can save a person for eternity.

So I hope that this message is both a reminder for me and a message to you that going to church is not enough to be saved, thanking God is not enough to save us, praying 24/7 is not good enough...All of us must hear God's word and share God's word. That is the main call of any Christian. We might do this in different forms: prayer, music, fellowship, and ministries. But, we must never forgot the Gospel is the center of everything we are and everything we do.

"Lord Jesus Christ, help me to read your word, hear your message, and proclaim your Gospel to the world. In the name of Jesus Christ, I pray, amen."

A Spirit of Thanksgiving

Halloween has come and gone...I know because the Spirit of Halloween shops are starting to close up and make way for new business...Ushering the holiday season of Thanksgiving and Christmas (my two favorite holidays of the year). I made a comment to my wife the other day that I should start my own store called Spirit of Thanksgiving and Spirit of Christmas. In fact, I saw Christmas decorations and Thanksgiving supplies showing up at Target even before Halloween!

Thanksgiving in the U.S. is commonly traced back to the early American pilgrims who gave thanks for a good harvest. However, the true spirit of thanksgiving goes wayyyyyyyyyy farther back. In fact, the Psalmist David says, "Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song." You can read more in Psalm 95:1-2.

Leah and I dressing as Ellie and Karl from the Pixar Movie UP.

I want to remind us all as we begin preparing for Thanksgiving to not just prepare our stomachs for all the delicious turkey, mashed potato, smoked ham, and pumpkin pies...But, to also prepare our hearts in a spirit of Thanksgiving. We have soooo much to be grateful for this season. We have a roof over our heads. We have a family that lives with us. We have food every night for dinner. Not everyone is so blessed this Thanksgiving. In fact, some people will not be celebrating Thanksgiving this year. So I hope that you will stop, pray, and thank God for providing for you and your family today.

Have you stopped and prayed for the recent victims of super typhoon Haiyan? Did you know we currently support Alex Tan, a missionary in Philippines, who is in the middle of this tragedy? Please pray for Alex Tan and the victims of Haiyan. I want to write a short prayer out loud here on my blog.

"Heavenly Father. Break our heart for what breaks yours. Help us to step out of our own "daily comforts" and see how desperately the world needs you. It is unjust that some people have more than enough to eat because they were raised in wealth and some people never have enough to eat because they were raised in poverty. Please send your comforting presence to those in need this season in the Philippines and with Alex Tan as well as other countries. Our hope is found in your Gospel that you sent your Son Jesus Christ to die on the cross for all mankind - rich and poor, young and old, and every man, woman, and child. God, I am thankful that you have adopted me as your son and I pray that this day many more will enter your family and kingdom. In the name of Jesus Christ, the Savior and Messiah...Amen."

Why is fellowship so important?

I've just returned from a recent trip down to visit our friends in LA (near Biola University). My wife and I held our good friend's newborn baby, we had a late night fellowship and snacks at Guppies, and we connected with a lot of college friends. I am reminded as I write this new blog post why church AND fellowship is so important. This will be a little different than my previous posts and I think from now on, I will start integrating more topics on church, faith, and spirituality in addition to daily bible devotional. Also, I probably will shift into sharing more personal stories of my own life. So I hope you readers don't mind learning more about me and my life with Jesus Christ! So let's dig in.

Before I can answer why fellowship is so important, I first have to answer what is fellowship? Usually, when I hear people talk about "youth fellowship" or "adult fellowship", I usually hear about the activities: special event, games, bible study, prayer, etc... I hear this question all the time, "What are we "doing" tonight?". But really, fellowship is not simply an activity, it is not what we "do". Fellowship is in fact a relationship. Like what I did there? The emphasis is not in the doing but in the being.

(Our Biola classmates together at Guppies Tea house in Rowland Heights)

So the reason why fellowship is so important is actually quite simple. Because the Bible shares many passages about the importance of fellowship and church unity! Act 2:42-47 is just one of many verses that talks about early church fellowship that says,

"They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved."

Being in fellowship draws people together closer to God. So there are two important relationships happening here: One is a vertical relationship between us and God. Second is a horizontal relationship between you, me, and others. We are the body of Christ! So the next time, you are thinking about if I should go to fellowship at church or why fellowship is important. Go ahead read the Bible, do a Google search on fellowship, or think about the purpose of church. I think you and I can both find that we are called to serve God in community and relationship with one another.