Sunday, February 23, 2014

Influencing Others by Sharing Our Lives - 1 Thessalonians 2:1-12

Samuel S. Bang

The Christian faith has been passed down the past 2,000 years not only through its teaching but through the demonstration of lives lived in faith. All of us are influenced and shaped by the people and things around us. Unfortunately, in spite of advances in technology and social media, we feel more and more isolated from true role models and mentors in our lives who we can imitate and pattern our lives after. This is not how it's meant to be. To truly embrace God's design for transformation, we must be willing to reconsider some cherished ideas about individualism and community.

Sunday, February 16, 2014

We Are Not What We Should Be - Romans 8:18-25; 1 John 3:2-3; Philippians 3:12-14, 20-21

Samuel S. Bang

The Spiritual Life as a Journey.
"This life, therefore, is not righteousness, but growth in righteousness, not health but healing, not being but becoming, not rest but exercise. We are not yet what we shall be, but we are growing toward it; the process is not yet finished, but it is going on. This is not the end, but it is the road; all does not yet gleam in glory, but all is being purified." - Martin Luther

Sunday, February 9, 2014

Thirst and Hunger - Psalm 63:1-5

Jin H. Cho

What does it mean to live 'the good-life'? The predominant way in which we think of human well-being is fulfillment of desires. But the way in which we seek to fulfill our desires is often the very thing that destroys us. Which means that our desperate striving to fulfill our desires is often self-contradictory—our search for satisfaction leads right back to hunger! The greatest challenge we face as individuals and as a culture is how to heal our desires, find freedom from them, and lead our cravings back to the Living Water. I hope you take up the challenge.

Sunday, February 2, 2014

Changes - Matthew 6:9-13

Jin H. Cho

Change is Always Coming
Some of us look forward to it, while others struggle with it. Some of us feel we can impact change in our lives, while others think it is something that happens to us that we can only cope with. The Scriptures asks "can a leopard change its spots?" while exhorting us to make choices that honor God. How we approach change, can make a huge difference in what sort of changes actually occur in our lives.