Cross Community Church, Irvine - Messages: Samuel S. Bang

Showing posts with label Samuel S. Bang. Show all posts

Sunday, March 23, 2014

Sins of Omission - Not Doing What We Ought - James 4:13-17

Samuel S. Bang

Third Week of Lent
"History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people." This often quoted observation by Martin Luther King, Jr. is a vivid reminder that the good things we fail to do often has deeper consequences than the sins we commit. Too many of us have grown up with an unbalanced view of sanctification as simply avoiding sin instead of growing in righteousness. Godliness is both avoiding sin AND doing what is right before God. Let us pursue this together this Lenten season.

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, January 26, 2014

YoYo Spirituality, Part 2 - Judges 2:6-10; Ephesians 5:15-21

Samuel S. Bang

Even a cursory reading of the Bible reveals that the people of God throughout history have struggled being faithful to God. Are we destined to live a YoYo like spiritual life: Loving God one moment, only to wander from the God we love shortly thereafter? Are we destined to make resolutions every new year, only to have them face away in a few weeks? Or does the Scripture offer us a better path? It's a question worth exploring together.