Receiving from Heaven: It’s not that easy

V.27 – “A man can only receive what is given him from heaven.”  This was John’s response when his disciples told him that Jesus was baptizing others and that everyone was going to him.  This seemed to bother John’s disciples, and we’re not sure why.  Perhaps the disciples felt competitive with Jesus.  Perhaps the disciples felt insecure about their ministry as people flocked to Jesus and not to them.  It didn’t bother John though because he knew his place and his role.  He is not the bridegroom, but the friend, and he knew that there would come a moment where he has to step aside and allow the bridegroom—Jesus–to receive the spotlight.  Not only did John know that this would happen, but he anticipated it with joy.  A lot can be said about knowing that what I have I have because it was given to me from heaven.  A lot more can be said about being joyful, not just for what I have but when I see that others have more.  Receiving from heaven is not that easy.  Too often in my life I’ve hardly been  content with what I have because I see that others have more, and it eats me up alive.  I don’t feel joy, but envy.  And envy is from hell.  So I have a choice: I can humbly and joyfully receive what God wants to give me from heaven or I can desire more and receive what Satan wants to give me from hell.  Joy or envy: it’s my choice.  When I look at John the Baptist I see a man at peace and at rest.  “Lord, please help me to be that man.”

Pastor William Kang
Gracepoint Berkeley

Gracepoint Berkeley: What’s your Habakkuk?

One thing that we do every now and then is to write up our own Habakkuk 3:17-18.  Doing so helps us confront ourselves and what’s important to us at the time.  More importantly, it helps us commit to God, and it weans us off the things of this world.  Here’s mine (some serious, some not). 

Though my ministry does not bud
And there are no students in my group,
Though the Cal Football team fails
and produce another Holiday Bowl (or worse),
Though I have no emotional exuberance
And no strength in my body,
Yet I will rejoice in the Lord,
I will be joyful in God my Savior

What’s yours?  I hope you spend time thinking about it.

Quote of the week

"As soon as you learn to avoid evil thoughts, you will learn to avoid evil deeds."

 ~ Leo Tolstoy

Judgment Day

Hab. 3:2 – “Lord, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, O Lord.  Renew them in our day, in our time make them know; in wrath remember mercy. In the previous two chapters, God finished telling Habakkuk what he would do: judgment against his children through the terrible Babylonians.  Bitter medicine for Habakkuk and his people, but medicine that God’s people needed to swallow.  Habakkuk’s response in this verse is “thy will be done!”  He said he stood in awe of God’ deeds (referring to His plan to punish his people) and asked god to “renew them in our day.”  God is faithful, and we need to understand that he is faithful to his covenant, which his children disregarded, violated and rejected through the centuries.  I think I need to appreciate what’s going on here in order to appreciate what God did on the cross.  Like Israelites, I broke God’s covenant: I disregarded, violated and rejected his authority in my life, and I deserve judgment: death and eternal separation.  And like Habakkuk, I need to accept that this is what I deserve.  The amazing thing, though, imagining myself at the end of a noose, at the end of a firing line, at the foot of cross, waiting for my punishment, I look up and see that Jesus paid the penalty for me.  And now I am free! But instead of fleeing to the hills to avoid captor, I’m drawn to him, who is now my savior, as he hangs on the cross.  Yes, I’m free; But out of gratitude, and out of love, I freely and joyful surrender my life to the one who died for me.  Habakkuk reminds me of what God saved me from, and today I will thank Him and recommit my life to him. 

Did you do it?

This week we’re studying Habakkuk 3, and my first question is, "did you do it?"  Did you read Habakkuk chapter 1 and 2?  Sometimes it’s hard to glean what the Biblical text is saying without knowing the context, and if you want to get the most out of Habakkuk 3 then I suggest you read the first two chapters. So read it. It will only take a few minutes.

1 Thessalonians 4: Be Clean

V.7 – God did not call us to impure but to live a holy life.  The quality of my life needs to be separate and different from that of the world.  Just look at what the world does for entertainment.  Just look at how the world conducts itself and how the world treats others.  As a Christian, I should have nothing to do with anything that is morally filthy. I need to be better; My moral standards needs to be higher and it needs to be cleaner.  That’s what it means to be holy—to be separate and different from the world and to be like Christ. I think the mistake that many young Christians make is that they want to be like the world.  I’m not sure why.  The only reason I can think of is that they don’t want others to think that they’re weird.  But Christ was not like the world.  He was not like the culture, but transformed the culture around him. He did not become like the world.  He engaged the world and called the world to be like him.   Let’s be like Christ.  Let’s be clean.

Pastor William Kang
Gracepoint Fellowship Church

1 Thessalonians 4: Be Sanctified

Hey actsf2fellowship,

This week’s daily devotion on 1 Thesslonians 4 is quite important.  God wants us to be sanctified (or made holy, set apart from the world) by reforming how opposite genders relate to one another.  This DT is important because it addresses a significant part of our lives, and how we conduct ourselves can really make us different from the rest of the world.  When Thessalonians was written, the world was very immoral, and Paul called the Thessalonian christians to leave their former lives and to adopt God’s biblical standards regarding this area.  Knowing what’s out there in the world, sometimes I feel that the times haven’t changed, and so it’s important that we be sanctified, or set apart to a higher level of moral living.  I pray that the Holy Spirit will speak to you and convict your hearts: maybe there are some things that need to change, maybe there are somethings that need to go.  Let’s be sanctified!

Pastor William Kang
Gracepoint Fellowship Church

Colossians 3: Giving it all I’ve got

"Whatever you do, work at it will all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward.”  This was a command given to the slaves in Paul’s audience.  I’m not sure what kind of opportunities slaves had to serve God.  But Paul told them to be faithful to God by doing their best in their service to their master.  They were to work for their master as if they were working for the Lord.  This text calls us to practice the presence of God.  Though our employer might not see everything that we do, we have reasons and cause to give it our best for no other reason than the fact that we will “receive an inheritance from the Lord.”  There’s a relationship between being faithful to what God has given to use and the inheritance that we will receive.  God is the Lord of everything, not just church work.  He is our Lord, and our lives don’t necessarily revolve around church all the time.  We have school and work, and it’s important that we serve faithfully.  Paul says in v.24 that it is Christ that we are serving.  So the next time that I prepare anything, I’ve got to do it faithfully, remembering that I’m doing it for Christ. 

Colossians 3: What’s Up?

Vv.1-3.  Paul commands, “Set my heart on things above.”  What’s above?  According to v.1 it is Christ, seated at the right hand of God.  Why should I set my heart on things above?  It’s because I have been raised with Christ.  Paul continues in v.2, “Set my mind (not heart) on things above, not on earthly things.”  Why?  Because I died (to my earthly life), and my life is now hidden with Christ in God.  What does it mean that my life is hidden with Christ in God?  I’m not quite sure, but one thing it does tell me that my life is in a special place—a holy place, in the presence of God, with my Lord.  And so, it makes sense then that what enters my mind and my heart, what my mind and my heart dwell on, should be on things that please Him.  As a father of a boy and a girl I care greatly about what goes into their hearts and their minds because I know that they will dwell upon them and they will construct a value system and an ethic by which they’re going to live by.  How do I know?  I just need to look at my life: the person I became, before I was Christian, was influenced by what I read, by what I saw, by what I listened to,  and by what I constructed from my experience of life.  And the person I became after I was a Christian was shaped by God’s word, the life of Christ, and the message embodied by faithful mentors.  I need to be very careful about what I choose to do for entertainment, what I read, what I see, what I hear and what I allow into my heart and my mind because they will shape me.  If those things are earthly, then they don’t belong with me in the presence of God and with Christ.  What are "the things above?"  Aren’t they the things that I can talk to Christ about–about his beautiful creation, about spiritual warfare and what I can do, about his words, about people I care about?  Inversely, what are “the earthly things?”  Aren’t they the things that I wouldn’t dare bringing before the presence of my Lord and of my God.  I pray for wisdom and for discretion, to know what is above and what is below, and I pray for courage that I may choose what’s up and reject what’s below.

Let’s get more specific.  What are "the things above" and "the things below" for college students today?  Please comment. Love to hear from you.

Pastor William Kang
Gracepoint Fellowship Church

Summer MIssion Trip: Honduras 1

Some of us went to Honduras for a medical mission trip this summer.  Gordon Lai made a video slide show of the Honduras 1 team.  Needless to say it was a life changing experience for our students and staff.   Check it out!

Gracepoint Forum

Hi everyone, Daniel Kim (A2F1) started a forum blog site where you can get your apologetics questions answered.  Daniel Kim is one of the funniests and smartest guys I know.  He really knows his stuff, though sometimes, because of all of his antics, which can be viewed on disgracepoint, you might just think he’s a funny guy.  Here’s a picture of Daniel, an avid PC man, holding–yes–and Apple I-Pod.  So visit the site, and when you do can you ask him about the dinosaurs?  I’d really like to know.

 

Philippians 1: Worthy of the Gospel

 V.27 – Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. The gospel is so worthy that it is worth being lived out in a pure and blameless way.  Let’s face it, the gospel of Christ is the only message in town.  It is the only message that offers salvation and hope for a dying world.  It is the greatest message; it’s the only message.  It’s a message that Christ, and many others, died for.  This command suggests that those who bring the gospel cannot live anyway they want.  They have to live in a manner that is worthy of the gospel.  Those who bring the gospel to others—those who call themselves followers of Jesus—need to be men and women of character. To be a person of character is to be a person who is considerate to others by being blameless in his actions and speech.  To be a man or a woman of character is to have kingdom values: it’s to call what God calls good as good and what He calls bad as bad.  To be a man or a woman of character is to be Christ-like.  It is to be like him when he lived and to be like him when he died.  Christ loved people.  He put others before himself, even when he died.  How can I conduct myself in a manner worthy of the gospel?  It’s by living my life as Christ did.

Philippians 1: Abounding Love

In verse 9, we see Paul’s prayer and his prayer is that their (Philippian’s) love may about more and more.  So far no problems; we can see how Paul, or anyone, would want such things.  What’s interesting though is that Paul wants the Philippian’s love to abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight.  Love requires knowledge and depth of insight.  In short, love requires wisdom because love isn’t just a feeling.  It’s action.  It’s real decisions and choices that affect my heart, the lives of others and God.  I need wisdom so that I can discern what is best and be pure and blameless. It would do me and the ones I love a lot of good if I read more Bible and listened carefully to those whose outcome of life are worthy to be imitated. 

Summer Intramurals: Check it out

Hope everyone is enjoying Summer IMs.  We have some neat highlights from the games.  Yesterday, Jackson Lao scored on me in the last minute of our soccer game to tie it.  It was exciting (and humbling).  I hope it doesn’t make the highlights or, worse, disgracepoint.

Dish-Gracepoint!

Our very own Tom Kim (a2f1) started a cooking blog.  If you’re looking for some good recipes, you might want to check it out!

Friends Forever

Well, we sent Pastor Manny, Sunny and the others off to Austin.  Here’s a picture of the directors at Lake Spaulding.  It’s hard to believe that we’ve been serving God as brothers and sisters in Christ for almost 20 years.  When you have a chance, please lift up a prayer for our Austin team!

Isaiah 40: A drop in a bucket

vv.15-20. In these verses Isaiah compares (or rather contrasts) God to others. Who has measured the waters, who has held the dust of the earth, who has weighed the mountains, who has understood the mind of he Lord, etc. The answer is no one. God is incomparable in the sense that God is the creator of nature and that he has dominion over it (we see him "measuring" creation as a merchant would measure one of his own products). What other person could claim such powers? Surely not other nations, as Isaiah continues in v.15. The other nations (At his time, there was the existence of Greek city states, Assyria and possibly the founding the Rome), are like a drop in a bucket. These nations are regarded as dust on a scale. So powerful is God that he weighs islands as dust on the scales. If God could weigh these islands, then he could measure (or have dominion) these nations, that are mighty in the eyes of the people, but are only a drop in a bucket to God. One lesson this shows is that we need to see the world as God sees it. I’m sure that the people in Isaiah’s time were impressed by what they saw in the nations, but to God they were as nothing (Is. 40:17).
    By the time v.18 rolls around, the answer to the question posed–To whom, then, will you compare God–is obvious. There is no one to compare God to, not even idols (v.19). Idols themselves and mere creations of nations that are like drops in a bucket. An idol is anything other than God that we depend on for significance and security. We look to them, more than we do God, to make us feel good inside or to give us some type of hope. The problem with idolatry is that it doesn’t work: it’s a sham because the idols back then were mere stones or wood carvings. The idols of today–well, you probably know what they are–have different shapes and forms, but they still play the same role (and still fail to deliver). I have a God who is wholly other. He is different. He is powerful, and he personally loves me and cares for me. This text has made plain who God is.  He is the only one worthy of my worship and my love.  It would be sad, wouldn’t it, to be impressed by a drop in a bucket.

Isaiah 40: God tends his flock like a shepherd

Who is God and what is he like? In v.10, God is a god of power. In v.11 He is personal, he is tender and he is compassionate. It struck me in v.11 that these descriptions of God are in the present tense: he tends his flock like a shepherd, gathers the lambs in his arms, carries them close to his heart, and gently leads those that have young.   I don’t know what the Israelites impression of God was at that time. Perhaps they didn’t think much of him, or they thought he was too distant to care. However, Isaiah shows that God is very personal and very involved.  And so, though we might not see God’s involvement in our daily daily lives, these words show that God is personally involved.   Sometimes I feel that I can go for an entire day or even an entire week without thinking about God’s personal involvement in my life. For me to say that God had nothing to do with my daily life would be a mistake, especially in light of what Isaiah reveals about God. It’s comforting to know that, though I don’t see God’s direct involvement, He is with me, tending my like a sheep in his flock and that he carries me close to his heart. It would do me well to be more grateful to him, to express it and to show it by being humble before him and by loving others.

Sharing from Isaiah 40

"[Jerusalem] has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins." God communicates to his people that the punishment is complete, and uses hyperbolic language (received double for her sins), to tell her that her sins have been paid for, that the Mosaic covenant has been honored. What an important message for people to hear, that her sins have been paid for. When I look at my life, isn’t it true that I feel guilty when I sin? And I could go on feeling guilty forever and forever. And for the rest of my life I could live a life trying to deny the guilt, blaming others for it and kicking myself in the head for it. God wanted his people to know that their sins have been paid for and that she can now live in comfort, not in fear or guilt. God gave them a new chance, a new life. It’s like God was saying, "forget the past and forget the sins. It’s been paid for, and what’s more important is your future and what I’m going to do for you." And that is the same message that God gave me through the cross. As the hymn goes, "Jesus paid it all." Jesus paid for all of my sins, and so I do not need to live a life of guilt, but of daily repentance and daily surrender to the God who can guide me and lead me to live a faithful life. The cross is always there for me, waiting to wash me of my sins and guilt. The challenge is for me to make the time, to slow down, to humble my heart and to confess to my Savior that I need Him. I would be a fool not to do so daily.

DT Sharing from Isaiah 1

Isaiah 1:10 - Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom; listen tot he law of our God. In this chapter, we see God bringing his charge against Israel. God accuses her of rebellion (vv.2, 4) and independence and ignorance of His law, and their relationship with him, in verse 3. And in vv.5-8 God paints a picture of Israel’s spiritual condition, and that condition is very poor. You get the feeling that Israel was about as healthy as a boxer who was badly beaten up in a fight. God’s first command to them is in v.10: "hear and listen to the Lord and his law." You figure that anyone who is in this kind of condition would have no problems listening to God, but the truth of the matter was the Israelites weren’t listening. They thought they were listening, and they thought they were doing doing well. They participated in all of the religious festivals, and when it came to religious duty they were dutiful. They probably thought that they were a champion prize fighter, rather than a beaten up boxer. But God wasn’t looking at what they brought to the temple but at their lives–their daily lives and how they treated one another. And from His assessment, which is the only assessment that counts, the Israelites were in poor shape, and God tells the Israelites to listen and to hear. I would do me well, I think, to listen and hear the word of God. That’s a no brainer. But I think I need to especially hear and listen when I think that I’m doing well spiritually. When I think I’m doing well it’s easy to gloss over the Bible when I’m doing my devotions. When I think I’m doing well it’s easy to tune out when I listen to messages. Why? It’s because I’m doing well, and I don’t think the message or the word applies. I won’t say that of course, but I’ll gloss over the text and I won’t dig through it. What’s dangerous about this is that I could be living a life where I’m completely blind to my faults and my sins. In God’s eyes I could be a beaten up boxer, instead of a champion fighter. G.K. Chesteron said, "There are many, many angles at which one can fall, but only one angle at which one can stand straight." What’s important when it comes to Christian living is that I stand "straight," not "doing well." I could be living a life where I’m 89 degrees upright (and looking like I’m doing well). But I need to be at the one angle by which I’m standing straight. To do that I need to hear and listen to God’s word, especially when I think I’m doing well.