Jacob - Genesis 43:13-14

Everyone has a character.  What do you think about a person¡¯s character? 

How does a character develop?

1. It is born within us
2. As we grow, it develops
3. Some things were born within us and some things were developed as we grow
4. I¡¯m not sure.

Which of these do you think is the right answer of how a character is developed?

Jacob literally means ¡°grabbing the ankle¡± or ¡°liar/thief¡±.  His older twin brother was Esau.  The Israelites always blessed the oldest son, but Jacob stole his birthright.  Esau was out catching game while Jacob was eating.  Jacob bought Esau¡¯s birthright by selling Esau a pot of stew.  Jacob had the help of his mother to approach Isaac to get the blessing from Isaac.  Isaac was able to tell that Jacob¡¯s voice and smell was Jacob, but Isaac still blessed Jacob.  Esau got mad and tried to kill Jacob, but Rebekah (Jacob¡¯s mom) sent Jacob to her brother¡¯s house to flee from Esau. 

Jacob also has another character.  Esau loved Isaac and Isaac loved Esau, and Rebekah loved Jacob but not Esau.  The parents showed favoritism. 

Now at his uncle¡¯s house, there were two daughters, Leah and Rachel.  Jacob loved Rachel and his uncle promised him Rachel if he would work for 7 years.  So the night of their marriage, his uncle sent Leah instead of Rachel, but he didn¡¯t love Rachel.  This is because of the law in his tribe.  An older sister must marry first.  SO Jacob had to work another 7 years to receive Rachel.  Rachel bore Jacob Joseph and Benjamin, but Leah bore him 7 sons.  Since Jacob loved Rachel more than Leah, he loved Joseph the most out of all of his sons.  He now, like his parents, is showing favoritism. 

The 9 brothers of Joseph were jealous of Joseph so they sold him to some Egyptians. 

God has given us our character when we are born.  If we end up developing characters as we grow up, that also is a gift from God.  Why were we born under our respective parents?  Why were we born in the USA?  But God doesn¡¯t want us to live by our characters.

Because Jacob loved Joseph so much, God took him away.  Jacob lived by his own character, so God took away his loved ones.  Rebekah died before Isaac and Rachel died before Leah, and Joseph was taken away from him.  Finally, Benjamin is taken away from Jacob when Joseph was testing his brothers.  Joseph tested them by bringing Benjamin to them.  Jacob could not let go of Benjamin, and it was then that he realized that all of those he favored were being taken away from him.  Because there was a great famine, Jacob could do nothing but send Benjamin.  He was willing to let go of Benjamin to bring all of his sons back.  This shows that he has lost his character.  He wanted to get rid of his bad character of favoritism.  Once he was able to do this, he was able to receive not only Benjamin, but his long-lost Joseph. 

We may have in-born characters, and we may have developed characters, but the important thing is to let go of our own characters and live according to the Word. 

God loved all of Jacob¡¯s 10 sons, not just Joseph and Benjamin.  God wanted to bless all of them, but because Jacob favored only two of them, God put Jacob through trials to make him shed his character of favoritism. 

If we do not let go of our characters, God will cause His will to be shown through whatever means He desires.  He will do this until we fix our character and our lifestyle. 

Announcements

1. Please don't forget to pay your dues.
2. Memorize March's Bible verse.
3. Bring in your COMPLETED prayer cards.
4. We will be witnessing in Flushing on Sunday instead of Bible study.
5. We will be coloring Easter eggs on Saturday, April 15, at 2pm at Phil's house.  If you were assigned to bring eggs, please boil them and bring them.
6. Following easter egg coloring, we will be attending Eunyoung Hong's graduation recital.  The van will be driving us.
7. If you are interested in attending JAMA, please make your final decisions by Sunday, April 16.

Stages of Faith - Ezekiel 47:1-5

What does it mean for something to be alive or living? 

-         breathing

-         love

-         heartbeat

-         digestion

-         GROWING

We can tell if something is living by the fact that it must grow.  For example, children are living things because they grow.  There are living stages or steps in which people/living things grow.  At the 100 days after a child is born, they start turning over.  At their first birthday, they start walking.  During successive years, they start running. 

We are spiritually dead people.  We died when Adam and Eve committed original sin.  God said that people will die when they eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.  But through Jesus Christ we have been revived.  Now that we have become alive Christians, we must grow.  In order to grow, we must take steps. 

We see in Ezekiel, he took 4 steps in order to grow. 

There is water flowing from a source for 1000 cubits.  Ezekiel was told to measure the water and it came to his ankles.  They told him to measure the water another 1000 cubits later.  It then came to his knees.  After another 1000 cubits, the water rose to his hips.  After another 1000 cubits, the water over took him.

Ankle-deep = people who come and go to church (These people know how to pray too, but they pray only on behalf of their own interests.)

Knees-deep = people who know how to pray (hence the knee-deep). These people pray for others and are intercessory prayer warriors.

Waist-deep = There are two meanings – 1. power (our power comes from our waist)  2.  middle (our focus is on God)

Overwhelmed = people who are filled with the Holy Spirit.  These people do everything God desires.  They can do only that. 

Think of your own faith.  Where does the water come up to?  God desires us to be overwhelmed with His Holy Spirit.  He wants us to follow where the Spirit leads us. 

Everyone lives in different stages.  How can we reconcile the differences?

Those who are in the higher stages must understand and help those who are in the lower stages.  People are ignorant to (look down to) those lower than them but they forget that they were in that stage before.  So those who are in the higher stages must understand and help those who are in the lower stages. 

How should the people in the lower stages behave?  They must acknowledge that they are in the lower stages and they must learn from their experiences and others.  They must strive to go to those higher stages.  If they don’t strive, it means their faith is either dead or sick. 

When new employees come into a company, there is much training from those who were there previously.  Your superior would know how to train you because this person would have had experience in the work you are receiving training in.  This is called a mentor.  We must have spiritual mentors so that when we face difficult situations, we can to go this spiritual mentor to ask for help and advice in experiences they’ve had.  We can find spiritual mentors even through authors of Christian books.  There are so many Christian books out there with authors who have experienced so many different things. 

4 stages of faith

ankle, knee, waist, full

Waist and full must understand and help.

Ankle and knee must acknowledge and learn. 

Ezekiel 47:9

So where the river flows, everything will live. 
This water revives.  This is the output/response God will give us if we follow these steps.  We must step into the light.  When we do this, we can change ourselves, our families, our communities, our churches, our cities, America and the world. 

Announcements

1. Please don't forget to give in your dues to your small group leaders.  $5 for students and $10 for working peoples.
2. We will be meeting at 3PM AT CHURCH to start filming our music video for our Easter presentation.  If you need a ride, please contact Helen or Liz.
3. We are meeting on Saturday, April 15, we will be meeting at church at 12:30 to head over to Phil's house to color eggs.  If you were assigned to boil eggs, please don't forget to bring them. 
4. We will also be attending Hong Eun Young's graduation ceremony in the city right after egg coloring.
5. If you want to come bowling THIS FRIDAY (March 24) we will be going to suppor Cris and his band.  Please give Liz a call if you want/need a ride.

Genesis 4:25-26

As Christians, we should not criticize others without an alternative solution.  For example, Lee GSN’s situation at work: long hours and lots of work, but the workers didn’t offer any alternative solutions. 

Exodus 2: 23-25 – Moses means to save from water.  The Israelites have been in Egypt for 400 years and became slaves.  They called out to God, and He sent Moses.  Instead of negotiating with the King, Moses thought of an alternative solution.  He decided to bring His people into Canaan, the promised land.

Luke 3:23-38 – Genealogy of Jesus.  The genealogy in Matthew goes downward (from Abraham to Jesus) whereas the genealogy in Luke goes upward (from Jesus to Abraham).  The first thing that happened outside the Garden of Eden was murder.  Since Adam and Eve ate the fruit, we have been following in their footsteps committing sin.  If we look in the genealogy, Cain and Abel are extinguished from the records.  Seth became the alternative solution to Cain and Abel.  (Seth is recorded in the genealogy. 

Seth was an alternative solution to Can and Abel.  Moses was an alternative solution for the Israelites. 

Sin has bound us to slavery.  But Jesus has set us free and called us sons and daughters of God.  Jesus was our alternative solution. 

The difference between a slave and a son is that a slave only acts once the owner speaks.  The son has freedom to do whatever he pleases. 

We have to free others.  We must become a Moses to them. 

God wanted to free us from the beginning, but Adam and Eve have sinned and caused us to become slaves.  God has freed us, however, through Jesus Christ. 

Announcements

1. We are collecting dues for our small group meetings.  Our next small group outing will be on Friday, March 17.  Please meet at the Flushing sam won gahk at 8:15pm.  We will eat dinner as a whole congregation then split up into small groups for the after-party.  Please bring at least $15 with you to spend for the night.
2. Bible studies are at Daniel's house from 10:30 am to 11:30 am.  Please let us know if you need a ride.
3. Our next prayer meeting is on Friday, April 7.  Please join us for an awesome time of intercessory prayer.
4. On Saturday, April 15, we will be meeting to color Easter eggs and also go to support Eunyoung's graduation recital.  Please mark your calendars.
5. We are still collecting donations for the drumset.  Please place your donations in our pink offering envelopes. 
6. If you are interested in coming to Chris' Battle of the Bands concert this Friday, March 10, please let Liz know.  THANKS!

Have a blessed rest of the week everyone!

Sermon notes from February 17, 2006

Genesis 4:3-8

“Cain and Abel”

Why do people sin?  Desire

What does the Bible say about people committing sins?  (James 1:15)  Desire causes us to sin, sin give birth to death.

Gyun moon seng shim – when someone has something and you want it. 

For example, we want a laptop and so we go eye shopping at Best Buy.  There, there are tons of computers and so we want them all.  But we don’t have money so we go back day after day to look at it, and eventually we have a desire to steal it.  And from this desire, if we don’t overcome it, it will cause us to sin. 

Desire causes us to sin.  So do all sins come from desire? 

Cain was the first murderer.  Why did Cain sin?  Jealousy and selfishness. 

Cain was a farmer and Abel was a shepherd.  They both offered up sacrifices to God, but God only took Abel’s.  Cain was downcast and angry.  God said, “Why are you angry and downcast?  If you do what is right, would you not be accepted?  But if you do not do what is right, then sin is crouching at your door.”  God warned Cain to overcome sin before it gave birth to death.  But Cain ended up killing Abel.  So why did Cain kill Abel?  Cain killed Abel because he was mad at God.  He, of course, was mad at Abel too, but he thought God was being unfair since he took Abel’s sacrifices and not his.  Cain let out his anger towards God onto Abel.  Most situations cause us to sin because of desire. 

Say we have a friend, and this friend doesn’t come to church that much and lives life comfortably.  We think to ourselves, I pray more, I’m smarter and I live life more fully than him.  But then this other friend ends up going to a better college and getting a better job.  We can become very angry because of this unfair outcome.  This situation can turn into one like Cain and Abel’s.  If we do not overcome this hatred or unfair feelings toward God at this moment, we will end up sinning. 

This can take place at church too.  We can see others who do not serve God as faithfully or as diligently as us.  But we must not think of it as being unfair or else sin will come crouching at our door. 

So what is the right thing to do?  We must follow God’s word.  The words in the Bible are the decisions God made.  God not taking Cain’s sacrifice and taking Abel’s is righteousness.  But Cain, not recognizing that, sinned because he thought it was unfair. 

We spoke about judging others during Bible study today.  We tend to judge others according to our standards, but we must judge them according to God’s standards since they may not match our standards.  Christians tend to compare sins, thinking some are more serious than others.  When people run tests, we see that there are stats such as categorical stats and bell curve stats.  We judge others according to our faith but God judges us all according to His standards, which are all written in the Word.  He sees murderers the same as liars.  So it’s not about who is better than another, it’s about who sins and doesn’t sin. 

Abraham’s situation with Isaac was totally unfair.  But Abraham went even to the point where he was going to kill Isaac.  Some may think that Abraham was crazy, but he saw it as the right thing to do.

We sin because we don’t see God’s standards and we see our own.  We must remember to live our lives according to God’s standards, seeing whether God sees things as right and wrong, not according to whether we see it’s right or wrong.  If we follow His standards, we will be able to cause less sin and live more righteous lives.

Announcements

1. Our next prayer meeting will be held on Friday, March 3 at 8:15 p.m.  Please come on time to bless and be blessed!
2. Prayer cards are due!!  Liz will be handing out prayer cards if you've misplaced yours.  Please fill them out and hand them in so that you can receive prayer from our congregation.
3. Next month's small group meeting will be dinner and karaokeing.  We will meet at the Flushing Sam Won Gahk on March 17 and 8:15 p.m.  Dinner will be provided by the church, but please bring around $15 for plans after dinner.
4. Please pay your monthly dues on time.  It is through your dues that we can have monthly small group meetings.
5. Bible study is at 10:30 a.m. at Daniel's house.  Please join us for a great time of study and fellowship!
6. We are preparing for Easter, so if you have any ideas, please voice them!  We will be coloring eggs on Saturday, 4/15 so please mark your calendars.  Also, later that evening, we will be attending our bahn joo jah's graduation concert at the Manhattan School of Music.  Let's all try to attend to encourage her and congratulate her on her studies.

HAPPY THURSDAY!!  =)

Sermon notes from February 5, 2006

Joshua 1:6-9

“Be Strong”

Do you want to be successful everywhere you go?  AMEN!

How can we achieve this?  Today’s Scripture gives us the answer.

Who did God say these words to in today’s Scripture?  Joshua. 

Who is Joshua?  Joshua was the successor of Moses.  God appointed Joshua as the new leader of Israel into the land of Canaan. 

Joshua is the 6^th book of the Old Testament.  Books 1-5 are called the book of Moses.  Books 1-5 are from Adam and Eve to Moses.  Then the 6^th book begins after Moses dies and Joshua is placed as the new leader. 

How did Joshua feel about this new leadership position?  He could have felt both good and bad.  He was afraid as well because all of the Israelites were supposed to follow his words now.  He had authority over all the people. 

Joshua questioned his leadership, wondering if he could lead like Moses did.  Then God said to Joshua, “Be strong and courageous.”  God promised Joshua that he would be able to be the leader of the new land.  His feet would be the first to step into the promised land of Canaan.  God said that Joshua would be successful in whatever he did because God would be with him.

This shows that we can be successful in everything and anything we do.  We need to be strong and courageous.  But how can we be strong and courageous? 

How to be strong and courageous:

1)      Be careful to obey all the laws that my servant, Moses, gave you.  (10 Commandments)  1-4 = Love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, soul and mind.  5-10 = Love your neighbor as you love yourself.  This is one way we can be strong and courageous.  Martyrs are strong and courageous because they love God with their whole hearts and love their neighbors.  They love God so much that they do not fear death. 

2)      Do not turn from it [the law] to the left or the right.  3 things we must do as Christians:  1) God – worship God  2) People – Love people  3) Money – use money wisely.  These three cannot be mixed up or put out of order.  We cannot use God or people.  We must worship God and love people.  We cannot love money.  We must love God and people.  This is an example of not turning to the left or right from the law.  This is how we can be strong.  If we follow those three steps, then we can be strong and courageous. 

3)      Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth.  Meditate on it night and day.  We must set aside a time to have quiet time with God so we can meditate on His word and what He says to us.  We can find out God’s will for us everyday by meeting with Him and hearing from Him.  If we read His word and meditate upon it everyday, we can become strong and courageous.  If we just hear His words once a week and simply think of it as good words, it will not turn into strength for us.  We need to meditate upon the words so that it can transform into power for us.  This will give us strength and success. 

Joshua was really afraid in the beginning, but as he obeyed God and the laws given to him, he became a strong and courageous leader that led the Israelites in the Promised Land, Canaan. 

God’s promises include that we will be strong and courageous, successful and that He will be with us everywhere we go. 

Announcements

1. We had a great time bowling on Sunday.  Kim Jung Doo mksn ended up being our big winner!  Congratulations!  And congratulations to the Steelers!  =P
2. If you have not yet handed in your prayer card, and would still like to receive prayer, please e-mail Liz Yoon at elizabeth.yoon@gmail.com and she will include you in this month's prayer card.
3. Please don't forget to pay your dues.  Your small group leader will remind you about this, but try to remember on your own. 
4. Our next Friday meeting will be on the 17th.  Join us for oodles and oodles of fun with praise and game time!  =)  BE THERE OR BE SQUARE!

If you have any other announcements, please feel free to update this entry. 

Have an amazingly blessing week y'all!