Cultural Rhetoric

Theme : Chapel/Sermon Alaina: Confidence in God Caleb: In Any Circumstance Christian: God Loves Everyone Claire: Putting God First Court: Being Angry with God Darcy: Little by Little David C: Respect for Life David J: When an Enemy Needs a Friend Hysheem: Shocking Youth Message Jake: Weight of Glory Jason: Turn the Other Cheek? Jeremy: God Who Gives Lexie: My Sanctuary Maddie: Called to Glory Mike: Freedom Village Riley: Motivated by God Sam: Falling Madly in Love with God Sarah: Resurrection Soo: The Glory of God Sophie: Falling Madly in Love with God Wade: A Resilient Follower

Last Sunday, I decided to go to church with Young. I had a thought if i do not go this week, I am a such a horrible person who claims to be Catholic/Christian. It was absolutely awful when I first got there, because I have not seen Koreans with various ages. There were elders, young children, parents, and teenagers. There was me sitting awkwardly next to Young. And instantaneously, pastor Lee came up to podium, and he read 1 Corinthians verse 31. It says, “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” He read verse 31, and he started to preach how people are indifferent about what they have for their present. Occasionally, people sometimes tends to not appreciate to God about their situation. For instance, they wanted pasta for dinner but it was just a bread. There are so many children who can not eat in many countries. Vast amount of people tend to take what they have now for granted, however, they don’t deserve it sometimes because of sins. Theref...

This past Sunday, my pastor decided to create a sermon based off of the idea of how God is a sanctuary for Christians. He taught from Isaiah 8:9-9:7. In chapter 8, the author describes how Israel suffered from Assyria’s attack and rejected God because they were angry. My pastor pointed out that this was Israel’s worst nightmare coming to life. He related this situation to our own lives by challenging and questioning us. He asked us if we believed that God will always remain faithful to us, restore, and rebuild us even when our worst nightmare becomes our reality. He challenged us to praise God through the trials in our lives instead of being paralyzed by fear, like Israel. They forgot that God is their sanctuary and security at all times. In chapter 9, the birth of Jesus is prophesied. Our pastor emphasized that the birth of Jesus is our hope and his birth, crucifixion, death, and resurrection is the answer to everything that has ever threatened us. My pastor splits up his sermons in...

Amy Banka’s sermon titled "Turn the Other Cheek? Really, Jesus?" was outstanding. She took the Matthew 5:38-42 and brought pack to its original cultural implications. Which ended up being don’t fight back but passively resist. The verses in that were culture references that would either force the person to indirectly acknowledge them as an equal or get them in trouble. The prior was the acknowledge you as an equal. In Hebrew culture to slap someone with the back of ones hand was to make them lesser than you, while slapping with the palm of the hand was to acknowledge them as an equal. She spoke with passion and enthusiasm. So much so that one couldn’t help but listen to what she had to say. She genuinely cares about people understanding her message for their own growth and benefit. She also shows what the verses meant in their original cultural context such as “If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles.”. During that time in history a Roman soldier could onl...

This past Sunday, my pastor spoke about something that to me was very convicting.  Pastor Ryan spoke all about what it truly means to trust in God through any circumstance.  In church we are going through a series discussing waiting for God, and this is appropriate as we have entered into the Christmas season. My pastor told a story about a real group of missionaries in the 1800’s who had traveled for months over seas to get to a group of people they were trying to reach. Records show that everyone in this group of people had died from the cold and starvation. There were no survivors at all.  But years later there was a journal found on this ship.  In it one, of the people who was sailing wrote about how much he believed that through all the trials they were going through; freezing cold, hunger, and loss, God was still right there beside them.  Pastor Ryan elaborated on all this and talked about how this is something we should all be striving for as Christians. ...

This past Sunday (12/11/16) my pastor did a sermon on 1 Thessalonians 1:10 “and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead- Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.” His message centered around how if Jesus is coming back then he must have resurrected from the dead. If he is coming back and is bringing wrath then he will not inflict that wrath upon the righteous. Even though this is not explicitly stated in this verse we know this is true from past events. In Genesis 18 Abraham pleads with God to spare Sodom for the sake of the righteous. In the end God does not spare Sodom, but he does spare Lot’s family, the only righteous family in the city. If God would spare the righteous from his wrath then, who’s to say that he would not spare the righteous now. If Christians are being true to God’s word and following his path then we will be pared from the coming wrath. Still we need to be ready, and we need to wait for the Son to return. My pastor delivered a great serm...

My church is in search for a preacher, but at the moment, John Mark Niehls has been preaching. On November 11th, he started a 4 week series titled “Called to Glory; Gender in the Eyes of God”. His purpose for this title is simply because traditional/biblical marriage has fallen apart since the roles of men and women have been misunderstood. The world has the wrong idea of who plays what role,and it is very important to understand each role in order to be able to give God full glory. He designed man and woman to work together, each having their own role, so that they can be unified as one and honor God in the way He deserves. John Mark did an excellent job throughout the four weeks of showing why traditional marriage and gender role is so important. He started off with week one talking about how the world has distorted the designed roles, that control has shifted away from allowing God to lead, and then he went on to mention why it is so important to try and resort back to the traditi...