9 Marks - Challenges to the Gospel

 

Have you checked out 9marks.org lately? They have posted a series of articles and resources on the Challenges to the Gospel.

CHALLENGES TO THE GOSPEL
The Therapeutic Gospel
By David Powlison

Brian McLaren and the Gospel of Here & Now
By Greg Gilbert

Satanism, Starbucks, and Other Gospel Challenges
A 9Marks Interview with David Wells

EXPLAINING THE “GOSPEL” TO NON-CHRISTIANS?
A Pastors’ and Theologians’ Forum on Explaining the Gospel
You can get the PDF version of July/August 9News which includes the text of the articles.

Are these challenges relevant in the Asian American context or is there a different application for us? Read some the articles and feel free to give some feedback.

Korean American Leadership Luncheon at PCA General Assembly (2)

Here are some pictures from the Korean American Leadership Forum Luncheon at the PCA General Assembly. There were 29 people at the luncheon. Here are some people that I know of who were in attendance: Phil Ryken (our speaker), Rev. & Mrs. Henry Koh (coordinator of MNA’s Korean Ministries), Rev. & Mrs. Frank Barker (one of the founders of the PCA. The PCA began at his church, Briarwood PC), Jack Ewing (an Elder who is a supporter of Korean Ministries), James Han and Daniel Chong (Redeemer PC in California), Hank Hahm and Caleb Lee (Christ Central PC in Virginia), Min Chung and Joe Tek Yun (Covenant Fellowship Church in Illinois), Duke Kwon (GraceDC PC in Washington, DC), Daniel Oh (Army Chaplain, a major), Phil Chul Won Jeon (Army Chaplain in Oklahoma), Johan Baik (Navy Chaplain in Japan), Joshua Cho (Saehan PC in Georgia), Dong Woo Kim (Cornerstone PC in Pennsylvania), Paul Lee (QPEM, in Queens, New York), Peter Park (Living Stone CC in California), and a few 1st generation Korean pastors that were there in support. If you are part of the PCA I hope you will plan on attending next year’s General Assembly in Dallas (June 10-13, 200 and join us for the Korean American Leadership Luncheon.

Phil Ryken gave an address on “How the Devil wants to run your church?” It was about how to define strength and success in ministry. Dr. Ryken wrote an article on this topic for By Faith Magazine and he contextualized it for the Korean American context. The audio for this talk and the discussion afterwards is here.

Quoting EM Bounds, Ryken says,

Bounds begins by asking this question: What is the truest measure of a church’s strength? His answer is, “True strength lies in the vital godliness of the people. The aggregate personal holiness of the members of each church is the only true measure of strength. Any other test offends God, dishonors Christ, grieves the Holy Spirit, and degrades religion.” To put it another way, the strength of any church is the work of the Spirit in conforming its members to the life of Christ. However, Satan’s strategy is to lure us into thinking that our strength lies elsewhere—not in the inward things of the Spirit, but in things that are external and superficial. “One of the schemes of Satan,” Bounds writes, “is to establish a wrong estimate of church strength.” A church is considered strong, he goes on to say, “when its membership is large, when it has social position, financial resources; when ability, learning, and eloquence fill the pulpit, and when the pews are filled by fashion, intelligence, money and influence.”

Here is a picture with some friends after the luncheon.

Korean American Leadership Luncheon at PCA General Assembly

I’m in Memphis Tennessee at the PCA General Assembly. We just concluded the Assembly. This afternoon there was a Luncheon for Korean American Pastors (English-speaking) sponsored by Mission to North America - Korean Ministries. Dr. Phil Ryken gave the address on “How the Devil wants to run your church”. You can listen to the audio here. The audio is not good quality but the address is really good.

A Son is Born

My fourth child, second son, was born on March 6, 2007. His name is David Won-Jin Park.

Encouragement from Hebrews

I’ve been reading in the book of Hebrews for my Quiet Times this week and I have been blessed, challenged, and rebuked. I’ve been blessed by the picture of the supremacy of Christ above all thing: he is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature (1:3), he is greater than angels (1:4), greater than Moses (3:3). Jesus is our great high priest who sympathizes with our weakness, yet without sin (4:15), who lays down his life as the propitiation for the sins of the people (2:17), who intercedes for us (7:25), and who is the founder and perfecter of our salvation and our faith (12:2). I been challenged, even rebuked, by reading through Hebrews again. One verse strangely stood out to me out of many great verses in this book: Chapter 10 Verse 36, “For you have need of endurance…” This is one of the overarching exhortations of Hebrews: the call to endure by looking in faith to the Lord Jesus Christ. The Verse spoke to me of my lack of endurance and encouraged me to keep pressing in faith. “Don’t give up, don’t surrender to sin, laziness, discouragement, discontentment, etc.” Don’t lose heart! Don’t lose faith! Run the race! Fight the good fight of faith! Yes, I have need of endurance… I’m sure you do too.

Hebrews 10:38 says, “but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him” Verse 39 is key: “BUT WE ARE NOT OF THOSE WHO SHRINK BACK AND ARE DESTROYED, BUT OF THOSE WHO HAVE FAITH AND PERSERVE THEIR SOULS. Who are you? Are you of those who shrink back (backsliding down to destruction) or are you of those who have faith and preserve your souls? Whose are you? I belong to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, my high priest, my Savior, my Lord and my God. How about you?

Champions Kneeling

I’m a big time Dallas Cowboys Fan, but I’m happy for the Colts.  The above picture is one of the reasons why.  Enough said.

I’ll begin posting again soon.  Thanks for check on this site.

Korean Missions

I just read the Christianity Today article that was published in March about how “South Korea sends more missionaries than any country but the U.S. And it won’t be long before it’s number one.” The article is called “Mission Impossible.”  It’s an informative article with many helpful links at the bottom of the article.

Robertson McQuilkin’s Resignation Speech

I’ve updated the MEDIA Tab with the corrected link to Robertson McQuilkin’s Resignation Speech. It’s an amazing testimony of a godly man’s love and dedication for and to his wife. What follows below is what I have updated on my MEDIA section that you can access through the tabs on top:

Robertson McQuilkin’s Resignation Speech

Robertson McQuilkin was the president of Columbia International University in South Carolina as his wife , Muriel, battled Alzheimer’s Disease. He resigned in 1990 to take care of his wife. Here’s his resignation speech. The audio is not good but the content is quite moving. It is a model of a man’s love and commitment to his wife.

Poker and Pastors

Poker was popular in the wild west, it was popular when I was in high school (1978-82) , and it is extremely popular today. The World Series of Poker is part of the fixture of ESPN. Poker is now a major sporting event. Funny, back in my high school days it was called gambling. I don’t play poker these days and haven’t since my college and high school days. Some of my most exhilarating and depressing moments was playing poker. I was never a big stakes gambler, just coins and the occasional dollar bills. But quarters can add up for a high school student. Ironically, the friends that I played poker with the most were church friend. We played basketball and then played poker (for money). When we went on a youth retreat, after sleeping through the worship service, we would gather into one of the rooms and play poker. I will never forget the time when my father, a pastor, along with a few other pastors were doing room checks and found his youth group kids, his own sons, playing poker with coins littered on a blanket. My father, rightly, slapped me in the face.

Rightly or wrongly, I have attached poker (gambling) to my old sinful way of life. I rededicated my life to Christ in my senior year in college. For me, it was “I have decided to follow Jesus. The world behind me, the cross before me.” I renounced drinking alcohol, pornography, and gambling. It was part pietism and part genuine life transformation.

Now a days, I meet some pastors - good pastors, theologically sound pastors - who have no problem playing poker (for fun but also for some small stakes). I know this not because I saw it first hand, but because pastor freely, unashamedly tell you they play poker. I was even invited to a poker game at a pastors’ meeting. I didn’t go. These days, there is no older pastors to come around and slap anyone’s face.

Now, I don’t want to begrudge anyone their Christian liberty, but I wonder if it is such a good thing for pastors to be known as poker players. I’m not talking about the inherent deception that is part of poker, but the gambling. What do you think of pastors and poker? Is this a good way to connect to the men of our church (and many women too)? Is playing poker no different from playing golf or basketball?

For me, I don’t think I could play poker, even without money, with a clear conscience. It brings back too many of my worldly memories from the past. However, can I say it is wrong for other pastors? I don’t know, yet. However, one thing I am clearly troubled by is when pastors who are at official meetings such as General Assemblies and Presbyteries and use their together to play poker more other spiritual edifying ways of fellowship. These meetings are meant to strengthen the body of Christ, and I don’t see how playing poker together strengthens our witness to the world.

I would like to know what you think?

A Great Resource for Biblical Learning

There is a website called monergism.com which is a wealth of information for the Reformed and Reforming believer.  I’m always amazed at the amount of resources that this site links to.   Here’s the link to the Audio Resources (this link is also in the MEDIA tab above). You can literally take free seminary courses if you follow the links.  Granted you have to be self-motivated to take advantage of the vast resources that are out there.

It is amazing how many Christians, pastors included, do not take advantage of the wealth of free resources before us.
How much of your time do you send on things that just kill time or bring temporary relieve from a bored and unengaged soul?  We live in a day of distractions.  I know my own propensity to waste time on things that soothe my unengaged soul when there are so many worthwhile things to do.

Brothers, how are you feeding your soul?  I ask this to myself as well.