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Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving
“Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” – 1 Thessalonians 5:18
I have recently been inspired and encouraged reading the short biographical accounts of US immigrants written by former president George W. Bush. In his book, Out of Many One – Portraits of America’s Immigrants, Bush recounts story after amazing story of people coming to the hope of America from every country imaginable. The stories have common themes of tenacious hard work, help from friends and family, faith in the Lord God for a better future, and deep thankfulness for the opportunity to live in the United States of America. On Thanksgiving Day, I offer to you this excerpt about the life of Thear Suzuki. May we each be reminded of the goodness of God and that it is His will that we be a thankful and content people.
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Thear was born in Sokunthear Sy in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, in either 1972 or 1973—she doesn’t know. “The first eight years of my life were spent in war and refugee camps,” she explains. “Upon their victory of the civil war, the Khmer Rouge, a Communist regime led by Pol Pot, drove millions of people out of cities and into the countryside, where men, women, and children were forced into labor camps.” The crazed, craven dictator tried to reset time to “Year Zero” when he seized power. By year four, he had presided over the deaths of two million of his people. “The Khmer Rouge wanted to turn the country backward into a socialist, agrarian society where all citizens were expected to work for the common good, living arrangements were communal, and meals were rationed,” Thear says. “They persecuted the educated, outlawed schools, and targeted Christians, Buddhists, and Muslims.”
Thear’s family of seven managed to survive the genocide, which took place on sites across Cambodia now known as the Killing Fields. They worked in forced labor camps and lived in the jungle for years before escaping to a Thailand refugee camp in 1979. After two years bouncing from camp to camp, they found support from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Migration and Refugee Service, which sponsored their move to the United States. “They helped us find housing, secure food stamps, find jobs for my parents, and register us into school in Dallas.”
Thear’s family only needed the food stamps for three months before becoming independent. “My father and mother worked minimum wage jobs to support our family,” she remembers. Her dad spent twenty-five years working as a janitor at Bradfield Elementary. Her mom took jobs at a local restaurant, Highland Park Cafeteria, and as a maid at the Mansion Hotel. She learned English by watching The Price is Right. The five kids pitched in by rooting through trash and redeeming cans for a nickel and bottles for a dime. They wore clothing donated by Bradfield Elementary families and dresses sewn by their mother.
Like so many immigrants, Thear struggled with the new language and the strangeness of the food. She remembers repeating a grade to get a better grip on English and scrapping the toppings off her pizza. Eventually, she mastered the language and even took a liking to fried chicken.
The family initially lived in housing projects in West Dallas, where they feared for their safety. “We often received phone calls telling us to go back to our country,” she says. “We moved out as quickly as possible.” Others in the new community were more welcoming. Thear’s parents had “heard the Good News” in a Thailand refugee camp and converted to Christianity. In Dallas they found a church that embraced and supported them. When Thear was a teenager, Ron Cowart, a police officer who patrolled their neighborhood, got her involved with a scouting group he had started for Southeast Asian students. The program, Exploring, taught Thear about community service and helped her study for her citizenship exam. She aced it and became an American on June 16, 1992.
Thear credits her third-grade teacher, John Gallagher, as another inspiration. “He helped me through my formative years and helped my family rebuild our lives. Through his kindness and advocacy for my education, my life was completely transformed.” When Thear graduated from Skyline High School in 1992, after serving as student body president, Mr. Gallagher nominated her for a scholarship to Southern Methodist University. “I have been able to achieve some level of success because so many have helped and took a chance on me,” Thear says.
With her degree, Thear went on to work as a technology consultant at Accenture for sixteen years. She’s currently a principle and talent leader at Earnst & Young. She serves with more community organizations than there’s room to list. She and her husband, Eric, are raising their four boys. Thear says, “We have come full circle, from receiving help from others when we were in need, to now serving others in need. My father has dedicated his life to sharing God’s Word and building disciples. He led the efforts to translate the first Cambodian study Bible. My mother has built water wells and churches in Cambodia, and at age eighty-one, she still goes on mission trips.”
“Being an American means I am free,” she concludes. “I have rights. I can believe what I want and make choices for my family. I can use my skills and resources to help others improve their lives.”
Ascension-Part 8
Ascension
“… as they were looking on, He was lifted up, and a cloud took Him out of their sight. And as they were gazing into heaven as He went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, and said, ‘Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw Him go into heaven.’” Acts 1:9-11
The Apostles’ Creed I believe in God, The Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ His only Son, our Lord; who was conceived of the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried. He descended into hell. The third day he arose again from the dead. He ascended to heaven and is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty.
After the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, He appeared to His disciples and hundreds of eyewitnesses on a limited number of special occasions. During this final segment of Jesus’ ministry, he tied up some loose ends and made very clear to His followers that He had risen from the dead into a new and glorified state. These scenes are recorded at the ends of the Gospels and the beginning of the book of Acts. After this brief period, Jesus ascended into heaven never to die again.
We don’t spend enough time thinking about heaven and contemplating its existence and importance. Heaven is spoken about constantly in the Bible and especially in the New Testament. Heaven is the perfect and mysterious dwelling place of God Almighty. In a number of places in the New Testament a window is opened between heaven and this world, causing the glory of heaven to spill over into our fallen and corrupt world (Luke 2:8-14, Matthew 17:1-8, Mark 9:2-8, Acts 7:54-60, 9:3-6). Heaven is a real place, but also a spiritual place. Heaven is where the triune God dwells with those angels who serve Him and those souls that have preceded us in salvation.
Spiritual things are not visible and tangible in the same way as physical objects, but they are no less real. You cannot reach out and touch or see the soul of another person, but that does not mean that their soul is not real. The soul is, in fact, what animates the physical person. The Bible seems to indicate that the spiritual and physical worlds coexist, with the spiritual only being revealed at specific times according to God’s purposes.
In John 14 Jesus speaks to encourage and comfort His disciples by telling them about heaven. Jesus says that He will one day take those who believe in His salvation into heaven. Jesus says that a heavenly place is being prepared for them because Jesus wants us to be where He is! That is an incredible statement that we should spend time thinking about. What would it take for us as sinners to enter into the perfection of heaven? It would require our sins being forgiven and taken away (John 1:29). It would require a salvation that only Jesus could accomplish.
But the reality that Jesus wants us to be near Him eternally is shocking. We know who we want in our house and who we don’t want in our personal space. It’s special to have someone invite you into their home for dinner, but something else entirely to have someone prepare a place for you to move into their house. But this is exactly what Jesus calls heaven, “my father’s house” (John 14:2). Jesus laid down His own life on the cross and rose from the dead to accomplish our salvation. He has now ascended into heaven and will accomplish our salvation by bringing us one day to dwell with Him in glory. Eternal life with Jesus in glory is the end of the gospel. Through our salvation Jesus is glorified now and forever.
Lastly, I would mention that the Bible states that in heaven Jesus serves as our great high priest and advocate. This means that within the mystery of the trinity, the Holy Spirit has been sent to be with us in this life while Jesus is our mediator in heaven. “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Jesus Christ” (1 Timothy2:5). One of the main focal points of the book of Hebrews is the explanation of how Jesus is the “high priest” and mediator of the new covenant of grace (Hebrews 8:1-6). Jesus, in His sinless perfection, offered Himself to God – in substitution for us – so that we might be recognized before God through the righteousness of Jesus. As we confess our sins, from heaven, Jesus forgives our sins by His grace and assures our salvation before God the Father.
We have a great salvation that we should not neglect! I encourage you to spend more time examining heaven in the Bible. It will turn your heart toward our eternal salvation in Jesus and lift your mind’s eye off the corruption and struggle of this world.
Lord Jesus we look for your coming!
Pastor Vic
< This is part eight in a series of articles on the Apostles’ Creed. If you have missed previous articles, they can be found on the church blog. To learn more about the Apostles’ Creed read: “The Apostles’ Creed: Discovering Authentic Christianity in an Age of Counterfeits” by Albert Mohler. >
Veteran’s Day
Veteran’s Day
“We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you.”–Colossians 1:3
On Veterans Day, I want to thank all those in our congregation who, past and present, serve in the US armed forces. There are many veterans in the Redeemer Bible Church family. I thank you for your courage, patriotism, and sacrifice to voluntarily put yourself in harm’s way to protect and defend the freedoms of our beloved country. I also want to thank the supportive military spouses, who held down the home front during long deployments where loneliness and need were often present. Without your support and love, there is no home to defend or come home to.
On this day I also pray for those family members and friends who still grieve the loss of loved ones on the battlefield. May the Lord encourage your heart and give you hope, as you remember those who have gone on before us to eternity.
I pray for those who returned from the battlefield wounded in body, mind, or soul from the violence and hardships of war. May the Lord Jesus do the saving work that only he can do, to take old hearts and make them new. May the Holy Spirit be at work taking away addiction, giving peace where there is anger, and hope where there is despair.
I pray for each soldier still on active duty. I pray for their courage in body and in soul: courage to enter battle when called upon, and courage to stand up for Jesus at a time where Christian morals are actively being removed from our military ranks. May our Christian soldiers not be ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation.
I pray for Christian military chaplains that are increasingly hemmed in by secular regulations. May they find a way to faithfully minister God’s word to the souls of our soldiers that so badly need to hear the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Lastly, I pray for a great spiritual awakening in the souls of our governing military leaders. May they turn away from politically correct and godless agendas and turn back to the Christian moral base upon which our freedoms were built. May this awakening happen one soldier and one veteran at a time. May they stand as Americans and stand as genuine Christians.
Lord, we humble ourselves, confess our sins, and ask that you hear these prayers.
Thank you, Veterans, and may God shed His grace on these United States of America,
Pastor Vic
Good for Evil
Good for Evil
“Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, Who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, And shrewd in their own sight!” The prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 5:20-21)
There continues to be wide-spread intentional confusion over the issue of what is political and what is religious. The increasingly secular narrative of our country pushes that politics relates to public matters and religion relates to very personal matters. It’s appropriate to discuss public matters in public, but we should all keep personal matters personal. This powerfully works to keep all “religious” matters out of the public square, out of conversation at work and school, and generally out of polite social conversation. The problem is that Jesus did not have these same distinctions. Jesus and all His apostles went about constantly and publicly proclaiming and loudly preaching about religious matters in intentionally public places.
The political and moral worlds do not divide along the lines that our culture currently divides them. Jesus was clear that we should “render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s” (Matthew 22:21). However, what things belong to government and what things belong to God? The most basic way to divide these worlds is that what is moral (right and wrong) belongs to God, because moral goodness is defined by God’s character, then revealed to us as human beings. Moral evil is counter to God’s character, is at odds with God’s purposes in the world, and will one day be judged by Him and will not stand. In this vitally important area of discernment, we do not have the right to reverse the moral order. We have no authority to “call evil good and good evil”, yet it happens every day.
Political matters are most purely matters of civil government. These most basically relate to creating an orderly, secure, free, and just society. Political matters relate in part to commerce, national security, transportation, police and fire departments, and a justice system of courts. However, it doesn’t take much thinking to immediately see how these two spheres overlap in an inseparable way. The moral informs the conscience which drives and defines the political. If the moral compass is off because a person lives in rebellion against God, the way they live in the world will reflect this. When millions of people turn away from the revealed moral will of God, it surely will affect the political direction of the entire country.
A few points of clarification on where we find ourselves in the day God has appointed that we live our lives. First, Jesus is abundantly clear that we should not keep secret His teaching, the truth of His resurrection from the dead, or the hope of His salvation and second coming. We are sent to proclaim these things publicly to the nations, just like Jesus did.
Second, Jesus’ message cannot, and should not, be separated from His ethic. It’s a growing position to hear people say they love Jesus but reject His ethic. This means they love the idea of salvation and know they have a soul, but they reject what the Bible says about right and wrong (especially sexual ethics). This will not work.
The Gospel (good news) of Jesus Christ is not to affirm people in their sin and from there help to improve them. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is a message of repentance and faith. The good news stems from the bad news. The bad news is that we are ruined sinners (morally, then physically), beyond all hope of being made right by our own efforts. We are truly under the condemnation of a holy God. The good news is that Jesus was sent as Savior, to bear the just penalty of our sins. He comes not to make us better, but to give us a new nature that loves the things that God loves and desires to put to death evil ways. And this salvation begins now but will extend into eternal life. This is not a private matter, but life altering good news.
However, the narrative of our time is powerful, relentless, and persuasive, especially for our young people. It’s important that we have this conversation with our young people. A new study was released this week further showing the disconnect between younger generations and churches in America. It indicates that more than half of all young adults and teens don’t think that religious institutions care about what matters to them. As the survey unfolds, it becomes clear that the main issue being addressed is distance between generations on sexual ethics (LGBTQ matters).
Language related to LGBTQ people has intentionally and continuously been weaponized over the past decade to reverse the moral order. What used to be clearly understood as sinful sexual behavior, is now loudly celebrated as a right of personal expression. Those that speak against this behavior as morally sinful are said to discriminate, to be full of hate, to be inflicting mental harm, and creating physically unsafe environments. In this area, we have a major issue that has passed from moral to political in the public narrative. This language is winning the day and largely persuading the next generation.
God declares that sexual sin should be stopped, repented of, and can be forgiven in Christ. This is good news! The world today says that every form of sexual expression should be celebrated, indulged in to the fullest, and all who disagree should be loudly condemned. This survey quotes young people saying commonly heard phrases today, “The church doesn’t care about the rights of LGBTQ people. I’m spiritual, but not connected to the church. I want the church to fully embrace them for who they are. The church discriminates against people that are different.” When you go down the line with these statements in a church like ours, it’s important to speak to these comments: Jesus does care about LGBTQ people. Like all other sinners He bore their sins in His own body on the cross, but not so they could abuse that grace and continue in sin (Romans 6).
The Bible has no category for spiritual people that are outside the community of the church. Individual spirituality is not a biblical concept. God, and by extension the church, will never embrace sin as good. To tell someone their sin is good, is to lie to them and say something we do not have authority to say. The church does separate good from evil according to what God has said is good and evil. The church must teach sin and call for repentance, but this is done out of love, not hate. It is the offense of the gospel. Everywhere the gospel is preached, many will not believe and hearing their sin exposed will provoke anger.
In closing, we must not stop declaring what God has said to be evil as evil, and what God has said to be good to be good. We must not be silent in the public square about these things. We must help the younger generations understand why we are saying what we are saying. We must first do the work of evangelists loving the lost, not affirming them in sin, but calling them to the merciful grace of God by repentance and faith. In all this, we live in our community being active salt and light.
Let us preach the Gospel in our time,
Pastor Vic