Extended Cut

Rivalry Surrendered by Pastor Sam An

Rachel only begins to experience rivalry in chapter 30 because she gets starved of the attention and affection she has long taken for granted. Rachel competes by playing dirty because she's so desperate to regain her status. But as she goes from assuming she's better to becoming bitter and even monstrous, until she finally learns to pray as one who knows she needs grace. Because her understanding of living as a child of God is incomplete, the sibling rivalry continues and is only resolved through the work of Jesus. Jesus calls all who consider themselves nicer and more righteous than others to repent and builds a church that can welcome all, including the black sheep in all our families.

The Heart of Parent by Pastor Sam An

Drawing on the story of Leah, Pastor Sam described two life strategies that lead to poisoning the people we love. Self Erasing actions come from a heart that idolizes acceptance. Self-Sacrificing actions come from a heart that idolizes appeasement. When we see these actions fail us, we can recognize what God wants from us. God wants us to be so satisfied in His love that we live with Self-Forgetting action - a heart that no longer keeps score or tries to manipulate others.

Revolutionary Marriage by Pastor Dave Park

1 Peter 3 sits inside a letter written to believers scattered across the Roman empire, people pushed to the margins for following Jesus. To them, the apostle announces that they belong to a revolution, a new humanity built on the living stone of the risen Christ, where the rejected have become a chosen race and a royal priesthood. Marriage is part of that revolution. To wives, the text assigns a new mission, which is not to maneuver husbands into giving them what they want but to win them to Christ; and a new method, which is not the power of luxury and force celebrated by the New Roman Woman, but the imperishable power of a gentle and quiet spirit hidden in God. To husbands, the text overturns the patriarchal expectation of rule and commands instead a costly understanding of their wives, honoring them as coheirs of the grace of life. Anchoring it all is the cross of Christ, where the Creator submitted to His creation, understood His enemies deeply, and gave honor to those who deserved shame, so that homes shaped by this revolution might bring many sons and daughters to glory.

Vision Series: Embrace Personally, Sacrificially, & Missionally by Pastor Andre Choi

John 13:33-35 teaches us 3 things about embrace: (1)The personal embrace of Christ, (2)The sacrificial embrace of Christ, and (3)The missional embrace of Christ. As we see how Jesus loved his own, we are given a model and a pattern for how we are to love our own. The call to love one another is the distinguishing mark of the new community of Christ and it is designed to testify to the world who Christ is. Messages like this can be hard to digest because hurt and pain oftentimes come with community. However, Jesus provides for us a wonderful model of love in the midst of pain and hurt and how that pain and hurt bring for transformation.

Vision Series: Reach by Pastor Daniel Godsave

We are called to reach the lost for Christ, especially in the cities with our reach. This calling requires us to Go where the people are, Integrate within our communities, and seek their good in light of eternity.