23For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” 25In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

27Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. 28A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. 29For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself. 30That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. 31But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment. 32When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world.

33So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for each other. 34If anyone is hungry, he should eat at home, so that when you meet together it may not result in judgment.
And when I come I will give further directions.

1 Corinthians 10:16-17
16Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ? 17Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf.

====Discussion=====

—-From this text, it is important to notice that Issac and Rebekah held on to God’s promise rather than trying some other ways to have a child as Abraham and Sarah did. Jacob was destined to be served by his brother. He believed in God’s promise that Abraham told him. What he did not believe was how he was going to get there. He took the matter in his hands and took the birthright from his brother.

—-How do you feel about God choosing Jacob over Esau?

Even before they were born, God predestined that one people would be stronger than the other,  and the older would serve the younger. It can be very perplexing to know that God predestine people’s lives. But the bottom line is we have no knowledge as to why God chose certain people or nations. Essentially we have to believe in God. When we see what God does, we have to accept as it is because we don’t know the full picture. The world seemed unfair for Esau. He was born first and usually the younger one should server the older one. But he still had a choice and chose to sell his birthright over a soup.

—-What is an underline themes in this passage?

The underline theme in this text is about God’s grace. God’s grace to answer the prayer of Issac and Rebekah and Jacob.  As we have seen from the 11th hour worker story and the story in the new testament where God used a fool to teach a wise man, the order of God’s blessing is not necessarily how we think.

—-Lesson to all of us:

Jacob is no better than Esau, but through God’s grace, Jacob was chosen by God. Some people get offended by God’s choice. If we have this feeling of a victim, we should really understand that we are equally sinful people. We are not better than anybody else, just like Jacob and Esau. If we still get offended, we need to understand God’s grace better. God is not bound by our understanding. Grace is by definition is not earn. Our sins increase, the grace increases even more. Grace goes to the undeserving. The problem of Esau is that he did treat his birthright very lightly. Even though God already predestined the two, Esau still had a choice. There is still a responsibility in Esau’s part. What do we learn from Esau? We have a birthright as well. From Ephesian 1:3-13, our birthright is Jesus. He predestined the entire humanity for salvation. Still, we  have a choice to accept it or not. Through Jesus, God’s grace is big enough to cover all our sins. God’s grace is for all of us to take. This is an unconditional election. This is really up to us whether to take it or despise it. We don’t want to trade it with anything like soup. The soup can come to our lives in different forms. But our birthright is much more greater than that.

And another grateful event was that my headache was gone after the sermon. I had a really bad headache all day and I almost thought I shouldn’t go to church and just rest. I don’t know what happened but after the sermon, the pain was just gone and I didn’t feel the headache anymore. I don’t presume to know why but it was another event that I feel thankful about at the end of thanksgiving holidays.

Summary : The Lord appeared to Abraham one day and revealed his plan for Abraham that He would make a great and powerful nation from Abraham. At the same time, he also planned to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah as the outcry against them was so great and their sin so grievous. To that, Abraham pleaded for the cities. Meanwhile, the angels of God visited Lot who was sitting in the gateway of the city. They instructed Lot to get out of the place with his relatives and informed him that the catastrophe would be imminent. Because God remembered Abraham, Lot’s family members could escape from the place. Lot’s wife didn’t survive and became a pillar of salt because she looked back which she was told not to. After the escape, Lot and his two daughters dwelled in a cave in which they were involved in immoral behaviors.

The story is intriguing but really shocking to see the prevalent immorality and the extent of it. We discussed about the following items and the lessons from this text to us.

1. What is the importance of Abraham walking with God?

16 When the men got up to leave, they looked down toward Sodom, and Abraham walked along with them to see them on their way. 17 Then the LORD said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do? — Genesis 18:16-17

Abraham got up and walked with God. Walking with someone means respect in some cultures. While he was sending off the angels, God revealed his plan. If Abraham had not taken the walk, he wouldn’t have known. From that, we can learn that spending time with God and praying are important to understand Him. We have teachers and shepherds in our lives for help. We need to be open and willing to hear God’s messages in our lives.

2. What are the reasons that God revealed his plans to Abraham?

Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do? Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him. For I have chosen hi, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing what is right and just, so that the LORD will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him. — Genesis 18:17-29

First, God wanted Abraham to know His plan because He would make him the channel of blessings. After he walked with God, God called him His friend. He is the only man in the scripture that God called as friend. (2 Chronicles 20:27, Isiah 41:8, and James 2:23 refer Abraham as God’s friend.)

–Lessons to us: This relates to our lives. Similarly, Jesus called all of us friends. We are all his friends because of what he did on the cross. We can find out what God’s will is in our lives if we choose to walk with God as Abraham walked with God.

The second reason is in verse 19. God wanted to teach Abraham.
He was called to command his children. For him to be the channel of blessings, he was supposed to teach his children and pass his blessings to the children. It was important for him to know God’s plan in his life.
–Lessons to us: Are we ready to share the Gospel? We are supposed to be like Abraham. We don’t know when the opportunity comes, but we should be prepared ahead. Sharing good news is more than just talking about it. It involves in living out a christian life. There’s a Confucious saying that fits this situation. “Tell me and I’ll forget. Show me and I’ll remember. Involve me and I’ll understand.” If we are to be sharers of God’s messages, we need to get other people involved. We need to think if our lives are making positive impacts on others.

Third reason has to do with the sin. He came to Abraham because he heard the outcry. There was deeper sin than sexual immorality. Arrogance, gluttony, lack of concern to the poor and needy and the life without God, etc.

–Lessons to us : Living in America, a land of plenty, we can easily fall into the immorality trap. We need to be careful not to forget that God hears everything.

3. Was it right or wrong for Abraham to plead to God for Sodom and Gomorrah? And why?

It was right in that he was compassionate for the people, but wrong for him to plead the way he did. He was wrong assuming that he could appeal to God for justice than grace. He assumed that righteous people shouldn’t suffer. We don’t know about that, but we know that God is good and faithful. In fact, from God’s perspective, there is no one righteous. If God is gonna judge us, we’re all sinners. (Romans 3:10-11)

Abraham did not approach God from mercy perspective but justice perspective. But what he did right is his compassion that lead him to the intercessory prayer. It’s a prayer that pleads to God for him to desperately intercedes the situation. It may not change God’s plan but when we pray on others behalf, God shows his mercy. (Romans 8:26) God showed Abraham his mercy through what happened next chapter.

– Who’s the greatest intercessor for all of us? Jesus. He prayed for us and we are saved by his mercy.

4. What is the real problem here in Lot’s life?

This story is not just about sexual immorality. For Lot, he wanted to live in the wrong place away from accountability. We see his life slowly draining out.  The sad thing is that Sodom was still in his heart and he didn’t realize that Abraham was praying for him. He never really understood the seriousness of not obeying. God tells us that if we are engaged in the world, we are going to find us in the situation like Lot’s.

Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world. — ( 1 john 2 : 15-16 )

– The practical things that we can do to overcome worldliness is to have someone to accountable to as we cannot do it alone. If we can have someone who gives honest feedback, we’re truly blessed. Also we need to invest our time in getting to know God as our knowledge touches our hearts which turns to actions.

A lot personal thoughts and discussions were exchanged especially for the first question. Our answers varied but we all seemed to agree that God took the promise with Abram very seriously. He didn’t forget it at all and confirmed it with Abram after so many years had passed. On the other hand, Abram seemed to settle for Ishmael. I could relate to Abram because it is also very easy for me to limit myself thinking of only my capability. But as we’ve seen in Abram’s life, God accomplishes His promises even though it takes beyond what we have. God fills the gap and everything is possible if we believe in Him.

2. As you read, it’s about God’s name and God giving names to Abram and Sarai. What does the name mean to you? How does that affect my life?
God’s name is Almighty. God gave Abram’s a new name. It was Abraham which means father of many. In the old days, a name means more than just a label. It defines the whole personality. We talked about what the name Almighty means to us and many answers are shared, for example, we thought the name meant that God is the one who is able to do great things, fulfill all the things that he says and we can put hopes and faiths in.

3. “Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is a new creation.” (Galatians 6:15)—What does God mean by this?
Circumcision symbolizes commitment of one’s life to God. It’s like a wedding ring which symbolizes commitment except that you cannot reverse it as you take off the wedding ring. It’s a reminder that takes us to God. Painful but it was the only way. In John 14:6, Jesus said that, “I am the way.” It’s the ultimate circumcision so that we can have commitment to God.
But as Galatians 5:6 says, all this stuff really doesn’t mean anything until it became a new creation which is achieved by believing and having faith in God.

The text on Sunday was John 8:1-11. It was a story of a woman who committed adultery, the accusing crowd, and Jesus Christ who showed the depth of His grace. The origin of this story is not known clearly nonetheless the nature of this story rings true.

The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.

To that, Jesus answered,

“If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” “No one, sir,” she said. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”

It doesn’t take much explanation to see Jesus’ character from this text. It shows how Jesus deals with us and our sin. There may be judgement for our sin, but nothing can separate us from the love of God. God will always receive us without condemnation.

Today’s text was Genesis 16. We picked verse 1 as the key verse and titled it as “our doubt in His faithfulness.”, and also picked verse 2 because it shows the root of the problem in that situation. Bing unni suggested an interesting title, “we think we are not responsible.” and brother Sam’s group titled it as “the fall of Abram and Sarai.”

Brother Andy preached starting from reminding us of Adam and Eve’s story that they were not responsible for their fault. In this text, Sarai was very anxious about not having a child. Even though God promised them a child before, they were doubtful. They went with the solution that was socially acceptable at that time; Hagar who was Sarai’s maidservant conceived Abram’s child. Although they had a relationship with God, Abram and Sarai made their decision on their own and that led to complicated situations. Hagar began to despise Sarai after she found out she was pregnant and Sarai responded to that with mistreatment of her which eventually led her to leaving. Neither Abram and Sarai did not take the responsibility for their own action. God certainly gave freedom, and we should hold responsibility for what we do as shown in Galatians 6:7. But even after out mistakes, notice that God does not give up on us. He is full of mercy and grace and continue to deal with us as long as we’re willing to believe in Him.

A game fellowship followed and we played Wii tennis, boxing and golf games and some played blockus. Thanks to all who prepared for this wonderful time!