Pastor Rick Kang [00:00:00]:
Aloha, NHK Ohana. Good. Aloha. So really wonderful to be here. It's been a while since I was able to share a message, but I'm so glad to be here. I love NHK. I've been affiliated with NHK for almost 20 years, and, you know, so it's always a blessing to be.

Pastor Rick Kang [00:00:19]:
No better place to be, actually, than in the presence of God and his people. So I'm blessed to be here. So, you know, the. I would say, like, the. Just kind of the thought process and really the heart behind the messages, not only tonight, but even before that, even for. Since. For the last several years, kind of starting. Since COVID actually, you know, it kind of really put a purpose in my heart, in the message that I shared.

Pastor Rick Kang [00:00:49]:
And, you know, thinking about COVID though, is it feels like it was such a long time ago, but it really wasn't that long. Right. It was like maybe three years, maybe less, since we started kind of getting out of a lot of those, you know, things that was going on, you know, And I recently heard that there was. They just identified to the man who was originally responsible for the spread of COVID I think they said his name was. Achoo. Oh, okay. It worked. All right.

Pastor Rick Kang [00:01:21]:
Thank you. Okay, well, I figured I open up with a joke because we're gonna get into it tonight. Okay. But seriously, you know, I just want to start with this, because this is really what the Lord has put on my heart, because, you know, since that time, you know, at that time, people everywhere, including that inner church, were saying things and starting to say things and believe things that were not biblical and they were untrue. And whenever we start believing things that is not true, it always results in destruction, division, and loss. And in this case, that was definitely the case as well. Financial. Not just financial losses, of course, but just the opportunity to socialize in the education system where I work, where Chad works, we've seen the effect and the impact that it had on our kids.

Pastor Rick Kang [00:02:18]:
And even at the college level where I work, we still see the residual effects of that. But also, even more important, I think it was on relationships. Just lifelong friends, family members, even brothers and sisters, that because of their different views and beliefs on what was going on, it. It just really fractured families. And so that's really unfortunate, you know, but I think about it, and that largely, I think all of that kind of stems from just out of fear and out of the unknown, you know, and our brain, whenever there's. There's. Our brain, is. And he will probably Correct me if I'm wrong, but our brain automatically is wired.

Pastor Rick Kang [00:03:01]:
It wants to fill in the gaps and wants to make sense of things. When things don't make sense, our brain is already reaching and trying to make some kind of a sense out of it. But when there's fear involved, now we are more susceptible to believing whatever might make sense, but it doesn't mean that it's true. And to me, though, focusing on the unknown is where we actually went wrong. Instead of focusing on the unknown and the things that were the uncertainties, we should have been focusing on what is known. Because God has made Himself known to us since the beginning. He made Himself known to us. He provided ways for us to know Him, His Son, his spirit, His Word, his truth and instruction, how we ought to live.

Pastor Rick Kang [00:03:57]:
And so since COVID my focus has been to. To do my little part. You know, when I was in college, I majored in Hawaiian studies. And so part of that was our history. And so there were things that I learned that made me upset. One is because I wasn't taught that in high school. But the other thing is, like, you know, there was injustices done and there's blame to go around, for sure. But one thing I remember that my kumu, my instructor, told me, he said, yeah, before you get mad or turn that anger into kuleana, take that anger and go do something positive with it.

Pastor Rick Kang [00:04:34]:
You go make a difference then. Same thing with how. That's the same approach that I have now. So, you know, my focus is to do my little part, to preach messages on, to encourage believers how we can stand firm, remain standing firm on the gospel of Jesus Christ, so that despite whatever is going on around us, and there is much going around, even today, a lot. And we don't know what's going to happen tomorrow, right? So let's not focus on that, the unknown, let's focus on the known. So that despite whatever deceptions and confusions and oppositions come our way, we can stand firm and in position to receive God's best in our lives and to be in alignment with Him. So that's what we're going to do tonight. Amen.

Pastor Rick Kang [00:05:23]:
You guys ready? So, Father, thank you again, Lord Jesus, for man this wonderful ohana, Lord, where we can just come together united in spirit, Lord, unified with yours, Lord Jesus, thank you for blessing us with your holy Spirit today. Thank you for all the brothers and sisters who just bless this place with prayer. Father. God invited your Holy Spirit to be with us tonight, Lord. So this is your time, Father. And so we give you 100% of ours. We give you all of our attention, every space in our heart and mind. Father God, to receive all that you have in store for us, we thank you in Jesus name, Amen.

Pastor Rick Kang [00:06:04]:
So our opening reading is actually going to be from Amos, chapter seven, verses seven and eight. And if you'd allow me, I just want to provide like a real brief context because in the previous chapters 4, 5 and 6 especially, God is speaking to Amos, who's a prophet. And he's telling Amos, hey, you better tell the people they better return back to me. Stop worshiping other gods, stop worshiping other idols, stop cheating the people, stop living in, Stop being crooked in all your ways. But we know they never listened, right? They never listened. They were hothead. So in chapter seven, God begins to send Amos a series of visions. There's five actually, but he's going to send them a series of visions.

Pastor Rick Kang [00:06:50]:
The first one is God is going to send Amos a vision that he's going to send a plague of locusts to destroy all of their freshly grown crops. And locusts in those days was. That was like huge thing, right? I mean, that would have been game over for them. There would have been starvation, right? And a lot of other things to result. So Amos pleads to God and he says, God, please don't do that because we are so small, we're not going to survive that. But the Bible says that God relented from his plan. And he says, okay, Amos, I won't do that. But the people continue to be stubborn.

Pastor Rick Kang [00:07:34]:
And so God sends another message. He shows another vision to Amos. This time he says, I'm going to destroy all the seas and the water. I'm just going to evaporate it with fire. And again, Amos pleads with God and he says, God, please don't do that. We're so small, we're not going to survive this. And God hears that and he relents from his plan and. And he says, amos, okay, I'm not going to do that.

Pastor Rick Kang [00:08:03]:
And I share that. I just find that amazing. Think about it like God, who is sovereign and in control of all things and whatever he wills will be done. His word is always true. But yet he still allows us to live and to operate and to choose. He still allows us to engage in relationship with Him. He gives us an opportunity to repent, to ask for forgiveness, to ask for another chance to do better. God is a relational God.

Pastor Rick Kang [00:08:38]:
He wants to have dialogue with us. He wants to hear our pleas, our cries, our petitions, as well as our Praises to him. And I just share that simple message there is. Because I hope that you're encouraged by that. That. Don't just think like, oh, something happened and that's it. Talk to God about it. You have a relationship with him that Jesus provided for us.

Pastor Rick Kang [00:09:06]:
We have a direct communication line to him. Talk to him, ask him what you need. Tell him how you feeling, he can handle. And I just hope that. And I want to encourage you that you will just put that into practice. Be mindful of that in your walk with Christ, because I believe that it will deepen your relationship with him. But the Israelites still never, like, listen. So God shows them another vision, and he says this.

Pastor Rick Kang [00:09:41]:
I saw the Lord beside a wall that had been built using a plumb line. He was using a plumb line to see if it was still straight. And the Lord said to me, amos, what do you see? I answered, a plumb line. And the Lord replied, I will test my people with this plumb line, and I will no longer ignore their sins. You know, the Bible says that Jesus was full of grace and truth. The people ignored, they rejected God's grace. Now it comes time for truth. And so.

Pastor Rick Kang [00:10:22]:
But God uses an image of a plumb line, a plumb bob. And I was gonna bring one, but I feel that's just too much. So it looks. It's the simplest of tools, right? How many of you know what a plumb line is, right? A plumb bob, right. And it's just that. It's just like that. Just a string with a heavy metal object that pretty much normally looks something like that. And it's the simplest of tools, but it's the most trustworthy, right? More trustworthy than a level or other gadget that you have to calibrate sometimes because it's only.

Pastor Rick Kang [00:10:51]:
There's no moving parts, it only works with gravity, but it always produces true vertical. And no matter where you are in the world and no matter who using it, it'll always do what it was designed to do. God is like that, too. The gospel is like that. But I just want to make another comment, a little side comment here, because when we look at this, we noticed that God didn't use the plumb line to see if the wall was. I mean, he used the plumb line to see if the wall was straight, not how tall it was or how beautiful it was or what kind precious stones that it was made out of. There's nothing. That wasn't even his concern.

Pastor Rick Kang [00:11:37]:
He just wanted to see how straight it was. And for the Israelite people. He's going to test them to see how upright their heart was with him, how aligned their heart was with him. Why am I mentioning this? Because if we're not mindful and rooted in the Word and using God as our plumb line, we can start finding ourselves conflating material wealth, fame, success, physical appear, the lack of appearance, the lack of problems, or some kind of a social status or some kind of a success, and using that as a gauge to think we're in right standing with God. But that's not biblical. That's a false gospel. That sounds like the prosperity gospel to me, that the more you do, the more you give, then the more prosperous you become. That's not biblical because a true gospel is true no matter where it's preached.

Pastor Rick Kang [00:12:39]:
You cannot preach the prosperity gospel like in one third world country where they're all sleeping on the floor, or in a war torn country where there's famine and poverty and there's so much devastation and hurt and need, you can't preach that gospel there. But you can preach John 3:16 anywhere. Because salvation and being right with God is always a matter of the heart first, not the wallet, not anything else. It's always a matter of the heart. And I wanted to make that point first. And so tonight what I wanted to do was speak on four things. And these four things are things that you should be doing already. So I'm not here to give you all kind eschatology and deep theology tonight.

Pastor Rick Kang [00:13:29]:
My purpose here is to encourage you as believers to speak about the disciplines, the spiritual disciplines that we learned from the early church and to really use that and to serve that as reminders and to help you understand its value and its importance and to practice it in a much more deeper and meaningful way. The first one is God's word. I hope we all get one of these. We all get one of these. We all get one of these. Yeah, it can be digital, whatever. I often use that. We got one of these.

Pastor Rick Kang [00:14:11]:
Okay. And we gotta reread this. Yeah. Because this is our plumb line for righteousness. This is our plumb line for righteousness. You know, how many of you been walking with the Lord for a while? How many of you working with the Lord for a while? Right. How do you know? My question is, how do you know it's honoring and pleasing to God? What is your gauge? Is it wealth or health or the absence of problems? Or is it this? Yeah, it's this. So our scripture for this is second Timothy 3:16.

Pastor Rick Kang [00:14:50]:
Let's read this together. Ready? Go. All scripture is inspired by God and is. Oh, yeah, come on. The man of God may be complete equipped for every good work. Amen. Yeah. God's word teaches us about truth.

Pastor Rick Kang [00:15:16]:
The truth that helps us to know that we are in right standing with God. The Word is our gauge. It's not man, it's not self help books. And to be honest, not even pastors. Pastors is not your gauge. Even when a pastor speaks a word, we should be like the Bereans and still hold it up against what the written word says. But the Word of God is what you know, is our gauge for our life. And we should ask ourselves, how does our life line up next to the Word of God.

Pastor Rick Kang [00:15:55]:
God. But you know, the Word of God not only teaches us about truth, but how to stand. Because we're human and we're broken and we're flawed, right? We sometimes stray. So the Word of God rebukes us. It calls it out straight, doesn't mince word. And I love that about the Word. I love that. You know, many people don't want to hear that because if you don't love the truth, then the truth sounds like hate.

Pastor Rick Kang [00:16:25]:
But if you love the truth, we understand the purpose of being rebuked or reproved. I love how the Word just says it straight. It's very clear and easy to understand. Multiple times in the Bible it says, those who practice sexual immorality, witchcraft, idolatry, envy, wild parties, drunkenness, and sins like that, if you practice those things, there's no repentance in your heart. There's no seek for forgiveness if you willingly practice those things. The Bible says very clearly, not my words, it says you will not inherit the kingdom of God. And people today, they will try to spin it or justify it in some way, and they can do that any way they want, but the outcome is the same. You know what they call that? They have this thing today called relativism.

Pastor Rick Kang [00:17:20]:
Well, that's not my truth. This is my truth. I don't believe in that. I believe in this. Well, that can be your truth, but that is not the truth. Because your truth, man's truth, will keep you in bondage, but God's truth will set you free and bring you in right standing with God. Come on. But the Bible also says, but those who believe in his son and make him the Lord of their life shall have everlasting life.

Pastor Rick Kang [00:17:57]:
Not too hard to understand, sometimes hard to do. But that's why God gave us his word. And you know, God is a jealous God. I want to Go back to the heart because God is a jealous God. Sometimes that word, we cringe when we hear that word, jealous. But the Bible says God is a jealous God. What does that mean? Is that he desires our affections to be pointed towards him. He wants the affections of our heart.

Pastor Rick Kang [00:18:27]:
So what does he do? He rebukes us. He says, no, don't do that. This is not what I want for your life. But because he's a loving God, he wants relationship. He doesn't just rebuke us, he corrects us. He corrects us back into a heart alignment with him. The Bible said that is our spiritual training, equipping us for every good work. You know, I just recently signed up for like to be meeting with a physical trainer, right? And that's what trainers do, that's what parents do.

Pastor Rick Kang [00:19:01]:
We teach what is the right thing to do. And when we're not doing them right, they say, no, don't do it that way because you're going to get hurt or something's going to happen. Do it this way. That's what the Word of God does for us. But even more deeper than that, I want to go a little bit more deeper. Hebrews 4:12. Let's read this together. For the Word of God is alive and powerful.

Pastor Rick Kang [00:19:28]:
It is sharper than the sharpest two edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires. Hebrews 4:12. You know, brother Ben, we praying this morning, he mentioned that scripture, I was like, amen. You know, you know, when we're growing up, we all can identify with this when we're growing up. Maybe we learned it from our parents, maybe we picked it up from our friends, or just, you know, we picked up faulty habits and beliefs, you know, and we just never resolved anger or unforgiveness or, you know, we never learned to deal with lust or any kind of things like that, right? And if we don't, and if we don't and we've never learned to identify it or correct it and it kind of takes a foothold in our life the more that we practice it and it becomes a part of our life, then it turns into a stronghold and it just seems to be part of our existence and almost like our personality and seems normal. I can, then I can, I mean, man, that take a couple days for me to talk about all of that I had for real. But I just encourage you to think about that, to be honest with yourself and the strongholds that you have and how it has a Tendency to rear its ugly head just at the right time to just cause damage, cause destruction, division, to ruin opportunities.

Pastor Rick Kang [00:21:01]:
Just when we think we're making progress, oh man, stronghold comes along. It pops up and we do something crazy and. And we're back to square one. And it kind of comes like a constant source of discouragement. And it makes us feel. It makes me think about like what Paul said in Romans, Chapter seven, where he says, man, you know what? I try to do the right thing, but I don't do it. But all the stuff that I know I'm supposed to do, how come I do that stuff? What a wretched man I am. And he says, who's going to save me from this life of sin and death? And he says, thank youk for Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Pastor Rick Kang [00:21:36]:
Because it can be difficult for us sometimes to pinpoint exactly. Paul had that. Why do I do this? I don't understand it. It can be difficult for us to pinpoint exactly what the problem is. But that's why we need the Holy Spirit and God's holy Word to expose those character defects in our life. The more that you get into the Word, the more you understand it that supernaturally God will bring those things into mind. Yeah, it might be true. Just bring it to your mind.

Pastor Rick Kang [00:22:09]:
It might be true. Another person just coming. God will work in that area. He will honor that because that is his heart for you. He wants to free you from those strongholds in your life. He wants to walk us. He wants to have. He wants us to have freedom.

Pastor Rick Kang [00:22:24]:
Not to do what we like, but so that we don't have to do the things that we used to do and that we can be fully used by God. Just the Word of God opens up that darkest recesses of our life. You know, bone and spirit. How do you even discern where one starts, where one begins? Soul and spirit, bone and marrow. Right. It's hard to discern that, but the Word of God can because it's sharp. It'll cut open those areas to expose the light of Jesus into it. The second one is worship.

Pastor Rick Kang [00:23:00]:
True worship connects our spirit to His. You know, I've been with NHK for. Since 2006 and I'll be transparent tonight. Like I came out of jail in like May around of 2006. And like in that month, my first day at NHK was. That's when I first started coming to NHK. You know, all I knew was I was going to go to the closest church to my house. And that was my plan.

Pastor Rick Kang [00:23:25]:
I had no idea. I didn't know any churches or anything. I went to the closest church to my house. But God had a bigger plan, right? Because he introduced me to nhk. I have ohana here, you know, And I connected with Pastor Glenn, who is my brother today. And he put. I would not be here if it wasn't for the time and that he put into me the correction, you know? And so I'm forever grateful for that, brother. But I mentioned this because I remember there were services where we come over here.

Pastor Rick Kang [00:23:56]:
We were in the service. We was actually in the middle school at the time. And he was up, and he never looked happy. He wasn't happy. He was upset about something. And it turned out that he was upset because people kept coming late and missing worship. And he was telling you about it. I like that.

Pastor Rick Kang [00:24:18]:
Right. But it wasn't because there is much that goes into worship. You know, the putting the set together and the practice and all that, which, trust me, there is probably more than. If you're not up here, you wouldn't. Probably wouldn't even know. But he wasn't upset about that. He was kind of upset or like, you know, just kind of concerned because there was so much that you could get out of it. And I can tell you I'm glad my wife is here, but there were many times that she couldn't agree that.

Pastor Rick Kang [00:24:51]:
There are times we go into church and we're not seeing eye to eye. Like, you know what I mean? So, like, you know, it's not a good picture, but we come into church, right? We come into church. So, okay, we go church. And so, you know, we sit at. And we come sit down and. But she stayed a little bit farther than me from Momo. So, you know, but I'm like. But then we get into worship, and the worship is so good, and it just brings it to one place.

Pastor Rick Kang [00:25:19]:
Like, it's just you and God, like, you know, just brings you to his presence. It connects our spirits. And you know what happens? The spirit just moves and you just get. Bam. You know, just getting convicted and, oh, it's like, okay, Next thing I know, I scoot in over closer to her, and then my arm come around. And then next thing is like, I'm sorry, hon. That's what the spirit does. Miss you.

Pastor Rick Kang [00:25:52]:
Now you come into worship, the spirit will move in you. It will convict you. It will minister to you. But worship is more than that, much deeper in meaning and in practice. Let's look at John 4, 23 and 24. But the time is coming. Indeed it is here now. When true worshipers join me, we'll worship the Father in spirit and in truth.

Pastor Rick Kang [00:26:23]:
The Father is looking for those who worship him that way. For God is Spirit. So those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth. Amen. God is looking for true worshipers. And when Jesus says God is spirit, it is in response to the Samaritan woman. This is the story of the women at the well. His response to the Samaritan woman and saying, well, how come Jews only worship over there and us Samaritans got to worship on this mountain? And Jesus is saying, no, God is Spirit.

Pastor Rick Kang [00:26:59]:
In other words, his presence is not limited to a city or a building or a place or a mountain. So neither should our worship. In fact, Romans 12:1 tells us to offer ourselves as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to Him. Which is our true act of worship. How we live our life wherever we go, is it in a holy way? Is it separated from the values of the world? There's something different about us that is honoring to God and acceptable to Him. That is our true act of worship. It's not limited to a building or a place. But the Bible says we must also worship God in spirit, not just outwardly, which is good and fine.

Pastor Rick Kang [00:27:55]:
And that's a part of that expression of what's going on inside. God says when we worship him in spirit, he's speaking to the spiritual attributes that. That God gave us way back in Genesis, right? So that we can have a relationship with Him. We can best understand that in the Deuteronomy, chapter 6. Or what Jesus said is the greatest commandment. To love the Lord your God. With what? All your heart, right? All your soul and all your mind. And so unless there's a real passion for God, again, it's a matter of the heart.

Pastor Rick Kang [00:28:38]:
It starts with our heart, a heart set apart for God, right? With God. Unless there's a real passion for God, there can be no worship in spirit. You can do the outwardly stuff and look all awesome, but to God it's not true worship because your heart is not right with Him. We worship him in spirit with all our heart, mind. And so. And the same thing is, we worship him in truth. That we have to be properly informed. We have to have knowledge of who God is.

Pastor Rick Kang [00:29:11]:
What this says about who God is and what he has done in your life and what he promises to do. We have to have that as well. When we worship him in truth, not of worshiping him according to some false gospel or something unbiblical. No, we worship him according to this truth and both are necessary for true worship. The next one I wanted to talk about is pule. What is pule? Prayer. Right, Hale? Pule is or art. Amen.

Pastor Rick Kang [00:29:51]:
Prayer is our direct line to hear and to be heard. Man, I love that last song. Says that he heard. What's that line? He heard our prayer. I sought the Lord, and He heard and he answered, who? That's God's faithfulness right there. I sought the Lord, and He heard and he answered. Prayer is a direct line to hear and be heard. Amazing verse here.

Pastor Rick Kang [00:30:20]:
Hebrews 5:7. During his earthly life, it's speaking about Jesus. He offered prayers and appeals with loud cries and tears. Think about that. Offered prayers and appeals with loud cries and tears to the one who was able to save him from death. And he was heard because of his reverence. I mean, we just see Jesus humanity on full display here. You guys understand? Jesus was fully God and fully man.

Pastor Rick Kang [00:30:57]:
We see this humanity on full display here. And this is in reference to Jesus prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. And Jesus is crying out to God with tears, sweating, blood, and scriptures makes it clear that. But because of his reverence, and I say persistence because he prayed more than once. It says here, because of his prayers and appeals and his reverence, his prayer was heard. How many of you family have things that you really, that you want badly for God to fix or change in your life or remove from your life or to make happen in your life? All of our hands should be get up, right? But the question is how? How many of you have prayed about it and how often? How bad do you want it? It's always God's will. But God hears that prayer, a reverent prayer. How have you ever cried out? Like Jesus or like David when He says in Psalms 18:6, but in my distress, I cried out to youo, Lord.

Pastor Rick Kang [00:32:28]:
Never say, oh, Lord, please help me. I cried out to you, Lord. Yes. I prayed to my God for help. And what does it say? He heard me from my sanctuary. My cry to him reached his ears. Oh, oh, get something to that, huh? Get something to persist in prayer. Persistent widow, the unjust judge.

Pastor Rick Kang [00:32:52]:
But it speaks about persistence, not giving up, right? It speaks about just coming to a place where, man, you know what, God, I need you. I need you. I give a short testimony for you, you know, so transparency, you know, like I was, you know, I had my own strongholds in my life. One of them was addiction. Just things that I grew up with. And I saw it started with I was drinking alcohol from like 9 years old. And it progressed over the years into other kinds of drugs and with alcohol. But, you know, along with that, you know, I got into the criminal lifestyle and, you know, and eventually got incarcerated.

Pastor Rick Kang [00:33:39]:
Right. And. But praise the Lord. Accepted the Lord in prison. And my life hasn't been the same since. So I was a Christian in Halawa, but then I got transferred to Oklahoma. But also because of my drug use, I came up with a condition called atrial fibrillation. And so, you know, my heart sometimes would race like 200 something beats a minute, just going nuts.

Pastor Rick Kang [00:34:00]:
But it was always irregular and sometimes it just was like really bad, where my body couldn't function properly or like. And I would get fainting spells, dizzy, all of that. And so I was in Oklahoma and, you know, and the doctors there, I'm not even sure they were all doctors. I think one of them was on veterinarian. And I'm not even joking because that's the one. Okay. Long time ago. So I just.

Pastor Rick Kang [00:34:31]:
But honestly. But he took away my medication and I was like, you cannot do that. But anyway, they said, oh, you don't need them, because my heart was good at that time. But anyway, they took it out, my heart went back into atrial fib and it was bad. I know some of my brothers might remember that, but, you know, it was. And they never know what they was doing. So I'm not talking bad about them. I just tell you the story.

Pastor Rick Kang [00:34:56]:
They never know what they're doing because they was literally trying so desperately to get my heart back into rhythm because I was falling down. I mean, I tried do something physical. I would fall down, bust my nose, blood on the ground, faint, you know, I mean, like, it was really bad for a long time. And every time they would be actually reading and looking at, okay, we're going to try this. We're going to try this much blood thinner. We're going to try this medication. Really, they're trying to figure it out, like right there in front of me. And I mean, it was just getting more and more and more discouraging.

Pastor Rick Kang [00:35:30]:
And this went on for months. Every morning I go over there, my heart still out of rhythm, right? And they would try this medication, take blood tests. Man, I felt like on total pin cushion, always taking blood and trying to figure things out. And this went on for over a month. And I was locked up in a module, getting real frustrated. Finally they said, okay, we got to take you to one specialist to a hospital. And they took me to Norman, Oklahoma, and they was going to do that Cardioversion. But even that.

Pastor Rick Kang [00:35:58]:
When I was just about ready to do the procedure, they said, we cannot do them because your blood is too thin. That was almost like the last straw for me. And I remember I just was distraught. And I never say nothing on the way home. So we got back to the prison, I went straight into my room, and I just got on my knees and prayed. And I was just praying like, God, how come, like, they're trying all of this stuff and how come the thing not working? And I just. I was in that state and crying out to the Lord. I was actually complaining.

Pastor Rick Kang [00:36:34]:
And this is what the Lord put on my heart. He says, why are you putting your faith in what man cannot do instead of in me, what only I can do? And that changed the whole tone of my prayer. Change the whole tone. God, if I gotta live like this for the rest of my life, then so be it. But I still won't serve you. If I don't make it till tomorrow, or if my days is shortened because of this, then so be it. But I gonna serve youe. Your will be done like, not mine.

Pastor Rick Kang [00:37:14]:
The next morning, as usual, going to the medical. The doctor. The doctor. Okay. I don't know for sure, so I shouldn't, but I think that I really do. But he did. He always had his thing. Was that a stethoscope that.

Pastor Rick Kang [00:37:37]:
And then he always goes like this, right? And he went like that. And then he went, take them off. And he would. And then he would put them on again. And he would put his finger like this. And he looked at me and he said, Mr. Kang, I don't know what happened, but your heart is back in rhythm. That's God's truth.

Pastor Rick Kang [00:37:53]:
God heard that prayer. I testify that. And I claim that that is because of a result of that prayer. That is God's truth right there. And so my message to you is, when things are struggling and it doesn't seem to happen, not happening when you think it should or how you should, don't give up. You might have a loved one that is struggling in addiction or doing, going wayward in some way. Or you might have a health problem or financial situation. Whatever it is, do not give up in prayer.

Pastor Rick Kang [00:38:28]:
Have faith in what only God can do. Just like I realized later that, you know what? God is my creator. And so he is my healer. Yes, he can work through men, but there's things that man cannot do that only God can do. And so we need to pray those kinds of prayers with deep reverence. Almost that sense of desperation, desperation Is not a bad thing. It's just dependent on what you're desperate for. Do not be discouraged through prayer.

Pastor Rick Kang [00:39:04]:
Not. I prayed about it already. Scripture tells us different. Multiple prayers. If Jesus had to pray multiple times to be heard. No. I think so. We should too.

Pastor Rick Kang [00:39:19]:
Yeah. The final one is fellowship. Fellowship is our mooring line to Christ. Okay. I don't know if this word mooring came up, but it definitely works here. Because I often hear comments or, like, people will say that here and there, like, but, you know, yeah, I don't need to go church to be saved. How many of you heard that before? I don't need to go church to be saved. And technically they're right.

Pastor Rick Kang [00:39:47]:
But it's true that you do need to be in fellowship to grow. Because if you're not growing, right, and you run a lone ranger, right, the enemy, the line, he always going to look for the. They're always going to look for the most vulnerable people first. Right? And we susceptible to that. And the Bible doesn't teach this. It's a personal relationship, but not a private one. It's meant to do in community. How many of you need some encouragement sometime, especially in the face of adversity, to really stand firm in your faith? How many of you needed that during COVID or doing some kind of a thing? We needed encouragement from other people.

Pastor Rick Kang [00:40:30]:
We call somebody, right? We come to church, we ask for prayers. We need that encouragement. How many of you need. Sometimes you need some external motivation when you don't really feel like it, but you know, it's like, okay, man, we need the fellowship. Forget some, like, hey, brother, get off your couch and let's go. We got things to do, right? We need some encouragement. We need a fellowship for encouragement, but also for what? Accountability. Oh, man, I don't really feel like going.

Pastor Rick Kang [00:41:00]:
But you know what? I'm accountable to that. I. I said I was going to do that. I'm going to be there. I will be there. That is a character trait of a believer because God very much built accountability into our relationships. We're accountable to him, but also we're accountable to each other. And we need accountability partners.

Pastor Rick Kang [00:41:32]:
So to help understand this, I wanted to show you the three L's. And so, by the way, see my daughter Haley over there, we got her credit. She said, dad, just call that the three L's. And she helped me do this PowerPoint, by the way. So, yeah. Hey, Haley. But it comes from Hebrews 10, 23 and 24. First it says, Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm for God can be trusted to keep his promises.

Pastor Rick Kang [00:42:10]:
Let us the fellowship to come together, right? To help each other stand firm and to keep trusting in the promises that God gave us. Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. We need the fellowship to encourage and motivate each other to get into service because we're most like Jesus when we're in serving. When we're serving. Jesus came, took the appearance of a man, the essence of the form of a servant. He came to serve and not. And to not to serve, not to be served. And so we are most like.

Pastor Rick Kang [00:42:42]:
We are like Christ when we are serving because that's his nature. Let us not neglect the meeting together as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of return is drawing near, right? We need encouragement to come and to not neglect the fellowship because it's easy to fall and be lone ranger. And I get them. And you know, that really brings us to a place of vulnerability. But God wants us to do this together, right? And this word encouragement is not like, oh, come on brother, we go. No, this word encouragement is parakaleo. It means to urge, to plead, to. It's a powerful word.

Pastor Rick Kang [00:43:22]:
It's let's go guys, we need to do this, let's go, come on. It's an encouraging. We need each other, right? The church to moor ourselves to Christ. When a boat is at a harbor, it wants to drift, but the mooring line keeps it tied close to the dock. The fellowship keeps us tied close to Christ. Proverbs 27:17. As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens. A friend basically is saying we need to align ourselves with others who are aligned with Christ.

Pastor Rick Kang [00:44:00]:
Because the fellowship, communication of God's presence and power in our lives, sharing ideas and opinions amongst the brethren, sharpens our focus and attention to what God wants us to see and do. Now I want to close this with this final scripture. But you know, the first century church, they face constant adversity worse than what we have. We're blessed to live in a country where we can practice our faith. They were persecuted by their own people, by the Jewish leaders who saw Jesus as a false messiah and and his followers as blasphemers. They were also persecuted by the Romans. Heavy taxes used Christians as human torches, right? I mean, not to mention always being under the threat of being jailed, beaten or killed. So what did they do in the face of adversity that we can learn from so that we can be like Them to not just persevere and endure, but to grow the church.

Pastor Rick Kang [00:44:59]:
So here is the genesis or like the inspiration of tonight's message. It goes back to basics of the first church. What did they do to stand firm in adversity? Constant threat. Not to just exist, not to just get by, but to grow and to thrive. We can learn from them. Let's read this together. All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and to fellowship and to sharing of meals, including the Lord's Supper and to prayer. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved.

Pastor Rick Kang [00:45:40]:
You know, these early believers, these spiritual disciplines. They devoted themselves to the teaching of God's Word. They devoted themselves to the fellowship and to sharing in meals they served each other. And they devoted themselves to prayer. Devoted is much more than just. It's not going through the motions. It's doing something with intention, with purpose, with love, with passion, with reverence for Almighty God. And all the while praising God.

Pastor Rick Kang [00:46:19]:
They got into worship as well. Each day, the Lord added to their fellowship. These spiritual disciplines created healthy sheep in the eyes of God, and He blessed them. Nice church buildings, fancy ministries, big, large coffers. Those are good. But they alone does not grow the church. They do not strengthen the church. Healthy sheep produces more healthy sheep.

Pastor Rick Kang [00:46:47]:
And together we work together to help each other stand firm despite whatever comes our way. Whether it's a Covid, whether it's a war, whatever comes away. Maybe it's a personal trial. We need each other. We need the Word. We need to stay in prayer, right? Worship God, Spirit in truth, you stand firm. The 4x4 challenge is this real simple. I want to challenge you to be like the First Century Church and devote four days a week to the reading of the Word, worshiping the Lord in spirit and in truth, praying with fervor and fellowship with one another.

Pastor Rick Kang [00:47:24]:
And I believe that if you do these things, that your relationship with God will become stronger, more steadfast in adversity, more effective in bringing others into the family of God. And I believe God will bless that. I know it's like get seven days a week, but let's start with four. Can you guys do four? Yeah. More than half. How's about that? Okay. And we grow from there. Okay.

Pastor Rick Kang [00:47:50]:
Amen. Father Lord, thank youk for this time where we can get into youo Word, for really showing us yous plumb line for your Word over our lives, Lord Jesus, show us where we have strayed, Father God, and bring correction into our life. Help us to align ourselves to your Word. Connect it through prayer. Purify our hearts, clean our hearts through worship and sharpen us through the fellowship. Father, we want to be in upright standing alignment with you, God. Not just with appearance, but in spirit and in truth. So I bless our time together, our fellowship, our food, in Jesus name, amen.