Family Chapel

As the world cries out for justice in an unjust world, the Gospel speaks to justice. The Gospel shows us that God's character serves as the foundation for true justice, that sin produces injustice at both individual and structural levels, that justice is secured through Jesus' work of justification on the cross, and that justice will be complete with the establishment of God's Kingdom. Because God is the God of justice, Christians should passionately pursue justice in light of the Gospel.

Because God is the one who created diversity, we can embrace our unique cultural identities and even view it as an asset and not a liability while we understand that our primary identity is in Christ. We can embrace who we are as we embrace whose we are. We must also let the gospel speak into ethnic/cultural identities because the gospel critiques every culture, redeems every culture, and reaches every culture.

Sometimes Christians can be so spiritually-focused that they ignore or disregard the importance of stewarding the material world. But we see that the Gospel provides some compelling reasons for why Christians should care about creation. We see that the environment is God's good creation. We see that humans are called to be good stewards of creation. We see that taking care of the environment is a way to love our neighbors, especially our future neighbors. And we see that God aims to restore all of creation. The Gospel grounds us as we seek to be good stewards of all that God has entrusted to us.

Cornelius, a Roman centurion, and his household end up converting Christ as the Gospel continues to spread to all nations. But before Cornelius experiences his conversion, the Apostle Peter must experience a conversion of sorts. While Peter understood the global scope of the Gospel, he was still very much embedded in his Jewish way of thinking that saw Gentiles (non-Jewish people) as unclean and unworthy to receive grace. God corrects that faulty understanding through a vision and by orchestrating a meeting with Cornelius, as He shows Peter that He does not show favoritism but rather invites all peoples regardless of their background to repent and believe and enter into His Kingdom. The Gospel comes with a house key that breaks down the walls of racial hostility.

As Saul travels to Damascus to continue his persecution of Christians, he has an encounter with the risen Christ that changes him forever. Through his conversion experience, we see the miracle of conversion. There is no such thing as a boring testimony! Conversion is a supernatural gift of God's sovereign grace. Conversion brings supernatural unity with God's family. Conversion involves a supernatural call to God's mission.

1 Corinthians 9:19-23

Praise led by Andy Hwang

The cost of God's Mission is great because it came at a great cost, namely the life of the Son Jesus Christ. Therefore, the cost of following Christ as disciple-makers is our lives as living sacrifices. Yet, greater than the cost is the joy and eternal rewards that we will receive when we remain faithful to his mission until the end.