The Beacon - Pastor Peter's Installation Service

Good evening. Welcome everybody to the beacon. It's excited to be here at the installation service for you.

Lord Jesus. You alone are the one who makes a rich feast for many. From the meager offerings of the few.

Bring our insufficient gifts, our imperfect talents, limited resources, our half-realized intentions, our impaired efforts. You consecrate them for your good purposes, that they might in your hands become something more than mere proofs of our own inadequacy. For you delight, Lord, in using our poverty to display the riches of your grace, and in meeting and feeling our weakness. So they become hollows in which your mercies and your glories might cool. Do so now, O Lord, for our best efforts will never be enough to bring to meaningful fruition any labor you have set before us. Our gifts, even those which in some way have been costly to us, will only be as fruits withering and shriveling on the vine.

If you do not coax their ripening to completion, and tread them in your press, and transform their bitter notes into a sweeter wine of your grace. Apart from you, Christ, we can do nothing.

If you do not labor through us, Lord, all our offerings will be in vain. So we come to you, Lord, with open hands, with open hearts, asking that you accept our offerings, and do it all for your glory. We pray in Jesus' name. All right, welcome everyone to the beacon and the installation service for Pastor Peter. Can we all rise and uh we're gonna sing together today? Um how appropriate it is to be called as just the people of God to come before Him to sing His praises, and so we're gonna do that together this afternoon, Christ the show and steady anchor in the fear of the store when the wings of thou blow through me and my cells have all been told in the suffering in the sorrow when my sinking hosts of you I will hold fast to the anchor, it shall never be remote on that and it seems deepest being fast to the shall be Christ's assurance steady Christ ashore steady anchor through the flood of unbelievable now lift your eyes to Calvary This might ashore see his love forever brood all my hope is in the anchor it shall never be removed Christ as sure a steady anchor Christ ashore and steady anchor as we face the wave of death when these trials give way to glory as we draw our final breath we will cross the rise and cloud me high and life secure and the calm will be the best for the storms that we enjoy Christ the shore of our salvation ever faithful ever true He will hold fast to the anchor It shall never be removed Bless the Lord O my soul my soul worship his own name sing like never before oh my soul I'll worship your whole name Sun comes up the sun comes up it's a new day dawn it's time to sing your song again whatever may pass and whatever lies before me let me be sing when being comfortable bless the Lord oh my soul my soul worship his holy name sing like never before oh my soul I'll worship your whole name rich in love shall love and your soul to anger your name is great and your heart is God for all your goodness I will keep all singing On that day, and it's all that day when my strength is failing.

The end draws near and my time has come. Still my soul will sing your praise on the ten thousand years and then forever more. Bless the Lord.

Oh my soul. Worship his holy name. Sing like never before. Oh my soul. I'll worship your holy name. Sing bless the Lord. Bless the Lord O my soul. Oh my soul. Worship his holy name. Sing like never before. Oh my soul. I'll worship your holy name. Lord, I'll worship your whole name.

Hi, everyone. Please be seated. Welcome to the Beacons installation of our new lead pastor, Peter Chong. My name is Phil Lee. I'm a deacon here with the church and a beacon lifer. I'd like to start by thanking all of you for attending today. Uh in person. And for those of us joining on stream. I know there are several families here who have flown in from out of town to be with us for this special occasion. And talking with Pastor Peter and Becky.

I also want to give a special shout out to Pastor Jason Kim and the elders of KPC for letting us use our sanctuary and facilities for today.

Or if you have know very little about the beacon church in name has existed for over twenty years.

If you were alive today on what would have been his eighty-first birthday, I'm sure it would have been the crier of the church, sorry. A few years ago, with the blessing of KPC's elders, the beacon is a became a fully independent church. Where we are no longer their English ministry, but an equal partner in ministry, who happens also to pay rent to them. In the beginning, the beacon did not know what a healthy church would look like. We went through so many pastors. Our desire to grow God's church, although pure intent was lacking in biblical foundation. So God tore us down. So that our foundation could be strengthened.

The past 15 years has been the journey that has shaped us and established our identity to be a faithful steward of the word. Proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ. And glorify him in everything we do. It hasn't always been a perfect process. But thankfully, we have a perfect father who lifted us up in grace. Watched over us with love, and guided us in spirit. Ours is the little church that persevered. Each of today's presenters or speakers has pastored us within the past 15 years. And was instrumental to how God shaped our ministry. Pastor Agam Ihiani Igwe, who opened this service, was the first one God used when we as ministry were at our lowest. Brother, I know in our program it says doctor, but you will always be Pastor Agam to us.

Not only did he preach the gospel faithfully from Scripture, he counseled us all with fatherly love and instilled the importance of church membership. After Agam, it was Pastor Justin Heron, who continued the great biblical preaching we needed, but also instilled the principles of healthy church leadership and doctrine. We grew a lot together and learned so much about leaning on your church family for accountability. And lastly, even though Pastor Dean Madison has been with us for a year, the wisdom he's gathered in his many years of ministry was eye-opening for our leadership and our members. He is a standard in how we are to dedicate our whole lives in loving and serving our Lord faithfully.

The beacon has been blessed with godly shepherds. Three individual miracles that we beg for in prayer, but couldn't believe in the manner and quality in which God provided.

But they moved on because they were faithfully following as God was leading them. And here they've come back again, doing what it takes to be here so that the baton could be passed to our fourth too good to believe miracle and a brother Peter. The doors that were closed on each of our ends in order for us to be ready for each other. This union was truly ordained by God. PC, we are all here today to encourage, bless, commission you as you begin this journey of being our new pastor at the beacon. We are all eager to learn from you, to be counseled by you and serve beside you, and most importantly, grow God's kingdom with you for his glory alone. We're excited, brother. And to everyone who's here worried about how he's gonna be, he's in good hands.

We will love him a lot. These are not tears of being scared, but tears of excitement.

God bless you, brother. Thank you. Now I would like to welcome Pastor Dean Madison, as he will give a word of encouragement. How do you follow somebody like that that uh with tears of joy? Uh you're I'm a crier just like you are. And so um when I see what God has done, uh I'm just they that sow and tears you're reaping joy, and that's what we have seen here. You know, it was a few years back. Um my wife and I and our two kids planted a church in Palmdale, uh, California. So the four of us were there, and and I pastored that church for 34 years. I retired when I was 72, and it's been that's been four years that have gone by, and I was starting to miss preaching. And and I saw this church, and and so I uh I knew that they had a need, and uh, and I wanted to uh be uh perhaps one that could work with them, and my wife said, you can uh drive as far away as LA.

And so that was LA was just uh 70 miles, and so I got a chance to come down and fall in love with the congregation you're inheriting, and you'll you'll really be loved by them, and I know already, and knowing you, you'll really love them too. It was a few years back, uh, I was over uh an awana program at our church because I at first I was the only pastor, ended up with nine pastors on our staff, but at first I was the only pastor, and so uh as the church grew, uh I was over the awana program. We had 150 to 200 kids, and I decided uh I would speak to them every week, and I said to them, next week we had four teams. I said to the teams, you bring something next week from your team, and if you can stump the pastor, then your team will win points uh this night.

And so you bring whatever you want, and I'll have to tell you how I would use this in a sermon illustration. And so the first one came, and and I was fortunate. Uh, you know, I I really don't remember what what it was, but I came out with an illustration, and so that was one down. I had one in my back pocket though, that I knew if I didn't know. So the second one came up, and and I could tell them the purpose of that. Here's how I'm gonna use it for God's glory in a sermon and illustrate it. The third one came up, and wow, I I thought I only got two more to go, and they thought, oh, they we can stump him on this one, and again, I forget what it was, but I said, Oh, you know how uh how I use this in a sermon illustration, and I gave them the look of way I would use it.

The fourth one came up, and I had no idea what it was. I mean, I looked at it, and it was some guy who worked at Edwards Air Force Base had brought something off a plane, and he said, Man, I know I'm gonna stump the pastor on this one. And I looked at it, and this is the one I had in my back pocket. I I I looked at it and I said, You know something? You know what this reminds me of? That only God knows everything.

And so I that was the one in my back pocket. I knew I had one if I couldn't do it, I'd go there. And and the guy goes, you know, and the team, and it was just a good time for the pastor to have to learn how to use things and keep alert with kids and love on kids. But the purpose of that, and can I um Alex? Can we can we go over it? Yeah, I I want to talk about the purpose of the beacon, and I want to talk to you as a congregation about the purpose of the beacon, and then I want to talk to Pastor Peter about the purpose of the beacon. Just like when I talk to those kids about the purpose of whatever they brought to me, how it could be used for God's glory and that purpose. But what's the purpose of the beacon?

That's a question mark. I'd I'd rather say it this way. Um let me see if I can switch back here a little bit. Can you advance that? Okay, the purpose of the beacon is to, rather than making a question mark. Let me have you turn it into a sentence. The purpose of the beacon is to do what? And the purpose of the beacon is to praise and glorify God. If we, if we had the Westminster Catechism, we'd say, uh, the chief end of man is to do what? Glorify God and enjoy him forever. But if I were to put that into your language and my language, I would say it the way John Piper says it. The chief end of man is to glorify God by enjoying him forever. And that's what God wants to do in your congregation.

He wants to give praise and glory to God. So let me take you to Philippians chapter 1, verses 9 through 11. And he says this. And I pray this, that your love will keep on growing in knowledge and every kind of discernment, so that you can approve the things that are superior and what? Be pure and blameless on the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Christ Jesus. Look at He's saying, I want to do this so that you can be what? Pure. Blends, filled with the fruit of righteousness. But those are the three things. He says, uh, I want, I'm doing this so that you can you can do this. But let me get rid of the green stuff there for a second and say it this way, so that you can be to the glory and praise of God.

That's what he planted the beacon here for. So that you can be to the praise and glory of God. So let me say. What's the purpose of the beacon? Purpose of the beacon is to do what? Praise and glorify God. Isaiah 42, 8 is an old testament passage. And it says, I am Yahweh. That is my name. I will not give my glory to another or my praise to idols. What's interesting is that Jehovah's Witness used this verse to deny the deity of Jesus. Because God will not give his glory to another. But then they stumble when they get to John chapter 1, and we beheld his glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. And what did God do? God gave his glory to Jesus here on earth.

A lot of Jehovah's Witnesses come to know Christ when they realize that God the Father shared his glory with Jesus here on earth, and that Jesus, therefore, is God. Let me take you back and say, what's the purpose of the beacon? I'm going to praise and glorify God. That's what I want you to do as a congregation. Your whole purpose to exist is not so that you can have everything you want, but so that you can praise and glorify God. Let me take you to Isaiah again. We just read verse 8. Here's what verse 12 says. Let them give glory to the Lord and declare his praise to the islands. What does he want you to do? Give him glory and praise. What's the purpose of the beacon? The purpose of the beacon is to give praise and glory to God.

Let me take you to Ephesians 1. And in Ephesians chapter 1, verses 11 to 14, it says, we have also received an inheritance in Christ, predestined according to the purpose of the one who works out everything in agreement with the decision of his will. So that we who had already put our hope in the Messiah might bring what? Praise to his glory. And how does it end? To the praise of his glory. What? Why do you exist? Not so that you can get together and have a social club. So that you can give him praise and glory. You have one name. You're going to give him praise and glory. And look at look at the screen for a second. He does this, and it's all what? Predestined. God, when he started things out, he said, I'm going to predestine.

This is the plan. This is why I'm going to start a church. So that the praise and the glory can go back to the God of the universe. The one who created it all. The one who sent his son to die so that we can have eternal life. And he says, Oh, can we not give him praise and glory? The purpose of our church is to praise and glorify God. Have I said this enough? The purpose of the beacon is to praise and glorify God. I want you to look at the ways. The ways then we are to praise and glorify God. How do we do that? We're supposed to do it. Oh well, but that's the purpose. But now, what are the ways I do that? Well, the first way that I do that, and you do that as a congregation, is by evangelizing the lost.

Because they cannot praise and glorify God if they don't know God. Do you get that? And so, if you're going to bring praise and glory to God, and you're going to lead others to give praise and glory to God, you have to tell them. So that they say, Oh, yeah, I want to praise and glorify God too. Let me take you back to Isaiah 66, 19. I will establish a sign among you, and I will send survivors from them to the nations who have not heard of my fame or seen my glory. Do you get that? There are people that have not seen the glory of God. They don't know the fame of God. And our task, should you choose to do this?

By evangelizing the lost. That doesn't mean you win them. That just means you tell them. I had a, you know, you're not, you're not there to buttonhole people to come to know Jesus. I want you to know that God is already at work in the people's hearts and lives. And our job is to just get out there and sow the seed. Some sow, some water. But God gives the increase. He's got people waiting, ready to trust Christ. They're hurting. And they want to trust Christ. My doctor, Dr. Saythumatavan. I finally, I said to him one day, you know, doctor. Do you know you're going? He knew I was a pastor. So I said, Do you know you're going to heaven? And he said, I said, I tell you what, I'll just ask you that question.

Let it set in. But I said this. I want you to know that I know how you can go to heaven. And if you're ever wanting to hear, if you're ready to hear, just let me know, and I'll share with you. Because what am I doing? I'm just opening the door. You're just starting. You're not button-holding him. You're not pressuring him. You're evangelizing him. You're saying, I've got some good news. You ever want to hear it? If you want to know how to go to heaven, just ask me. I'd love to tell you sometimes. Because the purpose of our church is to praise and glorify God. And we do that by evangelizing the lost. But that's why Jesus gave us this. He said, they will proclaim my glory. They haven't seen my glory, but someday, oh, they're going to be able to proclaim my glory.

Mark 16, 15, Jesus said, He said to them, Go into all the world and do what? Preach the gospel. That's our job. And you know something? The word preach there is the Greek word caruso. And you know what's interesting about that? The same Greek word is used when you take communion. And he says, when you take communion, you caruso, you proclaim the Lord's death till he comes. And some of you are saying, Well, I don't preach. Yeah, you do. Every time you take communion, you proclaim the Lord's death till he comes. And if you preach the gospel, you're just, you're just telling what happened in your life. You know, I used to be that way, and now I'm this way. That's why I have to tell people. And what changed me?

Oh, I came to know Christ as my Savior. That's what he's wanting you to do. Are you with a congregation willing to do that? You've got so many needy people right here in the MacArthur Park area that need to know about Jesus. They have no idea. Romans 10, 14 says it this way, but how can they call on Jesus on him they have not believed in? And how can they believe without hearing about him? So what's my challenge to you? I was supposed to give a challenge to the congregation. You're here to praise and glorify God. And you do that how? Huh? You do that by evangelizing the lost. So what are the ones? One of the ways? By evangelizing the lost. What's the second way as a congregation? You can praise and glorify God.

The second way I'm going to give you is this by exalting Christ as Savior and Lord in our lives. He's number one. Do you remember what we talked about at the park one day in the summertime? What's the first commandment of the Ten Commandments? Thou shalt have no other gods before me. He's number one. He's number one. And I'll bet uh Elliot remembers that, right? No one's the one. Okay. He's number one. You don't have to know the gods before him. He's number one. And if I exalt Christ in my life, I give him the preeminence. I don't get the preeminence. He's on top. And everything else in my life was under his command and his leadership. So I exalt him as Savior and Lord. Let me take you to Exodus 15, too.

The Lord is my strength and my song. He has become my salvation. This is my God, and I will praise him. My Father's God, and I will do what? Exalt him. Who are we talking about here? Moses. If Moses, who didn't even know Jesus, could exalt God, then why can't you? If Moses, who didn't even have the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit hadn't been given and didn't live in the lives of people back then, if Moses could exalt God, why can't you? If you have God, if you have the Lord Jesus in your life, and the Holy Spirit's come into your life, what's he want to do? Exalt the Lord. Let me give you another example of this. Psalm 30, verse 1. I will exalt you, Lord, because you have lifted me up.

I will exalt you, Lord. Who are we talking about here? David. David even prayed something in Psalm 51 that we don't have to pray anymore. You know, take not thy Holy Spirit from me. He doesn't take his Holy Spirit from believers anymore. The Holy Spirit's the seal.

I feel sorry for the Holy Spirit because he's stuck with us 365 days a year and 366 on leap here. You know? He has no vacation from our sin. And if he's in you, let's exalt the Lord together. Let me give you another example of this in Philippians 1, 19 and 20. For I know, Paul writing here, for I know that this will turn out for my deliverance. He's in prison. And I know that it will turn out for my deliverance through your prayers and the provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ according to my eager expectation and hope. That I will not be put to shame in anything, but that with all boldness, Christ will, even now, as always, what? Be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. You know, if Moses could praise and exalt the Lord, if David could exalt the Lord, if Paul could exalt the Lord, why aren't we?

We lift him up. We give him praise and glory. But I'm going to give you somebody that's even higher than the three of them. Let me take you to Philippians 2. Great passage on how let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.

By the time you get to verse 9, for this reason, God highly exalted him and gave him a name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow of those things that are in heaven and on earth and under the earth. And every tongue shall or should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Listen, Moses did it, David did it, Paul did it, but even God the Father highly exalted his son. He gave up a name that's above every name. So when it comes to observations in your life, I hope that you'll put in number one. Look at the preeminence. He'll be at the top. He'll be exalted in your life. Whether by life or by death. What's the purpose? Well, I've given you two purposes for the church.

But let me let me do this. After these two by evangelizing the lost and by exalting Christ as Savior and Lord. Let me talk to Pastor Peter. Okay. My challenge to you as a congregation, and to you who are coming here to encourage them. Look, evangelize the lost. Exalt Christ in your life. That will give praise and glory to God. Pastor Peter. Your task. If you're going to glorify God, praise and glorify God. You're going to equip and encourage believers. And you're doing that already. And he said, Oh, let me just take you to a passage. Ephesians 4, verses 11 and following. And he personally gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers. What? For the training of the saints for the work of the ministry.

You're a job. If you're going to praise and glorify God, you're going to equip these people. So that they praise and glorify God even more. And it goes on in the text to build up the body of Christ. So you're going to equip them and you're going to build them up. You're going to encourage them to just do what's going to glorify God. That's the first thing you're going to do. Let me take you to 2 Timothy 3. You know this passage. All scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, so that the men of God may be complete equipped for every good work. Because your job, our calling as pastors, is to equip these people so that you work yourself out of a job.

And you have them sharing and doing ministry. Purpose of the beacon is to praise and glorify God. And you're going to do that by evangelizing the lost by exalting Christ as Savior and Lord. You're going to do it, Pastor Peter, by equipping and encouraging believers. But there's another thing that has become lost in our society today. The pastor's job, the pastor's calling. If he's going to praise and glorify God, he's going to expose false teaching in our world. People don't want to want to call out false teachers.

They don't preach the Bible. They teach you, you know, seven ways to succeed on your job. Three ways to be better husbands. Four ways to be the wife God wants you to be. You know, let's just open up the word and just start going down through. And that's what you've been doing, and that's what you're going to continue to do. But you're going to expose false teaching. You did that somehow today, and I had to smile as I listened to you preach today because there were some verses that you used. I thought, oh yeah, that's, you know, that's what God wants us to do. So let me take you to a text. Jude 1 3 says this. Dear friends, by the way, Jude's only one chapter. But he packs a punch and he slaps us silly.

He says, dear friends, although I was eager to write you about the salvation we share, I found it necessary to write and exhort you to contend for the faith that was delivered to the saints once for all. Abraham, can you advance that? I can't, it's not advancing in here. I want you to contend for the faith once for all. The Greek word there is epagonizomai. The root is agonizal from where we get letter for letter out of Greek into English the word agonize. Our job is to agonize for the faith. You know, when when you're when you're exercising and trying to get fit for uh your triathlon or whatever you're going to do, you're agonizing. When you're serving God for his glory, you're going to agonize at times when you hear false teaching being done.

You're going to say, how can that be? Let me give you some example. Matthew 7.15 says, beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous fools. They're teaching false doctrine. Matthew 10, 16, he says, Look, I'm sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore, be as shrewd as serpents and harmless as doves. Let me give you some example of a false teacher. Okay. And there are people that love, you know, I would say, you know, I can I can love everybody. I can hate their sin or hate their false teaching. But this is Joel Olstein, and Joel has one of the biggest churches in America. But he was interviewed on Larry King a few years back. Here's what uh was said.

Larry King said to him, Is it hard to lead a Christian life? Joel said, I don't think it's that hard. To me, it's fun. We have joy and happiness. And I'm not trying to follow a set of rules and stuff. Larry's response. Uh, can you advance that Abraham? Oh, Larry's Larry says, but you have rules, don't you? Joel said, we do have rules. But the main rule to me is to honor God with your life. To live a life of integrity, not be selfish. You know, help others. And that's really the essence of the Christian faith. I would say to you, look, here's what he says is the essence of Christian faith. To live a life of integrity, not be selfish, help others. Listen to me, people can do that without Jesus.

We're trying to, he's just trying to help people do something that they're supposed to do anyway, without the God of the universe in them, saving them, transforming them, and helping them praise and glorify God. He goes on. Larry King says, Are you saying that we live and are saved by what we do indeeds? Joel Osteen says, uh, I don't know. Oh, what do you mean by that?

Larry says, well, because we've had ministers on who have said, you either believe in Christ or you don't. You believe in Christ. If you believe in Christ, you are going to heaven. And if you don't, no matter what good you have done in your life, you ain't going to heaven. So Larry King knew the truth about things. And he goes on, Joel Osteen says, Yeah, I don't know. Do you hear? This is a pastor. That's supposed to be giving people the truth. You'll be giving them the truth. He says, Yeah, I don't know. Larry King said, What if you're Jewish or a Muslim and you don't accept Christ at all? Joel said, you know, I'm very careful about saying who would and wouldn't go to heaven. I don't know.

Jesus is pretty clear. The scripture is pretty clear. Scripture says in John 3.18, anyone who believes in Jesus is not condemned, but anyone who does not believe is already condemned because he is has not believed in the name of the one and only Son of God. Pretty clear, isn't it? Joel ought to know. Larry King says, if you believe you have to believe in Christ. Then there's a lot of people. And the other people are wrong, aren't they? Well, I don't know. I don't know if I believe they're wrong. I spent a lot of time in India with my father. I don't know all about their religion. But I know they love God. And I don't know. I've seen their sincerity. But I don't know. Listen. Your task is to make sure every single one of them know.

And you're going to tell them the truth. And you're going to expose false teaching in our world. No matter who the best well-known accepted pastor out there comes out with something false, you're going to proclaim, hey, this is what God's Word says. And this contradicts what they just said. Jesus told him, I'm the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. You shared that. We believe that. If you don't believe that, then you're probably not saved. If you think there's some other way, then you don't honor Jesus as Savior and Lord. And you don't accept what he said, that he's the only way to God. And if you don't believe that he's the only way to God, then why do you believe anything else he would say?

You're not saved. Acts 4 12, you alluded to it this morning. There is salvation and no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to people, and we must be saved by it. It's the name of Jesus. And we're going to be saved by him. No one else. That's why. And Pastor Peter talked about it this morning. The exclusivity of Christ. He's exclusive. There's no other salvation. There's no other Savior. There's no other God. And your job is to keep hammering that point home. And we'll be praying that you do just that. What's the purpose of our church? Praise and glorify God. Look at the ways we do this. You're going to evangelize the lost. Right? As a congregation. We're going to exalt Christ as Savior and Lord in our life.

He's going to be number one in our lives. As a pastor, you're going to equip and encourage believers. You're going to expose false teaching in our world. And lastly, you're going to exposit God's word in our services. And you're doing just that. We couldn't be more thrilled. I'm preaching to the choir. I've been preaching to this guy. And I hope as a congregation, you'll pray for him. I would think that most people would not want to accept a call and move into the MacArthur Park area. Let's move into MacArthur Park along with the homeless people down there. And let's raise our kids here. You know, you go where God wants you to go. The safest place to be is where God wants you to be.

And you're going to exposit God's word to this congregation. Here's what it says in 2 Timothy 4. I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and in Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead. I'm going to highlight this. I solemnly charge you. And what does he Solomon charge him to do? Verse 2. Preach the word. That's what your job. Preach the word. You know, you don't have to tell stories. Unless they're going to illustrate. And illustrations, parables, what Jesus did. They throw their windows on the word. And you open up, you let the light shine in. So people go, oh, that's what the word means there. And so in our lives, here's what I would say to you. What's the purpose of our church?

To praise and glorify God. And how are we going to do this? By evangelizing the lost. By exalting Christ as Savior and Lord. By equipping and encouraging believers. By exposing false teaching, by exposing God's word. That's why we're thrilled that you're here to be the pastor. Years ago, when Dr. Warren Wearsby was installed as the pastor of Moody Memorial Church. He's written hundreds of books. Some of you use his books. Be rich, be real, be free, be all B books. When he was installed, I sat in the congregation and listened as Dr. Lloyd Perry got up to give this charge to him. Dr. Lloyd Perry looked at the congregation and he had the names of leaders in the church. And so he called out the leader of the treasurer.

And he says, John Doe. I'll use that name. Okay. John Doe. Yeah, you're the treasurer here. You know, I want you to know you're not in charge. And I would, I was, I was a young kid in your congregation, and I'm going, oh my goodness. And then he called on the chairman of the elder board. Called him by name. And then he said, by the way, just so you know, you're not in charge. And he went down through with three or four people, the choir director, you're not in charge. He finally gets to Dr. Warren Wearsby. And he looked and he said, he called him by his first name. He was old enough to call. Call him. He said, Warren, you're not in charge. And you already know this. But the Lord's in charge.

It's his church. And we're just under shepherds. And we're going to be praying. That God does such a great thing that the Lord's name and fame will be known throughout this whole region. Because of the little fledgling church that started and grew and grew and grew. Called the beacon. Shining a beacon of light into all the world. Jesus is the light of the world, right? He said, I'm the light of the world. But when he was taken up, God's word changed that focus. Jesus is still the light. But instead, you know what he said? He turned to us as believers. Listen to me. He turned to us as believers. And he said, let your light so shine before men.

And your light happens to be Christ in you. And you're focus on the word, because his word is a lamp to our feet, a light to our path. So I've challenged you as a congregation. I've challenged you as a pastor. Now, I'm going to ask us, I'm going to ask Pastor Peter to come up, and we're going to lay hands on him and pray for him. And I'm going to ask you as a congregation to be praying for him as well. And if you're here as a pastor who's been involved in the beacon, ask him to just sit here. And if you're a pastor that's been involved in the beacon, or if you're a pastor that's come from Berean or elsewhere to be here to encourage this congregation, I'm going to ask you to come up and we're going to lay hands on our brother and pray that God you back in there.

We're going to pray that God would powerfully be on his life. And the purpose of praising and glorifying God will be run through this man's life and through this congregation in such a powerful way. I'm going to ask you to give them to just lay hands on him right now. And I'm going to ask you as a congregation right now. If I'm going to give you a moment to take pictures, okay. Okay.

Between you and the Lord. Asking God Take the message you heard today so that you will praise and glorify God by doing what his word just instructed us to do.

And begin to pray for him. I'm gonna ask the pastors here.

Out loud. I'm gonna ask you to start us. And then through I'm gonna ask Pastor Justin to lead us in a perfect dedication of our pastor.

So this is one key.

This decision is just a few words.

So let me just do it to this one.

Let's continue in prayer. Good and gracious Heavenly Father. You are the giver of all good things. And this evening we first and foremost praise you for granting your people the gift of salvation. Jesus is our sweet and powerful Savior who bore our sins and his body on the tree so that we might die to sin and live unto righteousness. It is in Christ and because of Christ that our names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life. Upon ascending into heaven, he gave good and generous gifts to his beloved church through the ministry of the Holy Spirit. The gift and office of Pastor is so special, and we praise you for faithful men who serve to glorify your name and make disciples of Jesus Christ. Pastor Peter is such a man and the one you have called out to shepherd this church which Christ has obtained by his own blood.

We thank you for bringing him and his family to the beacon. You have prepared him for such a time as this to shepherd the flock of God, exercising oversight as a willing and eager servant. I pray that Peter's leadership would not be with a domineering spirit, but rather he would be a Christ-like example to the flock. Lord, may he pastor with the end in mind on that great day when the chief shepherd appears who will reward him with the unfading crown of glory. Please keep Peter humble, faithful, and accountable to your word and the leadership here at the beacon.

Lord, that you would live a life of daily repentance and faith in our Savior. Please strengthen him to put on the whole armor of God in order to stand against the schemes of Satan. May Peter's delight be in Christ, his gospel, his glory, his word, his renown. And grant him even now a filling of your Holy Spirit. Give him a double portion of your spirit. Bless his ministry here at the beacon.

All for your glory, all for the fame of your name, all because you have commissioned us to make disciples of all nations.

And we know that you go above and beyond all that we can ask or even imagine. Because you are that good, and you are that powerful. And you are that sovereign. Lord, may the name of the beacon be true, a testament here in Los Angeles and beyond. We pray in the precious and matchless name of the King of the universe and all of God's. All right. Thank you, everyone so much for being here. Uh let's all rise and just respond in a song of response. Be singing, O church arise, and uh may we wherever church we're from, as the body of Christ, may we uh truly live out of this kingdom and his life for him for his kingdom.

So let's sing together. Church arise and put your arm in the call of Christ our cat for now that we can say that they are strong in the strength that God has given with shield of faith and not a truth, we'll stand against the devils and army bold, whose battle cry is long, reaching out to those in time to war the captive soul, but to rage against the pastor and with the sword that makes the woundable we will fight with faith and vow when faced with trials on every side, we know the outcome is Christ will have the prize for which he died, and inheritance of grace come see the cross when love and mercy as a son of God is rain and see his host by crush me for the conqueror as risen, and as a stone is rolled away, and Christ emerged from the grave this space remarks till the day, every eye and heart shall see.

Um at this time, I'm gonna just ask Pastor Peter to come on back up. And, you know, as much as we are getting a pastor and Pastor Peter, we're also welcoming his family to serve them and to also serve alongside them. So I'm also going to ask Becky and Maddie and Karis to also come up. And we're just going to pray for their family at this time. I'm going to also ask Stephen and Phil to come up and just lay their hands on the family. And Stephen will just lead us in a prayer.

Awesome. And I think just before we pray, I think just for Becky, Maddie, and Karis, I think just on behalf of the Beacon family here, we're just so so excited to have you guys. I think, yeah.

And I just want to affirm to you guys that as much as we've been praying for Pastor Peter in this day, I think as much, if not more prayer has been gone out for you guys, that the welcoming would feel which is really genuine, and you guys would just be able to feel Christ's love as you guys. Obviously, as you can see, there's a lot more Bereans here than Beaconites, but we're going to give Peter a five-year plan that in five years we can look out here and see as many beaconites. I'm totally kidding. That's that's not something that we're going to measure him against. But I just think on behalf of the beacon leadership here, when we just think about what the future is going to look like, we know that Peter is not the man that he is today without the love that you've poured out to him, without the ways in which I'm sure Maddie and Karis have sanctified Peter as a father.

And so I think when I for us, as you look at our congregation, I think we're just so so excited to get to do life and ministry and just to praise and glorify God together. So I'm just going to pray on behalf of their family. But if you guys would just also just extend a hand out to this family, as we just pray over them. God, we just want to give you all the glory and all the praise for just the celebration, Lord, in which you've brought just many who have just been loved by Peter and by Becky and by their family. But Lord, in the ways in which you've simply just used their family to love on everyone here today.

And God, as we just come together, Lord, not as two different churches, Lord, but as a body of believers, we are just so, so excited to see the ways in which you will work and the ways in which you will use this family to further your gospel.

As they just go through this transition, as they just support and love on their dad, who we know and expect to run a hundred miles per hour each and every single day. Lord, that in loving Peter, Lord, we know that they will be loving on this congregation. And so, God, for Becky, I pray that you would give her extra grace, extra mercy over her husband. That you would give her wisdom and just sympathy and just ways to just encourage him as he takes on the role of the chief under shepherd here at the beacon. That she would be able to love him, that you'd be able to serve him, that you would just be able to just pour out the love that Christ has poured out for you. And for Maddie and Karis, we just pray that through the season of transition, that the Lord would continue to do a mighty work in their life, that we would just be able to see the seeds of gossip of the Lord's gospel just sprout as they just continue to live and to fellowship and to learn here at the Beacon.

We're so excited that our children here at the Beacon will gain a new brother and a new sister to learn with, to grow with, just to do life with. We're so excited for the ways in which the Lord will use the beacon to minister to those who are lost here in LA. So, Father, we submit this family unto you at this time. Would you use the chunks to continue, Lord, to do your mighty work? And it's in Jesus' name that we pray. Amen. Thank you. So this morning I had the opportunity to preach, and uh it was kind of an interesting uh thought that I had right before I went up to give a sermon. Um the three previous pastors were all in attendance to hear me preach, and I was thinking that is such a unique and an odd thing, and I wonder uh how often that happens in the history of churches that um these men who've faithfully loved this congregation and were blessed out, just hand the baton to me on this day, and then they're all here to celebrate.

So that for me was pretty cool, and uh, it's just evidence of God's kindness. Um I don't have a special vision or a novel strategy for this church. It's just simply preach the word in season out of season to correct, reprove, and encourage, and let the word do the work. And so my prayer primarily is I know that I start out strong, but it's difficult to finish well. And so please pray for us that through every season, and the Lord will do what he will do. But 10, 20, 30, uh Lord willing 40 years from now, I'm faithful. Uh I also want to say, like, it's it's so cool to see just my world's colliding. My friends, family, and then also the church that I came from to have you all here to just to pray.

Give me a second.

To celebrate this uh cool occasion. It's a joy. And I've learned from the best. And I've been under Pastor Peter Kim's faithful example and teaching and shepherding for 20 plus years. And it's I feel like I would not be in ministry if it wasn't for Pastor Peter or Bereo.

So for the Bereans that are here, just consider this just an accept an extension of the witness, the example, and uh just continue to pray for us. Just consider us uh just uh a like-minded church in the area. So just thank you for just the opportunity to stand in front and just celebrate with you. The Lord bless you. You're always welcome to come and visit, to spend time with us here. Um please do take. Uh so my twins made gifts for people. Uh well, with the help of grandma. Um, but they spent about six, seven hours yesterday just putting together these packages. I think this is the first time the twins are seeing the tear up.

I'm sure for the Bereans, it's like, what they contributed. They they made the little uh boxes. So if there's like a chocolatey fingerprint, that's Keris. If there's a hair, depending on the leg, that might be one of the twins. Um please take one with you as you go. Um the parking is a little bit jammed, so please do um try to vacate uh just sooner than later. Uh it helps to go left. Uh I've learned because that light there is difficult to make a left at. And uh by all means, please just continue to just pray for us, lift us up, encourage us, and we'll see what the Lord does. Just uh you're in church. Thank you.

I'm supposed to pray. Let's pray. Now may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and love of God the Father and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with every church and every saint that bears the name of Jesus Christ now and forever. Amen.