Westside PR1METIM3 (Pinks & Farmers Market)

I hope you enjoy these photos. We will soon post the photos from the hiking trip.

Westside PR1METIM3

Spiritual Highs and Lows

It’s been a few weeks since we came back from our PR1ME retreat and I was wondering how everyone is doing. After speaking with many of you, I have heard only positive feedback about the retreat. At the same time, I am aware of the reality that after a “spiritual high”, a “spiritual low” may be lurking around the corner. If you're already feeling that "spiritually low”, I want to encourage you with something that has served as a boost for my spiritual life this week.

“Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after [Jesus] had fasted forty days and forty nights, He then became hungry. And the tempter came …” Matthew 4:1-3a

Matthew writes his gospel to a predominately Jewish audience. One of the reasons why he wrote this gospel was to show that Jesus is truly the Messiah. With that in mind, Matthew reminded the reader through genealogy, his account of the virgin birth, and his baptism in the Jordan River that Jesus is truly qualified to be the Messiah. In Matthew 4, Matthew continues to give evidence that Jesus is the Messiah by giving account of Jesus' moral fitness when He was tempted by the Devil in the wilderness.

As I was reading Matthew 4, I noticed something that I never saw before - I realized the context of Jesus’ temptation. He was tempted after a “spiritual high” moment in his life. Can you imagine coming off a 40 days of fasting in the wilderness? It was a time when Jesus spent intimate time in prayer and communion with His Father. He was un-distracted by the demands of people and ministry. I suppose you can say that Jesus was on a retreat for those 40 days, and on a "spiritual high".

Although it might have been a “spiritually high” moment for Jesus, it was also a physically low moment for Him. He was hungry. And it was at His weakest moment, the Devil saw it as an opportune time to tempt Jesus to break faith with God, His Father, and thus disqualify His divine relationship with God. Of course, Jesus stood strong and was able to fight off the Devil and his temptations. After 40 days spent on a “spiritual retreat”, Jesus maintained His faithfulness and devotion to His Father.

And how did He do it? It’s implicit in how He battled the temptations from the Devil. He used the truthfulness of Scripture (4:4, 4:7, 10) to fight off those strong temptations. And here in lies the principle in maintaining our faithfulness to the Lord. We need to know the Word of God deep in our hearts - we need to be disciplined in the Word.

I know what some of you might be thinking. Jesus did not read the Bible. He is God and He knows everything in the Bible. You are right about that. And in Jesus’ Divinity, He knows everything. But that’s the crazy part! With His Divine power at His disposal to knock the Devil out of existence, Jesus maintained His faithfulness to the Father through claiming Scripture! And through His faith in the truthfulness of the Word, He stayed faithful in His relationship with God.

My dear brothers and sisters in the PR1ME Ministry (and whoever is reading this), if you are feeling “low” after a spiritually “high” event (i.e. retreat, conference, Sunday service, etc) can I encourage you to read the Word on a regular basis? It’s when we are in the word, we are strengthened and built up to keep our faithfulness to the Lord.

I LOVE what Richard Foster says about spiritual disciplines in his book, “Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth.” He writes,

“God has given us the Disciplines of the spiritual life as a means or receiving his grace. The Disciplines allow us to place ourselves before God so that he can transform us.”

“The Disciplines are God’s way of getting us into the ground; they put us where he can work within us and transform us. By themselves the Spiritual Disciplines can do nothing; they can only get us to the place where something can be done. They are God’s means of grace.”

“God has ordained the Disciplines of the spiritual life as the means to place ourselves where he can bless us.”

“When the Disciplines degenerate into law, they are used to manipulate and control people.”

I love these quotes! They help me to put the importance of spiritual disciplines (e.g. reading the word, praying, fasting, etc.) into right perspective. It’s God’s means to shower us with His grace. It’s the means in which God graciously remind us about our identity in Christ that strengthens our security in Him and empowers us to live this life with purpose. Spiritual disciplines are not a means for God to make our lives miserable by giving us more “law” or things to do. No way! It’s His gracious way to show His divine goodness to us.

Here’s something I would like to challenge you with. If you are not reading the word on a regular basis, can I encourage you to team up with one of your friends to commit to reading. There are great resources available at the church like the “Life Journal” to start it up again. I think that’s what I would love the PR1ME community to look like, people who are into God’s Word and experience His abundant grace in their lives. My goodness, I wonder what our ministry would look like if ALL of us read the word and experience His goodness! I bet you it will be crazy good!

Upcoming PR1METIM3 Event

The next PR1METIM3 will be sponsored by the Westside as we launch "show off your region" PR1METIM3's. Every third week of the month, instead of having PR1METIM3 following 2nd service, each cell group will be sponsoring an activity for the entire ministry that is unique to that cell group's region. It doesn't have to be on a Sunday, it could be anytime that weekend to make it appropriate for the activity.
This upcoming week, the Westside would like to host a hike at Griffith Park followed by the westside region's most famous hot dog stand, Pink's. So please bring your hiking (or other alternative) shoes, some cash and enjoy one of the many fantastic things that make the Westside region the best.

Date: April 19, Saturday
Time: 2:00PM
Where: Griffith Observatory Parking Lot (North end)
Address: 2800 E Observatory Ave, Los Angeles, CA
RSVP: Evite so we know who is coming
Contact: Bryan Ikegami, Dina Nam, Daniel Song

Carpools Strongly Recommended! Limited Parking Available

PR1METIM3 Photos

PR1METIM3

Retreat Reflection by Ula Park

For those of you who don’t know, this was my first Living Hope retreat. It was also my first church retreat in quite some time – I think the last one I went to was in 2003/2004. My excuse? Work/time… I guess I just stopped doing retreats for various reasons. Although our time away was short, personally I am glad I went. If there’s one thing I took away from this retreat, I would have to say that it was Pastor JP’s question and challenge to us: "Have you ever been part of a true, genuine, biblical, spiritual community? And if so, what did that look like?" (I’m paraphrasing.) While we pondered this question within our small discussion groups, I heard things like "well, what does that mean exactly? It makes it sound like some sort of utopia." Although I do believe that this ideal community in its purest form can only exist in heaven, I also believe that it is quite possible to have this here on earth, whether it’s in our church, at home or in our own communities. After carefully considering the question, I shared with my group that I believe I had experienced such a community before. In my case, it was through my old home church. I also went on to further explain that that’s not to say that I had never been hurt by individuals in the church, or that I had never hurt someone, or that there weren’t many a times when I felt completely isolated, out-of-place, or withdrawn from people whether by choice or circumstance. (It goes back to the whole "there is no perfect church; in order to have a perfect church, you’d have to have perfect people." And we all know how far from perfect we as humans are.) Despite all of that, though, I still feel that my church community was there supporting me through the good and the bad, for better and for worse… which is probably why it was so difficult when it became time for me to leave. But I also know that I have that "resting place," so to speak, to go back to and visit whenever I need to. I think this exercise made me realize how lucky I am to have had that kind of community because I know not everyone can say the same thing. Some of us have been deeply hurt and burned by people in the church or by fellow Christians, to the point where we can’t get past those negative experiences and it becomes difficult for us to trust anyone anymore. And it’s just so sad because church is the one place you would expect where people can come freely to seek refuge and safety. But more often times than not, it’s the last place you’ll find grace.

Some of us shared during the open mic session that it was a personal struggle to come to retreat, that we really didn’t want to be there. I’ll admit that there were moments when I felt like "what the heck am I doing here?" and times when I felt more comfortable being in the cabin by myself. But, I also knew there was a reason why I was at that retreat. And who was I to doubt God’s plan?

So what am I trying to say in all this? I guess I just wanted to encourage all of us to seek more honest, genuine fellowship with one another, to be willing to be more vulnerable with each other, even at the risk of being hurt again. I’d love to see us all take ownership of our own community(ies) and be held accountable for our actions or inactions, as the case may be, with one another – to strive for that "true, genuine, biblical, spiritual community" within our church and with those around us.

Retreat Reflection by Yea Jine

As I reflect back upon the Prime Retreat I can’t help but to praise God. I feel many of us came away from this retreat being touched and really challenged by Pastor JP’s message. I know this sort of thing doesn’t just happen but it is only through the work of the Holy Spirit. I also know that a safe, biblical community will not occur overnight but my sincere prayer and hope is that our retreat will really be a catalyst for change for our ministry. I hope each of us can do our parts and be proactive in creating this sort of environment.

Personally, this retreat was one of my favorites. I’ve really missed being a part of Prime ministry due to recently starting grad school and serving in Rt28 ministry but it was so good just being able to worship God together and in reconnecting with many of you. I was really encouraged by my discussion group as well and the transparency that our group showed to one another. I was also touched and encouraged by those of you who went up to share during open mic time. Thank you for being vulnerable and openly sharing your heart with us. I know that is not an easy thing to do. And lastly, thank you Pastor David & the SALT Team for making retreat happen. I’m constantly encouraged by your guy’s faithfulness and service to our God.

PR1ME Retreat in the News

We are in the news again! Ron & Kevin, you guys are famous now!

PR1ME Calendar

You can now subscribe and check for PR1ME events through the google calendar. I hope this helps!

Picasa Web Album - PR1ME Retreat

2008 PR1ME Retreat

We will start uploading unedited complete photo albums to Picasa Web Album. You can download the photos for yourself. Please enjoy!

PR1ME Retreat Recap

This past weekend, PR1ME ministry had our annual retreat. It was an opportunity to become more refined toward the likeness of Christ both individually and as a ministry. Our focus and desire was to learn what it meant to be a biblical community of believers. Pastor John Park of Ambassador Bible Church taught us that building a community involves three essential stages. First, we need to be honest with God and honest with ourselves. (1 John 1:5-2:2) Second, we need to recognize and surrender to the work of the Holy Spirit. (Ephesians 5:18-21) And lastly, we learned how the fruit of the Spirit can manifest itself within the Spirit-Filled community. (Galatians 5:22-23).

On Sunday morning, as our retreat was coming to a close, I decided to have an open mic sharing time. Open mic time at any retreat is either a hit or miss. Genuine sharing during these times cannot be forced, it just has to be the work of the Spirit. And, I know that it takes a lot of the Spirit’s courage to go up in front of people with the willingness to be transparent and vulnerable. And, I have to say that it was one of the most heartfelt times that I have experienced as a shepherd of the PR1ME ministry. As I heard the hurts, confessions and admonishments, the Holy Spirit led me to understand that a safe biblical community where people can be real is so crucial and necessary for the maturity of our faith.

My prayer is that this retreat would be an impetus for even greater intimacy within PR1ME ministry.

Blessings,
Pastor David Kim