Pastor Eugene preaches on Easter Sunday about…doubt, pessimism, and cynicism. Thomas was a disciple of Christ but yet, wrestled with doubt and pessimism only to have his faith deepened by those very things. 49:08 minutes (8.44 MB)
While the church must be missional and continue to demonstrate and proclaim the gospel to Seattle, the country, and beyond, we can’t forget the people of the church community and family. Today’s passage teaches us how the leaders in the early church raised leaders to help care and serve the people of the church – particularly those who were overlooked. 45:11 minutes (7.76 MB)
Acts 6:8-15
shows the emergence of Stephen’s leadership but also the beginning of the
opposition against the Christian church. Pastor Eugene details why this
opposition begins to take place and the promise that God will be with us.
Stephen is
on “trial” for blasphemy by the religious leaders but with great courage,
conviction, and Spiritual discernment, he put the religious leaders and
institution on trial and speaks to the issues of the Temple, cultural customs, and
“stiff-neckedness.” God cannot be contained by a place or building.
The worship of Jesus supersedes cultural impositions. The people of God
must be Spirit led.
As Stephen is stoned and killed, he utters the prayer, “Lord, do not hold this against them.” When we’ve been wronged or hurt, how are we as Christians to move from a spirit of anger and bitterness to a rhythm of forgiveness. 47:11 minutes (8.1 MB)
Why did persecution against Christians begin? Why is it happening now and why will it continue until the day of the Lord? And how will the Lord use it for His glory and honor? 41:31 minutes (7.13 MB)
Pastor Eugene, preaches that the gospel of Christ goes beyond Jerusalem and just as Christ predicted, the gospel goes to Samaria – a place and people hated by many. In this passage, we are reminded that the object of our faith must always be Christ and the cross; not signs, miracles, or even powerful demonstrations. Simon the Sorcerer is drawn to “belief” not because of Christ but through the lure of signs, power, and notoriety. 44:33 minutes (7.65 MB)
Pastor Eugene preaches about the dramatic conversion of Saul of Tarsus from a murderous persecutor of Christians to a person blinded, humbled, and later, restored by the grace of Christ to be a “chosen instrument” for the very gospel of Jesus Christ. 42:51 minutes (7.36 MB)
Pastor Eugene returns from his sabbatical and encourages people to reflect upon Jesus who despite being busy, popular, and bombarded by requests, chooses to "retreat" to spend communion with God. If Jesus saw it to be good and holy to retreat and enter into this solitude with God, how much more must it matter to our human souls. 46:00 minutes (7.9 MB)
Pastor Eugene Cho preaches on the vision of the church, and how we are called to live in faith according to the examples set by Jesus. 33:57 minutes (5.83 MB)
Pastor Eugene tackles the issue of the idolatry of money and security.
Especially pertinent In light of the current financial crisis, the
Scriptures challenges us with the question, "Where is your treasure?"
Pastor Eugene teaches from Matthew 25:14-30 and Matthew 6:19-21. Money and
security is the prevailing idolatry in our world and in subtle ways,
seeks to assimilate everyone including Christians. Some stuff that
will come up:
Pastor Eugene wraps up his series on faith and money with a look at developing a theology of stewardship. In this message, he shares about Enjoying, Acknowleding, Earning,Saving, and the great neutralizer to the idolatry of money: Generosity. 52:22 minutes (8.99 MB)
Pastor Eugene talks about the 7 of the big issues he considers when voting and his conviction that followers of Jesus shouldn't be in bed with either
of the two major parties. That we ought to remain “Independent” with
a commitment to collaborate, listen, engage, and support the political
system all while understanding that the political system is not
our ultimate Hope or Answer. 60:11 minutes (10.34 MB)
A look at how the first church council's debate in Acts 15:1-21 over the circumcision of Gentiles can help us with the questions "why do we need salvation?," "who can be saved?," and "how are we saved?" Along the way Eugene tackles an oft-asked question: "can gay persons be saved?" The sermon wraps up with looking at how the first church council can model a way for Christians to disagree. 38:15 minutes (6.57 MB)
Continuing in the same vein as last week, Eugene continues to look at the question of salvation, this time tackling the question of "what are the marks of salvation?" The passage points to the answer being presence and fruit of the Holy Spirit. Also tackled is the importance of not flying solo when it comes to leadership in the church. 38:15 minutes (6.57 MB)
Pastor Eugene explains the strange world of lepers, Samaritans, and being "unclean" from the story in Luke 17:11-19. That world meets ours in showing us how faith is acted out, what worship looks like, and the need to remember that we are blessed while simultaneously being sent to bless others. 47:25 minutes (8.14 MB)
Conflict is "normal" in relationships and the church, but its effects are painful because conflict comes from living in a broken world. Pastor Eugene looks at how the split between Paul and Barnabas in the early church demonstrates that not all conflicts have a right and a wrong side, but our calling as Christians is always to work towards forgiveness and redemption. 47:56 minutes (8.23 MB)
Marriage, dating relationships, and friendships all have the common factor that conflict is a given. Pastor Eugene talks about 3 non-negotiables in one's courtship process and rules of engagement in handling conflict in marriage. 52:15 minutes (8.97 MB)
Pastor Eugene answers some of the common questions that surround communion, such as "is it an open table at Quest?", "why do we take it every week?" and "when should children receive communion?" He then looks at how communion is necessarily bound up with community, both with God and with those around us. 27:36 minutes (4.74 MB)
Working through Acts 17:1-15,
Pastor Eugene encourages to learn from the arduous nature of Paul &
Silas' journey to Thessalonica and the relevance of the Berean Jews
whose study and engagement can teach us much.
In Acts 17:16-34
we learn of the rampant idolatry in Athens that distressed Paul, but he
then proceeds to engage the skeptics and inquirers by talking of their
statue to an Unknown God. This call Paul had to engage his city with
civility and passion is ours as well.
In Acts 19:1-22,
Pastor Eugene talks about the role of the Holy Spirit - the often
overlooked part of the Trinity. He talks about the power and the
presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives today.
This week Eugene talks about Acts 16:1-15
and looks at how Paul and Timothy's travels illuminate the ways in
which we can measure the spiritual health of our church and the
importance of staying on God's trajectory for your life, even when
doors close.
Acts 16:11-15
shows us again how God delights in turning our plans and expectations
upside down. Paul expects to be teaching men, but God leads him
outside the city to teach women. Lydia thinks that purple is the
symbol of power, but God shows her that the cross of Jesus is true
power.
Pastor Eugene preaches on Acts 19:23-34, Paul's run-in with the worshipers of Artemis, and councils us to not be mean-spirited in following Jesus, but at the same time to know that living and preaching the gospel will bring offense because it disrupts our idol-worship.
In Acts 20:1-12 we see that God is not done with Paul (or us). We see how Paul is growing in his ability to encourage and pastor his co-laborers and in the depth of the relationships that surround him which leads to deepening compassion.
Pastor Eugene takes Acts 21:27-36 verse by verse and talks about mob mentality - how mindlessly following those around us (whether they are christians or not) can lead to dire consequences.
Through Acts 22:30 - 23:11 Pastor Eugene looks at the words of Paul and asks, "In a world full of differing ideas, what are the essential, important things that we as Christians should choose to contend for?"
Pastor Eugene takes Acts 23:12-35 section by section and draws out a variety of life lessons that ask us to strive after faithful service for God while being wary of the pitfalls of unbridled religious zealotry.
Acts 26:12-23. Pastor Eugene takes a look at the life of Paul, how his courage in Christ allowed him to deal with his increasingly perilous in Rome. From this, we can learn to wrestle with the fears that plague us in our own lives.
Pastor Eugene talks about some of the reasons that the storms of life plague us and through the text, Acts 2:9-26, offers up some ways to weather those storms.
Pastor Eugene wraps up and summarizes Quest's two year study through the book of Acts by talking about the importance of worship. He teaches that there are two components to worship - acknowledging that God has spoken to us through revelation and acting on that revelation through our lives.
Pastor Eugene tackles the difficult topic of disciplining members of the body of Christ who are engaging in on-going, unrepentant sin. He argues that there are assumptions and agreements that maintain order and cohesiveness within any community without which no organization can function. In the church, one of these assumptions is that we are all working towards becoming the person (and the people) that God created us to be. Unrepentant sin undermines that goal and needs to be dealt with.
As a continuation of last week's sermon on things that kill community, Pastor Eugene talks about ten things that build community and how by investing in community, together we can change the world.
Pastor Eugene reframes the Gospel, locating it between the story of creation and the story of Jesus, anointed by a sinful woman. He highlights the way that, despite the way the world tells us that we lack things that make us whole, the Genesis account of creation reminds us that we bear the image of God. He goes on to talk about how the story of the sinful woman and her generous act of love illustrates what it is to be a Christian.
Pastor Eugene looks at the parable of the Good Samaritan and talks about what it looks like to love our neighbors - in particular, loving those who are different from you.
On the eight year anniversary of Quest Church, Pastor Eugene talks about the history of Quest Church, some changes taking place in the upcoming weeks, and the exciting future ahead of us.
Pastor Eugene begins a new series centered around the topic of relationships - relationships with God and with others around us. In this first sermon in the series, he talks about how the God that we worship is magnificent, astounding, and worthy of praise. On top of that, as glorious as he is, this God is pursuing us because he desires to have a relationship with us.
Psalm 139:1-18
There are a variety of agendas at work in the world. Among them is the agenda of the American economy that, among other things, seeks to reduce us to either a commodity or a consumer. Pastor Eugene contrasts this idea of self with the view of self described in Psalm 139 - a view that says that we are created and loved by God regardless of what we drive or what we wear or what we can or cannot do or what we've done.
The video referenced can be found here: http://vimeo.com/6753822
Last week, Pastor Eugene talked about our value as people who are created in the image of God. This week, expanding on that idea, he points out that we need to live with honesty, trust, and care. We need to bring ourselves to God with complete honesty. We need to learn to place our trust and hope in God. We have to be careful who we allow to speak into our souls.
Pastor Eugene unpacks the story of the birth of Jesus, highlighting the oddities inherent in God's entrance into our time and space - from the virgin birth to the fact that his birth was first announced to shepherds. However, despite the oddities of the birth story, the one idea that is unambiguous is the fact that Jesus came as a savior.
Pastor Eugene looks back on his past year (with all of its difficulties) and also looks forward to the year to come. He lists four actions and attitudes that can make for a spectacular new year/decade.
The first half of Quest's Relationship Sermon Series was about our relationship with God. In this message, Pastor Eugene introduces us into the second half of the Relationship Series - our relationships with one another. As he looks at the second chapter of Genesis, he points out that our longing for relationship is not a product of the fall, rather it is a part of the way that God designed us - we are created for community.
Pastor Eugene opens the second section of Quest's Relationship Series by talking about a theology of singlehood. Such a theology begins with the idea that we are created for relationship - both relationship with God and relationship with other people. He goes on to say that although the gift of singlehood is referred to as a "gift," we must not get the idea that it is a better gift than the gift of marriage - they're both biblical.
Pastor Eugene continues spelling out a theology of singlehood and states that the primary question as to whether one should remain single or get married is, what will allow me to serve Christ better with integrity? For some, it is not an issue to remain single and to use the freedom that it provides to serve the Lord in ways that would be more difficult for married couples. For others, the God-given sexual desires of life are such that the covenant of marriage provides an outlet for that. Marriage also comes with a unique kinds of partnership and support that many who are single will never know. Both choices are viable and Biblical ways of living an authentic Christian life.
In the third part of his Theology of Singlehood series, Pastor Eugene speaks to those who are single but do not feel called to be. With sensitivity and empathy, he exhorts them to wait with faith and to resist the pull towards hopelessness and cynicism. In addition, he offers up a number of active steps that singles can practice as they wait in faith.
Pastor Eugene goes on to give more tips and suggestions on dating and courtship in this fourth part of his Theology of Singlehood series. Among other things, he touches on the importance of identity, the proper context for physical/emotional intimacy, and how passion, vision, and mission are three essential aspects to examine as one gets to know a potential future spouse.
God is the creator of all good gifts. Sex is a beautiful and powerful gift from God and we ought to treasure and enjoy it within the boundaries that God created for it - boundaries God gave us not to burden us or to arbitrarily keep us from pleasure, but for our protection but also so that our soul can thrive.
Pastor Eugene takes a break from Quest's Relationship Series to talk about his recent trip to Haiti. He talks about what he saw there and discusses some of the work that's already been done as well as the work that still needs to be done.
Pastor Eugene talks about the contexts into which the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem took place - the Jewish religious context and the Roman political context, to name just a couple that he mentions. He continues to talk about how looking at Good Friday with these contexts in mind can allow us to see the immense impact of that day - an impact that is still felt today.
Easter reminds us anew of God's gift of extravagant grace, of new life, and the promise of resurrected life. But as our passage for today, John 21:1-14, reminds us life goes on leaving us with the question of "how does the resurrection make a difference?" To put it bluntly: it messes us up and should be working its way into every aspect of our life.
Pastor Eugene continues the marriage portion of Quest's Relationship Series. He says that a marriage can be thought of as a church - a church built on the cornerstone of Jesus, a church with a common passion, vision, and mission. He also talks about various forms of intimacy within a marriage and discusses ways that intimacy can be nurtured.
Pastor Eugene continues Quest's relationship series by talking about what the Bible says about our relationship with our parents. He shares painful and profound stories from his own childhood, using them as springboards from which he illustrates Biblical principles regarding how we are called to relate to our parents.
Pastor Eugene continues the conversation about our relationship with our parents. He takes on the difficult topic of forgiveness. Among other things, he talks about how forgiveness is not for the other person as much as it is for the person offering forgiveness and so maybe forgiving someone who is unrepentant is not as meaningless as it appears.
Pastor Eugene introduces the last section of Quest's Relationship Series - our relationship with our children. He talks about how important it is to keep the big picture in mind because the way we parent our children will have an impact not just on them, but also their children and their children. Pastor Eugene also touches on parenting topics that will be unpacked in the weeks to come.
Pastor Eugene continues the parenting segment of Quest's Relationship Series through a unique sermon format. Highlighting real-world examples, he interviews two couples about how they live out the blessings and difficulties of parenting.
This week, Quest takes a break from the Relationship Series to spend an entire service looking at some of the different ways that Quest is at work building the Kingdom of God around the world by both partnering with organizations and by sending out Questers. Through a series of interviews, we get to hear stories about some of the different things that Quest's Global Presence ministry is doing in Africa, more specifically, in Tanzania and Zimbabwe.
Continuing Quest's Relationship Series, Pastor Eugene talks about some really difficult topics regarding parenting including issues surrounding infertility, adoption, and stay-at-home parenting.
Pastor Eugene wraps up Quest's Relationship Series by speaking about our relationships with siblings. He also closes out the Series by highlighting some general guidelines that are applicable across all of our relationships. In particular, he highlights the importance of maintaining an attitude of reconciliation.
Pastor Eugene talks about the importance of stewardship - what we invest in and why and how we do so. He discusses the ways that living a life which places a high priority on responsible giving reaps a wide range of benefits, many of them outside the realm of finances. He emphasizes that giving should not be done out of compulsion but out of a joyful response to God's grace.
On week 3, Pastor Eugene continues the series on Leviticus and explains the significance of the holiness of God - not just merely in terms of morality but in being "set apart." An important theme of Leviticus, he explains, is God demonstrating to Israel who He is and what it means to be His people - a people set apart. While we're no longer under the Levitical code, the holiness of God remains an important attribute of God and thus, we're called to live as people "set apart."
In week five of Quest's series on Leviticus, Pastor Eugene examines the Biblical idea of the priesthood of believers - a people set apart for the service of God. This is a calling that continues through the present day. We are all called to be a part of God's royal priesthood.
In part seven of Quest's series on Leviticus, Pastor Eugene unpacks the way that the holiness code of Leviticus is a part of God's design to form a people uniquely His own.
