ray choi

Christian husband, father of 3 and bi-vocational pastor

Tim Keller: Preaching to the Heart (Effective Preaching)

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Tim Keller, Tim Keller, Pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church, New York, came to Oak Hill for a half-day conference on 19 November 2008. He gave two lectures on Preaching to the heart.

Part 1
Part 2

Jonathan Edwards believed that the ultimate purpose of preaching is not only to make the truth clear, but also to make it real – affecting and life-changing. This is usually covered under the topic of “application”, though framing the subject in that way often results in a “tack-on” of practical advice after a dry, academic exposition.

How can we preach the text from first to last in a way that exalts Christ, changes heart motivations, produces wisdom and wonder, persuades the sceptical and results in real life change? In his two lectures, Tim Keller explores these challenges to the preacher.

1 Corinthians 1:1-9 – Thanksgiving for others due to a divine perspective (pt 3 of 3)

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Our temptation is to be excessively impatient with others and to demand instant growth and change. For those in leadership at any level, you know what I am talking about. After a year, I may have read a dozen Christian books and listened to hundreds of sermons and over that year, I may have changed incrementally in a tiny, little area. And then what if after preaching one sermon or after one conversation, I expected everyone in the congregation to change overnight according to my timetable? That would be extremely unfair. We need to remind each other — we are not in heaven yet. I need to tell myself — it’s a fallen world. That’s right. Remember we are not in heaven yet. We are not working with people with glorified bodies yet. We are all works in progress.Continue Reading

Conclusion of Romans: The Gospel of Jesus Christ on Full Display (pt 1 of 3)

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We have finally reached the end of our book of Romans. At the time when we began in Sept of last year (9/7/2010), I was in a period of transition as my job had just ended and I was praying about being the pastor of this church. And my first burden was, what do I preach? And what messages does God want our church to hear? And somehow, God led me to the book of Romans. Frankly, the book of Romans scared me, and if it were up to me, I certainly wouldn’t have chosen to tackle this book as my first one as a regular preacher. But in the end, it made sense to study Romans because as a young church, we needed to lay a solid theological and Biblical foundation and what better book to study than Romans?

Starting Romans was significant because unlike years past, we started preaching expositionally, meaning going through the Bible book by book and chapter by chapter. Continue Reading

Rom 14-15: Building True Unity – The Nuts and Bolts of Church Life (pt1 of 3)

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Romans 14:17-19, 15:1-7

We had a wonderful time of fellowship during our Memorial Day picnic. We were the hosts and we invited LBC WLA to join us. I trust that those who were there ate some really great food, as we promised. The ribs were out of this world. And our feast was followed by some games. We played water balloon toss, volleyball, wild turkey — and the champion was determined by a tug of war playoffs among the top 4 teams.

And I must say, one of my proudest moments of my rather short tenure as a pastor was the tug of war. Because I don’t want to brag because Christians shouldn’t brag. Nor do I want to exaggerate. So I want to speak as plainly and honestly as I can. And I can think of no other way of putting it except to say, it was pure and utter domination. LBC Pasadena won the tug of war and claimed the honor of being named the strongest church in the LA area, out of 2 churches.

I can’t say that I was surprised. It was rather expected. Because we have Brother John U who is a freak of nature. Continue Reading