Rich Kao

If you think Jack Bauer leads an exciting life as depicted in the TV hit series 24, just take a look at 72 hours in the life of Jesus as seen by the apostle John.  Most likely we are more attuned to the "God of slowness & patience" than we are the "God of speed & miracles."  But the latter is exactly what we see in the opening chapters of John - Jesus moving fast and furious, from taking over the revival from John the Baptist to turning water into wine.   When God acts with this kind of swiftness in our lives, as he did in John's, it goes straight into our memory banks and builds a unforgettable personal history with God.  More importantly, it ignites world-changing faith and an "all-in" attitude.  After the whirlwind of the three days, John writes "and the disciples believed in him."  Jn 2:11.  That's what God is after when he moves in speed and miracles - building up our faith.  Full message here.

People are spiritually hungry in the West, but we are facing a crisis.  People are unwilling to worship the real Jesus.  Rather they want to worship a Jesus of their own making, an ala carte God, one in their own image.  When this happens it leads to a different gospel, a different Jesus (Gal. 1:6; 2 Cor 11:4), and doing so leads one to more blindness, more confusion, more lostness.  That's why God gave us the second commandment (Ex. 20:3) to not make for ourselves any graven (false) images.  This is where John's gospel is so crucial, as he knew the real Jesus.   Not only did John know Jesus in the flesh, but he also understood the theological implications of who He was.  John 1 opens with soaring theology.  The opening verses give us three big thoughts:  1) God is pre-existing; 2) God is Truth; 3) God is one.  All these are crucial to helping us fall in love with the real Jesus.  Full message here.

Al Gore won the Nobel Prize for identifying global warming as an inconvenient truth, but Jesus Christ will become King of Kings and Lord of Lords by demonstrating that love is the ultimate inconvenient truth.  Using the story of the Good Samaritan, I develop this idea that love is the ultimate inconvenient truth but in the end prevails as the brightest truth of all.  This message coincides with our God of the City theme for the year and our Pay It Forward campaign.  For complete message, click here.

Amazed, astonished, or as we would say in our vernacular these days "blown away."  That was the common reaction to Jesus' ministry,  Mk 2:12, Mk 7:37, Mt. 13:54. Lk 6:19. 1 Cor 2:4-5.  But Jesus wasn't trying to put on a show.  He wasn't trying to just show off.  He wasn't trying to impress the world.  No, Jesus was in fact modeling "the new normal."  Signs?  Wonders?  Miracles?  Authority?  Power?  That's all part and parcel of the kingdom.  That's normal.  You can't separate the power of God from the message of God. They go together like salt and pepper, strawberries and cream.  For too long, we as Christians have gotten use to the "subnormal" level of power as if it's the normal, when in fact it's abnormal.  New Testament Christianity, Book of Acts, Gospels - that's the normal.  That's what's happened in church history, and is happening in many other parts of the world right now!  (China, Africa, Latin American...).  God is wanting to raise our faith level, our expectation level to where the new normal is normal.  To do that, we must battle unbelief, and learn to set our sights on the biblical precedents -- stories and acts of Jesus and the apostles to stimulate our faith.  When we set our sights on these realities, then the new normal comes into view, and we start moving in fresh apostolic power.  Full message here.

Jn 16:33.  The question is not if we will have trials in this life, but when we do, how will we handle them?  King David said, "I am exceedingly afflicted, revive me O' Lord according to your word (Ps. 119:107).  If there was anyone that had reason to be depressed, it was the young man Joseph.  And in my message, I trace the seemingly unending chain of events that beset Joseph and how he could have easily and frequently been given to depression.  Yet, like King David, Joseph knew his comfort had to come from the Word.  And in my message I explore Joseph's most famous statement, "As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good."  Joseph fought depression by seeing the providence of God.   So we too can be revived, comforted and strengthened by this truth when facing any trial.  For full message and powerpoint, click here.