Freedom to Fail

In the final talk of this weekend conference, Rev. Um will speak at both Bethel Grove Bible Church services, 9:00am and 10:45am.

Freedom to Fail (Luke 15)

We tend to run away from home in order to find another refuge because we forget that we are members of the father’s home and citizen’s of his land. We want to pay our own debt through self-salvation by trying to get ourselves out of the situation in which we have put ourselves. We fail to realize that our heavenly father is waiting to receive us even in the midst of our failure because we do not believe that our God is more gracious than he really is. Arnold Toynbee has summarized history by saying, “Nothing fails like success”, but the Gospel responds by saying, “Nothing succeeds like failure.”

Biography:

Prior to coming to Boston in 2000, Dr. Um served as a pastor for
several Presbyterian Churches in Connecticut, Rhode Island (at Brown
University), and New York City. He is now the Senior Minister of
Citylife Church in Boston, and the author of The Theme of Temple Christology in John's Gospel,
(T & T Clark). He received his Ph.D. in New Testament studies from
the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, and for the last seven years
has also been teaching New Testament studies as a faculty member of
Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, Covenant Theological Seminary, and
Emerson College. Dr. Um is a member of the Board of Directors for The Gospel Coalition,
for which he serves as the Secretary. Citylife Church in center city
Boston is an ethnically diverse group of professional and creative
urbanites. Dr. Um is married and has three children.