Storyline Seoul

Redemption with the Eagles

Christian Lee (2025 Feb 16, Sunday, Storyline Church)
We all face pain and loss in life. But our God doesn't just try to help us from a distance. He enters into our world and mess and redeems our most painful losses. He makes all things new and promises that those who sow in tears will reap with shouts of joy. He'll turn our mourning into dancing. In this year's Super Bowl, Jalen Hurts' story has all the marks of divine intervention and redemption. If we do our part to prepare and believe, God writes the most beautiful stories for those who are in Christ.
Passage: Psalm 126:5 (ESV)

Resisting the Culture Wars

Christian Lee (2025 Feb 9, Sunday, Storyline Church)
Our world today is incredibly fractured. Cancel culture and identity politics make civil discussions difficult to come by. In this divisive climate, many churches lean heavily liberal or heavily conservative and add fuel to the polarization. But what does the Bible say about how the church ought to relate to the world and to culture? And where do we get the power to live as a holy nation of aliens and exiles? This message was inspired by and adapted from a sermon by Dr. Timothy Keller.
Passage: I Peter 2:4-12 (ESV)

Anchored in Hope

Erin Lee (2025 Feb 2, Sunday, Storyline Church)
Entering the new year brings fresh hope and expectations for what’s to come but for some, reflecting on the past may lead to disappointment, discouragement and hopelessness. Discover what the author of Hebrews meant when saying, ‘This hope is an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.’ Learn about a hope that isn’t shaken by the storms of life and the currents of the world but rather enables you to remain steadfast in trusting God’s word and His promises.
Passage: Hebrews 6:13-19 (ESV)

No Place Like Home

Christian Lee (2025 Jan 26, Sunday, Whitestone Church in Long Grove, IL)
Have you ever felt uninvited, unwelcome, or excluded for looking different or speaking with an accent? Have you ever felt like an outsider? Feeling like an outsider is painful. It amplifies a deep longing for home, a place of safety where we belong and are accepted for who we are. Why is it so hard to experience home in our world? What are false homes we look to? And how do we find our true home?
This is a sermon preached at Whitestone Church outside of Chicago, IL where Pastor Christian was invited as a guest speaker. 
Passage: Jeremiah 29:4-7, 10-14 (ESV)

A Supreme Substitute

Christian Lee (2025 Jan 19, Sunday, Storyline Church)
Substitutes are often seen in a negative light. Whether it's substitute teachers, last minute substitute speakers, or substitute quarterbacks in American football. There's a stigma associated with substitutes. But substitutes have occasionally been known to surprise us. Isaiah 53 describes a supreme substitute that bore the stigma and was crushed in our place.
This is the seventh and final sermon in the Servant Songs of Isaiah and the fourth sermon covering the famous fourth servant song appearing in Isaiah 53. 
Passage: Isaiah 53:7-12 (ESV)Sermon Series: The Servant Songs of Isaiah, 7 of 7

He Took Our Place

Christian Lee (2025 Jan 12, Sunday, Storyline Church)
An alarming number of millennials and pastors these days are abandoning faith in the teaching of Christ's penal substitutionary atonement. They reject the idea that God is angry with humanity and would require a penalty for sin to be paid by his innocent Son. They find it an offense to make God out to be a wrathful, bloodthirsty, and vengeful God. They reject this image as crude and archaic. They preach that the cross is not about a God who suffers for us but a God who suffers with us. But is that what we find in Isaiah 53 and the rest of Scripture? And how does faith in Christ's substitutionary atonement affect our lives?
This is the sixth sermon in the Servant Songs of Isaiah and the third sermon covering the famous fourth servant song appearing in Isaiah. 
Passage: Isaiah 53:4-6 (ESV)Sermon Series: The Servant Songs of Isaiah, 6 of 7

Don't Overlook the Ordinary

Christian Lee (2025 Jan 5, Sunday, Storyline Church)
Why did so many people have difficulty putting their trust in Jesus even though they saw miraculous signs and wonders? Isaiah 53:1-3 tells us that a big reason was because Jesus had humble beginnings and no beauty or majesty to attract us to him. Often we put too much trust in our ability to find what's beautiful and good by focusing on worldly indicators of future success. But God chose to send Jesus into our world with no credentials, prestige or privilege. Only the eyes of faith could see him for who he really is. In today's context, this means we must not overlook the ordinary and despised things of this world if we are to find where Christ is present and God's Spirit is moving.
This is the fifth sermon in the Servant Songs of Isaiah and the second sermon covering the famous fourth servant song appearing in Isaiah. 
Passage: Isaiah 53:1-3 (ESV)Sermon Series: The Servant Songs of Isaiah, 5 of 7

The Nonlinear Path of Desolation

Christian Lee (2024 Dec 29, Sunday, Storyline Church)
Today we unpack the fourth and final of the "servant songs" that appear in Isaiah. This servant song is considered in Scripture and in Christian history to be one of the most sacred and theologically rich prophecies about the cross.  Christian breaks down this final servant song (52:13-53:16) into three parts. Today's message covers the success and desolation that the Servant faces. He is marked with wisdom and is exalted but the very next verse tells us he was marred beyond recognition. These are typical of the stories the servants of the Lord experience: triumph and defeat, honor and disgrace, and success and failure. A reductionistic and naïve perspective of the Christian life often leads to great offense when loss, desolation, and wilderness hit our lives. How can we guard our hearts from cynicism and spiritual estrangement?
Passage: Isaiah 52:13-15 (ESV)Sermon Series: The Servant Songs of Isaiah, 4 of 7

Overcoming Hopelessness and Helplessness

Christian Lee (2024 Dec 22, Sunday, Storyline Church)
Today we unpack the third of four "servant songs" that appear in Isaiah. The Servant is described as having a tender, teachable, and obedient heart. It is also revealed that he is free from hopelessness, helplessness, and fear. He sets his face like flint to obey God's will and finish his work, even at great cost to himself. It has great implications for how we overcome the struggles we face today.
Passage: Isaiah 50:4-9 (ESV)Sermon Series: The Servant Songs of Isaiah, 3 of 7

Engraved on the Palms of His Hands

Christian Lee (2024 Dec 15, Sunday, Storyline Church)
Isaiah 49 contains the second of the four “servant songs.” The latter half contains a grand vision of end times restoration. Yet in hearing this, the people of Israel interrupt the prophecy with cynicism because of their exiled condition. Have you ever felt forsaken and forgotten by the Lord? God uses the metaphor of a nursing mother and a cryptic picture of his palms being engraved to reassure his people that he has not forgotten them.
Passage: Isaiah 49:10-16Sermon Series: The Servant Songs of Isaiah, 2 of 7