This message was presented to a predominently Korean congregation, and so the speaker intersperses Korean in the presentation.

24th Southeast Korean Camp Meeting

<p>This message was presented to a predominently Korean congregation, and so the speaker intersperses Korean in the presentation.</p>

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Collegedale Korean SDA Church

Faithful in Little

Justin Kim

1. A Little Leaven

Father in heaven, we ask, Lord, as the formality of someone in the front with a microphone, we're all sitting here in a square in rows.

Lord, help us to get beyond that and really sit at your feet.

Perhaps we've heard prayers asking for the Holy Spirit before.

But Father, it's not the power of the speaker or the eloquence or the intelligence of a Bible study or the doctrines of the church, but really it's sitting at your feet and asking for a supernatural entity to abide in this room.

And Lord, for 6 days, maybe it's my mind, maybe it's everyone here, our minds are not calibrated for spirituality and we ask that your Holy Spirit, because of the shed blood of Jesus, cause us to desire spiritual things And then to speak to our hearts in a way that no human being can.

This is our humble prayer tonight here in Jesus' name, amen.

Okay, people, Bibles, go to Matthew chapter 16.

Matthew chapter 16, Matthew is the first gospel of the New Testament.

And I'm going to move this thing over, because a lot of you guys are over here.

Okay, if you don't know where Matthew is and you're using your phones, this is a horrible travesty.

Kurt, can I move these musical accoutrements here?

Okay, now if you're gonna say amen, I'm gonna ask you, do not do it in the Korean way, like amen, just say it in the normal way, Amen.

If you want to figure that out tonight, you don't want to.

He couldn't handle the pressure, so he laughed.

They're older back there inside, I won't need to insult their intelligence.

Verse, the Bible reads, now when his disciples, whose disciples?

Jesus' disciples had come to the other side.

Jesus, thank you for that loud answer, and then Jesus said to them, take heed and beware of the leaven of the who and the who.

My Korean youth had maybe about 10 to 15 people.

We went to primary junior, early teen, what's after early teen, high school.

About high school, people started dropping out.

Once we got to college, people moved away from college.

This was, and I didn't know that there were Adventists who were white or black.

I thought all Korean people were Adventists.

So when I met the first Sunday-keeping Korean, it's like, you're Korean, why would you go to church on Sunday?

And then when I met a white person who was an Adventist, I'm like, wow, you go to church on Saturday.

Then I realized that the Korean church was not a Korean Adventist church.

The Adventist church is like a world church.

Maybe you're not used to a northern speaker, but usually there's some interaction.

That doesn't mean you're from a black congregation.

It's okay to say hallelujah, amen, praise the Lord in the middle.

I know you're Korean, you're not used to that.

When I grew up, I went to an Adventist church that did not study the Bible.

I did not know who Ellen White was until I was 17 years old.

I went to the church library and I saw a book by Ellen White and there was a globe on the front, not a globe, the world on the front, and space.

And I was into science fiction back then, I was into Star Trek and Star Wars and I was a nerd, a proper Korean nerd, and I said, wow, science fiction book, and I opened it and I started reading it.

And I got into this book called The Great Controversy.

Okay, it's a great book, you should take a read of it.

But I did not know what the Adventist church believed in.

It wasn't until I got into the word of God, and it's not just reading, but actually knowing and understanding what the word is.

How many of you, when you read a book, you're reading, you're reading, and all of a sudden you're like, You don't know that you're reading, and you're just reading pages and pages and paragraphs and paragraphs, and all of a sudden you stop, and you're like, dude, I don't know what I just read.

So you gotta go back, and you gotta reread the things, and sometimes you do this like 2 or 3 times, and then you fall asleep afterwards.

Okay, Now if you're laughing, that means it has happened to you, because you identify with experience.

When it comes to the word of God, we need to experience and we need to focus.

And what that means, you gotta look at each word.

Okay, Now look at your phones or look at your Bibles here.

2. A Little Water

Today is a, for Sabbath School, we have a Bible study based on Genesis chapter 24.

Genesis 24 is considered the most romantic chapter of the Bible.

Okay, some of the girls are getting excited.

Last night, we talked about leaven, a little leaven.

If you remember from last night, what are the 3 types of yeast that Jesus said to beware about?

And Jesus said, these are not big things, these are small things, but the little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.

I believe we are living and those of you who understand this will understand we are living in the anti-typical day of atonement which according to the feasts of the fall and the spring we are living in the current day of atonement, and in the Jews of old, in order to prepare for the day of atonement, they would cleanse their houses of all yeast.

And today, as we're waiting for Jesus to come, we're not supposed to go home and clean our houses.

I mean, it's okay to have clean houses, but we are to clean, cleanse our hearts of doubt, of pride, of hypocrisy, in order to prepare for the Lord Jesus Christ.

So there is a sanctuary component to that.

If you didn't, then ask your youth pastor what I just said.

Zol introduction to help you turn to Genesis.

If you know where that is, bless your heart.

If you don't, then you're weird here, okay?

The proper response when the preacher is asking if you're there is, Amen, I am there.

You're not being Pentecostal if you speak out loud.

I pastored in Detroit, and I went to some African-American black churches, and I'm Korean, I'm Asian, so I'm just preaching, and like, hello everybody, good morning, happy Sabbath.

They're like, yes sir, good morning, preach the word, and like, happy Sabbath to you too, that was the introduction.

There's something enlivening, empowering when you're communicating and dialoguing with the congregation.

I pastored a Caucasian church in Detroit and I would say good morning, and they would say good morning.

Okay, well that's, you know, a little bit subdued.

I was a pastor of a Korean Korean church.

Genesis chapter 24 verse 1 and before we read scripture, I'm gonna ask you to bow your head just 1 more time.

Father in heaven, all jokes aside, we lay our minds, our hearts, our souls, our bodies before you here this morning.

And Father, we thank you for the holiness of the very fabric of this Sabbath time.

May this holiness be inculcated in our very beings.

We are we are deep sinners but we ask for the forgiving blood of Jesus to be attributed to us.

We ask that your character be attributed to us.

And we ask here that the word may come alive, not by, through any human means or an orator, but through your Holy Spirit.

Father, we thank you for having blessed us last night.

And Lord, You know every brother and sister in this room.

You know regardless of the state that we're from, racial background or age, we need to hear from the words of Jesus.

So Father, may we hear from the throne directly this morning during Sabbath school, we pray in Jesus' name, amen.

Now Abraham was old, well advanced in age, and the Lord had blessed Abraham in all things.

Verse 1, the Hebrew does this to emphasize something.

It says basically twice that Abraham is what?

So it's like Abraham was old, and by the way, he was really old.

Okay, the Hebrew says, or the English says, advanced in age.

And the Lord had blessed Abraham in all things.

And Abraham was 1 of the few people who is known to be 1 of the richest men.

And if you are spiritual, and if you're focused on God, it is does that automatically mean that you become poor?

God entrusts those to use his wealth more faithfully.

Verse 2, Abraham said to his oldest servant of his house who ruled over all that he had, please put your hand under my what?

When's the last time you put your hand, I don't wanna know, I'm not interested.

But here, back then this was a Old Testament custom.

Meaning, and here's what happens, all of you here I think are relatively young.

I'm not going to do the age thing, but When you're young, you think you're young.

And what that means is you don't know how old you are.

You feel like the rest of your life you're going to be young.

Gentlemen in this room, do you feel invincible?

I know that your future spouse is walking across there.

There's something biblically wrong if that's the case.

And what happens is as you get older, you start losing your invincibility.

3. A Little Knowledge

We have been going through many passages, and I just have this really deep burden, especially in our Korean Adventist churches.

For those who are not Korean, you'll allow this internal discussion amongst my peoples.

But we are often starving for an understanding of the Bible.

Yes, too often we don't, in many churches that I've been to, and I'm sure that excludes the churches here, we don't often get into the word of God, studying and getting into the word.

I find it interesting that many Koreans are intelligent.

Every Korean that I met got high grades on their SATs, ACTs.

Every Korean that I met could do mathematical calculations like this.

Every Korean I met, meet, will meet, is a doctor, a dentist, a lawyer, or some variation of that sense.

And I thought, man, this is an advanced people and God can do many things to these people.

Then I went to Korea and I met some dumb Koreans there and I was like, oh, Korea is normal.

And so what happens is it's not based on Malcolm Gladwell supports.

This is not the sermon you're getting this for free.

We are an immigrant culture, and I have a burden for this immigrant culture.

A lot of your parents, your omas and your apas, have gozenged through a lot to allow you to saro this joke now.

And the fact that you understand Konglish makes me very kippo in my maum, so we can communicate on this sujin of communication.

And I believe God has called Koreans to a certain destiny, called Americans to a certain destiny.

Each culture has a role to play, I believe this, whether to reveal a certain attribute of God's character or a certain role to play in the last times or whatnot.

And I also believe Korean Americans have a certain role to play.

What God has blessed with, he also expects responsibility out of as well.

For those of you who are different cultures, the Lord has responsibilities and expectations for all of us.

But we are here as a Korean American, predominantly Korean American congregation, and I say that not to exclude anyone, but as a burden of my heart, and is a privilege to be pastoring as a Korean American pastor.

I say this because there is a Darth in our community of pastors.

I've only been here a day, and in this 1 day that I've been here, I've been offered jobs across North America, can you come pastor our church?

And I'm saying this not because of some merit on my end, but it shows, it is evident of the lack of pastors out in Korean American, of the community.

And we have, praise the Lord, with people like Jimmy out here, who is taking the role on by himself, but we need a whole generation.

And wouldn't it be awesome, and praise the Lord there are Korean American doctors in Denison and blah blah blah, but wouldn't it be awesome if we had a whole generation of preachers going out into the world.

Did you know this and I'm laying this on your heart in?

Non-adventist circles it is Korean Americans who are in leadership positions at Harvard Yale Stanford John Hopkins U Penn I can go across the whole Ivy League and then some.

It is Korean Americans who are in the leadership positions of Campus Crusade, of Avenist IVP, no not Avenist, InterVarsity Press, of Crew.

In international missions, it is Korean Americans at the forefront of this in non-Avenist circles.

In the Seventh-day Adventist Church, we have our leaders going to Loma Linda.

And praise the Lord, Loma Linda's a great place, we need doctors and whatnot.

But I implore you, if you're going to Loma Linda, do not be a normal doctor, live the rest of your days in luxury in Southern California, and just wasting your life.

Not that people that are wasting their lives are, but they kind of are.

And then there's, praise the Lord for conversion.

And there is a generation of doctors from the Loma Linda area going out to the world and doing missions as well.

And some of them are here in the Atlanta area.

But you'll allow me for the liberties of speaking a little bit frankly to you, but it is a burden on my heart to do this.

And I think, and especially in this congregation, you should allow me these liberties as well.

John chapter 3, if you're there, please open your Bibles or open your phones, open your apps to your Bibles.

John chapter 3, if you have a hand 1, it's even awesome.

I don't know whose Bible this is, but I have it.

I don't know who the son of man is, that's not a Korean name, like son man, son man.

The sermon is entitled A Little Knowledge.

Please bow your heads with me to encounter the word this morning.

Father in heaven, we ask for a special blessing.

You blessed us this morning, blessed us last night.

Lord, this blessing comes not from humor.

This blessing comes not from a tickling of knowledge and intelligence.

This blessing does not come even from power, emotions, music.

This power solely comes from your word, from the understanding of your word, and then the understanding of your word bleeding into an experience with you.

Father, we ask for your Holy Spirit to make these things possible this morning, in Jesus' name, amen.

The Bible reads, there was a man of the, last night we talked about the Pharisees, this particular man was named Nicodemus.

The Greek Nicodemus comes victory of the people.

By the way, if you're wearing sneakers, you're Nike, the Nike brand is the goddess of victory.

You are a pagan idolatry on your sneakers.

And I mean that facetiously, if you're wearing Nike, don't take them off because your feet might smell.

Verse 2, the same came to Jesus by night.

Here is, this is a story that's made familiar to a lot of us.

John chapter 3, you have someone of high class.

John chapter 4, you have someone who is of low class.

John chapter 3, you have the man coming to Jesus.

John chapter 4, you have Jesus going to the woman.

You have these bookend experiences contrasting John chapter 3 from John chapter 4, and it's emphasizing the one-on-one experience with Jesus.

Young people today, do you have 1 on 1 experience with Jesus?

Now I know for those of you who are not Korean are like, oh man, you guys all look the same, you're all the same.

Made in USA, we start crying when we hear the national anthem.

You know, and I stand up and we stand up and we're proud to be American.

They live and they come from a land far away with magical people over there.

I believe we should know about government, politics, taxes, economy.

You know, Georgia is more Republican, Michigan tends to be a little bit more Democrat.

I love the fact in the South there is a Southern accent.

4. A Little Forgiven

Father in heaven, we do thank you for the blessings that you've given to us.

And Father, we pray that this weekend was not just an exercise of a day in fellowship, but a day set apart wholly, where we can have our minds focused on the word of God.

We thank you for the nature of Cohort of Springs around us.

We thank you for the programming, all the leaders coming together in the children's divisions.

And Father, we thank you for having spent with us time and energy and a relationship with us.

Father, here tonight we pray, as we open the word of God 1 more time, not to hear a good story, not to have our ears tickled, but to have our spirits, our souls spoken to, where our innermost being resonates with the words of Jesus Christ himself.

This is our humble prayer in Jesus' name, amen.

If you have your Bibles, please turn to Matthew.

Again, once again, if you come to church, I'm gonna ask you to bring your Bibles.

This is the last message, so there's really no other opportunity to bring your Bibles, but next Sabbath, when you come to church, bring your Bibles, make it a habit to bring your Bibles, and preferably not on your phone or as an app, but really as a book in hand.

Matthew is the first gospel of the New Testament.

Verse 6, if you're not there, please say wait for me, pastor.

Now when Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, there came unto him a woman having an alabaster box of very precious ointment.

And she poured it on his head as he sat at meat.

Verse 8, but when his disciples saw it, they had indignation, saying, to what purpose is this, what's the next word?

So here they are, they're sitting at dinner time, and by the way, when they ate at dinner time, they're not sitting in these modern western chairs, they were leaning on 1 side and they're laying on the floor, and their feet were sticking out, away from the food.

And this is a very familiar story, but I'm gonna look at this a little bit deeper.

She breaks this box and there's some people there in the room and they're shaking their heads.

Ha, 저 비싼 거를 왜 아깝게 거기다 넣냐.

Series

Faithful in Little

3. A Little Knowledge

Transcript

Description

Parent Series

Parent Conference

Sponsor

Recorded

When Lady Liberty Lays Down the Torch

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Breakout Session #2

Following Christ Through the Crisis

1h 20m

How YOU Can Bring Closure for Jesus

1h 4m

WYC 2012 Plenary Sessions

Repentance and the Latter Rain

1h 19m

Back to the Mission

The Battle Cry of the Remnant

1h 1m

Plenary Sessions

God Invented Sex

1h 34m

My Redeemer is Faithful and True

1h

The Ripple Effect

1h 19m

Risk and Redemption

Risk and Redemption: Stand and Deliver

49m

Acts: First Generation Lessons for Last Generation Believers

6. Cutting Timothy

55m

WYC 2013 Plenary Sessions

How Can God Know? Always Ready for the End

1h 15m

Finishing the Mystery of God

49m

Sound Doctrine