Father and it we're very excited. We're reading the Bible. We are getting into who we are, identity calling church and Father. We don't want to get ahead of you, but we sincerely, we prayed before, but I wanna ask one more time as we open the Bible to bless us in Jesus name. Amen. Okay. Verse one. Amen. Oh, that's my son. Verse one. Verse one. Paul, A prisoner for Jesus. Christ, Christ Jesus, and Timothy, our brother, to file Lehman, our, our beloved fellow worker and Afi, our sister and our kip, our fellow soldier in the church, in your house. Grace you in peace from God, our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Now for this exercise, I'm just gonna totally walk you through and help you out. So you get, get to know it. Now go down to verse 23 and says, frosts, my fellow soldier in Christ Jesus sends greetings to you. And so there's Mark, Arista, amus, Luke, my fellow workers, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, be with you, okay? Or with your spirit. Okay, where, where's the, the parallels? Just shout, shout it out loud. Do you see parallels? Okay, what are the parallels? Okay, shout out. Okay, the names are mentioned. Okay? So one, you can look for parallels that are like the meanings, but we are Adventist and we like the textual, the phrase better. The actual literal words will be repeated in this section. So what are they? Grace. Okay, grace, we see grace, what else? Come on, quick, quick, quick. You're making a sermon really long. Jesus Christ. Okay. Jesus Christ. Okay, anything else? Prisoner. This requires 80% of your observation skills. Yes. Of Jesus Christ. Yes. Prisoner of Jesus Christ. You see prison and prisoner? Yes. Okay. What else? Just one more. Fellow labor. Fellow Labor. Fellow of labor. Okay? Do you see that? There's parallels there. Okay, go to our next section, verse four. I thank my God always when I remember are you and my prayers, because I hear of your love and the faith that you have toward the Lord Jesus Christ. And for all the saints. Skip down to verse 22. At the same time, prepare a guest for me, for I'm hoping that through your prayers, I should be graciously given to you. What's the word that's, that's repeated there. Prayers. Okay. Skip down to verse seven. For I have derived much joy and comfort for your love, my brother, because the hearts of the saints me are refreshed by through you. Go to verse 20. Yay, brother. I want some breath benefit from you in the Lord. Refresh my heart in, in Christ, what word is repeated? Refresh. Okay, now verse nine. Yet for love's sake, I prefer to appeal to you. I Paul, an old man, and now a prisoner ulcer for Jesus, for Christ Jesus. Go skip down to verse 19. I Paul write this with my own hand. I will repay it to say nothing of your own yourself. What's being repeated is that engine. Were you saying something? I, oh, I Paul. Yeah. You guys see that? I, Paul says, I Paul. I Paul. Okay. Either you don't see it or this is so basic that you're like, I don't want to answer this infantile question, which is how I usually respond. Okay? Verse verse 10. Okay, now this is kind of thematic, but go to verse 11. I should say verse 11, formally he was useless to you, but now he is indeed useful to you and me. Me, I am sending him back to you, sending my very heart. I would've been glad to keep him with me in order they might have served me in your behalf during my imprisonment in the gospel. Go down to verse 16, no longer a slave, but more than a slave, as a brother, beloved brother, especially to me. But how much more to you both in the flesh and the Lord. So if you consider me your partner, we see him as you. Would we also receive me? Okay? What's being repeated? I kind of emphasized it with my intonation of my voice to give you a little bit of a clue. Okay? The word receive is there, okay? You and me, there's this, you and me interaction. If you accept me, accept him, and you and me, and you know, man, this is, there's a relationship basis, okay? Do you see the pattern of the chiasm? Yes. Okay. So once you see it, maybe this is foreign for some of you, and you're like, man, this is really academic. It's not supposed to be academic. This is just a very, very flyover. So where is the eight pecs? Where is the, the mountain top? It's the middle verse that we didn't read. So go to verse. Okay, come here. I thought you guys were Korean. You're supposed to be smart. Like, come on, be with me here. Okay, so verse 14. Verse 14. Well, we can, we can start from verse 13. I would have been glad to keep him with me in order that he might have, he might serve me in your behalf during my imprisonment and the gospel, but I would prefer to do nothing without your consent in order that your goodness might not be by compulsion, but by your own record. I have an esv. So maybe the, the diversions aren't, aren't syncing up, but that's the apex. Okay? Can someone explain those two verses in regular talk? What are those two verses saying? What you see here is a letter of Paul interceding on the behalf of Fa Lehman on the behalf of Nemus to fa Lehman. Okay? There are three parties. Yes. And you have him in verse 13. I want him, I want him, I want, if you put it, I, I just put it in my own words. I want him to serve me. I want, I wanna hang out with him, right? But verse 14, I would've preferred to do nothing without your consent. Meaning I am the young, you are the . I can pull rank on you and I'm gonna say he's with me, but yet for love's sake, I want to ask you the question. Yes. He's asking him and he's saying, look, he, I am interceding on his behalf that apex, this is an intercessory letter for on, for on behalf of somebody else. And then the question is this. Once you see that, and you, you understand all the arms here, the A's and the B's and the Cs and D's, obviously you don't do this every morning. You're not, you're not doing this in 15 minutes. This is your building up every day by day. You ask yourself in this apex, how does this passage point to Jesus Christ? That's the question. So you have these three parties, okay? You have Paul Onk and fa Leman, right? And so you can, you can, you can play the parts. Okay? How am I if I were Paul, how can I intercede for somebody else? So your your prayers you're praying for, I'm praying for, for, for Tom to come back to church. And Lord, I want to intercede on his behalf, okay? That's one version, okay? Second version. Jesus is interceding on our behalf to God the Father. Yes. But then the other thing is maybe we are, we are the ones that need to be talked to. So Jesus is saying to us, Hey, reconcile with Tom if you guys have fought, because Tom is my son, and you need to forgive him. And he, he's my servant. So you, you, you plays all these parts and you see, how does that apply to your own life? Like, oh, man, Lord, I I actually fought with Tom the other day, and are you telling me I gotta reconcile with him? Yes, that's what this Bible study is. Or man, ah, I was just talking to, to Eugenia yesterday and she's not coming to church. Lord, I want to pray for her. Are you convicting me that I should pray for her? Yes. Or maybe like you just, I'm the sinner and like, I need intercessions in my life. I need the assurance of salvation. That's, this is what you're, this is the point of this apex CAAs, it's making sense. Okay? So you do this, and once you do this in the Bible, you can, you cannot see it. Sometimes you don't have an apex. And that has so frustrated me. I hate that when happens sometimes there's no apex. And apparently if there's no apex, it's the emphasis is on the first and the last. It's just fy Sometimes that happens. And the other thing is this. When you get onto internet, you'll see chiasm galore. There's these theologians. All they do is looking for these structures. And chiasm, you can go insane looking for these chisms, but it's just how, in your study and however you see it. But for, for this, for li, it's pretty clear that this is a chiasm for me. Now, let's go to Genesis and I'll skip the other two exercise and we'll go to Genesis. Go to Genesis 12. So FileMan is like a chiasm in one little, one little chapter. Chisms also occur across long, long passages. Okay? So go to Genesis 12. Genesis 12, and I'm gonna, I'm gonna do this on the fly. We don't have enough time, but let's say we all read Genesis, and then we're, we're, we're, we're reflecting on, on the story. And Genesis one through 11. Can you see down here? Can you see? Yes. Can you get up there? Can you see it down here? Okay, good. So Genesis one through 11, people are considered this, that this is the, all the supernatural stuff happen in Genesis one through 11. And the liberal theologians are like, that never happened. And that's never a discussion altogether. But what happens in one through 11? What are the stories really quick? Creation, flood, talking animals, animals walking to the, to the arc, Noah, all that stuff. And then 12 through 50 is called the historical part. And this is where what scholar, liberal scholars state actually happened. I actually, we both happened in actual realtime, realtime history, but that's another story. So then 12 through 20 is, is another section. So let's go to 12. And you don't have to read all of it, but in your bibles, and if you have a digital Bible, you don't have this advantage. But some of you in your, in your bibles, you have those chapter headings. What is chapter 12 about? Okay, I I, you, you hear That's all I heard. Say it out loud in just one word. What, what, what is chapter 12 about Abraham? And what Promises? Promises, okay, be more specific because the whole whole section is about promises. What, what's the story? What's happening? Okay, go to the whole chapter. What's the whole chapter about? All, all the way through. That's true. That's the introduction. Go all the way to the end. What, what's, what's, what's happening there? Egypt. Egypt. And then what is, what does Abraham do? He lies, okay, so I mean, you can write it however you want, but I'm just gonna write lie, because it's just one easy way to describe the whole chapter. Okay? The chapters, the promises are correct, but, but we're not gonna go there. Okay? Chapter 13, what's chapter 13 about? Okay, chapter 13 is what lot. Okay. 14. 14, okay. Sodom 15, covenant. Very good. Covenant 16. Okay. 17 covenant. Okay, so I mean, now you should kind of pick up, it's, you don't really have to, you can just kind of guess. 18 Sodom, 19 lot. And then what's 20 about? What's That? Another, yeah, another lie. Okay, now just re look at your Bible and confirm it. Twenties about lie. Yeah. Abraham lies to bik in chapter 20, but lies to the other king in, in chapter 12. So you see these parallels here? Yeah. Lying lots, Sodom Covenant, and then the apex is what? And some of you're like, wait, wait a minute. I, I thought it was the whole Isaac thing, right? But it's who Hagar is the apex. Now you're, you're on chapter 21, and then 22, I'm sorry, I have bad handwriting it. This is another sta. But you mean once you get into this, I mean, you can spend, you, you can't, this will not be a 15 minute Bible study. You can spend all hours doing this, but you do a little bit each day and it just gets like, man, this is awesome. And the question is, why in the world is Hagar the apex of the Abrahamic story? I thought Hagar was the one that was like, you know, go away. But she's the apex. How is Hagar the apex? Okay, you're waiting for me to tell you. Okay? So go to chapter 16. Go to chapter 16, and I'm assuming you all know the story. If you don't know the story, then go home and read it. Verse verse verse verse seven, the angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water under wilderness, the spring on the way to sure. And he said, Hey, Gar servant of, where have you come from? Where are you going? She says, I'm fleeing from my Mr. Sarah. The angel of the Lord sent to her, returned to your mistress, and submit to her, the angel of the Lord sent to I will surely multiply your offspring, that they will cannot be numbered for, for a multitude. And the angel of the Lord said to her, behold, you are pregnant. You shall bear a son. You should call his name. What? Ishmael, because Lord has listened to your affliction. Verse 12, he shall be a wild donkey of a man. His hand will be against everyone, everyone's handle be against him, and he shall dwell over against his kinsman. So she called the name of the Lord who spoke on tour, you are a God of seeing for she said, truly I have seen him who looks after me. Therefore, the will was called behi laha Roy. Okay? And there's this word, word Roy means to see. Okay? And then she, she bear Abraham sinus called his name. His name was Ishma. This is the first time someone gives God a name in the, in, in Genesis. And, and who is it? It's a woman. Okay? Now, in this apex, it's very interesting, okay, Hagar, what kind of, what kind of woman was she? Egyptian. Okay, she's Egyptian, but she's a slave, right? Low class. She's also Egyptian. So she's a foreigner. She's a woman, but in a certain sense, she's a widow, yes or no, okay? Or what the, the Bible doesn't actually say widow, but it says husband li and then her son has no what? No father, okay? Fatherless husband li and she's kind of like the, in the social world that she's in, she's the lowest of the low. But in this apex, it's not Abraham. That's the one that's glorified. It's Hagar, that's the one. A woman, a Egyptian woman, a slave woman, one who's now being div divorced or, or a husband less or, and then her son is now fatherless, right? Now go to Exodus 22. Exodus 22. I don't, I'm, I get excited. I dunno what you, some of you are, are, are like digesting food. Verse 21, verse 21, you shall not wrong a sojourner or oppress him for your sojourners at the land of Egypt. You shall not mistreat any widow or fatherless child. If you do mistreat them and cry out to me, I shall surely hear their cry. My wrath shall burn. I will kill you with the sword. And your wives shall become widows. And your father or your children fatherless. There's this, I'm going go up here. There's this thing of the, the fatherless widows And the, the stranger. This is like the holy three relationships of the Old Testament. And he said, the Bible is saying, Hey, these three are the people that God loves and that we need to protect. And then Abraham, you're a special people, and I'm gonna bless you. And your mission in life is to help people like this. That's the purpose of Israel. That's what I'm calling you out to do Israel. And what does Abraham do in the actual narrative? Does he succeed or fail? He totally bombs it within his own family. So then in his apex, it should have been Isaac, it should have been the, but it is, it's Hagar, it's a failure story, right? And these three relationships, I mean, Israel, Abraham doesn't wanna deal with it, Israel doesn't wanna deal with. And then if you read the entire te Old Testament from the minor prophets, the major prophets, it always talks about those three relationships. Okay? Now go apply this to here in Confucian relationships, okay? Confucian relationships almost in a sense codifies what Abraham did, failed to do. Okay? Who is the fatherless here? The father son relationship is defined. You have ruled in a ruler. I mean, she has no, no nation, she has no king to abide by husband and wife. She has no husband. And so here, Abraham's story is, diametrically is just totally talking about redefining relationships for the whole world. So what, when, when people say, Hey, I'm Korean, I'm Confucian. It's my culture, I, my relationships are defined, the Bible says, no, under Christ, you re redefine every relationship. Yeah. So in that sense, some people say, Hey, don't touch culture, culture is holy, culture is da, da, da. I say, no. The Bible redefines culture. Now, there's some things in culture that are not moral. They're not bad or not, not, not evil. For example, kimchi, yes, kimchi is not evil or good. Or some people may think it's evil, but it's not evil, okay? It's just amoral. Okay? If you wear shoes in your, in your, in your room or not, or in your home or not, that's not moral, but how you treat somebody because of what kind of social class they are, that becomes a moral situation when it comes to the God of Abraham. And someone say, amen. Amen. Okay? So this is just one example. You see these patterns, and then you spend 80% of your time looking for these patterns, patterns, structure, structure, structure. About 15%, about what does this mean? Why is Hagar in the middle? She spent some time and at the end of the last 5%, that's the easiest thing. How does this apply? And I was like, oh man, this totally applies. So then when in our culture, when we have someone who, who doesn't have a father or someone who is, has a different marital situation, or someone who is, especially in our modern political context about their, their immigration status, not as an American citizen, but as a believer of Jesus Christ in the Bible, how do we treat that person? This is the question we need to ask ourselves. Amen. That's the basis for the, the seminar. We have to redefine these relationships, and we can only do that by the grace of God. Amen. Okay, we, this is, we just got started, but we have to, to conclude. Yesterday we talked about the Asian American conundrum, and we said the pressures about being the mo the model minority, most likely all of you got good grades. All of you never really got in trouble. I mean, some of you probably did, but not the, the normal Korean American doesn't get in trouble. We deal with perfectionism. There's a lot of internal pressure, a lot of internal pressure. When comparing other immigrant groups. We have a hard time understanding sacrifice as a love language because we've been bombarded by it. Okay? He saying he, he, he, he saying, he saying he, he saying, he saying, he saying, I love you. He's saying, he saying he, he, he. And then you go to church, and then God has, he sang for you too. And you're like, this is this overload in your brain. And then lastly, there are unspoken responsibilities about all these expectations that they have of you, but it's never articulated. So you're always wondering in anxiety, like, what am I supposed to do in this, in this situation? And it's, it's very, it can get very, very, very, very hard. So the Korean Americans have, have, have created their own identity. Number one, two Americans or to Westerners are default is to be Korean to them. Yeah. We interact because it's, we feel more comfortable, like in many ways, Korean Americans kind of cherry pick the best parts of the western side and the best parts of the eastern side. And in some situations, like, yeah, I'm Korean, I just, I don't, I don't really like to talk in public, and I'm just, and you do this, these, I dunno why this is Korean, but you do this Korean thing, and then, and then in Korean circles, you're like, well, I'm an American. I talk loud on the subway. I'm gonna talk with my English accent. I'm gonna wear my hat backwards. I'm gonna wear shorts in downtown Korea or downtown Korea. Downtowns all, I'm not gonna wear makeup in Korea because I'm an American. I mean, you do these things, you play these things the way you want. And so we, it's hard to pinpoint where Korean Americans are at because we just kind of do what we want to do. Okay? We have a passive aggressive form of communication. We don't like it, but we've inherited this form of communication, okay? And it's just hilarious. I mean, there's the most American of us, the most western of us. We take pride, like, you know, I, I graduated from this university and I'm not a professional in my neighborhood, and I'm the mayor. But then when you talk, when you analyze a communication form, it's so passive aggressive. There was, there was one friend, and I wanted to mention the name because you, you all know who this person is. We were in the room and you know, the, the western form of communication is, it is cold in here. I'm going to turn the AC off. Is anyone else cold? Cause I'm gonna turn it off. Okay? But the passive aggressive form is, it's really cold in here, Man. Is it cold in here? Hmm. I wonder what the temperature is. I mean, that's, that's a passive, what are they actually communicating? I, it's cold. I want it down, but they don't want to impose. So it's this kind of polite, but they don't, they can't keep it to themselves, so they have to say something. So they, they do that. Another, another version of the same person. The same person said, we were driving in a car and the window was down and the window was bothering the person. So, you know, the, the western form would be, Hey, could you, you know, just lift the window up. But the passive form of communication is, do you like your window down like that? Do you, do you like it? Oh, you do? Okay. Well, It's cold here. So we, we have adopted those forms of community. Now, we don't do that all the time. We know when to turn it on and off. And I would, I would say in this, we don't know when we're turning it on and off, but we code switch so that when we're at work, we just realize, oh, these are westerners. So you code switch, but when you're back home, you kind of quote, and you're doing even subconsciously. And we're not, we can't even control that communication form. So we do that. We are unemotional and unresponsive that we get this from our parents. And this is, this is what's hilarious. I, as a preacher, when I see you, you look like the parental, the, or the Korean speaking generation when I'm preaching to you, okay? With all due respect, I'm so sorry to say that. Like, when I go to American, or that's American, you're we're American the're, white or the black churches, I mean, they're just like, they're teasing it, right? I go to a Korean congregation, they're just like, and then when I come here, you are like, Now I realize you're not intending to do that. But when you relax your face, Asian faces just look angry when they're, when they're, no, that's just a way, the second thing is, we are not accustomed to having high emotions in social circles, because we're a communitarian culture. We don't want to burden other people. We don't want to dominate other people with my problems of my emotions. But in the, in the, in the western world, it's like, look, this is my problem, and you gotta hear it no matter what. And then, and you tell your story, and sometimes they have no . They keep on going and going and going and going. Whereas Koreans are like, well, they like, if they, they, I don't wanna bother you, but I'll just, and then this is this, the emotion, because we're human, the emotions want to come out, but we don't. And so we repress and repress and repress, and it's just a hard time. Now, one-on-one is a different story because we're human and we need to express our emotions. It's not appropriate to express your emotions in public. This is why an Asian culture, especially men, to express emotion, there is one situation where it's allowed to, does anyone know where, when it is allowed to express your emotions? Anger. Anger. Okay. Anger is, we see Korean men angry all the time. But, but other than, other than anger. What's that? Sports. Sports. Sports, okay. Yeah. Excited accordia. And you do the, the, the PK thing. It's, it's the, there, there are these emotions, but when you have deep emotion and you need to release it, you have, this is why alcohol plays a large role in Korean culture. So that I will be inebriated and the listener will be just as inebriated. And then we, we just get, all our emotions are allowed to come out in an, in a formal and an acceptable format. And then we go home, we forget that we ever did that. Does that make sense? And so we can go to work the next day and we can save face. There's no shame because oh, we were just, we were just drunk there and just continue going on. And so this, this is very interesting. And, and, and then women are starting to do this, and they're like, Hey, woodie, just hold you more. And obviously we don't do this in the Adventist subculture. Amen. Amen. Maybe maybe you do, and we need to have a talk, but in, in, in, and this is just in China, Japan, it's like, Hey, we need to talk, which code words is like, let's go out and get something to drink. And then you get smashed and you just, you pour out everything. And you see that on the, the, the k dramas. For those of you who watch all seasons, one through nine of them, we are into dignity and decorum. Although we criticize the parental generation for doing it, we are just as much, we like dignity. We want things to be orderly, not too emotional, not too chun. Upk not too, you know, . We just want it to be, you know, orderly and quiet and and whatnot. And then if we don't like it, what do we do? We know how to give people the silent treatment because we have received the silent treatment all of our lives. Okay? So I remember when I was pastoring, and I, I, you know, I was a young, young pastor, 22 years old. I was pastor in Korean church, and I was like, look, I'm the pastor and we're gonna do this. Let's do that, da. And all the others are like, it's quiet. And they just, I don't know why they're clearing their throats. And they just sat there nodding their heads, which translated means, we hate the idea you're wrong, and we don't like you as a pastor. Whereas my idea is like, oh, are you all quiet? That means you're thinking about it. So I'm waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting. They're waiting, waiting, waiting. There's an awkward, passive aggressive communication. They, they know how to give the silent treatment. And because we've received it, we know how to do it in extreme times. And we don't like somebody, we give them the silent treatment. Okay? We don't want to fight back. We just say, I'm gonna give you the quiets. And especially in our marriages, we, that, that happens a lot naturally. We are age different when we don't do it consciously, but we see someone who's older, we just kind of give them more respect than, than when they're younger. We try not to do that. We're respect of elders and higher levels. Yeah. At the same time, we're very highly individualistic, expressive, but the expressiveness is not as expressive as the westerners are. Yeah. So it's funny, when Korean Americans go into a western context, they always say, man, you're like the quiet one. You're like the, the mgen one. But when a Korean American goes to an eastern context, you're like, man, you're so loud and you're so expressive. So we're somewhere in between those two extremes. We like well thought out and worked through implications and social results. This is another way of saying Korean Americans have . And when we are in western contexts, because western culture does not value noci that Korean Americans have high, high, high, high, high noci. But when Korean Americans go into a Korean context, they have no noci. It's very interesting because Koreans think about the first implication and then the second round of implication. And then the third round of implications, all within a time space ratio matrix about all the permutations of what can happen. From what I say, they're calculating this in real time as they're interacting, whereas Americans really could care less about that stuff. They're not principle oriented, but relational oriented. Okay? So the, we have a hard time with like, my conscience feels this way, but because the relationship is this way, we tend to lean on relationship. Hey, because we know each other, let's just do it this way and, and just keep, keep it hush hush. It's kind of more pragmatic. We are into the safe face culture. And, and my, my, I don't know why, but my personal theory is people have NCI because of population density in Asia, there's so many people, I mean, you have like apartment buildings and people are living here, here, here, here, here, here, here. That I need to watch what I do because there's all these people that are so close to where I'm living, right? But in America, I'm here. And then, and in some parts in America, what the history of America, I should say I'm here and the next neighbor is like two hours over there. So I can just do whatever I wanna do. And we just, the culture has developed that way. Whereas in Asia, that has not, the west is very highly expressive, individualistic. And we articulate well, especially our what? Our rights. Our rights. And in Asia, they could care less about your rights. It's a form. They, they consider rights as a form of selfishness. And it gets kind of complicated. There's something called the bamboo ceiling. Asian Americans must score 140 points higher on the s a t than other people's. Okay? There is a reverse in bias against us. Disproportionate. We have more physicians, more dentists, more lawyers compared to the general population because we do have that emphasis. But get this, that 5% of the pop, where this is 5% of the population, but only 0.3% of the corporate leadership world is Asian. The whole point is this, we have more doctors, more lawyers, more businessmen when it comes to leadership positions in these pos, in these, in these fields. Asians do not rise as high. Why is that? We call it the bamboo ceiling, okay? This is not a Korean thing. This is a Chinese, Asian, even Indian thing. 33% of Silicon Valley world is Asian, but only 6% of their board members are similarly higher than average number of doctoral degrees. But only 2% are of, of college presidents are Asian. And NIH has 21.5% of Asian scientists, but only 4.7 are directors. Okay? Question. Why do you think that is? Success in the West is dependent on personal initiative, risk taking, aggressive networking, self advertising, assertive habits, and outside of the box creativity and frequent breaking of the rules. That is Western success, okay? This is, this is in, in, in high school. This is the, the quarterback guy, the cowboy, or the qui. Yeah. I mean, this is, this is the, the western male, right? So usually in companies, the person that complains the most is the one that's going to get promoted right now complaining or is, is a sin in, in, in Asian culture, right? What is a virtue in Asian culture? It is diligence. You'll get promoted someday. So what happens is, it's just in the program, Yair, but you know, in the western context, if you, yo, this little box, you know what you get, you get more of that box. You know what I'm saying? Like, I'm gonna do this so well that I hope my, my, my boss sees me and he's gonna promo me. And the boss say, you do that really well. We'll, we'll just give you more of this to do forever, you know? Oh, what? I can't. But the person's like, I don't wanna do this. Why do we do this? Why we gotta re-look at this? And then, oh, you're, you're, you're a broad thinker. You we're gonna promote you to be the CEO of this company. Okay? That's kind of the, the way it is. So here on the eastern world, they value hard, consistent and persistent work. Yes or no? In our subculture, we have a lot of our, our parents, were, were generation, right? I mean, dry cleaning is, is is a noble work, but it's just the same thing over and over again. It's hard. No one wants to do it, but Koreans are like, if it's hard and then just, just then I, and then, and they have become successful. But Koreans naturally want to do the hard, consistent, diligent work out there. The the Korean version, the, a Adventist version is not . It's the, the many many churches have this, the many churches were grown from, from the subculture. It's, it's completely fine. The perception of peace, harmony, loyalty and corporate contentment are pivotal. Keep your head down is the whole message. The Chinese have a proverb. The loudest duck gets what? While the Koreans and Japanese both say, the nail that sticks out gets what? Hammer down. So it, the le that gets into the leadership positions is look broadly and start raising your voice. And you can do it in a noci kind of way where you can complain, but, but look at things outwardly instead of just looking isolating, let me just do this and me do. If I do it fast enough and well enough and more efficiently enough, then someone will see, no, no one will see you If you're in Asia, yeah, people are watching you, everybody, all the whole cult. But in, in America, in the west, no one's looking at you. Yeah. Faith in the Asian American context. So all these, these, these culture things and impact our spirituality, number Asians are into the duty and obligation. Okay, go to church. Why? Well, it's my duty and I'm mom. Well, if I don't go what think. And as a pastor, what was so weird as in a Korean church, they said go visit everyone and make them feel guilty when they don't come to church. Like, wow, this is a, this is like a real thing. Like, yeah, go and and then when you visit, you don't even have to say anything. You just sit there. You just get, you drink your free little water, orange juice that you get. And then you're just like, I'm like, okay. Right? And then, and then it come next. Sweet. Does that work in the western context? For sure not. The western context is by self actualization is the highest motive for decision making. You're discovering who you are. What is God's will for you? What is your role in the great con, the history of the universe. You play a crucial part. And for you to find, come to church, oh wow, man, I want to know my personal calling. That is the western pull, particularly for people to come out to church. The motives are Asians say, because I should, because it's expected of me, my family, my clan, my country, my province, my church in the west, it's individualistic. It's by my identity, my destiny, because it feels right and honest with myself. And I would say the compromise to that is be faithful, not because of duty, not because of yourself. Be faithful, because who God expects that out of you, right? So we are to be communitarian, but our community is not the Korean community, our church community. Our community is God is our community. Amen. So there's this, oh, I'm gonna go through this. There's Asian American pressures. When you're young, practice, practice, practice, piano, piano, piano, piano. Violent, violent, violent, violent, violent, violent, violent, violent. And then you graduate to study, study, study, study, study, study, study, study, study, study, study. . Then it's Mary, Mary, Mary, Mary Mary, Mary Mary, Mary Mary, Mary Mary, Mary Mary, Mary Mary, Mary Mary. And then after Mary. It's what? Children, children, children, children, children. Children. Children. Children, children. Yes or no? Okay. You're all laughing because this, there's a pattern here. And then after children, they really have nothing to say to you. It's kind of quiet And usually conversation kind of goes down. Or what should we talk about? I don't know. Okay. That's the pressure. That's, this is then funny thing is this is not, I say Asian, I say Eastern, but this, this is also African, this is also Latin American. Any communitarian culture is really into this. Americans, the motivation is do whatever you really want to do, be all that you can be. The Asians is happiness is found in other people. They say how happy your parents must be, yeah. And be all that your family has sacrificed you to be. That's really the motif that Asians are going on. We're gonna go through this really quick, and in the west, I'm gonna skip over this. There's been a bifurcation. The bifurcation is this, that religion, your private religion, your preferences, your values, your individual choice, your heart has been separated from the public. And in the public you have science, the brain knowledge, facts, public says Publix, design rational. And, and modernism, meaning there was this always this attack for science. First, religion, science, first, religion, science for first religion in post modernity that we're living in today in 2019, it says, you know what? Let's stop fighting. You can do your religion, but you do it in private, but in public, let's not talk about it. Whereas before, 1950 is like you're, you believe in God and in public you're an idiot. And all these things were, but let's stop fighting as long as you do in private. We let's, we won't talk about it. So in a sense, they, they won. This is from Leslie, new neub begin the sharp line, which modern western culture has drawn between religious affairs and secular affairs is in itself one of the most significant peculiars of our culture and will be incomprehensive to the vast majority of people. Okay? So what happens to is this, we have our jobs and our careers here to make what, to make money. But our calling, our vocational life work, which we spend time is something different. Whereas all throughout history, they're exactly the same thing. Meaning this, for those of you who are called to whatever job that you're doing now, is that your calling or is that just what you do to make money on? And the way that our parents have raised us, the immigrant mentality, not a Korean thing, not an Asian thing, but an immigrant thing is who cares what your calling is? We have sacrificed for you to be our future social security. So you better make a lot of money. Yes. So many people have suspended their life calling to before a higher profession to make more money, okay? And so the two actually have to come to sync on some to, on, on some level. So here's, we have this, this is where we see dissonance. Should there be, listen, listen very carefully and we're, we're about wrap up here. Should there be Christian ministries who mimic entertainment or secular industries? Do the two, do the two make sense? For example, there's a church in Germany, they started using heavy metal as a way to bring people to church, okay? They open the church doors and they had these guys, they have white makeup, they have goth going on, black lipstick, they had piercings and they were Seventh Day Adventists. They're playing the guitar and they're wearing heavy metal. And the words were, Jesus love, Jesus love somewhere. The method contradicts the message, but somehow we think because the method works in a secular world, it should work just as much in the, in the spiritual world. But there's a dissonance there, and it's this bifurcation that's happened in the West Christian businesses who are accepting for-profit secular management theories, okay? I don't wanna go too much through that, but there's, there's Christian hospitals that are based on secular definitions of health. For example, some of you who are working for, I won't, I won't, I won't, I'll call you out, I'll call the general conference out. There are a Adventist health systems. You've heard of that big, you know, system for health. You would think at some level that Avon, aist health systems would be Adventist, right? But is it not at all. It's just the knowingly they're doing the same thing that the Baptists and the Catholics and the, and the, and the whatever people are. So then why, what, what, what is, you gotta ask yourself, what's the point? Why did bifurcation there, Christian families having the same divorce rate as the secular world, Christian jobs that ha that commit murder, for example, I'm gonna go really quick here. Skip that. Ken Aist, businessmen sell alcohol. So if you bifurcate, you're like, well, I just need to make money. I'm gonna pay tigon anyway. It's okay to sell alcohol, right? But it's, that's, if that's your calling, is that your goal in life is to sell alcohol to people? I have to ask yourself that. Can aist writers write novels about living after death? The state of the dead. We believe that when you die, you go to the ground and you're in the ground until Jesus comes. But can you write literature just to make money about violating state of the dead? Lastly, can a Adventist scientists work on nuclear missiles? Okay, not nuclear power plants, but nuclear missiles designed to kill other people in mass popula. Well, I mean, that's my job. And you gotta ask yourself, is that the reason why God has put you on this earth to discover nuclear missiles? There's a dissonance there. Now, this Korean subculture says, that's completely fine. All you need to is make money, pay tithe, and take care of your parents. It doesn't matter what you do, as long as you make enough money, and I'm not making fun of them. This is just an immigrant survivalist perspective. Okay? Now, Koreans and, and, and Christians, yes, we should be concerned for our parents. Amen. We should be, that is a biblical mandate. We must be concerned for our parents. Number two, we should plan well for, for the future. And let's not be lazy. I'm not saying we, the diligence factor, we are Korean, we are diligent. Amen. That is part of who we are. We will do something until we die. Okay? But there's some things here. Prestige is not central to the life of the Christian believer. And for some people, I mean, subconsciously, that's what they're lo they're longing for hoarding money is what is foolish. This is a Korean way of, of, of, of saving. You don't spend, you just put it underneath your Okay? Attitude and behavior. We talk, I'm gonna skip over that. So honor parental, protect, parental dignity, attribute weight to parental counsel, acknowledge a parent's higher social position, and respond appropriately to parents love and wisdom. So we must honor our parents. Amen. Even, even if you're, if you're, if you're 60 years old, we must honor a 90 year old parents. That is a biblical injunction. But honoring them and obeying them are two different things. I say that one more time, let it sink in. Some people have a hard time with that. Honoring them and obeying them are two different things. The Bible does not say obey your parents. The Bible says, honor your parents. So you, you ask them for counsel, you listen for them, and you say, and then you do your own thing, okay? Or I mean, you prayerfully do do whatever you think. So you have, you have honorable disobedience, for example, Ruth and Naomi. Yes, Naomi says . And then Ruth says, no, I will follow you until whatever. Jonathan, Saul, Saul said, Hey, Jonathan, go kill David. And John's like, well, no dad, I respect you, but I, he's my friend. I'm not going to. And Jesus and his parents, there was moments where Jesus honored his parents, but did not obey them fully to the letter every single time. This is the last one, John, stop. The submission required is to God's authority delegated to human beings. If therefore, for example, the parents misuse their God-given authority, i e by commanding what God forbids or forbidding what God commands, then our duty is no longer conscientiously to submit, but conscientiously to, to what to refuse. So here's the thing. Our parents are figures of authority given to us by God, but the larger authority is God. So we honor them under the light of God. But should they tell us to do something otherwise we have to conscientiously disobey our parents. That also applies. But someone asked this, and I'll, I'll conclude with this. How does the husband, wife thing work? And most likely in a, in a western context, you're not struggling with this, but there is, we, we are in the midst of this culture where like as a, as a woman, do I have to submit to my husband in everything? And the Bible says yes, but the Bible continues to say as to the Lord. So just like this, the higher authority is God. Yes. So we o we, we obey God and we honor God. And temporarily there's this, and it's not because men are superior and women are inferior. That is not what the Bible says. But in a selfish world and selfish context, you have two people, plurality trying to be a singularity. One person has to give and one person needs to mix a shot. And for those situations, the, the, the, for some reason, and the Bible says, and first Timothy gives one reason that the male is the one that's supposed to be followed and the female is to submit, but submission only as to the Lord. Meaning if the husband does something contrary to the will of God, then it is her conscious duty to disobey her husband. Amen. Can that stop the female side? The male side is you are taking on the responsibility that God has given you, not your own self will imposed upon other human person. So that responsib, that weight is upon your shoulders, and you'll be held accountable at the judgment for that decision. Yes. Amen. Amen. Amen. You're super sober in here. All the sudden, These relationships need to be redefined in our Bible study. Amen. And a lot of times we just flow through culture and just accept, accept, accept. But a lot of times we gotta reassess. And this can only be done, only be done not by our intelligence, not by our our professional degrees, but by the grace of God. Amen. How many of you want, Lord, I need your grace to transform me, not my thinking only, not my heart only, but all the extensions of my relationships may be pleasing to your side. Let's pray. Father, I pray that the presentation is, is planted in our hearts in a way that you seem appropriate, Lord, and that there was something that was inappropriate. We ask that you cause us to forget it or whatnot. But Lord, some of this stuff is hard. And Lord, it may be that our inclination is to say, to disregard it altogether, or Lord, it may be that we wanna implement it by our own strength. Today, I wanna pray for myself and for every person in this room, each of my brothers and sisters here, grant us grace, transform us by your grace in your gentle and in your wise way. Transform us. And Lord, use us to transform your other children as well. We pray in Jesus name. Amen. This media was brought to you by Audio verse, a website dedicated to spreading God's word through free sermon, audio, and much more. If you would like to know more about Audio verse or if you would like to listen to more sermons, please visit www.audio verse.org.

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