Korean East Coast Camp Meeting 2019

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Korean East Coast Camp Meeting

Andy Im

The Basis of Faithful Persistence

Heavenly Father, we thank you so much once again that you're here with us.

I pray that the words that are shared this evening are not my own words, but may they be your thoughts, your ideas, and I just pray that I would be the vessel to articulate your word, your truth, and your love.

So you look in the book of Exodus and you look at the experience of the ancient Israelites.

And 1 of the things that I forgot to mention yesterday was, if you remember in the book of Mark, chapter 4, when they're going through that storm and when they're fighting for their lives, what is Jesus actually doing at that moment?

Apparently unconcerned, apparently, you could say, indifferent to what is taking place as they're struggling for their lives.

And this is a fundamental question that you and I need to ask ourselves, and that is when we are going through struggles, and when we are going through hardship, and when seemingly God is sleeping, or he's on vacation somewhere else, and we don't sense God's presence there.

It's at that moment, it's at that time that faith is truly tested in our lives at a very fundamental level.

And I want to share the experience of the ancient Israelites because they went through something very similar where they were struggling with the notion of whether or not God was truly with them as they were going through their experience out of Egypt and towards the promised land.

So if you turn with me to Exodus chapter 14 we're just going to look at several verses.

Exodus chapter 14 and let's go to verses 10 through 12.

And you notice that as they left Egypt, very early on they're confronted with a major impediment or a major obstacle.

You have the approaching army of Pharaoh coming very near and then you have the sea, the Red Sea, and so they're trapped and they are in a major predicament.

And if you read in Exodus chapter 14, verses 10 through 12, we'll start in verse 10, when Pharaoh drew near, the people of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they feared greatly.

And the people of Israel cried out to the Lord.

And they said to Moses, is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness?

What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt?

And so here you have the promise where God has promised he's going to take them to Canaan.

And instead of trusting in God, they begin to groan and to complain.

Then in chapter 15, turn with me to chapter 15, God takes them to a place where there is bitter water, right?

And we know also, we know the story very well.

In verse 24, the people grumbled against Moses saying, what shall we drink?

So again, they're grumbling and complaining.

And then you turn to Exodus chapter 60, when they're deprived of food, very early on in that chapter, verse 2, and the whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness.

And the people of Israel said to them, Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, For you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger." So again, time and time again, you have the promise of God, obstacle, and in this case, you don't have the exercise of faith, but the exercise of unbelief in these instances.

And in spite of themselves, God does for, he saves them in each context.

He saves them by his mighty hand as they're moving forward away from Egypt.

Something very fascinating takes place here.

Of course in verse 1, all the congregation of the people of Israel moved on from the wilderness of sin by stages according to the commandment of the Lord, and they camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink.

And then verse, let's see here, verse 3, but the people thirsted there for water, and the people grumbled, right, once again, against Moses, and said, why did you bring us up out of Egypt to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?

If you go to verse, let's see here, verse 2, I skipped a verse, but I think this is an important passage here and I'll share with you why.

Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, Give us water to drink.

And Moses said to them, Why do you quarrel with me?

Now, if you skip down to verse 7, you see exactly what that testing of the Lord, what, what that implies.

And in verse 7, it says, And he called the name of the place Massa and Meribah, because of the quarreling of the people of Israel, and because they tested the Lord by saying what?

In other words, is the Lord, is God here?

And I want us to really reflect and think about all the challenges that you face in your life or have faced in your life.

And this question will always come up, and this will be the ultimate struggle as we're going through hardship and challenges in our lives.

The question is, is God with me at this moment or not?

Because oftentimes what we do is we go on with our lives and act as if God does not even exist.

How many of you have groaned and complained in your life before?

I think every hand would probably have to go up, right?

And what ultimately is that saying about God?

Could God ask that or when we ask that question, is he here or not or why God and sometimes accusations have even been made, does thou not care, right?

Don't you care that we are here rowing this boat on the verge of death and you're just sleeping?

And do our actions reflect the fact that we know that God is with us every step of the way.

Ultimately your actions, my actions, your words, my words reflect whether we believe that God is here or with us or not.

I want us to really, really think about that for a moment.

We also talked about how faith, yesterday, how faith is related to patience.

And I also want to share that faith is also related to persistence.

Turn with me to the book of Luke chapter 11, 1 of my most favorite passages in Scripture.

Luke chapter 11, and we're going to read, let's see here, from verse 1.

Of course, Jesus is praying in a certain place and of course he finishes and the disciples are watching Jesus pray and after he's done praying they go to Jesus and they ask him, hey Lord teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples.

And of course Jesus goes through the Lord's prayer, you find that in in verses 2 through 4.

And then in verse 5 he goes on to share this very interesting parable, very powerful parable, and we're going to study that at this time.

And he said to them, which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say, Friend, lend me 3 loaves, for a friend of mine, this is another friend, has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him.

And he will answer from within, Hey, do not bother me, the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed.

So let's just say that Pastor Justin is my next door neighbor and Tom comes and knocks on my door at midnight and I open the door and Tom says, hey, how's it going?

I'm here with my family and I'm in Lansing, but like our car broke down stranded, and so like, is it okay?

Like, and we're so hungry, and my children are so hungry.

And inside I'm thinking, man, I have no food in my house, and what in the world am I going to do?

So I say, hey, Tom, come on in, get ready, and get unpacked.

And Laura, hey, come over here and get the sheets on the bed and so forth.

And while she's doing that and Tom's doing all that, I rush over to Justin's house and I begin knocking on his door.

And so I keep knocking on this door and Justin says from within, right?

Let's see here, verse 7, he will answer from within, hey do not bother me, the door is now shut, my children are with me in bed, I cannot get up and give you anything.

I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his impudence, he will rise and give him whatever he needs.

Question, what does that word impudence mean?

So what Jesus is ultimately saying here is that he may not get up.

He might have those thoughts in his head and he's echoing them.

I'm my children are with me in bed and even friendship, Even friendship is not going to get me out of this bed.

But, on the basis of persistence, on the basis of that relentless knocking, Jesus says, I tell you, He will get up and give all that He needs.

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The Basis of Faithful Persistence

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