25th Southeast Korean Camp Meeting

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Carnesville Korean SDA Church

Plenary

Sebastien Braxton

Under His Wings

Just recently this week I have been moving from Michigan, moving all my things.

They've been in storage for like a year and a half.

Because I like to, I'm a penny pincher, I like to save money.

So I thought to myself, you know, I could hire a budget truck 1 way from Michigan and it would cost me around $675 without the gas and perhaps other fees that may come with that.

And so I looked and I said, well, you know, I could rent a Dodge Ram pickup truck, fit all our stuff in there and then get a trailer from U-Haul, which would be like $20-$30 a day, drive it down from Michigan to Fayetteville and then drive it back because if you drive it 1 way they add an extra $500 charge, which is why the budget truck would be cheaper normally.

Now you calculate the gas and everything and you figure it'll still be cheaper.

So this week, Sunday, I went for my aunt's Saturday night, Chicago, her 60th birthday party and lo and behold, as I'm driving over to Michigan on Sunday, I find out that a friend of mine was getting married.

So they're like, hey, you're in town, so this person's going to pick you up from Union Station, train station, and they're gonna drive you to the wedding.

So I rode with them to the wedding, went to the wedding, got a ride down to Ann Arbor, slept at midnight, woke up and arrived, called Enterprise, said, hey I need a ride to your store.

They said, sorry the driver, she got lost, stuck in traffic.

So yeah, you're going to have to take an Uber car and we'll reimburse you, offer your rental.

They said this fee, this price lasts another 3 minutes.

So I was thinking, nah, I should be all right.

So I took the Uber car, got to Enterprise, walk in, And she says, okay, I need your credit card and your ID.

So I hand her my North Carolina license and I hand her my Bank of America card, but I don't use credit cards.

I understand credit cards, how they work, the lives that they destroy.

And there's of course some responsible people in here who've had their habit under control in moderation.

But I know when you're at Macy's sometimes, you just need to do what you need to do, right ladies?

But anyway, so She looks at me, she says, well, if you have an out-of-state license, you must have a major credit card.

She says, well, then we can't rent to you because you have a North Carolina license.

So does that mean you're not going to reimburse my Uber trip?

And now I'm stuck downtown in Arbor with no rental car.

So she says, well, you can go to Hertz up the street.

They say, yeah, we can rent to you, no problem.

They take an hour to pick me up, sitting at the bus stop with my luggage and everything.

Everything goes well, get the truck, find out that the truck has a cover on it that's bolted to the back, to the bed of the truck.

So you can't put a bed in there because the top will close down and it's not gonna stand up high enough for me to put the bed in there or the couches.

So I'm like, okay, this is not what I was thinking.

They're like, well, this is what we have.

So I decided to go with this pickup truck.

After I get this pickup truck, I drive over to U-Haul, get the trailer, 6 by 12.

Then I drive over and I say, you know, I have to start heading for Berrien Springs where all my stuff is.

So I drive to Berrien Springs with this trailer.

Get down there, my wife calls, she says, this is the address, this is everything, no problem.

Finds out she forgot to mail me the key for the lock of the storage.

So after I went there to the U-Haul, I mean the storage place, I walked to the lady, I said, look, my wife forgot to mail me the lock.

She said, we don't have anything to cut the lock.

I mean, this whole establishment, I think, has run out of their home.

Because I walked in, in the waiting room is the washer and dryer.

And I wanted to make sure I was in the right place.

So my wife said, look, if it looks like it's somebody's house, it's the right place.

Okay, so she says, we can't do anything to cut your lock.

So I'm thinking, all right, so I go to Lowe's, get a bolt cutter, Find out my wife got the circular locks right, which is hardened metal.

Bolt cutters are designed to cut soft metal, but this is stainless steel, completely hard.

You can't, so I have an 18 inch bolt cutter.

I'm literally doing push-ups on this thing to try to close it to cut the thing.

I've only gotten in maybe a third of an inch.

So I jump in the truck, wait for the rain to stop, And I was thinking, okay, Lord, I don't know what this is about.

So finally, I get fresh, I call a locksmith up the street, South Bend.

This guy, I'm talking to this old guy, he's clearly an old man.

And I say, well, sir, how much would it cost me to do this?

I'm like, I just want to know the price before I ask for the service.

Just give me your location, your cell phone number.

So I've given information and then after I hang up on my Apple Maps, it has reviews at the bottom.

And the first review says, do not get this guy.

Stay as far away from him if he charges more than everybody else.

So I call him back, say, hey, I got it figured out.

I'm thinking, how am I gonna get my lucky shot at this thing?

Now mind you, I have to drive all the way to Fayetteville and back by Wednesday morning.

So I'm thinking, I need to be on the road.

So finally I go back, call my brother-in-law and my wife and he's like, well try to get a bigger bolt cutter.

He's like, if you get 36, that can cut anything.

So I go back to Lowe's, the biggest they have is 24.

Of course, I'm doing pushups on this thing, literally both hands, all my weight pulling this thing.

Finally, after 30 minutes of this, the thing breaks.

But it's so thin in the break, I can't pull it off the door.

Hired Servants

This morning I want to continue off of what we discussed last night with a very, very brief review because I know Koreans like to start food on time.

But if it goes longer than 12, just remember I'm not Korean.

So the first thing is, last night we discussed an experience that I recently had.

I told you the whole long saga, that was my week, those of you that were here last night, and about how my computer was missing, $2, 000 computer.

And we discussed last night the idea that I came, the box was there, but the computer was not.

Right, this is an iMac, 27-inch computer, and $2, 000 machine.

So you're thinking to yourself, you think because you see the box, the contents, you assume are present in the box.

But of course, I was surprised, shocked, chagrined to find out that the computer was not there.

That this friend had taken the computer, given it to someone else to use while they were doing some music together and only to find out that that person now does not want to return the computer and is breathing out threatenings and violence and so on and so forth.

And so now the police have to get involved.

We saw this as a potential illustration of where some of our lives are.

That yes, we have the box, it has all the specs, the specifications, and the indication that what the box is presenting on the outside is actually on the inside.

And eventually the owner is going to return to not just find the box but the computer amen so in the same sense when Jesus returns we can all fulfill the externals we can give the presentation and the illusion that yes what I'm presenting on the outside is actually in the inside.

But when we believe in Jesus and in the religion of Jesus, the religion of Jesus is hard work.

It's internal that gives substance to the external.

And so as a result, if we are just presenting the externals of what it means to be a Christian, to be a Seventh-day Adventist, but in our hearts, there is no context.

When Jesus comes, he has no use for a box, just like I have no use for a box.

That's exactly what he called the Pharisees, whitewashed sepulchers, filled with dead man's bones, an empty box.

And so we built off of this concept to go forward in discussing what then does it really mean to be Seventh-day Adventist?

And we talked about, where we kind of landed that idea, on the notion that being Seventh-day Adventist is about 100% utter dependence and trust in Jesus in every aspect of life.

And we use the illustration of the mother hen being under his wings, but you recognize that some of us in the Korean community, we trust under the wings of money.

And it's not just Koreans, it's all over the world, it's everywhere.

We trust under the wings of education, or the wings of family, or the wings of tradition, or the wings of community.

As long as I hang with spiritual people, I will be saved.

As long as I'm in a spiritual location, Doesn't work like that.

And so I want to build off of this a little bit further to kind of get more to the heart of our theme in trusting in Christ, but our theme that I've chosen is above every name.

So this sermon I've entitled hired servants.

1 last thing before we pray I quoted a statement last night that says Christ was a seventh-day Adventist to all intents and purposes.

Now I wanna start this, explain the statement, we'll pray and then dive in to our sermon today.

When we use the phrase to all intents and purposes, we must understand what we're discussing.

The phrase was actually first used by King Henry VIII in England.

He was basically legislating through Parliament that he wanted his word to be law.

So if he said this person dies, they die.

If he says, oh, that bank now belongs to me, it belongs to him.

But he couldn't literally say, whatever I say is the law, because you have Parliament there.

So he said, well, for all intents and purposes, This is what the case will be.

So all intents and purposes specifically means this, right?

What it means is that the thing that's being said to be true, it's not actually true, but it's so close to being so that we just consider it that way.

So they'll say, oh, you know, it's this and this and this for all intents and purposes.

That means this may not necessarily be true.

Jesus wasn't a Seventh-day Adventist in the sense that he was baptized into a local conference.

He wasn't extended the right hand to fellowship.

No pastor put his hand over his head and said in the name of the Father and the Son, because of your love for Jesus and your desire to be so baptized before this congregation, Christ didn't go through that.

He didn't go through amazing facts, Bible studies.

But Jesus, for all intents and purposes, was a Seventh-day Adventist.

He was so close you might as well just consider it to be true.

Because however you define a Seventh-day Adventist, by whatever beliefs, by whatever behaviors, by whatever theology, it was all there in the Gospels So if there was a seven-day Adventist Church at that time in Jerusalem Christ would have been in there And you want to just been in the church.

He would have been the head of the church.

So if Christ is the standard of what a Seventh-day Adventist was or is, that begins to lead us to a point of examination.

If Jesus was, for all intents and purposes, am I?

So I want to talk a little bit more about the character of Christ, who he is.

Father in heaven, we are completely indebted to you and to your spirit to understand the Bible.

Jesus told us that when he, the Spirit of truth has come, He will guide us into all truth.

That He will not speak of Himself, but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak, and He will show us things to come.

Father, we want the Spirit to teach us this morning.

We have not come to listen to the words and the thoughts and the pontifications of a man.

And so we ask, Lord, that you would hide this man who is but dust in your sight, in the shadow of your wings, and that, Father, you would speak through me and that you would speak to me.

Lord that this experience may be actually worthy of the title worship to confess the worthiness of Jesus.

Thank you Lord for how you're going to speak to us this morning on this subject of hired servants.

This is our prayer and we trust that you will make this our experience.

As we offer this prayer from our hearts in Christ's name, let all of God's people say, Amen.

Take your Bibles and go to Matthew chapter 19 don't have a lot of time so I need you to go quickly Matthew chapter 19 When you're there, you can say amen.

Alright, the Bible says in Matthew chapter 19 beginning in verse 27, We have to get some context for our parable.

It says, Then Peter answered and said to him, See, we have left, how much?

Now this is the context of the rich young ruler who came to Jesus he said what what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life in Christ said going so long as you have give to the poor come and follow me and you'll have treasures in heaven so Peter heard this the rich young ruler goes away sorrowful because he has great possessions, he doesn't want to let it go.

Peter looks at Jesus and says, Lord see, we have left, how much?

The rich young ruler did, we don't remember that being in the discipleship called by the sea of Galilee.

Follow me I'll make you fishers of men and you'll receive treasures in heaven.

I don't remember you mentioning that Lord, But you just said it to the rich young ruler, so what do we get?

So Jesus said to them, assuredly, I say to you, that in the regeneration, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory, You who have what?

He says, if you follow me, this is what you will receive.

If you submit to the experience of discipleship to Jesus.

He says, if you followed me, you will also sit on 12 thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel verse 29 and everyone who has left so notice how much did they leave they left all right he says and these who have left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands for my name's sake shall receive a hundredfold and inherit eternal life.

Now I want you to think about this for a moment.

The second 1 is if you left wife, mother, children, father, mother, sister, child, lands, all these things he says if you left these things.

Wounds of a Whisperer

Father in heaven, do not hold back any good thing from us.

Speak to our hearts, Lord, and revive us again is our prayer in Jesus' name.

The title of my message is called, The Wounds of a Whisperer.

Atul Gawande, who used to be the chief resident at Mass General Hospital in Boston, Used to live just about a mile and a half from there.

He released a book some time ago called Better.

In this book, he tells a story of various doctors descending upon endemic stricken India in a race against time.

A polio endemic was rapidly spreading, and due to the enormous population and geographical area that each doctor had to cover, Time was of the essence in each case.

The doctor must be in and out, literally stick and move.

In a certain village, a Muslim woman refused the vaccine.

The doctor insisted twice more to no avail, thus he moved on without even warning of the potential consequences.

Shortly thereafter, this same woman was visited by a neighbor who asked her if she saw the white-coated men with the vaccine.

There was a rumor that this was all a trick of the Hindus who were trying to poison our Muslim children.

As they turned toward her son, as he crawled, his arms moved but his legs dragged behind.

He was ever to suffer the wounds of a whisper.

Whether the content was true or not, Its insidious power to destroy relationships stands virtually unparalleled.

Solomon breathed a saying on this particular subject, which will eventually land us at the very heart of the circumstances that have raised up the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

I want you to take your Bibles and go to the book of Proverbs, chapter 16.

Proverbs chapter 16, and we're going to look at verse 28.

The Bible says in verse 28 that a perverse man sows strife and the whisperer separates the best of friends You see this is simple, but it is far-reaching.

It is important to always keep in mind when you're studying the Bible, what kind of literature you are looking at.

This is important so that you don't read Genesis like it's Revelation, and read Revelation like it's Genesis.

Some people read the book of Genesis and everything is about some prophetic symbol.

Oh, this represents this and this represents that.

It is historical narrative, real people in real circumstances.

Adam and Eve were not like, oh, it's going to be a serpent because this will represent a revelation chapter 12 that old serpent No, it was just a literal serpent And she was literally experiencing temptation And the world was literally hanging in the balances.

But Revelation, when it says, oh, a beast came up from the sea, it's not talking about a literal beast.

This thing is not some, you know, gargoyle-looking figure and says this is what John saw but we recognize that 1 of the characteristics of apocalyptic prophetic literature is symbolism.

So you should expect when you're reading Daniel and Revelation to find things that are symbolic like 7 spirits before the throne of God in Revelation chapter 4, or there's the lamb bleeding before the throne of God.

Do we really believe that there is a actual lamb that is bleeding before the throne of God in heaven, and everyone starts worshiping this lamb.

Like a literal, bah, bah, bah, black sheep kind of lamb.

And so when we study the Bible, we must be very, very careful not to look at what we're analyzing outside of the literature that we are looking at.

So in the book of Proverbs, this particular literature is poetic.

And Hebrew poetry is very different than our poetry.

When we do poetry, we say things like, roses are red, violets are blue, I love Korean camp meeting, and so do you.

But the reality is, is that it is the repetition of sound that cues our ears, that this person is trying to be a little bit artistic with their words.

But in the Bible times, Poetry was not about repetition of sound, but repetition of thought.

So the same way that we say roses are red, violets are blue, I love camp meetings, so do you.

The you and the blue are repetition of certain sounds.

But in the Bible, when you're studying Proverbs, Psalms, even parts of Genesis, even parts of the prophetic books, they are poetic, not just prophetic.

And therefore, we should expect this kind of parallelism.

But I don't want to turn this into a Hebrew poetry class.

So to jump now and apply this to our text in Proverbs chapter 16, in verse 28.

The question is, what kind of parallelism are we dealing with?

Does the first line contrast the second line?

Does the second line build off of the first line or is it repeating the same thought in different ways?

Now, the Bible says, a perverse man serves strife and a whisperer separates the best of friends.

Is there a difference between strife and separating friends?

Does anybody know what it's like to have strife?

In order to have strife, you need people involved.

And they need to have a relationship of some kind.

And in that relationship, there's something that causes conflict in their relationship.

So to soul strife or to separate the best of friends, they are the same thing.

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Plenary

Hired Servants

Transcript

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