Participants: Ruthie Jacobsen (Host), Martin Kim, Liana Kim
Series Code: IAA
Program Code: IAA000390
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00:01 Have you ever traveled in
00:03 Southeast Asia, one of the most 00:04 gorgeous places in the world? Well 00:06 today you are gonna have a chance. 00:08 There is some excitement from 00:10 Southeast Asia. We will be right back. 00:37 Hello and Welcome to Issues & Answers. 00:39 I promised a trip to the Southeast, didn't 00:42 I, Southeast Asia. Well, before we go 00:44 there though, I like for us to just 00:47 remember together the words of a 00:49 powerful old hymn. In our Church Hymnal is 00:53 page 100, and it says "Great is Thy 00:57 faithfulness," O God my Father, There is 01:00 no shadow of turning with Thee; Thou 01:03 changes not, Thy compassions, they fail 01:06 not. As Thou hast been Thou forever 01:10 wilt be. Great is Thy faithfulness!" 01:14 Today, we just want to focus on God's 01:17 faithfulness to us as individuals and we'll 01:21 take a peak at some exciting things that he 01:24 is doing through two beautiful young 01:26 people, who are involved in work for 01:30 Southeast Asia. I'd like for you to meet 01:33 my special guest Kim Martin, and Liana 01:37 Kim. Liana, I understand you were 01:40 made in Korea, is that right. 01:41 Yes. And where were you born Martin? 01:45 I was born in LA. 01:46 LA. Okay, so you get half credit, she gets 01:49 full credit. Yes. But you have Korean 01:54 parents. That's correct. Okay, so tell us what 02:00 you are doing, what, why is Berrien 02:03 Springs your home? Berrien Springs, 02:04 Michigan is quite a bit different, isn't it, 02:07 temperature wise, weather wise from the 02:11 Far East or especially from Los Angeles. 02:14 Yes. What do you do? I am working for, we 02:17 are working for Adventist Southeast 02:18 Asia Projects and it was last year in August that we 02:23 moved out because our ministry is located in 02:26 Berrien Springs, Michigan. 02:27 So, that's the headquarters of this project. 02:30 Yes. For Southeast Asia. 02:31 Alright, so what does it mean project, that could 02:35 mean anything, that could mean raising 02:38 money, it could mean care for the lepers, I 02:41 mean you know anything, we don't 02:42 know what. So tell us what's your project is about? 02:45 Our ministry through humanitarian, education, 02:48 and evangelism projects, we seek to reach out the 02:51 people of Southeast Asia. And we believe in a 02:53 holistic approach. So we don't wanna just share the 02:56 Gospel, we wanna meet their basic needs, and so. 02:59 Help them live better lives. 03:01 Yes. And that's a huge part of the population of the 03:04 planet, isn't it? Sure is. Okay, tell us which 03:07 country you are especially involved with. 03:10 We work in Cambodia, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, 03:14 and a year ago the Lord open up the doors for us 03:17 to begin work in Myanmar. 03:18 Wow, that is Burma. Yes. It used to be Burma. Yes. 03:24 Huge population areas. Yes, lot of needs out there. 03:28 So, what would you say are the most basic needs 03:32 and how many of you people are involved, is 03:36 more than just you two. At our office, we have a 03:39 team of about eight and we employee a few 03:44 volunteers and my wife actually is working as a 03:47 volunteer for our ministry. 03:48 Wonderful, wonderful. So what do you do with 03:53 these eight people and the volunteers? Do you go 03:58 out to the Far East often to access needs? Who 04:01 decides what are the needs are and what needs 04:04 to be done, and who is gonna meet the needs. Do 04:07 you have actual people that you paid that are out 04:10 there in those countries Thailand, Laos, all these 04:13 places? Our ministry works very 04:15 closely with the missions in these countries in 04:18 which we work, and so it helps us out to work very 04:22 closely, the 550 workers that we sponsor are 04:27 supervised by the Pastors in these countries, where 04:31 we work in. So you have 550 people? 04:35 Roughly about 750, we have church planters, 04:39 youth evangelists, lay pastors laid by the 04:42 workers. And you are paying their support? 04:44 We pay their salaries. Where do you get this 04:47 money? Well, ultimately it's the Lord and God moves 04:52 upon people's hearts, and impresses people to give 04:55 and we just move forward and pray. 04:57 What is your budget? Last year the Lord blesses 05:01 with a little over two million, which really 05:04 allowed us to set a much bigger budget for his 05:07 fiscal year. That's what I was going 05:08 to say two million dollars is a very small budget 05:11 when you think of that many people that you are 05:14 working with, but God can do anything, can he 05:17 Yes sure he can. That's wonderful. Liana 05:21 what, what do you do? And I will comeback to 05:23 you too Martin, what do you do? 05:25 Actually every year when we go to Southeast Asia, I 05:29 travel with our staff members, so that we will 05:31 see how they are doing, you know, and then I 05:34 interview them and I take a letter pictures and when 05:38 I comeback, I sort all the pictures and organize the 05:41 pictures, and I actually help anything that office 05:45 needs. So, it's like taking a trip 05:47 to Southeast Asia when you get back. So, I 05:50 promised our viewers that we have a trip did you 05:52 bring any pictures with you? I'd like to know though 05:58 how many languages do you speak? 06:01 No, actually I just speak two, Korean and English. 06:05 Korean and English. How many languages do you 06:08 speak? I was a Spanish major 06:10 when I was in college, but that was a while ago, I do 06:15 speak Korean group speaking in the home, but 06:17 with the harsh English accent and I am still 06:20 working on my English. Okay, well you don't have 06:24 much use for your Spanish, do you? 06:27 Not much. Not in Southeast Asia. 06:31 Well tell us how did you get involved in this, this 06:35 sounds like a very ambitious and wonderful 06:38 project, how did you, how did you get involved, how 06:42 did you get interested in this? Back in 2004 my wife 06:45 and I finished up at the same seminary at Andrew 06:47 University, and the doors opened up for us to go out 06:50 to State of Washington to work for Seattle Central 06:54 Korean church and I was pastoring there. I am in 06:57 charge of the English ministry. 06:58 Is that in the Seattle area? Yes, actually located in 07:02 urban, but because there are number of Korean 07:04 churches and it's like the central of all of the 07:06 Korean churches, it's called the Seattle Central 07:08 Korean church. Okay, okay. Okay, so you 07:11 went out there and worked at this church. 07:14 How did that put you where you are now? 07:16 After about a year and half of being there, we 07:21 had this one missionary come to our church to do 07:25 a presentation during the weekend and during that 07:28 weekend he shared this quote with me comes 07:31 from the book Gospel workers, where we were 07:33 told that if the if we in the local church get involved 07:39 in supporting the for mission work that God 07:41 would bless the local mission work, and I 07:44 thought much about that and I had always prayed 07:46 much asking God to bless our church and I was 07:49 looking for ways in which God would bless our 07:52 church, and I thought much about that quote 07:55 and I realize that you know if we could some 07:57 how get involved in supporting the mission 07:59 work overseas, I believe that God would do great 08:02 things for us and so after much prayer our leaders 08:05 and I decided that we ought to help the less 08:09 fortunate neighbors in the Asian countries. 08:13 What was your position at this church, where you 08:15 pastor, assistant pastor or what? I was associate 08:17 Pastor. Associate pastor, and how large is the church? 08:21 It was the church about 250 members. 08:24 250, but you had a wider base than that of other, if 08:29 you count all the Korean churches, what would you 08:32 say thousand, two thousand? In the whole 08:35 Seattle area, I would say it probably be close to a 08:38 thousand. Okay. Yeah of course speaking 08:41 about Adventist churches, and I was in charge of a 08:44 youth involved group of about 70 members. 08:46 Okay, and so when this missionary came from the 08:52 Far East, and was talking about what's happening 08:55 out there, you decided our church needs to get 08:59 involved. Yes. Okay, were all of your 09:01 members immediately on board? 09:03 They were really inspired by that weekend, but here 09:08 in America its really hard to get your members 09:11 mission minded because we've just got so much 09:13 and my leaders and I had prayed that God will 09:16 show how we can get involved in being a part 09:18 of fulfilling the Great Commission because we 09:21 did not exist just for ourselves or just to do 09:23 local mission work, but to be involved in the big 09:26 picture. You know our blessings can actually be 09:30 a danger. Yeah. Because they can make us look 09:34 down instead of up or out. Yes. To the bigger 09:38 focus for I believe the Lord wants us to be seen. 09:41 That's correct. Where you with him 09:44 Liana from the beginning, did you think this was 09:47 something exciting. Did you both go to Korea or 09:50 Thailand or somewhere together then when you 09:53 were pastoring in Seattle. Before we have got to 09:57 seminary, we spent a year out after our first year of 09:59 marriage, lived in Korea, and we had gone on a 10:02 short commission trip up to China. 10:05 Okay. But now you are not involved in China now. 10:10 No. So you were both, you just had that in your 10:14 blood, you were excited about it. Yeah. What did 10:20 your parents think about this Liana? 10:22 Oh my parents, actually my parents are not 10:25 Christians, but I think as I just believe in trusting the 10:31 Lord, I think they can see something different in my 10:34 life and now they are supporting me. 10:36 They are supporting you now. But at first they 10:39 thought this is little weird. 10:41 That's right. They can't understand, they can't 10:44 understand to feed a poor, and to help other people 10:49 because these days all the people they just want to 10:51 get for themselves and they just want to you 10:55 know make a lot of money, but they are now, 10:58 now they understand. The mentality of the 11:01 United States is me first, you know, get what I can 11:07 for myself and my family. So if you are not a 11:12 Christian you don't have that. That's right. 11:15 That focus at all. Martin how did your family feel? 11:18 My parents were very supportive of the fact that 11:21 I was doing ministry. They believed that it's a 11:24 very high calling, so they were very supportive of 11:28 all that transpiring. And you have chosen and 11:30 prepared for the ministry? Yes. So this was just 11:34 another branch, another phase of it. Well tell us, 11:38 tell us how this went from being pastor to what you 11:42 are doing now? Okay, well before the 11:46 Lord gave us this call to come join this ministry, it 11:49 was at the church where we decided to set aside 11:52 our third Sabbath, loose offerings, and sent it 11:55 overseas to help our less fortunate. 11:57 Okay. Asian neighbors in Southeast Asia at our 12:02 church since we are able to keep the first and third 12:04 Sabbath and loose offerings, which would 12:06 come out to about three hundred dollars per 12:08 Sabbath. For us it was not a big deal, but we knew 12:11 that in the Third World countries. 12:13 That's a lot of money. It's a lot of money, and 12:16 we wanted to help our young people know that 12:18 the little that we can give to the very poor in the 12:21 world can make a huge difference, and we 12:23 wanted to keep before their minds that we exist 12:25 to the missions, and so this was in 2005 12:28 December that we collected our first 12:31 offering, and we collected somewhere around three 12:35 hundred dollars. And then in January, we collected a 12:39 second offering. It was surely after collecting our 12:41 second offering that I picked up this tape that 12:44 had been sitting on my office desk for quite a 12:48 couple of months by this missionary and I 12:50 happened to listen to that tape. And this missionary 12:53 was sharing story after story about how God was 12:56 providing as they were moving forward in faith. 12:58 And then this missionary shared something, which 13:01 I will not forget. He said we will never have 13:04 enough money to finish the work, how much will 13:07 be enough, a million, ten million or 100 million. 13:11 He says we need to move forward in faith and trust 13:14 the God of infinite resources to provide. 13:16 And I said that is so true, and why is that. 13:20 Oh, powerful, you know, back, to back up a little 13:22 bit remember Hudson Taylor did that. 13:25 Yes. In China, founded the 13:28 Inland China mission with no money. 13:31 Yes. And George Miller would 13:34 send him money and George Miller didn't have 13:38 any money either. Right. But he prayed the Lord 13:44 provided and so he as soon as he got the money, 13:45 he would give it to missionaries, and it's just 13:48 an amazing thing and God is the one who has 13:50 gotten all the glory. Yes. So, what did that do to 13:53 you when you heard that tape? 13:55 I said God, I know its about faith, I want to see 13:58 you do great things, and I said Lord I refuse to 14:00 believe that you have to be a missionary out in 14:03 some Third World country in a malaria high 14:05 risk area in order to see you do great things. 14:08 Right. And I believe that North America is a great 14:11 mission field. And I said Lord what do you want 14:14 me to do, and I thought about our Third Sabbath 14:17 mission offerings for ASAP, and I thought 14:23 about charging our members to pay for a 14:25 500 dollar offering, but I'm like that doesn't 14:28 require much faith, I then thought about a 700 14:30 dollar offering, but I find that you now it will take 14:33 faith to pray for a 1000 dollar offering. Now in 14:36 January in the offering we just collected, it was to 14:38 provide rice for the people at Vietnam and 14:41 back then for 20 dollars you could provide rice for 14:45 whole family for a month and that's how far 20 14:48 dollars goes. Amazing. 14:49 In a country like Vietnam. Wow. And so 14:51 now for our next offering in February, we wanted to 14:54 provide Bibles so we could provide for their 14:57 spiritual nourishment. That's right, that's right. 14:59 And it costs 5 dollars to provide a Bible, and so I 15:05 showed up in church the next Sabbath, and I said 15:07 to my members, what if we pray for a 1000 dollar 15:10 offering. We could provide 20 Bibles for the 15:13 people of Vietnam and we encouraged our 15:15 members to pray everyday. Amen. And there were 15:19 midweek newsletters reminding them to pray 15:23 and every Sabbath we made announcement, and 15:26 a month later in February the Lord blesses us with 15:30 an offering of 4382 dollars. 15:32 Yes, 4000. Well you know Martin, I think the 15:37 Lord was giving you that call to step out in faith 15:42 and then he was saying you haven't seen 15:44 anything yet watch this. Yeah. Watch this, but I 15:47 do think its important in your newsletters to keep 15:51 your people informed because they want to 15:53 know is this working. Everybody wants to be 15:57 part of something that is succeeding. 15:59 That's right. They want to see something move 16:01 forward, they want to see it accomplish something. 16:04 Yes. So, you really followed the right steps there in 16:09 communication. So you got 4000 dollars, what did 16:14 you do with it, you brought Bibles. 16:16 Yes, we were able to send over 876 Bibles. 16:19 Wow. And this, I was blown away by it, our members 16:23 were blown by it, you know like Lord this is 16:26 really you are doing. Is it difficult to be able to 16:30 purchase Bibles in the right languages at the 16:33 right price? Where did you purchase these, 16:36 where did you get them? Pastor Isaiah Yuang, I 16:43 know him, yes he is the leader of the Albion 16:46 movement, that's right, and also the speaker for 16:49 the peace and happy related program. He is the 16:51 one that is pretty much in charge of getting the 16:54 Bibles into the country to the people. 16:56 Okay, okay. You know he is another miracle in 17:01 himself because he was going to take medicine 17:05 and the Lord just kind of tapped him on the 17:09 shoulder and said, no I don't need you as a 17:12 physician, I need you to do something else. And 17:15 so he has been giving the Adventist World Radio 17:19 programs into Vietnam and he has seen 17:23 phenomenal miracles. Yes. I mean just amazing 17:27 miracles. Yeah, we heard many stories 17:28 coming out of the country of Vietnam just truly 17:31 amazing. Yes it is, and I believe it's 17:34 because one man has stood strong and firm, 17:38 reminds me of the story of Joshua. When Joshua 17:42 was fighting the Amalekites and he knew 17:46 that he had to have more time, otherwise they 17:49 would escape and comeback and bother 17:51 him. And he said son standstill, standstill. He 17:56 knew that his God had the power. So the Lord just 18:00 stopped everything in the Universe as far as 18:03 you know the earth rotating around the sun 18:05 or rotating on its axis, and he did that and answered 18:12 to one man's prayer. Yes. So, I really see Isaiah 18:18 Yuang as a tremendous man of God, and I am sure 18:23 he has been a good mentor for you. 18:25 You should ask, yeah, he is a praying man. 18:27 Yes. He is a praying leader yes, and therefore his 18:30 followers are praying people. These people in 18:33 Vietnam, they pray so much. 18:34 Yeah. And I believe it's because 18:35 of all their pray that the message is spreading so 18:38 rapidly. It is, it is. They had never 18:41 seen anything like this in Vietnam. Well take us on 18:46 the next step, what did you do after the 4000 18:48 dollar offering? At first we were like what 18:52 do you do. Yeah. I mean you go back to 18:54 pray for another 1000 dollars, but then I 18:56 remember what that missionary would always 18:59 say. He would always saythat 19:01 when God blesses should we ask for just a little bit more. 19:03 That's right. And that's the way you grow in faith. 19:04 That's right. I really believe that when the 19:06 Lord gives you something, that's to test 19:09 your faith and the strength in your faith, 19:11 but next time he does want you to ask for more. 19:14 Yes. Because I don't believe he ever wants us to come 19:18 to the ocean to get water with a teaspoon. 19:20 Yes, I like that. He has got lots of water 19:25 out there and he wants to test our faith, he can do 19:28 anything, but he wants to test and strengthen our 19:31 faith. Alright, so then what happened? 19:33 So then we decided to ask for just a little bit more, 19:36 we decided to pray for 4500 dollars. So, we 19:39 could built eight bamboo and thatch churches in 19:42 Cambodia. Oh Cambodia. And it costs $550 19:45 to built a bamboo and thatch churches, nothing 19:47 fancy church more. Now where any of your 19:50 people from Seattle going out there to access needs 19:54 or meet with people at the missions or where they 19:58 just mainly at this point involved in financial 20:01 support. In just financial okay and prayer support 20:04 at this time. Okay. A year later many of 20:07 them are on a mission trip to Cambodia and that was 20:10 a wonderful experience for them to see first hand 20:12 this country. What a tragic, tragic situation 20:18 with Cambodia. Alright then what happened? 20:21 And so once again we encouraged our members 20:24 to pray and pray everyday for the whole month, and 20:28 the next month in March God bless us with 20:30 offering of $6684. And this like you to 20:34 saying, why didn't you ask for more. 20:35 Yes. Oh, you have little faith. 20:39 Yes, but still that was a stretch for you. 20:41 Yes. Because you have been 20:43 giving three hundred dollars, your church had 20:44 been giving three hundred dollar, but what was the 20:47 attitude of the members in the church when they saw 20:50 this happening. That's a really good 20:52 question because like when we got out when 20:56 God blessed more than four thousand, then 20:59 already a lot of our young people and adults very 21:04 excited. Sure, sure. And then even they 21:07 changed the way they spent their money. 21:09 Oh yes. One of the young adult, 21:11 who is a lawyer at a time, she said you know what I 21:17 didn't believe that God blessed us more than four 21:20 thousand dollars, but after God answered the prayer, 21:24 her prayer life and her faith that was changed. 21:28 Amen, you know this is digressing just for a 21:31 second, but just recently I heard a father and mother 21:36 tell a story about. They were having family 21:39 worship and they showed they have two little sons, 21:42 and they showed lets see they are about six and 21:46 three, and they were showing these children 21:49 pictures of the work in Mexico because their 21:53 father had gone down with some people, and 21:55 helped in orphanages and various things in Mexico. 21:59 And when he came back, he showed the pictures to 22:02 his family, and he said this little boy didn't have 22:06 anything to eat, but we got some food and we 22:10 took some food to him, and this his daddy only 22:13 has one meal a day or every other day, and they 22:18 don't have homes, they don't have churches, they 22:22 don't have clothes, they don't have a meager or 22:26 basic needs and one of his little boys was quiet for a 22:31 little bit, and finally he said daddy can we skip 22:34 treats, can we save our money that we would 22:38 spend on treats, and I thought what a beautiful 22:43 sweet spirit. Yes. You know we need more 22:46 adults, who are that child like and willing to say, 22:50 yes take the money that I am misusing and let some 22:56 good be done with it. Alright, so then take us to 23:01 the next step. You have had young people in your 23:04 church, who have really been excited because they 23:07 see what God is doing. They know that this is not 23:10 anything that your one church did on your own. 23:14 Exactly. So what, yeah this does something 23:16 to the spiritual life of the church. Yes, we really 23:20 saw God raise the spirit and faith in the church. 23:22 As young people started praying and believing 23:26 prayer, and sing that we do serve a God. You 23:29 know we read all these amazing stories in the 23:30 Bible by how God parted the Red Sea in one hour, 23:32 but to see ourselves see God moving a mighty way. 23:37 And we should ask that for lot more, but at that 23:40 time we were little slow in learning and we 23:42 decided to ask God for just a little bit more and so 23:45 at that time we prayed for seven thousand, we could 23:47 support ten lay by the workers in Vietnam for 23:51 one year. Wonderful. So then how much did 23:54 you get from that? And the next month the 23:56 Lord blesses with 8470 dollars. Eight thousand, 24:00 every time, it's like the Lord just saying you are 24:03 too small. Yes. Your faith is too small, 24:05 I've got more than that, oh how thrilling, how 24:09 thrilling, and your church is becoming more 24:12 dependent on the Lord. Yes. And more in love with 24:17 the Lord and with his work in the Far East. So 24:21 how is this church functioning today? 24:24 Well, surely after we left the young adults 24:29 eventually planted another church because 24:33 they had seen what can happen when we unite 24:37 together and pray, and how God can move. God 24:39 eventually open up the doors for them to start 24:42 another church. In the Seattle area. 24:44 In the Seattle area. And God was very good 24:46 because God allowed us to stay there in that area 24:48 to be a part of this initial church plant before he let 24:52 our house sell and before he moved this out to 24:54 Berrien Springs. So, God was very good in 24:56 allowing us to be a part of that experience. 24:58 Well and that was good for you. 25:00 Yes. And it was good for them 25:01 because the continuity I think is so important. Tell 25:07 us about your house in Berrien Springs, Liana. I 25:12 love this, I think this is, you were praying for a 25:16 palace won't you in Berrien Spring. 25:19 That's right, last August actually we moved from 25:22 Seattle to the Berrien Springs in Michigan, but 25:25 right before we moved we had a opportunity to 25:29 attend so called camp meeting and at a time 25:32 Pastor Provo Tara from Indian Ocean Africa, 25:39 South African Indian ocean division. 25:41 He came in and he spoke about faith, and then I 25:45 was so amazed, he talk about faith and then just 25:48 to believe in the promises of Lord and just go, and 25:52 at that time I was praying about a house in Berrien 25:57 Springs. And then Lord so far I was praying for 26:01 just a small house, but Lord I want to pray for a 26:05 palace. I want to pray for palace 26:09 because you have been impressed by the story of 26:12 the man who went to Alexander the Great, and 26:15 ask for a palace. That's right. And Alexander was 26:19 offended. He said I love that request because he 26:23 knows I am king, he knows no one else can 26:26 supply that, and so you went to the Lord and said 26:30 Lord I want a palace, you are king, and what did he 26:33 give you. And then yes he surely 26:36 gave us a palace, a small palace with the beautiful 26:39 palace by the lake. Yes, right on Lake 26:42 Chipican. I saw a picture of that, it's a nice home. I 26:48 just believe that God is happy when we expect 26:52 large things of him, let's pause right now, and 26:56 pray. Our time is running short, and it goes so fast. 26:59 Father in heaven what a mighty God we serve. We 27:02 thank you for the ways that you led your obedient 27:05 people in Washington State and now for what 27:09 Liana and Martin Kim are doing for you. We are so 27:12 thankful for your power and love, and goodness. 27:16 Bless this wonderful work in Jesus name, Amen. 27:20 Amen. I hope as you have been listening to these 27:24 stories today and seeing the enthusiasm on their 27:29 faces, that it has given you something in your 27:33 spirit that says I would like to have more faith, 27:35 I'd like to see God working in my life daily, 27:39 I just want the excitement of what happened out 27:42 there in that church in Washington State, and so 27:45 I would just want you to encourage you, look 27:49 around, God is doing wonderful things right 27:52 where you are. Ask him how you can join him in 27:55 his work. You will be surprised and amazed 27:59 because he has promised to give you, to tell you 28:02 secrets of how you can help. So God bless you. 28:06 Glad that you are with us and we'll see you 28:09 next time. |
Revised 2014-12-17