Gen Youth Camp 2023 - Session 2: Who Do You Think You Are | Yap Ken-ji

Hello, and welcome to the Generation's Church Podcast. We're so excited to have

you here today. It is our prayer that God's word will inspire and help

you grow in your faith. Now let's get right into it. So a

few weeks ago, a few weeks ago, if you have your Bible,

you can take it out right now. But before I turn to the scripture

and stop with a quick experience of mind. A few weeks ago, I

was having a conversation with my wife. She came and asked me. She

said, Dear, do I look good in this outfit? So she was

she bought some new clothes. She said, do I look good in this

outfit? And then I looked at her with complete honesty and conviction in my

heart because I prayed about it. I prayed about it. Amen. So

I looked at her. I said, yes, dear, you look good.

And then then she looked at it. And then she looked at me

and said, you're a liar. I don't believe what you say. You

say it's not true. And then she walked away, and I go like

why. Then she said, everything you say it's not true because everything I

wear. Also, you say, nice, hey, bro, seriously as

a guy. Right, that is definitely true, because I definitely believe that

she looks pretty. That's why I marry her, right, But for some

reason, she just find it so very hard to believe that. And for

me, let me, I'm puzzled. So I went to the toilet,

I sat on a toilet bowl and scrowed my phone to think about why did

wrong? But how many times have we actually looked in the mirror and you

judge yourself so very harshly? I doubt anybody here When you looked in the

mirror you go like, hey, that's the Riis Master right there. Man,

You actually do that? How many if you actually do that? Yeah,

I mean actually do that. You go in the mirror in the morning,

you dressed up right, they look in the mirror. So you look

in the mirror, you go like, whoa, that's the Riiz Master right

there. Man. Yeah, So I believe I believe not everybody does that.

I believe that most people, including myself, when looked at the mirror,

you kind of don't like what you see. A man, Oh,

sorry, many powerful stuff. Ah, you got it right. Yeah.

So you look at the neighborhod and go like, uh, I mean sorry,

you look at the mirror and you go like you don't like what you

see, Like maybe you feel your hairs a little bit too long. You

look like, oh man, why is so geeky? And it looks so

nerd you and maybe Isaiah go like, oh why is so tall? One?

If I wish I was shotter, you know what I mean? If

a girls, you're like, oh, why my nose look like buttoned on?

It can be sharper or not. So you kind of don't like so

regardless any what anyone tells you, no matter what anyone tells you. So

flight. For my worst's example, no matter how pretty I say she is,

and she looks at the mirror she has she has, she would think

that, oh okay, maybe I can do better. But for me,

it's like, oh wow, it's already he's already perfect. So no matter

how so, no matter what people will say to you, you have your

own perceptions of yourself. Amen. So uh for me myself, when I

look in the mirror, I see this, I see that I'm a pimple

faced guy, shot guy with a balding hit yeah, don't check my head

later, but it's boding on the top here. You can pray for my

hairlater, prayer it will grow. So when I see that, I see,

I see that. But my wife she calls cute. Yes, she

calls me cute. And I'm actually not very sure about that, but I

just have to believe her, so you see, no matter what she tells

me. Right and to today, when I look in the mirror, I

go like, okay, man, this you have a lot of pimples,

you're bowling, and you're really short. So today so today, in relation

to that, for you think about that, we're gonna talk about who do

you think you are? Okay, So in the Bible, we all turned

to the Bible. Now, if you have your Bible, let's turn to

Judges chapter six as we start this conversation about who do you think you are?

Judges chapter six. All right, so before I read this scripture,

I'm gonna give you a little bit of context of what's happening here. This

story is about Gideon. So basically this is a story about the Istraelites.

They were already conquered by their enemies, so they are like sort of oppressed,

and then the whole nation was crying out to God for help. And

then in that situation, God actually appeared to Gideon. Let's start with the

scripture. So this is when God actually appeared to Gideon and the Angel of

the Do you just have the sixth verse eleven? It says, then the

Aga of the Lord came and sat behind the great tree at oprah Am I

right oprah Okay, which belonged to joe Ash of the clan of Alzheimer Noding.

Gideon, son of joe Ash, was trashing wheat at the bottom of

the wine press to hide grain from the Midia Knights. The Injury of the

Lord appeared to him and said, mighty Hero, the Lord is with you.

Sir. Gideon replied, if the Lord is with us, why has

all this happened to us? And where are all the miracles our ancestors told

us about, didn't they say? The Lord brought us up out of Egypt.

But now the Lord has abandoned us and handed us over to the Midian

nights. Then the Lord to him and said, go with strength and rescue

Israel from the Midian knights. I am sending you, But Lord gidn't reply,

how can I rescue Israel? My clan is the weakest in the whole

tribe. Of Manessa Manassa, and I am the least in my entire family.

The Lord said to him, I will be with you and you will

destroy the media nights as if you were fighting as one man. Let's put

the past there, Ali Loujah, Well, yes, cool. So it's

the first point, and we're gonna share. So we're gonna learn a little

bit from the life of Gideon, and then this will actually help us to

understand who do we think we are? Amen. So now number one,

don't let facts blind the truth. So Gideon, he was doing his own

thing at that time when God appeared to him. He was trashing with he

was having fun. He was doing his own thing, and God did And

then Giden actually didn't know that God was God. It was God who appeared

to him. So he actually told God, he said, hey, hello,

sir, you know, we talked to like Jihan. He always say

yes, sir, you know. So that's how Gideon actually replied to God.

If he actually knew it was God, he actually be different. For

some reason, there's this lack of awareness in God in their own lives.

I believe it's exactly like us when we go through our everyday lives. When

you actually on the toilet ball, when you're actually in your classrooms, when

you're actually talking to the girl you like, when you're actually fighting your friend,

we're actually gossipping about other people. The presence of God is actually right

there. God is actually watching. God is actually with that with you.

God has never left you. That's what the Bible actually says. But sorry,

right, oh, praise God. But but he's just so caught up

with all these things that's around him. All these things just went over.

He said. God actually said two things to him. Two things. Number

one, God said, hey, Gideon, mighty hero. That's why God

called Gideon mighty hero. And the second thing that God actually said is that

do not be afraid. I am with you. That's what God said to

him. This is the God that created the universe. Okay, this is

the God that created everything. This is the God all powerful. God actually

said, mighty hero, I will be with you. But Gideon, he

actually didn't buy it because of how he sees himself. He actually didn't care

the facts of around it, the facts of everything. Actually says that he's

actually the weakest in his whole clan. He say his clan is the smallest

he say he's the youngest one in the family, but he views it as

the weakest in his family as well. So when God says that, you

know, you're supposed to go out there, you're a mighty hero, you're

great. But the facts around him, he was under oppression, he was

under a lot of attack. A lot of people tell them to stay down.

Because of all these things, they blinded him from the truth. The

God that created everything actually said that he is a mighty hero. He is

promised that God will always be with him. So I think it's the same

for me as well. If God actually appeared to me at that point of

time, I will be feeling exactly he feels how he felt. He lived

in the environment for a very long time. Maybe he had no friends,

maybe no family. I don't know about his parents, but maybe his parents

already been divorced. Maybe didn't nobody like him. Maybe his brothers are always

holding him all the time. And suddenly God actually appeared to him and said,

hey, you are a mighty hero. Hey, I'm with you.

Doesn't seem like it doesn't seem like it because of the whatever that's happening.

So whatever that's happening to him actually blinded him from the truth. The truth

is God was there all along. God was there talking to him. God

was there referring to him as mighty hero. God already gave him all this,

all this, all these, all these things, God never left him.

But circumstances in your life, in his life, actually stop him from

believing that, because because the facts has blinded the truth from him. But

the truth is the truth in all this is that he was never left alone.

God was there. And also God has already called him and made him

a mighty hero. Imen. All right, good, let's go to the

point number two. Don't let looks blind the purpose for cool. I don't

why for you by my stuff. He look at your neighbor, and then

just tell them they look really good. Hey, save a convision if they

really think so. He amen. God's purpose for Gideon was very clear.

It made a lot of sense. Like I said, just now, God

created Gideon from the start. I mean, it's from when Gideon was actually

in the modest womb. Gideon was in like modest stomach. God already created

Gideon, and God already knew that he was supposed to go and win the

war, already supposed to tell him to read. Know already that he's gonna

go out there and do great things and go in safe. He so entire

nation, But Gideon didn't know because he let looks blind the purpose. In

Someone nine thirteen to fourteen, it says this, you made all the delicate

inner parts of my body and need me together in my mother's womb. Thank

you for making me so wonderfully complex. Your work, maxship is vounded,

marveless, and how well I know it. And there's another verse in Jeremiah

twenty nine to eleven. I think this is a famous verse, for I

know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. There are plans

for good and not for disaster to get I feel a future and a hope.

God already knew that Gideon was made to lead Israel to miss to victory.

The purpose was very clear. However, he didn't actually have the opposite

response. He looked at himself and he says that I'm actually very weak.

I'm actually a noup. I can't really do this because I'm not strong.

But God already knew that he can actually do it, because Gideon was letting

the looks how he looked blind him from his purpose. So when I was

younger, well, do you guys know what is digimon? Oh? Really,

I want to give you a part. And I was just kidding.

So how many of you know the first digimon ever created? All right,

So it's actually a toy, tamagochi toy where you take care and then the

digimon kind of like grew up to be stronger. So when I was younger,

my uncle bought one for me. It's very cool. So what I

did was that when I took it off of the packaging, I was like,

hey, this is a really cool toy. And then it didn't turn

on. And then it's this piece of plastic. The plastic was sticking out

of it. So I pluck out the plastic and it turned on. Im

Yes, it works, and I threw the plastic away, and then I'm

like, whoa. I went about my day. I went over. I

went over to the park where all my friends were there, right, and

then I saw them. I saw them like putting the plastic in the digimon

and then taking out the plastic and then keep doing that over and over again.

So I went there and asked them, like, hey, what's going

on? Why are you doing this? They say, this plastic actually can

help you and can help your digimon grow five times faster. You just need

to keep doing that and eventually digimon where actually grow. And then I looked

at them, I'm like, oh, I threw my plastic away already,

And then they all after me and I went home crying. I was very

young, so I let the look because it just looked like a simple plastic.

It just looked like this thingy that you're supposed to just pull out and

throw away. But I didn't know the purpose of it. The purpose of

it is that you can actually use it to cheat. Yes, you can

actually make it digitmon grow faster. You can actually make it digimon grow stronger.

But I did not know. I took it out and I threw it

away because I thought it was useless. Just because we think we look weak,

just because when you look into the mirror, you go like you got

no ris at all. Just because you look in the mirror, you go

like, oh, you're a shot fat guy, or you're like, you

know, you're a fat lady. Just because you look in the mirror and

you feel that way, doesn't mean that's who we are. Just because we

think we're useless does not mean that there is no real real purpose for us

in this in this world. Just because we think that that we don't look

the part doesn't mean that doesn't mean that all of that is true, because

the truth is, like I said just now, God already has the purpose

for each and every single one of us. Amen. And this is the

point I'm retrieved before we move on for a little bit. I think this

point where I was actually praying for you guys and really asking God what they're

actually slinging cam, I think God is ready impressed on my heart and it's

like specific things that he wants to actually share with you guys. And I

hope, I hope that you actually hear what I'm about to say here.

So this is it. This is it, Number Tree. Don't let fear

the victory. Everybody say, don't let fear blind the victory. Again turned

to another neighbor and tries saying that the turn not a neighbor, say that

one more time. Ha ha. If you can say three times fast,

I'm gonna give you a sharp points not just kidding, Okay. So in

verse seventeen, he didn't reply. After God has given him the promise,

God has said that you're supposed to go and say for all this nation,

these people. So he didn't reply, and he said, if you truly,

if you are truly going to help me, send show me a sign

to proof that it is really the Lord who is speaking to me, don't

go away until I come back and bring my offering to you here. And

then the Lord answered, I will stay here until you return verse nineteen.

He didn't hurried home. He cooked the goat with the basket and a flower.

Then after he carried everything, and then he brought them to He brought

them out to God and presented them who is waiting under the tree. The

Anger of God said to him, place the meat and the unleavened bread on

this rock, and pour the broth over it. And Gideon did it,

it was told, and the Anger of Lord touched it. And then he

touched the meat and the bread with the tip of his staff, and fire

flamed up from the rock and consume all the high hat. And then the

Anger of the Lord disappeared. So at this point I altually believed that Gideon

already started to believe after this conversation with God, maybe he said, maybe

that's true. So maybe you're hearing why I'm saying today, and maybe you

said, oh, keg, maybe that's true. Because I'm growing up a

Christian, I understand all these things going through that made a lot of sense.

Maybe what you say is true. I have purpose. You know,

God really loves me. And the truth is that God called me who i'm.

God called me a mighty warrior and all that's true. But but I'm

still not sure of that, just like Gideon, because it's actually a very

big thing. When I actually say that, hey, you're gonna win a

million ring it tomorrow, for example, it's very hard for you to believe.

You go like, hey, Keng, you's such a liar. But

then actually you say, what if it's true? So you kind of want

to test it? Right, So this is actually the part where Gideon actually

starts to try and find out and ask God for confirmations. That's what we

all do in our lives when God gives us a big dream, when God

gives us a big purpose, when God gives us something powerful to go go

like, is that really you God? So Gideon actually brought a sacrifice to

God and he said, you know, if you're a God, then you

know why not you, just show me you are and God actually send fire

down. So here's the thing. Everybody here is doubting what everybody here will

have some form of doubts, but only the person that can confirm it.

It's not me, it's not pastor d is not your parents and whoever.

This journey about, this whole new adventure of who you are, this journey

about you discovering who you are, this journey about you discovering that you're a

mighty warrior. It's only between you and God. It's only between you and

God. So don't let the fear of don't let the fear of this big

thing and go and shut back and realizing that everything is actually leads to a

victory. Don't let fear blind the victory. God is always there to encourage

us. Amen. God has never left or forsake because God really loves you,

and God really wants to show you what He has built you to be.

God really wants to show you what you can do. God really want

to take you to your real purpose. Amen. And God is always there

to actually encourage you. So all you need to do, all you need

to do is take the first step and ask. All you need to do

is ask. And this is actually a really important thing. I believe the

Bible has already spoke to you. I believe you, guys, really know

that there's a great purpose for your life. All you need to do is

ask. You feel that you have no purpose in this life, that you

are actually ready to die. This is actually I'm taking this really seriously because

I know that there are people here who feel that you are not worth living

for, there's nothing to live in this life. You are you have been

thinking about taking your life. I know there are people here who feels that

unwanted because or maybe I don't know, maybe your parents, your parents are

separated, or maybe your friends don't like you. I know there are people

here who feel lonely because whenever you talk to somebody, they get pissed off

at you. I know there are people here who feel that there's actually nothing

for you here. But I'm here to tell you that don't let the facts

blind the truth. God actually loves you, and God is actually there for

you. God actually has a great purpose for you. Thank you for joining

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