12+1 Core Values: Growth Resulting | Pr Matthew Chang

You're listening to a message to go from Acts Church.

We hope this message will light up your day.

Growth resulting. And if you open the books, you will

go through it together, okay? So I'm going to start

off by going through the scriptures. Okay, I prepared slides.

And we're going to read here from Acts 2, verse

Acts 2:46

46 to verse 47. Okay? Now, it says here, So

continuing daily with one accord in the temple... and breaking

bread from house to house, they, meaning the early church,

ate their food with gladness. How many of you eat

your food with gladness? Yeah, when it's your favourite food, right?

I eat with gladness when every time I eat sarawak

kolo mee, you want to know? Extra gladness, you want

to know? Oh, the extra shallot and minced pork, it's like, oh,

extra gladness, you want to know? But this one, we

ought to always eat it with gladness, okay? Not just

for kolo mee or wonton mee, okay? Eat everything with gladness.

and simplicity of heart. Yes, my life becomes very simple

after that, okay? Praising God and having favor with all

the people. And the Lord added to the church daily, okay,

those who were being saved. Now, it says that the

Lord added, okay, to the church daily. Now, so, one

of the core values we believe in as a church

is that we believe that, we believe in growing, okay, growth.

As a church, as individuals, in different circles of your life,

in your family. We're not just talking about numbers. We're

talking about holistically, maybe in your relationships, things you can't

really measure as well. We believe in growth. But growth

along the years has taken sort of like a bad stigma.

True or not? Every time we say, oh, church ought

to grow, it's like, oh yeah, must be talking about

numbers again, numbers again, numbers again. You know, growth, I

think about growth, first thing that triggers is KPI in

my work. Oh, stress already. Every time I stress, you know, oh, growth, growth, growth.

It's like every year the KPI go up, never go

down one, you know. It's like, oh, it always goes

up one, you know. Only can only go up, never

go down one, you know. It's like work hard, not enough,

you know. My reward is work harder, you know. So

it's like stress, you know. Like come to church, find sanctuary.

Talk about growth also. Even the pastor look like my boss.

He's like, oh, yeah. Why you look like that? Too

much in common already. That's why you can't wait for

holiday tomorrow, isn't it? So, you know, growth has taken

a bad hold. But I want to let you know

that growth is biblical, okay? Growth is natural, it's biblical.

Doesn't mean that, yes, sometimes the impact of the world

has been kind of hijacked by the experiences of the world.

Doesn't mean that it's not true. So, just share with

you a few scriptures, okay? We can start with the

first one, 2 Peter 3.18, it says, but grow in

the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Okay,

Ephesians 4.15, it says, but speaking the truth in love

that you may grow up in all things into Him

who is the head, Christ. And then Colossians 1.10 says

that you may walk worthy of the Lord fully pleasing Him,

being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the

knowledge of God. And then lastly, in 1 Peter 2

1 Peter 2:2

verse 2, it says, As newborn babes desire the pure

milk of the Word, that you may grow thereby. Okay? So,

healthy things are meant to grow. Okay? Things that God

has planted, has created, Most of the things are meant

to grow. It may not grow. Some things are meant

to grow physically. Some things grow by multiplying. They are

meant to grow. Most of the trees, you don't remain

a seed. They grow. You very hardly see just a

seed there. You grow. Trees, they grow. They multiply. Most

of the things grow. Our body grows. But after that,

it comes to a stage of maturity as well. And

when things grow, there is a system. It doesn't just

grow randomly, but there is a system. It's kind of

funny if you have one hand growing but the other

hand growing. Yes, it can happen, but generally, we're meant

to grow uniformly. So the concept is that healthy things

do grow. A healthy family grows. It's not just in numbers,

but you're supposed to grow in your relationship. Your marriages

are supposed to grow, not just wedding. I say you

love me, I love you. This change ring, that's it already.

You know, there's a saying that, you know, when you,

you know, people will say that, I read a story

about marriage counselling, you know, this, the guy was a therapist.

And he said, every couple, troubled couple I met with,

he said, every one of them, I asked this question,

do you love one another? He said, yes, we do.

Do you love him? Yes. Do you love her? Yes.

Then why do you want to get divorced? We can't

stand each other. They all love one another, but they

all don't want to get divorced one, but they end

up divorced. It doesn't mean that the love is not there.

It is there, but just that somehow it stopped. Something

stopped growing, you know. So that's why we say that

love is good, but it's not enough. Oh, you're like, oh,

this pastor preaching, not enough. No, I'm talking about a

deeper understanding and context of love. You get what I'm saying?

If you love me, why do you wait for me?

If you love me, why didn't you try to understand me?

Don't just say. You get what I mean, right? Because

a lot of times, we reduce love to just a feeling.

Just my intention enough already, ma. I don't need to

do anything already, ma. But love actually grows one and all.

Your marriage, ask yourself, 5 years, 10 years, 15 years,

20 years, you've been married, have you grown? Or the

only thing that's keeping you together is just your children?

A lot of couples do that, isn't it? It's true.

I've seen it before. I've experienced it before. Sometimes it's

just there and there's no love. It's worse than last time.

The only thing is connecting you is more. We pay

the same house mortgage. We work at the same place

and the only thing is our children keeping us together.

We're not growing. You know what I'm saying? It's very,

very sad. But healthy things are meant to grow. God

desires things to grow. Now, the church is meant to

grow as well. Church is meant to grow. People didn't

plan it, but 3,000 were added in a single day.

But then on top of that, when they had everything

in common, When everything comes connected together, when the Spirit

is upon them, when the people are eating together, praising

the Lord, one-minded, God added. It's not them. They got

added to them. Because that is God's plan. Multiplication has

always been God's plan. God actually, in fact, creation is

the story of growth itself. God, although He's complete, He

decided to extend Himself. You get me, right? Three in one, Father, Son,

and Holy Spirit. created you and I in His image.

Not be Him, but in the likeness of Him. That

is growing as well. And when we are created, we

are called to do what? Be fruitful and multiply. We

are called to be fruitful and multiply. Why be fruitful

and multiply? Because you're not just supposed to grow, you're

supposed to be fruitful. Because you can become a tree,

but you have no harvest. You get what I'm saying

or not? If you are a farmer, do you plant

trees only? No. The goal is the fruit. You know,

there's a saying, you know, I just remember something. There's

a very powerful saying, you know. You know, when God

created man, there's a very famous saying. I think it's

the guy, some German dude. Bernhoff or something, okay. But

he said something very powerful. He said, when God created man,

they were the last in creation, but the first in mind. Okay?

I repeat this. When God created humans, they were the

last in creation, but the first in mind. What does

that mean? Last in creation means what? They were created

on the sixth day, but they were the first in mind.

What do you mean by that? It means, how many

of you host people in your house before? You cook

for people before? How many of you? Some of you,

if I cook, I get stressed. I try to think

about what to cook. You buy the food before, and

then you try other hosts, and you spend almost the

whole day. You buy the meat, you season, you cook,

you clean the house, you do every single thing. You

can do all the things in the house. And the

last thing that you do is you open the door

and you invite them in. Because everything you do for

the whole day was meant for that last thing. That's

what I'm saying, right? So, at last in creation, first

in mind. All the creation from, you know, the sun

and the moon, the land, the firmaments and everything, make

no mistake, God is powerful in creation. But the one thing,

when He created creation, what's the one thing in His mind?

It was humans. You and I. You and I. Everything,

the whole table, whole creation, was the table set up

for Adam and Eve, for you and I. You know,

it's so amazing because God's mind was, may they experience

the love and this oneness in the likeness of us.

And so I cannot, when you understand Bible and the

intention of the Bible, God intended for us to multiply. Always.

You never to live for yourself. Never. Because that's not

the DNA of the creation. Never been. It's never been.

You never buy a... I mean, you know, when I

had a house, my wife said, I want a big

dining area and a big living room so that we

can have people. I was like, what kind of world

is that? Because I grew up, my house never hosted people.

Chinese New Year, we go overseas. We just live, you know,

I mean, I got used to it, kind of fun

and comfortable. When I got, when I started reading the

Bible more, I started to, open up my life a

bit more. I started to realise that life is really

meant to be for about connection. It's about people. You know,

family is not just about how many places I've travelled.

Family is about who am I to be able to influence,

to impact, to raise in my own likeness or in

God's likeness as well. That's why I really believe in children.

Children are a blessing. True or not? Children are a blessing.

I know sometimes you feel like, ah, I need to

make certain amount of money. Adam and Eve didn't have

a job, okay? Jagat Garden only. The only job you

need to be is to be a gardener and to

hear God's word, okay? God will take care of you.

You get what I'm saying? I know, yes, we have responsibilities.

The world has come up with a standard that we

need to be as good parents. Certain income level and

stuff like that, yes. But remember, multiplication, the DNA, was

never came from the world. It always came from God.

So if God, when you got married and you desire

for a family, I ask you to do more than

anything else before you look at your your savings account.

Look at your Saviour account, okay? You get what I mean, right?

Don't please look at your savings account or my savings

account number. Look at your Saviour's account. Everything's settled already.

You get what I mean, right? Look at your Saviour

and ask the Lord, when should I have the children?

You get what I'm saying? Lord, when I have, I

want to do it not for me. I don't want

to raise them according to mine. I want to, oh,

where do I take? Yes, I want to be responsible. Lord,

I believe you can. And you give and you will

grow as well. And you will add no sorrow to

all the blessings you give. You get what I'm saying?

It's very, very important. I want to A lot of

churches don't teach this, but Pastor Kenneth, Pastor Andrew, all

fully believe. We believe in children. We believe in families

having children. We believe in raising children. We believe that parents,

a couple should desire to have children in one stage

of their life. Very important. Multiplication, people always, God intended,

be fruitful and multiply. He didn't say get a career already.

Be fruitful and multiply. So go and be fruitful and multiply, okay?

It's very important. What did Pastor Matt preach? Growth resulting. Suddenly,

XBU got more children. X kids multiply. Pastor Matt and

then Pastor Stephen will be asking, what did you preach?

We've got more X kids. Baby making class. God's word.

How did we get here? Oh my goodness. Oh no.

Please put me in proper context, okay? Growth is God's work. Okay,

let's get back to earth, okay? Growth is God's work. Okay,

so I put here, God is the primary cause of growth.

We do not add to the church. He does, okay? Now,

let's read through a few scriptures and I'll give a

bit more context. Okay, in 1 Corinthians 3, verse 6,

1 Corinthians 3:6

it says, now Paul speaking here, he says, I planted

Apollo's water, but God gave the increase. Okay, now let's

look at another scripture, Mark chapter 4, verse 26. Now,

Mark 4:26

this is a parable of the growing seed. Okay, now

Jesus is talking about various parables. And the context of

this particular parable is that the disciples were asking, Hey Jesus,

why do you always speak in parables? So confusing, cannot

understand it. And Jesus answered them by giving them another parable.

I mean, you're like, you don't understand the theory, but

your professor gives you another theory. So Jesus gives them

another parable. So why did Jesus give them a parable?

You must understand the purpose of parable. What is the

purpose of parable? What is a parable? It's not just

wise sayings. It's not just idioms. There's a parable. Because

the reason for parables, parables are heavenly mysteries through earthly perspective. Okay? Okay?

Heavenly mysteries for earthly perspective. Okay? There are mysteries in heaven.

That's why Jesus said, the kingdom of God is like that.

He's telling you a mystery. Because, anyone here been to

heaven yet? Anyone, have you seen a TikTok reel of

heaven before? Not non-AI generated one? No, right? You... there,

worked there before part-time, immigration, you know. Never been, right?

None of us, right? The only person who's been there,

who come from there is who? Jesus, isn't it? So,

you can only rely on the person who's been there

to give you a tour guide how it actually works.

Like in Malaysia, you come to Malaysia first time, you

go to the plane, they will tell you if you

bring drugs, you will get sentenced to jail and more

than that, okay? You go to government buildings, they will

speak in Bahasa. They will give a preview. Oh, yeah,

when you drive, people don't really signal much, just let

you know. You kind of, oh, this is how Malaysia,

the kingdom of Malaysia is like that. Jesus is telling

you the kingdom of heaven is like such. I'm giving

you the mystery and I'm giving you the only way,

the closest way I can share with you is through

some kind of earthly perspective. And he uses farming, he

uses botanical terms to share with you because what we

experience daily, there are some heavenly mysteries in it. And

he uses this mystery of the parable of the growing seed.

He says in verse 26, he says, The kingdom of

God is as if a man should scatter seed on

the ground and should sleep by night and rise by day,

and the seed should sprout and grow. He himself does

not know how. Okay? What is Jesus saying there? He

says that man plants, but there is a mystery. Because

you plant, And the only thing you can do is

just go and sleep. And then the next day, it

just wakes up, it grows. Okay? It just grows. Okay?

And this is like the word of God. He's talking

about the word of God.

Huh?

He's talking about the word of God. Just let it

go and then it just grows. He says, for the

earth yields crops by itself, first the blade, then the head.

After that, the full grain in the head. This is

very important. He just said, you do nothing, but yet

it grows. But not only it grows, notice there is

a sequence and a pathway to how it grows. It

starts with the blade, then the head, and then the

full grain. But when the grain ripens, immediately he puts

in the sickle because the harvest has come. Now, why

did Jesus talk about this parable about How should I

go about this? You know, why is growth so important

in our lives? Why is growth so important? Because we

take pleasure in it. You know, there are three things

we take pleasure in. We start something, we grow something,

and we complete something. A lot of people like to

start something new, isn't it? Get married, new house, start

a new business. go to a new country, take pleasure,

very excited one and all. Start a new resolution, start

new gym, you know, start new, wow, pickleball. Oh yeah,

you know, start new something, very exciting and then you

buy all the stuff. A lot of people go and

start new things but yet they get so good but

then they never grow one. And what do they stop?

When they realise when they need to grow, they stop growing,

what do they do? They cannot grow there, they start

another new thing. Start another new thing again. Start another

new thing. Throw it out. Sounds very familiar, isn't it?

Start the next job, start the next job, start the

next job. Don't feel like satisfaction. Don't feel this place

is for me. Don't feel the vibe, the aura not connecting,

you know. All the stuff, you know. And, you know,

they stop and they're growing. And then it's like, you

see a pattern that they just don't grow, they just

don't settle. It's like they are wearing clothes, you know.

It's then just on and off, on and off. But

then the hard part is when you actually need to grow.

Isn't it? Because growing is painful. Growing takes the longest time.

Goring takes you really, you know, really like out of

a lot of things, out of your hand, you know,

because you need to interact with people and things that

are out of your control and requires a lot of patience.

But when you actually grow, when you start something and

you actually grow, you start going to gym and you

see results. You start a business, you see profits, you

see your company size grow. You start a family and

you see your children growing, thriving, your marriage growing. It's exciting.

It's exciting. But when you can grow, but then after that,

it stagnates. But then after that, it grows into something

that you never intended to be. But then do you

finish it? How many things in your life have you started,

you grew, and you completed? How many? How many in

your life have you started, you grew, and you completed?

Not many, you know. The most obvious one is your graduation,

isn't it? Your graduation, ah. And you notice this, how

many of you have graduated before? Almost all of you, right?

Why so shy? I don't want to raise your hand graduating. Peace,

your graduates, it's an achievement. You notice or not when

you graduate, when you graduate, you say, wow, smile, I

finally become smarter. You never said that, right? You say that? Oh,

I become smarter after three years. When you realize when

you come out, you don't apply most of what you

learn also. You never say, I become smarter. You say what?

I finally finish. I completed the course. You can imagine, right?

Because the completion is the reward. Not because you're smarter.

But the completion is the reward. You see, universities, I mean,

people will say that AI, we're going to replace all

the unis and everything. Yeah, I understand. Learning is a

lifelong thing. It's probably more effective. But maybe, I look back,

the way I see it, a lot of times, people

look at you completing a uni not because you are smarter,

but people at least can catch or retrieve that you

managed to plunge yourself in a system and commit to

three years and complete it. Whether you like it, you nod,

you agree with it, you better, you find it, but

you are able to commit and to complete. And that

is important in life. More than the thing that you learn.

When you go into marriage, I don't need to know

how smart. I need to know you are able to

commit and to finish this race together. True or not?

The project, you do, sometimes, how many people you are

managers here? You manage people, right? Sometimes you don't need

the smartest guy, you know. You just need people who

are committed and see it to finish. I see a

lot of people nodding their head like, yeah, boss, preach it, man.

Preach it. True or not? You just need people committed,

you know. True or not? Oh, yeah, yeah. It's true,

isn't it? You need people to complete it. So it's

not just about the knowledge, you know. It's about the

commitment and completing. When you're married, you just say, I

need you to know that, you know, I need to

marry someone I know that They are committed. They are faithful.

You know, I will be imperfect. They will be perfect.

But you won't just walk out. We got enough. We

got children. Sometimes we have more. Sometimes we don't have enough.

But we just need people to be committed. We're little,

we're more. But we will see it through, finish. So,

you start and you grow and you complete. Education is one.

But do you know that your life, your life has

a purpose, one and all? You start it. Yeah, I

got born. You didn't plan for anything that's food in

your mouth already. God bless you. Did you deserve anything?

You came out, mom, hey, this is my CV, okay?

You didn't qualify for anything, man. You open your mouth, ah,

I got food already. Now the kids enjoy, right? This

is their life, right? Ah, I got food already. Ah,

I got iPad already. Ah, I got TV already. Ah,

I'm traveling already. Such a nice life, ah. Then after that, you're, ah.

Instead you're, ah, everybody's, ah. Then you're like, oh no,

I need to feed people already. Oh, life is like that.

It's real. It's like that, isn't it? But we need to,

we start, we grow, and you complete your life, your marriage,

your own personal calling, your destiny. You in this church,

you're not just a visitor. I hope that you don't

just take it as a visitor. Yes, you can visit,

but I hope that your urgent, what do you call it,

urgent need, in your spiritual life, is to quickly plant yourself.

You don't see a farmer just having seeds, they just

put it there, and then the field is barren one

and all. Never. You think God's like that one? Oh,

he has a bunch of seeds, he just put it there. Oh,

the field is barren one, no urgency to plant one.

The plant waits, you know. You can visit, you can

walk around, but after a while, you got to plant ready,

you know. If you're a farmer, you understand what, you

got to plant yourself. Your urgency is to find yourself

and be rooted and planted down ready. If you have children,

do you want your children going around looking, looking, looking, looking, looking,

don't know how to plant themselves? It's not good for

them because that's not what you're meant to do. So

you can visit, but there must be an urgency to

plant yourself because God is mission-based. You are not living,

you know, your life has a finite lifespan. You don't

know when you will kaput and get called back. It's

true or not? Have you planted yourself and do you

have like, oh, there's something I need to complete? Some

of you might know like actually, hey, I know I've

been putting on hold certain things in my life. Maybe

supposed to go for missions. Maybe I'm supposed to serve

and make sure that every year I'm touching that many lives.

I keep saying that, oh, one day I will bless

and serve God. You know, I wait for my children

to grow up and finish that, then only I open

my house. How do you know you live until then?

If you do that, then what do your children witness?

Shouldn't your children witness you open your house while they

are around? And then they follow you because they learn

from their daddy. Because they watch what you do. Because

that's the template they will apply. Then they will keep delaying, delaying, delaying.

You get what I'm saying? Everything is delayed. No, you

got to do it now. You got to model it out.

You got to understand that it takes a lot of courage.

But it must have a certain level of urgency. to

complete something. You get what I'm saying or not? That's

why university give you three years or five years lah.

Give you till 25 years lah. No, they make sure

that it's very expensive so that you complete it, okay?

All right. Okay, where am I right now? Okay. Okay,

let me go to the next point then I will close, okay? Now,

what to do when growth stops? Okay, what to do

when growth stops? So, don't normalize it or explain it anyway.

You know, Pastor has shared this before. Sometimes we plant churches, huh?

Our model is we grow big by growing small, okay?

Because that's what X is called to, okay? We, you know,

our model is not like, hey, everyone come together all

the time. Why? We believe in empowering different ones. We

believe in connection. We believe in warmth. We believe in discipleship, okay?

And so because of that, we need to be fruitful

and multiply. We need to be scattered everywhere, okay? And

so when we are scattered, we also need to say,

what we scatter, does it grow? You get me right?

Not just scatter, hey! But nothing grows. What we scatter,

we need to make sure that it grows. That's what

a farmer does. So when it doesn't grow, what does

the farmer do? Eh, it's just normal lah. Eh, there's weeds,

just normal lah. Eh, I planted orange, come out a mango,

just normal lah. Do you accept that? No, you don't

accept that. You cannot normalize it or just explain it away.

Stagnation is not a season to just accept. It's a

signal to pay attention to. Ask yourself, hey, you say

you want to read the Bible. You said that five

years ago. Still finish the Bible yet? Ten, fifteen years ago?

You say you want to settle down and visit a church.

Have you finally settled down in a church? You say

you want to get discipled. How many people have you

asked and approached? You get me right? How many testimonies

have you experienced in your life? God working, can you

faithfully share? Not out of your own pride, but because

of what God has done in you. Or is it

the same testimony you had when you accepted Jesus for

the first time in your life and it's the same

one for the past 15, 20 years? God's word stopped there,

is it? No. God is real one and all. God

is working and all. Have you grown spiritually in your life? Oh,

then you know, if you, you know, What's your mindset

after you retire? My mindset is, you should serve God

until you die one. You get me or not? Because

I don't see serving as a burden, I see it

as a privilege, you know. It's like saying, you know, hey,

when I grow old, do I want to have the kids?

I want, I want grandchildren. I'm telling my children, they say,

tell me, you got timeline one, I need my grandchildren

soon one. I tell them one and all. I tell

them one and all, it's like, hey, Natalie, certain time,

you got grandchildren. You know, I cut you off from

my inheritance. No, just kidding. Ha ha ha. That's the

best way, man. Let's do it, man. Grandparents, let's do it.

If not, we cannot sign already. I look forward because

it's a privilege. It's a privilege to have young people.

It's a privilege to see grow. God brings us into

this whole dynamic and all this realm of multiplication to

see new generation rising up because there's pleasure in it

as well. We don't normalize it, but we need to

go back to the basics, okay? In your own life

as well, if you have not been succeeding, you need

to go back to the basics. You need to revisit

the core values. Hey, I've been trying to diet and

lose weight. Oh, I've been trying so many keto, auto, metal, whatever, toto,

you know, taekwondo also I tried. Doesn't work. Let me

look at your calorie count. Oh, I'm eating 5,000 calories.

No wonder. Every time I got sarawak noodle, I cannot

help but eat one. I love sarawak noodle so much. Oh,

I don't know how much calories one by, you know.

I always order the large one. You see, man, you

got to break the basics. It's just as simple. Why

am I spiritually down? You know, why am I like,

you know, why is the church not growing? Ask yourself,

have you been praying? Have you been meeting people? Have

you been inviting? Have you had courage? Or you just

lagged because I've done it once, done it twice before.

So you got to revisit the basics as well. Have

you trusted in God? Or you become too self-reliant and

all these things? Stagnation is an indicator, not a verdict. Okay?

It's not to condemn. But like any farming, we learn,

we grow in our skill and the signs of growing

or the stagnation of it is an indicator for us

to respond. You know, it's an invitation and a warning

for us to respond. It's a call to examine and return,

not to despair. And the God who added daily to

the early church is still adding today. Okay. Now, can you,

Can we go back to the Mark chapter 4, the

Mark 4 · chapter mention

parable of the growing seed? I'm going to close with

this one. Okay. Now, I've got a few things to

ask here. Why is growth so important? You see here,

a tree or a seed, right? When you plant a seed, right?

It doesn't have social media. It doesn't have credentials. It

doesn't announce to the world, hey, look at me. First

time in the uni, kind of nervous, you know? Don't

do that. What we do, everything we got announced. Oh,

check out day 10. I just grew my first blade.

You see, a growth reveals you, who you are, one

and all. And the plant knows that and all. I

don't need to post social media. I don't need to

write those things about myself. The only evidence of what

kind of tree I am is just to grow. You

just grow. And when you grow strong and firm, that's

why Jesus says, the first the blade, then the head.

If you plant there, you can say whatever you want,

but if it doesn't even bud out, you've got nothing

to prove. You're not alive. You get what I'm saying?

You're not alive. Your roots are not there. You say

you are very spiritual, but the only way you tell

me that you are spiritual is that you grow. You

get what I'm saying? Let's cut to the chase. Let's

just grow. It's simple as that. You grow, you come

out of your seat, you come out of your comfort zone.

You come out of your comfort zone, you sprout out,

and you see the first leaf. Oh, you finally come

out of your room. Finally. Then you suddenly, not just

coming out of the room, you're finally bearing a head.

It means that you are starting to have the courage

to step out. You are transforming from a seed to

a plant. You get what I mean, right? You are

experiencing a transformation. Jesus is saying this very specifically. But

then He says, it goes into a full grain. He

didn't say as a leaf. He didn't say as a bud.

He says into a full grain. You see, you can grow,

but you can grow into something you are not intended.

You get what I mean, right? We can have many

Christians look like a farm full of green foliages. all

sprouting nursery like that, like a nice nursery. You been

to nurseries before? Plant nurseries? You see, oh, look so fertile.

Supposed to plant something but then come out, eh, wrong plant.

Or not just wrong plant but not willing to bear

any single fruit. A whole generation of Christians who call

themselves Christian but not willing to bear fruit. We take

you and they will carry. Go to every single place

as well. But Say, no, I want a place with

no pest or no community or no ecosystem on your own.

And you will always remain on your own. And you

can't bear no single fruit. And Jesus says, the parable

of the fig tree, what does he do with the

parable of the fig tree? Bear no fruit. He comes

the next year. He changes everything, the surrounding. The next year,

if he doesn't bear any fruit, cut it down. Because

we were meant to be fruitful and multiply. You get

what I'm saying? Not just growing, but to be fruitful

and multiply. A church like, for example, BU, we are

not supposed to just sit here and remain here. We

are intended to grow. And you might not like it.

You might not have, actually, if I ask, most of you,

if you interview any employee right now, or any staff, anyone,

most of you will ask this question. Where do you

see yourself in five years? True or not? If anyone,

I don't see myself anywhere. You'd be scared, right? You're like, wow,

this guy, No plan for five years in my company.

It means what? Wow, they might leave any time now.

And to you as a boss, you will say like, wow,

this one got HR cost. I have to re-recruit again,

isn't it? Expensive. There's no way I can get this

person to be loyal to buy into anything. And if

I ask you anyone, what's your five-year plan? What do

you have to say now? You just agree with me

with the first part. You just agree with me the

first part. You agree, yeah, that's the right thing. I

ask you, what's your five-year plan in church? Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no.

You're just like, Pastor, you trap us so many times.

But it's true. What's your five-year plan? You interview people

you have yourself for your work. In five years, I

want to grow. I want to send my company to IPO.

I don't know what. I'll take over, whatever it is.

I know I want to have so many stuff. But

you yourself, You had a five-year plan for 15 years,

20 years ago. Do you still have any plan or not? No,

it's just that I just, you know what? You're just

happy just for status quo. It's true. And I'm not

condemning anyone. I totally understand because I've been there before

and I have to constantly ask myself, I have to,

sometimes I get asked that question, I'm like, oh, I

get caught flat-footed because we are so easy to get

just the status quo. We have a plan for every

single thing. We have a plan to grow up to

be a nice tree, nice-looking tree, get all the PhD,

get all the master's degrees, get all the additional courses,

get myself to be AI connector and, you know, so

many AI agents that I'm doing. Oh, such a big

tree but not a single grain that God can use.

You get what I'm saying, you know? And it's very

sad until we realise that we produce nothing, you know?

You get what I'm saying, you know? So this is

what Jesus is really trying to warn us as well.

A lot of people hear my word, they receive it,

and they grow, but they produce nothing. Now, the last

thing that I want to say is, is it possible

that you plant something, because the scripture says, you see,

the mystery of farming is that a farmer goes and plants,

and then he goes to sleep. He doesn't do anything anymore.

He goes to sleep, and the tree grows. That's a mystery.

Jesus is saying, that's the mystery. The mystery of heaven

as well. The mystery on earth, which we all live by.

You plant, you do nothing, and it grows. True or not?

You plant, you do nothing, and it grows. My house

has a graveyard. It used to be a garden, now

it's a graveyard. Because everything we plant, it doesn't grow.

It's a graveyard. I call it from garden to graveyard.

People from graveyard to garden song. Mine is garden to graveyard.

But it doesn't grow. But there's a mystery. it's trying

to highlight a bit to us that, hey, there's only

so much you can do. You do so little, but

yet you reap such a big reward. Such a big reward.

You plant durian, durian can last you for 20 years.

True or not? 20 years. Musang king, wow. Is it fair?

You do so little, you just have a small plant

and you plant, wow, so many. Kind of unfair. But

that's the mystery. You didn't do anything. You just maybe

do a bit. But you do 1%, you reap 100%.

That's the mystery of heaven. But yet, when it comes

to our own lives, you have to ask yourself, is

it possible that we plant and then, you know, when

we say the mystery is God's work, is it possible

that we plant and we stop God from growing the

seed in us? Is it possible? You say no, must

grow one. Plant seed must grow. If that's the case,

all Christians must be producing, isn't it? All of us

probably have learned all the lessons in life, isn't it?

But yet here we are, hurting, disappointed, frustrated, still praying,

still hoping. You are still here, isn't it? Why not?

Yet here we are. But we've been earnest before, ma.

Why is it not? This is what I believe. How

many of you, in your life, when you think back

in your life, last year, 5 years, 10 years, 15 years,

all the rest of your life, Can you recollect when

was the last time you learned the most and you

grew the most powerfully? When in your life did you

really learn and grew powerfully? Was it in school? See,

you think about it, the lessons and the things that

really grew you and shaped you to who you are

and you learn, you cannot forget, came from one thing.

When you humble yourself. When do you humble yourself? When

you've been hurt before. When you failed. When you got heartbroken.

When you got cheated before. When you got scammed before.

When you hurt before. When you lost before. You will

never forget it, isn't it? You'll never forget it. School

forgot already. Some of these lessons, the biggest lessons in

life are through the hurts and the frustrations, isn't it?

And then in those, you don't really learn until you

begin to really humble. And things like that happen in

our life. To signal, you need to humble yourself. Isn't it?

You see, the planting, Jesus says the planting, God can

speak the word. A lot of people hear it, but

yet no fruit. Because the most important thing is to

humble yourself. Humble yourself, you know. A lot of people

refuse to humble themselves until the very last. And I've

seen this many, many times who are older or are

much aged. They start to regret a lot of things.

Some people say, actually, I cannot control my temper. I always,

I want to, that's not what I mean, but I

always say it. How many of you know what I'm

talking about? They regret it. Why they have to do

this to me? don't want to do that one, but

they did that to me. Regret. When you stop, we

keep thinking that we are waiting for God. But actually,

God is waiting for you. When we don't humble ourselves,

we victimize ourselves. We always blame others. We are always

the one waiting. Always the one waiting. We are the

ones waiting. Not God waiting, not others waiting. We always

victimize ourselves. Refusing to humble yourself. But when you finally

begin to humble yourself, and you begin to say, I

was scammed because I was greedy. I got scammed before.

I was greedy, I want to buy something. Wow, I

thought I got a good deal. I want to buy something.

Then I found out, bye, bye, bye. Oh, this guy

was so nice. Then it turned out, wow, it's a

fake one. Then I blamed the guy, you know. Damn

the guy. A lot of blessings for him. But then,

when did I learn the lesson? It's when I humbled

myself and I said, I was the one who was greedy.

I told myself that maybe I was just trying to

be valued. I did my research. No, the truth of

the matter, I was greedy. Or maybe you fell into

victim and you banged my ears for a lot of things.

But a lot of times, You didn't do your research.

I was ignorant. I was ignorant because I took my

life for granted. But you will never say you obeyed

everything else instead of taking responsibility. You refuse to humble yourself.

You say, another people's fault. But no, you were the

one who refused to control your anger. The words to

tighten to, at that moment, you always had the choice

to refuse. But no, you had to carry it back.

You had to make them feel you cannot control. You

know what I'm saying? You refuse to humble yourself. But

when you humble yourself, no, it's my fault. I was

the one responsible. I need to change. I'm the one

who needs to change. That's when you learn, truly learn

your lesson. That's when God's Word can come into your

life and You get what I mean, right? But you see,

this is humility. It's like, oh, when you hurt so much,

this way, the grace of God, God is a second

and third and many chances, you know. It's amazing, isn't it?

When you've done, when you've felt something, I tell you,

I've felt horrible, silly, unconceivable things before. I'm sure many

of you have done. You wouldn't tell anybody some of

the silliest mistakes and foolish mistakes you ever made before.

But we're humble ourselves and say, God, it was me.

Past is past. I cannot change that. I'm sorry, but

I don't know anywhere else to turn to. I don't know.

And I cannot do the past, but it's all done.

Only thing I can do my past is to surrender

and to learn and to grow from it. My past

is the land that I grow into. But now I'm

humbling myself. You see what I'm saying? I surrender my past.

Now I walk humbly before you. I want to change.

I learn. I need to be honest. I'm not waiting

for anyone else. you know, I'm stepping out forward. You see,

sometimes people, they can be cooked up in their house,

don't want you to step out for 10, 15, 20 years,

you know. God, you keep blaming, keep waiting. But when

you humble yourself, you say, God, I need you. Then,

the very seed that God wants to plant in you

takes root. It bears his head, but the leaf, the head,

And start to say, it's not about me. You know

what I'm saying? Humility, you know. You keep thinking everything

you want, you extend your energy. It's all about you, you, you, you, you.

When will you learn that it's never about you? That

the greatest pleasure in life, fulfillment, is living outside of you,

beyond you. It's not about you. The church is not

about you. Sorry, ah. Worship is not about you. Prayer

is not about you. Prayer, the mother heaven, our father

in heaven, hallowed be your kingdom come, your will be done.

Christ came, he didn't think about himself. He had you

in his mind. When will you go, when will we

get there, do you know what I'm saying or not?

It's humility. So that all this, so that the humility

leads us to one thing to need to grow, to

die to ourselves. Amen?

We hope you've been blessed by this message. For more

information on our church, please visit xchurch.org. We are also

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is going to be a good week ahead for you.

God bless.