Waiting On The Lord | Eld Rosalind Ang

You're listening to a message to go from axt church.

We hope this message will light up your day.

So I'm gonna go into this letter.

There is this letter, and I wonder how many of

us can resonate with this letter today? Okay, So this

is a letter I'm gonna ask xtv's help. Okay, thank you,

and I'm gonna read this and you have a think

about it, right, think about this and see whether it

speaks to you.

Okay, So this is what it says. If you only

look at.

Us, you might well miss the brightness suddenly of the letter,

literally miss the brightness. We carry this precious message around

in the unadorned clay pots of our ordinary lives. How

many of you feel that you live ordinary lives? Okay,

that's to prevent anyone from confusing God's incomparable power with us.

As it is, there's not much chance of that. You

know for yourselves that we are not much to look at.

We've been surrounded and battered by troubles, but we are

not demoralized. We're not sure what.

To do, but we know that God knows what to do.

A man, we've been spiritually terrorized.

This word in the Bible.

Okay, spiritually terrorized, but God hasn't left our side.

We've been thrown down, but we haven't broken. Amen. And man,

this is resonaing with some of us. Yeah, I think

this is it will be true for all of us

because this is the word of God. And if you

are more familiar with.

The Virgin the NKJV version, I'm also going to read

that to you. This is taken from Second Corinthia four

Versus seven to nine, and it says this, but we

have this treasure in other vessels, that the excellence of

the power of God may be, may be of God

and not of us.

We are heart pressed on every side, yet not crushed.

We are perplexed. Tell me of you are perplexed.

At the complexity of this world of life, but not

in despair, persecuted but not forsaken, struck down but not

destroy Amen. I pray that you will receive this into

our spirit because this is exactly.

What Paul was going through two thousand years ago.

Friends, and he has not changed. If you think that

the troubles that you're facing today feels very strange and foreign,

can I tell you this that it is not strange, right,

It is part.

Of being human. And we want to learn how to.

Navigate this because I realized that sometimes we have this

idea of Christianity, right, and when the idea of Christianity

and who God is is different from what we experience

in our own lives in reality.

Then we get a very warped picture, right, We get

a very warped pictures like, but God, how could you

do this? Where are you God? In this suffering? Where

are you? Right?

And so I think we want to really learn to

shift our perspective to really understand who God is, you know,

because I think that's going to determine how you will

live the rest of our lives, right, And so we

want to be able to see how do we live

this life whilst we are still facing challenges, trials in

our finances, in our health. Right recently I'm hearing different

prayer needs go out. Have you have you been getting

those prayer requests? If not, your shepherds, can you please pass.

It down to your homes? Okay?

This different challenges as going through right, cancer recurring, different

ones falling sick. Have you heard of Noah Barbosa. There's

this Portuguese Brazilian family. Okay, they come to ten Am,

so the air missionaries in Malaysia, and so the Sun

recently diagnosed with Crohn's disease. Yeah, it's this bout disease,

but it's been plaguing him for years and recently the

doctors said that he cannot walk for life.

Like what Crohn's disease?

Right, it's supposed to be just a bowl thing, but

it's affected his nerve as well. And can you imagine

that devastating news that his parents had to receive. Right,

whilst they are going through this, they are here for

God's work, and this seems like God, where are you?

Where are you when we are trying so hard?

Right? Where are you?

And I realized that this is a question because you know,

as we go through life, and if we don't learn

to answer this question and see the bigger picture, we

would lose hope. We would lose hope, we would despair.

And you know what, if that's the case, guess what

who won the devil?

Right?

Because what the devil comes to do is to steal, kill,

and destroy us. And so this is the real fight, friends,

The real battle is the battle of keeping our faith.

How do we keep our faith in.

The midst of persecutions, in the midst of challenges, in

the midst of hopeless situations. Right, and God is just saying, no,

I don't want you to lose hope.

Right.

I don't want the devil to win this battle, because

I have won this battle. Remember what Jesus told us

in John chapter sixteen that Versus thirty three. He says this,

this is Jesus' words. Okay, so let's hear what Jesus

is saying to us. He says, these things I have

spoken to you that in me you may have peace.

Do you know?

Peace is probably one of those things that nothing in

this world can give you. You can have all the

money in the world, you can have all the riches,

you can have every title you can dream of.

You know, you can be in good health, perfect figure,

perfect face.

Everything, you can have fame, success, But if you do

not have peace, you will still be a turmoid person,

the best looking person in the world, but in turmoil,

do you know?

And so you can be super ordinary and yet have

the peace of God. Right, and it does not matter.

What happens to you, because God's peace is the one

that will surround you and cover you and you're like.

It's okay, I'm good, It's gonna be okay because Jesus

said that in this world you will have tribulation.

Oh Jesus, are you cursing us? He's just stating the fact.

He's stating the true. He says, in this world you

will have tribulation. But hallelujah, there is a butt.

But be off good cheer.

Hey hello, can we have a good chair? And that's

why you're alive? Right, because we have this good chair.

And this is leaving our lives based on the word

of God. I pray that we will live our lives

according to the word of God, not according to how

we feel.

Right. This is not hypocrisy, Okay. I just want to

say that this is not me making it and faking it.

But I have this real hope that I may be

so hard pressed in my situation, yet I know that

God is working all.

Things out for the good of those who love him.

Do you believe this? This isn't romance? Right, So do

you know God's word? Because if you don't know God

on him like, oh, I feel defeated. Right, But God's word.

Is the one that causes to say, is God I

know this.

Is so tough.

But I trust in you. I trust in your goodness.

I don't trust in my goodness. I don't trust in

someone else's goodness. I trust in your goodness. Friends, Can

I tell you trust and understanding is two different things.

I can trust someone when I don't understand. Is this

the relationship that you have with God? That you will

still trust even though.

You don't understand? Do you know the thing is right?

We try to understand so much right with our logic mind,

and if it doesn't fit our logic, then we like, okay,

I cannot trust you. And that's what faith is. Right.

Faith is the substance of things hoped for, evidence of

things not yet seen. So there are many things that

is not seen yet. But we say I still believe,

I still trust. And you know what, this is our business,

our business of church is in the business of faith.

It's nothing else.

And I pray that we will continue to speak faith

to each other friends, Right, this is what we need

to be doing. We speak faith into faithless situations, we

speak hope into hopeless situations.

Right.

We don't let the world dictate how we should feel.

We let God's word dictate right.

So we've got to be feeling our hearts and our

minds with the word of God, cannon of friends.

Are you doing that on a daily basis? Yeah?

I pray that you do, okay, because when you do,

that's where your courage comes from. That's where your strength

comes from.

Okay.

And so Jesus says, be of good cheer. I have

overcome the world. Do you believe that Jesus has won?

This? Christ is the biggest sea over cancer. This Christ

is bigger than right.

Christ is bigger than every challenge that you can think of.

Challenge is a small sea. Friends, And we sang earlier

in our song right, you are bigger than my problems.

Do you believe it? Do you believe it? Or you're

just singing blindly?

I pray that when you sing blindly, then you take it,

you know, by fit, and say, yes, God, I believe this.

You are really bigger than my problems. And so you

know what, Christians, we've got to be the most joyful

people around. You know, I'm not saying like a fake joyler.

This is this joy, is this unshakable joy. It's a steadiness,

a steadiness within us that we will not let the

things of this world shake us. You know, you know

many things, but we want to shake us. Right, everything

can be shaken everything that you put.

You think about it.

What do you trust in? What do you trust in?

Just ask yourself. I woudn't as you answer, what do

you trust in?

Okay?

You have the answer in your mind. Can that be shaken?

If it's a what, it can't be shaken. But it

is a who. Sometimes it depends on the who also

that you trust in? Right, I trust in my parents,

I trust in you know, my connections.

But do you trust in Jesus? Okay? So that's gonna

be the key thing that we will always be battling with,

you know, because what the devil wants to do.

Is throw you off right and put every kind of

challenges to you. You know. So interestingly, I am ministering

to us someone new that came to at ten am.

So she's new. I wouldn't say she's new in the face.

She knows a little bit, but she has a very

warped idea of who God is. And she's like, you

know this God is very hard to worry. I see.

She's very honest, you know. She she she tells me

this conversations that she has.

Okay, so she's also gifted, meaning she can see spirits

and all that.

She's like, sometimes I see Jesus walking in a church.

I say, what is Jesus? Like? No, serious, I want

to know what Jesus looks like.

And she just says, sometimes I see him in a

church and he's just walking row by row, as in

he wants to be in the presence of the people.

Wow. When she said that, I got goose bombs, like,

was Jesus.

Walking with us just now in our worship? Is Jesus

here with us?

Now?

Well that was like a like whoo, sort of like

a light butb moment for me as well as like, hey,

actually Jesus is with us. You know, his spirit is

with us. And for someone who could see, I'm like.

Wow, okay, what else do you see? She said, I

see a lot of things. I say, I don't want

to know. I would I don't want to know. But

but you see, the thing is right, you can see Jesus,

but you can still have a very wrong idea about

who he is. Right.

And so so she's struggling with this looking for a job,

but how come God doesn't give me a job and

then she's reading different parts of the Bible and she's

like no, but you know, it says Ecclesias stays right,

but you know those who work so hard and labor.

But they still do not get the fruit. So is

this like what? You know?

We work so hard and then and then it's like

by chance you've God like, oh suddenly I favor you.

Then you get the fruit. I don't like your face.

You don't get the fruit. It's God like that. I'm like, no, no, friend,

God is not like that.

Yeah.

So so we really, you know, we have so many

weird ideas about God based on our experience, right, so

we need to turn our minds and nothing like the

word of God Amen to give us the truth. Okay,

So yeah, Jesus is I've overcome the world. Now, how

many of you were at homes the last previous one?

Previous homes? How many of you were at home? Do

you have a good time? Yeah? So we went in

to haba coke and so.

Habacco is also very real, right habocok Tree seventeen says this,

and it's it's really speaking I feel into what we

might be going through all of us. And this is

also very true for me, right, and so Habokok Tree

seventeen says this, though the fig tree may not blossom,

not fruit be on the vines, though the labor of

the olive may fail, and the fields yield no food.

Though the flock may be cut off from the fall,

and there be no hurt in the stalls.

Right. We read this, remember we spoke about it at

homes and it feels like this is hopeless, fruitful fruitlessness. Right,

And it's like, what's going on? God?

I thought, right, if I became a Christian? Right, you

guarantee success? How many always have that mindset?

Huh? Jesus?

I trust in you all, so you you gotta guarantee

me success?

La, Right? And it becomes a transaction.

If I scratch your bag, you scratch my back, all right.

So we become in a very transaction, no kind of

relationship with God.

But you know that God.

Is not a transaction kind of God. He's not a

contract God. He's a covenant God. And covenant God makes

He says, whatever I say, I will do, right, we

will break all our promises. That's what humans are, right,

We continuously break all our promises. But God says, I

am true to my word? Right, He's a covenant God,

and so the thing is right. So Habakuk treat and

this is in the Bible.

Wall. I like that. The Bible is so real. It

doesn't say like, oh.

Yeah, everything's gonna be fine, You're gonna get everything that.

You pray for. Uh huh what?

But this is in the word, and the prophet Habakuk

knew something. So this is secret that we want to learn.

So what is your response when you're in this situation,

when everything seems barren?

What do you do? Right? So, at one of the

homes that.

I visited, one of a newer believers, she said, actually, yah,

so it says because the topic was waiting on God, right,

waiting on God. Then she she asked, actually, how do

we wait on God? And it was a very good question.

And so that was like the how this message came

forth from that?

Okay, So now we spoke about waiting.

And you remember there's one Greek word that we learned,

one Hebrew word that we learned.

Do you remember what that was? Can I remember? Cover

to cover? Yeah? Cover to wait to wait? Upon the lot?

We aren't the homes or not, but I cannot remember right,

never mind, I bring refreshment to you, refresher to you again?

Okay? So cover is this word to wait, right, to wait?

So if you read it and it says we're in

this season.

Of waiting for the revival? How do we wait? Okay?

Now, before I go into that Hebrew word, I want

to say two things. Number one, there is a great

difference between waiting for God and waiting on God.

What is the difference? Tell me.

One is doing nothing? Which one is that? Waiting for God?

So can you imagine? Right, you're sitting down cross legged

and then you're waiting for God?

Wow? How long I can stand at it? You're waiting

for God? It's almost like God, where are you? Right?

Many times in our situation as we are waiting for God,

we get restless, right, but tapping our feet like, oh

it's so slow? On how many years do I wait?

Like?

Come on, God, I thought you were powerful. I thought

you can do this. Where are you in this? That

is waiting for God to do something?

Right? But the Bible doesn't ask us to wait for God.

The Bible asks us to wait upon the Lord. Do

you know there's a big difference there? What does it

look like? When you're waiting upon someone.

So if I'm a waiter, I wait on someone, right,

or waitress? And what is the focus of a waitress

with her customer?

What is it to serve?

And that means right, my attention. I'm not just like hello,

come and serve me. I'm more of like, how can

I serve you? Do you feel tired? Would you like

a glass of water?

Right? What would you like to eat? Can I give

you some appetizer? Do you need tissue? That's it? If

you go to a restaurant like.

It, would you come back to the restaurant you would, right,

you would say excellence service.

Right?

They gave me attention, right, they waited upon me five stars,

never give six stalar out of the range, right.

Because they were so attentive. So when we are waiting

upon the Lord, are we as attentive to the Lord?

Are we looking at the at the Lord? Are we

asking him? How you feeling? You know? What is it

that you want me to do? How can I help you? Wow?

It's a very different perspective, right, waiting upon God? And

so this world wait is where the word cover comes from, right,

and and it at homes you had a shorter version,

which is just to wait and to hope and to

expect something.

Right.

But do you know that, actually, if you go into

the original word, this word cove q a v, it

means it's a rope or a cord. Hmm, what has

that got to do with waiting? You think about it? Right,

I'm waiting upon the Lord. But actually the word is

a rope now, the word to cover it actually means

you are binding yourself together. You're twisting together to make

a rope. Can you see that you are binding yourself

as you are waiting upon the Lord? You are strengthening yourself.

You're binding you. You know what happens when you twist

rope together. The more rope, the more times you twist.

The stronger it becomes. Right, right, That's why it says

it's a court of a robe of tree strengths is

not easily broken. So you're coiling yourself and what do

you do?

You're wrapping yourself, your weakness with the strength.

Of the Lord. Wow, how many of us want to

be bound with the Lord? And do you know that

the process is not instant, it's it's a gradual process.

You wrap yourself around him.

Day by day by day with the Word of God,

with prayer, with worship. And that's how you strengthen yourself

because without the rope, guess what, we'll all float away.

We'll all fly way to do our own things. And

God says, hey.

Hang on to me, rope, tie yourself to me. Hang

on to me, because if there's anything.

That you want to hook yourself onto is Him and

no one else. Because like I said, everything can.

Be shaken, only God cannot be shaken.

And the word of God, the foundations of the world

will be shaken. Friends, but only God and his work

cannot be shaken. So what are we are we binding

ourselves with every day?

Oh? Well, what are you binding yourself to?

If you're binding ourselves loosely to everything of the world,

guess what you will be loose ler?

You know, you'd be like flailing everywhere.

But a rope that is like tight with the lot

in the face of any storm. You think about, if

you're sailing in the face of any storm, you're a

rope that's binding so strongly to the Lord it will

not be broken. Right, you will stay steady regardless of

what kind of storm that comes to your life.

Amen, So I pray that you will.

We want we desire this, amen, We desire to bind

ourselves so strong, you know what?

And the beauty of this. Right, I had this illustration,

but I didn't bring my rope la.

So imagine now there's a rope, okay, and I'm binding

myself with the rope. So I'm coiling myself, coiling, coiling, coiling.

After three hundred and sixty five days, what do you see?

You see the rope, You won't see me anymore. And

that's what it means to hide ourselves in Christ.

Do you see that?

Nor?

Oh I wish I brought my room, then you can

see that. Do you know that the more you bind

yourself with God, the more God is seen in you

and the less of you, because you know the prayer is, Lord,

you must increase and I must decrease. Right, that's what

it means.

You know, because then if you don't do that, then I'm.

Who I am not.

You see me with all my flaws and all that,

all my waitnesses, and we say, Lord, take me as

I am. That's true, But he says, you take yourself

and buying yourself to me, so that eventually Christ is

what people will see in you.

I want that, I desire that. What do you desire

in your journey with God? What is your one desire?

Think about it? What is the heart's desire that you want? That?

You want to be successful? You want to have a relationship.

What is it that you desire? We're going to talk

about that one design in a while. Okay, So I

talk about the difference between waiting for God and waiting

upon the lot? Do you see the difference? And I

pray that we will continue to wait upon the lot?

Now what do we do? What do we do as

we are waiting?

Right?

And I think we have a clue in Habakook tree eighteen?

So let's have Habakook Tree eighteen. Can we read this together?

In three two one? Yet, I will rejoice in the Lord.

I will joy in the God of my salvation.

Do you know that this is a very very big

key to us when we are waiting upon the low

number one is to rejoy.

You're like chee sing God? Are you crazy? That means,

you know, cheesing is Cantonese for crazy.

God? Are you crazy?

You're asking me to praise you when I receive this

bad news?

How insensitive? Don't you know? How I feel God, God says,

I know he knows, And yet the word of God

commands us. Can I tell you this is not a

good suggestion.

Yeah, it's a command. And the reason why God put

commandments is because he knows. This is the key. This

is the key to help us lose ourselves from the

challenges and the troubles of this way.

He says.

Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, and I will

join in the God of my salvation, and I ran deeper.

You know what is this meaning? Rejoice? Okay?

How do you rejoice? Tell me show me an expression

of rejoicing.

Yeah, yeah, little Pip squeaks, Right, do you know that

this word rejoice? Huhwhere? Okay?

The real rejoicing looks like this. It means to jump

for joy, to alas. Alas is to jump for joy,

and joy in the Lord is to spin around. Hello,

spinning around jumping for joy. And you know that's not

something that you can do, if you know. Yeah, just

by ourselves, be like, oh okay, sometimes I'll be worship

go als life. This is our worship, and we say

this is the joy of the Lord. Come on, guys,

you know, you know I see you. I also know.

I also know where you are in your walk with

the Lord. Do you know David right? I love David.

David is the man that was most unashamed of his

faith in the Lord. Is that I don't care what

you think about me. You can see my underwear, Seela, right,

But I'm so full of the joy of the Lord.

I'm dancing and I'm jumping, I'm clapping, I'm singing and

too the Lord.

It's not because he's crazy. It's because he knows who

God is, you know, and our God deserves it and more.

What do you think we'll be doing in heaven sitting

down or listening to my message?

No, I hope not. We'll be jumping for.

Joy that we made it, we made it to heaven

and that there is an eternity for us.

What joy? Right? No more pain, normal sickness, no more tears,

No more financial stress? Hey, how about that?

No need to worry about the stock exchange, no need

to worry about petrol prices or diesel how about that?

Right?

No need to work about letting because He got us

all up. I know that's why, right, But you see,

you know sometimes before get that, that is what is

waiting for us, that is.

Waiting for us, and the joy of meeting those of

the same faith, the believers. A man, are you waiting?

Are you looking forward? Now? I know some of us

will be like, what about those who did not make it? That?

That is a sobering point. That is a very sobering point.

And I pray that as we think about that, that

sobering point will instill in us an urgency. Friends, we're

not living here on earth or you are safe? Read

you guys, you're you're all safe.

He Hello. Then there's work for us to do all that.

There there is real worker, real work of saving lives,

of bringing them to know God so that you can

see them.

That there is is a sobering thought, and it will.

Cause us to prioritize what do we really do with

our lives? What is most important thing for us to do?

You know? And I you know, this is something that

we always forget. And that's why I'm here to remind

you and myself. There's a bigger picture of friends. There's

a bigger picture. So we want to read choice.

And if you never really experience real joy, can you

ask God, God give me I want to experience this

real joy not a manufactured joy, not a joy that.

Is given by extending, but a true, deep, bubbling joy

who bru that comes out, that overflows from your mind.

You're like, God, I just really praise you, right. I'm

not talking about exuberant loudness, you know, I'm not talking

about that. I'm talking about this sense that, Wow, God,

nothing can rob me of this joy because I will

joy in my salvation. You're not joying in anything else.

You're joying in the salvation of God. How many of

us think so highly of your salvation friends? Or you

think it's like, yeah, it's a given as long as

I confess my sins and I pray to Jesus.

Uh, that's it.

We have made our salvation so small that you know,

it doesn't mean much to us that I say it

and I pray that we will never take it for granted.

That do you know that in actually, at the end

of life, that's all that matters you truly think about it.

At the end of this life, that is all that

matters our salvation because without our salvation is eternal condemnation.

That that is a bigger fear for me.

You know, I don't know what kind of fears you

have today, disappointments and things you know, and all kinds

of fear we carry out. And God wants to say,

you know, actually, what you should fear is you should

fear me. The only fear you should have, friends, is

the fear of God. And when you have the fear

of God, you will not fear anything else.

If you fear you don't fear God, you will fear everything. Well,

I feel like that's a courte Can you bescoote me

in some way? You know, cheer right? If you fear God,

you will need to fear anything else.

But if you fear everything else, that's because you don't

have the fear of God. Come on, friends, I really

feel this sense and stirring that God is saying, don't

worry about stuff. Friends, don't worry. I've got things under control.

Trust me in the waiting, trust me, and if you

feel like you know you're you're weak, then trust me.

You know David when he lost his you know, his

family in zig Lack. Remember that, and everyone turn against him.

Some of you might feel everyone's turning against you.

But what did David do? What did David do? He cried?

He went into depression, what did David do. He strengthened

himself in the Lord. This is what we need to do.

You don't have to wait for a Sunday to be strengthened.

You strengthen yourself in the Lord in that current situation,

when you first are in it, you strengthen yourself. But

we need to know how to strengthen No. Right, The

first one is rejoice. Wow, how do we rejoice like?

Because then you it really shifts your perspective of what

you're thinking about. It's either you're thinking, my problem is

so big, or you shift to say, hey, hey, problem,

you're there, But my God is bigger.

My God is bigger. I want to speak you know,

just how we say speak to the mountains and shall

be removed. I will speak to it.

Right.

This is a kind of overcoming victorious life that I

want all of us to live. I don't want us

to live defeated. No. Hello, If you lived.

Defeated, then Christ died on across for nothing. Christ died

so that we can live victorious lives. And victory is

not success as the world deems it to be. Okay,

Victory is you keeping your faith and keeping it to

the end. A man that's a very different definition of success, right,

It's very different. It's saying I'm still standing. I'm still

standing on my faith, regardless of what the enemy tries

to true at me.

I'm still standing on the word of God. Amen, So rejoice.

Let's go to Psalms twenty seven, and I pray that

this will be a great encouragement to all of us.

This was written by David Okay, and I know we

all love the Psalms, all right, So this is the

word for us this afternoon, Psalms twenty seven.

And I'm gonna read from verse one. It says, the

Lord is my I liked and my salvation. Can you

see a theme that's recurring. God is saying, do you

remember that there is this salvation that I.

Did for you? Hom shall I? Yeah? This is song? Right?

I think the extra she has a song. The Lord

is the strength of my life. Of whom shall I

be afraid?

Wow?

You know on those days where you feel really scared,

can can you just flip open to something in seven

and just read this, say it out loud, meditate on it.

Say it until your spirit believes it, say it until

your mind believes it. Yeah, this is the word and

the power of God's word. Amen, it says verse two,

when the wicked came against me to eat out my flesh,

my enemies, and my foes, they stumbled and fell. Though

an army made and came against me, my heart shall not. Yeah,

the war may rise against me. In this I will

be confident. What is your confidence? I ask earlier? What

do you put your trust in? And the second question

I ask you is what is your desire? What is

that one desire that you have of the Lord? And

this is David's desire Verse four. He says one thing.

There's only one thing. H not one thing.

It's not Jesus plus. Okay, some of us have this

Jesus I want you, and Jesus I want you. And

can you please add the bondess or not? We all

want the boness and the free stuff, right, Jesus says

I not enough?

Am I not enough? We have this Jesus plus theology

in our mindset like God? If only you know I

do this for you, then you do this for me? Right?

You think about it, you think about your own prayers.

You know why I can't say.

This is because it's me or so experience firsthand how

we become so transactional with this God that we serve. Yeah,

and David says, one thing I've desired of the Lord,

that will I seek and this is it?

You know.

He says that I may dwell in the house of

the Lord all the days of my life. Right, David

wants to just be in the presence of God. That

is all that mattered to him. Is that what matters

to you? Do you see God's presence? Did you come

this afternoon one thing to be in God's presence? Or

did you just come here as like, Okay, I'm doing

my duty as a Christian, I'm giving my obligatory offering

so that people know that I'm a good Christian.

Or did you come here like God your presence? Your

presence is all I want, your presence, and I will

not leave this place until I encounter you. Wow, how

many of us came? Do you know that this place

is different?

Is no longer because Joe I would did such a

great job worship leading and playing the Kahan.

It was great, by the way. I was so impressed.

It's not so much that the team did so well

or the program ran so smoothly. It's not that I

even preached, Well, it's because you came.

And you're like, God, I just want to be in

your presence.

Because this is your presence that I receive strength. It's

in your presence that I receive joy. It's in your

presence that I have hope. Isn't that all what we

want in our faith journey with the Lord?

Right? So I pray that.

One thing that you will desire is the presence of

the Lord, a man more than anything else. And do

you know that when we come before him? How should

we come? We don't come waiting for God like, Okay,

come upon me. Yeah, I'm waiting for you. You show up,

you show me what you can do.

What an attitude? Right? But the posture is God, I'm

waiting upon you. And just to what he says, right

in the second part of us, what to behold the

beauty of the Lord. So beautiful, God, your presence is

all that I want, the beauty of the salvation. You're

the cross. Do we meditate on the beauty of the Lord?

Do you think the Lord is beautiful to you? Physically?

He was nothing to look at, the Bible says in Isaiah.

Here was nothing to look at. In fact, you know

why he was nothing to look at, because when the

Cross were looking for him, they asked, we shown is Jesus.

Nah, can't even stand out, You know, Jesus didn't even

stand out in the crowd. He'said, tell me we showed

Jesus so that we can go in crucify him.

He was dead, ordinary friends, nothing to look at. So

what kind of beauty are we looking at? Have you

helped the beauty of the Lord. I don't know when

it was the last time that you saw.

And you're like, God, You're so beautiful. I love you,

I adore you.

What are you adoring? The joy of your salvation? That

is the beauty that we constantly forget. And we look

at the glitters and glimmers of the world and we say,

all those things are beautiful. Those things are very glittery,

nice to see, we all like to see. But then

we forget the plane and the ordinary Jesus. But the

Word of God says the one thing, David says, the

one thing is to go into God's presence to behold

his beauty.

Wow.

I pray that every word, ship service, every prayer service,

every homes you come and you encounter the presence of God,

and you behold the beauty of the Lord.

Amen.

Amen, I think that's something that you know, just really

struck me as I was reading this. Wow, Did I

really look at the beauty of the Lord?

Have I looked at it?

And thank him for what he has done for me?

And to inquire in his temple? He says, Finally, some

many of us come to inquire of us, right, like, God,

give me this, give me that, give me that. But

you notice what Mary did at the feet of Jesus.

Because Martha was busy serving, serving, serving, serving, and Jesus

Mary was just sitting at the feet of Jesus beholding

his beauty of the word of his teachings.

Right. The wow, Someone either fell asleep or or you

were so stunned by the beauty of the Lord that

you're like Trnanga. Right was your jaw dropping? By boom?

How beautiful the Lord is Verse five.

For in the time of trouble, he shall hide me

in his pavilion, in the secret place of his tabernacle, he.

Shall hide me. He shall set me high upon a rock. Imen.

God wants to set us high upon a rock. Right,

and what does that mean? To be high upon a rock.

Do you know?

Do you know why you want to be high upon

a rock? Anyone care to venture a guess why? What?

This is very imaginary? Some of us don't understand. You

understand run as you read set me high upon a rock?

You're like, what rock today? What kind of rock are

you standing on?

You? You cannot imagine it? Right? And anyone understand what

it means that the Lord wants to set us high

upon a rock? Are you okay?

I need to bring you into the wilderness a little bit,

the desert. What comes to you at the desert? What

might attack you?

Snake? Uh huh? Scorpions? Okay, now God, scorpions. I put

to you what you do?

You jump on your chair, right, it's truela, that's what

it means, a standing on your chair, standing upon the rock.

And it's because in those days there were.

All these predators around them, right. And what you do

for safety is you climb up on a higher place.

Imagine if a bear comes running to you, you see a.

Tree, what you do you climb a tree.

You want to be in a higher place, right, because

that's where lower place means danger. And God wants to

lift the sum He says that right, He says, he

will set me.

High upon a rock. God wants to lift you from

the danger. Amen. That's his promise.

And he says in verse six, and now my hate

shall be lifted up above my enemies, above my enemies

all around me. Therefore I will offer sacrifices of joy

in his tabernacle. I will sing, yes, I will sing

praises to the Lord.

Hear, oh Lord.

Verse seven, when I cry with my voice, have mercy

also upon me, and answer me. Do you know that

this sometimes, this jumping and leaping and praising God, or

you know this song about yeah, yeah, all of a sudden,

this school coming back right?

And who was this talking about? Peter and John?

Who held who healed the laymen? Right straight away? He

came jumping and leaping and praising God. How many of

us when we realize that we've been healed by the Lord,

that we jump and we leave and we praise the Lord?

Where is that? Friends?

And some days it does not feel like you want

to jump and praise and sing. You know, in those

days when you jump and you pray and you're seeing,

then that's a sacrifice. A sacrifice means it's something that

you don't feel like doing, and yet you know it's

the right thing to do.

That's a sacrifice, bring a sacrifice of praise. Right.

You know why God says that because he knows that

you're thet want to praise on. It's not easy for

us to praise. We are so negative, innundated with everything

that the world tells us that the last thing that

we want to do is praise.

Can you do you know that there's so much power

in praise.

You know That's why he says, Judah first, praise first,

Worship first. The right response in any critical condition, any

crisis is worship is praise, kend of not friends. And

that's what we need to learn to do because it's

so easy to forget. Straight away we go into this,

you know, mode of like, oh no, whoe is we?

Sailor sailor Chinese like to say, right, die first? She said,

say what you condemn yourself? Don't die first? Praise me

before you die.

Hello. If you want to die, are you praise me for? Sir? No? Serious?

Air not serious?

If you really want to that, you praise me for

and then you'll change your mind about dying, true or not?

After you praise me you will have life again. You

will have hope again. So God wants to transform that.

A man cry out with our voice. That's another part, right,

it says, crying out with our actual voice. Hello, you

have voice?

Friends, right?

What are you doing with your voice? I just ministered

in our deaf community in brick Fields.

They have no voice.

Some of them they have no hearing some of them.

But some of them, you know, they cannot also speak.

And so you know, my first few encounters with them,

I'm hearing grunts. This is them using their voice, limited voice.

They are praising God.

Come on, hearing people. I think we can use our voice.

You know, God gave us this. You might see.

I have no musical instrument that I know how to play.

You have your vocal cards, and God wants you to

steward that gift.

He's given you towards speak curses, to sing, praises, Hello,

speak life la. Come on. We have it within us,

because the Holy Spirit is within us.

I'm afraid of what comes out of your mouth because

that tells me who's in control. You will know, you laugh,

because there's always two sizes in us. Right, There's the

Spirit of God and then there is us and sometimes

we speak so much that the spirit of God does

not have voice.

A man let's cry out, and he says this, Let's

go on. Verse eight. And when you say, seek my face,

my heart said to you your face, Lord, I will seek.

Let's seek the Lord's face. Do not hide your face

from me. Do not turn your servant away in anger.

You have been my help.

Do not leave me, nor forsake me, o, God of

my salvation. God is trying to remind us of our salvation.

When my father and my mother forsake me, Wow, do

you know that even those who gave birth to you,

gave life to you, can forsake you. Then the Lord

will take care of me.

Verse ten. Teach me your way, oh Lord.

Verse eleven, and lead me in the smooth part. Because

of my enemies. Do not deliver me to the will

of my adversaries. For false witnesses have risen against me.

And as such as breathe out violence. Now this is

very important. Verse thirteen. I would have lost heart. And

I'm speaking to some of us here who might have

lost our heart. We might have been very discouraged. But

David is saying I would have lost my heart unless

I had believed. Do you see how powerful believe is?

Unless I had believed that I would see the goodness

of the Lord in the land of the Living.

Amen, do you believe this or not? Do you believe

that you would see the goodness of God in this land?

And God is not saying wait until heaven. No, God

is actually saying, right now, I will make my goodness pass.

Would you see it? Would you want to see it? Amen?

Would you want to see the goodness of the Lord.

And that's why it says in Vays verse fourteen, Wait

upon the Lord be of good courage, and he shall

stress your heart.

Wait, I say on the Lord.

You're waiting on the Lord, friends, as we are going

through this life, and we are journeying along with you,

all of us. We are each waiting on the Lord

in our own individual journey, but we are also waiting

on him as a community, as a family of believers

in men.

Do you know the other word for courage? The other

word for Oh? Yes, I'm so.

Proud of our campus students, So proud of them because

many of them have never experienced either preaching or leading worship,

or leading worship, and yet they took courage. They said yes,

you're not. Actually, one way of knowing whether you have

courage is just saying yes. Too many of us say no, no, no, no,

and when we say no, we will not learn what

courage is. Courage is saying yes, even though even though whatever,

feeling the blanks, even though I feel scared, even though

I'm not prepared, even though I'm not whatever, even though

I know I'm not good.

It's saying yes. That's what courage is, you know. And

you know that when you say yes one time and

you say yes ten thousand times, that's where your strength grows.

Really, that that's how God grows our capacity more and

more each day. Right, when we keep on saying yes

to the Lord, you're saying yes to the Lord the courage.

Do you know?

The other word for courage is to fasten upon to

grow firm and strong. But to fasten or to bind,

to hold fast. Does this sound familiar to the word cover.

To wait? Also it means to be courageous. You're binding

yourself to the Lord. Amen? Amen?

Now sometimes in might ass right? Actually, where do you

get your strength from? How did David strengthen himself?

Right?

How did David strengthen himself? And you know, funnily right,

we always see someone who's very strong. We have an

image of what strength looks like. Right, yeah, I give

you a very clear, simple example. How many of you,

as you went through your Bible school, you had this

image of Samson.

Tra whoa huh why? Okay, this wasn't planned? Okay, she's

all right? Really now, carol and handsome, long hair. Right?

Do you know that a lot of our Bible stories, right,

they pick Samson like that right? All muscular? True? Not true?

How many of you have this.

Idea that Samson is strong because of his muscles. But

this is not the real Samson. Do you know why

I say that? It's because if they could see that

his strength came from his outward appearance, his muscular muscles,

his muscles, then the people around them wouldn't ask, actually,

what's the source of his strength? You think about it.

If I can see this bulky you know, those muscle manner,

they will also like have to excuse me.

Let her right, Oh god, I got I got people

let that.

Your son wants to be because they are so bulky, right.

They cannot even close your arm like they're all showing. Right.

Then you wouldn't ask, hey, what's your strength? From right?

And so of course we don't have a so this

is Ai is helpedler. So I gave a reality, a

closer to reality picture of Samson more more like like this.

So I say, it's not uncanny.

You know, this is more like Sampson. It's so tonight

you can break your hair. They didn't know his strength

came from his hair that was unshaven, right, because he

looked like they are, are you?

Here's your strength? From aways? Your maucla, give me your

six bags? Can all see and and sometimes we.

Have this idea of what strength is, you know, external

things that we can see, but strength really is.

Something else.

Okay, how many of you think that deers are strong

in general compared in the animal kingdom?

That deers are strong? Happening? If you think that DearS

not really what? What?

What do you think would be a strong animal? Lion, tiger,

a bear, crocodile, crocodile? Yeah, yeah, the Jews are strong.

Nobody would depict a deer as strong generally. Lah, they're

very agile.

Okay, Okay, so I want to show you this picture,

and so I'm gonna ask, actually the first video, So

can you play that, m these are mountain deers. How

many other animals you think can do this? Not at

that speed, right, not that at that agility? Okay, And

do you know that deers are made for this terrain?

They are made for it.

Do you see how slim their legs are? So many

of us when you got small feet than we fall

that all the time, right, maybe think like why more

is my feet so small? Then we always like trip

on ourselves. But the deers have this strange ability so thin.

You know their legs, and it's very interesting because their

holes they are in such a way that so so

firstly the way they gate right, meaning if I step

in front and then I move to the next part,

my hind feet can move into where my forefeet is

in the exact same spot. So that means that I

know that this is a showful thing, so I can

step onto it without falling. So that's one amazing ability

of the deer. The other thing is you know that

their hooves are split. I'm talking to the vetna, so

you correct me if I'm wronger Boladier.

So so they have split hoofs, right, even though you

look so all right.

They are split hoofs and it's got like a velvety

rubbery horse. It's like rubber souls, right, and it can

you know, I call it like you know, if you

your toes, your big toe in your small toe and

you get something, you know you can keep your sleeper

because I'm always so lazy to bend on and pick

out slippers.

Right there, we just kept with our feet and then

we transfer whatever we want right right right, Let that

Let it like the it's not their horse made in

that way that it can keep. You know, you understand

why I say.

Keep You understand Malaysians, Okay, I understand, right, so that

it can hold on to the rocks and the pebbles

of wherever they are climbing, right, so that they are

secure when they are climbing up those dangerous hils. Right,

and just now we establish that the reason why they

climb up higher is because they're running away from predators, right,

the things that's coming to devour them. Right, and the

thing is right, sometimes the deers forget they have this strength.

I want to show you the next video. Do you

see this deer talk about high jumper. Many times, what

the deers do is they just run around the fence.

They forget that they have.

This ability, that this God made and God given strength

to actually you know, for us, now if you want

to jump that Hiah, you're like all you know, we

were trying to make space and distance, right, so you

can run around and give.

Us momentum and jump high. For them, it's such a

close distance, you know, they just had to kick their

hind legs and they could jump above the fence. And

so deers sometimes can be a bit dumb because they

forget they have this strength, you know, to do this.

And I like this final vo, final video, can you

show that. So this is a deer and a lion

on the ground, and the deer escaped, and some of us, right, spiritually,

we might be battling with the lion on the ground.

It might feel as though we are that right, because

it says that the devil is like a prowling lion

waiting to devour its enemies, the enemies who us right,

and some of us are in this struggle with the enemy.

You're down, you feel defeated, You're on the ground, you're fighting,

and God says, kick your way out.

I have given you, And where do I? What am I?

Talking about dear feet. Let's go to Haboc. Let's go

back to Habacco. M You might think this is all

made up, Harbor cook Tree. Remember we read verse seventeen

and eighteen. Verse eighteen says, yet I will rejoice in

the Lord. I will join in the God of my salvation.

Let's read verse nineteen. The Lord God is my strength.

He will make my feet like the deer's feet. He

will make me high on my high heels.

And God is saying to us that sometimes your challenge,

your troubles, will be there.

The cliff will be there, the mountain will be there.

And God is not saying I'm gonna remove this mountain

for you, but I will give you strength to climb.

Wow. Is there a revelation to your friends. God is

not going to remove all your problems, you know. God says,

I want to strengthen you so that you can climb

up and be victorious over your own challenges.

And God is I don't want to just remove you

know why, because when you remove it, there's no challenge.

When there's no challenge, there's no opportunity to build strength.

And God is saying, this challenge, Nah, what will I do?

I will make you. I'll give you the equipping. I

will make your feet like the dearest feet. So use it. Right.

If you have the equipping of the Lord, you have

the right equipments. Friends, as Christians, we have the Holy

Spirit with us. Then how can we live as though

we are defeated. You jump over the fence. Now, come on,

climb the mountain. Right. God is giving us a strength

to say we can do this. We are overcomers, We're

not under comers.

Hello, friends, you know God wants to really strengthen us,

because I'm telling you the days aheit are going to

be more challenging. And if you're not ready in this season, right,

many of us will turn away from the Lord. I'm

saying this because Jesus said that the love of many

will grow call in the last days, and we are

living in the last days.

And so that's why I.

Say the final test for all of us, it's not

how many followers you have on Instagram, It's not how

much money you have in your bank. It's how many

of us here will still stand at the end of

our lives and say, Jesus is Christ, Jesus is the Lord,

Jesus is my King. How many of us will still

stand in the midst of all our trials and tribulation

and challenges, we will say I'm still standing on the

word of God. Amen, I'm gonna invite the worship team

to come on stage.

Hallelujah. Are you catching something?

Are you realizing that God sometimes will not really move

the mountains away from us, but he wants to give

us that strength to climb, to overcome all our challenges,

all our crisis. God is saying, I'm going to strengthen you, friends,

because if you don't strengthen now, you don't practice your

faith now, you don't continue to believe now, in the

days to come, it.

Will be even more challenging.

It's going to be harder, friends, I'm telling you, it's

going to be harder whatever that you experience. Now there

is a little bit of a reprieve, you know, andyboy, like, okay,

let's stop thinking about it. But no, friends, God is

really after all of us. He's after our faith.

Do we believe? Do we still believe in the goodness

of God? Do we still believe that God is for

us when it feels that the world is against us?

Amen, you've been blessed by this message For more information

on our church, please visit aschurch org. We are also

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is going to be a good week.

I hit for you. God bless