A Life Poured Out | Pastor Steven Soon

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

We hope this message will light up your day.

So today, Uh, I'm gonna share this word. This word

has been bringing my heart for all the past few weeks,

and uh, this message is important to me personally for

my own life as well. And I pray that you

will bless you. I'm gonna be sharing some stories and testimonies,

some which are mind some which are not. And I

pray that this will bless your heart today and our

heart will be open a man to receive what God

has for us. The title of the message that I

have for us today is a live part out, a

live part. I hope we can have your Bibles ready

because we'll be flipping into some scripture here and there.

And I think these scriptures are good for us to

take note memory eyes even because I really believe that

it is out of what we learned today, out of

this world of God, that will experience really a life

that is abundant, a life that is overflowing with God's goodness.

The first story I want to share with you guys,

and the next light This guy is Wayne Chen. Okay,

He's a Taiwanese by birth. He was based in the

United States and now back in Taiwan. He is a

missionary I met when I was in a missions conference

about three years back. Yeah, I want to share his

story because I remember when I heard his story, I

was so convicted. Many times you hear testimonies of missionaries

that are out in the field for many years. You

hear it like second hand an account. You don't really

hear it from the person. And when I was there

I heard his story, I was like, oh, my goodness.

In the flesh is a person that went to a

place that is enriched by modern war. An unriched people

group can't understand English, has no written language, so their

language is only oral meaning to say, they every word

that they learn and is passed down true speech. There's

no written system of their language. You always hear these

from like videos, you watch it on videos and what,

but to actually meeting. I really want to share his

story because I think he's I feel his story can

be a real inspiration to us. All Now, Wayne, in

two thousand and nine, together with his wife Gil and

also two of the kids, got the call to go

over to this island called bm in Papua New Guinea.

All right, this is he at that time was pastoring

already in a church in northern California, very nice, very comfortable,

very comfortable place, pastoring there for five years, and then

he heard the call to go and do missions at

that time. Of course, So the thing about preparing for

long term missions for you guys to know is you

don't just go out of like nowhere, just go and

then plant yourself for ten years. So you actually have

to go a few times just to understand the people,

understand the environment you're getting into. So there was he

went through preparation. He and the family went through preparation

for a few years, for three years, and finally in

two thousand and nine they went over to Papua New

Guinea in this island called bem all right, b I

E m BM. Now this island has no electricity, no

phone line that means no internet, right. It has no hospital,

They have no clinics, they have no medical supplies, they

have no school. That's how detached from modern society this

group of people. They have no running water system, by

the way, no water pipes. That means they have to

go and get water, right, so fresh water they are

collected from rainwater, because they are surrounded by the sea,

so they will have to get their fresh water from rainfall.

And that's how they've been living their life. Right. So

even more concerning is that there is an active volcano

on the island. Wow, yeah, yeah, I gotta add that

detail in, right, you never know when it's gonna blow, right,

there's an active volcano that can erupt at any given time.

When they went over there, the first task that they

had to do was to build their own house with

their own hands. Oh minu. This is a picture before

right before they went look at the daughtors. Actually this

is a bit older. Ready, the eldest daughter at that

time was probably around six when they went over, right,

So you can imagine the questions they probably have. How

our education, no medical facility, diesel forcing, how by the

way over there, malaria and all that is rampant okay

in that island in that place. So I can just

imagine the questions that the parents may have. But yet

they hear they hurt the call of God all right,

and the children was very happy to go. Actually, if

you have the opportunity to hear from the children, they

themselves heard the call of God at their young age

to also go and do missions. Besides building their own house,

they have to grow their own food. They have to

learn how to do that. Of course, during preparation, the

three years of preparation, they have accumulated skills, learn a

bit of their language and all that. Right, So when

they went over the first three years they had to

learn the language. Now, actually talking to the people call

me unicating with the people. So for the first three

years of their mission, trip is really just learning, learning

about the people, being with the people, living the life

of the people. Right, So they had to work for

their own food. They have to do everything that the

locals were doing. And then they had to learn the language.

And after three years, amazingly, the work of God started.

They planted the church and they started to tell Bible

stories and it was done, true skids. I have no

time to show you guys the videos. And actually I

may not be able to get a video. Maybe it's

also sensitive. I don't know, but I watched it there

with him. But these are some pictures before this and

we go to the slight before. Yeah, these are the people.

This is the family, right, And they started to tell

story and they tell it true skits. They presented true

skits to communicate the stories of the Bible to them.

So that is after the third year. But tragedy struck

in the third year as well, when the work of

God was launching out, Gil got cancer stage tree cancer.

And after contemplating do we stay, there's no healthcare here.

It's stage three, you know, So they went back for

a year to go to chemotherapy go through treatment. And

a year later they were wondering do we go back,

but they say, we need to go back. A year

of treatment later, they went back and continued the work.

So they were there for physically for about ten years.

But the work there continues, and I just want to

share with you guys some crazy things that has happened.

If you look at the next light with what they

have done there, they've created a written language for the people.

So now their own people have their own written language

that they can teach the children in the generations to come.

They did basically they made the alphabet system. Using the

alphabet system, made it into a language right and after that,

they ordained and commissioned local elders and deacons to lead

the church and also to spread the gospel to nearby islands.

So they were sent out as missionaries, local people sent

out as missionaries. And crazier, the crazier thing is this,

they started the Bible translation work for the people of

them and as of last year you can see over

here the New Testament has been translated for the people

and the Old Testament is still ongoing. And this is

the work. And today the family are back in Taiwan

and they are leading these missions organization called Radius Asia.

And what they do is basically they equip missionaries for

missions work. This going to what we call the upgs,

the Unrish people groups people who have not been touched

by the gospel at all. All right, So that's their work.

But then girls cancer relapsed in twenty seventeen and until

today she's still fighting cancer. I recently got an update.

The battle has been ongoing. Yet they are still continuing

the work. I remember when I was there at the conference,

I spoke the way and I said, isn't it difficult?

All right, you're doing all this yet your wife is

going through all this cancer relapse. And I remember he

shared this. He said, yeah, Stephen, not gonna lie. It's tough.

I'm not gonna sugarcoat and tell you that it's easy.

It's really really tough. But we just got to trust God.

We just got to trust God that in every suff

ring and every suffering, God has his purpose and we

just gotta keep fighting the good fight. It really makes

me wonder what can cause a person to be so

selfless even when you know sometimes we can be selfless ourself,

but to sacrifice our family right thinking about our loved ones,

our children. Yet they continue to pour their life out

for all others constantly and doing so with much furvor

and much passion. Oh it's really my blowing for me.

So when I heard this story three years ago, I

was so convicted in my own heart and I started

to ask questions like God, how do they do it?

Like after so much trials and actually leaving comfort to

a place is the total opposite. How does one get

to that point where they say I'll do it? So

I've been asking that question myself. There is a story

of the churns, Wayne Gil and the two Daughters. I

want to share another famous story or so, the story

of the Elliots. Guys probably know this. If you guys

are their missions conference passis Sandra Shall about them. I've

heard their story since I was a kid. It's shared

so many times in church. There is a movie about

the missions work. I want to share about the Elliots,

all right. So there's Jim and Elizabeth Elliott. The daughter

is Valerie over there. So they are the missionaries that

went to the Aca tribe in Ecuador. All right. So

there were five of them that went initially, not the wives,

but these five gentlemen in the middle. That is Jim

Elliott all right, and the other four I'm just gonna

get their names right, okay. The four others are Nate

Saint Pete Fleming, Ed McCauley, Roger Eudaian. Okay. So they

went to the Aka tribe, known for their hostility towards outsiders.

And I thought about hostility, it's like they'll kill you,

they see you, they kill you. It's a same simple

as that, all right. So that the Orchard tribe is

known for that, so you can go and read up

their their missions work. The Orchite tribe is not the

first group they reached. They actually reached another tribe first

came to No Christ and that tribe was actually many

of them were being hunted and killed by the Orca

tribes themselves. So so they did a lot of work there.

So basically what happened is, in nineteen fifty six, Jim

Elliott was twenty nine years old, he along with these

four other friends went to Ecuador to reach these UPG

group and reach people group called the Orca people. All Right,

so when they went, I'm not going to share the

whole story. Some of you already know the whole story,

but if you're normal, do do go and read up

a lot of resources out there for you to find

out about their story. Long story shot. On the day

that they were about to all right, this is it.

We've made contact. We're gonna slowly get ourselves welcomed by

the people. The day they were there, sort of the

week that they were there, they were doing that. So

basically what happened was they were flying their plane trying

to find a place they can land the plane that's

nearest to the tribe, and they want to find a

place where they can build off like a treehouse, where

they can stay over a few days and slowly make

contact with the people. So they did that, and then

what happened was when they thought the people were going

to come out to welcome them, after a few friendly encounters.

They came out with spears and they hunted them down.

All five of them passed on that very day they

were killed. And it was also found out that actually

Jim Elliot had a gun in his pocket, but he

did not use it to defend himself. And the story

doesn't end there. Right, Two years after the five gentlemen

were murdered, they are family, right, particularly Elizabeth, which is

Jim's wife, Valerie the daughter, along with Nate Saint's own

sister name was Rachel. They went back to the Oka

people two years later. I take a moment to think

about it. These are the people that killed their family.

And if you were in Elizabeth's shoes, you probably when

they took the father of my daughter away, I got

a raise on myself. Two years later they went in.

They presented the gospel with love with forgiveness, saying I

forgy you for what you did to my husband, because

God forgives you. They brought the gospel and today any

of the people the Oca people are believers Christians and

they are now known as a friendly tribe. Life completely

transformed to this day. Nates, Nate's son, and his own family,

along with other missionaries, they are still there with the

OCA people continuing the mission's work. This is more than

fifty sixty years later. Right, then the question comes back,

what is it worth it going through all that? Why

do they do it? Why do they pour their lives

out like that? What drives them to do so? Is

it because they're crazy? Is it because something has switched

in their heads? What has caused them to do so?

I want to share a biblical example as well, someone

from the Bible that portrays this similarly, but probably in

the day for instance. Now, if you can turn to

look chapter nineteen, Look chapter nineteen, we're gonna look at

this chief of text collectors. His name is zach Yiers,

Zakius known to be a short man because he had

to climb a tree to see Jesus. Now we all

know this story, right, It's a very short story, it's

only a few verses. But this story about Zachias, I

want to talk about this. It looked nineteen verse eight.

Of course, you all know the part where Zakiers climb

up the tree just to see Jesus, and then Jesus

called out to him, Hey you, I'm gonna come and

eat in your house today. And now of course, people

around him go like Jesus is gonna eat with this sinner,

this text collectors, text collector that takes money from us,

extorts money from us. But Jesus say that, and then

verse eight have Meanwhile, Zachis stood before the lord and said,

this is right after Jesus gave the invitation. Jesus, do

not say anything else. Jesus just gave the invitation, Sacius,

I would like to come to your house to have

a male And then Zachis stood before Jesus and said,

I will give half my wealth to the poor lord.

And if I have cheated people on their taxes, I

will give them back four times as much. Hold up

half of his wealth. Take a moment, Okay, all of

you think, Look, Think to your bank account, Think to

everything that you own, your property, your car, your net worth.

Now imagine half of it you give it to charity.

That was what Zakis did, and not just that. He said,

if I did cheat people of their money, I'll give

them back four times. What compelled zach Yiers just from

a mere invitation from Jesus not even asked him to

do it. He just got an invitation from Jesus to go.

But it got an invitation from Jesus say hey, I

want to come to your house, and then that compelled

him to do something so ratical. Probably on our part,

we would say give back four times to the people.

Jesus is good enough. But there he goes half of

my wealth. I'll give it away. I'll give it to

the poor. The only rationale I can think of, right,

besides him being crazy, like the other two stories that

we've heard, he probably must have found something worth more

than half his wealth. Logic, right, think of that rationale.

He must have found something that is that worths more,

that's worth him giving up half of his wealth. Now again,

how many of us here we are ready to give

away half of our net worth when the Lord tells

us too tough? Right, really tough, and not just give

it away, but excitedly. So that's what zac Kis was doing.

He was very excited to give away hisslf of his wealth.

So what happened what happened here with zac yis what

happened with Wayne and his family. What happens with the

elliots That caused them to go like, I'm gonna do it,

even if I have to keep pouring my life out

for others, I will still do it. I really believe

they must have found something really precious for them to

do so. Jim Elliott says this, he is no fool

who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what

he cannot lose. This quote is not by him, but

it was made famous by him. This quote was written

by another person a way earlier on, but he wrote

this in his journal. When he found his journal. This

was written in his journal. He is no fool who

gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he

cannot lose. Then the question is this, what is the

thing that he cannot keep and what is the thing

that he cannot lose. I want us to just keep

that question in the back of your head right and

ask yourself this, what is Jim saying? Matthew sixteen twenty

four to twenty six. You can flip open your scripture

for those that don't have a heavy on the screen

as well. Then Jesus said to his disciples, if any

of you wants to be my follower, you must give

up your own way, take up your cross, and follow

me verse twenty five. If you try to hang on

to your life, you will lose it, But if you

give up your life for my sake, you will save it.

And what do you benefit if you gain the whole

world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more

than your soul? Very contradicting statement. If you hang on

to your life, you will lose it, but if you

give it up for my sake, says a lot, you

will gain it. Weird, What does that mean? What does

that mean? Now? I believe it's not just so much

about God telling us to lose our lives, but I

believe God is telling us, hey, give up your rights

to your life for my sake, and you will gain life.

There's in a scripture that says something similar Matthew ten

thirty nine. If you cling to your life, you will

lose it, But if you give up your life for me,

you will find it. Now he's telling us. I believe

that if you're able to put our own self preservation aside,

and today's society, that's what society is telling us. Save

up more right, make sure you have enough and you retire, preserve, preserve.

But I believe what God is trying to tell us, Yes,

still be wise, wise if you're whatever you have with

what God has given you to steward, be wise, but

remember it's not for your own self preservation. God, I believe,

is telling us, if you're able to put our self

preservation aside and trust him a little bit more, follow

him more, we will find life. Because it's no longer

my way. Lord. I think this is the way. This

is the way I can make sure I have enough

that I'll be able to sustain myself. Lord. But God

is trying to tell us, Hey, I sustain you. My

ways are higher. You don't know what I plan, You

don't know why it's ahead of you, But I know.

Will you trust me when I tell you, Hey, maybe

this thing you gotta let go. Maybe this job is

very comfortable, Maybe this you should let go because this

is not my plan for you. But when our self

preservation kicks in, our instinct kicks in, we'll go like

not that that's silly, that's being irresponse, being irresponsible. And

I want us to see just now, I read Matthew

Tentherty nine. If you cling to your life, you lose it.

But if you give up your life for me, you'll

find it ten verses Before you know what Jesus was teaching.

What is the price of two sparrows, Verse twenty nine,

Chapter ten, What is the What is the price of

two sparrows one copper coin? But not a single sparrow

can fall to the ground without your father knowing it.

Father with a capital F as our heavenly father, And

the very hairs or your head are all numbered. So

don't be afraid. You are more available to God than

the whole flock of sparrows. And we love to take

this scripture to say, oh, God takes care of us

one viasorly feeling. Oh, he knows the number of hair

on my head today I drop three. He knows. He

knows the amount of white hairs on my head. He knows.

But you see ten verses later, in the very same passage,

God says, if you cling to your life, you will

lose it. We don't usually read this part. We think

it's separate, but it's not. It's in the same passage.

It's in the same conversation that Jesus was having that

Jesus said, don't worry. Don't you think your father in

heaven won't take care of you, So don't cling onto

your life. You cling onto it, you will lose it.

But if you give it up for my sake again,

not saying telling us to lose our life. But really,

who has authority over our life? Is it God? Or

is it who knows our future, who determines our steps,

who knows our calling and purpose in life? It is God?

And that's what God is saying. Hey, if you cling

onto your life doing things your own way, you can't

plan your future. Things can go wrong very fast. You

are very limited in your understanding of the future. But

if you lose that right and give it to me,

the Lord says, I will give you life because I

know what's a hit. I know which purposes I have

planned for you to fulfill, and in their lies in life,

our father in heaven is taking care of us. John

ten ten. We all know this scripture. The thief comes

to steal, to kill, and to destroy. But I have

come so that you may have life and life abudantly.

This is Jesus saying it when the enemy went and

now we talked about let's that's that's just zone. Zoom

in on this a bit. Okay. The thief does not

come except to skill, to steal and to kill and

to destroy the enemy wants to steal your life established.

We know this. He's working over time to want to

rob you, right, to steal and to kill and to destroy.

And then Jesus says this, I have come that they

may have life, and that they may have it more

more abundantly. I want to share this revelation I caught

from the Lord. When the enemy wants to steal your life,

it brings off destruction. Right, we all know this now

hear this, But something amazing happens when you willingly give

your life to Jesus. The enemy wants to steal, right,

it brings off destruction. But when you willingly give up

your life for Jesus or to Jesus, something amazing happens.

The enemy wants to steal. What ends up you lose it.

But when you willingly give up your life to Jesus,

you think you're losing, you actually gain. Then it's God's economy.

You gain life, and not just life, more abundantly, a

multiplied life and added on life, so much more life

John ten ten. Whatever we offer and too, God, many

times human nature tells us we're losing it. We're losing it,

We're losing it. Josephine testimony. God then percent also cannot

man for me to use, for me to keep eighty percent.

Give you a God, because say no, I say it all.

And when we give, we think we are losing. But

in a very straightforward where God gave back. And even more,

whatever we give unto God that we think is a sacrifice,

that we think is a loss, God always makes it better.

I think for a moment, in those moments in your life,

when God asks you to give something up, when God

asks you to offer something, when God asks you, hey

pay for this person's meal. God, if I pay tomorrow,

I eat grass campus sudent days. I was like that, right,

you want me to give. I really don't have enough

for myself. But every single time God has always taken

what I've given and made it better. Think for yourself

in those moments, in those moments, did God do the

same for you? I believe so. I believe so. You

offer your five loaves and two fish, God multiplies there

to feed five thousand. You offer your last meal, a

cake that you can afford, last meal before you were

going to die. God gives you sustenance, just like how

Elijah met the widow and the child very last piece

of bread of cake. They call it cack bread. I

don't know what that means, but you imagine that it's

a cack bread. Last piece, Elijah says, you make for me,

and the widow made it. It was the last meal

that they were going to have before they die. But

he multiplies them. We all forgot your last meal. He

maultiplies them into a future. That was what he did

for the widow and the child. You pour your life out.

God multiplies one life too many, just like Jesus. We

are not meant to be a reservoir to keep blessings

or a lake just to store blessings our lives. We

are meant to be a river, a channel to pass

on blessings. Whatever God says, we do. Go said, hey,

would you offer me this? Give unto God, the master craftsman.

I can take whatever that you give him your brokenness.

He takes it, turns into beauty. He takes your brokenness,

and you offer that up to him. You offer your vulnerability,

your brokenness to him. I'm telling you God is going

to use that brokenness to change lives. I know we

just we talk about aniversary giving. I want to share

about this. I know it's a sensitive topic to talk

about giving. Every church face the same thing, or it'sn't

just that church. We finally very hard to teach about

giving because God wants my money. I want tell you this.

God doesn't want your money. God wants your heart. Because

if you find yourself unable to give to God, whatever

area of your life, I'm gonna use money as the

most obvious example. That means money is your God. God

is a jealous God. God doesn't want your money, He

doesn't need but true money. It reveals where your heart is, true,

what's prescious to you. It reveals where your heart is.

God is after that. So when God asks of something,

he's not asking so he can gain. He's asking for

our sake, so that we can gain. When we give,

we gain. When we offer unto God, he makes it more,

He makes it abundant. And John ten tells us abundant life.

You give your life, you gain abundant life. You cling

onto your life. That's where you will lose it. That's

where you will lose it again. We are not men

to be a reservoir or lake. Jesus taking blessing. God,

bless me, bless me, give me testimony, Give bless me,

bless me. I keep, I keep, I keep, I keep.

We are men again to be a river to channel

whatever that He has given us to him and to

those around us, whoever he asks us to bless. We

are to do so. I'm going to do a little illustration.

I'm going to get some of them to help me

bring up some props and hopefully this will give you

a visual illustration of what I'm trying to share today.

I just want to say this, This message weighs heavy

in my heart because I'm reminded of the times where

i have to also offer the leader that I have

thank God asks or something like God, are you sure

is this really a voice on I just want to

share I have a similar testimony with Josephine or whatever

I gave to the anniversary give, God actually gave back

in his own ways. Because again, God is not interested

in the money. God is interested in your heart, because

when you just like Abraham offering up Isaac same thing,

God wants to see where your heart is. I won't

to share a little illustration. No better, I join this

New York festive season. Imagine this as God right, he

has a lot of water blessings. Imagine this as us

this is our life. And imagine this tree has those

around us. Now, I see when we receive Jesus into

our life, when we receive God, God's heart is to

bless us because we are his children. So if you're

pouring into our life now, my pouring scar is not

too great, So forgive me if I spilled. Okay, So

this is our life and he will feel it to

the bream. He will feel it to the bream. That's

how God is. He's not shy and giving his best words.

But just think for a moment, the early days of

your Christian war. We've got well, it's like you're floating

on clouds, right, wh I pray something happens. I got

desire God bless us. Feels so good. But do you

realize after a while it seems like hm, hm, why

the blessing decrease? Why I much can't hear God's voice idio.

After a while, it's like, God, are you really there?

Did you? Was it a fluke that I experienced you?

It starts to become still Christian work. You know why

we keep the water there? Water? After a while you

keep for a long time, does it become still? It does?

Gross bacteria and there is a life. Many times we keep, God,

you bless me. Hallelujah. Wow, God you rewarded me. We keep,

and we still want to ask God, God more more.

But God looks at you already, fool how to add?

God won't add when we don't give, because we already

have it, causing you already have. I can't add anymore.

God adds some more. Cannot fool ready. But do you

want to know the secret to continually having fresh blessings

in our life? Fresh water there's ever flowing. I think

you guys know the answer to pour it out. This

is the part where I will spil water, pour out God,

I'm almost empty. Don't worry, don't worry. Son, here, fresh

blessings for you. Then go go Stephen, go and pour

it out. Go Josephine, go and pour out, pour out

your life to others. Ah, God, I'm running all empty.

I'm running all empty. Fresh blessings for you, my daughter,

fresh blessings. Pour it out again, painful God, Hey, but

I bless you, I bless you. Pour it out, painful God,

But I'll do it. I'll pour my life out. And

don't worry, child, God says unto you, again, this should

be the way we live our lives. Now. I'm not

talking prosperity gospel, because prosperity gospel tells you to keep

and take, keep, take, keep, take. I'm telling you this

is what God wants us to do, to constantly pour

out our lives so that He will constantly pour into

our lives. If we don't pour out our lives to

Him and to those around us, we will never experience

fresh blessings because our water will grow still, it will

no longer be fresh. That's why some of us may

still be talking about tens, may only be talking about

testimonies five years ago. What happened to fresh testimonies? You

want fresh Testestine? Money is no short cut pour out God,

painfuller gift God. So I've got hey, God says, I

am sustaining you. I am blessing you. Pour your life out,

just like how my son Jesus poured his out for you,

that you may gain eternal life, one life multiplied to

countless more. Both the stories in the beginning that I

share with you, the Churns, and also the Elliots, they

share one common thread. This threat is as such that

their lives are constantly being poured out, yet constantly being revived.

I started by asking the question, how in the world

did they find it in themselves to do this cancer relapse,

still at it and still doing it with further passion

and a smile on their face excitement. This is the

secret that the Lord has revealed to me. You pour

your life out, you'll be revived. You keep pouring out,

you keep getting revived. This year extrale theme is revival.

We always want this right. We keep saying, revive us, Lord,

revive our hearts. But do you know what that entails?

If you want to experience revival, you gotta pour your

life out to His calling in your life, to His

purposes in your life, to the things that he asks

you to do. Don't worry, he will suddenly ask you

to do something very radical, very rarely. He'll start with

things that you already have in your life, my own life.

I want to share if it is that when I

share this why I say it weighs heavy in my

heart because it caused me the flashbacks of many painful

moments that I had to pour my life out. But

yet I look at my life today I go like, God,

you are blessing me constantly I am there after they

being revived as I pour out. Many times I was

also unwilling God. Really, I was unwilling because it's painful.

It caused me to do something like that. It cost

me something precious. But every time I followed through with God,

with what God asked me to do, I experience something pure,

holy and divine. I experience heaven on earth. It's almost

as if when I paw myself out, Heaven comes in.

As I pour myself out again, Heaven comes in. Heaven

keeps coming in when I pour myself out. Restoration seems

to happen when I pour myself out. Reconciliation seems to

take place when I pour myself out. That's healing. What

when I pour myself out, When I present my brokenness

presented to God, God makes the brokenness whole. What things

that were once dad in my life, when I pour

myself out, they can't revive. They come alive again time

after time. That is my experience when I paw my

life out, the little that I have. God, you want

me to do this, Okay, oh God, so tired? Lord,

you want me to do this one more thing? Okay,

I'll do it, Lord, I'll do it now again. Like

I said, it's hard to make radical changes. I think

for us, if I were to tell you, hey, go

to Papua New Guinea next month, you probably think I'm crazy, right,

very ready to go all right. By the way, That's

how God caught me to Africa for three months. He

gave me one month's hits up. But you see, not

every day is like that. If we wait for moments

like this, we'll wait a very long time. Because God

wants us to first pour out in the things that

are already in our lives, the people around us, family, friends,

his house, the church, to him, our colleagues. Start with

what you already have or are in. Just inject a

little bit of Jesus into what you're doing. Put a

little bit more of Jesus in to your daily life,

to the different areas in your workplace, in your office,

amongst your friends. Chinese year, one friend came back from

Australia going to go to the US. Family. He shared

with me going through a tough time that is in depth.

Mom's health is not doing too well and he had

to help pay the debt as well. He was in

my car. I was dropping him home and in that

moment I just talked time to inject Jesus. Rather, can

I pray for you and I pray for him then

than in the car I think prayer is the least

we can offer. Start with that, thank God asking you

to give to the poor, because that is what he

says in the Bible. Jesus actually said that feed the poor,

clothes those that are unclothed. But Lord, I don't have

enough for myself. Do it anyway, and I'll give you

fresh blessing and you experience my power, and I want to

encourage you as I am. This isn't really and it's

the last sentence in my in my message, keep your eyes,

your ears, and your heart open to the needs around you.

You won't be able. God won't be able to tell you.

I mean he can if he wants to. But based

on my experience, usually if we are oblivious to needs,

we won't know their needs and we won't give we

won't do something about it. But we've got to learn

to open ourselves up, burst the bubble that is surrounding us,

and start looking and observing the needs that are around us.

Look at the needs of the world. It's a very

broken society where every day bad news, every day, rumors

of war, every day, you hear some tragedy happen. Every

day you hear some some or you cannot imagine such

crimes can be committed, and it happens. The world is

in need, and the Lord wants to use us, to

partner with us so that we can be a river

to pass some blessings, blessings not for us to keep,

so that we can pass on. And the more you

pass on, the more God can trust you with because

he knows. Ah this I give to him, to Stewart,

he knows it's not his. When I tell him to

give to others. He gave. Now I can trust him

with more. I can trust him with not just one

talent do Telen five talents I give because he knows.

He knows He's a river of blessing, not a reservoir

to keep for himself, but the river. And that's my

encouragement to all of us here, that we may be rivers.

They constantly pour our life out, is constantly moving. And

the beautiful thing about river is always fresh right most

of the time, except might be nig or the Klang

rivers sometimes, but those rivers that come from nature. Right,

it's always fresh. You can drink from it because it's

not still, it's constantly being passed on, it's constantly moving.

Can we do that with what God has blessed us

with our time? Will, talent, our treasure? Can we be

sensitive to the needs around us? Can we be a

little bit more open to bring Jesus into the different

areas of our lives? Can we learn to pour our

lives out because society tells us otherwise. Because when you

learn to pour your life out, revival comes when you

pau God pause in God, pause in his spirit, God

pause in his blessings, God pause in heaven, and we

experience revival. Some of these things it's very hard for

me to explain. It's something that you have to live

through it. Then you'll know. Live out this gospel truth,

live out this word of God. If you don't understand

what I'm saying, like, what's this? How can pour out

make us feel revived? Honestly, I can't really explain more

than I already did. But you got to experience it yourself.

Give it a try. I guarantee you that when you

do it, you will experience God's power in your life,

his provision, his blessing, his love, his love that goes.

I won't let you be deprived when you give out,

I will sustain you, and even more so, I'll give

you life and life more abundantly than you previously have. Amen,

let's take a little bit of a moment. If you

cannot stand as I close, those of you who can, right,

just stand. If not, If you feel uncomfortable sitting down

to reflect, to think about, to meditate on the Lord,

please do so as well. Don't worry, And as we

worship for a little bit, I want to encourage us

to just take a moment to reflect on some questions.

Number one, ask the Lord Lord, have I been pouring

my life out as you intended? Or have I been

keeping things in? This is a very tough question to

ask because it causes us to face truth, to face reality.

But I want to encourage us to do it because

it's going to be good. It's going to be good

when you do this, when you reflect, when you are

being true to yourself, when you have self awareness of

where you're at. When it comes to pouring your life out,

it's one step closer to experiencing God's revival in your life.

Ask usself that question, have I been doing that? And

maybe some of you have done that? And God burned

before you've done that, and you go like, God, I've

done it. But in the in turn out well, the

internet well for Jesus when he pulled his life out,

I don't think so, but hey, three days later he

rose again. So we may experience difficult things when we

pour our life out. But again, abundant life is experienced

not just with good things. You can only truly experience

abundant life when you experience the bad things. Also, then

you will grow. Then you learn to appreciate the good things.

Then your eyes will be open to the good things

of the Lord, the things of the Lord that you

previously weren't aware of. It takes brokenness, it takes brokenness.

So would you open yourself up again? It's a risk, yes,

But would you open yourself up again by pouring a

life out, even if it means that you may get hurt,

even if it means that it may cost you. But remember,

the God whom we serve is the god of a

kettle of a thousand hills. He lacks nothing, there's nothing

he cannot do for you, But in fact, He wants

you to experience life and life more abundantly, and that

can only be experienced when you pour your life out.

And I think about Wayne, how he has palled his

life out, still doing so for the people of Papua

New Guinea and now to train missionaries to go out

and reach many more people groups. It's costly, it's costly,

but his smiles and he's excited. There must be something

that God has deposited inside of him when he polagh

his life out. And I'm excited, my friends, for what

God is going to deposit into your own life.

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

information about you, please visit Axchurch dot org. We are

also active on Facebook and Instagram. We're believing that this

week is going to be a good week, a hit

for you. God bless