Unpacking The Vision of Acts Church-Part 4 | Elder Peng Hoe

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

We hope this message will light up your day.

Today.

We are in the Klang Valley in twelve different locations

around the world. We've got presence in different continents from

Asia to Africa, all the way to Europe. And it's

really not by coincidence. It's really true God's divine plan

and purpose. We really believe it with all our hearts.

And so.

Were we went to twenty years and then the pandemic King.

So I still remember when this unpacking the series was

actually shed. It was shed in twenty twenty one as

we stirred the church to the next twenty years. Having

gone to the first twenty years, which was really inspired

by Joseph and his story, the next twenty years is

going to be inspired by Daniel. And so that's why

if you all remember those of you have been in

Next just long enough from twenty twenty twenty one twenty two,

most of the teams came actually from the Book of Daniel,

from chapter one, chapter two, chapter three. It was really

prophetic as it was being released. And so how are

we preparing for the next twenty years? What is the ecosystem?

What is that environment that is needed. Is what we

talk about in the first session and the second session,

and we talk about five seas. I don't know whether

you remember the five seas. Of course, it's conviction is

a condition, cooperation, community, college, the five seas. What is conviction,

Conviction is the state of our hearts. Are we convinced

in God's word? Very very important for us to be convicted,

because conviction comes from God. Then comes the condition. And

really the conditions are there and laid out for us

as the church, because as the leadership of the church

has downloaded and as the leadership or the church has

to lead the church, we have of course laid down

guidance and conditions from the leaders and so conviction comes

from God. Conditions come from the leaders as we guide

our people through this vision that God has given to us.

And I tell you this, every church is given different

visions with the same ultimate goal to achieve because we

are all called to build different parts of the wall.

You have to remember this.

We are part of the Sometimes in the Apostle screet

we call it the Holy Catholic Church, not the Roman cathlictures.

The Holy Catholic Church just means that we are part

of the Universal Church. And if we are part of

the Universal Church, we are called to build where we

are at. So where we are at ever location, with

the people that has been entrusted into our care, that

is our role and our responsibility. And with that the

leaders would have to guide. And so conviction comes from God,

condition comes from the leaders. And then cooperation is what

is needed with every one of the stakeholders, all of

us are involved in this ministry of planting and sowing

and growing the church. We need God, we need the leaders,

we need the people. And you see that right from

the very beginning of the scriptures, there's always these stakeholders,

and the stakeholders need to learn how to cooperate because

we are a community and it's very important for us

to have common unity. That is what a community is

when we have common unity coming together, because when we

are together, we grow. You know, I've worked with many

communities here in Malaysia, especially migrant communities, and I find

that the migrant communities that stick together usually they grow

better and they grow in a better state compared to

the communities who don't stick together. There are some communities

who don't stick together. They don't trust their own They

backstap each other. Know, when they come to a new place,

they're like, I don't want to have anything to do

with my own people. But I've seen communities where they

come together. They stick together because there's strength in numbers,

and they learn how to unite, they learn how to

move together, they learn how to agree with each other.

There is power in common unity. It's something that is

very important. It's a very important environment to build. And then,

of course the last sea is college. We just call

it college because it is so important for us to

equip and train the people. You know, as a church,

we've always been doing. That's how we have been operating.

We just do first, and then for many years we

have whatever the Lord has called us to do, we

will go and do. No plan here, plan go there, go,

give this up, give it up. We have always been

a doing church. And really that's how we disciple our children.

And so we disciple first by role modeling, by doing,

by showing them one needs to be done there to

see all our Father wakes up at six o'clock, father

goes to sleep at ten o'clock. We are doing it

the way we live our lives and the way we

continue to disciple is to role model doing, but there

will come a point that we need to teach. That's

why the two things go hand in hand. To do

and to teach doing is one thing, then teaching and

imparting is the next very important thing. And that's what

we put our children all through that we show them

one needs to be done, and then after that we

make sure that they have formal education as well to

make sure that what ever that they see is then

inculcated instill into their being. It's very, very important that

these five seeds continue to be part of the environment,

the meleieu, the ecosystem of the church, because if you

miss any of this, then we miss out on a

lot of things very important for us to be convicted,

to have conviction from God, to have the leadership that

is centralized, that continues to lead centrally, to have the

cooperation with all the stakeholders, for all the stakeholders to

be united, and then more importantly, for us to be

trained and equipped so that we can keep this going.

How do we make disciples, because that is the role,

that is the responsibility, that is exactly what we need

to do for all of this that we are talking

about to come to pass, we need to make disciples.

We can't just exist.

The church continue to grow because they just continue to

do one thing, the same thing that Jesus did when

he was walking by the Sea of Galilee two thousand

years ago.

He told the fisherman's follow me.

That is discipleship, essentially, follow me, and the church just

went on follow me.

It's not a shampoo. That's how your may know.

We just continue doing that, follow the teachings, one after

the other, one one generation from the next generation. We

just kept going, and today the church is alive. The

church is growing because of discipleship. That is the final

command and commission that was actually mandated to the church

before Jesus left. He says, go there for and make disciples,

baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son,

and the Holy Spirit, then teaching them to obey the laws.

It's so important for us to understand that, and so

discipleship us third session we talk about it.

The tree epps. Follow me is to role model.

Then our responsibility is to feed the ship, very important.

Feed the ship so that we become fishes of men.

Feed the ship so that they will learn how to

respond well to God and how do we respond to

God is when we start doing what He has told

us to do, go and fish for men. Very very important,

and so if you want to summarize the entire mission

of discipleship of ex Church, it's basically just this, give

only our best to God. That is what Actually, if

you know, passa canna for the long as long as

far as I've known him, he will always remind us

whatever it is, just give your best to God. And

I know sometimes the best can be very very subjective, can.

Be very very relative.

Give the best in accordance to God's words and his requirements,

so that it's something that you will need to go

back to his word and develop that conviction.

What is my best for good?

Is the question that we have to ask ourselves because

a lot of times we have people like asking me,

why why do we do this?

Why do we do that? Is it? Uh?

You know?

Did God put any demands and requirements? You know?

Sometimes I just like to look at it as if

we worship the King of kings, would we why would

we shot change him? In terms of what we are

offering offering up our lives to him? Are we offering

up just the loose change of our lives. Are we

giving him the residual of our lives?

Or are we giving him all of our lives.

It's something that we have to ask ourselves personally, because

all humans, me included, we are selfish beings, and usually

we don't think so much about God. But God wants

us to think about him and put him first and foremost.

And that's why the ten commandments can all be summed

up into two. First one being love God, your God.

We all your heart, love the Lord, your God. We

all your heart, all your mind, all your soul, all

your spirit. That basically just tells me this, God wants

us to obey him. The best way in which you

can love God is to obey him. Is the simple thing,

the simplest thing that we teach our children. You know,

your children loves you when they obey you, right, Okay

for those of you who have kids, But of course

we got to teach them to obey.

We've got to teach them how to honor.

These are not things that are caught because sometimes we

always say, oh, these are common sense.

No, it's things that need to be taught.

Parents need to teach their children to be respectful, to

respect one another, because that is what we are called

to do, to respect God and respect one another.

Amen.

So have this in mind. Give only our best to God.

That is what we need to do as believers. You know,

whenever you feel challenged, whenever you think, okay, before you

do something, ask yourself, is that my best to God?

Let no one else have to answer it but yourself.

Very very important. That mean is you got to take

it up with the Lord. And I find, you know,

sometimes I like to bargain with God. God, I think

you're cool, and you're cool. You're probably the cool dead

Anything als well goes somethingss We like to think of

God as my pal, my homie, my you know, he

he's fine with me doing anything I want. I'm careful

to go down that path because before He is our friend,

his first, our law, and our savior, and that means

there has to be a healthy reverence that is given

unto him. I feel today sometimes as believe us, reverence

is something that is day.

Respect is something that is dead.

We see it almost date in society, even more so

when it comes to the church. Because no, we think

God is just my pal he's all right, he will

let me do whatever I want. I'll just say sorry

after that, but we're really sorry, because if we are

really sorry, then we will stop doing what He does

not want us to do.

That's the reality of it.

And so I pray that we will develop a healthy

relationship first and foremost with God in our lives. That's

going to be so so key.

Amen. And so we've heard many of these things.

What I've just shared is just a summary. Uh. It

makes a whole lot of difference when it starts to

flow out from our own mouths. This is something that

I need us to catch, okay, because what is God

saying to me is how we are convicted in our hearts.

That's what conviction is, what is stated in the Bible.

What is God's worth telling me? What are the doctrines

and the principles that we can glean from the scriptures.

What is God saying to me is the conviction that

comes from God. And then, of course, what are your

leaders saying are the conditions that come along as we

pray and as we put down the guidance and put

down the boundaries to help us be organized in where

we are going. Is the condition but what you are

saying is going to be the most important thing at

the end of the day, because it doesn't really matter

how the scriptures convict you.

It doesn't really matter what your leaders are saying.

Because unless you say yourself, unless every person is on

the same page one thing, to believe in the same

thing and wanting to move together as a team, we

will go nowhere.

Do you realize that?

And I want to read a portion of this chapter

from Psalms chapter seventy three, because I've been reflecting on

this Psalms and I love this Psalm only because I

find it so almost hilariously honest. Okay, this is Psalm's

chapter seventy three. I'm going to read the whole sum

and then I'm gonna just draw out some truths which

I pray will help you understand, as it has helped

me to understand where we are at today. And he says,

surely God is good to Israel, to those who appear

in heart. And then it becomes very honest from here on.

He says, But as for me, my feet had almost slipped.

I had nearly lost my foothold, for I envied the

arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked, and

so this is actually a the psalmis. As he's writing it,

he's saying that, Wow, when I look around me and

I look at all the evil people thriving and doing well,

I envy them, he says. I learn for and I long,

and I desire, and I want what they have our

read honor.

He says.

They have no struggles. Their bodies are healthy and strong.

They are free from the burdens common to men. They

are not plagued by human ills. Therefore, pride is their necklace.

They clothe themselves with violence, for their carellous hearts comes iniquity.

The evil conceits of their minds no no limits. They

scoff and speak with malice. In their arrogance, they threaten oppression.

Their mouths lay claim to heaven, and their tongues take

possession of the earth. Therefore their people turn to them

and drink up waters in abundance. They say, how can

God know? There's the most high have knowledg That is

what the wicked are like, Always carefree, they increase in wealth.

He's complaining, you know, surely in vain have I kept

my heart pill?

In vain?

Have I washed my hands in innocence. All day long,

I have been plagued. I've been punished every morning. I

had said I will speak this, I would have betrayed

your children. When I tried to understand all this, it

was oppressive to me till I entered the sanctuary of God.

Then I understood their final destiny. Surely you place them

on slippery ground, you cast them down to ruin. How

suddenly are they destroyed? Completely swept away by terrorists as

a dream when one awake. So when you arise, oh Lord,

you will despise them as fantasies. When my heart was

grieved and my spirit and bittered, I was senseless and ignorant.

I was a brute beast before you. Yet I'm always

with you. You hold me right by my by, You

hold me by my right hand. You guide me with

your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory.

Whom have I in heaven but you and earth? Has

nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart

may feel. But God is the strength of my heart

and my portion.

Forever.

Those who are far from you will perish. You destroy

all you who are unfaithful to you. But as for me,

it is good to be near God. I have made

the Sovereign Lord my refuge. I will tell of all

your deeds. What I want to draw is this. You know,

our thoughts are so important, and I love these sounds

because it was very honest thoughts. You know, I would

one day maybe push a whole message on this sum

very honest thoughts.

He was thinking, very honestly, like, oh, I.

Look around while all those people who don't leave forgotten,

and why they all also reach God lor things, God,

Lord of possession, so carefree.

Not don't get sick.

So this is someone who in his thoughts he's almost complaining.

It's like us sometimes don't go why do bad things

happen to good people?

You know, we are almost complaining.

And if our thoughts we don't learn how to arrest,

it will eventually lead to words. And that's why we

will start declaring things in our lives, because it's always

thoughts words, and then it's carried out in our deeds

the actions. And so if you allow those thoughts to

continue to fester, those are the thoughts that will come

out in our speech, and then we will start complaining.

We will start talking that ultimately it will come out

in your deed. That's why we love to backstap each other.

That's the reality of it. That's why sometimes we're always

constantly looking for fault in each other. Very rarely you

find humans looking for the good in each other. Because

sometimes when we look for fault in each other, it

makes us feel more superior, it makes us feel more entitled,

it makes us feel more right.

But that is not how God wants us to operate.

And that's why he says here, when I went into

the throne room, that means that this person, this Psalmist,

had to suddenly experience God. And it says that when

he went into the presence of the Most High, that

is when the Lord.

Shifted his mind.

The thoughts change, and then of course the Lord showed

him where the evil and the wicked people were end up.

It shifted the perspective because all he was saying was, Oh,

look at all that they gained in this lifetime. But

the Lord had to shift his mind to help him

see that. But they intend to inherit nothing in the

life after this.

And with that what happened his lingo change.

The Psalmist started to speak differently and then from the

different lingo, it.

Was more positive.

He was starting to say things that, Wow, no, now

I live for God. God is the strength of my heart.

He is my portion forever. Those who are far from

you will perish. You destroy all who are unfaithful. But

as for me, it is good to be near God.

I have made the sovereign lot my refuge. And then

he goes on at the last verse to say, I

will tell of your deeds basically from the speech. Then

you will act out how do we go and continue

to evangelize. It starts here. It starts without thoughts. Are

we arresting the thoughts which are not healthy? Are we

allowing the right thoughts to grow? Because from the right

thoughts will lead to the right speech. You will start

to declare things which are of God, not of your flesh,

not complain and command and lament. But we will start

saying God, You're a good God. And then ultimately it

says that our deeds, our deeds will actually lead us

to share all this with others, so that others will

have a shift in their mindset that will lead to

a shift in their speech and henceforth their actions as well.

This is what this all means it doesn't matter what

God says, because until unless you will take what God

says and you applied to your lives.

We will go nowhere.

God's word has been there, available since a long long time.

Many of us have read it, but until and uneless.

What God says is also what we say. That's where

the main difference comes. And that's what is meant by

conviction comes from God. Conditions may come from the leader.

But we need the cooperation of every single person. That

means all of us need to be convinced, and all

of us need to be saying the same thing together.

You must always have something to say, because if you

have nothing to say, then is empty. If you have

the wrong thing to say, then it's not going to

be cooperative in that sense. And that's why you remember this.

Jesus he heard everyone talk about who he is because

he asks Peter, who do.

People say I am?

And of course the answer was or some say you're John,

a Baptist say you're Elijah. And then he looked to

Peter again he says, who do you say I am?

And he was at that point. If you study the scriptures,

you realize is that that is what is sometimes known

as the watershed moment. It is a pivotal moment of

the entire life of the Church because when that truth

was established that you are the Son of the Living God,

the Messiah, not a messiah, not a prophet, not just

any other person, but the Messiah. When Peter actually professed

that and declared that the church could then be established.

All this while there was no talk about the church,

but after that, this was Peter's Jesus response to Peter's declaration.

And I will tell you that you are Peter, and

on this rock I will build my church, and the

gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give

you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. Whatever you

bind on earth will be bound in Heaven, and whatever

you lose on earth will be loose in Heaven. Then

he ordered his disciples not to tell anyone he was

the Messiah. But if you look at that, it was

that moment when Peter declared you are the Christ, the

son of the Living God. That was when the Church

was And God needs us to be able to have

the right thoughts, declare the right words, and then act.

Out the right deeds.

Is something that is so so important you know, this morning,

my wife was preaching at the ten to this service

and she asked us, no, you know why people leave

the church or why people move churches? And you know,

they listed down three c's three main reasons why people

leave the church. One is comfort. If we no longer

find comfort in the church, if it's a place that

is not comfortable. I don't know, maybe the aircon is

not working, maybe the service is very long, maybe the

preachers very boring.

I don't know. No, people actually leave.

The church because they are no longer comfortable in it.

Some people leave the church because of convenience. They are

looking for what is convenient, what is what is the

simplest and the most straightforward way. Some people leave because

they can't find community. And these are the main reasons

that hold people together in a church. Comfort, convenience, and community.

You know, I think about it. Wow, if this is us,

and if this is any of your conditions that you

place when you are looking for a church, I will

tell you this.

As a church, we will fail you. We will fail you,

We will.

Fail to make it comfortable, because again I don't know

what the level of comfort is. Everyone has got different

thresholds or what comfort is. Some people can tolerate more pain,

some people can some people can take a nice Christian chairs,

So some of us you need letters seats.

I don't know, that's the reality of it.

Convenience, No, some people don't mind traveling two hours to

get to church, and I know some people who will

do that. Some people I can't even know. If I

have to pack my car and walk to the services

is too far, I don't want to come to church. Actually,

I've heard people, you know, church, we sit down and

then they tell us we share with each other's side

the campaigns, and one of the church buses actually told us, no,

we have partners because we don't have our own building.

So sciences they have to park outside and then outside.

Then they asked if we can provide buggie service to

go and bring them to the service. You know, I

can really love because again everyone has got different levels

of what is convenient to them. Community, no sunimes. We

are looking for community to belong to. I will always

say be the community to others. Like I said, we

will fail you if this is how we gauge. And

so the focus areas must not be things like this,

must not be things like comfort, convenience.

Community.

As a church X honestly has always been focused on

these three things. We call it the tree els and

our focus is what the church should be focused on,

which is making disciples.

The church is about making disciples.

If we don't make disciples, then we have failed in

our function and our role and our responsibility as people

who are called out. That's what the church is. And

so the tree els is firstly the lost. This is

who we should be focusing on, because we have always

been about the loss. Jesus came too sick and save

the loss. So if our focus is elsewhere, then we

will be lost ourselves. But we already declared that we

are found in Christ. So if we are found in Christ,

then our focus has to be on the loss. Our

focus is also on the leaders. We need leaders to

rise up. You know, we believe that every person in

the church can be a leader. Everyone can be a leader.

In fact, I would say this, if you have someone

that looks up to you, someone who is following after,

someone whom you are role money and we can all

because when our lives are made out in the open,

we are usually subject to someone watching what we are doing.

All of us that's why it's so important for us

to be very aware of our conduct even as a Christian.

That basically what I want to say is is all

of us are called to be leaders because if the

mandate of go and make disciples, I don't think it's

one that is given to full time workers or only

those who are in a pastoral call or church leaders.

Know, it's basically everyone who believes.

Now that you believe, now that you have the knowledge,

and the vision that we have is that the knowledge

of God is actually spread throughout the world.

This is what Haberkook is all about.

If we want the knowledge of God to be spread

out through the world, that every believer has to take

on this responsibility. And that's why we believe everyone can

lead because think about it. As a church, we are

today about a thousand, thousand, one hundred people across twelve

locations here in Necklang Valley. If every one of you,

every one of these thousand and one hundred people, just

reach one person, just choose to disciple one person. Actually

you think about it, overnight you will have two two

hundred people. Again, it's not about the numbers, but I

want us to know that all of us can land

a hand and should because this is not just a

church that's built on the leaders. What we want everyone

to know is everyone is a leader. Everyone is able

to take ownership off this place that we call home

and these people that we call our family. And so

it is so important for us to focus on leaders

and focus on raising leaders.

And of course the.

Third l is actually what is known as the leaven, okay,

the eleven. In Matthew chapter thirteen, verse thirty three, it says,

the kingdom of heaven is like eleven. What is leven?

Think of eleven as the best way to look at

it is yeas if you are a brain maker. Okay,

I know not many of your your don't make braids.

Nowadays we just go and buy hell for breid. It's

much easier. Okay, there are a few people. Okay, hey,

there's a break maker here. A little bit of yeast.

It's all you need to cause the door to rise.

That's what eleven is. Without the eleven, the door doesn't rise.

Without the yeast, the door doesn't rise. And sometimes we

need the eleven in our lives. If not, we will

remain stagnant, will remain flat, We will remain naturally lazy.

And I tell you this, humans, we are naturally lazy.

I am naturally lazy, myself included. You know, if you

give me a choice, I always tell people I'd rather

go into my idiot box where I'm alone there and

no one bothers me, and I do whatever I want,

which is usually absolutely nothing.

This is the truth. I like to do that.

And you know, today I was sharing and I live

in a house of of women, my wife, my two daughters,

my mother, and my mom. There are some days I

just want to crawl into my box and do absolutely nothing.

And it's out of laziness, you know. Do you know

laziness is actually a sin. Seven Daily Scenes. I always

remember Brad Pitt in seven and one of the scenes

is a scene of Slothfulness is laziness, and all of us,

if we have a choice, we rather do nothing. There's

no urgency. And I think as humans we have become

very lazy. And I think there's a very very dangerous

thing to a very dangerous place to remain. That's why

we need the leaven, because the leven gets disciples and

leaders out of their comfort zone. The leven is what

causes us to be sent out to be kicked out.

We need to.

Find what that leaven is very very important. And so

if we look at how the church ex church has

been growing for the first twenty years, I will always

remember this. It was a radical kind of living.

There was this abbreviation acronym that was given to us,

oh Hug.

I will always remember this because it's where I stay also, okay,

I stay in taman o Ug. And so the first

twenty years we recognize that as a church we practice

radical obedience. And if you look at the church at

the starting days, if God says go here, we will

go there. God says plan there, we will plan there.

God says give this up, we will give it up.

Is crazy?

Then this is how Pastor taught us to radically obey

God and then after that to radically be united. Radical

unity was the other thing the church in the earliers,

the earlier days, we were all together because of course

we were a bit smaller back then and everyone was tight.

And then the church was also radically very generous. You know,

when we.

Were small, that was when we had people giving the most,

We raised the most money when we were much smaller

than where we are today. But those were the things

that really caused us as a church to grow, at

least the first twenty years. The radical ouge, radical obedience,

radical unity, radical generosity, and radical living is still needed

in today's world. You know, I was always very inspired

by this book called Radical Actually, there's this book written

by an author called David Platt. How you may have

read some of his books, very inspiring because again, everything

that they did, they did so radically different.

And that's how growth comes.

You know, sometimes if you keep doing what is not right,

then you keep generating the same outcome. It is so

important for us to find out what is it that

God wants us to do, and usually God just wants

us to live out his principles and live it out

radically for him. And that's where you see the changes

take place. And so first twenty years, radical obedience, radical unity,

radical generosity. We believe the requirements for the next twenty

years for our growth is that we need to have

radical ideas, we need to have radical initiatives, and we

need to radically implement it. This is where we are

at as a twenty sixty year old church today, because

no longer should we just remain resting in our laurels

and counting. Oh you know we've got we are in

different locations. Halilujah, Praise the Lord. No, I think we

need to keep implementing. It's very very important our share

as I go along. But there is going to be challenges.

And one of the and some of the challenges to

our vision is this look even the lost. You see,

the greatest challenge to our vision is that we can't

achieve it without winning the loss. We have come to

this place that as a church, sometimes the Malaysian Church

has not grown, I'll be honest with you for the

past twenty five years, at least since two thousand, it

has not grown. In fact, some people are saying that

there's a likelihood that it will diminish in numbers come

twenty fifty. The Malaysian Church, if you look around, we

have always been ten percent of the entire population. So

if we are stagnant, well, it could be a few things.

It's either people are people are still being safe because

we know people are being safe, but then people also dying,

so we remain stagnant. So the growth is really just

a maintenance growth. But a lot of churches will sometime

say that or we always have newcomers coming to church.

That only tells me one thing that people are constantly

moving churches because you have no growth in terms of

the number of Christians, but you still have growth in

terms of newcomers visiting the church.

I don't know.

If you do some simple statistical analysis, you realize that

the churches are playing musical chess with one another. It's like, oh, okay,

you come here, not comfortable. Okay, I go to the

next place. Not comfortable, I go to the next place.

And that's why percentage of newcomers still there, percentage of

growth zero.

Something is fundamentally wrong.

If our focus is not in winning the laws, our

focus should not be in trying to get other people

to come to our church, get other believers to come

to our Our focus actually should be on the loss.

Ten percent cannot be what we continue to remain for

the next many years, because ultimately we are called to

the ninety percent. You see, the church is the only

organization that exists for people outside the churchren A lot

of other organizations and societies will exist for themselves for

their own members. But the Church, yes, we exist for

our own members, but we also exist for those who

are not here in the church, and so our focus

has to also be on the ninety percent who are

outside of the church. This is something that's very very

important because Luke nineteen words stances the Son of Man

has come to sick and save those which are lost.

We need to have that heart's desire to go out

and seek those who are lost. It's something that we

should not just know and have hate knowledge. That's why

as a church we have the five ws. Many of

you are familiar with the five WS. It's like the

DNA of the church. It starts with word worship, worship word.

Then from word it goes to warm, and then from

warm it goes to works, doing the good works. And

I think the first fall we have got it quite

well covered. You know, we are a church that knows

how the worship. We are a church that really emphasizes

on the world. We are a church that wants to

make each other feel the warm of community. We are

a church that constantly wants to go out and help

those who are less fortunate through our works and through

our good works. But when it comes to the fifth W,

which is witness, then it's one of the hardest things

to do. It's one of the hardest things to witness

God's goodness in our life to others. Sometimes sometimes I

ask myself this, why is it so difficult to witness

God's goodness in my life? Is it because I don't

think He's good? Or is it because I have not

experienced or truly experienced his goodness?

Because if all of us pause for.

A moment as believers, if you think about it, are

we grateful that God is in our lives? Or is

He just something to tick the checklist or to fill

up our ic to indicate the religion of what we

believe in.

It has to be something beyond that.

And I've come to this place where the more I

read the scriptures, the more I'm reminded God, I'm grateful

because the truth is, once upon a time I had

no choice. The only goal in my life at the

end of the day was death, and there was nothing

else that was awaiting me but an eternal death and condemnation.

But the day I chose to put my trust in

Jesus was the day that I was afforded a chance

and an opportunity to live. And so when I understood

the magnitude of God's goodness in our lives in my life.

Then I ask myself, am I able to witness that

goodness to others? Am I able to share that with

other people? Does that not mean anything to me that

I want to only keep it to myself or it

doesn't compel me to do something about it. I pray

that we understand our salvation. We understand the fact that

we are safe. We were once lost, but now we

are safe. Really, it is not through our own effort.

We are not deserving of being safe, but here it

is by God's wonderful grace that we are. Are we

able to fully comprehend the magnitude of God's love in

our lives? This is what I continue to try to

do to help people unders because until and unless we understand,

there will never be the leaven in our lives to

push us. It just becomes hate knowledge. Hate knowledge that

doesn't translate into things that we profess, and ultimately things

that we do will remain hate knowledge. It goes nowhere.

And so remember this the loss that is one of

the challenges to our vision. If we don't focus on

the loss and we just focus internally, we will go

nowhere as well. Remember there's still many out there who

are here to be safe. And the scripture, she says,

Jesus will only written when the Gospel is preached to

the furthest ends of the earth. And of course some

of us will be chicken and say, I don't think

I want Jesus will come back so soon, So maybe

let's holk and slow down the preaching of his word

so that he doesn't have to come back so soon.

But that was never and that should never be our attitude,

because you think about it, even the earliest believers were

already looking forward to Jesus coming back. That's why in Revelations,

the final prayer in Revelations of the earliest believers in

the scriptures is come Lord Jesus. That's what Marnata means.

That means they were already anticipating and one thing and

desiring his return right from the very start.

Why do we want it to tarry any longer.

We should actually look forward, and to look forward to

Jesus written it means that we have to play our

part to be witnesses of who He is in our

lives so that we can carry on the work of evangelism.

Amen.

So the loss is one of the challenges now Of course,

the second challenge is leaders, leaders, because we can't do

without leaders and laborers.

That's why it met you.

Chapter nine, verses thirty seven, he says this, He said

to his disciples, the harvest truly is plenty fool, but

the laborers are few. Therefore, pray the Lord of the

Hovest to send out laborers into his hovest. A lot

of times you always pray, God, bring the Hovest, bring

the house, bring the Hovest. Actually, God doesn't want us

to pray the house the hovest is there plenty fool.

The scripture says, pray that God will bring in the laborers.

We need to be in a cooperative relationship in order

for us to see these come to pass. That means

every one of us we'll have to catch it. You see,

Jesus says, follow me, and I will make you fishes

of men. That is applicable to each and every one

of us. Know, you are called to different places and

different locations. You are in marketplaces where not as a leader,

I can't be in your marketplace. I am not part

of your family. But you are in the marketplace. You

are in your offices, you are in your campuses. Again,

think about it. If all I do is lead one person,

If all I do is take care of the child

that God has blessed me with, If I train and

instruct this child in the ways of the Lord, that

is also discipleship. It is so important for us to

be able to see that as well. And that is

our role and our responsibility. And so the leaders is

the second greatest challenge. And laborers, and of course the

third greatest challenge is this the eleventh, the sending out.

You know Romans then verses thirteen to fifteen, whoever calls

on the name of the Lord shall be saved. How

then shall they call on Him in whom they have

not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of

whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear

without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they

are sent? As it is written? How beautiful are the

feet of those who preach the Gospel of Peace, who

bring glad tidings of good things. You know, we need

that sending, That is the level. Sometimes we need the kick,

the kick up our behinds for us to get going,

to get moving. It is so important for us to

be always on the move. Remembered is God is never stationary.

If you think about it, you look at the Old Testament.

The Tabernacle of God was always on the move. Of course,

there were times and moments that you rest, so I

agree there were time. There will be times where we

need to be still and know that He's got But

most often it's always on the move forward movement. We

got to keep going, keep sending people out. One of

the challenges is hard. People don't want to go out,

and so the leven is needed. The sending is needed.

Discipline is needed, and discipline is a form of leaven

actually in our lives. That's saw in Corinthians. First Corinthians,

Chapter nine, verses twenty six to twenty seven. It says

it is therefore I run. That's not with uncertain there's

I fly, not as one who beats the air. But

I discipline my body and bring it into subjection. Less

when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.

Discipline eleven is also in the discipline we need that.

You know, I'm someone who I force myself to run

every day. I still do not because it gives me

a great body, which I don't have. Honestly, I run

every day five km every day for I think the

past ten years I've been running.

I'm not an exercise freak.

I'm not someone who are like, oh no, I really

need I just do it to force myself to be disciplined,

because I realize this, if I can discipline my physical

body to do the things that I don't enjoy doing.

I don't enjoy waking up at six am in the

morning to go for a run. I don't enjoy running

when it's raining and pouring outside. But you know what,

I still discipline myself to do it. Thunderstorm, rains, snow

hill when I'm traveling, when I'm overseas, I can think

of every weather, adverse weather condition. I ran through every

adverse weather condition. Why Because I know that I need

that discipline, the discipline to tell my body that I

am subject to doing what is right. And then I know,

with that discipline, I'm also able to instruct my spirit man,

my emotional man, my sole man, to be able to

come under the subjection of God's authority as well in

my life. This is what discipline is, and that's what

Paul meant by you know, I almost have to beat

myself into subjection.

I have to force myself.

That is the leaven that is needed disciplined in our lives.

It's not the easiest thing. In fact that it's exactly

what as parents we are supposed to do. We are

called actually to disciple our children, to teach them the

ways of God, to teach them to be disciplined in

their actions, to love them.

Amen. So leaven is the discipline.

Leaven is the doing, the execution, the implementation, the habit,

the custom, the culture. These are all things that need

to be inculcated. It needs to be instilled. It's not

something that happens over night. It's something that you keep doing,

and as you keep doing it, you will see God's

hand at work.

You know, I've come to this place.

Some people ask me, why do you need to pray

every day? We don't pray for our just for our

prayer to be answered. You know, I've seen how constant

and consistent prayer sees Earth's actually developed that relationship with

God where I learned to trust God more. Daily prayer

is just that it's arth establishing a relationship. I rather

we continue talking to God than ignore God altogether. Because

the day we stop praying all the day we pray

lesser than we think we should. The it's the very

same equivalent. If you are in a romantic relationship, you

stop talking to your partner, and you know this can

happen in any relationship. Sometimes you know you can be

it's as you can be there talking to each other,

but you're not present. Sometimes you can be there but

not there, and sometimes you can just stop talking to

each other sons. It is so subtle you don't realize it,

but before you know it, your relationship is no longer there.

And that's why for me, prayer is such an important

thing because in order for us to keep on communicating

with one another, to be in communication with someone, we

need to make it into an effort to do it.

You do it for your love ones.

Don't ever allow your relationships to become silent until where

there is zero communication, because that is not a healthy

place to be in. It's the same thing with our

relationship with God. That's why prayer is so key, so important.

Always learn to pray. That is a good habit for

us to pick up. Remember this because I pray one

day witnessing so winning disciple making, producing leaders becomes a

momentum becomes a habit becomes a culture, not just something

that we live for the leaders to undertake, but for

us to realize that all of us have a part

to play.

All of us can put our hands to plow.

All of us are needed to take ownership because that

is where God wants us to go. He wants us

to position ourselves in a way where we are able

to be relevant. It is so important that not only

do we know it in our heads, but we continue

to speak it and then we continue to act it out.

I want to encourage us as a church.

We are doing this unpacking the series is for us

to be reminded of the vision and the meaning. We

forget the vision, then we forget to do all these

other things. And so now I've come to this part

where we've got to implement it. And that's always the

hardest thing to do. Right the implementations. As we can

think of all the different plans, we can have all

the understanding. And you know, God's diet has been there.

If you read the book of Daniel, you realize that

God has given them a diet, not the King's diet,

his diet, his diet for Daniel, Shadrack and Michigan and

Eberenago is that they are to have fruits and vegetables.

And they told the high authorities that we will follow

whatever that God has told us.

This is our understanding and.

We will keep at it because we will show you

that this diet is a good diet for us, not

the King's diet, but God's diet. And so we need

to be able to tick on God's diet. And God's

diet is not the King's diet. God wants asked to

fulfill our purpose to live on his diet, and that's

why we need to know what his diet is. For

us to begin with, we need to be able to interpret,

have the knowledge, and have the understanding of the scriptures.

That's why it's always important for us to do that

first and foremost. But once we already have the understanding,

once we already have the knowledge, then it comes down

to the implementation. It comes down to breaking this diet down.

What do we understand with this? Well, we start off

by making a list. I want us to be as

practical as that. Make a list. You know, we call

it the daily bread because we pray this. The Lord

taught us to pray the Lord's prayer, pray every day,

give us this day our daily bread back.

Then they get their wages daily.

It's not like the modern day where we get a

wages on a weekly or a monthly basis. That means

if they don't get wages on that day, they don't

get to eat that day. It's as simple as that,

and that's why every day they pray the Lord's prayer

and they say, give us this day our daily bread.

We need to download the ideas from God. We need

to make a list. We need to ask God for

or the daily break. God, who is it that you

want me to reach out to? Who is it that

you want me to talk to? Who is it that

I can disciple? Is it my child? Is it my colleague?

Is it my relative? Is it my love? Once I

am sure the Lord has got many people in stare

to be reached out to, and all of us need

to seek him first to make that list. That is

the first step of implementation, because we can talk about

this till the cows come home, but until unless we

are convincing our hearts that this is what we need

to do. These are the people that we need to

reach out. Then you work towards that so seek the Lord,

ask him for the least. Once the least is made,

then you make a commitment. Once we have downloaded from God,

we have to then upload to God. Once we have

caught the idea from the Lord, we should now turn

this into a desire to be initiate.

We need to take initiative.

I want to give my time, I want to give

my treasure, I want to give my talent. I am

now willing to commit myself unto the Lord. That is

something that is so important. Making a commitment is the

next step. After you make a list and you have downloaded,

then make a commitment. That's what we do with our

human relationships, right We ask the Lord, Lord lead me

to this spouse or this partner that I want, and

the Lord leads you to a partner.

There After you make a commitment to love each other.

And then after that you make it count because ultimately,

how do you make it count? It's not just to

say I love you, is to literally live the loving

you out. That's why love is always love in action.

It's not just love by professing, love by confession. No,

it's love in action. It has to be activated. And

that is the third part of the implementation process. We

need to make it count. Make a list, make a commitment,

make it count thereafter. Amen, it's not blind accountability. These

are the steps in which the Lot has showed us

very very clearly. I know when you come in and

you're like, we all need to be a part of this,

is it important? Well? The commission given to every believer

is go there for and make disciples and my prayer

and my home.

I'm going to invite the band. I'm almost done.

Is that we will realize that all of us have

got a call and a purpose on our lives. This

is God's vision for us. So make a list. Who

do I want to disciple this year? Who do I

want to pray for? Who do I want to spend

more time with? I'm sure we have someone. Make a commitment,

whether it's to pray for this person that mays put

this person's name on your prayer list daily pray for

that person. Or maybe it's a person that you need

to meet, then make that commitment to meet, to follow

up on that person from time to time. Then make

it comet, make it come. Is actually going out to

disciple and to be witnesses, going out being activated make

time to help others. It's so important for us to

do that. And make sure you remember the vision always,

because the vision always is this, for the earth will

be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord,

as the water covers the sea. That is the vision,

the overarching vision of extras no matter how you want

to unpack it. I know it's a big vision, but

how we unpack it is step by step. The mission

is discipled. The vision is big. How we're going to

do it is actually true discipleship. The direction that we

are taking is from the book of Daniel. And Daniel

remember this was a marketplace leader, but he was not

in a comfortable place. He was not in a familiar place.

He was actually in exile. And so Daniel was in exile.

He wasn't in Jerusalem, he was brought out, but year

it was in the Babylonian court that he continued to

hang on to his faith and lift it out. And

because of all that the Lord did true Daniel. You know,

he was able to convince even King Nebukenezer of who

God is. I think that's a wonderful, wonderful purpose. And

focus on the diet and it will cause us. It

will cause us. The cause is discipline. Discipleship is disciplined.

I know it's not easy, but think about it. Anything

that you want yourself to do will cost you. Anything

that you put your heart to do will cause you.

If you want to have let's just say you want

to have children, you've got to discipline yourself. I don't know,

to save money, to not spend as you wish, because

no longer are you living for yourself. You're also having

a family to take care of. It will cost us,

But I tell you what, it's worthy because God is

worthy and he chose to save us while we were

still sin us. And if God wants to be calculative

with us, we will all be goarn us by now.

But we are grateful because He chose to go to

the cross while we were heed still sin us. So

the question is it's our heart for the loss. I

know there will be challenges. It's not going to be easy,

but I believe with God and good friends, we will

keep going.

Amen.

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I hit for you. God bless