OBEY | Dr Jill Ling

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

We hope this message will light up your day. We're

going into today's message and I will still be speaking

on this year's theme, which is.

What that all may no.

That's right, So we are still on the theme of

that all may know for this year and also very

soon you're here from your CPC doctor Dan and different

leaders about the theme for next year. It has been

unveiled already at our recent X leader's day out, although

last weekend. Okay, but for now, I will continue to

speak on the church team that God has given us

that all may know. And I'm going to zoom in

on the angle of obedience, obedience that all may know.

So this is normally how for me, how God speaks

to me and true me. He'll give me one angle

of the building. So I'm looking at from the angle

of obedience today and the building is that all may know?

Okay, all right? Or obey obedience? Yeah, that all may know.

And today we are going to be reading from God's story,

the Word of God the Bible from the Book of

Genesis chapters five to nine. But don't worry, We're not

going to read word for word through all the four chapters.

I'm going to be picking certain relevant parts, okay, but

we're going to go all the way back to the

first book in the Bible, which is the Book of Genesis.

All right, So do get your bibles ready. I really

encourage you to bring your physical Bible. If not, you

can look at your e Bible on your phones. If not,

Gabriel will be very kind to help me project. Yeah,

the scripture on the screen.

All right.

So I'm not ashamed of my Bible. Yeah, you can

see it's turned from brown to white. It's like human hair, right,

from brown to white. Well used, well used Bible.

Amen. But the content is goal. All right.

So we are going to learn from the life of Noah.

Everybody saying Noah, Noah, Okay, Noah. You know when we

think of obedience, right, when we think of Bible heroes

centered around obedience, what are some names that come to

your mind? Abraham, Yes, that's like top of the list.

Moses okay, Noah, very good, yeah, Jesus, yes, the Perfect,

the Ultimate, the Ultimate, Yes, the Ultimate, here's the Ultimate?

Right, okay? Good.

So when you think of obedience and you think of

how people have radically obeyed God. You think of some

of these great Bible heroes, Abraham, Moses, Noah, Jesus, the

ultimate right son of God, son of Men. And so

today I'm going to take us to the life, life

of Knife, life of Noah, life of Noah, and we're

gonna learn how he was obedient to God. Okay, because

he was just like you and I, right, a human being.

So how did an ordinary human being obey extraordinarily?

Okay, let's learn some of his secrets.

Now, let's look at Genesis chapter five, verse twenty eight.

Genesis five, verse twenty eight, and we are going to

read on the birth of Noah, all right, Okay, So

I'm reading from the ESV version Okay, says when Lamac

had lived one hundred and eighty two years, he fathered

a son and called his name Noah, saying out of

the ground that the Lord has cursed this one shall

bring us relief from our work and from the painful

toil of our hands.

All right, So we'll stop there.

So, if you didn't know, the father of Noah was

called la mack Lamac, and Noah was actually the ninth

generation after Adam. So if you know God made the

first human beings Adam and Eve. So you count nine

generations down, it's actually Noah's generation. So Noah was quite

in a way, still quite close to Adam and Eve

right in terms of the human lineage, and he was

the ninth generation. Okay, And do you know the meaning

of Noah's name? Have you ever come across the meaning

of Noah's name? Anybody if you know the shouted out

for me. No.

Okay.

Do you know the meaning of your own name? And

how many of you know the meaning of your own name?

Raise your hands?

Okay. So not everyone also knows the meaning of a name.

Okay, go back and find out the meaning of your name,

because you know your name is powerful and your destiny

could be tied even to the meaning of your name. Okay,

all right, So Noah the meaning of his name, it

is actually rest rest. Noah means to rest.

Okay. Wow.

Now, his father La Mack gave him this name because

he felt that humans were toiling a lot on the

face of the earth, and humans were suffering a lot

on the face of the earth. So his father La

Mack named Noah with the hope that Oh, with the

birth of this son, I really hope that he will

bring us relief from our toil and our pain. He's

hoping for Noah to be like in a way, like

mini savior, like that luck. Yeah, right, that was his

father's hopes. Nothing wrong, It's a very humanly hope. We

all do not like to work hard, in all honesty

the human nature. We also don't like pain and suffering. Okay,

that's the human side of us, all right. But God

had a different meaning for Noah's name. God still intended

to bring rest through Noah, but it's a very different

kind of rest from the human perception. So Noah's earthly

father wanted rest from hard work and trouble, basically suffering pain.

But Noah's heavenly father wanted to show that in the

midst of hard work, in the midst of trouble, in

the midst of pain and suffering, you can still find

rest in him. So one is waiting for all the

hard work and pain to end, then only find rest.

That's our very human thinking and expectation. But God's ways

are not our ways. His ways are higher. He's saying,

don't wait for the hard work, don't wait for the

pain to stop, only you rest. I will give you

rest in the midst of the pain. I will give

you rest in the midst of the hard work. So

I don't know who needs to hear this word today.

Maybe you've been going through a lot in the past days, weeks,

and months or even years, and you're like, God, when

will this ever end? When will all these dramas ever end?

It's one after the other after the other. If it's

not me, it's my family. It's not my family, it's

my studies, my work, my church. And then after all

over again, it's like, when will there be rest? Were like,

la Meg, God, give me rest from all this hard work,

all these heart aches. Then only I will be contented

and satisfied. Then only I will feel rested. But God

is saying, no, we don't wait until all this stops.

Only we find that rest. We can find that rest

in Him even while all this is still going on.

All right, Okay, So I want to just share sort

of like a quick analogy of what this means. So, okay,

let's show the next picture. Well, the well the projector

very cooler today is like very auger. All our faces

we all look extra sunburning. The picture I haven't gotten

on holiday, and I really look great? All is kidding?

All good, all good?

Okay.

So in August, August and of August, near the Medeca weekend,

my family and I had an opportunity, a blessing to

actually make a short family trip to Krabbi Ah for

the school holidays. So this was the typical ka two

short laha. It's like, gosh, millions and gazillions of people

have taken this shot just for my my remembrance. Okay,

So we had an opportunity to travel to krabbi We

flew there and it was a five day trip. Now,

in all honesty, right, this was a very badly planned

trip because normally, after booking the date and your flight

and your accommodation down, one would naturally plan the itinerary

right to make your money's.

Worth, to make your time worth.

So I did the first part, okay, I locked down

the dates, I booked the ticket, my husband booked the accommodation,

and we stopped there.

We did not plan the itinerary.

And Joline's like eyes gonna pop out already. He's like, no,

this is a no no in life. You do not

do this when you travel, you pay money, right, But

we did it because we were so busy. Both Passage

and I were just so busy in the month leading

up to the trip. We honestly didn't have much time

to plan the itinerary. It was just the day before

in Sunday in cyber I was asking our partners who

wear a krabbi, any tips or any times. Then they

just we did twenty four hours, share with me. Okay,

you can try this, try that. Not that I really

look to and plan. Also, so on the flight to Krabbi,

I just prayed, God, please plan our itinerary for us.

This round, I really has zero planning. Usually I'm a planner,

I will plan the itinerary. Yeah, and then my husband said,

chill to you don't need to do so many things,

and yeah, but this round I really so they're busy. Okay,

zero itinerary. So I just say, God, I have zero plans,

You just take over this trip.

Now.

That can be a dangerous prayer, but that can also

be the best prayer you can pray, because when God

takes over your holiday trip, you can expect.

Blessings both ways.

Okay, Yeah, So we touched on in Krabbi and then

on the way to our hotel, the taxi actually stopped

us by a tour agent and his friend, like who

just opened a new tour agent, so he wanted to

support her business, so he brought us there. But it

was a blessing in disguise because you know, here was

someone who would just dropped it on our lap and

help us to plan the next few days. And because

she was just starting out, she gave us really really

good discounts as well. Yeah, because she wanted out business.

So she's very nice lady. So she planned. Okay, so

day two we were to do island hopping. For those

of you who have been to Krabby, you know there's

a thing in Krabbi. Then day three we were supposed

to go to the jungle and some natural watering holes.

Then that's like then she asked, dayfore you do something?

I say no, no, day forare we just want to chill

in the hotel. Day five we fly back already very

short trip, but at least she help us to plan

for day two and day tree. Right, So then day

two we went island hopping and this was the weather

in the morning while waiting at the jetty to go

to the island. Yeah, can you play? Oh, actually, it's

a video. You download it as a PDF. Sorry, so sorry. Okay,

actually their videos embedded in here? Are you able to

show the video or you want? Can three minutes? Oh?

I can actually forward okay.

Not min anyway, I just give me a moment. I

can forward you some of the videos if that helps, okay,

But anyway, this one is just a video to show

that it was raining, like, okay, okay, give me a moment.

Sorry, sorry, let me okay, okay.

Okay, great, great, awesome, awesome, Thank you, Gab, You're amazing.

Okay, yes from here? Also can yes, can can? Can

can one? Okay.

So it was pouring, okay that morning at nine am

and we're supposed to go from the jetty for island hopping.

And we were like, how on earth can this happen?

Right?

And we prayed really hard and we actually managed to

go out to sea and we managed to stop at

the first island. And this was how it looked at

the first island. You can see the next picture. Yeah,

very beautiful island, very big island. Also okay, yes, so

within one hour the sky is just cleared up. Yeah,

And that's God for you. He can do it just

like that. Yeah, and so we managed to go to

island number one, island number two, island number three, and

then we went to island number four. Okay, next island,

Oh I think it was is there the picture before

this island this one? Okay, this is island number four.

Island number four had the best weather. Okay, check it out.

The more blue than clouds in the sky. The water

is like emerald colored, the sand is like yellow white.

And so we sat in one of those boats that

looks something like that, and we had prepeck lunch on

the island.

Yeah, so I was.

I just took a picture of the food and the

background because take right, and I say, okay, you know what,

I'm so hungry, let's eat first. After eating, we will

take a family picture on the island. That was my plan, Loer.

But the family picture never came because in fifteen minutes

the weather turned. Next video, Okay, this is a video actually,

so this is what our boat captains.

Yeah, so it started to pour again.

So the family picture never came on that idyllic island

and okay, don't play this vers So we were so

all so the whole all the hundreds of tories on

the island, right, we all had to scurry into our

boats that were all docked at the sea, maybe about

ten boats by the sea. And the first instruction by

the captains were just wait inside the boat for the

rain to die down, then only we launch out because

it was too heavy a storm to launch back to

the mainland. The mainland was like maybe forty five minutes

one hour away. Yeah, it's that far. And so we

all waited quite quiet inside the boat. Then as we

wait quite long, right, like forty five minutes one hour,

the captains also got restless. They were like, no, I

don't think we can be waiting here forever. What if

the storm, the rain doesn't die down and it gets dark.

Now that island cannot be inhabited by humans, there's no

proper electricity supply, water supply, shelter. Then there were few

hundreds of US tourists. Okay, so no way we would

survive on the island at night. So they decided that, okay,

I think we just have to launch out, you know,

into the sea, through the storm and hope for the best. La.

I mean, this is like people who do not God

loved This is their language that right, this is their

best lingual already, right. But but okay, one thing that

they did recognize is because there were about ten boats

docked by the sea, they say, let's launch out together,

so that if anything happens to one of the boats,

there's the rest to actually help. You See, even the

non Christians know the power of doing life together. Okay,

So church is so important. Friends. You know, our faith

with God is personal, but it's never meant to be

just private. Because if we just choose to live life

and you know what, with Jesus loan, we will become

easy targets for the enemy.

We need to walk with this church. We need to

launch out together.

Okay, So that's the power of doing life together as

a church. Please don't go and grow alone on your

faith journey. It's very dangerous. There's no one to shield you,

support you, save you if you're in trouble. Launch out

together into the sea of life with the rest of

the ships, you know, the people, the community of God

in your life, so that you can have that support,

You can have that shield that's saving grace when you

need to. So we launch out together. I think it

must have been quite a glorious sight, Like ten boats

sort of like launching out together.

I don't know whether it was.

Reformation cur you formation whatever, danj we launch out together, La.

But I know it's quite cooler.

Because I looked on my left, we got another boat there.

I looked to my right, way got another boat there.

Felt quite drama Alla, okay, okay, quite quite cool for

a moment.

Yeah. So then we launched out.

And then this was taken in the middle of the

series video. So it's still raining heavily. Okay, maybe we

can play it one more time. So I was sitting there,

so water was coming in from the rain, water was

coming in from the sea, so both ways water were

coming into the boat. And you see my husband he's

sleeping in the boat and my eldest son. Ay, I know,

I don't I think Sola. I was so scared, Okay,

I was. I was praising and praying away. I sang

every song that had the word storm in it.

I kid you not.

I sang with christ in the vessel we get smart

at the storm. What else did I sink? I sang

the other one our raiser, Hallelujah, I'm gonna sing in

the middle of the storm.

Yeah. I think it was another song or so the

word stomp.

So somehow, right, I just kept worshiping with all the

words storm because like, this is a real storm, and yeah,

you're gonna see us through. And I was praying, I

was praying in thounds, I was praying in understanding. I

was just vigilanta. And then I see my husband sleeping there.

I'm like, whoa, this is too.

Much, way too much.

Okay, yeah, so he was being Jesus last. So then

I toold that moment right to tell so Ezra and

I went next to me, my number two, a number three.

So I told them the story of Jesus in the

boat in the storm with his disciples. I say, you know,

last time, right, Jesus went through something like this, yeah,

and you see thered.

Sleeping there like Jesus. Yeah.

And I was like the disciples like okay. And so

that was quite an interesting moment. But it really taught me,

you know the value of this message that I'm speaking

to you, that even in the middle of the storm,

God can give us rest, so we don't have to

wait for the storms of our lives to be over.

Then only we say finally I can rest.

Now God, let's let's let's let's grow to another level

of maturity and say, Lord, even in the midst of

the storms of life, you can still give me rest

like this like Jesus in the boat with a storm.

Ah yeah, and and praise God. At the end of

that forty five minutes and one hour to one hour,

this is what happened. We reached back safely to the mainland. Yes,

and we got off the boat.

Yeah, safely.

See when we respect the weather just like down. Yeah,

it's crazy okay. And uh so that was our day too.

And that taught me a very important life lesson that

because I'm the kind of person I like every thing

to be settled and done, then only I feel at

peace and rest full. That I learn a very bother

lesson that, No, I can still find rest even when

the world is not done yet, even when you know

things are going on, even when trouble is going on,

I can find my rest in the Lord. So I

don't know how many of you may be going through

just lots in your life. It could be a lot

of date lines, it could be a lot of expectations,

a lot of pressures, maybe a lot of difficulties as

well challenges. But I want to you know, pray and

prophesy that God will give you rest in the midst

of your storm. God will give you rest in the

midst of your storm, and you don't have to wait

for your storm to end.

Then only you find that rest.

Because I think, truth be told, life will usually be

stormy more than sunny. Unfortunately, that's life in a fallen world.

And if you're always going to just wait for things

to be sunny, then you might be quite unhappy most

of your life.

So you want to you want to find God's kind

of joy is.

To be able to rest even in the midst of

the storms of your life, no matter how often they come.

So I learned a really border life lesson then, and

God sealed it with all the salt water that I swallowed.

I kid you know, I was swallowing a lot of

salt water and rainwaters. I was sitting there right, and

so it was like, Okay, God, this is stealed. I'm

learning this lesson. Yes I'm tasting it in my mouth. Yes, okay,

all right now. And so even for me, the past

two months haven't been easy after this trip, I mean,

this trip was a very relaxing trip for sure, and

I think I know why because God was preparing me

for the next few months that were totally the opposite

of this trip. So this trip was end August so

September October. It was really quite a stretching two months.

Lots of drama things have but in my life, what

were some of the drama as well?

Our helper.

We had a filipido helper for a number of years

in my home. My parents blessed our family with it

because I have tree kids and I still work full

time and i'm you know, serving in church, so they

thought I needed the extra help. So they were ver

kind to actually hire a maid for us. And she's

been such a blessing. But time has come for her

to go back because she just got married and her

husband wants her back by his side, and I totally

understand it.

I said, please go.

You know your husband needs you, and I think it's

high time that our family learns to be more independent

without you. I want my kids to learn housework, I

wanted them to learn life skills.

Yeah, and I also.

Wanted to have my personal space back in that sense,

So it was good time. Okay, So it was a

good sent off. She went back, but it was adjustment

for our family to learn to take on the house

fully without a helper. Yeah, with our schedules. So that

was already stretching. And all the parents here, yeah, you know, right,

you gotta pack your recessor and recess to all the

different clothes different days. I know, you lay shaking your

head up and down, left, right, center. You know, you

know how I feel. Sometimes the laundry haven't drying time

yet for that day's uniform, you know. Yeah, yeah, man,

just Jesse is just varied or just weary it. I know,

I know, I know we've done that. Yeah, okay, so yeah,

no joke, man, you mean parents are schoolgoing kids. Okay,

must make sure there's enough food for them, enough clothes

for them.

A homo diary is sign yeah.

Prepare for the show and tell the assessments, right, Okay, Sorry,

sorry I'm reminding you on Monday on Sunday.

I'm sorry, sister, Why is real life? I feel you too?

Okay, yeah, and so these stretching right then, on top

of that, I got into a car accident as well. Yeah,

and this one really is not my fault. The person

banged me, and okay, the person banged me and he

wanted to bully me la basically because he's this big

guy and I'm this smaller lady, and he tried to

bully me. Right, But I really thank God that God

send an angel in disguise in the form of another

burly guy, and he stood up for me. He said,

I saw what happened, and he told that guy who

tried to bully me and she you're in the wrong.

Ah. Then he also got scared. Then he backed off.

Yeah ayah, so don't massive God's children.

Okay, yes, he will stand up for us one.

When you think you are being bullied, God will send

someone to defend you. Really, so that happened, But there

was also a bit shaking from me. So when I

go back to that same spot, right, I'm like, it's

a replay my age. This happened the last time that

I've been like, okay, Lord, just heal me of that trauma,

like in that sense. Then I burned my finger. I

know it's so weird, but I what was I doing.

I was just doing housework, and I think I was thinking.

I was having a lot of things on my mind,

and I forgot that I bought the electric cattle, so

I went to go and touch it like that, thinking

it was unbought water that slups.

You know, it was painful, painful. Yeah, so what else?

Then my my family, they started to take them to

fall sick from passa jet and then my kids one

by one influenza a yeah, and different things like so.

And then not only that work, you know a lot

of big daylines to meet, and then ministry somehow a

lot of ministry demands as well. During these two months,

I traveled quite a bit, yeah, to support our global plants.

So everything coming together was really stretching for me in

the past two months. Yeah, and but I thank God

for this lesson learned that Jill, even in the midst of.

Your storms, I will give you rest. I will give

you rest.

So I had to just keep running back to God,

uh and spending time with him and of course making

physical you know rest as well. But yeah, he did

just give me that pocus of rest to renew me

to keep taking the next step and then stretch tired again. Okay,

go back to God, renew me to take the next step.

And it kept repeating itself. So he really goes true

to his word, like he gave me the rest that

I needed in the midst of my storms.

Yeah, and so okay, where are we now?

Okay, So okay, let's go on to the first point, right,

doctor Dan, What time do I have to end by?

No?

No, no, I want to honor time. Okay, I want

to honor time. Yes, yes, yeah, I know we're having

too much fun. Yeah but okay, okay, can can can can? All?

Right? After this, we will we'll move on. Okay.

So the first point that I want to I got

four points to share from the life of Noah. The

first point is to obey God in every season of

our lives. Okay, to obey God in every season of

our lives. And when I talk about season, yes it's age,

and yes, it's also situation and time. Okay, Now what

do I mean by this? Let's look at Genesis chapter five,

verse thirty two. Genesis chapter five, verse thirty two. Okay,

here it says after Noah was five hundred years old,

Noah fathered shem Ham and Jeffith. Okay, so just remember

at this point, Noah was five hundred years older and

he had his three sons.

Okay.

Then we jumped to Genesis chapter nine, verse twenty nine, Genesis,

chapter nine, verse twenty nine. Here it says all the

days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years and

he died nine hundred and fifty years. So we first

read that when Noah was five hundred years old he

fathered the three sons, Shamham and Jefford.

Okay, and then.

We later read that he died at nine hundred and

fifty years old. Wow, if we can just live ten

percent of his life spent at ninety five years old,

I think, very good already, right.

Who hasn't lived a ninety five years? And none of

you are? Oh, you want to go back to Heaven?

Is it Earth? Is that terrible a place? You want

to go back to Heaven?

Now?

Okay?

Okay, okay, very good, very good? Wow, amazing, very interesting.

My prayer together with passer Jack is that yeah, God

will help us to live at least to eighty on earth,

simply because we feel that there's still so much work to.

Be done for God. Yeah.

So I think I remember one of our wedding anniversaries,

maybe not the recent one, but the previous one. This

was really our prayer to the Lord, like Lord, keep

us healthy so that we can live to at least eighty,

and if you take one of us home, please take

the other one home as well soon after that. Yeah,

but we say, Lord, we still want to do so

much more for you on earth. So Lord, we asked

that you bless us with a longer life, but also

we want to be healthy and not sickly. And if

one of us goes, please take the other one because

I think we can't bear to live without each other

as well. Yeah, so there was one of our wedding

aniversary prayers unto the Lord. So yeah, okay, so imagine

with Mia. So Noah died and nine hundred and fifty

years old, and he fathered the three Sons at five

hundred years old, and soon after he fathered the three Sons,

God called him to build the Ark. So technically Noah

would have been sort of like in the middle of

his life when God asked him to build the Ark, right,

and he did it. And so I want to challenge

us here today because I think here majority our young

working adults, we've got some families, right, some adults here.

But if you are so.

In today's age, probably I would say Noah was between

thirty and forty years old when God asked him to

build the ark. How many of you yere are between

thirty to forty you raise your hands. That's half of

half of what the teen thirty here actually, so half

of you are literally in Moses' in Moses Noah's age

group when God called him to build the Ark. So

my question is, if God asked you to do something

radical today like Noah, would.

You do it? And would scary?

Right? And that's says honestly, the first reaction is scary,

but you may never see Noah in the same light again,

because yeah, he was at his mid life when God

called him to build the Ark. So for those of

you who are in your mid life or getting there,

what would you do if God called you to build

your arc? How would you respond? How many of you

here you grew up in Sunday School raise your hands?

Okay? Two thirds majority or three quarters majority? Okay?

So I take it as you you were exposed to

Jesus from quite young Sunday.

School, youth campus and all.

How many of you you think you feel that you

have done pretty great things for God.

Just raise your hands.

Don't be shying, come on, just raise your hands.

Okakay, okay, babe, that's too big a question. Okay.

How many of you? Okay, oh, very humble, you got

very humble before, You're very humble, very humbled. How many

of you have have obeyed God loud and he asked

you to do something small or big?

You feel you've obeyed God? Okay?

Good?

Good, good?

Also quite a lot of hands, okay, okay, okay, Obelians

is great? What?

Yeah, you've done great things? Okay? Now, so how many

of you? I mean?

So, I'm thinking, like, even for me, I grew up

in Sunday school, right, and I think there are times.

That I've obeyed God.

Of course there are times I have not obeyed God,

and I think, okay, I've done some you know, good

or great things for God. And now I am forty

one this year, right, and I'm thinking, God, if you

were to ask me like Noah to do something radical

to build an ask for you in this day age,

will I still do it? And not? Because it's like

I kind of have seen it, done it all for

you already. Am I still willing to do something new

and radical for you at this stage of my life?

Or am I going to say naw, I'm past that

stage already. I've seen it, I've done it, I've tasted

it all. I think the next generation should be the

one doing it. So there was a personal conviction, Jill,

would I build an art for God if he asked me?

Because that's my age group is when Noah was asked

to build an ark. So there's a question I want

to leave with you. Don't rest in your past glories? Yeah,

would you build God? And ask afresh? If you were

to come to you today, being in your thirties, your forties,

your fifties, your sixties, I want to just basically encourage

you to obey God in every season. Because Noah was

at his midlife when he open God. He wasn't a

young guy. He was at midlife already. But yet God

will still come to him say, Noah, will you do

something fresh for me? So I believe God will challenge

each of us here. Will we do something fresh for

him at our stage of life. Though we may be older,

though we may have seen and done a lot, don't

grow too old or too cold for God?

Amen?

Amen something I'll live with you, Okay. Next point number two,

we can walk for God because we walk with him,

we can walk for God because we walk with him. Now,

walking for God and walking with Him are two very

different things, and Pastor cannot say this. Earlier in our

ex Leaders conference this year, for those of you who

were there, he was saying, don't just walk for God.

Do a lot of things to say of God, do

a lot of things to lead for God, but please

walk with him. Make sure you have a personal relationship

with God. I can be serving all I want, but

not actually walking with God, not actually having a quiet

time with God. And sooner or later it's going to

find me out. I will not be able to sustain

my ministry if I don't have my secret place with God.

And so Noah was able to walk for God. Let

mes build the ark because Noah walked with God in

the five hundred years before that. Okay, yes, oh, thank you.

If we look at Genesis chapter six, verse.

Nine.

Okay, Genesis chapter six, verse nine, it says, these are

the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless

in his generation. Noah walked with God. And in the

verses before that, basically the Bible talks about how evil

everyone else was and how they didn't walk with God.

But in this verse it shows how different Noah was

that he was righteous, and not only that, the most

important ingredient is that he walked with God. He walked

with God personally. So I know that we can be

very faithful in serving and leading here right in church.

But I want to also encourage us and caution us

that we need to have a personal walk with God

and not just a public ministry for God. If not,

there really isn't any real substance that will keep you going. Yeah,

and so even as the year drafts to an end,

you know, I want to encourage you to continue to,

you know, keep going in your quiet time with the Lord.

If it's kind of slowed down or taken a pause,

you can get back to it. No condemnation when Okay,

you can just get back to it. It's as simple

as just making time, picking up the Word of God,

opening it, reading it, praying, talking to God.

That's it.

Yeah, no condemnation. God would rather have you come back

to Him than stay afar from him. Okay, So yeah,

continue to you know, get back to your quiet time

and keep it going, keep it growing, all right?

Okay.

The third point is when we obey God, we open

doors for others to know him. When we obey God,

we open doors for others to know Him. Now, if

you look at Genesis, you can just take this down. Okay,

Genesis chapter six, verse eleven to verse twenty one. I'm

not going to read through the whole scripture, but basically,

Genesis chapter eleven all the way to twenty one tells

us how God instructed Noah to build the ark, how high,

how wide, how deep, how many levels, what kind of wood?

And also God instructed Noah what kind of animals to

take into the arc? Yeah, and did you know that

it's not just a pair.

Of every animal.

Yeah, for the clean animals is actually seven of each kind.

For the unclean animals, it was a pair each.

But this children's story will always draw two by two, right,

But actually the clean animals is seven because after the flood,

God actually called Noah to sacrifice some of the clean animals.

After God does something great, normally the people of God

will be and altered and sacrifice unto the Lord as

a thanksgiving. Okay, So that now we jump to verse

twenty two. Genesis chapter six, verse twenty two, and this

is the first mention of obedience in the life of Noah.

It says, Noah did this, He did all that God

commanded him. And this is the first mention of obedience

in the Bible. For those of you who are Bible scholars,

you love first mentions. Let me show you when obedience

was first mentioned in the world of God. It's in Genesis,

chapter six, verse twenty two, when it says, does Noah

did according to all that God commanded him?

So he.

That in essence is obedience, doing all that God us

us to do. And this is the first mention of

obedience in the world of God. So Noah was the

first man of God that was mentioned as being obedient.

Not Adam, not even.

Able who brought the choices sacrifice, but Noah, the ninth

generation from Adam. It took nine generations for men to

learn how to be obedient. The first and eight didn't

get it. Sometimes it takes tim for us to be obedient.

But it's okay, just keep going. Just delayed obedience is

still obedience.

Okay.

But I pray we don't have to take too long

to grow in obedience. Yeah, okay, Now, how many of

you can visualize the in real life? You know it says, okay,

just to give a clue.

Right.

The length of the art is three hundred cubits, its

breath is fifty cubits.

Its height is thirty cubits.

So it's definitely long, and the height and the breath

is about the same close to each other. But can

you actually visualize how the art would look like in

this day and time. Let me tell you that someone

actually built a life sized up in America and it's

in the state of Kentucky, and it's built by a

Christian man by the name of Canham. And he wanted

to show the world that the Bible is real, and

he wanted the world to experience the reality of the

world of God through a real life sized arc. So

I'm going to show Gabriel is going to play a video.

Just have a look. So it's now turning to sort

of like a museum and I don't know, theme park,

yeah in Kentucky, US. Okay, a life size arc. They

all may know.

It's not people why the same degree are white and

very people and you know, like it's say people name,

but the system there's.

Right, people all right, amazing right? I can see in

some eyes next holiday destination a few years down the rona. Yeah, yeah,

But anyway, I'm so proud of you, know, mister Ken

for actually building such a thing that will help the

world to know God's worth more true experiential learning. So

it's amazing. But you think about it in this day

and age. Actually, this has been the largest wooden boat

by far. Yeah even Titanic. Yeah, cannot fight and still

it sank. And so in those days, right, nine generations,

the nine generations are human to build such a big boat,

I think it's crazy, Lah, Yeah, but Noah still did it. Nevertheless,

So what is this crazy thing that God might ask

you to do.

For your life? Now?

What arc may he ask you to build? I pray

that you will respond with the Noah spirit that yes,

this is crazy, it is scary, but let's do it together. Lord,

let's do it together, all right, Because when we obey God,

we open doors for ourselves to be blessed, for sure,

but more than that, we open doors for others to

know Him. It's because Noah built the Ark that you

and I are alive today. If there was no Ark,

there's no U and I because the human population would

not live until this day and age.

We will all be wiped out by the flood.

So when Noah obeyed, we got to know Jesus. How

about when you obey, who gets to know Jesus? That's

my question for you, all right. And the final point

is following God's timing is an important part of obeying him.

I know now we're also rowled up right. Yes, God,

I want to obey you so that people can come

to know you. I want to do it now, now, now, now, now.

But then I want to also caution you that we

need to follow God's timing. You obeying him when he

says go, we go, when he says stop, we stop,

when he says wait, we wait. We got to follow

God's timing and not our timing. Okay, And that's what

Noah did. You know. Noah already built the Ark, but

he didn't know when to enter the ark because he

didn't know when the flood was going to come. So

after building the Ark, he still had to wait for

God's timing. God, do I go in?

Now? Do I go in? Next week? Next month? When

do I go in?

So Noah had to listen to God, and then God

did tell him in Genesis chapter seven, verse one to

verse five. You know, yeah, this is when God says

then the Lord said to Noah, come into the Ark,

you and all your household, and then the rest of

the animals and all. And then we jump verse five

Genesis chapter seven, verse five, And Noah did according to

all that the Lord commanded him. So God had to

give Noah the exact timing when to come in, and

Noah followed that timing. How about the going out right

in Genesis chapter eight, verse thirteen, this is one hundred

this is one year later. Actually, so they were in

lockdown in the ark for one year with animals and

their purpose. Can you imagine being locked down for one

year with animals? I mean, humans are really tough enough,

right with yourself? Alreally tough enough, right? Remember not those

days mc ol days? Yeah, gosh, how did we go

to those days? They were literally under lockdown with animals

and themselves for one year, nowhere to run and hide.

And so one year later, in the six hundred and

first year, in the first month, the first day of

the month, when the waters were dried up, Noah removed

the covering of the ark and looked, and indeed the

surface of the ground was dry. Noah started to do

his research. Is it time to come out? Yet they

be going to verse Yeah. And then only in the

next month the earth dried out more. Next then only

God said to Noah, now now go out of the

ark with your family and all the animals. See, although

Noah started to do his research on when to go out,

he still had to wait for God's timing. Noah was

a man of research as well. He opened the cover

of the art and looked, oh, you know, the ground

is dry. Then again in the second month, oh, it's

even drier. Then after that only got to him, now

only you go out. So we really got to go

with God's timing and not our human research timing, because

Noah also did this research. But he still went with

God's timing in the end, all right, And then finally

they all came out right. And then he built an

alter and gave thanks to God. And so these are

the four points that I want to share with us. Basically. Firstly,

like Noah, to obey God in every season of our lives,

even if we think we have done a lot and

experienced a lot in our lives for God. Secondly is

to actually continue to walk with God so.

That you can walk for him.

Thirdly is to obey God so that others can know

him as well. And fourth is to choose to obey

him in his timing and not in our own timing.

Yeah, And I just want.

To share a testimony as the wrap up story to this,

which sort of like encapsulates all these learning points. So

this was day tree of our trip in Krabbi. They

tow us the Stormy Sea.

Day tree.

We went to the jungle and we went to different

natural watering holes. So we got to see like an

emerald colored lake. It's emerald in color because of the

moss that grows by the in the lake. Okay, so

it's literally a nice emerald color. And then we hiked

into the jungle a bit and we reached the blue lagoon.

So this is called the blue lagoon.

It is a little lagoon and the base of the

lagoon looks like blue colored chalk, looks like blue colored

chalk does, and when you clap your hands, the water

will ripple.

Yeah.

So it's really a beautiful sight to be whole. And

then there was also hot springs yeah as well, and

rivers and all. But to me, this was my personal favorite,

the blue lagoon, because I've never seen something like this before.

Were beautiful. Who can deny God? Right Tree's creation? And

actually so. But the one caution is we cannot jump

into it and swim because it's actually quick sand ah,

it's actually quicksand at the bottom of the blue lagoon,

so not all that glitters.

Is goal beware. Yeah. But anyways, so this was day Tree.

And now the interesting thing that happened on Day Tree

was so before we got to the jungle and all

these watering holes, we had to go with the twelve N.

And as I stepped into the twelve N and sat down,

there was a seat next to me. And I was

just hoping no one will sit next to me because

I just wanted my me time.

I told you before that.

I was just so busy leading up to the trip,

couldn't even pland itinerary. And as much of an extrovert

as I am, I really just crave for just some

alone me time. Don't want to see anyone, don't want

to talk to anyone, and just let me have my

mean time, right, And then suddenly a lady came to

sit next to me. Next picture, and this is the

final picture. Now this was taken at the end Lowe,

not at the start of the journey.

At the start, I all looks like happy. Okay. Yeah,

So at the start she came and she sat next

to me.

Now, this name her name, this lady, her name is

called Nicole. Nicole is a German lady who is based

in Spain at the moment.

She's a mom.

She has a teenage son that wore the same combination

of simsu as my husband on that day. So there

was another picture of two of them standing together, white

top and rate bottoms.

Very interesting.

I don't know how that memo got out, but anyways, Yeah,

so Nicole came to sit next to me, and I

really didn't feel like talking to her, so I tried

to pretend to be like half asleep or looking out

checking my phone. And then finally the Holy said, Jill,

make friends with Nicole.

I'm like, ha, do I really have to our? God?

You know, I feel so tired already. I just want

to break right then. But the prompting was so strong,

Holy Space Sage just introduced your name, that's Curtesy, right, Yeah,

so I introduced my said, oh, hi, you know, I'm Jill,

and what's your name? And then before you knew it,

we were talking for the rest of the journey to

the jungle.

It was a one and a half hour journey, so

we were talking non.

Stop, were getting to know each other, found out, you know,

like pretty much about all of our lives, love, and

then we went to the jungle. We were together for

some parts, separated at some parts, and this was coming

back from the jungle.

We talked for another one and a half hours. So

how many hours did I talk?

For?

Three hours non stop?

And I say, I was tired, right, I didn't want

to talk, right, But when God gives you the strength,

you can do it.

You can do it. That's all I want to say.

But to me, the highlight was the last half and

maybe the last half an hour of the drive because

as we were approaching our hotels, the Holy Spray again

prompted me. Jill offered to pray for Nicole, and I'm like, hah, God, Marsa,

I just made friends with her. That's what you asked

me to do, right enough, flah, And I'm like, but

then again, you know, the Holy Spirit wouldn't let me

go until I obeyed, So I'm like, okay, God, I

will do it now. At the point in time, I

didn't know whether Nicole had any faith in God or not.

We had talked about a lot of things, even about

my faith, but we had not touched the topic of

her faith, so that was still a mystery to me.

And so I just say, hey, Nicole, we're going to

reach our hotel soon. And you know that I'm a

Christian and I work. We've got daily I hear his

voice clearly, and right now God is asking me to

pray for you. You can I pray for you? And

I was ready for a big no, actually, but to

my surprise, she said sure. She was very, very open,

and before I prayed for her, I felt led to

ask Nicole, do you believe in any God? And she said, actually,

I grew up in a Protestant Christian family in Germany.

But then when I went to university, I got married,

I yeah, had a kid, was busy at work. Life

just happened, and I stopped going to church. And I

think I have been away from God. And I said, Nicole,

I really don't think that our meeting is a coincidence.

How can it be.

I'm from Malaysia, you are from Spain, Germany, and we're

meeting here in Thailand on this very trip yeah, that

I really did not really plan for. I say, I

believe that it's really a god orchestrated, you know, appointment,

a divine appointment that God brought us together in such

a special way. And I believe that God is calling

you back to his side, Nicole, I felt. I felt

the bonus love to say that. And then she was

like tears were welling up in her eyes. And then

we prayed, and because we had chatted for three hours,

then I knew what to pray for. Ah, so God

was setting me up ready without me knowing. Yes, But

on top of that, the Holy Spirit added on so like,

for example, I knew that, okay, she had this particular

need in her family.

I prayed for it.

But as I prayed, the Holy Spirit added on prophetic prayers.

That means I didn't just pray for the immediate need

to be met, but I prayed for the long term.

What what what do we want? What does God want

to see in the long term?

Right?

Yeah, And so I thank God for the extra grace

to do that, to pray for the immediate need, but

also for the bigger picture. And so we spent about

maybe ten minutes praying, and after that ten minutes, you know,

I opened my eyes. I mean I was holding her

hand throughout the ten minutes, and when she opened her eyes,

she was really like almost in tears. And she said, Jill,

I can you see my goose bumps? And she showed

me her four arm. Can you see my hair standing

right now? And I said yeah. She says, I'm feeling

goose bumps right now because I can really feel God

with us as we were praying. And she said, I've

not felt this before. And I said, that's God for you.

I believe God is with us right here right now

as we pray, and God draws near to you and

he is calling you back to his side. And she says,

I really think so too. So after that she began

to ask me more about EX Church and that was

the weekend that we were launching EX Germany. Yeah, and

so I connected her with Dories and yeah, I'm still

falling out with her, you know. But the thing is

she stays in Spain, but her home country is Germany.

But still, just to make that connection, I think it's precious. Yeah,

And so I believe a seat has been planted in

Nicole's life to know that God is real and God

is calling her back to his side even through a

holiday trip.

And so that also.

Spoke to me, like, hey, when I go on holiday

for myself or my family, I am still to obey

God even in that season and step of my life.

You know, sometimes, right we go for holiday, we leave

Jesus behind because we work so hard for Jesus already. Right,

we say, God, let me have my Holidayla, I come

back and then I'll do more work for you. But

God wants to follow you on your holiday, you know, Yes,

So just be open, just be open to God speaking

to you and moving through you, even in your holidays. Yeah,

and I came back, I will and He really blessed

the rest of that holiday trip. You know, every moment

was just such a blessing to our family. We had

enough fun, we had enough good food, we're enough relaxation

at a good price, Like every blessing was in place.

But then it wasn't just that. We came back with

a story to tell. And so that's when you obey

Jesus in every season of your life, you are blessed,

others are blessed.

It's a double aged sword. So I just want to

encourage you.

You know thirteen thirty to continue to obey God in

every season and every step, because you will definitely be blessed,

no doubt about that. But others will also be blessed

because they get to know Jesus through you.

Amen.

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

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God bless