Making Room for God | Pr Steven Soon

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

We hope this message will light up your tea.

I won't before I talk about the topic. I just

want to share this right as an illustration. I'm a

planner by nature. People who know me, who work with

me long enough, we know that I need to plan

everything out. You know. I leave my life first by

the word of God and second by my calendar. If

I don't have calendar, I feel very lost. All right.

So the thing is, I used to plan my schedule

back to back, just as short as a few years ago.

Everything is back to back, appointments, back to back. You

can show this light now. This is how my schedule

looks like a few years ago. All right, every day everything,

I will pack it up back to back so that

I can maximize productivity. Oh man, people nowadays worship productivity.

It's like it's something that is very, very praised for

people to be as productive as they can. So this

was me last time. All right. My schedule is more

or less a little bit better now, But this was

how I plan my schedule. I plan it even down

to the minutes. This includes my travel time. I will

calculate my travel time. Okay, from this place today, it's

ten minutes, so I can have my appointment at this time.

It sounds great, but there's one flaw in my schedule.

I realize I have no room for error. That means, ah,

if anything were to happen along the journey, that's it.

My rest of the day, all my plans gone case,

I won't make it for my appointment. And I used

to plan right like everything is very close to one another. Really,

no room for changes, no room for unforeseen circumstances, all right.

And then I had to learn, actually, I cannot pack

my schedule like that. So there was even one time

I think, hey, oh, afterward, I got this time, from

this time to this time, I can have this meeting.

And then because the next meeting is online, I can

start it earlier so I can have it while I'm

in the car, you know, zooma right in the car

and all that. But I forgot I'm human, I'm not

a machine. I forgot that I can also get tired,

so I left no room for that, and uh, and

I had to learn as an illustration, I had to

learn that I have to make room for unforeseen changes.

I'm going to segue to. Now I got your attention.

I'm going to seguey to the topic for today. It's

making room not for changes, but for God. I pray

that this year will be a year we will make

room for God twenty twenty five. I don't know what

plans you have already. Some of you already planned out

your resolutions. Some of you have already planned up for

your you know your goals for the year. You know,

but I pray that one of our key goals this

year will be making room for God. Let us pray.

Thank you, Lord, Father Law. I thank you Lord for today.

I thank you Lord for every single person that's here, Lord,

that is faithful coming to church, honoring the Sabbath and

learning from your word, hearing from your word. I prayer God, Lord,

even as I share the word, if you, as you

have ministered to meet through this, that everyone here will

be ministered as well. May I be your mouth, peaceful Lord.

May every word that proceeds from my mouth be off

you and from you. Thank you, Lord, pray all this

in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Talking about making room for God,

I just want to share a little story of my

childhood growing up. You know how many of you grow

up as a kid love giving gifts to friends and

your parents. You always go and past your parents, Me,

my friend's birthday next week? Can I go buy something?

All right? Any of you have that kind of childhood? Noah,

he then you guys can relate to me, have severe

probicuant relate. So she grew up with, you know, being

able to give gifts, which is a good thing. I

want to share a little bit about something that interesting

bit about my childhood. So when I grew up right,

every time it came to Christmas, right, I'll be very excited.

I would tell my parents, me and these more men

towards my teenage years, Mamy, can I buy presents? Can

go to the market, you bring me the mot by

presence for my friends in church, in church, some more

in all friends in church. Then my mom and they're

go like, ah, don't need la. If you buy for them,

then they buy for you, and then you PI say

you buy for them again, and then they buy for you.

Why so trouble. I'm not joking. This was really the

conversations I had growing up. So I grew up. One

thing too, is by my favorite thing? A Yeah? Why

so trouble. You guys friends understand you guys are good friends.

O Katie La, you buy them? I say, by Chinese

New Year, same thing, foul. Some some of some parents

here will will notice, Hey, we prepare first in case

someone give that we can give back to their kids.

They give to our children. Right. So I grew up

with that kind of uh thinking, uh that you know, Oh,

buying gifts will bring trouble. You know it will bring

so so like sort of like this kind of friendship.

If I have friendship friend, I don't need to buy gifts.

Are they quite? Low maintainance friendship? It's a term nowadays,

low maintainance friendship. Okay, don't need to see every day,

don't need to see every week, once every two years, still

can be good friends. Right, you guys heard this before, right,

So almost like these friendships what I had in high

school is maintained through the bad minimum effort. Niki, what

what fossil troublesome? Right? So we're gonna look at you know,

you know, the first point I want to bring across

is this the bad minimum mindset. It's gonna connect to

making room for God. And you're gonna see that in

a bit. All right, the bear if you're taking notes,

the first point is this the bare minimum mindset? What

in the world is a bare minimum mindset? We're gonna

look at scripture. If you can't, turn to your Bibles

with me to Second Kings for eight to seventeen. Second

Kings for eight to seventeen. Fleep, open mind. All right,

if you're there, say amen, right, and not very convincing,

but I have faith in you guys, Trust that you

guys are there. All right, Second Kings for eight to seventeen.

We won't go through all of that scripture there, but

just ill up that so that you can refer every

time I share something. Okay, We're just gonna look at

some parts of the scripture that I'm gonna highlight, Okay,

So I'm just gonna give you an overall context of

what's happening here. So there was a woman, a wealthy

woman in town who hosted profit Elisha for males. Every

time Profet Elisha comes to town. All right, the prophet

always goes down to town to deliver God's word. Right,

So every time he passes this town, the wealthy we

want to go, hey, come let me host you for

a male let me make sure you have something to eat, right,

So every time that happens for prophet Elisha. And then

one day she had a bright idea. She told her husband, Hey,

every once in a while he comes, why not instead

just you know, by like preparing a male for him?

And I'm sure they will prepare a good meal for him.

Why not let's build him a room to stay. I'm

going to pause there. Some of you with you are

already thinking this is crazy.

Here.

This woman already holds the prophet for a male? Is

she quite nice? Idea? They didn't have to. It is

not a commandment of the Lord that they are to

host the prophet every time they are in town. But

yet this woman goes, let's build a room in our

house for this prophet. And if you look at scripture,

I think the husband then question a husband, really when

to build? And then you know, not just a bad room,

but with furnitures, with a bed, with a table, with

a limstand. You know. So that was what happened. Again,

she was already nice enough to prepare meals all of

us here. If she only did that, we will say,

well done, wealthy woman. You're so kind to God's you know,

God's chosen God's prophet, so she didn't actually have to

build a room above her house a bad in mind.

This is not just something more. It's not just let's

send him to the airport or in this case, let's

rent him a donkey. It's not something as simple as that.

It's a renovation that she went through. Yeah. How many

of us you have done renovations at home before? Some? Yes, yes, Yeah.

Renovation is messy work. Yeah, it's not just building. It's

the cleaning that kills you. Right, the find us that

you wipe three for all times, it's still there, and

then three months later you realize they still find us

behind certain furnature. It's messy work. And back then they

don't have electric appliances to use to renovate. Everything is

manual labor. Why go through such inconvenience when she already

did so much by feeding the profit and not just that.

When you're doing renovations in your house, you have to

make adjustments to your lifestyle. You have to move things

out so that you know you can walk on certain parts.

Your house will get clattered for a period of time.

You have to make adjustments. And again, this prophet is

not there every day once in a while he passes

by the town. Why go through all that trouble to

build a room for prophet elijhah. But you know, out

all this, interestingly, I'm sure the woman didn't think much

about what she can get in written, because in the

world of God says you know, if you read a scripture.

She told her husband, this is a godly man, let's

do this for him. She wasn't expecting anything in Writturn,

and in fact, she was wealthy. She didn't need anything.

What can the prophet do for me? I have everything,

But out of the kindness of my heart, this is

a godly man, I'm going to do this for him.

But little did she know that because she did that

for the prophet, she actually opened doors to miracles. We're

gonna look at verse eleven to seventeen, and this is

the part that I will read. Okay, so you follow

along with me. Second Kings, Chapter four, verse eleven to seventeen.

One day, Elisha returned to Shunam. This is the place

where the wealthy woman stayed. And he went up to

this upper room that the woman and the husband built

for him to rest. Right, he said to his servant, Gahazi,

tell all the women from Schumann, I want to speak

to her. When she appeared, Elisha asked. Elisha said to Gahazi,

tell her, we appreciate the kind concern you have shown us.

What can we do for you? Can we put in

a good word for you to the king or to

the commander of the army. You know what a woman said, No,

my family takes good care of me. She has no

need of anything. So that's how I knew she didn't

expect anything. In Writurn later in verse fourteen, later Eliza

asked Ghazi, what can we do for her? Ghausi replied, Oh,

she doesn't have a son, and her husband is an

old man. No better, old man built a room. You know,

it's a lot of work. Verse fifteen. Call her back again,

Elijha told him. When the woman returned, Elisha said to her,

as she stood in the doorway, next year at this time,

you'll be holding a son in your arms. She didn't

even ask for this, but yet Elijah boldly prophesied that

she will have a son. And then she cried, no, oh,

my Lord, oh Man of God, don't deceive me and

get my hopes out like that. But Sure enough, the

woman soon became pregnant and at that time the following year,

she had a son. Just as Elishah had said. The

conversation did not happen when she was hosting Elisha for

a meal. The conversation did not happen when Elisha just

passed by their house. The conversation where Elisha asked his servant,

what can we do for this woman? Happened in the

room when he went up to rest. The wealthy woman,

without knowing what kind of that possy she's doing or

she's making, created a room out of wanting to honor

this man and to honor God, not knowing what will

actually not even not knowing. She wasn't even expecting anything.

Yet God knew her desires that she didn't even then

mention her desire to have a child. And because she

went that extra mile, actually two extra moles, one mile

to feed the prophet, second mount to build a room,

God gave her a miracle. Many times, when we are believers,

especially when we are in a comfortable place, we always say, hey,

we have done enough. Really don't need you to do more? Right,

don't you do so much? And many times it's justified

you know, people look at you. People will go like, yeah,

you have already served, Yeah, you have already done this

for people, look out for people. Okay, if you don't

do more, we understand it totally justified. Well, I really

appreciate it. I hope you guys know. I'm not trying

to get you guys to serve. That's not the main point.

I hope you guys can. But my main point is

not so much on trying to take off checklists, but

the posture we have towards God. That's what I'm trying

to get that. When we asked the question of I

have done enough? Why do I have to do more? Right,

it's actually the question is not about how much we do,

but the posture of our hearts. Let me give you

an example. Sometimes you go, I did this already, Okla,

So we have like a ledger, I've really done this. Okay,

don't you do more? But yet, you see, if the

if the wealthy woman had that kind of perspective, she

wouldn't have built the room. I believe the perspective she

had was what more can I do for this man?

It's not about how much have I done? Didn't I

do this? Already, but it was what more can I do?

You see the different mindset she wasn't calculating. When we

are in the mindset of I already did this, it

was it is a calculative mindset. And this is where

I want to talk about it. It's the bad minimum mindset.

I've already done this. Sometimes at work, this is not

part of my JD. I already did really the things

that I need to do right, And sometimes we translate

this to God, God, I did this already a right Kaila,

Enough really La. But you see, when we have a

bad minimum mindset, things will remain stet the school maintenance mode.

It will never go above. There will never be more.

When we start doing more for others, you'll find, right,

especially in friendships relationships, When we start doing more for others,

you start to see the relationships grow. Right. I'm not

just saying about buying things, not just material, but when

you start checking in on your friends a little bit more.

If you don't do it, it's understandable, right, Everyone have

their own schedules and are busy, But when you do it,

you're actually depositing into the relationship in the same way.

That was what the woman was doing. She didn't didn't

even realized she was depositing unto the Lord. She was

just Okay, my mind says, what more can I do?

If I can do it, I'll do it right. It

wasn't calculative anymore. It wasn't what can this prophit do

for me? It was okay, this is, by the main fact,

a godly man. I want to honor this man. I

want to honor God. Let me see what more can

I do? I pray that this year we will have

that mindset. And again I'm just talking about serving. Is

our posture and response towards God? God? What more can

I do for you? Right? As parents, you're constantly thinking

about that for your children? What more can I do

for my kids? Is there something that can help them

develop better? Is there something that can help them grow stronger?

Is there certain time of food that I can give

them more? They will help them build up the immune system.

Parents won't go and calculate the case. He I give

you me a powder enough Christmas, give you give idie birth.

They still need to give you may one give very

good ideo. I don't think as parents we will do that, right?

But what is our posture? Towards God. And this is

the conviction I had. If you would like to experience

God in a deeper, greater measure, we need to change

our mindset. We cannot have a bad minimum mindset. Can

you imagine if God started to be calculative with us

habits God, we will never make the cut. But we

know that God always gives his best. And I'm sure

God always think about what more can I do for

this child of mine? What more can I do for

this son of mine? This? But yet sometimes we are

the ones they are like God, I already did this already,

my in Ala, this was me three years back. I

experienced something similar when I when God put into my

heart to plan a church, to plant XPU. In my head,

I wrestled a bit because I'm like God, I'm very busy.

I have so many things to do, and my parents

say the same thing. You don't have enough to do us.

They want to find more things to do. That's what

my parents told me, Actually, you don't have enough to

do with it. Why are you trying to find more things

to do? And that was what I thought for a

brief moment, But in my heart, I'm like, Okay, if

God asked me to do it. Let me just do it.

And today, you know what's an amazing thing that happened

when I did it. I saw the cause of what

I'd be sacrificing. But I didn't know what God will

bless me with. I didn't know. It wasn't part of

my equation. I just do it, do it. But today

I'm so glad that I obeyed God. I did that

more for God because many of you. I have a

really precious relationship with you, guys that I never expected

to happen. I wouldn't have expected. So is there something

that God may be prompting you to say? Can you

do this a little bit more? For me? And the

truth is, the bad minimum mindset will not bring us far.

You see the will A woman literally made room for God.

Now it comes back to the title of the sermon.

She created a room for God to move. She went

through inconvenience, She went above and beyond so that she

can make room for God. When we allow ourselves to

do more for God, we're making more room for him

to move. Because a woman created a room for the prophet,

God gave her a son and maybe a thinking this

one wealthy woman Ma, she got resource. What about me?

If I don't have much to give? You know, I

have to talk, I have to work hard for my family.

I don't have much time for myself. Even what can

I give? You know? God also gave an answer to this.

If you look at First King seventeen eight to twenty four,

we just jumped one book in front. Interestingly, Prophet Elijah's mentor,

Prophet Elijah went through a similar similar thing, right, So

if you can flip open with me to First King seventeen,

this is where Prophet Elijah, going into a town, met

a widow, all right, a widow with a child. And

how Profet Elijah stumbled upon this woman was that this

woman was collecting sticks. And then Profet Elijah said, can

you get me a glass of water? What a weird request? Okay,

but okay. The woman said, all right, I'll go get

a glass of water for you. And then Profet Elijah said,

can you make me some cake? And then when the

woman said, hey, I actually am collecting these steaks so

that I can make with whatever lack of food that

I have all and and was it door to make

into certain time, take a break, we're gonna eat this

as our last male and me and my son we're

gonna die. And you know what, Prophet Elijah said, go

make me that cake. Anyways, what in the world can

you imagine if you're in the widow's shoes? Is this

really a man of God? No compassion? I really don't

have enough for me and my son. You're still asking

me to make food for you. But you know what,

the what did the woman do? She went to make

kick with a little that she had. She made it

for him in the midst of her desperation. Elijah, Elijah,

this prophet, man of God, still asks for more from

the widow. And wow, the widow make room for that

to happen. And you know what happened. A miracle took place.

And you know from that story, you see that she

had enough food. God multiplied her food. She had enough

for more days in her poverty. She made room for

the profit of God to stay. And this is where

I'm bringing you to the next point. There is always

a choice. There is always a choice to make room

for God. No matter how cornored you feel you are,

no matter how limited options or choices you feel you have,

there is always a choice. And you see, God is

not a dictator God, where he demands to take everything

from you so that you may suffer. When God asks

us to give more, God's idea is that if you

give me, it shows that you trust me. It shows

that you are giving you all to me. God is

looking for obedience. God is looking for trust and love

towards him. He's not looking to make you suffer. There

is always a choice. Again, coming back to this widow,

she made room for the prophet of God to stay.

If you look at verse nineteen, not only did she

go and make food for the prophet in her poverty,

I'm sure she's not staying in very nice place. She

was in poverty. If you do a study on this,

you realize that the prophets stayed in their house. That

means the woman still continue to feed the prophet. You know,

and if I were the widow, maybe I would respond,

haven't I had done enough? I feel you really now

you want to stay in my place? But you see,

the widows still made room. But these men have got

to stay. And you know what happened. If you look

at verse eight to twenty four, there is a part

where the widows child died, and so happened the prophet

was staying with the widows in the windows house. If

she had not made room for the prophet, the prophet

probably wouldn't have been there when the child died. But

because she made room for the prophet to stay when

the child died, you know what happened. The Prophet, through

the power of God, raised the child to life. I

don't know if you guys see where I'm getting at now.

No matter how desperate we are, we always have a

choice to make room for God. There is always a choice.

We always have something more to offer. In twenty nineteen,

when I accepted the call to go full time, sorry

of you, I've heard this story. When I entered full time,

it was not full smooth ceiling. I did not enter

with angel singing around me, with rainbows appearing all around me.

I entered with just pure obedience and if anything I ought.

It was difficult because I actually had my ambitions and

it was happening. But I had to give it up,

my dreams, my desires, my career. I had to give

it up. I gave it up. And there was a

year also that I took on leadership in church. Yet,

when all this happened, in full obedience. I did all this.

My mom had to have cancer, my dad had to

lose this job. I had to have problems with pitpitn

when supposedly there shouldn't be. My sister became, you know,

suicidal and was diagnosed at fourteen with a mental health condition.

At that time, I asked God, I really ask God, God,

what more do you want? Heaven? I've given you my life,

my future. What more do you want? You want to

take my family to very bitter, very very sharp with

my words with God? What more do you want from me?

Not so much God, me and my family. I just

to tell you, guys, I'm a fourth gen Christian, fourth generation.

Four generations of my family have been serving God. What

more do you want? God? What more can I give you?

You want my life? Now? To take my breath away? Now?

I was that bitter. But then fast forward two years later,

battling all that was happening, I finally had my breakthrough.

And that breakthrough came when I surrendered my family to God.

I said God, I tried to help my family. I

did everything I can. It always comes back to square one.

In fact, it actually got worse, right my mom, You guys,

some of you. Oh no, not just cancer, but she

was battling paranoia and depression that the I was at

a point where I couldn't even remember how my mom

was before her depression was bad. I came to the

point that God no choice, It did I. But when

I thought there's no choice, I realized there's still one

more choice. I can do one more thing I can do.

I offer my family to the Lord. Say Lord, I

can't do anything. You take control. I'm not going to

think about it because the more I think, the more

I do, the worse it gets. I offer my family

to you, and you guys know my story. In subsequent weeks,

every week each of my family member had the breakthrough

and we were delivered. And there was when God told me,

you say, Stephen, what more can you give? There you go.

You can give your family to me. But you see,

many times we think about giving of ourselves as a

bad thing. We are losing things. But you see when

I gave up my family to the Lord, I gained

my family in return in full health. My sister just

celebrated her birthday yesterday, twenty years old. She was diagnosed

with depression at fourteen and had to take pills. If

you look at my sister now, she's serving in Exubangjaya,

part of extreme If you look at her now, you

would not have imagined the past that she had. She

could if even see a future for herself. I was

so worried that, oh my goodness, can she even make

it to college? Because she was in a very dark place.

But now six years later, my sister. If you meet

my sister, some of you haven't met my sister before.

If you see her now, you ask her story, she'll

tell you how God has come true for her. Many

times we think we've offered enough. God, I've given you

enough heaven. I but you see, God has never asked

about part of your life. God has never asked about

forty percent, fifty percent, ninety percent of your life. God

has always asked for all. That's the truth. But as

human beings, we struggle to grapple with that because we

love control. We love being able to see what's happening tomorrow.

We love being able to know that, Oh, if I

lose my job today, I got three months of savings

that can pull me through. But God is not interested

in us having control over our lives. God wants control

over our lives. You know why, because with God being

in control, he can do anything for you. When we

are in control, we are limited. I always say this.

We can't even predict tomorrow's weather properly. How in the

world are we going to control everything in our lives.

That ten year plan that you have for your career,

there's no guarantee of ference. I had a ten year

plan for my career one year. Also, can I pass

God call me full time? That's my encouragement to you.

This is the second example. First example was a rich woman.

Second one is a woman in desperation, but yet both

were able to offer more unto the Lord. And my

last point is this making room brings life. We're going

to jump back to second Kings four eighteen to thirty

seven to the wealthy woman. I'm just gonna share very

quickly what happened here. So basically what happened was that

Prophet Elisha was back home. He was not in town.

But then the son that God gave to this woman

fell ill and died. Of course, the woman struggled, isn't

this the son that God gave me? But you know

what did the woman do? Very bizarre? The woman carried

her son, went up the stairs to the room she

created for the prophet, and laid her dead son on

the prophet's bed. Long story shot. The prophet came after

hearing the news, prayed and caused a miracle to happen.

The dead son came back to life. I won't share

something significant that I caught from this. When we make

room for God, he can turn our date situations around.

There was literally the case for this woman. This shouldnatmite

woman who literally built a room to make room for

God's God's servant, and it was in that room that

her son was resurrected. When we make room for God,

we don't know. Again, many times we are what we

are depositing into. We just make room because our spirits

should be God. What more can I do for you?

Is out of love and conviction that we do it

unto the Lord, not out of the expectancy of something

in return. But when we do it our love, what

more can can we do? What more can we do?

God is in his sovereign like infinite wisdom. When we

do that, he actually knows what's going to happen in

the future, but we don't. When we do that, we

actually don't know what we're actually depositing into. In this case,

the woman didn't know that in this room that she

that she built for that she's going to build for

this prophet, that her son that she didn't even expect

will come, will be raised to life in this very room.

That she didn't know this. She was just I want

to honor the Lord. What more can I do for

this man of God? Let me do it? And because

she did that, little did she know that God had

a plan. God was gonna gonna use the room she

made for him to raise her dead son to life.

Many times we wait for things to happen, then we

make room for God. Sadly, there's our attitude most of

the time, myself included, are you I got a financial crisis,

I better come to church now. I better pray more.

I I better serve more. I better do all I

can to drawn into God. Many times we wait for that.

I imagine if I am in God's shoes, That'll be

pretty sad. It's like if I am a father. It's

almost like my son leaves the house every time got problem,

only come and find me. Is that the kind of

relationship you want? We've got a transactional relationship. You know,

in homes we learn about the ten lepers right in

the past. Homes, we learn about how ten of them

had faith, ten got healed. But you know what, only

one encountered Jesus. Because that one realized who Jesus was

and what Jesus actually did. That's why he can come

back and say thank you Jesus the other night. Transactional.

I'm just here for the miracle. But you see, it

was that one, one guy that came back to Jesus

that found inner healing. He found Jesus, he found truth

for filming. He found not just the miracle. Because you see,

miracles can be drugs. We can come time and time

again looking for miracles from God, and then we'll be

stuck in this visious cycle. Every time got problem, pray

for miracle. Every time got problem, pray for miracle. But

you forget who is the one that gives you the miracle,

and you forget what is actually the real desire of

the person giving you the miracle. He wants to have

a relationship with you. And we know any working relationship,

any good and healthy relationship, is a relationship of giving.

It's not a relationship of taking. That's toxic. We all

know this, So why do we treat God like this?

God gives and we take. God gives and we take.

Oh suddenly got problem? Ready? Can I? God? I give you?

I give you? How much you want? God? I give you?

If you think about it, it's I'm going to use

this word. It's gonna be It sounds a bit pathetic, right.

If you see anyone that's like that in a father

child relationship, you will say that the child is a

sport bread. But yet many times, myself included, we treat

God as such and come to my conclusion, were very

heavier everyone. Yeah, I was so minister too by this. Guys,

when God spoke to me about this. You see, no

matter who we are or where we are in life,

this fact remains. We can always make room for God

and there will always be more room we can make

for God. And we are making room for God, not

because God demands it, but it's our love. It's our love.

It's all well, God, I'm thankful we learn about great

at homes. It's out of a thankful heart, thankful spirit

that we say, God, what can I do more for you?

Because we've learned this? Right, that it is not out

of our works that we are saved. We are saved

by grace, true faith, but for good works. You see

our good works. Our response to the God is not

out of I do this so I can be okay.

I do this because I love God and you know right.

Like again, I use parent child example because that's the

most relatable to us. If you are a parent, if

a child comes out to you, I give you two scenarios.

Child number one, all right, every time the child wants something,

then the child be nice to you. Scenario two, Child

number two, the child will, regardless of whether he asks

you for something or not, the child is kind to you.

Which one will you give every eathing too? More in kind? Second?

Child right? Because you see that the child loves you,

and the child doesn't look at you like an ATM machine,

you will still give out of love. Sometimes I'm like, okay,

I care for this giv which would you be willing

to give more? Translate that to our relationship with God. Again.

I'm not trying to preach prosperity gospel that you know

you you love God that you'll give you everything. I'm

trying to emphasize on where is our relationship with God.

Because you see, we can have miracles but never have fulfillment.

We can have stories to tell of breakthruths upon break truths,

but still deep inside, we will never have a fulfillment

of this part of our heart that can only be

fulfilled when we have a proper relationship with God. So

we get stuck in that, in that addiction cycle of miracle,

of the miracle, looking for the next miracle. But yet

the answer has always been our relationship with God. That

is where we can find out fulfillment. Can we make

room for God this year in every area of our lives?

I pray that this year every single one of us

will experience God a little bit more. Remember I shed

in December the message to reflect for the year. I said,

have we experienced God throughout the year in twenty four

If we have not, don't worry. We can still do it.

But why wait? Why not? Now? Why not? Now? Can

we make room for God? Can we allow more space

for God to move? That is my prayer for myself

this year as well. God, Let it be your will,

not mine, even if it means I'll be inconvenienced, even

if it means I have to make changes. Even if

it means I have to make sacrifices, I want to

do it. I want to make room for God because

I love God. I love God and therefore I want

to make room for Him. And all of that the

fruit of it, the result. One of the side effects,

if I could say that, is that we are depositing

into miracles when we make room for God. We're making

room for miracles. But yet, disclaimer, miracles should never be

our drive to draw near to God. I pray that

we will have a deep and genuine relationship with God,

that we want to draw near to Him because we

love him. I pretty decier that will be us, all

of us, and that's where we will find true peace,

true fulfillment, true joy that no amount of miracles can

ever feel. It gives miracles, give you a temporary high,

gives you a cool story to tell. But our relationship

with God is what keeps us grounded, is what keeps

us at peace. Can be in a raging storm, but

there's no storm within us. That only comes when we

have a good relationship with the Lord. Man, I'm gonna

invite us to stand. It's like close. We have never

done this before in XBU. But in a bit, I

want to do this. I want to open up the altar.

If there's anyone here, your prayer is that you want

to make room for God. Don't worry if you're the

only person coming up, because what matters is your response

to God. It doesn't matter how other people respond. If

God has said something within you and the Holy Spirit

is speaking to you, and you are saying, I want

to make room for God, even if it means being inconvenienced,

even if it means trouble, because it's worth it to

do so, we're gonna worship for a bit.

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

information on our church, please visit as church dot org.

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that this week is going to be a good week.

I hit for you. God bless