Who’s the real donkey? Learning to to follow God's lead | Dr Daniel Kong

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

We hope this message will light up your day.

Today. We're gonna be uh miss sharing from a numbers

twenty two. So if you have your Bibles with you,

you can turn over to numbers twenty two and all

this would make a bit more sense later on, Okay,

But the whole main aim today is to determine who

the real donkey is is one, and then really learning

from you know, learning from this experience or from this story,

and seeing how we can really follow God's leap. Uh

and and and and and just to give you a

bit of background if you're turning to numbers twenty two,

uh and, I was just gonna share a bit of

background where the context is uh and you see next slide.

These are some of the characters involved. I know it

might be a bit small. When I did it on

the on my screen, it looks okay, but somehow when

it comes here, but it's fine, okay. Main characters that

we have here, Okay, even I can't read that. Okay,

never mind, Okay, we have uh uh you know balam

or baalam Okay, depending on which part of the where

you come from. Uh he he is one of the

characters that is King of Moab that is involved in there.

And then the Angel of the Lord, which is an

angel is involved in that story. Now some context is that, uh,

the people the Israelites were were you know, spending that

forty years uh, but there was always go to the

Promised Land, but they didn't. And this is their journey

in that forty years before they went to the Promised Land.

So uh, the second time around, so they were actually

passing by and as on their way to Canaan, they

were passing by this place called Moab. It circled here

very small, I know, uh here and I blew it

a little bit more so you know where that is

the purple bit. So they were passing by Moab and

that top left corner. I used AI degenerates about the

images just for fun. Okay, So that is a AI

generated king black Okay, who is the king of Moab

at the point in time. This is the main star

of the show. And you know, this is the mains

of the show here. But uh Baalam is one of

the prophets that in this in this story. And then

there is that donkey which we'll read about later on.

So they were passing by this place on the way

to the Promised Land. Okay, and this is where the

story begins begins. Sorry, okay, So just to give some

contexts as well, when you look to twenty two, No,

there was some fear in in in in the king,

and therefore he summoned this prophet to seek some help. Okay,

that's the main context. Now you will say that, Okay,

everybody sort of know the superpowers in the world right

of the world today, like like like you know, the US,

that kind of Spock can also Batman's per men whatever

man you can think of Aquaman. Yeah, but when I'm

talking about countries, you know, China and all that kind

of stuff. Yeah, also canla. Now let's think of the

context of Malaysia. When they say Malasia gets attacked by

the superpowers, you know, it will be quite a you

know who will win the battle because of our maybe

limited arsenal Okay, just in general. Right, so this is

even higher than that level. I explain why. It's akin

to maybe even the aliens coming and invade and attacking you.

Let me explain why. Okay, Now, the reason why this

is bigger than the military power. If you turn to

the next the next slide with the verse in Exodus,

these are the people, the Israelites that we're following a

pillar of cloud by by. By night is a pillar

of fire to give them light, and during the day

it's a pillar of cloud. That kind of background story.

So again using AI to generate some of the fun stuff,

I've got a lot of variations of this. Some literally

write one pill and then they just generate the pillar

of fire and cloud, okay, but some some also will

think that there might be two pillars, two types, one cloud,

one fire, okay. But again, regardless of what it is,

it's simply amazing. You can you can really sort of

imagine this now. So if you are a king of

a particular kingdom and then you see people that are

going to come past you with the kind of a

background okay, literally right, you can see them from afar

because they are guided by this sort of context. So

if you see a flying saucer, that's less scary than

something like this. That's what I'm trying to say, Okay,

So try to paint the picture and the context of why,

of the of where this king that we're going to

be reading about, uh starts okay, and this is the

story and where the story begins. Okay, So again flying

saucer aliens attacking. No bigie, this is something even bigger

than that, right because you don't know, Like I said,

when youre attacked by superpowers, you know who's gonna win

or you maybe even call it bigger superpower to come

and save you. This guy seeing something that he's never

seen before, He's gonna call upon a prophet to come

and save the day. That's the general context. Okay, so

we'll read, we'll come to back to twenty two where

the story begins, so you sort of just give an

idea of how the king felt and why he's in

this position. Now, let's read from numbers twenty two. Thank you.

So Ballam's response is sorry Ballack. King Balack is the

king in Moab. His response to call upon this particular

prophet Ballam Okay, so you can see here. Let me

just read a Okay, now, Ballack the son of Zippor Okay,

saw all of Israel had done to the emirits Okay,

and Moab was exceedingly afraid of the people because there

were many so not just numbers, but because of the

kind of background or the kind of spaceships that they

come in. Okay, to the next tent. Moeb was sick

and dread because of the children of Israel. So Moreeb

sid to the elders of Median. Now this company will

lick up everything around us. Okay, so that I don't

know whether that's a scary thing because of the it's

not the literal licking, but I think some of transition

is really the consuming that kind of a licking up. Okay. Uh.

And if you think I don't know why Jolie's laughing

so much today, uh yeah, because not talking about tongue.

But you know the whole thing about the pillar, cloud

and fire, et cetera. You know, there's a lot of

big things that can really consume this whole thing. So

it licks so as as the ox licks the grass

off the field. So the son of Balack, sorry, the

son of Balack ball like the son of Zippor was

the king of Moebs at the time you shared about earlier.

Then he sent the messengers to Baalum. Okay, this is

the prophet that he's sending some people to and then

to call upon him. Then he says, say, look, people

has come from Egypt. So again, not the Egyptians, right,

I mean Egyptians. Sorry, the Israelites came out of Egypt

going towards the Promised Land and they're spending their forty

years and they're just passing by this point in time. Okay,

they cover their face of the earth and they're settling

next to me. So there's a lot of terror. Now again,

put yourself in the prophet's shoes. Ballum, you get a

call from let's just use the term, the president, the

Prime Minister of Malaysia saying dude, you gotta save me. Man.

This whole army of spaceship is coming. Funnily enough, I

think a few I think a few weeks or a

few a month ago, we went to this Gunting Highlands

and then there was this particular ride called the Independence Day. Right, Okay,

now they have explained what Independence Day is all about

the Will Smith movie. You know that the story. Right,

they call upon the people who can come and save

the day. This is exactly what this prophit is being

summoned to do. Come and save the day, because we

don't know what to do if this alien form or

these things that we've never dealt with before. Okay, this

is the type of desperation that's happening. Okay, Now imagine this,

you put yourself in his shoes. It's like, Wow, the

country is terrified. The country doesn't know what to do.

And here I am. I can do this because of

God in the mix, Okay, because of my relationship with God.

It's in the prophet. I can do things beyond my

own power. Okay. And it's also literally like it's my

time to shine, right, I can do great things. So normally,

what will happen? Right, just as as humans sometimes you

will get over a hitler quite normal, right, Because I

thing that I can do this, I can be the hero.

I can come and save the day. I can be

like Will Smith to beat up the aliens, et cetera. Okay,

I can be the gratitude of the nation to save

the day. Okay. So just to put some context and imagine,

just to play Hollywood a bit. Okay. Now, so let's

read on from verse six. Okay, it says it's therefore

peace come at once, curse these people. So this is

him the king, telling ballam what should happen? Okay, if

it can help me with Okay, they are too mighty

for me. Perhaps I shall be able to defeat them

and then drive them out of the land. For I

know that he whom you blessed is blessed, and he

whom you curse is cursed. So this is the king

establishing the power of God, the God who Baylim worships. Okay,

So just to give you some context out, So the elders,

so the elders of Moab and the elders of Medium

departed with the diviner's fee. It means bringing some riches, la,

some payment, some goal or whatever it is. They came

to Baylorm and spoke to him the words of like messenger,

and then he said to them, Lord's here tonight. This

is the prophet speaking chill. I will bring back the

word to you as the Lord speaks to me. So

this is almost akin to me. Let me go and

pray about it kind of a context. Let me seek

the Lord to see what he's say great correct, right?

Sometimes you know here I can see the day. But

let me check the Lord for sla, just to make

sure they'm right. Okay. So the princess of Moab stayed

in Ballum, stay b Balum while he does his own thing. Okay,

every okay, so far with the story. Okay. So Ballum

tells them, let me check with God. I'll come back

to you. Let's look at verse nine. Okay. Then God

came to Baylim, this is a prophet, and said, who

are these men with you? As if you don't know?

But anyway, verse ten. So Ballim said to Uh, said

to God, Ballad, the son of zippor king of Moab,

has sent to me saying eleven, look at look. People

has come out of Egypt, and they cover their face

off the earth. Come now curse them for me. Perhaps

I shall be able to overpower them and drive them out. Okay.

So he came and literally ask God to do what

the king's request is, or the primacy request is. Okay,

can you help me do this? So God said to Baylim,

you shall not go with them. You shall not curse

the people, for they are blessed. Of course we know

the context. These are God's people. Of course they say

you can't you can't touch them. Okay. So Balim rose

in the morning and then said to the Prince of

Ballap these are the messengers. Go back to your land.

The Lord has refused to give me permission to go

with you. I will not come back with you. I

will not help you. I'm so sorry. Lord says no,

that's in short, okay, all right, So imagine what we're

going through his head as he delivers it. In one moment,

this is my time to shine, man, I can do this.

But then God says no. See God writing the door,

see God saying okay, I did the right thing. Sorry,

Boss says no, please go back. I can't come with you. Okay.

So that's where that story ends. And sometimes, right if

you think about it in that picture, in that context, right,

all the fame, all the richest, the instant glory can happen,

but he has to go back, stay in his I

wouldn't know what context. Maybe it's like a his his heart,

his sharp, his farm or whatever it is. He just

sit there on the rock, maybe even regretting what he did, okay,

or what he could have done. Okay, And it's very normal, right,

kicking the dirt maybe a man. Maybe if God, he

misses Chancellor, it is another way to put it, Okay,

he misses chance. He might even be discouraged, a depressed

because it's a once in a lifetime change, you know

how often does the King come to you when nobody

else on earth can help you? He comes, and so

they might be regrets. So I'm putting this next slide up.

Let me ask you, have you ever felt bad about

doing what is good or what is right? Because it's

exactly what's happening here. He's doing the right thing. He's

doing the correct thing. In fact, he's doing what God

has called him to do. But sometimes we have second thoughts.

We think, howla, we don't quite enjoy it. Like another

way to put it. Okay, I don't like it, Lord,

but okay, if you say so, I will do it.

La okay. And this is where the story begins, because

the devil will always use these small little things to

get in. Because of that man, maybe I should have

done it differently. And let's read the story further. Honor

from verses fifteen okay, so sorry, fourteen says he refused

to come if he went back, delivered the news to say,

refuse to come back. So fifteen again, what they better do?

The King send more people, more numerous, and more honorable.

It means more stuff, bigger. Maybe ten thousand wasn't enough.

Maybe let's raise it up to one million or whatever

the currency is on that day. Okay, let's give them more. Okay.

And they came to Ballam and said to him, does

says Ballam, the son of Zippor again have to announce

the titles and all that. Please, let nothing hinder you

from coming with me to me, for I will certainly

honor you greatly. So also promising not just richest, but

honor title. I'll knight you, I will make sure everybody

knows who you are. Okay, I'll make sure what you're

to do again, same thing. Just curse the people that

are coming, true, I'm afraid of them. Okay. So then

Ballum answered the same thing. Uh, those Ballad were to

give me house of full sorry house his house full

of silver and gold. I could not go beyond the

words of the Lord again, No, because Lord says no,

I cannot. I'm so sorry. Even though you raised it double, triple, quadruple,

whatever it is, I cannot because the Lord says so

says so okay, So now therefore, please you can stay

here tonight, but let me chere the Lord again just

in case. Okay. So again we all Noah from a

few years before, it was not about God's plan for

this to happen. But maybe it's his desire, or maybe

it's just okay. Maybe I can check Anila, no harm right,

no harm checking just to make sure that maybe God

was made a mistake earlier. Let's just try again. Let's

just try to make sure that the clear note is no. Okay.

So that's why he did he went back. And then

in verse twenty you read there, so God came to

bailim at that night. If the men come to call you,

rise and go with them, but only the word which

I speak to you, that you shall do. Oh wow,

change it, you know? So God say okay? And thus

travel travel approval go go okay. So Ballim rose in

the morning set it on this donkey. And this is

where the donkey's story starts. And when the Princess of Moab,

when if the whole party back. Now, let me just

pause here for a while and just quickly mention something.

Sometimes we know, we we we we you know, we

we hear from God. Uh, and then we know of

a certain direction. And then sometimes we maybe a bit

more adamant, and then we try again, okay, and then

we ask and see, maybe God will change his mind.

I mean it's something that we sometimes do. Right. Why

because not because God wasn't clear, but maybe because it

doesn't align with how we see or however how we

perceive God's will should be in the rest system sense. Okay,

so there is a way to describe this, and parents

understand this, Zach, Sorry to use you again. Sometimes when

I say no to Zach about something, let's just use

ice cream now, just for simplicity sake, he will keep

asking over and over again. Now, was that I'm not

clear about it? Probably very clear, But you still come

and he will consistently where you out until you say yes.

Now if even if I say yes, do I agree

with maybe what he should be getting and using ice

creams for example, Probably not right. I still think, like

I know you drop your teeth and all that kind

of stuff, like I should know it's not good for

you kind of thing. But sometimes o killer if you insist, Keller,

go for it and and and it's like this, right parents,

sometimes like you tryler, I may not be happy about it,

but I let you try on your own. Then hopefully

you do not make it. And then I told you

so kind of thing. No, no, no, kidding, kidding, but

but you get the idea. Sometimes God's will is direct,

is very clear and known. He didn't want Ballam to go.

But a lot of times God doesn't really is truly

happy about it. But he has this thing called what

we what Some scholars j. I. Packett calls this a

permissive will. You can read out the book if you

wanted to. It talks about and this is the definition

of what he says. Within God's sovereign will, he chooses

to permit many things to happen that he takes no

pleasure in. That means even though he knows what he wants,

or he knows what his will is, but he allows. Okay,

it's permissive will. God allows of certain things, even sinful

things that in because he knows indirectly, it's still accomplish

his will, but it's not part of his original plan

as from what I'm trying to say. Okay, And it's

often called God's permissive will. You can read up that

particular book. It's called Knowing God by J. I. Pecker. Okay,

So God is literally saying, in this context, all right,

it's not my plan. I don't want this this way.

Let's just do your Wila. Just to see, okay, so

he allows. Now of course he went on on a donkey.

He followed through, and then the next verse vert in

twenty two you read here, so that the title starts

with ballum, the donkey and the angel, or hither's quite

cooler drama. And then he says, yeah straight away, you

know twenty two, the me is twenty one earlier. No problem, go,

I bless you you go suddenly right, God's anger was

aroused because he went straight away. You know. Of course,

sometimes you don't understand the time, how long it takes.

It might be a few things have happened before. Uh,

and some scholars do speculate there are some conditions that

probably not met how God wants it, and that's why

he's a bit angrill. Okay, but either way we know

he's not peace. Okay, you can you can read about this, okay.

And then the Angel of the Lord stood story took

his stand in the way as an adversary against him.

So literally an angel popped out as he was writing

his donkey you do do do do do, and it's

two servings with him, okay. And now the donkey saw

I highlighted the donkeys or donkey saw the Angel of

the Lord standing in the way with his drawn sword

in the hand. That this is a menacing looking in

journal like, I don't know what any made character sort

ready to slash from afar. Okay, the donkey sow, what

did donkey do? Okay? The donkey turned aside out of

the way and went into the field. So imagine this

if you're riding a donkey right, starting a donkey right

like like you know how sometimes we get to sleep

and we will drive off the road a little bit.

There's something like that. But you're like, what on Irvy's

happenese donkey's is putting me to it to the field?

What on Irv's on his donkeys? Stupid? You know a something? No? Donkey? Donkey? Don'key? Okay,

donkey all right, by the way, it's it's it's okay.

Word that the word is is also another word for donkey,

but but I won't say it here. Okay. Uh? And

so so ball what do you do? Ballant? What do

you do? He struck the donkey, He shipped the donkey

and turn to turn her back onto the road to

steer her back. What whack the fow come back? Then?

The Lord. Sorry. Then the Angel of the Lord stood

in the narrow path between the vineyards and with a

wall on this side and the wall on that side.

Twenty five the donkey saw. So second time the donkey

saw the Angel of the Lord or a way menacing.

So now the donkey pushed herself against the wall. And

not only that in this context, right the he also

crushed Ballom's foot. He said, she got hurt, you know,

So what did he do? Lashing again? So now it's

not just of course you of course, and got my

foot into trouble. I'm hurt, I'm in pain. So probably

lashing is a bit harder. I don't know, yeah, okay.

Twenty six. Then the ajurer a lot went further so

the third time okay, stood in a narrow place. So

now no place to go with oh man, what no

place to even veeer off? Okay, no place to turn

on the left or to the right. Okay, So and

donkey saw the angel again. So what did the thing do?

Just lay under ballum? Okay, now lay under ballum. Right,

it's literally right. Just you know, donkeys, when they sit down, right,

they will move final, right, they just I won't move.

I'm not gonna move anymore? Why because can not turn left,

can turn r. I'm gonna escape more. I see danger.

I just sit down, okay, And then, of course we

know for the third time Ballam's anger was aroused. He

struck the donkey for his staff again. All right, every okay,

so far the story, simple story. I wouldn't very soon anyway,

that's kidding great, yeah, but but but it's there's a

lot to learn from here, okay, uh, trying it. Then

the Lord opened the mouth of the donkey, and then

she said to Ballam, the donkey, saying, ah, what have

I done to you that you have struck me three times?

I can't I can't imitate the donkey's voice, so you're

probably just that. And Ballum said the donkey, because you've

abused me, I wish there were sort in my hand

for now, I would kill you. Drama mama, man tell you,

but I love this, you know, I mean you think

that you know in Shrek was the first time a

donkey spoke. No, probably this is the first time a

donkey spoke, just saying okay, just saying. And and if

you look at this right, balla diven flinch. You know,

if a donkey the zoo. We see donkeys right from

time to time. If a donkeys spoke, I will freak out, man.

But he's like, yeah, in fact he was. Maybe he's

angry that that. Sorry, he cannot focus on the miracle

of the donkey speaking. But you know, he just he

just you know what on earth? Man? He argued the donkey,

as though the donkey was one of his servants. Like really, man,

so hopefully give you a snapshot of the situation. Uh

And you know I literally right translated what he said

there is I'm beating you because you made a full

of me. You made me look stupid, because you know why,

he's actually traveling in the convoy as well. All the princess,

all the escorts that were with him to go to

the to to to back to the king. They're all

there and witness this thing happening. Imagine this, right, if

you are the guy's gonna save the world from aliens, Hey,

you can't even steal your donkey, straight I think the

credibility just drop straight away, right, I can't keep my

donkey in check, right, So that's why it's angry. And

sometimes you're like this, right manna I don't want to

look at GPS. I know where I'm going. I can't

even steal my donkey straight. And that's why he probably

lashed out. Okay, the the I don't have it here,

but in the Message Bible, the transition says, because you've

been playing games with me, let messus thinking that the

donkey is purposefully doing this to make me look bad. Okay,

so drama, lah, I take out a sort I want

to simboe or kill you, all right, that's what it is.

Now again, you can't blame him for doing that because

again everybody's looking at him. He makes this whole stitution

makes him look dumber than the donkey. Eler it is

another way to put it. He made donkey just made

a fool out of him. So, and this is where

I think we need to start looking at what we

can learn from this donkey. Okay. The truth is that

all of us have been one way another in this

situation as well. Okay, that we maybe not so clever

or dumber than the donkey. Okay, now let's read out

first and then i'll explain. Let's read thirty. So the

donkey said to ball him, am I not your trusty donkey,

you know, of whom you've ridden for many, many years,

okay until up to right now. Have I ever done

anything like this to you before? Have I? Then he said, no,

well he knows, you know. Donkey has always been like this,

car tip top condition always goes straight, sunny today and

car break down. Okay? Uh. And then God helped Ballim

see thirty one what was going on? He saw God's

angel blocking the way, you know, having a sword. So

Ballom fell to the ground, his face in the dirt.

And then the angel said to him, why have you

beaten your poor donkey these three times? I have come

here to block your way because you've you're getting way

ahead of yourself. Huh. And then the donkey saw and

turned away from me three times. If she hadn't, I

would have killed you by this time, but not the donkey,

and he's spared the donkey. Donkey's very clever. I would

have led her off. Now, friends, it's very important that

we understand this afternoon that sometimes we need to be ah,

you know, a bit smarter than Donkey says, for sure,

because sometimes we may not see and I know a

lot of times we are putting a situation that we

may even do things that make us appear dumber than

a donkey. Okay, And some of the goals I think

in life for us as a whole is to at

least out smart this particular donkey here. Right, It's a

very simple thing to do, right, Just trust. And my

fear is if we just focus on this whole story

about the donkey and all that, and of course not

looking beyond the miracle, we may not catch the main

point of this. The point here is that the donkey

is there to ensure that you are fine. Okay. I

put a next light up, and I proposally put this

donkey picture because I think, again it's not the donkey

and Shrek, but I think this is humorous. Okay, So

how this person is scooped by a donkey and the

reason why I think God uses a donkey is because

he wanted to use or pain the picture of an

unlikely source of wisdom. Okay, that again, donkey, you should

not Yeah, this is the story. Okay, So let's learn

from Ballum's story. Now, even Peter talks about this. Okay,

if you go to tewod Peter two fifteen to sixteen. Okay,

is it up Yep, there forsaken the right way and

gone astray, following the way of Baylim, the son of

Be or the same guy who loved the wages of unrighteousness,

but he was rebuilt for the iniquity. A dumb donkey

speaking of a man's voice restrained the madness of the prophet.

So again another reference of this particular story. Right, and

of course, now the answer is sort of revealed. Why

the angel was gonna slash that slash this prophet because

this profit, although he's doing what appears to be doing

the right thing, he actually loved the wages of unrighteousness

and it took a stupid donkey to save his life.

Recorded elsewhere, you know, what does it mean by the

wages of and righteousness? Some transition used the word wickedness

instead of unrighteousness. So you wicked, wicked guy, You wicked

wicked guy. So what was Balen's problem? Again, it's not

that he doesn't obey. He obeyed, he got clearance. But

underlying all that, maybe perhaps he's doing for the wrong reasons.

Maybe he loves the limelight, the glory, the money, the power,

the recognition. Okay, and what did the Bible call this madness,

you gilla power crazy. I don't know what it is. Okay,

So the problem really maybe you live all these other

things instead of the having the right heart even when

it's doing something that appears to be correct. Now, let

me take a pause from all this for a while, Uh,

just a myself. We've always talk about retiring one day

and buying a caravan. Uh, it's one of our life

long dreams. I don't know where it came from. Maybe

some of the stories she's read. Uh. And uh, yeah,

we were. We were traveling in Western Australia, I think

last year of the year before, I can't remember. Uh.

And then we also bum into people. Uh. These are

what they called grain nor mets. They when they retired,

they buy a caravan, which can cause an arm and

they can cost a you know more even more expressive

in the house, and then they travel okay, and the

mobile home that they move around okay. Uh. And so

we also thought, okay, let's try let's just give it

a test drive, like literally test drive the whole caravan

hobo life for a while. So instead of renting hiring

a regular car, we hired a caravan, but not the

scale caravan, A small, smaller, the cheaper one. Yes, because

why I'm Chinese. Uh No, it's it's it's a it's

a it's a modified van. So it's called camper vent

in seat of a caravan, but it's a startler. Now

in that particular camper vent there is fridge, seeing water, stove,

storage places, bid biddings, two stories quite high. Uh you know,

driving drivers and all that. So it pecks up and

then goes. Okay. Now now why why why am I

talking about this? Is because you know, all these sort

of things, at least in western countries, right, they are

built for a certain purpose, and there's a certain threshold

when it comes to let's say, things like weight. Okay.

So even Malaysia, you know, when you you read some

of the transporting vehicles, right, there's a brack cassider side okay,

what they call the gross vehicle wait okay allowance okay,

and there's certain classes for this. So now why is

it all important? I know, most obviously we don't care,

right because when you buy a car, who checks the

gross weight allowance? We just buy a car and then jalan, right.

But of course we know that in design there's always

these things affected in otherwise, right, if you jump into

a car, you feel that too much tank? I say, yes,

what do you feel up full tank? I say, half tang?

And why full tank? Are the ties you explode because

it's gone beyond the allowance and because something like this,

you know, there's more items everything you put in, you peck,

more stuff you put in the fridge, et cetera, it

might go over the limit. Okay, I'm just painting a

picture or why. Sometimes things are built to a certain capacity,

a limit, and then if you go over the limit,

it may not operate how you wanted to operate. Okay,

So back to life. Exceeding those kind of access weight

in life can and also compromise the way we operate.

So we may be chugging along, but maybe not at

the the origin design. Things may happen, right like lries

go over limit. Things may happen because they're not designed

to take it. And the excess way that we talk

about here, the imbalance can compromise the origin design as

one and in life as a general. You read all

the Bible stories and all that, usually the two things

that usually goes up to the very top in terms

of excess way in life is really two things, pride

and greed. Human pride and human greed. Yay, and this

is the thing that we is meant to be focused on.

So that's Ballam's problem. Okay, now one more thing, just

to share our story sidetracked a bit. You know, recently

we went we went to have some lunches Insurius and

there's this particular mad that they change and made it

to like a meaning go cart kind of a thing,

remember you zipping around the go cut, and they were

having a lot of fun. Initially, when Zach got on,

he was a little bit afraid of that that car

because he didn't floor it, uh trying. You know, all

this are designed to to operate a certain speed, as

sure my other son is. Briefly, just after a while, right,

they realized right that actually the car very very is

very challenging for the car to what do they call it,

turn turnover, overturn or whatever it is, because it's quite

wide center gravity is quite slow and is quite low.

And then therefore even flooring it, it's fine. It's quite

safe in a sense. Then Zach started to do something

funny like you will do things like pulling hand break skinny. Uh, doughnuts,

et cetera. You know, we're just going very fast, a

lot of confidence.

Uh.

And then they then they were racing, right uh. And

then funny enough, right when they were racing. So even

when Zach's doing funny things right as, she couldn't really overtake, right,

remember the time she couldn't overtake? Now, why couldn't it

even though this guy's doing funny things, right, It's because

after a what he realized, Right, It's not so much

how much I flow, it's because of how much maybe

perhaps the guy who's limiting the power the engine over there,

because you know that they have to keep it safe,

so they very dial it down to the Mexico capacity. Right.

So sometimes you feel sometime's life is like this, Right.

You feel like you're in control, but you know you're

not in control. Someone else is deep remotely slowing you down.

I don't need to because I only keep otherwise. I

got lot of people to do the kind of thing, right. So,

so you think you're in charge of the driving seat. No, no,

you're not. And even in the context ashes speed was

limited because of the guy who's juggering the place. You

just stop the guy doing run too fast. Okay, So

Bellum is also in the same context. He thought he

was in charge, he thought he had it. But the

problem here, back to this is really the whole thing

about greed and also pride. Greed and pride made him

to certain extent be disloyal to God. And therefore, even

though it appears to be doing it out of God's

interests and will's actually doing his own interests. But hang on,

didn't he ask twice? Didn't God say okay twice? Yeah

he did, But still God had to God see true.

You know, God doesn't see just the outwardly appearance of

what you do is really what's inside. Another AI photograph,

I love AI. This is a photograph, or rather a

jerrecor AI, a photo of a building that appears to

be okay, but we know underneath that building there is

a detrimental problem. On the sophace, you can't see much.

And this is something like what we see. I mean,

don't want those talk about some of the incidences that

we've seen where people fall into man holes, but it's

something like that. Right on the surface, it looks okay.

On the surface, there's no problem. It's mes subtle, but

actually there's a detriment, but there's a bigger problem that

we don't really see. And pride and greed is exactly

like that. It may feel okay in my feel some

people say self confident or a very strong character, man

made for himself. He deserves it, you know. Actually it's

all the problem here. Jeremiah twenty nine tells us to

seek the Lord with all our hearts, all your heart.

That means do a hard check, is it right? Paul?

In Romans one to night, Sorry I got the wrong

verse there, Romans one to nine, it says there, God

knows how often you pray day and night. I bring

you your needs in prayer to God, how you bring

your prayer? Sorry, your needs in prayer is when I

serve you with all my heart all you know, not

just a bit, all all my heart. So he says,

serve the Lord with all his heart. And again Ballim

did did sort no, did seek the Lord, but maybe

not with all his heart. There was a problem there.

He did it with maybe a not so clean heart.

And that is the problem. Now people out there who

are non believers, right, they nominally do this problem. And

because they don't have a pretense of like saying that

you know God is in charge, you know you just

they just do whatever they want to do. But for

ust Christians, sometimes we say God, you're in charge, You're

in control, I'm doing your will, but then we don't

really believe that, or we do something a bit different.

So whilst next light Baylim says God is in charge,

his actual attitude reflects attitude within his heart, reflects that

when I say i'm is he he's in charge because

he made the pretense to say that God, You're in charge,

seek a few times get God's approval, but then in

actual fact his attitude shows otherwise, his attitude shows that

he actually may be disloyal. It's different from God's will.

He actually knew God's will to be very specific. He

wanted God to agree with him. In fact, he's seeking

to change God's will. And sometimes if you're not careful,

we are like that too. Right, we read the Bible

a certain way to try to align it with our

personal will. Right, or we prayer with storm to say God,

this is how should be. God, Lord, make let it happen.

And sometimes we can fool ourselves essentially because you've already

heard it very clearly at the very start, son, daughter,

this is not meant for you. You're not supposed to

be doing this, You're not meant to be there. But Lord,

I really want to I really want to be with

that person. I really want to go to that place.

I really feel that this is the season for me.

And you persistently go through it, so you're not really

looking for God for it answelized. Essentially, you're just doing

it until you wear him down. Okay, you you you

you think you know bettera essentially, So you have to

be very careful with that because if you do that,

you're going to do it with your will rather than

God's will. And that's something that you need to be

very careful because that conscience that you have used to

have slowly wish and very soon to kind of tell

whether it is you or God. Right back to the

story about the whole race thing. You think that you're

in control, God's in control, but I floor it. I

just try to see whether I can go faster. I mean, son,

he's holding me back. I can't go faster if we

think God's in charge. And sorry, if we think we

are in charge rather then I think we can be

not so clever anymore, we can be not as clever

as donkey. Already. Isaiah one three says this, the Ox

knows its master, and again the reference are the donkey

its owner owners meaner. But Israel does not know. My

people do not understand. So again reference to donkey somewhere else.

His donkey story really gives and gifts and gifts. You know, right,

God is saying here, my people do not understand. Israel

did not understand what the donkey and Ox understood. Even

not so clever animals can understand this. But you, my people,

chosen people, cannot get it. God is in church. God

is in charge. I put the next slide there. God

is in charge. Yeah, what was best? Boss? So if

you know the office, it's like a Michael Scott kind

of cup. Anyway, I'm like ressing here, So what is

how does it apply to us as a church? It's

the most important thing here? How does this all apply

to you? What am I talking about here? What is

the application? Like what we always used to say? Right? It?

Two things? Right? Two things? Stop the beating, don't or

act the donkey anymore. The Donkey's trying to communicate truth,

but here you are preventing it. From helping you, okay,

And of course second thing is really you need to

seek God's vision to be clear on that, because if

you lose the plot, then we're beating the wrong donkey

as sola poor donkey, right, no, no, no, no, really

no no reason for you to get hit. But he

got hit even though he's doing his best in this

context to save and prevent the master from getting harm.

Didn't donkey say earlier? So many years you've journeyed with me.

Don't you trust me? Have I ever once put you

in harm and danger? Maybe just once like your food

can not But that's better than dying, right, But you know, yeah, Well,

aside from that, I also want us to not just

focus on badum but also focus on the donkey. The

donkey here, right, he's loyal to his master. Am I

asking us to if the donkeys maybe maybe is here

numbers twenty two, twenty nine that says that he almost

got killed. The Master was so angry he wanted to

kill him. Can you imagine being beaten, beaten and beaten

until the pointer I want to kill you kind of

beating you know that the donkey Still I don't move

step fast even in the brink of death. But how

long can you survive like this? How long can you argue?

How long can you host still stand firm with what

you believe in, with the vision that you see, if

God chooses to show you that vision, how long imagine

you get wallop? I don't know whether the wallop is

to be used this in this context. This day, you

get a wallop Indian Indian family might know this better

by any And it's gidding juicide. You get whacked a

few times, right, you probably got bruisers and all that.

By the way. I grew up with that kind of

leve flower, so I also tasted it a bit. Uh

you know. He but he just kept doing what he

knows is right. The donk here, So really, what I'm

trying to say is be loyal to the vision, be

loyal to God's will. That's the key here. You know.

Sometimes right when we hear and we you know, let's say,

our our leaders, this is what past I know. I've

got his I've got his bit of his permission to

talk about this. Let's say Pastor shares a particular vision.

I'm not calling him a donkey, by the way, but uh,

he jokes aside if he shares a vision and it

suggests a particular change and then we don't agree, what

do we do? We beat the donkey? Right? Normal? Right,

So you're very careful here. What if you're beating the

wrong donkey? What if it's really God's will? And the

last thing you want to do is, you know, do

this because it's maybe not align with your preference out

of something that's not convenient for you. It's not traditional

we do this? Why do you have to move down?

And all these kind of things. But the solution here

is really not about beating the beating each other up

literally because of our differences or our differences and opinion.

Really it's really going back to who's in charge. What

is God's vision? What is God trying to tell you?

I put up these proverbs here. Iron sharpened iron, So

one person sharpens another. Okay, crazy, right? Iron shopping iron

use the same thing to sharpen the other thing. You

don't use plastic to sharpen iron. So that's why sometimes

you are very big on this whole disciple ship thing

as well. It's a lot of trust in it, and

only people can sharpen people. So trust your God appointed leaders.

Also because maybe they're doing according to God's will. And

if you trust something else, maybe some other people outside

that context, they may not be the right people to

sharpen you because you might be try and use plastic

to sharpen iron. Okay, so anyway, let's just wrap it

all up. Extreme can come up. Really, it's a very

straightforward sermon literally, just talking about donkeys aside. But yeah,

I put up the last slide ah to tie it

all up. Okay. Firstly, you know we talk about vision.

What is God's plan for lives? Even for this church,

there is always a vision. Go back to it again,

explore again. God speaks to all of them, by the way,

and usually you're all aligned. Second key thing here is

just as a reminder, always hold your ground. It's the

right thing to do. Keep the integrity. Temptation is, like

I said, Satan's number one recipe to to to the

moment that's any doubt. He sets it straight away. God

said no twice, You're gonna try again, not friend, try again.

We gotta say yes, Lam And of course God you know,

but please hold true. You will be challenged. Stretch in

your schools, your workplaces. Stand firm, believe in what God,

believe in your identity. Don't have to submit to these things.

But in even saying submission, right, we should be submitting

our desires to God for guidance because if you cannot

handle it, say Lord, help me. I can't do this alone.

The third point inside is really gaining wisdom from unexpected

sources sometimes, right, I learned the most things from my son,

a thirteen year old who is smart mouth, but he

humbles me donkey. But yeah, God sends the most unexpected

sources to really get your Remind you again what that

vision is. Fifth point, we open. We open the God's

leading value each other's perspectives, love each other. Why am

I talking about unity, harmony, et cetera. We are all

doing the same thing. We're building towards the same vision.

God's will is like that. So I don't think that

we will hear different things from God. If we do,

maybe one of us are hearing incorrect leader. So maybe

again it's back to back to going and understanding what

God's plan is. First point lastly is to nurture have

a supportive, safe environment. Church is one of this environment.

We just mining talked about the church. Church not just

four walls, it's really a community that nurture. We celebrate

each other's successes, we use testimonies to build each other's

shut it up as well. We are here to nurture.

And if you didn't catch all that, this whole thing

spells the word vision. I know vision, vision twice, but

don't care force it in, force it in. So what

am I saying here? Church? The solution really is to

open up our eyes. Let us seek God's vision together.

Let us be loyal to God's will and not of

our own. Let us love each other. Let us be

not quick to judge, not quick to condemn. But let's

put on grace because we've been showing grace so many

times right. And lastly, really, let's just seek to have

some wisdom here. Let's be smarter than don Keila. We

don't want to be classified as a you bot, open

a fither, not so clever that a donkey can outsmart you.

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

information on our church, please visit aschurch Org. We are

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week is going to be a good week. I hit

for you, God bless