That One Miracle | Dr Daniel Kong

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

will light up your day if you've been with us for some time. We

I mean, I have actually shared a couple of messages before this, and

this is probably the third part and probably the final part, continuation of what

I've spoken about. First year, I spoken about obedience and how I think

it's a few months ago for obedience, and how sometimes it is harder for

us as adults as be mature and hard to obey God of course, but

also given you some handles to do that more effectively. And the last time

I spoke about God's promises and God being the promise keeper and how sometimes no

matter even if you forget his promises, he never forgets right, So we

need to, I guess, really go back to Him and claim that promise.

So today's message is in similar vein it is on the topic of really

just going for that miracle that God has instare for you. It will make

sense after a while, but I titled the message that one miracle, just

one okay, and hopefully it makes sense. I'm going to draw from scriptures

obviously, but before I begin, I just wanted to start off this.

Uh. You know this segment by asking a question, you know, whether

what is the most impossible prayer you've prayed? I mean to say impossible for

you? Of course, we know our God is a god of all possibilities.

But what is the most not say desperate, but the type of prayer

or the miracle that you're after that you prayed before that when you prayers,

you feel it'll be uncomfortable about me to say, like is this going to

work out or not? Is this miracle going to come? Okay? Just

love to share. Just hold that thought in your mind. So what is

the most impossible prayer or miracle that you have ever prayed for in your entire

life? It could be many moons ago when you were a campus student,

or more relevant these days if you're working adult, et cetera. But just

hold that thought a while. Now. I'm going to begin by just quickly

showing you some photos, uh of of a particular incident a few years ago

we had the privilege to travel. Uh. I want to started with this

picture first game. Uh. This picture is not because of whatever you see

there by small like I I want to highlight that that shirt I got from

my macha behind there and I so Macha gave me a match I should man.

In case you don't understand, Macha means brother, right, brother brother

in law technically brother in law in uh tamil right. Yeah, So this

Macha ward that Macha should in in in given to that bright that Macha in

the US, so nobody I had a lot of questions about what that is

actually. So anyway, uh, but yeah, the story, the story

of this is actually we were traveling the States a little bit and there was

a lot of driving and driving on the wrong side of the road as well,

so there's another story altogether. So and we went. We traveled during

the time where it was close to I think it was fall or close to

winter time, so it's a little bit colder. Uh. And we traveled

from San Francisco all the way to uh Power, Alto, which is where

I just had the course. I picked her up, scary as it is,

and after that I went over to Yosemite. Yosemite is the place where

you've got the nice mountains, et cetera. Usually people go there during the

warmer months, but you know, we are a bit insane. We went

there during the months where it's even snowing. Okay, So okay, that's

not the that's not the main story. The main story is that there is

a little bit of a hiccup because I was driving. Uh And if you

know, there's some of these places like the stage right, there's sometimes there's

a bit of a long stretch before there's any patrol station or gas stations as

they call it, on the wrong side the road as well, And so

you need to budget a little bit because there's also difference in prices. Not

like here, we're very privileged, right, You go wherever, anytime of

the day, same price. So if you don't pump your patrol, it's

really your own fault kind of thing. There. You strategize. Smaller towns,

the price can go up, you know, ten times or ten times

at least double the price. Okay. So sometimes the stingy in me or

the calculating me, okay, I can push this a bit further before I

fuel up at the cheaper stop. And you, I hope you understand where'm

coming from. So the next light, next light, very nice photograph and

this will make sense in while we rope past some places, but there's a

bit of sunset and for winter time, right. The days are short as

well, so we were chasing the sun. And I'll talk a little bit

about sunsets later on. But this this bridge here is along the what's the

place called Bixer, the Bixer, which is a famous stretch of coastal road.

Uh, and this bridge has called the Bigsby Bridge. So those of

you who have some some phones and you dread that that that that was that

that that was that the assistant, right, the voice assistant, This is

where that that name came from, the bigs B Bridge. Okay, but

that's not the story. The story is, Uh, there was a point

after we took this photograph, and then within minutes after this photograph, Uh,

it got done very quickly. And not only that, we were driving

in the dark, and I think we had another two hours to go and

almost like an empty tank kind of a situation. And like I said,

if we had petrol stations nearby, no issues. You pump and then you

carry on. I even had the certain times I was thinking whether I should

let my family down, put some luggage out on the floor or on the

ground, go and get PETROSI because you know, engineer like the car less

petrol consumption maybe come back and get them that kind of a situation, okay,

just to share you but of course you know we are here, we're

safe. We made it remembered that it was like fumes right when we reached

this particular small town and then we had petrol and again petro stations are not

twenty four hours some places, so it was quite hard. So okay,

why I brought these stories Because we've reached a crucial point in our journey that

we couldn't turn back to the last petro station or gas station they remembered,

so we just had to push on. Okay, So this is the main

thing I wanted to share. So almost like a point of no return kind

of a moment. So you either push on and hope for the best.

You can't turn back because you turn back, or so you get stuck.

Okay. So this is where where of course it doesn't help that my son

says, go p et cetera, et cetera, So we had to stop,

uh by the bush, So I lose a bit of momentalils had to

start the car again, right then. You know it's those things anyway,

So the moral of the stories that in that trip we were fully committed to

our journey. We can't turn back. And there are moments in life like

this right where we already yeah, you turn back, you Chinese always yeah

you turn back, die go straight, also die kind of scenario. So

you might as well just soldier on. Or in this case we push push

forward. And there are many times in life like this. Myself and my

wife you like to hike a lot. Back in the days where we didn't

have kids, we will do crazy things. We will hike in for four

or five days. Uh, carry all our things and our in our backpacks.

Nowadays we can't do anymore. It's six hours a day. And there

are times, right, there's some particularly incident, I remember we were in

such a remote place right that I think I got injured quite badly, and

then Jess was gonna think that she has go and get help. And you

know, just in directions is this pre phone GPS kind of era, you

know, by the way, just so that you know it's not as easy

as for you to it's easy to get lost, but we again, it's

one of those moments. Similarly, you just had to soldier on. So

I soldiered on in the dark for about a few hours and then we got

to our cat SD Okay, But and again, these are the types of

moments where you just have to push on. And I'm using this example hopefully

in the physical sense you understand that there is just a point no return.

You just have to move on. And now the beginner's message really by saying

that sometimes in life it's like this, You come to a point that you

can't really do anything anymore. You should to push on in life, and

hopefully you push on for that miracle, even though it may seem like you're

far from the miracle. But you also have to understand that sometimes you need

God more in the picture when you're doing that. Like I said, when

I was traveling that time, right, you've never seen me pray as hard,

you know, just to make sure that you know, my whole family

is saved and you know, those kinds of things. So yeah, So

and today we're going to talk about that there is a moment in life where

sometimes the promises of God sits as in what He's promised to you, and

whether you get it through or not, you reach that point of no return

that you might as well just carry on and believe in that promise, hang

cling on to that promise and just go for it, like go get to

kind of thing. Do not turn back, because many are times when things

hit you the most natural thing as human beings, we just with the flag.

I give up, God, You're not here? Where are you in

my life? And then you wonder why you do not see that miracle?

Okay, so you can't go back. It is probably what I'm trying to

say here. You might as well push on. So there is a point

that you should don't even think about stopping anymore, and not even settle for

second best, or settle, in my case, stop the car because it

no longer works. You might as well push on true the challenges and the

circumstances, and not worry too much of a circumstances. Just go on because

you might as well it. Right, So this is where you know you're

going to have to trust God more to deliver you no pun intended to your

destination? All right? To what your destiny is? Last week passes and

I talk about, you know, really fulfilling his will, right, he

just had to follow true, the destiny is sad already again. All that

God wants for you is sometimes reviewed to you. But do we give up

too easily or too quickly. It's probably the question here. So, and

you must understand there's always a tipping point, like I mentioned, the point

of no return. That if you can put it as a static point,

right, it's a point where you leave the safe and then you go to

the unsafe and the unknown. Makes sense, right that that that that decision

point. So you move from somewhere between safe and unsafe or safe and uncertain.

All right? But why do God put us through these things? Is

probably the question here in life? Why do we go there any any any

any thoughts about this? Why do God put us through these things? Arguably

the one I put myself in that situation, the car thing? But why

do God sometimes allow this to happen? When you move from something a safe

place to an unsafe place or rather an uncharted area. You know why?

Any thoughts? Sorry too mature? Yes, as simple as that's exactly right?

To grow in faith? Right? How how else can you grow in

faith? Right? Right? So? Really your faith gets better, trust

me, your faith gets better when the situation is even worse. Cry not

anyway, go the gym before you understand what I'm saying, right, The

no pain, no gain kind of a thing, but really even faith.

Honestly, if you are as you just left, if God allows you to

be left in the complaces state, we will be stagnant, you will not

move, and your faith will not grow. Okay, that's the bottom line

of it. So today's focus or chapter that we're gonna look at all right

versus gonn look at it's from Joshua ten. Okay, And Joshua is in

this situation where he is in that point of no return scenario. Okay,

Now let me give you a background. I have some slides over there,

so Josha ten. Again, I don't have time to go to everything,

but I'll give you a quick two minute summary. I'm going to be covering

verses one to fifteen specifically, So the scenario right, he's too small,

hopefully not too small. The when this is the part right where you know

the walls of the Jerrychod right where they've fallen. And then this is post

that era, so they have worn some victories, they have gone to new

places. In fact, they were in the Promised Land when you're in West

Sorry chapter ten. Okay, but some of the characters in this particular passage

obviously Joshua. It's the main style of the show. He he was he's

no stranger to miracles, firstly, to say, because he has seen all

this miracles true Moses time. He's moses assistant right hand man. Okay,

so he's seen all those miracles during Moses time. Uh and uh. And

and also the people have all come to Canaan, so they were actually building

Canaan or building the in the Promised Land and starting a new life, so

to speak. Okay, So he's gone to calamities already. Okay. And

then there is uh gibbeon the Gibbon Nights, which is talked about in the

previous verse. Okay. Uh. This is a place nearby where they are,

and they had a peace treaty between Israel as in his people and and

them, so it's almost like a pack an alliance okay, so that they

fight together if there's a new war, et cetera. Then there is a

story of the five Kings okay, neighboring states. Maybe I used the next

light okay, next light. Uh, when it's ready, you will see,

okay. Okay, So if I could just jump up very quickly,

they are here, the small little dot here all right, Gibeon is here

all right, and some of this neighboring states is where those kings are,

the five Kings. Okay, So now why why next slide? Why did

this thing happen? Is because the king of Jerusalem, which is further down

south, was a little bit worried that they may uh you know that this

this army alliance is getting a bit strong. So he and he got the

help from some of the neighboring uh cities or kings to come and attack Gibbeon,

which is the one on the left over there, which I pointed earlier.

Uh. And this is where then, of course Gibeon, the Gibbon

knights, uh summon Uh what do you call this? Uh? What did

I say? Uh? I lost my train of thoughts? Summoned Joshua,

Yeah, Joshua. Sorry, I was just looking at him from now on

Joshua. Then he came right and then there is that uh story is where

the story begins. Now I lose my train of thought again. Okay,

So if you don't know if you've got Joshua here anyway, come to them.

So there are lots of miracles that happened in this next few verses Okay,

there is God has caused caused large stones to fall from heaven to to

to to kill the the enemy, which is all this five. And then

there was another section whereby when they called s O s he came, He

burnt an army. He also Joshua also prayed. And then there was a

miracle, Driam, do you know what the miracle is? The miracle is

when right there is the sun and the moon stopped for a while. In

fact, there was daylight or sunlight for twenty four hours at least, because

it says a day. Okay, Now, how many of you experienced twenty

four hours sun before? Only some places in the world geographically you can experience

that. But this is not because of the geographical locations, just because uh,

you know, God just stopped the access from the world from spinning,

et cetera, et cetera. Okay, So uh, that is that miracle

that has happened. Okay, and this, but what I'm trying to allude

to is, you know, these guys were all happily doing their own thing.

They were building. They've already won wars, as I mentioned to you,

Uh, they've come out, they've seen miracles along the way uh,

and then they were attacked as in day as in collectively they were attacked,

and therefore they came from a sudden building season, a complacency season, to

a fight fighting or a survival season. Okay, so you understand where we're

coming from. So they were complacent, they were happy, they were building,

they've won all the battles, et cetera, they want most territories,

and now they have to come back to fighting again. So essentially they attack,

but not only attacked. They were attacked from all different directions. Okay,

they're all surrounded, different areas, different directions. Now, just to

pause for a while, this is what's happening in natural during that time.

But sometimes I also wanted to quickly say, is that the enemy is in

Satan. This is his modest operandi in general. Okay, he will attack

you from all angles. Why because I've saw shared this the last time around.

Whatever God promises you, uh, it remains a promise. Satan cannot

uh nullify that promise. But Satan can hinder you from achieving or reaching that

promise that God has in store for you. Okay, So almost saying that

he can distract you, uh, throw you off, throw things, your

way, confuse you, overwhelm you from you getting there, and then therefore

wear you down. Now what does this mean? Okay, so maybe it

is, uh, you know, you all of a sudden, you know

you're doing well eithern studies or life, et cetera. And then suddenly you

get hit by some medical condition or you have a report out of the blue,

out of the blue, and then only that. Sometimes they say,

right when you get hit when it rains it pause. Right, you get

hit by some financial difficulty, and then you have a teenage kid that is

screaming and going through some teenage hormones, et cetera. And then you've got

all other things that will come and take your career also takes a hit sometimes.

And this is, like I said, an analogy of what can happen

to you, because challenges or things may get thrown at you all at one

time, and you wonder how you're going to survive, and you wonder how

you're going to pull through it. Okay, So again this is from the

enemy just to real quickly say, but I want to also say how or

give you some practical handness of how we can actually defeat this or come above

it. All Right, now let me just read some scripture first, because

to to encourage you that all is not doom and gloom. We're gonna read

from Romans twelve. Here it says here, for by the grace given to

me, I say to every one of you, do not think of yourself

more than you ought to, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment,

in accordance with the faith of God, with the faith God, sorry,

with the faith God that has distributed to each of you. Okay, So

this reminds us that each of us are given a what we call a certain

measure of faith. Okay, it might be sometimes slightly different, but everybody

gets some faith or some measure of faith. Okay. The second verse th

and first coinstances that I was just to one is given through the spirit a

message of wisdom, to another, message of knowledge by the means of the

same spirit, to another faith by the same spirit. So, of course

you're talking about the different gifts. There are lots of the gifts there,

but there is one component that we discover here called the gift of faith.

So again, faith is something that God gives to you, all right,

And this is again a reminder, but you must understand the context. He

also he talks about stewardship. So essentially, faith right is like a loan

if you understand bangalans, et cetera. It's given to you by God and

you are supposed to be stewards of it. We talked about stewardship the last

time around, so if you want to catch it, you catch it.

But really, in spite of all the trials you are it's guaranteed. Or

rather it is said that you are given faith. You're given this gift of

faith by God, and therefore we are to be good stuarts. We also

should really, just like investment, we should really, I guess, try

to grow it. In this case grow your faith as well. Okay,

okay, So when it comes to this portion of things, we look at

Joshua and what he did. All right, So Joshua, you know,

he's a very established warrior, you know, general sorts, okay, because

he's gone his foot wars sometimes in music, you know, the Walls of

Jericho, Crumble, et cetera. But he's also very faithfulled throughout his journey

of growth. He's a massive strategy. But and yet he puts all those

things aside or put pride aside and put on a position of humility to say

that God, I still want you to take over, okay, And why

do we mean by that? Okay, he says, God, I need

you to do a miracle. Though I can strategically fix this by you know,

deploying armies, et cetera. And he brought the strongest men to war

as well. But he said that I'm tired of facing the enemy, Father

or God, I want you to step in. Uh. And whatever you

prayed right, if you think about it, is what we call a very

uh, a prayer that is very big. Like I said earlier, the

type of prayer that you pray right is very desperate kind of prayer. Okay.

In fact, sometimes we see that prayer and we will go to that

prayer right now. Joshua ten thirteen. Game the next light, So this

is the one that we talked about. The sun stood still, the moon

stopped. I highlighted the two words, so you know that both the sun

they should well, they should they should be moving together. Right. It

stood still and till the nation avenged itself on be is the little fine print

over there, It says the nation tribe over the miss they warn the battle,

right, So the sun stood still and the moon stopped until they they

were victorious. Okay, and the sun later in the next section, the

sun stopped in the middle of the sky and delayed going down for about a

full day. So for twenty four hours the sun is up now. Of

course, if you read a bit more, they purposely, I mean,

the reason why he wanted that is because so that they can find all those

enemies and then defeat them, et cetera. But this is itself is a

miracle. Have you ever prayed something like this before? People think you're insane,

that's first. But this is the type of desperate prayer or even a

prayer or a miracle that you call for. Uh is quite it's quite something

that I would say, all right, okay, it's almost impossible. Actually

it is impossible in the human sense, right. I don't know how many

of you seen this before. I haven't. Uh so, yeah, and

and and but when you do something like that, you're saying that I can't

do this. God, I mean inviting you in, because you're a god

of the impossible. It's almost like got your show offer you do the impossible.

So far? So God, if you don't do this. It's not

gonna happen. It's another way to put it. You need to do this.

Victory is yours. Come, come and do this now A pause for

a while. Just now we're saying raise a hallelujah. I'm going to raise

a hallelujah as well. Many moons ago, when I was much younger,

I had this uh uh scenario where I almost had an operation, almost my

very first operation. No no come birthl okay, my very first operation because

I had a situation where had I had I almost had my appendicite appendix appendicitis

appendix taken out. If you know what that is, it is basically a

part of that don't really need to use. Uh. But long story shot,

I still have it here. But during that time, I was in

a lot of pain. I was scheduled for surgery, and I got on

my knees to pray the hardest I've prayed, h and I prayed for the

impossible. Uh. God fixed me, and he did fix me until this

day. I'm forty odd years old now, and that was when I was

teen, and it's still in me, although it's no use by still in

me, all right, So so again, miracle, another miracle medical miracle

as well. When I was in university, much younger me, I had

kidney stones of all things. Yeah, I was screaming in pain. I

was against schedule for surgery and I was warded. This is Australias. I'm

a very expensive and a couple of hours before my scheduled surgery it was clear

and medically the doctors were just dumb struggler. I don't know what happened.

But again, I'm not saying that medical miracles and all that is comparable to

this kind of miracle, but it is in my during my time, it

was my son twenty four hours sun moment. Okay, well, I prayed

something that is I cannot control. I can't tell my body to I don't

know stop. The stones really hurt, but it came out small pieces.

I didn't do anything to it. I didn't get any treatment yet because they

were going to schedule me and take it out right. So anyway, Yeah,

there's a short thing. But yeah, sometimes when me faced impossible situations,

you must understand these are the moments when only this, only then the

miracle can happen, all right, and only then the miracle would do will

be sufficient for you to get out of that. Right again, back to

my story of my car thing point of no return, I might as well

give it a go. I might as well pray my hardest in terms of

my medical condition, because what have I got to lose? Right? So

yeah, in those two pray those crazy prayers, pray claim those miracles.

It's okay, because why this is where it's not you, no longer you

anymore, it's all God, all right. And those moments are the moments

where you say it's not over yet. It's just your turn. God,

the ball is on your court kind of a thing. All right, I'm

not done yet. And Joshua did just that, okay. And this is

where what Joshua said, in paraphrasing, here, Lord, I'm inviting you

in this situation, do the miracle, and then I can definitely know that

it's really from you, okay, And that miracle can be anything. You

just replace that miracle with whatever that you think is suitable. But when you

face the impossible, you you got to hand it over. You got to

hand it over because you can't do much anymore. Right, all right,

aybreak is so far? All right? I know it's quite a fabit to

digest. But yeah, it's important to know and this is really what it

is, by what we sung earlier raising halley doo. Yeah. Okay,

Now let me just give you, uh some some practical ways of actually doing

this, uh, you know, claiming that miracle or pushing through until you

see that miracle. Uh. Firstly I put up here is to boldly seek

the impossible. It takes a lot of guts and fear. Takes a lot

of guts and a lot of tenacity to to to seek the impossible. Okay,

a lot of uh of course, a lot of faith as well.

Now tell you something, Zach. I'm sorry to share a story again about

you. Uh. You know, Zach, Zach grew up in a very

control environment. When I say control environment. Growing up, we had the

luxury to not give him any natural sorry, any unnatural sugar or salts growing

up because you know, it's only one son back then, and then there

were lots of options of things that so basically if you don't interest him sugar

or salts until he was about two and a half years old, okay,

aol two and a half years of his first life, his first life,

if you think of one life, his first half of his life. It

was all just natural sugars from you know, fruits, et cetera, no

artificial sugar, et cetera. Even his food is all bland. And you

know, kids actually don't need tastes and parents who understandhere I'm coming from second

son, different story. L second son ever harder to control because the first

son already had the privileges. So when when Zach hit about three years old,

we introduced him for the very first time, or rather not me like

the grandparents, because we came back less to control. It came around stralias

or less control. So the parents introduced him to something called ice cream.

Yes, he said, smiling there. He probably remembers this as well.

So he would get ice cream and it became a problem because there was some

addiction problems as well, even at a very young age. And we know

for a fact right that he loves it because every time he gets up with

ice cream, I mean he can't really talk, but he wants ice cream.

And then every meal he would want to top up with ice cream at

the end. And again there were times right when he's older and co make

a bit better as well. He will trick the mom to give him some,

and then he will trick me to give him some in another meal,

and then after that we don't we don't coordinate, so we didn't know that

he had so much dose of ice cream and night he still has the audacity

to ask some ice cream. Okay, this is what it is for a

child, all right. But what I'm trying to say here is that there

is so much boldness in asking in a child. Right other words, I

put his synonyma daring, bold, brave, courages, fearless, audacious,

reckless. These are all the words I've written down to explain. He's a

go getter. He wants to get it. He knows what he wants.

So back to what I've said earlier, are we boldly seeking the impossible?

Are we daring enough? Are we to concern? Of course, at the

time, we were more concerned about his diet. But we're not talking about

that diet, you know. I mean, let's see, I know all

of us are eating healthy, et cetera, et cetera, But we're talking

about sometimes we are weak in faith by the way we maybe do not demand

or demand something a little bit shorter of what you can actually demind for.

Okay, So that's what I mean by weak in faith. And somehow it's

rationalized by how we seek God or how we approach God when we ask for

something or ask for that miracle. Let me explain. Okay, maybe you

thought to yourself, yeah, this is a small thing. Most likely he

will not give it to me anyway, right, so let's never ask for

bigger things. Right. Sometimes we treat God like there everything okay, that

maybe this is too either too big too small. We rationalize, and sometimes

we thought, Okay, maybe this is stuff for other people, not for

me. This miracle is for him or her, but not for me.

Okay, maybe you've come from some experiences I talk about experiences before in my

previous messages, and because of those circumstances, you think that you shouldn't be

asking God these sort of or miracles. You're not seeking him, or maybe

you come from a position I'm already self relying. I'm okay, God,

I can take this. I can tank this tank okay, not thank I

can thank this. I'm self built. I don't need to consider asking God

because this is too small for him and I don't want to bother him about

this, Okay, no matter what it is in whatever spectrum you'll fall under

this actually, or it's a huge mistake because we do not recognize our position

as His children, and we short change ourselves because we are not claiming our

what we are entitled to, our birthright. Some say, okay, so

you are. It's okay to be asking God the impossible, but you need

to be bold, you need to be daring, you need to be reckless,

like what I said earlier, how my son was recklessly asking for ice

cream. Okay, So I hope you understand the context here. Don't be

afraid to ask, ask mistler, okay, and then we'll see how it

goes. But we talked about power as well, right last night. Power

promise, so Joshua asked, because he was very aware of God's capabilities.

No, he knows and understand God has the power to do so. So

if you look at the battle, if you look at the sorry, look

at the the verses before verses seven to eight. You see here this is

just a few verses before. So Joshua much to Gilgael with his entire army,

including all the best fighting men, to the Lord. Sorry, the

Lord said to Joshua, Sorry, do not be afraid of them. So

this God telling Joshua, I have given them into your hand. Not one

of them will be able to withstand you. Okay, So here, if

you look at the context very carefully, Joshua has won the battle right because

God spoke and God basically again given him the promise. It's not because of

what he did also, but of course he did ask for it. But

he won because God spoke, not because the son stood still for a while,

etc. Or son didn't say. In that case, it is because

God spoke. But what is superiocacy God speaking the victory is because he took

that faith to another level. He dare to ask for something that is crazy

or looney, you know in our language. Okay, Now, Romans ten

seventeen reminds us here about faith. This is how does faith comes? Everybody

knows this, right, faith comes by hearing, hearing how highlighted there by

the word of God. All right, And we talked about different modes of

how we can hear from God. Right, Bible reading is one option as

well. But what I'm trying to say here is that faith begins and comes

from hearing the word of God. Okay, Another way I want to say

this is God's words ignites faith. Okay, So if you do not fill

yourself with God's work, then obviously, yallah, there's not so much faith

there allah. Okay. So why am I saying this is because when you

go to troubles and challenges and you find it difficult to ask for those crazy

promises or crazy requests. What verse are you holding on to when you're looking

at that challenge? Right? Are you? Is there something in you that

you can carry forth and you give you that bondness to then claim that victory

insituation, to claim that promise that God has in store for you? Right?

What passage have you deposited in the past? And we talked about writing

things down the last time around as well, Right, what is carrying you

through that process? And really it is to God's worth? Is God's word

that brings you true? So really God's word Knight's faith, because if you

do not know it, then obviously can't really do much love. And we

talked a little bit about, uh, not so much asking God to just

perform the miracle, but we also reminding God of the miracle that he promises

as well. Okay, so the reality is sometimes the miracle may not have

happen yet is because it's in God's timing. That's one. But there's no

there's nothing wrong with usus reminding him of that miracle. And sometimes God maybe

hasten the process because of our reminder, because like I said, it's already

given to you already, whether it is finance, finances, you know,

your children, etcetera. You declare it, you declare life into it,

believe in it. And reminding of his promises because our God, you know,

character wise, is a covenant keeping God. So whatever is promise,

you will always remain promise and will be fulfilled. So if you want that

miracle, you know, not just find out what he said, but remind

him what he said, Okay, because we said it before. God never

forgets, but you just need to sometimes just echo the same thing, and

and and and and here we mentioned earlier that Joshua recognized God's capability. Uh.

And because also because of the experiences we know he went through a lot

of the miracles before right the party of the Red Sea, uh, receiving

manner from heaven, food from heaven. What else? He saw a fire

coming through uh, the clouds okay by night and day uh. And then

and then so this miracle is again it's not too big a deal because he's

had a lot of experiences in the past. Okay, but one thing we

need to know and and this is also me sometimes I uh, you know,

I'm an engineer. I always share people I'm engineers. I'm a very

logical person or I really I think in that logical sense. So when I

first read this passation about the whole earth rather the whole sun stopping thing,

I tend to put on those lenses first, the cynical side. Can it

really happened? Now? Ah? How do you stop the access from rotating?

You know? How is it temporary? God? You you turn off

this light for a while, you turn on another light temporarily because the the

sunsets move on. Those guys, those kind of questions, you know,

you become you can't race cynical Or is that really what Ibe took out the

dinosaurs? Because God just left the sunlight on forever? You know, I

mean those kinds of things, like, you know, very weird things that

my brain goes through. But really that's not the that's not the point,

that's not the process. But you know, sometimes we we use logic and

I try to apply to miracles, and that sometimes can also be your downfall,

right, because more important thing is that you must understand His nature doesn't

change. He's the same yesterday today, and for his character doesn't change.

It's more importantly his capabilities hasn't or will never change. So why border about

all these small little points. The same spirit that stopped the sun in Joshua's

time, it's the same spirit that you know brought Jesus out the grave.

We just celebrated. It's not too long ago. And it's the same spirit

that lives in us, right and you and I. So we need to

understand that God is more than capable. So go and ask those those bowl

miracles, demand those miracles from God. Let me just quickly mention a few

things to confirm that God is capable. For some verses there, Isaiah forty

talk about nations, and we talk about nations earlier, right, The nations

are a drop of water in the bucket, right, small dust. So

this is how small we are. Our God is much bigger. Okay,

Isaiah reminds us that the earth is God's footstool. It's much bigger than that.

Someone forty seven talks about how great our Lord is, how powerful,

how mighty and powerful he is. His understanding is infinite, So why use

logic or even very simplistic understanding. Right and then Romans here, most importantly,

Romans here reminds us that His love is always present, regardless of whether

there is death nor life, whether there's any principalities and powers neither. Time

doesn't matter whether it's yesterday, today, tomorrow, present or future, no

height nor death, no place, no you know anywhere. His love will

never separate from us. So we need to remember, you know, his

position, his capability. So just like I come back then, example of

Zach, he keeps on coming to Earth at the time to ask us for

ice cream. I also think to some extent he has the confidence that we

are able to supply that ice cream in that financial sense. Okay, if

I don't money they cannot give him and back then he that will should give

it. That kind of thing. But we ought to go to God.

We ought to go to God in that manner as well. He's able to.

He's capable. That miracle may be big for you, but it's not

big for God. Okay, And miracles, like I said earlier, starts

from you. Asking. If you don't ask, you can't get all right,

Okay, next point nearly at the end here early today, let's do

this together. Now, what I mean by this is that just as how

Josh has recognized this, he knew that he can't do this alone. If

you read carefully, he he was with a company of believers or godly people

okay, or more more more specifically an army of godly people. And then

he he he went through this or pursued this miracle with in a corporate sense.

So there's power in corporate faith collective faith. Okay. Now what I

mean by that is sometimes they impossible, may seem impossible, but if you

journey people of the same faith, it makes it easier. Okay, then

you get there. We shouldn't be embarrassed if I need. Sometimes we hold

back from even you know, having this corporate collectiveness to move towards a miracle

because we feel that maybe I'm gonna be embarrassed about maybe my need that I

don't think I can share it with you know, my my fellow peers in

Christ, or fellow believers in Christ, or maybe sometimes it's like I've seen

this miracle happen in his life this testimony. You know, I've been you

know, maybe wanting a child for quite some time. I see this happening

everywhere. I don't want to go into that space. I don't go to

complete believet because I feel that I'm not I don't want to go into that

space because I don't want to feel sad. Right, or maybe it's something

that you cannot let go. And perhaps and it's not easy to sometimes,

you know, have that conversation with different ones a lot of reasons, but

you must understand battles even in a physical sense. Nobody sends one soldier into

war, right, it's a suicide mission. Right. No, normally a

send a healthy number of people going in there to win a war. So

if we are to pursue that miracle, isn't it better if you go together

with a company of believers to do it together? And this is where if

you read chapter ten Josh ten six, it says, yeah, do not

abandon your servants. Mean to say, he also recognizes that I'm to go

together with a collection of people, an army or believers. Okay, And

this is important because sometimes in church we promote this whole thing about you know,

coming together in a community of believers that sometimes just have fun together.

Now, don't get me wrong, fun and all that is important. Connecting

is also is okay, But there will come a time, right that it

needs to go beyond just that friendship. You need to come to a point

that you know, not just having tea parties and and and the guys we

sometimes game together, you know, having fun in these computer games, et

cetera. But sometimes we may need to turn off those things and maybe come

together and pray that same company of believers to do that. Otherwise it's just

a really a fun group that's doing church together. And you don't go beyond

anything, then how how can you then receive that miracle? So this is

really a challenge for us to That's why we say we're big on community.

But it doesn't just stop with just the fun bits, okay, So you

need to understand the power that So most miracles, just want to conclude here,

most miracles come from godly relationships. Right, we have a system right

where we have gotlee people together in the church, in smaller groups in homes,

et cetera. And if you read first Peter for here, it says

that as each one of you one of us has received a gift. And

what's a gift for to minister to one another? Okay, keyword here is

minister to one another. That means to say, whatever gifts that you've been

given is not meant to be for yourself for sure. So if you tag

team with somebody, right, you receive God's gift, God's blessing true that

proxy which is your fellow Peter. And this is what that's what I mean

by it comes to godly relationships. Again, don't get me wrong. It

doesn't mean that you do not go and hang out with non godly people,

but you should also spend a healthy amount of balance between the two. Okay,

this is where I think I want to quickly say, as well,

we are the conduits for God's blessing, so go out and also bless other

people. And just hold on this where we're saying, so that all may

know right, but internally we also need to exercise this. And the Bible

and intansipates a lot of a lot about spiritual gifts. You can read all

about it, okay, but it comes true, people, it doesn't come

true God in a direct manner. So if you ever I used that and

energy last time you order something online from Shoppy and you're wondering why you didn't

get the delivery, it's because maybe you're not hanging the right people and the

delivery guy who are supposed to hang out with to receive your blessing. And

you wonder why the distributions that is not working because because you're not hanging out

people, you're just in isolation. Right, So you need to collectively do

this because we God's people are also condutes or pipes or proxies to see miracles

happen. All right, So bottom line is increase your time with your fellow

got lead peers, right, because why if you increase that time, you

also increase the probability of using that miracle. Right, So why not I

encourage you to get the small groups if you haven't, uh, wrap shoulders

in more of people of you know, save simmer faith, you know,

leaders, elders, pastors, et cetera. I think you would definitely see

your miracle come to fruition. Okay, and so far final point, final

point is really borrowing off some of the things I mentioned before. Really is

persist till you see that miracle or in other sense, right, really just

don't stop until it comes to fruition, until it comes to pass. Okay.

Like I said, sometimes you stop a bit too early, right,

But if you treat it like a where I started write a point of no

return kind of a scenario, right, you might as well just push on.

What if you got to lose is probably what I want to say.

Just go on and then the only possibility right that could happen after you push

on, right, is really this God goes to work. You see that

miracle, or you's unders saying God still goes to work. But maybe there

is a delay because we know that God is always working, right, But

either way you need to persist till it happens. Okay, because let me

stay a pause here. One of the slides gap this photograph of a sunset.

So this, uh, The reason I put up this picture is because

it's actually a photograph that we took whether we were traveling Western Australia. It's

kite, a beautiful sunset. Anyone you've seen sunsets before. It happens quite

slowly, right, and then when it reaches some kind of horizon, it

becomes doubt very quickly right. But the wait for it to come to death

is quite long. Now, imagine this in that scenario where you see the

uh the the picture where in Joshua where the sun stopped, all right,

it stopped for twenty four hours. Now, sometimes when we see sunsets,

right, it seems as though nothing is happening, at least in the initial

stages where it comes to the horizon line. It looks like it comes to

slow en. I waited like one hour idea, and it's smooved an injiny

or maybe it hasn't appears though it hasn't been moved, right, But does

it mean that it hasn't moved? You know, the reality is that it

is moving, you just can't see it in the same context, right,

this revelation came whereby sometimes we seem as it appears as though God it's not

working because maybe the timing is a bit slow. But would you say that

the miracle? Is it not one step closer to the miracle? No,

it is actually happening, just that you can't see it. But maybe God

in this what it calls in this, I guess in this perspective, he

purposely stop it a bit longer so that you can indeed see it. But

one thought about this is that that's the nature of miracles. Sometimes we we

think that God hasn't answered. It's because we do not see the end product

instantly. We are I always call it. We have the McDonald's generation or

the drive to generation, where we want things instantly. The older generation are

more used to waiting things out. Remember last time, we used to wait

one entire week for another episode of I don't know ThunderCats or whatever it is.

Now it's all on demand right shows my age. But we are the

fast food generation and it reminds me of a story, and I'll share the

story in a bit. But you know, with healing and miracles, sometimes

we think of it as a similar kind of thing, both healing and miracle.

Now, but there is some subtle differences, okay, because you can

argue, if you receive healing, it is a miracle. If it's a

miracle, you get a healing kind of thing. But the difference between the

two, right, if you look at it, healing is God slowly restoring

you to health. True, maybe extend a period of time. What is

a miracle? God restores you if a short amount of time. Right,

So that's the difference between the healing and the miracle. Right, So one

is instant, one is a bit slower, but both it's still recovery in

the bodily sense, right. And you know, sometimes when we ask for

a miracle, but God sometimes in his wisdom, may say that I want

to do it in his timing, or he wants to do it any other

way. I think I spoke a bit about the difference of different pathways of

getting that same miracle as well. But sometimes I think we are too preoccupied

with just the outcome because we are an instant or instant gratification or McDonald's generation

or drive to generation, that we fail to see that God is still moving.

And we wonder whether God hears our prayers. And that's why I put

up that sign over there. It's God working, it's God hearing me if

we're second guessing whether he's actually heard our prayers or even though we ask for

that miracle to happen, because it's not in our timing. And I hope

that we understand that no matter what he's working, it's just that it may

be in his time. It's incremental, just that we don't see it.

I'll share one quick story and then i'll end here. And I feel like

invite the ban up. When I was younger, I traditional that that is

very hard to put it, risk calastically driven as and he wants me to

do well, et cetera, et cetera. Uh, Zach, aren't you

glad? I'm not like you're Gong Kong. Yeah, so I used to

get the the yeah that that that, yeah whatever. I've tried all sorts.

Okay, back then it wasn't a crime. I love my dad to

bits, by the way, but yeah, I used to get it quite

a fair bit because of the pressures of just just doing well, not not

you know, just doing well and studies to the point that I even had

bat migraines. I grew up in migraines and then I had lots of runs

to the to the hospital, lots of checks being done, uh MRI and

all they also have done before, and they couldn't find out what was wrong,

but they know that it was definitely something that is maybe stretched induced.

And I remember at the time I was quite desperate. I just prayed one

of those young Chico prayers. You know, God, you know, just

hear me of this, because I couldn't explain just like how Zach If you

know Zach, he grew up with some vomiting problems, and you know,

for low years, medically they cannot understand what's happened. I was very frustrated

I and at one time I blame my dad for the pressures, and because

of that, I think it was that, but atually it's not. But

I think there was a medical condition that is that's causing me to have very

bad migraines. Fast forward. You know, I've prayed those prayers, claimed

those miracles, and I received that miracle and I've not had a migraine since

high school, as in lower high school until this very day. Even though

I'm highly strung. I get hives sometimes, but not migrains anymore. Hive

cets in pressure. I did my PhD. Some hives just get tested that.

But this is where sometimes, right you need to understand. Even then,

I think it was an incremental process of healing, because like I said,

I had many years of migrain but it doesn't mean that healing is not

happening. But I was praying those as reprayers low. But what I'm trying

to say is that believe and stay on course because sometimes for me at the

time I got no option. Like I said, there's a point in no

return, so I might as well just do it. I pray my hardest

prayer. What I want to encourage you to do is really just keep praying,

keep praying, keep asking, keep believing, even though it may not

seem as though things are working as quick as you want. I've spoke about

your community of believers. Keep connecting as well. Don't withdraw. Some people

withdraw and you know what I'm talking about, right, so we just I

can't handle them. I need to go into my cave. No, don't

withdraw. Keep declaring as well, declaring his promises because we know that God

is working. And do this. Do this because one you have no option,

and you need to do this until it comes to pass. Okay,

come to fruition and why it's God done. In this example, he has

literally paused the game for a while. As in the sun, he paused

it for a while so that the victory can be warn our God is able

to do something like this, and so no matter what it is, right,

I know, maybe God is pausing my migraine issues just because I said

those prayers, and that it's still a miracle that today I have not for

I think twenty to thirty years not had a migraine before. I just have

it every day, by the way, so it's quite bad. You can

ask my dad if you want, ask my wife. You should know about

that. So yeah, it's a miracle in itself that I'm still here without

any migraines. So yeah, God can put a pause on the sun.

You can do anything. You just got to believe in it. We hope

you've been blessed by this message. For more information on our church, please

visit aschurch do org. We are also active on Facebook and Instagram. We're

believing that this week is going to be a good week, a hit for

you. God bless