Praise-Generating | Pr Alvin Keng

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

We hope this message will light up your day.

Today, I'm sure you all know, we are going through

our 12 plus 1 core values. And today, I have

the privilege of sharing on our 10th value, which is

praise generating. Correct? I need to double check. Because sometimes

it's on, sometimes it's not on. So I'm not sure. Okay. Okay.

Let's read the Scriptures, Acts 2, verse 47. So today

Acts 2:47

I'm going to bring you through what we believe in

as X Church. So you call your church X Church,

this is what you believe in, okay? I hope you

are believing in it. Acts 2, and we're going to

read the Scripture again as a refresher. Acts 2, verse 42,

Acts 2:42

I think. 42. Okay.

Okay.

Okay, it says here, and they continued steadfastly in the

apostles' doctrine and fellowship in the breaking of bread and prayers.

Then fear came upon every soul and many wonders and

signs were done through the apostles. Now all who believed

were together and had all things in common. Thank you

so much. And sold their possessions and goods and divided

them among all as anyone had need. So continuing daily

with one accord in the temple and breaking bread from

house to house, they ate their food with gladness and

simplicity of heart. Sounds like church, okay? Homes, church, all

these things. And this is the verse. Praising God and

having favour with all people. And the Lord added to

the church daily those who were being saved. I can

tell you, as I read this scripture, I can tell

you that having favour with all people is a very,

very real thing. especially for our church. Because which other

church can tell you that they've been in the same

location for, at least for PJ, this is our testimony,

same location for 14 years and the management that manages

the location changed. So much so, every time the new

management come out, they ask me for advice. I'm like,

you own this place, right? You know, they are asking

me for permission. Weird, right? I'm like, but I'm the tenant,

you know, that kind of thing. So it was so interesting.

that the Lord's favour is upon us. Amen? But let's

go to what we mean by praise generating. Praising God, okay?

I don't think any of us will have any issue

with praising God. Anybody here got issue with praising God?

You don't like worship one? You hate worship, hate worship songs?

You only believe in the Word? No worship? You better

not shake your head. I'm just testing you all, okay?

We should all worship God, right? Because God made us

to worship Him. Do you know that? Do you know

that as a Christian that God made us to worship Him,

that's the core of our understanding. So worship is key,

you know, not for you, for Him. Sometimes I fail

with the ballet. Because when we worship God, right, we

also gain something, right? But sometimes the focus is so

much on us, right, that we forget actually we are

worshipping God. We are not worshipping the songs, we are

not worshipping the worship leader, we are not worshipping the experience.

It's very dangerous. I tell you, it's so, man, every

time I say this, I feel old. Because I remember

being young and being excited when I want to go

for Christian concert and all, but I see a very

dangerous trend where the worship is the experience and I

wonder whether God is in it. Right? We can conveniently say,

oh no, but it's God. But then, the moment you

start picking worship, meaning worship only looks like this, but

when you're at homes and there's no band and you

don't even have guitar, you cannot worship. That's quite dangerous, no?

That's quite dangerous. That's why I think X just trained

me quite well. Because go anywhere, can still worship one.

The worship leader off-key, can still worship one. I still

remember last time when I was younger, coming to X, right?

And I remember, I think I remember Joe was there.

And every time we go for events, right? We are

the loudest people. I don't know why. Siawan, sia people. Woo!

You know? Worship leader off-key, we're like, yeah, let's do it,

you know? Now already, maybe we less, less. No, I still,

Joe still has it. Okay? You know? Yeah? Huh? You

cannot hear it? That's why you have to ask whose name, right?

Whose name, right? Do you remember? Just joking. We have

good friends. We have good friends. Oh no, he's dissing

Joe Lloyd. Praise. Praising God. Okay? Praising God is something

called in our Christian. So you won't argue with that, right?

We all know that we need to praise God. We

all know. Sometimes we forget, okay? Sometimes we get a

bit too picky, right? That, you know, songs matter. I

believe songs matter. I believe songs matter because there are

a lot of songs out there and not every song

glorifies God. Some songs glorify the singer. When I say singer,

I'm not talking about the singer, I'm talking about us.

You know, it's all about me. Yesterday we had VA

production and the Ninevites were singing all about them. Songs

talking about them. So praising God or praise is in

our DNA, amen? Praise is in our DNA. It doesn't

matter whether, oh, I'm a very quiet one, so I cannot. No, no, friends,

don't get it wrong. Because if you keep quiet, the

rocks will cry out. It's in Scripture. So don't be

quiet to praise God. Praise is in our DNA. Praise

is positive. It's not negative. Oh, God, thank you. No,

it's positive one, no? Doesn't matter how you feel. You read.

You want to learn about praise? Read Psalms. The book

of Psalms. So many... Even the part where King David,

because he wrote that, right? Even the part where he

was lamenting, lamenting, right? You know what lamenting means? Complaining, right?

Sulking to God. He always ends well, no? He always

ends with, no matter what God, you're still good. No

matter what God, you're still good. No matter what God,

you're still, you know, and then got some praise, wow,

quite God-ass, no? You know, Lord, I know my enemies

are surrounding me, but you will get them. I think

that's praise also, in a very interesting way, right? Praise

is positive. Praise is lifting God up, amen? We got

to lift God up with our praise, okay? Lifting God up.

And praise is also lifting people up. That's why we

share testimonies. We honour people. That's praise. That's our church, friends.

Are you guys catching it or not? Okay, right? So

I think praise is something we all understand. Praise is

something we practice. Don't care where you are as a believer,

you understand praise. But then our core value is praise generating.

What does it mean? Generating. You all know a generator? Generator, right?

You know, what does a generator do? A generator, you

only need a generator when there's no electricity. The main

power grid fails, right? You need a generator, right? Then

you crank it up. Put petrol, crank it, crank it,

and then it runs. Those old school generator lah, okay?

If you do not generator is because you use power bank.

No electricity, power bank lah, okay? Please go and Google

what is generator, okay? Because in a jungle, there's no

power bank for you, right? Generator generates electricity. When there's

no generator, there's no electricity, right? So praise generating means

we want to be able to generate praise when there's

no reason to praise. You all catching that? When there's

no reason, how do you mean by no reason to praise?

God is good, ma. God is good. All these old

school Christians that understands that one. All the time? Catching it,

catching it. People like to do that last time, you know. Yeah,

we want to generate praise, friends. We want to understand

what it means like to generate praise. Are we in

biblical or not? It is very biblical. Very biblical. Read Psalms,

you will understand. That even when King David didn't feel

like it, he still praised God.

Right?

He still praised God. He generated praise. Right? Because when

the generator starts, there's no power. So we need to keep...

So how do we keep generating friends? How do we

keep generating praise?

Right?

Because the tendency is that when things happen, when you're

not happy, when you cannot praise, it's not praise that

comes out of our mouths. No, it's complaints. It's lamenting.

It's the, why me? It's the, God, you know, go

find someone else to, you know, why? Right? It's difficult. Right?

It's difficult to remain positive. Correct? It's difficult. It's tough.

It's tough when someone else is enjoying life and you're suffering.

And they deserve it because they are more wicked. Or

they are not nice people. And you are nice, but

somehow nice, they say, what nice guys, what? Finish last. Right?

Is that correct? Huh? Nice guys die early, is it?

I don't know. Okay, let's not go there, okay? It's

getting weird. Friends, can I ask you a question? If

Jesus has already come and He has already given us

the power to overcome, if Jesus already came and all

of us believe in Christ, He's given us the power to, well,

not power, but He's given us the keys to the kingdom, right?

He's given us everything. And if He has come Don't

you think it's worth praising no matter what happens? Because

He's taken everything. He's taken sin. He's given us a

way out. He's restored our relationship with God the Father

that we can pray. You know, I really like this

line someone taught me. I can't remember who. He said,

Christians have an unfair advantage. We can pray. I don't

know how many of us believe in that. Right? We

have an unfair advantage because we can pray. Right? So praise. Praise.

You know, And we are people of the cross. the

cross is positive not negative positive jesus added to our

lives it was a plus jesus was always positive right

he was he's always positive But that's the thing that

is difficult. Some days we just don't have it. Some

days we just don't have praise. How we try is,

you know, because we are emotional beings and that's not

a bad thing because God made us who we are.

We just don't have it. Right? You just don't feel

like it. Let me give you an example. Right? So

you're hungry and you're at home and you've got no food. How? Huh?

Or the grab? Huh? Yeah, now we got grab. Can

order grab. What else? No, no money. Wah, so kasihan.

Drink water lor. Oh man, I should talk to the,

talk to the families. Actually, I talk to families here lah.

No food how? No food how? No grab how? Cook lah.

Correct or not? Then you're like, I don't know how

to cook. Learn lor. Cook, no money, cook jiva mah.

Right?

Okay? Of course you can throw more problems at me,

but there's a way, right? If there's no food, there's

a way to find food, right? Correct or not? Right?

You have to make it lah. Right? Got no money,

you have to make money lah. Right? Got no way,

yes God will make a way, but we have to

find a way lah. Correct or not? So when there's

no reason to praise, what do we do? Just keep

quiet lah. Is it? Make praise lah. Make praise. I

don't have it ready. It's not ready-made already. There's no package.

Sometimes our lives is not ready-made. Most times our lives

is not ready-made. You know? I want to sing this song,

but the worship leader is not singing it. My favorite

song that just came out, not singing it. I got

no mood to praise. Something bad happened yesterday. Oh, I

want to go to this university, but, ayah, Didn't get.

Had to go and learn university. I want to buy

this car. You know, this car, this colour, this type. Aiyo,

but don't have already. No stock. Only got hot pink.

What is that one thing that we wanted but didn't have? Right?

And then we cannot praise God. Can't we praise God

that you can actually go to university because there are

a lot of people that couldn't go to university? Can't

you praise God that you know, that is a worship leader?

Leading you in worship? That there are songs that we

can sing? Why must it be that one song? You

mean all the other songs cannot, is it? Wah, susah

lah like that. Very difficult. You know? Want to buy

this car? Sure. Aren't you grateful that you can actually

afford to buy a car? Even if you didn't get

the car that you liked? Even if you didn't? Why

can't we Generate praise. Lord, thank you so much. You know,

the Bible teaches us about contentment. The Bible teaches us

about enter His courts with thanksgiving in our hearts. Right? Sorry,

enter His gates with thanksgiving in our hearts and into

His courts with praise. Right? Thanksgiving first, then praise. How

do you get thanksgiving? Being thankful. Are we thankful for

what we have? Humans are very insatiable. We always look

at what we don't have. But we don't look at

what we have. That's the thing. So can we generate praise?

Because if you want to complain, there's a lot of

things you can complain about in life. But do you

want to live like that way? Can we generate praise? Amen?

What's our frame of mind when things like that happen?

Do we praise or do we complain? Because you see,

it's easy to praise when good things happen. Right? It's

easy to praise when good things happen. But when bad

things happen, can we still praise God and say, thank God.

Thank God this didn't happen to me. See, that's why

I say you can only have that perspective if you're

either a little bit older, because old people go through

quite a lot in life, so we know, or you

have an understanding of God in your life. Because on

one hand, we say, God, you have all things good.

I love you. God is good all the time. You

all just said it, huh? Means even in bad times,

He's good, right? Meaning because in times where we think

it's bad, actually God is still there. God is still

good Right? Supposed to be lah. You don't feel like

it mah, but supposed to be lah. Right? Isn't that

still true to us? And I'm not just teaching you

how to be positive, you know. Let me share with

you a testimony. Right? Because it might not be the

best in our understanding, but can we still be positive

and look at things in the way of praise? Let

me reframe that. Can we look at things in the

way of praise to God? Right? It's not just positive thinking.

So this example I give you is quite personal to me.

Because I remember there was a time in my life

where I wanted to shift to PJ. So I stay

in Shah Alam. Actually, a lot of people don't know that.

I actually met one church member, like my partner and

the family, very near my house. Near my house, they

just opened a sushi mentai. And I went there to eat.

Then I saw them. I'm like, eh, where are you here?

So far from where you stay. I mean, not far lah. It's, what,

20 minutes? Okay. Okay. And then they're like, oh yeah, yeah,

how about you? Why are you so far from where

you sit? I'm like, Jason Gan. I'm like, no, not far.

Five minutes only in my house. Then he like, huh?

You mean you stay here? I said, yeah, because when

I wanted to buy a house, Kota Good Morning got

a very good salesperson. Pastor Dr. Kenneth Chin, okay? Super

hard sell, right? So we all found a place there, right?

And he was so shocked. He's like, you mean for

the past so long, I always thought that you were

in PJ because that's where you are. I'm like, yeah.

But God has a sense of humour. Then I found out, Selina,

all of our CBCs stay very far away from our

church plant. Oh no, I found out, I realised, all

of us, we stay very far from. Even Elder Peng

Ho taking care of Subang, where does he say? Bukit Jalil.

Not even in Subang. God has a sense of humour.

So there was a season in my life where I

was not happy. Not happy is very dangerous, right? And

I was not happy. And I was so not happy

that I wanted to shift nearer to my church plant.

And I had a very good reason too, because go

church plant lah. Guys, good right? If Pastor Alvin come

and stay near y'all. Actually, I don't know whether it's

good idea or not. You know, we can open house

or homes, right? We can, you know, have fellowship, meet

each other. Now very difficult, no? Now I want to

plan meeting them lah. Wah, I have to really plan

months and weeks ahead, right? Logistically, it's like difficult, right? So,

I wanted a shift and I was looking for house.

And my dear wife, Lie on me, okay? Let me

tell you how serious I was, right? Looking for a house.

Because I, because, okay, let me use this word properly.

I didn't like my house very strongly, right? Because it

was too big, it was very difficult to manage, it's

an old house, right? And there were different things happening

in my life which made me go like, you know,

shift to BJ, nearer to my workplace, nearer to my

kids' school, right? A lot of reasons. You know, can

do ministry, all these things. So then, therefore, I embarked

on a journey to find a house in PJ. And

the interesting thing that I learned is PJ is very expensive.

More expensive than KL, no? Do you know that? I

don't know why. People love PJ. So we went and looked.

So for two years, I was looking for a house

in PJ. These pre-pandemic days. I was so frustrated, I

was willing to shift and relocate. And I said, my

poor dear wife submitted and followed. How serious I am?

Serious until like, you know what, let's spend money by

staying at Wisdom, stay in Airbnb for a month so

they can feel how it's like to stay in PJ. Wisdom, right?

You know, pray and ask God, God, open the door, right?

But thank God, right, for me, because I guess as

frustrated as I am and as motivated as I am,

I'm still not bodoh lah, okay? I'm still not dumb

and foolish and young lah, okay? Got a bit more experience.

Got burned enough times to not make too hasty a decision.

So then, you know, of course, God has to be

in it. And I said, God, you need to show

me the way. But I was convinced with all my

heart that I'm going to shift, okay? That this was

the right thing to do because I hated my house, right?

And I remember, didn't work, didn't happen. After two years

of searching, it didn't make sense, right? I couldn't find

an open door. I couldn't find the right place, right?

There were different possibilities, but it was like, do I

sell the house? And the thing about Kotaku Morning is

that our rental is very affordable one. I mean, I

bought my current place, but rental is affordable. But PJ

rental is a bit more higher. So the plan was

to rent in PJ and still maintain the house and

rent out, but it didn't make sense financially. Right? Of

course you can say, oh, you know, trust in God lah,

have faith lah. Let's take the step of faith and

do it lah. But I'm like, Probably not a good idea.

So I was disappointed. I didn't blame God. And I

remember this very clearly, okay? Husbands, you got to feel

me in this. Because if you have a wife that

really submits to you, even though she's wise with all

the things, and the Bible does say, listen to your wife, okay?

Because she does give you good advice, right? And I

remember telling her and said, dear, you know what? It's okay,

let's just stay. So I felt I settled, I felt like, ah,

let's just give up and just settle with this life

that I'm not happy with. And I remember very clearly

that meeting I had with her and when I told

her that, I saw two years of stress leave her face.

I kid you not. Two years of stress leave her face, no?

And I'm like, oh my goodness. What am I doing

as a husband? I think no husband want that for

their wife, no? But husbands, you got to be careful

when you got some bright idea, right? Some bright plan, right?

That you think will help your family and So that's

what happened to me. So I settled. Also I thought,

I settled. And said, okay, God, I'm not going to

try so hard anymore. Maybe it's not meant to be.

I will be okay with this plan. Although I thought,

in my mind, I thought that, you know, if you

open up a house and I can testify that, wow,

you're so good. You know, I can say in PJ,

very happening. But no. The thing that I didn't tell

you also is that the house that I got right

now was actually a testimony house. that God really opened

the door and gave us a house. It was a

house that when we wanted to buy, not this actual house,

but another house that cost the same, I thought I

couldn't afford it, but somehow I managed to afford it.

So after I settled, staying and saying, okay, no testimony, nothing,

just stay lah. This is pre-pandemic. Then pandemic happened. Let

me tell you the plan. The plan was to rent

maybe a condo in PJ, right? because it's cheaper, so

they can do ministry, stay nearer, better for life, no

need to travel so far. Suddenly I still dream, what

if we stay in PJ? After church, five minutes only,

drive back home, then can sleep already. Now after church,

we have to brave the jam. Then tired, you know.

So that was the plan. But it didn't make sense.

Renting out my house, two double-storey house in KK, was

cheaper than renting a house in... Crazy, economics. Then pandemic happened. Friends,

thank God I didn't shift to PJ. I can tell

you with all conviction today, thank God, God didn't answer

my prayer. Thank God. Because I calculated, I don't know

about you guys, but I don't know whether I should

say this, I don't know if anybody affected by pandemic,

but pandemic was awesome. I'm not talking about pandemic, I'm

talking about that season of life in my life was good.

Because we saved a lot of money during that time, financially.

I had a big house where if you're tired of

each other, we can go downstairs, upstairs, a lot of rooms.

Imagine if I were to stay in a small box condo.

Some of you are saying condo, I'm not dissing you,

but I'm just saying during pandemic, it would have been madness.

And I reflected, if God would have answered my prayer

and given me what I want, two things would have

happened in my life. I would have been in financial

ruin and my marriage, I don't know whether I'll still

have a marriage or not. So sometimes we pray for

things and we hope for things and when God don't

give it to us, we think it's the worst thing ever.

I thank God that God didn't give me Do you

know that after that happened, He gave me a change

of mind, a change of heart? Because, and it's all principle-based,

sowing and reaping and stewardship. God taught me this. He said, Alvin,

I gave you this big house. What do you do

with it? You say you don't like it so much.

You say you hate it. You say it's so old.

You say all these expensive flowers, I want to renovate.

What are you doing with the house? He gave me

that word before pandemic, you know. So during pandemic, I

started little, little projects. More bright ideas for my wife

to be stressed about. It's like, okay. And this one,

I think I learned from Pastor also. Okay, God, thank

you for the house. Not the best, not in the

best package. Can I fully utilize? So the thought process was,

can I fully utilize every single corner of the house

and make it beautiful? Beautiful. Right? Because God gave this

to me and I want to be a good steward.

Can I make sure that every corner of the house,

my house, is being utilised? Right? To the best of

its ability and make it beautiful. Right? So there are

different corners of the house. I'm not sure that any

of you have but the problem with having big houses

is there are some corners you don't touch one. Cause

too much work and all. So I started embarking on

a project. You know? Got a garden ready. Right? Did

different things. I think Elaine understands because She's architect, so no,

architecture ID, right? So during this mode, we were colleagues.

I talked to her a lot. Could I do this?

Could I have like a balcony and some, you know,

so that we can have a party on the balcony,

stuff like that, okay? We didn't do it, we didn't,

too crazy. So I started doing different things which made

the house more livable. Let me tell you the other

interesting thing that happened. I started loving my house. See,

I hated my house. I prayed for God to make

a way because it makes sense. Change of heart, I

started living in my house. One of the biggest projects

that happened, and this is after pandemic, was the extension

of my house, right? And I'm a person that cooks.

I like to cook, okay? And I managed to survive

with a kitchen that is big, okay? I don't know

how I managed to do it. So then the plan

was to extend it and... We completed the renovations last year,

right dear? Last year. It took six months, I think.

Six to eight months. Last year. I love my kitchen, man.

And then in my mind, I'm like, why did I

want to shift? Why did I want to shift so

seriously that it took me two years to... You get

what I mean? Why am I sharing this with you? Friends,

I'm sharing this because we need to learn how to

generate praise. I so thank God I didn't shift. I

so thank God He didn't answer my prayer. Well, He

answered my prayer lah. His way, not my way. Right?

I so thank God. Right? That God has a bigger

perspective about my life than myself. That He cares for

me so much that He's willing to let me go

through pain now so that I don't suffer long term later.

This is the God we serve, you know. This is

the God that cares for us. Right? The business of

the church, friends, is to generate praise. even when there's

nothing to praise about. You all catch that? This is

why we share testimony. Because God works, right? You know,

in PJ, right, I can tell you the whole like, oh,

no testimony this week, no testimony this week. I think

we got quite used to it for a while. Until

this year, right, you know, where we said, no way,

we're going to hunt down for testimonies. And then this

is something I learned. Zina, I share with you, it's

something I learned. Actually got testimony one. Because when you

have homes, right, Everybody can share one. But somehow on Sunday,

people forget. Not their fault. So you know what we

started doing? Our home leader started sharing the testimony in

the LSPO chat and we started just assigning them to

share on Sunday. Now we got testimony until end of

the year. Interesting, huh? So it's just an administrative problem.

It's not like God's not working. God is working. Just administratively,

people have a tendency to forget. And we understand that

because if you read the Bible, the Israelites forgot all

that God has done for them. So it's normal. So

we just need to administrate better. Wish, Selena's very good

at one. Just a tip. Or maybe you all can

help her. So there is testimonies. God is good. And

in the church, we are in the business of generating praise. Amen?

Even when there's nothing to praise. Habakkuk chapter 3 verse

Habakkuk 3:17–19

17 to 19 says, Though the fig tree may not blossom,

nor fruit be on the vines, though the labour of

the olive may fail, and the fields yield no food,

though the flock may be cut off from the fold,

and there may no herd in the stalls, yet I

will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the

God of my salvation. The Lord God is my strength.

he will make my feet like deer's feet and he

will make me walk on my high heels to the

chief musician with my string instruments. So friends, praise is

actually a choice, not a feeling. It's not a feeling,

it's a choice. It is a choice when we wake

up on a Sunday morning, whether or not we want

to be early for worship to praise God. Because whether

he deserves the praise or whether I feel like praising

or not. Right?

Right?

It's a choice. Extreme knows this really well. Those of

us who are leaders, we know this really well. That's

why we dress up, we come to praise God. My

dressing is not for myself. You know how hot this is?

You know? My dressing is to praise God. I give

God the glory because He deserves my best. And that's

something we teach in Acts.

Right?

And the reality is that it will not always go

our way in life. If you didn't know by now.

It will not always go easy. But we can still

generate praise. Amen? But we can still find a way

to praise. How many of you like a person that

every time you see the person is all woe is me,

woe is me. I know someone like that. Right? And

I always jab him. Much better now already. I always say, oh,

you know, your spirit animal is Eeyore. So bad, right?

It's much better now already. Right? Everything also like, oh,

you know. Don't lah. Not fun to hang out with one, no. Right?

But imagine a person that when you hang out with, right,

always got something good to say one. Even though raining

also ah, oh, at least raining ah, cooling can sleep.

No matter what happens ah, This person always can find some,

don't you like people like that? Don't you think we

should be people like that because Jesus already did so

much in our lives? It is a choice, you know.

It is a choice that we can make, you know.

And is it going to be easy? No. Do you

know how hard is it to make the choice to

be happy every morning? Not easy. But maybe because nowadays

I'm older already, sometimes I'm already at the stage of like,

It's okay lah. I a bit tired to fight lah.

I a bit tired to fight for my right. No lah,

no need. It's okay one. Let's just chill. Right? Let's

just find good things. Let's just find good things. Can

we find good things? Right? God is good all the time.

Can we find good things? You know? Acts 16.25. Paul

and Silas. Right? And this one I really consent them.

You know? Because what happened was that They were out,

you know, just doing ministry or I think they were

going to the temple. And then there was a demon-possessed

girl or someone that come and, eh, these people, these people,

like kacau them, you know, like disturb them. And because

I think Paul, he's quite hot-headed, you know, based on

what we understand, he's quite like, you know, strong one.

He cast the demon out. And basically, last time, what

happened is that they will use people who are demon-possessed

to to do medium work, you know, to earn money, basically, right?

In that place. So the people that own the demon possessed,

isn't it good? Demon possessed, then cast out. Don't you

think it's good? Good, right? Set free, right? But they

were not happy because, hey, my golden goose is cooked already.

So they got them arrested. Imagine you as a wonderful

believer going your own wonderful way, not doing anything. Suddenly

someone come and kacau you. disturb you. And then you're like, eh,

stop it lah. In Jesus' name, be gone. Acting on

your authority. And then the person set free. But because

you mess with someone else's business, you are put in jail.

You happy or not? Not your fault, right? Is it

your fault? Some of you feel like that. Some of

you probably, eh, yeah lah, this one sound like my

story in office. I keeping to myself ah, don't get

in office politics ah. Suddenly I get fired. Is it

your fault? Not your fault. People are evil. Things happen.

What did Paul and Silas do in the prison? But

at midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns

to God. And the prisoners were listening to them. Crazy lah,

these two fellas. Don't you think so? They should fight

for right, you know? And Paul was a Roman citizen.

He knew his rights. He was like a lawyer. Why

did he accept his fate? What was wrong with him? Right,

what was wrong with him? Acts chapter 16, 25. Let's

Acts 16 · chapter mention

read on, okay? Let's read on. And they had laid

many stripes on them and, oh wow, okay, let's read

before that. Now it happened as we went to prayer

that a certain slave girl possessed with a spirit of

divination met us who brought her masters much profit by

fortune telling. Okay? This girl followed Paul and us and

cried out saying, these men are servants of the most

high God who proclaim to us the way of salvation.

And this she did for many days but Paul greatly

annoyed Okay, Paul was annoyed. He actually annoyed Paul. Turned

and said to the spirit, I command you in the

name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And

he came out at that very hour. But when the

masters saw that their hope of profit was gone, they

seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace

to the authorities. They brought them to the magistrates and said,

this man being Jews exceedingly troubled our city. And they

teach customs which are not lawful for us being Romans

to receive or observe. Then the multitude rose up together

against them, and the magistrates tore off their clothes and

commanded them to be beaten with rods. Wah, so drama.

So drama. Other people drama, you are just chilling, and

other people drama. And when they had laid many stripes

on them, not enough throw them in jail, have to

beat some more. Threw them into prison, commanding the jailer

to keep them securely. Having received such a charge, he

put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet

in the socks. How many of you at this point now,

you'll probably be like, I don't know. God, how do

you do this to me? Why do you make me suffer?

Why are you doing this injustice? Or some of us

will go, let me talk to your boss. Let me

talk to the manager. Let me defend myself. I didn't

do anything wrong. But at midnight, Paul and Silas were

praying and singing hymns to God. And the prisoners were

listening to them. Huh? Let's read on. Suddenly, there was

a great earthquake so that the foundations of the prison

were shaken. Immediately, all the doors were opened and everyone's

chain was loose. And the keeper of the prison, awaking

from sleep and seeing the prison doors open, supposing the

prisoners had fled, drew his sword and was about to

kill himself. I'm going to stop there for a while.

Do you know that Paul and Silas did it God's way,

not their way? And because Paul and Silas did it

God's way, God showed up for them. You mean their

hymns were so powerful that the doors were opened and

there was an earthquake?

No.

God showed up for them. There's a scripture in the

Bible that says that the Lord will vindicate me. Do

we understand the Lord we serve or not? That even

when you face injustice in your own life, God will

come through for you. You don't have to do anything.

You just need to keep praising Him. It's not positive thinking,

our friends. Some people will look at it and go, foolishness! Yeah,

it's foolishness in the eyes of man. In the eyes

of man, it's foolishness. But we believe in the God

of the supernatural. That's something we got to understand, Christians. Right?

The world will never understand this because they are the world.

They don't have a relationship with Christ. But for those

of us who have a relationship with Christ, those of

us who understand who our God is, we get this.

You understand that? We get this. And then what happened later?

But Paul called out with a loud voice saying, do

yourself no harm for we are all here. Then he

called for light, ran in and fell down trembling before

Paul and Silas. And he brought them out and said, sirs,

what must I do to be saved? So they said,

believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you'll be saved,

you and your household. Then they spoke the word of

the Lord to him and to all were in his house.

And he took them the same hour of the night

and washed their stripes And immediately, he and all his

family were baptized. Now when he had brought them into

his house, he set foot before them and he rejoiced,

having belief in God and all his household. So that's

what happened. The jailer was saved because of this supernatural event.

But you see, it didn't end there, you know. Let's

read on. And when he was dead, it was night,

so God kind of spared Paul and Silas to sleep

in the jail cell. Now got proper bed to sleep. Right?

Wounds were washed. And then in the day, right, all

the bosses wake up. What happened? The magistrates sent officers saying,

let those men go. So that the keeper of the

prison reported these words to Paul saying, the magistrates have

sent to let you go. Now, therefore, depart, go in

your peace. But Paul said to them, they have beaten

us openly. So the magistrates were afraid after what happened.

But now Paul said, hey, hello, I'm a Roman citizen.

Don't play, play. Right? I'm not going to. So he

had more, what's that word? leverage on them. So you see,

if you understand this, there are times where we need

to act and there are times where we need to

let God move. And most times, if not, I will

argue all times, we need to let God move first.

And after God has moved, then we pick up the pieces.

After God has moved, then we move. Because when God moves, right,

you cannot like, oh, God moved already, you just sit

there and do nothing. And we also shouldn't, God haven't

moved yet, you start doing everything. Right? God needs to move.

We pray, believe, God needs to move, and then we

step in. Friends, have you ever felt like you were

in a dungeon? Maybe some of you are in a

dungeon right now. I wonder what song you'll be singing

in a dungeon. And do you know that when people

know that you're a believer, and where you're in a dungeon,

do you know that people are actually listening to you?

Do you know that when you're going through a tough

time in life, and they know you're a Christian, do

you know that people are actually observing you? They are

listening to what you say, Let me give you a

last point. James chapter 3, verse 9 to 10. Just

James 3:9–10

something for us to remember. You might know this already,

but just something for us to remember. James 3, 9

to 10. I think it's up there. James chapter 3,

James 3 · chapter mention

9 to 10. Got it? With it, so he's talking

about the tongue. With our tongue, we bless our God

and Father. And with it, we curse men who have

been made in the simility of God. Contradictory, right? What

does Stan say? Out of the same mouth proceed blessing

and cursing, my brethren, these things ought not to be so.

Praise is praise. Last week, I don't know whether it

was last week, we talked about unity guarded and about

how gossip can break friendships. You know, the power of

our tongue is very powerful. And if, let's say, some

of us here have a loose tongue, we need to

learn to tame the tongue. But it's difficult. The Bible

does say it's difficult. You know, I think I had

a head start when I was young. Because when I

was young, my mother already taught me this language. Until today,

I can remember. Which makes it difficult for me sometimes

to complain. Because she say, if you got nothing better

to say, don't say it. And she trained me well.

Because if I say bad things and she's there, pow!

So quiet. So much so that sometimes I feel very,

what's that word? Taken advantage of because I will keep quiet.

Sometimes we feel. So then I learn like Paul like that.

Sometimes you got to speak your peace. Have wisdom. But

we got to understand that our tongue is very powerful.

Do we want to praise God more and to speak

good things more or Are we loose with our tongue

when things happen? That's something for us to think about.

Because men, and this scripture is very powerful because we

are blessing God, we are singing praises to God here.

And with the same mouth, we curse men that is

made in the image of God. Something to think about. Amen.

What song will we sing? What song can we sing?

Can I encourage you with something that I think will help?

Read Psalms. Declare Psalms. Psalms is very good. The cool

thing I like about the Bible is that we might

not have all the methods. Sometimes you listen to preachers,

you hear stories and you get methods. I think the

best method really is to read the Word of God.

Because you don't want to say the Bible got here.

You don't want to pray the Bible has words that

you can just follow. You know, oh, I don't know

how to pray lah, Pastor. Well, the Lord's Prayer is

a very good prayer to start. That's what Jesus taught.

You know, Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.

Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as

it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. Right?

That's a good prayer to have if you don't really

know how to pray. I don't know how to talk

to God lah. Pray that prayer. Read that prayer. Right?

Then we will understand. Oh, but how do I praise God,

Pastor Alvin? How do I? When I don't feel like it,

how do I? Psalms. Psalms. Psalms is a good book

to read. Oh, but so fake lah. Please lah. You

start reading the Word, you will realise it's not fake lah. Oh,

I tell you, I love the Word because the Logos

Word of God, seemingly written many, many years ago, the

Logos Word of God that we believe has life. How

does it have life? Because as you read the Logos

Word of God, this is the wonderful thing about the

supernatural God that we believe in. As you read the

words of God, the Rema word comes out. You know

what's the Rema word? I think I've taught Ampang before.

The Rema word is God speaking to you.

Huh?

This word that so long ago, you know, I tell you,

there's so many times I just read the word of God.

Just read lah, read lah. Read for the sake of

reading lah. Read the same scripture 10,000 times. And on

the 10,000th time, God speaks. Wow. 10,000 times got revelation. Wow.

And the revelation is specific to my situation today. So friends,

that is the secret. You don't know what to praise?

Read Psalms. You want to learn about relationships? Read Song

of Solomon. No, no, no. Just joking. Please don't read

Song of Solomon. You want to learn about business? You

want to learn about finance? Eh, Bible talks a lot

about finance. No. What to do, what not to do,

how to manage, right? You want to understand your faith

and your authority as a believer? Bible talks about it.

Bible says so much, so much. So if you don't know,

just read the Word. Don't even need to listen to message, right?

I mean, can listen to message, right? Not to say

it cannot, but read lah, read the Bible lah. That's

how you do it. Don't know what to do? Bible

has it. Don't know how to praise? Scripture. Another more

Another way you can do it also is just on

worship music and just sing along lah. I don't know

whether you've seen these reels or not. Nowadays got some

funny Christian reels. I saw one. Getting angry as a Christian.

So funny that one. Right? Some of you might have

seen it already. Right? Person very angry. Right? Go inside

the room, on worship music and start screaming. Lord, you

are so good! I wonder how many of us do that.

Praise the Lord, O my soul. Praise the Lord, O

my soul. I don't know whether you do that. But

do lah, if it helps you. Anger management. Friends, let's

generate praise. Let's not believe in the lie that praise

is just a feeling. Don't put, you know, this is

an encouragement I give Christians nowadays. Don't put laws in

front of you to stop you from doing things. You

all catch that? That's why I think the Bible teaches

us not to make vows, right? Do you know how

to make vows? You make vows by telling yourself what

you can or cannot do. I can only worship if...

Is it really like that? Do we live life like that?

If you do, very dangerous, no. I can only blank

if I do blank. Or if blank happens, I can only...

I mean, yes, some things are practical, right? Like, I

will never be able to join NBA. Okay, so that

one is reality. But there are some things that we

said in our lives that actually is not true, which

we got to stop. Oh, I can only worship if.

Don't do that. Don't do that. I tell you one

of the biggest things I love about at least our

church because of Pastor's pioneering spirit is that we have

a deaf church. How many of you have been to Xbrickfields?

No one yet? You understand? You understand? I will encourage you,

when you got chance, if you got chance, I mean,

I don't know, you have to ask, yeah, go Brickfields.

Because for many years I've heard that, especially if you're

young and all, if you got no band, very hard

to praise. If you got no sound, very hard to praise.

You know the song, when the music fades, all is

stripped away, right? And I simply come, right? Go ask Brickfields,

no music. You only hear this. Then they're doing all

the thing. Every time I go there, I am lost.

And I try to be lost in worship because I

was just free worship. And I kid you not, the

Spirit of God is there when there's no music. And

I feel lost. But it is a choice to praise God.

And I imagine experiencing God. Imagine how God breaks your

mindset to say you must have been to praise God.

Is it easier? Yes. I'm not arguing that it's not easy.

I'm not arguing all these things are bad. No. It

will help us. Definitely. The worship leader, all prepare your heart.

But don't set rules in your life that God didn't

set for you to give Him your best. That is

my encouragement. Because when you set rules in your life,

then you put yourself in a disadvantage. Oh, I tell you,

this truth that I learned recently, because I am so,

always learn through regret, no? Because one of the lessons

I've learned is, you know, there's a thought in what

Pastor Kevin wrote, 21 Thoughts and Truths of Victorious Living.

There's a thought saying, think the thoughts, right? And talk

the talk. Very powerful. Because, and I think he has

a quote that says, If you think you can, and

if you think you cannot, you're right. Huh? Why sound

very funny one? It's true. Because if you think you cannot,

you're right. If you think you can, you're right. So

when you talk about praising God, right, I want to

challenge you in this, right? And I'll end with this thought. Because,

and I'll end this story. Because I, growing up from young,

tell myself that I'm not a sports person. I tell

myself that, I convince myself that, I avoid everything sports.

You can say, ah yeah, your preference, right? No, no,

I really avoid, right? And I remember going for marathon. right?

Joggerthon last time in school, I will run home. I

won't even bother going to the, you know, and the

funny thing is, my mom joined the same marathon and

she won second place. And my dad, you He is

a ping-pong champion. I kid you not. And then I

come back home like, what's this? So my parents are

actually sporty people, I realise now. But I tell myself,

I am not. I am not. I don't. I cannot.

I whatever. Do you know when I started becoming sporty?

I think you all roughly know. When I had to

go for a heart problem thing, and then I started exercising,

then now I'm like a gym bro. Right? Do you

know how interesting my thought process has changed? And how

I ask myself, why did I tell myself for many

years that I'm not a sports person and I cannot

do sports? And I choose not to do sports. Do

you know that I regret that decision? Because if I

told myself or, and not to say I got no friends,

so I got a lot of friends that are into sports.

If I would have not tell myself that lie, that

I'm not a sport person, I wouldn't be in such

a health situation right now that have put myself in

certain disadvantages in certain areas. So now I have to

work hard lah. So let me challenge you with this

thought process. What are you telling yourself that is stopping

you from your breakthrough? Because God is saying otherwise. What

are you telling yourself that is stopping you from experiencing

the fullness of God in your life? Because God is

saying otherwise. That's the last thing I'll leave you. Maybe

an extreme can come up. So friends, back to Paul

and Silas. If you are in a dungeon, Maybe it's

good to ask yourself, what song should I be singing?

What will help me? What will help me to move forward? Amen. Lord,

I need to be closer to you. What do I

need to do? What do I need to tell myself? Lord,

I understand praise, but sometimes I don't feel it. hopefully

today's message will give us another perspective that it's not

a feeling, it's a choice. I think a lot of

people here have made tough choices in life. And the

tough choices in the lives that they make will benefit them.

Ask Ampang, can we be a praise-generating church or not?

And it's not just praise generating, got worship team only pray. No,

praise generating every single person here.

Right?

Can we or not? I believe we can. Yeah, there

are days where it's not easy to do it, but

we try lah. And there are days that will be easy,

then you encourage another person. That's the wonderful thing about church.

We can encourage one another. We can encourage one another

with testimonies. We encourage one another and say, God can

work for me, God can work for you. A lot

of times when I was down, when I'm down in

my life as well, the thing that brings me solace

is another brother's encouragement, another sister's encouragement. You know, it's

the leaders that have gone before and say, if I can,

if they can do it, I can. If this person can,

I can. If I can, you can. You know, it's

possible because we have God on our side.

Amen. For more information on our church, please visit axechurch.org.

We are also active on Facebook and Instagram. We're believing

that this week is going to be a good week

ahead for you.

God bless.