Missions in Action (Part 2)-Celina Tan

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

We hope this message will light up your day.

This morning.

I'm gonna continue on with the missions in action. So

the last message was from X chapter one uh and two.

Uh.

And today the message will be drawn out from X

chapter three and four.

Okay.

So in line with our missions, man, you know, all

of us or the speaker, we have been uh entrusted

the pulpit, you know, to to even share and encourage

all our partners with you know, the importance about missions.

Okay.

So for those that didn't came from the last message

I shared, basically the four points I shared from EX

Chapter one, uh and two. It's about the promise of

the Holy Spirit, Okay, be dependent in God through our

prayer uh, and then to be launched out to preach

the world of God as well as having a community

of partnership.

All right.

So the Book of X is really something that is

no stranger to all of us when we talk about

you know, the first church that received the baptism of

the Holy Spirit.

Okay, So a little background on the Book of X.

It was written somewhere around eighty sixty to seventy by

the same author that wrote the Book of Luke.

Okay.

So basically, the Book of X detailed the early history

of Christian Church, starting from the ascension of Jesus Christ

to heaven, okay, giving us the last his last comment. Okay,

how many of you remember the last command where he

asked us to go therefore and make disciples of all nations,

baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son,

and the Holy Spirit.

Okay.

And then continuing through the spreading of Gospel by the apostle.

Okay.

In the whole Book of X, you will realize that

the first part it talks a lot about Peter and

then following on to Paul Okay. X also emphasized on

Holy Spirit work, the church expansion, the fulfillment of Jesus

command to spread the Gospel until the end of the earth.

Okay. So that is basically the gist of the Book

of X. Okay.

And today we're gonna focus on chapter three and chapter four.

So I'm gonna read Okay.

So it's really important to read the Word of God

because we do not want to, you know, listen to

a message that.

You know, just put out from the air. Okay.

So what I'm gonna share with earth is from the scripture,

and we will read through.

Okay, so bear with me.

I will read from chapter three, then after that I'll

read from chapter four. Okay, I'm reading from the New

Living Translation. But on the screen I think later on

they will show from the new King James version. But

if you have brought your Bible, do take out your

bible and look through the Bible together, okay.

Reading from X Chapter three, verse one.

Peter and John went to the temple one afternoon to

take part in the tree clock prayer service. As they

approached the temple, a man lame from birth was being

carried in each day. He was put beside the temple gate,

the one called the Beautiful Gate, so he could back

from the people going into the temple. When he saw

Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for

some money. Peter and John looked at him intently, and

Peter said, look at Earth. And the lameman looked at

them eagerly, expecting some money. But Peter said, I don't

have any silver or go for you, but I'll give

you what I have in the name of Jesus Christ.

The Nazarene get up and walk.

Then Peter took the layman by the right hand and

help him up, and as he did, the man's feet

and ankles were instantly healed and strengthened. He jumped up

and stood on his feet and began to walk, then

walking liaping, praising God. He went into the temple with them.

All the people saw him walking and heard him praising God.

When they realized he was a lame bagger they had

seen so often at the Beautiful Gate, they were absolutely astounded.

They all rushed out in amazement to Solomon's colonel, where

the man was holding tightly to Peter and John. So

Peter saw his opportunity and addressed the crowd people of Israel.

He said, what is so surprising about this?

And why is there at us as though we had

made this man walk by our own power or godliness?

For it is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,

the God of all our ancestors, who has brought glory

to his servant Jesus by doing this. This is the

same Jesus whom you handed over and rejected before Pilot.

Despite Pilot's decision to release him, you rejected this holy

righteous ones and instead demanded the release of a murderer.

You killed the author of life, but God raised him

from the dead, and we are witness of this fact.

True faith in the name of Jesus. This man was healed,

and you know how crippled he was before. Faith in

Jesus' name has him before your very eyes. Friends, I

realized that what you and your leaders did to Jesus

was done in ignorance. But God was fulfilling what all

the prophets had foretold about the Messia, that he must

suffer these things. Now repent of your sins and turn

to God so that your sins may be wiped away.

Then times of refreshment will come from the presence of

the Lord, and he will again send you Jesus, your

appointed Messia. For Hi must remain in heaven until the

time for the final restoration of all things. As God

promised long ago through his holy prophets. Moses said, the Lord,

your God will raise up from you a prophet like

me from among your own people. Listen carefully to everything

he tells you. Then, Moses said, anyone who will not

listen to that prophet will be completely cut off from

God's people. Starting with Samuel, every prophet spoke about what

is happening today. You are the children of those prophets,

and you are included in the Covenant. God promises you

to your ancestors. For God said to Abraham, though your descendants,

or through your descendants, all the families on earth will

be blessed.

God raised up his servant Jesus.

He sent him first to you people of Israel, to

bless you by turning each of you back from your

sinful ways. All right, So before I go into chapter four,

I'm just going to share with you two points from

x chapter three.

Okay.

So it started off by Peter healing the crippled. Okay,

so the story about this laymen at the Beautiful Gate.

I think this story we have heard, you know, so

many times. Different speaker may have told about this story

about how faith have healed this layman, and so on

and so.

Forth, you know.

But when I read through this whole portion of scripture,

what really caught my attention was this. It was taken

from words it It says that so he liping up,

stood and walked and entered the temple with them, walking

lipping and praising God. Right, he has just received his healing.

He stood up you know, and jumping. You know, someone

who cannot work for the longest time, and he started

praising God. You know, the scripture didn't say that he

was walking, lipping and jumping for joy. What they say

started praising God, which means he stood up and he

woke up, like thank you Jesus. You know, I don't

know what as a that he will say, but basically

it's like, you.

Know, thank you God for hearing me.

Now that you know, I can walk, it can jump around,

and so on and so forth. And because of his action,

he actually drew attention from the people that's around him. Okay,

because why he has been sitting at the gate for

the longest time. So imagine that you you you you

you see someone who has been a lame, cannot walk

for the longest time, and suddenly can walk around and

jumping for joy and praising God. You you will be

your attention were drawn towards that person, right, you will

want to know it?

How come you? You? You?

You cannot walk since birth and suddenly you can. You

can jump around and like that. Okay, So this draw

attention and people wonders, right, people wonders, and these open

doors of opportunity for Peter, who prayed for him to

share a very powerful testimony about Jesus. So what did

he do? He addressed the crowd, okay, he explained that

the miracles was performed in the name of Jesus. He

didn't say that, I just pray for him and Nila Yellow. No,

Peter didn't do that, you know. Peter immediately addressed the

crowd and say that this miracle was done in the

name of Jesus. He didn't say that, No, I think

you know he slayne, so he called me, so I

pray for him. Law No, just like that like most

of us, okay, more like me, Like okay, right, we

usually do that, okay, because we don't know how to

respond when people say that, Wow, your prayers are powerful, okay,

and then you're like, I.

Know, I know, I just pray it, okay.

But what bitter day was He immediately say that this

miracle was done in the name of Jesus, whom they

had rejected and crucified, by whom God raised from the day.

He did not just stop there, but he shed the

whole gospel right, and Peter testified to the fulfillment of

the Old Testament so basically he knows about the prophecy

and whatnot, and he just share it to the crowd,

and he addressed the crowd. Okay, so this is what

I wanted to tell all of us here. All of

us are the lame man, and all of us received

testimony from God in one way or another.

Okay.

Some of us may have really a miracle, a miracle

of how God has healed us.

Maybe of a miracle of Okay, I don't know.

Okay, there are different prayer needs that you may have,

and God has already answered you and all of us

have a God given testimony.

But what do we do with it? Right? What do

we do with it?

So every time God answered our prayer or bless us

with something, what do we do with it?

Have you ever thought about it? You know? Most of

the times okay, we will.

Shot out you know at homes like yo, I thank

God that Okay, whatever, Okay, I thank God for a promotion,

I thank God for an increement.

I thank God that no God provided for me to

get a new car. I thank God.

Okay, we share it in homes right among fellow believers. Okay,

that is a very good start. At least you learn

to share your testimony among fellow believers, among your community.

But how many of us will actually when you receive

a testimony at wherever you are at, and you started

praising God just like the laymen. So imagine uh you okay,

imagine John now, okay, tomorrow he go to work and

then his say that John, you are now promoted to

be the vice principal, and he are like okay, and

he went back to his office and he just you know,

but the whole office knew about his promotion because he's

already published and announced and all those whatnot, and he

just kick quiet. Okay, So it is a testimony, but

he didn't share. Do you know, do you think that

that will create an opportunity for him to even share

open doors to share gospel to his colleagues who may

not know the Lord. Or maybe he got a promotion

and it was announced to all the teachers and he's like,

praise God, I thank.

Jesus for this promotion.

You know, it is truly not my word okay whatever

he will say that okay, And people.

Were like, wow, John, okay, you know, can you tell

me more?

Why is it that you got a promotion that the

first thing you think is not your boss, but you

thank Jesus, you know, and he will share.

Right. It open doors of opportunity.

So the question to all of us is, every time

we receive a testimony.

Why are we not sharing? Why are we not sharing?

So when I write these notes, right, I was reflecting

upon myself. Sometimes when I receive a testimony, right, I

will also hold back and not wanting to share. Number

one is because I shy it up.

Okay. I don't want like to suddenly coming off with yeay, hey,

I got a proportion and then everybody like say me, like,

what in the world with this woman here? Right?

I shy Number two, I don't want people to think

that by me praising God for a blessing, that people

will say that this Selena is so boastful.

Right.

We don't want things like that for people to look

at us, because these are our very human nature, especially

when we receive a blessing from someone, right, And usually

these are the blessing that we receive in.

Terms of material.

Okay, And there will be times maybe you have received

a miracle of healing and you don't want to share

because probably you feel that, yeah, I don't want people

to ask me what's wrong with me?

Right?

So there are a lot of reasons why we are

holding back of not wanting to share. And sometimes we

also don't want people to question us. You share not

Jesus hear you?

Right? I can tell you that these are real.

These are real reason of why so many of us

didn't want to share our testimony.

But what I wanted to encourage all of.

Us is that when we receive a blessing or a

testimony from God, always be ready and open and be

prepared to share it with the people that is around us.

Don't hold back. Okay, sometimes people will also come to you.

And when you start praising God, right, people will.

Come to you. Why do you believe in Jesus? Why

do you believe in Jesus?

So we also need to be open and ready to

share our personal journey, our personal story, our personal time

simony of how God has transformed our life. Right, when

we have Jesus in our life, our life has been transformed. Right,

you can start reflecting upon your life, how you were

before having Christ and how you are now after Christ,

how God has transformed you.

Okay, these are your story.

That you can share, and I can tell you that

usually this kind of conversation will come unexpectedly. It will

usually come especially when you're having probably lunchtime with your colleagues,

or maybe sometimes like what I encounter now most of

the times, is halfway meeting with my boss, they will

suddenly talk about something that relates to my faith. Last time,

I will like killer would write, be more professional and

don't talk about Jesus. Don't talk about you know what

I believe in my face system. Okay, I used to

have the com mentality, but now who cares? Okay, So

when I have a meeting with my boss and I

don't of nowhere, she was suddenly talked to me about

some skin conditions that she has, you know, and I

can tell you one of it is the most recent

conversation that I had with her about en zema.

I used to have a very very bad en zeema

and we were talking and all those whatnot.

So she was saying that, yeah, having and zema, you

cannot eat this, you cannot eat that, so you need

to refrain from eating nuts, and also that your zema

will not fly and whatnot. Did I say, yeah, yeah,

I understand because I used to have and zema too. Uh.

And the doctor also told me to refrain. Uh, and

there's a lot of things that I cannot eat.

Quite said.

Then I say, but after a very severe case of

en zema, went to the doctor and all uh, I

told her that no, thank God that my zema has

never came back again. And she said this, Oh, is

it because you stop eating all the food? I said,

sort off? Also because yeah, you know, you lead quite

a healthy lifestyle, right, And I thought her, No, I prayed.

I told her I prayed, and then she like, oh,

Then I say that, yeah, I said, I really pray

like mad so that God can heal me. And she

knows that I'm a Christian, so she knows whenever I

say the word God in Man Jesus.

So she said like, wow, you know it works on that.

I say, yeah, it works for me, and I think

it works for you. Do that okay, So it opens

doors opportunity. And I can tell you that was just

a ten minute conversation and then we continue. Me think again,

I don't know what God is doing, but I did

it anyway, okay. Am I worried of getting fired probably,

but I don't care, Like I say, I don't care.

You know all of us, and the reason why God

gave me this testimony is so that one day I

can share. So what is the testimony that God has

given to you that you are holding it back and

you feel that I don't think I want to share that? No,

let me tell you share because you will never know

how this seat that's been planted on this person that one.

Day it will take root and it will barefoot. All right.

So because of this, laymen, he stood up and he

started praising God. It draws attention of people, right, and

people will crowd around. And you look, when you continue

to read in chapter three, you saw that in verse twelve,

it says Peter saw his opportunity. So the second point

is sees opportunity. So Peter saw the opportunity and he

responded to the people.

Okay, he addressed the crowd.

So the people the apostle will always alert to opportunity

to share the gospel. And when the crowd gathers in

amazement after the healing, okay, so Peter sees the moment

to preach. Okay, and he called the people into repentance.

Okay.

He told the people to leave if you're seen Okay,

repent okay, and allow a refreshing time from the Lord

to feel you. And this shows all of us that

you know that the apostle can turn every day encounter

into opportunity to spread the gospel. Are we turning every

day of our every day encounter into an opportunity to

spread the gospel?

So we need to always be ready and we need

to be eager. Okay.

Being ready is one and being eager to share the

gospel is another one. Okay, don't say that I don't

need to share the gospel. Leona will share Anna, No,

that is Leona's job. Okay, even though Leona and Joel

is married, Leona can all say that I do need

to share that Joe will share that. No, she has

a part to play. Joe has a part to play.

I have my part to play, and all of us

have a part to play, right, And that is the

reason why God put friends around us. Okay, It's so

that we can use our life and can be used

by God to share the message of salvation to our

friends until all may know.

That Jesus is Lord. All right, So as.

We're going to read on in chapter four, you will

realize that even to the point when the apostle was

arrested and brought before the sunder ring. They continue to

share the gospel. They were standing before the judge, and

they will say that, oh don't you know, don't don't

don't judge me guilty and whatnot.

They continue to share the.

Gospel, which we will read later. Every encounter is our

opportunity to share. Okay, So opportunities are everywhere in our

daily life. But the question is are we ready to

cease the moment? Are we ready?

Okay?

You know when not know when I was younger. It's

more of like throughout my whole life. Every time I

see an opportunity to share, I will always string back

because I scared.

Okay, So a lot of people, a lot of you

may not know.

I'm very intrued by nature, So I don't really like

to talk to stranger. Really, I don't really like to

talk to stranger. So I always tell my leaders, I say,

I really very you know, I really uh well what

was that?

What call? Uh? No? Not shy.

I'm always very amazed at how they can walk up

to a newcomer and they can try out a conversation.

That never ends. For me, well, always, Hi, my name

is Selena, Oh, what's your name? What do you ask for? Stop?

That's it? Okay.

So for all the newcomers later, if I can't talk

to you, you will realize what I'm saying. It's true,

I can't really hold a conversation.

Okay.

Uh that that that is me because I usually I

always tell them right when I want to have a

conversation with anyone, I will always hide at the corner

and start to plan my script. You know, I have

to plan my scrept Okay, what do we say? What

to ask next? Why is the next question? So on

and so forth. So for me, every time I see

an opportunity to share the gospel, I will hold back

because in my brain I started thinking, Okay, now if

I share this thing with this person, if this person

asked me this question, what is the answer to I give?

If I give this answer data by the time I

finished processing, but by a relata person.

Okay.

So so to me that is a challenge. But God

has been challenging me.

You know. Don't give in to your habits. Okay.

I call this mine my bad habit. Okay, And and

just allow the Holy Spirit to lead. So the best

encounter that I had was Now there was one Sunday,

I I don't have car to come to church, and

it was raining and I couldn't take heroalthy, so I

took a grab. So in the grab, uh, this guy

started asking, oh, you have to work on Sunday. I said, oh, no,

I don't work on Sunday. And we actually had a

conversation that leads me to share with him about church

that it's like, wow, it's so good that to see that,

you know, you travel from all the way Suban to

kl for church and all those whatnot.

And he started sharing with me some of.

The challenges that he has. Okay, And in my heart

it's like what should I do now? I hear so

many stories about all this pasta sharing the gospel in

the taxi, in the training in a fly and what

what should I do? So I just allow him to

share and orders and whatnot. And and after a while

I was like, okay, God, you just take over. And

I just told him that, wow, thank you so much

for sharing your personal journey with me. Uh And and

I told him that if you if you don't mind, uh,

can can I pray? You know?

Can I pray for you? Uh?

And And I just say a very quick prayer because

by the time it's already reached the corner there reaching

Gita already and he was working a few job because

he was getting ready to get married.

Uh.

And then I just pray a prayer or blessing for

him and he was like, oh, thank you so much

and all. And to me, it's a wow that that

is a tough journey for me. But I would say

that is it a good experience. It is because usually

when I enter a grab right up put that no talking. Yeah,

I see you say how introlled? I am okay? Or

more of like how and this socialow I am okay?

Also that is me.

It's a challenge.

But if let's say God can use someone like me

that doesn't like to talk to stand here today to

share with you my challenge, I think all of you

will do even better than I do. So all we

need to do is that grab hold of the opportunity, right.

You can always find opportunity to share with the grab driver,

just like I did, you know. And and one of

the things that I always really amazed at how Johanna

can just try a conversation with some restaurant anti one.

But sometimes I go out with them, Mark, and right

he were like, people are like, john't you know them?

And I know it's my first I don't know how

he does it. That's why he can teach older kids.

Teacher teacher.

Okay, uh yeah, that that is something that you can do, right.

You can strake up a conversation with your office cleaner,

you can strake up a conversation with the security guard

in your.

Condo, anyone, anyone.

There are people around us, okay, So use your belief okay,

or more of like your faith, your testimony and graphole

of the opportunity to share. And another way, I find

it that it's very workable for me, for me and

for me, uh you know, to to share the gospel

is true community works, right, they are strangers lack but

it works better for me because why it's bigger crama,

bigger crowd. And then got more volunteers with me, ma,

if I cannot answer other answer for me as well,

it works that way as well.

Okay.

So if you think that you know, sharing gospel for

you alone may be a challenge, start off by involving

yourself in community works, okay, And this will be an

opportunity for you to build relationship with them, share the gospel.

And lead them to Christ thereafter.

Okay, So the question is are you willing, you know,

to even put yourself in a community work. And in Exambunk,

we have a group of very faithful volunteers that goes

in every Saturday to the community which we call the

Agape Mission School, to minister to all the refugees, right

every Saturday. So if you want to be part of

the community, you can actually look for Annabelle and she

will tell you how. All right, she goes in every Saturday.

I don't know how she does it, but yeah, it's

really an opportunity. You can even hear her testimony of

how she has been solving in all these young people.

You know, young people, they are really precious in our sight,

and we want to give them the best wishes Jesus,

all right, so that they can grow up and take

the war by stomp amen.

All right?

Cool, So remember we have a testimony, and let's see

the opportunity to continue to share the world of God

to the people that is around us.

All right.

So before I go to the third point, allow me

to read from X chapter four. Okay, So reading from

verse one, while Peter and John were speaking to the people,

they were confronted by the priests, the captain of the

Temple Guard, and some of the seduces. These leaders were

very disturbed that Peter and John were teaching the people

that through Jesus there is a resurrection of the day.

They arrested them, and since it was already evening, and

put them in jail until morning. But many of the

people who hurt their message believed it. The number of

men who believe now total about five thousand. The next day,

the counsel of all the rulers and elders and teachers

of religious law met in Jerusalem, and as the High

Priest was there, along with Capus John Alexander, and other

relatives of the high priests, they brought in the two

disciples and demanded, by what power or in whose name

have you done this? Then, Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit,

said to them, rulers and elders of our people, are

we big questioned today? Because we have done a good

deed for a crippleman.

Do you want to know how he was healed?

Let me clearly state to all of you and to

all the people of Israel, that he was healed by

the powerful name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, the man

you crucified, but whom God raised from the day. For

Jesus is the one referred to in the scripture where

it says, the stone that you builders reach has now

become the cornerstone. There is salvation in no one else.

God has given no other name under heaven by which

we must be saved. The members of the council were

amazed when they saw the boldness of Peter and John,

for they could see that they were ordinary men with

no special training in the scriptures. They also recognized them

as men who had been with Jesus. But since they

could see the men who had been heal sending right

there among them, there was nothing the council could say.

So they ordered Peter and Joined out of the council's

chamber and comfort among themselves. What should we do with

this man, they asked each other. We can't deny that

they have performed a miraculous sign, and everybody in Jerusalem

knows about it. But to keep them from spreading their

propaganda any further, we must warn them not to speak

to anyone in Jesus' name. Again, so they called the

apostle back in. The called the apostle back in and

commanded them never again to speak or teach in the

name of Jesus. But Peter and John replied, do you

think God wants us to obey you rather than him?

We cannot stop telling about everything we have seen and heard.

The council then threatened them further, but they finally let

them go because they didn't know how to punish them

without starting a riot, for everyone was praising God for

this miraculous signed the healing of a man who had

been lame for more than forty years. So as soon

as they were afraid, Peter and John returned to the

other believers and told them what the leading priests and

elders had said. When they heard the report, all the

believers lifted their worsers together in prayer to God, Oh

Sorrown Lord, creator of heaven and earth, the sea, and

everything in them. You spoke long ago, by the Holy Spirit,

through our ancestor David, your servants, saying why were the

nations so angry? Why did they waste their time with

photo plans? The King of the Earth prepared for battle,

the rulers gathered together against the Lord and against his Messiah.

In fact, this has happened here in the very city

for herold Antipas Pontieu's pallat the governor, the Gentiles and

the people of Israel were all united against Jesus, your

Holy Servant, whom you anointed. But everything they did was

determined beforehand according to your will.

And now, Oh Lord, here they are threads.

And give us your servants great boldness in preaching your word.

Stretch out your hand with healing power, made me reculars,

sign and wonders be done through the name of your

Holy Servant.

After this prayer, the.

Meeting place shook, and they were all filled with holy spirit.

Then they preached the word of God with boldness. All

the believers were united in heart and mind, and they

felt that what they owned was not their own, so

they shed everything they had. The apostle testified powerfully to

the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and God's great blessing

was upon them all. There were no need many people

among them, because those who own land and houses would

sell them and bring the money to the apostle to

give to those in it. For instance, there was Joseph

the one the apostle nicknamed Barnabus, which means sons of encouragement.

He was from the tribe of Levi and came from

the island of Cyprus. He sold a field he owned

and brought the money to the apostle. All right, So

the next poet that I'm going to share with us

here is that we need to submit to God.

Okay.

So x Chapter four described how Peter and John they

were arrested and brought before the Sunderlin after preaching about

Jesus and the resurrection. But in this whole passage what

drew my attention was this. It was written there in

verse eighteen. So they called the apostle back in and

commanded them never again to speak or teach in the

name of Jesus. And in verse twenty one the council

then threatened them further. So if you read from the

New King Jan's version, the word threaten was being mentioned

a few times. So what happens is that when we

go out and stand our stand firm in our faith,

we will receive oppositions from different from referent and God.

We will receive treads, we will receive oppositions, we will

receive different kinds of challenges that will stop us from

speaking in Jesus name. But what we learn from here

is that, you know, Peter and John make their stand.

They tell me to God and they say that, do

you think that God wants me to obey you rather

than him?

Right? They stand from they believe in the.

One that they believe in, and they say that, you know,

they cannot help speaking about what they have seen and heard,

and to them, it's like speaking, preaching and praying in

the name of Jesus.

Is what that matters.

It's not so much of the tread that you know

that the the authority has told them not to so

they resolved to obey the Lord, even in the face

of persecution and intimidation. Intimidation okay, so they really doesn't

favor Okay, their dedication to their missions. So the question

to us is that what kind of threads will we

or are we potentially facing today in our today's world.

Probably we gay, especially here love. If we were to

share gospel among you know, among our friends.

Probably we may not be caught to jail. Okay.

But if let's say, now, I'm going to stand in

the middle of the road and I started preaching them,

people will catch me to jail aut Okay, But where

we share with our friends, among our friends, okay, we

may not face so severe treads like Peter and John.

But we also will have oppositions. Okay, what are some

of the oppositions that we may face. Our friends may

unfriendness right friends seclusion, or maybe if you share our family,

our families, like you know, well will abandon us, especially

if let's say we maybe we are teens or campus students.

If we go back and start sharing the gospel to

our parents or families too a non believers, and they

will say that you share one more time you get

up from my house. You know, we may face things

like that, right, Or maybe, like I say, if I

continue to share the gospel in my office, I may

lost my job.

Right, that is tracked as well. Right. Or maybe if

let's say I.

I really go out you know, to the public, or

like you know, in the grab I started sharing the gospel.

No, especially with the majority of faith, I may get

life tracks. Right.

I don't play down any of the traits or oppositions

that we may face.

And all these are real.

And I can tell you the first tree about friends seclusion,

losing jobs, family, abandonment. All these are some things that

we may face if we stand form in our faith

and continue to share the gospel.

All right, but.

Are we going to succumb to all these threads and

oppositions so easily? Are we going to say that just

because I need friends so I won't say things that

will offend them?

Or can I say that because you know.

I need the job and even the there is opportunity

for me to pray for my colleagues. I won't want

to do it right, but of course I don't ask

you to do it rashly like that, but with discernment

and with prayer and allowing the Holy Spirit to leaders.

And you know that when we partner with the Holy Spirit,

like what I shared the last round, the Holy Spirit

will always open the doors of opportunity. That is, at

the right time. That when we pray or when we share,

you know, God is watching over us, right and you

will know that you are being covered and you were

being protected. Okay, So what I want to encourage all

of us is that don't run away at the first

sign of treads or a position that you may face.

All right, Our God is not so small that we'll

not be able to help us to overcome all right,

all the challenges or the oppositions or the treads that

we may potentially face.

Right, Our God is always there for us.

All we need to do is that we need to

learn to incline our ears towards his voice and be

sensitive to his prompting. And when He gave us the

prompting to go and share or to pray, right, he

will make a way for us. All right, So start

our day every day by asking God to help us

to be strong, encourageous, all right, ask God for the

bonus to start firm when our faith is being challenged. Right,

I can tell you that you know more and more

that as we go out and then people know that

we are Christians, our faith will be challenged more and more. Okay,

you will face even more and people will say that

hi YAYR Jesus and my whatever faith is the same,

all God's is the same.

Or people will just say that, hiya, why are you

so holy?

You know?

Are you a holy? What's the word? Okay? Whatever? Okay?

You know, people will say a lot of things about

us to challenge us. Are we going to succumb to

all this, or are we on those remain firm in

our faith and submit to God our all and allow

him to you know, to hold us through and bring

us through from one step of faith to another.

All right. So just wanted to tell all of.

Us is that yes, we will face challenges, we will

face treads, we will face opposition, but continue to pray

and ask God for the bonus and to courage to

stand firm in our faith. So make decisions based on

biblical principles.

Okay.

When you read the Word of God, you will know

that there's a lot of biblical principles and God's command

that he has given to us so that we can

remain firm and continue to trust in Him. Okay, So

always based on our make our decision based on what

the Lord has taught us rather than what the society

expects of us.

All right.

And this means taking a stand on ethical issues, making

choices that honor God even if they are not popular,

or simply continuing to share your faith despite being ridiculed

or rejected.

All right.

So remember to prioritize God's approval over human approval. And

when God is with us, who can be again us?

Amen?

I can tell you that this itself is a testimony

for me. You know, I have always been making a

stand in my workplace and even throughout the whole journey

of me transition from my previous job to my current job.

It is true.

One of my ex boss who is not a believer,

and when I told her my challenge, guess what she

reminded me that, you know, Selena, make your decision based.

On your commitment towards your church.

It tells me that Wow, even though she is not

a believer, but she understood how important it is my

faith and to me, that itself is a seed plant

in her life because she saw how I was different,

you know, in among the colleagues that I work, and

she knows and she even told my current bosside. Yeah,

for Selena, she never takes it for anything except for

God's work. She said that if ever she takes leave

me something is very important to her. For me, that

itself is a testimony and it opened doors of opportunity

for me to share about God's work. Right, I may

not be able to win her to Christ yet, but

that itself is an opportunity. So what have you done

or what can you do to open all these kind

of doors of opportunity for you to continue to.

Share the gospel. All right.

So if you are afraid, let's declared this over your

life daily. Taken from Isaiah forty one, verse ten, it

says that fear not, for I am with you. Be

not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. Yes,

I will help you. I will uphold you with my

righteous right hand. Declared is over yourself. And remember, do

not fear because the Lord is with you.

Right.

Be strong, encourageous, and trust in the Lord. Okay, and

he will direct your path.

Amen. All right?

So remember stand from and submit your life to God.

Okay.

And now as I close towards the last point, okay,

seek God for boldness. In X chapter four wards twenty nine,

it says that now Lord, look on their treads and

grant to your servants that with all bondness they may

speak your word by stretching out your hand to heal,

and that signs and wonders may be done through the

name of your Holy servant Jesus.

All right.

So as we reach through to the verse twenty nine, okay,

So after being released from custody, where the Peter and

John returned to they return to the fellow believers, and

they reported what has happened. Okay, and the community responded

by praying for bondness. Okay, you realize that in x

chapter four it talk a lot about prayer and how

important it is prayer towards the work that we're going

to do. So when they return back to the fellow believers,

they pray for boness, and they continue to proclaim God's

word amidst the tread they face, and their prayer will

answer as they were filled with the Holy Spirit, and

they speak the word of God with boness, and they

continue to preach and preach and preach, and they never stop.

And the reliance on prayer for boness illustrates their reliance

on God's power. How dependent are we on God's power

in the mission's word that we're going to engage, I mean,

we're going to do and but on all right, So

what we can learn from here is that that is

two parts. So if we are the missionaries like the apostle,

we need a community, which is our church, right, we

need a community. Second thing, if we are the missionaries,

we need to learn to account back to our community. Okay,

we need to learn to come back to the community

to tell them our testimony, our challenges. Okay, it's not

so much about for them to like ohlso you got

this challenge, but it's so that our community can uphold

us in prayer. So that's why when we go out

to the missions field, don't just come back and like, Okay,

I'm not with mission.

That's it.

But report back to the community because when we launch

ourselves out into missions, we need the community to pray

with us. And the second part, if we are the community,

don't just sit there yay e links home home homes.

It's gonna go out for missions. He well done, and

then we just cheer them on and that's it. No,

we as a community, we need to uphold them in

prayer because why the missionary's life depends on our prayer.

You know, when we pray, we are them with the

power of God so that no weapons of the enemy

from against anyone of them will prosper. And we also

know that when we pray for them, they will be

filled with the power and the strength of the Holy

Spirit and they can continue to be an effective witness

care and to be used by God for the furtherance

of His kingdom. All right, So because of prayer, we

can continue to do our missions with boness. And remember,

as we continue to avail ourselves, we need to daily

pray for Bonus so that we will know how to

share the Gospel to the people that is around us.

So we need to continue to seek God's strength, okay,

and we need to continue to allow the Holy Spirit

to empower us to speak and act boldly. So for

me here is that talking about prayer. You know, I

just want to encourage all of us here to continue

to come and join us on our bi weekly prayer service.

When every time I say that, hey, come join us

for prayer, it's not so that I can sider the

number of attendance increased.

No, there is power in prayer. Really, there is power

in prayer. We have seen so.

Many lives change, different kinds of challenges, being broke throughe

you know, throughe our prayer service. You know, if you

can make it, come and pray together and cover each

other in prayer. And let's support each other in prayer,

right because all of us are caught to the missions field, okay,

and we want to cover each other in prayer. So

that we can be an effective vessel that can be

used by God for the spreading of the gospel. All right,

so as we pray, I also want to encourage all

of us step out from your comfort zone. Step out

from a comfort zone, be brief to go and do

the world of God. So sometimes or maybe some of

you may tell me that, but Selna, I'm not called

into you.

Know, all the all the all the.

Interiors or overseas to do missions. I'm called to be

a you know, missionaries at my workplace. Good if you

say that you're the missionaries in your workplace, right, I'm

going to challenge you today, preach the gospel. Really, if

you say that I'm caught to the marketplace, preach the

gospel in the marketplace. Don't say that, Selena, I cannot

go our DP, I cannot go this mission, I cannot

go that mission because I'm called to the marketplace.

And yet you are not sharing the gospel.

You are not being the salt and life that is

not called missionaries in the marketplace. I'm going to challenge

you to do that, because why I'm challenging myself to

do that as well. I know I may not be

caught in the marketplace, because why I feel that. You know,

my burden is for the rural kids. You know, my

burdens are always for the little ones. I will go.

You know, prior Tom, I make sure I go for

at least one missions trip. After MC, I am still

going for at least one mission trip a year at least.

So my question to you, are you making your at

least one? You don't need to go far. You don't

need to go far. Support our AMS team. They have

over sixty our kids every Saturday.

And they only have like four or five volunteers.

So let's make yourself be an effective witness, all right,

and all of us here we.

Have a call.

It's Mattel twenty eight, nineteen twenty go there for a

make disciples. Only for Selena or my leaders, No, it's

for all of us here.

Right.

If you say that, can alla so far? Can I

got no money? I also got no money? Right to

me everywhere as far? For those of you who knows

me prior to this, I don't own a car. I

always have to like Elene, can.

You fetch me? And a bell? Can you fetch me?

You know That's why I do.

I still go nonetheless, But praise be to God. In

this new job, I have no choice but to buy

a car so that you know I can be more efficient,

more effective, and all of us are blessed here in

one way or another. Let's make our self useful, Church,

Let's make ourself useful. So before I end today message,

I'm just gonna share with you very quickly my twenty

seven years of journey as a believer, which reflects these

four points.

Right.

I grew up in a Buddhist Taoist family. You know,

I always have these thoughts of what will happen after

I die, So I will always ask questions like, no, Marie,

what will happen to me if I die? You know

wherever I go? And being in a Buddhist or tell

his family. You know, they always believe that when you die,

you will go down. I don't know how many levels

of hell to go through, all the punishment for lying,

for stealing, for a lot of all this counting. So

because my mom has no time to explain all this

thing to me, she always gave me this particular book,

which they call it the after Life after Death, that

tells you what you will go through after you die. Okay,

and it's pictorial life. It's pictorial, so you can imagine

how gory it is when as a kid I read,

you know, and because I read through the whole book,

and ill like, wonder, wow, if I lie when I die,

they will cut my tongue. If I still when I die,

they will cut my hand.

Why is this so gory?

And because of this, I became so afraid, and I

became a very good kid. Was young, still naughty, but

I tried to do things that I will not fall

into any of the category smart. Right, yeah, So came

secondary and you know, still you know, very much obeying

whatever that's in that particular Life after Death book, and

all one day, you know, I saw my friends.

She was doing some activity.

In the classroom, and the activity that she she did

was very interesting. And I went up to her and

I say that, what is it that you're doing? It

looks interesting, you know, can I do? And she looked

at me, she like you interested? I said, yeah, yeah,

I every day at home, I got nothing to do.

I'm quite borders, so I want to do something that

you say, okay, yeah, if you want to, you can

actually subscribe to this. It's actually quite fun. She never

explained to me what it was. She only say that

it's quite fun.

You may like it. All you need to do is

you just and she cut out the form and say you.

Feel your name and your address, and then you just

putting the envelopment sent to them the following Monday, will

send you all the materials. And I said, oh, do

I need to pay? They say, oh no, it's free.

You know, you just said all you need to do

is you just need to paying for the stamp.

Okay. So I say, okay, I did.

So the materials came a month later, and then I

realized that, oh it's actually.

A Bible study for teens. Okay.

And I started doing, you know, as I started doing

and I started reading and whatnot, that I realized that, hey,

this guy that they mentioned in this activity, why is

he so amazing?

It says that he died for my sin war.

It says that even if I still now, if I

believe in him, he will forgive my mischief war. He

says that he, you know, is able to forgive my

scenes and if I accept him into my life, I

can go to heaven, not Hell.

Okay.

I was like, you know, because I love to watch

drama right heaven in drama or always.

Very beautiful whatever. I won't go there.

I don't want to go into the chamber. We're full

of fires and others what not. And I was like, Wow,

this Jesus is so amazing. So it became very curious.

I was so curious that I started asking another friend

of mine, wish you all know her?

Kenna?

I said, he I read this thing her, who is

this Jesus are? And she never shared with me in school?

She she will like you want to know her? Ah,

come at Saturday, you follow me to church? They're like,

where's your church? Very near school? On me? Okay, very

near school? Okay, just to let you know. My house

at my school is very far, very near school. I'm

not very near school.

Okay. If I can go to school, mess, I can

follow her to church. Okay.

So I went home and like, Mammy, I won't go

to church with Kennah, Uh, why do you want to

go to church?

I will go a little.

English cannot save me go church? And yeah, back then

my English was really bad and still bad now okay.

So then Mama said, okay, you're going to learn English.

Go go. So I went. So I went.

I learned a lot about who Jesus is and all.

And let me tell you how far is my house

to church? For me to go to church? It took

two hours journey I need to take. I need to

take two buses and walk about one kilometer from wherever

the bus going to stop me to church. Okay, And

because I'm really lazy to what one can't kilometer? Right,

I always take short cut. I walk through bushes and

always gonna Mara buy my daders. Okay, but I don't

care because that is the shortest road walk through the bushes,

only five hundred meter.

Okay.

So that that is what I did every week, all right,

every week from fifteen years old until I come I

blittered my secondary school. Why I rather, you know, go

through the journey because the more I get to know

who Jesus is, the more I felt that, hey, he

is not so scary compared to my previous religion. When

I learn more about Jesus, I realized that, hey, I

actually have a relationship with him. He is not you know,

in Mandarin, we call high on top that I cannot

reach run. You know, a lot of religion the god.

Is up there. But with Christianity. Jesus is right here,

Jesus is right beside me. You know that everything I do.

Since I was primarily up till I own a car,

I'm always traveled by public try spot and other parents

will say that it's not safe, and to me it's that, yeah,

I know it's not safe, but I always started my

journey by Jesus.

I know that you will protect me.

I have met fleshes, I've met weirdos, but the Lord

always shield me.

The Lord always protect me.

And all my friends always tell me that, Selena, have

you not encountered any more lester and whatnot?

I say, no war, never war.

I say even the two hours journey to chish in

Bus I sleeping one war. That's how much God loves

me by protecting me. To me is as I continue

to grow into campus life, I stayed out, you know,

in a rented house.

Seven of us. I'm the only believer.

They will always bring food offer to Idol, you know,

because this friend of mine day. The parents always worship

their gods Lord food and you will always bring you

not to eat together to them. It's like you eat

food offer to Idol. It's a blessing and I will

always say that no, I will not.

They really killed me.

They're like, who are is so by your man your god?

You cannot eat food off to either one man. I'm like, no,

I just choose not to, you know, I continue to

make my stand. I even have friends saying that, yeah,

if you don't to join us, then you go and

be solowly.

You don't need to have friends and whatnot. But to me,

it's like fine.

You know, even in college, I will always pack my

back on Friday, you.

Know, to go back so that I can make it

to church on Sunday.

And all my friends said, yeah, you you know, you're

very holy night you everything's all? You won't go everything

as all you're gonna you know. They will say things

like that, But I remain firm in my stand and

I continue to commit my life to God. And these

open doors for them to ask, especially during at same time, Selena,

how is it that you're always so busy with church

and you have never failed in any feel example, I

don't know. And they will always say that, can you

ask your God to bless us as well? I say,

I can ask my God, but you also can ask

my God. His name is Jesus, you know, and that

is the sacrifice. And it came to the day my

mom passed on right. The things that I praise God

is that at least she accepted Christ before she died.

But because my family are not believer, they refuse to

believe that my mom accepted Christ.

And they wanted a tow with ceremony.

I say, okay, do whatever you want, all right, And

because of that, I choose not to participate in all

the ceremony.

I got ridiculed. Again.

What kind of daughter is this? What kind of useless

daughter is this? Your mother died and you don't want to,

you know, bow down? Is it your God so big

that you cannot hold the jobs?

You know? It's your mother?

At Rome, while I was grieving, I received things like that.

But yet I say that, Lord, I remained firm because

you said that I.

Should not bound out to anyone except to you.

To me.

To honor my parents is when stay are alive, not

when they are dead and they can't see anymore.

I made my stand. But the testimony was this.

My grandma, who opposes my faith, said to all these people.

Who ridiculed me, leave her alone.

She has done what she needs for her mom and

this is her faith and let her be. And my

grandma wasn't a believer, and that is a testimony. So

do I face threads and oppositions.

I do.

Came plunting ex unbund. I was saying klang when XM

bunk started. And our journey every weekend, every Sun, every

Wednesday homes, I don't know how many hours journey to

and fro every Tuesday prayer service back then was in

once and.

My due hours. I don't know how many hours tired.

Hungry, kailer go Niela. You know, and if you ask,

a lot of people cannot understand. Selena, let's explain why

you don't go explain? You know, after I moved to Subang,

that's xany we don't do exubang or maybe x why

x am bound you know.

Do mean why exam bunk. Why I said yes exampuk in.

The beginning was because tar you see, what's my college

when when when I studied, So I have a burden

for this college and I wanted to reach out to

the students back then, but now we only have one

or two TI you see students. But it's okay, you know,

I still do it anyway, because that is.

Where God caught me.

If you are me, you know, have I ever run

away from God's calling? You know, God calling to Azambang.

Have I ever tried to run away from him?

Oh? Many times?

Those who know me know my sorry. Okay, I always

say that I'm the modern day Jonah. I always run away, Okay,

even though I don't run physically, but I always run spiritually.

Right?

Have I ever been tired from all this traveling? I

won't lie to you.

I'm tired. You know.

Driving hours in the gym is no joke. You know,

after a long day of work, it's no joke. Having

received call at midnight to go to police station to

save people, it's no job. Having received calls at those

th am.

Crying, Oh my boyfriend loves me, it's no joke.

Receiving calls at I know hour that your partner passed away,

it's no joke.

Having buried people is no joke. Marrying, yes, it's fun.

Seeing people give birth it's fun. But any other challenges,

it's really no joke. There is my thirty seven years

of journey.

But if you ask me, have I personally led someone

thro Christ? Well? I have not. But if you ask me,

have I seen people changed for the better? Yes? Have

I seen people grow? Yes?

Have I seen people launch out to be used by

God in the mission field?

Yes?

Our ex Edinburgh coordinator mun Singh is my kids in

X kids. You know, proud teach a moment.

Right.

If you ask me, will I do it again? Definitely?

You know, seeing all of you here today, it's all

worth it. Seeing all of you grow being used by God,

you know, it's all worth it. That's my story, what's yours?

Are you ready to be launched out today? I wouldn't

ask so much from you. Maybe for those of you

who are still thinking should I even sign up for

the missions conference, let's start by that. Maybe some of

you don't want to sign up because in Calvary Convencius

Center are so far Remember my sorry two hours to

church as a teen back then, my parents don't even

want to give me money to go to chich Okay.

Where do I get the money? I just don't eat

less And during my school days I keep that money

so that I can use it on weekends to go

to church. If a teenager can do that, if a

campus student can do that, and I am still doing

that now.

You can, You definitely can.

Right, Church, stop giving excuses. When you give excuses, you

are not giving it to me, You're giving.

It unto the Lord.

So if Jesus died for you many years ago, what

is it that you have to die to yourself so

that his name can be made. So if you think

that maybe or my heart work, I may not see

the fruit of my labor, don't worry. The Lord will

never allow you to labor in vain. All you need

to do is that say Lord, here I am use me.

Do your best, and God will do the rest.

Amen.

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

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this week is going to be a good week. I

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God bless