12+1 Core Values: Generosity Branded | Pr Alvin Keng

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

We hope this message will light up your day.

You can turn to your Bibles to Acts chapter 2,

Acts 2:44–45

verse 44 to 45.

And we drew out, or at least Pastor Kenneth.

Drew out, through the leading of the Holy Spirit, the

core values that Acts Church practices.

You know, I wouldn't say we want to, I would

say we are.

But we're at a place, of course, where we are

already 26 years old this year. We started in 2000,

we are 26 years old. And being 26 years old,

a lot of people come and gone. I myself have

been in X Church for about 21 years already. I

came in 2005. My wife came in 2004, I think, right?

22 years already.

Wow.

Okay.

Very long in this church already. You know, it's a

good church. And we've also recognized that we now have kids.

They may not know or understand the core values. Some

of you here may not be as.

Long in X.

So you may not know or understand what we practice

and why we practice.

You know, but I always like to tell people this.

If you come here and you like what you see,

you must understand a few things. You must understand that

the people before you have already paved the way for

you to enjoy all that you're experiencing now.

You know that? Same with our country, with your family,

you know. People before you have paved the way.

And there are certain principles that we follow, certain things

that we do and certain things that we practice, you know.

Whack the wall, you know. I always say long piak, right?

I long the piak so that you don't have to

long the piak, okay? You know, I bang the wall

so that you don't have to bang the wall. So

hopefully you listen. But I know some people, they still

want to bang the wall.

Okay, then you go and bang yourself.

Then later you realize that it hurts, then only you listen.

And we will try our best not to say, I

told you so. Still very quiet in PJ, okay? So, yeah,

that's why we're doing this. At least we said one time,

and there's MTGs, and hopefully you all will go back

and listen. So, if you have missed any of the

12 plus 1 core values messages, please go back and

listen to it, right? If you feel like you want

more depth or, you know, something, because we have all

the church plants, right, going through this right now in Malaysia. So,

today is the last day for us, and I think

Singapore is two weeks behind us, The UK, they are

just starting this week only, the first value. And the

rest are slowly, slowly rolling it out in their church plants.

And we want alignment, friends. That's why we are talking

about it. I hope you understand that. So my encouragement

to you today is that please go back and do

your revision. Please go back and don't come and later say,

why the church do this?

Why the pastor do this? Why you all decide this way?

Because a lot of things we decide in life or

a lot of things we do in terms of our motivation,

especially the leadership making decisions, is never by preference one.

It is only by two things. It's either the leading

of the Holy Spirit or it's by the principles that

we follow. Y'all catch that or not? It's very important

to understand this because if we don't understand the context,

we will come to a place where we think that

it's all by whim and fancy.

You cannot grow the church by whim and fancy. Can

I tell you that? You can only grow the church,

you can.

Only grow God's house through the leading of the Holy

Spirit or the following of principles through His Word.

There's no other way.

Well, maybe you can gather more people coming to church

by being the most influential, happening, good-looking person around.

I know I'm not.

That's why I don't understand why some of you are

here because I'm not good-looking, I'm not eloquent. Every time

I hear myself speak, I sound like a Chinese uncle,

which I am, right? But we have to understand how

God builds His church. And when we say we are

followers of Christ, what does that mean to us?

Okay?

Okay?

So it says in the word, Now all who believed

were together and had all things in common and sold

their possessions and goods and divided them among all as

anyone had need. It's Acts chapter 2, verse 44 to 45.

Acts 2:44–45

This word, a generous church. Do you like this word?

A generous church. I think I've got slides. A generous church.

Do you like the word? Sound good?

Okay, I can see that not a lot of you

understand or like the word. Do you like the word

generous church or not?

Do you like it? I like it. I like to

be known as a generous church.

And you know, do you know that when you read

the Bible, when you read the Bible, you see generosity everywhere.

Do you know that?

For God so loved the world that He took.

No.

For God so loved the world that He gave His

only Son. You know, God was generous. He is constantly

giving generously. When you hear the world, when you hear

other people that don't understand, they will say God's evil,

God's this. Do you know that God is also very good?

Do you know that God is generous? Do you know

that if you read the book of Acts, chapter 2,

Acts 2 · chapter mention

chapter 4, you read about generosity of the people filled

with the Holy Spirit. People who sold their goods, sold

everything and gave to the church.

Right?

And it's not just give to the church for missions

and all, no. Give to the church and they divine

among themselves, no. They basically had a commune, you know.

Y'all catch that or not?

Right? Because there was... Why?

Because they were influenced by the pastor? No, it was

the Holy Spirit leading them. Because there was something more

important than just amassing wealth for yourself.

That was what they understood then.

Right? When the Holy Spirit comes to our life and

when there's revival in our life, I don't know what's

going to happen, friends. I don't know how you're going

to act. You're probably not going to be yourself. Y'all

catch that? You're probably not going to think the way

you think when the Holy Spirit takes over. you will

probably think how God thinks. Are you catching that? So

a generous church. We want to be a generous church.

Why is that a plus one? Well, I'll just give

you a little history. So actually, Pastor, when he was praying,

he got the 12 values already. And 12 is a

nice number to him because 12 speaks.

About governance, right? You know, and when you look at

the 12 disciples, they're 12 disciples.

Even when Well, you can argue and say, yeah, there

were 12 disciples, but one betrayed Jesus, and he, you know,

he offed himself, right? But later, they still added one

more disciple, Matthias, that's.

In Exodus right now.

That was the only time you hear Matthias' name in

the Bible, and you never hear him at all. He

was Judah's replacement.

Thank God, right?

Judah's replacement, right? He came, he was the 12th disciple,

and you never hear about him anymore, right?

12th. But one year after getting.

The 12 core values, pastor was challenged by God to

add generosity in.

Right? And why? Well, let me explain to you why.

Because generosity is powerful, right? You all catch that? Generosity

is powerful. Why? Because it heals, friends. It builds. It

brings people together. Correct or not? That's what generosity can do.

It helps fill up voids. Generosity.

And it also helps fulfill dreams. That's what generosity does.

Do you know that generosity is what everybody understands? All

of you here understand generosity, right? Do you know who

else understands generosity? Do you know that the people out

there understand generosity? When they see it, when they experience it,

when they are generous, do you know that? Do you

know that they understand generosity more than Christian jargon? Come,

my brother, let me tell you, Jesus loves you. You know,

if he died on a cross, you know, and he said,

do you know that?

Do you know that? Do you know that?

Do you know they don't understand any of that? But

when you are generous to them, they understand that. Generosity

is something that everybody understands.

It's very powerful, right?

And the thing is, the interesting thing about generosity, and

I will share based on my own experience and, you know,

talking to people and learning from people and understanding it

a little bit more, You know, a person who's revived

in their hearts, have you met a person who's revived

in their hearts? A person who's revived in their hearts,

they don't think about themselves. Right? A person who's on fire,

I'm not saying they don't care, but they don't really

think about themselves. They most of the time think about others.

Right?

Right?

And the by-product of a person who's revived, right, is generosity.

I'm not saying that's the main, I'm talking about the by-product.

Meaning a person who's revived in their hearts can't help

but eventually be generous, right? But can I also say this,

that when we are not revived in our hearts, when

I say we, I'm talking about myself.

As well, because yes, there are days like that.

When we're not revived in our hearts, it's actually quite

easy to think about ourselves only.

Right? It's quite easy to be stingy.

It's quite easy to worry about, hey, is that going

to be enough for me?

Me, me. Huh? How? God, everybody is being blessed, but

me leh, me leh, me leh. Me.

Friends, I think we need to have a bigger perspective

about life and about what the Lord is to us.

because if we have confidence in God, our Creator, the

Bible says, the owner of a cattle of a thousand hills,

the Bible says, don't worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will

worry about itself. When we can have a bigger understanding,

or we can have a bigger understanding of who God

is in our lives, I think it won't be hard

to be generous.

I don't think it'll be hard. I don't think we

will count the.

I'm not saying it's bad to count, I'm not saying

it's bad to amass wealth. I'm not saying it's bad

to be wise and to be a good steward of

what you have. I'm talking about our motivation. I'm talking

about what is our natural inclination.

Right?

Right?

So recently we had a missions fund report. I think

you guys saw it. I think we're going to show

it later, if I'm not mistaken.

You know that.

Our church, I would say our church, at least our

church leadership, we are a generous church.

And I think we need to be thankful for that. Right?

That we don't spend money on nicer chairs and aircon

and all this. We spend money on things that matter.

Like the work that people are doing for the ministry outside?

Do you know when we see the para-church organisation, a

lot of money has gone out? Right? Because every time

NECF writes in, it is an opportunity to be generous.

Every time Malaysian Care writes in, it is an opportunity

to be generous.

Right? It's a chance for us to be generous. Right?

But do you know that when that happens, and for

those of you who are in corporate, Sometimes it might

seem this way also.

Sometimes, you know, people ask for money lah. Okay.

But we're tempted with the amount. How much should I

give ah? Should I give $ 10, 000?

Maybe $ 8, 000?

Maybe $ 5, 000?

Maybe $ 1, 000 is enough lah. Okay. $ 1, 000 is enough lah.

Because, you know, you know, the thing is, a lot

of people right, if you're real honest, I'm generalizing, I'm

not talking about you guys. I know you guys are

very generous one. You don't count one, okay? But a

lot of times, we just want to give token only.

Can I give you token? Okay, at least I say

I gave a thousand ringgit. At least I said I

gave this much.

Right? At least.

Friends, we don't want ex-church to come to a place, right?

We are giving tokens and pleasing to our own conscience.

is that really honoring to the Lord? So that we

can say we gave and we're not, I'm not a person, Ma,

I gave, Ma, not like the other person that I

see never give.

Right?

No, friends, if we give, right, shouldn't we give in

a way that really helps and solves the problem?

Shouldn't we give in a way that actually makes the difference?

Shouldn't we?

Let me share something that I've observed about people. I'm

just going to give you an observation, okay? And I

will also clarify that I'm not talking about anybody here

because so far I've not dealt with any of you

in this regard. So I run, I am now, of course,

I've been working in a non-profit organization for the past

21 years of my life. And non-profit means we rely

on donations, we rely on the generosity of other people.

But let me tell you.

Something very interesting because past few years I've been challenged

myself to be brave enough to ask for money. I mean,

to be honest, I don't like to do this. I

don't like to ask my money, like begging like that.

But I've been challenged to be brave enough to say, Lord,

if you give me this dream, and if you give

me the boldness to be able to at least request,

or give me the boldness to be able to share

my dream or share the vision to people.

And of course, naturally, you share people who got money, right?

You know, who are willing, right?

But the one interesting thing that I've observed through the

many years, not just myself, but even recently also, I've

recognized the way people give is very different.

Okay? And I'll just give you an observation.

I've noticed that the most generous people that give the

most don't really ask you question one. They don't ask

you question one. They just give only. Okay?

And you will say, hey, let me give you a report. No, no,

it's okay. I believe in you. I trust in you.

Use it. Do whatever you think you need with it.

I've recognised that.

However, I've also observed the people that ask the most

amount of questions. I'm not saying it's bad to ask questions. Please,

ask as much questions. You want to know where your

money goes? A lot of people care.

It's fine.

I'm not knocking that. I'm not saying that it's not wise.

I think we need to be wise. But I've noticed...

that the people that ask the most questions either don't

give in the end or give minimum. They will ask

for the minimum. I find it very interesting. I'm just

giving you my observation. I know it's none of you here.

I find it very interesting. And I'm not making noise, no.

Because at the end of the day, to be very

honest with you, even when I ask and when I request,

I have this belief that the Lord will provide.

I don't look to men. I've learned that from my leaders.

I've learned that the Lord will provide. You know? And

I hardly ask for things for myself. I don't do that.

Because I do believe that the Lord provides. But I

normally ask for other people. You know?

Either for the ministry or for, you know, needs out there.

That's what I do.

Okay? Opportunities to give, to lead. But I find that

very interesting.

That the people that ask the most questions either give

minimum or don't give. However, The people that don't ask anything, wow,

they're the biggest givers. And I'm amazed at how much

they give. And it's very fast. I find it very interesting, friends.

I don't know. Is that a generous heart? I believe so.

But I'm just giving you my own experience, okay? What

does giving speak about? It speaks about our priorities, being generous.

Giving also keeps our heart soft.

Do you know that?

Giving keeps our focus on God and not us. Giving

reminds us that He first gave His Son. If acts

can remain generous, do you know that we can remain

soft in God's hands? A generous person is not a

hard person, friends.

It is not.

Not a hard person. You will notice that a person

who is generous, their heart is always soft. in the

needs of others.

Right?

And a heart that is soft, God can mold. So friends,

I pray that our church will continue to be generous

and that we will continue to be clay in God's hands.

Right?

That's what I believe in. That's what I pray we are.

Let me read 2 Corinthians 9, verse 6 to 8.

2 Corinthians 9:6–8

You know?

And I'm talking about what the Bible says It says here,

For God loves a cheerful giver. You know, we hear that.

For God loves a cheerful giver. But maybe we should

read the one before. Don't give out of necessity. Meaning, friends,

and I love this about our church. We don't ask

people to give our compulsion. Honestly, if you feel guilt

to give, please don't give.

Do you know that God doesn't need your money? He

wants a cheerful giver. Right?

That is something I understand. And do you know that

God is able to make all grace abound toward you?

That you always having all sufficiency in all things may

have abundance for every good work. See, the interesting thing

about God is He wants us to step out in

faith first. Right?

That's the constant message that God tells us. Step out

in faith. Trust me. You know? Trust that I will provide.

Don't worry. I will take care of it.

Right?

Right?

And the people that have the most faith will experience

the most of God.

True what?

Because the Bible says that you can't please God without faith.

Right? If we have no faith, how are we going

to please God?

And sometimes when it comes to giving, it is a

style of faith for some of us.

Because you know why?

Because the reality is that some of us have a

scarcity mindset. I can admit, I had a scarcity mindset

when I was growing up.

Always not enough.

I remember I literally had to fight with my dad

for RM5 for allowance. Literally had to fight, you know.

And I got so mad at the way, you know,

I had to deal with these things in my family

that I went and found a job when I was

from three. Just to prove a point that I can

work and earn money. Wah, Alvin was a fighter then.

Really, I suffered. And then I learned, when you work as.

A waiter, please, friends, if you got people that are

waiters around you, please treat them nicely. Because they will

do all kinds of funny things to your food. Because

they really lack of sleep, very tired, right?

Don't, don't, don't.

I won't tell you which hotel I work in. It's

a pretty atas hotel. A scarcity mindset. Is that something

we have, friends? Because if that's something we have, we

need the Lord to break it to an abundance mindset.

He said here, God will, God will do what? He's

able to make all grace abound toward you. It is

an abundance mindset, not a scarcity mindset, right? Another thing

that we have to consider is faith over fear. I

shared a little bit about that just now, right? It

is always an act of faith It is always an

act of faith. Let me tell you the generosity that

I like to.

Practice, right? Or at least I understand.

Because I remember when I was younger, because I went

through so much challenge in those days, I developed a, well,

I don't know whether to call it unhealthy. Is it

unhealthy to be generous?

I don't know. It's very middle ground, right?

But let's just say I couldn't mara before for being

generous at least once or twice in my life, you know?

And the word that comes to me is, Alvin, why

are you so stupid?

Why are you so stupid for being so nice to

other people?

You must take care of yourself. Wah, kena marah or no,

be generous. Okay? And different things lah.

You know, I think there were a few times where

I was over generous to the point that I didn't

have enough. Right?

And then also kena marah. I'm like, wah, really ah?

Want to become a good person also kena marah. Sorry ah,

my life very sad lan. Okay, let me rant a

little bit, you know. Because cannot rant anywhere else, right?

Maybe that's why the Lord made me a preacher. Chance

to rant to all of you. You'll take my burdens away.

Interesting that you can get scolded because of your being generous.

But thank God that He taught me the principle. Because

I learned that generosity, not by emotions, but by principle.

Y'all catch that?

What do you mean by that, Pastor Alvin? Generosity by principle? Well,

that's what I learned to practice. Generosity led by principles

and not emotion. Led by an understanding of God in

my life.

Right?

Not an understanding of how the world works. Not an

understanding of who God is in my life helps me

to be generous.

Because I'm a son of the Most High. You all

catch that?

It's not positive thinking, you know. It's an understanding of

your relationship with God, you know.

Right?

Generosity led by the Holy Spirit. Have you experienced that before?

Not by our own opinions or motivation. Do you know

the argument about net or gross for tithes is an opinion?

Not principle. It is an emotion.

Not principle. Not led by God's Word.

Do you know that? For some of us are still

struggling with it. How are we giving? Is it by compulsion?

By stereotype? Or by emotions? Or by opinion? Friends, let's

do it by principle. Let's do it by the leading

of the Holy Spirit. Amen? Can or not? I know

it's not easy because this is a mindset change.

Right? Because if you're in a scarcity mindset, it's very

hard to receive this one. But when you're in abundance mindset,

it's a different thought process. It is going to be

a mindset change for some of us. Because it's difficult

to be generous. It's hard to be generous.

Right? That's why you have to practice. You have to practice.

You have to practice. I had a lot of practice already.

Right?

I still remember when.

You know, I will always pay for people.

Okay? I always pay for people, for meals and all, right?

And thankfully now, the Lord has enabled me to be

able to do that without, you know, without challenge. Last time,

I released that of faith one, like, pay for bills,

that of faith. And last time, hang out with a

lot of campus students, right? Not yet work, right? Of course,

they'll feel bad, but it's okay. And I'll tell them this.

I'll say, hey, when you start working, then you can

do the same. Either continue and all. And then the

campus students become older, and then now very hard to

pay for them already. Because they'll be faster than me.

But that's a good thing. Because then they learn to

be generous. And I hope that they don't just do

it for me. I hope that they do it to

other people as well. Because it's good to be generous, friends. Amen?

The legacy of our church, and this is something that

not everybody knows, the legacy of our church, friends, is

that we are a generous church.

Acts is a generous church.

I have no qualms about Acts being a generous church

because I've experienced it myself and I've seen it through

the years that I've been in this church. And I

continue to encourage it as a person who has the

opportunity and privilege to lead the church. I'll share some

testimonies with you. But one old testimony that I always

remember last time, we always repeat one. I don't know,

some of you who have been in Acts for a

long time, I'm sure you remember the story about how

a small church like Acts Full of campus students only.

Eh, last time ah, got no YY, no.

Now got YY, people can drive Tesla and BYD. Last

time we have to take motorbike, you know. And, you know, now,

actually now campus students also quite rich ah. Maybe it's

the parents ah, you know. We just realised that recently. Someone,

I actually remember someone was just lamenting like, you know, eh,

want to pay for campus students but actually campus students ah,

pay for them then they can go for all the chuggies,

all the, no more, no more Starbucks, you know, other things.

Now, right?

Right? And then yet, want to ask the YY who

got disposable income to pay for campus, it's okay. Parents

can settle themselves. Okay, that was the lament. Anyway, those days,

when we had not a lot of people, so I

think it was about, can't remember, I don't know whether

Adeline was around or not, when we had the Bihar project.

I went to look at the, I had the opportunity

to go there to look at the school, you know,

that the church planted through the pockets of the campus students.

How much did they raise? They raised a few thousand

US dollars, no? Think about it. 60 campus students.

No money. No money. No rich uncle. No rich parents.

Believe in God. Pursue a project.

Build a school in the poorest state in India for missions.

How amazing is that?

Amazing.

You guys want to give God a clap? Just want

to wake you up a little bit.

Right?

I know you all got no connection. That's so long ago. Right?

Some of the oldies only remember.

Right?

But that's our legacy.

Do you know that during COVID, XPJ and XPU was

also generous?

Right? Let me tell you what we did. Well, we

went and.

Speak to our Ardun in PJ. and we say, hey,

it's COVID time. A lot of people are going through challenge.

And I still remember because they couldn't go out and

there were a lot of families that were struggling and

nobody knew. And I remember they had this thing called

the white flag movement. I don't know if you remember

that or not. So long ago, white flag, where they

will actually put up like white cloth outside, right, their house,

saying that they need help because no job, no money

to survive, no food. A lot of older people. A

lot of people in PJ, actually, they are house-rich, cash-poor. Right?

The house, million dollar, but they got no money. And

they were struggling.

And I remember seeing this online. And I was praying

and saying, Lord, how? Should we do something as a church?

We are also at home. Yes, going crazy with our

online meetings and.

Kids' classes.

For those of us who have clits. For those who

are single, yes, going a little bit crazy, cause no

human contact. But as a church, should we do something

or not, God? What is our role, friends, as a church?

And this is where the principle comes. James 1, chapter 2.

Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this,

to visit orphans and widows in their trouble and to

keep oneself unspotted from the world.

What the Bible says.

So as a pastor of the church, can I tell

you I'm super extra sensitive to widows and orphans.

Let me go a little bit more clearer.

I am super extra sensitive to single mums and to

kids with broken families. Extra sensitive means I will go

the second mile because I understand Scripture.

It is not by compassion. It is by Scripture. Let

me share another Scripture.

Deuteronomy 10.18 He administers justice to the fatherless and the

widow and loves the stranger, giving him food and clothing.

And this is what XPJ and XPU did.

We met up, and I'm sure all the home leaders

were like, Pastor Alvin, you're crazy. This is any one

of your crazy ideas. We met up, tried to get

the homes involved. Do you know how hard is it

to get homes involved to do work during COVID? You

think that they're very free. They're not very free.

They also wear stress. Huh? Another extra project ah? Right?

It was tough. So we met lah. The time, I

think XBU just started only. No, no, not XBU. No, XPJ.

I think that's still part of XPJ. I can't remember

when XPU started. But yeah, we met up online with

the reps of the homes.

You know why?

Because home leaders stressed out already. So I remember telling

the home leader, don't worry, you don't have to do

it because you're stressed, right?

Find someone in your homes that is willing.

Willing to buy groceries and to give to the poor families.

And we were given the context. And we met.

Oh, yeah.

I think YN's kids, right? Yeah.

They were also going to be given to the poor family.

Can we go to the next picture? So we had

the people. Eh, we committed six months, our friends. We

didn't commit money. We committed six months of people going

out to buy.

Okay?

Then Celine had to drive her e-scooter, carry all those

things and carry back.

That time, no car yet, right, Celine? I saw this

and I was like, wah. You know? And then... I

think that's Paul, right? Yeah, Paul.

I think I had two pictures of Paul like that,

you know? Paul had a bright idea of just passing

it to the Grab driver. That was brilliant, right? Then

we said, yeah, actually we'll send you Grab. You know,

then of course we had Sharon, John, Janice, right? And the,

you know, Aris, Cathy, the family, right? I mean, the

cool thing is if they live near each other, they

can coordinate.

And they went and they bought food for all these people.

I tell you, friends, the amount of testimonies that came back,

I was so in awe, no. For me, it was

as simple as, hey, COVID, people suffering, we are a church.

Cannot be we stay at home and do nothing, right? God,

what should we do? What tactical thing should we do?

How can we be a generous church?

Right?

And then God say, there, look at the scripture. They're like,

okay lah, talk to the adun, God or not? And

he said, God, but I give you this much. I

think we had 10 families. We took care of 10 families.

Let me share some testimonies that came out of our generosity.

You know these two old aunties? They stayed alone.

Not working. No money. Cannot go out. Scared. If we

didn't help them, they could have died. I'm not joking.

Right?

Then we had people who.

I tell you, it was just amazing. Because some... I

tell you this other thing.

When you have a revived heart, right, and you can

believe in people, right, you won't... Because I'm sure some people,

I'm sure or not, some of them probably took advantage

of you as a church.

And yes, there are people who do that.

Some of them probably took advantage, you know, now you

help them, you know. Do you know that some families, right,

after the third month, they say, can you please stop?

We don't need it anymore.

Go help someone else. Do you know that some families

did that? They say, thank you so much, but we

don't need it already.

Don't need it already.

Go and help someone else. I know someone else that

need help. Some family said, hey, I need help, but

I know this other auntie also need help. It was

through one act of generosity, friends. You know, I think for,

I think at least 50%, we didn't even finish the

six months. It was two, three months and that's it.

You know?

And there were some that were really thankful. And all

we did was just buy food and give them.

Right?

I remember the first time we gave, it was a

fixed list and then later, because, you know, that's the

cool thing about our church and the people, we don't

just want to do and be generous as a token,

we want to make it count. And I remember some

of the reps came back and said, eh, Pastor Edwin,

how ah? Can we adjust a little bit ah? Because

this family, they got no, they got kids but they.

Got no money to buy milk. Can we adjust some

of the things to buy milk or not? I said,

of course, sure.

Some homes say, hey, I know we allocate a certain

amount only, but can we top up to buy more

things that they need? Because they have direct connection.

I say, sure. Go ahead. Do what you think is right.

Do what you think is able. And we did it.

With no compulsion, but by principle. Amen? So are we

a generous church? We are, friends. We are. I want

to encourage you guys. We are. That's the cool thing

about being in our church. Right?

But we got to be careful or we got to

be aware that we are, are we practicing the principle?

And this doesn't apply to generosity. It applies to a

lot of other things. Are we just practicing the principle

or by preference? That's always the struggle with us, you know.

It's either principle or preference. Principle say this, but to

be honest, a lot of us are led by preference.

I think this should be like that. I think this

should be like that. Friends, go back to principle. One

of the guiding thoughts that I always have to myself

is I always go by principle. I always think, okay,

what is the principle that God has that I can

apply to this decision? What is the principle that God

has that can apply to this motivation or why we

are doing this? Right? And this is another thing, you know,

because I see this come out quite a lot. I

want to encourage all of you. It should be also

by principle and not by personality. We can have a

lot of personalities around, And that's not a bad thing.

It makes the flavour.

But be very careful when we start deciding things for

the church and for your own life based on personality. Right?

I don't have much time to expound on that. I

just thought I'd share that. So yeah, as a church,

let's give God a clap as well. Everybody be quiet. Hey,

I'm not scolding you all, okay? I know I sound

like I am, okay? Maybe it's because of my leg

or sleep, okay?

Right? I'm trying to share testimonies.

Let me share you a more personal testimony of why

I believe that Acts is a generous church. And I

always encourage young couples who say, you know, no money

to get married. You know, firstly, I will say, don't worry,

God will provide. You know, and being in Acts, I

know that you will be blessed because I've seen how

God bless the couples in our church. And when I

say couples, can I make another distinction? The couples that

are faithful and serving and committed. Not just any couple.

Because we also have a lot of couples at our

church after getting married.

Bye-bye!

God knows what I know. You cannot bluff God on.

But if you are here in our church and you're

a young couple and you're.

Worried, don't worry.

The Lord will provide. The Lord will provide in leaps

and bounds. The Lord will provide in many, many ways

that you will never imagine. Because he sees you.

Right? Same.

I have a wedding testimony. I show you photo first. Ah,

got photo. Pastor Alvin, did you purposely pick this so

that you can show not related to the testimony at all?

The similar answer is yes. Let's see the next photo.

Related lah. Talking about wedding. Okay, now we go to

the next one. Now we go to the next one. Okay, okay,

let's talk about that.

I'll cut it short.

I know I have to go already. One week before

the wedding, I was RM5, 000 short.

Okay? RM5, 000 short, okay? And I was worried. I couldn't sleep.

Okay? And I didn't tell my fiancée, then wife, because

I know if I tell her, habes, she'll say, let's

not get.

Married, you know?

Right?

I was like, okay, Lord, I trust in you. All right?

I trust in you, please provide. But I was ready.

I was like, okay, if anything happens, I will sell

my car. I will work hard.

I promise I will work hard to clear the bill.

And I remember I got married. Somehow during the day,

I didn't remember the 5K, minus 5K that I owe, right?

And of course, not counting the dinner. That's why I

don't like to count dinner because dinner is an anomaly, right?

You might owe more. But based on fixed cost, owe 5K. Say, Lord,

you provide. I'm serving you, you provide, right? But what happened?

That night, after finishing everything, had a good wedding. Oh,

can we go to the next photo? Had a good wedding,

you know. Yeah, we invited this much people for our

wedding ceremony.

Couldn't invite everybody for the dinner. Did that.

And then I remember we were in the room and

my best man, right, was helping me count money. Nowadays,

so convenient, QR code. I so love QR code. Last time,

we have to count. No, count the ringgit. I tell you,

cannot eat one. Count, then must have the counting machine,

have to bank in. Then you scan, bank in, you

carrying 30,000 ringgit to the bank, someone will rob you.

All these problems. Now QR code easy. Just scan only. Wow,

love it. I love the QR code.

I always tell people, you get married, I give you tip,

you get married, all your friends overseas cannot come, never mind.

Do live streaming, make sure you have QR code slide

there for them. and say we accept other currency as well.

Can or not?

You need to be smart also, right? All the Chinese

businessman idea coming out already. Okay, let me continue. So

my best friend called me, and my main concern was,

I was not concerned about 5K. I was like, okay, 5K,

I'll settle it separately, but I just need to cover

the dinner. As long as the dinner is covered, I'm happy, okay?

And I remember him calling me, and I said, hey bro,

how are you? He's like, don't worry bro, settle it already.

I was like, huh? Yeah, yeah, settle. Dinner covered. I'm like, okay, okay, okay. Covered, covered.

Then I remember, I keep, you know, I remember, I'm like, oh, okay, covered.

I just had to ask, got extra. Got extra. Then

he like, yeah, yeah, yeah, go, go, don't worry, go, go.

Then I'm like, okay, okay. How much? Had to ask. Huh,

how much?

He purposely want, he purposely drag some more. He's like, 23,000.

I tell you, I cried. I cried because God provided.

I cried because these people were generous. One of my

tables in the dinner was a teen's table. When you

invite teens for wedding dinner, you can just give the

table away.

Because I don't think they... Right? And I was in

teens ministry, my friends. See, if you're in.

Okay, this is the strategy part coming out.

If you're in Y1 ministry, okay, you.

Know, because most of the people you minister to all

are older already. If you're in teens ministry and most

of the people you minister to are teens, unless you

meet their parents or they have, you know, doctorate as parents,

I don't know whether you can expect any form of

return that is, you know.

So anyway, please take care of our team leaders. I'm

just joking.

But yeah, the Lord provided. Before I go, let me

share with you one more testimony.

Next photo.

So you know, I shared a few messages during this,

but this is a picture of my mom, right? The

best picture I could find of her during that time.

I didn't want to show other pictures because I know

my family members here, it might be hard. This is

a picture where she left from Brisbane after her seizure

and after one month being there, okay? And then this

is a picture where I received them and then immediately

went after. And of course, you will know the story.

One week after that, in the hospital, she went to

be with the Lord. But this is the testimony. During

this season, right, it was super crazy. I think this

is one of the most kancheong season of my life.

Kancheong is a very simple word to use. I will

use the word anxious and low season. Really, this season

really put me to God because there was no planning.

You know, and friends, I need to explain to you.

I'm not from a well-to-do family.

Right? I try my best.

The Lord has blessed us. But I don't have like

million dollars in the bank somewhere. You know, everything is

just whatever the Lord provides. So when you have a

family member overseas who got no insurance, who is raking

up the bill... And the total bill was $ 50, 000 Australian

dollars after one month being there. Of course, you're confused.

And then got a lot of other problems. But I

tell you that the Lord has been generous. You know,

I share a little bit about generosity. The church was

generous to me in my wedding. You know, and I

know God provided. But in this one, it was quite tough.

But can I tell you that God was generous as well?

Because although I owe the hospital $ 50, 000 Aussie dollars, I

think it was close to $ 60, 000.

And this is not.

Counting the $ 15, 000 Aussie dollars that we have to bring

her back with the nurse. The white guy is a nurse. Yeah,

he's a travelling nurse. You know, emergency one. That was

the requirement to bring her back.

Right?

That was another $ 15, 000 Aussie dollars. How we came up

with that, I don't know. Do you know that by

the time she came back to Malaysia... One month after that,

I don't owe the hospital any money because we had

a little bit of amount from somewhere through different people giving.

And we managed to negotiate with the hospital and they said,

it's okay. This is enough. Your debt is paid. I

was so relieved, you know. I don't want to go

to Australia with something hanging on my head, you know.

But the Lord has provided.

Let me share another thing that happened during that time

which not a lot of people know. Yeah, I know

my time is up. I'll just end with this. I'll

give you one scripture, I'll go already. I actually got

enough testimony, but next time lah. During that time, I

was very concerned also because flying to Australia was expensive.

A lot of, basically it was just a lot of decisions, right?

And it's not like, like I said, it's not like

I have money in the bank. But during that time,

I had a very close person who was very generous

to me that I remember.

I want to reveal who that is. If you know,

you know.

That while I was on the phone with, talking, sharing,

suddenly I got a notification in my bank.

And when I saw the notification, I got shocked.

And then the person said, hey, just something that I

thought I should give you to help you in this season.

And the person just transferred 10K to me. Just like that.

I will never forget that gesture. I don't know what

to do.

Right? Because you're like, huh? It's so much money, you know.

And I'm not asking for it, but it provided relief.

And then I fully understood also what generosity means. Not

just as a cause, not just as, you know, yes,

God will provide, but, you know, this thing about generosity

that goes real deep.

Because that 10k, maybe to that person, it didn't mean much, right?

I don't know.

But that 10k meant a lot to me, you know.

And when we say that generosity fills.

Out voids, it heals. Yeah, it's just 10k.

But it was solace to me that God was in

the picture.

And it wasn't like I was asking for anything. Neither

was I making a lot of noise.

But Because of that, I could plan. I could like, okay,

if I really need to fly down, I can fly down.

You know, in the end, I decided not to fly down.

But that 10K helped sustain whatever bills I needed to

pay during that season.

Specifically for this need. Right?

So I have experienced generosity. Even as I'm standing here sharing, oh,

I asked the generous church, I'm a leader, you all should. Friends,

I've experienced generosity and you don't know how much you

being generous in a small way or in a big

way will help others.

Amen.

And I do believe that the Lord will bless this person,

and I'm sure have blessed. But, I still remember today,

and I don't think I'll ever forget, what this person

did for me. Y'all catch how powerful that is? For

some of us here, who deal with six digit, or,

you know, seven digit easily, 10k is nothing. 10k is nothing,

but who knows? 100 ringgit, for the food was nothing

to some homes.

It was probably our one meal budget for some of us. Right?

For the whole family.

But for the old lady, for some of them, it

was their lifeline. That's the other part of generosity. Do

you know that generosity doesn't always have to be in

the area of money? It could also be in your time,

your treasure, your talent When we are generous, we practice

the first and second commandment. Matthew 22, 38 says, this

is the first and greatest commandment. Maybe extreme can come

up already. And the second is like it, you shall

love your neighbor as yourself. Friends, I will end with this.

Acts Church, in the future, whether or not we have

more or little, can we continue to remain generous? Because

that is our saving grace as a church. Do you

know that God will always honour those who are being generous?

It keeps our hearts soft. It keeps our mind at

the right place, you know, when we are generous. And

it helps God mould us even more. We are a

generous church, friends. Let's keep it that way.

Amen.

And if let's say there's any struggle, can I encourage

you to just say, Lord, help me. Help me because

maybe it's through our experience, maybe it's through our understanding,

maybe it's through different things that we fear, that it's difficult.

But friends, I tell you, it is so amazing. I

tell you, being generous and seeing the generosity of others, wow,

so much stories, so much changed lives that come out

of that by us doing something, such a simple act

of giving.

Let's continue to do it as a church.

So that we can not just carry the legacy but

also we can be used by God to bless others.

And I will also say to receive the blessing. Amen.

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

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God bless.