The Resilience of a Disciple of Christ | Dr Goh Chee Leong

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

We hope this message will light up your tea.

At the beginning of twenty twenty four, you know, when

we were all doing our resolutions right for the new year,

what we wanted the year to be, my youngest son

sort of announced to my wife and myself that he felt,

you know, his life was not adventurous enough, right, you know,

And so he said like, hey, look, twenty twenty four,

we need to be more adventurous, okay. So, of course,

as supportive parents, we said, great, okay, let's do this, okay,

And so he came up with a whole list of

adventures he wanted.

To try, all right.

He wanted to get his scuba diving license, which he

got and in fact, I need to thank my son

for that. Because of my son, my wife and I

got pulled along into this scuba diving.

Any divers here is anybody who does diving here? One

one person?

We need to you need to work on the rest,

all right, you know, you know, so scuba dive. I

never thought of scuba diving. I'm reade fifty plus al right.

So we went in and.

Oh, such a beautiful world.

You know, and we have done forty dives ready since

we actually advanced divers. Now we did Sipadan and red

Dung and we've just come back from Commodore in Indonesia.

And actually my son was correct, you know, because we

are right in the middle of what they call the

Coral Triangle.

All right, So Malaysia is blessed.

I mean within a one two hour flight Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia.

Some of the most beautiful.

Diving in the world is actually here, and it's sort

of an affordable thing.

It's not that expensive air Asia.

You can sort of get everywhere, so you better go

and do some maybe organizing a diving X trip or

whatever it is. I'll propose to Sendra and Kenne for it.

So anyway, so that was diving. But the other thing

he wanted to do, can we show this lights, all right?

Was he wanted to go climb mountains.

Okay.

So his challenge for us last year was, Okay, Papa,

MA mean we climb Kinabalu. How many of you here

have climbed Kinabalu? Gotta driven up baho? You have to okay, one, two, three, four, O, yeah,

very good, very good?

All right?

Now look, the last time, my friends, I climbed Mount

Kinabalo or I was nineteen years older, okay, and at

that time you're young enough, got the energy, all right.

So those of you don't know, I mean this is

in Kota Kinabalu. It's the highest mountain in Malaysia, one

of the highest in Southeast Asia.

Two day climb.

First day you do about six seven hours, all right,

and then you spend a night in Laban Rata, which

is sort the halfway part beautiful view. You get up

at one am the next morning you climb for then

this six hours so that you can catch the sunrise.

All right.

Now not easier, all right, for certainly not for somebody

my lots of training. So let's say I give you

this hypothetical situation. If next year ax Cyberjaya says, hey,

you know what the challenge is, We're all gonna go

up in Nabalu, right and I and we gave you

twelve monthslow, all right, twelve months for everybody to train.

And by the way, when we were there, I mean

we saw young kids go up. I mean there was

an eighty three old gentlemen that went up. So I'm

in age is certainly no barrier to anybody. All Right,

So let's say if I if I give you this

time one year to prepare to go up the mountain,

I want to ask you what preparation.

Do we need to do?

So what would we do in the one year to

prepare to go up? Okay, this is not a rhetorical question.

I'm asking a real question. What kind of stuff training? Okay,

what kind of training? Climb upstairs?

Yes?

And in fact, actually, Kina Balu, that's the best advice,

right because I mean it's not very technically difficult, so

you don't need you know, there's there's no snow craft

or this or that, no rock climbing.

It's just you go up. But it's stairs.

It's like fifty thousands, so a lot of a lot

of stair climbing, which builds what So climbing stairs, you know,

builds stamina, strength in your you know, lake muscles. All right,

what other form of training do you think we need?

Mental training?

Okay?

Okay, so that's where the psychologist comes in now, right,

by the way, right, So some mental training, so bental preparation,

because you're right, it's not easier. I mean, certainly, like

I say for elderly people like myself. I mean you

go up one two hours, three hours, four hours. It

is quite tiring, right, and the second day in particular,

it is challenging. I mean the first two hours in

the second day, I think with the toughest because you're

climbing at night, right, so you've got these uh you know,

torch light. You know, you're wearing the head lambs all right,

and you're walking up a cliff face all right. So

it's a bit scary because you can't see anything. A

lot of favor it's a good lesson in faith because

you're just looking at you can only see the steps

ahead of you.

But you're right, you.

Know, whether it's stamina, mental training, physical fitness.

You see the.

Focus on preparing to climb the mountain. It's on islam, right,

meaning I need to become stronger. The mountain is not

going to become lower, all right.

The mountain is not going to.

Become less cold, or less steep or more easy for you.

I mean, the mountain doesn't change, and the mountain is there.

So whether you're climbing Everest or k two or Kina Balu.

And by the way, I've just come back from Rin

Johanni in Indonesia, which is even worse, by the way,

you know, fifty percent harder than Kinna Baloo because it's

loose all. But the idea is, whatever mountain you're climbing,

you don't expect the mountain to become easier. I think

that's the lesson here, right, you know, you're sort of

preparing yourself mentally physically to challenge or meet the challenge

of the mountain. And I start with that because that's

some sub innocence resilience. So you know, today we're sharing

about what it means as a disciple of Christ, as

as an ambassador of Christ to build this resilience because

we know, look, life is not easy. Yeah, you know,

I think all I'm looking around the room. All of

us have different life experiences. No matter how old or

young we are, we all know enough to realize that

a life is like the mountain. It's not always flat,

it's not always downhill. There are good days, they're bad days,

they're stressful times. There are times where you're under a

lot of pressure. Right, So, whether it is work, whether

it is studies, how many of you here are university

students or students of any kind. School students, university students. Okay,

this is my crowd. And by the way, I've been

my whole life. I've been in university. When I was

growing up, my parents were in campus ministry, all right,

so they were one of those parachurch organizations Andra talked

about in the video. So, so I grew up in universities.

You know, my father was a university you know, a preacher,

a coach, you know, to Christian groups. I studied in university.

I stayed in university. I've been in university for the

last thirty five years. In fact, I joked that I've

never left university my whole life. So the university students here, okay,

you're my gang, all right, you're my crowd. But look

whether it's your studies, right, which can be stressful, you know,

because crazy professors like me give you a lot of

homework and exams and assessments and all of that kind

of stuff.

Right.

But the idea here is whatever pressures you're going through

in life, we realize that that's real, right, you know,

I mean, this is real life, you know. And and

and as we raise our children and prepare our children

for this real world, you know. Our message to them is, Look,

life is not gonna get easier, my friends.

You know what I mean. There are challenges.

So, whether it's relationships at home, whether it's managing finances,

whether it's managing our health, which can be a you know,

a challenge as well as we grow up. All of

these are real challenges. And in the face of the

reality of real challenges, the message for us as Christians

is that we are not alone in climbing this mountain, right,

you know, one of I think the most you know?

Is there next? Like, is this the onlyestlight? Okay, good girl,

there will be the shortest of men in the world.

And by the way, if that's the onest light, right,

then we can all go for lunch.

Right.

So, so I think Isaiah forty is one of them.

It's the poster on all of our wars, right, I mean,

when we were growing up, this is the most popular verse.

But I think sometimes we may not grabs the.

Full power of this verse because what this verse is

talking about is that resilience, that the source of our

resilience to face realities of life comes from the grace

and the power of God. Right, So he talks about

the fact that you climb in a value. It doesn't

matter whether you're seventeen or fifty or sixty. Even young

people will grow weary, isn't it. I mean that's what

the verse is, right, So it's not about age. You know,

even the strongest among us, at some point we are vulnerable, right,

We are not going to be able to solve every

problem in our life. And it's those moments that this

truth you know, becomes becomes the the wings that allow

us to transcend, that allows us to go through the storm, right,

allows us to write up again in spite of the

difficulties we have.

So I think I begin with this.

And that when we talk about resilience and facing the

pressures of life, it's not the case of God removing

the pressure or removing the challenges or removing the problems.

It's about God empowering us and through his spirit and

his inspiration and the peace that passes all understanding and

all of that love that he gives us, that enables

us to walk through the stormler, Right, isn't it Okay?

And I think that's really the Isaiah forty you know,

that's the hope that we claim as Christians.

And so this morning I wanted to share.

Right, you know, we're going to be looking at a

portion of scripture that, for many, many years has been

a great inspiration to me and many other you know,

brothers and sisters around the world. Second Corinthians six. It

is written by Paul, and you know he talks in

this chapter about what does it mean to be a

follower of Christ?

Right? So what does it mean to be a disciple?

In fact, some Bibles they actually label this the life

of the disciple or the life of the apostle. Right,

And I would like us this morning to draw lessons

on what does it mean to be resilient? Because you

look at a Paul and a Peter and all of

these early followers of Christ. I mean they certainly needed

resilience because I mean they went through the storm right

every day, every week, whether it was persecution or prison

or whatever it was.

And so what.

Lessons can we as the Christian Church learn today about

where the source of.

Strength comes from? All right? So are we ready to learn?

All right? From God? Great?

Okay, let's begin, So let's go through together. I start

from verse three. Paul writes, we put no stumbling block

in anyone's path.

So that our ministry will not be discredited.

Now, this verse basically just sets the scene for what

he's writing for the rest of the verse. In an

essay writing in university, we call this signposting.

All right, okay, so this is where.

You know, the author is saying, Okay, this is what

I'm gonna do for the next few paragraphs to express

an intention. Right, this is the story I'm trying to

tell that And this is what Paul is saying.

He's saying, Look, you.

Know, I through our model, through our example, Okay, this

is the ministry that we are talking about.

So all of these.

Distractions and people doing saying this and saying that, and

libelings and claiming this, and forget about all of that.

We are showing you, through our own example, our own life,

what it means to be a follower of Christ. I

mean that, That's basically what verse three is about. And then,

of course, for the rest of the verse that we

were explore, Paul goes on to describe what does.

It mean to be a disciple?

Right, So we start in verse four, rather as events

of God, we commend ourselves in every way, meaning we

we show you, we model what it means to be

is follow our Christ.

And then this is where it starts.

The list off in great endurance, in troubles, hardships and distresses,

in beatings, imprisonments, riots, in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger. Hey,

this is not starting or very positive by the way,

all right, you know, but this is true, okay, And

so we go to the next lesson one.

There are three lessons we're going to draw from this lesson.

One is a Resilience is about the mental preparation to endure.

You know.

Resilience is about having no illusions that if I am

following Christ right next, you know, and and if I say,

you know, what was the what is the phrase we

use again when I follow Christ? What was Christ's command

to us? I'm supposed to do what I'm supposed to

pick up? What?

Pick up my cross and follow? You know.

And that's not an imagery of Hey, you know, cushy life.

You become a Christian, you know, all the mountains will disappear,

you know, no problems at all. Hey, look, you know,

whether it's in your career or life, everything is gonna

you know, just be so easy, all right, because no difficulties,

no trials, you know, God is like this, uh you

know vip patron that removes all the barriers for us.

I mean nowhere, I mean where where in the Bible

does it does.

It teach that? Right?

So, so when you look at not just the teachings

of Christ, and he talks about this imagery of a

you have to pick up your cross and follow me, right,

because just as the Master is going through having to

go through challenges and sufferings, the disciples are no greater

than the Master.

But not just the teachings of Christ.

You look at all of the lives in the Bible,

all right, all test them New Testament, elaijah nehe maya.

You know all of these people.

I mean, you would not characterize the stories in the

Bible as.

An easy life, right.

This is not okay, choosing the easy way. In fact,

it is the narrow way, right, I mean that that's

what a Christian life is characterized by. And so Paus

talks about, Hey, look you know it's not easy. I

mean nobody, nobody is under any illusions. Jesus didn't mislead

you in his teaching because Jesus said, hey, look you

want to be an ambassador of Christ. You know your

life is gonna be yes full of the love of God,

the grace of God, the salvation of God.

Is gonna be a full life.

It's gonna be amazingly you know, more fulfilling and meaningful

than the life you had before. But hey, it's gonna

be a challenging life, right. They are gonna be persecutions

and challenges and hardships. Right, So picking up your cross,

I think the first lesson we learn to be resilient.

Like earlier we said, I need to be prepared to

climb the mountain. Right, so, Quina Baloo, I remember when

we were preparing for this. You do some research, right,

you know, if we have a Kinna Baloo map, they

have YouTube videos of people going up the mountain. By

the way, this is really the trailer, right, so you'll

tell you loa right, first day, how long are you

five point six or seven kilometers? You know they actually

described for you. You know the different checkpoints. I think the

first day they are like six checkpoints, you know, each

checkpoint thirty minutes. You know what's the easy bit? What

is the hard bit? I mean most of us would

do some research, right, you know, so that at least

we've got a mental representation of Okay, this is the challenge,

you know. But nobody goes to Kinabalu thinking, hey, downhill,

no issue at all, no need to do any training,

just go.

I mean I would die.

I mean if I didn't do any training, I would

have a heart attack right after twenty minutes. Okay, So

I think the first lesson we learned is we need

to have.

That mental mental expectation.

That being a follower of Christ means that there will

be times where we are put through the fire, you know,

like Daniel, like the early prophets, where we will be

tested now not beyond what we can bear, all right,

And the key is that.

God is with us.

Of course, true the trouts, but God walking with us

is not the same as God gets rid of the storm. Yeah,

all right, okay, any Liverpool support this, Yeah, what provocative thought?

All right? Early season?

Right, come on, man, I'm not a Liverpool supporter, but

I love their song.

By the way, my father is a liverpools suporter. Right, Liverpool,

what was their song? What is your song? You? You'll

Never Walk Alone?

Which, by the way, I mean way before Liverpool was

actually a musical. It comes from an old musical call

I forgot what I think Carousel or something like beautiful

song you never walk alone. Right, If you haven't heard

that song, whether you're a football fan or not, go

and listen to it because it talks about this, you know,

through the fire, true the storm, you never walk alone.

And I think basically that's the truth, you know.

True the storm and the fire, which I will have

to walk through in life as I grow up, as

I go through, you know, and try to do the

right thing as a Christian, in my career, in my studies,

in my relationships, in my society, as a citizen of

the country of this world. There will be trials, but

I never walk alone because Christ walks with me, you know,

and Christ climbs with me and gives me the power

to basically challenge and conquer the mountain. All right, Then

we continue verse six. Okay, so still Paul is talking

about how we commend ourselves as followers of Christ. Verse

six says impurity, understanding, patience.

And kindness.

So Paul continues to describe what it means to be

a follower of Christ. Okay, in the holy Spirit and

insincere love. Verse seven in truthful speech, meaning to be honest,

all right and true in the power of God, with

weapons of righteousness in the right hand and the left

true glory and dishonor bad report and good report genuine

yet regarded as imposters second lessener.

Right.

The heart of resilience is virtue, see PAULA. I mean

the second part of its description is saying, what is

the response therefore to hardship? So when we go through

the imprisonment and beat things and all of this really

difficult stuff that they had to go through. I mean,

Paul is not talking theory, He's talking real life, you know, right,

what is the response? What is the Christians response to that?

And you see, can we go back one slide again?

Right?

You see that his response.

Is virtue, virtue meaning ay, I keep true to my values.

You know that in the most difficult of times. That's

not when I abandon all of these virtues like love

and patience and kindness and loving my enemy, you know,

all of these.

Really difficult things to do.

So, whether you call it kingdom values, right, whether you

call it what would Jesus do? You know, following in

the footsteps of Christ and acting and thinking and behaving

and relating to other people in a way that glorifies

Christ because I'm trying to be christ Like. And that's

that's what Paul is saying, you know. And so this

is the response. It's not you know, you've got five back.

You know, it's not fight fire with fire, fight evil

with evil, right, I mean, you know, two wrongs don't

make it right. I mean, what Paul is saying is

that when you're faced with these challenges in life, the

most important thing is to hold true to your values

and your virtue.

Right, So let's go next and next next.

Okay, So the question I guess we ask coming back

to my mountain climbing analogies, we need to reflect and

think what is the mountain we are climbing? What is

the mountain next?

Life? Now, I suspect most of us our.

Focus when we are thinking of the mountain we are climbing.

The things that are really important to us in life

tends to me, let's just call it, things that.

The world regard as very important. Right.

So in our jobs, it's a my job, lie, you know,

Meeting my KPIs my goals. My performance targets not losing

my job, getting the promotion and the bonus and the

increement that I wanted being successful. If I own my company,

then hey, look making sure my company is successful and

growing and doing all of that. If I'm a student,

it's hey, making sure I'm passing my exams, making sure

I'm on the road to graduation, making sure I've got

that piece of paper all right. So, so nothing wrong

with this. I mean, these are all pursuits that are normal.

But let's think bag and ask ourselves in a situation

where we are faced with these challenges, whether in God's

eyes is the priority in his mind that you're actually

getting the A in your exam.

Or the kind of student that you are in your university?

Is it the whether you're you know, performance targets for

quarter three, quarter four? Man, I mean you think in gorner,

in the light of eternity, you think that's the mo

most important thing to him, whether you go secure that promotion,

which is important to me right in my human eyes,

that's the most important to me, think to me right now,

But in God's eyes is that the most important thing?

Right? So? So I think second.

Thing about resilience is we need to know what is

the battle we are fighting?

Right?

They always say, right? I mean God's ways are not

our ways. We see things in a certain perspective as

human beings. Nothing wrong with that. I mean, that's as

lies human beings. But God doesn't see things at that level.

He's seeing things for eternity. And so we go to

the next life, right, we focus on the problem.

He focuses on us. You know, to him, the person

that you're becoming.

As a result of the trials and tribulations is more

important than the earthly result. My friends, Now, if that's

one truth that you can go back and think about

that challenges you this few days, let that be the

one truth, because I think that's the problem. You know,

many of us are stressed out of our minds because

we are still thinking earthly KPIs. We are still we

are still defining success and failure on the terms of

the world, all right, And so look, I'm not saying

there's no stress in life. I'm saying we are stressed

out about the wrong things. And what God is more

concerned about is God Chileong, what kind of person are

you becoming here on earth?

Are you becoming more christ Like?

Are you becoming more patient and loving and compassionate towards

other people?

You know, I mean as students.

I always tell my Christian students are in help university.

A you know, I mean, look your grades.

Yes, of course you should study and all of that,

but that's not the most important. The most important me

what kind of student are you as a Christian witness

and blessing in your university?

All right?

You know, I mean do you love your fellow class?

Are you blessing them? If you're strong student? Are you

helping students who are weaker?

Are you a blessing to your teachers and lectures and

the cleaning lady and the maintenance staff. You know, I

mean that's more important.

What the kind of person you are, right, It's more

important than eventually okay, fifth class, second class honors, you

know which, all of these things I know still have

to do that, right. I'm not saying don't do homework today. Okay,

I'm not saying don't attend classes. I'm just saying we

need to focus on what really is important.

And same thing with with with star Wars and colleagues

and leaders.

I mean, I've got many Christian leaders in my organization

as well, right, And the challenge is again it's it's

not so much look, you know, do you do you

wear a cross in your office? Do you have a

Bible verse in your car? You know, it's it's not

what t shirit you wear or what.

Song you sing.

It's when I look at your life, when I look

at the kind of leader you are in a secular

environment and organization. Are you different in any way than

other people? You know, that's the love of Christ shine

through you. The way you treat people with love and

compassionate and respect. Do you see people with the eyes

of Christ? And I know it's difficult, it's not easy.

That's why we're talking about this life. It's not easy,

you know, to walk the Christian life.

It's not easy. Nobody said it.

Was going to be easy. But that's the challenge, my friends.

Right.

So, yes, of course we need to we need jobs

to sustain ourselves.

We need to be ten makers like Paul did.

We need to be financially you know, responsible to be

able to support the church and others.

But the focus right.

Needs to be on the kind of people we are becoming,

you know, the kind of people we are becoming more

and more like Christ being refined in the refiners fire.

Now that's the mountain we are climbing. That's the mountain,

all right. Okay, let's move on next. Okay, next, okay,

So last part. Now, I before that, I when I

was in university, I say, when I was about your age, loon,

the university students here. I remember going to a secondhand

book sale. And in our university we used to have

these twenty four hour book sales, very old books, because

literally people who died in the city would donate libraries.

All right.

So these are people who passed away and their family

estates and they sell books for one two dollars, and

so we would be there the whole day. And I

think this must be in ninety three, ninety four, all right,

I managed to get a book. This is a picture

of the book I still have called Dying We Live.

I think it was published in nineteen fifties, right, And

what it is that this is a book that changed

my life, all right in many ways. It is a

collection of letters, okay, written in World War II Germany.

All right.

So it's written during the Nazi regime by Germans who

are Christians, who are conscientious objectives, meaning they refuse to

therefore acknowledge and follow the orders that Hitler and the

Nazi regime gave. And so most of them were written

from prison because they refused to serve under the Nazis,

or refuse to carry out this order, or refuse to

do something like they were scientists and they were commanded

to go and do R and D for the Iman.

They say, no, all right, we know this is an

evil regime and as followers of Christ, cannot we cannot

support this government, all right, And so they are all

put in prison, all right. And so these are letters,

these are real letters to For example, there was a

soldier who was about to be executed, and he's written

a letter to his unborn son, right because the you know,

the wife is pregnant and writing to say, one day,

when you grow up, I'll never mean you, I'll never

know you, but I need you to understand why your

father is doing this. You know that this is part

of what it means to glorify God, to be obedient,

to be true, okay, and really moving.

I mean, I think you can get in an Amazon.

I think there are some reprints, but amazing great to

have in your church library. Right, And it's that letter

after letter, and I mean we all all of the

scent tears are when we are reading this.

This is real stuff, man, all right.

And and my point is this that the conclusion is

all of them dying as a result of their obedience.

None of them survive, and that's why they are letters

are included, letters to wives, to parents.

None of them survive.

Therefore, on earthly terms, in the w they may say,

look your failures like you didn't it didn't work.

What a waste? You know, you true your life away.

But I mean, this is what it means. To live

is christ to die is gain that right.

This is what it means that Christians don't see the world,

don't see success in the same way as the world sees.

Success, isn't it. I mean half the Bible.

That's literally the message the Bible is trying to send

to us. Right, the first shall be last, the last

shall be first. You know, how we see wealth, how

we see success, how we see you know, progress, right.

It's completely different.

And so so this book really reminded me in a

very powerful way. Every few months years, I mean, read

the book again just to remind me keep my feet

on the ground, to say, hey, Chileong, what are you

living for?

What are the real goals? What is the true north? Yeah?

All right, okay, good, let's move on. Now we come

to the last. You know, I think there is a yes,

thank you. So this is the last section of our passage,

a Second corinthin six, which in my mind is one

of the most powerful, beautiful passages of scripture. You know,

I remember getting this so after I read the book,

because the book's title was Dying we Live On?

So I was finding out where is this dying we

live on? Right? Then I realized Second corinthin six.

Then I read the whole the whole passage is I mean,

it is poietic, it is pointinant, it is powerful. It

is and when written by somebody like Paul who's actually liveded,

you know, it's not just flowery words. I mean, it

is something that is meaningful. But this passage in my mind, Okay.

In English they talk about juxtaposition or paradox.

Right.

What is interesting is it's talking about the paradox of

Christian life, the opposite paradox, meaning two concepts that don't

seem to be consistent. So he talks about none yet

regarded as unknown. Right, So that's the paradox. Okay, dying

yet we live on beaten yet not killed, sorrowful yet

always rejoicing, poor yet making many rich, having nothing yet

possessing everything.

Now that's just so powerful.

That's the message we need to hear in an incredibly

materialistic rat raise world that has only been super charged

with the Internet and AI and all of the technology

as just you know, is social media just increase this

pressure of accumulating, whether it's accumulating wealth for earthly wealth

or power or influence or status or likes, you know

what I mean.

I mean that's how we measure our worth, lifes.

Human beings. Right, you got one million followers? You know

how much one other assets? Your own net wealth?

Right? Net worth? Are you a one billion? Five billion?

Who are the richest people in the world.

I mean, the whole world has gone crazier, right, you know,

and God says all of that is rubbish.

I mean, that's not worth you know.

So when you talk about poor yet making many rich,

Paul is not talking about hey, look I'm giving you know,

giving money or share options to five billion people? Are

He is talking about real wealth, right, kingdom wealth, wealth

that survives the fire and death.

All right, So let's move on. So the third lesson

we learn this resilience.

We want resilience in our life to face stress and pressure.

We need to change the perspective.

We need to redefine what is wealth and success and

joy and fulfillment and meaning in our lives. And the

moment we do that based on God's definition of success,

then everything changes, my friends, everything changes, all right. So

so let's go to the next next. Like, okay, one

of my favorite movies growing up.

Man, what's this? I don't know any of you have.

Seen this nineteen eighty two movies, so it betrays my

generation and my age, all right, nineteen eighty two, yeah,

eighty two, eighty two, eighty three. It was a movie

about running, and at that time, when I was very young,

I was a school runner, so I running was my thing.

And the movie, which won an Academy Award for Best Picture,

is the true story of the nineteen twenty four Paris Olympics.

And of course just last year, twenty twenty four was

the Paris Olympics. One hundred years sir, all right and

the Paris Olympics. And he talks about these two British runners,

Harold Abrahams, who wins thee hundred meters and Eric Liddle

from Scotland who wins the four hundred meters. So the

whole movie basically follows these two young men, all right,

and how they actually won gold medals in the nineteen

twenty four Paris Olympics against the odds.

So this is a true story.

Here, all right, and it's an interesting psychological journey of

what drives them, what motivates them, how they train, going

through trials. But the story that really inspired me was

Eric Liddle storyline, right amazing. Now, so let me tell

you a little bit about Eric Liddle. Eric Liddle was

born actually to Chinese missionaries Scottish Church of Scotland, so

he was actually born in Tiensin all right, then grew

up in Scotland or it, sent to missionary schools and

all of that. He was a gifted rugby players, very

fast runner, so he was already a rugby star right

in the nineteen twenties in Scotland. You will go up

to the streets and people ask for his autograph. He

got a scholarship to study in the University of Edinburgh,

so if you walk through the streets of Edinburgh you

can actually see an Eric Liddle Mission, right, so that's

sort of his home city right in Scotland and the

church where he preached it and it's still there, Church

of Scotland. So he was in university at that time,

finishing his I think he was a degree education because

he was a science teacher, okay, all right, and at

that time they approached him and say, hell, you're a

fast runner. We think you should train for the Olympics.

And so he started training and he started winning, and

he got into the British national team all right, and

preparing for the nineteen twenty four Olympics. And the drama

was what made his story interesting was he was training

all the while for the hundred meters, right, and three

months before the Olympics he pulled out of it because

the schedules of the semi finals in the Olympics in

Paris was on a Sunday, and in those days, the

Church of Scotland teaching was no sports on Sundays. Now,

I mean you don't need to follow that. I mean

each denomination has different rules. But for him, he was

raised to say, hey, God's day, it is the Holy Day,

no sports all right, So he said, hey, I don't

care I've been training three four years for this.

I I run for God. God's day is Sunday. I

we draw.

And so then everybody was campering to the point where

people were putting pressure on him. There were press articles

about how disloyal he is to Britain and you know,

wasted all of the training money and took somebody else's

place and all of I mean, this is a kidnap

to hey road to goal Malaysian Olympics twenty twenty eight

or whatever. It is, all right, one of our badminton

players three months before the Olympics say hey, you know what,

I don't play on Sunday.

And the whole thirty million people say, what are you

talking about? How dare you? All right?

We're all expecting gold, all of the pressure in the world,

so can you imagine that this poor man? All right,

so all of the proper ganda and the pressure and

how you know you should make an exception and da

da da da.

He refused to. He says, I run at God's pleasure.

I refuse to.

So in the end they said, okay, okay, tell you

what to everybody say, face, why don't you try the

four hundred metersts? So he only belatedly started training. And

those of you who are runners, no, one hundred meters

is very different from the four hundred meters, right, I

mean not completely different set of skills. So he trained

and you won't. And it's quite amazing. I mean you

you can actually YouTube. They've got footage in black and

white off that race, and they say he shoots out,

you know, first two hundred meters He's just like sprinting

all out and people think, no way, he will have

this diamna to finish the next three four hundred meters.

He's just so fast to the point where the favorites,

who are Americans or is not in this shot, they are

all trying to catch up to the point where the

favorite actually falls down, you know, trying to catch him.

His margin of victory, I mean, he beat he beat

the Olympic record, world record. The margin of victory was

the furthest ever you know, Olympic history for the four

hundred meters. So amazing, amazing story. All right, but okay,

that's the story. He got the gold Madola Gloria of God.

Right now, this is where it gets interesting. What did

he do after that Olympics? Because he was talk of

the town. Whoa on his oyster? He had the gold medal.

He was a.

Celebrity, mega celebrity if he had Instagram or YouTube or whatever.

Now you bet twenty million followers.

I mean Scott the whole of the country was enamored

with him. His next step, he gave everything up. He

finished his degree, he went back to China. So the

next photo, the Eric Liddle Memorial is actually in ti Engine.

You go to China. In fact, he's got a whole

sports stadium name after.

Him because he went there as a missionary, right, so

mission's manner. So it's a good, good story here. He

went there, gave up everything. He was teaching in a

school in ti engin teaching athletics signs all right, met

a Canadian missionary there Florence. They got married, they had

two daughters, and by all accounts, he was working with

the Chinese authorities or that to start a sports stadium

all that. That's why there's actually a stadium there that

he began. So the Chinese government actually honor him a

Scottish missionary. You know, he spoke fluent Mandarin by the way,

you know, because he and his sister were actually born

in China, so he was there for many years and

then of course World War two started.

Nineteen forty one. World War two started.

At that time, Japan was already starting to invade China, right,

there was a really a war even before Pearl Harbor.

He sent his wife and his two children back to

Scotland for safety. He stayed on Okay as they started

to evacuate, but not fast enough. So when the Japanese

invaded the Enjit he was put in an internment camera

all right for nineteen forty one. Sorry, from nineteen forty

three to nineteen forty five he was in that camp.

In fact, he was the largest internment camp in China

yet I know the three four five thousand people there.

He died in nineteen forty five in that camp.

In spite of numerous opportunities that they had given him

to get up, and he said, no, I'm a leader here.

They need me here. And you can actually read. There

are stories, they're books. There's a two hour YouTube documentary

you can watch where people talk, you know, people survivors

of that talk about he was the life of the camp.

He was very younger, he was still in his thirties

early forties, He was the life of the camp, cheering

everybody up. There was a whole young group, youth group

there about hundred of them who were teenagers who were

separated from their parents. He basically took all of them

under his wing. He was Uncle Eric. That was what

they call him, you know, very Asian, right, Uncle Eric.

He counseled all of them, cheered them up. He was

there doing dishes, washing up, having athletics meets, organizing sports,

teaching the kids in that prison camp, separated all the

walla two three four years now separated from his wife,

you know, and the wife, the daughter, actually gives an

interview where he says, so one day, you know, the wife, Florence.

You know, they're getting letters every few months to hear.

What's going on.

And one day he said, when I came down, my

mom was just just a bit more cheerful and a

bit more radiant. And you know, the daughter asks why,

and he says, look, I just feel I feel your father.

I just felt your father this morning. And that was

when they got the letter later to say he had

just passed away, you know, and and you know, dying.

We live on.

Being poor yet making many rich, possessed nothing yet possessing everything.

This is the life that we are called to. You know,

let's move on. Thanks.

I end with one more story here since this has

missionary money. Jim Elliott, of course, was very famous. Many

of you would have heard the story from America. There

were five college students who felt this burden to go

to reach out to unreached tribes. So from North America

they came down to Central America. They were trying to

reach a tribe called the Waaani tribe who is untouched

on all right, and all of them were murdered for it.

And I meaning the tripe killed all of them because

of course they you know, I mean the tribe didn't know, right,

you know, all of them were killed. We go to

the next This is the famous quote from Jim Elliot.

And many of you may know this quote. You may

have it like you say, a poster in your wall

or Instagram posts.

This was Jim Elliott. This was his code.

He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep

to gain which he cannot lose. Perspective, my friends, that's

the third lesson, right, What are we trying to fight for?

What is so precious in our lives right now that

we're trying to fight for the job, money savings grades.

You know, nothing wrong with these things, but in light

of eternity, what God is reminding us today, We need

our perspectives right now. We need to redefine in our lives,

my friends, you and I what is really important to us,

so that we stop stressing about losing things that we're

gonna lose anyway, Losing things in life that are temper,

things that you cannot keep one no matter what you do.

You know, fame, a fame comes and goes. You know,

you're your the Instagram start today. You know, in three

month's time, nobody knows who we are. You know, money,

money comes, I mean we always say what you can't

take it with you?

You know how many billion dollars you have? You know,

Elon must four hundred billion dollars? What does that mean?

You know what I mean, what do you do with

four hundred billion dollars?

You know, when I'm dead, that's it, man, I'm not

taking a single stop with me, you know, through the

parlygates right to the next next side of heaven. So

all of these things, I think what Jim Elliott is

reminding usself. What Paul is reminding yourself is understand, grabs

and treasure what is really important in your life, Your

relationship with God, the love you have for society and

people around you, the kind of person you are, and becoming.

In the end that that's all that matters. Thanks so.

And the amazing thing was his wife, Elizabeth Elliott, who

who you know, had the tragedy of experiencing her husband's death.

She went back to that same tribe and successfully reached

out to Elizabeth Elliott. Now you go ahead read his story.

She is one of these founders of these missionary organizations.

You know, in the face of tragedy, to her was hey,

to live is Christ, to die is gain. So so,

my friends, let's claim this resilience. What does resilience mean?

The power and the strength to withstand the pressure and

the stress of this world. Three things and that God

leaves us with today. Number One, we need to be

prepared for difficulty and hardship. You know that this is

something that will come come away. But number two, amidst

the storm, the focus is on who we are, the

kind of people we are.

That's the most important thing. In the end of the day.

You know, in worldly terms, the world may say you're

a failure. The world may say you don't achieve your goals.

I mean, it doesn't matter what the world thinks, right,

we are not playing that game now. We are not

playing the same game the world is playing. We are

not judging success the way the world judges success. That's

the trap. That's the trap. You play the world's game forever,

You're going to be stuck in that game forever, all right.

And so people like the Jim Elliots of this world,

the Eric Liddle's of this world, Pauls of this world

who followed Christ.

They wisper our.

Years today through the Holy Spirit, we need to change

the way we see things. Our perspective. Number three needs

to change. We end with this beautiful verse again dying,

we live on, Heavenly Father. We embrace this as your

gift and your truth to us this morning. It's true

we face difficult times, Heavenly Father, difficult times my brothers

and sisters. Yeah, I mean, it's not an easy life

being true to you, Oh Lord. They are sacrifices, and

Heavenly Father, as a church, we need to learn to

celebrate the sacrifices, not just celebrate success on earthly terms,

but to celebrate sacrifices we make to be true to You,

even though it means giving up earthly wealth, earthly jobs,

earthly success, sorrowful yet always rejoicing, poor yet making many rich,

having nothing yet possessing everything.

Heavenly Father, we claim this from it.

This is the life that we live with you and

true this walk of discipleship.

We know that.

The fullness of life, the peace that passes all understanding,

the love that conquers all, Your love and your presence

that is with us every day, every day of our lives,

that gives us hope and real joy that the world

cannot take away. We know that these things come from

this life of obedience to You.

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

information on our church, please visit as church org. We

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

this week is going to be a good week, a

hit for you. God, bless