Emmanuel Turns Bitter Into Better | Dr Jill Ling

You're listening to a message to go from axt church. We hope this message

will light up your day. The title of God's message for us today.

Let's read the title together. Okay, here we go. Three two one

Emmanuel turns bitter into better. Okay, let's say that again one more time.

Three two one Emmanual turns bitter into better. Okay. So this is

a title of God's message for us today. All right. The first line,

Emmanuel is inspired by the Christmas story, and the second line, turns

bitter into Better is inspired by something that took place in my life this week.

All right. So are you ready to hear God's word for us today?

Okay, let's go now, let's turn to God's word, for it's

always good to start with God's story, then only our story. Okay.

Sometimes we start with our story and then we don't get much time to share

God's story. But God's story is the most powerful. Okay, our story

also matters, but his story first. Okay, let's turn to Matt you

chapter one, verse eighteen to twenty five. And for today's message, I'm

gonna be using the New English translation and you can look at it on the

screen. Okay. I'll tell you why in a while. Today I use

New English Translation. Normally, in ext church preachers are encouraged to use new

King James version to preach, but for today we're using New English Translation.

Okay. Now, I would love to get our children and our teens to

read the World of God for us today. Yeah, okay, so let

me see with God. I think four slides writ versus five slides five slides?

Okay, So our need five volunteers to read the Word of God for

us this morning. Okay, So maybe i'd like to get maybe uh tree,

sorry, two young children and maybe tree pre teens or teenagers. Okay,

So Tanisha, you're one of them? Ayesa, Judah okay, pre

teens, no choice? Okay, Yeah, that's life, right. You

gotta learn to take it as it comes. Yeah. Okay, young children,

parents, I let you. I let you volunteer your young children.

Your childhood can read? Yeah, okay, Ella, Ella, okay,

all right? And one more okay, Adi? Okay, very cool?

Come Adi? Why don't you start us off? Adi? Yeah? Can

I not? Yes? No, okay, no mind, let him discuss

your daddy first, okay, Ella, come Ella, all right, let's

welcome Ella. Come, okay, all right, okay, come Ella,

So can you read these two verses on the screen for us loud and clear,

and friends, I want you just to pay attention to Ella's sweet voice.

Okay, here we go. Now, the bird of Jesus Christ happened

this way. Well, his mother Mary was in gain to Joseph, but

before they came together, she was fun to be pregnant to the Holy Spirit.

Because Joseph, her husband to be, was a righteous man, and

because he did not want to disgrace her, he intend to the first her

privately. Thank you, Ella. Let's give Ella hen well done. Okay,

you can have your seat. Okay, Ella, thank you very much.

So did you understand what Ella read? Okay, so we are clear

about this part, all right? That Mary was a young virgin Jewish lady,

and she was supposed to get married to Joseph, also a young Jewish

man, and Joseph was a descendant of King David. All right, and

yeah, so basically she got pregnant before the wedding. And now you know,

it's definitely a big thing, like a big taboo, right if that

happens in the past, even more so. Okay, So Joseph wanted to

actually not marry her because he thought that she had been unfaithful to him and

got pregnant with another man, and he wanted to leave her quietly. Okay,

but what happened? Okay, yes, daddy, yes, okay,

all right, okay, maybe okay, come, come all right. What's

your name? Haybe? Alright, hi, haybe all right? Hibbe Hibbe

hibbe phoebe hibbe hibbehib Okay, thank you, hib he be. Oh no,

I gotta go back to school. Hibbee, heybee, hibe. My

name is Hibby. Okay, thank you. Now come, why don't you

read this this scripture for us? I will I will go back to school

and re learn. Okay, forgive me. Okay. When he had completed

this is at agel of the Lord, he the Lord appeared to a dream

and said Joseph sort of, David, do not be afraid to take burriers

your wife, because the child curse the child because it hurt her is from

the Holy Spirit. Excellent, Thank you so much. He be well done,

And I'll try and get your name right and better. Okay, all

right, that was wonderful. Okay. So so Joseph wanted to not Mary

Mary, right, not Mary Mary. Yeah, but the Angel of the

Lord intervened and stop that from happening. And the Angel of the Lord clarified

that Mary was not unfaithful, not that she had a baby with another man

before she was supposed to marry Joseph. But this child is from God.

You know, it's conceived by the power the Holy Spirit. I believe that.

You know, researchers, they have actually studied the traces of the blood

of Jesus in the tomb. And you know, humans, our DNA,

our genes, we carry the six pairs of genes sorry, yeah, chromosomes,

yeah, and forty six chromosomes. Pairs of chromosomes, right, and

of course we've got the X y or x x. And for Jesus,

they only found half of that amount, twenty three pairs of chromosomes. Yeah.

So that tells you that he is the son of Man and the son

of God. He is like us, but same, same but different different.

Okay, same same but different different. All right. So Jesus conceived,

okay, supernaturally by the power of the Holy Spirit. And so okay,

next, next volunteer, Okay, let's have Tanisha come Tannisia. I

volunteered her. Okay, let's go, Tanisha. Yeah, she will give

birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus that he will say

his life people from the scenes. Amen, thank you Tu Nisha. All

right, So if you've ever wondered what Jesus actually means, you know,

yesterday at we had Christmas homes and it was it was really fun to actually

hear each of our names, the meanings of our names. We actually want

us one round. You know, Hey, do you know the meaning of

your name? So like, for example, Jill means you full one.

I don't know true or not, but yeah, I pray so internally and

externally. Yeah, okay, I think like Jack paster Jack yahweh is gracious.

Yeah. So each of you you actually have a meaning to your name.

It's good to find out the meaning of your name. Okay. If

it's a good meaning, yeah, live it out. If it's not so

good, asked the lot to help you. Okay, give you a new

name spiritually, Yeah, a good meaning okay. So interesting. The most

interesting name that we found out yesterday during our homes the meaning of their names

was Priscilla's name. Priscilla where are you anybody knows the name of Priscilla.

The meaning of the name Priscilla. Okay, So the meaning of the name

Priscilla means ancient, ancient. That means very very very very old. Okay,

she's hiding already behind the tables. Yeah, but we say, hey,

there's a good thing because God is also known as the ancient of this

ah, and ancient is something that you know, is well established, it's

original, you know, solid. Yeah, So it's a good name,

Priscilla. Okay. So yeah, just something fun. If you don't know

the meaning of your name, why don't you go and find out what your

name means? Okay, because the Bible, many times, you know,

when God gives someone a name, it also means their destiny, their mission,

how they're supposed to live on earth. Okay, So Jesus, son

of God will obviously have a meaning to his name. It's not just a

nice sounding name, right. I know a lot of people in Philippines or

even the Spanish community, they name the children Jesus or Jesus. In fact,

Nina's father's name was called Jesus or Jesus. Her late father, Yeahjsus

right, normally Hesus, Yeah, so it's not just a cool sounding name

for the Philippines or you know, the Spanish community. But Jesus has a

meaning to his name. And this verse tells us the meaning of the name

of Jesus. Jesus is one who will save people from their sins. Jesus

just means the one who saves us from our sins. That's the meaning of

the name of Jesus. If anybody asks you, okay, all right,

now next verse or versus, okay, Judah, come, Judah, Okay.

This all happens so that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet

would be fulfilled. Look, the Virgin will conceive and give birth to a

son, and they will name him Immanuel, which means God with us.

Amen, thank you Judah. All right. So here we have you know,

another name, or maybe you can even call it a nickname for Jesus.

Yeah. And his other name or his nickname is called Imen God with

us. Emmanuel means God with us. Yeah. Okay, And so this

is the key to us that we're going to learn from today. Everybody say

Emmanuel, God with us. Everybody say again, Emanuel, God with me.

Amen. How many of us here need God with us? Today.

Amen, that's why we're here, right, Okay, next the final two

verses. I think okay aa, come Aysa, take us home. When

Joseph awoke from sleep, he did what the Angel of the Lord told him.

He took his wife, but did not have marital relations with her until

she gave birth to a son, whom he named Jesus. Thank you,

Ayesa. Okay, So after the angel spoke to Joseph, that changed his

whole mindset about things and decision, and when he woke up, he continued

to actually marry Mary. Marry Mary. Yeah, so he had a merry,

merry Christmas. Okay. Yeah. So Joseph, you know, continued

to take Mary as his wife, and they gave birth to Jesus, Son

of God, Son of Men, Savior of the world. Okay. Now,

we will continue to hear the Christmas story more in the coming weeks,

but let's stop at this point and I want to now go into a true

story that happened just in this past week. All right, now, next,

thank you. So. I currently serve full time with ex Church and

I carry two roles. Yeah. My first role is to be the coordinator

of Linette's which is our suicide prevention organization. And my second role is to

actually be a community health coordinator, and so I still serve with the community

the marginalized. I'm a visiting doctor to several refugee healthcare organizations, and one

of them is Autry Clinic, which is in some ways it used to be

known as Clinic coturia An and Extra started it about how many years ago,

eleven years ago, and during the pandemic in twenty twenty, we actually passed

the clinic on to another church called Collective Church or previously known as City Harvedst

Church to continue running the clinic, and so they've changed the name of the

clinic to Autrey Clinic. But I still go in once a week to volunteer

there, and I mainly see pregnant mummies, so I do scans for them

and I you know, advise them. I pray for them as well whether

the lot impresses upon my heart. So I continue to serve with the clinic.

And one of the doctors serving in the clinic, her name is doctor

Debbie, Doctor Debbie Day. I don't know how many of you may know

her. She's actually an ong specialist, so she specializes in, you know,

helping moms who are pregnant, to have a healthy pregnancy and to deliver

their babies, to make sure that both mom and baby are healthy. Now,

so doctor Debbie, she's going to be a name that we are going

to hear quite a lot today. She just gave birth slightly over a month

ago, and she gave birth to her first child, and last Sunday in

the evening, I actually got a text from our clinic assistant and she told

me that doctor Debbie's baby, by the name of baby Elise, had just

passed away. Yeah, I'll tell you the story what happened in a while.

So I got a shock. I'm like, are you sure, like

this is the right baby and the right person who were talking about. So

doctor Debbie's firstborn baby just slightly passed one month old, had just passed away

last Sunday. And I was very shocked. Okay, I was very shocked

at many levels, you know, as a colleague, I was shocked,

as a mom, I was shocked. As a believer of God. I

was shocked. Okay, so at many levels. The human reaction was I

was just shocked and said and I didn't know what to say to Debbie actually,

because it's so difficult, right, all I could do was just to

keep her and her family in prayer. So on Tuesday evening passa, Jack

and I went for baby Elisa's memorial service. Yeah. So I'm just gonna

show a picture. And so this is baby Elise that has passed on at

thirty four days all thirty four days old. These are her parents. So

on the right is doctor Sunjin and on the left is doctor Debbie yep.

And so Debbie is my colleague in autry clinic. So during the wake service,

the memorial service, a lot of people came in fact, it was

full house, more than full. It was overflowing. There was no space

to say. I had to stand for the whole two hours. Yeah,

and so during the service, Sunjin and Debbie actually came up to share baby

Elisa's eulogy. You know, four people that have lived on the wild and

they know people. When you open the time of eulogy, you will get

different ones to come out and share because they've known the person. But baby

Elise only her parents could share the eulogy. So they did that, and

they took like almost forty five minutes to share her story from the beginning to

the end, and as she was sharing, it was really pin drop silence.

Everyone was just listening attentively. So I'm going to share with us her

story, and I know I won't do it justice, but I will try

my best to share a part of her story with you, and I hope

it blesses you. Okay, all right, So we're just going to keep

this light on for a while. So soon. Jane and Debbie they got

married three years ago, and after they got married, they actually had a

first baby, but that baby ended up as a miscarriage. So baby Elise

is actually the second baby that they conceive, and they tried for two years

to conceive baby Elise. Two years is quite a long time for parents to

try to conceive one child. Yeah, two years is quite long. I

know Abraham and Sarah many many more years, but two years medically is considered

quite long already, Okay. And they conceived baby Elise, so you can

imagine she was very precious, right, the first successful baby to be conceived

and carried through to delivery. And because both Sunjin and Debbie are medical doctors,

so you can imagine they would have taken care of the pregnancy extra,

extra, extra, a lot you know, normal people do this, maybe

they do that times two times three. So in terms of taking care of

the pregnancy, they did their best as parents who are medical doctors, and

then they were looked after by you know, top specialists, and so medically

and humanly speaking, they took the best scale baby Eli's, Yeah, and

the pregnancy went safely and smoothly. She was born, you know, at

the right time. She was born term, she went through a C section,

right, she came out healthy. Baby Elise came out fully healthy,

very cute, very chubby. And what happened was so after birth she had

johndice for five days johndy So the baby turns yellow. Yeah. I don't

know how many of you had johndice as a baby. I had a little

bit, okay, quite common in Asian heritage somehow because of our jeans,

you know, our liver makeup. Yeah, so baby Elise had johndice for

five days, but thank god, the johndy's actually cleared. So after five

days of being in hospital, she was brought home finally, okay, finally

brought home, and so Sunjin and Debbie managed to enjoy baby Eli at home

for about two to three days. Then on the i think the seven or

eight day of life, what happened was baby Elise started to vomit out blood.

Yeah, she started to vomit out blood. And after she varmed out

blood, she suddenly became very pale and very limp. So this was bad.

And at the time, thank god that Debbie wasn't alone with baby Elise.

She actually had a nurse that was visiting from the hospital. She was

actually called a lactation nurse. That is, her role is to actually help

the make sure the mummy is feeding the baby well, true breast feeding.

Yeah. And so somehow at the time that baby Elise vomited out blurred,

the nurse from the hospital was there in their home and she came out because

she knew baby Elise was going to vomit blood. She came just as a

routine checkup to make sure mommy is well, baby is well, mommy is

breastfeeding baby well, just doing things you know, normally and out of responsibility.

But thank god she was there at the right time because when this happened.

You know, honestly, as a mom who is also a medical doctor,

trust me, when things happen to our own family, sometimes, you

know, our emotions get the better of us, even as medical doctors.

Sheila, yeah, Jen right, I mean, the mom's side of us,

or the wife's side of us, or the daughter, the sister's side

of us sometimes overtakes and clouds that medical judgment. And so thank God,

Debbie, although she's oh, especially herself, that the nurse was there to

help her sort of like make the right decisions. So the nurse actually say,

okay, we need to get baby to hospital fast, and you know,

I will help you with all the support that you need. Pack up,

go and you know, So they went to the hospit that baby Elise

was born at, and they went to the emergency and at the emergency she

almost died. She almost collapsed because she had lost a lot of blood already.

She was pale, she was limp. But they managed to revive her.

They managed to resuscitate her at ed and then she was rushed up to

ICEE you and I see you and she was put on live support. So,

you know, baby Elise could have died on day seven or eight of

life at the hospital, but again, by God's spiracle, the doctors managed

to survive her. Yeah, survive her. Help her to survive, Yeah,

revive her. Okay. Then after that, the doctors were wondering,

what is happening with baby Elise? Why is she vomiting blood at such a

young age, just seven or eight day of life. And so the doctors

were actually quite clueless. Again. Some how, by a series of events,

a pediatrician, another doctor who is a child specialist called up Debbie and

said, you know, I've actually seen a few of these rare cases around

where young babies like this vomit out blood and become very sick. Can I

share my thoughts with you? So this pediatrician, this child specialist shared with

Debbie, I think your baby may be having a very rare intestinal infection due

to an enterovirus. It's a very rare type of intestinal infection that causes a

young child like this to fall very, very sick. And uh so this

child will actually need, you know, to undergo some tests and need strong

medication and support. And so with that that that that knowledge being shared,

Debbie quickly shared with the managing team and thank god they were open enough to

consider this other opinion. But in order to carry out the treatment and the

support that the baby needed, this baby couldn't be in the hospital that she

was born in. It was actually a private hospital and she needed to be

transferred to a bigger, more well established hospital that had the facilities and support.

But then the private hospital medical team they weren't keen to actually transfer a

young, sick baby like that. So but again by God's mercies, in

the end, the transfer managed to happen. I'm cutting the long story short.

Transfer managed to happen. She went to a bigger hospital that had adequate

doctors and facilities support for the baby, and for the next few weeks she

received intensive treatment. So intensive was it that both her liver and her kidney

needed to be die like at the same time. It's called tandem dialasis,

and to date, baby Elis is the youngest Malaysian patient to have undergone tandem

dialases both liver and kidney at the same time, and many people thought she

will not survive it, but she survived it again God's mercies. And during

the hospital stay for the next few weeks, she had many near death episodes.

I mean, so like doctors here you would know once a person has

collapsed before, there's very high chances of the person recollapsing in the next short

period of time. And so baby Elise had multiple near death incidences during the

hospital stay, but each time God miraculously revived her again and again and again

and again. And you know, in that time, I believe what really

kept God's mercies going was our prayers. Our prayers of course, firstly the

prayers of sun Jin and Debbie because they are believers, They are strong believers

themselves, but they were also feeling very confused and weak in this time with

all that was happening to their child, and their church came around to support

in prayer. In fact, I understand many churches actually came around to pray

for this baby, and ex Church was one of them. Ex Church was

part of the prayer shield for this baby. Let's show the slide on the

prayer link. So about one month ago. I don't know how many you

have seen this prayer link. It was sent out throughout home. Please pray

for Allison's self. She's from Exclaim kg Wan Holmes newborn niece nine days old

Elise. She is lea Ung who is critical in Ico for an infection that

the doctors have yet to identify and her liver is failing. Pray for the

liver to heal and to function. Pray for no long term damage to any

organs, especially the brain and lungs. For the infection to subside, and

for doctors to diagnose and treat accurately. Pray also for God's peace and strength

over the parents. Thank you prayer board. So if you have seen this

prayer link about a month ago, if you took some time, even if

it's a short time to pray, your prayer made a difference for baby Elise.

It's because God heard our prayers that he was merciful to keep extending her

life over and over and over again. Like I said, medically speaking,

she should have died by day e of life. But God actually extended her

life to thirty four days. That's four times over. And you know we

wonder God, why thirty four days? Why not longer? Right? But

God's ways a higher than ours. At least he gave extra days for Sunjin

and Debbie to continue to be with baby Elise, and from her life we

can see God's mercies and miracle. Okay, now, so know that really

every time you know there's a prayer link that goes out and we actually take

time to pray it can really make the difference of life and death for someone.

Your prayer accounts. Friends, and also if you are going through a

difficult time, don't hesitate to reach out to your homes leader to ask for

prayers support from our church, because really prayers move God's heart, en hance

and extend his mercies over our situation. Yes, we may have to go

through the value of shadow of death, but with God's mercy it's easier to

go through it. We are not alone, and who knows He could lengthen,

you know, or smoothen the journey aheat make it more bearable and more

gracious a man. So never underestimate the power of prayer, praying for someone

or even reaching out for prayer. There's a time where we can pray for

others, but there's a time that we ourselves need prayer as well. I

mean, although I may coordinate our extra prayer board, do you think I'm

invincible? I have no troubles, I have no problems. I've always strong,

Not true, I also go through my own challenges. I need prayer

as well. So you know, let's let's continue to have it to wailer.

Let's continue to pray for others, and let's also continue to humble ourselves

to reach out for prayer. Okay, all right now, So baby Elis

passed on last Sunday morning, and we believe that Jesus has taken her home

to be with Him, no more pain, no more suffering. And the

amazing thing was when she passed away, she was actually in the arms of

sun Jin and Debbie, not on the hospital bit with all the tubes around

under the light, very cold and alone. She passed away warmly snugged in

her parents' arms. What a beautiful way to go back home to Jesus,

in the arms of her loving parents on earth, to the arms of her

loving Father in heaven. Amen. So you can see God from the beginning

to the end in her story. Now, I want to zoom in a

little bit on Debbie because I remember her story really struck me and stuck with

me. She said. You know, as they were going through this few

weeks journey of battling with Elisa's life and death situation, Debbie had her own

doubts. Now, Debbie herself is a very strong woman. She basically,

she said, she had three ms in life that are her missions. First

is to serve God true missions. Second is to serve God true medicine.

Third is to get married. And then she says she has just been added

a fourth mission, that is motherhood. But you can see she's a strong

woman, you know, once a self God, even before you know having

her own household, she's a strong lady. I've had the privilege to know

her and get to know her better. But even someone who is strong,

when they go to a tough time, they can also become weak. Yeah,

And so Debbie had her own doubts, her own questions for God,

or one of it was. Debbie questioned God and say, God, surely

you can't be that cruel to have given us baby Elise and then take her

life away. God, you can't be that cruel to give us something and

then just take it away. And I'm sure Job would have asked this question

many times, and maybe us in the room we've asked God as well,

why did you give and then take away? Some of us may have had

that question. And Debbie also had another sort of like statement towards God.

She said, you know, God, I think if Elise really dies,

I don't think I can go back to being a doctor in the world.

I don't think I can go back to delivering other people's babies without feeling a

sense of envy because my own child didn't make it. So she was at

the brink of even forsaking her purpose in God. And we can understand at

the point that she was. It is very real. It's very real,

right. But because Emmanuel God was with Debbie that he comforted her, and

he ministered to her, and he helped her heart to change over time as

Emmanuel God was with Debbie and still is and will forever be. Here's how

God changed her heart. God helped Debbie to realize that while baby Elis only

lived thirty four days, but she had lived as a full blossoming flight,

meaning that she had lived her time on earth as God had intended fully.

Now passa kind of once said before, it is not how long we live

that matters. Everyone is trying to live longer, right, But it's how

well we live that matters. Jesus only lived thirty three years, but he

made every moment count. Baby Elis only lived thirty four days, but I

believe so much has happened in thirty four days. It will be a legacy

for a long, long time to many people who know this family, she

has lived the fullness of her days and time. And God helped Debbie to

realize and to see this that it's not about how long baby Elisa's live,

but it's how well she has lived. And although she's a tiny little baby,

but man, she fought like a machine. She thought like a warrior.

She had tons of tubes inserted into her, tons of procedures done,

but she thought, well, she fought well. And when her parents see

their little baby fighting so well, they want to keep fighting in life as

well. Debbie said, If my little girl can fight for her life like

this, why can't I fight for the life that God wants me to live.

And so that leads me to the next realization that Debbie has. Remember

how it said she wanted to stop. She said, she doesn't know how

she can actually go back to church. She doesn't know how she can go

back to work after her baby dies. She doesn't know how to face people

in church. She doesn't know how to face people at work or other babies.

But this is what Debbie said. Debbie said that she will continue to

deliver babies for as long as she lives. She will continue to deliver babies

for as long as she lives, because this is the purpose that God has

caught her too. If her little baby Elise could fight all the way to

the end, why could she not fight all the way to the end.

And she says, I want baby Elise when she looks down from heaven and

know she's talking with her friends in heaven. I want her to be proud

of me saying, look, that's my mommy. That right there is my

mommy, saving and delivering so many babies, making a difference in the world.

And so you can see Debbie has had a change of heart. And

it's really God that has really ministered to her heart, worked in her heart,

brought about a hope and a change in her heart. And this is

evidence God with us. If God did not do this, there's no way

Debbie would have had a change of heart. Amen. Now, So I

want to go to the next point. You know, like I said,

naturally, sun Jin and Debbie could have been very, very bitter at baby

Elisa's death. Think about it. Their first baby was miscarried. Precious second

baby carried her all the way through the pregnancy, went through morning sickness.

You know, when through delivery, so precious. She lived, not that

she died at birth. She lived, but she died one month after.

It's like, don't you think they could be very bitter towards God and everybody

and life and themselves because of over her loss. But because I man or

God with Debbie and sun Jin, they could respond not bitterly but better.

When God is with us, bitter can become better. When God is with

us, bitter can become better. Amen. Now you know throughout their eulogy,

right, I was really really amazed. Honestly, I was expecting them

to be very down, very broken, and not say anything much. But

how they shared their eulogy for forty five minutes and at every juncture possible,

always finding a way. Let's show the next line three things that they kept

doing during their eulogy or baby Elise. First, they were always trying to

find a way to Thank God. Thank god the nurse was there. Thank

god. You know, baby was resuscitated at hospital. Thank god this pedietrician

called and shed a light on what's going through. Thank god the transfer hospital

transfer happened. Thank God, she went through tandem dialastis successfully. Thank God,

she was revived. Over and over again. Thank God, we had

thirty four days with her, and not just eight days with her or zero

days with her. Every juncture possible, they were trying to thank God,

and they also told us that at every step they had to just trust God

over and over again. In fact, as they were sharing Baby Elisa's eulogy,

they were also encouraging all of us in the room. Are any of

you going through a difficult time, Let's keep trusting God because while situate and

life may fail, God never fails. God is faithful, amen to Timothy

two thirteen. Even if we are faithless, God remains faithful. Amen.

And you know what during their eulogy, they took time to tell people in

the room God's goodness true baby Elisa's life. They didn't have to, you

know, they didn't have to say anything much because it was their time to

mourn and grief. But they actually took time to tell people not just of

their story, but of God's story through their story. And these are the

treaties the tree points that God really dropped in my heart after I came back

that night, straight away when I heard this eulogy, I heard God saying,

share this story to exciber this Sunday. So when I was actually going

around the baby's casket to look at baby alies, she looked really like a

little doll, peacefully asleep. She really looks like those porcelain doll, you

know, if you've seen before, those parcelin doll, very fine features,

white, smooth skin, rosy cheeks, pointy little nose, pouty little lip.

She really looked like a porcelain doll in the casket. God's blessing and

peace over her. And as I sent my condolences to Sunjin and to Debbie,

I gave them a hug, I said. I asked her straight away

on the spot, Debbie, thank you for that really beautiful and powerful eulogy.

Can I share it? Can I share your story to my church?

And she said, by all means, go ahead, really, and so

I have a permission to share this story today. And as I came back,

as I was this, you know, washing, you know, just

washing up and all that, then God dropped these treaties into my heart,

saying, this is how Sunjin and Debbie responded in a better way and not

bitter way. The better way is to always find a chance to give thanks

to God, to always trust him to always tell of him. Amen.

Amen. Now I just want to just pause here for a while in terms

of the story, and I want us to just do a very quick Bible

study. Okay. Remember early on I told you that I'm using the new

English translation today. Okay, this is the reason why next life. I

know some of you may be asking me, doctor Jill a man know how

is it spelled with a E or with a I? Look at your bibles?

Okay, look at Matthew Chapter one, verse twenty three. How many

of you your bibles? E mano is spelled with an E? Raise your

hands? Okay? Some then the rest of you your bibles? E mano

is spelled with an I? Okay, all right, mine as well.

I'm using ESV Okay, all right, So which is the correct spelling E

or I? Friends E? How many of you say is the correct spelling?

Raise your hands? Okay? How many you say I is the correct

spelling for emanual? Raise your hands? Okay? All right. The truth

is both are correct. Both are correct? Who say both are correct?

Raid? And not fair? Now only you raise your hands. Cannot lie?

Okay. I just want to avoid some confusion with you. So we're

gonna clarify this, okay, and be spelt with an E or with an

I. Both are acceptable and correct. Why let me show you it's a

matter of language. Okay. The Bible, as we know is written the

Old Testament is mainly written in Hebrew or Aramaic, and the New Testament is

mainly written in Greek. So two different parts of the Bible written in two

different languages. And that's why we have a little bit of discrepancy in the

English translation. Okay. If you look at the Old Testament versus that talk

about Emmanuel in Isaiah, this is how it's written in the Old Testament,

and Hebrew is actually read from right to left. Hebrew is read from right

to left, okay, So this is the word e manual in Hebrew.

It is not read like that. It is read this way. Okay.

That's why I highlight this, which is the first Hebrew alphabet of the word

Emmanuel in Hebrew. Now, how many of you recognize this Hebrew character Hebrew

scholars here, I know vila genos. Yes, yes, this is actually

called ayin. Is the ayin character or alphabet in the Hebrew okay, And

normally it represents the letter I in English. Okay, So in bibles that

favor the Hebrew translation to English of Emmanuel, it will spell emanu with an

I. Okay. Next light, Now, in Greek, which a New

Testament is written in, this is the word immno in Greek. I will

not attempt to pronounce it, okay, but just trust me. It's immanal

in Greek. And this is those of you who know the Greek alphabets.

What is this character epsilon? That's right, pass jack epsilon and it looks

very much like an E in the English. Right. So now you see

the Bible that you use. It depends if it favors the Hebrew to English

translation, it will spell all the immenos as I, and if it favors

the Greek translation, it will spell it as E. But both are correct.

Okay, all right, But for today's message illustration, I want to

use e emno with an E. I will show you why in a while,

okay, okay. So coming back to the message, Sunjin and Debbie

had just lost their precious baby Elise, and naturally the human response is to

be very bitter about this for quite a long time. I think this can

speak to us, you know, we all go through life, and we

all go through different circumstances and challenges, and we can be bitter about our

losses. We can be bitter about our injustices. We can be bitter for

being made to wait a long time. There can be so many reasons why

you and I can be bitter. We can be bitter because someone hurt us,

because someone did not treat us rightly. Actually, many times, why

are we bitter. We are bitter because we feel that we've been unjustly or

unfairly treated by another human being or by God. Think about it, at

the end of the day, why does someone become bitter? Is it just

because they lost money? Is it just because they lost a life? Is

it just because they lost a relationship? Is it just because they lost a

job or studies? At the end of the day, many times, why

we become bitter, it's because we feel that we have not been treated rightly.

We have not been treated rightly by another human being, we have not

been treated rightly by God. That's why we lose this and that and this

and that and this and that because we have not been treated rightly. That's

why all these problems happened to us. So there's actually anger, anger because

we have not been treated rightly by human or even God. And that's why

we are facing all these problems. Think about it, okay, next light?

Oh yeah, okay, good. So we are all tempted to feel

bitter in life right feel that others have not treated us rightly, feel that

God has not treated us rightly. We feel that, oh it's my right

to feel bitter. And you know, the more we look at ourselves,

the eye in us, the more we are going to stay bitter. What

has the other person done to me? What has God done to me?

What have I not done enough? Or what have I done wrong? How

can I overcome and move forward? Notice as a lot of eyes, a

lot of me, a lot of myself. So I'm here to tell us

friends, even as we enter the new year, don't enter into the new

year bitter, okay. And how we're going to remain bitter is we keep

focusing on ourselves. What has happened to me? What have I done or

not done? What can I do more? When the focus is on ourselves,

we are going to remain bitter. But when the focus is on God

with us in manual, we can become better. Change one focus, It

changes the whole perspective and outcome. When we choose to take the focus off

ourself and we say God, I'm gonna just look to you. Because I

look to myself, there's no way out. I'm just going to remain bitter.

But I'm just going to choose to look to you. I man a

God with us, and I choose to believe that you are with me in

this situation. You will become better and you will respond better, and the

outcome may also be better. Amen. So, friends, really, what

do you want as you enter into the new year? Do you want to

enter into it bitter? Just keep asking questions why? Why? Why?

Why? Why? Or do you want to enter the year better? Trusting

that God is with us? Immanuel? He turns the bitter into better.

Amen. Amen. And even as I'm going to close soon, I want

to show the final slide again. How do we respond in a better way?

Firstly, to find a way to give thanks to God in every circumstance.

I don't know how many of you are young enough to remember this song.

It's called I Was Made to Praise You. I'm sure Paster Julian will

know, yeah, pass Jack will know, Yeah. Valaji will know.

It goes something like this, Ah was made to pray you, was made

too glowif your name in every sir, comestance too fine a chance to thank

you? Okay. I don't know how many of you know that song,

but I sing this song quite often in my quiet time to remind myself God,

I'm not here to gloat over my problems. It's so easy every morning

when we wake up to gloat over our problems. I'm not here to gloat

over my problems. God. I'm made to praise You. I'm made to

find a chance to thank You in every circumstance. So that's how we can

live the better way, to find a chance to thank God in every circumstance.

And thinking of sun Jin, Debbie and baby Elisa's story, when I

see how they can still thank God even though they've lost a precious child,

it inspires me to also thank God even in the midst of my loss,

my frustration, my questions. And I hope that we too can also find

a chance to thank God thanksgiving pleas us God. You know what the sound

says, I will enter his courts with thanksgiving in my praise in my mouth.

I will enter his I will enter his gates with thanksgiving in my mouth.

I will enter his courts with praise. You know, praise is not

enough. Friends, If you want to please God, Hi, you know

deep worship in the Holy of Holies is not enough. God also desires our

thanksgiving. It's the full package. Give thanks, praise, worship God.

Not just praise and worship God without giving thanks. In fact, giving thanks

is the first form of offering and sacrifice unto the Lord. Amen. So

let's end the year and enter the new year with a thankful spirit. Friends,

Amen, this is something you can thank God for today. Why can't

we give thanks to God? There are many, many reasons, but one

reason that's personal to me is to know that God's grace is sufficient for me

in every circumstance and every challenge. I can give thanks because God, You're

enough for me. Amen. In Second Crienttance, Chapter twelve, verse nine,

it says, and he said to me. This is God speaking to

Paul when Paul was complaining about his thorn in the flesh, saying, God,

three times, I ask you to take this torn in the flesh away

from me, but you didn't. And this is God's response to Paul,

my grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness.

Therefore, most gladly, I would rather boast in my infirmities, that

the power of Christ may rest upon me. We can give thanks because His

grace is sufficient for us, whether he chooses to take us out of our

situation and miraculously deliver us, or whether he chooses to let us walk through

the fire or the valley or shadow of death. Either way way, his

grace is sufficient for us, and we can continue to give thanks that God,

You are enough for me. Amen. Amen. Next, the better

way also includes to keep trusting Him even when it does not make sense at

all. Why. Because let's show the next verse In Isaiah fifty five,

verse eight to nine, God says, for my thoughts are not your thoughts,

nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. For as the

heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways,

and my thoughts than your thoughts. God's ways are many times different than

ours, and his ways are always better than ours. Amen. We can

trust God because we know he has a better way. Amen. And finally,

tell the better way is also to be able to tell of God even

through our pain and our brokenness. And this is something we are going to

focus on even the coming year. How can we tell of God more and

more through our life that all may know? Right? In Romans, it

says how people know if no one actually shares with them? Right? Yeah?

And I want to close with this, and so this is past the

Kenneth. This is our founding senior pastor of X Church. He's the one

who founded EX Church twenty three years ago. And those of you who know

past the story. He lost his sister Lynette to suicide many years ago,

and that's why we started a suicide prevention organization called Linettes the past five years

in loving memory of Lynette that was lost. We hope that through one Linette

that was lost, we can save many more Linettes out there. But did

you know that Pastor Kennev went into full time because his sister committed suicide.

It's because he never wanted to see another precious young person lose their life their

destiny in God. That he went into full time to become a pastor.

Believes in young people and that's why he started a YA. That's why he

started EX Church. And he continues to tell his story everywhere he goes.

In fact, yesterday, during the Christmas Outreach and UOC together with MMU and

APU Pastor, Kennev was invited to share a Christmas message and he shared about

his story of losing his sister, the pain, the brokenness, the hopelessness

that he felt. But he didn't stop there. He went on to share

the Jesus story that yes, this is Cannef's story, but it doesn't end

there, because Jesus's story comes and takes over and continues Cannev's story. You

know, we may think that our story ends when something drastic happens in our

lives, but when God is with us Emanual, his story will take over

our story and his story will continue our story. It will merge together and

become a beautiful story. The enemy always likes to make us think that is

the end of our lives. Whenever we come across a situation, that's the

end. The enemy is always focused on making us come to an end.

But God is always focused on new beginnings for us. Friends, I don't

know who I'm speaking to. Maybe you've gone through something really tough in your

life and you think that's the end of it, that's the end of my

studies. That's the end of my career. That's the end of my marriage,

that's the end of my family, that's the end of my mental health.

That's the end of my life. That's the end of my faith,

and so on and so forth. Are you facing an end in your life?

I want to say that that is not God's destiny for you, friends.

God is always into birthing new things and new life. God is a

creator, He may heaven and earth from day one, and he has not

stopped creating. Friends. God is into be fruitful and multiply. He's about,

you know, birthing new things, and he has never stopped. So

I want to declare friends. As we draw to an end of twenty twenty

three, as we enter into twenty twenty four, don't enter with an end

mindset. Enter, you know, with a mindset that says God. The

enemy may tell me it's my end. The world may tell me it's my

end. I may even tell myself it's my end. But God, you

are going to do something new in me and true me. You are going

to birth something new, and that's living in and true me. Lord,

I receive, I receive your new life in this situation, Lord, because

with you, there is never an end, It's always a beginning. Someone

once said, when man comes to his end, that's when God begins.

I say again, when we come to our end, that's when God begins.

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