Malaysia | Pr Daniel Chong

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

We hope this message will light up your day.

Today, in conjunction with our very, very special celebration, I

have a message that is prepared for you every one

of us. And I just want to just continue, just

remind us that we are part of this beautiful land

called Malaysia. I don't know how many of you feel

like giving up on Malaysia. But come on, if you

feel like giving up, you feel like it's a land

that is just full of haze. In the first place,

we are not the cause of the haze, but it's okay.

Don't blame Malaysia for the haze. You know, it happens,

it's season, seasonal, alright? So, we have a very special,

I have a very special message for you, prepared. And

the title of my message is Independence. All right, independence.

All right, so, let me go ahead and test this thing.

I think XTB put this for me. Let's see whether

it works. All right. All right, so it says Malaysia. Malaysia,

for some of you who need some refresher, 31st August

1957 is when we celebrated our Independence Day, or in

other words, Merdeka, right? And 16th September is the day

that we got together as a union of a few lands, actually.

Not just West and East Malaysia, but if you can't,

you forgot Singapore was also part of the treaty. It

was also part of the union, if For some of

you asking what happened to Singapore, something happened in 1965.

All right, so before we go on, I just want

to just wish our beloved pastors their happy 31st wedding anniversary.

I don't know how many of you know, but Pastor

Kenneth was the one who started Ex-Kona Kemuning. And not

just Gondar Kemoning, he also started X Church with three people.

And beside him, there's a picture of his wife. They

just celebrated their 31st wedding anniversary on the 9th of September.

So if you know them personally, you can extend your wishes.

Some of you may have their numbers, may have Pastor

Sandra's number. you can extend your wishes to Pastor Kenneth

and Pastor Sandra. Pastor Kenneth is also celebrating his birthday

in two days' time, which is in line with our

Malaysia Day. So again, if you know him and if

you have the privilege of having his contact, you can

wish him a happy birthday. Or if you don't, you

can wish Pia, Pastor Sandra. Alright, so today, without further ado,

I would like us to just... It's not working. Let

me try. Do I have to point it there? Yes.

All right. So before I start, I'm going to say

a quick prayer. And if you can bow your heads,

close your eyes, that'd be great. If not, that's good. Hallelujah.

Praise the Lord. Father, we thank you, Lord, for this

time that we can gather together to just hear your word.

that you have in season for us, Lord God. We

thank you, Lord, for speaking to us. We thank you, Lord,

for opening our hearts. And Lord, I pray that even

in this place, there may be people that are here

that needs to hear what you have in store for them,

Lord God. And perhaps in their hearts, it's a little

bit hardened due to different things that has been happening.

Perhaps this season has been tough. Perhaps this season is

filled with disappointments. Perhaps this season is filled with uncertainty

and unanswered questions. But Lord, I pray that through what

you have in store today, Lord, I pray that it

will just bring a little bit of comfort, bring a

little bit of peace, Lord God, and if for some,

even convict our hearts, Lord God. In the name of Jesus,

we pray and declare, Amen. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. Yesterday,

I had a very, very difficult lesson to learn. I

would like to remind all of you that as much

as I am a leader, I'm also a human. Yesterday,

I had a very, very, very difficult lesson. I was,

you know, this morning, before I go to what happened yesterday,

I woke up, I was reminded by our pastor about

the importance of spending quiet time. And you can't, you

can't just not spend quiet time with the Lord and

deliver the Word of God, right? So I woke up

this morning thinking about, like, okay, what, what do I do?

Sometimes you may think like, oh, very holy, Dawat holy,

you know what to do, turn to which scripture? No.

I just want to give you a little bit of

insight on how I actually do my quiet time. I'll

just sit down on the sofa where I am and

I'll just stare at the blank TV. just waiting for

some kind of like verse to put on my mind

because I have my daily Bible reading plan and I

save that for reading, all right? And when I spend

time with God, I just like to bask in His presence.

How many of you have tried that before? Just sit

down at His feet and just wait for Him to speak.

And He spoke to me and said, actually, you already

have something that I want you to go to. What, what, what,

what something? And He said, today is day number? I'm like,

day number what? day number 38, right? Day number 38

of NECF Day Prayer and Fast. So I opened to

day 38 and I realised that it's about humility. And

I'm like, God, why do I have to know anything

about humility? I'm quite humble already, right? I think I'm

quite humble already, right? I think so lah, I think so.

And then the Lord speak to me, are you sure?

Just last night, you were so arrogant. Like, huh? When? When?

And then this is where I will introduce to you

what happened last night, last evening. I had salt in

the morning, leadership salt. And then I was having a

session with the beloved Pickleball community. We had fun. So

much fun until we decided to extend one hour. But

it was good. It was good fun. And then, on

the way back, my head was itchy. And I decided

to scratch my head. But like every normal human being,

you scratch your head using your... Your hand, right? But

what I did was I decided to knock my head

instead of scratch my head. So I took my phone.

That is not normal. Reminded me of my wife. And

I decided to knock my head. A few times. Like,

don't know why I use my phone. I can use

any other thing, but I just take my phone, knock

my head. Before I knew it, I turned into a

corner and I saw Abang over there. Gosh. I straight

away told my wife, I said, gone. Gone. I think gone.

Gone case. I saw exactly where the fellow was standing.

Normally when you get caught on your phone, you don't

know where you get caught, right? You don't know where

the fellow is hiding. Abang doing a very good job.

I know this is recorded. I want to just clap

for all the police officers who worked very hard. But

he was really hidden. But the reason why I felt

like I didn't do anything wrong I was quite adamant.

I didn't do anything wrong. Because the law says that

you can't use your phone while driving. Technically, I wasn't

using my phone. It doesn't say you cannot hold your phone.

It says you cannot use your phone. And your phone

is supposed to be used like a digital screen look down.

I was clearly aware of what I was doing, knocking

my head with the phone. And I saw Mr Abang

at the side. So when I saw Mr Abang, I

looked at my wife and said, I think I think gone.

I knew it already. I knew it is gone. So

I went there and then threw it out of the

I thought, what a day to end the day. Seriously, seriously.

There were so many things that could have happened. So

many things that I could have said yes to that

would have maybe avoided this. But I decided to go

home and have a nice meal with my wife. And

I was taught a lesson. So I was there. And

in my heart, I was already filled with guilt. But

at the same time, still trying to defend. I don't

know how many of you have been in that position.

You know you're wrong, but you're still trying to defend yourself.

So I ran out the window. And I remember at

X-Men Devotion, the tip that the ACP officer gave us

some tip, right? Just wind up your window and say

you're sorry. So I wind up my window, and then

he look at me and say, you know what you did?

I say, yeah. What you do? Use my phone. Is

that wrong? Yeah. That's it. Then he walk away. Then

I'm like, shucks, I missed out the sorry. I missed

out the sorry. I said, Abang, bagi chance sikit, Abang. Please, Abang.

I didn't. Why? Because arrogance. I thought I wanted to,

I almost wanted to argue back. I didn't use my phone.

But you use your, then my wife reminded me, you know,

wives are wise. Sometimes they speak the truth. Actually, not sometimes,

all the time. They speak the truth and the truth

will set you free. I was still trying to argue

with my wife. I was actually a little bit upset

with her. I was like, why are you taking Abang's side?

Take your Abang's side, the proper Abang. Don't take the

Abang Bomber, Abang Police, Abang Sado. Don't do that. Don't

do that. But she decided to speak the truth and

truth hurts because it touches the pride. And I sat

this morning and I just reflected on the Lord and

the Lord said, I taught you a lesson. And in

that lesson, I want to remind you that it's through

my grace and my mercy that you only paid what

you paid. You still want to argue. You still want

to feel like you're unfairly treated. I did give you

a discount, you know. By the way, I don't know

why my saman, normally it's 300, right? Yeah, I only

had to pay 150. I don't know why. I don't

know why. Praise the Lord. So if any one of

you here got a saman, go and settle now. I

think there's a discount going around. But just two years ago,

it was RM1, 000 with a three-month jail sentence. Apparently, right?

If you go and it's just amazing how God speaks

to us. So God spoke to me and He told

me to humble my heart. And I want to just

encourage us this morning. Sometimes we may hear messages and

we go like, I've heard that before. But the Lord

sometimes speaks to us in the simplest of things. that

perhaps our heart hasn't been humbled enough to hear what

He really wants to speak to us. Amen? Soften your hearts,

friends and family. On 31st August 1957, at midnight, in

front of PAX Stadium, Abang, not Abang, Tunku Abdul Rahman, right,

raised his hand seven times. Some of you don't know that.

He raised his hand seven times and shouted with one word, Merdeka,

which stands for freedom. And I just want to remind

us all that we are living in a land even

though some of us may think that this land is

not good, we're actually quite free in this land. How

many of you know that? It's quite liberating to live

in Malaysia, right? It's quite a liberal country. You can

technically do almost anything under the sun, right? Without breaking

the law, like knocking your head with the phone. But

six years later, right? On 16th September 1963, something even

bigger happened, right? This is the context of my message today, right? So...

What happened was West Malaysia and East Malaysia and Singapore

at the time got together, they discussed and decided, okay,

we are going to unite under one land and we're

going to call this land Malaysia, right? So, two questions

I have for you to this morning before we go

on is this. I have to point out, two questions, right?

I'm going to tackle two questions, so two parts. And

we are going to see how far we can go, alright?

If we can finish, then we finish. If we cannot finish,

then I'll leave for the second service. Alright, here we go.

First question is, are we truly free? Okay? First question,

are we truly free? Okay? Second question is, are we

truly united? Okay, are we truly united? So, two things.

One is Merdeka, which represents freedom. The second thing is

the unification of the land to become the Greater Malaysia.

which is the question of are we truly united, okay?

So two questions I want you to ponder on before

we proceed, all right? So the title I have for you,

for those of you taking notes, is the phrase, independence

on God, all right? Some of you may look at

this phrase, there's a specific reason why I put a

hyphen over there. You know, in conjunction with Independence Day,

I want to encourage us to be in dependence on God,

all right? That means in everything that we do, we

need to be dependent on God. Not independent of God.

It's just one word that's different. On or off. Play

of words, right? On or off switch. But I pray

that we will be in dependence on God and not

in dependence of God. Alright? So, the first point that

I have for you this morning on being dependent on

God is this. I want us to, XTB, I think

I need your help. I keep on having to point up,

so it's a bit difficult. Thank you, XTB. Alright, so again,

I want us to take note and beware the danger

of being independent from, right? God instead of on. So,

next slide, XTB. First point I have for you today

is this. Are you in or are you out? Okay?

Are you in or are you out? Now, there's some

picture over there that you can see. Uh... some perspective.

It's a tennis or a pickleball, I'm not sure. Any

racket sport, badminton, right? I remember badminton, whenever we watch

them play, right? And Lee Chong Wei is against Lin Dan, right?

And we always watch in front of our TV or

in the Mamak store. And then when the call is

out and then you want to challenge the call in,

you all remember what's the music they play behind the background?

When they're Y'all know that? If y'all Malaysian, y'all should know.

Come on, y'all watch enough Badminton? Y'all don't know? Y'all

never watch Badminton and then when they're reviewing, they do

the heartbeat sound? Seriously? That one, the most kanjong one.

Then the do-do is do-do, do-do, do-do, do-do, do-do, do-do.

Then only they reveal in or out. Okay, so what

I'm trying to say here is that some of us,

when we are looking from a different perspective, we may

think that it's an in. When the ball lands on

the line, then we call it in. When the ball

lands outside the line, then we call it out. And

then from a certain angle, we say that that is

confirmed out. But actually where you're standing is actually in.

Now what I want to encourage us is this. I

don't know whether we want to live our life being

like this. I don't know whether we want to be

associated with this line call. That means when we, let's

say for example, Albert looks at my life and he

goes like, Pastor Dan, Pastor Dan, sometimes at certain angle,

he's in. But at certain angle, he's out. I don't

know how many of us want to live that life.

And the only way this can happen is if we

are close to the boundary. Amen? The only way that

this can happen is if we are close to the boundary.

My wife said something very, very important to me yesterday.

That I... Something just... His throat. Don't give them a reason.

Don't give them a reason. Don't even hold your phone!

Get a phone holder. So I bought a Basius phone

holder yesterday. Magnetic one. I'm going to use it. I'm

going to use it. All this while, I've been not

buying it because I thought like, there's no point. There's

no point. Because my car got Apple CarPlay, right? So...

Don't give them a reason to convict you. Don't give

them a reason to say that you are wrong, right?

The moment you hold the phone, it's already debatable. Whether

you can debate the law, you know, the law says

you cannot be using the phone, right? But actually, you

are already holding the phone, so you are using the

phone to scratch your head. Even though you can argue

that that's not the intention, right? But you are already

using your phone. So sometimes when you look again at

the picture, The only way that you can be very

clear to the world or to God, and God knows

the posture of our heart, is to be clear where

we are standing. Amen? Don't be like the ball, standing

on the line, sometimes here, and then go like, hey God,

I'm in. But how far in are you? How far

in are you? Amen? So are you in? Or are

you out? When Merdeka was declared, I don't know when

Tukor Abdul Rahman raised his hand and declared Merdeka seven times,

you didn't get sort of independence, you know. You didn't

get like, hey, I think, I think from certain angle,

we are sort of free. And then the British say, yeah,

maybe Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, you are Malaysia. Thursday, Friday, you

are under the British colony. Is that what Merdeka is, friends?

No.

No. It's a decision that you make that makes a

very clear, distinctive reason that you are free. Amen? You

are free. So you are either independent or you are

not independent. You are still under colonisation. Right? That's the

significance of Merdeka.

Right?

It was total. Another word I want to introduce to

you is binary. Right? It's either zero or one. You

know why AI is so powerful? You know why technology

is so powerful? Because there's only two numbers. Do you

know everything that you see is only two numbers? Imagine

if the digitalisation decides, oh, today I'm going to add

a third number. How do you think the AI will function?

If you give them a third option, no, it's either

zero or one. That's how the programming language speak. You

may type all you want, but behind every alphabet is

only two numbers. It's binary. May your decision in the

Lord be the same. Amen? Either be in or out.

Either be in or out. Matthew 5, 37 says, but

let your yeses be yeses, Let your no be no.

For whatever is more than this is from the evil one. Wow.

You know, when I was preparing for this message, I

read this verse and immediately my heart got convicted. Why?

Because like any Malaysian, we always like to say the word,

anything lah. I tell you, this is the word that

I think my wife despises the most from me. What

you want to eat? Anything lah. And then she will

recommend lei cha, no cha. No chance, leicha. No, no.

But you just said anything. Anything that's not green. Anything

that's not green, okay. Then say it from the start. Actually,

all the leicha, matzah, all I don't like. I don't

understand matzah until now. You can throw your rocks at

me later. But it's okay. It's okay. Life is good, right?

It says for whatever is more than this is from

the evil one. That means when you start to have

this kind of lingo that comes out from you, especially

when it comes to the Word of the Lord and

the work of the Lord in your life, you know

that it's either yes or no. You don't hear God

giving you an answer, say maybe. I can very confidently

say that in the Bible, there is no maybe. When

God speaks to His people, it's either go or stay. Okay. Amen?

It's either go or wait. There is no, maybe you

can go. You take that first step, first step and try.

If you don't have, if you don't have sex before, oh, sorry,

adults here. Sorry, there are some kids here. Never mind,

not supposed to have kids here, but it's okay. If

you have, if you have done, if you have not

done that before, then how you know how it feels?

That's what the world tells our teenagers nowadays. Go and try.

Go and try. never try with that guy, how do

you know? But God is saying, no, you stay clean.

You stay off until you get married. But the world

is saying, try, try, try. But God does not say try.

The only thing that God says to test God is

in your giving. But even that, you know that He's

going to say yes or no. Amen? That's the nature

of our God. And I want to encourage us that

because we are creating that image of God deep down,

when we dip down into the recesses of our being,

we can find that. Amen? And as long as we

keep trying to live like that, I tell you what,

your life is going to get better and better because

you're going to say either yes or no. But I

understand it's challenging and we're going to tackle into the

practical things, practical way of how to actually make these

decisions later on, alright? So, Jesus said to the church

in Laodicea, right? He said something that should make all

of us here uncomfortable, right? This is Revelations 3.15-16, yeah?

Revelations 3.15-16. If you are so familiar with John 3.16,

I want you to be familiar with Revelations 3.16 as well, okay?

John 3.16 is a verse of grace. It's a verse

of love. But Revelation 3.16 will reveal something in your heart.

It will reveal something in your heart because it's a very, very,

very powerful verse that would really either convict you to

the bones or it will comfort you. Amen? Here it goes.

It says, I know your works, that you are neither

cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot.

So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot,

I will vomit you out of my mouth. I tell

you what, this is just something that just encourages us

to say that, hey, I tell you what, this hole

may be standing on this line on the left or right.

No lah. I think when you play pickleball, when you smash,

you make sure you smash in the middle so that

nobody can say it's out. Even your greatest enemy also

won't say it's out because it's right smack in the middle.

But if you smash at the line, people are going

to debate out, out, out, in. Right? So don't give

the enemy a chance, a foothold, even a small foothold

over your life to say that, yeah, maybe he's part

of mine. He's mine. He belongs to me. I tell

you what, you belong to Jesus. Amen? You belong to Jesus.

Let your yes be yes. Let your no's be no's.

And I tell you what, if anyone here is lukewarm,

I pray that you will be convicted in your heart today.

You know, I watch a very famous YouTuber. He likes

to say, to now. Not today, to now. To now

you make the decision. Now you make the decision to

go either here, left or right. Amen. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. No,

notice Jesus didn't say this. He didn't say, I wish

you were more spiritual. He didn't say this. He didn't

say to the church, I wish you were more spiritual.

I wish you worship me more. He even said that

I rather that you are cold. I rather that you

are cold rather than lukewarm. Because lukewarm is one temperature

that God really cannot stand. He cannot stand. Because lukewarm

here feels like commitment. It feels like commitment without costing anything. Today,

I feel like becoming a leader. You know, I don't

know whether I can say this, but I'm just going

to say it. But I don't know whether I can say,

today I feel like becoming the pastor. And then on

the days where I'm just going to summon, I'm not

the pastor. To Abang Police, I'm not pastor. Can I

live like that? But is it challenging? Because there's something

that's in our hearts, right? And what is this thing? Pride.

That pride will tell you that I deserve to be respected.

Because I've sold so much of my effort, so much

of my blood, my tears into this church, I deserve

that respect. That's what pride tells me. But humility says

that I tell you what? It doesn't matter what other

people do to you. You do it for the one,

the audience of one. Amen? Praise the Lord. That's where

God is trying to lead us to be. He lets

you say that you're in while quietly keeping one foot

out of the door. That's what lukewarmness is. You can

tell people that, hey, from certain angle, I'm actually in.

Here I am. I am. I'm serving. But actually one

foot is out of the door. The moment something happens,

I'm out. That's what lukewarmness is to the Lord. That's

why the Lord hates it so much. It's like He

doesn't like it. He said, I would vomit it out

of His mouth. I don't know whether you can sense

the urgency of what is, you know, the disgust that

God is trying to say that He's disgusted with this.

He can't stand, He can't stomach it. And that should

be an encouragement to us. to be either hot or cold.

Amen?

You know, Joshua understood this. By this time, Joshua was

an old man. He was at the near end of

his life. Some of you who don't know Joshua, Joshua

and Caleb, part of the spies, that they came back

and gave a good report on the Promised Land. They

said that we can go, we can go, we're not afraid,

we can go. And this very same Joshua, Israel had

already conquered and settled the Promised Land. Settled in the

promised land. The land that God has promised to their forefathers.

And in Joshua 24 verse 15, he says, And it

Joshua 24:15

seems evil to you to serve the Lord. Choose for

yourself this day who you will serve. For as me

and my house, we will serve the Lord. In that season,

they noticed that Israel, they were a faction of people

or a segment of people that were worshipping idols. They

were worshipping the god of Mesopotamia, right? Delivering their fathers

from slavery in Egypt and providing for them in the wilderness,

in a city that they didn't even build. And some

of them, they were just trying to find ways to

find something else to worship. And Joshua is just saying that,

I tell you what, if it seems evil for you

to serve the Lord, I want you to choose for

yourself today, right? Today, whom you will serve. You either

choose to serve and worship the idols or you choose

to serve God. But he's saying, as for me and

my house, we will serve the Lord. That's where the

verse came from. Because Joshua understood the assignment. Joshua understood

that you either be in or you be out. Amen?

You see right, the problem with being, the reason why

God is okay, rather than you being lukewarm, He prefers

that you are cold. It's because when you are cold,

you can still come back. Like the prodigal son, he

still came back. The prodigal son was cold. He wasn't hot.

He was cold. He wanted to go and try everything

that the world had to offer. And then he came

back because he was longing for something. He was seeking

for something. And he came back. And what did the

father do? He welcomed him with open arms. Praise the Lord. Right?

So I want to encourage you today. Joshua understood that assignment.

Another hero of the Bible. Elijah. How many of you

know Elijah? Not this Elijah, yeah? Elijah asked Israel the

same question. If you are aware, another very, very famous

part of the Bible, he caught down fire from heaven.

But before that, even before he caught down fire, I

want to show you a little bit about Elijah. Elijah

asked the same question generations later, after Joshua, but under

far worse conditions. Far worse conditions, right? King Ahab, he

had just married this person called Jezebel. I'm not sure

if you all are aware of the story, but it

was a foreign princess who actively promoted this figure called Baal, right?

This figure called Baal, a god, right, in that time, right,

to worship him across Israel, right? Jezebel, right? And had

been hunting down and killing down, killing the Lord's prophets, right?

This is who Jezebel is. Very, very cunning. Very, very cunning, right?

So Israel wasn't cleanly split, even though on the outside,

it looks like they are followers of God. But it

wasn't a clean split between two camps. Most people here,

I want you to catch this, they were quietly doing both.

That means on one end, they were worshipping God, Yahweh.

On the other end, they were worshipping Baal. And I

tell you what, the most dangerous thing is the worshipping

Baal is done in quiet, in secrecy, in their own time.

Nobody's watching but they are worshipping the idols. So they

were showing up to worship Yahweh while also keeping all

these altars in their homes for good harvest and family security.

That's what they were doing.

Right?

And this is where we get the verse where Elijah

called the entire nation. See, this is what boldness from

God looks like. He called the entire nation, along with

all 450 prophets of Baal. I'm going to just give

you a little bit of context. To a very public contest,

and this is where some of you may be aware

about Mount Carmel, right? To settle this once and for all.

So he called them, right, to this place to settle

it once and for all, and he confronted them with

this verse. In 1 Kings 18.21, he says this. How long... Sometimes,

when I was preparing this, I myself was also convicted.

Because it says, how long will you falter between two opinions?

He's either Lord of all or none at all. Amen?

He's either God or He's not God. So when he's

saying this, when I was reading this scripture, I almost

felt like I was being convicted. How long more, Daniel,

are you going to be faltered between two opinions about

whether you're using the phone properly or not using the

phone properly? And if the Lord is God, follow Him. Amen? If.

So again, no force. There's no forcing here. We are

asking you that question.

Right?

Are you truly free? Is God truly God in your life?

So the question here is either yes or no. Because

you know if God is in your life, He will

take centre stage. But He is not God in your life,

then He is not centre stage and you are centre stage.

And my encouragement is that God is even to Him, right,

that is more better than saying that maybe I'm here,

maybe I'm there. So you either say yes or no.

But there is always a path back to him. Amen?

So if he is Lord, if the Lord is God,

follow him. But if Baal, then follow him. So Elijah

is telling the people of Israel, if Baal is your God,

then you follow him. Don't today come and show up

and worship Yahweh and then behind our backs you worship Baal.

So he confronted. And mind you, he didn't just confront Israel.

He confronted all 450 prophets of Baal, followers of Baal.

It was bonus. I tell you what, it was bonus

of the Holy Spirit, I believe, of God, that was

placed in Elijah before the very, very public contest when

he caught down fire from heaven. And I want to

just encourage you with this. You know, many people and

this is the alarming part that when I read this,

I noticed one thing. Do you know after the confrontation,

what will happen? What usually happens after a confrontation? Let's

say I get in an argument with my wife, right?

I argue. Sometimes, and if let's say she's right, okay, again,

not if, she's right, yeah. Let's say I argue and

then she's right, right? What would she say? There's always

going to be a argument and argument is two-way one, ma.

I can't argue with the wall, right? Have you ever

tried arguing with the wall before? Anyone win arguing in

the war before? No, right? So, argument is two-way. But

this is something that was very, very alarming to me.

Notice one thing. In the entire scripture, right, it was

not recorded any response, you know. None from the prophets

of Baal, none from Israel. There was no response to

the question that if the Lord is God, follow Him.

If Baal, then follow Him. There was silence. And this

is the danger. This is often what we do. When

we are faced with confrontation, especially when it comes to

the work of God, we think that silence is the

way out. And you know what silence is? My mum

taught me a very important lesson about being silent. But

that is to douse the fire. That means when we

are arguing, my mum, when I get angry with my mum,

my mum always just keep quiet so that I will

argue with the wall and then eventually I will simmer

down and then she will talk to me. But silence

in this context is different. When God is calling out

to you, imagine when God is calling out to Moses

and Moses did not choose to turn and look at

the burning bush, he would not have received his encounter

with the Lord. Can I introduce something to all of us, friends?

That silence is being lukewarm. Because you're not actively making

a decision to say yes or no. Quiet. And what

does quietness mean? It reminds me of the person that

was saying, that was asking Jesus, what do I need

to do in order to follow you? And Jesus said,

go and sell everything that you have. And what did

that guy do? He said, I followed all your rules.

I've done everything that you asked me to do. But

he decided not to sell his goods. He turned around

He left quietly. This is really something that I pray

that will speak to our hearts because when the Lord

asks us something, I pray that we will answer. If

you are calling me, I will answer. It's not even

a yes all the time because sometimes we are pressured

by that. We think that when pastor asks us to serve,

then our answer must be yes. No, sometimes it's okay

to say no. No. But at least let us know

where you are. At least, you know, do you think

God doesn't know the thoughts of your hearts, your desires?

He knows. He turned to Adam and said, where are you?

Why are you naked? I'm naked. No, he was already naked.

Adam was already naked. He already tried to find leaves

to cover himself, right? But God went another level and

He took An animal, there was a sacrifice that was

made and covered Adam and Eve with skin, animal skin.

And for animal skin to come, of course, there must

be a sacrifice. God already knows the desires of our heart.

God already knows where we are. But sometimes He wants

to hear us say yes or even at times no.

Because in our weakness. So I have learned how to,

not to say no to God, but kind of say that, God,

I'm not there yet. I really am not. I can't.

I'm weak. Lord, you're asking me to lead a congregation

of adults that are twice my age, some staring at

me thinking that this person got Bible certificate or not.

You know, it's not easy to stand here being in

this position as a 35 years old. People like to

come to me and say, you're very young. Yes, I am.

Y'all think I don't know that? I know. And it's

challenging at times to stand in this position. But God

is saying that, I've called you for such a time

as this. And if you don't say yes, then someone

else will say yes. Doesn't mean I don't love you.

And because I said yes, He uses me. Amen? And

you operate under that anointing. And you get better from

glory to glory, from strength to strength. He didn't promise

that straight away you become Cristiano Ronaldo. No! And sometimes

we don't say yes to the Lord because we are afraid.

Because we feel that we are not good enough. Before

we feel that we can't do this. God encourage you,

please be honest with yourself. Ask yourself, are you truly free?

Because if your answer is today I'm free, tomorrow I'm

not free, then that's being lukewarm. And sometimes when we

remain quiet, that's a warning sign. When God speaks to

us and we find it hard in our spirit to

respond to Him, When is the time? I want to

just ask you another question to just drive home this point.

Sometimes we don't feel like lifting our hands. Sometimes we

don't feel like worshipping. We don't feel like singing. Why?

Because we are at a juncture. Right? We don't know

whether to go left or right. And we are distracted.

That's when we remain silent. That's when we don't speak.

But when we are sure of something, we will speak

straight away. Correct or not? When we are sure of something,

we will speak straight away. We will defend with all

our might. Either yes or no. So being silent here is,

in the context of trying to be a peacemaker, then sure.

But being silent when the Lord speaks to us, that's danger. Amen?

That's danger. Think about a passport. How many of you

here have a Malaysian passport? I pray that you have.

I was so stressed trying to find mine yesterday. Where's

my passport? Going to China one month from now, I

can't even find my passport. Oh no. Then I realised

it was right in front of my face. Okay, so passport. Yeah,

it was right underneath my keyboard. I don't know what

it's doing there. Yeah, but passport.

Right.

Have you renewed your passports? Please go and renew if

you want to travel. But I want to... I did

a research, by the way, before you all think I

didn't do research. Malaysia cannot have dual citizenship, man. No

such thing. You all know that? Before 18, can. After 18, cannot.

You have to choose. Correct? You want to be Malaysian

or you want to be Taiwanese? Which one you want? Choose.

Choose which one you want. I'm not saying which country

is better. But of course, to me, Malaysia is better. So,

Malaysia passport, you cannot hold 50%. And either you carry

the passport that is stamped or you don't. There's no

half-citizen lane in KIA. Yeah? When you go into KIA,

you either choose warga negara atau orang. Is it called asing?

Wagah luar, you know? I think it's wagah asing. Is

it asing? Correct. Those been to the airport more frequently,

please let me know. I'm not trying to be rude.

Is it asing? Correct, right? Wagah asing? Yeah, okay. So

you either go international, clearance, whatever, but you choose a lane.

And hallelujah, praise the Lord, when you are a citizen

of that lane, of that country, and you enter into immigration,

I tell you, I feel like I'm VIP, you know?

Because I, wow, nicely walking on the side there, ha, ha, ha,

all y'all coming to Malaysia, ha, ha, ha, ha. Then

when I went to Thailand, I become the three hours

going out. Then I saw the Thailand people nicely walking in.

You see? You need to choose. You either be a

citizen of Malaysia or you're not. You either be free

Merdeka or you're not. Amen? Nothing. Of course, we prefer

you to be in lah. That's what we prefer. That's

what God prefers. That's what God wants. He wants a

relationship with us. Amen? He desires a relationship with us. Amen?

He heals the brokenhearted. And that means when you are

down and your heart is broken and in that moment,

it's okay. Because the Lord is going to draw you

back to Him as long as you desire a change

in your heart. As long as you are like the

prodigal son and you're going like, I tell you what,

I tried everything in the world already but God, I

want to come back. Please, can I come home? God

is going to welcome you. Amen.

Amen.

Can you imagine staying in the house, one feet out,

one feet in? That's what God detests and He despises that. Amen?

So friends and family, are you in or are you out?

Not just in as in attending church, in as in

does God have the finest say over your calendar? Does

God have the finest say over your money? You know yesterday,

Pastor Kenneth spoke to the leaders and he said this

one thing that I really, really felt very convicted. He said,

This term, and I'm just going to be brave and

speak it. This term called balance. This term called work-life balance.

Sometimes we try to fix it ourselves. We try to

fix the word balance ourselves. And we try to rearrange

our schedule and you go like, I tell you what,

we've been working for an entire two months. I think

the solution to it is to take a one-week holiday.

And we argue with our boss. And this term, I

tell you what, being a manager myself for the past

12 years, I hear this term so many times. Boss,

we must have work-life balance. You have to think of us.

You know, so many times. And yesterday, Pastor shared something

that I went like, it makes sense, you know. Sometimes

we try to solve balance by taking away things, by

subtracting things. But his message to the leaders yesterday was

in order to go up, you need to go down.

And I'll let him share in detail what that means.

But In order to grow higher, a tree that grows higher,

you need to grow deeper first. In order to grow higher.

And the way you achieve balance is by having deep

and wide roots. And sometimes we feel off balance because

we are trying to cut away our roots. Things that

are actually keeping us grounded. Some of us achieve our

work-life balance but we give up our quiet time with

the Lord. And that's why we come back after that

feeling even more shaky than we have been Because our

roots are not deep, our roots are not wide. But

I'll let Pastor share if he ever does to all

of you. It's a good message. Second point, and I'm

going to close very quickly, is you are either fully

dependent or not at all. But here's the question, how?

Here's the question, how? John 15.5 says, I am the

vine and you are the branches. He who abides in

me and I in him bears much fruit. For without me,

you can do nothing. I want you to notice what

the branch cannot do. A branch cannot manufacture its own sap.

You know what sap? Yeah? A branch cannot photosynthesize on

its own. It cannot. Yeah? It cannot detach from the vine,

a branch, for a season. I heard this many times, say, Pastor,

give me a season. Why? Because I want to find myself.

I want to find my calling. I want to find

what is that thing that God really wants me to do.

It's a season. It's a season. Season means what? You

cannot say that I'm going to detach myself for a season.

I tell you what, the moment you detach yourself, you're dead. True? True?

And again, I don't want to use this analogy without

saying where I got it from, but pastors again spoke

yesterday and he said that there are seasons in which

the leaves were dropped to the ground. Right? Autumn. That

doesn't mean that the tree is dead. It's still alive

down there, right? Trying to find water. But the moment

you cut yourself off, and you give up, it starts dying.

Even when it doesn't look dead yet. Amen. Even when

it doesn't look dead yet. Andrew Murray, right, said this,

the branch has nothing. It just depends on the vine

for everything. Now this is not a weakness, yeah. Sometimes

we think that being dependent on someone is weakness. I've

learned to be dependent on my wife. I've learned. Because

there are certain things that I can't do, that she can.

Like for example, noticing things that are not fully clean.

You know, the other day, I was washing the washroom.

With all my might, with all my strength, I was

scrubbing with all my might. And she can just walk

into the bathroom and say like, hey, how about that spot?

I try my best already, but I realised that when

two are made one, God can use us. Amen. Hallelujah.

Praise the Lord. So you are there, wife, to notice

the parts that I miss. So it's okay. It's okay.

It's okay. She's not saying it to say that you're

not doing well. She's not saying that. She's just there

to kind of like complete the picture. You're all doing

it together. You're one family cleaning the house together. There

are parts that I'm going to miss. There are parts

that you're going to miss too. In fact, they are

going to miss the Lord in their life. And that's

when the Holy Spirit comes in. He said, Daniel, how

about this? Daniel, you just used the phone to knock

your head. Don't say that you didn't use the phone.

Don't try to argue. Because yesterday in the car, I

was arguing with my wife as if she was the police.

I was arguing, but I didn't use my phone. The

Lord said, what the Lord said? I was taking a

look at the Lord. The Lord said, you cannot use

your phone. Was I using it? That's her response. Well, technically.

Are you on my side or are you on the... Why?

It's not that the Holy Spirit, right, convicts. It's not weakness.

It's not weakness. That's design. A branch was never supposed

to be self-sufficient. Friends and family, we were never created

to be self-sufficient. Amen? We were never created to be self-sufficient.

We were created to be in union with the Lord.

That's what He desires for us. He created us to

have fellowship with us. That's His desire. Amen? That was

never the plan. The same is true for us. In

order to know practically what to do and how to

be fully dependent, we need to know what's the warning signs.

I'm going to give you a few warning signs. Independence

from God rarely announces itself in a very, very dramatic way.

He rarely says, Oh, I'm here. Therefore, you are independent. No.

It starts in a very, very still, subtle way. All right?

And here are some of my examples. Prayerlessness disguised as busyness. Oh,

why you haven't prayed? Oh, busy lah. Lord, you know

lah I'm busy. You know already. Look at my schedule.

I have to provide for the family. I have to

put food on the table. I have to do this. Yada, yada, yada.

And all of this is legitimate reason, no? Like for example,

if I were to go to Albert and say, you know, Albert,

I'm really very busy lah. Sorry, Albert. And then he'll

ask me, how's the schedule? I tell him my schedule,

you know. 8am, meet Eden. 9am, meet Roger. 10 a.m.

meet Rochelle. 11 a.m. wash toilet. 12 p.m. chapel. 1 a.m.

chapel 2. 2 p.m. CF school. 3 p.m. Kong Kong.

Gone already. No more energy already. And then he would

go like, Pastor Dan, need a break. You know what

the Holy Spirit would say? No matter how busy you are,

don't forget me. So the practical way of being dependent

on the Lord is to just always remember. Remember. Whenever

we take communion, what we do, it's a sign of remembrance.

Self-reliance disguised as faith. Success that stops driving you to

your knees. Friends and family, I don't know how many

of you will feel uncomfortable when I say this, but

when was the last time you got on your knees?

Was it when you proposed to your wife? Serious question.

I was sitting on my sofa this morning and then

the Lord spoke to me. I was supposed to do something,

I forgot. Lost track of time. Then I just got

onto my knees and I realised that my left knee

is pained. You see, God is a funny God, you know.

I didn't even know that my left knee is pain

until I got on my knee. Now I know it's pain,

so therefore I get to work on it. But yeah,

that's a point for another day. But again, I'm not

saying this to put anyone down because I don't even know.

I don't even know. And if you feel heat in

your body, that's the Holy Spirit. When was the last

time we got on our knees? Does the Bible say,

get on your knees and if you don't get on

your knees, you cannot enter heaven? When you get on

your knees, it's a sign of surrender. It's a sign

of discomfort. You are no longer in control. And when

you get on your knees, as a sign of surrender,

something special happens. Because you start to get weak. And

when you start to get physically weak, you will focus

on Him even more. And when you are weak, He

is strong. Amen? Sometimes we ask ourselves the question, how

come I haven't heard from you, God? Why are you

not speaking in my life? Maybe because it's as simple

as this, friends. It's as simple as this. You have

not gotten on your knees. You have not gotten physically

on your knees. You know, why? Let me go even

more practical here. Why don't we get on our knees?

In public, why? Are we afraid that people are looking? Because,

let me be real with you. These are voices that

are coming from my own heart. My own heart. If

I get on my knee, people see then, people will

think that there's something going on in my life. Better

don't show. Better don't show any sign of weakness. Take

my wise advice. Don't give them a reason why. Sometimes

you use this kind of thing. Don't give a reason

to think that there's something wrong. No. When you get

on your knees, something special happens. Friends, family. Try it.

Try it one day. There's a reason why we learn

how to crawl before we learn how to walk. Maybe

some of us need to learn how to crawl again.

Because we forgot. We forgot how it feels like. We

are like the baby. The baby. Amadeus, right? I saw

him just now standing here. Standing. Standing already today. All

the best, Adrian. All the best. It starts now. But

when he's on his knees, he's dependent on Adrian. I

want to go down the stairs. I cannot go down

the stairs. Then Adrian has to carry him. He has

to lift him up. Lift him up and put him

where he needs to go. Sometimes we need to learn.

Maybe we need to learn how to crawl again, friends.

We need to learn how to depend on the Holy

Spirit more. Allow Him to carry us. Lift us up.

And when He carried us, we were soared with wings

like eagles. Imagine when we soar with wings like eagles,

it's not like we are flying with our own strength.

The Holy Spirit, an invisible force, is carrying us there.

And we are soaring and we're lifting our hands. We

are not flying on our own strength, you know. When

the eagle flies, he's not flapping his wings like Flappy Bird. No,

he's lifting his wings and he's just soaring through the wind.

He's not moving at all. He's dependent. Totally dependent on

the wind to carry him. Amen? The wind. The breath

of the Holy Spirit will carry you through your seasons.

And that's what kneeling does. And that's what surrender does.

You may think that, Pastor Dan, why are you so nonsensical?

Why do you keep on talking about something so physical

like kneeling now? I'm telling you, kneeling is an act

of surrender. If you can't even kneel, when are you

going to empty your bank account? That's why it was

so hard for the rich young ruler to sell everything

that he has because he was not fully surrendered to

the Lord. Because if he was fully surrendered to the Lord,

do you think that if he sold everything that he had,

do you think he would have no food to eat?

Surrender means what? God, you're going to take care of me, man. God,

you're going to provide for me, man. I know for

a matter of fact, I'm not going to go hungry.

But topic for another day. That's when your faith will

get tested. It's the message that I've already got prepared.

It's the power of even if. But again, topic for

another day. When was the last time you got on

your knees? I tell you what, these friends, the harder,

the more successful we get, it's harder and harder to

get on our knees. Because we start to look at

our bank account and we go like, money, money, money.

I can do all things through money who strengthens me. Again,

speaking from my own life, I don't knock anyone intentionally

down because I only knock my own self down. That's

how I lived my life when I started working in Sunway.

I started to earn my own money. Because I grew

up from a very, not a, okay, we were fine,

we had food on the table, but we weren't really

that well to do. Mum was really saving up on

her entire savings for my education. So we didn't have much.

And there was even once that I only had to

eat rice with soy sauce. I think I shared this

story before for one whole month. And all I had

was rice and soy sauce and eggs. I bought eggs.

That's when I realised that eggs, tomato sauce and rice, best.

I still do that today sometimes. Very nice, very nice.

So nice. It's nice. But when you get successful, then

money start coming into the picture and I start thinking that, God,

I don't need you anymore. And that's when I actually

left him. Let me tell you this. I actually left him.

I left him at 18 years old saying that, God,

I don't want to have anything to do with you

anymore because I now have my own money. I don't

need to depend on my daddy anymore to give me money.

I don't need, don't need. I got my own money already.

That's when I left him. So that's the danger. Decisions

made and prayed about afterwards. Woo! Okay, I don't have

to go further on that. So I want to give

you the practical steps how. Number one, start the day surrendered,

not scheduled. Yeah, next slide. Before the to-do list, ask God,

what do you want me to do today? Proverbs 3,

5 to 6. Amen. Trust in the Lord. Trust in

the Lord with all your heart. Lean on your own understanding.

All your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your paths.

Second step, let prayer be your first response, not your

last resort. Please, let prayer be your first response, not

your last resort. Paul's own thorn in his flesh wasn't removed,

but he received something better. My grace is sufficient for you.

My strength is made perfect in weakness. For when I wake,

I am strong. Let prayer be your first response. Number three,

refuse to trust in the visible over the invisible. Refuse,

just refuse. That's some practical steps on how you can

be dependent on the Lord, right? Refuse to trust because

sometimes we always trust in the visible. When we see proof,

then we trust. We don't see proof, we don't trust.

Psalms 27, some trust in chariots, some in horses, but

we will remember the name of the Lord. Amen. Praise

the Lord. Number four, build in daily unglamorous rhythms. Scripture, silence, confession,

the spiritual equivalent of a branch simply staying attached. Not

doing anything spectacular. Sometimes we feel that being believers, we

need to do something spectacular. No. You just have to

remain attached. And in your season, fruits will come out.

And when it's not the season, you just have to wait.

I don't know my in-laws, they have a guava tree.

Is this still there? Yeah. When the guava no fruit,

do you get rid of the tree? Someone say yes. Okay.

No.

How many of you own durian plantation here? Don't raise

your hands. Then the durian not in season, you cut

down the entire plantation? No, you leave it there, right?

You leave it there. You leave it there. Because there

are times in life where as believers, we won't bear

fruit one. And it's okay. It's okay. There are seasons

in your life where it's not spiritual. Sometimes we are

too spiritual, you know. There's a book that Pastor Kenneth wrote, right?

21 Truths. for a victorious Christian living, right? And one

of the truths is don't over-spiritualise everything. We think that, oh,

because it's got no fruit, therefore I'm not growing. No.

In the invisible, you are growing. Your strength is being,

you know, you're strengthened by your faith. Your faith is

growing deeper and deeper. You can't see it. People can't

see it. People can't see that you are growing. But

that's okay. God sees. God knows. Therefore, your heart is

still beating. Praise the Lord. Last point that I have. Oh,

do I even have time? I don't think I have time.

I'm not going to speak about something very, very, very quickly.

But it's about Malaysia Day. Okay? So we are done.

We are done with being free. We are done with

being independent. We are done with being independent of With God. Amen.

But I'm going to talk about the unification of the church.

Very quickly, right? 1963, Malaysia Day. Sarawak, Sabah, Singapore, Malaya

came together. One federation, right? On paper, it was a very,

very momentous occasion. But did you know that this really

took a lot of effort? Some of you here, maybe

you're from Singapore, you may understand what I mean. But

it took a lot of effort. It took a lot

of effort. And can I say this also? It took

a lot of compromise. It took a lot of sacrifice.

It took a lot of like, actually, I don't really

agree with this, but because of what we are doing,

let's do it together. You know, that's how people come together.

We don't always, you know, me and Albert, although we

look like best friends, right, we don't have the similar

songs that we like, you know. And I see this

car one time, I told myself, I think I will

never see this car again. Because the songs he plays,

it's like, some, okay, I should not reveal, but... Different

taste of music, basically. Mine is Dao Art Holy, Hillsong,

all his one. Whoa! Tell you what. Go and see

his car, then you know what I'm talking about. It's

amazing to sit in Albert's car. Have you heard his songs? Okay, anyways.

It's amazing. But that doesn't mean that when we can't

come together and we decide, okay, I tell you what,

for this season, let's listen to Anyong Haseyo. Let's listen

to Korean. Together. We can decide. We can decide. But

it's a compromise because I don't like Korean, he doesn't

like Korean. Obviously. But because Joan is around, we have

to sing Korean. Ajumma. Okay, so. Praise the Lord, right?

But why does union sometimes fail to become unity? Again,

not putting down Singapore. Obviously, they are doing much better

than us. I think so. Judging by their currency. They're

doing much better than us, but it's okay. Malaysia will

get there one day. Right? But why does union sometimes

fail to become unity? Because you can join two things

together administratively. Right? I don't know whether I have a

slide for that. But without ever joining them at heart.

On paper, they're together. But at heart, they're not. And

that's why eventually Singapore left in 1965. Right? The church

faces the same exact danger. We can share a building,

a service time, a same WhatsApp group. but yet not

still be one. I'm going to close with this. Jesus

prayed for us to be one. Amen. That doesn't mean

we like the same thing. That doesn't mean we see

eye to eye all the time. No, sometimes we just

got to understand that we are all human and we

all make mistakes. And we want to learn a little

bit on how to tackle mistakes and confrontation. Look to Jesus. Amen.

If your brother sins against you, what do you do?

You stand in front of the church and say like, Dao, Art,

everybody listen up. Daniel did this. No. The Bible says,

Jesus says, go to the person, confront him directly. And

if he didn't admit, then bring a leader. Bring someone

else with you. And if he didn't, then only you

bring the whole church. Right? Don't go and start the

gossiping behind the people's back. You know, that day what

Daniel did, he wear this earring on his right hand side.

You know, what does that mean? Don't go and do that.

That day, I saw Daniel, he was hitting his head

with the phone, you know. He okay ah? Oh, that

day I saw Daniel, wah, the police stop him, you know.

The police stop him, you know. Maybe he carrying something,

is it? All you know, I was just scratching my

head with my phone. But because you start that gossip,

because you start that drama, that anion haseo, it becomes

something that is so big. And I tell you what,

the Lord wants the church to be united. The Lord

wants us to learn how to give each other a

benefit of doubt. That's what we have to learn from

this today. Amen? Praise the Lord. Where do I find

this from? John 17, 21 says that they all may

be one. As you, Father, are in me and I

in you, that they also may be one in us.

That the world may believe that you sent me. I'm

just going to stand on this verse a little bit longer.

I know XTV, you may think that I have a

lot more slides to go, but I'm just going to

stop here. I'm just going to linger on this verse

a little bit. It says that they all may be one.

As you, Father, are in me and I in you,

that they may also be one in us. Friends, what

does it mean by that? That we are one in Him.

And only as the result of that, the world will

believe that God the Father sent Jesus. What does that

even mean? That means that if the church is not

one with one another and not one with the Father,

the world will not believe. Learn that, church. the very

next time we feel like we are at war, and

I'm not just talking about X church, because we have

this very, very bad habit of talking bad about other

people's churches. When I say we, if that's not you,

then God bless you. But if that's you, God convict you.

And I want to admit here, before everyone live stream,

I had that thought before too. One day, pastor just

sat me down and just said, I tell you what, don't.

Don't even go there. Bless. Out of your mouth comes blessing.

Do not curse. Out of the abundance of your heart, blessings.

Whether he's right, whether he's wrong, God will deal with them.

Amen?

Do not deal with them in your own words. Because

if we start to deal with one another with our

own words and not follow the way that the Lord

has taught us to do, that means if Albert has

sinned against me or if I have sinned against Albert,

then go and talk to each other. Talk it out. Albert,

you know that day, huh? You say that my hair ugly,

I'm very upset, you know. I'm very upset, you know,

but what do you have to say about it? Then

he looked at me and said, ugly what? Confront one

another doesn't mean you confront him straight away. Thou art holy,

I am wrong. No. Confront means he gets his chance

to share his part of the story. Then you all

talk it out and you all trash it out. Understand? Church.

But if we, again, go back to the verse. If

we are not united, Friends, if we are not united,

the world will not believe, you know. The world will

not believe that God has sent Jesus. And that's the

story of the gospel. We exist to share the good news, amen?

But if we are not one, we can't share the

good news because they won't believe. So we got to

first remember the importance of being one. I'm going to

close here now. And I'm going to just open a

time of prayer. I don't know how many of you

here are struggling with the concept of unforgiveness. There's someone,

I did this in chapel, there's someone in your life,

you know, I told the primary students and I gave

them an exercise. Shaina would know because she did that exercise.

Eli would know. I don't know what they wrote but

I get an exercise and I told them to write

in their books. Think about someone that has hurt you

recently or a year ago and write settle in your

own heart and forgive them. And write it down. You

don't even have to give it to them. Your own heart.

Your own heart settle it first. I saw some of

the young people writing on their books. And the things

that they write are very funny. Because you can see,

there was one young person that wrote, I won't reveal who,

but the young person wrote, I forgive this person. Dot, dot, dot.

But not really. Cute, right? Cute, right? The little children,

the way they write. It's real, you know. Sometimes you go, God, God. Again, friends,

I want to encourage you. Yes or no. Sometimes when

you feel weak, it's okay to say no. It's okay

to tell God that you're not there yet. But the

more important thing is, God, help me. That's why it says, Lord,

help my unbelief. You have to not believe to then

ask for help. But if you're arrogant, if you're saying that, God,

I tell you what, I heard this before 10,000 times,

then He can't help you because you're not inviting Him

to come into your life. You're not inviting Him to

come and take over. Don't invite us to stand right now.

And I'm going to pray very quickly. And I'm not

asking for a public showing, you know, if that's you,

you raise it. I'm not asking for that. But in

your own heart, can I encourage you to raise your

hands in your own heart? Not physically, but in your

own heart. If you feel led, then you can raise

it physically because the Lord even honours that. But if

there's any sign of unforgiveness in your heart right now,

I want to pray against the spirit of unforgiveness because

unforgiveness sentences the person who has not forgiven, not the

person that's wrong. It sentences you, friends. It poisons you.

And I'm going to pray against the spirit of unforgiveness

because the Lord wants us to forgive. Peter said, how

many times should I forgive a brother? Seven times. He

thinks that it's already a lot and Jesus' response to

him was not just seven times but up to 70

times seven times. And friends and family, I don't know

how many of you are struggling with this, but I

want to pray. I want to pray right now. And

the Spirit of the Lord is going to set you

free because where the Spirit of the Lord is, there

is freedom. Amen? And before I pray, I'm just going

to give you four things that forgiveness is not. If

XTV can just go all the way to the end,

it's all the way to the end. Forgiveness is not

These things, right? Forgiveness is not excusing the sin. I'm

not asking you to excuse the sin because I want

to acknowledge, you know, the servant that owed the other

servant 100 denarii. It's not that the 100 denarii is

very small. No, the 100 denarii is around three to

four months worth of wages. It's something that is painful.

When you lose three to four months worth of wages,

it's painful, right? That means it's acknowledging. It's acknowledging that

that hurt is real. That brother, even maybe it's me,

maybe I said something on the pulpit, maybe I said

something that may have hurt you. It's not intentional, but

I may have heard it. I want to acknowledge that.

And in your life, a boss, a friend, a family,

a sibling may have done something like that to you.

And you have held on to this unforgiveness for so

long that is eating you up from the inside out.

Trust me, I have been through it. But forgiveness is

not saying forget the 100 denarii. No, it is the

grace that he did not give, the mercy that the

king has just given to him. And he said, I

tell you what, you owe me almost up to 2

billion USD. I'm just giving you a, you know, 2

billion USD in that time, in now. And I tell

you what, the king was filled with so much compassion

and decided to forgive his servant you're not excusing the sin.

When you forgive someone, you're not excusing the sin. You're

not even forgetting because you can still remember an event

clearly but you have released the right to make someone

pay for it. Forgiveness is even not the same as

trust or reconciliation. It takes time. It takes time to

build back that trust. Sometimes it may not ever be

restored to the same way it ever was and that's okay.

but in your heart you have forgiven. That means the

next time you see something bad or something bad happen

to this brother, you don't go and say, serve him right.

You don't go and say, oh, that's God sending down

fire from heaven, burning him because of what he did. No,

you actually feel sorry for him. You actually want to

pray for him. You know you truly have forgiven someone

if you start praying for them. That's when you know

you truly forgive someone. And forgiveness is not a weakness, friends.

It's often the most hardest, most costly thing a person

will ever choose to do. which is why Jesus commands

it rather than merely suggesting it. Amen. I know it's

a very difficult topic and it's a topic that deserves

its own time. But I just thought of just praying

right now very quickly. If that's you, you want to

raise up your hands, you can. You want to raise

up your hands from the inside because you don't want

others to see, you want the Holy Spirit to see,

that's fine, that's okay. But as long as you genuinely

want to forgive that person right now, I'm going to pray.

And I pray that the peace of the Lord will

come upon your hearts right now. This is going to

be a simple prayer. It's not going to take long.

So if that's you, why not you just begin to

respond right now in the name of Jesus. Father, in

the name of Jesus, Holy Spirit, come. Come and sweep

over this place. Come and do what only you can do.

And God, even as... You have commanded us, even as Jesus,

You have taught us about the parable of the unforgiving serpent.

And in many parts of Scripture, You have commanded us

to forgive. I pray that the same strength, that same boldness,

that same joy will right now fall upon those that

are responding in the name of Jesus, Lord God. That

chain will be set free and it will be broken

in the name of Jesus. Anyone here that is responding,

I pray that you receive it in the name of Jesus.

Begin to act on that spirit. Begin to act against

the spirit of unforgiveness. Begin to accept the love of

Jesus because Christ has died for our sins and He

has forgiven us. He has forgiven us in the same

light that He has forgiven us. Let's also learn to

forgive one another. Amen.

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

information on our church, please visit xchurch.org. We are also

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is going to be a good week ahead for you.

God bless.