You Think This Is Your Father's Road? | Pr David Yeow

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

We hope this message will light up your day.

The title of my message today is called, You Think

This Is Your Father's Road.

You think, right?

Oh, wow. Thank you, XTV. I just asked them to

put the words out, but they came up with a

little graphic there. Well done, you know. I preached a

very similar message in the UK before. And when I

shared the title, none of them understood. And so I

had very fun. I went around our church in London.

And I went to people from, you know, we have

members from Mauritius, from Ukraine, from Philippines, from Hong Kong,

you know, from different other countries, even though, you know,

they can look Asian. But, you know, even the local Brits,

you know, and then I just had a fun time

asking them to pronounce the word. And so it's very

funny to see this phrase being pronounced in different, you know,

posh English accents, you know, some American accent, you know, like.

You'll think this is your father's road or, you know.

I don't know, that's a very bad accent. You know,

or different things. But as Malaysians, you would understand this word.

But in case you don't, right? This is a common phrase.

How many of you here drive here? You drive. You

drive in Malaysia, right? And so, how many of you

don't raise your hand? No, I'm not going to ask

you whether you think you're a good driver or not.

But sometimes when we're driving, we face obstacles. We'll find

this one car, this one van, this one lorry, this

one vehicle. Could be even a motorbike. Could be even

a bicycle. You know, in the UK, sometimes the cyclists

are the ones that hog the lane.

And they are hogging the lane. They are not left,

they're not right.

They're taking all the space and they are going according

to the speed of their comfort. Sometimes that means way

too fast and furious. And sometimes that feels way too slow.

And you feel like, you know, you're aging, like your

hair turning gray as you are commuting to work, to

school and stuff like that.

And sometimes road rage takes over, right?

And not just the people who are driving, maybe even

the passengers, sometimes the road rage takes over.

And I won't ask you what's your favorite swear word.

You know, we're all sinners being saved by the grace

of God. But one that's very common that we throw out,

you know, a very harmless, I would like to believe,

a very harmless word.

Is this phrase. You think this is your father's road, right?

Like, in other words, this is just like a Malaysian

slang for some of us who are maybe not from Malaysia.

But this, in this little phrase, in it is all

of frustration. It's like, where do you get your sense

of entitlement? you know, just in case you need like

a Manglish to English dictionary, you know. You think this

is your father's word, it's like, oh, so you think

you're entitled to drive, you know, according to your speed.

You think that you.

Have the right to take up the whole lane. And,

you know, usually this phrase is used in a negative way, right?

But today, I want to give a positive spin to

this phrase.

You know, because when you think it's your father's road, right?

We always use this hypothetical because it's a rhetorical question.

It's not really the person's father's road or grandfather's road.

But they're acting like it is. But what if we

walk around life? We walk around with that same confidence.

Just think of like your favourite road rage moment. You

know how slow the car is? They're just taking their

own time and then maybe as you look closer, he's

actually changing his Spotify playlist, you know, while hogging three

lanes or something like that or.

Whatever it is.

The person is taking their own time. The person is

driving as if there's not a care in the world.

The person is driving as if no other cars have

an agenda, no other cars there to touch them. But

what if we walk would Jesus like that? See, many

times in life, it feels like, you know, the devil's

in our way. And the devil is the one that's

hogging the lane of our lives for peace and joy.

You know, he's driving too fast, driving too slow, you know,

test-breaking us and we feel frustrated.

Right?

And for some of us here, you know, in our

Christian walk, can feel like, Lord, where are you?

You know, where are you?

I'm believing you for breakthrough. I believe that you are

bringing me to a better place. I'm not talking about heaven.

I'm talking about, you know, breakthrough, a place of breakthrough.

Maybe you are in a season of.

Waiting, right?

And then you're going like, God, I believe that you're

going to provide. But sometimes the provision seems to be

blocked by this big lorry called the enemy. And you

can honk all you want, but the enemy seems to

be winning. seems to be hogging the road. But I

want you to know that that's not true. Because you

know why? The enemy doesn't have a father, but you do.

The enemy doesn't have a father, you do. So if

anyone has the right to the road, it is you.

And so I want to encourage us to go like,

you know, that same confidence, that same bravado, that same like, ah,

chill lah, it's okay, you know. I want us to

begin to start applying that to our walk with Jesus.

Are you in a season of waiting? Don't be desperate.

But instead, you know, walk. You know, hog all lanes.

The lanes call peace. Just walk peacefully. The lane call joy.

Walk.

If you're waiting, wait with confidence because you have a

Father in heaven.

And it is your Father's road. Amen? Because Jesus says

that all authority has.

Been given to you. And so we actually have a claim, right? Now,

please be mature, okay? I'm not asking you to be

bad drivers, okay? For those of you who drive, I

don't want you to be speeding and go like, Buster,

I'm just applying your word, you know?

And then get into accidents.

No, no, no. But I'm talking about our spiritual walk.

Can you walk with a little bit more confidence? Stop

thinking that you're under the boot of the enemy.

In fact, no, no, no.

The Lord has made the way for you. And we

need to begin to walk in confidence. We need to

begin to walk with joy. We need to begin to

maybe walk in the pace of God. Because sometimes we

get frustrated at work because with our driving, with our work,

with our day-to-day, because we want to move a little

bit faster, right?

And it feels like this traffic jam and stuff like that.

But as you begin to go like, no, there can

be traffic jam, but this is my father's road. This

is the path. that my Father has led me on.

I'm going to rejoice and be glad in it. I'm

going to take my time. If God has asked me

to wait, there's a purpose in the waiting. If God

has given me a breakthrough, there is a purpose in

the breakthrough. If God has given me blessing, there is

a purpose in this blessing. It's not just so that

I can, you know, have more things in my life,

but so that I can have more resources to share

and bless other people.

Do you understand? Amen? And so, please don't take my

word for it.

Let's turn to Psalm 103, Psalm 103, and we're going

to read from verse 1 to 18. And I'm going

to have to flash up the NIV version because I

feel like, you know, sometimes the sum is a bit older,

a bit chunky language. I personally feel like this maybe

makes for easier read. So if you have an NIV, great.

If you don't have, You know, any version that you

read is a good version. People always ask me, Pastor,

what's the best version that you read? And so Psalm 103,

we're going to read all the way from verse 1

to 18. So here we go. Praise the Lord, O

my soul, all my innermost being, praise His holy name.

Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all His benefits.

forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who

redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with

love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things

so that your youth is renewed like the eagles. The

Lord works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed. He

made known His way to Moses, His deed to the

people of Israel. The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow

to anger, abounding in love. He will not always accuse,

nor will He harbor His anger forever.

He does not treat us as our.

Sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For

as high as the heavens are from the earth, so

great is His love for those who fear Him. As

far as the east is from the west, so far

has He removed our transgressions from us. As a father

has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion

on those who fear Him. For He knows how we

are formed. He remembers that we are dusts. The life

of mortals is like grass. They flourish like a flower

on the field. The wind blows over it and it

is gone. And its place remembers it no more. But

from everlasting to everlasting, the Lord's love is with those

who fear.

Him and His righteousness with their children's children.

With those who keep His covenant and remember to obey

His precepts.

Wow! How great and how amazing is our God. This...

is our Father in heaven.

And in fact, you see in Scripture, God Himself declares,

I will love you like how a father loves their children.

I will have compassion on you.

No, I will treat you like a father treats his family.

You see, there are many titles You know, that we

know God as He is King, He is Lord, He

is a friend, He is a lover, He is a provider,

He is a creator, He is.

A healer, He is also judge. But the one thing

that Jesus.

in His ministry on earth constantly referred to God is Father, Father, Father.

The devil says, no, my judge. No, the son cannot

do except what the judge does. No, the son cannot

do except what the father does. He always referred to

God as Father, Father, Father. In fact, God is referred

to as Father from 150 to 170 times, depending on.

The different English versions you use, in the Gospels alone.

150 to 170 times, Father, Father, Father.

You see, when Jesus repeats something, we got to pay attention.

You see, a lot of us, we come and we

love God. But we need to also understand how God

wants us to relate to Him. How God wants us

to connect with Him, you know? You know, it's like,

have you become good friends with someone, right? And after

a while, they go like, you know, for example, they

might go like, you.

Know, Pastor Stephen, Pastor Stephen, Pastor Stephen.

And then maybe you become such good friends with him,

you know, one day he's going to say, don't call

me Pastor Stephen, just call me Steve, you know? I

don't know, maybe only Selvi has that privilege. I'm not

sure whether she calls him Steve. But, you know, let's

imagine that, right? Let's imagine it is his desire, right?

Don't come at me and go like, a patrician protocol,

just forget all that for a second. But let's say,

out of his own mouth, he says, no, no, no, no, yes,

I am that.

Yes, I am a pastor. Yes, my full name is

Stephen Kong something, something. But, please call me Steve.

Now, what is the most loving thing And right response

when a person gives you that privilege. You call them

by what they want you to call them. Which is

in this imaginary example. Please don't go around after us.

I get in trouble, you know. Pastor, ever since you

preached your testimony, everybody just calling him Steve. So God

is judge, king, prince of peace. But what does Jesus say?

We are to connect with him. Understand Him, Father, Father, Father.

So friends, I want you to know, no matter what

you're going through, this long road called life, it is

your Father's road. if you love Him, if you're called

by His name. Not anyone can call God Father. But

if you are saved, if you believe Him to be Lord,

God and Saviour, then He gives you the privilege to

be His child. He gives you the privilege to call

Him Father. And sometimes, friends, we got to begin to

walk in this privilege. We need to begin to walk

in this confidence. And I have Three points for us

that can help us to be molded and be transformed

by this revelation.

And the first point is this.

Now that you know that truly God is Father, Jesus

pointed to Him, told us to connect with Him, understand

Him as a Father.

God Himself through the psalmist expressed that. Right?

I will love you. I will connect with you. I

will protect you as a father protects his children, as

a father, you know, guides and teaches children. You see

how compassionate he is? He says that even if I'm angry,

I will not be angry for long. And that's powerful,

you know, because anger actually means love. When you think

about it, you know, because if you don't love someone,

you won't be angry. You know, you can ask Pastor Cat,

you know, sometimes doing church, cannot be real for a bit,

you know. Sometimes you do church and then people come,

you know, and in the UK, you know, they take

church for granted, you know, they come, they eat your

free food, then when you try to invite them, they

ghost you, you know. And sometimes, you know, I mean,

we have a big heart and compassion, let's give them chance,

maybe they'll come back next year, maybe they'll come back,

you know, on Christmas again. But there are some people

who really, really have hurt us. And for those people,

you know, I have no, I have not, not to

say no love for them, I have no anger for

them even. You know, and sometimes when we are no

longer even being able to be angry, that's actually a

very dangerous place because it means that I don't feel anymore.

You know, anger is still a form of love, you know.

It's called disappointed love, right? And so God is saying that, hey,

even if you disappoint me, but I will not harbor

that anger forever and for long. And in fact, I'm

going to be slow to anger. You know, sometimes we

think we know God, but we don't really know God.

We need to come back to Scripture and let Scripture

tell us who God is and how He is really like.

Sometimes we allow our experiences, we allow the podcast we listen,

we allow, I don't know, whatever it is, to define.

And so what we're creating is actually an idol of God.

That's actually not who He is. He is a Father

who loves us and has great compassion. So that's why

point number one is reframe. You need to reframe. You

need to re-look at. You need to re-understand. That's what

reframe means. Re-look at, re-understand everything that you're going through

right now.

You know?

If God is a father to us, then we need

to reframe, re-look.

And respond differently to all of our fears. You know?

Who God really provides? He's your father.

He's your father. He's your father.

And maybe even before I go into that, I know sometimes,

you know, speaking to church and people from different backgrounds,

very common, I hear people say that, you know, I

don't have a good relationship with my father. Hey, if

you're a child of God, doesn't matter your background. Maybe

that's the first thing we need to reframe. Yeah, maybe

your earthly father has disappointments, but your earthly father has

a communication breakdown with you. Maybe your early father even,

I don't know, passed away too early, you know, tragically,

for you to even know.

Him or whatever.

But can we start saying that, you know what, yeah,

but I do have a heavenly father. You know, don't

let God as the Heavenly Father become a secondary experience.

Let that be your primary experience and let that experience

and let that relationship begin to inform and change and

improve your relationship with.

Your earthly father. Does it make sense?

A lot of times we use our earthly father relationship

as the primary experience and then we use in that context, in.

That lens, we look at God.

And so if our dad is a man of few words,

you will naturally feel like, I don't know why every

time I want to talk to God.

I can't hear him, I can't hear him. I think

God loves to talk to you.

But sometimes we allow our experience because your dad Doesn't talk.

Your dad comes back home, you know, God bless him.

Maybe different generation comes in, you know, he has a,

you know, long papaya face and he just comes in and,

you know, sits down and, you know, takes out the big,

you know, my dad, you know, he's Chinese, so he

loves his big Chinese newspaper.

The Chinese newspaper is so big, when you take it up,

you know, it covers the whole body.

So it feels like, you know, he comes back home

and he creates this little barrier, you know, in that corner.

And then from that moment onwards, you go like, oh,

my father meant a few words. Oh, if I need

anything from my father, I got to approach that corner.

You know, I got to make sure his mood is good.

I need to make sure that, you know, the news

is good that day. you know, to approach that corner.

And then I need to ask, I maybe need to

bring some tea. And then if favour is shown, then

the newspaper comes down. In fact, how the newspaper comes

down is a sign of whether I have favour or

don't have favour.

Right?

Because if it's like, looks at you, you know, if

it's spectacles a bit down, then you go like, uh-oh,

what do you want?

Nothing. Daddy, you just want to say, you.

Have you eaten yet? You know what I'm saying?

And sometimes we allow those kind of experiences to frame

how we approach God.

How many of you have reached people? Don't just say Christians,

even non-Christians.

I've met people who go like, they know how amazing

Jesus is.

They know that the answer is in Jesus and yet.

They say that I don't feel I'm ready because I

feel that there are areas in my life I need

to fix first before I come to Jesus.

And I always tell them, no, no, no. Come to

Jesus and then He will fix you. No, no, no, cannot, cannot, cannot.

I need to fix myself first. Then I come to Jesus. Otherwise,

He will see me as weak. You know what that

person is really saying? They are telling me their childhood.

They're saying that actually my father is very tough on me.

My family is really tough on me. And if I

don't get good grades, they will not respond well to me.

So let me get my grades in order. Let me

ask him whether I can go to my friend's house

to play. And we don't say this, but it shapes

the way we pray. If you knew that you have

a Father who loves you this much, you can't wait

to talk to Him. That's why a lot of us,

our prayer life, it's stuck.

Our devotion life, it's stuck.

Because you are approaching God, you're approaching His Word, you know,

like He's.

Just waiting to smack you. But it's the opposite. It's

the opposite. He says, you know, I will not forget you.

I will bless you.

And the psalmist even says, hey, remember and forget not

his benefits.

You have a father. So from now onwards, maybe reframe

number one is this.

Even if, even if your earthly situation not so good,

stop saying that. Stop confessing that. Start saying that, I

do have a good father. He's seated on a throne.

He loves me very much.

I'm learning to get better and talking to him. Do

you talk to your dad? Do you have communication? Can

you connect with your dad? Oh, I connect with my

dad really well. You know, any language I speak, he understands.

He understands my heart. Huh, really? Your father is so clever. Oh,

that's my heavenly father. Oh, but your earthly father or

early father, you know, he's on a journey.

I'm believing, you know.

Do you see, when we fix our relationship with God,

it gives us grace to show our earthly fathers.

You know, like if you haven't eaten, okay, let's be real, right?

So I don't preach too long because if you haven't eaten,

you get angry, hungry, get grumpy. And it's very hard

for you to be kind to the people around you.

When you're hungry and then the person says, you know, Samantha,

can you fetch me to the... Get out! Wait, I'll

ask you last minute.

But if you have a good meal, you know, wow,

the best bak kut teh, the best whatever it is, right?

And then you're just like, oh, so good, so good, wow.

Can you fetch me?

I'll just get in the car, no problem. Let's get

in the car. In fact, I need somebody to keep

me awake. Otherwise, the food coma will cause me to

land in a ditch, you know.

Reframe.

Reframe your fears. Reframe your worry. Reframe your wants. Reframe

your asking. Reframe your waiting. Reframe your hope for the future.

We are not dealing with a bureaucrat. We are not

dealing with an accountant who likes to calculate. You know,

have you done your homework? You're asking me for a breakthrough,

for healing, for provision.

Have you studied? Have you done your homework? No, no, no.

He's a father. He's a father. He's not an accountant.

He's not a lecturer.

He's not a policeman. We have a father who loves.

And this is the thing that we understand. Fathers love differently.

Fathers love differently. Let me just use an example, right?

So we have.

A son, right? So... Many fathers here, or one day

you become a father, you'll know, you know. A father's

love differently.

So if I see my son fall, you know, I

love him, I want to protect him, but you know

my instinct is not to immediately rush and stop him.

Sometimes when he falls, and he cries, you know what

I'll do? I'll look at him. Of course, I'll look

at him. No bleeding, no breaking of skin, you know.

He's just there crying. And then I go like, one... Two, three.

I'm not counting for him to shut up, you know.

But I'm just teaching him that, you see, this we

need to understand, you know. Because sometimes when you see,

like when we're waiting on God, why is God taking

his own sweet time? He's not angry at you. But

father's love differently. I'm trying to teach him that actually,

you think you need a good cry. But actually, you're

not that hurt. And what I need you to, of course,

as a father, I know, right? So I go like,

what I need you to learn right now is resilience.

What I need you to learn right now is how

to pick yourself up. So daddy will not immediately rush

to get you. That's what mummy wants. You know, mummy

is like, you know, mummy is like, that kind of thing.

Like yesterday, I was eating my in-laws and then the

boy was jumping on the sofa and he tumbled off

the couch and then he fell under the table and

then I tell you, all the aunties and all the,

and then I'm just there like, it's okay, it's okay,

he's not crying, you know, and then he crawls out

from under the table like, I'm fine, you know. Because fathers,

it's not like, you know, fathers pay attention but they

love differently. Mothers want to run in and rescue and protect.

Never let anything hurt a single hair on that baby's head.

But fathers sometimes will be like, you know, it's not

a matter of tough love. It's like, I'm teaching. So

you see, God is a father. So in the waiting

period of you praying and waiting for your breakthrough, you know,

Or sometimes when things happen, you go like, God, I

love you, I serve you. How come suddenly I receive

a bad news? How come suddenly I receive, you know,

like I love you, like when me and my wife,

you know, when we were expecting James, we happily went

for our first scan and instantly at the first scan, oh,

major bad news. But that's another message for another day.

And sometimes life can go like, God, I thought we're okay.

How come you're throwing this weird curveball my way? And

I've learned that from Scripture that God as a Father

will oftentimes create scenarios where He's always teaching us things.

And He's either teaching us these two things. It's either

He's teaching us that it's okay to ask.

See, sometimes we need to be in need of healing

to ask for healing. Does it make sense? We need to.

Experience lack to ask for lack. And so sometimes God

will create situations because what He's really looking to teach you,

to come out of you, is to give you confidence

to ask.

Know that you can always ask me. The other times,

it's testing. It's testing. Because you look at Job, right?

The book of Job. He was a good, righteous man.

Yet he went through hell, you know? Not literal hell,

but everything was taken away from him.

On what grounds? It was a test. You see, is

he truly.

God knew what was in Job's heart, but God sometimes

brings us through testing so that the world can know

what's really in our hearts.

Does it make sense? So God doesn't test us because

He doesn't know. He knows all things.

You see, in the story of Job, God tested Job

or allowed Job to be tested.

Let me put it that way.

Allowed Job to be tested by, you know, the accuser.

Because the accuser thought that Job was a good time

Christian only. But God knew that was not who he is.

And so he went through a very painful test. But

that test ultimately is so that it becomes a testimony.

And so sometimes you are going through stuff. What we

need to do is this.

Approach God's throne of grace and say, Father, why are

you trying to teach me here? Are you trying to

tell me that it's okay to ask? Then I will

ask by faith. I will ask with boldness. I will

ask Like how a child asks the father. Do you

know that, you know, only a child, only my child,

not anyone's child, not even your child, okay? Only my

child can wake me up at 3 a.m. In fact,

one time it happened, you know, when I was in UK.

He woke me up at 6 a.m., okay? I was

still sleeping.

He escaped the room. He come out.

He found the TV remote control and he climbed on

and he began to hit my head with it at

6 a.m. Could be 5.30 even, you know? And then

he goes like, And then I look at him and

he goes like, hello. You know, and I'm like, only

you get to do this. Any other church member come

into my house and climb into my bed at 5.30

with the TV remote and knock my head, I might

not be your pastor for a while. You know, there

might be, you know what I'm saying?

There's confidence.

Like you as a child of God, you have more

right to ask than you realize.

But the enemy wants to hog your road.

The enemy wants to occupy your lane and make you

think that you're, no, no, no, no, no. You own

the road. You tell the enemy to leave. You tell

the enemy, this is my father's road.

Amen? So you got to reframe it. Amen?

So I hope that your prayer today is this, God,

help me to unlearn the things I need to unlearn.

And help me to know who you really are, according

to Scripture, right?

And this beautiful thing, because once you begin to even

say things like, actually, I do have a father, no

matter how broken your earthly relationship with your father is,

when you have a father, then actually, you are actually

being shaped by your heavenly father, not your earthly father.

And you begin to understand that, oh, those are what

real fatherhood is.

Amen? And so, point number two is this, resemble. Resemble.

The verse, I believe, has been told, hey, you look

like your father.

Friends, brothers and sisters, let me ask you this.

Do you look like your father? Do you look like

our father in heaven?

How the Lord says, you know, the Lord works righteousness,

verse 6, the Lord works righteousness and justice for the oppressed.

He has compassionate, gracious, slow to anger and abounding in love.

Not only do we need to walk through life knowing

that we are a child of God and we have

a father, but knowing that it's not enough, we need

to become more like the father. Because God's plan for

you on planet earth is not to be a sport brat.

You know?

You watch those, I don't know, K-drama, K-drama, whatever, and

you see this like, you know, spork bread, you know?

The Koreans love it. There's always this bully in school.

And then nobody there to touch them because the father

is like some big, either gangster or some big, you know,

conglomerate head. You know, the father goes to school in

a fleet of Mercedes. You know, the principal also need

to bow and cover up the crime. You know, sometimes Christians,

when we only go like, God is for me, not

against me, and that is true. But then we walk

around life not wanting to reflect God at all. You know,

what we become? We become sport brats. And sometimes as Christians,

we walk around this life, we are like sport brats.

You know, we go like, you know, you think you're

entitled to everything. But God is saying that, no, no, no.

I love you. You are my child. And the very

basic thing a child needs to do is to resemble

the Father. And God asks us to be witnesses. Do

you know what's the best way you can be a witness?

When you look like your father. When you look like

your father. It's not even about the....

Arguments and all that.

It's not even about how well you preach the gospel,

but you look like your father. You become living, walking,

breathing gospel.

You know?

It's one thing to say that, hey, God loves you.

It's another to be compassionate, gracious, slow to anger, and

abounding in love.

Just be it.

And I don't think it's a coincidence, you know, because

like today, as a church, we're remembering Malaysia Day. It

also happens to be Pastor Kenneth's birthday, you know. And

we are excited for the public holiday and all that.

We're thankful that God has, and we're reminded that God

has taught us to be in this land. He's, you know,

predestined us to be here for a purpose. And so,

we need to therefore go like, God, you know, help

me to live out this purpose. And in Malaysia, you know,

sometimes we got to be careful, right? How do we

resemble our father more and more? We got to stop

saying things. You know, sometimes we're all in our anger,

in our road rage, you know? In our world, and

I don't know, you know? Chinese New Year gatherings, you

have an uncle who says semi-racist things, you go like, huh, yellow, yellow, yellow.

You know? Recently, Pastor Kat and I had to sit down,

you know, to counsel.

A couple who was dating because the girlfriend said that

You know, I don't think his character is Christ-like. I said,

can you give me an example of that? He always

makes racist statements. When a certain group of people entered

the lift, he said, no wonder so smelly. And then

I had to rebuke this fellow. I go like, brother,

first of all, that's wrong. And you don't even realise

your un-Christ-like behaviour is not only costing you your testimony.

If you don't change, it's going to cost you your friend.

You know, sometimes we got to go like, hey, do

I look like God? You know, if He is my Father,

I need to look like Him. And I need to

love like Him. I need to be compassionate like Him.

I need to be gracious like Him. I need to

be slow to anger like Him. I need to be

abounding in love like Him. So, knowing God as a

Father is powerful. It's a powerful reframing. I pray that

we will endeavor to resemble Him more and more. So,

I pray that our prayer today will be, Lord, help

me to become more like You.

You know?

I'm your child. Help me to become more like you.

I'm not the neighbour's child. Amen?

And so, let's say, God, help me. Help me. Amen?

Turn to your neighbour and say, God, help me. Point

number three.

I'm trying to keep it short, you know, because I

know we've got announcers coming after this.

Point number three. Remember. Reframe, resemble Him, and remember. Because.

In my journey as a pastor, I'm still very young

in this journey. We went to UK in 2015. So

now we are like more than 10 years serving people

there by the grace of God.

We're still learning. We're still learning so much. We're still

learning so.

Much about what, you know, how to reach people and

all that. But one thing I'm becoming better at is

identifying Christian weaknesses.

Weaknesses in my own life also.

And one of the biggest weakness a Christian goes through

is forgetfulness. If you read the Old Testament, the Old

Testament is all about a people chosen and loved by God,

constantly forgetting who rescued them to begin with. Who got

them out of the fire again and again and again.

Who's the one actually paying their bills? You know, like

they forget. You know, they think that after a while,

it's like, hey, my house so big, it's me.

No, it's God.

And every time they forget the temple, you know, the

temple is actually the source of blessing and protection. And

every time they forget God, they get into all sorts

of trouble. But it's not just an Old Testament thing,

it's a New Testament thing as well. Many times as Christians,

we forget.

We forget, you know.

We will allow life to remind us about our failures

too much.

But we need to remember. Remember.

And this is not a coincidence because in verse 1

and verse 2, can we have it flash up on

the screen?

It says here, remember, this is how we ought to remember.

It says, Praise the Lord, In.

Other words, don't forget his benefits.

Don't forget.

And every other verse you read after that, don't forget.

Don't forget who forgives all your sins. Don't forget who

heals all your diseases. Don't forget who redeems your life

from the pit.

Don't forget.

Know who crowns you with love and compassion. Don't forget

who satisfies your desires with good things. Don't forget who

renews your youth. You see, sometimes we just read it

and go like, okay, don't forget.

Okay, next. Oh, this is how God does it. No, no, no.

You see, you got to read it with a bit

more imagination. Right?

And we need to go like, God, help me not

to forget. And I love it. It says that, you know,

praise the Lord. It didn't say, praise the Lord, oh

my brain. He says, praise the Lord, O my soul.

You see that too many times we allow our senses

to affect our mind. And our mind, our brain, our

experiences then begin to colour and frame how God works

and how God doesn't work.

But God is.

Asking us to go into something a bit more primal,

a bit something deeper, your innermost being. He says, your soul.

Remind your soul This. And this is the exercise. As

a pastor, can that be real? I have to speak

to my soul so many times. I not only need

to speak to God, but I need to speak to

my soul.

Soul, you can do this. You know, the most common

thing is soul, you can wake up. You know?

Soul, you can wake up. Soul, you can make it

to church. Soul, you can, you know, you can have

a successful and enjoyable quiet time with Jesus. Sometimes we

got to speak to our soul, not to our mind.

Or mind, if you speak to your mind, your mind

will be typical, clever, give you all the answers. You know,

but actually, you know, God will understand, right? But your soul,

your soul, remember how your soul felt when you first

came to know Jesus.

Do you remember that? Do you remember that?

How your, sometimes we forget that actually there's another part

of us that's more powerful than our soul felt so light.

Do you remember that, friends?

When Jesus rescued you, when He found you, when He

loved you, when someone shared the gospel with you and

you gave your life to Him, your soul felt so light?

Your soul felt so healed?

What was the part of you that couldn't wait to

go to church and couldn't wait to tell every single

person that you're a Christian?

It wasn't your mind, it wasn't your ego, it was

your soul. You know?

And God is saying that tell your soul to praise Him.

Tell your soul not to forget. Tap into something deeper

and tell yourself that you are loved. But I don't

feel loved. That's what the mind tells you. I don't

feel loved. I don't see the blessing. Just because you

don't see it doesn't mean you're not loved. You see,

my child can go like, I cry and my father

never come to my rescue.

But his soul knows that he is my child. soul

knows it.

Whether the father immediately came to rescue, his soul knows

that he has a father. You need to tell, soul,

let's worship God. Soul, let's pray. Soul, let's press on. Soul,

let's do this. And it says here, you know, praise

the Lord, oh my soul, it's a continuous thing. So

you know what we need to do? Every time we

come together as a church like this, you know, we

need to also go like, God, Help me today to

feed my soul. Help me today to feed my soul.

That's why in church, we always say, you know, it's

really the presence of God. Because if we have big,

and again, nothing wrong with this, right? We can have

big screen, big place, nicer carpet, better air conditioning. I

don't know, you know, barista there. You know, at the

back there, you know, I don't know, you know, children's

play area. Now they have a child, you know, I

go to those play areas to pay like, you know,

30 ringgit, 40 ringgit.

And then your child goes.

And I always go like, wow, one day if I

have a chance to build a church, I want to

dedicate a wing to have this like Kidzania style, you know,

kids gym, you know. But you see, all those things can,

I don't know, meet the needs of your mind, meet

the needs of your, you know, ticklish ears.

But they can't meet the needs of your soul. Soul.

But the presence of God can. And when you come

to church, that's what as leaders we need to go, God,

please show up today. Please show up. Don't pray, God,

please help the program run smoothly. But Lord, please show

up today because when you show up, every soul is

set free. Every soul is ministered to. But until then,

we also have a part to play. Speak to your soul.

From today onwards, this week onwards, no matter what life

throws at you, You can be going down the life

and the enemy seems to be hogging the lane.

Sometimes God allows that to test you. Sometimes God allows

that to remind you. You can ask.

Tell your soul. Soul, don't be discouraged. Soul, don't let

what you see affect you. Soul, praise Him. And soul,

don't forget His benefits. Speak to your soul. Speak to

your inner man.

Amen?

And do this and I guarantee you, you're going to grow.

You know what? You know, so many times that I

had to speak to my soul. You know, it's not

really a bragging right, but so many times I had

to find myself preaching when I'm under the weather. You know,

one time I went to speak in our church in

Botswana and the plane almost crashed.

That's another message for another day. And really, no joke,

plane almost crashed, you know.

And right immediately after that, thank God, plane didn't crash,

even though it almost crashed. And then I just had

to go to speak at the ex-Botswana conference at the

time they were doing it. How do I do that?

I got to tell my soul, you can do this. Soul,

I know you just went through a near-death experience, but soul,

time to lock in. And I've preached also when I'm

under dengue. In fact, I didn't know I had dengue.

I had all the effects of dengue. I was like.

I was so under the influence of dengue, I drove

to preach at X Ampang. And when I reached there,

it was a miracle because when I reached there, I

go like, how did I reach here? I still had

like short-term memory and I couldn't find my glasses. Even

though I'm pretty sure I had my glasses when I

drove here, I couldn't find my phone.

Even though I'm pretty sure I had GPS when I

drove here, doesn't matter.

Without my phone, without my glasses, I got to steady

my soul and go like, okay, I'm going to go

and serve the people in X Ampang.

I did it by the grace of God. Hopefully some

boy was blessed.

But there are times where everything seems to be going

wrong and you got to say, soul, let's do this. Soul,

you are stronger. Soul, you're more resilient. Soul, you have

a father. Soul, let's do this.

Amen?

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