A Revived Church Is A Generous Church | Pr Alvin Keng

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

We hope this message will light up your day.

The message that the Lord has placed on my heart

this morning, uh, is a revived church is a generous church,

you know, and again, this kind of like a spinoff

because I know we just did our 12 plus one

core values, uh, and, uh, uh, and yeah, and one

of the core value was generously branded, uh, You know,

but I thought as I was praying about what to

share with Cheras this morning, I thought you guys would

be blessed with this word as well. So turn your

Bibles to 2 Corinthians 8. We're going to be reading

from chapter 8, verse 1 to 15, okay? 2 Corinthians 8,

2 Corinthians 8:1–15

verse 1 to 15, okay? And this is a letter

that Paul is writing to the church in Corinth, okay?

So let's read.

Moreover, brethren, we make known to you the grace of

God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia. Y'all heard of Macedonia?

Not Macadamia. But I think Macedonia, Macadamia, Macadamia nuts, chocolates. Okay, sorry,

I get it, hungry.

Okay.

That in a great trial of affliction, the abundance of

their joy and their deep poverty abounded in the riches

of their liberty.

Wow. Paul very, very flowery in his language.

Right?

Right. For I bear witness that according to their ability, yes,

beyond their ability, they.

Are freely willing. Oh, freely willing to do what?

Imploring us with much urgency that we would receive the

gift and the fellowship of the ministering to the saints.

And not only as we had hoped, but they first

gave themselves to the Lord and to us by the

will of God. So we urge Titus, that as He

had begun, as He would also complete this grace in

you as well, but as you abound in everything, in faith,

in speech, in knowledge, in all diligence and in your

love for us, see that you abound in this grace also.

So He's saying that you are saying the right things,

being the right things, acting the right things, but I

pray that you also abound in this other area.

So what is the area? Let's read on.

I speak not by commandment, but I am testing the

sincerity of your love by the diligence of others.

Wow.

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,

that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He

became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich.

Y'all catch that analogy? Because Jesus came from heaven, He

had everything, then He came and became nothing, right? He

went through life so that He would understand us, right?

And in this, I give you advice. It is to

your advantage not only to be doing what you began

and were desiring to do a year ago, but now

you also must complete doing that as there was a

readiness to desire it, so there also may be a

completion out of what you have.

For if there is a willing mind, it is.

Accepted according to what one has and not according to

what he does not have. For I do not mean

that others should be ease and you burden, but by

an equality that now at this time your abundance may

supply their lack and their abundance also may supply your lack,

that there may be equality. Wow, this guy is a

tongue twister, man. As it is written, he who gathered

much had nothing left over, and he who gathered little

had no lack. Thank God now we're not reading the Greek.

Because you know, I'll be like, oh, I'll try and understand.

So just giving you a little bit more tips, because

I want to encourage people to read the Bible more.

I want to encourage people to understand. Don't think that

you just need to read King James. And King James

is not the original version, no. It was just the

closest version that was translated from the Greek. And actually,

it was translated from Latin. Long story. So try to

get a more version that you will catch. And I

like the New Living Translation.

I'm going to read about that.

So 2 Corinthians 8, verse 2 to 3, New Living Translation.

2 Corinthians 8:2–3

So he said that they, the church in Macedonia, are

being tested by many troubles.

And they are very poor.

But they are also filled with abundant joy, which has

overflowed in rich generosity. For I can testify that they

gave not only what they could afford, but far more,

and they did it of their own free will. So

they were not compelled. They did it of their own

free will. They gave, okay? Let me continue reading. So

2 Corinthians 8, 13, 15. So if you didn't know

by now, we're going to do a little bit of

a Bible study on the church in Macedonia. And I'll

give you a little bit more historical context of what

was happening in the churches then, okay? So that you

have a clear understanding why Paul was saying this is.

A big deal.

It was a big deal then. Of course, I don't

mean your giving should make life easy for others and

hard for yourselves.

Y'all catch that? So, okay, I want to.

Stay here a little bit because we have to understand

as Christians the significance of giving and how we give.

Right?

Because every time, and again, it's very interesting because I

think majority of people here are China.

Okay? Majority, okay?

I say that because somehow orang China a little bit different,

the thought process.

Okay?

You understand what I mean, but I won't go too

deep into that. So it says that, no, don't give

so that other people life easy, your life hard.

Don't do that. Means you got to give our wisdom. Right? Right?

I only mean that there should be some equality. So

it's giving some wisdom there. Right now, you have plenty

and can help those who are in need.

True? If you have plenty, help someone else. Correct or not? Later,

they will have plenty and can share with you when

you need it. Isn't that cool? If that happens, in

this way, things will be equal. Don't you agree?

Because we cannot predict the ups and downs of life.

No.

Some days, some of us have more, some days, some

of us have less. But the question is, are we

willing to share and are we okay to share? The

world teaches you different things. The church and the Bible

and God teaches you different things. So let's read more.

As the scriptures say, those who gathered a lot had

nothing left over and those who gathered only little had enough.

Does that sound familiar? I go deep dive a little

bit into Bible study. You all remember Ruth or not?

The story of Ruth?

And Boaz.

You know, Boaz, the strange roof was... Basically, women those days,

a bit hard to find work. They need husband and

all that kind of stuff. Now, praise the Lord, you know,

there's more freedom and all these.

Things, right?

Yeah, you don't need, you know... Well, don't need to survive, okay?

Can survive yourself, but still need husband, still need family. Anyway,

another conversation. You all remember the part where Boaz asked

his workers to purposely leave more stuff for Ruth to take?

Do you know the... You see, God loves His people, right?

And His heart is.

Do you know there is a decree that when you

harvest and you can only carry so much and if

things drop on the floor, they will allow the orphans

and the widows and those poor to.

Take it so that at least they got food to eat.

It was a decree, you know. Why? If Chinese businessman

gone already. Think about it, okay? Okay? Okay? But it was, why?

Because God wants to make sure that people, as selfish

as we are in our mindset and our motivations, you know,

sometimes you have to follow rule one, that those are

not forgotten.

At least people survive. Okay?

And this is what it means. Those who had gathered

a lot, I gathered a lot, but I had nothing

left over. And those that are little have more than enough. Right?

So that's good, right?

Okay.

Okay.

So we read a little bit about this. Let me

go to Acts chapter 2. Now all who believed were

Acts 2 · chapter mention

together and had all things in common and sold their

possessions and goods and divided them among all as anyone

had need.

Sound familiar? It's Acts chapter 2, it's what we believe in. Okay.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

Before I go too deep into it, let me highlight

a few eight key characteristics of the Macedonian church for

our understanding on why Paul says this is a very

big deal for them.

Okay. So firstly, this is very interesting.

If you heard about the Macedonian call, Paul and Barnabas

was traveling and Paul was very strategic. He was like, okay,

let's spread the gospel. Let's spread the word. The church

of Jerusalem is sending them out. They're going to different places.

They are planting and they were actually going to travel

to Asia. So further out lah. You know, he was

a very strategic person, right? And somehow, God, through a dream,

God stopped them and said, don't go there.

Don't go there.

And I'm just thinking and wondering how he would have thought,

you know, because if you want to expand your influence, right,

you will definitely go to the biggest cities, correct? You're

not going to go to some small kampong. You're going

to go to a bigger city. You're going to go

to a place where people got resources so that then

it just compounds, correct?

Makes sense, not strategic.

But somehow, through a divine redirection, Paul was prevented by

the Holy Spirit from entering Asia. And then the Holy

Spirit sent him to Macedonia, north. It was unplanned.

Imagine. It was unplanned.

Meaning if Paul followed his plans, which were strategic and all,

the Macedonian church would not have come into play.

How many of you here feel that God has forgotten you?

Feel that.

Somehow your past, do you know that God has not

forgotten you? and men might forget you, you might think,

men might forget you, your boss might forget you, but

the Lord knows, you.

Know, that there were people in Macedonia, in the.

Macedonia area, I'll share with you some church name, this

one quite familiar, that God wanted to reach as well.

Even it was unstrategic, And I'll share a little bit more, okay?

So the geographic location of that was northern Greece. It

was primarily in cities of Philippi.

Sound familiar? Thessalonica. Sound familiar? And Berea.

I tell you, Bible, very interesting one. You should go

and study it a little bit more. Go and study, huh?

Poor people, Philippian church, Thessalonians, what do they do? Go

and read about Philippian church, the letters to the Philippian church.

Go and read about the letters to You know, the

church in Thessalonica, right? And Philippi was Paul's entry point.

So imagine he reached there, Macedonian church, means the first

church he planted was in?

Philippians. Okay, what was the demographic? This one interesting. This

one I like, okay?

I learn about people and understand their thought process and all.

It was a combination of Jews, Gentiles, God-fearers. They were God-fearers.

They fear God. Merchants, freed slaves.

And working class people, unfortunately, well, or more like the

situation was, they were socially, economically poor overall. So imagine,

it was the poorer city. It was the poorer people.

It was like, they don't have nice church like that

to sit in. I remember the, in human standards, the

worst church. But in God's standards, the best church that

I attended was in Bihar. When I had a chance,

when I was first started working and we were sent

as a missions team to visit the school that our

church planted in Bihar. And I remember going to the

middle of the village. There were 40 people there. The

house was made out of cow dung and hay. Okay,

the thing about, you must understand about cow dung, it smells,

even if it's dry, it still smells like cow dung.

So imagine it was a church. It was hot.

There were no instruments. But the Holy Spirit was there.

Until today, I remember that experience. That's why people come

and tell me, what Holy Spirit feeling? Don't have all

the stage. I'm like, go to that church, then you'll experience.

Though I've had that experience, you don't need a lot

of these things to experience God. That's what I learned then.

So when people come and complain to me, I don't understand.

I don't understand what you mean.

You get what I mean?

Because the Holy Spirit was so strong and they were

just worshipping God and they had nothing, you know.

They had nothing. No iPhone, Apple, dual phone. Nothing. But

God was there. So, it was also founded, the church

there was founded in 5042 AD.

So, it's like 50 years after Jesus passed on and

it was Paul's second missionary journey.

Right? And....

The thing about Christians then, it was a new idea. Okay,

Christianity was a new idea. Christian was actually a bad word. Yeah,

it was labelled. We didn't call ourselves Christian. You know,

other people call us Christian. It was considered a bad word.

Now it's a good word, I guess. You know, you know,

you're Christian. Because if you were known to follow, because

it was absurd, the claims. This guy died, resurrected. believe

in Him, you'll be saved, right? It was absurd. How

can you say a man is God? It was absurd,

the thought process. Now it's so normal, so many years already, right?

But it was absurd to them. So therefore, you were persecuted.

So how many of you here are persecuted today for

your faith? Last time, last time everybody was persecuted.

You get what I mean?

Everybody was persecuted because of the thought process and everything, right?

So they faced active persecution. Paul was imprisoned in Philippi. Right?

And the churches in Thessalonica and Berea were actively harassed.

Actively harassed. Constant harassment. Poor already, follow Jesus, kena harass

some more.

Wah, my goodness. So much problem.

Right? And they had extreme poverty. Not even normal poverty,

it was extreme poverty. Suffering extreme poverty.

Okay?

Sacrificial giving. Yet, they gave beyond their means. Although they

had extreme poverty, they gave beyond their means. They gave

to the Jerusalem relief offering. Think about it.

We are suffering here, you are suffering there, but we give.

Don't make sense.

Interesting, the church in Macedonia. And they did it out

of voluntary. They pleaded, can we please give? Can we

please give something? They begged to give. Paul had to

restrain them from, Paul had to say, enough, enough, enough, enough, please, enough. So,

I don't know, it's very interesting because you think about it,

my first question is why?

Why were they so generous? Why did they give so much?

Right? You're not smart lah, these fellas. You know, you

know what they say right, take care of yourself first,

before you take care of someone else lah.

Right?

Wear your oxygen masks before you put oxygen on someone,

if not you die, then how?

Then who gonna help? But they gave. Right?

And Paul commended them for giving. Friends, back to my

first statement. A revived church is a general church. Who

first gave? For God so loved the world that He

gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him

should not perish but have everlasting life. Okay, follow me

on this thought process. You know when we are not

revived in our hearts, right? See, when you talk about

revival in your hearts, you're not talking about being a believer.

I think the moment you'll be a believer, you'll be revived.

But of course, through the journey, the fire might slowly

fade away. Through long bouts, the fire might slowly go

little by little. That's why I am very impressed with Abraham.

Because you study the life of Abraham, you know he's

considered the father of faith. But do you know the

amount of times God spoke to him? And do you

know the span on how far God spoke to him?

God just said, I'm going to give you a land.

He said, sure.

Unpack everything and left. With the whole family, you know.

I'm thinking, what the heck are you thinking? Go to

some middle, right? And do you know when the Lord

spoke to him again after that?

Talking about the stars and all. Many, many decades later.

You go study.

I'm like, wow, this guy really have faith, man. Listen once, when?

Then listen again, Anyway, then I'm like thinking, interesting, interesting.

Right?

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

easier to think about ourselves, to be stingy, to be thinking,

is that enough for me?

It's a very normal human thing. Okay, very normal.

But would you agree with me if I say that

every time you see a person revived, or maybe you

yourself are revived, somehow the by-product of that revival is generosity?

The church in Macedonia will revive. The church in Macedonia,

I would argue, understood the Scripture, understood their relationship with God.

You know, if you understand that God is the owner

of the Ghetto of Thousand Hills, you wouldn't be worried

so much.

Not so much, no. Why was the church so generous?

Because they understood.

They understood a lot of things that a lot of

times a lot of us don't understand.

Only see results, but don't understand relationship.

2 Corinthians 9 says, But this I say to you,

he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly. He who

sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. So let each one

give as his purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or

of necessity, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God

is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you,

always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an

abundance for every good work. Let me address one or

two thought process because this is something that I realised

I grew up with. A scarcity mindset versus an abundance mindset.

How many of you here, how many of us here,

don't raise up your hands, think about it. You feel

like you have a scarcity mindset. And again, it could

not be your fault also. It could be because of

how you grew up. You know what your parents say.

Hey, you better save money. No money already. Inflation already.

You better study. You've not got no money. Cannot work. See,

no money, no money, no money, no money. Chinese family.

This is a mindset change, guys. Mindset change. Scarcity mindset.

Not enough then, keep all, keep, keep, keep, keep, keep all. Right?

I'm not going to ask you to raise up hands.

How many of you got more than what you need actually?

Everything I'll sell, you'll buy like bulk. I tell you what,

it's very interesting, this scarcity mindset thing.

Very interesting. .

I just only, I kid you not, had to take

on this project to clear my parents' space. Because right now,

my mum has passed on, only my dad is around. So,

my two brothers not around there, I have to clear lor.

The amount of stuff that they have.

is insane the amount of stuff that my mum kept

it's insane.

I don't know what to do.

With it I'm like just throw only throw throw one

whole roh roh bean not enough no friends really when

they say you cannot bring all this into heaven it's

true you know Really, you know?

Then who has to clean up the... It was crazy.

I'm like, wow.

But then in my mind, I'm thinking to myself, why?

Could it be a scarcity mindset? That's why we collect, collect, collect, collect, collect, collect, collect.

Could it be? I don't know. Right?

Now I'm very scared. Because I do all these things,

I'm very scared. I always clear stuff in my house. Right?

But of course, my wife likes to keep. They say

opposites attract. And I love her very much. It's okay.

So funny. I was texting her.

I said, oh, so much not to clear. Then she's like,

but fun, right? It's easy for you to say because

you're not here. But I said, next time I clear,

you come and join me, okay?

She didn't say no.

Can I give us another thought process? We talk about faith, right?

Which one has faith? Scarcity mindset or abundance mindset? we

shouldn't operate in fear. We've got to come to that

understanding ourselves because if not, we will be motivated by

our thought process. See, I'm not saying just live in

total abandonment because that's what not Paul is saying also.

Don't live in total abandonment.

That's not wise. Right? Don't like, oh, give everything. Every

time give everything. Then how?

I mean, really, if God asks you to do that,

then please do it because God asks you to do that.

Don't do it because a person asks you to do that. But,

But how do we make decisions on a day-to-day, right?

What kind of mindset do we have, right? It's very

normal because we are byproducts of our background history. Then

I realized I also grew up with a scarcity mindset, right?

And I had to allow the Lord to change that

through experiencing faith again and again and again.

Amen?

Amen.

And we got to think about it. Generosity. Okay, a

revived heart, then you'll be generous. But generosity also, right,

it's not.

An emotion, you know. It is principle-led. It is an understanding. See,

let me give you this other thought process. I think

we will all be generous. Okay, if let's say, okay,

let's say all of you here, you got a rich father,

super rich, provide everything. You will never be, don't you

think you will be a bit more generous if you

know your rich father? Is that an emotion thing or

is that an understanding thing?

Do you all know that you have a rich father

in heaven? Think about it. Think about it. Right?

If you have a rich father in heaven that says, hey,

you know, I will take care of you, don't worry.

Don't you think it will be a bit easier for

us to be generous? Because we know that when we

are generous, we won't be in trouble.

Correct or not?

So isn't that an understanding thing or is it an

emotion thing? No, it's an understanding thing. I never fully

understood last time. And of course, understanding comes with even

experiencing it for yourself. When you experience generosity, the generosity

and the providence that the Lord has for you, then

it's easier to be generous.

That's why there has to be a mindset change.

But the engagement with God has to be there because

it's a relationship.

Y'all catch that or not? I hope you're catching something. Right? Right?

You're saying, Lord, help me. And generosity led by Holy Spirit.

Not opinions, not motivations, not like, come guys, must give.

No. Holy Spirit led. Because I've experienced that before. Be generous.

I'm like, huh? Give this much? Huh?

The legacy of our church. Praise God that we're in

this church, friends, because we have a legacy. The legacy

of our church is that we are a generous church

despite having little. I'll share with you a little bit

about the school that I went and visited. The school

was built over the contributions of campus students. Ex-Church was 20,

I think 30, 40 people then.

And no Wai Wa. Now got a lot of Wai Wa.

Doing very well. Praise the Lord.

No Wai Wa, all campus students only. They raised up $ 12, 000.

I hope I got my numbers right. $ 12, 000, I think.

To build a school.

Let me share with you one powerful testimony from the school.

Because it was Bihar, the poorest state in India. And basically,

it was very difficult for the government to manage. And

you're talking about people who their one month salary is

like 12 ringgit. Extreme poverty people. This one testimony I

remember when I was talking to the pastor there. There

was once another, you know, religion, they were not happy because, oh,

Christian ah, so quite extreme. They wanted to burn down

the school and burn down the teachers in the school.

Right? You know what happened?

The villagers who were not of the same faith, they

were not Christians, of the same faith with the other people,

came and surrounded the school, held their hands and said,

over our dead bodies, that you'll burn this school down.

Because they're doing good things for our kids. They're giving

them a hope and a future. Over our dead bodies.

And then in the end, tak jadi lah. but still

constant persecution. And this is the contribution of campus students, friends.

I'm like, wow, Lord, you are really, it's really amazing

what you are doing and the legacy that we have

as a church.

And I pray that we will not lose that. Right?

Let's not compromise that legacy of being a generous church.

In our own way, again, back to the scripture. When

you got a lot, then be generous. When you don't

have a lot, it's okay. People be generous to you.

Let me give you some examples. You want to hear

some testimonies? I remember during COVID, we were all at home, okay?

For those that were at home during COVID.

And I remember, you know, the thing I realized my

relationship we've got, the push and pull we've got is always,

I will ask him question or he will challenge me something.

And the question at that time, and I remember because

all of us are at home and the only thing

we did was I mean, going crazy with.

School for kids.

The parents are going crazy with school for kids because

the teacher say, is your parents there? And then we're

like on a Zoom call here, like trying to talk

to our boss.

And they're like, ask your mummy that they help you out. Like, hello.

And then suddenly everybody discovered Zoom meeting, you know. Online

means suddenly, suddenly. And then somehow, the KPI of being

effective during that time is to have back-to-back meetings.

You remember that? Oh my goodness. And in terms of

the activity of the church, it was just Sunday worship.

That's it. Nothing else.

And I remember I saw this white flag movement. I

don't know whether you know or not. Because it was like,

I think, three, I think six months into it. And

of course, there were people with different, you know, economic status.

And I mean, thank God for some of us here

who are in corporate. And so I tell you, COVID

was okay for my family. In fact, we saved a

lot of money during COVID, practically speaking. But there were

people out there who were, they were just very earnest.

They were not essential. They couldn't work. And they were suffering.

Or you had people who are old and they don't know,

no one to help them. And I, I remember reading

about it and I'm like, can we do something as

a church? Uh, so at that time, uh, XPJ, we

didn't have XBU, we had a BU homes, uh, you know,

a KD homes at that time. It was supposed to be, uh,

you know, want to apply in Kota Damansara. I remember

reading a scripture, you know, um, And this is what

I mean by led by principles, God's principles, and led

by the Holy Spirit. James 1.2 says, See, as a

shepherd of the church, I understand this scripture. So I

will look out for people who are widows and orphans

because I want to fulfill the scripture. Right?

Right?

And Deuteronomy 10.18 says, he administers justice for fairness and

the widow. He's talking about God. And loves the stranger.

God loves the stranger. Giving him food and clothing.

This is God, no?

And I'm like, if my father in heaven does this,

shouldn't I do it? So what we did was, we came,

and again, we didn't just go and pick anybody that

got white flag. You know, I went through, because it's

like church in PJ, so significance in PJ, so I

connected with the adult.

Everything online. said, hey, you know, we are here.

And I heard that they were supporting 200-year-old families.

That we need, that they know. And then he said,

then I said, can you give us 10?

And then I said, we will commit for 10, it's

six months. We will commit for six months, give us 10.

And then we met. Okay, okay. Can, can, chill, chill.

Maybe back to the Zoom one. Ah, this one, this one, okay.

So what happened was we said, okay, we're going to

pull together.

And I thought this would be a good project for

the homes because, okay, sorry, this just bank coordinator cannot

let people sit down and do nothing one. I'm like,

you're sitting at home doing nothing. Come on, let's be

a blessing as a church. Then let's fulfill scripture. And

I said, cannot be. There has to be something that

we can do as a church in this season. And

let's structure it. So six months, if I'm not mistaken,

about RM100, I think, of groceries, we buy and we

send to them.

And I tell you, the creativity was there.

And of course, during that time, not a lot of people,

I mean, some were keen, some were not keen, depends

on how it goes. And I said, every home just

send one rep that can help. Because you're need to

coordinate it. Go and buy, send, buy, send.

We did it for six months, right? Can go next.

I tell you the interesting thing that, yeah, so this

is the homes that bought and sent. It was so

creative because we were like, oh, you know, must be

10KM and all that thing, right? And then one of

the homie, I remember Paul, he's like, ah, send true

grab lah.

Wah. Very, very smart. Sent through Grab and they were

in contact with the families. Okay. So a lot of

thought process.

One could be, eh, but then, real or not, what

if they take advantage of you all? See, that's the fear, right?

That we always have fear. Let me tell you some

of the testimonies that happened. There were at least two

or three families that after the third month said, eh, actually,

we don't need it already.

We are good now.

Thanks for all that you're giving. Please give it to

another family that needs it. They stopped us from giving them,

you know. And then some of the homes, I tell you,

they got more excited because they were talking to the families.

They said, Pastor, can we adjust some things? Because we

realised this family got baby. They got no money to

buy milk. Can we change some of the things?

I'm like, sure.

It's not a fixed thing. It's just a guide, you know.

And some asked, can we top up more or not?

Because we realised that they need more.

Then I'm like, sure, go ahead. Right? Right? And after

the six months, it was done. A lot of the

families were appreciative. They were thankful. They knew we were

a church. And we did our part. Amazing. Amazing testimonies.

There was a lady who was not well and she

was old and she was like, I don't know how

I'm going to survive through this. You know, but as

we stepped in to help, she survived. The generosity of

a church, right? Let me talk about personal, because sometimes

I'm thinking, oh, yeah, church, normal, Christians, right, we give, give, give.

Let me share with you how I have experienced generosity

in the church.

Next photo, I think. Ah, next one, next one. Yes. Ah,

this is my wedding. Okay, next, after this. Yeah, can

you show the next one? Okay, anyway.

Did I purposely want to put those photos so that

you can see and there's no relevance to the message?

Yes.

Just for the heck of it. You'll be like, hey,

how come you took photos in a bomba? That one's

also a by the way thing.

Anyway, long story. Okay.

So one week before my wedding, I can't remember that

I shared this before, but I'll share it anyway. One

week before my wedding, and may this be an encouragement

to all of you who want to get married or

thinking about saving money to get married. So I tell you,

my faith journey with God is very interesting. When it

came a time, I felt like, I think I need to,

how to say, propose, you know. Then I'm like, okay,

spoke to pastor, say a month. Then I remember, no money,

full-time worker. A bit hard, a bit hard to, you know.

But trust God, you know. And one of the biggest

encouragements I got, and it was from Pastor Sandra, I remember,

I was like just lamenting like, oh, how are you married?

You're expensive now. The normal stuff that people say. And

then Pastor Sandra said, Alvin, Even poor people get married.

I reflected on that and I said, yeah.

How did they do it? How did poor people?

Then I realized, this is a number.

And then of course, trust in God.

And the Lord provided supernaturally for me to buy the,

I had no savings.

Trust God.

But I knew I needed to buy an engagement ring.

And I think I buy a quite substantial engagement ring.

I'm not going to tell you how much after you

all put that as a benchmark. There's no benchmark, our.

Friends, please.

Three digit also got. Four digit also got. If you

can afford five digit, good for you. But I know

a lot of people cannot. And there's no market.

Can I tell you this? There's no market. It's all marketing.

Think about who earns from you buying that kind of ring.

Think about it, okay? So anyway, I went and I

saw something I liked.

I had no cash. I said, Lord, you provide.

That week itself, I got a freelance job. The same exact, no,

freelance job, overseas job, Singapore. And I said, okay. And

I kira roughly enough. And it was a quick job.

I did it in two weeks. The following week, they

paid very fast.

I'm like, wow.

The amount that they paid was exactly the amount for

the ring. By exchange rate, no.

Think about it. I have no way I can calculate.

So the Lord provide. Still no money, but can buy ring.

Praise the Lord. Buy, Lord. Buy. Propose. Thank God she

said yes. Right? Yesterday, we had a proposal. Dr. Jason

Chin and Esther. Right? At Subang. Yeah. So if you

know him, then congratulate him. So yeah. Propose. And then

continue the journey. Right?

I calculated I need about 20k for the wedding. These

are not counting the makan.

Okay?

Okay.

My mum, you know, God bless her, she gave me 10k.

Then I got 10k left that I needed to find

a way to get. And the Lord provided here and there.

And somehow we managed to save. I think the wonderful

thing about my wife, I would say is she's a

bargain hunter. She really hunt for bargain. Her wedding dress

only cost 300 ringgit. You go ask her how she

do it. I also very surprised. So it's possible one, friends.

It's possible one. The Lord will give you creativity. Don't

worry so much. Don't compare yourself with outside people. God's

going to give you your own testimony. Right? So, but, but, but,

one week before my wedding, I'm still down RM5, 000. Still down.

Means I owe. Right? Swipe ready, but owe. And I

was worried lah. Of course, I like, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah.

You know, and it was like, ah, Lord, You provide lah.

But I was worried. I didn't really talk. I mean,

Jess is aware. I didn't really tell her. But in

my mind, I'm like, okay, I'm going to do whatever

it takes. I'm going to work hard. I'm going to

sell my car. Something lah. Because I don't want to

start the wedding in depth. Right? I don't want to

start my marriage in depth. Right? So, when we got married,

we're happy.

Then at night, then my best friend, he did accounting. Friends,

I need to share this. It's really on my heart.

Thank God now you got QR code. All the ones

that haven't married yet, please thank God that you got

QR code to do transfer, on online transfer.

Because last time, we had to count the money, you know.

Find some room at the.

Back, people give big ang pao, count, pray to God

that nobody knows and come and rob you and then

you lose everything.

That was last time. Now, QR code scan, scan, scan.

So easy. Friends, right?

I give you a tip, okay? You scared no money,

I give you a tip, okay? You got friends overseas,

cannot come, never mind. Just live stream your wedding. Make

sure you put the slide with the QR code there.

And all the transfer email. Friends, seriously, you need to

be smart lah. Yo, don't lah like that. Smart.

People are willing and generous. Save on the flight ticket.

Just transfer it to the wedding fund, okay? Now save

no money. Yeah, if you can find a sponsorship, why not,

you know? No harm in that.

Anyway.

So let me share with you my testimonial. about the

generosity of the church. Another thing is, at that time,

I was in teens ministry, okay? If I was in

Y1 ministry, much better. But I was in teens ministry,

you know. And I had one table full of teens.

You know that it's really just give that table away, okay?

You know, okay? And of course, how much can the

teens do? Okay, anyway, that's right.

So my best man called me. Then, of course, the

first question was, so I said $ 20, 000 budget. Then the

dinner was actually about $ 30, 000 plus. But I didn't count

it in the budget.

Okay, $ 30, 000 plus.

Because $ 20, 000 fixed cost.

Dinner, how la? Okay. So I didn't count that. And

then the first question was, cover. Then he's like, don't worry, bro.

Cover already.

I'm like, oh, thank God, cover. Cover dinner.

Good la.

Because dinner really, if don't cover, die la, you know.

Cover dinner, praise God. And then I ask the next question.

Got extra? Huh? Extra? Aiya, God lah, God, don't worry.

Purposely or not, I feel. I feel you purposely messing

with me. God, then I'm like, okay, okay.

God lah, oh, good lah, good lah.

I say, aiya, never mind, never mind. I'll settle with

you later. You just go enjoy your night, your honeymoon.

Then I'm like, hmm, hmm.

How much lah, bro? Have to ask lah. Sorry, the

cheetah in me have to ask. You know, you think, oh,

Pastor Alwin, I trust in God, don't worry, you know.

Just let the, no, I have to ask. Extra how much?

About 20? K? Not 20 ringgit.

20 ringgit will be like, okay, praise the Lord.

20k overflow. Actually, the exact amount was 23. I cried, friends.

Because I know that the Lord provided.

Let me tell you how wonderful our God is and

how wonderful our church is. Because I know that it's

because we're in this church. That X church knows how

to be generous. You might say, I didn't invite any

datuk to my wedding, friends. I'm not an influential person.

I don't have any connections. I just had good friends.

We were all starting up.

Nobody millionaire. I have to clarify all these things. But

the Lord provided. Two weeks after my wedding, right?

I'm sitting down, makaning with my mom and my dad.

And my mom's saying to me, hey, I got this

extra ang pao for you. This uncle, uncle from don't

know what, don't know what, want to give you. Then thinking,

two weeks after wedding, can I get ang pao or not?

The Lord is good. Amen? Generosity.

I've experienced that. Let me share with you another story

about generosity. Do I still have time?

Okay, can. What time? Can you give me the... Okay, great. Can.

Let me rush this through. Yeah, the church. Okay, can

we go to the next photo?

Okay, so you may not fully know the story, but

my mom passed on in 2022. Okay, I can't remember

whether I shared with you guys. And it was a

whole big thing, right? But she was actually, she and

my dad, the plane that they were on had to

do an emergency landing in Brisbane, in Australia, because she

had seizure on the plane.

Brain seizure.

Also due to cancer, okay? That she didn't treat because

she was afraid. So she didn't go for treatment. It

was a little bit too late. And what happened was,

it was crazy. So this is my parents. So she

was a month in Brisbane, in the hospital. Every night,

one night in Brisbane hospital is 2.5K Aussie dollars. You

all slowly convert yourself. So she was there for 30 days.

These are not counting all the treatment and everything. My

parents got no insurance.

Hallelujah, right?

So, Anna, because she had seizure in the plane, we

cannot just put her on the plane and fly back.

Right? It had to be a medical evacuation. That was

a travelling nurse.

To engage his services, it was 15,000 Aussie dollars, which

we do not have.

Okay? Give me a lot of numbers. Okay. And then,

this is them and me, came back.

Right after they came back, I immediately went to Putrajaya Hospital,

tried to check her in, right?

And.

Because she was actually going through metastatic breast cancer. That

was what she was going through, but no treatment. So

went there, managed to check in, and within a week,

she passed on. So she went back to be with

the Lord on the 24th of December, Christmas Eve. I

have another message for that, because the Lord really provided.

But I just want to highlight this one thing. So

during that time, of course, it was crazy for me.

It's one of the worst moments in my life. I

remember waking up.

4 a.m., literally prostrating on the floor, just praying and

asking God to have mercy.

You don't know what to do. I'm stuck here.

My brother, one brother is in curve. My younger brother, thankfully,

went to be with my parents, right, to at least navigate.

But it was crazy time for us because she was

in and out, you know, because it affected the brain already,

all these different things. And of course, the bill was increasing.

And let me tell you the total in ringgit. Let's

just say that it came up to about RM180, 000.

Ringgit. Okay.

So the testimony for that was none of the debt

passed on to the next year. It was December, right?

Because we managed to, through different people giving and through

some funds that my uncle and all had, we were

able to pay the nurse.

And we only had a certain amount.

I think we only had about 12 to 10K Aussie dollars.

And when my mum passed on... We actually asked the hospital.

I said, can you forgive the debt? And this is

all we have. Can we pass this to you and

forgive the debt? They said yes. So praise God, they

cleared the debt.

No debt. And we gave them whatever we have. And

it was cool. But the story I want to tell

you is not all there. Just give me the context.

During that season, of course, it was difficult because no

extra funds, very difficult, don't know what to do. But

different ones who knew the situation... contributed, so I was

thankful for that. But I had one of my huddle guys,

as I was talking to him on the phone, he

suddenly transferred to me about 10k. I've never received such

a big amount in my life before.

I didn't ask for it. I was just, just pray

for me. I was shocked.

I don't know what to say. And he said, just

take it, use it for whatever you need. I just

felt led to do it. And let me tell you

the impact of that 10K.

It was not the money. Honest, it was not the money.

It was the solace knowing that God is still there.

Because every night, imagine for two weeks, every night I

was just like, don't know what to do. I say

every night because night was my time where I, daytime

had to work, so you don't think about it. Night

was like, cannot sleep, wake up 4am and pray.

Pray for a way out. Right?

And so drama. Every day we had family meeting to

figure out what happened. Me here in Malaysia, one more

brother in New Zealand, another brother in Perth.

Right? And then had to make decisions. It was very,

very stressful. Right?

Thankfully there, my brother's church there in Brisbane helped a lot.

So we were thankful for them. You know, again, generosity

of the church. So what I'm trying to say is

that I have experienced the generosity of the church. So

I understand receiving And I also understand giving.

Right?

To experience generosity, friends, is to engage with God. Know

that generosity doesn't always have to be in the area

of money.

Doesn't have to be. It could be treasure, it could

be time, it could be talent.

Do you know that when you are generous, not just

talking about revive heart and all, we also practice the

first and the second greatest commandment.

Why? Why do I say that?

Well, the first and great commandment is what? Love the

Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, right?

And what is the second commandment? Love your neighbour as yourself.

Right?

It was love God, love people. Don't you think that

when you're generous, you're doing that? Love God, love people.

Do you know that when you do that and you

obey God, your problems become very.

Small, no?

Or at least it's manageable. The challenge is, as humans,

we always think about ourselves.

Right? That's the challenge.

That's the flesh and the spirit struggle.

Right?

But engaging God, you're generous. Let me share with you

the last testimony before I end. So, two weeks ago,

I think we had the Timmy Autism Conference, right?

I think I have some photos here. Yeah, thanks for

sharing that.

This year, we had about 106 people come. You know,

it just grew. Actually, we had a target about 100,

120 max we can take. 106 people came. About 80%

of the people here are not from, not from church one.

About 80%. I think 80 to, yeah, not from church.

Don't count the volunteers all, but 80%. And these are all,

of course, families, adults, you know, who have special needs,

learning disabilities, and they were here.

Right? And we had a good time. We had, you know,

Linus and the panel.

These are all neurodivergent people.

As you can see, different faiths.

And I tell you, you know how much you charge

for the conference? You all know, because you all know,

100 ringgit. But honestly, at least 60% of the people

didn't pay 100 ringgit.

Because we gave them 50 ringgit discount. And it was

a full conference, right?

And a lot of people that came, and this is

something I've experienced in the past conference where we run something.

A lot of people that came who were sad, no hope,

go back happy, go back with hope, go back with joy, right?

Talking about the by-product.

And the highlight that I want to highlight is actually

at the end.

Of course, we connect different people. Can you go back?

So this is one of the vendors. She created this

therapy tool called Huggables. You can go check it out.

And she actually texted me and said that, you know,

I've never experienced such a community before.

It's very encouraging. She actually sold out twice.

You know, and I found out from one of our

clinical psychologist students, right, that the stuff that she, the

blue colour thing is actually very useful for therapists. Because

you cannot hug, right? So the hugger will hug you.

Oh, and I tried it. It kind of works. In

a way, I was super sceptical, okay? I was like,

sure or not? Then I tried it.

It worked so much that I bought two, okay? Anyway,

I bought two myself. My wife all like it also.

So can we go to the next picture?

Okay. No, so these are the mild people. Next.

Okay, I want to highlight people. Everybody here is from

Acts Church. Everybody here gave up their Saturday. Some of them,

at least half of them, was part of the team.

I tell you what, I love my team.

These guys.

Because they worked really hard to bless the families.

They were all generous with their time, their effort. Right?

And we do it once a year and it's not like,

you know, but some of them work really hard. They

work really hard. Planning everything, doing everything. I still remember,

I get people coming up to me and say, wow,

very good, your event. And I'm like, I say, it's

all the team. Someone asked me, oh, where do you

get all the Blue Fenders? I'm like, I have no

idea because my teammate get everything.

So ask her, you know.

And I just want to highlight that Our church is

a generous church. We have that legacy, you know, friends.

We have that legacy. Our church is a generous church.

And I am not ignorant and I'm well aware that if...

it was not because of the generosity of these people,

the event probably wouldn't be able to run.

That's the truth. That's why you say, oh, I'm talented. No,

I'm not. I just have good people around me. I'm

just faithful.

You know, I'm just thankful at what the Lord has

given us.

Right? And are we maximizing our talents? Are we doing

what God is asking us to do? Are we engaging Him?

The conference went well and a lot of people were blessed.

And we pray that we'll be able to touch this

group of people more and more because there's a real

need there that's coming up. But it all cannot happen

without the generosity of the church. So I would argue

that our church is a revived church.

Amen?

But ask Charas, something to think about. Both in the

church level and also the individual level.

You know?

So in terms of the church level, of course, you've

got the CPC and the different leadership. But something to

think about. How can you be generous, firstly, to one another?

Because the Bible says, love one another.

Love one another, you know. Right?

Because if you just generate other people and you don't

love one another, very hard lah. Love one another first.

Do we care for one another first? Are we generous

to one another in our forgiveness, in our kindness, you know,

in our kind, in the things that we have, in

the resources that we have? Are we kind to one another?

And after that, I guess the next thought is, can

we be generous to the people around here? It doesn't

have to be very big, you know. It doesn't have

to be like what I shared with you all this, that,

it doesn't have to be. It could be whatever that

the Lord is asking you all to do as a church.

And I can tell you the wonderful thing about that,

and I've experienced it myself as a receiver, and I've

also experienced it as a giver. The wonderful thing about

that is that we somehow get closer to God when

we surrender this part of our lives and say, Lord,

I don't own everything. I need to trust you, you know.

Some of us here, we may be in the place

where it's tough to be generous.

It's okay.

Your time will come. Your time will come where you can.

I remember, you know, I know, because it's something I

do quite naturally, I want to be generous to people

when it comes to meals, when it comes to different things.

I will do it very naturally. So much so, sometimes

I have to fight people, you know, like, eh. So

I always say, who faster?

Huh?

You chit-chat faster than okay, you know? Then some that

know already, then they are very fast. Don't know, never mind.

Because it's something I believe in. But I've gotten scolded before.

Why are you so stupid?

Why are you so nice to everybody?

Scolded or not? By friends? Like, wow. Thank God I

didn't change. Right? And I'm sharing this to you because

if you can.

Engage that part of your life more, and you can

address certain things in your life more, I think you

will start seeing God move in your life a little

bit more. Not to say He cannot move, but I'm

saying that you're surrendering this area of me, me, me

to Him. And He's the best person to surrender it to,

you know? And that's my encouragement to all of us.

Some way, somehow, just start. Just stop being generous. Don't be, yeah,

fear is there.

It's normal, okay? You will fear. What if they cheat you? Right? Yeah,

you will fear. Then learn now. If they cheat you,

then learn now.

Because the thing is, you are not going to be

accounted for what people do to you, but you will

be accounted for what you.

Do to others.

Because God sees. So that's my encouragement. Can X Church

be a generous church?

Right? Right? We just finished the missions collection.

And of course, I think it was like 30% of

what we were able to collect last year. And I

think church, I think we need to not let that

go also. I think we need to ask the Lord, Lord,

can you help me and provide for me that I can?

Can you deal with my insecurities and my fears? Can

I trust you in this area? You know, the Bible

in Matthew chapter 6 talks.

Matthew 6 · chapter mention

About don't worry about tomorrow. You know? And yes, true.

For some of us, it's going to be difficult because

of what we've been hearing every single day of our

lives since young until now. The horror story we've heard

from our parents, the horror story we hear from our friends,

our own experiences.

Have I been cheated before? Many times. But I've also

experienced radical generosity. I just told you a story about

it through the Lord.

So who cares if I'm cheated many, many times? I'm

still going to trust. I'm still going to be generous.

I'm still going to allow God to move in my life.

Doesn't matter. That person need to learn their lesson. That's

their problem. But I do my part. I love God.

I love others. Amen. And then we see the church grow.

Amen.

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

information on our church, please visit xchurch.org. We are also

active on Facebook and Instagram. We're believing that this week

is going to be a good week ahead for you.

God bless.