What Is Your Business | Eld Wong Kien Yiak

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

We hope this message will light up your day.

Here we go. Luke chapter 19, verse 11. Luke chapter 19,

Luke 19:11 Luke 19:11

verse 11. Now, as they heard these things, they spoke...

Another parable, because he was near Jerusalem, because they thought

the kingdom of God would appear immediately. Have you ever wondered, friends,

that you were praying for something, you want something to

happen so desperately, immediately in your life? For example, you

come out for the altar call later and say, God,

zap me out from this position. Change my position right

now because I want immediate transformation. I want immediate change.

I want to, the word is exit out from this

stage to another stage. And that's how we are wired

and that's how sometimes we ask of God to change

our circumstances immediately. But how many of you know that

God doesn't zap us out from situation? Yeah, just put

it aside. We're far behind. How many of you know

that God doesn't zap us, really transform us, change us?

The word is, take you from position A to B

in a matter of minutes or seconds. He doesn't. He

allows us to go through something called transformation. And it

will take some time. The disciple wants immediate God, restore

the kingdom of God immediately. And God decided to give

them a parable. Ellie, tell us what to do immediately.

Then Ellie tells you the story. Once upon a time,

she says, many eons ago. We want this right now. Change.

I don't like this colour. I want you to change

the orange to something else. So jank. I don't know

what it is, friends. But that's how sometimes we are

wired because we want things, because we don't like it,

we want things to be changed immediately. But God tells

you a story. There was a noble man, right, that

went to a far country to receive for himself a

kingdom to return. He called 10 of his servants to

deliver to them 10 minas, give them 10 talents, and

said to them, do business till I come. Do business

till I come. The disciple was asking Jesus, are you

going to restore the kingdom? And here he tells a story,

do business till I come. Verse 14, but his citizen

hated him and sent a delegation after him saying, we

will not have this man reign over us. We will

not have this man reign over us. Who are you?

Right now, the person holding the microphone, who are you

to tell us what to do? How to live our life.

And that's sometimes what happens in our hearts, actually. But

before I get into that, friends, I want us to

focus on verse 14. No, verse 13. He called the

ten servants to give them talents. He said this, Friends,

you and I have an assignment. We do. Everyone say assignment. Hey,

don't laugh like that. At the back of you all,

I can't hear your voice. Only you can hear Ellie's voice.

That makes about 100 of this church. Everyone say assignment. Fantastic,

all right? Do business to accomplish. You and I have

an assignment. We do. We do have an assignment. The

question here is this. Is this that whose business are

you busy with lately? Come on. Whose business have you

been busy with lately? Friends, all of us here are busy.

For the right reason, wrong reason, right purpose, wrong purpose.

Whatever it is, we are busy. I'm not here to

tell you how busy you are. We are busy. Not

doing anything is busy as well because you're busy resting.

We are busy, my friends. But the question I want

to draw us into is that whose business are you

busy with? Being 51 this year, I started watching a

bit on people retiring. Videos of people retiring. Very important.

Very important. Retirement. Retirement, very important, friends. Not only is

it very important, but very important to understand retirement, the

way of retirement. Because one day, friends, we will come

to a stage whereby we will see the rainbow. Right?

But friends, I was watching one particular video and this

guy was just sharing his heartfelt journey of a very

busy CEO one day. He said, every day when I

wake up in the morning, my phone has like gazillion

messages and texts and emails and voicemails and stuff asking

me for advice, asking me what to do. The moment

I retired, the very next day, my phone went silent.

My phone went silent. And he thought to himself, wow,

for the very first time in my life, peace and quiet.

For the very first time in my life, nobody is

disturbing my morning. I can sleep in. How many of

you want to sleep in? I can sleep in longer.

No disturbance. He was enjoying the moment until day three.

Day three, he woke up, he was so lost. Did

not know what to do with his life. Did not

know what to do with his life because people have

been asking him how to carry out different assignments to

overcome different challenges. And you felt needed, wanted. And sometimes

work gives us routine. You know that tomorrow, if those

of you who are working, you know tomorrow you have

to wake up to go to work, right? You have

to wake up to go to work. Smile, Ellie. Work

is good. She's the boss anyway. Your work gives you routine,

but the moment when the routine is taken away, friends,

you become like, who are you? Who are you? Like,

what do you do with your life? What do you

do with the rest of your life, friends? And the

challenge has always been sometimes we tie our identity with

our work. Work gives us meaning, which is true. Work

gives us purpose, which is true. But if our identity

and purpose is just tied to our vocation, our earthly vocation,

we have missed the point. The Bible says in Jeremiah 1,

Jeremiah 1:5

verse 5, Before you were formed, I knew you. Friends,

God knows you by name. He does. He was the

one who gives you life. He breathed into you, not

just ability to live, but He breathed into you purpose.

Before you were formed, I knew you and I have

called you, come on, to be a prophet to the nation.

He is the one that has an assignment for each

and every one of you. He does. Bigger than just

being a college student, bigger than just being a student,

a worker or a retiree. There is an eternal purpose

that you and I have here on earth, regardless of

our background. But many times we tie our identity with,

come on, our work. Who are you? I'm an engineer.

I'm a teacher. But friends, there is an eternal purpose

that God has given each and every one of you.

My next question is that the Bible says that Jesus

gave out talents to an individual, right? And do you

believe that God has given you talents? Come on. Do

you believe that God has given you capacity? Do you

believe that God has blessed you with amazing talents? Because

if you do believe, friends, if you do believe This

statement follows. Do you know how to use your talents?

Because a lot of people believe, friends. A lot of

people know the word, but they do not know how

to use the word. Come on. We know that for

we've gone, nothing's impossible, correct or not? We know it.

But friends, very seldom we live it out. Come on.

You know you have talents. Do you know how to

use your talents? I was in one leadership meeting with

another church plant overseas. We were having a discussion. Having

a discussion. And this is either Indonesia or Myanmar. I

think Indonesia. And talking to them. And I said, hey,

you have the manual. Our church got different manuals, different.

training materials. You have the training materials, for example, right?

And they said, yeah, yeah. Pastor, elder, we have the

training materials. I said, praise God. I said, do you understand? Understand,

of course. Next question, do you know how to use it?

Because if you know how to use it, friends, you'll

be very similar to what the manual is supposed to

tell you how to live out your life. But many times, friends,

we think we know how to use the manual, but

actually we don't. Come on. I know it's getting really

quiet here, but it's okay, friends. You are thinking. I

understand that. We think we know how to use the manual.

We think we know how to use our talents. We

believe that we are using our talents sometimes. But actually,

we're not. If you're honest enough, come on. If you're

honest enough, come on, ask yourself a question. Are you

using your talents in the right way? Are you using

your talents in the right way with whatever God has

blessed you with? One time, one young working adult came out. Elder,

pray for me. I want a brand new car. I said, great, okay,

I'll pray for you. What car do you want? I

want a two-door sports car. Okay, sure. I said, how

many people are you going to fetch to church? One?

Maybe not. Maybe I just, the other seat to put

my bag. Then I asked, the next question is that,

do you think for a moment, for a moment, right,

the first car that God will give you is just

for yourself to enjoy? Okay. Now, you can enjoy things

in life, my friends. I'm not against the two-door, but

it has to be a secondary color. I said, we

have to live for, we have to live for a

bigger purpose. Because if it's you that, if it's you

that's all that matters, then Jesus would have changed Jeremiah

Jeremiah 1:5

chapter 1 verse 5. Before I formed you, I knew you.

You shall be your own prophet. You shall tell yourself

how to live yourself. how to live out your life.

Do you know that the assignment is so important, friends?

Every day God gives us the opportunity to be ambassador

and representative to show and demonstrate His kingdom here on earth.

The ability to show off His talents that He's given you.

But you know what sometimes we do with our talents?

We hide it. We keep it within ourselves. There are

pastors we know, we found in Malaysia that are serving

two or three churches, one person. I found out one

person was travelling up and down. So I asked another pastor,

how is this brother doing? How is this pastor doing? Oh,

he just had a heart attack six months ago. Oh, okay.

So is he all right? Yeah, he's feeling better right now.

Next question is, His next statement, he said, after he

checked himself out from the hospital, he will still continue

doing the work. Still continue doing the work, regardless of... Sometimes,

you know when you go through a major bodily change

like that, the first thing is you want to pull back,

shrink back. I understand that, nothing wrong with that, but

this individual just felt God... You have caught me for this.

You have caught me for this. Therefore, I want to

be faithful. I want to be faithful to your calling.

But friends, verse 14 says this. We will not have

this man reign over us. In other words, God, I

don't like your assignment. I don't like what you're trying

to tell me how to live out my life. I

don't like this approach. Don't tell me what I can do,

what I cannot do. But yet, Lord, I want your blessing.

I just want everything external. Don't tell me that I

want you to teach me how to live out my life.

Have you ever said that before? And we become very

selective in our walk with the Lord. Now, first, it's

not scolding, friends. Smile. I'm not scolding, okay? I know

10 a.m. service is a very loving one. So, I'll

try to. Do you know that God wants to tell

us how to live our life? But yet, there are people,

there are sometimes, verse 14, don't tell us how to live.

Don't tell us how to live. God, I want to

date her. Don't tell me who I can date, who

I cannot date. Friends, because I was at the start

of the church till now, some of the people who

are married right now with kids, when they were dating,

I thank God that they didn't go through with the

person they were dating. At least say yes. It's true.

I tell you why, because they could have missed the mark.

If you're not careful, friends, verse 40 is very real

in your life. Do not tell me how to live

out my life. God has given every one of us

an assignment. He says, don't tell me how to live.

I got my own assignment, Lord. Do you know how

limiting that is? Your assignment, all we could think our

assignment is, all the assignment we could think is only

earthly assignment, very temporal. Met a man who's quite well-to-do.

After all they pursued, he said, what's the purpose of life? Friends,

I'm not talking about just having one house of five properties.

He has industry under his name. Under his name, he

has industries. who come and tell me that I only

use my plane once a year only. I went like, eh,

don't like that. Share your plane with other people. Right?

And here you see, he just went through some health

situation and he just said, what's the purpose of life?

I'm sharing you with us because many times, friends, we're

very selective, come on, with our assignments. Very selective. I

want to do this. I don't want to do this.

I was asked in early days of church, we don't

have enough helper. Pastor Kevin asked me, Kenyap, could you

help out with children's ministry? Because they don't have enough helper.

I went, Pastor, are you sure or not? My faith

and children, I tried smiling at children. They all cried. All,

nine out of ten cried. I said, we have a

crying ministry after that. But they need a disciplined teacher.

That's what I can do, Pastor. I can do very well.

So well until they all come up for autocorps after

that for the next 10 years. Trauma. But here's the thing.

Some assignment may not be, come on, may not be

what we think we want, but would you still do

the assignment? Would you still do the assignment? Oh, I cannot.

I won't. Not me, someone else. And many times because

we keep saying no to the assignment, that's the reason

why we miss the mark. Until we get our relationship

right and perspective right with God, we will always miss

the mark. See friends, it's not the assignment anymore, friends.

The assignment is part and parcel of who gives it

to you. If God was the one saying, would you serve?

Come on. Would you serve in a place, in a place,

I'm not talking about church only, your friends. Would you

serve in a community whereby you're not familiar with? Not

used to? God, you don't understand. That's the reason why

we need to get our relationship right with God because

once you understand, come on, once you understand it's God

that will give you the assignment. You don't have a

problem with what you need to do. It's very different, friends.

If it's, if someone who loves you and you love

someone tells you what to do, no problem. Wait for

me for five minutes. Don't say five minutes. Fifteen minutes,

I'll still wait for you. Put on your makeup. Because

you're in love. Now, if you happen to fetch a

church member you do not know, can you wait for

me for five minutes? Five, ten, fifteen? You speed off already.

You tell the person, get your own grab. Right? But

because you love the individual or maybe you're trying to

win the person's heart, take your time. One hour or so,

I'll wait. I'll wait for you. Don't wait, I'll put

on YouTube. I'll watch online surveys. You wait because you're

in love. The assignment. Come on. And many times in

our life, we reject because we don't have a proper

relationship with God. God, I don't understand. So last month,

I took a team to Exepung for a camp in Indonesia.

We went there on a Friday. We came out on

a Monday. Four days in Indonesia. So the last day,

last day, friends, we were physically very tired because it

was haze. the team over there prayed. The team over

there prayed. Where we had camp, where we did the camp,

was opposite the volcanic mountain. Right? They were already, they

were already report this mountain would sort of spill ashes

and stuff like that. Right? And that happened about two

weeks ago. The whole airport closed down because of the mountain,

because of the volcano. We were, if it was clear,

you could see the, you could see the volcano just

opposite the horizon of the sea. So the team prayed.

God said, just carry on with the camp. We did.

We carried on with the camp. No, no, no activity

happened at the mountain, but it was haze. It was,

we were in Indonesia, it was really bad haze. And

we got there, friends, when we got there, and you know,

typical church camp, like there was night session, It was

hard to preach, not like this crowd, because next two

doors away, there was a corporate function who has really

loud K-pop music. Imagine preaching right now, and the bass,

you could just hear the bass, and people were just

putting their finger into one ear just to listen to

my message. I said, well, praise the Lord, hallelujah. What

could go into the spirit if it doesn't come out

to the other ear? Right? Right? And it was hard

because after finishing preaching, friends, we thought we could fellowship

on the outside. But the moment we exit the hall, friends,

we saw a group of people smoking outside. It was

not just haze on the outside, friends. Haze happening inside

the hall. It was really bad. And the next three days, friends,

it was not, I won't say challenging, it was a

typical camp. But we were all exhausted, okay? So I

asked my team members. So we got to the airport.

We were supposed to fly off in the evening, later

at night. I got to the airport so early. We said,

let's do an early dinner. I asked my team members,

what do you want to eat? Elder, it's okay, we

will fast. I said, why? I just want Malaysian food.

I just want to eat something back from Malaysia. Nothing

wrong with Indonesian food, friends. We love it, man. I

love it, friends. It's just that there's only so much

they could take. Come on. If you forget who gave

you the assignment you will hit, I will never return.

If you forget the assignment, you will come up with

four minute different reasons why you don't want to go

back anymore. Come on. And the worst thing about travelling

is waiting at the airport. True or not? True or not?

You're waiting for, it's like, when is my plane coming?

Last thing you want is delay. Happened last year, went

to Indonesia for a camp. My flight was supposed to

be 8pm, got delayed to 9. By the time I

got back, my house is 1am. Next day, go back

to work. Physically exhausted and some of you travel a lot,

you understand. So there are times whereby, waiting at the airport,

I just wish, God, would you bless our church member

with a plane? Will you bless our church members with

a plane, Lord? Thank you, Jesus. One of them is

worthy to manage a plane. Would you bless them with

a plane at least? They are very kind and compassionate

to church ministry. I can say to them, please use

my plane to go for a mission trip. So that

you get to the airport, you just have to wait.

There is this, come on, kind of side of me

like this, like, God, please, Lord. You don't understand how hard. God,

I really go through the cross, but waiting at the

airport is a different story altogether. We formulate, come on,

our own ideas, what assignment is. And that's the reason

why if you don't remember who gives you the assignment,

we will just, ha, travel, forget it. Ha, this community,

forget it. Mission trip, oh, London, praise the Lord, hallelujah. Nepal, uh-uh. Right?

We'll formulate different things after a while, friends, if you're

not careful. And that's why when you have a right

relationship with God, God changes your perspective. Come on. It

changes the way you see things. He does. It changes

your heart. Many times in your life, friends, we get distracted.

And that's my next point. I want to talk about alignment.

Everyone say alignment. Alignment is so important, friends. Are you

aligning your life with the assignment that's given? Are you

aligning your life with the assignment that's given? So Luke

Luke 19:15

chapter 19, verse 15. So it was, sorry, not in

the slides. So it was, when he returned, after receiving

the kingdom, he commanded the servant to whom he had

given the money to be called to him, that he

might know how much every man had gained by trading. Alignment. Friends,

when God has given you the talent, there's a need

for alignment. Come on. When God has given you a talent,

there's a need for alignment. We can take the talent, friends.

The Bible says, let me just read on. Then came

the first saying, verse 16, Master, your mina has earned ten.

So the five, got five more, then altogether ten. God said,

well done, my good and faithful servant. They're all the way, friend,

to verse 20. That one came, Master, here is your

mina which I have kept and put away in a handkerchief.

So there's a servant who actually thought by just by

returning the talent back to him, he'd done the assignment.

There are a lot of Christians like that, friends. There

are a lot of believers like that. God, I just

show up only in can already. I just return what

you have given me. And that's the reason why sometimes

our faith never grows. Our capacity never grows. If your

capacity is still the same last year, allow God to

challenge you. People do say that, you know, elder is

so very hard to serve in church because, you know,

We are like free labour like that. It's true. People

do say that. Free labour. And because of that, I

refuse to align. Well, you could view it at that point,

you can say, but could you imagine, friends, if we

are a corporation, every one of the leaders is full-time

paid by the church. You don't even know whether the

person serving hard is wanting to be part of the church.

Because you're being paid. Number one. Although you don't understand,

because we've been taken advantage of. And that's why it's

hard to align. Hurt, disappointment. Friends, can I just say

this on behalf of leadership? We did not start off

leadership to hurt people. Please understand that. It's because not

everyone is full-time. And that's why messages get you late.

Come on. Messages get you late. You text somebody, you

want immediate response. I was talking to one young working

adult yesterday at WCC. Elder, my work is crazy. I

can only look at my messages after work in the

middle of the night. Because my company has a policy,

cannot look at handphone. Cannot. Lunchtime, cannot. But lunchtime, we

need so much. We need, we can do. What happens? Oh,

this person now replied, hurt. Let me give you other

form of distraction. Why people left church. I heard one.

I got to say this. I heard one. This person said,

unless you apologize to the whole church because you preach

the wrong doctrine. I do. Preach the wrong doctrine. If not,

I'll leave. Why are you looking at me so shocked

like that? It happened in one church plant. Unless you

apologise to the whole church because you preach the wrong doctrine.

I'm like, wow. There's only one. Could you imagine out

of this congregation, only one person said that? Now, if

95% said that, then maybe it's correct, friends. But if

it's one person out from the 99. What do you think?

Maybe he heard the wrong statement. Maybe he went off.

So it cannot be. We have heard before why people

don't want the alliance because elder, you don't understand. This

church forgot my birthday. Do you know that we have

people who get so angry because the birthday is not

listed on the screen? Friends, it is not the church

part of the coordinator because the home leader never update.

If you want to get angry, get angry with your

home leader. I'll be very angry with home leaders, okay? Right?

We have people who laugh, who don't want to lie

because you know why? My anniversary, my anniversary wasn't announced.

We have. I'm not sure, friends. Friends, the only reason

why alignment is so key, so important is because, friends,

did you know, friends, you can start off with a

brand new car, the tyres are all aligned, but through

the whole course of your driving, things start to misalign?

You didn't ask for it. You didn't look for a pothole.

Let's bang it. You didn't look for a hole in

the road. Oh, there's a hole in the road. Come on,

let's misalign the car. Oh, serve in church is a

good place to get disappointed. None of us, come on,

none of us come to church to get hurt, get disappointed.

Things happen. Can I just say, things happen. Things happen, okay.

And that's why, that's why we need to align back.

Come on. Because the servant just said, God, you've given

me one, I give you back one. because I knew

you were a hard man, Lord. We think we do

God justice by just showing up. We think we do

God justice by just showing up. But God wants to

go deeper, friends. That's why alignment is so key. Luke

Luke 22:42

chapter 22, verse 42 says, if this is your will,

take this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will but

yours be done. Nevertheless, not my will but yours be done.

If God gave you an assignment that's out of your,

come on, out of what you think you could do,

would you do it? If God gave you an assignment,

if God gave you an assignment, you think you couldn't

do it, would you still do it? We have very

young leaders in our church. We have. We do have.

This church, we have. But as they lead the homes

when there are senior people in the homes, slightly older,

young working adults, they still have to lead the homes. Irregardless,

because the Word of God is not respected of age.

They still need to teach the Word of God at homes.

But although you don't understand, there are more mature Christians.

Who said maturity has a type, just because you're a

30-year-old Christian, you're mature? I've seen friends, I've seen older

Christians who are so immature, who only come into church

during work and leave before the service ends. And this

individual is 45 years a Christian already. I know it's

a hard message but I have to share this with

you because many times, friends, that when an assignment is given,

although you don't understand my situation, I may not understand

but God understands. Come on. I don't like this assignment

but it's God. Can you imagine, come on, imagine Jeremiah

Jeremiah 1:5

chapter 1 verse 5. God called Jeremiah to be what?

Prophet to the nations, correct? He did ask for that calling.

God said that you're worthy to have that calling. Could

you imagine him preaching to the nations? God spoke to me,

I'm telling you this. You get individuals looking at him

who say God only speaks to you? Think about it.

Think only God speaks to you, is it? Jeremiah was

hearing all these statements, processing it. God, are you sure

you called me here? How come got opposition one? We

still align even though there's opposition. We still align whether

the assignment is a bit more difficult. Going for Orang

Asli mission friends, right? You need shed just now. Praise God,

I could sleep. My wife went for a mission trip

in this Chinese new village. And she was just sharing

this that, you know, in the place you were sleeping,

it was full of cats, random cats sleeping. And the

floor has sticks and stuff. You can't tell the pastor that, oh,

this floor is very dirty, cannot. I won't sleep here.

They clean up the place, they mop the place, they

were prepared, and just slept there and prayed. I'm not sure, friends,

when you receive the assignment, what's your response? God, you

don't understand, Lord. And every time we use the phrase,

we don't understand, Lord, that God must be so small

in our mind. Think about it for a moment, friends. Friend,

this is some of the deception that happens in our hearts.

This is the conversation between Prophet Samuel and Saul. 1

1 Samuel 10:8

Samuel 10, verse 8. You shall go down before me

to Gilgal. Surely I will come down to you and

offer burnt offerings to make sacrifices and peace offerings Seven

days you shall wait till I come to you and

show you what you should do. Friends, was the assignment

that Prophet Samuel said to Saul clear or not? Clear

or not? You wait where? Gilgal. What must you do?

Wait for seven days. After that, I will come and

I will make the burnt offering. Right? Very clear, right?

And this is Saul's response. And this is Saul's alignment.

He went to Gilgal. He did. From verse 7 to 9.

He went to Gilgal. He waited for seven days. He did.

But at the end of the seventh day, Samuel didn't

show up yet. Because the ground was in fear and saw,

looked at the ground, he couldn't wait anymore. Decided to

take upon himself to make the burnt offering. Friends, have

you ever thought to yourself, just because you see someone

else doing it, and if God has never called you

to do it, you think you could do it? I

was talking to another pastor from another church. Yeah, you know,

a lot of people left my church. I said, oh really?

So what happened? Yeah, they left my church. About 80%

of this church that started belongs to my church. Congregation left,

joined them. I said, are you alright? They said, yeah,

it happens. I said, how is the other church doing?

They changed three pastors already. Just because you see Ellie

worship leading, oh, I can sing better than Ellie. It

looks very simple, no, friends. Oh, who's this bald-headed guy

holding the microphone? I can preach better than him. No. No,

cannot go ahead, John. Schedule. You have to go through

the Holy Spirit called Pastor Sandra. Oh, home's leader. I

can become a better home's leader than my home's leader

because it's so boring. I heard this before. My home's

leader is so boring. So boring. Right? Bring the word

so dry. So dry. I can do better than my

home's leader. I heard that before. I don't want to

say this to you, friends. It may look very easy.

But can I just tell you this? If God has

never called you to do it, They've gone and never

called you to do it, friends. It's not as easy

as it seems. Oh, I can play the keyboard! Like

Janet can! Better than her! Friends, it's not just playing

the keyboard because anybody can play a keyboard. But you

play the keyboard with anointing or without anointing. Come on.

So Saul, friends, Saul thought that he just, he thought

it's just an offering. Come on. And many Christians just

thought it's just a faithfulness on Sunday. I just come

to church on Sunday, I just show up on Sunday.

I just show up when it's enough really. I have

done my faith duty. When your heart is not aligned,

that's what happens to us, friends. I'm not here to

entertain us, but I want to hear there's a sense

of urgency right now because we get challenged on a

daily basis with our faith. The world reminds you God

is not real. Sometimes your work reminds you that God

is not real. Your responsibility around you reminds you that

God is not real. But God is trying to tell

you that I am real. And that's why you need

to align your heart to His Word. But many times

when God speaks to us, God, you don't understand the

ground why people are leaving me. That's why I have

to do this. God, you don't understand I have to

cohabit and share room with another person of a different

sex because there's only two of us. Save money, God.

Some of you are looking at me like... We tell

that to our campus students. Back then, I had the

privilege of leading the campus ministry for a very short time,

for six months. That's all I could take. I nearly

butchered them and butchered myself also. I just say like this,

stop staying with your girlfriend. You think God cannot get

you a room, meh? Met another brother. I'm just going

to say this, okay? I know they're chewing here. Met

another brother. I said, how are you doing? I said,

what happened to your girlfriend? Book up already? Oh. I said,

why did you break up? Oh, my girlfriend was sleeping around.

I said, then you not sleeping around? He looked down.

I said, you get your life right. Get your life right.

It's easy to comment on other people. See, everything, friends,

the alignment, the alignment, the alignment happens to you first.

To you first, friends. Let's talk about holiness for a moment.

You know, a lot of times, right? A lot of times,

a lot of times, right? We don't talk about holiness.

We don't. We talk about, oh, this person is so bad.

But friends, our heart sometimes is so deceitful. So deceitful.

And that's why God wants us to align our hearts.

It's so easy to comment, you're not doing this, not

doing that. But friends, let's get our hearts right. Because

God is after our hearts at the end of the day.

Do you know why alignment is so important? Because God understands.

The Bible says, you draw near to God with your lips,

but your heart is so far away. Come on. You

draw closer to God with our lips, Less of me,

more of you. Less of me, more of you. Sounds

so nice. Sounds so good. But the moment sometimes we

live our life is more of us, Lord, less of Him.

And that's why there is no breakthrough, no transformation, no fruits.

You know, in John chapter 15, I think, When there's alignment,

John 15 · chapter mention

there's fruitfulness. If you abide in me and abide in you,

you shall bear much fruit, the Bible says. That's why

alignment is so key, friends. Alignment happens when we surrender.

God has given you five, the person traded all five.

You know, with every capacity comes challenge. You won't know

how much capacity you have until you go through that challenge. Oh,

I can do a lot for you, Lord. I can

do a lot for you. Start somewhere. I have a

brother one day commented, you know, Elder, next time we

do renovation, you should be doing this, this, this. Have

you got really good advice from Christian brothers and sisters

telling you what to do? I said, great. Fantastic. Praise

the Lord. Would you want a volunteer next building committee? Oh,

I'm busy. I'm busy. Hey, I'm not scolding people, friends.

I'm just sharing you, all right? I'm busy. I say, brother,

thank you so much for your advice, but it's really

helpful when you come aboard before we start anything. After

you fix up everything, then only you comment. Have you

done that before? After you fix up everything, then you comment.

Alignment is key. Finally, is this accountability? And this is

how I'm going to sort of end. Why do you

think accountability is so important when God asks you? Because

you know why? Because our interpretation is very different. Our

interpretation is very different. I said earlier on, you can

have the manual but you interpret it differently, the outcome

is very different. Let me ask you a question right now.

What is a clean toilet? Dry. Dry. Okay, what else?

I asked 8am, a person, how, what is a clean toilet?

As long as you don't see anything, it's clean. As

long as you don't see anything, it's clean. As long

as there's no pee stain on the toilet there, it

is clean. This brother was saying it. The wife said,

the wife was at the back there. No. No. No.

So John, how do you clean your toilet? With brush.

What else? This whole toilet, that's all, right? As long

as the toilet bowl is clean, the whole toilet is clean, right?

The floor also has to be clean. Cannot have any

hair on the floor. Cannot have any hair, right? Has

to be spotless, right? Smells good, right? Fantastic. Fantastic. I

ask this question so many times to so many people.

Everybody got different interpretation. Elder, as long as there's no

pee stain on the toilet bowl, it's considered clean. As

long as there's no smell, it's considered clean. I say,

what the hell? Hair is acceptable. Hair on the floor

is acceptable. Who doesn't drop hair? I don't drop hair.

Who doesn't drop hair in the toilet one? Acceptable. Wet toilet,

come on. Some of you live in wet toilet. Is

it acceptable or not? Acceptable because it's a toilet, man.

It's meant to be wet, correct or not? Simply, John

Sook said the toilet will dry. Simply use bidet spray everywhere.

I'm trying to draw this out because every one of

us have different interpretation of what a clean toilet is.

This is just toilet. What more your calling? What more

your faith? What more your understanding of who God is?

Because all of us, when you interpret it very differently,

based on our own idea alone, do you know we'll

miss the mark? Do you know that you'll miss the

mark if you don't go back to the Word? If

you don't open God's Word, if you're just based on, hey,

it's so unfair. I thought this church is supposed to love.

And you use the word love all the way, friends. Friends,

love involves sacrifice. How come you don't talk about sacrifice?

John Sook, if you love me, you call me. Follow

up with me. And we have very unrealistic expectation. Accountability.

accountability is very key, friends. This is how I'm going

to end. This is how I'm going to end. If

you knew, friends, if you knew that you're supposed to

give an account, how will you change your life? I'm

going to close. If you knew that you're supposed to

give an account, how would it change your life? You know,

all of us here, we need to give an account.

We would. How would it change your life? Actually, we

never think about it that way. I'm not trying to

paint a very morbid picture one day. I just want

us to think, friends, if you knew that you're supposed

to give an account of your life, how would it

change you? Because all this time, we've been living for ourself.

God speaks to you right now. Come on. God is

speaking to you right now. He's asking you. If you

knew one day you would give an account. God did

not ask you to give up your job. He did

not ask you to give up your studies. No. He's

asking you to widen your horizon. If you knew one

day you're supposed to give an account, how would it

change your life? The servant that was given one talent. God,

I knew you were a hard man. Weeping where you

did not sow. So I'm returning back to you. When

we have a misalignment, this is what we do. God,

I thought just showing up to church is enough. Now friends,

if you're just coming to church, I'm not knocking anyone

who's coming to church alone. But if you're just coming

to church, if your faith, there's no quiet time. I'm

not even asking you to serve God yet. If there's

no quiet time, no opening His Word, right? No asking God, God,

would you teach me how to read the Bible? Would

you help me to understand your Word? Would you? No,

I just want information, the Word information. I want heart transformation.

Because you go through daily life, friends, come on. You

either get hurt, at your workplace, at home, or in church.

People get hurt sometimes, my friends. There's no shielding from that.

Misunderstanding happens. But if we're going to take hurt, for example,

and forever our will be hijacked by an emotion that

we experienced at one point in time of our life,

what happens? We'll be so far away from the truth.

So far away from God's purpose. So far away from

what God wants us to experience. And God this morning

is speaking to each and every one of you. If

you knew that you're supposed to give an account, the

servant with one talent, if you knew that God is

asking for something different, I can guarantee you He will

not be like that. Because many times in our life,

we shape how we serve, what we do in our

life through our worldview. And if our mind is not renewed,

if our heart is not renewed, friends, we will miss

the mark. You and I are so precious in the

sight of God. Young and old, you're so precious in

the sight of God. He doesn't want you to miss

out His calling. I'm not here to guilt trip anyone

to serve more. I'm not here to guilt trip anyone

here to give more. No. I'm here to encourage you

to live for God. A bigger purpose. Come on. A

bigger purpose. A bigger purpose than what we would ever

think or even ask for. A bigger purpose than what

we would even think or ask for, friends. We think

that this is our capacity when God says, your capacity

is more than just a prophet in your own household.

Your capacity has always been nations. Come on. Nations. He

doesn't want you to miss out. He doesn't want you

to get distracted. He doesn't want even you to, the

word is get robbed by the moment of mistake. He doesn't.

He's reminding you today, come to me. All those of

you who are here related and I will give you

a rest. He's encouraging you, friends, and telling you. I'm

not sure where you are with your journey, friends. But

I've met enough pastors recently to understand really what's at stake.

Our faith gets challenged every day. Every day gets challenged.

Is God real? Is God real? Our faith gets challenged

every day, friends. When hurt comes in, God, you say

you love me, but how come am I going through this?

At the end of the day, friends, when you sort

of go home to be with the Lord, what will

people around you say you are? How would they describe you?

How would they, what would they say about you or

this individual? It's amazing. Share you a true story as

I end. When my mum passed away, I got different

individuals I do not know came up to me, shook

my hand. And these are not just normal people from

the church, another church. Shook my hand and said, you know,

your mom took care of me. I said, who are you?

I'm so-and-so. I'm 85 years old, by myself, staying in

a 450 square feet apartment. My children abandoned me. Your

mom cooked for me. Not all the time, but she can,

she cook. Then another person, redoer, 75, shook my hand.

Your mom calls me up once every two weeks just

to chat on the phone, just check out how I'm doing.

Your mom and your dad came and visit me when

I'm not well. Messages just flirt, her phone and just

stuff like that. And I always knew this, my mum,

I always thought my mum was very strict because growing

up in the Asian, typical Asian family, strictness was the

middle name. But hearing all that just reminds me, put

a lot of things into perspective. Friends, accountability. How would

it change your life if you knew that God would ask,

how have you lived your life? Because you have to

be bigger than our job. bigger than our vocation, bigger

than everything. Because one day, friends, we'll retire. One day,

your phone will stop ringing, asking you for directions, what

to do, what not to do. Except for the church, friends.

If you're serving in church, your phone never stops. It

will continue ringing until God calls you home. But I'm

talking about your earthly vocation. One day, it will stop.

Nobody will ask you to reply to emails and stuff

like that. I pray that none of you get lost

asking yourself, who am I? I pray that none of

you will be like, yeah, what am I doing with

my life? I'm 60 right now. But oh, I pray

all of us here, yeah, thank you, Lord. I made

it here. I got more time. I can serve you. Yeah, Lord,

thank you so much. I make an impact right now.

I'm ready for my next stage. I'm sharing this so

important to you because I met individuals who get so lost,

do not know what to do. Young or old friends,

as I close right now, accountability. God has given you talents.

Do you know you have? Do you know how to

use them? Do you know that you have talents? Do

you know how to use your talents for the kingdom

of God? to align your life to Him. What have

we been busy with lately? It's just all about us?

God has never, friends, God has always valued faithfulness over success.

Because in faithfulness, you have a successful marriage. You are

faithful to your spouse, you have a successful marriage. Or

I want to have a successful marriage, but you're not faithful,

you're not going to have a successful marriage. faithfulness at

the end of the day.

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.