The God Of Yes And Amen | Eld Rosalind Ang

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

We hope this message will light up your day.

So what we're going to do today is a bit

more of a reflection and a bit of learning. Is

that okay? We're going to do a bit of learning

of the Word of God. So my first question to you,

and if you know me, my style is to ask

you a lot of questions. Okay, first question is this.

What is your greatest need in life? Okay, let's start deep, huh?

And you don't have to answer right now. I want

you to just think about it. And so one of

the ways that we learn, this is not a lecture.

Can I say that this is not lecture? You didn't

come for a lecture. We came here to soak up

the word of God, right? And so how we do

that is you, how do you learn guys? What's the

best way to learn? Ask question. Okay. Yeah, you can

ask me question actually. If you're daring enough, that's great.

What else? How else can you really be engaged to

learn something? Pay attention and what else? What else? What

do you do in school? Take notes. Okay. So one

of the things maybe my side mission is to make

ChurchX a learning church. And that means you don't come

and just fold your hands and like, okay, let's see

what you've got to say. But let's write down what

God is speaking to you. How's that? Is that okay?

So I know we have devices. So take notes, take notes.

Because when you actually take down something, it means that

your mind is engaged, right? And you're not just copying something,

but you're really engaging with the word. Ask questions, put

down questions. And, you know, I think that's a great

way to learn, okay? So we're in the business of

learning about who God is. So please... One of my previous...

I was under Elder Adeline before. She's gone to somewhere

else now. And one of the things that I've always

learned from her is that a short pencil is better

than a long memory. Agree or not? I've always carried

that with me because whatever that you capture right now,

you know, one of your responsibilities... What are the responsibilities

that you have now after you have received the Word

of God? Tell me. You're supposed to pass it on.

You're not supposed to keep it to yourself. And so

I realised that if I don't mentally take note of

that and be like, what did the preacher preach? I

don't know. How are you supposed to pass it on? Right?

And Jesus calls us to go and make disciples. And

making disciples means we want to pass on to them

the words and the teachings of Jesus, right? And so

this is a great opportunity. So every time you come

for homes or for Sunday, it's like, yes, let me

take something that I can now pass on to someone else.

And that's how you grow deeper into the word and

the knowledge of who God is. Amen? Right? So I

just want to encourage you. You're like, huh? Am I

going to be a student again? Yeah. God says, be

an approved, diligent worker unto Him. Right? Study. And so

we want to be students of the Word of God. Yeah,

some of you, you finished your school already, like, I'm

never going to study again. But I guess what? You'll

be students for life. Yeah? Because we're all growing through

this life journey, okay? Okay, so enough of the motivational talk. Okay,

so greatest need, just write it down. Just think about

it seriously. What is something that you, you know, it's...

you think you cannot live without in this life that

you have, okay? I see a group of young men here,

you know, campus students, I think. Yeah, or young working adults. Oh,

look so young. Okay, fresh, fresh.

Very good.

So just think about it. What is my greatest need

in life right now? Okay, and I will revisit this

question again in the middle of the message later. Okay, good. Now,

so this year, our theme is revival. And I've been

really thinking about our prayer life. So maybe the next

question for you, which is not on the slide, is

how is your prayer life? You're like, huh? What prayer life?

I thought we just pray on Sunday. Or at most,

we pray three times a day. Thank you, Jesus, for

the breakfast, lunch and dinner. Right? Okay. So next thought

is this. Okay, what differentiates a Christian prayer? What is

a prayer... Let's go to the next slide, right? In

Christian prayers, what is a commonly used word? And you

know that you don't really hear this in other types

of religions or beliefs. What is a word that is

commonly used in Christian prayer that you hear all the time? Amen.

I heard Jesus. Thank you. There is Jesus there. So yeah,

we are praying to the right God. And yes, amen.

Amen is... Yeah, amen is a very, very common word.

Tell me what do you understand about this word amen?

Because you've said it so many times already this morning, right?

So what does amen mean? And so it shall be done. Okay,

and so it shall be done. What other meanings is

ascribed to it? I agree. I agree. Yeah. So the

very common understanding about this word amen is, yeah, I agree. Right.

Out of, you know, sincerity, you know, every time we

say something and then this is what like a preacher's

sort of like pitfall. We try to get engagement from

the crowd, right? And we're like, you know, amen church.

What did you amen to? Amen to amen, right? So

it has become like an involuntary response or a reflect,

you know, a reflective thing that you just do. Or

some of us, it's just like, can you imagine if

you pray, pray, pray, right? Dear Lord Jesus, thank you

for this. And then, and then you stop there. Does

it feel incomplete? It's like, something's missing, right? So we

must amen. And sometimes when my girls are praying, and

you know, they pray, and then suddenly they forget whether

they pray or not. Then they pray again, like double

confirm like that. And then amen, amen, like that. You know,

just to make sure that God heard our prayer the

first time. So that's how it has been. used in

our Christian modern world. Okay? So, but I was very

curious about this word. And so we're going to learn

a little bit about this word. Is that okay? Can ah? Alright. Amen.

Very good ah? Okay. So let's go to a little

bit of a responsive thing. And what you're going to do, right? Yeah,

so be it. I agree. Let it be so, right?

So these are some of the things that you have

commonly come to understand what Amen means. All right. Now, okay,

so we're going to read a little bit of the

Word of God. And what I'm going to need you

to do is every time you see the word Amen,

you will respond. Okay? Is that okay? That's it, huh?

So let's go to Deuteronomy chapter 27. Deuteronomy 27. Okay,

Deuteronomy 27 · chapter mention

so I'm just going to read this and you respond

in the affirmative. Okay, let's go from verse 11. And

Moses commanded the people on the same day saying, These

shall stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people when

you have crossed over the Jordan. Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar,

Joseph and Benjamin. And these shall stand on Mount Ebal

to curse. Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan and Naphtali. Okay.

How many mountains are there right now? Testing you. Two mountains.

Which one would you want to stand on? Which one?

Mount Gerizim. Nobody want to stand on Mount Ebal? Don't

want ah? Why? You're very kind people, right? I know,

you're so kind. You're like, no, no, nobody wants to stand.

But the poor tribes of Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan

and Naphtali had to stand on that. Verse 14. Verse 14.

And the Levite shall speak with a loud voice and

say to all the men of Israel, Cursed is the

one who makes a carved or molded image, an abomination

to the Lord, the work of the hands of the craftsmen,

and sets it up in secret. And all the people

shall answer and say, Cursed is the one who treats

his father or mother with contempt. And all the people

shall say, Cursed is the one who moves his neighbor's landmark.

And all the people shall say, Cursed is the one

who makes the blind to wander off the road and

all the people shall say. Cursed is the one who

perverts the justice due the stranger, the fatherless and widow

and all the people shall say. Cursed is the one

who lies with his father's wife because he has uncovered

his father's bed and all the people shall say. Cursed

is the one who lies with any kind of animal

and all the people shall say. Curse is the one

who lies with his sister, the daughter of his father

or daughter of his mother, and all the people shall say.

Curse is the one who lies with his mother-in-law, and

all the people shall say. I see some of your

faces like, this is in your Bible, okay? I'm just

reading the Word of God. Curse is the one who

attacks his neighbor secretly, and all the people shall say.

Curse is the one who takes a bribe to slay

an innocent person, and all the people shall say. Cursed

is the one who does not confirm all the words

of this law by observing them and all the people

shall say. Amen. Ladies and gentlemen, friends, you have just

agreed to these curses upon yourself. If these things are done,

Do you know what you have just declared? 12 times

you said amen, right? Oh, you didn't say ah? Okay lah.

That's why got people never say one. Every time got

people never say one. Right? And so, what you have

just said, right? In the olden days, in the Far East, right? So,

what happens is whenever, today, today, whenever there's an agreement

between two persons, right? Let's say we want to do

a business deal, what do you do to make it

How do you confirm and make it legal? You sign

a contract. You sign a contract. But in the Far East,

in those days, they didn't have the concept of contracts.

What they had was, they will say something, right? So

whenever a king gives a decree, or whenever a covenant

is made between two persons to make it legally binding,

what they will say is, I will say all these things,

And the witnesses will give an affirmative word. And for

the Hebrew people, this word is called Amen. So all

of you just became witness to one another to see

if any of you did any of those abominable things,

curse is upon you. Got it? Yeah? So it means, right,

it's more than just agree. You have actually just said,

I have heard, I understood. this and I'm bound to it.

You have bound yourself to these curses. It's very interesting.

I tried to search, right? Is there any part where

it's the blessings and then there is the amen to it? No,

you know. Only the curses. I don't know why. Anyway,

y'all should go and Discover why, right? So you're bound

to what was just declared. Now, let's move on to

the next thought. So the word amen comes from this

Hebrew word called aman. Can you say aman? Aman, aman.

So this word aman connotes this idea that it's to

be firm, to be established, it's secure, right? You're very

sure of this. Very, very sure of this. Now, the

picture of it is as though you are building a

house on a foundation. Yeah, a foundation. Can you see this?

You're not saying that, oh, I hope the foundation will hold.

You're saying that I know it will hold because it

is already holding. Right, this chair, is it firm? No.

Is it sure? And the idea of it is like, no,

I agree that this chair is firm. I agree. You know,

sometimes we say, amen, yeah, I think this chair is

firm enough, it's established, it's secure. But the way you

test this, right, is like this. I can jump on this.

I can step on it. And I am so sure...

that this will hold my weight. And so to be,

to say amen is to say, I can, not just

I agree with this, you know, is to say I

will really put my whole weight onto this because I

am sure that it will hold me. So if you

think about your prayers right now, many of us, I

feel when we pray, right, there's a little bit of

this thing at the back of our heads and our

minds thinking like, I don't know. I'm not sure whether

whatever that I pray for, whether God will answer or not.

Anyone gone through that before? Like you pray, then you're like,

but I don't know. Maybe my prayer is not aligned

to God's will. I don't know. I hope you're thinking

like that. Or you're thinking like, no, God is God.

Are you hearing me? Will you even do this for me?

So it's as though you're saying, I don't know whether

I can really put my weight. I'm abusing this chair. Okay,

so no chair was harmed during this message. Okay, it

can take my weight. You see that? Let's go to

the next thought. So from this word, right? Now, it's

very interesting because if you study the Bible, what happens

is originally the Old Testament is written in which language?

Do you know? Hebrew, Hebrew, right? Hebrew is that language.

And from Hebrew, what happens was when it came to

Jesus' time, they translate all of this Old Testament, right?

The Torahs and all the historical books into Greek, right?

And then today, anyone reading Greek Bible? Eh, no ah?

You read English Bible, right? Now, very interestingly, because usually

they will translate the word from Hebrew to Greek to

Latin and then to English. So for example, the word love, right?

How many of you, you go to a girl that

you like, you're like, I got pay you. Go or not,

go or not. Girls, if you get that, you're like, okay,

this is worth paying attention to. Don't run away yet.

Don't run away straight away. What la? Okay, immediately run away.

Don't know the context. But you see, love itself has

lost the, there's so many meanings to love. We've lost

the depth of the meaning in English today. So you

can say, oh, I love McD ice cream. And in

the same bread, you say, I love God. And are

those two things the same? And we mix them up,

you know. We mix them up and it's like, oh,

because today I like this flavor, then tomorrow I like

another flavor. And then we bring that connotation to our

love for God. Today, yes. Today, no. Fickle, right? We

become fickle. Now, so the word love in original Hebrew

is chesed. Can you say that? Chesed. Then after that,

in the Greek, it's agape, agapao. And then today, it's love.

But very interestingly, this word, amen, is never translated throughout.

It's actually whatever that you see right now, amen, in

your Bible, is an original Hebrew word. Pardon me. It's

a Hebrew word, right? And why do you think this

word was not translated? Just give me an educated guess.

Why do you think some things are not translated? It

just cannot be translated because there's nothing good enough to capture,

encapsulate the meaning. Yeah? Okay? I'm looking to my lawyer friends.

Any intellectual insights there? Okay. Okay. So let's go, let's

go on to more thoughts. Now from this root word aman,

which comes the word amen, then comes branches out. You

see in Hebrew, right, there's a lot of root word

and then you branch out to different, different words, right?

So the different words is emunah, which is faith. We

hear so much about faith. Yeah? Faith, yeah. Faith comes

from this word amen. And then this word truth. How

many of us like the truth? How many of us

are seeking the truth, right? That's what sometimes most of us, right?

This slide, thank you. Thank you for responding. I really appreciate.

At least you're listening. The rest, I don't know. Yeah. So,

you know, actually all of us are looking for the truth.

Which is the truth in this life, right? There's so

much smokescreen today. right, on what you should pursue your

life for, what's your life purpose. And we're all seeking truth.

So from this word comes amen, right? So it branches

out to that. And you know, Jesus says that I

am the way, the truth and the life. Okay, so

let's go on. Let's go on to other thoughts. Let's

move on. Now, okay, so this word Amen, I'll just

give you some trivia, okay? In the King James Version,

it was used 78 times and it's found in the

24 out of the 27 New Testament books. Means all

the 24 of the New Testament books, you have this

word Amen somewhere. End of prayer, end of the book

is there, okay? But interestingly, in the Gospels, only Jesus

used this word Amen as He was teaching, right? Okay, now...

All of us, we use amen at the back of

the sentence. But Jesus did not. What did he do?

He used it at the beginning of his sentence. Let

me give you... You see, the English version, right? You

cannot capture this. So let's go, let's go. Let's go

to the next example, right? Let's go to the next slide. Okay,

Mark 10, 15. I'm going to read the NKJV. It says... Okay...

All of us read this together, right? One, two, three. Assuredly,

I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom

of God as a little child will by no means

enter it. Okay? So this is a verse that we've

read before. Right? And this word assuredly, what does it

mean to you? Guarantee ah? Well, assured, confirm, right? So assured,

I say to you, in the King James Version, they

say verily. Is there a Valerie here? Verily, I say

to you. Not calling someone's name. Verily, truly. Truly. Confirmed. Truly. N-I-V-E-S-V. Now,

if you trace it back to the original word, this

is all amen. So you go to the... That means, right,

it was... When Jesus is saying this, this is all

words of Jesus, you know. He's saying, Amen, I say

to you. Amen, I say. He did not end it

as a sentence period using this word Amen. He used

it at the beginning. Why? Because when we say, you know,

when we understand Amen to be like, oh, I agree

with this. But Jesus says, no, I don't need anyone

to agree with me. I am. I am. It shall

be done. Right? So, amen, I say to you. So

Jesus is really saying, it shall be done, I say

to you. It shall be done, I say to you.

That means, right, no mincing the words, you know. Some

of us, right, when we read the Bible, we are like,

some things we take, like, I don't know, real or not.

And because when we take the word of God like that, right,

it does not impact you at all. So this word, right,

Whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a

little child will by no means enter it. What does

this mean to you? Childlike faith. Wow, our brother here.

Bible scholar, is it? No, ah? So, childlike faith. Then,

I will ask you, then all of you have childlike

faith or not? What is childlike faith? Childlike faith means

if you fall down, you just call for daddy, right?

Straight away. As a child, you're not like, will my

daddy come? Will my daddy listen to me? You're just like, ah!

How many of us practice that in our daily walk? Right,

so are we practicing childlike faith? But Jesus says, if

you don't have this childlike faith, you will not enter

the kingdom of God. Then you're like, huh? But I

already said the salvation prayer. I'm already baptised. I go

to church every Sunday and prayer service and homes. I serve,

I tithe. But Jesus says, if you do not have

childlike faith, you will not enter the kingdom of God.

So who's right? You or Jesus? Think about it. So

Jesus says, it's done. Now in John 3, there is

another example. Let's move on. John 3, in the KJV,

it's like, verily, verily, I say to you. Right? Truly,

most assuredly. So next time, now I want you to think,

whenever you see this word in your Bible now, most assuredly, truly, truly,

I tell you, I tell you the truth. It just

means that Jesus is saying, Amen, Amen. So if you

translate it, let's go to the next slide. Oh, okay.

So I didn't do it. Go back to previous slide.

So it just means that Jesus is doing a double,

it's called an empathic Amen. Right, it's a double amen.

So Jesus is saying, right, firstly, I already established my authority. Secondly,

he says that whatever I say cannot be shaken. Cannot

be shaken. Cannot be shaken at all. It's like, you know,

someone used the word just now, confirm, right? So some

of us like, most surely I tell you, you don't

tell this to your friends. It's like, truly, truly, I

tell you, you know, like, confirm, confirm. If I say

I will be there, I will be there. Right? So

that's the double empathic. Okay, let's move on. So he

was declaring that by his authority, what follows is unshakable.

It's done. It is done. I wonder how many of us,

when we come to God in prayer, do we come

with this confidence? So this word confidence, are you confident?

Who are you coming before? Or do you really think

that it's, is he king? Is he powerful? Is he

in control? Does he hear me? Does he care? How

is your prayer life? Think about it. So maybe then

the next, if you backtrack a little bit, it's like, actually,

do I even go to him every day? Do I

even pray every day? Or is the only prayer that

you have, what is seen on a Sunday? This is

the only prayer time. I know our prayer times on

Sundays are powerful. They are very releasing. They are very

empowering and very ministering to us. But do you know

that you can do that every day? Every day you

can encounter God. You don't have to wait for a

Sunday or a prayer service. God is there with us.

And you know, part of revival is reviving our prayer life.

You know, to be able to launch out into our

next year's theme, which is evangelism, right? If you don't

have a prayer life, you don't build one now, it's

going to be very hard to launch out. Because you're

not building deep. If you're not building deep roots in

your prayer life, don't expect to be fruitful. Like a tree, right?

You plant a seed, you want it to grow roots.

And one of the biggest roots, right, is our prayer.

We got to be a praying church. Amen? God says,

you know, I've called this a house of prayer. And

you carry it. You are that house when you go home.

You are the priests at home. Fathers, do you establish

an altar at home? Because you are the priests. Husbands,

I'm speaking to you. Sons and daughters. You can carry that.

And I want you to know that that's who you are.

God called you kingdom of priests. Right? Royal priesthood. We

have this royal heritage. And most of us just don't care.

Either we don't know it or we don't care about it.

That's the honest truth. Right? But if you want to

be really fruitful in your life to see God move

in and through you. Do you know these signs and

wonders following the preaching of the word? All of these things, right?

It's not like a done thing and you can't expect

that anymore. I think what Joe shared earlier about that

healing and that peace of God, right? That is a miracle.

It is a miracle because she cried out like, Jesus,

it's got to be you. Yes, there's the medical, modern

medical interventions and all that. But do you know that

without God sustaining her, she will not be here today.

She will not be breathing, living, loving God and serving

all of you by sharing today. So there's this deep

recognition that Jesus is real. He's so real and He's

so sure. I want you to go away today thinking,

this God that I choose to believe in, He is sure,

He is unshakable. Right, let's go on to this thought.

Let's go on to the next one. Okay, do you

know that in the book of Revelations, chapter 3, verse 40,

I'm going to speed this through a little bit. So

it says, write this letter to the angel of the

church in Laodicea. This is the message from the one

who is the? Amen. Who was writing this? Whose words

are these? If you open your Bible, it will be

letters in red. We only think, right, Jesus spoke in

the Gospels. But in Revelation, these are Jesus' words. You

check and see, got red colour or yours don't have,

or black. These are the words of Jesus. And Jesus

could have called himself many, many other names. The God

of peace. the God of shalom, the God of joy,

the God of power. But he calls himself from the

one who is the Amen. So it's not just I

am Jehovah Jireh. I'm not just Jehovah Rapha. I am

the Amen to the Jireh and the Rapha and all

of that. I am the Amen. This is how Jesus

calls himself, okay? What does a name mean? What does

a name mean? It signifies your identity. It signifies your destiny.

And it signifies the essence of this person. Right? What

does your name mean? No meaning. Maybe that's why we

don't live up to the name our parents give us, right? Ooh. Ooh. Ooh.

But Jesus lived out the name. You know, I think

they said that Jesus has 200 over names and titles. Yeah,

make it as an exercise. Go and find out all

the 200 names and titles of Jesus. And one of

them is called the Amen. He is the Amen. So

every time you Amen, you're calling, you're invoking what Jesus is,

who He is, His identity and His destiny. Let's go on.

He is not the messenger but the promise itself, yeah? Yeah. Okay,

I don't want to elaborate on that. Let's go on

to this thought. So now, every time then, when you

come before God in prayer, and what Joe shared earlier was,

you know, be anxious for nothing. But in supplication prayer,

every cry that you have, every tear that you shed,

in sincerity, in your prayer to God, know that you're

bringing it to God who is already the Amen. It's

done deal, friends. Okay? So let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Now,

I like this. Okay? So let's read the NKJV version

because you all know this very well. One, two, three.

For all the promises of God in Him are yes

and in Him, Amen. To the glory of God through us.

Heard of this before? The God who is yes and amen.

God of yes and amen. And the NLT says for all,

is it 30% of God's promises? 60? 99.9%? All of

God's promises have been fulfilled in Christ with a resounding yes. Yes,

it's fulfilled. Okay, so all of God's promises are fulfilled

in Christ. That's why it's the yes. And our amen,

that's our response to Him. Our amen, which is our

yes to His yes, ascends to God for His glory. Now,

do you know, some of you know sign language, BIM?

And I was thinking about it. I think they got

the sign for amen really right. Give me a yes, everybody.

Yes and amen. It's like this. The foundation is holding

the yeses. Amazing, right? And I don't know how the BIM,

you know, they got that. But that was just so

vivid to me that the amen is founded on something unshakable.

So when you go to God in prayer right now, right,

it's like, God, it's done. All the promises of God

are yes and amen. Now, then some of you might think,

but you know, I've been praying. I've been praying for

this for a long time. Okay, I can be honest

with you. I've been praying for my dad's salvation for

as long as I can remember. Okay? He's still not

a believer yet. So they said, how do we reconcile this?

The yes and amen to something that is not yet.

All of us struggle with this, right? It's like, how long, God?

But I thought you say yes. And I amen to

that already. But But why do we struggle? And I

believe most of us, we will struggle with this in

our faith journey, you know? So let's go to this

next thought. Yeah, let's go to it. So come back

again to what is your greatest need, right? That's what

I asked you at the beginning of this. Now, are

you ready to give me your answers? I've given you

half an hour to think about it. Okay, shout to

me some of your answers. I dare not say it.

Y'all got no needs, right? Oh, too many needs. Which

one is it? Too many needs, ah? Yeah. Oh, money.

Greatest need in life, ah? Money, money. And so without money,

your life will mean nothing? Oh, pointing to the partner

in crime. It's like, not my answer. Secretly, we said like, yeah,

actually money is very important. Okay? Okay. I will accept

the answer. What else? What else? No, no. Is it

just all of you, just money? Nah, okay. For some people,

especially the younger generation, money not important. Because money come

from parents. That's why lah. So that's why it's like, yeah,

it's okay. The ever-abunding flow from my parents. What would

be a need, you know, that's really, really important to you? Health. Health, okay, health.

And so in your condition right now, Less health? Is

your life less worth living? Just think about it. Because

when we try to answer this question, right, it's just saying,

without this need being fulfilled, my life means nothing. Faith? Okay, faith, faith. Okay,

we're getting more spiritual right now. Pastor Stephen, what do

you think is a great need? Purposeful. That's why he's

the pastor, I'm not. I want to tell you that

our God is so good because He meets all our needs.

It's just that sometimes we confuse our needs with our wants. Yes? Yes?

And so what we think we need, say for example, oh,

I need to get this promotion at work. I worked

so hard for it. And then when you pray and

you went through it and then you missed it, then

you're like, God, where is the yes and amen? And

then we begin to doubt and question. You're right. We

begin to doubt and question. Many of us, and I

use just the very surface kind of thing, many of

us have prayed for loved ones. We've prayed for even

salvation and sometimes different ones pass on without them knowing Jesus.

And that's really heartbreaking. Right. And so we struggle internally.

This turmoil of like, but God, your word says it's

yes and amen. What am I missing here? Okay. So

I want to tell you that this is, let's go

to the next one. Do you know what this is?

Lord's Prayer. Y'all know how to pray this? Let's pray

this together. One, two, three. Our Father in heaven, hallowed

be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done

on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this

day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as

we forgive our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation,

but deliver us from the evil one. In here lies

the three greatest needs that we all have in our lives.

Can you spot them? What are the three greatest needs

that Jesus knows you need already? Your daily bread. What else? Forgiveness.

What else?

Deliverance. Yeah. So I put it in three Fs for you.

So anyway, so you know, highlighted for you, the answer sheet.

Our daily bread. Do you know, in our daily bread, right?

It's not, God, give me the focaccia and the sourdough.

If God gives you Chopin, the hot in thing right now,

and if God gives you a roti canai, he still

fills your stomach, right? But we say, but I want

the Chopin. Hey, I heard there's this bagel, bagel in KL. See,

our young people know all this. Then, grumpy bagel. which

people queue up for, line up outside. And I heard

it's not that great. Oh, see? But we're all drawn

to it, right? Because of what you see in social

media and all that. It's like, whoa, grumpy bagel is

a hot new thing. And then you want to go

there so that you can post on your own IG, right? Like, oh,

I had it. You did not, kind of thing. And

what if, what just gave you a donut? Hahaha. Or

toseh or something like that. Do you know? There's this

term that we always have with God. Like, God, I

want it like that. But God says, I just give

you your daily bread. And He's just saying, I will

make sure you don't go hungry. Yeah? You know, I

will give you enough so that you don't have to

beg for bread. That's another one of God's promises. Are

you begging for bread, anyone? But then we get disappointed

when we don't get to eat. Grumpy beggar. We become grumpy.

With God. Right. Think about your prayer life that way.

How many times have you come to Him with a need,

a want, disguised as a need. God, I really need this.

I really need this relationship. You know, make Him the one.

Make her the one. Right. And we pursue it with

all our might. We try so hard. When He says, no, no, no,

this one not for you. Bad for your digestion. But

God says, I will give you your daily bread. I will...

Nobody thought about forgiveness, right? As your greatest need in life. God, okay.

The mature ones will think about it. As you go

through life, as you makan a lot more salt and

rice in life, you will come to know what's important.

So we just want to tell the younger people here,

we want to tell you ahead that don't waste your

youth on things that will end up, right, fluff. You

know fluff? Yeah, oh, not fluff the pancake, yeah? Or

waffle or whatever. But you want young people, speaking to

all young people here, right now you want to know

what's important so that you can spend the next 20, 30, 40,

50 years pursuing the right thing. Yeah? Just know what

God wants. Don't say like, oh, I want to live

my life first. You know, I want to live it all.

Then when I'm 50 years old, then I will serve God. No, why? Why?

Why don't you give the best years of your youth

to God? Come on, young people. Is that an amen?

You say already, oh. Leaders, I recorded all those who

say amen. Can recruit them to serve anything, anywhere. Yeah? Can. Can.

Why not? Why not? What is the hesitance? It's always

a matter of priority, right? What's more important to me?

And so we want to tell you what's most important.

You will have all your needs met. And forgiveness is

a huge part of what we still... Can I encourage

you to pray this every day? Yeah, if you already do,

then continue this for the rest of your life. This

is a structure and this is something that Jesus himself

gave to us, you know. His disciples came to him

and said, Jesus, how should we pray? And he says, this...

is the model of prayer. I'm sure you've heard many

sermons about this structure, right? But when we're talking about

our needs, right? God says, I know. Let's go to

the next one. You need food. So the next time

when you eat food now, don't just like, thank you

Jesus for food. Then you eat. Without a thought about, actually,

I can go hungry without God providing for me. I

can actually experience true hunger and starvation. None of us

have starved before. None. We live in a very privileged society.

In fact, I would think that most of us here

are middle income. Very middle income. Right? And above, in fact.

So that's why this whole like, oh, do I thank

God for food? Just like, take it for granted. In fact,

it's like, what's next? What else do I want to eat?

What's for dessert? Right? But just thank God. Because Paul

learned the secret to be content whether I had much

food or nothing. Whether I was full or I was hungry,

he learned the secret of contentment. Right? And so it's like, eh?

But I thought God will give us food. But he

had a different kind of food. You see? It just

goes beyond now just the food for the body. Pastor

Kenneth thought about food wisdom. Do you know you need wisdom,

daily wisdom? Otherwise, how you know how to make business?

To make food? To get money to make food? Yeah?

God gives that. God gives you the ability to make

wealth so that you can ultimately eat. Can I tell you,

all humans, right, even if you have money, even if

you had faith, yes, you have faith, even if you

have all these things, but without no food, how many

days can you last? At most, 40 days. After that,

you'll die. And so Jesus recognised the very basic thing

that you need to live and to continue living. And

so he's just teaching his disciples, which is all of us,

to say, God, we know where our food comes from.

Give it to us. Because you hold everything, right? Forgiveness,

Jesus has done it on the cross for all of us, right?

And every day we go through life. And I pray

that you become so sensitive to sin that you begin

to hate sin. How many of you actually hate sin?

Or we look at sin and say, it's okay, it's

a small thing only. I tell a little white lie.

Or I cheat a little bit on my tax. Or,

you know, very inconvenient, I got stopped by the police.

You need to do it, copy. Right, all these conveniences

in life. Do you know that being righteous is very inconvenient?

It's very inconvenient, you know. You have to fill up

so much more paperwork. to be righteous and holy. Many

of our prayer lives, I shared this last week, that

many of our prayers, right, is God, give me all

of this so I can be happy. Correct or not?

True or not? Most of us, if all our prayers

are answered, we'll be like, I'm happy. But God is saying,

I don't want you to be happy. I don't want

you to be happy. What I want you to be

is holy. Prayers that talk about happiness and prayers that

talk about holiness. Jesus says, my disciples, you learn to

be holy in this life. Don't wait. You know, most

of us think, God, just let me be happy first.

I just want to be happy first. Then when I'm

in heaven, I will be holy. Yeah? True or not?

I will be like holy like the angels and all that,

you know, in heaven. But Jesus is saying, no, no, no, no. Friends,

you'll be holy now here on earth. And then you

will experience true happiness on the side of heaven. So

holiness is a pursuit. This prayer for forgiveness is a

prayer of holiness. God, make me holy. Cleanse me from

all my sins. Free me from the temptation. Freedom to

live a sinless life. Do you know that only Christians

can be free to live a sinless life? Non-Christians can't,

you know. It's like there is no way out. But

the cross, we sang so much, right? By the blood

of Jesus, that's our freedom. The cross signifies our freedom

from sin, from temptation. And so, it frees us from

our flesh. Amen? So that is what God wants to

give us. Let's go on to the next thought. So

I already said what we need is not the same

as what we want. Let's go. Right? Now, all the

promises of God are yes and amen. So, I want

to give you the true promises versus the like, God,

you know, I think if you give me this, then

if you answer it, then you're a good God. Now,

if you look at the promises here, right, it didn't

say you will get your Porsche or you will get

the job of your dreams or the girl of your dreams.

I don't see that. The Bible tells me that the

covenant is I will be your God and you will

be my people. That is God's promise. His promise is

sin remembered no more, that there will be forgiveness. His

promise is that we will have a new heart and

a new spirit. His promise is that we will have

adoption of children of which we can cry out to

Him and call Him Abba, Father. His promise is, He says,

I will never leave you nor forsake you. Did He

say that you will not go through any hardship? Is

there any of God's promises? I never see that, you know.

He says that even though you walk through the valley

of the shadow of death, Psalms 23, I will be

with you. So God is promising that I'm not going

to remove the valley of the shadow of death. Some

of us are going through our valleys. Real valleys. Where

you're alone, it feels dark, it feels hopeless. Some of

us are going through that. But Jesus is saying, I

will never leave you. I will walk you through it.

I will walk you through it. Because there is a

reason for the valley. There's a reason for that suffering

and the pain. In fact, James says, count it all joy.

My brethren, when you encounter trials and challenges and temptations,

he says, count it all joy. All of us is like,

count it, count me out. I don't want nothing. I

don't want troubles. But it's a testing of our faith.

And when we've been found to be faithful, it produces endurance.

So you see what God is after? It's very different

from what we want, right? We want the immediate instant gratification,

instant happiness, instant God, my life is perfect. And God

is doing this deeper work of holiness. He's saying, no,

you wait. You patient. You continue praying. You pray until

something happens. This deep work of trust and dependency happens.

is what God is after. And we don't like this.

It's unfamiliar. It's inconvenient. It requires sacrifice. But so, the

choice is, what would you choose? Are you going to

continue praying prayers that just leads to your own happiness?

Or prayers that will lead to your holiness? Have a

think about that. Comfort in our troubles. You know Paul himself, right?

The great apostle. Three times he prayed to God. Three times, right?

He prayed to God that he had a thorn in

his flesh. He said, God, remove it. Maybe he didn't

hear me. God, can you remove it? Second time. God, please.

It's very painful. I cannot work for you anymore, no?

I cannot be your missionary anymore, no? If this thorn

is here. And then this verse comes. My grace is

sufficient for you. So Paul lived with this thorn in

his flesh for all his life. Do you think he

was victorious? Many of us would think, eh, why he

still got torn on ah? I thought you believe in God.

I thought all his promises are yes and amen. But

all his promises are also, my grace is sufficient for you.

That is God's promise. The peace of God, which Sister

Jo shared just now. The peace of God, yes, I'm

in pain, body. But God's peace, knowing that this too

shall pass. Our bodies will waste away. It is wasting away, friends. Right?

So what is your position of faith? Are you going

to stand on the solid rock of Jesus, of which

He is Amen and Amen? All of this will be done. Right?

Holy Spirit, our helper. So many of God's promises. Now,

I want to just speak a little bit. I know

time is running. On the misalignment that we have, right?

Between.

why we pray and the waiting. Okay, let's go to

this thought. No, let's go. I thought I'd remove this. Yes,

the already versus not yet. Now, we have to be

cognizant and be ready to accept that what has already

been done by Jesus, the yes and the amen, the

already done is our forgiveness of sins. Amen. Amen. Praise God,

our sins are forgiven. The adoption is done. It's a

done deal. The Holy Spirit, our helper, that's a done deal, friends.

Now what is not yet, and this is the part

that we struggle the most, the healing of every disease,

the end of every hardship, the full justice that we seek.

This is not yet. When something is not yet, does

that mean that it's forfeited? No. You know that God,

when Jesus says that it is done, it is done.

It's just that it's not time yet. And so as

we are living in the time between the now and

the not yet, what do we do? This is the

part that we are living right now, right? So friends,

can I encourage you? Don't be discouraged. Don't be discouraged

when you are still not seeing the disease healed. Not yet. Right?

Because what will happen is, God says at the end

in Revelation, and I'm going through the book of Revelation now,

it will be done. Jesus is coming back. Let that

sink in as a reality. He will come back and

He will call all of us to account for our lives. Right?

And He says at that time, no more sickness, no

more pain, no more tears, No more sorrow. No more sin.

I'm looking forward to that day when I will no

longer need to sin at all. That is the promise

of God. And that is the yes and the amen

on which we put our faith in. Amen? Let's go

to the... One of the greatest disalignment I feel is

that when we make prayer a transaction. Every day is

a transaction, yeah? We think that it's a mechanism that

obligates God to perform if the input, and our input

is like, oh, yeah, enough prayer, enough time, you know,

enough offering, unconfessed sin, right words. If the input is correct,

then God, you have to answer it. Correct or not?

Most of us transact that way. Like, hey, I put

in the right input. Thank God, you better answer. It's

a transaction. It's almost like, Saying, you go to McDonald's, right?

Give me a double cheeseburger with fries and medium Coke

and a chocolate sundae. Y'all wanting to eat McDonald's after this? Right?

And then I want curly fries and an orange fizzy, right?

And you bring this request to God. And when he

comes out to you and he gives you porridge, we

will kick up a fuss, right? We will bring your

lawyer friend Like, what is this? This is my right.

My right. I ordered all of this. How come you

gave me porridge only? I wanted the works. But God says,

I give you porridge because that's what you need. I

want the whole works. But God says, you just need this.

And so now prayer... becomes instead of a transaction, bringing

to God all my wants and say, God, you better fulfill.

If not, then you're a bad God. If you don't

fulfill it, then I think it's going to be hard

to trust. If I don't see this come to, and

that's why many of us don't pray. Can we be honest?

We don't pray honestly because it's like, what's the point?

I pray also, I don't know whether He will hear

or not. I pray also, I'm not sure whether He

will fulfil or not. Because He will maybe say, this

is not your way. So then we're like, okay, fine, God.

If you're not going to give me what I want,

then I don't need to come to you. Right? It's

a very human response. Just think about why you don't pray.

All of you, just think for yourself, why are you

not praying? What is the underlying reason? Is it you

don't trust? You don't have faith? Or you've experience prayer

as a transaction and it's a failed transaction. And Jesus

is saying, what I'm going to give you, the promises,

is very different from what you want. I know what

you need. Yeah. And so my encouragement to all of

us is that when we come to God, we come and,

you know, the verse Philippians 4, it just says, you know,

Do not be anxious, but bring all your supplications. So

continue to bring and say, God, this is my order.

You know, double cheeseburger, this is my order, God. Bring

it to God. He knows your desires, right? But the

way to do it is not to stand there like

an angry customer waiting for your rights to be served.

It's standing there and saying, God, I'm going to give

this to you. I'm going to surrender. That's why we

always say surrender your needs to God. I'm going to surrender.

You know when you have a lot of needs in

your life, it becomes a burden. And you know, many

of us, right? We carry our burdens to God. And

then after that, we say, I think you cannot, right?

Let me take it back. Right? And let me try and...

settle this on my own. Let me try and solve

this problem on my own. Because you transacted and you

feel like, hey, how come God didn't give me? So

many times, you know, I brought this order to Him

and it's not fulfilled. Then we bring it back to

us and we say, let me try and fulfill it

on my own. The way to approach prayer is to say, God,

I'm going to leave this order at the counter. I'm

leaving my burdens on the counter. I'm leaving my need

for provision. I'm leaving my need for healing at the counter.

And you say, gautim. Cantonese will say, it is done. God,

I know in you it is yes and amen. So

you will give me what I need. And you go

away with a sense of joy knowing that your father

is going to take care of it for you. How

it comes, it doesn't matter. Because God's plans are higher

than your plans. God's thoughts are higher than your thoughts.

You think you can outthink God? You think AI can

outthink God? No. It's way bigger, way beyond. And so

now the question is, do you trust? In your prayer,

do you trust? Do you go with Him and say, God,

I need all this, but okay, cool. Cool that. Childlike faith?

We talk about childlike faith? You know, many of us, right,

like our kids, we'll be like, Mummy, I want this.

Then you're like, so expensive. That's me. My poor kids.

So expensive. But then after that, they also get. You know?

Because a parent's heart is always wanting to give the best.

You know, always wanting to give the best. And if

you view God as the Father and you come to

Him like, God, I know, you know, I trust in you.

I leave the outcome to you. Because I know your

outcome is better than my outcome. You know? And it's

not dependent on your input, friends. It's not because you're like, oh,

I pray so much. Oh, I give so much. Nothing

to do with your input, friends. Not because my kids

have been extra obedient to me, then I'm like, oh, okay,

then I will feed you lunch. If you're not obedient

to me, then no dinner for you. You think God's

like that? Most of us treat God like that. But

God's like, no, I want to give you. I want

to give you so much. But you cannot handle it.

You can't handle it. I'm not going to give the

keys to my 14-year-old. the keys to my car because

she can't drive. Although she might say, she's not saying that.

It's actually the sister who's saying it. But sister can

drive already. So I don't want to use her. You know,

but if you can't handle something yet, God's not going

to give you. If you can't handle a relationship, God's

not going to give you. If you cannot handle success,

God's not going to give it to you yet. Because

it will ruin you. That's how a good father is.

You think, but I want all of this. But God says,

it's going to ruin you. And so I withhold. Because

it's not time. It's not time yet. You need to

grow up. Church, you need to grow up in your faith.

You need to grow up in your trust in Him.

The older you are, can you have more childlike faith

or not? It's an oxymoronic, right? Huh? You mean the

older I am, I have to trust God more? Yes.

The dependency grows. It doesn't grow lesser, you know. The

older I am, the more I know about God. The

more I'm like, I am nothing. I am nothing. But

He has everything. Amen. Amen. Okay, let's go to... Yeah,

and I'm going to invite the band to come. I'm done.

I'm done. I hope you're catching something that the Holy

Spirit is speaking to us. He is our yes and

our amen, you know. In the same way that Paul

wrote in 2 Corinthians about he is the God of

yes and amen, he's also the one that says in

Philippians 4.19, My God shall supply all your needs. My

God shall supply all your needs according to His riches

in glory by Jesus Christ. That is a promise. And

I love it that it says, you know, let me

just finish off this thought. For Jesus Christ, the Son

of God, who does not waver between yes and no.

He's not a God who's wavering, you know, this one yes,

this one no, this child I like, this child I

don't like. No. God loves all His children. He's the one, okay,

I'm going to say from verse 24, all of God's

promises have been fulfilled in Christ with a resounding yes.

And through Christ our... Amen, which means yes, a sense

to God for His glory. It is God who enables

us along with you to fall, to stumble, no, to

stand firm. Remember that foundation, that chair that I abused?

To stand firm in our faith, friends, to put our

weight on Him, to put our lives in Him. to

stand firm for Christ. He has commissioned us and He

has identified us as His own by placing the Holy

Spirit in our hearts as the first installment that guarantees

everything He has promised us. Everything shall be done. It

shall be fulfilled. Amen.

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

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

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is going to be a good week ahead for you.

God bless.