Strong and Courageous | Pr Dr Kenneth Chin

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

We hope this message will light up your day.

The Word of God. Are you ready? Joshua 1.6.

May the Lord bless the reading of His Word. May

the Lord bless this next, you know, 40 minutes of preaching.

And may the Lord just really encourage all of you

in this place.

Let's read the Word of God together in Joshua 1.6.

Ready? Here we go. And of good courage. For you

shall the land I swore to give them. Be strong

and of good courage. Be strong and of good courage. Okay.

How many of you know that this Joshua chapter 1,

Joshua 1 · chapter mention

God spoke to Joshua three times about the same thing.

He said, be strong. and of good courage.

Now, when I was thinking about what to share with

you this morning, I have actually about three or four

new messages that I would love to share with you.

But for this morning, for some reason, the Lord puts

on my heart that some of you need the word strong,

be strong, and you need the reminder, be courageous. All right?

Some of you need strength. from the Lord today.

Some of you need strength just to be courageous, to

live your life according to the promises of Jesus, which

says He came to give us life and life more abundantly.

So I've got a message on emotions today.

Which I'll share with you another day.

I've got a message on the root having to go

deeper so that the fruit can grow more and more

in your life.

I have at least those two messages I hope to

bring across to you.

But for this morning, be strong and very courageous or

of good courage.

Turn to your neighbor now if you don't.

Mind and just say, be strong and of good courage.

Come on. Amen.

Amen.

All right.

So let's look at Joshua 1.6 again without changing this slide.

Let's look at what it's about.

It says, Be strong and of good courage for to

these people you shall divide. as an inheritance, the land,

which I swore to their fathers. So, the next slide

just has one word. The next slide just says, two. Why? Why?

Why does he say two?

Because the first time God says to Joshua, be strong

and very courageous, He says, it is for you to

do something.

It's for you to.

Divide as an inheritance the land which I swore to them.

Now listen, the land has not yet been gotten. The

land has not yet come. It is a promise of God,

something that God swore to the people of Israel, that

He's now asking a chosen leader, once upon a time

it was Moses, and now it's Joshua, and God Himself

is saying, be strong and of.

Good courage too.

And so there are people here in this room, you

will understand that when you have a dream, when you

have a vision, When you have a hope, a desire,

something that you're looking forward to, it's not here yet.

It hasn't arrived yet. It's not come.

But you need to be strong and of good courage

to get there. Because without that strength and without that courage,

you might not get there or you might not get

there in the time that God wants you to get there.

There might be delay that was not meant by God

and there might be discouragement along the way that you

don't understand why you should go through it. There are disappointments.

And so as you're walking this path towards your future,

somebody say future.

Future.

God came to give us a future, and a hope.

So as you're walking in the will of God, moving

into His future, some of you will be parents soon.

Some of you will have a new company soon. Some

of you will be married soon. Some of you will

be promoted soon. Some of you will do something new,

buy a new car, a new house, whatever it is.

It is new. It is ahead of you. It is

before you. And really, there's going to be opposition. There's

going to be things that won't go your way. There's

going to be challenges. There's going to be bills that

you didn't know was there. There's going to be anxiety.

There's going to be fears. There's going to be things

that you're not ready for. You're not ready for. You've

never been through this way. You've never been pregnant before.

You've never given birth before. You've never owned a house.

You've never done this kind of work because this is

not in your expertise. But somebody said, Would you take

up that managerial role? And you're going to, I know

nothing about it. So it's not only a new job,

it's only a new skill. And you're going to have

some fears. And you're going to have some anxiety. And

so the Lord says to you, I'm almost prophesying now,

be strong. And of good, courage. Because something good is

about to happen in your life. Something of God, something awesome,

something amazing.

Come on.

But it's not going to be a walk in the park.

You know that term? It's not going to be so easy.

In fact, good things in life never come easy. So

God says to Joshua, I know you're going to see giants.

I know you're going to see stuff as you enter

the promised land. But be, come on, strong and of

good courage.

You got it? So we need strong and good courage

just to. Where are you going? To where?

To the next thing that God has in store for you.

Embrace it with strength and courage. Now let's look at

the second time God says it. Joshua 1.7 now. We

read Joshua 1.6 and now 1.7. Only be strong and

very courageous. There's a little bit of a difference here.

Earlier it was good courage, now it's very, I underlined it.

I underlined it. It takes more courage to do what?

That you may observe to do according to all the law,

which Moses, so now we're going backwards.

Moses is dead.

Joshua is the one who will lead God's people to

the promised land. But God says, be strong and not

just good courage, very courageous that you may observe. Observe

means it's already there. The word, the laws, the instruction

is already there. You just have to observe it. The

rules of engagement are already set. The promises are already there.

You just have to observe it. So you now need

to be strong and very courageous just to observe, to

do according to all the law which Moses, my servant.

Commanded you. Do not turn from it.

Oh, you are not to turn from it to the

right hand or to the left that you may, come on, prosper.

That's God's plan for us, that we may prosper. That

we may wherever you go. So the next slide after

this is from. There needs to be strong and of

good courage just to go to.

But then there needs to be strong and very.

Courageous just to observe from where you have come from.

Let me explain a little bit more to you. Where

is your marriage going?

If you have a dream and a desire for your

marriage to be greater, better, sweeter than it is now,

but you're going through trouble, misunderstandings, arguments now, and because

of what you're going through now, you can't really see to.

So you need strong and of good courage to. But

then he also says, be strong and very courageous from. So,

I have sat down with many married couples over the

last 31 years of my married life because I've also

had to practice it many times. And I know that

married couples should understand this, that many times when it's

dark and divorce is even a word that our mind

entertains because it's so dark, it's so... I'm trying to

find a good word in a bad situation. It's so disappointing.

It's so discouraging. It seems hopeless. I have myself gone

back to the vows I took before God.

Are you with me?

The vow says what? Those of you who are married,

you should know it. For better, for worse. worse. Did

you know what you were signing up for? Because ladies

and gentlemen, nobody told you what worse was. So you

told yourself, how could worse get worse? And then now

you are worse. And then you are supposed to, for better,

for worse. Everybody likes better. Who doesn't like better? But

now it's gone bitter. Come on, for richer, for poorer. Oh,

I didn't know. Poorer was so poor. Some of you

are very rich with money, but very poor with your time.

You used to spend a lot of time with each other,

you know, when you were dating. You can't see anything

else except each other.

Right?

Sunset, sunrise, I only got eyes for you. Now I

only got eyes for my handphone. Even eating dinner opposite

each other, eyes for you. So we have to remember,

we have to go back. Are you with me? And remember,

but I tell you what, it takes double the courage

to go back. because of what's happening now. It takes

double the courage. Do you know when I lead my

leaders here in X Church, when we are going through

a storm, I don't just ask them to look forward, no.

I ask them to remember what God told us as

a church.

Do you understand?

That's why His promises are yes and amen. His promises

are for the future, yes. His promises are for the future, yes.

But His promises was given when?

In the past.

You know, when times are dark and really terrible, it's

very hard to look back at God's promises. And so

God says, to look back at my word, to look

back at how good I am. To look back and

remember that I will never leave you nor forsake you.

To look back and go, yes, God put my marriage together.

To look back and go, yes, it is for better,

for worse. To look back and go, yes, it is

for richer, for poorer. To look back takes double the

courage and therefore be strong and very courageous. You've got

to believe that Moses was a man of God. You know,

when you look back, you know why it takes double

the courage? Because some of my leaders in Acts Church,

they will go like, I have to remember what Pastor

told me 26 years ago. And for them to even say,

I have to remember what Pastor Kenneth told me about

how and why God started Acts. They even have to

do this, no? They have to like, and Pastor Kenneth

heard from God. And Moses was a man of God

because you will even doubt that. So it takes double

the courage to go like, okay, God, I know Pastor

Kenneth is just a man, but I will be courageous

enough to believe that when the church started 26 years ago,

he heard from you. That's why we all go back

and look at the book of Acts.

I tell you why we look at the book of Acts,

because if the book.

Of Acts was a glass, okay, let's say this whole

pulpit is a glass, right?

The nearer it is to the original, the less fingerprints.

As it goes on, the church is now 2,000 years old,

for example. Many more fingerprints from all kinds of denomination.

This denomination won this. That denomination won that. That denomination

believes in healing. That denomination doesn't believe in healing. That

denomination believes in giving. So now you look at the church,

where is God's fingerprint? So you go back to the

book of Acts. Because in Acts, there was less, if

not no, fingerprints of men. Because they knew nothing about

the church. God had to form the church. That's why

I call us X. Because I want the original fingerprints

of God.

Are you all still with me?

And when we read the original, we can't see the

fingerprints of man. And we say hallelujah because I don't

need the fingerprints of man. I need to see the

fingerprint of God. His DNA. Are you all still with me?

Very important. But I tell you what, it takes double

the courage. Double the courage when everybody is turning off

their lights in their churches and X just keeps them on.

And then people will call you dumb and old. And

why aren't you following the trend? And the Lord said

to me, don't.

Turn off the lights. Are you with me?

I want his fingerprint. Say, yeah, but you know, the

modern generation, I'm not after the modern generation. I'm after God.

I'm after God. And for the next 20 years, if

I'm not with you anymore, I pray that X church

will continue to go after God. Because I tell you what,

the generations will change. But will the church change with

the generations?

It shouldn't.

It should change with God. Let God win the generations

as you and I are faithful to Him. Are you

all still okay? So when you're looking at a glass,

I know there are many fingerprints these days.

How do you do it?

You have to courageously go back and be courageous to say,

I know I might look stupid even. I know I

don't usually use that word, but I use that word

strongly today because sometimes we change our ways because we

are thinking about what other people.

Are saying about us.

Why do you still wear suits on a Sunday when

other people are wearing t-shirts and jeans? Because I dress

my best for the Lord. So you need to understand

where I'm coming from.

Are you with me? Yeah, I got to do that.

I've got to do and maintain that. That actions will

always give their best to the Lord. Somebody say amen.

This is very, very important. But will people look down

on us?

Yes, of course.

Therefore, you must be strong and very... I wish I'm

not hindered by this seat, no? Because all I can

do now is just go like that, like a horse.

Come on, very courageous. Amen.

And you got to teach our young people to.

Do that because our young people are going to come

under greater pressures. Yes. Our young people are going to

come under greater pressures to conform. But the Bible says,

do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed

by the renewing of your mind.

It takes courage, guys.

To see your son stray away and not go to

church anymore. And you as a mother say, but God,

you told me when this son was born that he

will one day preach for you, you understand?

And for a mother to hold.

On to that word, even though your son is going

so far away from the Lord, you've got to be

very strong and very courageous. Do you understand what I'm

trying to say? You've just got a God. I know

He looks like the devil. But I know your promises

for my family. And your word to me when my

children were born was, as for me and my house,

we will serve the Lord.

And I will be strong.

And I will be very courageous to hold on even

though other people might be laughing at me.

And saying, where? You say where? Where? Where?

You know?

Your son looks like he's totally opposite from a Christian.

Never mind. Don't worry about that.

Be strong and... very courageous. Hold on to the Word

of God that never changes.

Amen. Praise the Lord. Last one. Third one.

Actually, it's not last one but it's the third one.

God said it three times. That's why I say last.

Three times He said it and let's look at the

Word of God again. Joshua 1.9 Joshua 1.9 says, have

I not commanded you, be strong and of good courage.

Third time, third time. You know when the Lord says

something one time, you must listen. He says something two times,

you must, must listen. He says something three times, you must, must, must.

And now you.

Realize, be strong and of good courage is no longer

an opinion, it's a command.

Because He says, have I not commanded you? It's a command.

Do not steal is a command. Do not murder is

a command. That's why you don't steal. That's why you

don't murder. And yet, be strong and of good courage

is a command. And yet, many of us fail to

obey this command. But the Lord is commanding us this

morning to be strong and of good courage.

Somebody say amen. He says, do not be afraid. That

is really.

The reason why many of us don't or can't get

ourselves to be strong and of good courage, especially in

times where it's really dark and depressing. But I love

this scripture because God says, for the Lord your God

is with you wherever you go. And so this is

how I want to bring it across to you. The

word here says, God.

Is with you.

And so the only way we are going to be

able to be strong and of good courage is that

we know that God is with us. It's not by

mind or by power, but by my spirit. No, because

I can leave you now and say, let's pray and

go like, I think you got it.

I think you got it.

Right? And then everybody goes out and go like, okay,

I'm going to try. Pastor said, you know, be strong

and of good courage. Be very courageous. I'm going to try.

You try on your own strength. And you try without

focusing on the Lord.

You're going to fail.

You're going to fail. Because the darkness is too overwhelming.

The hopelessness, even here in Malaysia, is too overwhelming, you

might think. Your situation with your marriage, with your children,

is just, oh, I don't think, it's been 10 years, Pastor.

It's been 15 years, Pastor. It won't change, Pastor.

And you get an encouragement from the Lord this morning

that tells you, no, no, but be strong and of

good courage. Because God is a faithful God and His

promises will come. And His word will come to pass.

And He's a good God. And He came to give

us life and life more abundantly. All these are promises.

All these are real. You will make your way prosperous.

I'm not prosperous yet, Lord, but I know in you

I will be.

Come on. So be strong.

And then you go and you say, oh, pastor said

be strong and very courageous. And then you go on

your own strength. You forget the Lord. You're not focused

on Him. You're focused on some motivational talk to stir

you up.

And that's the problem with motivational.

Talk because one is very good and everybody go, yay,

standing on their seat and clapping, right? They go with

their own strength. Motivation without the motivator will end up

not only a failure but but it will end up empty.

Because even if you succeed, you give glory to yourself.

You with me? And when you start giving glory to

yourself and praise to yourself, it's empty.

Right? We were all made to worship the Lord and

give Him the praise. Amen. And give Him pleasure. And

when you do that, your heart will be so fulfilled.

Because it's not about you. When you start living just

for yourself, it's so empty, it's so shallow. But when

you live for the God who created you, it's going

to be fulfilling.

Somebody say amen.

So don't go away thinking that I'm telling you be

strong and of good courage on your own. This is

not a motivational talk. This is the word of the

living God. And so you go away knowing that the

third thing He said was, I will be with you.

As you're going through this darkness, He will be your light.

As you're going through this problem, He will be your answer.

As you're going through this very tearful time, the Bible says,

He will wipe away every tear. As you're going through anxiety,

He is your peace. The peace that surpasses all understanding

will guard your heart and mind through Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4, verse 6 and 7.

Philippians 4:6

Amen.

So the next slide says, with.

With.

Amen. God is with us. He will never leave us

nor forsake us.

I love the whole, you know, writings that I'm sure

some of you have read before about the footprints in

the sand. Remember?

How come God, there's only one footprint? Where were you?

He says, that was my footprint. I carried you.

And I want you to understand that God is with us.

And when you go out of this room, this church today,

I want you to know, God, in my darkest hour

when everybody else wanted to leave me, you are still there.

You are still here. You are still with me. Everybody okay?

All right. Praise the Lord.

Now, the next slide is quite unique. The next slide

is also found in Joshua 1. But now the people

of God is repeating the same thing. And I love

it because it looks to me that when God moves

and when you obey, even the people will align. The

people will work and support and things will just come together. See,

there's nowhere in Joshua 1 that I read that Joshua

went to the people and told them what God told him.

He just got up and said, okay, Come on, get ready.

In three days, you're going to cross into the promised land.

Right?

So, without the people hearing what God told Joshua, I'm assuming,

because the Bible is silent on that, I am now

strongly assuming that the people are being aligned with what

they didn't.

Even know happened.

Because God, when you obey His Word, will begin to

cause people's hearts to come together. Suddenly your heart, the

heart of your son who was rebellious comes together. Suddenly

the heart of your husband who said he wanted to

end the marriage, you know, suddenly aligns. Suddenly your wife aligns.

Suddenly your staff aligns. Suddenly, you know, the government aligns. Suddenly,

you know, the bank manager who's looking at your loan aligns.

You know, because when you trust the Lord and obey Him,

God causes people to... And you know what the people said?

all that you command us, we will do. And wherever

you send us, we will go. The first part just

says to. Wherever you send us to, we are ready

to go with you. And then the next one says,

and wherever you send us, we will go. Just as

we heeded Moses, that's from. So they are confirming now

to Joshua, we know the to, we know the from,

and we also know the with. So we will heed you,

only the Lord your God be with you. Do you

understand what just happened? A confirmation from the people themselves saying,

we know the to, we got to go. We know

the from, we got to observe all that Moses has

taught us and we know the with. Only if God

is with us, can we do this. And then they

repeat What God said three times, only be strong and

of good courage. Can I hear a good amen? I

want to prophesy over you that things will align in

your life. Your health will align in Jesus' name. Your

marriage will align according to the Word of God. Your

spouse will align according to the will of God. Your

children will align. Your finances will align. Your businesses will align.

Your work will align. Even your boss and your supervisors

and your staff and your colleagues will align to the

Word in the mighty name of Jesus. Every application that

has gone forth will align to the will of God

if you would trust Him today and be strong and

of good courage.

Everybody okay? Praise the Lord. Now, as I draw to

the last lap, I'm looking at my watch. Daniel, when

do I end?

Do you know?

Okay, okay, okay. Thank you very much. I just want

to check with you. Okay, yeah? Maybe the next 10-15 minutes,

we'll close. Are you ready?

I'm now going to explain to you, since being strong

and very courageous is important, I want to explain to

you what it means.

So the next slide says, strong.

In the Hebrew, which the Old Testament is written in,

strong is the word fasten. Somebody say fasten. Yeah, it's

not fasten, like casten. It's fasten. The T is silent. Sorry,

English class.

I also was taught that many years ago. Fasten.

So the pilot will say, passengers, please fasten your seatbelt.

Why do you fasten your seatbelt?

So that you don't have to encounter what Singapore Airlines

at one time encountered. Remember? It's one of the best

airlines in the world. But one time, the turbulence was

so bad, they put it onto Instagram and Facebook.

People hit their head against the top. You know, drinks were.

Because the turbulence was so bad and shook the plane,

that all those who did not have a seatbelt on

or fastened were flying everywhere. Not just the plane was flying,

people were flying in the plane. You remember that story? Okay.

So why do you fasten?

You fasten and not just fasten tightly.

Remember? The stewards will say, fasten tightly, pull.

Right?

Why?

So that when there's turbulence in your life, shaking, sudden

movements that you didn't expect, you don't go, you don't

get flung out, you don't shake, You don't worry.

You fasten.

Amen.

You fasten.

So when the Lord says in Hebrew, be strong, He

says fasten.

But I have.

Another illustration for you, not just a seatbelt. I want

to talk to you about your life being a nail.

Somebody say nail. In French, it's paku. Sorry, in Bahasa Malaysia,

it's paku. Sorry, just joke a little bit there.

Paku, okay? It's a nail.

How much is one nail? Very cheap only because you

never buy one nail. How many of you have gone

to a hardware shop? Can you give me one nail?

The fellow said, maybe one screw is loose in your head.

So a packet of nails is cheap. One ringgit, two ringgit,

depending on the quality of the nail. So if you

divide it, one nail is probably only two cents, three cents,

five cents. Yes? All of our lives in this room,

you are nails in God's hand. And actually, without God,

we are not really of very much value. We can't

even be clear and confident whether we will live tomorrow.

Life is really so fragile, you know. So fragile. We

don't even know where we'll be next week. Yeah, our

calendar says where we'll be next week. But it's God

who decides.

Yeah? How many of.

Your friends have just fallen? You know, playing... badminton, playing squash,

you know, riding a bicycle, just, you know, it's gone.

They're gone just, you know, in a blink of an eye.

So our lives are in God's hands.

Somebody say amen.

Our five-cent nail is in the hand of God. So

what happens is that God desires to fasten you as

a nail on the wall. That's when the word fasten

is used again. You take a nail, you use a hammer.

How many of you have used your shoe before? A

shoe doesn't work quite well. How many of you have used,

you know, other things, you know, a pen, a pot,

you know?

No, a hammer works best. Okay? Don't use your spouse's head. Okay?

A hammer is the best.

How many of you know that the Word of God

calls the Word of God, the Word of God calls

the Word of God a hammer? If you want to

Google it, it just says, is the Word of God

called a hammer in the Word of God? They will

bring you to the verse. The Word of God is

like a hammer breaking the fallow ground.

That's what the verse says.

So the Word of God will come into our lives

and it will hammer this nail and nothing that is

hammered is ever pleasant. Nothing.

Nothing.

You hammer it into the wall, you go bam, bam, bam.

And you're saying, stop, stop, stop. God is too hard. God,

this temptation, this testing is too much for me. And

yet God knows that if He doesn't nail the nail

deep enough, how many of you in this room have

actually nailed a nail onto a wall?

Let me see your hand.

Okay. Okay, a few of you never. But maybe you

go home and try. Try on something that won't damage anything.

But I think you have... Please do it under supervision.

If you are too young. If you are under 35,

do it under supervision. Because you might nail your thumb

or your finger. Do you understand this? How many of

you have ever nailed your thumb or your finger before?

Let me see your hands.

Alright, lesser people. Because these guys are very good. They're

just so good. They've never nailed their hands before. So,

I think God is going to help you understand what

it is in the days to come if you haven't

experienced yet. So, but imagine with me. If you've never

done it before, imagine with me. A nail.

Turn to your neighbor and say, a nail. Five cents.

And a hammer, right? So then you go, bam, bam, bam,

and you stop.

You stop. Do you stop?

You stop to check, to see whether bam, bam, bam

is enough. What do you do? You bite it. No,

you don't bite it. You, come on, you shake. There

are some clever ones here. So you shake it. You

shake it, right? And if it shakes, you say, I'm done, right?

You say, I'm done. If it shakes, you say, great job, right?

Come on, if it shakes, you say, hallelujah, mission accomplished.

If it shakes, you hang your 30,000 ringgit painting on, hello,

you hang your most beautiful family photo that you took Right?

After Mahathir and Siti Hasmah took theirs, you took yours,

you know, and you know, you can even say, yeah,

you know, I took photo just right after the former

prime minister. And so you're going to put this painting

of value on a shaky nail.

Somebody say amen. No amen?

What?

How many of you know there are many shaky Christians?

Because they don't allow God to work in their lives.

Bam, bam, bam.

Oh, enough lah, God. You're so unkind to me.

You're so cruel.

You say you're good.

Where?

And he knows, right? So he goes, bam, one more.

I'll leave church.

I'll leave God.

This message is so boring, I'm going to look at

my phone.

Play some games.

You know, I designed this church like this so that

I can see you playing your phone when I'm preaching.

I can see you very well and you can see

me very well. Bam!

And then after five bams, what do you do again? Sama. Same. Same.

Right?

And now you are satisfied because the nail is fastened.

It's deep. God wants to take all of us deeper. Deeper.

If there's one difference between 10 years ago and now,

it's just this. He's going to take you deeper. Why

remain a Christian same as last year? He wants to

take you deeper. I was praying with Rochelle just now,

you know, because one broken left leg to another broken

left leg, right? I said, Lord, as Rochelle goes through

these few weeks and maybe even months of recovery, take

her deeper.

I think there's only one reason for sickness and being

in hospital. It's so that.

You can rest and go deeper. God doesn't want us sick.

So if He allows us to be sick, there's only

going to be one reason. Because otherwise our lives are

too busy. And the world is too noisy. But why

does He want to take us deeper? So that He

can fasten us.

Are you still with me?

Firm and deep. Deep calls unto deep. God is deep.

And you will never be able to really, really connect

with God until you are also deep. There are many

shallow Christians who can't really get to know God because

God is not shallow.

Are you with me?

If you want to speak to shallow people, then be

shallow and talk to shallow people. And all the shallow

people will have good time in the coffee shop. Talking shallowness.

But if you want to talk to God, God wants

to take you to a place where your handphone works

with Him. And when you dial His number, you got

to be from a deep place. Because shallow people don't

get far with God. So God doesn't allow us to

be shallow. He takes us deeper. But deep usually requires

some pain. And all of us who are older here

knows that it is through the pain and through the

struggle and through the challenges that we grew. How many

of you grew only in good times? No, we grew

the best in hard times. Everybody okay? I hope I'm

making sense. Let's look at the next slide. You are

the nail, God uses the hammer. Some of us are saying,

stop God. Some of us are saying, I don't understand God.

Why am I going through this God? Some of my

best preaching has come from my brokenness. Some of the

best counselling, when you counsel somebody who's down, doesn't come

from Malay will say kepandayan, kebijaksanaan. Doesn't come from your

own wisdom, no? It comes from the fact that you

have gone through it. Why do God allow us to

go through stuff? So that one day we can be

a comfort to others who are going through it. And

when you speak, you speak with authority. I know what

you're going through, sister. I know what you're going through.

I went through the same for five years. Huh? Really?

You went through? But you are a pastor, you should...

You mean like, some people think like pastor Superman, no? No,

we are human. And so some of our best counselling

comes from a broken place.

And God uses brokenness to heal other brokenness. Because out

of our brokenness comes, you know, something that is so deep,

something that's so powerful.

Amen.

So what is the purpose? Let's look at the next

slide as we draw to the last lap. Purpose of

a firmly fastened nail. What is it for?

It's just for this. For the glory of God.

You and I will never hang an expensive painting on

a shaky nail. Many Christians want to be used by

God but their lives are still very shaky. They're still

talking like amateur Christian. Amateur Christian meaning like a baby Christian.

They don't have any control over their mouths. They don't

have any control over, you know, their comments. 10 years already,

15 years already, still cannot control the mouth, still cannot.

Control the temper.

He is a man, but he still, functions like a boy.

You're not mature. So God will not use you the

way you want to be used because you are shaky.

So when he puts Mona Lisa on you, How many

of you think Mona Lisa is 40 million euros, but

the nail is 20 million euros? No, the nail that

is hanging Mona Lisa is also cheap. The nail does

not go in the same price with the painting. But

God is not looking at the quality of the nail,

He's looking at how fastened it is. And if it's

strong enough, He will hang a Mona Lisa. He will

hang a Van Gogh. And when he hangs that, and

I walk into your house, Erin, and I see the

Mona Lisa.

Erin, your mom.

I don't know what, what's the most expensive painting in your,

don't have? So let me just say, the most valuable

picture is the one with you and your children.

Let's just say, oh, Russia, you like to hear that?

Of course, she said that.

And you're hanging it on a very cheap nail. But

when I come to your house, my sister, or to

any house here who's hanging a very expensive painting, do

you know I no longer see the nail? I don't

know why we fight in life to get our own glory.

Because when God hangs His glory on you, you can't

see the nail anymore. How many of you have seen

a beautiful painting and asked, what's behind the painting?

I'm curious. What nail did you use?

Do you know when at the end of the day,

I will not get any glory and I don't want

any glory because I live to give God the glory.

All I need to be is a fastened, firmly fastened,

deep nail. No matter what my price is, five cents,

ten cents, so be it.

But I will never be able.

To compare with the glory that God wants to hang

on my life. And when people come into your life

and see the testimony, they only see God. Amen. And

a shaky nail remains a shaky nail. Maybe at best,

you hang a feather. Some of you have been following

Christ so long, but you're still carrying feathers. God wants

to trust us with more.

Amen.

Now, let's move on.

Why is courage important? So be strong means be a

fastened nail. Yes, go through the storm. Go through the pain.

God is in control. He's with you. He loves you.

So He did not allow you to go through pain

for no reason. He wants to use you. And so

go deeper is my encouragement to you.

Say, God, have your way. Never mind. It's okay. You're

with me.

Yes, it's pain. But I'm going to come out of

this stronger.

Somebody say amen. But now that you're strong, you need

to be courageous.

Because sometimes you can know all of the Bible. Some

people think, oh, to be strong Christian means to know

every part of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation.

Sometimes you can know and still not do.

God is not just after the hearers of the word,

but the doers of the word. Amen. Hey, don't get

quiet on me. Ex-church, you're not quiet one. Let me

hear a good amen. Praise God you're still alive. But

maybe you're thinking about stuff that I'm saying, so okay.

And when you're thinking, you're quiet.

That's okay.

Fine. Please don't know all of the Bible and not

live it. So don't just be strong. How many of

you have ever seen a fasten nail just there on

the wall? Oh, pastor, I'm a very strong Christian. Yeah,

you're a strong Christian like a nail on the wall.

How many of you actually come into people's house and

go like, wow, look at the 17 nails.

You have on the wall. Wow. Do you know that's

the ugliest thing ever? And sometimes church can be so ugly.

So ugly because you got 17 Christians, 70, 700, 7,000, 70,000

just on, do you know if you put 70,000 nails

on the wall, my word, it might be a hard

work lah. They might be like, wow, look, 7,000, 17,000 nails. Wow,

I can see that you make all the nails into

a shape of the map. Why do we have so

many Christians on the wall and without God hanging anything

on them? The ugliest thing is to go to a

house and see nails. And then the owner says, yeah,

once upon a time, I hung things there, but now

I don't know what to hang it is. So I

left the nails there. Maybe one day I'll use it.

Maybe one day I'll use it.

Because it's worse. If I take the nail out, there'll

be a hole. And so that'd be ugly, right, pastor?

I said, at least the hole you can patch up.

So what are you to do with the strong is

to be courageous.

Next slide says this. Faith without works is dead.

So that means you can have faith, but if you

don't have works, you and I are dead. I can

say all I want about starting ex-cultic community, but if

I didn't start.

It, will we be here? No, you'll be somewhere else

for sure.

All of you will be in good churches for sure,

but you won't be here because this won't be started.

So there are still a lot of Christians talking about things,

but never starting.

I want to tell you right now, you won't get

to the promised land.

So you must have faith, but you must also have works.

Everybody okay? It takes courage. My wife says this many

times when she's doing a wedding.

She says to the young couple, so and so, Daniel

and Rochelle, you look stunning today. Especially you, Rochelle, you

look stunning. And Daniel, you look stunned. But welcome to

your wedding, such a beautiful wedding. And then she says,

And well done. Because wedding is for the courageous. Marriage

is for the courageous. It takes guts to stay with

somebody that you don't even know very much. Don't know

whether she snores. Don't know whether he farts. Sorry to

use that bad word. And some of you, you're like,

how can pastor use that word? It should be flatulence.

And you say, I'm going to stay and live with

this lady for the rest of my life. Courage to stay.

Do you know it takes no courage to leave? It

takes courage to stay. Anybody can leave. Anybody can leave.

It takes courage.

I'm looking at May and she's seated here. you know,

and she raised up four children. It takes courage to

be a mum. Especially if the mum feels like she's

having to do most of it herself. So there are

a lot of courageous people here. And you're here not

just because you were strong, you're here because you were courageous.

So as I close, the Lord says, be strong and

very courageous. Then you will go to as you remember

from where you came from. And remember that God is

with you. Now, as I close, I want to explain something.

The next slide says, good equals, oh sorry, the next

slide actually says, courage is action against fear.

Correct.

So there are many reasons why you don't move forward,

is because you are afraid. Natural, you are afraid. And

everybody is afraid of something, that's why they don't move.

That's why they don't talk. That's why they don't say

what they need to say. Go where they need to

go and do what they need to do. Okay, we

all understand this. So courage is really action against that fear.

You have to overcome. But I want to move on.

Because the Bible says, be strong and of good courage.

And Daniel, I'm going to close in the next few minutes.

Good courage. So do you know what good means? Good

in the Bible actually speaks not about a situation, not

about a condition, not about a circumstance.

It speaks about an attitude, a nature, a quality.

A character, independent of external conditions and circumstances. See, in

our world, if we don't learn this from the Bible,

we think that it's a good day because everything is

going your way.

So it's good and everybody's happy.

But God is saying good means that even when bad

things happen, you can still be in a good place.

You understand? How many of you know that love is

not a feeling, it's a commitment? That's what I mean.

A lot of people who say love is a feeling,

then you only go with feelings. And when your feeling

is up, you are up, you are full of love.

When your feeling is down, you know love. And some

people say, oh, I want a divorce because there's no

more love. I don't feel love anymore. No. it's never

been feeling. It's always been commitment. Somebody say amen. How

many of you know that happiness is not just a feeling?

But it's a choice.

When you wake up in the morning, even though your

body might be in pain and you can't even get

up properly and you're walking and your knees are creaking,

You can still say, bless the Lord, oh my soul,

and all that is within me, bless His holy name.

And you can choose to be happy. Somebody say amen.

But if you just go by feelings, I tell you, haze,

no haze, not happy.

Right?

Everything around you is totally, you know, going to determine

how your day is going to be. Don't allow that

to happen. Choose you this day. So good courage means

you are to be courageous even when the circumstances are

against you. Just like this last verse and when I

say it, I'm going to pray. How many of you

know John 16, 33? This is my last verse for

the day. At least for this service. These things, Jesus said,

I have spoken to you that in me you may

have peace.

Somebody say amen.

Amen.

In the world, you will have tribulation.

Wow, prophesy Eddie. But be of what cheer? Did you

ever ask yourself what good cheer means? Because if Jesus

just says, be of cheer, He doesn't even have to

speak to a Christian. Because even non-Christians know when to

be cheerful.

Right?

Right?

Good money, bank account, good. Office, good. Colleagues, good.

Boss, good.

Everything, good. Wife, good.

Children, good.

Cheer. Right?

And you know, you've got your golf membership, you've got everything, good.

So even those who don't know Jesus know how to

be cheerful, yes or not? But most of them are

cheerful only when it's reasonable to be cheerful. But God

is saying, and I close with this, when you are

of good cheer, and I just gave you the definition

of good, it means, let's go back to the definition again, XTV.

It means it's your attitude.

Good cheer means even if things are bad around me,

I am of good cheer. Meaning to say that my

attitude has chosen to be cheerful. In my nature, I

have chosen to be cheerful. In the quality of my life,

it's a quality. It's a character that doesn't change with time.

It's independent of external conditions and circumstances. So ladies and gentlemen,

as I get ready to pray for you, Jesus says,

be of good cheer, meaning it is cheer that is

not dependent on your surroundings. And when He says, be

of good courage, it means be courageous, even though there

is no reason, physically speaking, No obvious reason for you

to step out in faith.

Everything seems to be against you.

Voices even of good friends say, no lah, don't, don't

do it. Someone might say, easier lah to divorce, right?

Easier lah to give up. Easier to leave, right? It

is those times that you are to have good courage.

Courage that does not depend on the external forces. Courage

that does not depend on the good news from the

latest news paper or the latest news from CNN.

Yeah, with the war.

With the war that's happening, the oil prices has shot up.

Everybody feels it. But when you are of good courage,

you don't just look at the up and down of

stock market. You don't just look up and down of currency.

You don't just look at the up and down of

oil prices. You continue to live the way God wants

you to live. You continue to follow God's Word. no

matter how things around you change. You go to by

looking from. And you hold on to the promises of

God and you keep walking and you keep believing and

you keep pressing on.

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.