From Forgiveness And Faith To Revival | Eld Peng Hoe

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I'm going to be teaching from Luke chapter 17 today.

Luke 17 · chapter mention

In the interest of time, I'm going to go straight

into the teaching. Luke chapter 17. So if you have

Luke 17 · chapter mention

your Bibles, it'll be good for you all to turn

to your scriptures. If not, Terrell is going to help

me with the scriptures that I'm going to be putting

on the screen. It's a short six verses that we're

going to read. Usually I'll go through a whole chapter,

but I think today let's bring it down a little bit.

There are some things that I really want to be

able to share and teach and impart to the church

this morning. And so it reads, I'm reading from the

New Living Translation, and it says this, you know, the

title in the NLT is Teachings About Forgiveness and Faith.

Verse 1 of chapter 17, One day... Jesus said to

His disciples, there will always be temptations to sin. But

what sorrow awaits the person who does the tempting? It

would be better to be thrown into the sea with

a millstone hung around your neck than to cause one

of those little ones to fall into sin.

So watch yourselves.

If another believer sins, rebuke that person. Then if there

is repentance, forgive. Even if that person wrongs you seven

times a day and each time turns again and asks forgiveness,

you must forgive. The apostles said to the Lord, show

us how to increase our faith. And the Lord answered,

if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed,

you could say to this mulberry tree, may you be

uprooted and be planted in the sea and.

It would obey you. The Lord blessed the reading of

His word. Amen. Okay.

I've preached this firstly, actually, in Ex-Brickfields, which is our

deaf church. And usually when I go to Brickfields and preach,

I go with a bag full of props to help

them understand as I'm preaching. I use a lot of props.

It's a little bit like ex-kids because it's not always

very easy for the person who is doing the sign

language to fully explain The sign language is like a

truncated form of our spoken language. So what they see

is sometimes in bits and pieces. And so usually I'll

bring a lot of props. I didn't bring any props

today because it's a lot. Usually I got to bring

a whole, sometimes a suitcase. Yeah, like ex-kids like that.

But I will tell you what are some of the

props that I used when I was there. to help

with the explanation also because I think it's helpful. I

think sometimes it's needed. Maybe next time we'll carry props

and teach Gloria. Why not, right? Okay, so let me

bring you a little bit of context in this portion

of Scripture. You know, the Gospels tell us a story

of Jesus being able, in the span of about three years,

to turn fishermen into fishers of men. Three full-time years

of day-to-day, hands-on training. And basically, that tells me that

there is really no shortcut to our Christian living, our

Christian service, because the Lord actually spent this time with

His people. And it's not that they were actually going

through like a classroom kind of lesson. Sorry, I lost

all my notes suddenly. Let me, okay. Yeah, it's not

like they were going through a classroom lesson, but it

was more as they were doing life, as Jesus journeyed

with them. Yes, from time to time, there were sermons

that were preached, no doubt. And you know, one of

the most wonderful sermons that we actually read in the

Scriptures is the Sermon on the Mount.

Which actually is an amazing, amazing sermon.

You think about it, Sermon on the Mount, Jesus was

just standing on a mountain and he was preaching to

the multitudes and it was no PA system.

Have you ever thought about it? What a wonderful miracle.

There was no PA system, but you know, they said

that the place where he stood, the acoustics was so right.

for everyone to be able to hear him because as

he spoke, his voice actually bounced through the different parts

of the valley. And so everyone could hear the Sermon

on the Mount, which was not a short sermon.

It was a pretty long sermon, actually.

If you read it in the account in the Gospel

of Matthew, it's chapter 5, chapter 6, chapter 7, if

I'm not mistaken. So you have a whole bunch of

things that Jesus taught about. He didn't just teach about

the wonderful beatitudes, blessed the meek, blessed are the poor.

He taught about very practical things, about sin. He taught

about marriage. He taught about divorce. He taught about a

lot of things in the Sermon on the Mount. But

it was not always like that, not always like a

classroom setting. Most of the time, Jesus was giving them

hands-on training.

They were walking and they were talking with Jesus.

And I believe as long as we continue to walk

and talk with Jesus all through our life, we are

going to be all right. There's going to be a

lot of lessons in which we can learn because he's

going to train us. He trained those fishermen for three years.

And three years is quite significant. Sometimes very akin and

very similar to our university studies. Most of us, we

went through at least minimum three years to get a degree.

Sometimes four, sometimes five. If you're a doctor, then many, many, many,

many years. But the truth is three years. is what

is needed for you to be able to be shaped,

to be ready to do what the Lord wants you

to do. And so, Jesus also, remember this, at that time,

He was on His way to Jerusalem. And He knew

time was short because Jesus came with a plan and

a purpose. He didn't come not knowing what He was

supposed to do. He knew what He was supposed to do.

He knew He would not have a lot of time

to teach His disciples. And so He knew He had

to give them lessons in how to follow Him. And

so a lot of the Gospels is lessons on how

to follow Him. And so today we're going to talk

about and we're going to go through two simple lessons.

from this passage. One is a lesson on sin and

the other one is a lesson on faith, okay? These

are very simple lessons which all of us need to

learn if we are going to be good followers of

Jesus and become fishers of man to be able to

help each other. So everyone with me, stay with me.

Lessons on sin, lessons on faith, okay? I'm going to

teach and I hope you all can stay with me, okay?

first is a lesson on sin. And I'm sure we

all know how serious it is for a Christian to sin.

You know, when you mention sin, a lot of times

we're like thinking, oh, do bad things, do wrong things.

When I was in Brickfields, I showed them a picture

of a bull's eye. Okay, I printed a big picture.

You know what the bull's eye is? Yeah, the bull's eye, okay?

That round thing. In Bahasa, we call it sasaran. Okay,

something for you to shoot. And I told them that,

you know, if you ever play darts, any of you

play darts? If you play darts, usually, of course, if

you hit the bullseye, which is right in the middle,

you get the most points. If you hit anywhere outside,

you also get some points, but not a lot. You

only don't get points if you hit your neighbor when

you throw the darts. That's a problem. That's really totally off.

And so, with the Lord, He has given us A target, actually.

And that target is actually the bullseye right in the middle.

And so, a lot of times, the way to understand

sin is this. When we miss the mark, it is

when we have fallen short. When we miss the mark.

And that's what sin is. When we miss the mark

of God's design. And God has designed us fearfully, wonderfully,

and even perfectly in that sense. He has designers. He

has set this wonderful standard. But the truth is, all

of us have got original sin in us. All of

us have missed the mark. The entire mankind. And so,

sin is inevitable. That's what Jesus actually says in the Scripture.

If you read it, again, I'm going to go back

to the Scripture. It says, there will always be temptations

to sin. It's always there. Sin is inevitable in our lives.

But then it goes on to say this, but what

is worse than sin itself is actually when you cause

others to sin.

And that is a very, very challenging word. And so,

let's take one step back, okay? Because Jesus said.

Sin is perpetually there. It's always there. It's inevitable. Why

do you think sin is inevitable? And the simplest answer

is this, because we copy each other. We follow each other.

And it is inevitable because we are not living in

an isolated island where we don't have any communication.

With one another.

We don't live like that. No man lives by himself.

And so the truth is, all of us, for better

or for worse, we are constantly influencing one another. We

live in communities. We live with common unity sometimes. We

cannot help it. And so you realize it's so easy

to influence someone in terms of dressing.

It happens.

It's so easy to influence someone with the way they

speak language. It's easy to influence each other in many

different kinds of ways. And I suppose the most obvious

one is how parents will influence their children. Is that

not a very, very common thing? You know, parents raise

their kids. The first thing they do is to influence

them how to speak, how to communicate. And so you

will find that a lot of times the children speak

like the parents.

Why?

Because that's how we have been training them. And so

all our vocabularies, all our habits actually come from somewhere.

It's not like it just appeared out of nowhere. And

so our behaviour generally affects other people. And therefore, there

is this burden that the Scriptures is saying, placed on us.

A burden and also a warning actually on our conscience. Actually,

how many people have sinned because of you?

Wow.

It's a burden because it's weighing in on our own

conscience right now because this is how Jesus is saying.

He says, yes, dear all, I understand that all of

us sin because all of us continue to influence one another.

All of us continue to copy one another. All of

us follow one another.

And that's why we cause ourselves or we end up

with sinful actions in our own lives. But who of

you is the one that's doing the influencing? And so,

you think about it, most of the sins that you

have committed is because you watched someone else or you

saw someone doing something.

We are not that original.

Sometimes we think, I came up with this sin. I'm

the one that derived this, you know, I developed this wrongdoing. No, actually,

we saw someone doing something. And it's very, very easy

actually to influence others. You know, I used to remember

when I was working back out in the law firm,

you know, we used to go to the office supply

room to take Supplies, okay? How many of you all

go to the office supply rooms to take supplies? Usually,

they will say, okay, here you go, one blue pen,

one red pen, one black pen. Usually, we walk out

of it with two blue pens, two black pens, and

two red pens, and maybe a few extra liquid paper

and things like that, right? And we think, it's okay,

not a big deal. One person does it, then the

next person will follow soon. And then before you know it,

the office HR start be wondering why is our supply

is always running so low. And we think that, ah,

it's actually not a big deal. It's just a few

pence only. Do you know sometimes these kind of things

can go on and on and offices can lose a

lot of money because we may think it's.

A small thing. But essentially, what is that? That's pilfering.

It's actually stealing. Taking what you are not supposed to take.

But you're like, no, it's not.

Yes, it is. And so, With our actions, yeah.

Elaine is in HR side, so she's like, yes, stop

taking my pants. You know, we are constantly picking up

things so easily. We can pick things up from the media,

from our friends, from gangs which influence each other. And

that's why the scripture says, all we like sheep have

gone astray. The Bible reminds us, we are like sheep.

You know sheep? Actually quite fun.

If you're a shepherd, quite easy to get the sheep

to graze because one sheep goes, then everyone will follow.

All the others will follow and graze.

But if one sheep decides to go into a ditch,

all will follow each other into the ditch as well.

That's usually how sheep operate. They are pretty compliant, but

also extremely dumb.

But that's us.

No, that's why sometimes the Lord says we are like sheep.

And it needs just one to do something and the

rest will do it. And so Jesus taught that we

are made to influence and we are made to copy

each other. That is the reality of it. How do

we lead other people astray? Ever, ever ask yourself? I

never led anyone astray before. I don't think I've done. No, actually,

there's a lot of ways in which you can lead

people astray. The first way in which you can lead

people astray is by example. Like what I mentioned just now,

you do something and someone who sees what you are

doing will follow suit. They see that, oh, this is okay,

not too bad, must be alright so I can do it,

so let's just all do it. So by example, we

can actually lead people astray. The second way in which

we can lead people astray is actually in teaching. And

there are teachers. Adeline is a teacher. Gloria is a teacher.

They are all teachers. And when you are teaching, you know,

even myself as a teacher in front, there is this

weight that's always on my shoulder that I can't be

teaching things which are wrong because it will weigh upon

my own conscience. This is something that is very, very

important for us to realize.

And what can we do?

You know, because sometimes when we teach, we can compromise

on God's standards. We can say, oh, we are living

in a modern world right now. I think God's standards

are a little bit old-fashioned. So maybe some things we

don't need to observe. Some principles, maybe we can close

one eye. Maybe it's not applicable to this day and age.

You know, if we do that, it's compromising. And Matthew 5,

Matthew 5:19

verse 19 actually says this. If you ignore the least commandment,

you will become blind. You will become the least in

the kingdom of heaven. And so sometimes we find ourselves,

we think that, oh, Jesus came to abolish all the laws. No,

we no longer need to follow all of Jesus' laws

or the Ten Commandments and the 613 other regulations that

came along with the Ten Commandments. Not very important to

follow anymore. But the Scripture doesn't say He came to abolish.

It says He came to fulfill it. And then when

you hear how Jesus teaches about the law, He is

teaching us a different kind of standard. If you think

that standard is much lower than what God had said before,

you're wrong. Because the standards, I think, is even higher.

That's the reality of it. Jesus is saying that, hey,

He's not just saying don't kill. Because a lot of

the Pharisees are like, I never kill, I never steal,

I never do anything bad in my life before.

Therefore, I've observed all of the laws.

And Jesus says, even if you look at someone angrily

and you've got anger burning in your heart, that is

as good as murdering that person.

That is killing.

It's a standard that's so high. And of course, the Pharisees,

such thing. No, I never commit adultery. No, I live

a pure life. Then Jesus says, if you look at

someone and you think wrongful thoughts against that person, lustful

thoughts against that person, that is adultery. You are committing adultery.

He has raised the standards to levels in which you

will realize that you can never fulfill it unless you

have God in your life. And so that is the

reality of it. So if we keep compromising God's laws,

that is us teaching something that is not right. But

we can also, not just compromise, we can teach in

a way where we tighten God's laws. That's what the

Pharisees do. That means they make something that is not

supposed to be so strict. They made it even more strict.

They make it so narrow.

And that's why Yes, there were 10 commandments, there were

613 regulations that came with the 10 commandments that you

can see in the Torah, you can see in the

Old Testament. But you know, with every one of this,

the Pharisees came out with sub-regulations, many, many sub-regulations on

how they should conduct themselves, you know. Sometimes Sabbath, honor

the Sabbath, okay. And then, do you know that there

are some There are some places, if you go to Israel,

especially if you go to ultra-Orthodox communities, if you walk

into a building on the Sabbath day and enter the lift,

you are not supposed to press the level that you

want to go to because technically that is work. So

you cannot work on the Sabbath, right? So the lift

is actually set to stop at every level on the Sabbath.

then you just get down at your level. If you

are in the Petronas Twin Towers on the Sabbath, I

think you can wait the whole day to reach the

top floor. But you see what happens when you tighten it,

you make it so strict. And that's why in Matthew 23,

Matthew 23:4

verse 4, it says that the Pharisees, they crush people

with their unbearable religious demands while they never even lift

a finger to ease the burden. And so the Pharisees

created this whole bunch of sub-laws that really drove people

to despair. Ultimately, what happened? The people gave up because

they felt that, I can't, follow suit. And so they

just gave in and continued with their sinning ways because

they just couldn't cope. And so by teaching, not just

by example can we influence, we can also influence people

by teaching. Another way in which we can influence people

is by provocation. Do you know you can provoke people

to sin? We think, no, it doesn't happen, it doesn't happen.

Do you know that there's a scripture that says, children,

honour your father and mother. We like to use that

with our children usually. And then there is another corresponding

important reminder, not just for parents, no, it's for fathers.

It says, fathers, don't piss your kids off.

Really.

Really. Do not exasperate your children. That's what it says.

Of course, I live in a household full of girls.

Okay, girls.

I've got two daughters, my wife and my mother. With

my daughters, yeah, sometimes I like to exasperate them. You know,

it's like, don't go and just poke. because it's funny

and it's hilarious and I've got a funny bone in me.

Then I realized sometimes it just stirs them to like,

and I'm like, oh.

Then this scripture comes to mind. Don't provoke people.

Because in provocation, you can actually cause them, I mean,

you cause.

Them to be angry. And then Jesus says, when you're angry,

you're a murderer.

Of course, I don't think they want to murder me,

but Maybe there are days when they probably want to.

You know, again, we can provoke, we can instigate. In Bahasa,

the word is menghasut. Can go and just keep poking, poking,

and then people lose their temper. So these are a

host of ways that we can go through life making

others sin. And Jesus strictly warned us not to do that.

Do you know what He said? He said, if you're

going to cause other people to sin, you might as

well put a millstone around your neck and walk into

the ocean. Basically, He's asking you to go and drown yourself.

It's that serious and that strong. And so our life

and our conduct is something that's very, very important for

us to ensure that we don't cause others to fall. Okay,

that is the negative side of the lesson on sin.

The positive side of the lesson is this. Are you

one of those who is there to neutralize sin, to

reduce sin, to deal with it, to help remove it

from people's lives? Do you know we can also do that?

The negative side is we can cause other people to sin,

but we can actually also help other people.

To not sin.

And there is, every one of us here in church

is either we are a person who is adding to

others' sinning by encouraging them to do it either through

our examples, through our teachings or through our provocations or

we could also be the one that makes a choice

to help reduce it and to remove it.

And of course, you're like, how do you even reduce

and remove and negate sin?

Well, actually the scriptures prescribes what we can do and

there are two ways in which you can help reduce

and remove sin. The first way is by rebuking it.

And the second way is by forgiving it. Two very

powerful things that we can learn from the portion of

Scripture that we just read. Let's take the first one,

rebuking it. And, okay, I know when I was thinking

of the word, Rebuke, another word. The word rebuke in

the English language is strong. It connotes a very strong meaning.

I was trying to find another word. All the other words,

I'm thinking in my head, reprimand, chastise. I mean, it's

all strong. Advise strongly. It all connotes something that's very,

very strong. And so when we hear rebuke, we are like,

I don't like to do it. But I tell you

what is worse. What is worse is that when we

see sin, we don't address it with the person. But

we start going everywhere to talk about the person, doing

what is wrong. Sometimes we find it so hard to

rebuke a person, but we find it so easy actually

to talk about what the other person is doing instead

of talking to the person who is responsible. I'm saying

don't do that. That is the most dangerous thing to do.

It essentially is gossiping and the Bible makes it very,

very clear that if you see sin in the person,

go and talk to the person. Address the person himself

or herself. Don't go to Don't go behind their backs

and start talking. You know, the Bible is very, very clear.

It says, do not judge others. And sometimes we always think, oh, judging,

what's judging? Judging, sometimes we think, oh, you cannot just,

you cannot tell me that I'm wrong. Who are you

to judge me? That's not what judging is. If you

study the scripture carefully, you realize that what do not

judge means, it means don't write someone off. If I'm addressing, say,

Pastor Gloria, I'm not Gloria. Okay, you've done wonderful work.

But let's just say, okay, imagine this person did something

not right and I'm addressing her. And if I'm writing

her off, I'm like, you're useless. You can't do anything anymore.

That is judging. That is writing a person off. When

God never, only God can judge. But even God never

writes us off. He always gives us a chance and

an opportunity. But when we are addressing, Gloria, I don't

think you should do that. That's not the right thing

to do. That is not judging. That is essentially rebuking.

Saying that this is not right and it is the

right way of rebuking because I am saying it face

to face to the person. I know when you talk

about rebuking, a lot of us don't really have the

courage to do it because we just are non-confrontational people, right? Yeah, low-key, non-confrontational.

Even parents, sometimes we find it so hard. How to

tell my kid? Then we need to be politically correct.

We need to choose the right words. We start overthinking

all these things. But ultimately, what is the Scripture saying?

The Scripture is saying, rebuild. That means we must teach.

We must disciple. We must tell the person that this

is wrong if it is wrong. That is one way

in which you can actually reduce and remove sin instead

of letting it perpetuate and continue. A lot of times

we think better not to say it. But I'm saying

better to say it. I can't find a nicer word.

In Bahasa, the word to rebuke is actually tegur.

Ever heard of the word tegur?

You know, I like the Bahasa language because It's not

that strong. Tego is strong, but there's also another term

called bertego sapa. That means you meet someone and you

exchange pleasantries. You talk, you're caring for the person. So

a strong word can also have a very soft meaning.

I believe that when you rebuild in love, it goes

a long way. It's actually something that's very, very powerful.

Every parent understands this. We know that we are to

teach and to guide our children. If you see your

child doing something wrong, will you not address it? If

you see your child wanting to go and touch the socket,

the electrical socket with their wet hands, are you going

to be like, maybe just let them get the shock

of their life and then forever remember? No, we won't

do that, right? Because we want to make sure that

they stay alive. If you see your child about to

cross the road, will you not tell them, be careful,

be watchful, we will address. And if you see your

child doing something that is not right, if you see

your child starting to compromise on certain things, will you

not say something or will you be like, I think

it's okay. Because I tell you what, if we keep compromising,

before you know it, there will be a degeneration of values.

Degradation of values. Things will keep getting lower and lower

and lower.

And that's how we want to live our lives right now.

A lot of times we live our lives, you know,

tell me what's the minimum. I just want to hit

the minimum. I just want to pass only. Pass can

go to heaven, okay? Tell me what's the minimum I

need to achieve. But the Lord has never asked us

to live a minimum life. He's always asked us to

live our best and give our best to Him. And so,

Don't ever be afraid to rebuke. But remember, rebuking is

done in love. Because you can also go in hard

and just bam, bam, bam. And you will lose the person.

And that's why that's not the way to do it.

There is a way to do it. The second thing

that we need to do is this. Because the scripture

says when they repent after you rebuke, what.

Must you do?

You must forgive. And that's why these two goals in hand.

And I want you to know this. Those who have

enough love to forgive are those who have enough love

to rebuke. And those who don't have enough love to

rebuke don't have enough love to forgive.

The two go together. If you would rather talk.

About a person behind their back instead of addressing it

with them, and the person continues to do something that

is wrong, one day when the person wrongs you directly,

you will never forgive that person.

Do you know that?

It's a natural thing. It goes hand in hand. Because

you just allowed it. allowed it to continue, allowed it

to perpetuate. And then you start to have layers and layers. Yeah,

the person is like that. That's when you start judging.

And that's when you will see that you are essentially

perpetuating sin. Because not only is the person continuing with

the wrongdoing, now the person has wronged you. Now you

start judging that person, which is sin, because the scripture

says do not judge. And then you don't want to

forgive the person, which is sin. Because the scripture says,

you must forgive, right? And so you see that it

goes hand in hand because both are actually demonstrations of love.

In fact, those who don't speak to a person but

you talk behind their backs, that is not a demonstration

of love. If you see your child doing something that

is not right and you don't say it to them,

that is not loving them. That is preparing them for

something bad to happen in their lives. And that is

the reality of it. And so, these two go hand

in hand. And this is the lesson that Jesus wanted

people to learn. He did not want His disciples to

be adding to the sins of other lives, other people's lives.

But He wanted them to be taking and helping people

to remove sin from their lives. It is very difficult

to forgive someone because it involves forgetting.

At the sermon shore. What are you supposed to... Sorry.

Your friend is cheating and tell him to stop doing that.

It's the wrong thing to do.

Okay. Okay.

I mean, as long as you have told him that

that is not the right thing to do lovingly, and

then I think there will also be maybe the other

parties who need to know that what he's doing is

not right. So again, we can talk a little bit more, Truman, after.

The message.

But we have to speak up for what is not right.

it is something that is essential and imperative.

In our lives. Okay?

So, sorry, where am I now? Okay, so this is

the lesson that Jesus wanted people to learn. He didn't

want people to add to sin. He wanted people to

remove it. And so, forgiving is the second part. Very,

very important, but very, very difficult because forgiving usually involves forgetting.

That is the challenge.

Very difficult to forgive someone else because it involves us

forgetting that that person has ever done such a thing.

And Jesus actually gives us a bit of a guidance

about how many times we may have to do this

for act of forgiving.

And Jesus says, seven times in one day. Are you thinking? Yeah,

not too bad.

So when I was in Brickfields, I had a whiteboard.

On the whiteboard, I wrote the word offense. So I say, okay,

someone offended you, offense. And then first time, you rub

it off. And then someone comes back to you, offended you, offense.

I wrote the second time, offense. And then I rub

it off. You got to forgive, right? I say you

got to forgive. So second time, rub it off. And

then the third time, same person came back to you

and offended you. Third time, you write offense, rub it off.

Fourth time, same person came back, offended you. Same offense, okay?

Exact same offense, right? Offense.

And then rub it off. I went on for seven times.

So I told them, ultimately, if the same person comes

up to.

You on.

The same day, in the same hour, seven times, he

offended you, you are to rub it off. Do you

think Jesus is asking you to count? Do you think

he's saying like, the eighth time, go ahead and smack

the guy? It's usually not the case. Oh no, there's

another one that says, seven times, seven times, seven times.

You think Jesus is asking you to calculate because he

thinks that we all have got amazing mathematical skills and

then in our minds, on the 490th first time, I'm

going to smack the guy.

No, he's essentially saying, keep forgiving. Keep forgiving.

What Jesus is teaching is, don't count Even if the

same person sins against you seven times a day, the

same sin, and he comes up and says, I am sorry,

you are to say, okay, forgiven and forgotten. The reason

for doing this is, of course, that is how you

hope the Lord will deal with you. It is. Why

do I say that? Remember the Lord's prayer. Our Father

who is 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 sins. Lead us not into temptation. Is that how

we usually pray? Oh no, actually we are missing one part.

It says, forgive us our sins as we forgive those

who sin against us. Forgive us our debts as we

forgive our debtors. Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive

those who trespass against us. The Lord wants us to

realise that when we claim and when we ask for

God's mercy, He wants you to first and foremost be

merciful to others. If you have been merciful to others,

then God is more than able, He is more than

happy to be merciful to you, even though some may ask, wow, God,

why so calculative on you?

Huh?

So now you don't want to forgive me. Do you

know it's not a matter of God not apologising? able

to forgive us?

He can. He is God.

Only God can forgive people. That's the truth. And that

is His very, very nature. But you know, a good parent,

and God is our Father. We pray our Father. He

is looking at His children. I always use this illustration.

If I've got two kids, okay? Eugene and Rhonda, now

got one, okay? One baby, Audelia. If next time got two,

and then Audelia is the oldest one, and then he

gives sweets to Audelia, and hoping that Audelia will share

the sweets, but Audelia says to the younger brother or sister, prophesying,

that you'll get a younger brother or sister in the future,

I don't want to give, I don't want to share

the sweets with my younger brother.

Okay, brother now.

I don't want to share. Do you think Eugene will

keep on giving sweets to Audelia, knowing that she won't

share it? Think about it. Because he would want her

to learn how to share. But if he just gives

and gives, why do you think God will hold back

him forgiving? Because he wants us to learn. He wants

us to forgive. Do you know what unforgiveness does? It

does a lot of things. So, about a few weeks ago,

I was in a correctional facility for juveniles. And I

was I had to teach a moral lesson, okay? A

moral lesson on kemaafan, which is forgiveness. And so, I

told them, okay, bangun. So all of them bangun.

I say, angkat tangan kanan anda, hulurkan ke depan. Extend

your right hand. Then I say, genggam tangan kanan.

Okay, so I asked them to clench their fist. And

I told them, clench it hard. And I told them,

I can see when you're clenching it hard or not.

And so they clench until, because usually it vibrates when, okay,

if you are really clenching it really hard and can

see them, I left them for two minutes, clenching their fists.

And then after that, I asked them, how do you feel?

Because they're like, tired lah. Pain lah, my arm. Aching lah,

my arm. I want to smash your face. No, they

are getting angry because it's like the pressure is like

building up. They are like, oh, for two minutes just

holding on. And I told them this is what happens

when you hold on to unforgiveness in your life. Do

you know how tiring it is? Sometimes we think, no lah,

I forgot already. If you remember someone who has done

something to you, maybe you may have forgotten the person momentarily,

but the minute you see the person's face, ah, Straight

away the body like tense up, blood pressure. You know

it's the most unhealthy thing to hold on to unforgiveness.

It's not good for our soul, not good for our body,

not good for our heart, not good for our spirit.

And that is why the scripture says whatever it is,

the positive thing to do is to rebuke sin and

to forgive. Don't let it fester in your lives. Forgive

and forget. Then we are essentially reducing sin around us.

Then we are able to be good followers of Jesus.

You see the flow now? And of course, I mentioned,

I started off today by saying two lessons I want

to teach. One is a lesson on sin. The second

one is a lesson on faith. Because When Jesus told them, okay, forgive,

seven times a day, same person come and offend you,

same sin, same offense, forgive. And then immediately the disciples,

you look at their response. What was their response? Their

response was, Lord, increase our faith. Who can be like this? Lord,

we'll never make it. This kind of standard is so high.

How to forgive? Same person, same hour, same offense. Seven times, no,

I got to forgive the person. After the first time,

I want to decapitate him already. Sometimes that's the truth, right?

Wow, strong words. Okay.

At first sight, you think about it, it's like a prayer.

It's like the disciples crying out. And it sounds like

a pretty good prayer to increase our faith, right Adeline?

Tambahkanlah iman kami. I don't know.

Add to our faith. It is a prayer that is right.

And surely one thing we all need is more faith.

Who doesn't need more faith? All of us want more faith.

And I agree.

There are degrees to faith. And that's why there are

some people who have the gift. Faith is also a gift, actually.

Some people have the gift of faith. Pastor Kenneth is

an amazing man of faith. And that's why his life

really is so inspiring. It inspires us who sometimes our

faith is a little bit smaller.

We're like, wow.

Because he has done it, yeah. He paves the way

for other people to also have more faith. So I'm

not saying that it's wrong when we say increase our faith. Yet,

you know, there is also something not very right with

this prayer and this request. And I'm not saying it

because increasing our faith is a wrong prayer. I'm saying

it because you've got to look at how Jesus responded.

And Jesus, how did He respond? He didn't say, okay, okay,

I will add more faith to you so that you

can believe better. No, he responded by saying, faith as

small as a mustard seed can move mountains. And so,

the question now is, is it bigger faith that we need?

But if that is the case, why did the Lord respond,

faith As small as a master seat can move mountains.

And you see, this is the misconception that sometimes we get.

You know, sometimes when we pray, we like to shift

the responsibility from us to God.

It is like us saying, Lord, we are inadequate, so

you do it.

If we are not careful with our prayers, we get

into this habit of everything, God, you do it. But

God is saying here, you do it. The Lord's rebuke

actually comes in this simple lesson of faith. It is

not enlarging that your faith needs. It is exercising that

your faith needs. Sometimes we are like, ah, I need

bigger faith. But the Lord says, no, whatever faith that

you have, exercise it. And you realize a lot of

our prayers need some examination at this point. Are we

trying to make Him do what we should be doing

in our prayers? Or do we realize now what the

Lord is trying to say to us? Because Jesus would say,

use the little faith that you have. It is not

bigger faith that you need. It is to exercise the

little faith that you already have, that has already been

given to you. This is the way to a stronger

Christian life. Learn how to exercise it bit by bit.

All of us here, I believe if you are in church,

you have some levels of faith. If not, I don't

know what compelled you.

Hallelujah. Maybe your wife, maybe your parents forced you to come.

I don't know.

But usually there has to be some level of faith,

some level of sense of responsibility of doing the right

thing that you step in. That means you have faith.

What we want you to know is your faith may

be no bigger than a mustard seed. And that is

the tiniest seed. You know, when I was in Brickfields,

I gave them each all a mustard seed.

It's small.

Smaller than your booger, really. It's so tiny. Have you

ever seen a mustard seed? Biji sawi is very, very, very,

very small. And such a small thing. Sometimes we get

something so small, we're like, Oh God, I'm asking for

a tree.

Why you give me a seed? And He says, I

have given you a tree.

What you need to do is take what I have

given you, put it into the soil. And that tiny

little thing has got life in it because when you

put that tiny little thing into the soil, it becomes

your tree.

And so this is.

What the teaching here is essentially telling us. It's a

very profound spiritual principle that you will get stuck spiritually

if you don't use what you already have. There is

no use asking for more A lot of times we

want more and more and more.

Why?

Because all of us are hoarders. I'm a hoarder as well.

One pair, not enough.

Two pairs.

But me and Albert, our favourite, 1, 1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 4, 4, 5, 5, 6, 6.

We are like looking at shoes. Maybe time for a

new pair of shoes. And then of course my wife

is like, how many feet you have? You need so

many pairs of shoes. Not enough room.

Use what you have. No use praying for more.

If your faith was only tiny and you were prepared

to use it, you could actually speak to the mulberry tree.

And the mulberry tree is actually one of the trees

that has the deepest roots in all of Israel. It's

a very strong tree. And it says that you can

ask it to get up and go and it will

be gone. That's why in James 2, it says this

faith without actions is dead. And I believe that the

real reason why Christians get stuck and we do not

see more is not necessarily because we lack earnest prayer

that God will do more. It may be that we

are not exercising the little that God has already given us.

I'm going to invite the band up. I'm almost done.

When I was using the illustration to explain this.

What I did was I looked for a resistance band, okay?

You know what the resistance band is? You use it

to exercise. All you girls who use it. My wife

has got tons of it. Small one, big one, all

sorts of resistance band in the house.

I'm like looking. So I brought it. I brought it.

It's part of my props. And I told them, look,

small resistance band. And they're like, oh, okay. Think you

can do great things? No, sometimes we look at a

small resistance band and we're like, huh? I don't think

that can do anything. give me a bigger band because

I want to swing and I want to hang and

I want to do more things. But you see, it

is not a bigger resistance band that you need. You

need to use that resistance band. However small it is,

it has a purpose. You don't need a bigger band.

Resistance makes the band stronger, so you got to use it.

And then you will experience it. You don't use it.

If you look at it, it looks small and tiny.

But if you use it, then you will put it

to its maximum ability and capability.

You see that?

And I believe this applies to the gifts of the

Spirit as well. I believe it applies to the graces

of the Spirit. You know, the Spirit in our lives,

Holy Spirit in our lives is a gift. It's Jesus

that gives us these gifts. The scriptures say that Jesus

is the one that baptizes us in the Holy Spirit. Gifts.

You know, there are days when we are like praying, Lord,

give me more patience. And Jesus is going to turn

to us and ask, are you using what I have

already given you?

You know, there are days when I'm like, Lord, I

want to be more patient with people.

Then the Lord will remind me, are you patient with

your mom at home?

Do you snap?

Because, I mean, my mom, God bless her soul, is

one of the nicest, people in the whole wide world.

Pastor Gloria, she's been to my house.

Quite a few times. She knows my mum.

But you know, older people, as they get older, everything

goes on repeat a few times. And then we all

sometimes don't have the patience. I find myself actually sometimes like,

I thought I already said this. And then when there

are days when I'm like, Lord, give me more patience.

And the Lord is saying, are you using whatever patience

you have? that I have already given you.

Try it out at home.

Sometimes we are like, Lord, give me more love. And

He's going to say, are you using what I have

already given you? Someone who is obviously in need, are

you loving that person? Helping that person? Sometimes we say, Lord,

I need more money. Give me more money. And you

know what He's going to say? He's going to say,

are you already using what I have placed in your pocket?

Sometimes even what we have, we are not willing to

part with. The Lord wants us to exercise. There are

days when we are praying, Lord, give us revival. Revival.

We want to see this whole nation revive. And the

Lord is saying that, I want you revive. Because one

person revive, and that one revived person can therefore then

go out. and do wonderful things in the community. And

do you see what I am trying to get at?

It's a lesson in faith, not just to pray big,

but to act big. Not to throw it back on

the Lord and say, Lord, you do more with us,

but to respond to the Lord's challenge and say, you

do more with what I have given you and see

what happens.

And that's the glorious thing The glorious thing is that

your faith increases as you use it. Your gifts increases

as you use them.

Your grace, the grace that you have in your life

increases when you exercise it. Don't ever undermine. Don't undermine

the gifts that the Lord has given you. Sometimes we

think every gift is to strengthen each other, strengthen the body.

Don't think that all these are false gifts, these are

wrong teachings. Be careful is what I want us to

realize because you see, in the Scriptures, the Lord is

rebuking and He's correcting His disciples here.

And you know what? He will be faithful to forgive them.

I know Jesus will definitely forgive them even though they

ask the wrong thing. And he's saying, look, guys, exercise

what I've given you first. Because faith as small as

a mustard seed can move mountains. And so you realize this,

when you help others, not sin, by forgiving them, you

will exercise whatever faith that is within you. Everything within

you will therefore be revived to live for the Lord.

It starts with these steps.

Let's stand.

And I pray that today, we will take home this

lesson on sin and the lesson on faith. And Father,

I pray that our lives will be lived for You. Lord,

we thank You that Your Word is constantly rebuking sin

in our lives.

That's what Your Word does. That's what the law does.

You have placed commandments in our lives, not so that

we solely know that we are guilty and wrong, but

it is your way of saying, if you know you

are wrong, choose to do what is right and choose

to obey and choose to follow.

And you know what?

The Scripture says God is faithful to forgive. Those who

would confess wrong your shortcomings unto Him. Every time you confess,

every time He will forgive. That is who the Lord is.

And together, when we keep reading His Word and praying

to Him, I believe sin will reduce in our lives.

I don't believe it will keep increasing. Especially when we

therefore use whatever faith that we have to exercise.

Exercise it.

Bit by bit, little by little, and see what the

Lord can do in and through us.

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!