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00:00 Yes, Lord. We want to learn to trust and obey you, Father. For there's no other way, Lord, we want to thank you for the
00:06 sweet hour of worship, Father. And Lord, as we bring forth a portion back to you of what you've given us, I call upon
00:13 brother Minking to give thanks. Father, Lord, just um we humbly come
00:20 before you and give thanks for what you have, you know, richly bestowed upon us, Lord. And Lord, even as we give back a
00:28 portion of that you have richly blessed us with, Lord, we just pray that um be
00:33 used for the furtherance of your kingdom as well as for the good of the community. Lord, we just want to thank
00:39 you once again for this in Jesus most precious name. Amen. Please be seated.
00:56 Lord, I seek you. Help me find you.
01:03 How I need your touch.
01:10 Find my dry and broken places
01:17 thirsty for your love.
01:24 Lord forgive me if I wondered
01:31 far away from you.
01:38 You are all I ever needed.
01:46 Come and make me new.
01:51 You'll spit down on me for just like the rain.
01:60 Saturate my thirsty soul.
02:05 Come and fall aresh on me. Feel my cup again.
02:13 Heal my heart and make me whole.
02:20 I need you now for your spirit.
02:35 Lord, I seek you. Help me find you.
02:42 How I need your touch.
02:48 Find my dry and broken faces
02:56 just for your love.
03:02 Lord, forgive me if I wonder
03:09 far away from you.
03:16 You are all I ever need.
03:23 Come and make me.
03:28 Oh, your spirit on me falls like rain.
03:37 Saturate my mercy soul
03:42 and fall fresh on me. Feel my cup again.
03:50 Fill my heart and make me whole.
03:57 I need you now.
04:02 Pour your spirit out on me for just like the rain.
04:11 Satur
04:18 me my cup again.
04:24 Fill my heart and make me whole.
04:31 I need you now your sit
04:40 for the spirit of please rise for the doxology.
04:46 Praise God from whom all blessings flow.
04:53 Praise him all creatures here below.
04:59 Praise him above the heavenly host.
05:05 Praise father, son, and holy ghost.
05:12 Amen. Please be seated. Dr. Bill.
05:21 Morning church. Good to see everyone here today. My slides.
05:28 Okay. Right. So, uh if we have any newcomers here in our midst this morning, can we have a show of hands
05:34 that we could welcome you? Newcomers. Ah, one over there, gentlemen over there. Anyone else?
05:42 Well, let's spend a couple of minutes saying hello to uh each other and welcome each other. How's the Lord?
06:14 Just a couple of announcements. Firstly, uh if you have a brochure in front of you, this is something which the youth
06:20 are starting uh at impact academy. What's happening is on Saturday um
06:28 boys brigade will have their meeting. At the same time, those who are not very good at marching like got two left feet,
06:36 some kids just don't don't like to march. So that's fine. But we shouldn't leave them out. So the youth are going to have a special program where they
06:43 will start off with the uh Bible study where the curriculum will uh focus on biblical values like integrity,
06:50 humility, diligence, service, also the gospel. Then after that they'll actually have this extra module called a a life
06:57 skills you know uh which is relevant relevant to impacting our community. Then they have their uh dance or games
07:03 and physical workout. So this is a program uh you've got the brochure in front of you to try to basically um uh
07:10 sign your kid up. Um, you know, some of the workshops are like electrical, uh,
07:15 electrical engineer Philip Young will be teaching the kids how to be safe at home, which is the red wire and the
07:22 green wire. What is it for? You join join the wrong wires together. So, it'll make sure that the kids are safe. Uh,
07:28 there'll also be something like on plumbing, you know, ladies, your children will be able to change your your your washer when the plug gets when
07:35 the the tap gets off. So, it's it's kind of DIY kind of thing. We've got people like Mick who's a uh very good with his
07:42 hands and engineer as well. So, uh we're going to have parents who come in who are specialized in various fields who
07:48 can basically teach them. So, it will not only be Bible study and values but also be hands-on so that they learn
07:54 these living skills. Then there's a section on creative communication that we learn they learn to do public
07:60 speaking. Uh we're getting some folk from Toast Masters to come and help us. Uh and also for older kids, how do you
08:05 interview for jobs? uh we've got a lot of CEOs in our midst who will be helping us uh in this area. Um not only you have
08:13 uh Bible study but you also have things which will be very useful. Did you know they ran an experiment where there are
08:19 two identical looking girls with six points three bad and three good. They
08:26 went in for interview uh an experiment. One girl put all the three of her best
08:31 points first and then all the three of her worst points second. Another girl
08:37 came in and put all the worst points first and the best points second. Guess who got the job?
08:44 Yeah. The one who put the best points first. 80% voted. So it's better a technique, isn't it? So so uh it's
08:51 useful for for youth to learn such things and and then basically be able to
08:56 apply them. Uh so how do how do they write their CVs up? We're going to be teaching them uh how to write their CVs
09:01 in such a way that is honest that doesn't embellish uh not like the way the world usually does. Uh there'll be a
09:09 section on drama section of how to do powerpoints to present and also they'll have to learn how to do a video in order
09:17 to to get across ideas. Uh then middle of year some of our entrepreneurs and
09:22 our mids are going to use uh this program called the apprentice FBC you know. All right. Yeah. So, we're going
09:30 to be dividing them into several teams and we give them some seed money, 500 ringgit or something. And they've got to
09:35 come up to doubling that money or tripling it. Uh, but well within guidelines of integrity, proper
09:42 marketing, don't oversell, don't underell, but do the right things. And we've got Christian professionals in our midst helping us. So, it'll be
09:48 practical. So, some of your kids and especially uh youth not doing anything on S on Saturday, please join us. You've
09:54 got non-Christian kids will also benefit because by doing things this way they learn biblical values. So uh sign them
10:01 up and we this is a traditional approach where we only have Bible study and fellowship but to and I think it's
10:09 limited its impact in community. What we're going to have is life skills as well. I think it'll be a greater impact
10:14 upon our community. Uh we want adults. Uh those of you so many of you who are
10:22 gifted in so many different areas, you know, we've even got a farmer. I think Andrew today is going to take Sunday
10:28 school on learning how we have a veggie patch at the back if you didn't know. We're starting to grow ladies fingers
10:33 and in one month we'll have nice long ladies fingers organically grown.
10:38 There's no horrible pesticides. So you come and ask Sunday school if you want to buy some ladies fingers at the end of
10:44 the month. So all the kids will be uh looking after the veggie patch at the back. So you could have be a farmer, you
10:49 could be entrepreneur, you could be anybody. Uh please come and and sign up and just help us. It just takes uh you
10:55 know two three afternoons for example, you teach your skill. Uh it will impact the next generation. So it makes sense,
11:01 isn't it? This is a church of 300. So many of you, you all have skills. Uh you don't have to be best in the world with
11:08 it, but you can just be competent. That's good enough. You pass it on to the next generation. So let me know, let Mark know if any kids want to sign up or
11:15 adults want to help out. Uh the other issue is the education center. This is a
11:20 first baptist uh church education center where we are going to be starting
11:25 something like a home school. Uh you know the the educational system in this country is rather confused. A lot of
11:32 parents you know they they look at the scene and they shake their heads. Do we do the ICGCE or the KBSR Singapore
11:39 syllabus Chinese and It's terrible. And then there's the new system where there's no exams. You just come turn up
11:46 in school, he likes your smile, then give you a A. Um it's very troubling for
11:51 a lot of them. So we believe um that kids need to be helped. And so
11:56 therefore, we're starting this system based on the accelerated uh Christian education uh where the motto is reaching
12:03 the world for Christ one child at a time. And what's happening here is that the emphasis on this sort of learning is
12:09 basically on character building where we will be teaching values uh based on the curriculum. This curriculum comes from
12:16 Texas in the school of tomorrow. Uh individualized learning because we believe the whole issue is not teaching
12:22 the child but teaching the child how to learn uh to be excited about learning.
12:27 Um and uh we believe it is not only impartation knowledge, it's also
12:33 understanding and finally wisdom. Uh critical thinking skills are very very important. So the these are some of the
12:39 aspects of ACE uh education. Uh it'll be affordable. Uh it builds up critical
12:44 thinking and also uh focus on life soft skills. So hopefully in this church with
12:50 this last uh uh youth body in place, we'll have youth BB educational center
12:56 and s Sunday school all basically focusing on the word of god, practical life skills and fellowship in order to
13:02 impact our community. So it's a whole integrated uh approach so that we don't duplicate our efforts. So uh some of you
13:09 who are interested uh who've got friends uh who are interested also who have children at right age uh speak to
13:15 Colleyn who will be outside. We have a booth and ask her all the question. We're starting uh in January. Okay.
13:21 Thank you.
13:39 We will now go into a time of corporate worship, corporate prayer. Sorry.
13:46 I'll be reading a portion of scripture taken from Psalms 5. If you could stand with me as I read Psalms 5 verse 1 to3
13:57 for it says, "Give to my words, O Lord.
14:04 Consider my sign. Listen to my cry for help,
14:11 my King and my God. For to you I pray.
14:17 In the morning, oh Lord, you hear my voice. In the morning I lay my request
14:22 before you and wait in expectation.
14:30 Let us pray. Our merciful God,
14:37 we plead before you to listen to our cry.
14:43 And father, even as we pray before you and lay our requests
14:49 and we wait, grant us, oh father, your patience in
14:55 waiting. We commit before you the ministry of the
15:01 church for the coming vacation bible school.
15:08 Father, as the people prepare their hearts to reach out to the children,
15:15 we pray for the love of Jesus will be demonstrated.
15:20 We pray Lord that you grant good health to all.
15:25 And Lord, today will be another busy day for VBS, for the kids registration,
15:32 decoration, painting by our youth, worship practice,
15:38 kindergarten class briefing. Lord, the task before them is so great.
15:45 Yet, Father, we want to thank you for the joy that you have set in their heart to serve you in this ministry.
15:54 grant additional portion of your strength and your patience.
15:60 We thank you for Gina for leading as the principal of
16:06 vacation bible school. May you continue Lord guide her and bless her family.
16:13 We thank you for the boys brigade dinner last night and we thank you for the
16:21 response that was achieved last night
16:26 and even for the whole chakan. We want to pray Lord for a good turnout
16:31 for the bread making a time of fellowship together.
16:38 Father, even as we pray for the spiritual revival for our church,
16:44 all this, oh Lord, will come for our love for your word
16:50 and a deeper relationship with you and one another.
16:56 And that will be our main trust, oh Lord, and wanting to reach out to the
17:02 community with your word. Father, we want to remember
17:09 those who are not well before you for your comfort, your peace and most of all
17:16 your divine touch. Oh Lord on Tibu, Tinachi,
17:22 baby Elizabeth, Auntie, Elizabeth, Tan, Jerry.
17:28 Father we pray that you will ride through their storm of life
17:33 that they can feel your presence and father your comfort will be upon
17:40 them and we want to remember once again till Lori has completed his studies.
17:48 We pray that you will guide him for his future endeavor. We want to thank you father and we pray
17:56 lord even in few moments we'll be listening to your word. Cause our hearts
18:03 to be still and our phone to be silent
18:08 as we listen to your word for we want to thank you and we praise you in the name of our Lord Jesus
18:15 Christ. Amen. Please be seated.
18:21 going to
18:29 I invite uh David, come here. Okay.
18:38 Uh very quick update from the mission department on a medical care trip that
18:43 we did in uh Kong Tong in Malaya. As you can see from the screen, uh basically
18:48 this is the team that went uh we all inside the inside the photo. You just have to see where the team members are
18:55 and the rest are all basically the orangi people. Next slide please. Uh
19:00 before that, okay, this is obviously you see who the two main doctors are, the two main characters of this whole
19:07 medical care trip. Basically what we did was we split ourselves into basically four teams when we were there. One team
19:13 did the registration. Of course, the other team was the doctor. Then we had the team that did the dispensing of the
19:18 medicine. And next slide please. This is where another team went to play with the
19:24 children. We didn't start any children ministry per se. What we wanted to do was to get a rapper with the children, a
19:31 rapper with the people first. Once we get their trust and their confidence in
19:36 us, then perhaps we'll then start the children ministry there. Uh, next slide please. Okay. Basically we just like to
19:44 use the word advertise. Uh basically we are planning a Christmas celebration with the orangi people. Basically we're
19:52 having it on the Saturday 7th December and we also like to seek your
19:57 partnership church partnership in sponsoring some of the basic meets with
20:02 there about 40 aroundly families there. So the mission department next slide
20:08 please. uh thought that it would be good to share Christmas with them and we thought
20:14 that perhaps maybe we would just like to give them a gift of some of the items
20:20 here. It's about $50 per family. Uh it's about only 40 families. So, uh for those
20:27 who are interested, please see sister Dorin after this to give their names. And of course uh if that's more than 50
20:34 we also value that perhaps then maybe we can increase the the value of the the
20:39 gift to them. And also for those who are free on Saturday 7th December we would
20:45 also like to extend the invitation to the church to join us to have fellowship
20:51 with the orangi people. Uh it would be good to show our support to them if we
20:58 perhaps more people go and share with them. Okay.
21:04 Okay, basically that's what we have in terms of the uh sharing in terms of turbong uh ministry. Thank you.
21:16 This morning too we want to pray for those who will be leaving for Jerusalem
21:22 next week and as a family we like to commit them in prayer. I ask those who
21:28 are going to Jerusalem to stand and then as we commit
21:33 you unto the Lord. Those who are going to Jerusalem next week, please stand.
21:40 So these are the few that will be leaving and we like to unite our hearts
21:45 as they leave for Jerusalem next week for a time enriching time there. Let us
21:54 pray together. Father, we want to commit those
22:01 who stand before us and Lord as they leave for Jerusalem
22:08 next week, we pray oh God that you will prepare them mentally and spiritually
22:15 as well as good health. And as they visit each place and walk
22:22 the places that Jesus have trod, Father, we pray that they may learn to
22:28 be led by the Holy Spirit and increase their knowledge and love for you and to
22:35 walk in your grace in the days ahead. We thank you for this opportunity that
22:42 you have given to them. May the joy will be in his heart. And we
22:48 pray Lord for the time through immigration and customs check that all will run
22:56 smoothly. Grant journey mercies and protection for all and the blessings and the love of
23:04 our Lord will be with each one of them as they encounter
23:10 with different people in Jerusalem itself. So we want to
23:16 commit each one of them and your blessings oh father to be with them for this we ask in Jesus name. Amen. Thank
23:23 you. Please be seated. I invite sister Lillian to read a portion of scripture
23:28 for us this morning.
23:40 Good morning. This morning's reading is in Exodus chapter 17 verse 1-7.
23:50 Exodus 17 verse1. The whole Israelite community set out from the desert of
23:55 sin, traveling from place to place as the Lord commanded. They came at
24:00 Refodin, but there was no water for the people to drink. So they quarreled with
24:05 Moses and said, "Give us water to drink." Moses replied, "Why do you
24:11 quarrel with me? Why do you put the Lord to the test?" Verse three, but the
24:17 people were thirsty for water there, and they grumbled against Moses. They said,
24:22 "Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to make us and our children and livestock
24:28 die of thirst?" Then Moses cried out to the Lord, "What am I to do with these
24:33 people? They are almost ready to stone me." Verse 5, the Lord answered Moses,
24:40 "Go out in front of the people. Take with you some of the elders of Israel
24:46 and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile and go. I will
24:52 stand there before you by the rock at Horeak. Strike the rock and the water
24:57 will come out of it for the people to drink. So Moses did this in the sight of
25:02 the elders of Israel. And he called the place Masa and Maribba because the
25:08 Israelites quarreled and because they tested the Lord saying, "Is the Lord among us or not?" May the Lord bless the
25:15 reading of his word.
25:26 Good morning. Morning. Okay, let's come in prayer to God.
25:35 Heavenly Father, your word is living and active, sharper than any double-edged
25:40 sword. It penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It
25:46 judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. We pray Lord you will speak to us
25:52 today in your word and that you will penetrate into our hearts. Lord, you will judge our thoughts, our attitudes,
25:58 and that we will be enabled to respond to you in faith and in obedience. We
26:04 pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
26:09 Okay. Now, if you're born in anywhere from 1980s to 2000, you are considered
26:16 to be in the millennial generation. Okay. How many are millennial generation? Okay. All right. Okay. Okay,
26:23 you might not want to be so enthusiastic once you've heard what I say. Okay. Anyway, um uh I think I keep Okay,
26:33 so now in the in the US there were some authors who got really enthusiastic about the millennial generation. You
26:39 know, they wrote books like Millennials Rising, the next great generation or generation we and they said, well, these
26:47 millennials are a generation of people who are helpful. They're concerned. They're civic-minded young people. They
26:52 are engaged in society. They are keen to save the planet. So their generation we
26:57 uh because they are kind of you know embrace everybody. But one author beg to differ this uh author here
27:08 uh it's not working. Anyway this author Jean Twenel I don't know how to say her name. She actually went and said let's
27:14 not go on a hunch. Let's actually do hard research on these people. She went and did lots of survey. She compared it
27:19 with generations from before from baby boomers to generation X's. Okay. And she
27:25 actually found a lot of evidence that millennials are actually more selfish.
27:30 They feel more self-important. They think more highly of themselves. They have a greater sense of entitlement than
27:37 the previous generations. You know, they were less likely than previous generations to care about social
27:42 problems, uh, about politics, about government, about current events, or even about saving the environment. And
27:49 they were less likely to want a job that would help people or that was worthwhile to society. That was what she found. You
27:56 see, what they were preoccupied with was me, myself, and I. So, when the
28:03 researchers use this, they call it the narcissism questionnaire. Okay? Narcissism means like you know loving
28:09 yourself. Okay. So this question asks for responses to things like if I rule the world it would be a better place.
28:16 Yes or no? I think I'm special. Yes or no? I can live my life any way I want
28:21 to. Or I insist upon getting the respect that is due to me. And guess what they found? These millennials scored higher
28:28 in the narcissism questions compared to previous generations. So it's not really
28:33 a generation we, it's a generation me. That's the name of that book. And when
28:39 they did some research into what are their views of God, it showed that many of them think that God only exists to
28:47 help me when I have a problem. Otherwise, God usually just sits back, minds his own business, and doesn't make any demands of me. Now, if other people
28:54 want to go and help people, they want to give up their comforts, they want to serve people, that's great and all, but you know, they shouldn't have to make
28:60 it. Everybody has to do it. You know, it's optional. Life is not about other people. So life is about me feeling good
29:06 about myself, feeling happy, being true to myself, my self-esteem, my self-actualization,
29:13 my emotional well-being. It's all about me. And not surprisingly,
29:18 when this generation meets with hardship in life, which is inevitable,
29:23 they squeal in pain and they don't know how to cope. Now, you might think maybe it's because
29:28 this generation are too much coddled. They had everything easy. you know, they had everything handed to them on a
29:34 platter. They are soft. But before we smirk too quickly at the young people,
29:40 let's let me put it to you that actually all of us are generation me. And in
29:47 today's passage that we just read, there is a big generation me that's going on
29:52 there. Okay? And why we need to read this passage? Because we need to learn about people who are so similar to
29:59 ourselves. How did they react in times of testing and trouble? So, let's turn
30:04 to our passage for today. The uh the incident that we read about today
30:11 happened about two months or more after the people of Israel left Egypt.
30:17 They came out of Egypt in the most miraculous of circumstances. Okay? They saw God pour out 10 horrible plagues on
30:25 the Egyptians and then they got to walk out of Egypt freely. Nobody stopped them. And before that they managed to
30:30 plunder the Egyptians of all their gold. And when the Egyptian army came by with
30:36 all their chariots, God even opened a road for them in the sea. But as soon as they crossed over the
30:42 sea, it wasn't the promised land. It was a desert.
30:48 And the most important thing about being in a desert is survival. That is food,
30:54 water. And so immediately after crossing the sea, they got to this desert, they complained to Moses about where's the
31:02 water. Okay, we see that actually two chapters before today's chapter. In chapter 15,
31:08 as soon as they crossed the Red Sea, they went into a desert of Shul. And for three days, they traveled in the desert without finding water. And when they
31:15 came to Mara, they could not drink its water because it was bitter. And so the people grumbled against Moses saying, "What are we to drink?" Now, isn't it
31:23 mind-boggling that immediately after seeing God caring for them in such an
31:28 amazing way, they they can grumble about not having water. You know, surely this God who has the sea at his disposal
31:35 cannot let the small issue of a water supply stop his plans for his people.
31:40 And God gave them water to drink. But then later the next chapter, which we looked at last week, again they
31:48 complained. Right? In verse two here uh in chapter 16, the whole community
31:53 grumbled against Moses and Aaron. And the Israelites said to them, "If only we had died by the Lord's hand in Egypt.
32:00 There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted. But you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death."
32:09 You know, God has saved them from slavery. Okay, that means you know you every day you work work work more and
32:16 more work for you but less uh not enough food you know they didn't give you extra
32:21 extra stuff just because you had to work more they threw your children in the river to die and they said if only we
32:27 could be back in Egypt life was bliss there now you've brought us to here to starve us to death haven't you
32:37 forget and yet God graciously responded to them and poured out meat and bread
32:42 from heaven for them. That was last week's passage. Now today we come to the
32:48 third incident in which the people complain after after coming out of Egypt. This is what happens. The whole
32:55 Israelite community set out from the desert of sin traveling from place to place as the Lord commanded. They camped
33:01 at Refiddim. But there was no water for the people to drink. So they quarreled with Moses and said, "Give us water to
33:08 drink." Now that's amazing, isn't it? God had already sorted out the water issue for them and then the food issue and this is
33:15 still how they respond to God. Now, I suspect, you know, before we criticize
33:21 them too harshly, let's take a look at what kind of terrain they're traveling in. Something like this, okay? It's
33:26 desert, is bare. There's not a single um sight of any water around.
33:32 Now, I mean, we shouldn't criticize him too harshly because we might react the same way, you know? I mean, after all,
33:37 we are people who complain when there's not no hot water in a church camp. Okay?
33:43 So, imagine yourself in their shoes. Okay? Okay, now you're tunnling wearily through the desert. You're hot and
33:50 you're parched with thirst. You have sand in your eyes. You have sand in your mouth. You have sand in your shoes. You're carrying all your earthly
33:56 belongings on your shoulders. You haven't showered for two months. You haven't had any clean underwear to
34:02 change into for two months. Your children are cranky because you're running out of what little water you
34:08 have left. You see, these guys had real problems, isn't it? We're not talking about trivial stuff. You and I might
34:15 have reacted the same way they did. Give us water to drink is what they
34:21 said. Now notice that this journey through the
34:27 desert is a deliberate plan on God's part. He says they are traveling from
34:33 place to place as the Lord commanded. God directed every step of the way. He wanted them to go through this desert.
34:39 He didn't make a mistake. It was very intentional. Now, God hasn't changed the way that he
34:45 works. Now, our experience today is often very similar to what the people of Israel
34:51 went through in the desert. You know, like them, we too have experienced a
34:56 great salvation. We have been saved from slavery. In our case, we have been saved from slavery to sin and death.
35:04 And the New Testament makes this connection too. See, in in uh the book of 1 Corinthians in the New Testament,
35:11 it says, "I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud,
35:17 and they all passed through the sea." Referring to the Exodus generation. They
35:23 were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They ate all ate the same spiritual food and drank the
35:28 same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them. And that rock was Christ. Here it
35:35 says, "Israel's experience in the desert is very much like our Christian experience. They passed through the
35:42 waters of the sea just as we pass through the waters of baptism. They had miraculous manner from heaven to eat.
35:49 They had miraculous water from the rock to drink just like how we partake, eat, and drink of Christ as symbolized in the
35:56 Lord's supper. And just like them, God doesn't take us to the promised land
36:02 straight away. Instead, God makes us walk through the desert. So, we live on this earth which
36:09 is marred by sin, by injustice and violence and idolatry, sorrow,
36:14 suffering. We don't belong to this world anymore. We are now on our pilgrimage to
36:20 the promised land above. And yet, we have to pass through this world on our way there. Just like the the popular
36:27 song says, "This world is not my home. I'm just a passing through." We are not citizens here. We're not even PRs here.
36:34 We are aliens, foreigners, and strangers in this world.
36:39 And God puts us here often in situations of hardship, in situations of suffering.
36:46 We all go through desert experiences in our lives. Some of you may be going
36:51 through it right now. You might be desperately trying to get out of the situation you're in now. Perhaps you've
36:57 uh had some difficulty making ends meet with your business, not going too well, cost rising everywhere.
37:04 Perhaps you have lost your job. Perhaps you are going through a difficult time in your marriage or your
37:10 children are out of control or you're struggling with not being able to have children or you've had a miscarriage or
37:18 you've lost a loved one or you've been diagnosed with cancer. You are out in the desert.
37:25 Where is God? Now, now there are two ways to uh to respond
37:32 to our desert experiences. I want to look at two ways. Simple. The first way
37:37 is unfortunately what the Israelites did, which is grumbling. Grumbling. So,
37:43 let's look at verse uh two to so they quarrelled with Moses and said,
37:50 "Give us water to drink." Moses replied, "Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you put the law to the test? But the people
37:56 were thirsty for water there and they grumbled against Moses. They said, "Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to make
38:03 us and our children and livestock die of thirst?" See, they grumbled in the desert and
38:10 specifically they grumbled against Moses who is God's appointed leader. Now, in
38:16 even stronger word than grumbling, it says they quarreled with Moses. Now, grumbling is complaining and whining.
38:22 Usually we do it behind the back, right? Quarreling is when you take your anger, your complaining openly to that person's
38:28 face. Now notice in all their quarreling and
38:34 uh grumbling that they didn't mention God. They just say an angry demand, give us
38:40 water to drink. Okay? And then later on, why did you bring us up out of Egypt? In
38:45 other words, it's an angry sarcastic question. Why did you bring us here to die?
38:51 See the person in the firing line appears not to be God but to be Moses.
38:57 See do you do you grumble like this? Do you know grumbling complaining in this
39:03 passage are a sign of unbelief in God of lacking trust in God? Now you might say
39:09 oh please stop jumping to conclusions here. Everybody complains now and again.
39:14 You know that has nothing to do with whether I trust God or not. I'm not complaining about God. I'm just
39:19 complaining about my situation. Well, these people are also just complaining about their situation.
39:26 There's no mention of God also. See, but God, Moses can see that actually they are putting the Lord to the test.
39:33 Quarreling with him is putting the law to the test. And in verse seven later on in this
39:39 passage it says that the people he called the place Masa and Maribba because the Israelites quarrel and
39:45 because they tested the Lord saying is the Lord among us or not. Now they are
39:51 mentioning the name of God but they're not talking to God. They're talking about God with each other. They're
39:58 murmuring against God. Where is this God who took us out of Egypt only to dump us
40:04 here in the desert? He wants us dead. See the people of Israel grumble about
40:10 their situation and about their leader but the situation comes from God. He led
40:16 them there and the leader comes from God. God put Moses there. So actually
40:21 they are grumbling against God. And what is God's response to this? He
40:27 answered to Moses, "Walk on ahead of the people. Take with you some of the elders of Israel. Take in your hand a staff
40:33 with which you struck the Nile and go. I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock and water will
40:41 come out of it for the people to drink. So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel. Now God remains so
40:48 patient with this ungrateful people. And so far each time whenever they complain
40:54 about not having water, not having food, God doesn't rebuke them. God just graciously provides for their needs. So
41:01 God tells Moses, "Go ahead, go to the rock at Horeb." Horeb is another name for Mount Si. So actually they already
41:06 very near to Mount Si. Moses is to go ahead, bring some of the elders along, strike the rock and then uh God will do
41:13 a great miracle for Israel and water will gush out of a dry desert rock.
41:19 Maybe something like this painting, but the stream would be much larger, I think, to feed so many people.
41:26 So what can we learn from this water from the rock incident?
41:31 Now we learn that God is a gracious God. A God who provides for undeserving
41:37 people and that includes people like us, undeserving people like us. Now isn't it
41:44 great that God's provision doesn't depend on our performance? He's a gracious God.
41:50 And we also learn what it means in this passage. We learn what it means to test God. You see, the people tested the Lord
41:57 saying, "Is the Lord among us or not?" And that's why Moses named that place
42:02 Masa and Maribba. Masa in Hebrew means testing. Maribba means quarreling.
42:10 The people tested God's patience there. They questioned God's goodness there. God was patient with them again this
42:17 time. But you know what? God's patience can eventually run out, too.
42:22 So, if you fast forward the story by two years and you get to the book of Numbers,
42:28 I haven't put it up here, but in Numbers chapter 11, Moses uh uh Israel is finally leaving
42:34 Mount Si after camping there for two years. They finally kept leaving and
42:40 they start complaining there's I'm so sick of eating mana. I've
42:45 been eating mana day after day for two whole years. I wish I could be back in Egypt where there was plenty of meat to
42:51 eat. That was numbers 11. And this time, God is no longer lenient. God judges them. God pours down quailes again for
42:58 them from heaven. You know, wonderful. There there's so much quail until it's coming out of their nostrils. And as
43:04 they're chomping down their quail, God strikes them dead with a plague. That's how angry God was. But those who are
43:10 left behind, they didn't learn the lesson because three chapters later in Numbers chapter 14, again, they are
43:16 whining. How can God bring us here in the desert and want us to fight against these people? How can we win against
43:22 such people? God gives them the ultimate punishment this time. He says, "Okay, none of you
43:29 will enter the promised land. None of you who are 20 years and older will enter. You will wander in the desert
43:36 until every single rebel here drops dead." That is God's punishment for grumbling,
43:42 complaining, and their whining. Now, many years later, the the writer of
43:49 the B the writers in the Bible look back at the Exodus generation and put together all of this complaining and
43:56 grumbling in the desert and and and call it Masa and Maribba because that is the
44:02 that is the representative event. You see, in Psalm 95, I didn't put it up for you. In Psalm 95, the psalmist uh says
44:10 that you know to his own generation don't be like the people at Masa and
44:15 Maribba. And even in the New Testament, this psalm is picked up and used in the book of Hebrews. And I did put that up
44:21 for you. Sorry. I hope. Oh, maybe I didn't.
44:28 Okay, never mind. In Hebrews, if you have your Bible, you can turn to Hebrews chapter 3, uh, verse 7.
44:35 Okay. Uh you see the thing is Masa and Marba are not just this isolated
44:40 incident that happened once. Masa and Marba is a paradigm of unbelief in God
44:46 of rebellion against God. There are massas and marbas scattered throughout the Bible and throughout the history of
44:53 God's people even till today in Hebrews chapter 3. Okay, you can just
44:59 listen if you want. Verse 7. So as the Holy Spirit says today, if you hear his
45:05 voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion. This is actually
45:11 uh quoting from um quoting from Psalm 95. The Hebrews writer quotes Psalm 95.
45:17 If you hear God's voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion during the time of testing in the desert
45:24 where your fathers tested and tried me and for 40 years saw what I did. That is why I was angry with that generation.
45:30 And I said, "Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known my ways." So I declared on oath in my
45:38 anger, they shall never enter my rest. See to it, brothers, that none of you
45:45 has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But
45:50 encourage one another daily as long as it is called today, so that none of you
45:55 may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness.
46:01 How are you testing God today? What things do you grumble about? Perhaps
46:06 about your colleagues, perhaps your employers or your employees or your husband, your wife, your in-laws, your
46:13 relatives, someone that you can't stand. Maybe you just complain about your rotten luck in life. How other people
46:21 always have it better off than you. How busy you always are. How bored you are.
46:27 how fat you are, how skinny you are, how you're not appreciated.
46:32 If you're single, you wish to be married. If you're married, you wish to have kids. If you have kids, you wish to be single again.
46:40 Or just like the Israelites, you know, you may complain about how useless those leaders are up there, you know, that God
46:46 has given to you. You know, useless like my pastor, my church leader, my life group leader, youth leader, whatever.
46:52 Or if you're a leader complaining about other leaders. Now, I'm not just talking about grumbling that is trivial as
46:60 though it's okay to grumble about more serious things. You see, not having water to drink in the desert is a pretty
47:05 serious thing to me, right? Yet, the Israelites were wrong to grumble about it.
47:11 See, our grumbling, our complaining is a symptom of a deeper problem. It shows a
47:16 discontent in our hearts. And discontent is a symptom of the deep spiritual
47:22 problem of not trusting God. not trusting God, we complain because deep
47:27 down we feel as though God is shortch changing us. God should have made things better for
47:33 us, but he hasn't. And so we harp and we whine and we complain to ourselves and
47:40 to other people. Now, you may not be consciously complaining about God. You
47:45 may just be complaining to other people. But in effect by grumbling and complaining about your lot in life, you
47:50 are grumbling against God because it's God who put you there.
47:57 Now scripture doesn't say that Christians cannot grumble, cannot complain at all. Okay? There are two
48:03 kinds of complaining. The first kind of complaining is what we've been looking at here today. Grumbling, whining,
48:08 winging about our lot in life. Uh you know because we are ungrateful. We we do
48:14 not trust God. But the second kind of complaining that we see in the Bible is what you could call protest or
48:20 lamenting. Okay, we see in the psalms when the psalms psalmists are really
48:26 honest about the problems that they're facing to God. That's okay. We see in
48:31 people like Job, people like Jeremiah, people like Habacook in the Bible who protest to God who say, "Lord, that's
48:37 not fair." There's a world of difference though between grumbling and protesting to God.
48:45 Grumbling is not usually addressed to God but to other people.
48:51 Protesting is addressed directly to God. Grumbling reflects our underlying
48:57 unbelief, our lack of gratitude to God. Protesting reflects a posture of ongoing
49:03 faith in God. It's just that we can't work out how our faith can tie in with our present situation.
49:10 Grumbling is too ready to give up on God to too ready to want to get out of being
49:15 God's people and go back to Egypt. Protesting shows that we are determined
49:21 to continue as God's people despite the hardship.
49:26 Now, the root problem of all grumbling is about perspective.
49:31 It's all about how you look at your circumstances. You can't control what happens to you in life, but you can make
49:39 a choice how you react to your circumstances. You can either grumble or
49:45 you can trust God. I know a lady who lost her husband to
49:50 cancer, not somebody here in this church. She complained deeply about how terrible
49:57 her circumstances were. She complained that the church was not caring enough for her. She complained the pastor did
50:03 not visit her enough and failed to show enough empathy for her. And over the
50:08 years, I saw her become more withdrawn, more deeply bitter. She never got involved in church anymore. She always
50:14 had a black face. She was never the same person again. Now, I don't mean to minimize her pain in any way. And I
50:20 cannot condemn her because unless you've been in that situation, you you can't know what it's like. But I also know
50:26 another lady who lost her husband to cancer in this church. As a matter of fact, and I never once heard her
50:33 complain. She never made people feel as though they owed her sympathy. In fact, she
50:39 gave thanks that God used the cancer to lead her and her husband to himself. And she was so grateful for the care that
50:46 she received in church. Now, this lady, some of you may know who she is, she's
50:51 always so eager to learn the Bible, so eager to serve the Lord.
50:57 Same experience, different responses.
51:02 Our brother Ano shared with us about a friend of his who lost his children,
51:07 both his children. And again, I do not mean to minimize his pain or condemn him in any way because unless you've been in
51:13 that situation, you can't know what it's like. Apparently, he has grown cold and distant from God.
51:20 Let me tell you the story of someone else in comparison. This lady Anne
51:26 Hasselotin, she lived in the 1800s. She's was an American. She married the
51:31 famous pioneer missionary to Burma, Adonaram Judson. And she left America
51:37 with her husband at the age of 23. She had three children. The first child
51:43 was still born when when they were still sailing from India to Burma. and in
51:48 Burma. She got there, she was struggling with the tropical heat, the cholera, the
51:53 malaria, the decent tree, the homesickness, the language difficulty, the culture shock. And her second child
52:01 was the one thing that was most precious to her and her husband. But he died at 17 months old. And after
52:10 he died, she wrote this. She said, "Our hearts were bound up with
52:16 this child. We felt he was our earthly all, our only source of innocent recreation in this heathen land. But God
52:24 saw it necessary to remind us of our error and to strip us of our only little all. Oh, may it not be vain that he has
52:31 done it. May we so improve it that he will stay his hand and say, "It is enough."
52:39 That's heartbreaking. is heartbreaking, but it's full of rest and trust in God. It's full of
52:47 submission to God's incomprehensible will. There is no sense of entitlement
52:53 here. There's no sense of God, you owe me after all I've done for you.
52:59 Same experience, different responses. Why?
53:04 The reason is the attitude in our hearts. You see, grumbling comes from the generation me kind of thinking which
53:11 says I'm at the center of the world. It expects God to make everything go my way
53:16 and when things don't work out as I want, I cry foul. Grumbling takes this mentality that God
53:24 exists to serve me. But faith sees it's not all about me.
53:31 It's God's world. It's not my world. God orders things as he pleases. Even when
53:36 we don't understand h you know how how see God does it to bring glory to himself but yet God also does it for our
53:43 good even though we don't understand how that can be grumbling says that God is
53:49 obliged to give me health and wealth and an easy life whatever else I want in
53:54 life but faith says with Paul I have learned
53:60 to be content whatever the circumstances
54:05 Grumbling screams, "Me, me, me." Faith says, "God, God, God." Grumbling can't
54:12 see beyond the present pain. Faith sees the unseen God behind everything that
54:19 happens. Now, an aeroplane pilot takes instructions from the airport control
54:26 tower about what route to fly, what altitude to fly at. The pilot is I don't
54:33 I'm not sure but I don't think the pilot is told why he has to fly this way or why he has to fly at this altitude. He
54:38 just said do it. Only the person in the control tower issuing the instructions knows the flight path of all the
54:44 airplanes and why this particular airplane pilot has to fly as instructor so as not to crash into another
54:50 airplane. See that's a picture of our own lives. Reality is not what we feel
54:55 our circumstances mean because we don't know. If you're in a crisis, it may seem
55:01 that God has all but forsaken you. But that's not reality. Reality is
55:06 what's going on in the heavenly control room, which you can't see. We don't have access to God's perspective. We can't
55:13 know why God makes things happen the way they do. All we can do is trust that God is sovereign. God is doing what's best
55:20 for us. And it's enough for us to know that God is in control.
55:26 So stop your grumbling. Don't harden your hearts against God. Don't become bitter because of life's experiences.
55:33 But submit yourself to God gratefully and humbly depending always on him.
55:41 The first way to respond was grumbling. The second way to respond is trusting.
55:47 Trusting. Now earlier I talked about how God punished this Exodus generation by not
55:53 allowing them uh to enter the promised land. Now 40 years after that all of
55:59 them had dropped dead except for two faithful ones. The whole generation had fallen in the desert. And as we go
56:06 forward in the Bible to the book of Deuteronomy now Moses is speaking to this generation's children on the edge
56:13 of the promised land. And he reminds them in Deuteronomy. He said to them, "Remember how the Lord
56:19 your God led you all the way in the desert these 40 years to humbled you and
56:25 to test you in order to know what was in your heart, what whether or not you would keep his commands. He humbled you,
56:31 causing you to hunger and then feeding you with mana, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you
56:37 that man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the
56:43 mouth of the Lord." Why did God lead his people in the desert? Well, the reason God gave them
56:50 this desert experience, the reason he made them hungry and then gave them mana, the reason he made them thirsty
56:56 and then gave them water from the rock, is to test them. See, the desert
57:02 experience made God's people test him, which they shouldn't have, but through it, God was also testing them back.
57:10 And God does the same to us today. He puts us through our desert experiences for two purposes according
57:17 to this passage. First, to test us to know what's in our hearts, whether we
57:22 will still keep his commands or not. If we always have it easy all the time,
57:28 we won't know if we love God for his benefits or we love God for himself alone.
57:34 And sometimes God needs to put us through the fire to find out what kind of stuff we are really made of.
57:40 whether we will still obey him, whether we will still trust him, whether we will still serve him when doing so makes life
57:47 more difficult and more risky. And second is to humble us. In other
57:54 words, to show us that we can't do it without him. We need God. See, when
57:60 everything is smooth sailing, it's so easy for us to be self-reliant and to think that we are in control and God is
58:06 optional. And it takes an illness. It takes a business failure, the loss of a job, a
58:11 family crisis to strip us of our illusions to make us realize that actually we are totally dependent on
58:18 God. We and to drive us back to him. See, God humbles us to teach us that man
58:24 does not live by bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. And that means life is not
58:30 about seeking the necessities of life alone, but ultimately it is about trusting and
58:38 obeying what God says. Now, you and I have probably failed
58:44 God's test countless times. When the going gets tough, we tend to crumple and
58:50 grumble rather than trust God. So let us learn to trust God's word, to
58:57 obey his word, and don't let the circumstances of life blind us to his grace.
59:03 There's only one person who passed God's test perfectly.
59:08 See, God led his own son, Jesus, into a desert experience once. And in the New
59:15 Testament, we read this. We read this. Jesus was led by the spirit into the
59:21 desert to be tempted by the devil. After fasting 40 days and 40 nights, he was
59:26 hungry and the tempter came to him and said, "If you are the son of God, tell these stones to become bread." And Jesus
59:33 answered, "It is written, man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God." See,
59:41 where Israel failed, where we have failed, Jesus succeeded in completely
59:47 trusting God when he had no food in the desert. He did not grumble like Israel
59:52 did, but he lived out the words that we just read in Deuteronomy. See, unlike Israel, he refused to put God to the
59:59 test. You and I may have failed the test, but Jesus passed the test.
60:06 And why did he do it? He did it in our place. Now that's very good news.
60:12 God provides for us in the midst of our failures in his grace. Jesus came to be
60:19 our substitute, to be our representative. And when he hung on the cross, we swap places with him. All our
60:27 sins and failings were transferred to Jesus and dealt with at the cross. And
60:33 all his obedience and his righteousness transferred onto us. So Jesus is our
60:38 obedient substitute in the desert. Trust in him. Bring all your past
60:45 failings, your grumbling, your unbelief to him and God will wash you clean of all that at
60:52 the cross of Jesus. Some of you may not be Christians
60:58 and you might find yourself increasingly jaded, cynical as you live in this world
61:04 with all its cares and sorrows. Human beings have a real propensity to
61:09 mess things up. And if you're honest, that includes yourself. And we call this
61:15 tendency to mess things up sin. If only all the wrongs in this world
61:21 could be made right again. If only you could change your own tendency to mess things up.
61:27 Perhaps deep down you thirst for something better, something more than what you can find in this life. And
61:34 that's what Jesus offers to you. He can quench your thirst. He is the spiritual
61:40 rock from whom we can drink, water of life.
61:45 In the New Testament, Jesus did this on the last and greatest day of
61:51 the feast. The feast was the feast of tabernacles where the Jews were celebrating God's provision of food and
61:57 water in the wilderness for them, in the desert for them. And Jesus stood up and said in a loud voice, "If anyone is
62:04 thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the scripture
62:10 has said, streams of living water will flow from within him." And by this he meant the spirit whom those who believed
62:17 in him were later to receive. If you believe in Jesus,
62:23 he will give you streams of living water. And that's referring to the Holy Spirit. When you believe in Jesus, you
62:29 will have eternal life. You have abundant life. You life as it was meant to be. Jesus gives you his spirit which
62:36 is like having unending streams of lifegiving water and you will never thirst again. So will you believe in
62:44 him? Will you drink of the water of life that he gives?
62:49 If you wish to uh do so or you want to find out more just come to the front
62:55 after the service is over and someone will be here who can tell you more about Jesus who can pray with you.
63:03 Now as we end today let me tell you more about this lady that we talked about
63:08 earlier and Hasselin before she went to Burma she wrote this
63:14 to her friend. I have about come to the determination to give up all my comforts
63:20 and enjoyments here, sacrifice my affection to relatives and friends, and go where God in his providence shall see
63:26 fit to place me. Now, not only did her first two children die, she herself became so ill eight
63:33 years later into their mission that she actually had to sail back to America and had to be separated from her husband for
63:39 two years to recover her health. And eventually she got back to Burma two years later. And a year after that her
63:46 husband was thrown into prison because the British started attacking uh Burma and they thought this guy must be a spy
63:53 even though he was American. Nothing to do with the British. And Anne was pregnant at the time with her third
63:59 child. But every day she walked two miles to the palace to plead that her
64:04 husband was not a spy. Please set him free. Please give him mercy. And eventually her child was born.
64:11 And both she and her husband were already sick and thin at that time. But she still went to the prison camp every
64:16 day to try and look after him as much as she could. And she was so sick that her milk dried up. And the baby was kept
64:23 alive only because there were kind-hearted villagers who offered to nurse her baby for her. And when her
64:29 husband was finally released months later on the brink of death almost, her
64:34 health also was broken. And 11 months after that, she died. And then her baby girl died six months after that.
64:42 Now this is a woman who learned from her youth what it means to trust God and see beyond her circumstances in this life.
64:50 There is no generation me about her at all. There's no trace of self-importance, selfobsession,
64:57 self-pity. She didn't grumble. She trusted God to the end and she entered God's rest.
65:04 Friends, let us learn from her example and not to grumble in unbelief in our
65:09 desert experiences, but trust God and thus enter the promised land.
65:15 And if you need uh prayer, uh come to the front later after the service.
65:21 Let's close in a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you indeed for
65:28 the great salvation that you have given to us in your son Jesus. In him we have
65:33 every spiritual blessing and abundant life forever. And yet we confess that so
65:39 often we cannot see beyond the problems that were presently occupying our attention. And we forget all your
65:45 goodness to us. We tend to grumble and complain. We selfishly put ourselves at
65:51 the center of our world and tell ourselves that we deserve better. Please forgive us for how this betrays
65:58 our lack of faith and our lack of contentment in you. Thank you for your
66:03 grace and your forgiveness. Strengthen us also to trust you, to endure
66:09 hardship, to turn our gaze away from ourselves, and to live sacrificially for
66:15 you. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
