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00:02 Let's go to God before we begin in the word. Father, we give you praise.
00:07 For what can wash away my sins, oh Lord? Nothing but the blood of Jesus Christ. Thank you for that hope. And as we come
00:14 into your word, we pray that you will minister to our hearts. You renew our minds. You will cause our hands to
00:20 praise. Cause our feet to bring your good news. Prayer Lord that your servant shall
00:26 preach the go preach the gospel. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel, oh God.
00:33 So as we go through Ecclesiastes, oh Lord, we pray that you'll bring hope into our hearts. In this we say in Jesus
00:38 name. Amen. It was 25 degrees Celsius this morning
00:44 at 6:00. It has been a very gray morning and uh late in the night we received
00:50 news of 10 people dying and 39 people being wounded by a London attack near
00:55 London Bridge. Yep. Nice day to read about Ecclesiastes,
01:02 huh? It's not meant to be depressing Ecclesiastes. And I want to encourage
01:08 you that Ecclesiastes is not a person who is depressed clinging on to a little
01:14 thread of life and saying that okay, I will live life, God willing. No, it's
01:20 not. The cohelith or the teacher is actually a very pragmatic and realist
01:25 person. He embraces Murphy's law. What could what the worst could happen will happen.
01:33 But by the grace of God, he can pick himself up and go on with life and still
01:39 witness God's goodness. For the past three chapters, you have
01:45 been looking at the teacher himself. He's been speaking about his experiences
01:52 and he's sharing to each and every one of you individually.
01:58 Now he gives us a bit of relief because now he calls us to look not just at him
02:05 but now also to one another. So hence the title together.
02:10 Turn to your neighbor and say together. together together you finally can step
02:17 away from the depression to say I'm all alone but actually in fact I am not alone you can look left and right and
02:23 say hey we're in this together let's look into his word and see what he says
02:28 now the harsh reality that the teacher gives is that first thing I want he wants to say is loneliness abounds
02:36 there's an abundant amount of loneliness in life under the sun let's look at the
02:42 story here and and see what it says.
02:55 The story here says, "Again, I saw something meaningless under the sun. There was a man all alone. He had
03:02 neither son nor brother. Yet there was no end to his toil. Yet his eyes were not content for his wealth. For whom am
03:09 I toiling?" he asked. And why am I depriving myself of enjoyments? This too
03:14 is meaningless, a miserable business. So we look at so when we break
03:20 down the text, we see that first of all we see the very familiar word meaningless. Next slide. Meaningless
03:26 under the uh remember if we remember it actually means havl. Havl it just comes
03:31 very briefly very quickly. So no matter how much you value that two seconds in your life, it will go away in two
03:38 seconds. So meaningless or h under the sun. So back into the reality setting of
03:44 this world. Next slide. Life is hard. Okay. Especially for this man. This man
03:50 in the in Jewish culture is actually receiving the worst of the lot. He has neither son nor does he have any
03:56 brothers. He is all alone and he's working hard. It seems to be for no one
04:02 else but himself. And so he asked this very true existential question which we
04:08 ourselves today would ask. Next slide. For whom? Who am I doing this for? He's
04:14 all alone. Next slide. And why? What's the point of it? All of I'm doing this on my own. And finally, next slide.
04:23 Therefore, business by myself with no purpose and no end goal with no with
04:29 nothing that can live beyond myself is useless. So the rat race with no reason. I think
04:37 some of us who are working even until now or holding on to businesses for dear life, you will feel exactly the same.
04:45 You will feel like you're holding on to your business so tight and you feel that no one else can help you. Well, the coh
04:52 or the teacher tells the same and in fact he is also wanting to share another aspect of it. He says, "Even if you're
04:59 wealthy, even if you are, even if you have friends, what for?" Next slide.
05:07 In my neighborhood, there was a story of a man. He was a very wealthy man. He fought hard through the 87 depression
05:15 and the 97 depression and the Y2K Y2 and the Y2K economy crisis. He actually was
05:21 able to stay afloat and was able to not just not just survive, but thrive. This is not the man, by the It's just an
05:28 illustration, okay? So, don't go looking for him, okay? All right.
05:33 There's also no point looking for him because he fought with everybody. He fought with his family until divorce.
05:40 Not just the wife divorced him, but his children wants no part of him and so they divorced him. It can be done in the
05:46 Malaysian law. Okay. He fought with his he fought with
05:51 all of his partners. He maintained majority and he was so frugal. He was
05:56 taking home six digits a year and yet in the end of the day until his dying days
06:02 he will go to a tan store near his near the house buy a lot buy get get a packet
06:10 of rice fill it up to the brim half with vegetables half with meat goes up to the guy standard operating price four ringit
06:18 and you think that's cheapcape he will sit down eat half of that pack it up take the other half home so he can eat
06:24 it for every day just four ringit. Frugal
06:29 frugal man. It was unfortunate for him
06:35 that after a week the tan man the only guy that noticed him
06:41 was noticing that for one week he hasn't been around. I better go and find him.
06:47 They found him. He had a stroke. He fell dead on his own living room. an empty
06:54 home. His stomach was already bloated because he's been because he's been dead and
06:59 rotting for a few days. He was all alone.
07:06 What's the point? For pillow talk, my wife and I decided
07:12 to buy a little book. It's called The Great Book of Questions. And can you imagine asking this question before you
07:17 go to bed? Honey, would you rather die with loved ones surrounding you at 50 or
07:23 would you die would you rather die all alone at 80? That was a very interesting conversation
07:28 we had that night. Which would you choose?
07:35 Believe it or not, although we fight for immortality, we would rather
07:41 not be alone than to live forever alone. A very stark reality. Now, of course,
07:47 some of you may think deeper and says, "Mark, you know, at 80 years old, I hope that my if my children die before me,
07:53 okay, at least I hope they had a good life. You know, as long as we all have full lives, then me dying alone means
07:59 that not only does anybody care for me, but I have nobody I care for that I cannot help." So, okay, very good, very
08:06 good thinking. But actually, after I did some thinking about this question, I found out that this is actually a very
08:13 wrong question. It assumes two things. It assumes that you won't be alone at 50.
08:21 We have plenty of people today even before touching 30, they feel so
08:28 alone that they will rather end their life right then instead of waiting 20 years
08:34 for perhaps a time of change. YB Hano gave these statistics three
08:39 years ago. YB Hannah also gave the statistics this year where it has now been confirmed
08:46 ever since 2016. Ever since 2012 to 2016, it is now official suicide rate in
08:53 Sububangjai and Klein Valley are now even for those below 20 for those below 30 years old and for those above 60
09:00 years old. The elderly are killing themselves. And when we check why because they when
09:08 they committed suicide, they died in nice homes. It wasn't in a It wasn't in a nursing home. It was in their own
09:14 grandchildren's home. Why? Because because they felt lonely.
09:22 Which brings us back to our church vision. My dear friends, woe to us if we
09:27 do not do anything for the poor, for the widow, for the elderly, for the alien,
09:33 the migrant, and for the orphan.
09:39 Because why? Because loneliness abounds. It's everywhere. It hits across the
09:46 ages. That's one false thing about this. The second false thing about this is that it assumes that we are truly truly
09:54 alone. But Jesus changes this whole thing alto
09:59 together. He was truly alone when on the cross he
10:04 cried out unto God, "Elo, Elohabatani, oh God, my God, why have you forsaken
10:11 me?" He took that loneliness so that we may never need be lonely
10:17 again. You think that you need one or two
10:23 people around you, then you never feel lonely. No. King David says it. He He knew somehow the gospel in his heart.
10:31 And now through Jesus Christ, this rings true that yay, though I walk through the
10:36 valley of the shadow of death, though I walk there alone, oh God, I am not really alone, I will fear no evil, for
10:44 thou, for you, oh God, are with me. Your rod and your staff, how they comfort me.
10:53 There are those among us here even right now feel utterly alone.
10:58 You may have staff working for you. You may even be married.
11:04 But when you go home, instead of talking to one another, you pick up your iPhone and your Android and you end up talking
11:11 to people outside of the bedroom. You feel lonely.
11:18 Here's what Christ says. I walk through that loneliness so that you will never need be lonely again.
11:24 Would you surrender that and fall to Jesus? And he promises that through the gospel and through this community who
11:31 believes in Christ the same, the one that died for our sins and rose again from the dead.
11:38 He is the one that promises us that we will never be alone ever again.
11:45 Loneliness abounds. But with Jesus, we can go to the devil and say, "I am
11:51 never alone. I'm never alone. Loneliness abounds. I'm never alone."
11:59 Second truth I want to share with you guys is this. Sharing reliefs.
12:05 Sharing reliefs. It's so refreshing. You've actually had that passages of
12:11 refreshment before in chapter 3 when he says there's a time for everything. And Dr. Peter reminds us that therefore our
12:17 time is now. How encouraging. Now together as another thing that actually
12:24 the teacher wants us to to find hope in and that is this sharing relieves.
12:30 Sharing helps. Here's what the text says. Two are better than one because
12:35 while they have a good return for their labor, if eh if either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But
12:42 pity anyone who falls and no one and and has no one to help them up. Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm.
12:49 But how can one keep warm alone? Though they may want though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves.
12:56 A cord of three strands is not quickly broken. So here we see therefore in
13:02 finding a community of two or three number one is that you will find relief
13:08 at work. You will find relief when you fall. You find relief when you're in journey. You find relief when you're
13:14 challenged. Two is good, three is better. So friends, for those of you who have thought that this would be a good
13:20 passage for marriage, no. This not it. Okay men, this is not your license. Two
13:25 is good, three is better. No, no, no, no, no, no. That's not what it's for. What is for what the cohalith or what
13:32 the teacher is actually telling us is that in our lives today although miserable and sucky it might be God is
13:40 actually seeing in the background and actually is giving you moments of grace to be able to live together and to
13:48 realize the truth of who God is. God is a com God of community. If God were to
13:54 play hide and seek and he goes and hides, who wins? Can we really therefore seek him?
14:01 No, of course not. He's perfect in everything, including hiding and seeking. So therefore, he wanted to be
14:08 found. Two is good, three is better.
14:13 How it how relieving it is. In fact, Jesus saw this as a reality.
14:20 When God when twice when Jesus sent out his 12 disciples, he didn't send them alone. He sent them in pairs. When Jesus
14:28 sent out the other 72 of his followers, he didn't send them alone. He sent them in pairs because he knows the truth and
14:35 reality of this grace that God gives in the way that we live today that if we are together, we can keep each other
14:41 warm by the fire. Okay? Body heat lie. So when you lie next to each other, it's warmer.
14:48 When you are covered, when you're surrounded by bandits, which is a reality at that time, you can go back to
14:53 back to each other and try and defend yourself. when you have fallen down into a well or
14:60 pit or so on so forth, it's always good to it's always good to to know that somebody is there.
15:06 Just on just some just a couple of days ago, I decided to go hiking. I went looking for the boys reate members who
15:13 are having their seniors camp. Stupid thing for me to do. I went alone. Okay, bad idea. Because without my friend, I
15:21 did not have salt to get rid of the leeches. There were eight, nine leeches over my legs.
15:26 See how sharing relieves not the leeches but you have a friend with salt that will be helpful. You know
15:34 it goes to show that in the background even though it looks horrible because of the sin of the world God is actually
15:41 giving you these graces of mercy that there is a way to live in this world
15:46 because God is gracially graciously giving it to you. One example that people always tend to
15:53 throw at me and says, "Pastor Ma, how can you say that God intended for us to live so well when there's so much evil
16:01 in this world?" There's one good example and especially this morning, you guys didn't read,
16:08 you guys didn't see the CNN announcement. 10 people died, 39 people got were injured because one guy decided
16:14 to hit the hit the gas and ram through a crowd of people near London Bridge.
16:20 there's a possibility that it's a terrorist attack. Okay, something to think about. So, Mark, how can you be
16:25 sure that God is wanting us to wanting us to live and thrive if there's so much
16:31 evil in this world? So, I like the way one of my favorite preachers like to say it. He says, "My
16:37 dear friend, because you notice what is evil, you therefore know that there is God."
16:43 What do you mean? Let me explain. If you say that such a thing is evil, aren't you assuming that such a thing is good?
16:51 You can't say what is evil unless you know what is good. Right? Evil is the negative. So therefore, you need to know what is the positive. You can't say that
16:58 something is evil unless you know something is good. When you say that such thing is evil, you're assuming that something is good. Right? Now, when you
17:03 assume that something is good, you assume that therefore that in this world, there is a way of determining what is good and evil. What we call a
17:09 moral law. Across the world, we know that raping little children is a bad idea. It's wrong.
17:15 In fact, a lot of atheists, those who don't believe in God, even says that to rape, to say that raping little children
17:21 is okay is as wrong as saying that 2 plus 2 equals 5.
17:26 So there is a moral law. Something that we realize that there is such a thing as to help us realize there's such thing as
17:32 good and evil. So there's a moral law. Now if you assume there's a moral law, you assuming there's a moral law giver,
17:40 a person who is independent from the from society, someone who is self- sustaining has no uh has no benefits to
17:48 himself if he no benefits to himself in in any way whatsoever in light of the
17:53 law in this world. Therefore, we call God. Okay? We call God the person who
17:60 therefore dictates what is right and wrong. Why? Because whether he whatever he assumes what is right and wrong he
18:06 does not benefit or disbenefit from it. It doesn't affect him. So he therefore can be the most just because if you ask
18:13 a judge of this world of a judge in this country
18:19 what is good and what is bad he may write things to his own benefit human.
18:25 So when you say there's such a thing is evil you assume such a thing is good. When you assume that something is good you also assume there's therefore a
18:31 moral law. When you assume there's a moral law, you assume there's a moral lawgiver. But if that's who that person
18:36 is trying to disprove. So if there's no God, there's no moral law. If there's no moral law, there's no good. If there's no good, there's no evil. So what is his
18:42 question now? Can non-Christians be good?
18:48 Absolutely. Can Christians been evil? Of course. Look around together. You know
18:58 the truth of the matter is that we can see these things is because it's a grace of God that we can see these things and
19:05 therefore learn to step back, defend, fight for what is right. Fight for what
19:11 is right. Be able to sustain not just for ourselves individually but ourselves collectively together.
19:19 The great speaker George Swino once said this. Therefore, every breath in your
19:27 life is a gift of his mercy. If there's so much evil, there's so much
19:33 wrong, if there's so much meaninglessness in this life, why are we therefore still alive? Because every
19:40 breath we take therefore in our life is a gift of God's mercy. Take a deep
19:46 breath, guys. receive the mercy of God because you can
19:52 live by his grace. And the second point about this is this.
19:58 Two is good, three is better, helping one another. Jesus saw this also. He said this very famously, "Come unto me
20:05 all that who are labor and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke
20:10 upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is
20:18 easy and my burden is light. When you are thinking of farmers in that time
20:24 when he are using the this farmer's illustration of two oxen and a yoke, you
20:30 would see it very clearly. You know what Jesus is saying? Okay. What do you know what Jesus is
20:35 saying? You are taking one side of the yoke. He is also taking the other.
20:41 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me. Having the chance of going to Sabah and
20:47 Sarowa in these past couple of years allows me to be able to see this firsthand. Of course, our buffalo are
20:53 not as clean as these bison. Okay. But it also tells a point. We saw one man
20:59 who was having a large buffalo and a smaller buffalo next to him. Okay. But
21:06 the old but the bigger one is older and is dying. And so they get a younger one which is although smaller is stronger.
21:12 Okay. But he does not know what to do. And so the older oxen will still will
21:17 have to not just work hard and tore the soil, but will have to guide this little rebel to make sure that he follows
21:24 according to according to the line.
21:29 Jesus is inviting us unto him sharing relieves. Yes. And so he is inviting us to cast our cares upon him.
21:37 Come to him and he will give you rest. I think there are some among us here who have been in the dark lying on their own
21:44 wondering who's going to be able to save me, who's going to be able to take care of me? Who's going to be able to guide me
21:50 in these lonely days Jesus is actually giving this invitation. Come and he will give you
21:58 rest. Take my yoke for light and I will guide you.
22:04 Jesus gave all of that so that we may know for sure that we are not alone and
22:10 then in him we can be relieved indeed. So
22:16 loneliness abounds but with Jesus I am never alone.
22:22 sharing reliefs. But with Jesus, I am relieved indeed.
22:27 Not just for a moment, but for all eternity. When it comes to my sin, my
22:33 wrongdoing, my my selfishness, the one that pulls me back to try and be all alone. Jesus guides me
22:40 back so that I can be with him. And not only do I therefore re remember that two is better and three is the two is good
22:46 and three is better, but with him we can truly be free. Not just free to do
22:52 things on our own, but free to be able to help others who are still stuck.
22:58 To learn more, Gamma next Wednesday. Am I truly free? 1 Corinthians chapter 9.
23:06 Loneliness abounds, but with Jesus, I'm never alone. Sharing relieves, but with
23:12 Jesus, I am relieved indeed. And finally, change is temporary. under the sun in
23:21 this meaningless life. We say we want change, but it's only for a while.
23:27 Here's what the text says. It says, "Better a poor but wise youth than an
23:33 old but foolish king who no longer knows how to heed a warning. The youth may
23:39 have come from prison to the kingship, or he may have been born in poverty within his kingdom. I saw that all who
23:46 lived and walked under the sun followed the youth, the king's successor.
23:52 So change is good. Happens better for a poor person to who heeds the change than
23:58 for a rich king to not to to not take any advice at all. Sounds very familiar in some politicians nowadays. Change
24:05 brings different perspectives. We try communion in one way using trays one
24:11 month. We try using these compact ones another month. We are seeing these changes. Some of these changes are good.
24:16 Some of these changes are some of these changes need some tweaking. Good changes last for a while and it
24:24 actually brings relief to the community. But those who came later were not
24:29 pleased with the successor. This too is meaningless at chasing after the wind. But later generations want a different
24:36 change as well. And just like two weeks ago when I showed that ripped jeans was
24:42 not a new thing, it's actually a thing of the 70s. Just as I showed that um uh that that
24:49 hip hugging jeans are actually mom jeans remade in the 60s.
24:55 We also realize that the way humankind chooses without the guidance of God
25:00 under the sun, we end up going back making the same mistake again and again and again. Let me give you one example.
25:06 I can't say anything about politics in our country. But let me talk about another one. We have come to a consensus
25:12 that this by far is the worst president that we have ever seen on CNN. It gives
25:19 us entertainment at night but also depression in the morning.
25:25 So I had challenged myself. I asked myself, Mark, is he really the worst
25:30 president ever? To my surprise and you feel depressed now actually
25:38 there are worse people they do exist they have existed in history don't count
25:44 Hitler don't count Stalin okay I mean those are spawn of the devil okay what
25:49 about others within the American system yes there were meet Lyndon B Johnson now
25:56 I noticed that there are some fans hey this guy has done some good things right well let's talk about his ego for a
26:01 minute This is the president who said who when asked by a press by by a press
26:07 council. Sir, Mr. President, why are you still sending troops to Vietnam to
26:12 support the Vietnam War? You know what this man did?
26:17 He unzipped his pants. He pulled out his penis and he showed it to the media and said, "This is why.
26:27 Why would he do that?" Yeah, you you also ask why. You know, and here's why.
26:32 Because actually his ego got to his head.
26:38 Basically, he's the reason why he did that because why? Because I said so. So there
26:44 very irregular for a democratic nation. But therefore, if you feel that Trump is
26:50 a new low, actually no, not really. This country and this world and this
26:57 country in particular has seen repetitions again and again and again.
27:05 And so when you look at the list of presidents of a part of the of the of the p like the past 10, okay, you notice
27:13 a trend here. It takes about one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight to get to get one to the other. Sometimes
27:20 it takes no more than just one other. a Bush between a Clinton between two Bushes.
27:28 I mean, look at that. And then when this is not and when this
27:33 is not good enough, you see the similarities here. You see their policies, see their attitudes, see the
27:38 way they do things. They have their ups, they have their downs. Leadership is a roller coaster, but it proves the point.
27:45 Change is temporary. It's no wonder that every time when we say, "Look, I discover something new." Actually, no.
27:52 Not really. It's been there all along. Look, I'm going to try a new way. No,
27:58 it's been done before, but maybe this setting may be different. And it may be good, but change is only temporary.
28:06 Change is only temporary even in our personal lives. How many of you guys have ever written this list before?
28:12 And says and says, "By the grace of God, I will fill I will fulfill every single one of them." And within the first week,
28:18 we failed half of them. Change is temporary.
28:26 My life, my lovely wife sent me an article saying that in order to inculcate a good habit, you should be
28:32 able to commit to doing it every day for 28 days, four weeks non-stop. If you
28:39 miss one, repeat for start again from number one. And once you hit 28, that
28:46 once you hit 28, it will actually be able to incur uh inculcate a habit that you'll be able to keep almost for life.
28:53 I really didn't like that article for two reasons. Number one is almost for life. We can never be sure. So in the
28:59 end of the day, change is temporary again. And secondly, forgetful guys like
29:04 me, okay, don't believe me, ask the church staff about my office keys. All right?
29:11 By the time I can hit 28 consecutive days, it's been five months. And even
29:17 then, I'll still forget. Is that right? It's been five years.
29:22 Change is temporary. But Oh, yeah. And there's one more. These
29:28 healthy diets nowadays are just this morning, just to check. Yep, it's true, guys. Yeah, I went from 94 kilos, I went
29:36 down to 91. And just this morning, I weighed myself again. Yes, I went to Burgatory last week. I had some uh pork
29:44 chops over at Swine at Tropicana City Mall. Sure enough, 92.5.
29:51 Back to the drawing board. Change is only temporary. It's only temporary.
29:59 But the change that Jesus brings in to your lives today
30:06 will be the one that will change not just your life but the circumstances
30:11 behind. I love this scene. Jesus went to Lazarus because Lazarus had been dead for three
30:17 four days. He wept because he knew because he saw
30:22 because he saw the the meaninglessness of life, the havll of life. You know, not even 40 years old, Lazarus had to
30:30 die. But after that, he but before he ro he
30:35 rose Lazarus from the dead, he says he says this that reminds us about us feeling alone and therefore powerless
30:44 in whatever situation. Here's what Jesus said. He prayed this. Oh father, I thank you that you hear me. Oh father, I thank
30:50 you that you heed my prayers. Now now, now for this thing, now for the thing that I'm about to do, let it be done
30:57 because you have sent me that they may believe.
31:03 Jesus's every single action in this world from his miracles to his death to
31:08 his resurrection is not just to change the way we live. is not just to change the way we do things but is especially
31:15 especially to change the fact that we no longer are called to believe just in ourselves. In fact, we weren't even
31:21 called to believe in ourselves. We're called to believe in him. And if he does that part, then that is the gospel.
31:28 Then he calls Lazarus, Lazarus, come up. And he did. Jesus is calling on to the death of our
31:35 souls right now. And he says he wants us to rise
31:40 and through the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus we can certainly rise in him.
31:48 My favorite preacher Rabbi Zachchariah says this. The Christian faith simply stated reminds us that our fundamental
31:55 problem is not moral. Rather our fundamental problem is spiritual. It is
32:00 not just that we are immoral. That's a given. but that a moral life alone cannot bridge what separates us from
32:07 God. Here in lies the cardinal difference between the moralizing religions and Jesus's offer to us. Jesus
32:14 does not offer to make bad people good, but to make dead people alive.
32:23 That's the change that true Jesus will last forever. Will I forget my keys
32:30 again? Yes. But thanks sweet be to God through the grace of our Lord Jesus that I at least
32:37 will be alive when I do forget it. And I'll ask Diana please forgive me if you
32:42 find it. Please be merciful. And unto Jesus I say oh God thank you
32:47 for your mercy. Day by day I live in this changed life. Friends change is
32:53 temporary but through Jesus I am changed forever. Now, how does all of this
33:02 come together? Where do we even start? Actually, the reflection of gospel,
33:08 community, and mission, the vi the vision of our church can actually be resonating from this p from this view as
33:16 well. From this passage as well and Paul definitely he was thinking about this
33:22 this passage in Ecclesiastes when he wrote this encouragement to us. Here's what scripture says. Therefore, if
33:29 anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. The old has come. The new is
33:35 here. That's you. All this is from God who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of
33:43 reconciliation. That God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people's
33:49 sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. Remember the loneliness bit. We're not
33:56 ever alone anymore. We are therefore Christ ambassadors as though we were making his appeal through us. And this
34:03 is his advice to all of us today. We implore you on Christ's behalf. Be
34:08 reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin
34:14 for us so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. That's the
34:19 change that we can have in Christ Jesus.
34:26 loneliness abounds. But with Jesus,
34:32 thanks be to God, even if I ever get lost in that forest and goping for three days, I'm never alone. And nor will you
34:38 in this rat race, nor will you in family, nor were you in your marriage, nor will
34:46 you in your career path that with Jesus, you are never really alone.
34:52 sharing reliefs. And although sometimes the staff around us may be
34:59 not the best colleagues that you might want to have, your boss might not be the best, your subordinates may not be the
35:05 most efficient, but sharing this relief. And with Jesus, you can be relieved
35:11 indeed. And finally, change is temporary. If we try and change things on our own with
35:18 our own hands that only last for at most 80 to 90 years
35:23 through Jesus I am changed forever and so can you. So can each and every one of
35:32 you let's pray.
35:43 I am making an appeal this morning, ladies and gentlemen. I'm holding no I'm
35:48 holding back. I'm holding no no no no no swings back. I'm calling onto us this
35:55 morning. There should be any one of you feel utterly alone
36:01 or helpless. If anyone of you should even feel that
36:09 I'm trying to do as much as I can to put a change in my life and maybe in the lives of others, but why does it always
36:16 go back to square one? If you want stories like that, go and find pastor Rama. He will tell you a lot
36:22 of those that are happening in the community around us. Sometimes it gets depressing.
36:28 What can change this situation permanently? I say this to you now my friends. It is
36:35 through Jesus Christ on the cross in him risen from the dead
36:43 so that by his spirit he may come to you
36:48 with his words of love. He may reach out to you
36:55 with his loving spirit. He may never leave you alone.
37:00 Some of you are called are being called to that this morning. I'm just going to repeat the same
37:07 advice that Paul gave. Be reconciled with God.
37:13 Father, we give you praise this morning. We ask, oh Lord, that we can be
37:18 reconciled with you. And we thank you God that truly through Jesus Christ, we may be reconciled with
37:25 you. Forgive us, oh Lord. We've been walking
37:30 away from you thinking we can stand on our own two feet.
37:36 And thank you, Jesus, that you called us again,
37:42 not with the rotan, not with a cane to punish, but with a yoke that is easy and a burden that is light.
37:52 They may follow you to the end of our days. Oh Jesus, thank you that through your
37:58 Holy Spirit, we are never truly alone.
38:04 Oh Jesus, thank you that by your will, we are relieved and free. For whom the
38:10 sun sets free, he is free indeed.
38:15 Come into our lives this morning. Be our Lord and be our savior.
38:23 for those who are calling out in these hearts. Oh God, for those who are calling out for this dedication. Oh God,
38:30 I pray that they will pray in this hearts. Lord Jesus Christ, son of God, have mercy on me a sinner. Lord Jesus
38:38 Christ, son of God, thank you. You do have mercy on me a sinner. And I
38:43 dedicate my life therefore to follow after you.
38:48 If that's your prayer this morning, I ask that you would seek out a friend and say, "I prayed that prayer. It was my
38:54 first, second, or even 25th time."
38:60 Tell someone next to you so that we may be able to celebrate encouragement.
39:06 So all this, oh God, we surrender unto you and we say this in Jesus name.
