The following is an uncorrected transcript generated by a transcription service. Before quoting in print, please check the corresponding audio for accuracy.
00:00 Okay. Um, we haven't done this thing for a long time. It's called guessing a song. So, I'm going to try again. Anyone
00:08 here knows the who the band is. Oh, yo,
00:13 you can't do that, David. I thought you I thought you were supposed to be excluded from this. All right. Yes. And
00:19 it's a great track and of course, we can't be speaking on the eve of what happened on Wednesday to not just go a
00:26 little bit into this. So, I I I rework my message a bit. Uh this is a great track. It's times like this you learn to
00:34 live again. It's times like this you give and give again. And it is times
00:40 like this. Let me just give us a few examples. What we were then and now we were without hope for real change and
00:47 now we are hopeful for real change in this country. And this one is really
00:52 personal to me. We accepted corruption as a way of life. in my industry in the construction line is the air you breathe
00:60 and now we repeal corruption as a way of life. We live in environment of lies and
01:05 half truth. You read the papers, you read what some people say, you just sometimes just get so you know but now
01:12 it is the environment of truth. Every day we woke up before this and there was
01:18 racism, religious intolerance, anything was an issue. And now we see more racial
01:24 and religious harmony. And we live with injustice, selective
01:29 persecution, and now we live under the rule of law. I'm not trying to turn this into a
01:34 political rally. And this is very pertinent to our message. And this was the thing. We were ashamed to be
01:40 Malaysians. Correct? You know, you go and meet someone Singapore.
01:48 But now for the first time, first time we are proud to be called Anak Malaysia.
01:55 Amen. Amen.
02:01 Now, why is that important to today's message? Because it deals with this word which is so crucial to our Christian
02:10 walk. But very very often we we just don't pay enough attention to this. It
02:17 is critical to your spiritual formation and disciplehip. It is this word called
02:22 selfesteem. And of course the dictionary online says is confidence in one's own worth of
02:29 abilities, selfrespect, pride, dignity.
02:35 We're not looking just at self-esteem. We're looking at godly self-esteem. So
02:42 let me just uh break this down a little bit before we do a prayer. And this is part of the series that uh we are doing
02:48 which happens once a month. We've completed three modules and these modules are generic modules. Basically
02:55 they're broad-based. How the family affects you, how your mind affects you
02:60 and the first two basically was applied at the third one. How your everyday decisions are very much based on the
03:07 first two. Now what we're going to do in the next few months, we're going to break down into particular topics. And
03:12 today we're going to do self-esteem. And I've brought along a booklet from this which is about self-esteem. You can get
03:19 this in the library. Uh Auntie Morin bought a whole lot of this. I was really thankful for Auntie Morin for this. Next
03:25 month we'll talk about anxiety. And a month after that, we'll talk about
03:30 dealing with hurts, emotional hurts. And then we'll talk about fear. We'll talk
03:36 about all these things that makes you and I human. So once a month we deal
03:42 with this and what I'm trying to do every time I do it I'll try to give you a reading material which you can get in the library. This is very easy to read
03:48 very biblical and this is the road map that we're doing. Uh the uh some of you
03:54 we had 50 names sign up for training out of the 50 names uh we are going to
04:01 select and go into three teams. This is our road map. The first is a clinical
04:07 counseling team. There's a two-year part-time course which we are trying to work out with the National Association
04:12 of Christian Counselors. You get accredited more importantly is the para
04:18 counseling team. This will be deployed in the youth, the young adults, the Sunday school into the cell groups at
04:25 every area. There's a team of people who are trained to understand her and
04:30 critically there is a prayer intercession team and after the conference we will offer to the church a
04:38 six week program $800 but the church will subsidize and pastor Ling will go
04:44 and ask around who of you are interested to do this and we want to train our church to move forward through this. So
04:51 let me just begin a little bit on today's message. As you realize, there wasn't a Bible reading. I'll tell you
04:56 why. Today, we're going to look at two characters. The first is a Samaritan
05:02 woman who had very low self-esteem. And we're going to compare her with
05:08 another guy called Nicodemus. And he had very high self-esteem.
05:14 And we're going to look at the difference between the two. So today, we're going to look at lessons from the Samaritan woman and Nicodemus. Let's
05:21 come before God in prayer. Lord, we ask in humility that your word speaks
05:30 and your word alone. And our last I come before you now with fear and trembling,
05:35 not with the wisdom of men, not with theatrics, but with sincerity from the heart and discernment from the Holy
05:42 Spirit. And that you speak to us and that we live understanding what it really means to have godly self-esteem.
05:50 I'm going to give you three points. Self-esteem and kingdom values. Self-esteem and our true identity.
05:57 That's a key part. Yeah. And self-esteem and truth that transforms. Those of you who know the gospel of John, truth is a
06:04 key theme in the Gospel of John. Go back read the two accounts. John 22 23- 3:21
06:12 deals with Nicodemus and chapter 4-27 deals with
06:19 uh the woman at the well. Now, here's what I'm trying to suggest to you. In the early church, you did not exit a
06:26 text. You read them all through. And John structured the text so that the two were to be read side by side. And here
06:33 is how it's done. Here's for all those of you who are Bible teachers. There are two miracles A1 A2 Galilee Canaa between
06:41 these two book ends of two miracles you move to B1 B2 there's a meeting of two
06:47 groups of people one are Jews and one are Samaritans and B1 it goes to C1 and
06:53 C2 it then goes down from a group of people to a particular Jew and in C2 a
06:60 particular Samaritan. So the text is very carefully structured. John loves to
07:05 do this. So there is an intention here to read the two side by side and then in
07:11 the middle there's a filler where John the Baptist comes about. Now here's further evidence. The evidence is in
07:17 this first both are private conversations. They are monologues you know because
07:23 normally when Jesus teaches teachers there will be Pharisees there's a crowd but these are both private not one
07:30 person is around. Number two, both misunderstand Jesus and take him
07:37 literally at the beginning and then there's a progression. Both discussions about the Holy Spirit.
07:44 John chapter 3 is very clear. Those born of the Holy Spirit. Okay, the spirit blows wherever goes. In chapter 4 with a
07:52 woman of well, the Holy Spirit is read as streams of living water that swells
07:58 from within. So there is the Holy Spirit there again. Number four, both discuss
08:04 eternal life and both discussions lead on to one with Nicodemus about the Jews
08:12 and with the Samaritan woman with the Samaritan. They are meant to be read together
08:18 and most scholars have picked this up. So if you really want to appreciate the text, you read the two side by side and
08:25 you compare. Why? Because more interestingly than the similarities
08:31 are the contrast. It is ying to yang. Number one,
08:38 Nicodemus, he seeks Jesus at night and has been mentioned before in the gospel
08:44 of John, night is a motive. Is this a sign? Because John talks very heavily
08:51 about light and darkness from chapter one all the way through. So when he says
08:56 Nicodemus comes at night, he's giving you a symbol. There's a symbol here.
09:02 Why? The contrast is the Samaritan woman is the other way around. While Nicodemus
09:08 seeks out Jesus, Jesus goes right across right in the middle of the country in
09:13 the middle of hostile territory to seek her out at when midday.
09:20 That's deliberate, you know. So you contrast night and day and that frames
09:25 the conversation. Number two, he's a Jew. Who is she? Samaritan.
09:32 Number three, he's male. Female.
09:37 He is named. She is not. He knows Jesus is from God. Rabbi, we
09:47 know that you are from God. or no one can do these things unless they come from God. He knows. He starts off the
09:54 conversation by saying, "We know you're from God." She doesn't know who he is.
10:00 He comes representing others. We know he's a power broker like politics, you know. Hey, come and make a deal. You
10:07 lump know now, now you know the price of frog is 20 million. Bad joke. But you know he
10:15 comes representing powerful people. The text opens up with this. Why? We find
10:22 out later he's part of the ruling council. He's a power broker of the day.
10:28 She is an outcast. How do we know that? Because the text tells us she comes alone to the well. Now women as it was
10:35 then as it is now in poorer countries do not go to the well alone. You go in a
10:41 group for security. Why does she goes alone? You'll find out
10:46 later. But she is an outcast. You do not go alone. He is seeded righteous.
10:53 He's a Pharisee, morally upright, and we know later on that she had five
10:60 failed marriages and is living in with a man. And that's probably why she's an
11:05 outcast. And he is highly educated. In fact, Jesus calls him, "You are Israel's
11:13 teacher." So this guy got all the credentials. Know he's a dancer.
11:19 You know, he's in a high government post. He builds bridges. He didn't say
11:24 which bridge. He builds tuttles. I didn't say which tuttle. He signs contracts with China. Very intelligent,
11:32 very respected in church. She is like most women at that time a
11:38 victim. She's uneducated now. And what John does, he sets you up to see these
11:45 two very blatantly. That's why the two chapters are put and
11:51 matched side by side. And you look at these two, Nicodemus, you can understand
11:56 why he has high self-esteem. He's got the whole package. She is at the bottom of the pit.
12:05 And this is how the story then moves. You know, here is what he sets you up.
12:10 And then John very cleverly crafts the story this way. He becomes skeptical.
12:16 You read chapter three, Jesus says, you know, very you must be born again. He says, how can a man enter wound? And
12:22 then Jesus explains again and he says, how can this be? He doesn't get it. Very
12:27 intelligent man doesn't get it. She's different. She starts off by saying sir.
12:33 Then she calls him prophet and then at the end of it she says the messiah will
12:41 explain to me. You see how we go from sir to prophet to messiah. Here she
12:46 progresses. She's not so stupid. Not so stupid. It goes more. He
12:52 disappears. You read chapter 3 after that very famous 3:16.
12:58 Later on, this entire discourse about hiding in darkness, light and darkness.
13:04 Nicodemus disappears. It's just Jesus talking.
13:09 But she shifts. She goes from him and pushes him into a theological discussion
13:16 about worship. From living waters to worship, worship back to who is the Messiah. Wow, this
13:22 woman really catches on, you know. And lastly, the chapter ends
13:29 with no commitment. To be fair to Nicodemus, later on we find when Jesus
13:35 uh uh he buries Jesus and he stands against the council. But at this point of writing the chapter ends, he does not
13:43 believe. She believes she believes and Jesus does something he
13:49 doesn't do before. She Jesus reveals himself to her that I am the Messiah.
13:56 And the story ends with no response. She ends by her going out and telling
14:03 the community about Jesus. You see where we're going? Why did I color it blue?
14:09 Because there is a movement. There is a shift. The man who had very
14:16 high self-esteem, who had everything
14:21 did not get it. The woman who was considered trash
14:27 in society got it. So, let's get the basis of self-esteem first. And we see this
14:35 similar stories with the prodigal son, with Lazarus and the rich man. And what is this? We see kingdom values.
14:44 So I especially want to say this to two groups of us. One, those of us who think
14:49 we have got it made because your business is doing well. Your bank account is very big. Your
14:58 children are all educated. You had a good life. You not be careful.
15:03 You are like the rich man. And Lazarus is a beggar.
15:09 But Lazarus is exalted. He is not. Here's the second thing for all of you
15:14 who feel life has given you a bad deal and particularly more for that today we
15:21 talk and this is what Jesus says many that are first shall be last and the
15:29 last shall be first. For in the end God's not concerned so much whether you
15:35 have high self-esteem or low self-esteem. God's concern is whether
15:41 you know him. So take heart, especially those of you sitting in our midst and you struggle with, you know, you feel
15:48 not much of a of a man because you lost your job. You're not you feel you're not much of a woman because you're not a
15:55 mother. You feel you're not much of a whatever because everyone else has stuff and you don't have. Take heart. In the
16:03 kingdom of God, the last shall be first and the first shall be last. Okay, I'm
16:09 going to give a story now to the youth. How many youth do we have here? Youth, raise your hands.
16:14 So few youth. Youth, youth, youth, youth. Very few youth. Okay, this illustration is for the youth. You
16:21 adults can take a can take a nap for the next five minutes. All right, we have to talk about superheroes. Ah,
16:28 because who here hasn't watched Infinity War? Don't raise your hands, but you know, gone past the 1 billion mark.
16:35 Everyone's talking about superheroes. You get sick of it. You know how many more superheroes are they going to come up? You know, it's all about
16:42 superheroes. Men who fly, men who got powers, men who do this. Now, there was a comic, very famous comic called
16:49 kingdom come. I don't think anyone of you read it. Okay, it's a great comic
16:54 because it literally means that is the biblical term kingdom come. I've read
17:00 it. I got it. So, okay, this coming from first hand sourcesh and the proposition is this. If superheroes
17:08 walked in your midst, do you really think they going to be so noble to save
17:15 the planet? If men could fly and men had powers and
17:21 they were over you, you know what the comic is suggesting and why this was such a famous story? They will rule over
17:29 you. That's the proposition. their kingdom will be enforced on you. And in that
17:37 comic, Superman enforces his rule over the entire planet for noble reasons.
17:46 Society has gone to anarchy, but he will brook no resistance. And who is going to
17:53 argue with him? And so he builds a huge prison, ISA,
17:60 official securities act. you don't agree with him, he throws you into this gulag.
18:06 And as the story unfolds, as in any government that is totalitarian,
18:12 we have to talk a little bit about this since it's past Wednesday. You start off well like many
18:19 governments, you start off well, but power corrupts. And as the old saying
18:24 goes, absolute power corrupts absolutely. And what happens when it happens? War breaks out and the world
18:34 goes into calamity, war unseen. And in the midst of all
18:39 this, the comic which is structured around of all things, the book of revelations, you know, God sends an
18:47 emissary to bring a savior to stop the fighting among all these
18:54 superhuman people. And who can stop a crowd like that? So powerful.
18:60 And God sends a pastor. It's right in the comic.
19:06 An old man who says, "Me? I'm a nobody."
19:11 And the intermediary says, "The time will come and you will stop the war." And the
19:19 story unfolds. The war goes really bad and Superman decides to kill many people and only the
19:28 pastor goes in and the pastor tells Superman the importance of forgiveness.
19:36 And the comic ends with three words. Grace, peace be upon you, amen. And the
19:42 last last part of the book has the Bible closed which is really fascinating because it's not a Christian comic. Now
19:49 what are we trying to say here? In the kingdom of God, salvation comes
19:55 from places we do not see and we do not expect. In this comic is an old man
20:02 from Malaysia. Have to say
20:09 who would have expected salvation would have come from a 92 year old man who
20:16 once we all hated. You ever expected it in your life?
20:22 For all of us who waited at 3:30 on Wednesday until 3:45
20:29 and then we knew that we are in the middle of history. You ever expected
20:35 this? Not once, right? Salvation comes from unlikely sources.
20:44 that the son of man. Let's talk about self-esteem. This is
20:50 self-esteem. When a god that is so powerful would
20:56 allow himself to be humiliated to the worst level
21:02 because of his love for us. So take courage. Those of you who are struggling with self-esteem issues in the kingdom
21:09 of God, the values are different. And here's a warning to all of us who think
21:15 our lives are good. Be careful for that pride will cause you to fall.
21:23 Let me take you to the second point. Here's the key issue, the key issue with self-esteem is an understanding of
21:31 identity. Now, we all say it. We say, "Oh, we are Christians. We are the son of children of God. We are, you know, we
21:38 use all the right rhetoric." But it doesn't go into our heart. I wonder why. And let me give you three reasons
21:44 because it competes with three things. The first which is the most obvious is
21:50 our identity is coming from one which is really from comparing with others. No
21:57 matter how you try to avoid this, if you say you don't struggle with this, you are lying to yourself.
22:04 And it opens up in chapter 4 when Jesus asked the Samaritan woman for a drink.
22:10 She said, "You're a Jew. I'm a Samaritan woman." Like, "You're talking to me? How
22:18 can you ask me for a drink? I'm I'm right at the bottom. You're right
22:23 there." There is that comparison is right in there. I want to give you uh
22:29 one of the most, you know, understated stories is the story of the temptation of Jesus. It It's quite interesting
22:37 because the devil tempts Jesus. is you find this in Luke 4 with three temptations. You know, I'm going read it
22:42 to you. The first is this. If you're the son of God, tell this stone to become bread.
22:48 And I'm going I'm going to read this in in in light of our context of our text. You know what the devil is saying? You
22:54 are what you do because you got a talent. That talent is
23:02 your identity. Because I I preach. So
23:08 that's me. That's what the devil is saying. I am what I do.
23:15 I have to. Now let me caveat this. Everyone has a
23:20 right to vote and support any party you want. But when you in my view, you cross
23:25 the line and you take your public listed company to do it. I think that's another discussion. And I think the public arena
23:31 I think that one and until you can give me a satisfactory answer why you know you are breaching your own company
23:38 ethics which says your company should be apolitical but you know what Jesus answered he says
23:44 man does not live on bread alone it's quite interesting you know why he's saying you know what one day you can be
23:50 very hat the next day you are a zero
23:56 one day if we put our identity into everything that that our hands have
24:02 built, we will overstep ourselves. And here's a classic case of a person who
24:09 only until one week before the election was the poster boy of Malaysia,
24:15 was a success story that everybody looked up to. And you can just take one
24:20 mistake and you become the most hated person overnight. So it's very quick all this
24:28 can be taken away. So identity from what I do. Here's the second one which the
24:34 devil throws across. I will give you all the authorities plant. He takes Jesus to the top of here
24:40 shows him everything. He says you know what all of this can be used. You just need to bow down to me. You know what
24:45 the devil is telling Jesus? I am what I have.
24:53 I have a good marriage. I have three children.
24:59 I have a mom and dad that loves me. I have friends.
25:06 That's my identity. Um, some of you, anyone knows this band? Really going to
25:12 go into music here. I want big back my money. I lost every time. They're called Wilson Phillips. It's a 19 is a band in
25:19 the ' 90s made of children from the mama and papas and another band very opa
25:24 children. You can look carefully here. The two on the side are slim. The middle
25:29 one is not. And Shaina Phillips is very famous because she's so
25:37 insecure around two slimlooking women that she has spent her life moving from
25:45 being slim to fat to slim to fat is an
25:50 obsession. And this is what society does to you. You're not good enough. You're
25:56 not pretty enough. You're not sporty enough. You're not you you you know
26:03 you're just what do you have? You have nothing. And Jesus replies this. It is
26:08 written worship the Lord your God and serve him alone. You don't worship these
26:13 things. This is very much tied to the first one. You don't worship these things. But you
26:20 see, if you if you pause and stop and if you sit there and you say, you
26:26 know what, my life I don't feel very secure and you you you you list down why
26:33 you don't feel very secure. I will I will bet you most of your reasons will
26:38 fall into these first two that you are what you do and you are what you have.
26:48 And you know what scripture is telling you? Who is whispering that in your ear?
26:54 Who's whispering that in your ear? It's the devil. That's what the text is telling you. And
27:01 here's the last one which I think is the biggest pincher because it's the longest one and wraps up the entire section
27:08 because the devil then tells him, you know what, he takes him to high point. Throw yourself down from here. And then
27:14 he quotes scripture. Very clever. You see the devil does this by couching it in theology you will prosper. You know
27:21 you just say these prayers your life will be blessed. And Jesus says something really
27:27 interesting you know he says you will not put the Lord God to the test but this is what he's saying. I am what
27:35 others think of me. Now how do we tie that together?
27:41 One of the worst things about Chinese culture is family pressure.
27:47 Isn't it? I I was I was never good enough for my mom or dad.
27:53 I I I'm never good enough in my office.
27:59 I'm not good enough among my siblings. Everyone else around me is doing better
28:06 than me. And nobody I will come to church, nobody thanks me. And you know
28:14 when Jesus answered this, do not put the Lord God to your test. He's referring to a case in the book of Exodus in a place
28:22 where Moses named as Masa. Because what happened with Israelites, they had
28:28 crossed the Red Sea. They had just seen what God had done. They say, "Wow." And then they got thirsty. And basically in
28:35 simple English, they told Moses, "Where's your God? If God is there, he should give us
28:41 water." And Moses therefore says this place is called Masaha because they had
28:47 tested God by saying is God really with us. You see what what identity is
28:54 telling us is this you know that either who I am as a human being is determined
29:01 by what I have what I can do. Number two is what others others think of me. And
29:09 in what the Bible is telling you in all of this, you are putting God to the test
29:15 because it shows you have no faith. You expect God to be Santa Claus.
29:21 And I I think we should pause and because as I read this, a lot of this spoke about me. No matter what I say, we
29:27 struggle with this. You see in the end it really doesn't matter whether you got high esteem or low esteem because a high
29:33 esteem guy says this I'm true to myself. I have confidence because I'm better than others because I can do so many
29:39 things. I decide what I want in life. I'm captain my sheep and God is guiding my life because I'm successful in eyes
29:46 of the world. You are putting God as what Dr. Peter says as a supplement. You
29:52 are king in your life. Look at the second one. I let others dictate who I shall be. I'm lost. You whatever. I have
30:01 no confidence because I I don't know what I am. I float around. I'm lost. I
30:06 spent all my time going watching Netflix cuz there's nothing better to do. And God has abandoned me. You You're still
30:12 at Masa. You see, you look at both. They are both as far as God is concerned
30:18 saying the same thing. And this is not godly self-esteem. So,
30:24 we're going to find out how we can pull out godly self-esteem. Let me give you a way of looking at this. We talk about
30:30 comparing yourself. Scripture tells you there's only two ways you compare yourself. And this was very
30:36 life-changing for me. The first, you don't compare yourself with people around you, whether they're prettier than you, better than you, smarter than
30:43 you, cleverer than you. You don't compare yourself whether you have more money, whether whether you you you you
30:49 lost your job. You compare yourself firstly with only one thing.
30:54 And this is very clearly in the book of Ephesians with who you were yesterday
31:01 because yesterday you were your old self
31:07 and you're moving in your new self. That's the only thing you compare yourself with.
31:15 And how do I know how to move forward? I move forward. I'm going back to my old message about guidance because God gave
31:22 you a choice. You decide in his sovereign will by the Bible by prayer
31:28 who you want to be. You want to be a loser, you will be a loser. You want to say my life is very bad, nothing going
31:35 to change, you will be that. I mean, I don't agree with Joel Austin.
31:41 But he gave one sermon that says what follows the I am in many ways to be prophetic. He's quite right. You say I'm
31:48 stupid, you will be stupid. But if you say I will, I will be a child
31:54 of God. I will aspire godliness. I will aspire servantthood. I will aspire to
31:60 walk with you Lord. And I would do that in my work. I would do that in personal. I would do that in church. I will do
32:06 that even Lord that you have made me in this particular position, this season of time. I will aspire. Then you move into
32:13 godly self-esteem. Let me give you the second one.
32:19 identity affected by past hurts and experiences. And this is real because we call this the wall. Every time you want
32:28 to do something, you think of something that happened in the past, it triggers you and then you don't move forward. And
32:35 we all have this. And uh she says, "I have no husband." That is a pass. We're
32:42 going to go into that a bit more in the details later on. But uh let's go back to you know the fact that a lot of this
32:49 comes when when we were young and the purpose of this series of message is for
32:55 us to maybe come to terms with our pastors some of us in our midst don't have don't have the were not
33:04 blessed enough to have good parents I know that and some of us here grew up without even having mothers and on
33:11 mother's day you will remember that some of us certain bad things happened
33:17 in the past and what happens they will trigger you. So let me now give you another comic example for all the youth
33:24 out there. All right those of you who watch Infinity War there was a very very interesting scene
33:30 because you follow the movie the Hulk doesn't appear.
33:36 Bruce Banner tries to bring him out but he doesn't appear. You realize that?
33:42 And you know why? A lot of fan theory goes out because if you follow what the
33:48 director is saying, the director is saying the Hulk and Bruce are the same
33:53 person. The Hulk was traumatized because in the movie he gets whacked for the
33:58 first time by Thanos. He has never been. Nobody whacks the Hulk. And this goes back to the comic, you know,
34:04 because in the comic, Bruce Banner is a traumatized child. You look at the left
34:10 panel there, you see that green line. The Hulk has always been with him. The Hulk is the representation of his anger.
34:18 And some of us have this we have this demons in us, you know, these things that we just this darkness and and and
34:26 and Romans 7 really talks about that. And these things break us. The moment we want to move forward, this the devil
34:32 just puts this in front of us. Let's go through some difficult things and then we'll look at how to break out of these
34:37 bondages. And let me take the last one. This is the key one. The identity trap
34:43 in toxic relationships. And Jesus says you have had five
34:49 husbands. The man you now have now is not your husband. When you have five and
34:55 you still haven't learned and you still have a man, you are in bondage. And a
35:01 lot of us here are in much more bigger bondages than we care to admit. And what
35:06 does she suffer from? She suffers from a need to be accepted. So she moves from
35:11 one husband to another husband. She's thirsty. That's what the text is saying. Remember the text about living waters
35:16 and she keeps moving. Um there's an illustration about how about how you
35:22 trap a monkey. And the way you trap a monkey is that they'll take a coconut, they'll dig a hole enough for a monkey
35:28 to put his hand in like this. It's just like that. And the moment the monkey puts a hand inside, inside that coconut,
35:35 there will be fruits or food. And what a monkey does is the monkey grabs the fruit. But the moment the monkey puts
35:41 his fist, he can't get it out. Correct? Now the whole point of the illustration
35:48 is that for the monkey to get out, what must the monkey do? Let go. But they
35:54 have done clinical test. You know the monkey will never let go.
35:60 He will keep pulling and pulling and pulling and pulling until he is caught.
36:07 And so it is with a lot of us. We have things we hold on to.
36:13 And most of these time these are things that define us. They are relationships
36:18 we have either with people that damage us. They're relationships we have with
36:24 church ministries that define us. There are relationships we have with habits
36:31 they define us and you say I can't let go but what you're doing it is trapping
36:37 you and God is saying let go and what the illustration is telling you it's not
36:43 easy to let go right let us go through and if it's toxic relationship so here's
36:49 the first way out and let's get the theory right then we go to the practical the theory is my identity isn't isn't
36:58 from what I do, what I have, from comparison with others. My identity
37:04 isn't formed because of bad things that happened to me. My identity isn't formed
37:09 by bad relationships that suppress me. My identity is forged and formed in my
37:16 relationship with Jesus as Lord and Savior. Corinthians says, "Therefore, if
37:22 anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come, the old has gone, the new is
37:29 here." Now, that's all theory and you can sit there and say, "Oh, very easy to talk. How do we do it?" So, let me just
37:37 go through a case study and we're going to look at a conversations between Jesus and the Samaritan woman
37:45 and let's road map this out. Now, truth that transforms. Now if you know the
37:50 Gospel of John enough, truth is a key element in the gospel. It occurs much
37:56 more than the three other gospels. So let me road map this out for you. The first is Jesus goes out the way to
38:04 engage her. You must compare that the fact that he went across right across
38:09 territory from Jerusalem to Saika in the middle of nowhere to meet this woman. It
38:16 shows you the heart of God. He didn't go to meet the king, you know.
38:22 He didn't go to meet an important person. God went to meet a woman who was broken.
38:31 That's very important. What does he do? Jesus sees beyond her status, her
38:38 gender, her me life. Here's the key thing. He gives her self-esteem.
38:43 Now, there are lessons here for the church. There are lessons here for us. how we treat people in our midst. There
38:48 are real lessons here. The lessons for you and I when we get out to the garden cafe who we talk to because all he does,
38:56 he doesn't sit down and give him give her profound theology. He just says, "Give me a drink." And she says, "You
39:03 asking me for a drink?" Yes. And he does life with her.
39:10 He becomes her friend. But that's not enough. He takes this to
39:16 another level. She exposes her sin. But here's the key thing. He does not focus
39:22 on the flaws and failures. You see, there is a truth that builds you up and
39:29 there is a truth that tears you down. And here the problem in my view between
39:35 the polarity between the charismatic church and the evangelical church. one
39:42 oversimplifies sin. That's a charismatic church. It waters
39:47 it down and they'll do they make everything like into pop psychology because it's all about feel good. It's
39:54 about meeting a need. The evangelical church overblow sin simplifies the complexities
40:02 of life. And this is really 101 for counseling because Jesus exposes a sin.
40:09 Yes, you have had five husbands. What you say is true. And the man you're with is not your husband.
40:16 Does she then go on and says, "You bad woman. You're going to go to hell." You know, doesn't do that. You know, you
40:22 notice that. You see that there's a term they call the spotlight effect. And I
40:27 think evangelical churches in my view, my personal view, we do too much of this. Can you imagine? You come
40:34 to church every Sunday and you kind of taro know you're a sinner. You're a sinner. Are you a sinner? Why you sit
40:40 down there? The devil says you're hopeless. If only people knew what you did when you were young. You're hopeless. If they
40:48 only know your bad habits, you're really sure you're born again. You remember the devil? The devil does it. You feel what?
40:55 You feel insecure. And so it's called the spotlight effect and it freezes you, you know. But Jesus
41:02 doesn't do that. Jesus exposes her sin and then you know what happens? She like
41:08 most of us she shifts away the discussion from her sin because why? She's uncomfortable.
41:14 But here again something about us and what God does. Number one, God is in the business of making you
41:21 uncomfortable. But God's not in the business of making you dwell in an uncomfortableness.
41:29 And here what she does is that she's very pandai. She shift the discussion and say, "Hey, don't talk about that. Let's talk about GE14.
41:36 Why you support PH? You know, do you think the government here? Do you think uh Limoning can be finance minister? I
41:41 heard Rasi Rasi really complain. You know, that's what he did. You know why? Because she shifts the discussion to a
41:48 controversial discussion. She says, "You know what? Let's not talk about me. I'm very boring. Let's talk about you Jews
41:53 worship in Jerusalem. We worship in Mount Garazim." Because she wants to get into the controversy to shift attention
41:60 away. But but what Jesus does next does next is very telling because here's how
42:06 we help the hurting. Jesus doesn't tell her, "Ah, no, no, no, no, no. We weren't talking about politics. No, we're
42:12 talking about you." No, no, no. Don't don't don't change the topic. Don't change the topic. We were talking about your five husbands. But Jesus engages
42:20 her. Jesus gives her space. And this is so important for a person like me, people
42:26 like me who are very pushy. You know, I really learned something over this. And basically Jesus just goes along. And you
42:33 know what Jesus is doing? Jesus is giving her dignity. Jesus is giving her respect.
42:41 Jesus knows that if he continues on digging up this five husband things,
42:47 she's going to break. That's a lesson for all of us in our midst. There are many people here who are hurting. You
42:53 know why they don't want to talk to people in church? Two reason. One, we are blabbermouth.
42:58 Number two, you just say, "Really? what your problems are you tell me some more you got one husband I got two husband
43:03 after talking to you the guy gets even more depressed so we got to learn something here on
43:09 counseling you know because what Jesus does is Jesus goes along but here is something which he does which is really
43:15 interesting he takes the discussion of worship and links it back to a
43:20 self-esteem issue that to me was very very telling how do we know that because the end of the discussion the woman goes
43:27 back to her sins So Jesus while she's discussing about worship in spirit, worship in truth. Yes, you're right.
43:34 Theologically you you Samaritans have the pentatil you don't know the truth. We know salvation comes to the Jews.
43:40 Let's go into theology. We can write books about theology or worship. But we are talking about you living waters. And
43:47 what Jesus is telling her, you are thirsty. The reason why you're moving from
43:54 husband to husband to husband is you're looking for acceptance. And Jesus then
43:60 tells her two very important things. And let's break it down, okay? Because it was so important. He says this, "A time
44:08 is coming and now it come when the true worshippers will worship the father." Here the two things in spirit, small
44:15 spirit, not big. It's the holy spirit. Spirit here is the nature of God and
44:20 truth. Truth is key to the gospel of John. And then she lings in. This is the
44:26 word that triggers her because she knew this man came all the way out of nowhere
44:31 a Jew and sought her out and says, "Give me water." She knows. And here the word,
44:37 they are the kind of worshippers that what the father seeks. God is looking
44:43 out for you, sister. God is searching out for you,
44:51 oh nameless Samaritan woman. And God is telling you two things.
44:57 She then says this. She understand Jesus. She realizes Jesus knows the shame but still treats her with dignity
45:04 and respect. And she begins to see herself the way God sees her. Now what
45:10 is she seeing? Two things. One, worship. You don't need to go to Mount
45:16 Gerism. You don't need to go to Jerusalem. I am going to be crucified soon. You can come to me anytime.
45:22 God's not concerned about the form. God concerned about your heart. So here it is to all of us here. God's concerned on
45:28 your attitude towards him. Secondly is truth. And later on in chapter 8, he
45:33 tells you with regards to sin, truth shall set you free.
45:40 Free from what? From this longing. This sinful longing. And and what Jesus
45:47 is telling her, you know what? You don't need to move from man to man to man to
45:53 find acceptance. You don't need to move from job to job to job. You don't need to move from this to that. You don't
45:60 need to be so restless. You come to me and I will give you living waters and it
46:05 will well up from inside. You come to me because I am spirit. I'm everywhere and I have your heart and you come to me
46:12 with that same heart. And that truth is not an intellectual truth. It will set you free. and hear the cringe. She said,
46:19 "Yeah, you're right. But when Messiah comes, he will reveal
46:26 because she doesn't know who he is." And then Jesus says something he has not done in four chapters. I am that
46:33 Messiah. And she begins to change. Now, how do we know that? Because the chapter ends with
46:40 a very simple symbolism. She drops her water and she runs off to tell others,
46:46 you know what that that that symbolism is telling me, yes, that that's water. That's what I need. That's that's my bad
46:52 habit. That's my that's my thing I desire, but I found something better. I can't wait to tell everyone else. And
46:58 when she goes out to tell everyone else, what does she say? Does she say, "Here's the good news." You know what she says?
47:04 Come and see the man who has told me everything I have done. You know what
47:12 she just had? She had a breakthrough from shame. Here's a woman who startled off hiding
47:19 herself from God. Now she's going to the world. She says, "Yeah, I have five husbands, so I'm a sinner. I'm going to
47:25 change. Don't judge me because of that." It's a very powerful illustration.
47:32 Sheila Walsh was a Christian singer. She lived like a lot of us half lives
47:38 uh went through depression and the end she says all my guilt is gone. What a powerful statement. You can spend your
47:45 whole life longing to go back and change the moment of decision but you can't change the past. What God offers you is
47:53 grace and forgiveness in the present and hope for the future.
47:59 Look up before you look inside. And the end both stories say the same
48:05 thing. John 3:16, God so loved the world, he gave his one and only son. Whoever believes in him
48:13 shall not perish, have eternal life. And Samaritan woman, come to me and I'll
48:19 give you eternal living waters that spring up to eternal life.
48:25 So let me just end with this three points and I want to end with something. I think I want to ask the worship team
48:31 to come up. You know, we let us end with a uh with an election illustration. Last
48:39 one. Uh
48:45 among all the party slogans, there was one which I think resonates
48:51 the most with Christians. Come on, you guys should know this.
48:57 Let me give you a clue. Uh that party slogan isn't from West Malaysia.
49:03 Nobody knows our youth. Okay. Anyone knows what was Warisan Party's slogan
49:13 is this in God we trust change
49:22 we must. And that's what the text is telling us.
49:28 The text is telling me and you you can change. Can we have some piano marrow
49:36 know whatever difficulty you have your esteem issues
49:41 you can change. The Samaritan woman had an encounter with God. Just one encounter he moved to change. Okay.
49:50 Here's the last election illustration.
50:06 change.
50:24 Dan biller
50:32 Amen. Amen. Let's come before the Lord in prayer.
50:42 Lord, we just we just uh come before you now as the music plays
50:50 and we ask, oh Lord, you lift us up. You lift us up to higher grounds
50:59 and you give us living waters. That in your kingdom the last shall be
51:05 first. That our identity is not in what we have,
51:11 what we do or what others think of us. Our identity is formed in our relationship with you.
51:18 And when we have an encounter with you, we look past our sins, our flaws,
51:26 and we with the Holy Spirit have that courage to move away from these things
51:32 that bondage us because you, oh Lord, loved us so much. You died for us, for our sins.
51:41 And so we say for us,
51:46 uba bills.
51:60 He met.
