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00:00:00 I'm going to bring up a friend to share something oh very offensive we will talk about that a little bit but why don't we talk about that a bit first uh maybe before I do that I'll bring up my friend why don't we bring up our friend first and you you'll see what we're going to talk about so uh you probably will get a bit of the vibe what we're going to talk about today so we're going to bring about a foreigner since we talking about people of non-british uh descent ascending to be the Prime Minister of England so you know and this
00:00:39 morning they did a Puja you know uh can you imagine their ancestors had to go and wipe the legs of their colonial white Masters and who were have dreamed centuries later a Hindu man would asend to be prime minister of England I wonder how you Christians feel about that let me just uh put in in a mind as we talk about Stefan Stefan why don't you tell us a bit about yourself yes good morning church and everyone um You probably seen me around my name is Stefan uh I'm from Sweden U I lived in Malaysia since 2015
00:01:15 I live with my son around subang airport where I where I work I'm in helicopter maintenance um yes and uh I'm yeah I'm Swedish but I'm not Swedish per se I grew up in a multicultural family uh but I'm born and raised here yes yeah he's also for my life group correct yes so we know each other my life group got a lot of qual people that's we very proud to be S uh simple question do you like it here in Malaysia oh yes I feel at home here um I found my place in Malaysia yes so I can say um I don't go
00:01:55 home to Sweden anymore I go home for holidays and I come back home to Malaysia give it up give it up give it up give it up yes ah now we ask a more important question now do you feel at home in FBC oh yes safe space authentic space and I I think we really need to get into that the ability to say without getting offended but to couch it in language is which not offensive that's a very hard that I'm still struggling to do that okay but can I answer now yes go ahead go ahead all right if I Feel Home in FBC
00:02:31 uh I do feel home in FBC in a in a sense CU I've been here since uh 2015 I started out going to the Filipino Ministry because my son's mother is from Philippines uh but she's back in Philippines since many years uh but then I got into the English congregation here as well um like I say I feel at home because I've been here a long time but I do feel alone uh with that I mean in if you refer to Sweden in Swedish cultures when someone walks into a place walk into a church everyone acknowledge you everyone says hello you look at someone
00:03:08 here in FBC I can walk in and no one says hello um I mean you're laughing about it but and I I understand this is cultural differences I'm I I'm very Swedish in that way I I expect people to acknowledge me if they don't it's a bit offensive but I learned this is how it is in Malaysia um but for us as foreigners coming in I think it would be uh very nice if someone actually just acknowledge you um it seems sometimes it's like blinds like horses it's like Foreigner I don't want to don't want to say anything uh I lived in Philippines
00:03:43 many years and uh that that was also different uh in that sense acknowledging foreigners they are very friendly people very different uh I also realize sometimes they run away when I come into the room but that's more because they don't want to feel embarrassed if they cannot answer in English English uh so that's I learned also the hard way cuz I was offended in the beginning why are people running away but then I understood is because they don't speak English they don't want to feel embarrassed and so on but that was
00:04:12 explained to me but yes I do feel sometimes alone in in FBC in that sense yes I want to ask a question to everybody here how many of you have spoken to Stefan that's not a lot you know so so we not we don't want to start the sermon off by putting people on a guilt trip but today I want to really talk about this the idea of being a foreigner so maybe we end this with one question how do you think we can improve showing genuine love and care to The Foreigner in our midst I would say uh for me would be to
00:04:52 really acknowledge when when we come into church CU we are also equally insecure in your environment um so I think just that works everywhere looking on someone saying Hi how are you what's your name where you from and that's all and if you continue doing that and then also catch up once I'm standing outside for example um just approach uh cuz we're all humans right okay I think that's something to think about thanks Stefan all right thank you very much okay you can start the clock so uh back to this right I if if you showed
00:05:28 the photo and of a Indian Hindu man performing Puja at the feet of 10 Downing Street to American Church in the South they would say look what's happening to the world a Hindu man has gotten into Christendom what more would happen you take the same picture and you take it to an Indian Christian in India say in Hyderabad and he would tell you wow an Indian man now is prime minister of England our ex Colonial Masters same Christian faith different response so my question to you as a Malaysian you see a photo like this how
00:06:16 do you react how do you react I'm not even going to judge it you know so this the question I want to show you something else because today we talking about foreigners and nationalism and patriotism and I brought a little gift for you all you know is this Malaysia I'm not to you see this the the question we want to ask ourselves today so today this is a this is a difficult question to ask isn't it the issue of how race nationalism affects your faith I I'm going to suggest something to Chinese people here first and this is from the
00:07:02 heart I say my favorite word safe space I'm going to suggest for Chinese people they are Chinese first and Malayan second and that fact is not lost to your Malay friends so I want us to just pick up this and today we want to look at this idea of being a solder okay we last time we left we talked about uh uh Jacob and he left as an exile from B shba to Har he was sojourning and now in the final leag of his journey he comes to a foreign land and he meets the most powerful man he got more man money than the prime
00:07:46 current prime minister of England even though she's married to the wife of infosis and he says the word soldiering and nobody travels like Jacob nobody and so these stories are given to us as what Jesus told us in the gospels because everything points to Jesus and you do not need to go on physically on the journey but scripture describes Christians as soers and so this morning I want us to look at two parts of it today we're going to look at it from a nationalistic patriotic you know wagara Malaysia point
00:08:28 of perspective and we're going to look at this from perspective of being a soier now so let's come before the Lord in prayer yesr for amen so next week's sermon I'm going to take you to the second part and the second part we're going to go much more personal we're going to go to Har pamaran the river of Jacob but today we're going to look at the last Lake of his journey him entering Egypt the superpower of the of that world all right and then after that Pastor Lou agua our Filipino pastors going to talk
00:09:52 about pass it on and then Pastor joash will talk about the Lord is my shepherd so I want to take something which we really sort of misunderstand a lot of The Exodus narrative The Exodus narrative is often used to talk about Christendom in about the New Testament this way God brought a people out of bondage in slavery and exodus to freedom and that is the parallel as in Jesus is taking you out of slavery from sin to Freedom that's true but we miss the prologue the prologue is this God brought his people into a foreign land
00:10:30 to make them into a nation that's repeated again and again especially in the last part of Genesis the last chapters 46 onwards and then brought them out of the foreign land into the promised land that prologue is missed Genesis 28 key line God of multi bless you make you fruitful and multiply you that's abrahamic Covenant you may become a company of peoples and here Isaac tells Jacob before he flees as an Exile out of you the abrahamic Covenant prophetically is going to be fulfilled how is it fulfilled in this chapter we read in uh
00:11:09 in Genesis 46:26 as they left all the persons belonging to Jacob who came into Egypt foreigners yeah who his own descenders not including Jacob's sons wives was 66 person added up all the persons of the House of Jacob who came to Egypt were 70 that's Perfection number 70 God's number and Moses makes this exclamation Deuteronomy 10:22 your ancestors who went down into Egypt was 70 in all and now the Lord your God has made you as numerous as the stars in the sky where have you heard that there abrahamic Covenant the abrahamic
00:11:48 Covenant this is where a lot of us miss this is fulfilled in Egypt do not miss that that's the big picture the abrahamic Covenant is ful filed in a foreign land with the gods of Egypt over 70 people that's big picture I want you to pick up a little bit of that and the New Testament picks up this we are foreigners to the whole world and as John Piper will put it we are foreigners not because the world is created we are foreigners because the world is broken and Peter uses the word Exile and Foreigner in the same way
00:12:31 Jacob was exiled from bashah to move to Har in the same way Adam and Eve were exalt from the Garden of Eden because of the sin in the same way the people of God were exalt from Jerusalem because of sin to go to Babylon to prosper you and I are Exiles and foreigners in this world that is an identity we very rarely pick up we like to say Christians are you know child of God Disciples of Jesus Royal priests but the idea of our identity as foreigners and Exiles to the world is something very lost to the
00:13:10 Evangelical world and I want to pick this up today on this so there are three points the importance of having a pit stop in life everyone is your neighbor everywhere is your home and how hope for the future keeps you J grounded in your present journey and you saw just now when I took the picture I show a train because sometimes sermons like this are very oh very heavy so I'm going to use the idea of a train to to help you remember so just think of trains today all right okay trains all right so the first thing is Jacob makes
00:13:44 a pit stop at basiba the story is he at the last Lake there is a famine going on the sons have made two trips to Egypt to get food they come back he finds out his son is alive Joseph and finally they say let's go to Egypt no starving your son is there but instead of going uh down to Egypt again he diverts you know he diverts to bashah you got to ask yourself why he makes a deliberate attempt to divert to bashah he doesn't just say right let's go we have to go no food here I have to see my son let's go he diverts and why so let
00:14:25 me give you example because BBA is important in the patriarch stories firstly in Genesis 21 the Covenant is made there with the with King ABC and there Abraham plants a Tamaris tree meaning in BBA God made him flourish that's Genesis 21 now again you know there's a reason why they call him the god of Abraham Isaac and Jacob because Isaac does the same thing and instead of planting a tree he now finds water that's the same idea of flourishing so in both cases BBA represents a place of the presence of God and of course as we
00:15:07 know Jacob settled in basiba and he had to run so he comes back to basiba because BBA to him is a Sacred Space is a space where he is familiar that he has sense the presence of God now what does he do why doesn't need to do that and the verse chapter 46 verse two God spoke to Israel in visions of the night and said Jacob Jacob again notice the play with the word it doesn't say and God spoke to Jacob is God spoke to Israel and you find the later chapter 46 the interpretting the word Israel and Jacob becomes very deliberate you got
00:15:53 ask yourself why and he say here I am so ask yourself this question when have you heard this word Jac Jacob here I am that's pulling backward to Abraham Abraham Abraham here I am is pulling forward to Moses Moses Moses here I am this is the last time God speaks to a patriarch in the Book of Genesis it closes after this and the next time we hear it it is the time of The Exodus it is silence after this and then he uses this word do not be afraid so why does he need to stop very simple he's afraid he's afraid he is a very simple
00:16:37 thing in life in life sometimes you and I have to go through certain shifts in our lives right certain times you are going through a shift and you are afraid and what does he do as a lesson to life to us he doesn't just plow ahead he pauses he takes a pit stop he takes a piss stop because he's afraid he's got every good reason to afraid number one Abraham went to Egypt what happened they tried to take his wife and there was a famine and Isaac wanted to go to Egypt and God said don't go it's dangerous Egypt is the place of Idols is
00:17:19 not a place I want to go so he's afraid now when we think of Pit Stop we tend to think of things like this all you young people F1 all McLaren now Formula One now Red Bull but actually uh the pit stop original idea the train you know and in that pit stop they took water and they prepared themselves for a long journey they basically recharged themselves that's the idea of a pit stop and the idea here let me just say in very simple English when you're going through a difficult shift in life uh you
00:17:55 you are at a point in life where your life is going to go in another trajectory trory and that trajectory brings a lot of fear it's not something you want you wake up one day you find out there's a medical problem you suddenly falling out you got legal problem your your your your finances are bad suddenly that journey in life you took that nice life you invented for yourself Came Crashing Down and you are fearful who here cannot relate to that you in Disneyland if you cannot relate to that we all relate to this at
00:18:33 one point in our life and the biblical idea is that when you do that you take a pit stop it is something Jesus does at Gethsemane it is something Daniel does when he goes to his room and faces uh Jerusalem it is a common thing it is something Elijah does after he meets the uh Jezebel being threaten you take a pit stop and what does he do he worships God God now nowadays you and I don't need to find a sacred place we have the Holy Spirit in us but this something I really learned generally in life that sometimes we all
00:19:12 rush you know if you are going through a very hard time a simple biblical what we call spiritual formation practice is to just pause and worship and when he worshiped God and offered sacrifices God spoke to him and that's as simple as that and what did he tell him do not be afraid to go down to Egypt and there is the interesting word there I will make you a great nation he takes his fear and he overwhelms the will and turns it into a blessing we will take that next week that which you're afraid
00:20:00 of I'm going to take it and I'm going to make it into a blessing I'm I'm going to fulfill the abrahamic Covenant of all places in the place of idols and then he say something really interesting I myself will go down with you to Egypt wow God is everywhere but like a father on a son on the journey I myself will go down you the gods of Egypt have no power over me I am not only Yahweh I am Elohim I am the god of all Nations very simply no God no fear and the biblical understanding of knowing god is intimate
00:20:51 worship do not turn this church service into a t talk where you intellectualize the sermon and go back you turn this into a place of worship where you hear God speaking to you in song in sermon in Fellowship in engagement no God no fear the the reverse is also true no God you will no fear and if you are going through very fearful times and you're fearful person and you're very anxious and always coming to church and saying pastor Pastor Elder can you pray can you lay hands on me perhaps your worship life needs a bit of
00:21:32 relooking at you know there's a there's this talking about trains today right and this very famous story of Tom Hanks and uh you you get about the Polar Express to see Santa Claus and they give you a ticket the ticket says belief what is belief and then the author says the Polar Express about faith but what we believe in C is how we conduct ourselves we can B the Train of Life and choose the route our journey will take and what the Final Destination may bring us life is anything we can imagine we are all creators of life and
00:22:11 we can choose how we want it to be designed in this train you are God and can I tell you it does not take you to the promised land it takes you the opposite direction in this train you are God God will not walk with you down to Egypt do not bought this train so I saw this in Youth for Christ from Hyderabad I thought was interesting I know your pit stop could be a stage in life where have completed your education struggling to find a suitable job or you have a decent job being laid off currently desperately looking for a job
00:22:53 you may enjoy your youth are struggling find a life partner you're struggling loneliness you lost a loved one you be experiencing failure in life you a fairly healthy person suddenly reflected by health issues your pit stock could be anything it forc your speeding life AR we all speeding through life you rush you know because we assume the trajectory in alive you are on a bullet train and you're hiding you think you are from Singapore going to KL and your life is all touch and go and you need a pit
00:23:27 stop I want pause a little bit on that and that is so important that we just take as a general lesson from this now here's where interesting all right as we just take a little bit through the text they enter Egypt you know where they settle in Egypt they settle in banga or monara take your pck all right is that kind of thing so Joseph s his father's brother Egypt and gave them property in the best part of the land the district or rames got District putraa pring 15 GED gated community tamad Desa now you must understand the author
00:24:09 deliberately saying a few things first the author trying to tell you you know in Egypt you're going to be a great nation number two in Egypt they stay like in Beverly Hills you know do you know who are the recipients of this these are the people of The Exodus so the author Del really making a point of contrast is that you know what this how your ancestors were treated they live like kings but you are slaves same country same people these are how the fortunes of the land you are in will change think this
00:24:44 think Ukraine and ask yourself whether your children one day will enjoy this the problem with current generation we don't mind meing with genz we are taking things for granted but your ancestors when they say s PA came from a Homeland where that was literal no s PA in canones means that are you eaten fully because your ancestors were starving and so the author picks up to show you the futility of Life your ancestors live like kings you are now beaten by the slave master your ancestor treated hagga the slave
00:25:24 badly and now the Egyptians treat you badly that's the point why is he trying to tell you human nature is sinful and then he says something which is really interesting we're just going to go through this few verses and make these verses come alive and he says I must ever go with you with Egypt I will bring you up again hang on he never comes out of Egypt he never comes out of Egypt but notice the play with the word Egypt Israel Jacob Jacob Israel why is he doing that he's trying to tell you something you know and he said Joseph's
00:26:01 hands will close your eyes now let's see how Joseph's hand actually closes his eyes all right so Genesis 50 Joseph threw himself on his father we kissed him and what I will tell you is the Egyptians mourn for him how many days 70 days that's God's perfect number again the Foreigner mourn can you imagine a a a Israelite who had been whipped by a Egyptian slave master who was spit an Egyptian faces see this entire race cannot tah these Egyptians go to hell the same Egyptians Generations earlier mourn for an Israelite a
00:26:51 foreigner 70 days According to Hebrew Customs that's the point point of the text is like saying what cannot be these Egyptians cannot t one we cannot love them you cannot this is what they did now to compound it this is why he says Pharaoh's officers accompanying the dignitaries of the call all the dignitaries of Egypt better than Queen Elizabeth's funeral you know chers and Horsemen went up it was a large company when they reached the treasuring for at near the Jordan the Meed until the canites he it they say hey the Egyptians
00:27:31 are holding a morning ceremon because the Egyptians are like the United States they were the superpower so what is the author trying to tell you the author trying to tell you everyone's your neighbor and one day God will bring the Egyptians the Babylonians and he will bring all nations into the promised land that is the point now this saes a lot let me just pick up a bit you ancestors because they were starving came I'm H so I ended up opening copam you canis came first and then the fucha came went to S made a lot of money
00:28:10 the Haka went to sabba W up Sab Sabah full of know orak then when we H came also all the te M started gangs so H come nothing else to do we made H chicken rice law it's true they nothing else to do with we work as Cooks we work at cooks and then we kak kak and then so we ended up making very famous so we don't talk to you because we are H we we are you know how we can tell H person first is very B up here one you know all right and then we say whether you so we develop one word we say are you I'm which gang are you in come let's
00:28:57 fight so from there we started something which you know everywhere the Chinese diaspora go whether they go to Vancouver they go to Sydney they go to England they go to anywhere wherever the Chinese diaspora go how do you know there's a Chinese there they set up this but always remember something there's no Chinatown in heaven the Swedish person in your midst the African brother sitting there the Filipino brothers sitting here the American sitting at the back there the Indians in your midst they are all your
00:29:36 kakang the question is do you treat them as your kakang so today we want to ask the that pertinent question of that dichotomy between our actual faith and the reality of it and if you can say look that there two ways to look at this one is I'm afraid wait I I I meet my African brother sitting there I'm sorry brother I'm putting you out the way right now or I meet an American here and I say look I don't know what to say to them then the word of God is telling you this do not be afraid because it's okay because the
00:30:15 heart is in the right place you want to talk to them but you're afraid what if is not fear I got this from Sister Joy you know because she's half Filipino half uh half Chinese and I really pondered on this a long what if it's not feir what if you simply don't want to you see Imran sitting there with Kathy he's Pakistani and she's Filipino you look at him and your heart is saying Israel the man enters Egypt Israel the nation leaves Egypt eyp let me just pound this in a little bit and then Exodus 1
00:31:02 begins like a Ukraine story your Beverly Hills where you stayed that condo you stayed I'm going to take that away from you that nice Mercedes cars you have your kids all staring Australia I'm going to take that away from you you're all now going to live under the whip so let me ask you two questions the Israelites entered Egypt when the Homeland had a famine the Israelites left Egypt when they had hardship what do you call a person like this they are called refugees your spiritual forefathers were
00:31:45 refugees uh if you go to stre kangan uh people like me architect like to travel you go where you see this building is a I forgot this name of this building is owned by the Chinese you know I think there a school there at one point they put in a museum there the trade advisor got I got this photo of TR advis I really want to go in I think for some sensitive reason they shut it off and it it shows you the history of the Chinese in Malaysia really nice diara beautiful I want to show you one particular
00:32:21 photo that's your forefathers Chinese people here kak I want you look at this so when you see this you should also say kakang you know your spiritual forefathers were refugees your biological forefathers were refugees so ask yourself the refugee is your have you forgotten your roots because that is the story of scripture the Israelites keep forgetting the goodness of God and if you forget them you have no right when people call you patang you get offended let me give you a bit of stance on Refugee work
00:33:10 there's 183,000 Asylum Seekers refugees in Malaysia that's documented out of that 150,000 of them come from Myanmar out 150,000 them majority are rohinga and then minority are chin you know they come in you have to first set in as Asylum Seeker if you're fortunate they give you Refugee status and Malaysia is not signator to the international Refugee uh signature they have no rights they are bullied they get caught by police they have to pay bribes they live like this so when you complain about your health your wealth your education
00:33:51 look at life in perspective you know how many perent of refugees at never make it to the country of the choice worldwide less than 1% and when they are in your midst what do you think God is asking you to do they are your kakang you know and let me end with this one thing uh as what Piper says you know we are all spiritual refugees we were exiled from the Garden of Eden you know what a refugee as opposed to a PR not not offending any PRS here a PR can enter Australia because he earns it because he got money
00:34:35 he got skill so there's a checking point I I I graduated Australia understand this you want to apply for PR oh what degree do you have can you do this can you do this you got money like now all the million Chinese just throw money in there get in I earn my place into the kingdom of Australia a refugee has no rights he depends on the grace of the king of the Kingdom to let him in you are here by Grace by the blood of the Lamb you are in the kingdom of God you did not earn it you know my father always told me a story you know I always
00:35:10 thought it's interesting he say as he came the the earlier boat went to Thailand you know and all the highand people in Thailand went became very rich on you know he came to Malaysia and my father used to say Hey you know we went to Thailand you be millionaires all the ti CH is very rich but I got something better I came to Malaysia and I became a Christian you are here because Generations ago God brought your ancestors here to save you and to take you to the promised land have you thought about
00:35:52 that the same way the Lord took these people put them into Egypt you know put them into Egypt and out of Egypt they became a nation your forefathers could have gone to Thailand and you will not be sitting here in this church you are here by the grace of God this church is formed because your for fathers in China let's go to Malaysia and they worked as coolies so that you could sit in an airon Hall and hear about Jesus does that not break your heart and tell you when you see the Foreigner in your
00:36:48 midst your heart should at least love them that's the starting point you can say I'm fearful and then the Lord say is okay I will walk with you the worst thing is H you actually think they so I want you to think about that so doy thinks you about this even if you've been banished to more distance land God will gather you and bring you back and of course the story of the Exile continue God's people because of sinful nature they banish to Babylon and they say how can we sing the Lord's song in a foreign land how does Lord tells
00:37:37 them I cannot stand this Babylonians do you know we have never done a sermon Psalm 137 because it's so full of anger these people raped our doctors bash our babies against the walls how can we sing there we cannot once we get to Babylon we're going to plot our Revolt we got to get the hell of this place Babylonians are worse than Egyptians man you know what God tells them seek the peace and prosperity of City have carried Exile pray to the Lord for it if it prosers you prosper before that he tells them build houses settle
00:38:17 down marry have sons you know this verse Prosperity Gospel like to use I know the plans I have for you declares the plans to prosper you not to harm you give you hope if people love that yes it sense if you're in Somalia go and migrate to Somalia that's the context now where are we going all of this we've been talking about Israelites hating Egyptians israelit hating Babylonians and God is telling them everyone is your neighbor so so why is it when I take this here and I wave this around you people say that very
00:39:06 weird because we have dichotomized our faith from loving our country we think it's not important I put it to you there's a very good book by a very famous scholar Henry n who just came up few months ago on this to love your country means to love your neighbor you love your neighbor you love your country and I want to ask you this morning on the opposite side because I suggest you especially Chinese people here we live and we treat this country like is foreign to us we do not it doesn't enter into our EOS of our discipleship the
00:39:42 idea of being a good Malaysian is foreign to our discipleship program I suggest to you it is front and center and I have to quote Piper because aning quotes to you nobody listens I quote Tim Keller John Piper only you people listen to me it's so sad must have a Westerner tell us these things have no fear the Malaysian is here do not be afraid I will walk with you through the streets of chit I will walk with you through campu I will walk with you to Kate I will walk with you through the camp yes
00:40:25 Christ do not be afraid the reality is we want to say danan I prefer the Aon hall or FBC thank you very much how much money I write you a check that's the point of the text how does it does I think Dr Tim mck of Bible project say there's two tensions first when you vote don't vote out of anger and hate because I think because of what happened the last election a lot of you guys are voting from a very bad place we don't care what party you vote you can vote whatever you let's be careful about words but you
00:41:05 cannot vote from a place of anger and hate that is not what God wants love your people get to know other races build up these nations work well don't cheat your tax give to Caesar what's to Caesar give to God what is God and as the friends of Daniel said sometimes say no sometimes make your know very strong the state will say certain things you say no and that's why FBC is firmly behind the family of suzan core and if we are counted for that we are countered we will not be ashamed we do not hide it
00:41:47 we say it's wrong you come after us you come after us we will not back down we go to prison we go to prison the leadership makes it very clear clear the second is the culture to love your neighbor is not to engage in cultures in the Babylonian culture the food was not cauer the friends said no IM Malayan the food is money that is called why that's why they call it B land but to God is be very careful so let me end with this how hope for the future keeps you grounded in your present Journey what was Jacob's
00:42:28 main motivation to going for Egypt is this he's going to see his son look at that verse as Joseph appeared he treis them around him and wept now I'm ready to die so let me try to give this in a picture for you he meets the son who he thought had died the son who had been humiliated but now exalted to be at the right hand side of the most powerful King in the world what is that story telling you who in the New Testaments the disciples thought had died was humiliated but Rose and is now seated at
00:43:17 the right hand side of God the story foreshadows Jesus what keep Jacob going on in that Journey the the only thing that kept him going was he had the desire to meet his son let me end with a very simple thing the only thing that keeps you on in the Journey of life whether it's your personal problems do not me you afraid to talk to people other cultures is the love of Jesus what commonality does an African a Thai a Filipino a Pakistani a Norwegian have nothing the only thing you have in common is
00:44:02 Jesus and when you have that that's enough for you to say I will not be afraid I will make the first step how do you do that that Joy taught me a word I forgot that I think it's called cultural near cultural discipleship if she's here I think I remember that near it's in her article you can't do it find someone maybe someone like Sarah can work out with other nationalities that we talk to them we go to jail then we we talk to Sarah sometimes you cannot understand the Pak Pakistani culture talk to talk
00:44:35 to Kathy she understands Pakistani culture she'll Bridge you you don't understand Filipino culture talk to Stefan you work together you work together and don't say I I I I don't know how to do it you can't work with other people so let me just give you a few examples okay because of time I want to end with this Story one of the most famous railroads is what is called the Underground Railroad the Underground Railroad transported 100,000 afroamerican slaves out of slavy into what is called can today today we're talking about racism
00:45:17 and patriotism and all of that right so I'm going to end with this last story of a train it was so successful it brought about the Civil War but here's the interesting thing about trains today we're talking about trains right the Underground Railroad is not a train the Underground Railroad is people you read it yourself now why am I trying to tell you this I'm trying to tell you you don't get on the gospel train the body of Christ is the go portray and how did the rural work it work because the reformed Presbyterians
00:46:03 the Quaker Society the Episcopalian Church the northern Baptists the Puritans work together in a network to bring people from bondage to Freedom people of different color and you and I are here to bring people of different color different race different persuasion by being that train by working together some are conductors some have safe houses some have Depot some bring food some pray but together you are that train and I want to challenge you to that so today there's one big message I want to give you I will urge you to
00:46:51 leave this heart today and ask and ask your heart how do you feel for the Foreigner in your midst your four were refugees we spiritual refugees maybe make a pit stop and ask yourself what God is saying let me end with this story of this woman called Harriet tman she I like to have women Heroes we need more women Heroes and she's very well known for being involved by bringing people from the South all the way to Freedom what do you call a person who leads people From Slavery to Freedom what's the Biblical term for that person
00:47:33 she was called the Moses of a people you can almost hear Harriet Harriet here I am and then God tells her do not be afraid and what does she STS to the Lord she's completely uneducated I'm going to Whole steady to you and I know I you see me through so Dad I want to challenge you with this and this is my favorite verse of hers I will give every drop of blood in my veins to freedom and here's the good news someone more powerful than Herod than Moses than Abraham then Jacob came and he gave his blood to save you and
00:48:25 that's Jesus Christ and he calls you and I together right now this morning to be that gospel train to work together and all I ask this morning as you leave maybe just do one thing try to say hi to the Pakistani the African the Filipino the Indian the Punjabi Punjabi is are Indian sorry the white man the American in your midst can you at least do that if not today maybe next week to show them you have the heart because of not you are treating them like pendatang that's all I ask in this so let me end with one more
00:49:05 picture and I want to end with a story of two punjabis the first Punjabi is very rich he's technically a Hindu but he dresses like a white man educated like a white man in fact the talk about him is in England is they don't care whether he's Hindu or Indian please fix our economy England is going to go into recession the next punjabi on the right hand side he calls himself Sunda sidu Singh sidu is a holy man he wears the Robes of a indan holy man the difference is he's Christian so one man say his Hindu but
00:49:57 dresses like a white man another man wears the Robes of a Hindu but says he's a Christian why does he say that because to him Christ is above all cultures and I'll end with this story there was a man in Assam who became a Christian many many years ago when sidu Singh Sund Singh was was around and Hindu nationalist took him and the family and said if you do not give up your faith we will kill all of you and he said no and he quoted from the Gospel of John and he quoted I have decided to follow Jesus no turning
00:50:50 back and Sund Singh took the words of this Mar and made it into a song and he's the song that I want to live with you today for a Punjabi Christian to all us Chinese people here as people who are all foreigners and exalts in this world and I pray you join me and the worship team as we sing this words that you are all part of the Gospel train we have decided to follow Jesus no turning back no turning back let us pray Lord Jesus one day you will gather the nations from the four corners of the [Music]
00:51:47 earth they will come from every [Music] race this morning right now right here now we are doing a pit stop and pausing we ask ourselves the first question are we racist do we have a security complex do we hate our country three questions are we racist do we have a security complex as Chinese primarily and do we hate our country and we ask ourselves as foreigners and Exiles is that pleasing to you so I myself want to rep pen very easy to posture up here but the heart you know the [Music] heart and teach us not to be
00:52:40 afraid teach us to say with our neighbors here in FBC if one day in Revelations when the all the nations are gathered before your throne may we in FBC in the now and not yet show a bit of that so this morning teach us to love our neighbor for everywhere everyone is our neighbor everywhere is our home and right now for all of us Malaysia is our home this morning as we leave the service teach us to have a heart for others let us look at life beyond our problems oh Lord and together we all say as part of
00:53:19 that gospel train working together opening our homes being prayer Partners giving a cup of coffee just saying hello sitting down and chatting let us say together we have decided follow Jesus we are on that Journey towards the promised land and there is no turning back in Jesus name we say Amen I'd like to invite you to rise and sing this old song you you was turned to become a children's song but this morning may that simple Faith just SP to us as I ask the worship team to lead us into to this and let us be as Jacob right now to
00:54:00 offer that Worship in this Pit Stop what what what did Jacob do he offered that as worship may this be our worship and I will tell you if you do that from the sincerity of your heart God will speak to you and he will say do not be [Music] afraid sing church I have decided I have decided to follow Jesus I have deci to follow Jesus I have decid to follow Jesus no turning back no turning back go with me I will follow though none will go with me I will [Music] follow don't n Go with me I still follow don't not go with
00:55:20 me I still will follow don't go with me I still will follow no [Music] turning no turning you know Harriet Topman uh had another quote to the slaves or the gospel train which were people and she said when she was guiding people she say do you hear the sound of dogs you keep on going you hear the sound of people screaming you keep on going you don't stop you keep on going you want freedom you keep on going and I ask you whatever you're going through in life right now you keep on going because you have made
00:56:16 a commitment Church you have said I have decided to follow Jesus there is no turning back and there everything you are everything we are we bring to you oh Lord no turning back no turning [Music] back everything all I am and all I have to bring I will give to you my everything everything all I am and all I have to bring I will give to you my everything all I have and all I have to bring I will give to you my and everything all I am and all I have to I will give to you [Music] [Applause] [Music]
00:57:52 my I will give to you my [Applause] [Music] I will give to you [Music] [Applause] my I will give to you my all I all I I will give to [Music] you all I am and all I have to pring I will give to you my [Music] everything Lord as we just come before you right now and these words that we have said everything all I am all we have we give to you Lord these are our words of worship to you these are not meaningless words we rent out right now at this pit stop in FBC as Jacob offered those words of sacrifice as he brought a burnt offering
00:59:36 to you we do not need to do that because you oh Lord have died for us on the cross we bring these words to You and the quietness of the moment right now I want to ask you is Jesus speaking to you or is it just a sound of speakers and a and a fancy speaker who can just psychologically move people is that is that's happening ask you to quieten your heart either we the most foolish stupid people on the Earth and this Mass hypnosis and we are selling you hope or there is real hope Jesus is real and
01:00:14 he's telling you stop being God of your life get on the right train get on the right train and if that's you tonight today you came here you're not sure we want to tell you Jesus is speaking to you right now would you stay back end of service talk to one of us but he gave his life to you to set you free some of us our lives are not free we say that but we are like it's like a toy train we're just going around in circles Sunday we go to church Monday we go to work just go round and round you're not
01:00:57 getting anywhere in life and today the Lord is saying be part of that train no turning back push on come and talk to us whatever problems you might have whatever struggles you have the body of Christ some are conductors some are safe houses some are Depot we are all part of that gospel train and we will walk with you a caravan of love we may not be 70 people but out of us God Will Make A holy nation of us and lastly let me just ask this for us that we repent of our racism we repent of our indifference to
01:01:49 Malaysia a lot of us we are indifferent the only thing we like about Malaysia is because it's got subsidies [Music] make our discipleship loving our neighbor and loving our homes teach us to go to vote in a few weeks not from a place of anger or hate for our neighbors but from a love of this country that we do not want this country to go into corruption and it as Martin Luther King is one thing to lose hope in the temporal world but we do not lose hope in the infinite but one day all of us here Africans
01:02:29 Filipinos Americans Swedish we will all go home and we put our Arms Around Jesus the way Jacob put his arms around Joseph and he will wipe away every tear he will wait for us at the train station and he will say my child f finally you have arrived and while we are on that Journey Lord make us useful people and we say this in Jesus name amen God bless you all the service is over any one of you who need any prayers please stay back have a blessed week and uh God bless you all
