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00:00:01 good morning everybody I'm actually not supposed to be here this morning it's supposed to be John um John fell a bit sick so I'm back so uh can I use this worship team can I not going to okay uh you know we're going to continue bit on the Family series um and we've been talking a lot let me just recap a bit we looked at how the kingdom of God is where God's people are and the rule of God is and we are image bearers of God God covenants with us and we bring that to the Next Generation and what we're really looking at is relationships
00:00:45 and today I want to talk a bit about relationships is General but I want to talk about something about relationships we forget which I I think scripture talks very heavily about and it's it's a topic we sort of what's the word uh sort of is is We Don't Preach about this enough so let me give example look at that relationship there this is what we call boardroom politics right uh this guy stands over you intimidating posture eyeballs you you break so what this is called is called an unsafe space so here's the
00:01:24 proposition the proposition is that Christians love to talk about relationships building relationships vertical relationships horizontal relationships god- centered relationships gospel centered relationships you know genuine relationships vulnerable relationships authentic relationships to do all of that you need a space we forget that and the space to create that relationship I will put it to you is a major theme in the Bible in fact there are two things which are major themes in the Bible space and time
00:02:01 and the Gospel of Jesus Christ sits into it all right so let me give you another thing so easiest way to do Zoom law I'm going to car out see the guy so Zoom provides removes that space this is what online meetings have done so you I don't know where realize it online meeting you can be more gang you know because in the boardroom I don't eyeball you so I can scroll you on the on the on the zoom then maybe halfway I switch off my video law so so Zoom has changed the Dynamics about relationship and spaces so this is
00:02:36 probably the most famous case of of of a of a safe space to do something dangerous so this CEO of better.com some of you know this story fired 900 employees so the best way to fire them fire them over Zoom because you I put you in a room 900 people you're throw shares at you so 900 people I fire you are so it really looks at the Dynamics of space and we have to ask ourselves where is the church in all of this in this changing world so there was a book in 1966 which basically talks about a spaces everyone has an invisible
00:03:11 boundary depending on how close I am to you and in each of these space you can either feel safe or not safe for example if I come up to a girl very close like that oh Elder you better behave yourself man but if a lady does that it's okay ladies all like to hug and H that you do that to a guy no guys no man don't keep away man you know so at every level of space inate or public there is safety last night me and my wife made a mistake we decided hey let's go for dinner we went to Paradigm Mall those of you who
00:03:43 know the young people know last night Paradigm mall was the anime Fest the place was packed with people with pink hair with Spears with elfant ears we could not move so I took photographs I told my daughter oh this one from genian Impact oh from Dragon Slayer see I know a bit but you you you you if a guy walked in here with elant hair and pink hair and the spear you you find it very weird but yesterday in paradig mall they were safe because there were hundreds of young people with elfant hair and Spears
00:04:16 and you know they were with their own kind so we are looking at the idea of safe space now the safe space language is actually something which is secular and the secular word defines this as this a place or environment in which a person or category of people can feel confident that they will not be exposed to discrimination criticism harassment or any other emotional physical harm and so in church we incorporate this word and what my concern is are we incorporating it in the way scripture teaches us
00:04:52 because scripture doesn't use that word so we all like to say to let's make the church a safe space a safe space what exactly do you mean by that so I'll tell you what the world means by this the world means it in this and we take it one step further is this this is noia safe space it is about making it safe for basically their ideology and yes we should not be homophobic in church in in workplace but what are making the workplace a safe place for Christians where I can say marriage is between men
00:05:24 and a woman and you can't even do that now in the west they will haul you up for discrimination and so we need to look at this and we need to look at what scripture teaches us and we're going to ask a very painful question this morning is FBC a safe space and I I I really want to ask that from the bottom of the heart okay so let's come before the Lord in prayer Lord we we ask this morning you humble me uh I ask that remove or Pride ask that what I teach comes from your word that Jesus and Jesus alone will be exalted
00:06:02 and the message can be so deep those Among Us who Scholars will say ah this is the richness of scripture and the message can be so simple even a Char quel seller can understand we say this in Jesus name amen so what kind of space is commonly described in the Bible and I put it again to you this is something we Overlook and again here's the main Treatise to build any type of meaningful relationship whether it's in a big group like this or whether it's just two people the space is important and scripture talks a lot about this so
00:06:39 let's let's let's put it in mind and let me just tell you how you read a book all right like I'm an architect why can't always tell you this you you you prepare tender reports you give it to a developer they have no time they only look at the beginning they look at the end the middle part they going to send it to their technical team because the beginning says something and the ending says something it means very likely in the middle of the book is going to say the same thing so I'm going to put it to you of
00:07:03 this about space that the Bible says something at the beginning about space the Bible says something at the end of end the last book about space and I'm going to put it to you the middle is saying the same thing all right and you see whether I'm right or wrong and I put it to you that the Bible talks about two types of spaces two and they so simple I'm going to repeat this a chil seller can understand and it's so profound theologians write volumes about it so let's look at what is the first space
00:07:36 image in the Book of Genesis and it is something that you can picture all right what is the first image very obvious the Garden of Eden that's the first image is Paradise and we know the story right is perfection man woman ecologically sustainable God as king picture that right now I'm going to take you through some other images of the Bible the second image which the Bible talks about and this repeats itself so often especially in the ministry of Jesus but it goes right from Genesis to Exodus to the davidic kingdom and it
00:08:22 goes to this and its mountains I put it up for you actually there more I even put in Mount HB just read it it's all over and every time there's a Moun there's an encounter with God is an intimate encounter a power encounter but mountains are there you cannot miss it Scholars have picked it up now the question you ask yourself why Mountains and the most simplest question is where was the first Mountain mentioned in the Bible and I tell you it's the Garden of Eden a river watering the garden float
00:09:06 from Eden meaning it's on high ground and out of that Four Rivers went and Ezekiel picks this up you were in Eden the Garden of God the holy Mount of God the Garden of Eden was on the mountain and so I put it to you every reference to mountains in the Bible is tied back to a reference to the Garden of Eden one simple example Mount Moriah where Abraham is about to sacrifice his son the setting is like a garden and before he plunges a knife God says Abraham Abraham and God renews a covenant same as in the garden there was
00:09:51 a covenant so let me just pick this up the next one we pick up is the Tabernacle I preached on this before and Tabernacle everyone knows is a shadow of the Garden of Eden in fact the Garden of Eden is the first temple there is the lands there is the Eden there is the garden there is the trees and so it is with the Tabernacle and here's something quite more interestingly when you look at Mount Si same thing the nations of Israel is below at the foot of the hill is Holy and the middle Area 72 two Elders go in
00:10:31 at the top only Moses and God three layered now that three layered find itself is another space so let me tell you another thing moving forward here's one book uh uh let me just pick up the other thing we look at Gardens we look at trees all right and here put it up and now it's not just trees Proverbs uses the word Tree of Life what is Tree of Life Tree of Life is Garden of Eden image again now there's one book another book in the Bible we all we we rarely speak on I think Peter spoke at it once in pant and then you know being
00:11:10 a doctor he was very graphic about it's called song of songs oh the books about sex cannot preach up here some of be very graphic one you know but people forget the setting of The Song of Songs was it in the palace was it in uh a house where was it it's in a garden and if you pick up the language the woman she is like a lily of Sharon my lover the guy is like an apple who how you describe a guy as an apple he is like a gazelle jumping over the mountain and so when you pick up the song of songs chapter 2 look at that
00:12:00 this such a beautiful world for behold the winter is passed the rain is over and gone the flowers appear on the earth the time of singing has come the voice of the tur do is heard in our land simple English Paradise is back if that is not Eden I don't know what it is so we seeing a pattern coming on and on and on and in Ministry of Jesus when Jesus comes he says the word became flesh and tabernacled Among Us that's Temple language he tells the woman the Samaritan woman I'm streams of Living Water that's edenic language he gives a
00:12:47 Sermon on the Mount before he's crucified he goes to where a garden and more significantly when he gives up his life for the sins of man the curtain is torn into where the curtain had two sherub brims there blocking the entrance Back to Eden and it tells you Eden is reclaimed so I put it to you the Garden of Eden is a motif right through scripture let's not even talk about Paul what does Paul talks in First Corinthians one man planted a seed one man wanted one man cultivated there's Garden language to
00:13:30 you we haven't even gotten to Revelations and we all know in Revelations the Tree of Life comes up again streams of living water comes out again so here's first picture image that even a simple man can understand Paradise I want you to take this image when you talk about space Garden intimacy two people you see the song of songs is not just about intimacy between two people it's about intimacy with two people and creation as two people ReDiscover each other they ReDiscover creation is about the whole of creation intimacy with God
00:14:10 through the Gospel of Jesus Christ because the curtain is now torn so first image you have very clearly running through whole of scripture is the garden of of Eden image quiet inid nice not like now yesterday temperature 38° betan Concrete Jungle we all would love to be in a nice dream we quiet right cannot aan here's the next image all right now we go to the last book of the Bible the Book of Revelations and what is that image there come on you guys should know is the empti thesis of the garden is the
00:14:51 city but what is interesting even in that image the city has got trees it has got water so what the biblical author is telling you is the end of the book of of the Bible it is not just a city it's a Garden City you think that's coincidental so in the beginning the Bible has a garden the end of the Bible has a Garden City what do you think is in the middle of the Bible we really saw a lot references to garden now let's see whether we see the same on cities and do you know where's the first reference of
00:15:30 City Genesis chap 4 but these are no Garden this place are by Kaa and his son Enoch and lamech they had music they had technology they had everything they had sin they had polygamy they had violence so when you build a city without God there's an underbelly there the first thing the Bible tells you and when it com to Genesis 11 the city is so big they build the first skyscraper why for Pride so cities are in the Bible then you see he no but Genesis 12 onwards is Abraham it's all about Patriarchs where
00:16:08 got build City one no City in there but Hebrews tells us differently Hebrews says Abraham was looking for to the city with foundations architect and Builder is God and then when we go to The Exodus all right God redeems people because God is not interested in a building where got glass and and music and technology for God a city what is the most important thing to God is the people for secular men they look at all the wonders of it the heart is corrupt but for God the heart of the city is people who are being transformed and so
00:16:46 he redeems a whole nation to populate a city brings them out of Egypt and as they go out after the rivers are parted they see this you will bring them and plant them edenic language on the mountain of your inheritance edenic language the place Lord you made for your darling the sanctuary Temple language and then David captures The Fortress of Zion which is on a mountain city of David so we see already very early City and garden language merging and so the psalmist says great is the Lord most worthy of praise the
00:17:30 city of our God His Holy Mountain Garden City and Isaiah say this I will create Jerusalem to be a delight why on my Holy Mountain and of course the words of Jesus you are the light of the world a city that's a church on a hill Mountain again so I want to give you this all right you can read it and we'll stop the theology after this the the Bible is giving two picture images for us to understand on space and it's so simple I'm going to repeat this a chel seller can understand and it is so profound theologians write
00:18:14 volumes on this and here is the image for you to understand that the city of God meets the Garden of Eden and God is not interested in the glass and the bling bling what is he interested in look at that the angel showed me the river of the water of what life and Jesus says he streams of Living Water as clear as Crystal flowing down from the Throne of God and of the Lamb Jesus is the Lamb down the middle of the great Street of the city on each side of river stood the Tree of Life That's Genesis bearing 12 crops of fruit
00:18:52 yielding his fruit every month when you hear the word 12 always understand it means there is always sustainability and here's my favorite verse the leaves of the tree I understand the Tree of Life are for the healing of the Nations the healing of every country you don't get safer than that and the picture here is a picture of vastness of big of the Nations coming and praising at the city of God and the nations are healed scale huge excitement vibrancy all right and what's interestingly the chapter before that he says this I saw a
00:19:35 new Heaven and a new Earth the first Heaven the first Earth had passed away there was no longer any sea the word sea here because in Oden thinking the sea was turbulence that mean there's no evil I saw the holy city the New Jerusalem coming down from heaven you don't go up to heaven heaven comes down to you and here's something interesting with julan preached about prepared as a bride dressed for her husband what that language again that's Ephesians Ephesians 4 ep 5 it's about the church we are that
00:20:14 City we are that City and we are being transformed like a bride to meet Jesus and I heard a loud voice from the throne saying look God's dwelling place is now among the people he will dwell with them they will be his people God himself will be with them and be their God he will wipe away every tear from their eyes there'll be no more death or Mourning or crying or pain the old order things has passed away so you get a picture of a father holding a person you have arrived my son my daughter he wipes away the
00:20:54 tears and in contrast you have another image of Le for nation they are being healed you get intimacy and quietness space in Revelation 21 so quiet father loving you in revelation 22 you get scale huge vibrancy the nations are being healed so I give you these two images and I think this is safe space so simp simple no need to go to theological class one so profound theologians write about it that's the beauty of the Bible a chel seller can understand it a theologian like Peter can write volumes about it if you ever
00:21:44 wrote a book and the cross is Center I want you to take these two images because this is how scripture understands safe spaces and I'm going to give you four points of it and I pray is helpful to me and to you one safe spes are Sacred Space I put it to you the Bible the problem with us is when we talk about the gospel we tend to talk about the gospel in isolation but scripture talks about the gospel in two areas two two context Sacred Space and here's another one which we have very rarely talk about sacred
00:22:27 time the god gospel is in between Sacred Space and sacred time and these are the motives of scripture why do you think the Sabbath celebrations seasons for time are always in the Bible I'm going to talk about that one day the church is a safe space for Sinners but not for sin so here's the Paradox it's very safe you're here but it's actually a very dangerous place for you because God wants to transform you and so here's my main point the church should not stigmatize anyone as everyone who comes in a sinner in in
00:22:59 need of Grace so let me ask you whether you feel this way I'm not good enough I feel like a hypocrite wow if people really knew what I've been surfing on the net and I how I cleared all my history of my computer if only people know what I did in the past if you feel like this welcome to FBC this is where you belong because this is a place for Sinners you know sometimes you have this uh uh uh support group like Alcoholic Anonymous you know or this drug group and then everybody sits down and everybody says no I had this problem I
00:23:37 got this problem guess what we all in that support group whether you're a church leader a preacher or you just stepped in through the doors welcome to FBC but the problem we have is that churches stigmatize people now you say no no no we don't stigmatize we don't stigmatize I bet you we do I'm telling you we do you just don't realize it no no no Anna we welcome everybody so let me give you a few examples if you are Indian in FBC raise your hands Indian oh one at the back Hallelujah Indian Indian Indian hello Indian oh Indian
00:24:27 Hallelujah you you get it why and let me ask you do you think an Indian feels safe here the guy comes in wow all Chinese you know last time at got Pastor rahma because last time we had it they come in there oh Pastor got you Pastor Hallelujah maybe I stay Su China man War so Indian come here don't feel sa you talk about Indian talk about Masali matali in the house raise your hand Su oh Stefan Hallelujah Swedish man how many of you sp said hello to him you know last time in Australia know you know they always ask us to go to the bar
00:25:05 and I don't like to go so what they got very irritated because they didn't mean it you know know you want to go to the bar was Thursday night so one day say yes he was quite stunned so he brought me to the bar gave me a beer and stuck me at the at the at the counter might yeah yeah yeah some water I was all alone so can you imagine Stefan or all the other white guys they come here after church service hi I'm here I'm going to sit at Garden Cafe with my coffee hello fellow Chinese man you're going to say hello to me hi hello you
00:25:36 can stigmatize without seeing it now let me tell you do you think it's healthy a church is full of Chinese people the leaves are for the healing of Chinese people is that what the text says the leaves are the healing for the Nations the Bible is telling you one day we will go to New Jerusalem you better get into practice now and unless we bring the Nations here this is not safe here's another one where is really obvious you know since the pandemic it shows you one in every 10 person has got a mental health issue anxiety and
00:26:21 depression one in 10 so let me tell you this one in 10 of you here is struggling with depression anxiety so let me ask you you spoken to anyone in church on it if you had it or your son had your daughter had it I'll tell you what you will do you will go and see a therapist out there and the therapist will charge you 200 hour because you got money you can afford it the poor guy can't he has to go to ukm where they stick you into room and they don't care because we're upper middle class Church depression don't talk
00:27:02 face how are you in church Hallelujah brother Hallelujah this is my family my perfect family my wife and my two sons see he smell very nice actually he got depression Oh cannot say that in church cannot cannot cannot cannot so I tell you this if you if one in 10 have that how come we are not seeing one in 10 because you're not talking to us you know why you're not talking to us because it's not safe and we are not the only church with that problem the issue is not what everyone else is doing is what scripture says and
00:27:44 Paul is very clear 2 Corinthians we Comfort others with the comfort that Christ has comforted us and he was depressed to the point of death but he receiv received comfort from a church which actually was quite carnal yet because we are Chinese Chinese value face we don't want to be seen as weak we keep quiet about it and because we have money we send our children out there to the best therapy the poor guy the poor Chinese guy the poor Indian guy too bad for you l so you ask yourself FBC a safe space
00:28:23 that's one today going to be quite painful I'm going to say because I'm inducting myself number two oh this one I love we always hear people say this talk bad talk to me this is me and Peter 's favorite remark if you got a problem you don't like you come and talk to me remember relationships are in spaces so this fellow England not very powerful or come Uncle Anna I think what you did was wrong really let me tell you what scripture says you don't understand me the Greek word is this actually what
00:29:03 you're saying they understand ah okay go in peace because if you know your Bible and you articulate the Temptation is to what is to weaponize it that's why nobody talks to me and Peter I don't know about you or you love because it's not safe we cannot take Matthew 18 in isolation what about the other text it say everyone should be quick to listen slow to speak slow to anger how about the either about having Grace space is formed when I feel safe you really think people feel safe talking to anol liim or Peter my wife
00:29:40 says the only person who can talk to you is me go ask you how dare you behave like that An Li that's why God gave wives is he but you see the the idea is to create that space so let me tell you how that space is created and this is where the images are so helpful all right so let's lay the ground first H it's about relational spaces and there sometimes you need a city of God space big vibrant like being in a cosplay Paradise where everybody walks around you feel safe and sometimes you need two three
00:30:23 people or five people to hold you I want to give you two points on this one what is the common commonality between the Garden of Eden space and the City of God let me tell you this it is not two people in the Garden Eden it's three Adam Eve and who's the third person God in the city of God the lamb is on the throne and we forget whenever we are spaces like this God is in our midst so imagine you're new to FBC you just testing us out you come in here you have wounds you think tomorrow you're going
00:31:04 to go out there sit in the corner and tell us your problems no what will happen and this what I pray will happen you come continuously and through the worship of songs Through the preaching of the word through what you see of everyone your walls will slowly go down and you say I feel safe I feel this is a church that won't judge me I feel this a church where I can say I heard you know at one point I used to do outer calls I noticed a pattern people who come to Outer calls were always the visitors then one day I asked them I say
00:31:41 why because I don't know you I remember the last time I Shar I like any other guy we want talk about safe space need to be vulnerable and I struggle with sin I don't need to be graphic with you up here talk to me privately I'll tell you and the first time I did did it I did it in DC cu no one knows me and I went up to the front of the rad and I told the pastor you know this is a sin I struggle with my whole life and I don't tell people can you pray for me and he prayed for me and after he prayed for me I told
00:32:22 myself Lord I will fight the sin the only reason why I did it was because he didn't know me there is a place to be lost in the crowd and feel safe and I pray FBC becomes that but there is a place for two or three or five people to hold you in a quiet place and you say I'm sorry I admitted I had an affair you know this happened to me in the past don't tell anyone I don't get on with my mother-in-law are we that kind of church because the space is only form this is the difference between scripture
00:33:09 and the world when God is in the midst when the lamb is there when Jesus is there so here right now do you feel the presence of Jesus Christ who took away your sins and took away your shame and took away the stigmatization and took away the humiliation and said here you are among Sinners all of us are pilgrims so I'm going to give you this form please take fill it in pass it to the church office anyone want to give me any bed we not supposed to bed bet on you this then the majority of the answers
00:33:55 here will be I am you answer that because if we are honest with ourselves we won't give nice answers on this but if you're not this how can you and I tell everyone there's a New Jerusalem where God will wipe away all the tears and there be healing for the Nations when people come here they put on walls they put on Smiles but they hurt inside and their children have anxiety or depression and they will send them to outside people and they try to put on a strong front because it's not nice to show your weak in
00:34:48 FBC because the city of God is not like that so once upon a time there was a church in the city of subang Jaya where people gathered like this morning and it's a my prayer that this morning you do not hear the voice of anal liim because he's a nobody I pray even as this morning you hear the voice of God you hear Jesus you sense his presence you sense his love and maybe you sit there and You' be sitting there a long time and you don't want people to know you put a wall but at least you feel safe once upon a time there's a church
00:35:33 in the city of suban Jaya and this church had a Garden Cafe it's very prophetic we call it Garden Cafe and in this Garden the Nations gather wow look at Auntie Suzi rocking with Yuki we we W this this is a hint of New Jerusalem because I'm a newcomer I sit here I don't know you I walk out if I see everyone there and I see them talking I say this church is on the way so here's a newcomer I want to ask you this I want to indict all of you if you're a newcomer today can we do a test you go afterwards after church service
00:36:25 and go get a cup of coffee Edward will give it to you and you just go to any table and you sit just sit there and I just ask you to sit for 10 minutes please I really want you to do this and see whether anyone says hello to you if nobody says hello to you next you come up to me and says an no they didn't talk to me there's not asking too much right because if you cannot even do that we are not showing New Jerusalem here's the third one this is very painful you see the Garden of Eden when Eve was talking to the snake Adam has
00:37:09 hit the household he should have kick the snake out that's the point is a wild animal look at the text is very clear that's what he's doing as a gardener cultivate Jerusalem same thing instead the the Eli allows his sons to take the temple and and and and allow all sorts of sins to enter so what Jesus is doing when he first comes he cleans the temple he cleans the temple then he says I am the temple meaning you have to clean so it's not only cleaning yourself the church has to be cleansed has to be
00:37:40 cleansed has to be cleansed you don't allow sin in you allow sinners in but not sin now I want to tell you I think of all areas we struggle with I suggest this one we struggle the most you know why let me ask you you know and I don't want to I don't want to pin on anyone I really want to see this very carefully say you hear a story that some senior leader of our church assaulted a girl what would you do yo FBC no face ask him to forgive l don't talk about it have Grace have Grace then the girl thinks FBC is a
00:38:35 church that says that someone touched me wrongly but it's okay I need to show Grace guess what you do to that girl when she grows and she gets married now you say oh what happened to FBC then I'll tell you what happened to rabi zakariah because when the case happened and I'm not meaning to bet M anyone it happened over a long time and people say you know what we heard about this but he was such a famous man what was more important his reputation was more important than the allegations so by the time the actual
00:39:15 investigation was done it was too late so may FBC be a church where I want to say this whether any of us whether Elder Deacon you hear any story you report it and we have to take the painful lesson of getting Justice done because the gates of New Jerusalem are open to everyone and the taxes outside the gates are what the Witchcraft the fornicators the idolators but the problem with us we think our Chinese culture and we hijack into the church because we don't like trouble so I'll tell you Chinese
00:40:02 people's favorite line let byon be byon don't talk about it forget it because I don't want that attention that's one here's the second problem we have we all don't know how to keep our mouth shut y I heard this person did that no so instead of going to Garden Cafe and talking about Define thing we talk about these kind of things so of course I'm not going to tell you L because I don't feel safe because you guys can't keep your mouth shut not just you just me also all of us but unless we move the church to
00:40:40 this we are not providing a safe space so let me give you a few of these qualities uh we should be a place where we can receive wounded people people who've been victimized people whove been traumatized and then we build relationships with them maybe big maybe small and then we transform them by without the stigmatizations why do we do that let me give you the last point because we are a receiving and sending church and you look at the Garden even it receive the population because God says to bless you go forth and multiply
00:41:26 meaning the garden was supposed to get bigger and bigger and it was going bigger by worship because God's there by obedience and they were stewards and what happened when when the word of God came in the book of Acts they started they started from Jerusalem to Judea to Samaria with the same thing we both receive and we s we receive Brokenness we receive people of pain p and we send I'm going to end in a short while with a video which I really hope you hear and see what God says but let me end with
00:42:10 story about a city this is New York City he has vibrancy he has the garden there a city of man that's the garden of man beautiful right I've been there and I remember going there whether it's the city or is the garden you see pain I remember I was there at winter and he was very unsettling for me to see the number of homeless people the city of man may be vibrant it has an underbelly The Gardens of man may be beautiful he has an underbelly but what about the city of God you see in the end scripture is telling you the city of God
00:42:55 Is Us we are that city of God so let me give you a statement from a house church called wangi he says this to some extent people think only major city matter or is only worthwhile to live in major cities this is the younger generation dream to certain extent they right but the gospel tells us this is the word the church is the biggest city in the world the church is the real Beijing Shanghai and guango the church is the capital of human Souls the gospels made a group of Apostles from the backward province of
00:43:30 Galilee into the center of a new world our churches are becoming more crowded with middle class professionals I want us to hear that because that's what FBC is you know the gospel needs to enter the city of subang J deeply it must enter the drains you must enter the petitioners must enter the marginalized people we must enter into the places of the myari the bangladeshis the refugees we can't even get to the Indian in our church he's calling you FBC to respond to him to respond to the city of God to build the city of God in
00:44:10 the city of subang Jaya to be a doorkeeper to be a gardener to be a city Builder let this become the biggest dream of Life The Calling God has given you w you know what interesting I edited it in between you know what happened to him he got arrested thrown into a prison and he said in that prison there was a prostitute and there was a thief so that night in the on Christmas Eve a pastor a prostitute and a thief were in a cell and he said praise the Lord I love Chinese speakers because they really have scars American guys
00:44:51 tell you all Theory one you know these guys have it so let me end you with a story about a safe space where a person was received and she was not stigmatized she was healed through relationships she was protected and after that after receiving she sent so let's watch this video about this bonon my name is bonor I am from Cambodia I was born and r on a boat in a floating village my family was very cool because both of my parent they uneducated growing up during the genocide you in Cambodia during 1975 to
00:45:44 1979 the horror began almost immediately nonen a city of 2 and A2 million people was forcibly emptied within hours of their coming the sick and wounded being dragged from their hospital beds dying children being carried in plastic bags the genocide will focus on killing all the educated people so my parent who growing up during that time they didn't get to go to school and get education and because of that our family was living very poor my father he's a fisherman and he also an alcoholic there were time like
00:46:23 whenever my Dad drunk we will jump off the boat and swim to our neighbor house to HDE over there until my dad fall asleep and then we'll swim back home because we knew that something going to happen at the end of the day he going to beat us up one day when I was 7 years old I got sick I cannot eat anything my mom start to worry about me and she want to bring me to the hospital but my dad told my mom just let me die if I lucky enough I will survive if not they can make more babies I'm laying there hurting what my
00:47:04 dad said I feel like I'm useless like my dad didn't love me then there something to tell me that when I grow up I want to become a nurse so I can help the children that in the same situation like me so the next few day I feel better and I went to my dad and told him that I want to go to school but my dad he didn't believe in education at that time I was 10 or 11 years old one day I went fishing with my uncle on the boat just me and him and I was raped by him so when I come back home I told my parent about about what happened and
00:47:59 when my mom went and told the police about what happened my dad went and told my Uncle to escape so my uncle already left before the police get there one day The Village leader be able to find me and he told me that I need to move to live in a safe house because since now they haven't arrested my uncle yet so for my safety I had to move to live over there after that I moved to live in that Center which is with a lot of girls that been traffic and went through the situation like me the counselor will come to
00:48:41 me and talk to me about what I've been through and then one day she told me about Jesus she told me about how he died on the cross to love and forgive those people even those that sins against am and I cannot understand any of that because my dad and my uncle who I can see and talk to cannot even love me then how can God that I never know I never met before love me and it's really hard for me to forgive them while I am living in that Center I also get to to go to church every Sunday and one time they have a 3-day
00:49:32 Bible study then at the end of the day of the class the teacher brought in the red and the green box and the teacher told us that that was the special gift for us and when we heard the word gift we were so excited because growing up we never celebrate birthday or Christmas so that was my first gift and at that time I was 13 or 14 years old so all my friend and I we saw the gift and we try our best to behave for me and my friend it was my first gift and to wait all my friend to get the box and to
00:50:11 count one two three it seems so long so we just go ahead and open the [Music] box when I opened my shoe box the first thing I saw was a new pair flip fluff and those mean a lot to me because living in that Center I only get to buy shoe once a year so that's an extra pair for me so it's so special then there's another item that I love so much in that box was a stuff animal so I used to grow up and eat animal I never knew that they can make an animal So Soft that we can snule with like growing up I have no toys no tee
00:50:57 TVs I saw the stuff animal while I look through the item in my shoe box this question come into my mind I asked myself that who did this like who sent me this gift because they don't know who I am then I start to remember the teacher mentioned that this is from the people that love Gody and they want to bless us with this gift The Shoe Box showing me that even though my dad didn't love me he didn't want me but there's a father in Heaven that loved me so much and he he love me so much that he can make
00:51:41 someone that don't even know who I am to send me the box to show me that I am love and I am valuable even those my early father didn't love me but there's a heavenly father that's loved me [Music] [Applause] [Music] now I'm going to college pursuing my childhood dream to become a nurse the box is it's not just about new items in the box but it's about the real Joys and the real love that will last with me and with those children forever it's the box that help them to find the true love and the true hope for
00:52:44 their [Music] [Applause] life so a so a church in America in the city of America four square gospel church built a safe house in Cambodia in this Safe House people will receive people will protected people were not stigmatized another church brought gifts someone planted someone cultivated someone watered and from this safe place a woman a young woman who was stigmatized by Society abused by societ was received and then she was transformed and then she sent and now bonon goes out sharing a story and she
00:53:39 continue this ministry among many other codan young girls so I want to throw a challenge to us today we are that city of God that city of a God we are that City on the hill and all of us here at whatever stage we are wherever you are God has a place for you I pray that if you are hurting you are struggling you stay back and you talk to us and I give you my word with Covenant is quiet let us make FBC a safe Church may we receive the stigmatize the hurting and when we do that together we are transformed to be
00:54:37 that city of God on that hill and we exalt his name and then we send we go out we go to m Court we go here we go there we do soup kitchen and we declare the kingdom of God is in our midst I'm going to pass a time over now to Brandon who lead us through this song let's practice safe space uh Phil sent me a comment about my sermon and one thing about being a safe place is we're willing to take all sorts of criticism so I'm going to read out what she sent to me safe space H hi aror I think the illustration of CH man may be
00:55:26 bit jarring it appears to imply that only the intellectual Superior can derive deep things from God's word and the rest of the church can only take simple truth I will take that seriously to consider this is a safe space right let's practice what we preach also the emphases that FBC is upper middle class can create an invisible barrier it can make a person who may think I'm not in a group and therefore I may not fit into abbc I think it's better to emphasize the desire to reach out to anyone I agree
00:55:57 example of how diversity open our eyes to the riches of God's grace and Hospitality thank you phis now a message to FBC Garden Of God city of God I love this because I take it for Song of Songs finally I get to do this song of songs 4:2 abc this is to you you are a garden locked up my bride whenever the Bible says My bride is the church yeah you are a spring enclosed a sealed Fountain you FBC are a Garden Fountain a well of flowing water streaming down from Lebanon awake North Wind come south wind
00:56:42 blow on my garden there his fragrance May spread everywhere go in peace may your fragrance go out to the Garden Cafe and spread to everyone here here today God bless you all have a great wigger [Applause] head why don't we all arise together church and so people of the city of god let's respond now with great anticipation of the city of God that's coming very soon we praise God for inviting us to become his people and now we offer not just our voices but our church body as our response of worship we come before
00:57:29 God asking him to make us his safe space so that all may come to know him amen let's sing this song Together great is the [Music] Lord great is the Lord and most worthy of praise the city of our God the holy place the joy of the whole earth and great is the Lord in whom we have the victory he hats us against the enemy we Bow Down Down On Our [Music] Knees if his name on high and Lord we want to lift your name on high and Lord we want to thank you for the works you've done in our lives and Lord we trust in your unfailing
00:58:54 love for you alone Our God Eternal throughout Earth and Heaven above One Voice one CH sing great is the Lord great is the Lord and most worthy of Praise In the City of our God the holy place the joy of of the whole earth praise the Lord great is the Lord in whom we have the [Music] victory he hates us against the [Music] enemy we Bow Down On Our Knees Lift Your Name on High oh Lord and Lord we want to LIF your name on high and Lord we want to thank you for the works you've done in our lives and
01:00:15 Lord we trust in your unfailing [Music] love for you alone are God Eternal throughout us and heaven and Lord we want to lift your name on high and Lord we want to thank you for the works you've done in our lives and Lord we trust in your unfailing [Music] love for you alone Our God Eternal throughout Earth and Heaven above come on every voice let's sing that chorus again yes Lord we want to Lift Your Name on [Music] High Lord we want to thank you for the works you've done in our lives Lord we trust in your unfailing
01:01:20 love for you alone are God Eternal throughout us Earth and Heaven above
