The following is an uncorrected transcript generated by a transcription service. Before quoting in print, please check the corresponding audio for accuracy.
00:00:01 good morning can you hear me praise the lord it's good to be back here someone ask me whether I'm a contract speaker for First Baptist subang that seems to be here every uh lot supper Sunday yeah uh but it's a joy and pleasure to be back here again uh I just want to encourage you something uh last Sunday I was speaking in my the church that my whole family came to know the Lord It's called fattis Park Baptist Church a pretty old Baptist Church in Pang and the church has changed because of all the renovation
00:00:41 and stuff like that but I was standing where the stage is was the exact spot uh I accepted the Lord and my Sunday school teachers now by the way brother Leong said I'm a young man I'm not that young I dress Young but I'm not that young okay I'm not supposed to move so much okay they gave me this is the with I can go the table okay I must remember I'm in a different different church every Sunday so as I was there I was reminded of my two Sunday school teachers uh who taught me the word of God growing up in fetis
00:01:25 Park Baptist Church uh I want to say this to you Sunday school is not not keeping children occupied Sunday school is Raising leaders so the two teachers that invested in me today have placed a leader to lead the Baptist convention are you here with me so take this call as as a serious call uh Sunday school is not uh play play uh you know it is really serious stuff and you are raising Future Leaders not just for the church uh for the corporate world uh for the family uh for the nation and so I pray that this will be a
00:02:18 great encouragement to you for those who are already serving and those who are considering to serve amen now the reason why I'm here is also because uh one of your elders uh uh Dr Peter said to me you come and share the ambc vision now okay and so very briefly this is not the word of God this is the MBC Vision as I take over one of the things that I realize is to be very thankful of all the past leadership of the convention you know God is the one who chooses leaders is it biblical it's in the scripture
00:03:03 okay even leaders that you don't like the political ones okay so whatever it is uh God allows it for a leader to be in leadership for a season in the same way in the convention there has been different leaders that the Lord has used and to lay the foundation and my role as I come in is to simplify things you see I when I went into the Baptist uh uh office I looked at all the right things it's thicker than the Bible believe me they have a lot of stuff written there but how many of you know that today's Young Generation
00:03:51 they're not very keen of reading all these things they want it to be precise they want it to be concise they want it to be simple and and so the future of MBC is these three things that we are doing empowering the minister okay so basically we are beginning to gather the con uh church leaders young leaders especially and asking the senior leaders to guide them to Mentor them to lead them so I personally Mentor I was just counting just now nothing less than 30 leaders Baptist I also work outside
00:04:33 Baptist so just Baptist leaders so they come from the range from Bahasa Sabah and Sak and also sanong and English and now I'm taking on the role of mentoring Tamil leaders okay you got to pray for me because I've never really worked with Tamil people I am half Tamil myself uh but I've never worked with Tamil people and it's it's going to be an En uh encouraging and exciting Journey for me so help us uh in prayer as you remember us uh and we pray that uh First Baptist can also be a part of it okay uh not
00:05:19 just give money you know don't always think giving money is being a part by offering your wisdom and your giftings as well now one of the things about empowering ministers is this I want to say this openly the Baptist Pride themselves uh by making such jokes jokes like God keep our pastor humble and we will keep them poor have you heard that no this is the Baptist saying you know God keep the pastor humble we the congregation will keep them poor how many of you know that is not biblical huh how many of you know that
00:06:10 so uh one of the things that we want to see is that the ministers are empowered First Timothy 511718 uh says this let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor especially they who labor in the word and Doctrine for the scripture saith thou shal not muzzle the ox hello you pay peanuts you get maybe this is something that the Baptist Church needs to take seriously that's what I'm doing to really encourage the Baptist Church to honor the teachers of the word to care for the teachers of the
00:07:05 word amen so we're moving in that second is to equip the church we are doing something called idmc with Reverend Edmund Chan we started last year in Pang this year is also in Pang if you have your phones jot down 26 27 September okay and so we I'm making a call for all Baptist Churches to come together and really take the Mandate of Christ making disciples seriously and Reverend monchan has committed to train us for the next 5 years amen this is not easy to get him okay his calendar is booked for five to
00:07:50 six years we got him because he cancel one of his family holidays in September every September for 5 years if canceled holiday so that he can help train us the Baptists so we want to equip the church the word of God says the Saints are supposed to be equipped by the fivefold ministry Ephesians chapter 4: 11 to13 and finally we are also working on missions this is one area the Baptists are really known for how many of you know the father of modern missions it was a Baptist oh you don't know huh do you
00:08:36 even know his name or not don't know shout some names he was in India P not that modern now modern day missions means a few hundred years ago starts with w William car do you know the Baptist didn't want to send him but he still came most of you Chinese do you know the missionary to China yes what's his name H Taylor ah Hass Taylor he was from Baptist background the burmes missions were started by adoniah Jon Now the Baptist have a history in missions one of the things that I am personally passionate
00:09:43 about is for all Baptist Churches to come together to work together to extend the kingdom of God Amen and so we are now embarking on sending young people all those who are young and those who think think you are young and you have time where you want to learn about missions we will actually send you for the shortest term is 6 months all you have to do is talk to your elders and they will get back to me and we will arrange for you to be part of a team of our Southern Baptist missionaries out of 150 countries in the
00:10:26 world okay so if you have a heart talk to your elders and if their Elders approve they will talk to me and then we will send you amen amen amen means you know the meaning right the the word of God is this we are to go and make disciples we need to take this very seriously as we come together to Worship the Lord on the first Sunday let's pray heavenly father I thank you Lord even as we have heard the vision for NBC for the next 3 years as we work on this we need your help right now Lord speak through your servant May the word
00:11:13 of God bring life in Jesus name I pray amen amen now when I first came to Pastor my church in bang resal Goden Baptist Church one of the things that I notice is that people get up UPS ET over very simple things so one of the things that I realized is that this very oldtime church member suddenly didn't come show up for church so I thought is it because I'm the pastor you know so I went and look out for this person and I asked how come Uncle you're not coming to church anymore he said last Sunday or few
00:11:56 Sundays ago I came to church but some someone sat on my chair and I had to sit in another place I've been sitting on that chair for 40 years and so this sermon that I'm about to share with you this is the message that I'm preaching across Malaysia to all Baptist Churches and I am privileged to share this on your first Sunday and this is what the word of God says I have entitled it let God start a new work now take this very seriously take this very seriously guys uh I pray that if you have your phone if
00:12:51 you have your notes take down notes and if you can write this out simplify it fix it somewhere in your house where it will remind you how God can start a new work how many of you realize that in this scripture in uh Isaiah 43:8 God is not even suggesting he's commanding he's saying do not remember do not what remember the former things you see when I was growing up I get really upset when older people say it during my time then now I'm not so young I use the same sentence during my time oh I tell my daughter
00:13:58 when I was is growing up now there's nothing wrong to share our experience but when we impose our experience as the word of God that's a issue are you here with me God says do not remember the former things if we want God to start a new work we have to remember that you see God wants to do a new thing we want to stay in old ways we can't even move chair how to allow God to do a new thing that's where I began to think uh God does impossible things for man we just want to do things that are possible by
00:14:56 flesh God walks on water we like to take boats if we want God to do something new we need to stop sticking to our old ways and allow him to start the new work so how to let God start so I'm using the acroni from the word start to show you five things that we need to do in order to partner with God to allow him to start turn to your neighbor and say start the first thing is this stop making excuses hello you see I want to say another thing this is the second time I'm dressed like this to speak in a Baptist
00:16:01 Church the first time was in my own church because I wanted to stay connected with young people that my church member came and said because you see in Baptist Church we always wear a tie the last time I came here I wore a suit and I didn't realize there are a lot of people suffering at the back there without acor and with eorn I was suffering inside here while I was preaching I said wow I better change my dressing style when I come to First Baptist and stop giving excuses that because I'm a Baptist another thing is I saw all your
00:16:50 elders they dress very relaxed one you realize now your man Elder Elder people I look at him I'm like then I went to his hospital he dressed so nice he wear tie he come Church very relax one maybe he's so fed up 5 days in a week wearing a tie friends do you know that making excuses and blaming others was started in the Garden of Eden some people blame themselves for everything that goes wrong that's a special gift anything wrong this must be my fault some people blame others this is the majority anything wrong blame others go
00:17:52 to our Parliament anything wrong this fell is wrong he is to be BL blame he is to be blamed everybody is to be blamed and then some people blame God it all started with Adam when God ask him what what what on Earth are you doing the woman the first person he blame blame the woman anything goes wrong blame the woman because she's the easy easiest to blame yeah all the truth is coming out now anything missing in my house is my wife's fault because she's always cleaning things up and putting things in
00:18:45 a different place I like it the way it is messy it has to be in that spot but my wife will clear up and put it in the right place and I can never find things in right place how many of you understand what I'm saying it's 27 years of me trying to educate her don't touch my things and it's 27 years of she educating me put it in the right place but in for 27 years I have been blaming my wife if something is missing okay do you understand what I'm saying all those up there blame the woman and answer to God one
00:19:40 day but not only he blamed the woman he blame the woman you got me hello anything goes wrong God's fault this fell shoot that fell whose fall God's fa natural disaster God's fa everything we need to stop blaming others stop making excuses in church we constantly say a I've done my part now I old already let the young people do friends I want you to know the Baptist have seven distinctives these seven things are the seven things that supposed to unify us globally but the first distinctive is called authority of God's word
00:20:59 I say this again authority of God's word the Baptists have a thinking that authority of God's word God's word means more Bible study I'm not against Bible study yeah go to the Seminary get more degrees more phds have you realized or not Baptist Fellers got all got PhD on it's not permanent hit damage they have PhD is studying wrong no but we got a wrong understanding of authority of God's word authority of God's word is not how much we know God's word authority of God's word is how much of God's word has authority over our
00:21:49 lives you should say a big amen to that discipleship equals obedience to the words of of Christ and so it is so important for us to understand this a lady told me I have read the Bible I've gone through the Bible 23 times I had a question how many times has the Bible gone through you she never came back to our church maybe that's why I should pass on the church because I ask these kind of questions the word must have authority over us and so we got to stop making excuses if you want God to do something
00:22:48 new second T take an inventory our own life you know no we make it our hobby to do God's work how many of you know what I'm saying do you know who is the only person that can judge others my dear friends I'm asking you a very important question do you know who is the only person that can judge others God but what do we do we want to do his job we forget our job we want to do his job we are so quick to judge others right let me give you an ex example I was speaking in a seminary in Germany they wanted me to speak about
00:23:54 judging they gave me 20 minutes with interpretation that means 10 minutes for Germans if you talk too much means you don't know anything if you talk very little you know a lot it is very deep and so I decided that I'm going to do a illustration on judging so I went straight by introducing who I am and at that time my wife was my PA and so I just introduced her as my PA I said this is my PA she travels with me and she stays with me wherever I go all these theologians topnotch guys people who write book people with so many PhD not
00:24:48 even not not just one you know some of them got double PhD they're all sitting there and going who did they invite to speak a guy who sleeps with his PA so right at the end of the sermon I said by the way I forgot to say she's my wife they all I said I've got the point across now we all judge do you understand what I'm saying man I tell you every one of those theend was so relieved to know that she was my wife but they learn a lesson though that how quickly we judge but the more important thing is not
00:25:44 judging others is to take inventory of our own lives we need to constantly check are we growing or are we repeating the same mistake every year are we growing or are we repeating the same mistake every year do we even ask questions have I learned anything from 2024 have I learned anything from covid have I learned anything we need to have a selfcheck in fact Jesus said it this way he said before you take the speck out of your brother's eyes take the plank out of your own eyes now do you understand what what Jesus
00:26:43 meant take inventory of your own life constantly check yourself that's how you allow God to start a new work in your life in my life you see we need God to do something new every one of us it could be in your business it could be in your relationship it could be in your uh career uh it could be in the church life I don't know but all of us need to allow God to do a new thing Isaiah 43 Verse 18 and 19 is not just for Israel is for every one of us for God to start something new what is the new thing that God wants to do in your life
00:27:39 or you want God to do in your life so before he can do that stop making excuses take an inventory of our own life amen third is act in faith act in faith this is one of the most difficult things you see we are all sight oriented people we need to see before we can do anything we need to look at the graph before before we invest is it a upward trend is it a downward Trend are you are you here what I'm saying it is sight oriented but the scriptures already says don't walk by but walk by faith this is our lifestyle this is
00:28:54 how we ought to live walking by faith and what is Faith Hebrews chap 11 explains to us very clearly faith is substance that we hope for things that we have not seen Jesus said it this way Jesus said blessed sorry you believe because you have seen But blessed are those who believe without seeing that is faith my brothers and sisters we partner with God so that he can start something new but we have to do our part our part is act in faith step out you know one of my favorite characters in the Bible is
00:29:49 Peter how many of you know Peter speaks before he thinks but I love him you know why I love him because he's done a lot of stuff the other Apostles didn't do there was a story where you know they were going on the Jesus sent them on the boat on the uh Lake of Galilee and halfway uh through the Journey there was a storm cross wind waves and the boat got stuck and Jesus in the middle of the night comes out walking on water so all the rest of the disciples were so afraid they thought Jesus was a ghost and while all of them are busy
00:30:39 being afraid one guy spoke up Lord if it is you bid me call me and Jesus was so simple I said come now Jesus is not going to have a theological discourse with him he said come I want you to know that Peter was a fisherman so his occupation is on top of the water am I right he knows he has not been to any University he hasn't been to MIT he hasn't gone to any Yale Oxford nothing but he knows law of gravity but when Jesus said come what did Peter do that's the thing that makes me really get excited about Peter that
00:31:44 guy stepped out of the boat I don't know how long it took him to step out but I know he stepped out when Jesus said come today the Lord is saying to many of us come some of you at home the Lord is also speaking to you come act in faith would you remain in the boat or are you going to step out and experience walking on water First Baptist subang God is saying to you it is time to step out of your boat you're very quiet huh step out of your boat if you're going to act in faith Jesus is a perfect example of a
00:33:06 lifestyle of Faith do you know that Jesus said foxes have whole birds have Nest but the son of man the one who created the whole universe John chapter 1 explains very clearly that he is the word and everything was created through him the creat has no place isn't that an irony the creator has no place to lay his head but yet he lived his life to do the father's will and then he said to his the rest of us say follow me so when we act in faith we are following Christ CH have I made it simple for you yes amen third is refocus
00:34:05 stand your neighor and say refocus if you are the wife tell your husband refocus on me when the days I was younger refocus return to your first love come on wife I'm giving you opportunity do it shy shy H go shy shy one refocus you know one of the things I remember in the last message I I I I I spoke about fixing our eyes on Jesus remember and I talked about the first point is focus focus is power you know one of the problems with us in the course of our life we get re I mean our Focus go gets out of
00:35:12 order we get out of focus so easily that's what the devil wants to make sure that we are not focused let me tell you one of the ways how we get out of focus by focusing on ourselves one of my favorite songs is the song Jesus be the center it's a very meaningful prayerful song why because every day I remove Jesus from being the center and I promote myself to be the center one day one Chinese Pastor was talking to me and said pastor you don't know pastoring Chinese educated people very difficult I say pastoring people is
00:36:15 difficult whether it's Chinese Indian African you know white blue brown doesn't matter people are people people equal problem I'm also people person I mean do do you understand what I'm saying yes when you have two people problem if only God kept the garden with only Adam with no reproduction life would have been very simple one guy lonely for eternity forever and ever and ever but God in all his wisdom made another one and procreation happened but we made procreation into problem listen friends we got to learn
00:37:34 how to re Focus so I told the P Pastor the Chinese Pastor I said what is the word for China in Mandarin the country China what does it mean C center of the middle land right the center of everything now I got this understanding when I was walking in Hobby Lobby in us they have all this SE I love Maps Okay especially W map and I was looking at all these maps and then one part has map from China and then map from the West the map from the West the center of the map is Middle East but the map from China I said he is
00:38:45 this the world map how come different one because the world map the center of the world is where you know is China now l listen I'm not saying it's a Chinese problem it's a human problem we want to be the center I want to be the center when people don't say anything good when I was growing up about me how come everybody else is good nobody say anything to about me we want to be the center and daily we get out of focus and so God cannot do anything new if we are the center he has to become the center you know I've been here maybe
00:39:46 three times or four times but one of the amazing things that I really observe in this church is how you focus on worshiping God thank you worshiped himam that the center of worship is Christ so we got no right to say I didn't enjoy worship because worship is not for you to enjoy it's for him to enjoy when we say I didn't enjoy worship who is the center wait are you learning something Church we got to refocus that he becomes the center so in order to refocus we need to change the way we think Proverbs 4:23 says be
00:40:41 careful how you think your life is shaped by your thoughts wow your life is shaped by your thoughts that's why I always tell you know my people especially you know the Chinese people I think they got pantang you know if people say good things about their children not the new generation the old generation that's why they Nam their children Aku at auu when I knew the meaning h w in hwan we say long you know long yeah I want to go and bang the wall when I hear the names of the then I tell them oh your son A1 no very
00:41:32 stupid one he don't want to study 8 A1 stupid so where does it Place me I was no more close to 8 A1 that guy 8 A1 he stupid then me that's why you Pastor smart Indian become doctor or lawyer not so smart become Pastor sorry Pastor your thought don't sco your children like that because according to your thought the life is shape so why does a child grow up as growing up thinking I'm not good enough I'm not clever amen let's refocus for God to start something new and finally I close with this trust God turn to your neighbor and say
00:42:54 trust God I want to say this to you is the most difficult thing because when God asks us to do things he has strange patterns when God asked Noah to build the ark he gave all the details the measurement the type of wood that he has to use but how many of you know there was no rain how many of you know there was no water for him to to go sailing but he just trusted what God asked him to do church when God wants to do you some new things he will ask you to do things that the Malay in English cannot get into my
00:43:52 brains I don't know how to say it in English doesn't make sense why God why you asking me to do this is see sometimes he give full details other times he gives no details he said to Abraham leave your country and go to a place I will show you well when it comes to Abraham my god really dealt with him quite interestingly can you imagine having a GPS you on the location that you want to go you says just move I will show you later I must be a Christian GPS straight out of Book of Genesis do you understand what I'm
00:44:53 saying friends but sometimes that's how God works sometimes he G gives us all the details so I I I always say this when he wants to build something he gives details when he wants to build the Tabernacle he gave details but when he wants you to go somewhere is acting in faith and trusting him it is correlated in order to do that you got to be refocused amen amen amen I hope you you're learning something Zechariah said this in in Zechariah 4:6 he said not by might nor by power but by my spirit says the
00:45:50 Lord you know some people when they fall they think I just just get up and do it better it's not self-will you know it's not self strength the word of God says depend on God trust him and people who are self-made this is our number one problem that's why I said this point is very difficult for me because I know I can do things but to give that up and depend on him and to trust him is making me vulnerable do you understand what I'm saying worship team no you can come I say worship team he say that
00:46:57 you made me into a stand up comedian my dear friends for God to start a new work we need to cooperate with him we need to allow him to start the new work so how do you do that this is what I ask you to take a snapshot put it in your church sorry in your house so that daily you can look at it and remind yourself you see we are creatures that forget very quickly I have to remind myself this I give a lot of excuses this is from my own life I'm bringing this word across to you for God to start a new work in me I have to
00:47:55 forget all my past success uccess I've been a very successful person in Ministry very but it means nothing it's just dust because God always wants to do new thing it's not about me it's not about you it's about [Music] him I say to the Lord I don't need to be remember remembered but through my life may people remember [Music] you our focus should be about making him known not making ourselves known that's one of the things that we train and teach leaders stop building your own [Music] kingdom that's why in the NBC vision
00:48:57 extending his [Music] kingdom amen amen would you stand with [Music] me as we sing this [Music] song I pray that you will begin to ask God God what is that new thing that you're going to do what's that new thing that you want to do in 2025 or if there's something that you feel that God needs to do new you place it at his Altar and say God I want you to make this name but help me to stop giving excuse help me taking vory of my own life help me to act in faith help me to refocus help me to trust you what you do that church Hallelujah
00:50:08 wherever you are just lift your hands to him if you have this prayer Lord I want this new work in this area of my life if you that person just lift it up and let's worship God church for those of you that you sense that the Lord has spoken very clearly to you in this season in this 2025 something new needs to start whatever area that you're looking at you know I just want you to lift your hand high up just lift it up the rest of us look around you you see people with their hands lifted up I want you to
00:50:55 stretch your hands towards them this is body Ministry this is what family means I want you to stretch out the hands there are people outside there with their hands just keep your hands lifted up stretch your hands Stretch Your Hands Church stretch your hands and pray right now pray right now pray for these people hallelujah father I pray and I thank you for those with their hands lifted High Lord as they look at 2025 with the desire for you to do something new Lord Lord we want to cooperate with you with the word start
00:51:35 and father I pray right now in jesus' name right now in jesus' name you begin to rekindle that flame in the hearts of your servants with their hands lifted up that they may begin to see that truly their God is a god who's not doing St things but a new thing new thing in this season right now A newness will happen in their life Lord I pray for your favor I pray for your blessing I pray for your anointing over every single one even those at home right now Lord may they may be seeking for that newness I pray for the same
00:52:23 anointing that is in this place will be where they are are right now that this anointing will flow into their lives something new will begin in Jesus name I pray amen let's give Jesus a big hand hallelujah thank [Music] [Music] you all right uh please take a seat as with every first week of the month we come to a time of the Lord's supper now as you've heard from Pastor paland there is a tendency for us humans to lose focus and to forget and it is for this reason that our Lord Jesus Christ instituted the
00:53:23 Lord's Supper to remember him by now the first Lord's Supper happened and was instituted by Jesus at the Passover when he was with his disciples in the upper room and there using very ordinary emblems bread and the wine which was very common something that we would behold often as in an ordinary meal and he used that to help us to remember his life and his death on the cross it's not some complicated complex rituals that he had instituted but everyday elements the bread and the wine so as we come together to partake together as a
00:54:18 family let us spend a moment um to search our hearts right because that's what he commanded us to do now if you are not a Christian okay um I ask that you pass the elements by do not uh take part in this uh ordinance just observe okay uh but if you are a Christian okay FBC welcomes you to partake this simple meal together with us uh anybody who needs to have the elements if you haven't got it please raise your hand so that the ashes can come to you [Music] all right let us bow our heads and uh I'll give you a minute of
00:55:06 self-reflection before I lead us in [Music] prayer and let us open the elements together when I say so [Music] dear heavly father as we come together as a family gathered because of our Lord Jesus Christ we remember and give thanks for all that your son has given us he's given us his ultimate his own life in exchange for our sins oh Lord because of what our Lord Jesus Christ has done we have forgiveness now and forever more we pray Lord that it is not something that we take for granted we come together and ask you to
00:56:14 search our hearts oh Lord that just as you have forgiven us that we would freely forgive those who have sinned against us [Music] Lord May our hearts swell up with joy and gratitude as we observe this simple ordinance for we ask in Jesus name [Music] amen now if you have your Bible you may want to turn to Matthew chapter 26 verse 26 it says now as they were eating Jesus Took bread and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciple and say take eat this is my body now let us open up uh the elements and take the bread in
00:57:18 hand [Music] let us partake the bread together and then he took a cup and when he had given thanks he gave it to them saying drink of it all of you for this is my blood of the Covenant which is poured out for many for the Forgiveness of sins let us raise our cup and drink in remembrance of him Jesus also said I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my father's Kingdom and we look forward to the day of the Blessed hope whereby we would meet our Lord
00:58:39 Jesus Christ again and share a meal with him let us pray dear heavly father we want to give you thanks for this simple remembrance of you and as we do so oh Lord we pray that you help us to refocus our life unto our Lord Jesus Christ unto your kingdom we pray Lord that you reconsecrate help us to reconsecrate our lives to you Lord to rededicate our lives in service for you Lord help us to truly worship you not just on Sundays but every day of our lives with all that you've given us for we ask all this in
00:59:20 Jesus name amen now um for the benediction let us also go to God In Prayer okay let us pray dear heavenly father as we begin the new year we ask oh Lord that you help us to redeem the time for the days are evil help us oh Lord to walk in newness of life and yet oh Lord not without our strength for it is Christ who should live through us help us to yield ourselves to the control of your spirit and to live by your strength and your alone now receive the benediction now may the God of Peace who brought again from the dead our lord
01:00:21 Jesus the great Shepherd of the Sheep by the blood of the Eternal Covenant equip you with everything good that you may do his will working in us that which is pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ to whom be glory forever and ever and all of God's people say amen service is over um please spend some time in meditation and you're dismissed
