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00:00 you've heard from three readings. Uh in the more conservative churches in the Anglican church, you usually will have
00:07 three readings. One from the Old Testament, one from the New Testament, and also a gospel reading. The hope of
00:13 the church the the hope or the tradition of that of the of conservative churches like that hopes to bring the old
00:19 testament the new testament and the gospels hand in hand together so that we can see the one story of the gospel and
00:25 also the one one a particular theme to show that god is never changing and it displays himself in continuous go in
00:32 continuous glory all the way until today 21st century church. So in theme of uh
00:38 being the eve of Mika day uh I thought I thought I will give a message on long live the king of kings. Long live the
00:47 king of kings. My main my main text will be from Isaiah but you will see excerpts from Romans and and John's gospel as we
00:55 go through message. Give you a little background. I love medka celebration. When I was a kid, I
01:01 will adorn myself in my boys re uniform, join my bunch of friends here to go to
01:07 Madika Square. There's no point driving over to KL Central because it's just too jam. So, we take an LRT over and then
01:14 after that we would be part of the march pass. We had the privilege of a couple of times marching past the young Aong.
01:21 We'll do our eyes ride salute towards the king, march forward, you know, do
01:26 all the you know, ma all that and then after
01:33 that there is the compulsory uh group picture that we have to take or now today we call it weii. All right. I love
01:40 Malaysia day. Malaysia day is usually a celebration of solidarity. Solid uh a
01:46 celebration of vision uh v celebration of identity. When people say that we are
01:52 Malaysian, there's actually something to be proud of. But unfortunately that seems to be
01:59 dwindling away. I haven't seen a festive occasion like this outside of the church actually in
02:06 many years. In fact I believe the most the most well decorated meda area that I
02:11 seen in Sububangjaya is just outside if all the streams and flags and banners.
02:17 But my question therefore I want to ask is what is going on? What happened to that vigor? What
02:24 happened to that wonder? What happened to that goal reaching out for vision 2020? I think because in the end of the
02:31 day we've lost hope. The 1990s I was born I was born in 1987
02:38 95 you know uh yeah 95 I was standard two and they already started talking about vision 2020. We were told to write
02:44 karangan you know you know uh essays about it how we can achieve it how can we be part of it and now we're coming
02:51 five years to vision 2020 and I'm a little scared
02:57 I have a loss I felt a sense of loss of hope can the scriptures relate to people like
03:05 us when we look to the north and to the south of neighboring countries and how well they're doing we look at our own
03:12 nations like hm H I remember once uh I remember when I
03:18 went to Oklahoma um I spoke in a small town in Tulsa and uh in Tulsa they asked
03:24 you where else are you from? I said I'm from Malaysia. And he asked us oh where is that? I'm
03:30 like you don't know where it is? Said no so sorry my geography is not that good. I'm like okay sure. Are you familiar
03:36 with Singapore? Oh I've heard of Singapore. Yeah, nice island country, very clean, very developed, you know,
03:42 doing good things there. Yes, doing good things there. Yes. Have you heard of Thailand? Oh, I heard of Thailand. So
03:48 exotic, you know, beautiful, paved with gold and
03:53 have you heard of Borneo? Yeah, I've heard of Borneo. Mount Kinabalu. Yeah, I have relatives who climbed there before.
04:00 Malaysia is the peninsula in between Thailand and Singapore. And where that mountain is, Sabah, is actually in
04:06 Malaysia. Really? I had no idea. Now you can say Americans or you can
04:12 actually say that this will probably because if now we are if now we are famous, we are famous for all the wrong
04:18 things. Okay, I don't need to dive in that any further. All I want to say is this. A
04:25 lot of us have lost hope. And let's stop talking about the big
04:31 things which matters to us and not really matter to us because it doesn't really personally connect to us. Let's
04:37 talk about something a bit more concrete. The condition of our country is in such is in such that we are actually are quite worried about our
04:44 jobs. We're worried about our pension plan. Would that be would that be enough to go along?
04:50 You know, we're wondering whether we'll be able to get into university at all with or without scholarship.
04:57 you know, it's becoming more and more of a need nowadays to have a scholarship in order to get into in order to get a degree in Malaysia.
05:04 It's getting expensive and it's getting difficult. Can the scriptures relate to people like
05:11 us who have lost hope at that level
05:17 for our future, especially in relationship to our country Malaysia.
05:23 I contest to you that actually it does. When Isaiah spoke his first few words of
05:30 when he gave his testimony about how he was called, he he start he noted the date or the day
05:37 in a very unique way. It says in the year King Uzziah died. I mean that's a very interesting way of
05:43 putting things in United Kingdom and or the tradition of every king or every nation that has a
05:50 monarch. Okay, there's this beautiful scene in this movie called The King's Speech where the King George V died.
05:59 Everyone, the royal family was in the was in the master bedroom. The king was dying and as he breathed his last
06:07 breath, the queen goes to the king and then stands up and say the king is
06:13 dead. Then he goes then she goes to her eldest son that time king Edward VII kneelled
06:20 before him stood up and said long live the king and is no longer the reign of
06:26 King George V. It was the reign of King George VII King Edward VII which was
06:31 only for one year because he before he abdicated the throne before World War II of which then King Edward King George V
06:38 6 came in. We usually will talk about the year of
06:44 this king rule, the year of this king, the year of this king, the year of George V, Edward the 7th, those that are
06:51 still alive. Why is it that Isaiah says in the year that King Uzziah died? Is
06:58 because there was a national drop of hope in that time. Was there a king to
07:04 replace Uzziah? Yes. His son and grandson took over him. We know them to be
07:11 we know them to be Josam who uh who is the next king and
07:16 then Aas the next the next king. Jotham was not really uh a good king and for king
07:25 Uzziah he had a wonderful legacy. The nation was very enthusiastic. But with
07:31 the enemies coming forward and the king that had led them for so far suddenly died, they've lost all hope.
07:38 So Isaiah when he noted this, he noted it first with a note with a lot with a
07:43 with a testimony that he had first lost hope in the year that King Uzziah died
07:49 in the year that where all my dreams and hopes disappeared.
07:55 We see also Nicodemus who was who was a member of the Jewish ruling council, a
07:60 Pharisee. So a very powerful and very a very learned scholar. He went to Jesus
08:05 at night. Now why did he go to Jesus at night? There are two possibilities and I like both of them because they explain
08:11 things very well. Number one is he's embarrassed. Okay, he's embarrassed and he's embarrassed in two ways. Number one is
08:17 he's embarrassed because he's got questions. Is this a Pharisee? And yet he's got to go to a carpenter's
08:24 son to ask questions about faith and religion. This well-arned teacher, which
08:30 is why when you hear uh the scripture reading from John's gospel, you hear Jesus really like rebuking him. Aren't
08:37 you a teacher and you don't understand this? That's one way. Another one is this is that he is a member of the
08:45 ruling council but we all know that the ruling council for them is useless.
08:52 Yes, they played the key role in the death of Jesus Christ but other than that nothing much because during that
08:58 time Caesar was the emperor of the whole kingdom including Israel. Pilate was his
09:03 representative and in order for Jesus to be killed they had to ask permission from Pilate. So they as a ruling council
09:10 a bit tight say they actually got no power. He too I feel he lost a sense of hope.
09:19 So when he finally saw a glimmer of hope in the person that is Jesus
09:24 he quietly and in an embarrassing manner went over to see him at night.
09:33 I want to ask you as a Malaysian or as a member of your or as a as a member of
09:39 your of your nation, whichever country it may be, how much hope have you lost in this
09:46 nation? And like I said, let's not talk about big things, although the big things do
09:52 apply us in in in our in our lives, but let's talk about the most systemic things. And the way this country is
09:59 growing, the way this country is going, whatever funds and things that we have prepared for our retirement is not
10:05 enough. It's not enough. I was uh uh my wife and I, we were we
10:12 consulted a friend who was an insurance agent and we were talking about opening education fund for our daughter Noel.
10:20 And uh as we sat down, we talked about the potentials and the and the interest and the you know and the how and how how
10:26 that fund can grow. Well, we were quite excited actually that we can actually save some money for our daughter.
10:33 Then she gives me a metaphorical slap in the face and saying that do you know what will be your expected cost in the
10:39 future? Expected cost? What do you mean? Well, Mark, you do know that prices for
10:45 degrees and diplomas in pre-universities will just go up, right? Oh, really? Yeah. Haven't really thought
10:52 about that. I already, you know, I I look at my pre-un university degree, my pre-un university program in some way
10:58 college, and I'm like want to cry because it it was quite expensive. Uh how much do you think I will need?
11:05 And then they said, well, for my insurance company, I won't name it. They say there an estimation that now that by
11:11 from now until the now until your daughter is 18 19 years old the cost of your degree will cost will increase by
11:18 110%. From 210,000 ringgit to about 400
11:24 something close to half a million ringit for a basic degree. Let's not even talk about medicine or engineering or
11:30 pharmacy or the five occupations that we all want our kids to be part of, right? You know, with a basic degree may cost
11:39 about half a million. Wow. And so these questions will go to a
11:45 parent's head and also to some of our youth here. Where am I going to go after
11:50 getting a degree in Malaysia? You know, if I get a degree in UPM, for example, my wife has a DVET. You know,
11:57 can she is there any meaning in that degree or can she just use it as toilet paper?
12:05 You know, I have a bunch of youth who are now in who are now working. I've been in that I've been in ministry,
12:10 youth ministry for 15 years, um pastoring for four. And some of the my
12:16 youth became young adults and one of them took a nursing degree. Remember
12:21 last time in 19 in in 2005 say they say become a nurse got good pay you know
12:26 very respected no problems one sure can find job now she's working at crispy
12:33 cream sales because why overpromised too many to too
12:39 too much production of nurses and we're also importing nursing staff from overseas
12:50 can the scripture scriptures relate to our loss of hope. Yes. And not only that, he gives a greater
12:57 hope for all of us. Hope that's beyond the condition of this world.
13:03 And he gives it to us through the display of God's glory.
13:09 In the Old Testament in Isaiah, he says this, "In the year that King Mosiah died, I saw the Lord high and exalted
13:15 seated on the throne and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him was saraphim, each with six wings. With
13:21 two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another. Holy, holy, holy
13:27 is the Lord Almighty. The whole earth is full of his glory. And at the sound of their voices, the doorpost and
13:32 thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. We see God's glory
13:38 landing on earth. And is so great that even the that even the foundation of the temple couldn't hold it.
13:45 And a glimpse of that can be found. It can be seen in the human form that is Jesus.
13:51 Even Nicodemus who was a Pharisee looked at Jesus and said this, you know, rabbi, we know, we know that you are a teacher
13:57 who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him. So he's saying, you
14:03 are displaying God's glory. What hope can we give? What hope can you
14:09 give? So we see the glory of the king and can he be found today? Yes he can. He can be
14:16 seen in ci in in societies that turn from zero to hero in matter of years.
14:26 We see this also we see also God's glory even happening here in Sabah. There was this there's this particular tribe
14:33 um Kabit and Lumbawang. These two particular tribes, they were known as
14:39 drunk before dawn. Meaning they start drinking at 5:00 in the morning. They drink their tapai until 6 7 o'clock and
14:45 they already drunk even before they go to work. They lost they lost all sense of morality. They live the village area
14:51 that they lived in even though the soil is fertile. They were so lazy. They couldn't even work to till the ground.
14:56 They were starving. And the only way they could they could manage their loss of hope is when they
15:02 pick up the when they pick up the alcohol and they drank themselves silly. until one day historically written in
15:09 Christian church history something happened on the mountain called the Holy Spirit mountain over in Lumba over in
15:15 Lumbawang area and the Holy Spirit just moved forward displayed his glory we saw
15:21 youth and children going on their knees and repenting for their parents and generation now Lumbawang and Clabid they
15:28 started Lumbang Kawabid is actually the two strongest tribes with Christian heritage
15:34 and they are the ones that also Alo started what we now know as the SIB church sidang inj they are now they are
15:41 now with a membership of now altogether 350,000 members
15:47 in Sabah and Sarawak
15:55 God's glory can be seen but the question is will we allow God to
16:02 be our king will we allow Allow God to rule. When we sang the song earlier,
16:09 Amazing Love, when we repeated the bridge, you are my king, Jesus, you are my king. What do we mean by that? Let's
16:17 take a few minutes to let this video tell you what it is. The Bible says, "My king is a king of
16:24 the Jews. He's a king of Israel. He's a king of righteousness. He's a king of
16:30 the ages. He's a king of heaven. He's a king of glory. He's the king of kings
16:36 and he's the lord of lords. That's my king. I I wonder do you know him? My
16:43 king is a sovereign king. No means of measure can define his limitless love.
16:50 He's enduringly strong. He's entirely sincere. He's eternally steadfast. He's
16:58 immortally graceful. He's imperily powerful. He's impartially merciful. Do
17:05 you know him? He's the greatest phenomenon that has ever crossed the horizon of this world. He's God's son.
17:14 He's a sinner's savior. He's the centerpiece of civilization. He's
17:19 unparalleled. He's unprecedented. He is the loftest idea in literature. He's the highest
17:27 personality in philosophy. He's the fundamental doctrine of true theology.
17:32 He's the only one qualified to be an allsufficient savior. I wonder if you
17:39 know him today. He supplies strength for the weak. He's available for the tempted
17:45 and the tried. He sympathizes and he saves. He strengthens and sustains. He
17:52 guards and he guides. He heals the sick. He cleans the lepers. He forgives
17:59 sinners. He discardes debtors. He delivers the captives. He defends the
18:05 feeble. He blesses the young. He serves the unfortunate. He rewards the age. He
18:12 rewards the diligent. And he purifies the weak. I wonder if you know him. He's
18:18 a key to knowledge. He's a wellspring of wisdom. He's a doorway of deliverance.
18:25 He's a pathway of peace. He's a roadway of righteousness. He's a highway of
18:31 holiness. He's a gateway of glory. Do you know him? Well, his life is
18:38 matchless. His perfect is limitless. His mercy is everlasting. His love never
18:45 changes. His word is enough. His great is
18:51 righteous and y is easy. and his world lighter. I wish I could describe him to
18:59 you. He's indescribable. He's incomprehensible. He's invincible. He's irresistible.
19:07 Well, you can't get him out of your mind. You think you can't get him off your head. You can't leave him and you
19:15 can't without him. Well, the standing, but they found out they
19:21 couldn't stop him. couldn't find any thought in him. Parrot
19:26 couldn't kill him. He couldn't handle it. And the bra couldn't hold him.
19:34 That monkey. [Music]
19:42 We see then the glory of the king coming in the veil of flesh standing among us
19:49 looking us in the eye and says I'm right here
19:55 now would you let me be your king friends I think there are among us here who feels that they had depended
20:02 themselves on things of this earth and we s and we certainly or or even slowly
20:08 we certainly see them disappear what we hoped for when we achieved it,
20:13 it turns out it's not enough. Maybe our EPF funds, maybe our maybe our
20:19 investment planning, maybe the real estate that we own, we thought that that would be enough.
20:25 But it could either physically be enough or it could be spiritually not enough.
20:30 Physically not enough, it just means not enough money. Spiritually not enough, it just basically means that even though
20:36 you've attained it all, it has not fulfilled your security. has not fulfilled your certainty of of how safe
20:43 are you on this earth in for your life and whether are you made right for the
20:49 life after death.
20:54 There's a businessman in Hong Kong. He owns real estate. Very prominent person. Okay.
21:03 He bought he bought lands. He bought land that was valued very low. He was
21:08 very he was very he had a very very great foresight. He saw the opportunity. He developed office buildings and all he
21:16 has to do now is collect rent from all the office buildings that he owns and that's enough for him to last literally
21:22 forever. It will take him 120 year 120 over years to spend all of his money
21:28 ludicrously. He even and he even lives in three
21:34 floors of his of one office building which he owns. The 25th, the 27, 4, 25, 26, 27 belongs to him. It's his private
21:40 residences. He had three children. They all grown up and they're now gone to and they're now working for the company.
21:46 He's ha he has it all. If he has it all, one question that will come to my mind
21:52 is this. Why was he standing at the latch of a window thinking thinking whe how painful it will be if he jumps off
21:59 the 27th floor to kill himself.
22:06 He's had everything yet he feels totally empty.
22:12 He wanted to jump but thankfully before that he decided to
22:17 give his wife a call. His wife was on the 25th floor. He was on the 27th floor. He gave him a phone call
22:24 and she talks to him and he talks to her and says, "You know what? We've done everything. We have everything we ever
22:31 wanted. We don't have to worry about a sin for the next for the near future.
22:38 Yet I feel so lonely. I feel so empty. Like I don't know what my life is for."
22:47 To which his wife said, "Me, too. The husband said, "So, what should we
22:53 do?" His wife then said, "There's a church on the 15th floor over here.
22:58 Let's go to the church over there. I know there are a lot of churches around nearby, but if you just go to the one that is just below us, we don't have to
23:04 worry about parking." Multi-millionaire and still worry about
23:10 parking, you know. So they went to the church and their
23:15 life was changed because they had assumed all the responsibility like I have nothing like everything that I ever
23:22 own of my life that's why I'm responsible for but if you surrender it to the one
23:30 who first and foremost own everything we have because he is sovereign
23:38 and if we teach him if we ask him to teach us how to live our lives for him
23:43 then we will see change in our lives in our community and in this nation.
23:51 Friends, if you want change for this nation, do you want that? Would you want
23:57 to see change in this nation that can that that can only be described by
24:02 dramatic great God intervening events?
24:08 If we want to see that happening, there is a chance that we go to the king of
24:14 kings and tell him that he rules in our lands and in our lives and this nation
24:21 will never be the same. It has happened in Sabah. It has happened in Sarawak. It
24:26 can happen again. But there is some things that we need to
24:32 understand when we approach the king. I'm sure all of us have friends who have
24:37 approached the king before to receive Dorship and they would also tell you the protocol that is required.
24:44 You must bow before going near the Balarang Siri. Every time you go out one step, you must bow. Every other step you
24:50 must bow and then when you say and then when you come closer you sayu and then when you wears the medal on you says
24:56 dalatona then you walk slowly behind. You cannot turn around do not show your backside towards the king you know uh
25:02 and so on and so forth. There are things that we need to know but how but what are things that we need to know when it
25:08 comes to a king who has seen everything of us including our very soul of which he is most concerned for. The first
25:15 thing we need to know is this that the hope that Christ gives came with a cost
25:23 and the cost is not the condition of the nation which was done by somebody else but it's the condition of our soul which
25:29 sin which we have allowed sin to creep in into our lives and ruin. When Isaiah
25:35 said this, woe to me I am ruined for I'm a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips and my eyes have
25:40 seen the king the Lord Almighty. When Isaiah reads reads unclean lips is not that he hasn't brushed his teeth.
25:47 Unclean lips is a metaphor. You know the saying where my word is my bond. Wherever I say I will do my what I
25:54 promise I promise to do what I've said so on so forth. My word is my bond. So that means what I am is what I say.
26:02 So if I'm a man of unclean list that means my life is unclean.
26:07 my whole past, my present, how I live my life is not right.
26:14 That's what he's saying. Isaiah when he saw the glory of God, he not only he saw how great God is, when we have something
26:21 in such great contrast of how great God is, we then realize how little and dirty we are.
26:27 Isaiah also mentioned in other places that we are like filthy rags
26:33 in comparison to the cleanness and the holiness of God. Be in order to go to an
26:39 almighty God to ask him for justice,
26:46 we have to understand first that we will in turn be judged.
26:51 And that's why Jesus said this very truly I tell you no one can see the
26:56 kingdom of God unless they are born again. Nicodemus he thought he saw a sense of hope but then he end up getting
27:02 confusion and also a sense of and also he had an understanding that in order to be made
27:08 right in his totality the best thing to do is actually to be born again and in that life don't sin again.
27:16 But he also sees the impossibility of doing it by his own strength. That's why he says this meth the these redundant
27:22 questions. How can someone be born when they are old? Nicodemus asked. Surely they cannot enter a second time into
27:28 their mother's womb to be born. I've always had a weird picture of how they will look like. You know how you know in
27:35 Sunday school when I when I was listen when I when I saw that sentence. But yeah, it turns out it's it's redundant.
27:40 It's not possible. It is not possible to go into the past
27:45 in order to change the future. Something has been done. something has to be paid.
27:52 And so when we go before God asking for justice and change, we must ask
27:57 ourselves, are we are we ourselves willing to be judged and admit and first and foremost that we are sinners?
28:04 That the condition of this nation is also partially our fault. Whether we did something wrong against
28:10 this nation or we did nothing good for it. And let's not forget us. And like I said, we're talking about nation. Let's
28:16 also talk about a household. When we want change in our home, are we the first person to admit how wrong we
28:22 are? Most of my non-Christian friends will
28:28 come up to me and say, "Before I before I believe in your God, I must first look at you. If I see God working in you,
28:34 then I will know that God is real." So the first thing that must happen, there must be change in my life.
28:39 And it's difficult because every time when we ask for God, God save us, we must first understand
28:46 that in order for him to save us, we are first to be condemned. In order to ask for justice, we too must
28:52 be judged. Therefore, in order for true justice to appear,
28:58 otherwise the process cannot even begin. It's very much like a doctor when he can
29:03 see from the condition of your skin how what's wrong what what is wrong with your with your current health. But he
29:09 cannot touch you or touch you or treat you unless you are the one that say I'm
29:15 sick. Can you imagine one day Dr. Peter bring comes up with a large needle want to put
29:21 it in your arm and he ask what are you doing? Said this will cure you. I'm going to heal. Stop.
29:28 We must first and foremost admit that we're sick. Must first and foremost say I need help.
29:35 must first and foremost must admit that we need grace
29:42 and this how grace can be look and this how this is what grace can look like in
29:47 the eyes of God. There's another video.
29:54 There once were two little boys who were best friends. They played together, went
29:59 to school together, they even went to university together. They were inseparable until their careers took
30:06 them in very different directions. One became a lawyer, the other a
30:11 criminal. As one was promoted to a judge, the other disappeared deeper and
30:17 deeper into a life of crime. Eventually, the criminal was caught and sent to
30:23 trial. On the fateful day in the courtroom, he came face to face with his old best friend, the judge. And so the
30:32 judge had a dilemma. He loved his friend, but he had to do justice.
30:39 So he fined him the appropriate penalty for the offense. It was a huge fine.
30:45 There was no way he could ever afford to pay what he owed.
30:51 But then the judge took off his robes, went down, stood with his friend, and
30:58 wrote out a check covering the cost. He paid the penalty himself.
31:14 For those who like to see more videos like that and even engage in conversations like that, I want to let you know that we have alpha program
31:19 that's happening every Wednesday night and you can ask questions like this and also get different perspectives of this.
31:25 I just want to share about the perspective in this video.
31:31 That judge did the right thing. Condemned the person and he had no obligation to do
31:39 anything for his friend. He had the right to do it. So grace is
31:45 fully displayed when he came down without his roles as a friend. Pay the
31:51 price. Same thing for us with God. You know why we use the term graceful
31:57 for things like ballerinas and and and dance and very soft actions like such
32:05 very graceful. You know why we use that term? It's because grace can only be
32:10 displayed when a when something of sheer raw power is displayed not by force
32:20 but by gentleness. One example is that my sister when she
32:27 between the ages seven and 14 years old, she was a she was a ballerina. She did ballet. She got up to grade three or no
32:34 grade five if I'm right. She enjoyed it. She loved it.
32:39 And I remember my other friend, he was picking up tawando. He he asked me to
32:44 help him practice for his black belt, which is just basically to hold boards for him and with a hope that he'll be
32:50 able to punch through, break them, so on so forth, fly, you know, kind of like you see what the guys did in red shirts last week in the videos. Uh only not so
32:57 crazy. Yeah, it's all it's all planned. It's all uh well practiced. He could do
33:03 the fists no problem. He can chop the wood. He can punch through the boards. But when it comes to kicks, his legs are
33:11 still weak. says a lot about when it says a lot about him as a student of taekwondo. When the definition of taekwondo is power in the legs so he's
33:18 not doing something right. Anyways he tried he kicked one board it didn't break. He kicked again he didn't break.
33:24 He kicked again his foot hurt. And of course my sister being my older
33:30 sister laughed at us. You can't even break the wood with your leg. Come on. You know to which my
33:36 friend said you do it then. Thinking you're just you're just a ballerina. There's no way you'll be able to break the board like I did, like like I could
33:42 as a as a taekwondo master. Oh, was he so wrong. My sister asked him to hold
33:48 the board. He held it. Not only did he break the not only did she break the board, she also loosened two teeth in
33:54 his in his jaw because while we can only do kicks maybe
33:60 up to our belt, she can kick like here. And she has such great force from all
34:07 her training. Did you know until today when she does the dishes, she she she does it on one leg.
34:13 How much strength one has? It's just that she It's just that she's
34:19 never displayed that power to brute force like tawando,
34:26 but she's done it gracefully in shows and presentations.
34:32 I must add that before she kicked, she assumed her martial art position.
34:39 Every time she does this, I run because there's such power. It's only is
34:46 only ever been displayed gracefully through a dance, through a perier, to a
34:51 twist. God's power was displayed to us
34:57 not by force, but by grace.
35:04 through his son Jesus who paid that penalty for us on that
35:10 cross. We must first we must then believe that we need that grace. We
35:16 can't do it by ourselves. I given this illustration before but I think I'll say it again anyway. When you
35:23 go to a coffee shop and you go to a table, how many of you after asking a talke to come and clean the wipe the
35:29 table, would you dare put your forehead on that table? Clean what? Wipe one.
35:36 You know, sometimes some of the talke they really take pride in their skill
35:41 set. They put the cups in and then you they and then you see them able to wipe the table in two three in two three two
35:47 three circles on one two three oh everything in the bucket sweet
35:55 but we don't dare put our forehead down there forehead on the table right you know why tables have that one cloth
36:02 cleaned clean and has it ever seen a wash
36:11 brown color cloth. It was white one long time ago, you know, when the shop was open or
36:16 something like that. I don't know.
36:21 Then my lovely wife did something very interesting. She takes uh hand wipes,
36:28 wet wipes, which was concealed in a sanitary environment, pulled it out,
36:34 wiped it. Then she was quite comfortable in putting my baby's carrier on the
36:40 table. Why? Because something from outside from
36:47 a clean sterile environment had come down to clean it up got stained in
36:54 itself so that we might have a new.
37:00 We cannot clean ourselves if first and foremost our hands were dirty.
37:06 Someone else had to come and that person's in Christ. We need to believe him to do that.
37:16 This is how it looks like. Then then one of the servant flew to me with a live coal in his hand which he had taken with
37:22 tongues on the altar which he touched with my mouth and say, "See this has touched your lips. Your guilt has been taken away. Your sin atoned for."
37:30 In the temple there are two altars. One for incense for for prayer to rep and
37:35 the smoke to represent prayer which is then the called the altar of incense and another altar called the altar of sacrifice. The altar of incense has no
37:42 coal. What keeps the live fire there is very very well uh a very very um sawed wood.
37:53 Okay. Wood in the form of dust is made out of various spices and various spices
37:59 and scented woods. So that when it touches the fire there which is just a very slow red burning instead of
38:04 outcoming a flame it comes out as smoke and that represents prayers.
38:12 So since the coal cannot come from the altar of incense, it only can come from
38:17 one other altar, the altar of sacrifice, which is where people put their sin
38:23 offering, their fellowship offering, their burnt offerings, all that as a sacrifice in replacement of their lives.
38:30 What the angel did was to give a foreshadow that a sacrifice one day has to be made
38:37 in order to atone for our sins to pay the price which we ourselves cannot
38:44 afford to wipe the sins away which we cannot with our dirty hands
38:50 and that's a for and that's a foreshadow of Jesus and Jesus himself says this just as Moses lifted up the snake in the
38:57 wilderness so the son of man must be lifted up that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him. When Jesus
39:03 mentioned about Moses lifting up the snake in the wilderness, he was telling he was remember he was reminding
39:08 Nicodemus of this story about one time when the people of Israel they was they sinned against God in the wilderness. So
39:15 God sent as punishment snakes to go and bite and poison them. They were going to
39:20 die. They found out they did admit that they were wrong and they asked Moses, "Please save us. Go to God. Please help
39:28 us." Moses went to God and God says, "Okay, my atonement is very simple.
39:33 Make a snake out of brass, put it on a stick, raise it up, and all the Israelites had to do was just look
39:40 at it and they'll be healed." Because that look although it's a small though
39:46 it's a small display of faith is still a display of faith that we have this faith that Jesus
39:52 Christ loved us so much that he's willing to die for us so that we can be make a new again
40:01 then we are certainly saved. That's why we see this notation here. For God so loved the world, he gave his
40:07 one and only son that whoever believes in him just believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God
40:13 did not send his son into the world to condemn the world but to save the world through him.
40:19 That cross he was hung up for us. Oh that all we can do all we need to do is just look at him and acknowledge him as
40:25 our king and lord and we are saved. All we need to do is allow all we all we
40:31 need to do is to accept the atoning sacrifice which God had given us to cleanse our lives.
40:38 Then we are a new creation empowered by his grace to do his will which will make
40:44 a change in our nation, our household, our families, our friends.
40:51 If we allow that, if Christian community in Malaysia were to do that, vision 2020 would have been done five years ago,
40:60 my honest belief, we need to unite the church together. We
41:06 need to unite our souls together in acknowledging that we need that sacrifice
41:12 which was gracefully given to us.
41:19 Now the final thing is this. What shall we do with this new life? What shall we do with this renewed life?
41:25 Now that we have this kind of hope and it's not just any other kind of hope. It's a victorious hope. Meaning before
41:32 we even get into the battle, we've only we've already won. You know, wars do not dis you know wars
41:39 do not end of do not end realistically on a particular date.
41:45 There's a declaration of surrender, but then after that a few weeks later, there will still be fights.
41:52 Why? Because there's still some of those who rebel. But the soldiers who warn when they go
41:58 into those nations to tell of the victory, when they fight, they don't
42:03 fight thinking that the war that the war that the condition of the war depends on them. They've won the war. This is just
42:09 cleanup. That's us. When we go forward and talk to the king
42:16 and we we talk to leaders about the king of kings, we're not begging them to say, "Please surrender so that my king can
42:21 take over." No, we're going up to them and says, "Look, Jesus Christ is Lord and King of Kings. Obey him or face the
42:27 wrath of God with weeping and nashing of teeth."
42:33 And you can. Can you be forgiven? Yes, of course.
42:38 You must go with that vigor. When we go with that vigor, something in our lives
42:44 change. That hope changes the way we live. I can't tell you how it is because
42:49 each and every one of you will experience this differently as you go by in life. But I'll give you one example.
42:58 Oh, hello. That wasn't it. There we go. Okay.
43:05 There's a story about a high school football team and it's the season for football. They
43:11 were at the quarterfinals where they're going to lose. Before that, there was this one boy and his father diligently
43:16 go to practice every day, go for coaching lessons every day. The father
43:21 would just sit there and watch and the son will go through all the practices. Unfortunately, maybe because he was too
43:27 light, he was not skilled enough, he was always in second line. always in second line. Meaning to say
43:33 that he's always in reserve team now. Huh? He's not going to he looks like he he wasn't going to play for that season.
43:38 After a while, a few months later, unfortunately, the father died. The team made it to the quarterfinals and dur and
43:45 at the quarterfinals, they were eight points behind. Okay. In order to gain eight points behind, they need to hit a home run and
43:52 then kick the ball over till they can gain eight point seven points and must do another run again to a home run in
43:57 order to beat them by five point margin. and they only have 15 minutes in the
44:02 game. Finally, after a while of wrestlers walking up and down, he says, "You know
44:08 what? I'm going to do it." And he says, "Coach, I want to play."
44:13 To which the coach looked at him, look at the board, and says, "No harm. You know, if we lose, we were going to lose
44:18 anyway. If you could make a change, why not?" Says, "Okay, boy. Go ahead." He played like a champ in 15 minutes. Two
44:26 home runs and one kickover. Won by five points in 15 minutes. the fastest in the fastest in his high
44:32 school's history. And he played like a champ. He played it as hard as he could. And at the end of
44:39 the day, they gained victory for that quarterfinal. After the game is done and after all the
44:45 victories, you know, and throwing helmets in the air and all that jazz, the coach pulled him up to one corner
44:50 and says, "Boy, I need to ask you something. You did that for your dad, didn't you?"
44:56 To which to which to which the boy says, "Yes, yes, I did. And he says, "How does it make you
45:01 feel?" To which the boy says, "Coach, you need to you need to understand this." In all
45:07 these years that my father had followed me to a practice, he was blind.
45:13 He's never really seen me play. He's only ever sat there and supported me, but never really understanding what it
45:19 is. Now, my father is in heaven with a
45:25 vantage point to be able to see me play. I want to give my best
45:33 church. In Romans, we are told that
45:39 we are we are his children. When we are atoned, he asks us, "Who
45:47 shall I send? Who will go for us?" Isaiah did it did the right reply. Here I am. Send me.
45:56 And when Paul speaks of it in Romans, he says this that if you live by the spirit
46:01 that you that now we have an obligation but is no longer to the flesh or punishment by death, but is to live
46:06 according to the spirit. If you live according to the flesh, you will die, but you live by the spirit, you'll be put to death of the and put to death to
46:13 the misdeeds of your body and you will live. For those who are led by the spirit of God are the children of God.
46:18 The spirit you receive does not make you slaves so that you will live in fear again. Rather the spirit you receive
46:24 brought about your adoption to sunship and by him we cry aba father. The spirit
46:29 testifies him uh with our spirit that we are god's children. Now if we are children then we are heirs heirs of god
46:35 and co-airs with Christ. If indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. We are in a
46:41 scrimmage in order to make our dad proud and he is at a vantage point to see wow.
46:51 But if you know scrimmages in American football or even if you know the final goal that will make a difference in the
46:58 World Cup for for football, you know therefore that people will get hurt.
47:04 Some will pretend to hurt, some will get really hurt. And I pray for the Christian community
47:11 that when we face that trials, if it really hurts, we do it for the
47:16 will of God. And we know by faith that it will pay off.
47:21 These four gentlemen here, William Kerry, Dietri Bon Hoyer, Hudson Taylor, and Martin Luther King Jr., they all
47:28 have one thing in common. They dedicated their lives to Christ with a hope to make a change for the for their for
47:33 nations. This one for his own, this one for his own. These two for foreign countries which they have no roots on.
47:40 William Kerry who was a missionary for India, Hudson Taylor for China,
47:45 Martin Luther for the black community in the United States of America. Hoer to stand for the right stand for
47:51 the rights of human beings in Germany. He got shot. He died of sickness. He
47:57 died of sickness. He lost his family. His wife got went insane in hysteria. Three his three sons died while he were
48:04 in India. And J Bonhoyer was killed by Nazi Germans. But you know what? Their writings and
48:10 their legacies live on. Now Martin Luther King Jr. has changed the way the whole facade. We now have there's now a
48:17 black president in the United States of America. Whether he's a good one or not, I leave that up to you. But the fact that he has
48:24 a right there that changes everything.
48:29 Hudson Taylor in 1930 in 1930
48:34 there is a seminary in N in Nanjing called Nanjing Theological Seminary. It
48:39 was built in 1914. In 1930 the cultural revolution kicked
48:45 in. Maong burned the seminary to the ground along with his 500 students inside it.
48:53 And he says just like just like and Maidong declared just like this seminary
48:58 crumbling down soul of Christianity will crumble in this world. My dear friends Maong is dead dead. The fastest growing
49:07 church in the world now is in China. that seminary that I'm talk that I talked about just now, the government
49:13 actually rebuilt that seminary and now are funding students to become seminary and pastors for the three self churches
49:19 in China. Can you say irony?
49:26 We now know that those seminary students did not die in vain. And we too when we live our lives for
49:33 the will of God, it will not be misused in vain. It'll be used for his glory. For just as
49:39 it says there, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. Friends, would you
49:46 like to see the glory of God in this nation in such a powerful way that we
49:52 will do more than just it will do more than just, you know, make our economy a little better. No,
50:01 there will be something that we can be proud of that we will have leaders and citizens alike, god-fearing,
50:09 surrendering it to him and then we will be known as a country with true
50:14 integrity. It's up to us. It's up to us.
50:21 It's up to us to surrender first and foremost to the King of Kings. And so when we go and march whatever rally that
50:28 you guys do maybe bi rally or subang rally which is a Christian uh students uh rally in order to in order to say
50:34 subangia for Jesus I think you come for that if you can next year 1,000 students
50:39 come together to receive Christ. Hello. Will it be any rally that you think of
50:45 that represents well for the country? Let me tell you this. You do not go there standing alone just as a citizen
50:52 of Malaysia. You represent as an heir to the kingdom of God. As an ambassador for
50:57 the king for the kingdom of God as a as a citizen as a citizen of two countries, one here on earth and one up in the
51:04 heavens from which the King of Kings rules. It may sound cliche, but in your
51:10 hearts when you say long live the King of Kings, you're then asking the King of Kings to live in your hearts
51:17 and let it permeate and change this nation. Let's pray.
51:29 While we wait for the worship team to come up and set themselves ready for the closing song,
51:37 I just want to sh I just want us to take some time in silent meditation even from now.
51:44 For those of us who have lost hope, hope to live well, hope to live with certain
51:51 some sort of assurance, but you've lost it because it wasn't
51:56 Jesus at first. I want to ask you, I want to
52:04 beg of you, would you consider Jesus? Make him the King of Kings in your
52:10 lives. Make him the reason why you march day to
52:15 day in this rally called life.
52:21 Will you allow him to be king of kings and you display that identity
52:27 as a child as a child of God as a citizen of heaven
52:33 as an ambassador for the King of Kings? Will you let that permeate in your life
52:39 and change the perception of the world and there in that in place change the world?
52:46 We've seen change we've seen nations change unto him. But it takes us to first and foremost
52:54 acknowledge him to be the king of kings and then to march forward
52:60 for the sake of his truth which we are saved by grace.
53:07 Dear father, we thank you for this day Malaysia. Thank you God for this country
53:12 Malaysia. Thank you God for this nation where we can actually come in your house and
53:20 worship you one true God. We thank you God that we sing the national anthem. We
53:26 ask that God will bless this nation
53:32 and the rule and reign of kings of this earth will be safe and controlled by the
53:39 king of kings.
53:45 Father, we seek for change in this nation. And now we know that change must
53:50 first come in our hearts so that we can be the vessels of change
53:57 in this nation. Father, I pray that you fix our lives,
54:03 fix our eyes on you, Jesus, that you be the king or king of our lives.
54:10 Father that we forsake all idols, forsake our securities,
54:15 forsake all things that we hold to be safe to make sure our life is comfortable.
54:21 But God, we surrender our whole life to you. So that when we when we share in
54:26 your sufferings, we then also share in your glory and we will see a change in
54:32 this nation beyond anyone's imagination. And we will s and it first and foremost
54:39 starts with changing our lives by surrendering it to you.
54:44 Long live the King of Kings and may in Christ alone our hope be found. Let him
54:50 be our light, our strength, our song of decoration.
54:56 Let it be in our creed, our faith that he took on flesh to die for our sins. But he didn't just die and remained in
55:03 the tomb where in the ground where his body had laid. He burst forth in glorious days. Up from the grave he rose
55:10 again. He now stands in victory and sins cursed has been taken away from me. Let
55:16 that be our faith. And therefore let our culture be that we have no guilt in
55:22 life. We have no fear for death because of your power in us. Lord Jesus,
55:29 let your let your will command our destiny. We will not fear hell. We will
55:34 not fear death. But until you come and to until you come and return to this
55:40 earth or the day you call us home, until then, oh God, we stand in your power
55:46 that is given to us by grace. So God, teach us through your spirit.
55:52 Cause us and stir us, oh God, that we may make a change in this nation. Not because we need to, but because you
55:58 enabled us to by the power of your son, Jesus.
56:03 Thank you so much, oh God. Long live the King of Kings and forever you may reign.
56:09 In Jesus name we pray. Amen. [Music]
