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00:00:00 this one is M sermon they got clock one you know they become whole so the clock cannot start so anyway uh most of you will know what is ESG right environmental sustainable governance very buzzword nowadays so you're a big Corporation they'll tell you what's your ESG let me ask you a question what is fbc's ESG environmental sustainable governance so let me just ask a simple question it's not meant to offend anybody afterwards you're going and Maan out there in Garden Cafe what do you guys do you go and collect food from the vendor
00:00:37 the food is in what plastic container after the that you m do you take the plastic container go home wash it and then go to the recycle bin and dump it inside yeah say at Le hon say no it goes into a very big black plastic bag right into the there where do you think the plastic bag goes It goes to landfill now I'm not trying to judge I'm trying to say is Little Things That Matters to the Lord and you have to ask yourself whether a guesture like that we should at least challenge our thinking about it and therefore I want to
00:01:13 encourage you all if you can come for the seminar this afternoon I will be moderating it we have a keynote speaker a Christian conservative uh speaker Wong will take us through as a architect on passive design on this and I think uh s thinging is of course a head of sustainability and I I think we cannot say Christianity is about preaching the Good News and loving our neighbor and doing all those big things but little things like this is God's Earth what what does God want you to do just think about it okay right let's start today's
00:01:45 sermon how many people know what this is deep seek thank you nobody says a will now deep seek has a function called R1 all right which is how it things you know much better than the paid version of cck gbt and German so I've been using this I play with it because Freeman only pay $20 a month so I asked a question what do most people really want in life why it took 32 seconds to just turn you know and then he gave me his reasoning very long as he processed it and he asked I said what do most people really
00:02:23 want in life good some people say good health or he process all of that and in the end he came to this answer I snapshot this from my handphone happiness and contentment so you ask any human being what you want in life I want to be happy so I ask another question are people generally happier today compared to earlier Generations I was reading an article yesterday they they took photographs of people like me I'm 58 you know and you take a photo of a guy who's 58 in the' 70s the guy in the 70s were
00:02:55 look older than me people are living longer poverty lines are going low lower you actually have not had a major war since World War II putting aside Ukraine so technically you should be happier no so do you think people are happier well deep six says is mixed I check the gerini say the same thing now they can do so many things I can check with gro we spot for choice of AI by next year so I asked another question ah these are very sensitive this IED to hear oh camera say cannot move okay what do the young people
00:03:48 think huh wow that was very resounding and is true younger people are not happy you know why not because of all you old people it's true Boomers have left the world in such that Millennials gen Z gen Alpha and J beta are going to suffer I want you to take this through a little bit and so I asked one last question very CH how can one be happy when facing adversity wow you gave me a very long self-actualization went to Abraham Marlo you can see it's quite fascinating came back and said happiness and adversity isn't about denying Fame
00:04:30 pain is about finding light in the cracks my nurturing I think was the word I like resilience seeking support and embracing small Joys you can build a foundation of strength to weather livest do you agree with deeps I see everybody very quiet because this is a difficult question so I wanted to process this this morning that they doing Chinese New Year see we're talking about young people this one we blame Christian T I saw this I what's up Christin po Uncle I see what all these adults lining up to do Uncle
00:05:07 buying this all right if you're not young what did this fellow called not young hello you above 35 what is this La very good La even burin also Us La now so I found a new called kid out you know kid out kid doubt these are toys for adults $50 a pop you know and why are they doing it I like this is to claim heal their inner child H Baby Boomers you see what you did you left the world in such a mess our lawyer the back yesan please answer yes or no to the court do you not have a collection of labubu yes or no okay does it not bring
00:05:59 you happiness yes or or no is it not you the the widows has disappeared is it not your either child coming to life yes or no yes Amad so today we are looking at resilience and this is Christine's fault she introduced me to this and we're going to do a sermon based on some of these characters that's something different and why because you look at these characters here which are all kied out what is difference between them and labubu what do you notice the fellow is not happy have you notice he's called hirano
00:06:40 if you Google hirano you will not find a hirano toy which is smiling is actually very profound they're going for $50 a pop you know you know how expensive these things are and each one you see here has a very profound meaning and I will show you later during the sermon and the only here toy that smiles is this one you know I'm trying to tell you don't force a smile so today we want to look at a difficult topic how can you and I be happy when things are difficult it's easy to say we're happy Sunday morning crack jokes what if life
00:07:22 hits you really hard and so the word from Deep seek was resilience and so we attach the word joy we realize scripture says this considered pure joy when you go through trials and tribulation James all right the words of Jesus in this world you have many trials and tribulation but thick heart and then Paul rejoice in all things rejoice and we're not talking about joy that doesn't have problems we're talking about how do we have a joy despite you going going through very difficult times now that is difficult
00:08:04 and so this is a a topic we struggle with and let's go through a very famous text that you know I think really deals with this so let's come before the Lord in prayer Lord we ask you to just be with us as we go through scripture this morning and in particular for those in our midst who who are struggling and and they won't tell us or even if they tell us the thing is futti it could be issues health issues relational issues yet Christians are meant to be happy people despite the storms we go through
00:08:42 we just sang through it all we ask right now this morning that those S those words we sang remain true in our hearts that how does Christ being in our hearts gives us that deep seated Joy during times of difficulties we say this in Jesus name amen right can you turn to scripture and we turn to very famous uh chapter we're going to look at Romans chapter 8 and we're going to start the reading from verses 28 so if you have your handphones normally the speaker will put it up but I am on this believe we should try to make it a habit
00:09:21 to open scripture and I will put up some words but you can do in your handphone or if you have a hard copy Romans 8 and if just typing inside Google you'll get to Bible Gateway click on Bible Gateway you will normally take you to NIV or ESV and go to verse 28 let me read the first four verses first and then I'll give you the context of the chapter Romans 8 verse 28 and we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him who have been called according to his purpose for those God
00:10:00 forne he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his son that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and those he predestined he also called and those he called he also Justified those he justified also glorified we're going to sit on these Verses first then we'll take the two sections now Romans 8 is a probably some people call it the most popular chapter most profound chapter in the whole of Bible some Nikki Gumble calls this the the Himalayas aest of Himalayas if Romans is
00:10:35 is the um is the is the is is the Himalayas it says a lot of things let me just give you a few things just to give you the context Romans 8 begins with you flip to verse one no condemnation so it it really talks about Grace and Romans 8 ends with no separation you you got to get that context no condemnation no separation the first section deals with life in the Holy Spirit your NIV will take it from 8 to vers 15 but verse 16 gives you our context and verse 16 is what we're talking about today so you flip to verse
00:11:17 16 this is what he saying H and these words are found in the verses we're looking at today I consider our present sufferings of not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us and it talks about how creation is decaying I consider our present sufferings now let's look at verse 28 he says and we know in all things God works for the good of those who love him now this is a verse that's quite often misquoted and I want to ask you what is all things remember the context is suffering H let's give two versions of all things
00:12:03 and the simple thing to do is to do a word search and you find in verse 32 he who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all how will he not also along with him graciously give us all things the Greek word is the same very encouraging words huh so what is all things here all things are good things because Christ who did not spare his own son will give you good things that's the context here now let's go further down and we look at verse 35 who shall separate us from the love of Christ shall trouble or hardship or
00:12:53 persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword as is written and he quotes from the Old Testament for your sake we Face death all day long we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered know verse 37 in all these things we are more than conquerors that very famous verse to him who loved us now where what's all things in this context and Mary is Right suffering so an earlier verse tells us all things are good things and the later verse all things are bad things so when Paul uses all things in 28 is what
00:13:33 pakalo everything in your life you will have good things in your life you have bad things I want us to sit on this because we know this in our mind but our hearts tell us differently and what scripture is telling us again and again and we struggle to really internalize this is God never promised us that our life will be free from pain and suffering so here's the first point about resilient happiness happiness which is centered on favorable circumstances in your life will not bring you resilience the construction industry is
00:14:16 very difficult now maybe where's our Superstar architect maybe W different so I had a project manager very senior know gave it out do something else and I asked him why H know according to fun so this is n era oh what is n era in N era listen you get big project in construction you cannot collect money Jag true true it's quite frightening though they he listed down the Paka to me uh you know flying Mansion all of that that's why Anna I gave up he's now doing direct selling what is he doing he's trying to play
00:15:04 with circumstances why do people believe in fun or are religious because they're hoping to what change their circumstances in life but right now straight from the goal guess what God is telling you you and I are going to what suffer in this life that's very hard to take you you see we all enter life like this statue of David we want to have a good family a good job good health good relationships be purposeful and then die someone put us a grave with a night Tombstone with our Legacy which is really
00:15:49 Legacy but in the end most of us will end up looking like this this hirano again very cute now when you look at this a bit and pause this this fellow is going for $300 a pop you know can you imagine you go home with this toy you put it a table your your wife will probably think did the dog have a bite at it you know now that's him again and you notice in his hands he's got a chel and you look at the bottom of the line they say this are toys reflecting toys of adults a rean boy selfrepairing all the time the the the proposition
00:16:28 here is that life can kick me but I can repair myself but do you really want to look like that and remember I was discussing this with Christine and Christine version is that life can kick you so hard no matter what you try to change your life and reshape yourself you can barely stand you know the Bible is very brutal on you know and if you say that I know that's not very true that really look at what is all things here trouble verse 35 hardship persecution as a Christian famine nakedness danger these are the
00:17:04 all things Christians are going to go through so you got to pause and take this in you see here's how we tend to misread this verse we say this that God has something better and we know in all things God works for the good of those who love him so here's a simple story let's just say you found a girlfriend I mean not all you married people married people please don't find girlfriend H and you found a girlfriend or mudha found girlfriend H she's my soulmate I met her on coffee Miss beggar you see
00:17:36 I'm very well read on you know and then going to get married went for marriage counseling with Brandon settled D then fight fight until C fight she sent you a long message and then goost you for all you older people who don't understand the lingual means she doesn't have anything to do with you now you you you will unravel and then suddenly an elder like honly come put his hand around you don't worry we know in all things H God works for the good of those who love you come let us pray CHR it now if I did that to young person
00:18:20 what would that young guy think I would think my elders is telling me yeah it's good I broke up this girl because God has something better planned for me I'll get a better girlfriend correct now what happens if that girlfriend doesn't come now these are real issues you know we could repeat this in many ways I'll give you a more human reason I me just have one verse you some months ago I I shared about why I had a job the fees were seven figures he was going to save my office and the guy who brought the
00:18:56 job to ask us for commission and I I I made a de up decaration up here because I wanted to have my hands clean you know what God took care of the problem and some they paid me a deposit you know H yeah oh yes I know I will answer your problem guess what God did he took the job away I need that job I need to pay my bills God answered it he took the job away but God I cannot answer I cannot pay my bills in all things God works for the good you see how real this verse is I want you to process this a little bit God's
00:19:35 will is not necessary to answer our prayers the way we want them answered and this one I got online this really made me want to cry but it's so true you have to pick this up and absorb this all right let's move on and we on the next verse for those God fornew he also predestined to be conformed in the likeness of his son now this image God language that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and what is this verse this is about the purpose in verse 28 it says well according to his purpose what's God's
00:20:11 purpose God's purpose is not for you to be rich or to have a boyfriend or girlfriend or to get a job with seven figures uh fee God's purpose is so that we are conformed to the likeness of his son I want you to think about this a little bit someone says I think all good people should go to heaven if you're not Christian you say that you know the question then is then why do bad things happen to good people on Earth if God's pre-qualification for you to go to heaven is good things that means on Earth he should give you good
00:20:46 things you you think about it carefully non-christians rational doesn't make sense one the only thing that makes sense is that God has a will Beyond us and that includ includes suffering I want you to pick that up H all right so let us take this through a little bit see we're talking about suffering and what is the suffering about to move us in the image of God for this by Grace you have been saved through faith we know this not from yourself the gift of God not by works so that no one can boast so a
00:21:19 God's handy work created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God pre prepared in advance for us to do famous verse Grace so let's use the girlfriend scenario let's just say I pray over this young man for all things and it was probably bad context and he really P found a new girlfriend wow what is this and this girlfriend even better than the earlier one you know see some of the young people really now let's just see he found a girlfriend and was even better more Godly what do we call this we call this Grace given
00:21:59 that's the point but if he didn't find a girlfriend and ended up his whole life single against his will struggling looking at other people and says life is not fair is God at fault no is actually Grace with help that's the way you look at the text that's the way I want us to absorb this because it it it has tremendous implications on the understone your faith God only has one purpose what is that to shape you in the image of Christ and earlier verses you know what he says about the image of Christ he say this
00:22:40 and you can find in verse 17 now we are children we are as as of God and coair to Christ remember this is context again about image of of Christ if indeed we share in his what in his suffering in order that we may also share in his glory Shar his suffering so I want you to pick this up now then we look at this on this purpose and predestined to be made in the image of God so this Brian Rosner very famous Theologian and this this thing we have about pastors or theologians or what we all think they
00:23:16 have what we call the ideal life they are married they have kids they become pastors they they boring people boring is good by the way yeah so we all think pastors Elders all of that are boring safe people now what happened with this boring safe guy he got divorced hey you cannot get divorced you're a pastor no some of more College Evangelical reform all the right terms you know and he went through such a difficult period he wrote a book which pH is loan to me which was really life-changing to me it was called known
00:23:51 by God and he said something very profound he said life is like a table with four legs you know the first leg is your health the second leg is your Financial Freedom the third leg is Meaningful relationships and the fourth the most important is your sense of purpose he say you take away one leg the second leg will start to crack you know careful you would fall his identity he said is conf form the image of Christ that's not true you know what was his image what was his identity Pastor it's like me preacher is very
00:24:39 dangerous the moment the wife divorced him his identity as a pastor broke because he felt he wasn't good enough and then after that your relationships will break so let me give you something very profound and why Paul pulls it back and says one thing there two parts to it I'm going to go quite deep today for those God for you and these are for those who love him he predestined to be second part we come to later and he might be the firstborn among many brothers all right so here's point to unhappiness is
00:25:16 often rooten in identity issues guess what you can have a good marriage good finances Good Health and be very very unhappy you don't believe me are some people who retire and after they retire they spend all their time on the golf course I'm nothing getting golfers here and you ask why because they don't know what else to do and identity is tied to purpose so here's my danger being open here you lose a job and you might have to retrench people what do you think the devil Whispers to me you're a lousy businessman
00:25:59 if you are married and you got divorced the devil Whispers to you you are not much of a wife huh you're married you try to have children and you have no kids wow you must be a defective woman you see where it goes and so you anchor yourself in Christ God's purpose is to shape me to be a believer I want you to pick this up if I'm going through an extremely difficult time in my life does it do to my faith what the first thing you're tempted to do give up and that's the context of these verses and because of
00:26:37 that the next verse comes in and these are very famous verses for those God forew he predestined to be conformed to the image of a son so that he might be the firstborn among brother and sisters now the word predestined is loaded it's a new testament term it is not found in Old Testament there's a lot of confusion on this terminology predes is a war zone among calvinist and Armenians we won't go there but it simply means God chose you to be his child now it's very different from election I want you to understand this
00:27:12 election you must look at Israel's election and here's the interesting for all you Scholars Israel was elected but not all Israel were safe you need to understand that that's found also in 1 Timothy 2:10 if you look at it carefully predestination if you're predestined you're safe you want to have a discussion on that we can have it over coffee outside but this verse is used to pick a fight among people who believe that on this very famous question are you safe once and for all you that means one safe always safe and people go into
00:27:47 this theological debate that splits camps but here's where I think we missed the point Paul is writing this to people who are suffering when I'm suffering what do I want to hear the word predestination here is pastoral you know not dogmatic you know if I am going through a difficult time I want to know God you hold me you're not going to let me go that's the verse it's not for you to go out and argue on theology you do that you go to chapters 9 to 11 engrafted branches Esau and Jacob yes here if I'm going to hell on Earth I
00:28:33 want to know the god I worship is with me and has promised me a better life that's your key so here's the key resilient Happiness Is Knowing God will never let you go if you persevere in your faith so we go back into hirano this guy very cute go heavy topic but you something like have you noticed what's on his head what's that black thing on his head he's patching himself you look at the right side of his shoulder cotton coming out what do you think is in his hands what is our bro doing Christie is
00:29:23 what to all is you can blame her he's trying to what fix him himself back cute ah very cute I thought that's how you heal right you try to fix yourself back so I went to look at a Tik Tok discussions on this and uh you look at the bag she's trying to fix it out but one thing they picked up he's sitting on a Suitcase what does that mean so one version of Tik Tok I see he's on a journey of self-repair but I found another one which even better he said no you see yeah our brother is a toy the suit case belongs to the
00:30:10 owner and why hirano can heal himself is the owner takes him on a journey and never lets him go and one day when he finally opens the suitcase for good hirano will be perfect who suitcase is hirano sitting on God's suitcase and we are all in it that's the function of the tax god holds you he may put you through breakout financial problems diseases but you're in God suitcase and one day you will come out at the good that suitcase and be glorified why verse 30 he predestined you he called you he justified you and
00:31:04 he glorifies you and out of that the second section comes up What then shall we say in response to these things if God is for us who can be against us he who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all how he also graciously give us all things who will bring any charge against those who God has chosen it is God who justifies remember the earlier section we say there's no condemnation because the devil will tell you you're not worthy to be a Christian who then is the one who condemns no one and Paul is
00:31:36 trying to reinforce your salvation is fixed and secure if you continue on in faith Christ Jesus who died more than that who was raised to life is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us because the devil will tell you you're not good enough give up your faith the words of job's wife Curse God and die but God is saying he never let you if he chose you he's in work in your life although you You're Going Through Hell on Earth right now and guess what in your prayers Christ is interceding
00:32:07 for you and then he ask who shall separate us from the love of Christ trouble hardship persecution famine nakedness danger s and the an is a resounding no then you say I want to believe this but Susa this sounds like propaganda Christian propaganda you know Christian like to do r with you Hallelujah you know your Victory through do I get amen do I get amen hallelujah after go M feel like crap and I think he understands this and I want to give you three ways which I am processing in my own life of getting
00:32:47 resilient Joy so this sermon isn't really a sermon it's more of a public sharing of my struggles and then three posture perspective and pursuit what do we mean by posture now he ends with these famous verses with everybody knows Steven s's favorite verse no in all these things we are more than coner to him who loved us I convinced neither death nor life angels nor demons neither the present or future nor any powers meaning all things neither height nor dep neither anything else in creation will be able to
00:33:19 separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus a lot we call it R versus like woo really can you really do this if you honor to yourself I'll be telling you I can't so we must understand what is this verses in and you look carefully at the structure of it this is what we call a doxology what's a doxology doxology is a song now what he trying to say let me give you an example there are four types of postures when you go through difficulties if I meet you in church and say how are you going the first one is I'm all right
00:33:56 thank you very much what do you call that we call it stoicism so let me give an example uh say you had a childhood trauma and you lost both your parents and he so shocked you what do you become this is what you become according to Hollywood you become Batman because Batman lost his parents what does he do he put on the mask to hide himself two he put on Armor you can't penetrate him and you start to ask him about his life what does he do he go to his bad cave and men do that men would Retreat to something where they can do because
00:34:37 men generally cannot process not all men but majority of men are stoic and I want to say this this morning in love there's a second one and this is more common to women it's called the victim mindset life is unfair I shouldn't need to go through this you look at the other person in church he has a better life why is it I have to suffer this and the third one which is very popular nowadays is what we call a safe space mindset now you throw a stone all three of us have the the third one is better
00:35:12 but being vulnerable is not enough and why Christianity makes so much sense and this was my own internalizing of processing these verses do you know what is the posture put here why is a doxology suddenly my thing it's called worship it's called worship let me give you a verse that does this a lot and before the verse 26 he tells us how we worship in our weakness the spirit helps us right now in Job 1 this is what happened while still speaking another messenger came and said your sons and daughters were feasting
00:35:50 and drinking wine the older brother's house when suddenly A Mighty Wind swep in from the desert and struck the four corners of the house it collapse on them and they dead I'm the only one who escaped to tell you so he is now having bad news we all understand this right now if you and I had bad news what do you and I do I will scream let's have a very heart to heart talk today or you would go to your bad cave and try to forget it in that case it means going to the bar going something else or you were bottle
00:36:23 up or you call somebody you say I need to talk to you about it that safe space what did job do those you remember the text he fell to the ground in worship and he see naked I came from my mother's womb naked I depart and I want to hear this the lord gave what is this Grace given the Lord has taken away what is this Grace withheld this is Ephesians 2 you know may the name of the Lord be praised can you imagine saying that when you're going through hell and it's such an important text the writer says in all this job did
00:37:17 not sin by charging god with wrongdoing why because job knew this he had been chosen chosen by God he had been predestined and those he predestined he called and those he called he justified and those he justified he glorified that suitcase of suffering those futile atoms that chisling away where can barely stand that suitcase will one day be open and I will be that statue of the David and I pray we internalize this you know last year was a very difficult time for me I want to be honest with you some
00:38:08 people here know and I felt like screaming you know in the middle of the night come come clean and tell you I to hide one you know what kep me saying I wake up early in the morning when there's no one around and I talk to God and sometimes against my natural what I wanton I remember job and I say the lord gave the Lord takes away May the name of the Lord be praised and if you're going through a difficult time there is no easy solution but Godly habits of regularly spending time in God In Worship in
00:39:00 corporate worship that's is your first step in healing the second is perspective as CS Le wrote a book no one understood suffering more than him his mother died of cancer his wife died of cancer we remember him as an author but he's very famous on reflecting on pain and suffering and there was a word he use in German called S I don't know what this is Go Ask Morin Gaya okay and he said is a longing for some place you will never see that means I those of you who know German be telling me it means uh there is a place
00:39:40 that you want to go but you will never be able to get there and this is a article he wrote you know creatures are not born with desires unless satisfaction for those desires exists a baby feels hunger well there's such a thing as food a Doling wants to swim well there such a thing as water men feel sexual desire there's such a thing as sex if I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world and that's what Paul is saying Paul is
00:40:14 saying your best life is not on this Earth You are yet to be glorified your best life is when Jesus meets you and wipes away every tear and you live in this world longing for that and that's why scripture calls us all Exiles sness temperary world I will give you a simple example you married a woman hot babe everybody look at you very lucky your wife very hot man and then you very loaded nice car hot babes all will get a belly not all your hot babe Sun becomes big size they call it plus size your Mercedes car
00:40:59 out becomes a Honda Civic you become poor and she doesn't become attractive she looks at you one way he looks at you one way you know they tell us here marital infidelity I'm going to tell you I think all of this is rubbish you know why people have aair not satisfied that's all but you were very satisfied 20 years ago of course was a very hot looking oh that's why he got married why do you marry him oh course I love him because got nice car can give you the life you want and the holidays you want now he
00:41:37 cannot drive Honda Civic already cannot retrench I learned this something about life you know what's the thing we all like to do we like to look at other people and there few words we like to say okay one it's not fair not fair but life isn't fair your best Life Is Yet To Come the second word we like to say is this H if only I had I should married the other guy who had more shares in the bank then maybe now can still give me my holiday I should not marry this woman all the hot babe no because I knew she didn't go to the
00:42:16 gym you see what it is and here he's trying to tell you where is your satisfaction that is the anchor so I want you to take this a little bit so there few sentences we should avoid as Christians one not fair because life is unfair Grace given Grace withheld two if only I had why because your best life is yet to come so don't worry about saying I made bad decisions and here's the last one which is the last point I don't think I can and on that he says this in all these things we are more than conquerors
00:42:53 through him who loved us the Greek word for conqueror is the same word for your Nike Je is Victory language and then there a very famous verse now what is this especially if you struggle to do this this is Pursuit that's your satisfaction if I make it my goal to find satisfaction God everything else is anchored on that so early morning when I wake up I can do two things one pray God give me back my life or I can say I pray Lord teach me to discover who you really are and everything else anchors to that and that
00:43:31 is the key so let me end with the last hero no this one he's gone through a bitter life and he's trying to grow but look at his leaves very little only he cannot Sprout why do you think he cannot grow look at his heart someone tore off his heart for you to grow as a Christian you need to be in love with God it isn't you coming to church and doing your rituals you know all of us can do that it makes you no difference for any religion is not out of fear you take off the boxes I got baptized and do this and
00:44:09 do this and hope God you give me a good life he not going to a church where there's all sorts of signs and wonders everybody falls down that's psychological you know it could be that is falling in love with God and Paul is saying if God died for us what more would he not give you and that is just that so let me just close with this you sit there you say well it's all nice words I find it very hard to process and I want to go back to this other verse all right is actually pursuing together because the second part of 29
00:44:54 is he might be the firstborn among many brothers sisters let me now close with a parting shot on predestination and all those of you who love to go into this theology one the topic of one safe always safe is always couched when people are struggling it's pastoral is not used to go into a dogmatic argument over Calvinism alism free will The Sovereign will of God you miss the point right so if you're suffering that's what I want to hear the second one which is very missed by a lot of Scholars is thate PR destination
00:45:28 election for knowledge is often used in a corporate sense Israel is elected is a country is a people and the New Testament is the church in fact chapter 910 is that meaning what meaning I can tell you everything just now you and I cannot do it alone you need people to walk with you to do it and I want to suggest that three types of people one quiet people that's what J's friend were they were just there to hold his hands second hurting people because hurting people share their hurts here's one last one that really hit me
00:46:12 last you know my character is quite Brash do you not believe in your journey as a Christian hurtful people can help you you only think about that we all talk about safe spaces I need someone to be understanding non judgment you wait forever we will always offend one another that's why the chapter here is about Grace Grace withheld Grace given you know last year I was such a p I had to have God put some people in life and just tell me you are such a the rest of it cannot say in public and then the first thing I will
00:46:53 be is reactive wow take a chat thr at you well you think I'm like that you know who you're talking to early morning next morning pray Jal wow yesterday that person say this will be very hurtful what a w him I see in church I'm going to turn the other way we call it looking at the airon don't talk to you stay at the airon walk past you inspecting the airod then I asked the Lord is he true or not and in the spirit Lord say you should take away the pain and say if what that person said to you has some
00:47:25 truth and that's why in such a mess one of the reasons why we're very unhappy is because we very stubborn people you know the story of of of balam and the donkey do you know who the real donkey is actually is balam you know we can be donkeys so you sit here you say you know what I don't like FBC I I don't have people I build a wall you know I'm FPC very like that very like that like that like that I don't want I just come here go to church and go home that's not Christianity and guess what God speaks
00:47:54 in many ways in public here and out there so I lost a job and I in October I was thinking of retrenching people this is very serious honest and then I had an engineer call me hey you want to go and do this small job like look at the fees maybe you can pay half a month salary I say better than nothing so I met these people they were very pleasant that one job give to another job could pay one month salary and then they give me more job I could pay a few month salary and I was very thankful to God I said you know what I
00:48:32 didn't ask for it and they were very pleasant so i s up with coffee one of the directors and then they told me you know Anna there's more to life than this my wife got baptized recently oh Christian War you know life isn't about all of this and then he begin talk about how to honor God in work now let me ask you in that situation I lost a job of seven figure fees and now God gave me something else that maybe can hold me the next few months before I T again you know but this new client loves the Lord what do
00:49:10 you think is God's will for me to be a testimony to him that's my purpose that's my identity and maybe by June I'll come and tell you gu sorry my office B ready and then I will tell you this the Lord gives the Lord takes away blessed be the name of the Lord shall we pray Lord Jesus we come before you now in this very difficult um topic that you don't owe us anything please keep my slides guys don't change H and I like to pray for those who are suffering and who say life's not fair and right now if you are there I
00:50:10 pray this comes to you can I have some keys that God who caught you will keep you he will keep you and perhaps you think if you only had this or that or that you will be [Music] happy but the Lord is saying you're in my grasp if you hold on and have a mindset of more than a conqueror so wake up tomorrow and worship Him have a perspective on life that satisfaction is in Christ and then pursue him and we say it in Jesus name amen [Music] can I have my next uh okay so let me close with this as a music place with
00:51:05 the last example this Ellen Jackson good-looking man famous country singer and then his wife guess what happen when you're famous and good-looking you would be tempted to what going screw around I'm going to say it as it is you're a girl married to a guy was hot looking like that what would you be tempted to do if especially you know your guy is screwing around you become controlling and so what happens divorce and so she wrote a book uh we have health Fame Fortune this Karen Jackson the wife from the outside
00:51:50 we have it all but all that stuff does not bring joy contentment happen or fulfillment I want us to listen to this the only thing as Christians that will fulfill you is if you pursue Jesus and why because he who did not withhold his own son will he not give you all things through the suffering and she said this in her testimony you know I remember driving home and crying out to him and saying I just can't take this anymore she took kry a friend this is from her book this is after the divorce or the separation I
00:52:23 can't believe you want my family to be a part but if you [Music] do I just give it all to you now there's not a prayer to say God give me back my husband because without that I will not be happy this is surrendering I know you take care of me it wasn't that things changed immediately but I had just come to this sense of peace or can I put it in another words she had come to resilient joy and then she realized something she realized how controlling she had become and why she had come to pass the book is called is
00:53:05 all about him who do you think him is here the husband Ellen Jackson it's about God it's only when she realized I'm going to put Christ first she had peace and says you know what maybe he'll come back maybe he won't but I'm going to pursue loving you because him I've been predestined I've been called I've been Justified I will be glorified and you will never let me go I'm in your suitcase years later they reconsult but that's not the end of it they go through trouble she will go through cancer he will go through a life
00:53:51 disease problem at one point Ellen Jackson gives up being a country singer and becomes a pastor and he starts to write worship music you know his music one is this what a friend we have in Jesus here's the other one which is right off what we're [Music] saying because if you don't have that Assurance the world will break you we're going to let the worship team lead us in what a posture of worship I'm going to pass the time over now to worship team he who did not spare his own son but gave him up for
00:54:44 us how will he not also along with him gracious L graciously give us all things knowing all these things we are more and conquerors through him who loved us if I'm convinced that neither death nor life neither angels nor demons neither the present nor the future nor any powers neither height nor depth nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our lord and God's people say amen service is over the Pastoral team is here if you want to
00:55:36 talk to us God bless you all and have a blessed week ahead
