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00:05 Good morning. Uh we want to continue our series on uh the gospel and emotionally
00:12 healthy spirituality. And I thought that we do something um practical today. I want to ask a simple
00:19 question. How do you how do you make important decisions? You know, uh I gave
00:26 up a few important decisions up there. Um, how do you decide
00:33 this kind of decisions? And and following that is another question
00:38 attached to it. How do you know it's God's will? How do you know God wants you to shift your job?
00:46 How do you know that God wants you to marry that person? You know, how do you know uh what God called you to do in the
00:53 church? It's what God wants you to do. So the text today, we read it last
00:60 month. We're going to look just at the second part of it. And the second part of it is just a simple verse. It says,
01:06 "Then you'll be able to test and approve what God's will is, his good, pleasing,
01:12 and perfect will." And this thing has a lot of confusion because uh sometimes
01:17 you hear people saying this, they say, "Is God's will for me to fill in the
01:23 blank?" The question is how do you know that's God telling you? You want to lose an
01:28 argument with someone just say uh the Holy Spirit told me so I say that I
01:33 cannot argue already holy spirit tell you how can we argue against the holy spirit. So today we
01:40 really want to do something practical and uh I I need to ask a favor. Uh I did this from the first service or so. So I
01:47 won't tell you the feedback but I there's a lot of material on this and you really can't do it over one sermon
01:54 today. We're just going to look at Romans 12 uh 21 on uh verse two on this
01:59 but there's a lot of material from this say from the book of James. So if you feel that this is worth um continuing on
02:06 as a second second uh part two let me know. I'm trying to get feedback not
02:13 people say yeah this is something very practical I found this very practical for my own u own well-being then uh
02:20 we'll do a part two first service I had quite a bit of feedback I won't tell you what they said but uh let's be neutral
02:25 about it okay let's come before God with this u uh with this word Lord keep me
02:31 humble we ask that the word your word um be applied to our everyday lives
02:37 and every day we make hundreds of decisions big and all and we all should
02:43 be making the decisions to please you and sometime we're not sure are we are
02:48 we pleasing you or pleasing ourselves and how do we know it's your will that we do these decisions so this is a this
02:55 is a difficult topic uh give us clarity and give me humility say this in Jesus
03:02 name amen uh I just going to go back to what I spoke last week this verse is the key
03:09 verse on worship And that's really the central theme here
03:14 is about worship. And what drives worship? Uh the renewal of the mind. What is worship? It's not just singing.
03:21 Everything you do is worship. You know, whether you eat or drink, Paul says, do it for the glory of God. Uh and so this
03:28 is the diagram we used before. You may behave a certain way, but there are certain causes you don't see that drive
03:36 your behavior. So we can use that as the background. Renewal of mind is something from the inside. Uh the Greek word
03:43 metamorphos means transfigured from inside and is a spiritled activity. So
03:50 let's start off with two simple questions. Number one, how do we make decisions?
03:55 Secondly, are our decisions within God's will? The first question is
04:03 not as straightforward as you think. You say how we make decisions there? I thought about it. I rationalized it. I
04:12 did a SWAT analysis. Did risk management. I made a decision. Simple.
04:17 This is what management people tell you. But here's what I like to propose. What Romans 12:2 is telling you. We make
04:26 decisions often subconsciously. Now, this is to me very foundational.
04:33 You just don't realize it. John Piper says this. He says, "I venture to say a
04:39 good 95% of your behavior you do not premeditate." That is most of your
04:45 thoughts, attitudes, actions are spontaneous. They are just a spillover from what's inside. And scripture tells
04:54 us on the last days, men will give an account of every callous word they say.
04:59 Notice that it comes from inside. It's not premeditated. uh we act very often out of impulse
05:08 or we we make decisions we we think we're doing it rationally and what I think the text is telling you that
05:14 decision is being driven by many things you don't see so let's explore this a little bit
05:21 in good Friday yian brought us through story of pilot pontis pilot and Jesus
05:27 and and this is the first thing you understand about decision making and that's this decision making. All of us
05:35 go through hard decision making. And when they hard decision making, this
05:41 is where your real character comes out. And all the four gospels pick up this turmoil that that Pontis Pilate goes
05:48 through. When he's privately with Jesus, he's very clear Jesus is innocent. When
05:54 he's with a crowd, the crowd pushes him in a certain way. So, as the story unfolds, he tries many ways to get Jesus
06:01 free. Or to be more accurate, he tries to absorb responsibility of it. He first
06:07 says, you know, this man is your guy. You go and judge him yourself. And one
06:13 of the gospels says his his blood is on your hand. It's not my responsibility. The last trick he pulls out, he says,
06:19 look, why don't I free him? You know, you you know on this day, this Passover, no, we want Barabus. So, we see two
06:26 things happening, which is what Romans 12 is telling us. One Romans 12 tell tells us do not conform anymore to the
06:33 pattern of this world and what's the pattern of the world affecting the decision making process of Pontis pilot
06:40 the mob that's something very common pressure you go to office
06:47 environment pressures you a certain way you come from a certain family background that family background
06:53 pressures you a certain way you go to church you make certain decision because the church pressures just you a certain
06:59 way. The other thing is coming from within within. That's why it's about renewal of
07:05 the mind. And basically this guy is a coward. He's a coward. He he's scared of
07:11 offending people. So he he tries to like a politician. Move left, move right, turn here, turn there. In the end, they
07:18 use something on him. We have no king but Caesar. Whoa. All right. That's that's it. That's it. I'm not going to
07:23 be not worth the price. And then he lets an innocent man be crucified. Which also
07:31 leads to another interesting point about decision making. Uh godly decision
07:36 making involves making sacrifices. And that's really what the gospel is
07:42 about. So let's take that and let's look at these two things. Outside influences
07:47 and from within things that come from us. Yeah. So how the world influences
07:53 your decision making, how your inside character influences your decision-
07:58 making and they are subconscious. You don't pick it up. One of the most famous
08:03 tragedies of the world is the challenger explosion. Uh is Merill here today
08:10 because Meill can give you a lecture on this. Uh so uh in 1987
08:16 NASA space shutter goes up there hasn't gone up to orbit and boom seven people
08:21 die explodes full view on TV now how did this happen you know this is not this is
08:27 NASA you know this is not a China man made in China actually that is not true
08:33 now Chinese system is very very very good already but maybe 1987 I won't go into a China made space shuttle but you
08:41 know this This is NASA. These are people who can make artificial clouds. People,
08:46 you know, how did this happen to NASA? You know, the world's leading space agency with all its protocols, SOPs and
08:54 all the systems. And um I won't go into the technical detail. You can read it.
08:59 It's all online. A series of incidences occurred. Probability of all of this
09:07 happening were very very very small. But when they all happened, the thing
09:13 exploded. But the chances of it happening was very slim. And Diane Vulgan wrote a really
09:20 interesting book about it. Uh the challenger launch decision and she coined a term which is quite
09:26 interesting. She called it the deviation spiral. Now the division spiral simply means
09:32 this uh in your SOPs in your company you have certain protocols for safety and
09:37 you've been practicing it and that takes time takes cost then one smart alle guy from finance says oh the company company
09:45 need to cut corners why don't we take this protocols which is so heavy-handed and drop it to 90%. save money ma he
09:52 gets a promotion and then uh things go on because no incident so what happens
09:58 that you just compromise a little bit you make money notice the the behavior behavior is centered on self so from 90%
10:06 drops to 80 80 70 60 so what happens there's a spiral that drops drops drop
10:11 drop drop drops until NASA comes to a point where they don't realize what they're doing actually is dangerous and
10:19 the book tells you how some engineers just tell look you shouldn't be doing this and standard answer we've been doing this for the last 20 years no
10:26 problem we are NASA you know when has NASA has this problem and it happens
10:34 in Malaysia in ble land this is very common
10:57 but is the Malaysian way. So sometime I find it very odd when people tell me oh complain about so
11:04 happened a leader who took money you just greed people 100,000 what's the difference there a few other zeros at
11:09 the end I don't mean this in a judgmental manner but it is so in the
11:14 air we breathe so in my line I mean the construction line it is not a matter of
11:20 do you do or don't do it's a matter of how much so let me tell you the dangers of this from a practical point of view
11:27 and I mean this with love because you you you're a contract contractor and you have to grease. Well, this got be very
11:33 careful. You have to technically have to grease of a lot of departments, right? So, you pay off all the various people
11:39 come out you come and disturb you. So, you pay pay. You come balance your books. So, you you
11:46 cook your books. So, you cook your books because everyone does it. Ma, I have to go and I have to pay off everybody
11:52 because it's is this. So, you cook your books. You cook your books. You get
11:57 selected for a spot audit. Spot audit comes they ask you how do you account for all of this where the
12:03 receipts no receipts cannot find you see where we go either way you're stuck you
12:08 know but this is what happens because we live in a world where there is a
12:13 deviation spiral because the world tries to conform you here's another one there
12:21 no need to explain if those of you don't understand it ask your Malaysian neighbors and you follow it you know what they
12:27 call a Freuden sleep a fuden slip means you say something but actually that's what you really mean. Then after you try
12:34 to cover it up no what I meant was no. So if you watch this he actually
12:41 said it your chicken is not crispy. Randang is not meant to be crispy
12:48 but to admit you make that mistake has very high repercussions because the
12:54 contestant has to come back the school the credibility the program gets affected. So what do you do? You do
13:00 political talk. Actually what I meant was this and you follow what they said.
13:07 I don't buy it. Okay. Sorry. Yeah. That's my view. So it is a classic case where you hear a lot of people saying
13:13 this is not what I meant. You misunderstood me. You know this. No, I got set up. This video shows me giving
13:19 out $3,000. I didn't give $3,000. Not referring to anything. But all of this
13:24 happens again as again. and and you hear it from and today we want to go after men. Uh so really men today's message is
13:31 more for you but men suffer from this more than women. All of this mainly said by men not saying women don't say it but
13:39 men will say this now all of these are decisions. What's driving this decision
13:46 just that but you can't see it. You can't see it.
13:52 And the more you keep reinforcing that in your mind because in going back to
13:57 that case the to admit that you as a world famous
14:03 cooking judge who is been to this part of the world did a travel program on it
14:10 to admit you made a mistake. No face m so better to say something else.
14:16 Well, that's just my view or not have everything. But here's the thing. Men in particular, a lot of the decisions are
14:22 driven by pride. And if you keep doing that, they say the
14:28 deepest danger of fakery is coming to believe your own lies because you reinforce it. You keep saying it, you
14:34 keep saying it, you believe it. So here's the simple truth.
14:39 Decision making is never pure. It is always driven by pride,
14:46 insecurity. Here's one that I suffer with. The need to win an argument. You can ask my wife.
14:54 A lot of things drive us. They drive our decision- making, but we will not admit
14:59 it. And we want to stand up and tell everyone, I have a clear conscience. I
15:04 didn't do it. This is what I really meant. Come on now. That's BS. But you keep saying that publicly, you will
15:10 believe your own lie. So here's the first observation. Decision making is
15:15 subconscious. It's very important to pick this up. Very life-changing. Here's the next one. And people always ask, are
15:22 our decisions within God's will? And uh again, that verse we're going to ask
15:28 ourselves. Um, the NIV is interesting because the NIV translates this as
15:34 you'll be able to test and approve. Let's go to this part first and then we
15:39 look at it in context. The ESV says test and I think it's a better translation.
15:46 The word is discern and then that is the word God's will.
15:51 What do you mean by God's will? So the question we're going to ask is decision
15:57 making and the will of God. So here's what most people believe. They want to know
16:03 uh what job should I take? Let's just say you hate your job and someone offers
16:11 you another job. You have to make a decision. Stay with a job you hate but
16:16 pays the bills or move to a new job which you think is quite exciting. So
16:22 you pray and a lot of Christians will say God show me a sign. They call this
16:28 the Gideon complex. If you want to go into that we'll do that in the next message. So uh you say God give me a
16:35 sign. So you came to ABC and then you hear pastor Elijah say about going to
16:41 new territory. Ah God telling me to move.
16:47 After that you have lunch out there and you sit down with somebody and somebody tells you you know God I think sometime
16:54 we need to have you need to be bold and step out with a new direction. Ah God
16:60 talk to me again you know uh and then uh you know you go home you pray and then
17:06 you have this peace of mind. So they they call this the bullseye theory. You line up all of these circumstances and
17:13 you say God is telling me I should shift my job. Now you can apply that to 101
17:21 uh issues and this is really complex and making very simplified. GMA is going doing a bit of this but that's really
17:27 how it works. Now let me just use some simple common sense. I given a few
17:32 decisions here. These are quite large. What if I complicate the issue? So let's
17:37 say uh uh uh let's say should I mine bitcoin?
17:44 Are you going to pray God should I mine bitcoin? Lord should I invest in ripple
17:50 or irritium? Lord show me a sign. Come on.
17:56 You guys just look at a cultter which is the one that really make money going whack away. But when it comes to getting
18:03 a job I need to find out God's will. So it reveals it means the human mind is
18:10 this when the decisions which we think are within our control we want to decide ourselves when the decisions we are
18:16 stuck we want God to show us clearly what it is that's the human default mode
18:23 now now that's because the question is where do you decide what's big and what's small what's a major decision
18:29 what's a minor decision to some person a major decision is you know should I migrate another person is no you know
18:37 don't even need to think about it I mean so here are the things the line you draw
18:43 becomes hard to pick up so let's understand what we mean when we say the
18:48 will of God and this is a whole theological issue so bear with me the
18:53 first you can call it God's moral will or God's will of command or obedience it
18:60 doesn't include evil it is clearly in the Bible the Bible tells tells you
19:05 certain things, you know, uh uh let your conversation be of so and so. You know, everyone should be quick to listen, slow
19:12 to speak, and slow to anger. You know, keep your life holy. This is God's moral will. And you can choose to break it or
19:20 don't break it. You have choice. The other one is God's sovereign will. Now,
19:26 the first very important thing to pick up, this includes evil. How do we know?
19:31 Because God allowed Pontis Pilate to send Jesus to the cross. Now, here's
19:36 where it's interesting. Because on one hand, Pontis Pilate decided on his own
19:42 free will. On the other hand, his free will to decide to do it is within God's
19:48 sovereign will. Now, that's quite complex. So you you choose on your own, but your your independent choice will
19:55 always fall within God's sovereign will because he's supremely in control of
20:00 everything. And we have to remember it includes evil. And the most evil deed in the
20:06 world was when Jesus was crucified on the cross. And yet that came to pass as
20:12 part of God's will to save us from sin. It's hidden. You don't know. If you
20:18 know, it's much later. Look at Joseph. Never knew what happened until much later. Then he realized why God sent him
20:25 into captivity to Egypt. No. So, and it cannot be broken. Here's another one. Not knowing Job. Job never knew why
20:33 calamity fell on him. It's about God's sovereign will. Now, let me just divert a little bit. Sometimes people will say,
20:40 you know, why is my life so bad? Uh, and then they will blame themselves
20:47 because I must have sinned. I must have done something wrong. Was it God's will? I had a bad childhood. So, here's one
20:54 way of trying to explain it. It doesn't fully satisfy it, but it's one way. On
20:59 one hand, it wasn't it wasn't God's will. And if you if
21:05 you're hurting now, I I pray you take that home. Why? Because God's moral will
21:11 doesn't include evil. God is a good God. God of grace, of love, of forgiveness.
21:18 He doesn't condone evil happening to you. So it on one hand it isn't God's
21:25 will. On the other hand, it is God's will because God allows evil to happen
21:32 for his own purpose. And we don't understand why. That's quite complicated, but I I hope you can take a
21:39 little bit of that home if you're struggling through some difficulty. So let's get back to the text. The key
21:45 issue now we have to ask ourel in Romans 12 is Paul referring to God's moral will
21:53 or will to command or is God referring to God's sovereign will?
21:59 What what is the will here in the text? And one way of looking at it is to look at the garden of Gethsemane. And the
22:06 garden of Gethsemane, what did Jesus say is not my will but your will be done.
22:13 But what is happening? Jesus is going in obedience,
22:18 God's moral will. And out of his obedience, God's sovereign will is
22:23 carried out. So when you look at the text, the text is split into two parts. How do we know that? Because of the word
22:29 then. Meaning you really want to walk in God's will. Number one, obey. How do you know
22:38 it's obeying? Because offer your bodies as living sacrifice. That's the spiritual act of worship. Do not conform
22:44 any longer the pattern of world. That's obedience. Transform and renew your mind. That's obedience. Obey and then
22:52 you can test. And the word here in the ESV is not a proof is the word discern.
23:00 Now similar verse finds itself in Philippians 1 again 9 to11 breaks itself
23:06 into two parts. First part this is my prayer your love may abound more and
23:12 more and knowledge and depth of insight. You know what's dep of insight that's called renewal of the mind
23:19 so that you may able to discern. What is discern here? Same thing. approve and
23:25 test what is best and be pure and blameless until the day of Christ. What is best and pure? The will of God. And
23:33 again a similar reading in Hebrews. Solid food is for the mature. First part. What is solid food? Obedience.
23:42 Who by constant use? What's constant use? Obedience. Have trained themselves.
23:47 What's training yourselves? And what is distinguishing good from ego? Evil.
23:53 Discernment. So here's a key word we all need to navigate life with all its pitfalls and
24:00 we all struggle with this discernment. So here's what the text is saying. You
24:08 do not need a renewed mind to find God's hidden will. You need a crystal ball.
24:13 So when you say, "God, I I don't know what to do. I'm stuck. God, show me a sign." You're actually revealing your
24:19 character. You're wanting God to drop a sign from heaven for you. And what the
24:24 text is saying that doesn't require renewed mind. Now, I'm not saying that's wrong. Not saying that doesn't happen.
24:30 But you need the renewed mind first. So, let's go back to this. All these
24:35 decisions big and small. What do you need? You need a renewed mind. Let let's
24:41 let's put this to test. Should I mine
24:46 Bitcoin, Ripple? First thing, those of you who are doing it, you have to get up at 3:00
24:53 in the morning because the market uh actually starts at that time. The
25:00 renewed mind says this, the unrenewed mind says, "I can make money. I don't care. I wake up at 3:00. I don't care
25:07 what happens to my family, my job. I'm just going to do that." The renewed mind before he does this, says, "If I wake up
25:13 at 3:00 in the morning, does it affect the rest of my day? when I come back where am I too tired to spend time with
25:19 my family that's coming from a renewed mind because it sees the matrix of
25:24 decision making why because if the rest of my day I cannot glorify God and give
25:32 to him my life as a living sacrifice as a father as a husband in my job that's
25:39 not worship that's how you make decisions you make decisions by having renewed mind You
25:46 don't pray God show me a sign which counter to invest in God show me a sign
25:52 which property to buy no USJ19 should I buy putra heights that doesn't
25:58 require a renewed mind a renewed mind filters everything through this so
26:04 here's one way of looking through at it number one you prayfully decide within God's moral will or what scripture says
26:11 as revealed in the Bible and you make a decision then God can open doors, but you're
26:17 still responsible to discern. And after you decide, whatever you decide, God's
26:23 will, his sovereign will will never be affected. Let me just read a little bit of this because some people u complain.
26:31 They say, "Look, what about Gideon putting out the fleas and all the signs?" I'm just going to read you one
26:36 part of scripture. You don't have to turn to it. And they tell you, "Brother Arnold, God opened doors for me. It was
26:42 very, very clear. There were four doors open supernaturally. I heard a voice from heaven. Blah blah blah. God wants
26:48 me to do this. Very clear. Okay. So, so open doors. Yeah. So, hear this. 2 Corinthians chapter 2. Paul verse 14.
26:58 Now, when I went to Trrowaz to preach the gospel of Christ and found that the Lord had opened a door for me. Very
27:06 clear. So, if God opened a door, what should you do? What should you do? go through
27:12 the door, right? Well, look at what Paul writes. Even though God opened the door, the verse says, "I still had no peace of
27:20 mind because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I said goodbye to them
27:26 and went on to Macedonia. So behold, open door, but he didn't go through."
27:32 Why? Because he discerned to go to Trrowaz, he needed Titus with him. So
27:38 with discernment although God opened the door for him he chose not to go through
27:44 well that's important very important so wisdom in decision making let me give
27:49 some practical examples to it and there are three I want to propose uh which I
27:55 think are very practical and helpful step one reboot your mind
28:02 it always starts with the mind reboot your mind.
28:08 What is worse than having a bad day? Come on, let's just say within one day,
28:14 let's not take it outside one day. What is worse than having a bad day? Come on,
28:21 anyone? A bad attitude to a bad day.
28:30 You get it? Let me give you example. Um you woke up in the morning, you fought
28:36 with your wife. Wow. Mood already very bad. Get in the car already cursing.
28:41 What did I do? My wife don't appreciate me. Do this. I do that. I work very hard. Very bad mood really. So you take
28:47 your car out. W somebody cut you saying
28:55 those of you don't understand Cantonese. Just get a tone ma. You just made it worse. Well, get to
29:02 office already bad. So boss t you how you do your accounts don't have balance thing
29:10 really you just made a bad day worse. You just made a bad day worse and you
29:17 keep doing this your next day will be just as bad and then you become negative
29:22 and you become self prophesying. Now this is a very simple truth. Now, is
29:29 there a scriptural pathway? Yes. The story of Joseph. He got thrown in
29:35 prison, innocent. Did he sit in prison and say, "Yo, they
29:41 they they they threw me in there because of fake news."
29:46 They all indicative. Couldn't couldn't pay the fine. Not fair. Wow. They get very upset. Striven to the boy and
29:53 complain. He's really so low. You know what he said? What is there better else to do?
29:58 He organized the prison. Did he need to organize the prison? No, he didn't. He organized the prison so
30:06 well. The prison warden was very impressed and commended him for organizing the prison. And then after
30:12 that, he was left to rot. You imagine that, you know, some people say, "Okay, I'm in a terrible position. I'm going to
30:17 I'm going to make things better and say, see God, I made it better. See, God rescue me." He wasn't rescued. You know,
30:23 the baker forgot about him. Was it a cook? you know, forgot about him. But
30:29 because he was in prison and he followed God's moral will, God trained him. And
30:36 later in God's sovereign will when he went to Egypt, he learned to organize a
30:43 country. And he learned that from organizing a prison, from a sport brat
30:49 to organizing a prison to organizing a country. See, God takes you on adventure. So attitude is everything. So
30:58 again how do I decide all of this simple principle you ask yourself how am I
31:04 glorifying God in every area. So let's go back same example
31:11 sayhya fought with my wife Lord teach me to forgive teach me to
31:18 have grace as you forgive me teach me to forgive my wife don't care who right
31:24 wrong I will love her because husbands are supposed to lay down the lives of wives men listen to all of this
31:31 then you get out car block you what do you say you say hallelujah
31:38 You say hallelujah. So you come to the office and the boss borrow you. You say
31:44 hallelujah. Don't you don't you say you you pause. You go back. You don't get worked up and you ask yourself did I
31:51 really mess up the accounts and you really did say Lord boss I'm wrong. I'm sorry. He will appreciate you better.
31:58 The rest of the day you just made a bad day better.
32:04 Amen. a very weak. Amen. First service I had a really up. But you you've got to
32:10 understand this. Let me just explain something about truths in life. Simple truths in life carry a long way. Let me
32:19 just tell you biblical truths are simple and applicable. You don't want to mess up your life. You
32:25 start out with a mind and you start out with the attitude of the mind. Why is the attitude important? Again, Romans chapter 8, at the end of so much
32:32 theology, at the end of it, what does Paul says in all of this? We are more
32:39 than what? Come on. Conquerors.
32:44 You're not conquering all of this if you go to life with that. Now, we're not teaching prosperity gospel. Let me just
32:50 get it right. We're teaching biblical gospel because the gospel is as much about the cross as the empty tomb. You
32:57 need to appropriate this. And I confess I get very annoyed when people tell me why you teaching me victory. See will
33:02 tell me biblically. You have to have the right attitude. Let's let's look at one other attitude. All right. Paul tm
33:08 maker. You see the tm making thing has always in my view been theologically I
33:14 think un misunderstood. People understand that he's a tent maker as a secondary job. His main job is a
33:22 missionary. I challenge that from scripture. Look at what Paul talks about his t making in Acts. He said this in
33:29 acts 20. I have not covereted anyone's silver or gold or clothing. You yourself
33:34 know these hands of mine. Have supplied my own needs and the needs of my companions. Is the same rendering in
33:41 first Corinthians when Paul talks about patronage. He was not a burden to anyone. He said do not muzzle the ox but
33:48 he says I was not a burden. And after he says this in everything I did. The
33:53 context here is his tent making. I showed you by this kind of hard work we
33:58 must help the weak. Meaning for Paul t making was to help the weak.
34:05 Why? Because Paul had the mind that everything he did whether it was him as
34:11 a missionary or whether him as a tent maker he will glorify God. So when Paul
34:17 was thrown into prison what did he do? He wrote half the New Testament. The mind is the key to everything. And
34:25 what often I think find we find disturbing and I find it as a brother is
34:30 to find Christians who are defeated. Every time you see them to them they're complaining Peter like that, Anna like
34:37 that, my life, my mother-in-law like that, my father-in-law like that, my wife like that, everybody your whole life and you've been like that for
34:44 years. You are defeating yourself because your mind is unrenewed.
34:50 So I pray this is life-changing. You start off by rebooting your mind. How do
34:55 we reboot our mind? Let me let me start off with the attitude. Two attitudes were given at the beginning of Genesis.
35:02 The first is the worshipping mind. And now this is where you might understand
35:08 it comes with a cost. Abel sacrificed the best. What did it
35:13 cost him? It cost him his life. So here's the thing. You give the Lord the best, but sometimes God will take you
35:19 through the fire. But Abel's on it. Cain represents a lot of us. He's got
35:26 the survival mind because what does he do? God tells him, look, because he just he just took some
35:33 fruits and just gave leftovers to God. The lot of us, we just give leftovers to God. And he gets jealous of his brother.
35:39 And God tells him, sin is crouching the door. You must wrestle it. But like Pontis Pilot, he does the simpler thing.
35:47 He eliminates the competition. Then he hides it up. Am I my brother's
35:52 keeper? So this morning, God is challenging you. Do you have the worshiing mind or do you have the
35:60 survival mind? The worshiing mind will cost you because it's sacrificed, but that honors God. Trust God. Seek first
36:07 the kingdom of God. All these things will be added to you whether here or the afterlife. But that's God's command to
36:13 us. Now, how do we do that? Here's the second step which I'm really been trying to practice this my life. Very helpful
36:20 for me personally. You observe the patterns of your decision making. You
36:26 see, the New Testament is about living in the kingdom of God. And the kingdom
36:31 of God is both here and not yet. Meaning, there is you in the present with all is false. And there's you that
36:37 you should aspire to be in God's kingdom. That's really a lot what the sermon on the mount is saying. Now, how
36:44 do I get from A to B? And I say, look, uh, here's one simple example. I'm going to be a very good uh accountant because
36:53 my accountancy work is my act of worship to God. The sinful mind says I want to
36:59 make a lot of money that that the renewed mind says because by doing this, I help the country in transparency. I
37:06 help the country in in in uh things of of equitable justice and I give that to
37:12 you God. Now, how do I get from A to B? The first thing you do is you track the
37:18 decisions you make because they all impacts. I'm going to give you two examples. One, uh in his book, Peter
37:25 Scazaro talks about, you know, uh some important person from another church wanted to visit him at home and he says,
37:33 "Well, I'm doing God's work. Who am I to turn him away? So this guy come. But here's the problem. He's not spending
37:40 time with his family. It's really burnout. But he justifies his decision. Again,
37:46 his subconscious by saying his ministry. What happens if you read the book? The
37:52 daughter on that night when they're having dinner goes to the pool and nearly drowns because he's so
37:59 preoccupied trying to be nice to this guy. and after this the wife leaves him.
38:05 So the conscious decision is I'm doing God's work and it justifies me
38:11 neglecting my family because God's work. We see Paul has a different attitude.
38:16 I'm going to glorify you God as a missionary. I'm going to glorify you as a tent maker. This is a very common
38:22 mistake people in church do. And the real subconscious the word is habit.
38:29 He's got a deep insecurity. He lives off people telling him, "You're a good preacher. You're a good pastor. I
38:36 I I I like what you're teaching me." He hears that and that things drives him,
38:41 but he cannot see it. So, here's the thing. You look at the habits of your decision- making. Let me give you
38:48 another biblical example because I think this is really life-changing because if I ask you to audit your life, you don't
38:54 know where to start. One way to look at the pattern of your decision making and if there certain things happen again and
39:00 again and again that's a pattern then you ask yourself is that pattern biblical here's one woman at a well
39:07 David Adams preached about him about her so did Peter how many times did she get
39:12 married how many wow five you mean after the
39:17 second time you get burnt you don't learn anything once married not enough twice then three four five why Because
39:25 Jesus picks it up. You're looking for something. You're looking for something, but God is going to give her waters that
39:31 she will not quench. But let's put that aside. That's a habit. After five times being burned, you will
39:39 imagine you won't get into it. But she's addicted to that kind of water because she needs companionship. So she goes
39:45 into the null one. This time her safety net says, "I'm not going to marry him." You see where we're going? Things I do
39:52 not do, I do. things I do I do not. But what's interesting is Jesus reveals her
39:58 habits. What does she do? Team Keller picked it up. She changes topic.
40:05 God just expose her. You got married five times. What does she do? She says, "Wow, that's very good. Let's let's talk
40:11 about something more important. Should we worship in Jerusalem or should we worship in that mountain?" You see, very
40:16 smart. You know, she shifts the topic. Why? Because we all don't like to be
40:22 confronted with our decision making habits that damage us. Why is that so?
40:29 Why is that so? Let me give you example. For me, I'm impulsive. So, I tend to react. The fear of flight
40:37 thing. I just react. But it takes a lot for me to realize that. Why? Because
40:42 there's another part of our human nature which comes out. And you find that in the garden of Eden. the garden of Eden.
40:50 Um, you look at the preceding chapter to the fall, Adam and Eve are in the garden
40:56 and God says, "You know what? Take care of the garden." Now, do you think Adam says, "God, what's your will for me
41:02 today? Should I should I make goring pisang?" Doesn't do that. God, what
41:07 should I do? Eve say, "Do I make durian salad today?" No. Decide.
41:13 And what's interesting at the end of the chapter is this. They are naked and they
41:19 felt no shame. What's the text telling you? The text is telling you when you have open relationship with God. You
41:27 don't hide anything because shame and hiding doesn't occur. The moment you
41:32 start to hide and you're shameful, that's when things go wrong and you make
41:38 messy decisions because what happens after that? They sin. They sin. They try
41:44 to hide. And in case we didn't get the text, the text says uh when God says,
41:49 "Why do you hide?" Because we were naked. Just in case we didn't get it, you know, they were shameful.
41:56 But what was interesting is God approaches Adam. He says, "Why do you eat? Who do you what does he do? Does he
42:03 says guilty? I add, I'm wrong." What does Adam do? The woman.
42:13 the woman meaning it's her fault you know wow this is real real real slime
42:18 back of a husband you know how low can you get what kind of man you blame your own wife never mind basically he's
42:25 telling God not my fault it's the woman never mind the woman not enough the woman that you gave so God is not only
42:34 her problem it's your problem don't blame me now that's important because is is the
42:40 first sin that comes out post fall.
42:45 So you ask yourself whenever you had a problem in your life or confrontation what's the most obvious thing to do
42:52 not me it's someone else. So in office if things go wrong let
43:00 let's take thish because my boss woman m
43:06 you can be anyone else then let's add insult to it
43:11 all women like that okay my boss China man you know all
43:18 Chinese do business like that my boss Indian all them talk only you see where we go it's it's right there in scripture
43:27 And if you and I cannot learn to take responsibility for our decision making
43:34 mistakes and you cannot identify all these things you repeatedly do, you will
43:40 continue to do them and you continue to blame others and you continue to have a
43:47 bad day and you will never have discernment. So let's pick this up. Let's go a bit more
43:53 positive. And the last one I want to pick up is practice godly instinct. How does that get from decision making? I
44:00 think this is very powerful. Okay. U let me give you example. Uh this man
44:08 the two of his relatives are my clients. So I got this one firsthand.
44:13 And you know how he makes decisions is this. Every morning he has a habit. He sits in the morning. the advisers will
44:20 come and inform him without putting an opinion on key things like commodities
44:27 uh sugar price is this flour is this this is that China's opening this time it's completely uh unfiltered you don't
44:35 give an opinion he listens he listens he does this every day I got this from very reliable sources so he's got one habit
44:43 the habit of ingraining himself with the words of his advisor I want you to hear
44:48 is now after that in the morning time people come in a lot of people come to
44:54 do deals with him because he's such a rich man and he can make deals in the
44:59 millions of dollars in 10 minutes someone come tell me okay we want to open a so and so in Shenzhen your hotel
45:08 division want to go there is second tier city you ask three four five questions talk talk talk okay last sign
45:15 why because He's got what we call in business killer instinct.
45:23 The killer instinct came from two. One, he's embedded himself with the words of
45:28 his disciples so much when a situation comes out, it comes out naturally. He knows this is a good deal. This is a bad
45:37 deal. And this is completely verified. Now, how do we apply that spiritually?
45:42 Uh there's a very old movie that I watch. All the young people from the plant who generally have very little
45:48 respect for history will not have seen it. So the plan go back and watch this and do a study on this learn from the
45:54 older people. Okay. The first karate kid movie better than the Jackie Chan
45:60 version. And so the the guy tells our hero left hand right hand wax on wax
46:08 off. What what's that going to do? Until it becomes in in Malay we call it tindakan pantoan. know is it reflects
46:15 instinct so he doesn't get it but sometime God puts you through this he puts you through situation like that so
46:22 one day when a real situation comes on wax in wax out what do we call this
46:30 instinct instinct now why how do we apply that to the
46:36 spiritual plane spiritual plane means this every day you're confronted with decisions is big
46:44 and small and you have no time to pause and think.
46:49 Someone calls you and says, "Hey, counter open. You want to buy or not?" Blue chip share. Do you think you have
46:54 time to say, "Let me go back. Let me pray, read the Bible, check, check, check." Then I call you back. By the
46:60 time you call out, the price really went up four times. You don't have time.
47:05 So, how do you apply this? Now, here's how you apply this. I give you example again. Go back to the fight with your
47:11 wife. You come late at night, still she tar you. But if ingrained in you is the
47:17 word of forgiveness and grace, forgiveness and grace will frame what
47:22 you say next and what you decide. You see where we're going with this is instinctive. Say for example truth. You
47:30 make a habit of always saying the truth, speaking the truth and just being truthful in big and small things. In the
47:37 office B decision, they say we make a deal truth will come out.
47:42 You just ask, did they do due diligence? When you vote, now this important
47:48 because justice comes from God. The decision doesn't come because you hate the community. Like what Rama said, the
47:55 decision doesn't come because you're emotionally upset. The decision comes because of justice and you decide. You
48:01 see where we're going? It's instinctive. Until the fruit of the spirit is
48:06 instinctively embedded in you, you cannot make good decisions. Let me just give you one practical
48:13 example and uh I'm going to use a sample case. Now according to the first service this was
48:19 they say the most useful. So I'm going to I know it's a bit long. I'm going to do a bit longer here. Okay. And there
48:26 are people asking me I should download this and use this. But but here's a sample the case I propose to men. Today
48:33 we're going to throw a men. How do you become a more godly father? We all want to do that. All you plant who are not
48:40 men yet, learn don't make our mistakes. Sorry, today I'm going after the plan. I don't know why I just decided.
48:48 Here are things. What are my faults and strengths as a father? That's patterns
48:54 and habits. What are the issues my children are going through? That's just common sense.
49:01 What are the past issues affecting me? That's symptom and causes. That's going down to your root in your heart. What
49:08 are the external issues hindering me that's conforming to the world? What are the biblical verses on being a godly
49:14 father? That's God's will of command. And what are the simple everyday steps I
49:21 can take? Those are small decisions. What are some long-term goals I can take? Those are big decisions. Like look
49:27 at the first one. Let's just do this in a few minutes. And I'm not going to rush it. First survey. They all say I rush
49:33 this. What are my faults and strengths as a father? And you could say this, my daughter's
49:40 close to me but not my son. And then you pause. I wonder if I may be showing
49:47 favoritism to my son. That that takes courage. How do you say that? You say
49:52 that by looking at the patterns of your decision making, the time you spend your kids. Have you done certain things that
49:59 makes your son perceive that? And you don't get reactive. You say you know
50:05 what you know I don't shift responsibility like Adam did this could be true then you go to point two what
50:12 are the issues my children are going through then you discovered you don't know I tell you most men don't know
50:21 seriously they don't know I tell you why very simple truth then you ask what are my past issues affecting me that is
50:28 again about the heart coming from inside and maybe my dad was
50:34 Maybe your dad used to hit you. Maybe your dad neglected you and you push it
50:40 so far in and you then got married as an escape way and this thing just come out.
50:48 I'm not saying it is, but you consider it. Then you ask, "What are the external
50:54 issues hindering me?" And here's one most obvious to men. No time. No time
51:01 for church. No time for family. You already put bread on the table. M. What more do you want? I only got time for
51:08 work. You all don't understand me. That's how the mind or the man works. You know what are the biblical verses on
51:14 being a godly father? You're honest. I don't know.
51:19 I don't read the Bible enough. Better Google. And here's the killer things. What are
51:25 the simple everyday steps I can take? Learn to listen more.
51:32 Why? Because that's biblical. Everyone should be quick to listen,
51:40 slow to speak, slow to be angry to your kids and whack him when you come back. Learn not to exasperate my children.
51:46 That's biblical. Be very conscious of being faithful of them. Learn to show grace and
51:53 forgiveness. My wife was what was I got to do with parenting? everything because
51:58 they see you. Let me say something to fathers. Fathers, your kids see you as a
52:04 hero. The next sermon I'm going to tell you why. But that is your DNA. And when
52:10 when when when you cease to be a hero in the eyes of your kids,
52:17 in many ways they die, you know, they die inside and everything you do after
52:22 that is very hard to pull out. They look up to you as you lead them to
52:29 God the Father. And why is it important when you have a quarrel, they see grace
52:35 and forgiveness? Because you can then explain to your kids, mom and dad fight,
52:40 but we love each other. We forgive as God forgave us. That's gospel living.
52:47 Then you do long-term goals. Family devotion. I struggle with this.
52:53 intentional time with the kids. Pray and ask time management. Can you
52:58 cut off some things? And then you learn to forgive your dad. Pray with someone in church and say,
53:04 "Look, I I I got to forgive. Take time. Take wife for more days. Men,
53:11 take your wife for dates. Trust me, you will not regret it. I know. I really
53:19 know. Take your wife for dates. Learn anything today, learn that
53:25 and you have a gospel habit. Now do this and repeat.
53:33 Amen. Amen. Let me just end with a
53:38 quote. Can I ask the worship team to come up from Viv Thomas of Operation
53:43 Mobilization? To make great decisions, you have to be ready to be changed and
53:50 willingly slaughter selfish illusions. I
53:56 found it very powerful. Only then can you begin to see what is real and what
54:03 is illusionary. And we all need help here.
54:08 And if you need help, the church is here to talk to you. After the first survey, there was a fair bit of people. We don't
54:14 do this for any other reason, but the church is here to heal and to help because that's what
54:22 church is for. So, I want us to just sort of uh close our eyes and pause as we look at the
54:29 three steps. And I I want to ask you all to make heavy decisions, hard decisions,
54:36 but these decisions can change your life. Let's come before God in prayer.
54:41 Lord, your gospel transform us from inside out. And it's a truth that we can
54:50 take every day. Whether as a father, a mother, as a
54:56 parent, as a husband, as a wife,
55:02 as a boyfriend or girlfriend is a truth we take when tomorrow morning
55:07 we get into our cars and we go to work and it's a bad day.
55:15 is a truth on what we decide to do in church as a ministry.
55:22 And Lord, right now we raise up everyone who just struggling with decisions, whether it's in their jobs.
55:29 There are many here who struggle with their work or whether it's family decisions that they just won't reveal to
55:36 anyone else. Personal struggles. We ask oh Lord that we renew our minds.
55:44 Look at the patterns in our life that can really lead us to destruction. We up to our past mistakes. We don't
55:51 blame anyone and we surrender our lives to you and we
55:56 surrender it again and again and again
56:01 until it becomes habit. that the fruit of the spirit, joy,
56:07 peace, forgiveness, love, truth, justice
56:13 filter every decision we make and we will then walk in your perfect
56:20 will. And we say it in Jesus name. Amen.
