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00:01 Lord, this morning as we just come before you, as we prepare our hearts for your message, oh Lord,
00:09 and that your love is stronger than a thousand seas, oh Lord.
00:14 And this morning, we meditate on these words as we prepare our hearts. We
00:19 meditate on this word that are we strong. And today's scripture teaches us
00:24 that when we are at our weakest in Christ we are at our strongest.
00:32 That we hope in Christ. Oh Lord, we hope not in this world. For you took the
00:39 cross when all hope had been lost. So prepare our hearts and our minds to
00:45 receive your word. And we say this in Jesus name. Amen. Please be seated. Uh if you're new to FBC once a month we do
00:52 a module on emotionally healthy spirituality. We are now on the sixth module. They are in sections. The first
00:58 three are generic. These three are dealing with certain emotions and they all interlin together. So let me start
01:06 off uh because we are such an aging church. Here's a question to anybody 45 and above. You are 45 and younger. You
01:13 cannot answer this. And here's my question. So to make you more relevant to the millennials and the younger
01:19 people since we're aging church, what is a meme? Can somebody from 45 and above put up his hand and answer me? Wow, this
01:27 church very very very very disconnected to the millennials. None of
01:33 you know what a meme is. All of you have teenage daughters and kids will know what a meme is. Anyone
01:39 tell me what a meme is? Wow, this is very frightening, man.
01:45 you go at Google. Let me let me tell you a little bit. A meme is when you take a certain picture or a or a dance and you
01:52 you sort of uh put it on social media and you put a word on it and then you make it your own and it goes around. So
01:59 the the one the first one that always started was Chuck Norris. So there was Chuck Norris and then everybody did something with Chuck Norris. Then there
02:05 was Rick Ashley. There would be from Game of Thrones from famous movies. Now
02:10 that that's a basic understanding of meme. Now here's one thing which is quite interesting. This is memes are
02:16 done by the youth, young adults and millennials. Do you know what are the main topics of memes?
02:22 If you Google it, they all deal with depressing matters.
02:28 They all deal with pain. They all deal with suffering. Now, there's an
02:33 undercurrent to that and why they say like Simon Synynic says, millennials are probably the most unhappy people on the
02:39 face of earth. I googled the word disappointment. This is what I got. And that's just a sampling, you know,
02:47 that is just a sample. Just Google the word disappointed meme. Then try anxiety
02:54 meme. Try depression meme. You get millions of hits.
02:60 It shows you beneath the surface. This is how people try to deal with issues.
03:05 Um, you know, life will be like this. I'm disappointed again.
03:12 If that happens too much, I go into anxiety. And we dealt with that last month.
03:18 And when I get more anxious, I don't like me. I develop low self-esteem. And the cycle repeats itself. And you push
03:26 this to the age, a person gets depressed. So we want to perhaps this morning deal
03:32 with this very very real issue. Um there was a very famous song by an ironically
03:39 the singer committed suicide. And look at the lyrics. This is probably about 10 years ago. I'm tired of being what you
03:45 want me to be. Because disappointment often deals with I'm disappointed with self or I'm disappointed
03:53 because I didn't live up to my parents, my husband, my boss. Look at the lyrics.
04:00 I'm tired of being what you want me to be. Feeling so fateless, lost under the surface. I don't know what you're
04:06 expecting of me. Put under the pressure. Walking your shoes. Caught in an undertoe. Just caught in undertoe. Every
04:13 step that I take is another mistake to you. Caught in under toe. Caught in an undertoe. And And the way the lyrics are
04:20 written is like a person is drowning. You know, he's being pulled underwater by the undertoe. He He's floating. He's
04:27 just going through the motions. And here it is about people. A lot of people
04:33 I like to suggest just go through the motions. They are not driving.
04:39 They come to church, they sit, but life just passes them by.
04:45 You know, I get up, I go to work, don't like my job, I come back, repeat.
04:53 So, there's a hollowess in this. Today, we want to look at a topic where Paul was disappointed.
05:01 And what happened instead was this disappointment made him tribe. And it's a it's a it's a
05:07 very famous text. And I want to really give us the words in a bit in context. And here's a memory verse for us, right,
05:12 Anin? Every time we do this, let's have a memory verse. Let's try to say this out loud together. It's a great verse.
05:18 Okay, let's do this on a count of three. 1 2 3. My grace is sufficient for you,
05:25 for my power is made perfect in weakness. And interestingly, whether the NIV or the ESV, it says the same thing.
05:33 It's a great verse. It's a verse that absolutely doesn't
05:38 make sense. What do you mean my power is made perfect in weakness? So, let's go through that a little bit. Now, this
05:44 text is well known. It talks about Paul having a thorn in his flesh. And we'll
05:50 we go a little bit on the context of second Corinthians and the some of the larger themes in the in the in the book.
05:57 Now one, it could mean a medical condition, a torn in the flesh. And a
06:03 lot of if you read reform literature, right, they like to believe this. Why? Because it's got to do with a debate
06:09 with the charismatics. So they want to believe that this is medical so that they can tell our charismatic friends,
06:15 see is medical and God didn't heal him. But the context of second Corinthians,
06:22 I'd like to suggest that's one possibility. But another way of looking
06:27 at thorn is simply people. You know he a person is a torn in your
06:34 flesh. And in second Corinthians you find he has heavy opposition from a
06:40 group of people. We'll go about that a bit in detail. But the truth is we don't know what the thorn was but it was
06:47 something that caused him a lot of pain. Physical pain, mental pain, we don't
06:52 know. So here we have Paul with a thorn. It could be an illness. It could be a
06:58 group of people. Earlier on, you read medieval literature, people say it could be a temptation. We don't know. Quite
07:06 likely, I think is either physical or a group of people. I want to give you four
07:11 points. Number one, bring your desires and hurts to God. Two, and this is the
07:16 big picture point, kingdom values and our expectations in life. three
07:22 disappointments and selfdeception and we go to our key point when you're weak you
07:28 are strong uh there sometimes we got to look at the way the nuances on the way
07:35 the verse is written and what Paul writes is three times I pleaded with the
07:41 Lord about this that it should leave me again that gives credence that is people
07:48 by the way it should leave me but we don't Now, let me ask a question.
07:54 When in the New Testament, can you recall someone else who pleaded three
08:00 times for something so overbearing and
08:05 dreadful to be removed and God did not?
08:11 Three times or so. Someone yell it out.
08:17 Jesus. That's right. Jesus if you follow in the garden of
08:22 Gethsemane three times. Now why why is this important? Because
08:30 biblical narrative when they write things they write things are important. And what happened when Jesus was at the
08:37 cross? Eloy Eloy Sabachani my God my God
08:42 why did you forsake me? There's a whole theology to that. But at a moment, God
08:48 saw God didn't see Jesus. He saw sin. And God in his humanity, in his pain,
08:54 cried out, "My God, why did you forsake me again?" Why do the gospel writers
09:01 write that? Why do the psalmist says, "Out of my depths, I cry out to you."
09:09 Why does Haman prays and says, you know, I I'm just completely lost. Why does
09:15 Habacook pray feeling abandoned? Why does Job say, "I cursed the day I
09:23 was born?" You see, we we often underestimate that
09:29 scripture really tells us, "Guys, be real.
09:36 Don't be fake. There's no need to be with God.
09:41 You feel it. you want it, whatever it is, you take it to God. Because I think
09:49 there's a tendency among Christian circles to bottle it inside. Now, here's the reality.
09:58 If you go through a series of disappointments or some issues or some trauma, whatever the range it is, it
10:04 affects you. You just don't realize it did. And it resurfaces in many ways.
10:11 Science tells us this. There's a simple word for it. It's called a coping
10:16 mechanism. And coping mechanisms can come in various forms,
10:23 very various forms. If if you're type that's always anxious, always jittery,
10:28 that's a coping mechanism. Here's one very obvious. Um, you were young and you
10:34 had parents that or you had people around you that that made you feel very
10:41 suppressed or they pushed you. What do you do? You you walk away. That's how
10:48 you dealt with it. Now, what happens then when you get Odin in life, anything happens at work, you
10:55 do the same. You see, it's a coping mechanism. It it's triggered. You get into a
11:01 relationship with someone and things go bad, you want to walk. Some people, for example, when they have a problem, they
11:08 want to sleep. Some people when they have issues, they eat.
11:13 It's a coping mechanism. Now, I I want us to start on the right note. It's very very important to recognize these
11:20 things. And I'll tell you why in point three. But here's the first point. The point is you take these things and you
11:28 give it to God. They are unhealthy and their healthy coping mechanism. This is
11:33 to me one of the best books you should read. The most gospel center. He he he basically used the gospel of John to
11:40 wrap this book around. It's easily 20 years old. You know, I can loan you my copy if you want, but it's fantastic,
11:47 very evangelical. And he he tells a story of a man, very
11:52 active churchgoer, whose mother committed suicide. Now, this is going to be a little bit depressing now. And after that I'll make it lighter but bear
11:59 with me cuz my wife always telling me your sermon is very depressing. Bear with me. So here was a woman man whose
12:06 mom committed suicide and he tries to deal with it and like any good reformed Calvinist church or whatever not taking
12:13 shots at Calvinist. Go read the Bible. So he reads the Bible. Go read the Psalms. So he reads
12:20 the Psalms. He memorizes the Psalms. He does what every good little Christian
12:25 boy is supposed to do. He goes to the Bible, it doesn't remove the pain.
12:31 So he sees Dr. Larry Krab and he go through sessions and he could quote the
12:36 Psalms and then Dr. Larry Crab picked up something which is what we call a blind
12:41 sight. I'm going to go to that later. It's called a blind side. We all have this they call this a know something
12:48 called a Johari window. It's a blind side. You know what he was doing? He was
12:53 using the Bible to numb his pain.
12:58 Now, that's very telling because that's a coping mechanism. So, here's some truth. You can use your preaching,
13:07 your music, your Bible study leading, your coming to church, your memorizing
13:12 the Bible. You can use anything as a coping mechanism.
13:18 And that's very dangerous. And as Dr. Larry Crab unpilled it. That
13:23 which was meant to grow him was actually stunting him. And Dr. Larry Crap told
13:30 him, you just got to put that aside. And he says, you got to do two things.
13:36 Number one, it's okay to desire.
13:42 And come on, let's be real. We we come to life brought into this world with
13:48 expectations. We want to go to school and have friends and that didn't quite happen. You were
13:55 bullied in school or you were the outcast. Then you wanted to get good grades and please your parents somehow
14:02 that didn't quite happen. Then as you get older you you wanted to get into a
14:08 good relationship. That didn't quite happen. And the danger with us is that we put it
14:15 inside and we we push it down inside. That again is a coping mechanism.
14:22 And here Paul just takes it to God. God, would you remove this?
14:30 And Christ takes this before God. If it's your will, take it away. Why does
14:35 the Bible record this? Jesus came to the world knowing he was
14:41 going to die. And his humanity is recorded to us that it was so dreadful. He says, "Lord, if
14:48 it's your will, take this away." These are important things to pick up. It makes us human.
14:56 And here's the next one. It's not enough to say it's okay to desire. It's okay to hurt.
15:03 God, I wish my marriage was better. God, I wish I had children.
15:10 God, I wish I had a better job. Now, this is the starting point of
15:17 disciplehip. If you don't come to God broken, don't
15:22 come to God hungry, don't come to God bankrupt, God becomes like what Dr. Peter says, a
15:30 supplement. He is not center. So, we start off right. We start off clean. We
15:36 go deep in and says, "Yes, I come to church. I look around and I feel
15:42 jealous. That's it, God. I said it. And you'll be surprised because that is
15:49 the doorway to knowing God. You get that?
15:55 I I don't know how to over overstate this. It's your doorway.
16:02 Either that you come to God like a rich young ruler. what can I do to gain
16:08 eternal life? And he's blind to his crutch. Take that in. We're going to go
16:14 deep into this in point three. Let me just go on.
16:19 Am I okay? And here's the big picture I want us to pick up. Okay.
16:24 He says something very strange which is found in chapter 11 all the way to 12. He says after he gives the key points,
16:31 my grace is sufficient for you. My power is made perfect witness. We'll go to that later. And then he uses the word
16:36 therefore. This is the conclusion. I will boast all the more gladly of my
16:42 weakness. Now isn't that strange boast. Number one, you shouldn't boast, right? Number two, boast of weakness. Like,
16:47 hello. Hey, look at my car. I got a per door. Hey, look at my job, man. I'm a
16:55 security guard. That's what he's trying to tell you. Why? Now, there's got to be some context
17:03 in this. Clicker clicker. Okay.
17:08 And one of the key things happening in second Corinthians is this issue of
17:14 super apostles. Actual word is he uses the Greek word is hyper which is I'm
17:20 better than you. Let me give you a bit of the background of second Corinthian. This technically is actually the third
17:25 letter. He wrote another letter before this was very severe. A lot of issues have happened. And now at this point
17:32 some people have come into the church and they say you know what you look at Paul he's not much of a speaker you know
17:37 he can't he's not trained you know he's not like Moses here's one word that
17:42 repeats itself in second Corinthians glory yeah is key word you know this guy looks very shameful and then look at us
17:49 and these super apostles had one thing they had a gift of visions and they were bragging it they were trained speakers
17:56 they knew the old testament they were very groomed very classy and they had a
18:02 lot of gifts. They had visions all over. So now let me tell you what's happening.
18:08 It tells you something about today's church that today in church people compete people there is you got to be
18:14 very careful when Christianity is too slick too package too wow look at that
18:21 is bling bling bling Christianity. There's a program now in America preachers of LA. So, Los Angeles, take
18:28 the front. LA, not enough. Atlanta, come on in. Atlanta, we have Atlanta. Atlanta's not in. Come on in. Detroit.
18:35 And we have Detroit. Detroit is not in. Come on in. Subang. And we have Sububang.
18:42 [Applause] Sorry. Yeah.
18:48 To my fellow elders. But why do that? Because Paul is saying,
18:55 "Okay, you guys want slick, you guys want smooth, you guys want fleshy, you want mega church, you want power, you
19:02 want power that is in healing, you want power that's in that is in prophecy,
19:08 I'll show you power, I show you my weakness." And he gives two distinct
19:13 examples. The first is found a chapter beforehand. I will boast of the things that show my weakness. Here's the first
19:20 example. And he tells a story at Damascus. At Damascus the governor under king Aritus was guarding the city. I was
19:27 let down in the basket through window in the wall escaped his hands. What is his power? I was completely
19:35 helpless. Shamefully let down like a piece of bread.
19:42 That's my power. Huh? How are you replying us? We we we like to our sleek,
19:49 powerful, flashy power. That's power to you. Uh-huh. Then he gives you another
19:55 power. All right, let's talk about visions. Here's a long text. I'm not going to read it to you. He tells you a story of man who 14 years ago we people
20:03 think this happened. Tarus, by the way, who saw a vision if it's today nowadays,
20:08 they'll write you a book. How I went to heaven and came back. They'll write you a bestseller book. And what he says is I
20:15 know a man. He distanced himself of this man. And in verse five, he says
20:20 something strange. On behalf of this man, I will boast. He's saying, you know what? If this word, you'll be boasting of it. On my own behalf, I will not
20:27 boast. You know what he's telling you? That man is me. And this boing is
20:33 worthless. There you are. That boasting worthless. Now, what is he driving at? He's driving
20:39 to this key point. He says, "When I'm weak, I am strong." Now this is very important to wrap
20:46 ourselves around about why we get disappointed because this are is about
20:52 the values of the kingdom of God. We learn this in the gospel of John.
20:57 Nicodemus comes at night. The Samaritan the woman Samaritan woman comes at day.
21:02 She is weak. He is strong. She is last. He is first. She will find his life. He
21:10 loses it. Although the story changes at the end and of course first Corinthian tells us the wisdom of the cross is
21:17 foolishness to men. What are we seeing here? We are seeing kingdom values. You
21:22 notice Paul never talks about the kingdom of God. He only talks about the gospel. Jesus only talks about the
21:29 kingdom. What is scripture telling us? The kingdom of God and the gospel are the same thing.
21:36 They impact one another. Let me put it to you this way. Why is it you have low
21:42 self-esteem? Because you feel like you're a failure.
21:47 I didn't get kids. I'm a failure. I I didn't get promoted. I'm a failure.
21:53 I didn't get married. I'm a failure. My marriage broke down. I'm a failure. I'm only a success if I have all of that
22:00 else. But the kingdom of God is a paradoxical kingdom. Now, this is
22:07 central because what is the signal of kingdom? Hey man, look at me. I'm married. I got two kids. Once a doctor,
22:15 once a lawyer, now not lawyer. Now I should be computer. Whatever you call it. My health good, man.
22:22 Look at me, man. I'm Jolo. Don't say that.
22:28 That's the center of the kingdom of me. You know what's at the center of the kingdom of God? So imagine you're on a
22:35 journey and you come to this great palace and wow. And they say, "Look at this palace and it's magnificent and we
22:42 are going to go to the throne of the palace." And you walk up the steps and you say, "Ah, wow. I imagine what a king
22:48 will look like. He probably has a robe. He has a he has a crown. He looks fantastic." And you go, "Huh?
22:55 That's it." And Paul says, "That's it. You get this, you get everything."
23:03 And what is Paul telling us? Paul is telling us there's a war going on inside
23:08 of you. And the war is between the kingdom of me that says my sense of
23:14 identity is because I do well at work. I get married. I have meaningful
23:19 relationships. I live, learn, live a legacy. This is all secular.
23:24 I actualize my life. And then there is a kingdom of God that
23:29 takes you away and puts God in the middle, smack in the middle, and he
23:35 elevates all these things to the side and he fills you with something else.
23:40 And he says, "Your life, my life is bigger than me."
23:47 And Paul Trip puts this, by the way, Paul Trip is one of those writers all you evangelicals should read. To me,
23:54 he's the new John Piper, man. He is one of the best writers that you guys got to read. Okay, let me count to
23:60 you that in a while. There was a series in Netflix, 13 Reasons Why. I got this from my daughter. Teenagers have these
24:06 teenage ang movies. It's great to have a teenage daughter. And this young person
24:12 commits suicide and she sends 13 tapes to this guy. And it's it's interesting
24:18 story because each tape gives you a reason why she's disappointed. The first tape is about her best friend who
24:23 backstabs her. The second tape is how she's accused of of doing something she didn't do. Another tape is how she tries
24:31 to do poetry and they rubbish the poetry. It cascades down to self-destruction.
24:38 So 12 tapes gives you why she killed herself. This series was very popular uh
24:45 won awards. The the book is a bestseller. But then 13th tape and she sends it to
24:51 this guy and and and here's the tragedy. She says, "I'm sending it to you not because you did something that caused me
24:58 to kill myself. This is done postthumously after she actually killed herself. I'm sending this tape to you
25:05 because of what you didn't do." And as the story unfolds,
25:12 we find out he has a crush on her and she knows it, but he doesn't dare make a
25:18 move. And she's waiting and waiting and hoping he makes a move. And in the tape,
25:25 she says, "You know what? If only you had the courage to love me,
25:32 I may not have taken my life." It's completely tragic and it shows you
25:38 the reality of the kingdom of me. Paul Trip says this, "Here it is. When the
25:46 enemy somehow tricks you into squeezing the size of your life into the size of
25:54 your personal dreams, wants, and needs, he has got you right where he wants you.
26:03 That's very powerful. If your hope disappoints you is the wrong kind of hope. like waiting for a
26:10 boy to love you, like waiting to get that job, like waiting to get that
26:15 because you know what? Once you get that 10 years later, I guarantee you, you'll be disappointed again. Then something
26:21 else will come up. So Paul Trip says the only hope that disappoint is God. You
26:27 see, hope in God never disappoints precisely because hope in God. This
26:33 means that hope placed in any other thing will always end up disappointing. Think about it. On those things that we
26:41 always thought gave us happiness, they did for 5 minutes. He will lose his
26:46 lecture. Here's a simple example. Uh you you hear this in marriage. Wow. I married him because he's so active. He
26:53 does so many things. After 20 years marriage, hey, why you so part one?
26:59 Everything also cable. Before married I I married her because
27:04 she's so gentle, so soft, such a feminine woman. After married, hey you know opinion one everything also never
27:12 say oneh you see hope changes because of our
27:17 sinful nature. So Paul treat very wisely like Paul you
27:22 put your hope in God. Now how do we do that? We'll come to that in the last point. So here's the key point I want to
27:28 pick up. disappointment in myself,
27:34 disappointment to others. Here's one thing. Jesus came to this earth. They looked at
27:41 him and they say, "Wow, he can feed 5,000 people. He can do this. He's going
27:47 to save us from the Romans." Disappointed.
27:54 You see the key point this morning is disappointed to who?
28:01 And I want to ask you the key thing for us is are we and listen to this. It
28:06 speaks to me. Are we a disappointment to God? That's the only thing that matters.
28:15 Only thing you settle that right, everything else flows from there. In Luke 13, Jesus tells a story of a fig
28:22 tree that does not blossom. Before that, he tells a story of people who die in silo. So, there's a context to it. The
28:29 fig tree doesn't blossom. The fig tree is representing Israel. And so, the
28:35 owner comes and says, "You know what? The fig tree doesn't blossom. I'm a it's a disappointment. Cut it down."
28:41 The farm hand says, I mean, the orchard hand says, "Give it time. I will take care of the tree.
28:48 Let me let me have a let me have a let give it another chance and after one
28:54 year if it doesn't blossom cut it down. Who is the orchard hand? It's Jesus.
29:00 So Jesus is saying he wants to stand in the gap between me and God. Because if
29:08 you're honest, we disappoint God. Why? Because let's be honest. Come on, guys.
29:14 We don't really care. We disappoint God. We care. we disappoint. Mwah.
29:19 And by extension, whether it's my mom or dad or my husband or my girlfriend or my boss, it's muah.
29:26 We don't really care. You're really honest to yourself. Who cares, man? I tell you who cares. Jesus cares.
29:35 He cares and he stands in that gap to take you to the father. How does he do
29:41 that? Let's pick it up a little bit and we're going to go to third point.
29:46 Plateau once said the worst of all deceptions is selfdeception. We're going to go a little bit deep into this and a
29:53 little bit painful. Uh you know those of you who ptor before let me
29:59 recolct your first ptor experience. No ptor the time you were interested.
30:05 Let's use the guy. Oh I like that girl. She's sending me sickness man. She she she likes me you know. So you Hey, you
30:12 try to make your move, you know. Try to be too conny and make a move and she likes me. I know why. Because of No, no,
30:18 no, no, no, no, no, no. Hello, she's not into you. Get it through your
30:23 head. So when she tells you sorry, not interested. Wow.
30:34 Must be Peter's fault. Must be Yidian's fault. Must be the way I dress. Must be the weather. Hello.
30:42 She's not into you. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. Must be correct or not. Why?
30:48 Because the truth of rejection too much to bear.
30:55 Selfdeception is the worst enemy.
31:00 Now, let's take that to a real level.
31:07 And that can be anything. Right. Here's one example. Same example.
31:13 I came to life hoping for a good marriage.
31:19 Didn't work out. Lesson I learned. I'm bad. I can't be a good husband.
31:30 I'm useless in love. That's the devil whispering to you.
31:35 That's the messenger of Satan.
31:40 I went to job. I have a plan. Three years I'm going to make it a manager.
31:46 Three years later, stuck in the same job. Must be a boommy problem.
31:53 Correct. All racist. Actually, you're not performing. No, no,
31:59 no, no, no. NP problem. You see where we're going with this?
32:07 is painful. So, one of the most interesting and
32:12 understated things about this text is Paul understands why the thorn was
32:18 given. He had a problem. What was his problem? Come on, guys. Read it out to
32:24 me. He was proud.
32:31 By the way, here's a side issue to the charismatic evangelical debate.
32:36 Evangelicals love to use this to promote the cessationist position. Biblical charismatic says, "Well, okay, if you
32:43 look at the text, he knew why he wasn't healed." By the way, that's just for you, further for you to want to go to
32:49 that area. That's all I want to say about that. But the point is the pain
32:55 taught him something about himself. Now, here's the lesson. We learn more about ourselves
33:02 when we go through pain and hardship than when you're sipping pina colada at
33:08 Desaru Beach or Port Dixon or Tanjung Aru or whatever. You learn nothing when
33:15 your life is paradise. But put you through the grinder. It does two things to you. It either makes you
33:22 closer to God or it pushes you further from God. Nothing in between. It's never
33:27 neutral. And what the text is telling you if you humble yourself like it say in
33:34 Philippians we have to have the mind of Christ you learn something and Paul learned he was conceited. Now
33:42 why is this important? Because if you look at the context on a conscious level
33:48 he knew that visions has no value. So look at the context earlier on in
33:54 chapter 12 I mean uh verse one I there is nothing to be gained by it I will go
34:00 on to visions and revelations he knows in his mind visions and revelations has
34:06 no value yet he's conceited now what is this text telling us it tells us all
34:13 these things are usually subconscious you and I rarely know our condition
34:19 that's why the Bible talks about judging others. If you are judgmental, you obviously won't you most likely won't
34:26 know it. If you're always running someone else, you most likely won't know it. If you're critical, most likely you
34:33 won't know it. We we are very often the type that magnifies our good and
34:40 downplay our bad. Again, is a coping mechanism.
34:45 So earlier on Paul says this in chapter 4 as we look not to the things that are
34:53 seen but the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient
34:58 but the things that are unseen are eternal. And he says this again in chapter 10. He tells the Corinthian
35:04 church in verse 6 you are looking only the surface of things. There is a story
35:11 about a road called Emmas and two men walk on that road. Go look
35:18 it up in the Gospels. And they are disappointed. Today we're going to talk about disappointment in
35:23 the Bible. And a stranger comes up to them and says, "Why are you so disappointed?" He says, "What's wrong
35:28 with you? Jesus came and we were hoping he would deliver us from the Romans, but he died." Some women came and say he
35:35 rose again. We don't believe this. And they're disappointed. The stranger spends time with them,
35:41 opens the word of God, eats with them. This is very important. Now, we all know this story. We know that this person is
35:48 Jesus. They don't read the story for yourself. Now, it's a wonderful story
35:54 because he spends time with them. They don't know Jesus is with them.
36:02 He opens the Bible with them. They don't know Jesus is opening the Bible with them.
36:08 He fellowships with them. They don't know is Jesus fellowship with them. And what's the beauty of this story? At the
36:14 end, he touches them and at that point of that touch they realize is Jesus.
36:22 What is the story telling you? The story is telling you this that we have to look at life through the eyes of our heart
36:31 renewed by the spirit. Not by broken eyes, eyes of pity, eyes of anxiety.
36:38 It's really, really important. Let me give you an example. And here
36:44 gives the big statement. Process what happens in your life.
36:52 Here's one that happened to me. Uh, I've been going through some issues. We all go through some issues. Out of the blue,
36:60 Sister Yoshika, whom I don't contact, absolutely don't. The last time I spoke
37:07 to her was at Yulam's place, sends me this.
37:12 And she never never WhatsApps me. Never. Never. Those of you don't you don't know, Sister Yoshika was a Japanese
37:18 sister that was with me. I'm not particularly close to her.
37:23 So me being typically defensive while you send this to me. You've been talking to some people, right?
37:29 Who have you been talking to? You say, "I've been talking to no one." I just felt it in my spirit. I should send this
37:37 to you. Anyone of you who knows me knows this is
37:42 a verse I need to listen to. Now what I'm trying to tell you that if
37:49 you if you open your ears enough and hear
37:54 God speaks to you and he speaks to you through people like
38:00 a stranger on the road to Emmas and he reveals things about yourself. To
38:08 Paul it was conceit. To the two the road mayors, it was their
38:16 cynicism. To me, it was my anxiety.
38:22 But you can only do that if you allow people to speak to your heart.
38:27 Process what happens in your life. I was on a plane to KK um
38:34 on Wednesday. I sat next to a girl who was reading Henry Newan's book and I
38:39 told myself, God, if you put someone next to me reading Henry Newan is providence. So I spoke a conversation to
38:46 her. I find out she's a full-time worker doing campus ministry. And through the discussion with a
38:52 complete stranger someday is great to talk to strangers. She told me how she felt abandoned when she was a kid.
38:59 She felt abandoned by her brother and he led her to a coping mechanism. And
39:04 sometime the best stories are the simplest stories because we all relate to. She was 6 years old, younger than
39:10 her brother. The brother went to secondary school. She felt abandoned. It made her anxious. It made her jittery.
39:15 She told me stories about how she gets into a car accident. She can't cope. I said, "How do you deal with it?" She
39:21 said, "God throws stones." I said, "What do you mean by God throws stones?" She said, "Because of the hardness of our
39:27 heart, as we go through life, God will just throw one stone." And she said one day her supervisor just
39:32 came up to her and wrote her a letter. I said why did she write a letter? I said I don't know. And I learned something
39:38 about myself. And she said you know why? Because honor we we are so stubborn people we can't
39:44 take it. If I come up to you say you're anxious you're this this I react. So God
39:50 in his mercy will walk next to you slowly open scriptures and he will touch your hand and you learn something. And
39:57 as she goes on, she says, "God threw another stone and she learned something about herself." And then she revisited
40:03 her abandonment. But she visited the abandonment with the eyes of the heart.
40:09 And then she realized the brother was just growing up. The brother went to secondary school. The brother loved her
40:15 and she prayed and she moved on. Now I want you to process this
40:22 because if you don't disappointment will will just sap you and you will not live.
40:29 Now how do we do that? That's one other way. Another text tells us very famous text. He says that we destroy arguments
40:36 and every lofty opinion and take every thought captive to obey Christ. This is
40:42 a verse very often misread because it implies you take captive your thoughts.
40:48 That is not the context. You know what? Who takes captive your thoughts? It is someone else. Paul is going to take
40:56 captive the thoughts of those who have been influenced by these false apostles. The text means this. My thinking is
41:04 subconscious. The only way I can get rid of it is if I open up to someone else.
41:11 It takes two. So if you feel your life is bitter, if
41:16 you feel your life is unhappy, if you feel life is disappointing, two things we're learning. One, you take it to God.
41:22 Number two, you take it to someone in church. You don't have to say too much. And
41:28 those of us in church, we have years to listen. Say enough. We pray. And then maybe what I'll do is I'll send you a
41:34 WhatsApp message. You know what? God told me to tell you this today. Um this is a really famous female
41:41 writer. She's fantastic writer. You should read her, right? And she said this, the church has to be a safe place.
41:49 Imagine if every church became a place where everyone is safe. And here's the key word. No one is comfortable. Why?
41:55 Because if it's comfortable, it means it's a place safe to sin. That's not
42:00 what we all about. It's a place safe to confess. Imagine every church became a
42:06 place where we told one another the truth. We might just create sanctuary. And here's the challenge I have to you
42:14 is FBC sanctuary. If it's not is our job to make it that
42:21 because that's the only way God's going to come out and touch you and take away that disappointment.
42:29 So let me end with this as we close up. And in many ways we have just setting the stage for this last key point. I
42:36 want to leave you one major lesson with this which was really really uh
42:41 transformative for me and again uh it came from Paul Trip. Okay sorry that's my new reader writer author. Now
42:48 fantastic point I want you to digest this. Okay one key point. Okay let's look a bit on the text. Number one he
42:54 ties grace and power together. That the first thing you pick up now that's strange isn't it? Because grace is seen
43:00 here. The Greek translated as mercy, loving kindness, undeserved. But he ties
43:06 grace with power. Grace and sufficiency. That's one. Power is perfected. You find
43:12 it in first Ephesians. Ephesians chapter 1 tells you about the power of the cross. You and I are much more powerful
43:20 than we imagine. Take that, take that home. you and I under grace under grace
43:26 are much more powerful than I than we imagine contextually he ties these two
43:33 and then he ties it with this word rest and the Greek rendering for rest because
43:38 there this imagery of Moses and the glory of God which is all over second
43:44 Corinthians glory is such a big word is about a tent that I put myself into a
43:51 tent I rest in you so here are Three key words to understanding power. Grace and
43:57 power are tied and rest are tied. Now how do we understand this? Let me give
44:03 you one story. Everyone knows John Bonan. All right. So famous Puritan
44:09 writer. What is John Bunan famous for? Someone tell it to me.
44:15 Correct. He is most well known for Pilgrim's Progress.
44:22 What we don't know is how this book came about. John Bunan never started out by
44:27 saying, "Hey, my purpose in life is to be an author." Now, what happened with John Bunan in
44:34 the 17th century? He was part of a preaching movement that then the royalist took over
44:40 England. Let's not go into history. The long and short of it, they threw him in jail for 12 years. 12 years.
44:47 But John Bunan when he was in prison, he had four children. One more on the way. I'm just keeping
44:54 the story simple. And one of the kid was blind.
44:60 So imagine you're in prison and you got a blind daughter and you're in the 17th
45:05 century. You know how he made a living? He made a living making shoelaces
45:12 and the and the family had to literally live off charity. Not one year, 12
45:18 years. And he described it in a letter. I read it, you know. Wow. You should read it.
45:25 Brings a tear to you. You know how he described the feeling? He said he felt like his flesh was being torn from his
45:34 bones, helpless in prison, and I have a blind daughter
45:41 out there. And the royalist just told him, "You just need to renounce preaching and we
45:46 let you go." He said, "No." And in that 12 years there he said in the darkness
45:53 of that cell there was nothing to do. He started to write
45:60 and as he wrote the pilgrim's progress came out.
46:06 You see when our strength runs out God's strength begins
46:13 because God's grace doesn't need our power. is at that lowest moment where I
46:19 cannot pull on my talent on my ability to speak. That's me talking about myself, my my my whatever my human
46:26 ability. I'm I'm completely lost. That God's power pulls you out because
46:34 it is sufficient. And you then realize you're much more
46:39 powerful than you think. And this is what God told Paul. Paul says, "I can't take it, God. I can't." And God says,
46:46 "You can. My grace is enough and you're going to not only pull through this, you're going to thrive."
46:54 I I saw a very very simple example of this and this where I understood rest. A
46:60 few of us were in SSMC few weeks ago listening to Viv Thomas. Um I I was
47:06 sitting next to brother takeho. I think Ply was there with us. In the front row there was a father with a kid who was a
47:14 special need kid. and he was autistic and he was all over the place. He was everywhere. He was
47:20 distracting everyone. I spoke to Viv Thomas after that and we both said we learned something and you should see the
47:27 father. The father worshiped like man you all should learn the way he worshiped
47:36 and and he was worshiping. The sun was all over the place. It didn't bother him. He worshiped and as the sun was
47:42 rolling he pulled the sun and he will kiss the sun and he will worship. The sun will create a ruckus. He kiss the
47:48 sun he worship and I saw a father who didn't let that get in the way of
47:54 worshiping God. And in fact that made him love God more. You see in the storm right in the storm
48:00 there is this silence and in that silence God speaks and he speaks to you
48:06 in with that rest that rest and and in that small voice he brings you his
48:12 strength. And so let me finish with this key point because
48:17 at the end of the verse it ends with this. Now here here is what is important. Let me give you verse seven.
48:24 For verse 7, he starts off for my sake
48:29 and my problem. My sake is my pain. My problem is a thorn. Look at how verse 10
48:35 ends. Is now for the sake of Christ is now no longer his thorn is insults,
48:41 hardships, persecutions, calamities, weakness. He's taken his problem
48:47 and he's moved it to Christ and he's shifted it to something else alto together. Now this to me is the key to
48:56 fighting all these issues that weigh us down so much is this word transcendence.
49:06 Transcendence. You are called to a life of transcendent
49:13 to glorify God. My life is much much bigger than my pain.
49:21 So next time you have a lawsuit, next time you sit down, you feel sorry for yourself, you tell yourself you have one
49:27 shot at this life as the fig tree, time is short, you're going to meet your maker. Glorify him. You don't glorify
49:33 him, you glorify yourself. And God's mercy, when you glorify him, he will
49:38 give you that peace that surpasses all understanding. Transcendence.
49:46 I am bigger than my problem. I'm bigger than my bitterness. I'm bigger than my
49:52 disappointments. I'm bigger than my fears. I'm bigger than and and at the point where I'm lowest. I see God the
49:59 clearest. So, let me end with one example and I'm going to ask the worship team to come
50:04 up. I brought this before and maybe the worship team can get ready. This is Fanny Crosby. I shared with about her
50:12 few weeks ago. She wrote so many hymns,
50:18 but she's blind. And I shared that story.
50:24 And remember what I was telling you, Paul is trying to teach us to see with the eyes of our heart.
50:32 Was she disappointed with her life? That she's blind. She had a marriage that
50:37 didn't quite work out. For all the things she did with all the music, she was never rich. She gave
50:44 everything away. So let me end with how we see with the eyes of our heart.
50:50 Oh what a happy soul am I.
50:55 Although I cannot see. I am resolved
51:01 then in this world contented I shall be.
51:08 How many blessings I enjoy that other people don't
51:15 to weep and sigh because I'm blind.
51:20 I cannot and I will not.
51:26 My grace is sufficient for you. My power
51:33 is made perfect in weakness. Father God, as we just
51:39 close this session that we we draw near to the cross.
51:47 That symbol of absolute power but to the world is a symbol of complete
51:54 weakness. That the road to glory [Music]
52:01 is true brokenness. the cross.
52:07 Weakness but complete strength. Lord, this morning we we want to process
52:14 our lives. We take our pain, our disappointments. We give it to you.
52:20 We ask, oh Lord, you teach us something about ourselves, about our blind spots. Let us not cope
52:27 with this in a bad way. [Music] And Lord, we ask ourselves in this war
52:33 between the kingdom of me and the kingdom of God that we are aware of that we put you
52:40 center. As you center, oh Lord, you change our needs and we seek first your
52:45 kingdom and all these things will come later because our needs and desires are changed.
52:53 So Lord, right now I speak to every person here who hurts, who who struggles.
52:59 We ask for your spirit to just go out
53:04 and Lord call us to this life. Take this one simple message home. We are called
53:11 to a life of transcendence. We are bigger, so much bigger when we
53:18 put our life to glorify you. and we are victorious.
53:23 And the road to victory is through the cross. And Lord, why do we say that?
53:29 Because hope in you never disappoints. Hope in you always encourages us. For we
53:38 have that blessed assurance.
