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00:00 And these are is on the net. You just Google it. You just Google American
00:05 University Dubai. You'll get a hit. Can you imagine? And these are cars are not of the lecturers. I be if I lecture I be
00:13 I we all be queuing up there to apply. These are cars of the students.
00:18 Can you imagine your undergraduate 19 years old dad? I want a baserati for my 21st birthday. Already we complain about
00:26 kids asking for iPads and and and this and all your kids asking for labuinis, you know. Now here's a question I want
00:32 to ask you. Is it blessed to have friends
00:40 hanging out together where everybody drives a Lamborghini, a Porsche Cheyenne, a a Maserati, a Bentley, a
00:47 Rolls-Royce. Is it is it a blessing? How come? No. No. No. No. Hey, you mean
00:53 look, financial wealth is a blessing, right? Who here, how how many guys don't
00:58 secretly want to have a Ferrari in their backyard? Come on. Okay, you look like you can see all the half grease already.
01:04 Correct. Is a secret design. Many guys, this is what I call big boy toys, you know. But why is it when I say I get a
01:11 bunch of 19, 20 year old driving Maseratis and Porsche Cheyen and Lamborghinis and and Ferraris into the
01:18 school, y'all say I ask you is it a blessing? think you keep quiet because
01:24 we know that people who hang out together who drive cars like that have
01:29 certain attitudes or can be tempted to have certain attitudes. If all your friends have those kind of cars, you
01:35 demand certain things of life. You demand certain things of people and so the question is is this really a
01:41 blessing? Now this morning I want to take a certain question and you realize that this is being picked up in the
01:47 worship. The question is this, what does it really mean to be blessed from a
01:53 biblical perspective? And you find that what scripture teaches us about blessings and what the world teaches us
01:59 about blessings are actually entirely different. So this morning, we want to ask that God blesses you with the
02:07 blessings that what Paul asks to be given to the Ephesians. Let's come before God in prayer. Lord, we come
02:15 before you now in humility as we start off this year and as we start off this year on a difficult note for the
02:21 country. Lord, we bless you, oh Lord, that you, oh Lord, are almighty and you will never
02:28 let go of us. We are in the palms of your hand. Lord, many times our thinking
02:34 are not as what scripture teaches us. Our thinking thinking is influenced by the world. So teach us this morning to
02:40 rediscover what it means to be blessed and that we are in your hands, oh Lord. And we say this in Jesus' name. Amen.
02:48 Okay. Last week I I I took us through the salutations. This week we're going
02:54 to do a little bit more homework. I I say we want to do really emphasize we're biblical church. We are going to look at
03:00 verses 3 to 14. We're going to concentrate on three on eight, but I
03:06 want to just look at 3 to 14. You don't have to read it but just just just just open your Bible have a look at it. Now
03:12 in the original Greek verses 3 to 14 is one sentence. The Greeks are not like us
03:18 you know they don't have short sentences is one long sentence.
03:23 No very chong very long you know. So it's one sentence. Now take a step back
03:29 and just pick up certain word. Let me pick up certain words from 3 to 14. And I ask I have one question to ask you.
03:36 What do you think Paul's mood was when he wrote this? Okay, let me just pick
03:41 this up to you. Verse three, he starts off by saying, "Praise be to God." Okay,
03:49 verse four, he chose us. Verse six, to the praise of his glorious name to
03:56 freely given us. Verse seven, in him we have redemption.
04:03 Verse eight, he lavished on us. Verse 11, we were also chosen.
04:10 Verse 12, the praise of his glory. On and on and up to verse 14, to the praise
04:17 of his glory. Do you see a pattern? What is the pattern here
04:23 from verses 3 to 14? What is this thing that keeps repeating itself? What is his
04:30 mood when he's writing this? He's a happy man. In fact, what is he doing? He
04:36 is praising God. This is praise and worship. Now, there's
04:42 a very important point. You know, that means when he wrote this, he was very happy and it was one long sentence. It's
04:49 like you hold your breath and it's just one long sentence. He is gushing.
04:54 He is praising God. The the way to try to get it in context is you try and imagine a girl who has found who has a
05:01 whole series of loser boyfriends. Real loser boyfriends. Then one day she finds the real the guy the guy. And she's
05:10 having a conversation with a BFF. Is that what they call it? On the phone. And she said, "Oh, you know, he's so
05:17 sweet. He's so cute. He's so tall. He's so dark. He's so handsome. My mom loves him. My dog loves him. My grandmother
05:23 loves him. He loves me. He gives me space. He gives me respect. Da da da da da da da da. That's what you get. He is
05:32 so in love with God. He goes on and on and on and on. So that's what we get
05:39 here. So the question is he feels very blessed.
05:45 Now, however, this is what I wanted to pick up. When you look at what he says
05:50 as blessings, just a cursory reading and what in your mind if you say you're blessed, you find it normally is two
05:57 different things. Now, this is quite a famous book that's coming out in academic circles. This book by IVP the
06:04 title blessed traces what is commonly called the prosperity gospel movement.
06:12 is a very popular movement in many big churches. They don't like to call themselves that. They like to call
06:17 themselves the word of faith movement. But in many of these churches, blessed
06:24 means three things, health, wealth, and prosperity.
06:31 And prosperity is often seen in terms of self-improvement. It is your best life. Now you are born
06:40 again. born to win. And the argument in the prosperity gospel teaching is this
06:46 is that when God saves you, he doesn't just save you spiritually.
06:52 He is a good God. He'll save you in all areas. Now, the the argument is very
06:57 seductive because the counterargument if you listen to some of these preachers is that does God want you to be poor? No.
07:04 Right? What kind of good God want you to be poor? Does God want you to be sick? God doesn't want you to be sick. Right?
07:10 So therefore, God wants you to be totally safe and that while you're on this earth to acquire his blessings
07:18 means to acquire all these things and churches that teach this are very big.
07:24 Now here is the first observation about when you look at blessings that way and
07:30 when you define blessings from God in terms of health, wealth, prosperity, the
07:36 simple common sense is you don't have to be a Christian to want these things.
07:41 Every single human being, whether you're religious or not religious, wants
07:48 success, wealth, longevity, etc., etc. Am I not right? This is instinctive to
07:56 us out there. You see this cat with a hand going like that. It's called Monaco eco or something like that. I always
08:01 find it very bizarre because you have some shot of the cat going like that. Then now the head is going left hand side then got two hands also going like
08:07 that. It was very bizarre. So I googled it up you know I googled it up because I
08:12 you don't believe me after go for lunch I bet you out 10 restaurants at least six restaurants that have this cat going
08:17 like that you know. So I got very irritated. Why left hand? Why right hand? And you go internet there's a lot
08:23 of info on this the hair left hand means manila right hand means health two hands means prosperity this means longevity if
08:30 the hand goes like that it means like that it goes like that it was very strange but the argument was this argument is
08:37 that everybody wants these things everyone wants these things
08:43 however when you just take a look through what Paul is writing in terms of blessings
08:50 what do you pick No mention of health. Verses 3 to 14.
08:56 You don't have to be a Bible scholar here. No mention of health. No mention of wealth. No mention of
09:02 self-improvement. No mention of prosperity. Now, it's not to say that those things are not
09:07 important. But what is important is that it would tell you in one long sentence
09:13 in the beginning of the book of Ephesians, meaning it's an important point. Paul is saying to Christians the
09:20 emphasis on blessings are not so much these things. Now it's not to say that God doesn't
09:26 want to give us all of this but God is saying what's more important are these
09:31 kinds of blessings. Now the way to look at it is to compare
09:37 both these blessings and the first when most of us want blessings is this they are physical material or selffulfilling
09:45 in nature. People after they get all their money all want to be like this. They want to do self-actualization.
09:52 Meaning the moment I I I've acquired a lot of these things. I reinvent myself. You know, uh what does Tony Fernandez
09:59 say? You listen to his interviews, he's not telling you he made money selling you cheap air flats. Now I understand
10:05 why they call it a a air bus. You know, emphasize on the word bus, you know,
10:10 it's really like a bus. But he'll tell you and he believes it. He's connecting people and if he's connecting people,
10:17 he's making the world a better place. Mark Zuger says the same thing. Besides the fact that he made billions of
10:23 dollars, he's telling you he's making the world a better place to to live. And Howard Shoes, the CEO of Starbucks, says
10:30 the same thing. He's not selling you coffee. He's saying that if people drink coffee in Starbucks, they are in a community. The world is a better place.
10:37 I think it's nonsense. But the thing is this this what people see as blessings
10:43 in in the what do you call Abraham Marlo self-actualization theory you want shelter then you want money then you
10:49 want relationships then when you get all of this you want respect you want to leave a legacy as as Steven Kovi says
10:56 you want to live love and leave a legacy you want to know your life is meaningful
11:03 now the thing is this all of this is actually self-fulfilling and the first thing you pick up in this
11:09 verse is found in verse three and he says this praise be to God our father
11:15 our lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us in the heavenly realms that's blessings
11:21 and here's the interesting word with every what spiritual blessing so the first point is blessings to Christians
11:28 are spiritual the emphasis is not on the material is not on your self-actualization is not on
11:36 financial it is spiritual The second thing is this. People want it
11:41 now and they want it now in present continual sense. You know the youth will
11:46 say give it to me baby I want it more and more and more. Give it to me. Keep it coming. You know come on. You know
11:54 and here's something interesting. Look at verse four. He chose us in him
12:00 before the creation of the world. That flows out of verse three. So how Paul is
12:06 reading it is this. God has blessed you with every spiritual blessing. How has God blessed you? He blessed you this
12:12 way. He chose you before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in
12:18 his sight. Meaning, you already have been blessed. Very important point. You
12:24 already have been blessed. Here's the third thing. When someone tells you you're very blessed or people who who
12:31 see blessings in terms of money and health and and self fulfillment, the focus is on self.
12:39 If we're very honest with oursel, the focus is what you can get when you come
12:45 to church. What you can get if you become a Christian. What you can get if
12:51 I pray more, if I do this more. And and here's again the the the the the default
12:57 position for most of us. If I am a good person, I come to church more often. I I
13:02 serve in church more. I do this thing more. God, you should reward me. Correct
13:08 or not? You should make my life better. You should help me cure my son's
13:14 illness. You should help me put more money in the bank. The Bible calls this salvation by works. But meaning is you
13:22 you see in a cause and effect manner. Now here's the interesting of Paul's teaching of blessing. The focus is on
13:30 what we call the triune God. It's a fascinating verse because you look at the verse you find God Jesus Christ and
13:37 the Holy Spirit right all over. Let's pick it up. The first thing is verse three. Praise to God and father. What is
13:44 the next one? Lord Jesus Christ who bless us with what? Spiritual blessing. What spiritual blessing? The Holy
13:50 Spirit. You find it at the end of verse 13. Having believed, you will marked to him the seal the promised Holy Spirit.
13:57 And if you read 3 to 14, you find Holy Spirit, God. Jesus mentioned again and
14:03 again. So here's another thing to know. If you're really blessed, if you're really blessed,
14:08 you really understand how the Holy Spirit is working with you. If you're really blessed, you're moving closer to
14:15 know Jesus Christ and you know God as father.
14:20 And let me just in the end use some simple common sense. How let's use some logic. The struggle
14:28 with some people is that they don't use their brains. I hate to say and they come to church and that's why some
14:34 people say people come to church they don't think. The question if common sense tells you, statistics will tell
14:39 you how many people come to church from here and have good health, have got
14:45 wealth, have got prosperity, have no family problems, have no issues, have
14:50 and and and are feeling totally fulfilled in your purpose in life
14:56 for all times until the day you kick the bucket. It's impossible. But here what's quite
15:04 interesting with Paul, he says this in verse three. He says, "God has blessed
15:10 us, everybody, with spiritual blessing." With what? Every spiritual blessing.
15:20 So here's the thing. We want to take one step back because I think this is a very important point for us to digest because a lot of
15:28 us privately wish that we come to church, we say, "God, if I serve you,
15:34 give me all of this. Who anyway wants to be sick? Who wants to have family
15:40 problems? Who wants to go through life and have bad things happen to them?" So,
15:47 you know, back of mind, we think if we come to church and we be a good little Christian, boy or girl, sit in the
15:53 front, do all the good Christian things, God, you give me all of it. Now, here's
15:58 the reality check. That's not found in the verse. What does
16:04 Paul promise you? Every spiritual blessing. Does he promise you every
16:11 material blessing? No. Does he promise you you're going to get good health all the time? No, he doesn't do any of that.
16:19 In fact, as we read it further, you'll find he's going to push the bar higher. He's going to ask you, "Are you prepared
16:25 to give up your money? Are you prepared to risk your health? Are you prepared to
16:30 risk your dignity and your honor?" Last week, I had a conversation with
16:36 Peter Davidson and uh David about casinos. Not because we gamble,
16:42 but casinos are fascinating. being an architect you know you know whether you know
16:48 you've been to Ging and people I meet very KPC you know I've been to Ging you know I I've been to Macau to Lisba I've
16:54 been to Sans I've been to MGM I've been to Jupiter I I must confess just go in never gamble I mean confess really you
17:01 know I got I struggle with sin gambling is not one of it but but casinos are very fascinating you know the design of
17:07 casinos you look at this this is a sampling of casinos I just took from the net they from anything from Macau to
17:12 Vegas to anything you You notice they all quite similar. Number one, you know what's the most
17:18 obvious thing about casinos? No windows. Hey, why no windows? Now
17:24 it's sustainable. Must have natural light, right? No windows. Why? Common sense that they don't want
17:32 you to know when it's day and night. Correct. So you're the one bandit. Oh,
17:37 you night time already better go. No, no, no, no, no. They shut you off. Now, that's important because what the casino
17:44 is doing is shutting you off from reality. And when you're gambling, you put in your coin, you're already like
17:49 that or you're on the poker table and you're already losing how your chips are already on this ready. And you walk to
17:55 the toilet, come back and the carpet is so nice and so busy. You think you think straight?
18:00 I I Googled. I couldn't find one single casino where the interior was what we call minimalist, clean and white and
18:07 beige. All of it was very fussy. You know, it's deliberate. because it plays on your senses so that
18:14 your senses don't think straight. So it creates an environment first. They shut
18:19 you off from reality. Then they accentuate it with all sorts of colors so that your reality is w and then
18:26 everyone knows when you're in the casino what do you get? Free food, free drinks.
18:32 And if you listen to the music in the casino, uh you're not going to hear a song like I still haven't found what I'm
18:38 looking for. You won't get that kind of songs. No, you'll get a song like it's a
18:44 beautiful day. You're born to win. All those positive music is going to come out so that you
18:50 can go and spend all your money. Now, here is this. You know,
18:56 when you think your life is dependent on God giving you physical, material, and
19:03 self-fulfilling blessings, you are like living in a casino. It is cut off from
19:10 reality. You are creating your own reality
19:15 because the Bible doesn't promise you that you're shutting yourself off from God's
19:21 reality in the way a casino shuts off the window so you do not see the reality out there. And this way many Christians
19:29 struggle because most Christians have this problem. They go through life and it's nice and things are fine. Something
19:36 happens bam two words come out of us when something bad happens not right two
19:43 words whether it's you had somebody something very precious taken away from you your financial problem or you had a
19:50 big fight or you lose your wife or you had a quarrel is a major disaster when when you think that a certain physical
19:57 blessing has been taken away from you two words come out from our mouth am I not right you know what those two words are why me?
20:05 Why me? But look again at the text. You don't see any of it. And Jeremy Taylor
20:12 says this, "For spiritual blessings, let our prayers be important, perpetual, and persevering.
20:18 Temporal blessings, health, wealth, all these things we all want anyway. We're honest. Let them be
20:25 general, short, conditional, and modest. Make no demands."
20:30 In the end, let me just take a look at what spiritual blessings are. And I want to just give you in a nutshell. Let's go
20:36 back to the text and let me pick up a few words and you you'll be able to see it very clearly. When he says words like
20:42 in verse six, you have redemption. When he says in verse five, you are
20:48 adopted as his sons. When he tells you in verse 7, you have forgiveness of
20:54 sins. So you're adopted as his sons. You have redemption. You have forgiveness.
21:00 And then we go down to verse uh 13, you have the promised Holy Spirit. Verse 13,
21:06 sorry, you have you will have the gospel of your salvation. Verse 14, you have the promised Holy Spirit. Let look at
21:12 the vers words again. You have the words redemption. You have the word
21:17 forgiveness. You have the word adoption as sons. You have the words promise Holy
21:23 Spirit. And you have the gospel of your salvation. What is it to be blessed?
21:28 It's very one word, one line only. You are blessed because you have been born
21:36 again. Right off the text, you are blessed because you are a
21:43 Christian. Straight off the Bible. You don't need to be a scholar. You read it again and
21:48 again. That's what he's telling you. You are blessed. You are blessed with every spiritual blessing because you're a
21:54 Christian. Second blessing that comes out is you live the Christian life is a blessing.
22:01 Now here's the problem with us. Most of us as the psalist says in Psalm
22:06 51 we have lost the joy of our salvation
22:13 sometime somewhere back in time. That's why the text tells us you were blessed a
22:19 long time ago. Sometime for most of us here who call ourselves Christians sometime back in time we all made a
22:27 decision everyone here we made a decision to follow Jesus as Lord and
22:33 Savior on that day the Holy Spirit sealed us on
22:39 that day we had forgiveness of sins on that day something happened maybe you
22:45 felt a fuzzy feeling or you felt nothing but something happen. And if you all
22:51 recall back after you became a Christian, the first few years for most of us were very exciting.
22:57 Then after a while, we say, "Wow, how come Christians all like that one? How come the church like that one? How
23:03 come God you let this happen to my life? Why why does this happen to me?" And
23:09 from that joy of salvation as we go on in life, we move from being Christians to becoming churchians. You know there
23:18 he's not in the dictionary of the word is a term a friend told me a churchian
23:23 is a guy who sits in church who believes up here
23:28 but the joy of his salvation has completely dissipated and I tell you
23:34 when I stand here I look sounds very familiar I think am I not
23:39 right it's very familiar and this morning as we start the new year it is my prayer as it was a prayer efficient
23:46 that we re rediscover the joy of our salvation. And there are three points I
23:53 want to pick up on the joy of rediscovering our salvation. Number one, we are blessed to be in Christ. Number
24:00 two, we are blessed to be part of God's purpose on earth. And the third one, we
24:06 are blessed to be in God's family. Three blessings. Let's look at the first blessing. To be in Christ. We are in
24:13 Christ as much as Christ is in us. Here's the thing we like to use. Now we
24:19 say when we became a Christian, Christ came to live in us in my heart. I
24:24 accepted Jesus in my heart. That's the term we use. What's interesting in this in this verses here? Let let's let's
24:30 unpack it again. Let's look at it. Verse three, praise be to God of our Lord Jesus Christ. What is it after that? In
24:37 Christ. Okay, you find it all over. Verse five, through Jesus Christ. Okay.
24:42 Verse seven, in Christ. Verse 10, even Christ. Verse 12, in Christ. Verse 13,
24:49 included in Christ. What Paul has done is reversed it. You know, the meaning is
24:55 this. As much as Christ is in you, you are in Christ. Meaning you are one.
25:01 Now I think we want to pause and think about it because that's actually really really I think important in our Christian life because the moment you
25:08 and Christ are one you are so in Christ you have one thing which is very
25:14 critical which all these material blessings cannot give you. You have power to go through difficult days. And
25:22 that's why later on in that very famous verse in verses 3 16-1 19 when he talks
25:28 about that you experience how wide and long and high and deep is the love of
25:33 Christ he uses one word in the beginning of verse 18 you may have power
25:40 that means when you are one in Christ you have power
25:46 now we most of us we look at it this Okay,
25:51 I said the sinner's prayers like club membership to enter into a church. After
25:57 that, somewhere along the line that went very far behind, I start to get involved in many other things. And this morning,
26:04 God is saying rediscover that. Not only rediscover that, smell that, breathe
26:09 that, live it, pray on it. And as you do it, you find as you go through life and
26:16 when life gets difficult, you find is a tremendous blessing. I want to give a
26:21 few examples to my life. Not that my life is very eventful. Like most people, I have some people who
26:28 I really struggle to love. I think they have hurt me
26:33 and they have never repented. I find they're very arrogant. I think of them the face at night. I want to go and whack somebody really. I'm being very
26:40 honest. Okay. What keeps me from being swelled up in anger and bitterness and all these
26:46 feelings is when I pause and I think of forgiveness. Then I think I'm in Christ. Christ
26:53 forgave me. He forgave me when I was a sinner. I think of how every day I wake
26:59 up, do wrong things, he forgave me. And when that happens to me, those feelings of bitterness, they mellow off a bit.
27:06 And then I'm very thankful. I tell God I'm blessed because it doesn't anchor me. Sometimes I meet with some people
27:13 and they they're very influential. You know architects we sit around we have dinner with developers. People to throw
27:18 names and then suddenly you feel like a mosquito. Oh what job are you doing? Oh I'm doing this 600 million project in
27:24 Dubai. Why you doing small condol mean then I think of Christ who for his sake
27:31 who was rich became poor for me. He who came the king of kings as a
27:37 servant and then I say I am of value and suddenly I don't feel so small after all
27:44 when I think of today when I think of certain people going influential people saying that Christians annoy them you
27:50 know and they say things and I I see the state of this country and I tell myself you know what you know and something
27:56 kicks in me and says oh you know we better migrate better get out of this place this place is going to hell I
28:02 think of the fact that Christ rose from the dead and is victorious.
28:07 That God can if he wants break us through or God can allow us to go
28:13 through this. Whatever the outcome of the Allah issue, whatever they do to us, we are already victorious.
28:22 You see, when you are in Christ, there is power. And when the world throws things at you,
28:29 you can ride through those waves. That is a blessing money cannot buy.
28:37 And here's the last thing because if you are not in Christ, other things will take its place. Let's give me a simple
28:43 example. Let's just say think of you're a woman and you're drop dead gorgeous.
28:49 You are you are drop dead gorgeous. You are beautiful. You got a figure. You got the kind of thing that men look at you,
28:54 they go But Christian men won't do that. They do look like that because they must show politically correct. They not staring at
29:00 girls. So they do like that. They rock like that. Correct or not. Ah, today we be very ordersh but you drop
29:08 dead gorgeous you know and you realize that when you're very young like Naomi Campbell said know when she realized she
29:14 was drop dead gorgeous you know what she said they had a time where Claudia Shyener Nomi Campbell all of this Kate
29:19 Moss they said we have power because when you have that kind of beauty
29:24 everybody melts and gives you what you want now here's the danger when you see that
29:30 as a blessing it is a blessing to be dropped dead gorgeous like anything because you're dependent on that. But
29:37 one day, one day the wrinkles will come,
29:42 cellulite will come, the fat on the tummy will come and no
29:48 matter how many times you go to Mary France body line, how many collagen, how
29:53 many botox, you will get old. And I've seen people
29:59 who cannot let go of it. And what was a blessing becomes a curse because as they
30:05 get older they find that beauty slipping away from them. They struggle and then they get insecure because they married a
30:11 guy who love him because she was a trophy wife and when he goes to China and Taiwan Maka you come you search his
30:17 SMS you smell his clothes terrible way to live
30:22 now the thing is this we can replace that with anything isn't it? It can be money. It can be your little suburban
30:29 life. It can be anything. The Bible has a word for this. It's called bondage.
30:35 The moment you're not in Christ, you're in anything that will make you happy.
30:42 And that thing will cause you bitterness, cause you insecurity.
30:47 And when one day those things are taken away from you, you will not leave. you
30:53 will just go on and on and that is not a blessing.
30:60 Let me just go with a second point. And here we find in verse four, here's a key
31:05 word. He say he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and
31:11 blameless. And here the next line in love. He predestined us. Is a word
31:17 that's repeated again again in verse 11. He says also in him you also chosen
31:22 having been predestined. Is a major theme in the book of Ephesians. Something John Kelvin preached heavily upon. Now this was a really interesting
31:30 cartoon I saw uh from from a you know from a Sufi a Muslim website. It's
31:35 really fascinating. You see the word predestined simply means that God chose you. God set you aside. If that's the
31:42 case then where's your free will? And in here this guy asked an imam you know all right what of my actions are free will
31:48 and what is predestined? Now the respond is fascinating. He tells him you remove
31:54 take off one leg and take it out. That means you can do it. You see so de is a free will. I say I can do it. Then he
31:60 says you take out your other leg. He say he cannot. That mean that's predestined. What the imam is telling you is this.
32:05 You know essentially the imam's not answering him. Imm is telling you some things in life you can choose.
32:12 Certain things you cannot is decided for you. But which is which you don't know.
32:18 But it's a very fascinating proposition. The proposition is this. And here the question I want to ask you. Some people
32:24 say they're blessed because they can do whatever they want. I don't want to be a Christian. Christian all about rules and
32:29 regulation. Cannot do this, cannot do that. Cannot. You Christians are terrible. I'm so glad I'm not a
32:34 Christian because I am master of my own destiny. I am captain of my ship. I want
32:40 to do what I want. I do. I want to go to China and go and find a mistress. I do
32:46 it. I want to live in a big house. I do it. Who are you to tell me what to do? Some people say they are king. They are
32:54 in control. Now here's a question I found very fascinating. Do you really think every human being has free will,
33:02 has the right to choose whatever he wants to do? And you find if you read
33:07 sociology, the argument is no one really has free will. You know,
33:13 you don't have free will. You think you do. You think you are blessed because
33:19 you can choose but the decision you're making is influenced by many choices
33:26 many things in in this book by Bony a fascinating
33:31 book which she talks about the top five regrets of the dying she's what you call a palative nurse you know do what do you
33:39 think is the first reason why people what people regret when they're on their death bed when
33:45 they look back at their life I found it very fascinating thing and and she this book is quite famous now. She did a
33:51 study and she did a survey. What do you think is the first reason? I thought it would be like I I should have spent time
33:57 my children know I should have uh you know maybe not worked so hard. You know I should have you know forgiven more. Do
34:04 you know what the first reason is really fascinating the first reason is this. You know I wish I had the courage to
34:10 live a life true to myself not the life others expected of me.
34:17 I think that's very inducting. It means this. You and I don't have free will.
34:22 You just think you do. But every decision you make is influenced by what
34:28 people pressure you, what your family pressures you, what your society
34:33 pressures you, and most critically what your ego and your pride pressures you.
34:40 Here's a a very tragic example. Here's a story that went around on net a few months ago over this girl called Mita
34:46 Diran. Young, exciting, and you read the emails. Okay, 4:45 a.m. Okay, I'm
34:53 finally home in November. Next one in November, spend half the night writing cop uh copy and finishing up 23 page
35:01 deck with a glass of old car Red Bull mix. I can't sleep. Bear with me.
35:08 November again. All right, one full week of going home past 2:00 a.m. from the office. Ladies and gentlemen, I believe
35:14 we just broke a record. Later on in November, home before midnight and after
35:20 three long exhausting weeks, mission accomplished. What do you get out of this? She's proud, huh? She can work
35:28 nonstop. Now, here's the thing. It's a decision she made on her own, you know. But then
35:34 again, it's not a decision she made on her own. is a decision the environment pressures her to do. She's pressured to
35:40 be like that because I'm an architect. I understand it. Architects, they like to pride themselves doing all nighters.
35:46 Hey, what time do you sleep? Oh, I slept 2:00. What time do you sleep? 4:00. Oh, I didn't sleep, man. I drink coffee. Oh,
35:53 okay. How long have you been sleeping? Two day never sleep. Oh, two days only 3
35:59 days, you know. Stupid men are really dumb animals there. Really dumb animals.
36:06 You get a bunch of yo I get a bunch of architects together. That's all they talk about. Oh, I never see I was back in Saturday working. It's stupid. And
36:14 here in this case is a badge of honor. She's very proud that she can work nonstop non-stop. Non-stop because in
36:21 the agency world, I know this. I spent some time with agencies in my younger days. In the agency life, in creative,
36:27 in accounts management is common. Those of you who work with all the big companies know that in accounts in
36:33 creative is common. The pressure is you live like that. And here the tragedy in
36:39 December she posted something. 30 hours of working still going strong.
36:45 Then she collapsed. She went in a coma and she never woke up.
36:53 Now what's what's why am I going so long about this free will? She had a choice
36:59 to stop but the environment around her did not let her stop
37:06 and the mother lost a kid. Now the thing is this can a mother sue the company you can't because the company never
37:13 pressured her. There's no black and white say you must work three days without stop. She did it because it's
37:18 the culture of the company. And after that of course the damage control comes out. the head of the company post this
37:24 long email saying all sorts of things you don't I don't even want to read it but you look at it it's all damage
37:29 control here's the issue whether you are you have a right to buy a Ferrari you have a
37:35 right to work very late your right to do many things your right to go and get a mistress from China
37:42 you think you're blessed you are not you think you have a right to choose you are not choosing is the
37:50 environment around you your pride, your temptation, your ego choosing you.
37:56 That's not being blessed. And here what is the most fascinating
38:02 and really great thing to be blessed? We are not only in Christ and Christ is in us, but God chose us. Verse four, but we
38:11 chose to follow God. Verse 13b, having believed, you were marked. And Rick
38:18 Warren says it. What on earth am I here for? You have a purpose-driven life.
38:24 And one thing I'm very blessed as I wake up every morning is if I walk every day
38:30 and I say, "Lord, you called me to be holy. Now Lord, I'm going to try to be holy. And Lord, I know I'm going to sin,
38:35 but forgive me." As I go on, God gives me opportunities. He opens doors. I
38:41 realize one thing which is really blessed as a Christian. When you walk that way, you have something that poor
38:46 girl doesn't have. You know what you have? You have the Holy Spirit. you know, Holy Spirit does to you. The Holy
38:52 Spirit whispers to you. I I'm convinced of that. And there have been days where I've been working very late and then I
38:58 get a prompting, why are you doing this? You better go home and see your family. And I go back. There are certain days I
39:05 get into argument ego and then I I pause and I feel a prompting and I realize one thing. You know, one of the wonderful
39:12 blessings of being a Christian is God is active in your life. In my life every
39:19 day. If you decide you are in Christ and you want to walk with Christ and every
39:24 day you wake up, God, I want to know you better. Christ, let me feel the power of your cross. I will give you this 100%
39:32 guarantee, money back guarantee. You will feel the prompting of the Holy
39:37 Spirit. And you would sense as you walk through life, God will speak to you. You know
39:44 what? You are crazy to take this contract. You know what? You're crazy to get involved with this bunch of friends.
39:50 You know what? You do these things is going to really go you down a hell hole and then you learn to do one thing to
39:58 make intelligent decisions guided by the Holy Spirit. How much more blessed can
40:04 you get? It's a tremendous blessing. Let me end with this. Okay. In the end,
40:12 he tells us this in verse four. He says uh sorry in verse five that In love he
40:18 predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ. Adopted as his
40:24 sons simply know means this that you know God as father. People who are very
40:30 who think they're very blessed in the secular world always like to say they're very connected. In this country
40:35 everything's about connections. So you can see in the headphone
40:41 very loud you know even the wife go back coming back later.
40:46 But it's always it's always about connections and we think we're very blessed if we
40:51 can throw names, you know, I know so and so, I know that and I know this person. You you know, you get a bunch of guys
40:57 talking together, they like to brag subtly by telling you who they know. Here's the thing. To be really blessed
41:04 is not to know all the movers and shakers on this earth. To be really blessed is
41:11 to know the mover and the shaker, which is God. to know God. And what's the most
41:17 wonderful thing of knowing God is this. You have free access to him.
41:22 The key to unlocking blessings of being in Christ or having to know God's
41:28 purpose in your life is this. It's prayer. And when you pray to God, not in wishful
41:36 thinking, but you pray knowing God is your father. And here's the thing why I think some prayers don't work. Because
41:43 when people pray, they are not praying to God the father. They are praying to Santa Claus.
41:48 They're praying to Santa Claus. That one God doesn't hear. But when you pray to God the Father out of reverence and you
41:55 in faith appropriate knowing God, you're listening to me. I know you're listening to me. There is power. There is
42:03 tremendous power. And when you do that and you make a practice of it, many
42:08 things happen. The other thing that will happen is that when you do that, God in
42:13 his love for you will discipline you. Now, here's the thing. A God of your own
42:19 imagination doesn't discipline you. God the father disciplines.
42:25 Why is it we don't want spiritual blessings? Because we don't want to be disciplined. But all of you are fathers
42:30 and mothers. Do you want your kid to grow up having a Porsche Cheyenne, Lamborghini, Gallalad?
42:38 Or would you rather your kid grow up having good values, knowing dignity,
42:44 knowing how to have discipline, knowing how to love others? What's the point of having a son or a daughter who's got a
42:50 medical degree can earn millions of dollars but is completely indifferent
42:56 to you as a family doesn't show love you he's not blessed he can have a degree
43:02 can everything he's not blessed what you need is a son and a daughter
43:08 who knows character and what God wants to do is build us character and when you
43:14 have character you are blessed Let me just end with one thing which Paul says uh Jesus says in Matthew
43:21 19:21. He said everyone who left houses of brothers or sisters or fathers of mothers or children of fields for my
43:28 sake will receive a 100 times as much and will inherit eternal life. He were telling it to the disciples who told him
43:34 very hard to be Christian. You know we have left everything to follow you. We get nothing. Where's my blessings? So he
43:40 tells you you will get this in heaven. But he says this very interesting. He says you will get sisters, fathers,
43:46 mothers or children. What does it mean to be a son or a
43:54 daughter of God? What does it mean to be adopted together with Jesus, God's only
43:59 son? It means you have brothers and sisters. Now, why did God provide that?
44:05 It because we cannot go through this world alone.
44:10 That's why we started this year by saying being a church is critical. So I want to close with this challenge to
44:17 you. The challenge is this. How much are you valuing people in this church as
44:22 brothers and sisters? Here's our problem. We become Christians. We have
44:28 expectations of people. Then we come to a church, then we say, "Oh, this fellow like that, that fellow like that, that person behavior like this." Go back to
44:35 basics. Forgive because God forgive. When you see people stumbling, you have
44:41 grace. That's what in Christ is mean. And when you build each other up, you
44:47 find is the most wonderful thing that happens. One of the things I I really encourage is going for Christian
44:52 funerals. Because when you go for Christian funerals, generally there's more people than non-Christian funerals.
44:58 And when you go for Christian funerals, especially people who are very active in church, you find all the brothers and
45:04 sisters come and they stand up and they share. They tell you how this person did this in our life and did that and that
45:11 that and non Christians sit there and they see this is the legacy.
45:16 So let me just end with this. Let me end with the fact that we cannot go through
45:21 life alone. You need to have brothers and sisters around you to help you move.
45:26 That's a real blessing. Jesus said this, I come that you might
45:32 have life and you might hide it abundantly. How does abundant life
45:37 happen? Abundant life happen when you're in Christ, when you are when you are
45:44 part of God's plan, and when you have God's family with you. If you don't have
45:50 that, you will put your blessings in the world. You'll put your blessings on physical, material, and self-fulfilling
45:56 things. And when one day bad things happen to you, you will be like in here
46:02 in that left hand corner. and there will be confusion, frustration, discouragement, and hopelessness.
46:09 I received this uh SMS at 6:20 days ago. At 6:30, I received
46:18 another SMS from Pastor Rama. I'm going to read both of them out to you, okay? On Wednesday, I I sent an SMS
46:27 to a friend of mine who two years ago, something terrible happened to her. uh and I I and I sent it to encourage her
46:34 because it was the anniversary of it and in fact it was my wife who remind reminded me it was a very terrible thing
46:40 like I said that the reality in this world is that bad things happen bad things happen okay
46:47 and she sent me sent me back this SMS at 6:30 in the morning I'm going to read it to you hi Arnold thank you for
46:54 remembering two years have passed we still miss him so much I guess we always
46:60 will I can't rejoice for now. I asked the Lord why did he call him home so
47:06 early someday we have the answers but then it
47:12 does not matter anymore when we get to heaven eventually or does it I don't know about the healing process
47:18 but really there's nothing we can do so very reluctantly we are being pushed along by time
47:24 frankly there isn't much hope we drift along how does he glorify God's name by
47:30 bringing among such thing to my family in fact is a big stumbling block among
47:35 my non-believing family members and friends. We totally devastated and still are.
47:41 Two years has passed from that tragedy and she never moved on.
47:48 Then after that I got an SMS from Rama short SMS and I found it quite prophetic
47:55 and he said this you know you think your life is bad someone somewhere is fighting to survive
48:01 be thankful to God every morning it was quite interesting I read at 6:20 and I sent out very quiet at 6:30 TT SMS came
48:10 out brother and sister I just want to end with this
48:15 we want to wish everyone a good 20114 Oh, but you may not get it. You know, you
48:22 may not get it somewhere along this year. Something may happen. My question to you
48:28 is when that happen, what is going to take you through to be
48:34 really blessed, to be really, really spiritually blessed is to have the power
48:41 to go through that. And you can only go through that with three things. When you
48:46 are in Christ, when you're clear of the purpose of your life, and when you have brothers and
48:54 sisters around you to support you, and when you know you are God's child and
49:00 you're safe in his hands, let's close in this uh word and I ask
49:06 and pray all of you receive his spiritual blessings as I invite the worship team to come up. Lord God, as we
49:14 we we close this morning, Lord, some of us may not feel very blessed.
49:22 Some of us may be struggling. And Lord, this morning we will do an alter call.
49:28 We ask right now you prepare the hearts of the church to receive that that
49:33 people will be prepared to come in front to receive prayer. So we ask right now for the church to
49:40 quieten themselves as we play this song. And if God puts in your heart, would you
49:45 come in front to receive prayer? Lord, you will find a way when it seems to be
49:51 no way because you have blessed us with every spiritual blessing
49:57 and we will ride through every trouble of this world and that Lord is a
50:03 blessing the world cannot give us. Say it in Jesus name. Amen.
