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00:01 Good morning everybody. Um can I have the first slide up?
00:07 I'd like to uh ask some people to come up. You may not know them but can I ask
00:13 the family life ministry team uh to come up now if you don't mind so that everybody can get to know you. So some
00:20 of you guys uh there's a group of people who work very heavily behind the scenes. Most of you don't know who they are.
00:27 They they spend time with people who hurt. They spend time with uh people who
00:33 struggle with their marriages. They spend time teaching people parenting. These are not things that we announce.
00:41 But I think it's time I show you the team and it is a large team. So let me
00:48 just uh introduce you. Just give me a few minutes. This is the family life
00:53 ministry team. And I want to just take you through a few of them step by step.
00:58 Firstly, is Brandon here? Oh, so what this is I must start with
01:04 Brandon. Very faithful. All right. So, and uh Pastor Moi is slowly making his
01:10 way up. Brandon has been very faithfully I think over a decade run our
01:15 pre-marital course. So, he does premarital counseling and his team is
01:20 here. uh uncle Mobi is here. Sat Singh Jojo this is his premarital team. So
01:26 he's been very faithfully helping us. So anybody who wants to get married go through him. So that's one of our team.
01:33 Here's another person who's been very faithful anchoring. But before I go there helping him in this is our
01:39 marriage counselor. This is Magdalene and her husband. And they are not from our church. We actually tried them from
01:45 Trinity after this. So they have actually been secounded to help us over here to and basically both of them help
01:52 us in arranging our marriage course, marriage counseling, family courses. So
01:60 a lot of people who have marriage issues will go through Magdalene and they'll be planning with Brandon a lot more courses
02:05 this year that got to do with families in his natural sense, marriages, parenting etc. very faithful and the
02:12 other side is Caroline. She's also very quiet one but she for many years has anchored our counseling department on
02:19 Tuesday together with our therapist my man where's man
02:25 oh man ah man must come out this is our faithful therapist she looks so cool
02:31 with her glasses uh not not deliberate it's because she has been having a cataract but I really want to thank my
02:38 you know so everybody who has been hurting for many many years go to her private ely uh because she's a trained
02:45 therapist uh even doctors refer cases to her. So anybody who goes right down to mental health issues goes to see my so
02:53 she has been very faithfully helping us. If you go and see outside people they'll charge you commercial rates with man
02:58 just puts out a bag. Whatever you can give you give. You can't give she still talk to you. She has helped the poor
03:04 help people through depression people with anxiety issues people with PTSD all sorts of issues. And also we ch from
03:12 another church. We love to do this. So she's live chapel. So we do that. uh the
03:17 rest of the team here we have the team these are our para counselors or what we call the support team support team helps
03:24 basically walk with you so some people they just they just feel lonely they
03:29 just want someone to talk to them and so we have what we call a bouncing board I also want to uh introduce the committee
03:36 the committee is John Pastoring Annette and Patrick we do right now quite a lot
03:42 of training uh we are training GMA we are training live groups. Linda, which
03:48 is our communications uh director, is not here. She does a lot of media work. In second quarter, we will actually go
03:54 online and go into social media. Let me just explain a little bit of what we do
03:60 quickly. Uh you can see the brochure, family life ministry, and there is a tagline there.
04:07 The tagline is given for my in red. My story is love unknown. My savior's love
04:14 to me. Love to the loveless shown that they might lovely be. And this of course
04:20 a song from Samuel Crossman. And we have one simple aim. Christ says by this
04:28 shall all men know you are our disciples. And nobody in FBC should
04:33 suffer alone. Not one person. So any issue you go through, any struggle,
04:39 these are very private things. You don't talk to anyone. You just give us a call and a number. We will send someone over
04:46 any time, any place, any issues because there are some people who struggle
04:51 alone. That is our tagline. Our vision first Baptist Church is to be a community of spiritually healthy
04:57 families centered on Christ and God's word. And we define families two ways.
05:02 One, the nuclear family which is run basically Mag Delin and Brendan's team
05:08 that is uh you are married, you have children, all these issues. But we
05:13 define family spiritually equally. Those who are single, those who are widowed, those who are divorced, those who have
05:20 who who don't fit the traditional understanding of families equally we care for in in all sense of the word.
05:26 Our mission is to partner with all of you, your families in different stages of lives, building one another up in
05:32 love and gospel- centered relationship that lead to spiritual growth and disciplehip. The picture at the back
05:38 shows you that because we all go through what we call a cycle of life from the cradle to the grave. When you're a kid,
05:44 you have certain needs. When you're a young man or woman, you have certain needs. When when you go into your
05:50 twilight years, you have certain needs. And emotionally, it can be a roller coaster. You can go through bouts of
05:55 loneliness, bouts of separation, bouts of difficulties. And the team is here to
06:00 walk with you. Uh this is uh our motive. If you look at
06:06 a sea shell, a sea shell is like us. And what the devil does, the devil says you
06:11 are ugly inside. The devil says you come to FBC. If only they really knew who you
06:16 are. But in God's eyes, if you cut the sea shell, it is beautiful inside. And that's our motive. And it's making
06:23 connections inside out and much of the team provides peer support. We care for the emotionally hurting, providing you a
06:30 safe space to be heard. We walk alongside you. We do not judge you. Whatever struggles you have, we will
06:36 walk with you. And this is our key ministries taken from Colossians. Our
06:42 goal is everyone at BC will be encouraged in heart and united in love based on scripture. They may have full
06:48 riches on complete understanding so they may know the mystery of God. So it's a disciplehip program and is myological.
06:55 We we we also go and walk with non-Christians so that through their struggles emotionally they will come to
07:01 know the Lord. So these are what we provide. six areas. Marriage counseling, clinical counseling by two of our
07:08 therapists. Right now, we have Many and we have Pastor Joshua. Many does Tuesday
07:14 nights, Joshua does uh Saturdays and we have some clinical doctors helping us.
07:19 We also have a regular therapist outside. We work through any mental health issue, come to us. anything
07:26 whatsoever from bipolar to PTSD to any issues you have anxiety issues we are
07:33 here to help you so that's our clinical counseling team both Annette and Caroline anchor them in the
07:39 administration we have youth and parent group support that's run by Brandon and their team here we provide caring for
07:46 youth parents providing a safe space to be heard and we do this with the youth ministries uh we run seminars for the
07:53 youth so we're going to move forward with seminars on gamings, addictions, things that you struggle with. We do
07:60 grief support that's run by Adeline. Edeline is trained in this. So for people who are grieving, she is our
08:05 anchor. And right now in terms of lay training, Wednesday's night, we do gama
08:10 training on basic skills. And we are also taking a team led by Annette and
08:16 Pastor Ling into the live groups. And the module we're training all the life groups is basic listening skills. Most
08:23 of us don't listen very well. So that's part of our job and we have also a prayer intercession team. What is our
08:29 aim? Our aim is to nurture and bring back on track loving gospel- centered
08:35 relationships. With caring connections and spiritual support, individuals are encouraged to connect with the depths of
08:41 their own emotions. With God's grace, they empower to discover their inner strength and beauty from inside out.
08:47 Providing a safe space to be heard. All of this I didn't write on. you know, it was written by Linda, our media
08:54 director. So, I'm so thankful people come and and just come on board on this ministry. So, I I want to just offer a
09:02 prayer to the team and I just want to say one thing. Here is our tagline. No one should hurt alone.
09:10 No one. If ever you struggle, there is a year there is somebody to walk with you.
09:16 The entire team is trained. They've gone through clinical uh what we call counseling training with NCC which is a
09:22 national association Christian counselors. Most of them here have some experience in this area. So let me just
09:28 commit the team in prayer and u let us come before God. Lord we thank you for
09:34 this ministry. We ask that we become an integral part of the DNA of the church.
09:40 any ministry in FBC from the cradle to the grave from Sunday school to caris
09:46 from boys brigade to the life groups to the youth to the young adults to worship
09:53 every ministry anyone sitting here we all have struggles we have struggles in
09:58 our marriages we have struggles with parenting with struggles relating to others and we were all alone some of us
10:05 feel very sad some of us have anxiety attacks some of us have depression And some of us just feel everybody
10:13 doesn't understand us. And Lord, you have said by our love shall all men know
10:18 our disciples. So we ask right now that listening ears out here in ABC hear this. And this ministry is here to help
10:26 you. That no one here should be left alone to suffer as you walk with us. Oh
10:31 Lord, teach us to walk with those in our midst who do not feel very love that
10:36 they may experience the love of Christ. And we say it in Jesus name. Amen. Thank you everybody. Thank you very much.
10:42 Okay. Okay. That was my advertising for today.
10:51 I always like to do this but never seems to work. So I have I had
10:57 that question I want to ask. You know we have we haven't done a new year resolution question but I I want to
11:04 speak from the heart today. Okay, you look at the size of ABC
11:11 uh current tracking we are at just adults are 750 that's excluding kids you
11:17 know you include our kids you include our sister services like the Filipinos
11:24 the youth etc etc we are on the line on the border of being classified as a mega
11:32 church a mega church is classified as a thousand onwards so one hand you say woohoo Woo. So good.
11:39 I I beg to defer. So here's my question in love. I ask all of you.
11:46 750 people here. How many of you are in life groups?
11:54 750 here. How many of you are serving in the church? We don't ask you to serve
12:01 very very you know just serve a bit.
12:06 750 here. How many of you are members?
12:12 And here's the thing I struggle with. It is not an issue with ABC. It's an issue with many churches. That means many
12:19 people believe it is okay to come to church and just sit at the back. And it
12:27 is primarily that group I want to speak to in deep love in a non-judgmental
12:33 space, family life. But I really want to speak to you as a brother, not as an elder. And for those who serve, I want
12:40 us to rechallenge this. Now, I want to ask why is this phenomena so common?
12:47 I've been struggling with this. And I I think there's a root reason. So, I'm not going to stand here today and pound it
12:52 to you on a guilt trip. I want it to come from the heart. So, let me give you an illustration. Okay? Those of you
13:00 follow British tabloids, you know this story. Now here is the story. The story if you
13:07 don't follow is this uh let me give you an analogy of the church. If you decide
13:14 to marry into royalty, you make a decision. You become royalty.
13:22 One day you may become the queen. If you know whatever happens, you are royalty.
13:28 There is no such thing as part-time royalty. There's no such thing as I can be
13:34 royalty on certain days, on certain days I go and stay in Canada, then I come back and I still want to stay in a
13:39 castle paid by British taxpayers in England. You cannot do that.
13:46 So it is with being someone coming to church, you either are part of the body
13:53 or not. Now this is why this issue is critical because the question is if I
13:59 ask who is a Christian you can ask who are you? Ellen DeGeneres says be true to
14:06 yourself and everything will be fine really. Well if Megan Merkel was true to
14:13 herself who is her true self is it the royal part that's very
14:20 questionable now. Is it Megan Merkel the you know she's not British, she's not
14:25 even white. She's half African. Is it Megan Merkel the actress? Is it Megan
14:32 Merkel the mother? So you find there is an issue of identity and you find
14:40 identity our identity or what we perceive to who we are many factors come
14:47 in. Let me ask you a simple question identity. How many of you really feel you are Malaysian? Come on.
14:56 Come on. If you do a statistical find, it doesn't mean if I ask all the how many you feel you are Chinese or woman
15:04 ah unless you're in Hong Kong, you don't say that. But is is that so today I
15:10 throw to you the reason why so many churches have this issue of non-service
15:17 comes from this root question. And so we look at somebody today equally as
15:23 confused at Megan Merkel if not more. He was born into royalty.
15:29 Before that he was from a slave cast. Then he tried to be a freedom fighter
15:35 and he ended up being a shepherd. And if you don't know, we're talking about Moses. If there was ever a person with a
15:41 mixed identity, it's him. And so God encounters him. And God says, "This is
15:49 who you are." And what does he tell God? Who am I? So we want to look into that.
15:55 And I pray it speaks to all of us. Let us pray. Okay Lord, we ask this pertinent question to each and every
16:01 single one of us this morning that we search our hearts and we don't just
16:07 search our hearts alone. We search our hearts in relation to you
16:14 and we speak in love in a nj judgmental space and we ask that in our understanding of who we are as a human
16:22 being where is the role of the church and we say it in Jesus name. Amen. I'm
16:28 going to give you four points. Who am I in the eyes of God?
16:34 Contrasting who am I in the eyes of man? And then recognizing worldly identity
16:41 markers. A lot of things shape you subconsciously. For Megan Merkel, it
16:47 could be, "Wow, I'm going to be royalty. I go in there." Then afterward, the British press gives you a bad time. Bad
16:53 time. Bad time. you decide I'm not into that. Your identity takes a shift. And
16:59 here's the last pertinent question. If you ask who am I? You have to ask the
17:05 other side, who are we? It's a plural question. So here's the first thing
17:11 Moses said to God, who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out Egypt? Now it's a long
17:17 text. Unless you want to stay for three hours like what David Adams said the Israelites used to do. I'm not going to
17:23 go really much into the uh the full exesis because it's very very heavy. It deals with a lot of things like who
17:29 Yahweh is, Elohim, the signs. I'm going to focus on the five they call this the
17:35 five excuses Moses gave. He gave five excuses. And we're going to start out the first one. Who am I? Now understand
17:42 this. He just came out of the burning bush. He had an encounter with a holy
17:48 God and his presence you know take off your shoes holy ground and he says who am I
17:55 now you can you can take it two ways one is a sign of reverence which is very possible he just encountered holiness
18:03 the second is a sign of inadequacy and that's classic right when you ask
18:09 someone can you serve in church cannot not good enough I don't have the gifts I
18:15 don't have the talents. I don't know my Bible. And the best one, the best one, I
18:21 don't have time. I don't have time. And let's not judge
18:26 people. They all come, I suggest, on the same space. So here's a classic. Moses is essentially in capitalisting all of
18:33 that and telling God the same question. Who am I? Not me. I'm not the right guy.
18:39 And then he breaks it down. So God tells him basically this. Yeah,
18:46 you're right. You can't. You see, he shifts
18:51 the perspective. You can't, you know, I don't have time. God will say, "Yeah,
18:57 you're right. You don't. I don't have a talent." God will say, "Yeah, you don't. I don't have the skills." Yeah, you
19:03 don't. Then God says, "But I do. I will save the Israelites, not you."
19:09 And here's the classic line. If you take the text, he says this further down the second question. He says, "I am who I
19:17 am." That's found in verse 14 after the second question. You see, there's a play. There's a pun because Moses says,
19:23 "Who am I?" God says, "I am who I am." You see where we're going? Basically,
19:30 Moses is approaching the issue from his point. God is turning it around to says,
19:35 "Who am I? Let me answer you. I am who I am. Meaning
19:41 it's not about you. It's not about you. Lesson is about God. Doubts and
19:49 struggles. But who you really are should always be in relation to who God is.
19:56 Some people say I don't know who I am. Yo, I hate my job 9 to5. I hate my boss.
20:01 Come back and hunt down my wife or husband. Go to church, sit at the back. Yeah. Friday go and go to the park have
20:09 a drink Saturday play binton that's my life law I come law then one day I die
20:15 law who am I don't know law don't know law
20:22 but a lot of us are like that what's the problem with that approach is
20:27 independent of your relationship with God and so he turns it around he say
20:32 it's not about you it's about me and I caught you. You get that?
20:40 So, if you're sitting here in the church and you think you're a Christian, the first point is God caught you.
20:50 And that's the first thing you got to realize and here's the question. When have you been confronted with the
20:56 holiness of God? Because God prepares the way and shows him who he is. A lot
21:02 of us are so flippant about coming to church. The church has become a consumer place. We listen to music.
21:09 We hear the sermon shock. Okay. But we have not had that
21:17 experience that breaks you. And that's your starting point. You see the word who am
21:24 I is found in few other places of scripture. King David. God tells King David, similarly, I'm going to make your
21:31 dynasty rule. Your house will rule, not Saul's. Three
21:37 occasions, twice in Kings and one in 2 Samuel. Then King David went in and said
21:42 before the Lord, he prayed and he said, "Look at that. Who am I
21:48 sovereign Lord? And what is my family that have brought me this far? And as if
21:54 this were not enough in your sight, sovereign lord, you have also spoken about the future, the house of your
21:59 servant. And this degree, sovereign lord, notice, sovereign lord occurs three times. Just take that in your
22:05 mind. Is for a mere human. He's making a point. You know what he's doing? Let me
22:12 give you in terms of philosophy, it's an ontological answer. Is meaning what is a
22:17 human? That's the starting point. And let me ask you what is a human? You are either
22:22 a gathering of atoms brought here by accident and your life is completely
22:28 random or you were created in his image.
22:34 That's David's answer. And here's the kicker. What more can David say to you?
22:41 You know your servant, sovereign Lord. I want you to absorb that.
22:46 He's saying I know you are on a limb.
22:52 You know, we like to read a lot of books. We say knowing God, experiencing
22:57 God, desiring God, they're all very good. What's what's the fundamental flaw with all of that? It puts it from a
23:04 man's perspective. And when man tries to see God, our perspective is very small.
23:11 The perspective, yes, all that is true, but the starting point is God knows you.
23:19 And here's the kicker. He knows you better than you think yourself. So when
23:25 you say, "I can't do it. I don't have time. I don't have the gifts. I can't work with Anolim." That happens very
23:31 often. God says, "I know you."
23:37 And if I say you work with Anolim, you work with Anolim. Hallelujah.
23:43 Dear Bonhoffer, who am I? I won't read it because it's very long. He basically
23:50 talks about how people, this was written days before he went to the gallows and
23:55 by that time he had become a legend. People in the prison, the grass all respected him. He is Dri Bonhoffer who
24:03 stood up against Hitler. And in the end of it, he says it the last person. Let me look last. Am I one
24:10 person today and tomorrow another? Am I both at once a hypocrite before others?
24:17 Wow, that's so true, right? And before myself a contemporary work begone
24:22 weakling or is it something within me still like a broken army fleeing in this
24:28 order from victory already achieved? Who am I? They mock me. These lonely
24:34 questions of mine. And here he echoes King David. Whatever I am, thou knowest,
24:41 oh God, I am thine. You are his.
24:48 He knows you. And Dietri Mhoffer, great. One of the greatest Christians
24:55 who walk the earth surrenders to God. I am yours. One of very famous songs out
25:02 there. Same thing. Counting uh crowns, casting crowd. Who am I that the eyes
25:08 that see my sin will look at me with love and watch me rise again and at the
25:13 end of the song I am yours. So I want to start off with this the the
25:20 beginning point about any Christian journey is to pause you know and say the
25:26 God of the creator of this universe will send his son to die for me.
25:35 He called me and you into salvation for a purpose, not to sit at the back of the
25:43 church for 10 years.
25:48 And he's telling you today, he knows you.
25:54 You are his. And he is calling every one of you.
26:02 And if you sit there and you say, "Lord, I'm scared. I don't want to do it. I
26:07 feel guilty. I don't have time. I don't have gifts." And this is his reply to Moses. I will be with you.
26:15 And this will be a sign that it is I have sent you. And this is a kicker. When you have brought the people of
26:20 Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain. Huh? I got to wait until they get out Egypt. Yes.
26:27 You walk along the way and finally when you get out there you will worship me.
26:34 It's a journey of faith. Here's the second one and this one is
26:39 great. I'm going to approach it from two levels. Who am I an eyes on man? So he cannot. So he says Moses said to God
26:47 suppose I go to Israelites and say to them the God notice the word of your fathers not his has sent me and he asked
26:54 me what is his name? Then what shall I tell you? This is a very controversial text about Yahweh Elohim. I won't go
27:00 into the theology, but he basically disassociates himself with the Israelites. You know, now notice this in
27:06 chapter two, if you know your history, he had tried to save the Israelites didn't go very well.
27:12 And so now second round, he says, you know, he's now putting a distance. So God tries to communicate with him,
27:18 convince him. Then second round, chapter four, he's two questions. Moses said, "What if they do not believe me or
27:24 listen to me and say the Lord did not appear to you?" Simple English.
27:31 You ask me to do. You ask me to serve. What if I fail?
27:37 That is his question. What if I fail?
27:43 You know what God was going to say? So what?
27:48 So what? is not about you. But here the question is interesting because it takes identity
27:56 to another level. Alien generous say all about myself.
28:01 Don't care anyone says it's not true. His identity now is shaped by what is shaped in relationship to others. So let
28:09 me give you three areas where shapes our identity subconsciously or not they all
28:15 affect us. The first is what is a human being? If you're not a Christian, anything you
28:21 want. The moment you say a Christian, you are created in the image of God. You're an
28:27 image bearer of God. An image bearers of God don't just become pure warmers.
28:34 That's one. The first question revealed another part of of Moses, his inadequacy. And very likely was because
28:41 he's traumatized by his past. So what happened to a friend is that you know he this guy was born as a Jew brought up
28:51 very rich you know it's like like a bangla not no offense to any Bangladesh is like a bangla brought up in the son
28:57 of a Chinese tycoon you know wow then suddenly made a lot of money live in a d house or got BMW got all the money in
29:04 the world then one day realize his Bangladeshi people being oppressed by factory workers in Shaalam so he go
29:10 there and strike and go and whack Somebody whack the manager and then the Bangladeshi say very classic Malaysian
29:17 answer. Who are you? Who are you? Who are you? That's true because that's what they tell Moses. Who are you? Who made
29:25 you leader over us? Who are you? A Malaysian love to say that. Who are you? Who are you? And so he betan he ran away
29:31 to median and became a civil servant. Uh 9 to 5 job, watch Netflix, play ping
29:39 pong, go mama store. Thank you very much. And then one day God appears to
29:44 him and he says, "Who am I?" Second point, who am I defined personally? And he's
29:51 defined by his hurts. He's defined by his tragedies. He's defined by an
29:57 acceptance of the safety of a mediocre life. And a lot of Christians have that.
30:02 You are not called to a mediocre life 9 to5 which you hate. Let me tell you
30:08 that. And here's the last one, which is what the text is saying. Who am I
30:18 relationally? You see what Moses is saying,
30:23 my identity is affected by what people say about me. I'm scared of rejection.
30:31 Now if we are honest about ourselves, how you are as a husband, a wife, a
30:37 parent, a colleague at work with friends all shape you. If you're in a chat group
30:43 and everybody ignores you, you feel lousy. You post something on Instaar and don't get followers, you feel lousy. If
30:50 you're in a group discussion, they ignore you, you feel lousy. You come home, your spouse always hunt you, you
30:56 feel lousy. Your kids don't appreciate you. You feel lousy. Your father and
31:02 mother always criticize you. You feel lousy relationally. They shape you. These are
31:08 the three things that make up your identity. And what God is doing is going
31:16 right inside all of that and saying the defining root is who are you to me?
31:25 That is the root. And he says that to Moses. He says,"I am who I am."
31:32 He's is and you you can do a one-hour sermon on this. This is what you say to Israelites. I am has sent you to me. And
31:40 then he expands it. I am the God of your forefathers, Moses. This is the name I
31:46 give you. You can argue whether they're Yahweh or Elohim. That's not today's sermon. But he's basically saying, he's
31:53 turning around and he says, "Who am I to you, Moses?" And here's my question to all of us. Who is God to you?
32:01 Who is God to you? And do you treat God with reverence?
32:07 Do you treat God with fear and love? And then is taken one
32:14 step deeper because the text appears again in Acts when Steven is stoned.
32:20 Steven brings up the text and he says this in a narration about the history of Israel. He says at that time Moses was
32:26 born. He was no ordinary child. 3 months he was cared for by his family. When he was placed outside, Pharaoh's daughter
32:33 took him and brought him up as her own son. Moses was educated all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in
32:40 speech and action. Now remember this because later he tells God, I cannot talk. Remember this scripture doesn't
32:46 contradict scripture. No, he can talk. You know later tell God I don't know how to talk. Take that. Here's the identity
32:54 crisis here. So from a nobody, he became powerful. And here's the freedom fighter state. Verse 23. When Moses 40 years
33:01 old, he decided to visit own people Israelite. He saw one of them being mistreated by Egyptian. He went to
33:06 defense and avenge him by killing Egyptian. Moses thought, I hear the key word that his people would realize that
33:12 God was using him to rescue them. They did not. The next day, Moses came upon
33:17 two Israel fighting. He tried to reconcile them by saying, "Men, you are brothers. Why do you want to hurt one another? But the man who was mistreating
33:24 the other pushed Moses aside and said, "Who are you? Who are you? Who are you?
33:29 Are you thinking of killing me as you killed Egyptian yesterday?" When Moses heard this, he fled to Median where he
33:36 become a civil servant working for the government. That's what the text is saying. The earlier text of Joseph has
33:42 the same same structure and Steven is picking a point. Remember Steven is
33:48 talking about Christ you know because they are charging Steven for insulting Moses. So Stephen says, "Hold on, let me
33:54 tell you a story. This what was happened to Joseph. This happened to Moses." And the kicker is verse 35. This is the same
33:59 Moses. They rejected the words who made you ruler and judge. You know what Steven is saying? He's pointing to
34:04 Christ that Christ who got rejected you said the same thing. Who made you
34:12 ruler and judge? So the story in Exodus points to Christ. Moses, I don't have
34:19 all answers. I'm afraid of being failure. I don't want to serve in ABC because cannot dan. I served before with
34:25 Anolim. He yelled at me. I cannot stand him. I worked before in the kitchen. I
34:32 tried to show them my recipe. They scold me my recipe. I don't want to work anymore.
34:37 I was working in in this group, but they don't listen to me. I don't want to work. So God says, I will walk with you
34:46 and provide you with signs. In fact, he gives him three signs and the tools to overcome your fears. That's one. But
34:52 here's the application. Being vulnerable and facing rejection is part of my
34:58 identity in Christ because Christ was rejected. So you come to serve in ABC and people
35:03 throw you, you say hallelujah. You come with ABC talks too much, you
35:09 say hallelujah. You come and try to serve and you cannot get on, you say hallelujah.
35:15 because Christ was rejected. That's part of it.
35:22 And because God will walk with you and he's training you.
35:28 Let me go to the third one. Recognizing worldly identity markers. You see after that he this guy is very slick. You
35:34 know, he should have been a lawyer. So he uses the third. This is the fourth excuse. Moses said to the Lord, "Pardon
35:39 your servant. I have never been eloquent neither in the past nor since you have spoken to servant. I'm slow of speech
35:45 and tongue. You know that's not right because Steven says he can speak. He's broadened the household of Egypt. You
35:51 know is an excuse. But notice God's reply. God doesn't call his bluff.
35:58 God doesn't call his bluff. The Lord said to him, "Who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them therefore
36:05 mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go.
36:10 I'll help you speak and teach you what to say. Again, God turns it on himself.
36:15 But here's a deeper issue. The issue isn't that he doesn't have the gift. The issue is he doesn't have the passion.
36:23 He doesn't want to do it. You asking go and sell cars, you go and sell cars or sell camels. You asking go
36:30 talk to Israelites, no thank you. He has the gift. He doesn't have the passion to
36:36 serve in ABC. That's the context. Now this is giving you another identity
36:41 marker. The identity marker is I am what I am
36:47 passionate about. And let me tell you that's completely secular.
36:53 And this has so entered the church. People say they are serving God in church. Actually they're doing
36:58 self-actualization. So I want to spend a bit of time on this. There are few ways to identify
37:06 your idols. You know one a need to be significant. If I honor him and
37:11 preaching here because I like the sound my voice but w today a lot of people oh you better throw stones at me.
37:19 My favorite sermon of the Bible is Steven because when he preached they threw stones at him. Can you imagine me
37:25 preaching that one day you're so unhappy you know but but that's the marker we should see. We're not here to please man
37:30 but that's there's the danger of the need to be significant. That's one.
37:35 Secondly, define my need to protect myself from passers. He thought that God
37:42 was using him. We find it from Steven's speech in acts. And they tell him, "Who are you?" And so he doesn't want to
37:48 repeat that. He has such bad experiences. He's protected himself by a fence. And a lot of us have that. A lot
37:55 of us, our past traumas, our issues has so defined us, we dare not go out and
38:00 take risks. That has become your identity. And the last one is this
38:06 defined by my job, my marriage, my family, my talents, my possessions, my
38:11 church ministry. All of these shape you. So if a man loses his job, very likely he loses his
38:19 identity. For a woman, if he loses a marriage, she loses identity more than a
38:25 man. Statistics show that if you lose your marriage and your job and your kids
38:31 hate you, very likely you go into depression.
38:37 So hear this, oh people of God,
38:42 he knows you. You get it? He knows you. And if that
38:50 isn't your pillar, the moment we take away any one of this, your life will
38:56 fall like a house of cards. And so our starting point is that a God
39:03 who loved me so much, he sent his son to die for me. And my respond to that is,
39:11 who am I, oh Lord, that you would save a wretched sinner like me? I am on holy
39:21 ground. You start that way. What does God do? He changes your heart.
39:29 And the tragedy is many people come to church and sit in church but their hearts are not changed
39:38 and they say who am I? But they do not attach the last two words. Oh Lord,
39:47 this is not exactly a guy you want to promote, but give the man some face,
39:52 dude. Kanye West, if anybody who defined by his music
39:58 skills is this man. So if you're very talented, it becomes
40:04 you. So how do you know when a man sees his gifting, sees his talent and says,
40:10 you know what, I'm beyond that. So let's give credit to this man. Number one, he had a shift in his faith and his albums
40:18 now Jesus popelling rap singer all about Jesus.
40:25 Here is what he says in Jesus walks they say you can rap or anything except Jesus. I better stop that means gun sex
40:33 video tapes but if I talk about God my record won't get played. Huh? Well, if this takes away from my spins,
40:39 we should probably take away from my ends. Then I hope this takes away from my sins and bring the day I'm dreaming
40:44 about next time in the club. Everybody keeps screaming. Okay, better stop. No, no, no. Look,
40:50 hang on. The the listen to the lyrics. Listen to the lyrics.
40:58 They say you can rap about anything except for Jesus. That means guns, sex,
41:04 lies, videape. But if I talk about God, my record won't get played. He's telling
41:10 the world, I don't care. I will proclaim Jesus.
41:16 If you don't buy my records, hallelujah. What is that? Rejection.
41:23 God show me the way because the devil trying to break me down. That's for me and you. The only thing I pray is that
41:30 my feet don't fail me now. I mean, you got to give credit to the man because he did not sell Jesus out.
41:39 Why? Because he's going away, which is the way of rejection. You should hear
41:45 the critics say about his latest album, and it's all about Jesus. He doesn't care.
41:52 So, who am I? I am yours, O Lord, and I will proclaim your name in the face of
41:59 rejection. We are not caught to life or self-actualization. Moses either the
42:05 gift of public speaking. That's a lie. God says, "I will teach you how to speak because you are just my vessel. I'm the
42:12 one doing the real talking, not you." In Kanye West, that's God speaking. I'm God, creator of all things. Following
42:19 your passion is overrated and can lead to sub idolatry. God initiates any
42:25 calling, not us. And something the calling is to task we do not want to do.
42:32 Moses problem wasn't because he couldn't speak was because he had no passion. And this morning I want to rechallenge you
42:38 because the church needs people. Let me end with this. Who am I? The question to
42:45 ask is who are we? So in the end he says pardon your servant Lord. Please send someone else. Then the Lord's anger
42:52 burned against Moses said what about your brother Aaron the Levite? I know he can speak well. He's already on agree to
42:58 meet you. He will be glad to see you. You shall speak to him and put words in his mouth. I will help both of you
43:03 speak. I will teach you what to do. He will speak to the people for you. You
43:09 will be as if he were your mouth and as if you were God to him. That's interesting verse. But take this stuff
43:15 in your hand and you can perform the sign to him. There's an order here. There's God. There's Moses and below
43:22 Moses there's Aaron. There's a hierarchy here. You see, you're not called to serve
43:28 alone. Moses said, "Please send someone else." God said, "I'm getting angry now.
43:34 No more excuses. You will go in obedience, but I'll get someone to
43:40 support you." God calls us to his family. Then God
43:45 calls us into Christian service. Then God calls others to support us. So if you cannot talk to Anolim, get someone
43:52 else to talk to Anolim. But don't say you can't work with Anolim. That's the question. And here's the thing I really
43:59 want to end this with. I'm going to end in a short while.
44:04 There's no such thing as a Christian who doesn't serve. You know,
44:09 and those are really serving take to take some risks. Others will support us.
44:15 God knows us better than we know. So let me take the first one. If God had called you, he didn't call
44:22 you to sit in the church to do nothing. He called you to service in the kingdom
44:28 of God. So I'm going to say something in love which is horribly offensive. And if
44:34 you think I offended you, I want to say it comes from a deep place of love.
44:39 Because if seems I'm called to be an elder, not in any sense arrogant about
44:45 it. I'm a servant. We are called to shepherd. So I want to say this in deep
44:50 love. I won't repeat this again the rest of the year. If you been in ABC for many
44:56 many many years and you just sat at the back and it doesn't bother you. Can I
45:03 lovingly tell you very likely you are not a Christian.
45:10 Well that's very offensive right time to throw stones and analy but it's said in love. I'm going to repeat that. You see,
45:17 it doesn't matter whether there's 750 people here. Better we have 10 people who love the Lord. Then to fill this
45:25 church to the rafters where at the end of the service when we do the closing song, everybody rushes
45:31 out. I'm going to say this again because I'm very chi but I love everybody.
45:38 Christ love me. If you sit at the back and you really don't care, you like the
45:44 service, you like this church, you've been here very often and you give money
45:49 and you think you're a Christian, you got to ask yourself whether you are, you know, because I don't think you are.
45:57 You might not be because if you have had an encounter with God,
46:03 you would break you and you say, "Who am I God that you would call me?" And he
46:08 will so change your heart. You will come to ABC and says Arim I cannot tan you
46:16 but I will serve with you. Doesn't have to be like you know but that's the point
46:23 I I I want to give you an example of this and this now for the second one for
46:29 all of us serving again in love. My natural gift is
46:35 preaching. I say that not in arrogance. Some people they come up here, they see
46:40 a crowd, they shudder. You pull me up here, I get verbal diarrhea. I cannot stop talking.
46:47 I have absolutely no like standing here. I'm feeling completely empowered. I am in my I'm in my space, dude. I'm Kanye
46:56 aware. Get it on, bro. I absolutely have no fear.
47:01 You asked me to run family life ministry. When I told Peter, Peter Cong
47:10 doing counseling. Peter say you talk so much. You always tell people what to do. You don't give people a chance to talk.
47:16 You do counseling. I don't let me talk to you. That's the truth. You ask him.
47:22 You ask people who tried to talk to me before. I have made people cry in this congregation. They are here.
47:30 But I think the Lord spoke to me and I said, "This is an area the church needs to
47:36 grow in." And I told Peter, "We need to do it." He said, "You want to do it? You go and do."
47:43 And so along the way, Brandon came, Caroline came, John Go came, Patrick
47:49 came, Annette came, Many came, Pastor Joshua came, Linda came. And the people
47:55 you see behind there is because God said, "I will walk with
48:01 you. I will show you signs. I will bring people with you and I'll bring you many,
48:10 many errands." I want to close today with a challenge.
48:17 The challenge is this. We set our dreams very very big.
48:23 750 people in ABC I take a site 10% very
48:30 fair so let's just say take away 75 people so give me my maths there 6 and
48:38 what 675 I have a dream Martin Luther
48:46 675 people serving in FBC VC.
48:55 Do you have that dream? It is not my dream. It is the call of the Lord.
49:04 Happy new year. Let us pray as the worship thing comes up. Lord, as we start this year, we
49:11 start by asking ourselves a question, who am I? And we ask, oh Lord, we start
49:18 with a new year resolution. And the resolution is this. Take our hands, take
49:24 our legs, take our mouths, but most importantly, Lord, take our hearts.
49:30 That's where we begin. And we change our hearts so that we
49:36 realize we are called to salvation. And that means we are called to serve
49:44 and to build your kingdom. For those of you who who were offended
49:49 by me, I just in love ask you to go and ask, "Have you really experienced Jesus?" You
49:56 can recite the verse that says, "Yes, I know Jesus saved me." Really, did he
50:01 save you? Then where is the gratitude? Where is the awe? Where is the love? And
50:07 I rechallenge you. Maybe it's time for you to go back to Alpha and relearn
50:12 about Jesus. For the rest of us who serve in the church, the challenge is to
50:18 take it to higher ground. The challenge is to take this church to new boundaries
50:24 as a mission church. The challenge is for us to break frontiers, not for our own glory, but
50:32 for your kingdom and to be like Moses. Because Lord in the end we knew after
50:38 the five excuses were made Moses just flew and he became the greatest leader
50:45 of Israel. And we ask that this church 675 people
50:51 will hear your call today and they will just say one line.
50:60 Here I am, oh Lord, send me.
51:07 And we say this in Jesus name. Amen.
