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July 20, 2025 • 62 mins
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listening to a message to go from axt church.
We hope this message will light up your tea.

Speaker 2 (00:08):
We are half into the team of disciple first. Uh.
This year, I'm sure you have heard so many things
about disciple first discipleship. I'm sure you know's a Gloria
and all the other speakers have been talking about discipleship.
Different leaders are talking about discipleship to to to you guys,

(00:29):
and in asking your maybe, uh, have you considered discipleship?
Do you want to consider to be part of the
discipleship because and because why we're doing this is that
this year we really want to focus to go deeper,
to go deeper into this discipleship that what we're supposed
to be in actually it is the fundamental of being

(00:53):
a Christian. Actually, you know, it's not just by word
of mouth we say disciple first, you know, but we're
saying that, no, really, disciple is the first thing you're
supposed to be, you know, And we want to take
intentional action in that. That's the whole purpose and desire
that we're talking about discipleship to you all on and

(01:14):
off and on and off, because that's where everything starts.
You know, we talk about revival. We all, I mean,
if you've been a Christian for some time, you've heard
about revival and things like that. But revival will not
be able to happen if there are no disciples, because

(01:34):
who are then going to carry on what the Holy
Spirit does if it's not for the disciples. So, you know,
this is what we are supposed to be, disciples disciple first.
So Christ did not call us to just be a
believer or a practitioner, you know, or it does not

(01:57):
call us to be just oh whatever that people call
whatever religion that they follow, you know, mostly they believe,
mostly they call them practitioners and things like that. But
we are called to be disciples. It's it's just clear
in the Bible. You know, you call everyone to become

(02:18):
his disciple. Matthew nineteen says that, you know, go and
make disciples and reaptize them in the name of Father,
Son and the Holy Spirit. It's it's just clear. There's
no other way around it. Become disciples, becoming disciples of
Jesus Christ. That's what we're supposed to be. And and
you know, and and you cannot try to say that. No,

(02:40):
I think I'll just stay at being a believer. Oh
I think I'll just stay at being a practitioner. All
these things. You you you cannot do it. But because
there's a clear word and understanding why the word disciple
was used in the Bible. So there's this word. Okay,

(03:03):
next one, yes, thank you. So the Greek word for
disciples is actually martetis, which means a learner or a follower,
you know. So it means like you are learning, and
you are learning and you are following, then you are
a disciple. That's what we're called to do. And it
appears in the Bible, in the Gospel of X and I.

(03:30):
In the Gospels and also in the Book of Acts
for about two hundred and sixty times they refer to
those who were with Jesus as his disciples, or in
another word, as martetis. That's what they were referring, both
of them. I mean all of them too, you know.
So it starts from there. It only after that, after

(03:55):
a Book of Acts, you read other letters, all and
other books of the Bible. Well, the words like saints,
brethrens believers, the elect, the servants, those who are in
Christ were all used. Only after that. Those who are
following Jesus were called disciple, and everything else is whatever

(04:16):
believer for saints, those who are in Christ, brethrens and
sisters in Christ. All that was only after that. None
of it was before that. So it means even in
the Bible, it is so clear that you become a
disciple first. Then only you are a believer. Then only

(04:41):
you are brethrens in Christ, you know, and and things
like that, and you are a saint, and and all
these things that the Bible mentions is only after that,
you know. So our primary call from this we know
is to be is disciple, to learn and follow, you know,

(05:03):
That's what we're supposed to do. So we are called
to be disciples first. That's why the whole team is
disciples first, so that you learn and you follow. Yeah,
you know. So I want to ask this question to
all of you, you know, I like if you can respond,
I hope you will respond. You know how many you will? Okay, Amen,

(05:26):
she's so excited. How many of you here say that
you are a follower of Jesus Christ or you follow Jesus.
I mean you can raise your hand, you know, I
mean if you're confident. If you're not confident yet, I
think pass the gloria, I should talk to you. Okay, okay,

(05:46):
so okay, there a few of you will raise your hand.
So but but you know, if I how if I
ask you, how do you follow Jesus? What would your
answer be? How do you follow him? Said I'm a
follower of Jesus, and I think a bunch of you
raise your hand seventy seventy percent. That's telling us the

(06:10):
gray only seventy percent. So if you say you are
a follower of Jesus, how do you follow him? How?
How is that applied in real life? You know? Because today,
in today's day and entire following is a very different meaning.

(06:31):
We're very confused about following because social media is confused
as about what is following. Like, like, you know, when
you follow someone in social media, what do you do?
You would, uh, you know, stock their photos and you
will see their feed, you know, you know, so you

(06:54):
know you're gonna be scrolling and looking at their updates
and maybe you will like, you'll double tap and you like,
or you will comment wow, so pretty wow, so beautiful.
I don't know what else you'll comment then yes, so funny,
it's another good comment as well. You know, you might comment,
and then what will happen. You will just scroll to

(07:15):
the next and you will forget about it. Right, That's
what we always do. We keep scrolling, scrolling, and we
just forget about it. And you do the same thing
to all those you follow on Instagram. You're not gonna
like hold their picture and just keep staring at them. No,
it's gonna be so weird if you do that, you know,

(07:37):
but you will move on. You will just forget about it.
But sometimes, right, we also cheat following Jesus the same way.
You know, just open sometimes the Bible and then be like, wow,
so good, come on Lord, and then we come to
church and then yay, come on Lord, and then you're done.

(07:59):
You're done following him, you know, that's it. And then
on Monday to Saturday you're following something else. Too many
things you're following, you know, because this is the truth,
because we are following too many things in our life today,
and there's too many noise and too much of distractions

(08:19):
that is actually in our lives today, and we because
of that, we have stretched so thin spiritually, and our
attention is divided. You know, it's really our attentions are divided,
so divided that we are not we can't actually follow
him fully, you know. And and that's not how we're

(08:42):
supposed to follow Jesus. True following Jesus is giving it
all to him, following the way that he paved, where
he did not live for himself. He lived for the
Father in heaven, you know, and and nothing else. He
was very clear that I am here to follow my
father and do his business. Even he says in Look

(09:04):
two forty nine, did you not know that I must
be about my father's business? So that was very he
was very clear of what he is following. But today,
because where we are living, in the situation that we
are in, we often have too many things fighting for
our attention, you know. But we have to be very clear.

(09:25):
Is Christ is the lord of all or not at all?
That's it. Christ is Lord of all or not at all.
There's nothing in between. There's nothing in between. You can't
say I'm going to juggle Christ and I'm going to
juggle something else with Christ. It's quite not right. So

(09:46):
we have to get our priorities right first. There's no
Instagram following. We cannot follow Jesus like we follow someone
on Instagram or whatever the new social media is, you know,
but he has to follow him genuinely. But it's a
struggle to do so because many things again I repeat
this again. I probably it's not like a broken record.

(10:08):
You know that many things compete for attention today in
our daily lives, and sometimes we are bound to make
choices about whether to follow him or something else, even
in the smallest things, you know, things like can I
still find a way to make it to church? Or

(10:31):
a long day yesterday, I'm so tired, the bed is
calling me, oh ninety thy so early, so early? Can
I still then make it to church? Or you know, oh,
there's a concert at the mean that it was a concert.

(10:53):
I I live in book Joel exactly, so it was
so traffic, the jam was so bad because I live
in Booka jalelh And And you know, would you still
make it to church or you'll say that no, I
think I will go for that concert instead, yeah, you know,

(11:15):
or would you let things compete? Or can you or
say that I'll at times where they say that, oh, no,
on Sunday you have to work Sunday morning, No, you
have to be at work. Can you and say that no,
I cannot. This time is set aside for me to
serve God or to be in the house of the Lord.

(11:38):
Can we say that because that tests whether are you
genuinely following or not? You know, can I set aside
Tuesday nights together and pray with my church community, or
you know, oh, work, I'm going to stay or stay
back at work and work over time, or or I'm

(11:58):
just too tired to socialize and at Tuesday night, so
I think I'm just going to go to work. I
mean I'm going to go back to home and sleep.
Oh you know, would you be able to set aside time?
Can we say that? Can we make a stand to
say that that tests you whether are you following Christ

(12:23):
genuinely or not? You know, it's not about attendance. I'm
not saying that, oh it's because of attendants not. I'm
saying that these are just the little tests. Actually, whether
you can you stand and say that it makes you,
It makes people around you know that your follower Christ
as well. I remember a long time ago as a student,
when I was a degree student in UPM. If you know,

(12:45):
a UPM is a government uned so they love to
have exams on Sundays because they're you know the MPU
subjects where all faculties have to take it, you know,
like Kandergata nationhood and you know Ungan Ethnic you know
all those nonsense papers. Right. They used to do it

(13:08):
on Sundays. They love to eavy on Sundays because they
say like, oh, that's the day everyone can can meet together,
you know, everyone free schedule. And I said no, I
don't have a free schedule on Sunday morning. So I
was very I didn't like that, you know, and I
was growing as I was like first year, second year
and third year, and I felt like this is not right.

(13:31):
I you know, someone is to say something about it.
So I actually went to my lecturer in my faculty
and I told her that I'm not going to come
for exam on Sunday. And she's like, what's wrong with you?
And I said no, because Sunday mornings are church time
for me, and you have exams on Sundays regularly, so

(13:54):
I don't want to do that. And she's like, oh
what why only you? What about everyone else? No one
else is complaining? And I don't know what came in
to me at that time. And I told her this boldie,
I guess or I don't know. However, you want to consider,
would you have exams Friday twelve thirty to two thirty?
You will never do that, you know, right, because it's

(14:18):
an important time for you and all of you. I'm
not saying who is you? So you know? For you?
So what about me? What about others? Then she was like, oh, actually,
you're right. I wonder why no Christians came and told me,
told us about this. So the faculty that I was

(14:40):
in is the faculty that organizes this exam, because this
is like the human ecology faculty. All the papers of
this comes from that faculty, and the person that I
was talking to is actually the dean of the faculty.
So from then onwards, the following semester they decided to
say that we are no longer going to have exams

(15:01):
on Sundays anymore, especially for this paper. If any other
faculty does that, then it's up to them, love, but
for no more. So you will never hear a common
exam on Sundays. Students these days, you know, they don't
have that. It's because someone one day decided to be
bold enough to go and say that, and they were

(15:23):
completely fine with it. It's just that they was they
didn't know, they didn't aware because there were no they.
She mentioned this to me, Oh, come, I have never
heard any Christian come and tell me about this before.
So it was a stand the tests whether are we
following him genuinely or not? So again I said, you know,
it's not about church attendance. It's not I'm just saying

(15:43):
this so that you will skip everything and be at church.
But sometimes you can even be here physically, but your
hearts are not even you know, you are probably in
your phone scrolling, you know, and your hearts are not
following him truly. You know, your mind is thinking, well
what am I going to have for lunch? Of this?
You know? You know. But but all these little decisions
that you make shapes you as a follower and as

(16:08):
a disciple. Was genuinely committed to the business of following Jesus.
But you may say, oh, Chan, I'm trying so hard,
but it's you know, but I can't, you know, it
seems so hard. And I always get the answers because
you know, I have a lot of Cambra students in Esca,
and every time I challenge them, they'll be like, but chant,
I'm not like you. I cannot do it, you know,

(16:28):
I said, no, I'm not asking you to be like me.
I'm asking you like Jesus. Perhaps it is something that
you need to focus on this year, you know, for
you maybe to do a hard check. It's your heart
in the right place. Are you understanding God correctly? You know,

(16:49):
because we can only truly grasp the concept of what
is it to be a follower when we have a
fundamental understanding who God is and what are his actions like?
Because if we don't know who God is and what
are his actions like, then we are just we can't
we can't properly follow you. We probably won't follow you blindly,

(17:10):
or we're not following at all. You know. That's why
we're always finding ourselves on the fence, because we haven't
really understand how God is and who God is and
how does he work and what are his character? So
let me ask you a question. You know, so this
will boil down to how do you perceive God in
your life? So I asked this question, how many of

(17:32):
you believe? You can answer honestly, I'm seriously answer honestly,
how many of you ye have believe that God is
here for you. Here is your hand for you. Okay, great,
what I if I tell you that that concept that

(17:52):
you have, that belief that you have is not entirely correct,
that it can be incorrect? You know? What if I
tell you that God is not her for you, but
we are the ones who are here for him, I
don't get me wrong. Scripture does affirm that God is

(18:12):
God's love, mercy, grace, all of this. You know. It
will draw near to you, it will help you, it
will save you, it will care for you. All these
things He will do for you. But it does not
exist for you. But we have been so used to
hearing this consumeristic gospel that suggests that as do, he

(18:33):
revolves around us, or he's here to bless you, is
here to heal you, it's here to get you that promotion,
is here to help you pass that exam. But no,
that's not how he works. Is not your cosmic concerge,
or is not your wishing well, or it's not your genie.
But we are so used to it. We are so

(18:55):
so used to this, and sometimes our worship song sounds
like that, and when it doesn't sound like that, we
get upset. Oh I don't like that song, you know.
But let me tell you the truth is because of
that understanding that we have, That's why we are never
satisfied with the Gospel alone. We want more and we

(19:16):
are constantly seeking for something more because we have not
understood what it is all about, what is the true
Gospel all about. That's why we cannot be consistent with
the Lord. Especially when struggle comes. We're going through something
we cannot fully surrender to the Lord. The first thing

(19:36):
we do is to forsake God or for God God
when struggle comes, because we are constantly needing for more,
and we ask questions like this, God, why are you
not doing this for me? I pray, I come to church,
but nothing happening for me. We have a lot of
baggages and we're still asking God this question. We get

(19:57):
disappointed with God. This is a consum mindset that we have.
I'm giving, but I'm not receiving anything in return. Yeah,
you know, I don't know why I put a picture.
This reminded me of This reminded me of pandemic. So
you know, you know, it's a question that we have
in our mind all the time. I'm giving but not

(20:18):
receiving anything in return. I'll come not fair. Why he
gets it, I don't get it. Why he got nice testimony,
but I don't have nice testimony to share. Oh a
pread sch it. You're gonna come get sort of place,
you know. But today I want to ask you. Would

(20:42):
you still follow him even if you did not receive
the breakthrough that you've been asking for. Would you still
follow him even if it does not heal you for
the healing that you've been asking for, or maybe the
job that you've been one thing? Would you still follow him?

(21:04):
Would you still say, Lord, I will follow you, Lord,
I love you if would you still follow him if
your life is going to be filled with suffering and challenges?
Would you still follow him if all you get to
see is his face but never get to see his

(21:26):
hands move in your life? Or would you still follow
him if you are hated forever or even going to
be persecuted for the rest of your life? Would you
still follow him? You know, because the Bible stays that clearly.

(21:47):
You know from Luke nine twenty three to twenty four
says that then he said to them all, if anyone
desires to come after me, let him deny himself, take
up his cross. The alien follow me. For whatever desires
to save his life will lose it. But whoever loses
his life for my sake will save it. Look nine
fifty eight says the same thing. Fox have holes. Jesus
said to everyone, Fox have holes, Birds of the air nest.

(22:09):
But the son of man has nowhere to lay his hand,
He has nowhere to lay his head, has no house.
Would you still follow Jesus if he has not given
you a house to stay? John fifteen twenty says, remember
the word I said to you. A servant is not
greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will

(22:32):
also persecute you. That's not a good life. None of
it sounds good right now. It sounds comfortable. Imagine not
having an ice house but air con on. You need
to be sleeping on a mat all day. Yeah, so
what if that's what God calls you. But that's the
life written for followers. Really. No part in the Bible,

(22:56):
No part where Jesus says that I'll give you everything
you asked for. No part of the Bible says that
I'm going to give you a comfortable, good life. Yeah,
No part of the Bible says, But again I said,
the consumeristic gospel that we believe for so long is
what is making us so challenging. It makes us so

(23:19):
challenging to accept this, makes it so hard for us
to actually swallow this that life is going to be
full of suffering and challenges, because I will boldly say,
that's what the devil wants. The devil's plan is to
cause us to forget and ignore the history of early

(23:41):
believers and disciples. Because if you read the Bible, and
if you read after if you read the Book of Acts,
and if you continue to read the history of the churches,
none of these disciples at a good, peaceful death. None
of them went back. Oh, I have served the Lord
all my life. Let me now rest and sib Pinacolada

(24:02):
while I see the world pass by. No, they all
land gruesome death, you know. But that's what the devil's
intention is, to cause us to forget and ignore the
fact and as far as the fact that persecution and

(24:25):
suffering has always been part of the follower's life, you know,
and more importantly, help makes us forget the true meaning
of the gospel. You know. What it makes us do
is it makes us suddenly very suddenly desire for three things. Praises, position,

(24:48):
and possession. This is why church we are never satisfied,
because if we examine our lives closely, we'll find that
our lives revolves around these three things. Yeah, either after

(25:09):
people's praises, validation, well done, well done. I'm not saying
don't say that, but I'm saying that sometimes it happens,
or we have to position, or I did not get
the position. I want to be there, I want to
be this. I want to be the CEO. I want
to be the COO, CFO or any os out there. Possessions.

(25:33):
I want that nice car, I want the nice house.
I want nice, this nice, that everything nice. And it
makes us revolve our lives around these things that we
forget a sense of being a true disciple for Christ.
And that's what the devil wants. You know. The devil

(25:54):
is never fear afraid when you when you even sin,
because the devil knows your sins have been forgiven already.
The devil is not afraid, you know, of Christians. But
he's afraid. It's not it's not really you know, it's

(26:15):
it's afraid of Christians that remember what they're calling is
Remember what this mean to be a true disciple is
it's not afraid of Christians, but it's afraid of a
true disciple. It's because it's easy to be a Christian

(26:35):
in today's life, but it's harder to be a disciple
that would do follow him regardless of anything. Even when
you don't hear his voice, still follow him, still obey,
still do Even when I don't get blessings, I still follow.

(26:58):
Still obey Harder. It's easier to come and sit and
hear Wow, such good messages and then just go back
and live our lives daily like normal. But that was
not afraid of us, I said, it has made us
forgotten what we're supposed to do true the world and

(27:21):
the attention that He has pulled us into. Really, so
if they come back again, come back again, that we
exist for him, because we have worn over and we
are no longer belong to ourselves. We no longer belong
to ourselves. And the true gospel is that God sent Jesus,
they paid for us the ultimate price and redeem us

(27:41):
from hell. Already the souls have been worn over, and
now we only need to do is live for God
and do his will first Guarentian six nineteen twenty says
that you are not your own, for you were bought
at a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body and
in your which are God's second. Corinthians five fifteen says,

(28:04):
and He died for all, that those who live should
no longer live for themselves, but for him who died
for them and rose again. Christ died for us, And
we have been worn over, and He has redeemed us
from hell. That itself is enough, that itself is true fulfillment,

(28:30):
that itself is true satisfaction. You know that victory alone
is worth celebrating already that like hello everyone, we will
not go to hell. We will not be in an
eternal life where God doesn't exist, but we will be
with Him in his presence, in his glory, in his

(28:54):
triumphed over hell. If my God has triumphed over Hell
and rescue me from the flames of that pit, do
you really think he will abandon me to be hungry?
Do you really think that he's going to let me
be mocked? Do you really think he's gonna let me
find anxiety, fear and all the other things alone. That's

(29:15):
how he's supposed to be a gospel. You've God, save
me from the pits of hell? Is he gonna abandon me?
Is he gonna let me suffer alone? You will never.
That's how we should were. The gospel God wants is

(29:37):
to grow, not to be engrossed in ourselves. This gospel,
if you believe it this way, if you know that
we are done, we are worn already, so I can
say yes to anything, be curse. I know the destination
that I'm getting to. I can live no matter how

(29:57):
God has called me to do, even if it's, you know,
with just dirty rags. I will still be able to
live because the destination is already set ready. And then
if you believe that, if you walk like that, I
tell you the gospel will take you through a beautiful

(30:18):
adventure in your life. It'll be all about the journey
because the destination is already set. You already know your destination,
so now it's the journey. So it doesn't matter you're
fifteen or fifty. I can tell you the true Gospel

(30:39):
will make it all about the journey that you're in.
And every adventure you will be willing to commit. You'll
commit to it the Lord tells you, go do that
you'll say, oh, will do it no matter what's the cost,
because I know what's my destination. It's like that. That

(31:01):
is true gospel. But you might say, but China, I'm
not ready, I'm not perfect yet. I need to think first,
or the standard template. I need to pray about it first.
What about this? What about that? But wait, nowhere am

(31:25):
I telling you? Or even the Bible is telling you
that you must be ready before you come to him,
or that you must be perfected before you come to him.
No way, the Bible says that that you must be
a perfect person, then only you come. No, that's legalism,
that is completely empty gospel. The gospel is not fixed yourself.

(31:49):
Then come to God. The gospel has come to God
and he will change you. But most of us missed
this part. We say that I'm not ready yet to
commit because I think I'm not good enough yet. I
think I'm not perfect enough yet. Oh give me some time.
But we I mean, even if you give you some time,
we won't be doing anything about it. But but really,

(32:11):
because we always think that I must be perfect for sn.
But the gospel is come to God and he will
change you. Isaiah one eighteen says come now. That is reason. Together,
says the Lord. Though your sins are like scarlet, they
shall be white as snow. Look. Five thirty two says

(32:32):
that those who are well and no need of a physician,
I have no need for a physician, but those who
are sick. I have not come to call the righteous,
but the sinners to repentance. Jesus is the one that
qualifies the unqualified. If you come to him broken, it'll
make you whole. If you come to him sinful, he

(32:53):
will give you righteousness. If you come to him empty,
he will feel you. You don't need to get ready
to come to God. You come to God and you
make you ready. You know, do we realize that it's
actually prideful to believe that you must be perfect and
completely right before committing your life to Jesus. It's actually

(33:15):
a pride if you say that, no, I have to
perfect first, be perfected first before I come to Jesus.
Because do you really think your method of fixing things
is superior to God's way? Do we really think our
way of fixing ourselves is perfect or better than how
God is going to do it? It's actually a pride?

(33:37):
Or do we really think that you can perfect yourself
without fully committing your life to Jesus. It's the same,
you know, worrying, it's also pride. Being anxious and worried
is also pride because it's also showing that we are

(33:58):
thinking into it so much. You're worried about it so
much that to the point that we think that we
can solve it better, or that we can come with
the outcome better than our God. Above. It's worrying. It's
actually some sort of pride because we think that we
are in control and we keep on thinking about it

(34:19):
and modeling about it and worried about it. But the
outcome is in God's hand. So we just need to
come to a place where we have to say that, no, God,
I really cannot but let me just come to you.

(34:41):
How do we do that? There are three things we
can do. It's become selfless. We come, step fast, and
you surrender. Let's read Philippines. Philippians two was five to eleven.
If you have your Bibles with you and you can
turned to Philippians two, five to eleven. Is he gonna

(35:04):
be on the screen? Yes, all right, so believers too,
there's five to eleven says this He must say, have
the same anthitude that Christ. Jesus had. Though he was God,

(35:28):
he did not think equally think of equality with God
as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his
divine privileges. He took the humble position of a slave
and was born as a human being. And when he
appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to
God and died as a criminal's death on a cross. Therefore,
God elevated him to the place V's honor and gave

(35:51):
him the name worth all other names, that at the
name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven, on
earth and under the earth, and every tongue confessed that
Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Amen.
So in this verse Paul teaches us what we should
what we should do to be like Christ, will accomplish

(36:13):
all three things. That he was selfless, he was stepfast,
and he surrendered. So this is one of the most
important messages or passages in the Bible. So we talk
about selflessness. You know, in the Bible, selflessness is expressed
in many ways. So in Hebrew usually the term that
is used is said it means covenantal loyalty, you know,

(36:37):
because there's a covenant. So I expressed it through sacrificial
love and care in Greek as agape, which is self
giving and sacrificial love. But in this verse, particularly in
verse seven, in this passage, Paul uses a different Greek word,
which stands for canoe. Canoe means to empty itself. It

(36:59):
means imagine you have a container filled with water and
you pouring out the water, empty out. It's called a kinosis,
or the process of emptying itself. In the human context,
it will be like pouring out completely. It means giving
up status, your significance, and also giving up your privilege.

(37:25):
That's what we are called to do, to empty ourselves,
just like Christ himself did it. No Verse seven says
here but made himself of no reputation, taking the form
of a born servant and coming in the likeness of men.
He could have came to the earth like a king.
You know, Jesus was the son of God. He could

(37:47):
have came to the earth like a king. You could
have just ascended, I don't know, with some royal thrones,
flaming thrones, and came down like that. Oh, he could
have chose to be born as the son of a
king in the kingdom back then and be raised his

(38:07):
whole life as a prince and then become a king
and rule over everyone. But he did not do that.
He did not do that. I always ask and I
always think why I did not do that? And after
a while it came to my mind, because most likely
he knew that we were going to be on this

(38:29):
earth very long after he sends back. So if he
had came as a king and then he ascended, none
of us would have been able to follow his ways,
because firstly, not all of us are born king. So
whatever he says will never be valid because because he

(38:52):
is at a privileged place and he's talking like do this,
do that, and then be like, ah, how would we
do that? Now it was the king's here. Oh what
would have happened is that all people would have been
fighting for a throne, because if I had to be
like Jesus, then I'm supposed to be a king, and
then the throne after he ascended, people would have been

(39:15):
fighting for it all the way probably until now. Like
if you see any other religion in this world, that
it happens the people are fighting for a throne, fighting
for a position. But Christ was so clear. God was
so clear when he sent Jesus down that that was
not the way, because you know the way. The right

(39:38):
way is that all of us will be able to
imitate Jesus. And the easiest way for everyone to imitate
Jesus is that so that he comes in an humble
and lowly man that he could relate to him, and
every single person that at that time was able to
relate to him follow him and multiply what he taught.

(40:02):
And there was no need for status, privilege, or social standing,
or color or race or any other distinctions to follow him,
because he came as so humble and common that if
Jesus was sitting here, you would not knowing is Jesus.
That's how he looked like, That's how he carried himself,
because that's what he wanted all of us to be

(40:24):
like as well, to be in a place or not
of privilege, to be in a place where in humble
and lowly manner. But that is also the hardest test
of all. When Jesus comes like that and we are
called to follow him, it seems true who are really?

(40:47):
Is true? Follow us? Because we like to follow celebrities
people who have great high status, people who are successful businessmen,
who were successful. We're like, I want to be like him,
I want to work like him. You know, almost we
read everything about that person and try to say that
I'm I'm just going to emulate my life towards being

(41:09):
like him. But Jesus was the son of a carpenter,
probably dressed the most you know, old clothes, probably got
it from village storehouse and not unique low. Probably was
wearing you know, pre love material. And I don't know,

(41:30):
you know, he was so humble on how he walked,
and no one would say that I want to follow
this man. But that was the test of all whether
can we empty ourselves or not. It's when Mark ten
was seventeen twenty two says, you know, when the young,
the rich, young ruler came and asked, good teacher, what

(41:51):
shall I do to inherit eternal life? Jesus said to him,
why do you call me good? No one is good
but one that is God. You know, the com do
not commit adultery, still not, still, do not false bare witnesses,
do not defraud only your father and mother. And the
young man says, teacher, I have all these things I've
kept from my youth. And Jesus looks at him and said, Jesus,

(42:12):
looking at him, loved him, and said to him one
thing you'll like, go your way, Sell whatever you have,
give it to the poor, and you will have treasure
in heaven. And then come and take up the cross
and follow me. When he heard that, he was so sorrowful,
and he went. You can see that Jesus's measure was
very clear. He minds that the Father, he only the
Father in heaven, is good and perfect. And that is

(42:34):
the true measure which none of us can keep it,
because none of us here can say that I'm good
and perfect. Because but this young man at that time
was assuming that he was self sufficient. He was perfect
because he has kept everything right. But selflessness begins when

(42:54):
we can admit dependency to God, not our achievements, not
of perfections, but to say in a place that God,
I depend on you solely fully. None of it is mine,
nothing is mine. I'm depending on you. And interestingly, before

(43:15):
that passage right, Jesus says this, whoever does not receive
the Kingdom of God as a little child, will by
no means entered. And why Jesus says that is that
reminds us that selflessness resembles a little child who is
fully depending on his father. A little child has no status.

(43:41):
The child has no privileges, the child has no money, riches,
whatever name, fame, nothing, It depends all towards the father.
Every child out there living off their father. You know,
no five year old say that I'm an own man
on my own I make my own money. No five
year old saying that. But they run to their father,

(44:03):
Give me this, give me that, I need this, I
need that, feed me amongly everything to the father. And
if Jesus is saying that, if we can't come with
a place where we are fully depending on our father
in heaven like a little child, then we have no
means to enter heaven, to enter Kingdom of Heaven. So

(44:24):
that's what we have to do. Empty ourselves. We cannot
hold anything so high in our life because your wealth,
your talent, your gifts, none of them can measure up
to the perfectness of God. And none of the things
that we will do will measure up to that as well.
So only way we can come into God is by

(44:46):
emptying ourselves and saying that Lord, I need to depend
on you. I cannot live without you. We sometimes thinking that,
or we can actually survive with them God, It's okay,
I still have bank balance can survive me without the Lord.

(45:07):
But no, the it's not about what we have, but
it's about our heart coming to a place to say
that God, without you can do nothing. I need you
in my life, so we have to empty our self church.
Second one, step fast. The word year uses in it

(45:31):
is a lot of meaning as well. You know, stepfast
can mean faithfulness, firmness, established, be firm in Hebrew, and
then in Greek it uses you know, uh, it is endurance,
patients and things like that. But we will focus on
particularly just one word that was used in Philippians to aid.
It says that a dry rys you know, which means

(45:55):
which relates to Philippines was two Chapter two was eight.
The states that us became obedient to the point of death,
even the death of the cross. At the death of
the cross, a drivers means literally means to be seated,
to be fixed in a place and anchored. So if

(46:16):
I shortly to say, you are immovable in purpose or
because of the loyalty. And this word says that Jesus
was fixed seated even at the point of death. He
was immovable. He had an immovable obedience. And this obedience

(46:37):
that he had was not reluctant. It was not conditional.
He was not like, uh, fine, okay, Jesus, Okay, God,
I'll do it for you. I'll dine and across for you. Fine,
you know. Or he was not like God, if I
do this air, you better do that for me. He
was not like that. But he was just anchored saying

(46:57):
that if this is your will, I'll do it. You
know you're step fast? Can we do so to Church?
Be unshakeable in our belief, in our loyalty to Christ,
faithful to Christ, unmoved by fear, suffering or shame. Or
when trouble comes, will we shake right away or will

(47:19):
we run right away? Because Jesus stood firm even at
the dead point, can we stand firm with for him?
Or are we going to hide away? We're going to
be set fast. Church. Don't give up so easily in

(47:40):
your faith and at times will be more trying. And
I'm sure it's hard. You know, you have struggles, you
have challenges, you have pain, and I'm not You're also
talking to you from like high place where I've got
everything figured out, but I go through struggles every day,
every hour most likely, you know. And I'm saying this

(48:00):
because I'm learning as well to be in this place
of being stepped fast in the Lord. And let me
share your story. My sister. I have her older sister,
but I think about two years ago, she had this

(48:22):
a growth in a in a brain, in a pictratary gland.
And that growth, there's only thirty six people in the
entire world has it. It was so rare and no
one has ever had it. I mean no one, not
no one. Thirty six people has had it, and she
was the thirty seventh at a time, and they had

(48:43):
to do a very very complicated surgery to remove that growth,
to snip the growth out of a picgittary gland, and
it caused a lot of you know, side effects on
her body because of the growth and things like that.
She was struggling. She was struggling very bad. And that
time when she was having a surgery, it was I

(49:04):
think it was November. It was in November, end of November, December,
I think it was first December twent three. She was
having a surgery and I was caught to go to
missions to Mukassi on the same day to Indonesia, and
I was wondering and asking God, like should I even go?

(49:25):
I want to be here with my sister. My sister
is a prey believer. Because my family are all prey believers,
they have not yet to accept Christ. So I was thinking,
should I be here with her? At least in a
way I can bring out the comfort the Christ will
bring it. By the time, the Lot was telling me,
you know you have to go. You have to obey

(49:45):
what I've told you to do and not worry about
anything else. I'll be. I'll be with her, I'll be
with them. I said, Oh, at your word, Lord, I
call even on the moment. On the day I was preaching,
like literally, I was preaching in Bakassi. She was having
a surgery. Of course, the surgery went well, and I

(50:07):
was very thankful when I heard it, and I said peace.
But when I come back, I heard this story from
my mom. I'm almost telling me that in the in
the hospital bit the war that she was in, it
was as bit next to her plus and next to
her there was a family there and uh and the
mother of the patient. I think the mother or daughter

(50:29):
of the patient was so uh interested in talking to
my mother and my sister, and they were always she
was always coming in talking and and and once in
their conversation that lady told my mom, oh, can I
pray for her? I am, oh, I'm a Christian, I'm

(50:51):
from from this church. I just felt, I want to
pray for your daughter, for your daughter's comfort and peace.
And she prayed for her, and my mom was so
touched in a way that like, in a way that
why would someone want to do this for for her?
And I remember I was like, wow, See God has

(51:13):
his ways of doing it. Yes, he didn't forsake my
sister at that time, but it's because I choose to.
I wouldn't say it's because I choose to do that,
but in a way, it's because I still steadfastly obeyed
in a way, it was so hard to do so,
but yet God's hand was there. Sometimes you cannot see

(51:35):
that because we cannot see that, we get shaken. But
God works in a way where if we can stay
step fast and He will show and he will prove
then how it works in our life. So you know,
so it's that's that's the power, you know, you know,

(51:55):
so God sees what you're going through. It's not in vain,
but you reward your faithfulness one day. So you might
ask me, chy, how do I then be step fast?
So hard? I just want to give up? Can you
teach the right way to be step fast? Oh? What
does it mean to be stepped fast? I'll show you

(52:16):
a demo. I always have demos and always call one
person for the demos. That guy, come, come, come, come,
are you the chosen one? Okay? Okay, okay, okay, yeah, okay,

(52:41):
so right now, okay, just then normally okay, you stand, okay, standing,
so right now? Yes, he's standing. When I push him,
he's going to move. It's not immovable, it's very movable.
All right, Okay, good idea. But let me tell let

(53:04):
me teach you another way to do it. Try kneeling
down like you know, like kneel down and prayer like
how would you kneel that? Prayer? Like that? Okay, like that?
So imagine if I'm trying to push him now, it's harder, right,
I mean, I gotta even still, the base is stronger.
It's because he's seated. He's seated. Step fast, Thank you,

(53:28):
thank you you know step fast actually means to be seated,
to be seated. And then we are seated in this
position like just now, in that kneeling position, we cannot
be shaken because in that position it does not only

(53:49):
mean seated, but also means surrendered. You're surrendered on your
knees to the Lord to fully and means you know,
you know. There's a word for it in Greek, which
means hand over fully ill fully submit. Come to a

(54:09):
place when you kneel down to the Lord. You come
to a place that saying that Lord, without you, I
am powerless to accomplish anything. Just to be stepfast, right,
it's not to fight on our own, but it is
to be surrendered to the Lord. Church, no surrender. Surrendering

(54:29):
to the Lord is not a sign of defeat. The
world things surrendering is about being defeated, Oh I surrender
a lost ABDN. But for Christ, surrender means coming to
a place of selflessness, completely dependent on God. Where you

(54:49):
are steadfast, you cannot be moved, You're firm, you're unshaken.
There's a lot better that we face. You probably are
fighting daily with this position, right. It's not just what
your physical posture of surrender. But it's also your inner
resolve inside of you saying that my God is in control.

(55:11):
It's saying that Lord, let your will be done, not mine.
Through the pain, we can say just like what Jesus
did you know? In Luke twenty two was forty one
to forty two, it says that Father, if this is,
if it is your will, take this cup away from me. Nevertheless,
not my will, but yours be done. He knelt down
and prayed and he said this. You know, he did

(55:32):
not flee, he did not fight, or it was not faltering,
but he kneeled and surrender because he was steadfast in
his father's will. Church, can we learn to surrender? Can
we learn to come to a place of surrendery And
it's a very hard thing to do, but we should
just try to let go of our pride, a desire

(55:55):
for control over everything, and abandon the belief that surrendering
a sign of defeat or what people think of as matters.
We oftentimes are so afraid to surrender to the Lord
because we are so afraid, what would people think? Would
people think that I am weak if I choose to surrender?

(56:18):
But no, the people might think that you're weak. This
person gave up so fast, but the Lord will not
give up on you. You want to win battles, you
can't win it on your feet, but only on your knees.
I can remember every single challenge that I've gone through

(56:38):
my life. It's all one on my knees. Two tears.
I realize that striving on my own is not going
to get me anywhere. It's just gonna get me more anxious,
more worried, more confused, more troubled. But when I choose

(56:58):
to surrender, peace that surpasses every understanding comes into my mind.
So don't be worried, don't be trouble, don't be distracted,
and don't fight on your own. Also, don't run away.

(57:19):
And also don't be a fixer. I know we all
love to fix things. Don't be a fixer. Don't be
in pride, don't be humble, I mean sorry, be humble,
testing you all, whether you're awake or not. And never
choose the good part to be seated at his feet.

(57:41):
It's a place surrender, and that will not be taken
away from me. And that's what Jesus said to Martha. So, Martha, Martha,
you're so worried. And trouble, but many things, and one
thing is needed and married. I chosen the good part
and it will never be taken away from her. And
she was seated at the feet of Jesus, and that

(58:02):
will never be taken away from you. If you can
learn to surrender, can you hand over your will to him?
Exchange your burden with him? You know, that's when true

(58:24):
repentance starts. You know when true repentance that you know,
really truly you repent when you choose to surrender everything
to the Lord, the deepest parts that you have not
shown to people, the struggles that you have not shown
to people, the battles that you're fighting alone inside of
your heart, all of it. When you choose to surrender

(58:46):
it to God, then you have truly repentant. Then you're
truly free, perfect peace, perfect freedom. There can we all

(59:07):
stand Church. I'm just gonna look to the Lord this time.
Thank you Jesus, Thank you Lord. Truly. I as I

(59:31):
was preparing to come here, I mean, the heart last
whole week and the Lord was just reminding me this
particular worse again and again. I was going to share
something else, but I rarely felt that I needed to
share this because I truly believe that this word is
that I'm about to share is something in the right

(59:55):
season for each and every one of us year, including myself.
But I think we have to come to a place
to acknowledge it. A second chronicle seven was falling into sixteen,
says this, If my people who are called by my
name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face,
and turn from their wicked ways, I will year from heaven,

(01:00:17):
and I will forgive their sin and heal their land.
Now my eyes will be opened and my years attentive
to prayer made in this place. For now I have
chosen and sanctified this house. Then my name may be
there forever, and my eyes and my heart will be

(01:00:40):
there perpetually. No. Surrender is not the end, but it
is the beginning where God takes over. If you have
not chosen to surrender yet to the Lord, what you
are going through today, I just want to really put

(01:01:03):
this out to you. The Word says he. For those
who humble themselves and seek my face, my eyes and
my ears will be so attentive on them, and our
year their prayer, our year, their cry. It's a sign

(01:01:26):
of surrender. Saying the Lord, I truly want to trust you,
even if I don't know how to. I want to
learn to trust you. The Lord will teach you. So today, Church,
can you come to a place of surrender. Can you

(01:01:46):
come to a place of humility to say the Lord,
I need you. A place where you know you don't
worry about what people say, You don't worry about what
people think of you. A place where you don't worry
about what the world will think of you, but you

(01:02:07):
only think about what my Father in Heaven says to
me and what my Father in Heaven wants to do
with me in my life. Learn to surrender Church, That's
the beginning.

Speaker 1 (01:02:27):
We hope you've been blessed by this message. For more
information on our church, please visit aschurch dot org. We
are also active on Facebook and Instagram. We're believing that
this week is going to be a good week.

Speaker 2 (01:02:41):
I hit for you.

Speaker 1 (01:02:43):
God bless
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