Why Are We So Angry With God? | Dr. John Ng


Summary & Key points
In his sermon, Dr. John Ng expresses gratitude and alignment with the church's mission, planning to discuss personal struggles and hoping his message will resonate with the congregation. He shares his passions, emphasizing the importance of leading out of one's marriage, parenting through failures and lessons learned, advocating for conflict resolution and peacemaking, and engaging with young people to understand and encourage leadership. Dr. Ng highlights how God communicates through emotions, revealing our perceptions of ourselves, others, and God. He acknowledges that it is normal to feel frustration and anger towards God. To deepen one's understanding of the Bible, he encourages immersive study by imagining oneself in biblical scenes, using the crowd's anger at Jesus during His trial as an example to illustrate how disappointment with unmet expectations can influence our emotions and perspectives on God. The sermon addresses wrong perspectives of God, such as viewing Him as an ATM, genie, or Santa Claus, and corrects these by presenting God as patient, sovereign, and present in both joy and sorrow. Dr. Ng contrasts anthropocentric faith, which is human-centered and focused on personal gain, with theocentric faith, which is God-centered and glorifies God. He offers practical steps for living a theocentric life, including spending five minutes focusing on God each morning, reflecting on and thanking God each evening, and maintaining continuous awareness of God's presence throughout daily activities. He concludes by encouraging the congregation to re-evaluate their perspective of God and make Him central in their lives.
Show Transcript

For me to come to this church, Elishah and Patricia’s wonderful church, I feel so much aligned and attuned because I feel so much with what they are doing, the impact that they have on so many people. I have observed, seen, and been touched by the work that you do, so what I share is something from my heart today because I struggle with it and I will be very honest with what I want to share with you. I trust that God will use this message to stir your hearts and to touch your mind in a way that will move you to look at God differently.

Thank you, Elishah and Patricia, for allowing me. I just want to tell you, if we can go to the slides, I want to talk about a very difficult subject: why are we so angry with God? Before that, I think you want to know why I call myself the Chief Passionary Officer. I’ll just share my heart’s concern. First of all, I’m passionate about marriage. I believe that we should lead out of our marriage. You can turn to the next slide. 

I wrote the book “Te” for Great Marriage because I believe that if you want to be a great leader, you must lead out of your marriage. There are too many leaders who get an A for being corporate leaders or church leaders but an F for marriage. It doesn’t work that way. We also must lead out of great parenting because the model that our kids look up to is us. Those of us who are married, if we fail them, we fail them in life. I’m passionate about parenting, and the book that I wrote is not about how great a parent I am; I was just sharing with Elishah. Actually, it’s about all the failures that I’ve made. So if you want to learn how not to parent, then read my book “Te” for Great Parenting, which I am still struggling with.

The other thing that I’m passionate about is peacemaking. I wrote the book called “Smiling Tiger, Hidden Dragon.” The Asian way of managing conflict is to smile, but at the back, we have a knife, waiting to kill you. We are nice about it; we are very polite. We want to save face, but actually, we are very angry. I’m passionate about peacemaking. I really believe that what we need today in our divided world is to learn how to make peace. I wrote about how we should make peace in an Asian way. I’m passionate about peacemaking.

Of course, I’m passionate about leadership. I’m a student of leadership; I’m not a teacher, but I’m a student of leadership. I was sharing with Elishah that the last six months, I’ve been traveling to different cities to talk to young people. I love to talk to young people—all of you here. I love to talk to you, to understand you better, to understand the struggles and challenges that you have, and hopefully, I can think about how young people should do leadership for their generation. I want to encourage them to do that, so I wrote these books about leadership.

Okay, so much about propaganda. Let me move on to what I want to share with you. If we can move to the next slide, please. I believe God speaks to us through our emotions. God speaks to us through our emotions. Now, I’m going to ask you a very embarrassing question: how many of you have ever been frustrated by God? Oh, that’s good, that’s being honest. If you have not been frustrated by God, be ready; he will frustrate you. We have been, right? Why doesn’t God answer my prayer? What is this? You said I’m supposed to have a wonderful life, but life is so miserable. I’m supposed to be doing well in my business, but I’m failing. I’m supposed to be doing well in my parenting, but I fail and I struggle. You’re frustrated.

How many of you have ever been angry with God? Oh, thank you. I’m sure you have been angry with God, but we dare not talk about these things, right? We never talk about being angry with God; we talk about loving God. How many of you have heard someone say that you are angry with God? So, I’m going to talk to you about anger because God speaks to us through our emotions. We are emotional beings. God created us as emotional beings, and emotions, your emotions and my emotions, reveal our perception of ourselves. 

When somebody cuts in while we are driving, sometimes you give them the middle finger if you are a good Christian, an honest good Christian, or you get so angry. The other day, I cut in on somebody; this guy was honking. It reveals our perception of ourselves, right? We wonder, how come this guy cut in? It only reveals the perception of other people. Other people should do this and that, but if they don’t do this, I’m angry, I’m frustrated. Your employees don’t follow your instructions; you’re very angry. Your perception of what life should be or what people should be—am I right? What pastors should be—have you ever been angry with a pastor? Not this one; this one is very good, but other pastors—that’s why you’re here.

More than that, emotions reveal the perception of God, who God is. We expect God to do this; we expect God to do that. We expect God to bless us, but we are not blessed, and we are angry with God. I like this quote from Peter Scazzero. I believe that God speaks to each one of us through our emotions. Don’t be afraid if you’re angry with God because if you read Psalms, David is frustrated, he’s saddened, he’s angry, he’s depressed. God speaks through our emotions. It reveals about you. Peter Scazzero said, “Ignoring our emotions is turning our back on reality.”

It’s so true, isn’t it? It is reality about yourself; you’re denying the reality. Listening to our emotions ushers us into reality. When you listen to your sadness, your fears, your anger, you’re coming in touch with reality. We become authentic believers. Reality, listen carefully—this is what Peter Scazzero said—reality is where we meet God because God wants to meet you and me in our reality, in our reality of emotions. God is there; God did not run away. God is not afraid of your anger or your hatred, your bitterness. God is there. He wants to meet you in your reality.

Emotions are the language of the soul. They are the cry that gives the heart a voice. Your emotion, your cry, is giving you your heart, and God wants to touch your heart and my heart.

I want to do something very different today, and I hope you’re ready for it. I’m going to call this imaginative biblical contemplation. I will tell you this: last year in May, I was invited to go for a silent retreat. Now, Elishah knows me; I cannot be silent. Norman, you are here; you know me, I cannot be silent. I talk all the time, even though people are not listening to me, like now; you’re not listening. I’m still talking; I don’t care because I’m an extrovert. Extroverts talk all the time; they dominate. To go to a silent retreat is a nightmare. Even eating, you cannot talk. I’m sitting next to someone; I cannot even talk. I can say, “Hey, how’s the food? Do you like it?” Silent.

I went there because I’ve been a Christian for 55 years and I wanted to ask God, “Can you speak to me again?” because I’m always talking to him. I want to learn a fresh way of finding God. So my spiritual director said, “Let me introduce you to IBC, not International Baptist Church, but imaginative biblical contemplation.” I’m going to introduce it to you today. Imaginative biblical contemplation is a powerful way of finding and studying the word of God. You immerse yourself into one of the characters in the Bible, and we’re going to do that. Elishah told me you’re preparing for Easter, so I’m going to imagine you to take you a bit forward and imagine you are one of the crowd during Jesus’ trial. Are you ready for it? 

Imagine you’re the crowd. Imagine you are with Taylor Swift; you are there, you’re watching Taylor Swift. You’re not there, right? But next time, she will come again and make sure Malaysia bids higher than Singapore, then you can have a tour. Imagine you are in the soccer stadium with a crowd. I was in the soccer stadium watching Singapore versus Vietnam a long time ago, the Asian Cup. I thought I was such a nice guy, very rational, but when you are watching Singapore fighting against Vietnam in the semi-final, my personality changed. I was so angry with the Vietnamese. I was cursing them, “Get out of Singapore! Don’t ever work here!” They were not next to me. “Get out!”

You understand what I mean? Have you been to a soccer stadium? I’m an MU fan, by the way. I’m a Chelsea fan. I’m very happy today because we won yesterday, 2-0, by penalty. That’s why I can speak so passionately today, or else I’d be very depressed—a different kind of emotion. So I want you to imagine you in the crowd. You have to look at the context of the whole scene. You are watching Jesus, you are watching Pilate, you are with the soldiers, and everybody is crowding. I want you to use the five senses: the smell, the crowd, dirty, smelly, they’re all shouting, they’re sweaty; the sound, the loud cry; you’re touching each other, jostling to curse Jesus.

Are you there? I know you don’t; you know, how can, right? This is such a nice church; you cannot curse and swear, but we’re going to do that today. Let’s try. Let’s go on to the next slide. Why are you so angry with God? Matthew 27:11-26. Let’s read the passage together. Matthew 27, next one, next slide, please. Next slide, the text.

We’re going to read this passage together and we will follow Jewish tradition. When the word of God is being read, the people of God stand. I’m going to speak like the governor. I’m the governor; you are the crowd. Of course, I’m the king now. You better listen to me. Imagine I’m the governor; you are all the crowd, and when you come to the line, you must shout. Are you ready? Stand. Everybody, let’s stand. Let me read. I’m going to start. Wait for my cue. You’re the crowd; I’m the crowd as well.

Meanwhile, Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?” “You have said so,” Jesus replied. When he was accused by the chief priests and the elders, he gave no answer. Then Pilate asked him, “Don’t you hear the testimony they are bringing against you?” But Jesus made no reply, not even to a single charge, to the great amazement of the governor.

Now it was the governor’s custom at the festival to release a prisoner chosen by the crowd. At that time, they had a well-known prisoner whose name was Jesus Barabbas. So when the crowd had gathered, Pilate asked them, “Which one do you want me to release to you, Jesus Barabbas or Jesus who is called the Messiah?” For he knew it was out of self-interest that they had handed Jesus over to him. While Pilate was sitting on the judge’s seat, his wife sent him this message: “Don’t have anything to do with that innocent man, for I have suffered a great deal

today in a dream because of him.”

But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus executed. “Which of the two do you want me to release to you?” asked the governor. They answered, “Barabbas.” “What shall I do then with Jesus who is called the Messiah?” Pilate asked. They all answered, “Crucify him!” “Why? What crime has he committed?” asked Pilate. But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify him!” When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that instead an uproar was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. “I am innocent of this man’s blood,” he said. “It is your responsibility.” All the people answered, “His blood is on us and on our children!”

Then he released Barabbas to them, but he had Jesus flogged and handed him over to be crucified.

Let’s pray. Father, help us to understand the tension, the emotions, the anger, the hatred that the crowd had for you. Then, Lord, speak to us. Speak to us through your word today. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen. Please be seated.

Have you ever wondered why the crowd was so angry with Jesus? Imagine I’m part of the crowd. I’ve heard Jesus could perform miracles. He can turn water into wine. He can make the lame walk. I’ve heard he can make the blind see. He can even raise people from the dead. He can feed 5,000 at a go with five loaves and two fishes. Wow! My gosh, the Savior that I have been looking for is here at last. This is the guy, man. Taylor Swift—no, he’s the guy. He’s going to deliver us from Roman bondage. He’s the one who’s going to drive the soldiers away. He’s going to overthrow at last. We are freed, the king of the Jews, at last.

I heard he’s coming to Jerusalem. Aren’t you excited? Taylor Swift coming to Singapore; you’re very excited. I’m all pumped up, and I wanted to go. I want to go with all my buddies, Norman, Elishah, everybody. Let’s go because here is Jesus, the savior of the world. What did he see? Wow, can you imagine bringing palm leaves and everybody is so excited? Finally, the king and

the kingdom will come to deliver us, and we are waiting to hail him: King of the Jews! We’re going to hail him: Hosanna in the highest! Blessed is the king of Israel!

But I’m shocked to see Jesus riding on a donkey instead of a horse. What? Donkey? Donkeys are for peacemakers. We don’t want peace, man; we want war. We want to overthrow the Jews. He should come on a war horse, right? Because horses are a symbol of war. Horses are for war, but donkeys are for humble, useless servants riding on the donkey. You begin to doubt something is wrong, something is wrong. Look at his followers, my gosh. Who are they? Fishermen? Fishermen are people whom we despise because fishermen never go to synagogue because they’re too busy fishing.

Then they are tax collectors. Some guy in the finance business called Judas, whoever. Even worse, they are all kinds of people who are just ordinary folks. They are not even warriors. They don’t even carry any swords or weapons. Imagine. The worst thing is what? They’re women. Women, you know how the Jews look at women. The Pharisees have a prayer: “Lord, thank God I’m not a woman.” They’re despised. They’re all from where? Galilee. They came all the way, it’s true, by the way. Not just one but a whole troop. How to fight war like that? No weapon, and women, some more. Wow, what a letdown, isn’t it? What kind of Messiah is he? He’s such a wimp. Probably he’s a cheat. He’s a liar, scamming us all. Have you been scammed? If you have been scammed, what must you do? Find the scammer, jail him, kill him.

Disappointment turns to disillusionment. Now I know the truth. He’s another false prophet who cannot deliver. You understand? He’s another guy who says he’s going to deliver us. He’s going to fail me. He’s another guy who’s going to deceive us again. We have been cheated. That’s why I’m totally disillusioned. I’m very angry. I’m incensed. So the Jewish leaders, the Pharisees, and the scribes were right all along. This guy is the greatest cheat ever. Now you understand. So what does he deserve? Death. That’s why you must say, “Crucify him! Don’t let him go. Kill him.” Right?

Why? Because according to the Jewish law, anyone who claims to be God must die. So the Pharisees were right. He must die. He claimed to be God. The worst thing is he claimed to be the king of the Jews. He didn’t say that, but the people made him the king of the Jews. So if you are the king of the Jews, you are what? Committing treason. Even the Jewish law, the Roman

law, you must die. You are committing treason, and what must you do? Death. Death by what? Crucifixion. Let him die. Let’s crucify him. Don’t ever let him live. Not only that, because I don’t want to be cheated. Now you understand why they say even our children, we will take responsibility because I don’t want my children to be cheated by this cheat, the greatest cheat and liar of all time.

Can you feel the anger? You’ve been scammed millions of dollars. What must you do? Kill him. I don’t want my children to be cheated by another scammer. No wonder I’m so visibly agitated. I’m utterly enraged. I’m single-minded in wanting Jesus to die. Imagine myself now. I understand. You feel it. You must feel the anger, the bitterness, the hatred because I don’t want him to cheat my fellow friends, the whole country. We have only one thing in our mind: kill him.

He is guilty as charged. That’s why we screech relentlessly together: “Crucify him! Crucify him!” We are all in a mayhem, driven by anger and hatred. I’m infuriated like the rest. My hatred runs very, very deep.

So what can we learn? I want to tell you this. This is a very, very important thing: your perspective of God determines your reaction and response to him. Your perspective of God affects your expectation. Who do you think God is? You expect if your children are doing well in school, you expect, “Ah, she is smart.” You understand what I’m saying? Your perspective of people affects your expectation, and therefore, wrong expectation can lead to disappointment. “How come? You’re supposed to get an A, but you got a C. How come?” Disappointment, disillusionment.

My daughter, my youngest daughter, studied at Methodist Girls’ School, one of the better schools in Singapore, in primary school. Then she was supposed to go to secondary school in MGS. During that time, all primary school students in MGS automatically went to secondary school in MGS, no matter what their results were. But that year, MGS raised the PSLE standard

a little bit higher. So my daughter, my youngest daughter, was one out of 13 who could not get into MGS Secondary School. Oh my gosh, I was so angry because I expected her to go to MGS. Then she was posted to Clementi Woods Secondary School. I had never heard of Clementi Woods. What a shame! A neighborhood school, some God-forsaken neighborhood school in Singapore. I was so ashamed and angry. My daughter didn’t get in.

I scolded her for two weeks. Have you ever been scolded by your parents? No, you’re a good girl, right? But scolding her for two weeks because she didn’t get into MGS. I said, “You stupid girl, you should study harder. I told you to do your math homework. I told you to do Chinese. You didn’t even get in.” Then she just got the bar of anger from her father. Then I said, “You know

what will happen to you when you go to a neighborhood school? You will learn how to gamble, smoke.” You imagine the worst possible, right? Parents? “You failed, earning worse. Neighborhood boys, MGS has a Christian heritage.” But actually, I was so ashamed. Whenever I went to church during the results, they always ask you, right? “Hey, where? Where? Where? Where did she go?”

So immediately after church, I would sneak out because it was shameful. Go to Clementi Woods, not MGS. Then, after two weeks of really serious scolding and anger, my daughter told me, “I will blossom where I am planted.” Oh, Lama, so wrong. And she did. But you know what I mean. Perspective affects expectations. Expectation affects your emotion. Are you following?

So I want to ask you a very simple question this morning: what is your perspective of God? And I want to tell you three perspectives of God that will make you very angry with God. First, the crowd wanted an ATM God, a God who answers instantly. We expect God to be an ATM machine. I send in my prayer, and the answer comes out immediately. Am I correct? I pray; God must answer me instantly. Where should I work? God must answer me instantly. If He doesn’t do it, wow, why so long? Or worse still, He does answer, but He makes the condition worse, like a mother-in-law praying for dementia to be taken away, then dementia got worse and worse. How come? The crowd wanted an instant solution to their immediate problem because Jesus

had been creating miracles: no bread, wow, 5,000; no wine, water into wine instantly. You expect God to do it all the time for you, and if He doesn’t do it, God, you have failed me.

I’ve seen so many people disillusioned with God because God is not like them. There are many people God didn’t heal. That’s why so many people still die. I’m sad. I’m sorry. I will die one day. Your body is going to get worse. I prayed; I got a backache. I cannot walk properly. I need this fellow asking me to walk upstairs, downstairs. He didn’t care how I feel. I told God, “Please help me.” God never answered, but this guy makes it worse for me. No, I’m just kidding. Those of us who are older, the body will get worse and worse, right? But we expect God to be an ATM God. Prayer in, answer out immediately. We live in an instant gratification world, especially for us as Christians.

Number one perspective of God: an ATM God. Number two, we expect God to be our Genie, you know, the Genie in Aladdin’s lamp. You saw the story, Genie in Aladdin. You remember the story? Now you, I don’t know, the young people. You know what happened? Aladdin found this lamp in the cave. Then what happened? He rubbed that lamp, the Genie appeared. “Yes,

master, what can I do for you? I can give you three wishes.” But for us, no. “God, I want every wish of mine.” You obey me. God becomes like our slave. “Yes, Norman, what can I do for you? Yes, Elishah, what can I do for you? Yes, John, what can I do for you?” We expect God to be the slave. If God doesn’t serve us, our needs, our interests, our business, our studies…

Oh, by the way, this is how those of us who come from Chinese religious backgrounds, right? Taoist backgrounds, that’s how we treat our gods and goddesses. I come from a Chinese religious background, right? Why do you offer joss sticks? Why do you offer food? So that that god can serve my need. Am I right? I go to Kuan Yin in Waterloo Street when I want to have a baby. I go to Kuan Yin, serve my need. I want the lottery to hit, to hit the lottery. I go, get the right number from the right god. My brother used to, we used to drive to Penang. Very powerful god, you know. She gives you the right number. I go to meet my needs. Then I donate to the temple. Sounds familiar? This is how we are made up. We want God to serve me.

Hey, I’m so sorry. God is the master; you are the slave. You are his servants. We expect God to do what I want, not what God wants. You see, we cannot pray, “Thy kingdom come,” unless we pray, “My kingdom go.” We always have “Thy kingdom come,” but we still want “My kingdom to come” also. You cannot pray, “Thy kingdom come,” “Your kingdom come,” unless you pray, “My kingdom go.”

Number one, ATM God. Number two, Genie. Number three, by the way, the crowd wanted the political Messiah to serve their cause, the cause of the crowd to overthrow the Roman Empire. You understand what I mean? That’s why they are very angry. Third one, God as Santa Claus. I don’t know whether you all still celebrate Santa Claus or not. Maybe no more. Do you all still celebrate Santa Claus? Christmas? Christmas, yeah, of course. Christmas time. At Christmas, what do you do? What do you do? You ask parents, “I want this.” When you’re young, bicycle. Go. You want this Game Boy Plus or Power Watch Station. Then you—God, I mean parents—and Christmas morning, you get what you want.

Santa Claus, God, is a God who gives you all the goodies. You never ask for suffering, right? You never ask for more homework. You always wanted God to give you goodies. Is that how you treat God? God, give me all the goodies: only good health, good life, good sales, good results in the exam. Hey, I’m sorry. God is a God of both prosperity and suffering. We must understand this. That’s why we are all so disillusioned with God. We are so angry. ATM God, Genie God, Santa Claus God. Sorry, God is not like that.

So what is God? Next one. I want to stress to you: God is patient, a waiting God. God doesn’t answer according to your time. He is sovereign. Understand? Especially when you’re going through difficult times, tough times, whether in your country, in your family, or your work. You wish, “Oh, my child, my son would be better instantly,” you know? Make a fantastic child, a teenage boy who will listen to me. No, no, no. God doesn’t work that way. God is a patient, waiting God. He’s transforming the character. God is our master, not our servant. God is a God of joy and sorrow. In your most difficult time, He says to you, “I am still with you. I’ve not left you.”

It’s not Santa Claus. Unless you have the right perspective of God, your expectations of God will change. I want to share my last slide if I may summarize. In today’s Christian church, we have

what I call an anthropocentric faith. You know, when you go back and tell your friends you came to church, you must tell your friends what you learned. You tell them, “I learned about an anthropocentric God.” It makes you more wise and intelligent. If you just tell them, “I just came to church, and oh, he talked about the crowd,” nobody will listen to you. Tell them, “I learned about an anthropocentric God.” Wow, they will say, “Tell me more, tell me more.” So one big word for you: anthropocentric. It means what? Anthropos—anthropology, the study of humankind.

Today’s Christianity is very human-centered. We are the center of the universe. But Christian faith is theocentric; it must be God-centered. I’m sorry, it must be God-centered, not anthropocentric. What is anthropocentric? I’m talking about Chinese religious backgrounds. Those of us who come from Chinese backgrounds, what is the philosophy of Chinese religious backgrounds? Maximize good luck, minimize bad luck. Feed the gods with sugar and honey, make them sweet, bless me. Don’t go outside on certain days, don’t run around, minimize the bad luck. Am I right? No.

God—what is the chief end of man? Glorify God and enjoy Him forever. It’s different. Secondly, what occupies our mind is our God. I want to explain this. If you’re honest with yourself, let me say this to you. Every morning when you wake up, who and what you think about most regularly is your God and my God. Can I say that again? Every morning when you wake up, what you think about or who you think about every morning when you wake up is actually your God and my God. If you are honest with yourself and I’m honest with myself, I’m very sure the first thing you think about is not God. Guaranteed. You don’t wake up and think, “Wow, God, thank you.” The first thing you think about is, “Ah, sales went wrong.” “I didn’t study for this subject.” “Pastor asked me to do this; I forgot to do this.” “My wife called me again; ah, I forgot to do this.” Right? There’s your God.

I came to that realization that very often when I wake up, it’s my smartphone, what I need to do: your business, your work, your family, your children, your parents. That’s your God. We must bring God more consciously into our lives every day. So how do I do that? I’ll tell you how I do that. Some years ago, I suffered a severe heart attack. I almost died. I read a book by Chris Lowney called “Heroic Leadership,” and he taught me what we call rumination on the run—another big word. Rumination on the run. Rumination means you reflect while you are running. You reflect. So the first thing I learn is this: every morning when I wake up, the first thing I do is keep silent. For the first five minutes, you bring God into your life.

Every morning when you wake up, the first thing, don’t go and brush your teeth, don’t go do this. Just, “God, you are here.” But you say, “How?” Let me illustrate for you. Can you all now look at the pair of legs that you have? You have your feet, right? Do you know that your feet have been bringing you here this morning to church and have been bringing you all over Kuala Lumpur, and will bring you to school tomorrow? Are you conscious of your feet? But very often we forget this pair of legs that we have, correct? That’s what happens to God. God has been with you all the time. The problem is we are not conscious of Him. Understand? So you bring God just for five minutes only in the morning—not long, just five minutes. I will tell you this: it will be the most difficult five minutes of your life. You know why? Because when you wake up, you think about

God, you fall asleep again. When you wake up, you want to think about God. You know what you think about? Like this morning, when I wake up, I think of what? “What was the score between Manchester United versus Everton?” That’s my God.

Then when I say, “Oh, 2-0, good.” Now, God. Now you understand what I’m saying? You make sense? I didn’t think about God. I think about Manchester United. Who cares about God? I tell you, it will be the most difficult five minutes. Try that every day. Every day you wake up, and when your mind comes to your mind, forget it. God. Please, God. God, you love me. Five minutes only. Five minutes every day. At the end of your day, like every night now, when I go to bed, the first thing I say is, “God, thank you.” I go back, like yesterday, I say, “God, thank you for who you are.” I trace back all the things that I did. I had a wonderful dinner. Somebody brought me to Petaling Street to eat. Wow, wonderful food. Thank you, God. I wait. Then I had a meeting with this person, and I say, “God, thank you. The meeting went well. I went relaxed.” You know, I say, “God, thank you. Thank you.” Then if you have a lousy day, you say, “God, help me. I don’t know what to do with my boss. I don’t know what to do with my pastor. He keeps pastoring me. Help me.”

You understand what I’m saying? Five minutes. What do you do? Bring God into your life. Five minutes at the end of the day, trace back. Thank God. Help me, God. That’s all. Then throughout the day, like just now when I’m reflecting, “God, help me. Help me to make sense of the word. Help me.” You understand? Then life—who is the center now? Not you, not your children, not your school, not your friends, not your smartphone, not your IG, not Taylor Swift anymore. Oh, you can enjoy Taylor Swift, don’t get me wrong. But God, thank God for Taylor Swift. You understand what I’m saying? Make sense? Five minutes at the end, bring more consciousness of God in our minds.

The other thing, you know, whether you are anthropocentric Christianity, is what do you care about? Jesus in Matthew chapter 6, you know what we care about? What we eat, what we wear, what we drink. The trinitarian of—you look at any magazine, you look at all the advertisements. What? How should you dress? Where should you eat? Heng Tai or Japanese food? What do you drink? I love sake. I love whiskey. It’s okay. Oh, sorry. You know what I’m trying to say? What we eat, what we drink, what we wear—that’s what you think about.

I like this: prosperity, power, and position have ways of filling us with ourselves. We want to be prosperous. We want to have power. We want position. Poverty, pain, and powerlessness have ways of filling us with God. Anthropocentric. God is doing for God and performing to earn God’s favor, rather than being with God and becoming more God-like. Finally, I know for many Christians—sorry, go back to the slide, the last one—I call it the God-plus Christianity. Why is God-plus Christianity? Yes, I want God. I want God, but just in case God fails me, I better trust something else. I better have more savings. I have more this and more that. By the way, nothing wrong with savings, okay? Don’t get me wrong. Or I have to do this. God-plus. But God

everything is this: God owns everything of me. The savings are God’s. He gave me the savings. The strength that I have today comes from God. The mind that I have comes from God. You understand? The way I think is from God, and I should thank God I’m able to think and work and study and do all these wonderful things. It’s not God-plus; it’s God everything.

I hope you see the difference: God blessing, God-plus human effort, and human effort is my effort. But God everything means that human effort is also God’s energy and life in your life. The fact that you’re alive today is because God gives you life. What kind of God do you have? My final slide. What perspective of God do you have? An anthropocentric God, a human-centered God, or a theocentric God that God is sovereign, God is everything to me? Let’s pray together.

Let’s pray. I believe God has spoken to each one of us in a very unique way. I don’t know what kind of God you have or who has been your God. Maybe it is your family, it is your health, maybe it is your children, maybe it is your studies. Why don’t we make God the God of our lives again? Say your own prayer. He’s here. Maybe you feel like a failure, like the crowd; you’re angry with God, you’re frustrated with God. God still loves you. God still died for you. Nothing you do can earn God’s grace, and nothing you have not done will earn God’s grace. God loves you just as you are. Will you say, “God, forgive me, Lord. Have I had the wrong perspective of you? Help me, Lord, to be more conscious of you, to make you the King, not the Genie, not the ATM God, but a God who has His own timing. Help me, Lord. Not a God who is like Santa Claus, always expecting good things, but in the suffering, the pain that I go through, Lord, help me to know that you are still with me.”

Pray to Him. Father, we thank you. You know the struggles of our hearts. Lord, we want to love you, but sometimes it’s so difficult because we are so angry with you because you have failed us or we feel you have failed us. We want you to be an ATM God. We want you to be our Genie. We want you to be the God of prosperity only. Forgive us, Lord. Help us, please, Lord. Help us to truly love you because you love us. You died for us, even though we have sinned, even though we have gone astray. You still love us. Thank you, God. We give ourselves afresh to you. We give ourselves afresh. Everything and all that we are, we give to you. We thank you in Jesus’ name. Amen.