https://odb.org/MY/2022/07/03/he-knows-my-heart

When we make a genuine mistake, apologise and try to make amends but people nevertheless accuse us of having done so intentionally, only God knows our heart intention and thus this is not an argument we can win. The Lord doesn’t judge by what He sees with His eyes or what He hears with His ears but He will judge with righteousness and justice. He is able to see deep within us into our hearts. Whether we were sincere and genuine.

There lies the crux of the matter. The situation we will likely face however is the converse of what was illustrated in the ODB example today. Rather than us having made a genuine mistake and not having the intention to cut the queue and accused of having intended that, it is more of us behaving in a manner that is outwardly acceptable but inwardly insincere, fake and false.

In conformity to socially acceptable behaviour, in fact socially acceptable “Christian” behaviour, we may do certain things or take certain action to flow with the crowd. Unfortunately our hearts are not really in those things. For example, we may give to a beggar to show people our generosity but not with the intention to help the beggar. Or we participate in a program to help the poor because everyone is participating but our heart is not with the poor.

The thing is while we can fool human beings, we can’t fool God and a lot of these things only become really meaningful to us and to God if our actions and hearts are aligned. To God as He can see our hearts, what really matters is the intention of our hearts. Are we real, genuine and sincere? Do we really believe in the cause? Or are we just flowing with what everyone is doing? I think this is important to God because if we are genuine and sincere, there will be more to come in the sense that God will open more opportunities for us to do such noble things for more people. For example, when we give and we give genuinely, the Lord will open more avenues for us to give. Granted our resources are finite, but there will be different groups we can give to because in the end, the actual amount is not as pertinent as the heart to help. We can give smaller amounts to help more people and enjoy the blessings that come with blessing more people which may include the ability to give even more!

Therefore let us examine ourselves this morning as we worship the Lord in church. Let us do things with sincerity and genuine love. Remember God sees our heart. Make sure our hearts are always real before God and man. Have a blessed Sunday in church everyone and may He dwell in the praises of His people and may we be enveloped by His tangible presence as we praise and worship Him today!

https://odb.org/MY/2022/07/02/surviving-together

Some people believe they can be a believer but need not join a church or a fellowship. Their argument is that their relationship with God is between them and God and thus they don’t need to involve anyone else, or rather it is perfectly OK to relate to God without involving other believers.

That belief is of course incorrect and misconceived as we need each other to grow spiritually and in maturity. The community of believers encourages and supports our faith, besides being a form of check and balance for us, for example, with someone telling us if we are off the narrow path. There is strength in numbers whether in war or peace, whether in prayer or spiritual warfare, whether in evangelism or discipling. Two is better than one and three is better than two. It is true with knots and threads and it is true with people. Even at work, working as a team is more encouraging and inspiring as we are able to achieve much more compared to working solo.

That is why Paul wrote in Ephesians 4:11 that Christ gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and the teachers to equip His people for works of service so that the body may be built up. The various ministries are to equip and build up the people of God for the work of God. They are not the work itself as they are to prepare the body for God’s work.

Of course when we meet as a body, we meet all sorts of people in various forms. Different believers are at different levels of work in progress in terms of our conforming to the image of Christ. That’s part and parcel of spiritual maturity. No doubt what matters most is our relationship with God and yet we need to relate to others in the body as part of our spiritual growth. The fruit of the Spirit can only be birthed and formed as we interact and relate with people, as we go through the difficulty of dealing with all sorts of people – even those who are in the family of God. In the modern Christian world, we cannot be a hermit and grow in Christ because part of that growth comes from us growing as we relate and connect with others. Never an easy task and sometimes we wish we can be all alone in our room or house. But that’s not life. God has made us with company. We are not alone. There are many out there. They need us as much as we need them. That is why we always need to meet as a congregation.

My encouragement to us today is that if we have been comfortable attending church online, it is time to dress up and step out of our rooms and houses and start to physically go to church. Real interactions in life occur face to face. Even businesses and companies have started to get people back to offices. The present ethos is work from home if you are not well otherwise come to office, in the same rein – unless you are not well come to church to worship God as a congregation!

https://odb.org/MY/2022/07/01/celestial-communion

I just had an interesting conversation with a Muslim colleague on the Holy Communion a few days back. Basically I explained that it was initiated by Jesus for us believers to remember His death until He comes again. It was originally a Jewish passover meal to commensurate God’s grace in sparing the lives of the first born of the Israelites when they were in Egypt when the Angel of Death came and took the life of every first born in every Egyptian family during that time including the first born of their livestock. The sign that caused the Angel of Death to bypass a home was the blood of an unblemished lamb splashed on its doors and Jesus later became the Lamb of God that redeemed us and avoided us as believers from eternal death and damnation.

The original Holy Communion was actually a proper meal that started with Jesus breaking the bread and giving thanks to God but for the congregation to partake it as part of a Sunday worship service it has been simplified over the years into a piece of bread and some juice. There is nothing physically magical in the bread and juice in the sense that they didn’t originate from any specific place or anywhere special like the zam zam water. Yet even though the significance is spiritual, there is something supernatural that could occur as we partake the elements. Believers have been known to have experienced healings and breakthroughs by just partaking of the Holy Communion. Nothing magical but there is both spiritual and supernatural significance. The only rule churches have is that we have to be believers to partake of the sacraments. If we have not accepted Christ, we must refrain from it as it is only meant for those who have accepted the death and resurrection of Christ in their lives.

In my previous church, we don’t just partake of the elements corporately but we use the time to also pray for one another or with families praying with one another. I think that’s a good practice to use that solemn time to pray for another and cultivate the unity of the spirit and the body. That as we remember what the Lord did for us and be thankful for the gift of salvation and eternal life, we give thanks together and use the opportunity to pray for the needs of one another.

Let’s partake the Holy Communion seriously, and the coming Sundays as we partake of the sacraments, use that time to examine ourselves, seek forgiveness and repent from our sins and thank the Lord for His love and mercy in calling us to be children of God, to be a part of the Kingdom of Heaven.

https://odb.org/MY/2022/06/30/giving-god-my-work

I was with a group of companies for nearly 27 years before I recently found a good opening elsewhere and exited. My pastor said that 3 more years and I would have clocked 30 years and would equal government servants on the pension scheme! In my 27 years, I was not at a single job. I had moved around a few times but I was nevertheless at a job for a long time with the last stint at nearly 13 years. So obviously there were times when I wanted to join another organisation, do something else in a new environment and yet we don’t leave just because there’s another opportunity elsewhere. Actually, in the present work culture, employers value loyalty less than youth and even though they complain when the young nowadays leave after a short stint, they still prefer youth to experience. The young brings vibrancy and a buzz to organisations but crucially they are cheaper, more productive, abounding with energy and ideas. Yet we should not leave for just a few hundred more or just for a change.

This is because as believers, we also believe in God’s calling for our lives and for some of us, there could be a calling to be where we are for a season and sometimes that season is a long one. There is something to be achieved in our lives and for those around us where God has placed us.

That is why there comes a point where we need to look at our work as something we do for God as part of our worship and living sacrifice for Him, not just a job to put food on the table. Some of us have no choice but to stay where we are and it could be for a variety of reasons like a good salary, excellent benefits, proximity to our homes or we are already a master of what we do. Some have not much choice because they are civil servants. Yet we sometimes still wish we could move on somewhere because the work has become less of an adventure more of a chore that pays the bills.

Some of us dream of going full time for the Lord but ultimately our job is our calling whether we are full time or working in the world. That’s our land, the place where God wants us to be and has placed us to be. Cultivate the land that God has given us. Until a really good opportunity comes along and we have the prompting of God to make a move, stay on and do our best for the Lord.

Whatever you do, do it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward (Colossians 3:22-23).

https://odb.org/MY/2022/06/29/run-2

The story of Joseph in the bible of how he ran out of the house when Potiphar’s wife tried to seduce him is the classic illustration of the point that the best way to avoid sin is to flee from it. Conversely, probably the worse way to avoid sin is to go to it and attempt to resist it. 99% of the time and I think 99% of us will fail and fall. The spirit may be unwilling to sin but our flesh is weak.

But for this morning I like to emphasise instead on the results of Joseph maintaining his righteousness. If we read on in Genesis 39:11-23, we will see that Joseph was framed by Potiphar’s wife as having molested her even though the opposite happened and he was innocent. Joseph was unjustly thrown into prison. It was a terrible situation for him as he was just sold as a slave by his brothers and now he is in prison. But if we read on the story, we will see that despite his horrendous situation (and can we say because of his horrible situation?), the LORD was with him. God was present with him in his miserable circumstance and although it was harrowing, he maintained his righteousness throughout and God was with him and showed him kindness. God granted Joseph favour with the prison warden and was put in charge of the prisoners. In other words, instead of suffering as a prisoner, Joseph became essentially like a warden as he was given responsibility over all the prisoners and the warden didn’t pay any attention to all that was under Joseph’s care because the LORD was with him and gave him success in all that he did. That is the classic example on how God will be with us if we maintain our righteousness and flee away from temptation and sin. God will grant us favour with our vendors, customers and bosses and will bless the work of our hands as we maintain our righteousness before God and man.

So beloved brothers and sisters in Christ, do not entertain the thought of sin. Flee far away from temptation and sin. Go the other way. Run from it. Maintain our righteousness before God and man. God will be with us and bless the work of our hands. We will in turn be successful before God and man! Isn’t that a win-win situation?

https://odb.org/MY/2022/06/28/the-big-welcome

Today’s concept of accepting a friend of a friend as your friend is certainly interesting to look at from the perspective of us as a friend of Christ. I think we are familiar with this concept of A being a friend of Mr so and so and since we know Mr so and so, we accept A as our friend. This is often used in business for introducing contacts and networking but also socially to broaden our social circle and to extend or receive help or to support one another.

Applying it to us as believers and applying Matthew 10:40-42, if anyone accepts us because we are a friend of Christ, he or she accepts Jesus and since it is the Father who sent Jesus, he or she accepts God the Father Himself. More crucially, Jesus stated that whoever accepts a prophet as a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward and whoever accepts a righteous person as a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward. Therefore, just as the disciples were sent out to minister and reach out to the lost tribe of Israel (at that point, not yet to the Gentiles or Samaritans), we are likewise sent out to reach out to our friends, acquaintance and relatives and whosoever accepts us as a friend of Jesus, will be accordingly rewarded. God will bless and reward those who receive us the same way He would bless and reward those who had received the disciples during the time of Christ. Now who wouldn’t want the blessings and providence and grace and mercy of the Almighty God, the creator of heavens and earth and all of and in the universe? Perhaps they will receive the greatest blessings of all time, the gift of salvation, the gift of eternal life, the pathway to heaven and eternity?

The message this morning is not to be fearful or be daunted by the prospect of reaching out. As a friend of Jesus, we bring the Good News and the gift of salvation and most importantly if they receive us, they are receiving Jesus and receiving the one who sent Jesus and thus they will be receiving Father God, and Jesus had promised that whosoever receives us as a friend of Christ will be rewarded accordingly. Thus, my prayer for us today is that the infinite blessings of God will be upon those who receive us, even those who take the trouble to read this message and the many messages before in ODB or my blog or other writers who write for God to bless and encourage the brethren. May the heavens be opened and may His provision and protection be upon us all and all who gladly receive us and our messages even as we go through these tough and stressful post pandemic times and the ongoing Russian-Ukraine war, with escalating prices of almost everything and increasingly recessionary and uncertain economic outlook!

https://odb.org/MY/2022/06/27/more-than-enough-3

This account in 2 Kings 4:1-7 is a well known story of how God through Elisha protected and provided for the widow of a prophet who had just died so that her two sons are not taken as slaves to repay the debt of the dead prophet. God intervened into the natural by turning a small bowl of oil (most likely olive oil) into pails and pails of oil that she could sell for cash to repay her husband’s debt and redeem her sons from slavery. It is supernatural and a miracle because it turned little to much like how Jesus turned 5 loaves of bread and 2 small fish to feed 5,000.

God is God. The same way He created the world and all the things in it by His spoken word (see Genesis 1), He could easily make nothing into something and something into much. In modern day accounts of believers, we would have heard numerous accounts of how God worked miracles among His people including multiplying rice containers such that it doesn’t go empty for long periods of time or miracles of a cup of raw rice filling a whole rice cooker of cooked rice! Or how missionaries living in faith and sometimes from meal to meal suddenly getting a gift of a meal from a neighbour (liked cooked dishes) or suddenly receiving a deposit of money into his bank account. All these goes to show that when it comes to our basic needs, God provides and sometimes and in some cases miraculously.

What’s our takeaway message today? I believe everyone of us can experience God like that widow in Elisha’s account or that boy with 2 loaves and 5 fish in Jesus’s miracle of feeding the 5,000. Give whatever little we may have and let God do the multiplication. When we see someone in need, give whatever we can. Even a small sum will go a long way as God can multiply our gift. So maybe RM20 can only buy a 5 kg pack of raw rice. But if that pack of rice can last for months would our RM20 not be worth much more? Or a small gift may trigger an avalanche of giving by more people and thus enable the heavenly showers of blessings to be poured out?

God is a God of miracles. Never look down or underestimate our giving whatever the amount. God is able to do much with little – what’s important is our sincere and genuine heart to help out. We do our small part and let the Lord do the rest!

https://odb.org/MY/2022/06/26/walking-together

The dog walking with a fake limp when the owner was using crutches is the perfect picture of empathy towards another. Similar to us not bubling with joy or jokes in a funeral or with mourning friend. Or as non Muslims, we refrain from eating in front of Muslims during the fasting month. Showing empathy is thus one aspect of loving our neighbour that we can all easily relate to and practice.

Love is the fulfilment of the law declared Paul in Romans 13:10 and that’s very true because if we love our God with all our heart, soul and mind and love our neighbour, we will never commit the sins spelled out in the Ten Commandments. Loving God and loving our neighbour embodies the entire law in a nutshell, fulfilling the essence of what God had commanded previously as the condition to the Covenant relationship with Him.

Thus, if we have a friend who is broken or hurt or wounded, sometimes it is best to just tag along and walk alongside, instead of trying to fix him up. Maybe the longer term solution will be to fix some character flaw in him. But for the immediate future, just walk alongside him and emphatise with him. A lot of situations are beyond us. A lot of issues are not resolvable by us. But we can always be the friend who walks alongside him. We can be like Christ is to him. Christ may be able to solve his issues, but we can’t. Sometimes just to be a friend may be the best we could offer in the circumstances. For example, someone we know facing major challenges at work and is looking around, not necessarily we can offer him or her a job even if we are hiring. But we can be the ears for them to channel their frustrations and help them by sending out their CVs but another job is always still a question of the right fit.

On our part on the inside, if we love God and our neighbour, we should be able to fulfil the requirements of the law in the sense that we will not be living a life that is inconsistent with the law. Fulfilling the full requirements of the law is a near impossibility. That’s why Jesus died for our sins and became the Lamb of God and fulfilled the law once and for all. But if we love God and our neighbour, we should be able to meet the law within the grace afforded us by the blood of Christ as we are also empowered by the Holy Spirit.

As the external manifestation of the glory of God in our lives, the least we could do in my view is to walk alongside a friend in need. Help as much as we can but ultimately be a friend that emphatises. A friend that hears and is a shoulder to lean on. Love your neighbour as Jesus had commanded.

https://odb.org/MY/2022/06/24/the-message-of-the-cross

The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing but to us who are being saved it is the power of God! That’s Corinthians 1:18 as written by Paul.

I can testify in my own life how God reached out to me when I was just 11 through a friend who encouraged me with Scriptures and pique my curiosity to learn more about the Jesus in the Malay-English Gospel that my dad had lying around in our home library. I had read that Gospel a couple of times and didn’t really get what was going on until I attended a Navigator’s course on following Jesus a few years later. My interest to learn to play the guitar brought me to this group of Christian outstation teachers in my little town in the East Coast of Malaysia and from them I also learnt about Christ and God. I saw the light, the message of the Gospel and at 14 accepted Jesus into my life as my Lord and Saviour.

Before that, the message of the cross was foolishness to me as I didn’t know who Christ was and why He did what He did. But my eyes were opened as I saw the light and thus understood that He died for my sins to reconcile me to the Father and thus the message of the cross became the power of God in my life. It changed me over the years to love God, to love others, to be willing to think of others besides myself and to serve God in ministry in the church, at my workplace and among those I know.

Was it smooth sailing and a bed of roses over the last 40 years or so? No, my life like others, have its ups and downs. There were seasons of joy and seasons of tears, sadness, disappointments and sorrow. It was a journey of discovery of what this world is and yet I learned and experienced the hidden spiritual world through my spiritual awakening and see for myself the power of God at work in that realm penetrating into our physical tangible world that as we pray His will be done here on earth as it is in heaven.

I experienced healing myself. I experienced God arranging events to shield and protect me from the cold machinations of the world. To bring me joy and meaning in times of heartbreak and hurt. I saw before how the Lord personified “vengeance is mine” and this I know that He will make all things beautiful in His time as He will make all things good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. I am truly grateful that He is forever in my life and as I call upon His name, He will hear my cry. That is why I love to sing those two songs.

Is the message of the cross foolishness or the power of God to us? Let’s reflect upon our journey thus far as a child of God called according to His purpose. Let’s be thankful to Christ for calling us to be His disciple and let’s re-dedicate our lives to serve the purposes of His kingdom and to fulfil His plans for our lives. The message of the cross must be the power of God working in and through our lives!

https://odb.org/MY/2022/06/23/drastic-measures

There are two messages from today’s ODB. The first concerns objects that we may have in our homes which could have been used for idol worship or withcraft or occultic practices. Some of those objects could actually have been used in such practices or they may just be replicas of those objects. We could have gathered and collected those as souvenirs from our past travels. Most are harmless but some could have occultic origins and thus may be dwelling places for spirits or spiritual beings. Sometimes because of such objects in our homes and thus with spirits residing inside our homes, there could be additional strife and conflict or some minor illness. Not really a cause for concern if we have Jesus and have invited Christ to be the Lord of our family and home, the Holy Spirit and the presence of God will prevail. It’s just that I think logically it will make the work of the angels guarding our home from the attacks of the evil one much easier if there are no unwanted spirits within.

The second message today is that if God speaks to us on something perhaps through our quiet time or when we pray or when the Word was preached or during worship, we should immediately take action even if the action is drastic. When Josiah’s people found the ancient Book of Law and brought it to Josiah’s attention, he immediately started destroying all the Baal and Asherah idols and abolished all such practices in compliance with the Book of the Law as prescribed by the LORD previously to the Israelites. There is a sense that we must follow the example of Josiah if God speaks to us. Act on the Word immediately. Take action even if it may be drastic or costly. Immediately cease such practices. Immediately change our practices, lifestyle or how we do things if God had spoken to us.

Let’s approach it this way – if Christ takes the trouble to speak to us and warn us of something, shouldn’t we too take the trouble to immediately act on the call, Word or warning? Why delay or postpone when God took all that trouble and effort to speak to us?