https://odb.org/MY/2021/10/26/set-apart-2

Paul is called to be an apostle and to be set apart for the Gospel, which is the Good News of the death and resurrection of Christ which paves the way for every person who accepts Christ as Lord to receive the gift of salvation, by the grace of God. The Good News needs to be told and shared because it has a most profound effect on every person, here on earth and thereafter. It sets the tone and direction of our lives, whether to be lived once only or for eternity too. It also puts into perspective our priorities in acquiring skills, knowledge, wealth, possessions and experience – are we only preparing for our future here on earth or are we also, in parallel, storing up riches in heaven where moths and rust do not destroy? Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every Word that proceeds out of the mouth of God (Matthew 4:4). There is the temporal as well as the permanent. There is the natural and the spiritual. We need both to work together for the good of the Kingdom of God. As much as we look forward to heaven, we need to still live on this earth for the years to come.

Today’s ODB mentions the tuk tuk as a mission field. Indeed it is. Wherever we are is a mission field. Wherever God places us is our promised land where the promises of God are realised and will come to pass. Wherever God places us shall be our land flowing with milk and honey. The glory of God resides in us and the presence of God is with us wherever we are as we obey His Word and reach out to those around us, whether in person or virtually or via social media. Connectivity is such nowadays that we can reach out to anywhere in the world with reciprocal connectivity through voice, video or just written messages. We can play our role and do our part wherever we are. The world had become a smaller place to all those who are connected.

The message that I like to share today is that we can be where we are and still be set apart for the Gospel as we discover and fulfil God’s calling for our lives. I think what’s really necessary is to have a life that is set heavenward towards the goal that Christ has for us. Let our eyes be focused on the things of heaven and yet fully cognisance of the requirements of the natural world we live in. Don’t say we only live once, but say that we live for Christ yesterday, today, tomorrow and for all eternity!

https://odb.org/MY/2021/10/25/the-testing

This story about Abraham and Isaac is a story so well known that I had heard of it even during Islamic religious classes in primary school. As I was the only non-Muslim in class, I stayed on to listen since I didn’t have anywhere else to go for that period. At that time I didn’t know Christ yet. The story stucked on in my mind because of the sheer and total obedience of Abraham. He just did as he was told. Full willingness to obey, full submission to God. That is why Paul calls Abraham in Romans 4 the father of faith. It all begin with Abraham when he stepped out in faith and moved his entire clan and family out of the Ur of the Chaldeans to Canaan. And in this story with Isaac, Abraham fully trusted God’s plans for him that he will be the father of many nations. I guess Abraham must have thought to himself that if God could give him a son even though Sarah was advanced in age, God could give him another son if he were to sacrifice Isaac as instructed. Total trust, total faith and total dependence on God.

In our Christian walk, I believe there will be times when God will test our heart to see whether we are truly for Him, to see how we real we perceive our faith in Him. Do we really believe God is real and alive? Do we really believe that God is the creator of all things? Do we really believe that God is our Heavenly Father, who loves us and whose plans for us is to prosper and not destroy us (Jeremiah 29:11).

I think if we were ever tested by God before He raises us to another level of our faith and trust in Him, it is important to remember two things. One is that all we have is ultimately from Him. Like Isaac, if God can give, He can also take away. If He can give and take away, He can also give another. Job lost nearly everything when he was tested but he gained two fold later on. Secondly, I think we can be rest assured that as God is our father and loves us dearly, whatever tests He has for us will never be to destroy us. Instead it will be for our own good and our growth in Christ. In the process, we will become a better child of God. The testing will make us grow in our faith and hear the voice of God better. His voice will be clearer to us as we trust in Him and respond in faith.

I have gone through a few major testings in my life and I can testify that a lot of who I am in God today stemmed from those moments when I chose Him instead of the world – I had stood my ground based on God’s worldview and didn’t allow the prevailing worldview of the world to overpower and overwhelm mme. If God tests us and we respond in faith, it can only make us grow in Him and I pray that each of us will be like Abraham, the father of faith, if God were to ever test us.

https://odb.org/MY/2021/10/24/talk-trust-feel

As I was growing up in the faith in a previous church, the method used to instill discipline is to create fear. I think it was to put the fear of God in our lives but some times ended up putting the fear of men in us. We were drilled to wake up at 5.00 am, do our devotions before God and then pass out our written devotional papers before we go for breakfast. I can’t remember exactly but I think we had an hour to sort everything out. It was a dreadful thing that I surely didn’t look forward to every morning then!

But as I looked back now, I realised that it was good training as I’m able to do this regularly now – wake up early, do my quiet time and write up my thoughts – all before the days starts. This training I received more than 30 years ago is seeing fruition after so many years. Fear is sometimes a good thing to instill discipline and consistency although we may hate it when we are going through it!

However, fear can also be oppressive and overly stressful and sometimes detrimental to our well being. The fear that comes when we have to do weekly reports of a project that is not progressing as planned. The fear to tell something to our bosses that is not favourable, being the bearer of bad news.The fear of making mistakes when conducting a hearing, of not knowing enough. The fear of not covering every angle and risk when drafting a contract. The fear of not knowing what to say next when preaching. The fear of not saying the right things when worship leading or if you have a solo piece, the fear of playing the notes wrongly.

Jesus did not give us a spirit of fear when we accepted Him. Instead He gave us the Holy Ghost who personifies boldness and courage. We will all have fears for reasons that may be personal to us, which may appear to be trivial to others. But our fears are real and if not managed properly, we may end up frozen with fear. At best, fear becomes oppressive and overly stressful.

From experience, the best way I believe to overcome our fears is to face them by preparing well. Confront them by preparing well to overcome them. In preaching, people say it’s 90% preparation, 10% delivery. I guess that applies to most things. The more we prepare, the more prepared we will be. But the difference is we have the Holy Spirit in us and on our side, He is the source of all power. Tap into that abundant ever flowing river of life in Christ, we will find our strength in Him as we persevere through and in the process we will overcome our fears. In fact, our past fears can now be our strengths to propel us to achieve greater glory in Christ, to achieve more for God in the Kingdom of God! We need not be paralysed and frozen by our fears, instead we can make our fears the stepping stone for our successes in future! Go for it!

https://odb.org/MY/2021/10/23/wise-christians

Jesus taught before that as He sends us out to the world that we should be as shrewd as serpents but innocent as doves (Matthew 10:16). Some translations use the phrase wise as serpents and harmless as doves. This is because when we are in the world we are akin to sheep among wolves, thus we must balance our innocence with shrewdness. Or else we will be like lambs being led to slaughter.

In Luke 16:1-9, Jesus told us a story of how a manager about to lose his job started discounting the bills of his customers as a means to gain friends. Jesus commended the manager’s shrewdness although He did not applaud his dishonesty. The point is that it is wise to use our position, influence and wealth to gain friends or build a network while we still have our position, influence and wealth. The point goes deeper but I’ll come to that in a while.

I have a friend who treated me very well while I was only a prospective customer. Bought me dinners every now and then, and we got to know our respective families when I visited his country once with my family when I was there for a vacation. This went on for a number of years but I couldn’t help him as his product pricing was not within our acceptable levels. In other words, my business could not afford his premium top quality products. He didn’t get the business but in the process, he gained a lifelong friend. In fact, he told me that was his intention too so that when we are both retired, we can visit each other at our respective countries. When we have an expense account, we spend to promote our products and acquire new business opportunities but in the process we also gain friends.

At a deeper level, the principle expounded by Jesus is to use whatever influence we have, the money we have, our position to reach out to others, to help or bless others. When we use money, we are not “losing” money. When we use money to bless others, we are sowing on earth for God’s purposes while sowing towards our heavenly fortune. Money is earned to be saved but also used. When used wisely, we are investing for our future. But we can also use it wisely to invest for God and His kingdom purposes. Till today I still recall the kind hospitality given by a medical couple when my wife and I were still in university where we had a chance to have nicer meals. Those meals were out of our budget then but we were privileged to enjoy them because of the kind couple.

I think that the key takeaway today is not to be stingy with our money and influence. Do things properly and within rules, don’t be dishonest but be shrewd. Be wise but harmless. Use our money and influence while we still have them for God’s purposes. Use them to bless others, to gain friends for the Kingdom of God. We will not have money and influence forever. The time will come for us to retire as we grow old. But while we still have money and influence, don’t waste the opportunity to use them to bless and help others. The friends we gain will be lifelong and if they accept Jesus into their lives, their friendships will be eternal!

https://odb.org/MY/2021/10/22/live-to-serve

It is undeniable that every one of us has unique gifting and talents from God as much as our personality and character are unique. Our upbringing, school, college, work, family, early investments by our parents when we were young like music, taekwando or kumon lessons and our interactions with friends, church members, work colleagues, customers, clients or vendors all helped shape us to be who we are today. In the process, we discover and develop our gifting and talents, harnessing on and uncovering those that God had prepared for us before we were even born.

Some of us are good in music, some in computers, some in taking beautiful and inspiring photos. Some of us could paint or draw very well. Yet some of us could cook delicious dishes or bake nice cookies and cakes. Others have a knack for reaching out to people, while there are some who serve very well. Some of us may have a good listening ear, yet others are excellent counsellors or life coaches. Some of have a teacher’s bend while others could be more pastoral or prophetic or are good at church planting.

The point today is to go out there to serve and help people. Christian life may be about our personal relationship with Christ but it is also about serving God and people. It is extrinsic living as much as it is an intrinsic experience. What is inside must come out to meet the world. The tyre needs to meet the road, it needs shed its thread, lose some of its rubber in the process. James taught in James 2:17 that faith without works is dead. Someone said before that the more we receive from God, the more we should give and as we give, God will give us more. How apt! Speaks of our blessings from God, our gifting, our talents and our lives. The more we give of our lives – the more love, joy and peace we will receive. The more of the “life in Christ” will we receive.

Everyone of us face different challenges in life and that includes different challenges in our walk of faith. Whether it is dealing with bad habits, habitual sins, unforgiveness, stubbornness, pride or trying to be the best we can be in our work or even trying to make ends meet in this pandemic era. The point is that the gifting and talents that we have should not be hidden. It should be used to help others, to serve. We need to place our lamp at the top of the hill, not keep it hidden. It is paradoxical, but strange as it may seem, the more we come out of our shell and help others and serve, the stronger we will become to face life issues. Faith without works is dead as good deeds will activate the faith in us. As we find we have a purposeful life, we will be more motivated to do more and it will become an upward whirlwind to the heavens. We will be at the mountain top of hope and not the valley of despair. Service creates hope for those we serve but it also gives us hope for ourselves. Never be shy or afraid to use the gifting God gives us to serve others. That’s our destiny as a believer, make it our legacy too!

https://odb.org/MY/2021/10/21/bible-beavers

I think Jesus made an excellent point in John 5:39-47. What is the point of studying Scriptures so diligently only to reject Him when the Scriptures point to Christ? Scripture is about God, how He related to mankind and to His chosen nation, Israel, and yet they rejected God when they rejected Jesus because Jesus was sent by God. He who rejects me, rejects the one who sent me (Luke 10:16). As Jesus is God Himself in flesh, rejecting Jesus means rejecting God, the very essence of Scriptures.

Of course we as believers do not reject Jesus. The very definition of being a believer is believing in Jesus Christ, that He died for my sins and redeemed me by His blood that I may have a life that is reconnected with the Father, a life that is full and yet eternal. That Christ rose from the dead having conquered sin and death, that whoever believes in Him shall have life eternal, that though we may die, we live. He is the way, the truth and the life.

However, we sometimes forget that as we read Scriptures that the intention is to know Jesus more. The reason is to better relate to God, to know Him better. It is a means to know the heart of God, to feel the heartbeat of God as He is the same from the beginning, throughout generations, all through history.

Meditating on the Word day and night, studying Scriptures dilligently may make us a better scholar of the Word. We will have intimate and in depth knowledge of the various theological arguments, on various facets of the faith or various spiritual subject matters faith, prayer, worship, spiritual gifts etc. But ultimately, all these knowledge must drive us closer to God. Knowledge for the sake of knowledge or scholarship is not harmful and ought to be encouraged and pursued but as believers, we must remember that it is all about Him. The same way worship is all about Jesus, so is Scripture. It is all about Christ and God and how we will know Him better. Our faith may be a way of life but it is not only a way of life. Our faith may be a religion but it is not mere religious belief. Christianity is really about knowing and relating to God through Christ. If we know Scriptures in and out, but do not know God intimately – it is a futile pursuit because the more we know Scriptures, the closer we should be to God, the more we should know God personally and directly.

https://odb.org/MY/2021/10/20/look-within

Because Jesus died for our sins and we accepted the gift of salvation from God, we are no longer slaves to sin. Instead, as Christ has redeemed us from the shackles and bondage of sin, our new Lord is Christ. He paid the price for our liberty, thus we now belong to Christ. He is our Lord, our saviour and our salvation. He is the way, the truth and the life.

However, as we still live in our earthen vessel which is our human body, we still have fleshly desires. In Galatians 5:4, Paul taught us to crucify our flesh daily. This is because our spirit (which has been born again) and our flesh (which is our former nature) is always in conflict. For example, while our spirit approaches life by looking for ways to bless others or looking out for others, our flesh is more self centred and focuses on self preservation and own accumulation. Or at a deeper level, while our spirit may be concerned with the spiritual well being of others, our flesh may be more concerned of our own spiritual well being, our spiritual gifting and our own ministry.

Consequently, our flesh is still prone to sin and there could be habitual, hidden and unconfessed sins in our lives. As David discovered and confessed in Psalm 32:3, when he kept silent, his bones wasted away through his groaning all day long. He couldn’t sleep well at night and was lifeless in the day. He was implying that unconfessed sins have a toll on our physical bodies. That is why David started the Psalm by proclaiming that blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the one whose sin the LORD does not count against them and in whose spirit there is no deceit.

There is a need to be completely honest before God. We must confess our sins and repent. We must break any demonic hold over our lives, any unholy soul ties, any bitter root, any inner revengeful vows, any unforgiveness and hand all these over to God to cleanse, heal and sanctify us.

The Lord is gracious and compassionate. He is forgiving if we confess our sins, iniquities and transgressions before Him and repent of all of our wrongdoings. His steadfast love endures forever. His faithfulness knows no end. It may be difficult in reality but with the strength and power of the Holy Spirit, we can overcome and be victorious like Christ!

https://odb.org/MY/2021/10/19/doing-what-needs-to-be-done

Today’s ODB raises an interesting point on what it means to sacrifice for the good of others based on Galatians 5:22-26 on the fruit of the Spirit. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. Against such things there is no law.”

The background to Paul’s arguments is the debate then whether the new believers can have their sins forgiven by faith in Christ alone or do they need to also adhere to the law of Moses. Thus if we have the fruit of the Spirit, through Christ, can the law of Moses then nullify Christ’s forgiveness of our sins through our faith in Him.

In this pandemic, the parallel question then is whether we are willing to self isolate for the sake of others? We may have freedom to move about as the Movement Control Order is now lifted, but will we be willing to self quarantine and only go out for necessities? For countries where everything is now back to normal, will we be willing to put our masks on for the sake of others? The ironical thing about this pandemic is that self protective actions like self isolation/quarantine and wearing of face masks protect us as much as they protect others. This is because when we wear face masks and self isolate, we prevent others from getting the virus from us in case we are asymptomatic carriers ourselves. It’s the same with vaccination, will we vaccinate for the sake of ourselves and others? Vaccination will not 100% prevent deaths but it is good enough to prevent serious illness and even if we may still carry the virus, it will be a mild one too. The vaccine in our body would have helped our immune system fight the virus and thus it is unable to cause serious harm to us or others. However, we are still at risk even with vaccination or we are infected with a weak virus if we have comorbidities as our immune system would have been weakened.

I believe the thrust of Galatians 5 is that while the law is the law, it is the spirit of the law that’s more pertinent. So if we are not following the law of Moses to the letter but we live by the Spirit and have the fruit of the Spirit by our faith in Christ, are we in transgression? Will God still forgive us our sins?

The rules for the pandemic is an excellent picture of what Paul is trying to convey. The MCO have been lifted. We are now free to travel inter-state. But will we still self isolate for the sake of others? Will we follow the letter or spirit of the law? Is Christian life about following rules and regulations or is it about following Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour?

https://odb.org/MY/2021/10/18/a-time-to-speak

Ecclesiastes 3 is probably one of the more well known passages from that book. There is a time for everything and a season for every activity under the heavens. A time to be born and a time to die. A time to weep and a time to laugh. A time to mourn and a time dance. A time to tear and a time to mend. Lastly but not the least, a time to be silent and a time to speak. This also reminds me of the Hymn – In His Time – which goes, “In His time, in His time, He makes all things beautiful, in His time. Lord show me every day. As You’re teaching me Your ways. That You’ll do just what You say in Your time…”

There is thus a time for everything and even God Himself has His own timing in the scheme of things; which brings us to the time to be silent and the time to speak.

I have always struggled with this. When I first started interacting with people at a young age, I used to listen in when my father speaks with other adults, with his friends. Sometimes I interject and join in the conversation. But my dad will tell me off later that when adults speak, children should just keep quiet and listen. It is a time to be silent because it is inappropriate for a child to speak up in adult conversations. At work, I learnt the hard way as to when it is appropriate to speak and over time, I realised that it is not what you say that matters but who you are to say what. Certain things can only be said with appropriate seniority and experience.You just cannot embarrass your superiors or correct them in public even if you have the correct facts. Without someone senior lending his or her weight for you, what you say will not carry much weight unless you yourself have a huge reputation and credibility.

I guess it’s the same with ministry. We carry the anointing of the Holy Spirit with the lives we live, with our life of sanctification and being a living sacrifice. The anointing will only flow if our hearts are sincere and genuine, and our lives sanctified and set apart for God. Clever words will tickle the ear, but Spirit-filled words will bring forth transformation and empower lives as we know the Word of God is powerful and penetrates hearts like a double edged sword.

As a person that prefers silence to confrontation, I’m less prone to speak up. It’s a weakness because I may just let things slide and worsen before intervening. Yet I also think that sometimes it’s a strength as a deeper work can be done through conciliatory efforts than confrontation. Antagonimism pushes people away and invokes a similar response while conciliatory discussion draws people in and allows for more genuine change. And yet, some things need to be said because they are clearly wrong and may lead to disastrous consequences. In the end, spiritual discernment and Godly wisdom will help us immensely on what we should do as we allow the boldness of the Spirit to envelope us. This is most crucial for people like me who like to stay clear of confrontations and remain quiet because I realised that there are matters that we will not be able to avoid a direct heart to heart talk as we mature in the Lord.

There is a time for everything and God has His own timing. We need to be in tune with the season of the times, especially God’s seasons. Despite our individual personality trait preferring silence, we need to speak up to correct wrongs, to rectify mistakes, to forgive transgressions against us and to seek forgiveness for our own trespasses or wrongful behaviour. Time will heal but there is a time for everything including a time to remain silent and a time to speak up, a time to tear and a time to mend.

https://odb.org/MY/2021/10/17/our-rosetta-stone

One of the distinguishing element in our faith compared to other faiths, even other Abrahamic faiths, is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirt is the Helper Jesus promised will come to help us after He leaves this world (John 14:16-17). The world will not receive Him for they will neither see Him nor know Him but we will know Him for He will dwell with us and be with us. In John 16:3, Jesus said that the Spirit of Truth will guide us in all the truth and He will speak what He hears and tell us what is to come. He will receive from Christ what He makes known to us. We see in Acts 2:2 how the arrival of the Promised Helper, the Spirit of Truth, the Holy Spirit, empowered and embolden the believers then which led to the explosive propagation of the faith throughout Jerusalem, across Judea, Samaria and the rest of the Roman Empire and later all over the world.

There was a marked transformation of the believers with the arrival of the Holy Spirit. From being reserved, confused and afraid, they became bold, purposeful and driven. As a result, there were signs and wonders, the Word was expounded, people believed by the thousands as minds were opened to understanding the Word and hearts were convicted by the Spirut of Truth. The exposition of the Word was followed and accompanied by the demonstration of the power of God.

What parallels can we apply this morning? I think we should be reminded that as we explore the mysteries of the Word and the Kingdom of God, we must always ask the Spirit of Truth to guide us to all the truth. As we read the Word, may our eyes and mind and heart be opened to new revelations of the Word, new insights that will inspire and encourage us that God is alive in our midst and within us. Pray for the gifts of the Spirit that as we exercise our faith to pray for others that signs and wonders will manifest through us and that as we command healing, people will get healed and pray that we will be given the spirit of discernment, wisdom and understanding to do our best for God in all situations. Let the Holy Spirit tell us what is to come so we will have a prophetic bend in our ministry that we may have a vision for our church, that we will be doing what God is doing in our midst, that we will be moving in the direction of the move of God. Not what we think God wants us to do but what we know God is doing and will be doing as reveled to us by the Holy Spirit.

Thank you, Holy Spirit for your love and compassion and your guidance in our lives, for your power and boldness granted us, for the discernment, knowledge and understanding granted to us of the Word and the mysteries of the Kingdom. Help us oh Holy Spirit to do the Father’s will for our lives and help us respond to our Lord Jesus Christ’s calling for us that indeed, Hallowed be the Name of our Father in heaven and may the will of our Father in heaven be done here on earth as it is in heaven! Amen!