Forgiveness and grace

https://odb.org/2024/12/27/acts-of-grace

Blessed and Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, everyone!

Some of us may be clearing our annual leave and are still enjoying the festivities with friends and family the year-end holiday season. While others may be on vacation somewhere cold in the northern hemisphere – China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, or Europe. As for me, I’m already back to work but just clearing my leave sporadically, the two days left of it.

Even as we remember Jesus’s birth and the forgiveness and grace of God through Immanuel (God with us), let us not forget that as God first loved us, that our lives reflect His name and glory. Sometimes, the hardships in our lives may have been caused by someone in the past or even present. There is the question of the hatred and anger in our hearts that may poison and destroy us through resentment, bitterness, and unforgiveness. But say if we are presented an opportunity to get even, will we exact our revenge? Most will. But will we? Or will we be like the King of Israel in 2 Kings 6:18-23 when Elisha, by the power of God blinded and brought the enemies of Israel into Samaria into the hands of the Israelites? Will we put them to the sword, or will we forgive them and show them grace by giving them food and water and setting them free to return home?

2 Kings 6:23 – So he prepared a great feast for them, and after they had finished eating and drinking, he sent them away, and they returned to their master. So, the bands from Aram stopped raiding Israel’s territory.

This act of grace by the King of Israel led to peace with Aram. In our case, it will lead to us reconciling with God as unforgiveness sets a chasm between us and God. But more importantly, it will create a lasting impression on those we had shown grace that will bear a positive testimony of our God and what He has done in our hearts. It shows Jesus meant something real to us and has done genuine work in our soul and spirit. We have overcome our old self and let the new man take control. The Holy Spirit has somewhat transformed us from within.

Let this Christmas season be a season of reconciliations between mankind and God and between us and those who had wronged us that indeed there will be peace on earth and goodwill to all men! Hallelujah! Praise the Lord! Amen!

Christmas Eve

https://odb.org/2024/12/24/light-and-glory

What do most of us do on Christmas Eve? Have a nice family dinner? Throw a party? Have family and friends come over for food and drinks? The amazing thing is that even non-Christians find a reason to, in a way, celebrate Christmas, especially on Christmas Eve. Christmas is so well-known that shopping malls are decked with really nice and beautiful Christmassy decorations, and the air is filled with Christmas songs to usher in the holiday spirit in the hope that shoppers will spend as the stores run their year-end sales. As Andrew Sia postulated in his Facebook post, it is pure commercialism.  https://www.facebook.com/share/p/19AZME2jua/

As much as we are encouraged and proud that the world celebrates Christmas, we know that it has become somewhat like Valentine’s Day and Halloween. It is more dressing up in red like Santa with his red nose reindeers bringing presents in a sleigh, rather than the true meaning of Christmas, of God having so loved the world that He sent His only Son to the world that whosoever believed in Him shall not perish but have life everlasting. But why criticise or pick a fight with the world? Why would the world want to celebrate the birth of Christ and the message it brings? The world is not the Kingdom of God.

The hype surrounding Christmas generated by the commercialising of Christmas actually affords us an excellent opportunity to start a conversation on the true meaning of Christmas, in particular those who celebrate but are not in Christ. A perfect occasion to invite them to church where the true meaning of Christmas is shared and played out in the worship songs, the presentations, and the sermon. Allow our friends and relatives to have a foretaste of what the Kingdom offers here on earth and in heaven one day.

On Christmas Eve, let us ponder upon the grace and goodness of God in our lives and be thankful for the birth of Christ that led and allowed you and I and many others to walk and live the path that leads to eternal life! Have a blessed and merry Christmas Eve, everyone! Glory be to God in the highest and peace on earth to all men!

Tangible love

https://odb.org/2024/12/22/tangible-love-2

1 John 4 NIV – 19 We love because he first loved us. 20 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, can not love God, whom they have not seen. 21 And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.

I believe one of the ways we could, as a congregation, show love to our fellow church members is to visit them when they are warded. While some prefer peace and quiet at the hospital, having guests break the boredom of treatment and the rather clinical approach of the nurses and doctors. The issue is that we may not have friends around. Even making friends with other patients (assuming we are not in a single room) in the ward has its perils as the guy next door may be discharged or may have expired the next day!

We love because God first loved us. He called us to be His children. If the Holy Spirit didn’t touch and convict us, we would still be lost in our old ways, well on the road to destruction instead of eternal life. We would still be living in the world, still very much of the world and only concerned with its affairs, chasing our own dreams and ambitions. Doing things that our heart fancies instead of living at the centre of God’s will.

Do spare the time and effort to visit a brother or sister in Christ at the hospital when they are most vulnerable. They will appreciate it very much. They may not be in their best makeup or hair condition, but rarely are people fussing much about their appearance when they are unwell. Bring some fruits. Be there for them for some moments. Have a chat. Comfort and encourage them. Last but not least, pray for them. Be a Barnabas to them even as they are sick.

Have a good Sunday worship, everyone! My prayer for you is that you have finally made the effort to dress up and show up on site at the church sanctuary. If not today, then surely this Wednesday on Christmas day!

The truth never changes

https://odb.org/2024/12/20/the-truth-never-changes

Isaiah 40:8 NIV – The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever.”

As Christians, we believe that the Word of God, that is, Scripture, is the infallible truth. Nothing in the bible is untrue. So, for example, the existence of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, or even Moses and the deliverance of the 600,000 able bodied men together with their wives and children from Egypt to Canaan with 40 years spent in the wilderness are all historical facts. However, the world may not believe in such assertions and may call them tales. At the other extreme, we have believers who hold on strongly to the belief that the earth is only 6,000 years old.

As much as we put our faith in Scripture as the infallible truth, it must be read and understood in the context of the time it was written, from the prevailing thought and knowledge that existed at that time. Scripture was written by hundreds of people, compiled, and agreed upon or canonised by the church over centuries from multiple sources.

We are now at the tailend of the timeline, with the endtimes already started. While we accept Scripture as it is, we should not take our beliefs to the extreme in light of current archaeological evidence. Thus, even as we believe that God created the heavens and the earth and everything in it, it need not be in 6 days in the sense that one day is one rotation of the earth of 24 hours, from the rising of the sun to the going down of the same.

That doesn’t mean that the truth is changing. The truth remains unchanging, but the articulation of certain concepts or words may mean different things in different eras of time and existence. Most importantly, the message of the bible on the role and coming of the Messiah to save the world from sin is unchanged. The character of God, as revealed in His interactions with His people, is unchanged. His appearance on earth in the form of His Son as the Immanuel is the unchanging truth.

As we celebrate Christmas this year, don’t quibble over things like is 25th December, the actual calendar date of the birth of Christ? As someone put it so wisely, it is just a container of the explosive truth. It is not the actual birthday of our Lord. It is symbolic but is meant to propagate to the world the good news of salvation encapsulated by John 3:16. Any date could have been chosen, but the church chose this date, and I quote from a WhatsApp message I received on this yesterday:

Why December 25th?

By the 4th century, when Christians began officially celebrating Jesus’ birth, the early church fathers chose December 25th with beautiful intentionality, particularly noting its proximity to the winter solstice – the darkest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere where Christianity was first spreading. They saw deep meaning in celebrating Christ’s birth at the very time when daylight began to increase, viewing it as a powerful symbol of how Jesus, the Light of the World, came to dispel darkness.

They chose the shortest day, from which subsequent days begin to lengthen, as a picture of how Christ’s coming brings increasing light into the world. This timing wasn’t about adopting pagan festivals (which happened during the same time), but rather making a bold declaration about Jesus being the true Light, fulfilling John 1:9, “The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world.”

Early church father John Chrysostom expressed it beautifully when he said, “What does it matter when the precise moment was? For what we celebrate is not the time, but the event: the incarnation of our Lord.”

The date doesn’t diminish the miracle. If anything, it amplifies it – showing us how one holy moment can transform every season, every culture, every heart that makes room for it.

The date is just the container. The miracle is the content!

Amen! Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!

God saw that it was good

https://odb.org/2024/12/19/gods-view-of-us

God’s eye view of the earth

Genesis 1:9-10 – 9 And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. 10 God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good.

It is superb and excellent that the LORD after creating earth, including the land and the sea, saw that it was good. If you read on Genesis 1 until verse 31, it is the same. After each major act of creation, the LORD said that it was good. That includes the creation of man, male, and female. Thus, God’s view of the earth and everything everything in it was good. He was happy and satisfied with His work and craftsmanship.

However, Satan, in the form of the serpent, tricked Adam and Eve into taking a bite of the forbidden fruit and committed sin against God. There was only one rule in the garden of Eden, and they broke it! They were banished out of the Garden of Eden, and the LORD had to raise up the second Adam, our Lord Jesus Christ, to rectify the situation so that mankind may be reconciled back to God.

John 3:16 – For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

But remember this morning that despite the challenges that life may present to us each day, God saw that it was good. The billions of us are all good in the eyes of God. But original sin had separated us from Him. So long as we accept Jesus into our lives as Lord and Saviour, we will get back on track onto the narrow path and thereafter call Him Father and live out life in His good, pleasing, and perfect will. We are now part of His kingdom of heaven here on earth even as we pray, may His will be done here on earth as it is in heaven.

This Christmas season, as we remember God’s gift of His beloved Son to us as our salvation to eternal life, know that the LORD’s view of us has always been and will always be good. Don’t despise the life we have. Don’t condemn ourselves for our past or current sins. Repent and seek His forgiveness and let the blood of the Lamb wash us clean. Transform ourselves by the renewing of our minds, each day, more and more into the image of Christ. Serve God. Live our lives for Him! One day, we will live eternity with Him like He originally intended for mankind in Eden! Amen!

Listen to Him

https://odb.org/2024/12/18/who-we-listen-to

Deuteronomy 18:18 NIV – I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their fellow Israelites, and I will put my words in his mouth. He will tell them everything I command him.

The above words were spoken by the LORD to Moses when the Israelites were gathered at Mount Sinai to receive God’s law, roughly two months after their deliverance from Egypt. It foretells the coming of Christ many years later from the lineage of King David. The baby Jesus, who was born in Bethlehem and who grew up to become the Saviour of mankind. He was Immanuel – a Hebrew name that means God is with us. Just that in the case of Jesus, He was literally with us in the natural, although He was a spiritual being. He was born a human like you and I, except that He was without sin having been conceived in virgin Mary by the Holy Spirit.

In Deuteronomy 18:9-12 NIV, the LORD our God warned the Israelites of engaging in occultic practices of the pagan nations surrounding the Promised Land:

Occult Practices
9 When you enter the land, the Lord your God is giving you, do not learn to imitate the detestable ways of the nations there. 10 Let no one be found among you who sacrifices their son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, 11 or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. 12 Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord; because of these same detestable practices, the Lord your God will drive out those nations before you.

Just listen to Jesus and the Holy Spirit and not one else. Do not consult anyone who practices divination or sorcery, who interprets omens, engages in witchcraft or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist who consults the dead. All these are detestable things. In some versions, the word used was an abomination to the LORD. That is the uncrossable red line for us, the children of the Kingdom. It can not be for fun or out of curiosity as these are things that will bring us to destruction. Totally detestable to God. There is no need to have our palms or fortunes read as our lives are in the hands of God, whom we put our whole trust and faith on, here on earth and thereafter!

Joseph, the husband of Mary

https://odb.org/2024/12/17/the-rescue-2

God’s plan in saving the world was to send His only son to the world that whoever believed in Him shall not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16). Yet His son can not miraculously appear out of thin air. Thus, God chose Mary, who was already betrothed to Joseph, a descendant of the House of David. Mary was pregnant with child, conceived of the Holy Spirit, before she got together with Joseph. Joseph, who wanted to follow the law, planned to divorce Mary quietly and avoid publicly embarrassing her. However, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream not to be afraid to take Mary as his wife. She was conceived by the Holy Spirit and will give birth to a son whom he will call Jesus as He will save His people.

The amazing and magnificent thing is that Joseph complied with the message from the angel despite possible public ridicule. In taking Mary as his wife, he may be accused of having consummated the marriage before they were married and thus committed fornication. In other words, putting himself into the modern-day “shotgun marriage.” Jesus’s entrance into the world has to be natural, and yet He can not be conceived of man as He must be without sin to redeem the sins of mankind. As a result, both Joseph and Mary would have had to go through the stigma of bringing up a child apparently out of wedlock, as against the cultural norms existing then. Perhaps that is why little is known and written of Jesus’s early childhood, and perhaps that is also why Jesus said a prophet is not accepted in his hometown (Luke 4:24). I believe the first 30 years of Jesus’s life on earth was likely one where He would have had to face shame, contempt, and ridicule.

The message to us this morning is that in fulfilling God’s will and realising His plans and purposes for our lives, we may be called to be like Joseph. We may be called to face and overcome people’s ridicule for upholding God’s principles in the things we do or the way we react to situations, at home, or at work. We are called to not conform to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of our minds that in the process, we may test and approve His good and acceptable and perfect will (Romans 12:2). Our world is right side up, which to the world may be upside down. We put what is right and what is Godly first. It may appear to be foolishness to the world, but that’s our life in Christ!

Faith in the family

https://odb.org/2024/12/15/just-like-grandma

As much as faith is personal, as parents, we want our children to profess the same faith as us. Just because we know the Lord, it doesn’t mean our children and their children will likewise know God. Faith in God is personal to the holder in the sense that we need to personally believe in the death and resurrection of Christ, believe that He died for our sins, and accept Him as our Lord and Saviour. It can not be by extension, and neither can it be by delegation or association. Our relationship with our God is not something that can be shared even with our spouses as we will all one day face Christ at the Bema judgment seat of Christ. Our faith is to be lived out personally by each and every one of us.

I had the privilege of having parents who were fervent in the faith and who served the Lord until their dying breath. Thus, although they have passed on, they live on in Christ (John 11:25), and one day, we will see them again. My wife and I and my children, their children, will see them one day when the dead in Christ will be resurrected and live with Christ and God the Father in the new heaven and new earth. But only if we are all in the faith. That we remain committed and faithful to the Lord until our dying day. In this end times era, there will emerge many who will deceive and turn us away from God. Read the bible, learn the tenets of our faith well, serve God with all our hearts, and fulfil God’s plans and purposes for our lives. The Lord will protect and preserve our hearts. We have free will to make our own decisions. Please always choose the narrow path that leads to eternal life. Let us be transformed more and more into the image of Christ as we do not conform to the pattern of this world, and we work out our salvation with fear and trembling!

Have a good time today worshipping God in His sanctuary, and may we meet Him face to face in the spirit as we worship Him in spirit and in truth. May our praise and worship be a sweet incense unto His heavenly throne!

P/s – Please pray for me, too, as I will be sharing the Word in my local church today. May the LORD our God use this earthly instrument of His to speak the Word in a manner that will make a difference in the lives of all who hear!

No room

https://odb.org/2024/12/12/guest-room

An interesting fact from today’s ODB is that although we may have grown up thinking Jesus was born in an animal stable, it is actually a guest house but at the animals’ side of the guest house. This is because most translations of the bible translated the Greek word katalyma as inn when it is actually a guest house. Thus, the narrative was not that Joseph and Mary was turned away from an inn and sought refuge in a stable. Instead, they actually stayed with family at the guest house, but as there was not enough room, Mary delivered baby Jesus in the animals’ side of the katalyma. In those days, animals are brought into the guest house at the ground level during the night. Nevertheless, it is true that at the katalyma, there was not enough room for Mary and Joseph at the human side, and Mary gave birth to baby Jesus at the animals’ side.

The question this morning is that do we have room in our hearts for Jesus? Apostle John saw in Revelation 3:20 that Jesus is at a door and is knocking, waiting to enter. Are we ready to receive Jesus into our hearts? Do we have room in our hearts for Jesus to come in and dwell in our lives? Or have the cares of the world, the worries of life, and the deceitfulness of wealth choked out Jesus in our lives? Are we so busy chasing our careers that Jesus has somewhat disappeared from our hearts?

That is why it is pertinent that we start attending church again in the physical and not hide ourselves behind our screens wherever else we are. Online worship services served the purpose during Covid, but a church must be church again. In the world, Bursa Malaysia is getting listed companies to discontinue their virtual AGMs and EGMs and go back to on-site physical meetings. Most companies are back to on-site working. Are our churches still left behind in Zoomland?

This Christmas, let’s ponder whether we still have room for Jesus? Will we be left behind when Jesus comes again to meet His people? Create room for Him in our hearts. He is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords!

Call upon the Father

https://odb.org/2024/12/11/god-will-answer

The work and sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross has enabled us as believers to call upon Father God in prayer, and He will listen to us. You may see that in the Psalms, in various prophesies in the Bible, including Jeremiah 29:12. As His children grafted into the family through the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ, we have the privilege and honour to reach out to the Creator, our Heavenly Father, in Jesus’s name.

Jeremiah 29 NIV – For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

The assurance is that if we seek Him with all our hearts, meaning genuinely and sincerely, we will find Him. When we pray for others, He will listen. Like Jesus feeding the 5,000 with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fishes, God is able to listen to and reach out to the multitude simultaneously. For He is omnipresent. There could be millions of us, and yet He is personal to each and every one of us. The challenge, of course, is to make all things work for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. The sovereign, general, and specific will of God working in unison to bring about a result in the natural realm even as we reach out to God in the spiritual. We pray that Your will be done here on earth as it is in heaven.

This morning, do not be afraid to call upon the Father. Be assured that He will listen to us. He makes all things beautiful in His time. Life may be harsh, but His will is perfect and satisfying. Trust in Him. Place our hopes in Him. He will make our paths straight even as we heed His Word as a lamp unto our feet. He is the good shepherd, and we are the sheep of His pasture!