You, O Lord, know everything about me

https://odb.org/2025/01/05/god-knows-everything

Psalm 139 NIV – 1 You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. 2 You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. 3 You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. 4 Before a word is on my tongue, you, Lord, know it completely.

We know that God is omniscient. He, being God, knows everything, and that includes everything about us. Our inner thoughts. Our desires and wants. Our dreams and fantasies. Our ambitions. To those on the verge of retirement, God knows our retirement plans of how we hope to fund our retirement by the grace of God. How to take care of our health as we grow older and face more health issues. How we would need to have a balanced diet with less carbs and sugar and more fibre. How we would need a life filled with exercise and less stress. Of serving God in perhaps a different capacity. Of going for travel and mission trips.

Unlike people, whom we may deceive with our fake smile and positive demeanour, we can not deceive God. This is because He knows our heart and motivation. He knows whether we are sincere or are faking it. Nevertheless, He is gracious and forgiving. His steadfast love never ceases. It is renewed like dew every morning. His faithfulness endures forever.

This morning, I just like to remind us to do everything for God in all sincerity. Respond to His calling for our lives. Live our lives for Him. To fulfil His plans and purposes for our lives. We can not live a double life anymore. Living a holy and righteous life in church, but a selfish and self-serving life elsewhere. We need to be real and genuine before God. Don’t wear masks anymore to conceal our true self to the world. Don’t delay anymore. The time will come when we have nothing to do anymore with the realm of the living. At that time, we could not do anything for Jesus, even if we wanted to. In fact, Jesus taught us this before:

John 9:4: “I must work the works of Him that sent Me while it is day; the night cometh when no man can work”

Have a good Sunday worship service today! Fellowship with the congregation. Meet up with friends in church. Be real and sincere before God and man. Encourage and support each other for the glory of God, for His Kingdom’s sake. Pray, worship, and reflect on where we are in God today and where we want to be this 2025! Pray for a life changing spiritual encounter with the Holy Spirit!

Fear of the unknown

https://odb.org/2025/01/03/fear-of-the-unknown-2

John 16 – 33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

As we enter 2025, some of us may feel some apprehension of what lies ahead. Like these past few years, the mood is sombre, rather than upbeat. Instead of feeling that we can conquer the world, we feel a little defeated, perhaps overwhelmed. The reason is real. Things are getting increasingly expensive. A bowl of noodles now costs around RM8.50 to RM9.00 when it was RM5.00 to RM6.00 just a few years back before Covid. You go to a mixed rice shop and order a few dishes, and it is around RM12.00. Tenaga recently announced an increase in electricity tariffs, which is perplexing when it is making billions in profits, to be precise, RM2.27 billion in 2023.

Unfortunately, our salaries are either stagnant or increasing at a snail’s pace. It is not uncommon nowadays to have 1% salary increment. That means if we made RM5,000 a month last year, we would make RM5,050 this year. Certainly worrying if we are starting out. Will our jobs be safe? How will we provide for our families this 2025? Will we be giving out RM5, RM10, or RM20 ang pows this coming Chinese New Year?

As a believer of Jesus, He anticipated that we would experience trouble. Like everyone else, but even more because we hold on to our Godly principles to be righteous before God. But His promise is that He has overcome the world, meaning He has defeated the ruler of the world through His victory on the cross. He told us before not to fear those who destroy our bodies but fear Him who is able to destroy our soul. (Matthew 10:28: “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but can not kill the soul; but rather be afraid of Him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”)

We have the promise of eternal life. We are assured of where we will be when our skin and flesh perish. We may die but will live because of Jesus Christ – He is the resurrection and the life! On top of all that, He lives in us and is there with us whatever we may be going through.

No matter what 2025 brings, we put our trust and hope in Christ. We trust it will be good for us, but even if not, Christ will find a way to bring us forward. Most importantly, we keep our soul and faith intact. He will make all things beautiful in His time (Ecclesiastes 3:11) and in all things, God works for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28). His Word shall be a lamp unto our paths and will make our paths straight even as 2025 is predicted to be choppy waters. Let Jesus hold our hands and guide us along in 2025 as we look to the Holy Spirit for support and encouragement!

Restoration amidst ruins

https://odb.org/2025/01/02/a-promise-beyond-the-ruins

Isaiah 51: The Lord will surely comfort Zion and will look with compassion on all her ruins; he will make her deserts like Eden, her wastelands like the garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the sound of singing.

Sometimes, we ask ourselves why certain events happen? Why do natural disasters continue to occur in the world, bringing destruction and misery to many, including loss of life? In fact, some question why God didn’t intervene to prevent such calamities  and protect human life and property? Often, if we look carefully, it is mankind who chose to build civilisations close to where trade and commerce thrive, which are usually along coastal lines that are exposed to the open seas. Or along deltas of major rivers which habitually flood its banks. The flooding brings fertility to the soil, and that attracts human economic activities. Common traits of the Irrawady and Mekong basins, for example.

But as believers, we sometimes question even deeper. Why God didn’t save His people? Why did He allow road accidents to occur? Or household fire or mass murders of church congregations? Or why allow us to go through tough times when we are living in the centre of His will? There are no easy answers here. But as history has shown in His interactions with Zion, He allowed Israel to be overrun for her sins and transgressions, but He never let them remain desolate and transgressed. He always returns to turn her deserts into Eden, her wastelands into the garden of the LORD where joy and gladness, thanksgiving, and singing will be found! That’s His promise! He will turn our disasters, whether spiritual or natural, into peace and joy. Our dry bones into living beings with breath. Our dead spiritual lives into thriving and strong spiritual forces to wage war in the unseen realm!

Let our life disasters and past mistakes be annals of history and let us move forward to conquer new lands as God opens up new opportunities for us, whether at work or in ministry, as long as the Lord leads the way! Let us be freed from the shackles of sin and our past baggage and move forward in the Lord! Amen!

Happy New Year 2025 – our Jesus story

https://odb.org/2025/01/01/the-jesus-story

As 2025 arrives and the train of time rolls on forth, remember that time waits for no man, but Jesus Christ is our Lord and Saviour. Christ came to give us the gift of salvation by dying on the cross for our sins. It is by the grace of God that we are saved. Yet faith without works is dead.

There is a Jesus story in each and every one of us. How we got to know Him? How we had a spiritual encounter with Him? With the help of the Holy Spirit, how we have grown closer to Jesus and Father God? It’s a story that transcends all believers in the sense that we all experienced it, and yet each of us has our unique story to tell. It’s a story that we wrote together with Christ. It’s the story of our life, of who we are in Christ. Of how far have we walked the narrow path. The distractions, the falling off the path. Of how sometimes we give in to sin and temptation and fall. But we did not remain fallen. We picked ourselves up and called upon His name. We sought His forgiveness, and we repented of our indiscretions. With Christ living in us, we want to continue to write our Jesus story with Him.

It is my prayer for all of us that we will continue to write our Jesus story in 2025 in a more fervent fashion. That we will live in the centre of His will. That we will be fulfilling His plans and purposes for our lives as much as we are living in this world but not of this world. That we will continue to serve God faithfully in His Kingdom of Grace.

Have a great 2025, everyone! May the peace of God, His grace and mercy, and goodness fill us, and may we dwell in His sweet presence every day in 2025 and for the rest of our days here on earth! Happy and blessed New Year!

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!