Sabbath as a day of rest

https://odb.org/2024/09/12/retrieval-practice

They say if you retire early, you risk dying early. This is probably because the lack of work pressure and motivation may lead to a lazy, sedentary, and unproductive lifestyle that may somehow bring us to an untimely demise. On the other hand, too much work pressure may lead to unnecessary stress, and that may bring about illnesses like the big three of high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and diabetes – also a recipe for early death! This is especially crucial when we are between our 50s and 60s, and one of the solutions is to have a balanced life, by continuing to work to maintain good mental and physical health but in a less stressful environment.

By working, we are also assured we have continued financial independence before we start to dig into our old age funds. We may also continue paying our tithes and offerings to the church and for His work and also provide financial assistance to the needy, if so required.

The LORD also has a balanced life remedy for us in the form of the Sabbath or Shabbat (in Hebrew). Because He Himself as God rested on the seventh day after spending six days creating the world and all the creatures therein. He instituted the Sabbath for us to rest and worship Him and remember His mighty works and goodness in our lives. We need not take it as religiously as the Jews with all the strict rules governing it, but we should nevertheless set aside a day for us to rest and reflect on God. The latter helps us retrieve our memories, which inevitably will worsen as we age and prayerfully, we will avoid getting dementia. That is why it is an excellent practice to chill on a Sunday and attend church physically to fellowship and worship the LORD. It is much better if we are also serving in church.

A church full of old folks need not come across as lifeless as even the elderly can have boundless energy in the Lord, serving Him until our last breath. It is important to work as long as our employers still want us, but it is equally necessary to serve God to have a good balance between the natural and the spiritual. Work and serve God as long as we can, but remember to observe our personal Sabbath to rest and rejuvenate and to remember the goodness and grace of God!

God and His rainbow

https://odb.org/2024/09/11/colors-of-hope

Genesis 9:11-13 NKJV

11 Thus I establish My covenant with you: Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood; never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.” 12 And God said: “This is the sign of the covenant which I make between Me and you, and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: 13 I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth.

After the great flood that killed every human being and other air breathing creatures on earth except Noah, his family, and the animals on board Noah’s ark, the LORD made the rainbow 🌈 as the sign of His covenant and promise that He will never again destroy every living creature on earth by flood again, for perpetual generations. In Hebrew, rainbow is qesheth, also translated as bow. Thus, the rainbow is God’s bow without the arrow – a weapon that has been deweaponised. It is the sign of God’s grace and mercy towards humans and other air breathing creatures. (Note that marine life was not affected by the flood as water obviously can not kill creatures living in the water)

We learned about the rainbow in school as part of science – rather the colours of the rainbow. It is these core colours, ROYGBIV – red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet that make up all colours and hues that we see on earth. It symbolises hope and the colours of life that life is worth living despite all that we may go through. It also symbolises diversity, which the LGBTQ community has adopted as their calling card or slogan, except that their colours are not exactly that of the natural rainbow made by God.

I believe God is saying to us today that no matter how difficult life may be to some of us and how dark the outlook may appear to us for the coming days, if we look to Him, we will find the rainbow 🌈 that will brighten up our future. He is the true source of hope and life. Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life. Whoever drinks of Him shall never thrist again. Turn to Jesus, and He will give us true hope and eternal life! He is our rock and our salvation, our redeemer and stronghold!

Jesus Christ, the Word

https://odb.org/2024/09/10/royal-family

John 1:9-13 NIV

9 The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God —13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

It is true that when Christ came to walk on the earth as a human being of human birth but conceived by the Holy Spirit, He was initially followed by many, but eventually, most fell away. Only a remnant remained with Him until His death and resurrection. After Pentecost with the manifested and outpouring of the power of the Holy Spirit, many believed, and these believers formed the core for the message of the Gospel to travel beyond Jerusalem to Judea, Samaria and the Gentile world, reaching Rome and the Judeo-Greek communities across Europe. In fact, John 1:1 on the concept of the Word being with God at the beginning and is God was in response to prevalent Greek thought on a supreme being or force known as Logos that preceeded all things.

The message of the Gospel of Christ crucified and resurrected later spread to the ends of the earth. The Abrahamic Covenant and the promise of God that Father Abraham will have descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore finally came to pass. Today, the Gospel has reached most people groups and communities, and yet there are pockets of indigenous tribes, who, for reasons of reach and language, have still been unaccessible by missionaries and messengers of the Good News. At the same time, there are closed countries whose people have heard of the Gospel but still reject the message of Christ as the Messiah, and sadly, that includes most of present-day Israel.

But for those of us who have accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour, we have been given the privilege to be sons and daughters of God, co-heirs to the heavenly inheritance that awaits us at the end of age.

Be thankful and grateful that we are the privileged few, the remnant that chose to stay on the narrow path that leads to eternal life. Thus, be watchful that we do not lose the plot or be drawn away by the attractions of the world that constantly tempt and entice us to upgrade our status and stature, which will eventually compromise our faith and lead us away from our narrow path.

Instead, be constantly serving Him diligently and faithfully in every way we could to the best of our abilities and God-given talents and as the Spirit prompts us. So that we are always fulfilling His plans and purposes for our lives in every season and living out His Word at the center of His will – as David described in Psalm 23 – surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever!

The church

https://odb.org/2024/09/09/what-remains

Matthew 16:17-19 –

17 Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. 18 And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

One new thing I learnt today from Matthew 16 is that preceding the above passages is verse 13, and Matthew writes that as Jesus entered the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked the disciples who others and they say He is. Some say He is John the Baptist while others say He is Elijah or Jeremiah. But Peter, when specifically asked, answered that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the living God. Caesarea Philippi was the region known as Bashan, where the people in the past used to worship false gods and performed child sacrifices. It is believed that Bashan was the entrance to the underworld.

That was why Jesus mentioned the Gates of Hades when He proclaimed that He would build His church upon the rock – that the Gates of Hades would not prevail against it. We, of course, know by now that the rock is Peter’s revelation that Jesus is the Messiah and the Son of the living God. It is upon this revelation that Jesus will build His church as that’s the foundational teaching for our faith that distinguishes us from other faiths. As believers, our faith is founded upon the fact that Jesus is the Son of God, the only one who is unblemished and without sin who became the Lamb of God and who died on the cross for our sins and rose victorious 3 days later having overcome the sting of sin, which is death. That is why the Gates of Hades, which is death, will not prevail against the church. The whole doctrine of our faith as expounded by the Apostles, especially Paul in his letters, is the death and resurrection of Christ, as the Son of the living God.

Thus, the church, wherever it may be, is ultimately that of Jesus Christ, our Lord, and Saviour. He will build it and equip it. Wherever He calls us to, we may serve Him and fulfil His plans and purposes for our lives for that season, but it is He who builds it and gives it its increase. It is not the building but the congregation. It is more than the bricks and mortar, but the spiritual lives of the people. It is where God is leading us as a congregation that matters. Where He wants us to be and what He wants us to do in the midst of what He is doing. May we as a congregation participate in the work He is doing in our midst so we may live and serve Him and be at the centre of His will!

My prayer for us this morning, myself included, for the coming week is that our Lord Jesus Christ may grant us wisdom and discernment in all the things we do at work, in school and college, and in the church that we may excel, and that many others may be blessed by the work of our hands and His name will be glorified on earth as it is in heaven! Amen!

Jerusalem

https://odb.org/2024/09/08/united-at-last

When you look at Jerusalem today, it is hard to imagine that the Temple of God (originally built by David) may be excavated and brought to life again. This is because when the Ottomans conquered Jerusalem, they built a mosque on top of its ruins (destroyed earlier by the Romans). It is an impossibility as the Al-Aqsa mosque will be destroyed in the process, and it is the 3rd holiest religious site in Islam.

In Psalm 87, it is prophesied in a song written by the sons of Korah that one day, all the nations will bow down and worship the LORD in Jerusalem, the City of David. Thus, the Temple of the LORD will one day be rebuilt, and the LORD will dwell there again amongst His people. That’s the hope of all believers – one day, humanity will be reunited to worship the one and only true God, the God Almighty, the Great I Am, who created heaven and earth and everything in them, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, our Heavenly Father in Christ Jesus.

A lot of things may appear to be impossible today, even certain things in our own lives. When we look at some people, we will say that it is impossible that they will ever come to the faith. Last year, I found out that an ex-colleague had accepted Christ nearly one year after her husband did so, and she and her family are now fervent believers, attending church regularly and serving. In fact, even the turnaround of the sons of Korah as descendants of a tribe who opposed Moses and was destroyed in the process was nothing short of a miracle. They survived through the ages from their dark ancient history and became talented and dedicated worship leaders in Israel during the era of the Psalms.

The ultimate impossibility will be achieved one day when Jerusalem will be the dwelling place of the LORD again with all the nations united. While we eagerly look forward to that day, we will experience a foretaste of it in the mini impossibilities in our lives turning to reality by the power and will of God, working in our midst through the Holy Spirit. We will experience and see signs and wonders and miraculous healings.

Have a good Sunday worship, everyone as we celebrate His goodness and  mercy, and eagerly await the second coming of His Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour!

Speaking the truth

https://odb.org/2024/09/06/speaking-truthfully

One of the things people do without thinking too much is to tell or speak about something in a way that suits the situation. So if we are asked as to what happened, we will tell it in as neutral a way as possible without directly implicationg ourselves or those close to us. Some people can even blatantly lie. Of course, under interrogation or intense questioning by trained and experienced personnel, the truth can usually be solicited. That is why if you are a policeman, you are likely conditioned to dig deeper for the truth as the initial answers may well all be lies and half truths for self-preservation. But under oath at the witness stand or in putting our statement in an affidavit (sworn statement), prejury is an offence liable to criminal prosecution and consequences.

As believers, we do not conform to the pattern of this world and thus should speak the truth all the time. We should tell it as it is without any ill intention or ulterior motive. In other words, we mustn’t lie to conceal the truth or twist the truth to blame others. Or else, it’s better to remain silent or just refrain from saying much. There is no need to volunteer information, especially information that we had previously promised to keep confidential.

Both blatant lies and twisted truths may lead to serious consequences, especially in the social context, as slander will affect the reputation or credibility of others. That is why the bible teaches against gossip or unwholesome talk and slander.

Ephesians 4:29 – Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.

Leviticus 19:16 – “Do not go about spreading slander among your people. Do not do anything that endangers your neighbour’s life. I am the LORD.“

Proverbs 18:8 – The words of gossip are like choice morsels; they go down to the inmost parts.

Have a good weekend, everyone! Take care and always speak the truth and avoid gossip, unwholesome talk, and slander.

Have a little grace

https://odb.org/2024/09/05/grace-now

1 Corinthians 13:11-13

11 When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. 12 For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known. 13 And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

It is inevitable that we need to grow out of our childish ways and attain some maturity of faith. In the natural, we will grow up naturally in the body if we get to eat two to three meals a day, but nevertheless, we need to also grow up in terms of attitude and thought. For example, as we start to work and enter into a serious relationship with the person we love, we need to take more responsibility for our lives. We can not be reckless in our behaviour anymore. We need to think about marriage and plan on building a family in the future. That means that as difficult as it may be, we must start saving and begin thinking of the needs of our future spouse and children. Taking more responsibilities is part of growing up in maturity.

In our spiritual walk, we will, however, not grow naturally if we do not act on our faith. We may remain a child in the faith for a very long time if we only attend church but resist attempts by the Lord to transform us from within us. To grow spiritually, besides reading and living out His Word, we need to take steps of faith. We need to trust Him and respond to Him as the Holy Spirit prompts us. Our character as a person has to change. For example, from being selfish to selfless. From thinking only about our self interests to that of the interests of others too.

Recently, my missus made a big fuss when I threw away used empty toiletries like toothpaste and hairgel that have been in my elder son’s bathroom for the past few years. He has been living abroad since 2021. My mistake was not throwing the stuff away but mixing such items with other household waste like the dust from the vacuum cleaner and kitchen waste. The point is that when we throw away trash, we should think about the people who may pick them up later at the dumpsite and may want to use some of the stuff like the remnants of the old toothpaste tubes. Or some of our discarded stuff may be recycled and reused by others. For example, some people may repair the old shoes that we throw. So, don’t throw away shoes but remove the shoelaces! That will just make things more difficult for the trash pickers to reuse our old discarded shoes.

We need to change over time as we get to know God more. That includes having a little grace when others behave badly. Sometimes, we are fully justified to get angry, but perhaps we should just let it pass. There is no longer any need to repay evil with evil or more evil. If so, how are we different from the world? If we have been like that since time immemorial, we are still very much a child in Christ, aren’t we?

Excelsior!

https://odb.org/2024/09/04/excelsior

Excelsior! Excelsior! It is latin for higher, meaning that we strive to do better and better, go higher and higher. Not only do we move on and don’t give up, but we want to progress further. We don’t look back and get bogged down by regrets and ‘what ifs’, but instead, we are driven by ‘what’s ahead?’ or ‘what’s next?’.

We could be in our middle ages (or young seniors, haha), or we may just be young adults, having worked for a couple of years. Whatever may be our age, there would have been crossroads where instead of turning right, we had turned left. We made a conscious decision to pursue medicine in university and not computer engineering, although we have a passion for all things computers. Usually, because of the law of supply and demand, we pursued the most difficult to get in course based on our excellent public examination results. Instead of pursuing finance, we read law, but we are now managing customer experience in a fintech startup. Or, because of the scarcity of opportunities coupled with lack of financial means, we ended up in the workforce after high school and missed out on tertiary education.

Or for some others, it could be that instead of serving God, we partied and enjoyed life to the fullest in our youth with all its decadence and now are catching up in ministry and spiritual knowledge and maturity, and thus lament the waste of our youth when we were strong and full of energy and vigour. We could have done much, much more for the Lord had we started earlier!

Whatever may be our past missteps, follies, or ‘wrong’ decisions, we know that we can not dial back time. Life is lived once, and time and tide wait for no one or as the saying goes, the ship has sailed on and left the harbour. Treat our past as stepping stones for our future in God and use our past misadventures as battle scars for our life in ministry.

For what lies ahead, be bolder to take steps of faith and to trust God more. The LORD is able to restore what the locusts have devoured (Joel 2:25) and make our life henceforth to be like trees planted on streams of water yielding fruit in season as the Psalmist imagined in Psalm 1.

Forget what is behind and look forward to what’s ahead as we press on towards the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus, as Paul exhorts us in Philippians 3:14.

Have a good week ahead, serving God in whatever manner God has called us, everyone! Blessings to all and praises be unto the only one who matters and who has the words of eternal life! To Jesus Christ, our most precious Lord and Saviour, be all glory, honour, and praise!

(P/s note: I took a short break over the Malaysian Independence Day weekend).

What’s in your hand?

https://odb.org/2024/08/30/whats-in-your-hand-2

When God first appeared at the burning bush and called Moses to deliver the Israelites out of Egypt (you may read this in Exodus 3), Moses queried who was he that the Pharoah would listen to him? The LORD replied that He would be with him. In Exodus 4:1-5, Moses continued to query God on what if the Israelites themselves do not believe him or listen to him or say that the LORD did not appear to him? The LORD replied, “What is that in your hand?” Moses replied it’s a staff and as the LORD asked him to throw it on the ground, it became a snake and as he picked it up, it became a staff again. Thus, the staff became somewhat magical, but we know that it was not the staff but God being with Moses that transformed that ordinary staff to become something that could turn into a snake.

The spiritual principle is that God can use whatever we have or whatever little we have for His plans and purposes. What’s in your hand? Meaning, what do you have? I can use that, says the LORD. Like the widow with a little oil and flour at a time of famine to make her last meal for her son, God through Elijah, miraculously made it possible for her little oil and flour to last for months to feed her, her child and Elijah! But the miracle was only possible because God was with Elijah and the widow, and it served God’s purpose in preserving the life of Elijah. In other words, God must be in the picture, and it must be for His purposes. Inevitably, blessings will flow. But it starts with whatever we have and more crucially, God being with us.

I believe what’s in our hands is an important spiritual principle. When we want to serve God, God will start with what we have. It doesn’t need to wait until we have time, or we have retired or we have achieved our career goals or after our children have left the nest. It doesn’t need to wait until we have acquired our seminary education or like an athlete after we have prepared and trained. It can start immediately with what we have in our hands, like Moses with his staff. But it is crucial that Exodus 4 is to be read with Exodus 3, and that means that God must also be with us. “I am with you” and “What is that in your hand” are the two important phrases in today’s message. Remember them and step out in faith and serve God!

God of justice

https://odb.org/2024/08/29/plant-justice

One of the things I feel we should always remember, even if we have been in the faith for a long time, is that God is a God of justice. What I mean is that even though we have been saved by the blood of Christ and have eternal life, God will not hesitate to punish us if we perpetrate injustice. This is because at the core of His heart is justice. He is a God of justice.

In Amos 2:6-7 NIV, it is written:

This is what the Lord says:

“For three sins of Israel,
even for four, I will not relent.
They sell the innocent for silver,
and the needy for a pair of sandals.
7 They trample on the heads of the poor
as on the dust of the ground
and deny justice to the oppressed.
Father and son use the same girl
and so profane my holy name.

The LORD told Israel that they would be punished for their sexual immortality as well as their injustice for selling the innocent for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals. Instead of helping the poor, they sold them into slavery and treated them like dirt. When you read on in the chapter, you will find God’s punishment. Although these divine retributions occurred during ancient times in another era before Christ came, it is still relevant to us today as they show forth clearly the heart of Father God.

In Amos 2:13-16 NIV, it is written:

13 “Now then, I will crush you
as a cart crushes when loaded with grain.
14 The swift will not escape,
the strong will not muster their strength,
and the warrior will not save his life.
15 The archer will not stand his ground,
the fleet-footed soldier will not get away,
and the horseman will not save his life.
16 Even the bravest warriors
will flee naked on that day,”
declares the Lord.

We can not be a hypocrite singing praise to His name but perpetrating injustice in our midst whether at home or at work. We must remember God in all that we do and always be thankful that we have been redeemed by the blood of Christ to have eternal life. We must remember, the Lord redeemed us for a purpose, and that is to fulfil His will for our lives, which is to follow after His heart, and His heart is a heart of love, compassion and justice!