Good works for God

https://odb.org/2024/07/22/instruments-for-good

Ephesians 2:4, 5, 8 to 10:

But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

The above teaching by Paul in Ephesians 2 encapsulates a very basic foundation of our faith, and that is, our salvation is by the love and grace of God. We are saved through our faith in Jesus Christ, who died for our sins. We are not saved by our works, so no man may boast of his achievements that qualified him to be saved. We are, after all, sinners at core and require the redemption by the Lamb of God to be unblemished before God.

However, having been saved by grace and justified by our faith in Christ, we are then to do good works, which God had prepared in advance for us. Thus, our salvation is not just for us to have a place in heaven and life eternal but also for God to use us for His plans and purposes while on earth. Salvation is not just about the afterlife, but it is very much about the present, too. In fact, what we do now on earth has a bearing of where we will eventually be in the new heaven and new earth. It is inconceivable that after having been saved, we instead do evil works, causing destruction or loss of life. That is why it is impossible for any man to gain salvation by killing others as salvation is never by our works, and any scheme motivated by evil intention is doomed to eternal damnation.

The message this morning is simple. Do not take our salvation for granted. James taught before that faith without works is dead. Our faith and salvation must be supported by our service to God and humanity. Do a good deed every day. Serve and love God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength. Never cease to persevere on in our walk of faith.

Have a good week ahead, everyone! Let’s do good works for our Lord, Jesus Christ who, by the grace and love of God, died for our sins and through His sacrifice on the cross justified us our salvation before God!

Single parenting

https://odb.org/2024/07/18/renewing-our-strength

Single parenting is a more recent phenomenon, at least in our Malaysian context. Partly due to the rise in divorce rates as more women are gainfully employed. In fact, the ratio of women to men in universities and colleges now borders at 2 to 1. With better education, women may even have outnumbered men in the workforce. With financial independence, women can raise up their children on their own without the help of men, whether financial or otherwise. But single parenting is not limited to women as there are men too who are single parents. There are divorcees, but there are also widows and widowers. Not everyone remarries.

The struggle can be daunting, especially if there is no help from our own older parents or other family members, particularly when the child is young. In the city, homes are expensive and small. Leading to fewer extended families. Although there are daycare centres, it is difficult for single parents to go out at night. For example, business dinners or even hanging out with friends or going dating. In a way, it perpetuates single parenthood. If the entire responsibility and expense of raising up a child is on a single parent, it is very tough when coupled with the stress and pressure of work. But you can’t quit as your job puts food on the table and pays the bills.

Isaiah 40:29-31 proclaims:
29 He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.
30 Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;
31 but those who hope in the LORD
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.

In the end, if we put our hope on Jesus, God the Father will renew our strength. We will soar with wings like eagles and will run and not grow weary. God will give us the strength to overcome the struggles of life and persevere through with our faith intact. In a blink of the eye, the children will be all grown up, and we will look back at the past 10 to 20 years with gladness and joy in our hearts. The goodness and blessings of God are real and tangible. Don’t ever give up! God is with us!

Age in ministry

https://odb.org/2024/07/17/from-age-to-age

Although David was chosen as king at a young age when he was still a boy and the twelve disciples of Jesus were unmarried (except Peter) when they were called by Christ and were thus between 15-18, the bible has towers of faith who were much older. For example, Moses and his brother Aaron were 80 and 83, respectively, when God called them to confront the Pharoah and deliver the Israelites from their slavery in Egypt. Father Abraham was 99 years old when God called him out of the Ur of the Caldeans (near Baghdad at lower Mesopotamia) to Canaan (modern-day Israel) to establish His covenant with him.

In Hebrews 11:8-10, it is written:

8 By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. 9 By faith, he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.

Even Joshua and Caleb were eigthy years old when they led the children of Israel to cross the Jordan river and enter the Promised Land and conquer the lands flowing with milk and honey, despite the presence of the sons of Anak, the fortified cities and the strong armies. In the Gospels, Simeon and Anna lived until very old and were privileged to see baby Jesus when he was 40 days old (see Luke 2:22-38).

In these modern days, we don’t live that long like Abraham (died at 175) or Moses (died at 120). Nevertheless, our life expectancy is still around 80. So, don’t give up serving God when we touch 60 and retire from our secular jobs. In fact, that’s the time when we are freed from our work obligations to serve God even more, for example, go on prolonged mission trips. A church with many elderly folks is definitely blessed as the congregation has time in their hands to do much social work and ministry. We just need to be diligent and continue to work for God in the areas He has called us to. We can not afford to rest on our laurels and be lazy just because we are older as the work of God is unending and stretches to eternity. Ultimately, age is just a number in ministry!

The Word is not chained

https://odb.org/2024/07/16/news-worth-celebrating

In 2 Timothy 2:9, Paul asserts that God’s Word is not chained. The context was, despite his imprisonment and being bound by chains like a criminal (but he was not!), God’s Word and the Gospel were still working in the midst of the people he was reaching out to. In fact, he endured all things for the sake of the elect – Paul’s reference to those who have yet to receive the gift of salvation – that they may receive eternal life one day.

Incidentally, this is the theme for my local church – His Word is not chained. It speaks of God’s work continuing through us despite obstacles placed by the world or the evil one. As God’s people, we will speak and witness as much as we can by the testimony of our words and actions. Are we trustworthy people? Do we keep our promises? Do we repay our debts? Do we act on what we say? Do we put our hearts into the work we do? Do we put our hearts into our service for God?

These blogposts that I write, as many as I can day in and day out, only reach an audience of at most 100 eyeballs. Although I wish these pages have a broader impact, it is more important for me that those who read them are somehow touched by the Spirit of God and moved and encouraged to persevere through in their own race to the finish line. In order that the message of the Gospel and the Word are not chained by human limitations. So that more may one day hear the Good News and accept Christ as Lord and Saviour and receive eternal life!

Thank you all for your support and encouraging words, especially for your time and effort in reading these pages. I pray that our Lord Jesus Christ may use the words that I write to encourage you and spur you on to greater heights in your relationship with God that you may do greater exploits for Him and fulfil His plans and purposes for your life! I will continue to write as long as I am able, as long as this remains my calling for this season of my life. Indeed, the Word of God will not be chained. It will set the captives free, and it needs to be unleashed for it to achieve its purposes. The Word of God shall never return void! Amen!

Prayer and its power

https://odb.org/2024/07/15/devoted-to-prayer

As believers, we are taught from the start to pray. In fact, the first thing we do when we come to faith is to say or pray the sinner’s prayer. We speak to the Father in Heaven and seek His forgiveness as we confess our sins and acknowledge that we are sinners. We then repent of our sins and invite Jesus Christ to be our Lord and Saviour as He had died on the cross for our sins and reconciled us back to God. But on the third day, He rose victorious over the sting of death, which is sin. Thus, He paved the way for us to have eternal life and to one day inherit the new heaven and new earth with the Tree of Life fully accessible and available to us.

Prayer is not a ritual like in the case of some other faiths, at certain times of the day, for the specified number of times a day. We don’t face any geographical location. We pray out loud or in our hearts or in the Spirit. We can pray kneeling down, seated, or even as we are about to sleep. We pray as we eat or depart from our homes, asking that the Lord blesses and sanctifies our food and grants us journey mercy but always thanking the Lord for His provision, protection, and providence.

In Collossians 4:2, Paul taught us to continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving. Prayer needs to be earnest or with devotion and dedication. That means consistency. At the same time, we must be watchful as to what is happening in both the physical and spiritual realms. In addition, we always pray with thanksgiving, thanking God for His goodness in our lives and for the things He is doing in our midst. We pray expecting God to move, and yet we are grateful for Him being part of our lives.

I just like to end today’s message with this passage of Scripture from Colossians 4:6 – Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. As Christians, as much as we should be frank and honest in the words we utter, we must be wise and gracious. Our hearts must always be uplifting to encourage and support and to build up someone’s faith and confidence.

Have a great week ahead, everyone!

Unity in the body

https://odb.org/2024/07/14/better-together-3

Unity is probably one of those rather elusive concepts for the universal church of Christ as there is not a single body governing Christians except for the Roman Catholic church. Thus slightly less than half of the world’s Christian population are fragmentalised into various denominations and thousands and thousands of smaller independent churches. The latter can be as small as a single church. For example, my local church, White Fields Assembly of Seremban (WFA), has two broadly independent congregations, English and Chinese, although we exist as a single legal entity. We are closely affiliated but no longer part of the larger Full Gospel Assembly (FGA) church in Kuala Lumpur. Even in Malaysia, there are probably hundreds of churches like WFA – what more in the world?

Thus, in the whole world, whether the underground home churches in China or the various churches in West, or the many churches in Indonesia or Singapore or the UK or the States, churches have developed into clusters of communities that could relate to one another better in terms of language, socio-economic status, upbringing and so they congregate together to serve one another’s social and spiritual needs. Ostensibly, as believers, we appear to be disunited, but is it really true that we are not united just because we are not under a single body because we are fundamentally under Christ as the Head of the universal church? Also, churches are, by nature, open door organisations. Everyone is welcomed. Thus, a church in Ipoh and, for that matter, in Bangkok will not bar you from worshipping with their congregation even though you are actually from another congregation in Seremban. Recently, at the invitation of a brother, I visited an FGA satellite church in PJ, and I felt at home immediately because the setup was very similar to our WFA in Seremban, including its idiosyncrasies!

The message today is that there is no doubt that unity of the body will strengthen our outreach and evangelistic efforts to let as many as possible to hear the Gospel before Christ returns. So long as we are not competing for members and preach Christ to whoever wants to listen, the disunity that we are talking about may well be illusionary. I believe nowadays, fewer and fewer churches are trumpeting their better virtues to attract migratory believers from other churches because, in the end, people need to socially fit into a congregation in order to stay and serve. Mega churches have superior numbers and resources but are likely more impersonal and will usually struggle to notice and engage with people who are dropping by week in and week out. When you are one in a crowd of a thousand, few will notice you.

Have a blessed Sunday worship service, everyone! Be blessed as we come together in one voice wherever we are, in whatever timezones we are, to praise and worship the LORD and celebrate His goodnees in our lives! All glory be unto the Lamb of God, and may the Holy Spirit fill us with supernatural power from above! May the whole earth be filled with His glory! Amen!

Heavenly blessings

https://odb.org/2024/07/11/heavenly-abundance

One of the privileges we have as believers is that Jesus opens up the heavens for heavenly blessings to flow down on us and our family. We are children of God through Christ Jesus, grafted into the family of God through the blood of the Lamb, and thus, we are now part of the Chosen Nation, the adopted spiritual Israel. As God is our God, we are His people. His benevolence and abundant grace and mercy are with us. It doesn’t matter that we were the worst of sinners before. Like in the case of Paul of Tarsus, he persecuted and hunted down believers of the Way before. Yet Jesus showed him immense patience so that Paul may be an example to those who may believe in Jesus and receive eternal life (1 Timothy 1:16).

When I looked back at my own life, I could see how my family used to struggle financially when I was growing up. Not that we didn’t have anything to eat, we had. But mostly, we just had enough as we were a single income family. Nowadays, especially in the city, it’s tough to survive with a sole breadwinner.

Even in university, there were times when I didn’t have a dime in my pocket, but fortunately, in the first year that I stayed in the residential college, we had 3 meals a day and a shared twin room on credit. At the end of the year, when we needed to pay, I had then received a JPA government loan that paid off all of my college expenses, including my faculty fees. If not, come to think of it now, I am not sure how my dad would have come up with that pile of money.

The great thing was that after paying off everything for the first 2 semesters, there were some surplus for my living expenses! Praise the Lord indeed for His goodness and mercy! The fact that my dad was a government servant helped, I guess, in us getting the JPA loan, but there was no guarantee, and the government was not obliged to provide us funding. This is a thing of the past as university students now have access to PTPTN loans, which is sort of guaranteed if you’re from a B40 household. But during my time, no funding means dropping out, even from public universities, and joining the workforce.

As believers, we are not immune from the rigours of life. We struggle and need to persevere through. But if we look at life in terms of 40 or 50 years, it is impossible not to see His heavenly blessings upon our lives. We may not be draped in luxury or travel in style, but most of us do not have issues making ends meet. As inflation sets in, life gets tougher. We need to adjust and adapt, like perhaps cooking more and eating out less. Eating more poultry and eggs than expensive red meat. Drinking plain water and less milk. The market provides a range of products, and we may need to go for the less pricey ones. Moderate living is better for our health, too!

Take some time today to reflect and thank God for His goodness and grace and mercy. For His heavenly blessings. For taking care of us and the educational and other needs of our children. God is good, all the time!

God looks at the heart

https://odb.org/2024/07/10/search-my-heart

The thing about God looking at the heart, rather than our appearance or credentials or background, is that no one else really knows what’s in our hearts. So, man, still look at credentials and background, and that is why churches still look at your seminary qualifications, and those in full-time ministry still chase after titles and paper qualifications.

However, as God is the most powerful being in existence, and He created us at the beginning and had already laid out His plans and purposes for our lives since then, the wisest thing for us to do is to align our lives with Him. We may have our ideas of what we want to be or what we want to achieve in our lives, but if we work with God, it is likely to be something good and chances are we will like it too. Remember, as humans, we change and adapt as we grow older and become more mature.

To succeed in Christ, we need to get our hearts sorted out first because God looks at our hearts. How far will God bring us to be a part of His grand plans for His Kingdom of Grace? It depends on our heart’s condition.

Thus, David is a fine example for us to emulate and follow. David was chosen out of Jessie’s 8 sons, although he was the youngest. As he was still in his youth, David was not the strongest or the biggest or tallest. Not that he was the ugliest as Scripture describes him as having a fine appearance and handsome features (see 1 Samuel 16:12). It was just that he was still a young boy. But God chose Him because his heart was for Him.

We don’t really know what lies ahead when God calls us. Like Abraham, there are many exploits that await us as we embark on this journey with Christ. But even as God calls us, He will only promote us when we are ready. Thus, settle our hearts early to be for Him completely. No matter what happens or where He leads us, resolve in our hearts that we will always be with and for Him. Let His will be done and not ours. Sanctify our lives and our ambitions and desires, and He will lead us to do His will and His will alone. Leave behind all our selfish desires and ambitions. Let Him lead us, and we may gain something in this world and also an eternal place for our souls as what profits a man if he gains the whole world but forfeits his soul?

Philip and the eunuch

https://odb.org/2024/07/09/do-i-belong

In Acts 8:29-39, there is this account of Philip sharing Christ with an Ethiopian eunuch of great authority who was in charge of the treasury of the Ethiopian Queen Candace, which I have read before but didn’t see its significance until today.

The reason the story was significant is because eunuchs are looked down upon by both Jews and Greeks, and most crucially, they are banned from the inner courts even if they are Jews – see Deuteronomy 23:1. The law prohibited those whose testicles are crushed or whose penises are cut off to be admitted into the assembly of the LORD. This is unfortunate as most eunuchs are not eunuchs by choice. They are usually prisoners or spoils of war caught when young and castrated to be slaves or to serve the royal households where the women of the monarch are segregated from the general populace. Those who survived the often fatal and very painful procedure ended up as servants for the king, and some like Admiral Zheng He (Cheng Ho) rose to high positions of power.

However, in Isaiah 56:3-5: it is written:
Let no foreigner who is bound to the LORD say,
“The LORD will surely exclude me from his people.”
And let no eunuch complain,
“I am only a dry tree.”

For this is what the LORD says:
“To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths,
who choose what pleases me
and hold fast to my covenant—
to them, I will give within my temple and its walls
a memorial and a name
better than sons and daughters;
I will give them an everlasting name
that will endure forever.

Thus, the encounter by Philip of the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 8 was the fulfilment of the prophesy in Isaiah 56:3-5. In Jesus Christ, all are accepted into the Kingdom of Heaven, including eunuchs.

Notwithstanding that the eunuch is regarded as a foreigner in Israel, God provided for them like He did for the widows and orphans through the law requiring harvesters to leave some behind for the poor and disadvantaged. God’s heart has thus always been compassionate and thoughtful despite the ancient religious laws.

The message today is that if we somehow believe that we are not accepted by God because of our past – heritage or misdeeds, God is actually compassionate, and in Jesus Christ, all are accepted and will have the same access to spiritual gifts and authority as anyone else who believe. All are children of God in Christ. The blessings and protection of God are open to all, regardless of our background or past. We have equal rights to have our names written in the Book of Life by our faith in Jesus, in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit.

Jeremiah and the cistern

https://odb.org/2024/07/07/trapped-in-chocolate

The story of Jeremiah being lowered jnto a cistern filled with mud as punishment for speaking the truth that might have discouraged the soldiers (Jeremiah 38:1-10) is a predicament that we sometimes may face as believers. The truth usually hurts, and not many can accept a frank and honest opinion. In the case of Jeremiah, he was advising the Israelites to leave Jerusalem for Babylon before the Babylonians invaded the city and overrun it. He had been prophesying from the LORD that the LORD would allow a foreign power to defeat and capture Jerusalem because of the insolence and disobedience of the Israelites to His law. They had forsaken and forgotten Him.

But living in this world requires us to be shrewd and smart when dealing with people, whether in church or at work. That means that we may need to avoid being too blunt or honest in the things we say. There is no need to lie, but we need not be too brutal or too piercing. Perhaps we could side-step the issue. Or look at it from another perspective, to give it a better light or tone. Especially for someone who is just starting out. We want to encourage and not dampen the spirit. We want to uplift rather than pour cold water.

However, an exception needs to be made if God wants us to speak. Like in the case of Jeremiah. Then we should be as bold and courageous as Jeremiah. We speak despite the consequences. That’s because the Word of God will not return void. It will achieve its purposes. This is important for preachers proclaiming God’s Word in sermons. By speaking the Word, something is already achieved in the spiritual realm. The bondages and chains of the enemy are broken, and the captives are set free.

If we operate in the spiritual gift of word of knowledge, speak as the Holy Spirit prompts us. Our spoken word as prompted may be the key to unlocking the calling and the mysteries of the Kingdom on a person’s life. God may have so much more in store for that person.

We may not be called to be a Jeremiah, and maybe we are called to be a Barnabas (encourager) instead. Whatever our calling, there will be times when we need to speak the truth and, if so, speak it boldly and with confidence knowing that the LORD seeks to achieve His plans and purposes in the process. The truth sometimes hurts, but it could lead to healing and liberation of the soul!