God’s life changing gift

https://odb.org/2024/07/03/a-life-changing-gift

We know that the Bible is life-changing as at the macro level, we get a glimpse of who God is from the outset at creation until He called Abraham out of the Ur of the Caldeans to Canaan and from Jacob’s family of 70 who settled in Egypt, they became a community or nation of 600,000 abled bodied male adults 430 years later. In particular, the 40 years spent with Moses in the wilderness after Egypt, the LORD was with them by a cloud in the day and a ball of fire by night and with manna from heaven, led the children of Israel through Moses which later culminated with the Ten Commandments and the Law as recorded in Leviticus. Basically, on how to sanctify themselves before God as God is a holy God.

Exodus tells us of their journey, while Genesis tells us how the nation of Israel came about through the lives of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and Joseph. The more we read, the more we see God’s heart and character. The Old Testament is a remarkable achievement as the Torah (the first 5 books of Moses) was preserved and passed down through many generations by the oral tradition of recitation and memorisation.

After the conquest of Joshua and Caleb in the Promised Land, we see the lives of Saul, David and Solomon and the exploits of the prophets Samuel, and later Elijah and Elisha. But before that, we have Queen Esther and the era of the judges before the era of the kings. Later books are mainly books of wisdom and praise (the Psalms) and those of the prophets of God.

When we reach the Gospels, we see God in the flesh in the form of His Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, and Saviour. Thus, God takes the form of a man so we may relate better to Him. That is why Paul says that while God spoke through the prophets in the past, He now speaks through His Son, Jesus Christ. From the crucifixion, resurrection and ascession of Christ comes the exploits of the Apostles from Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, out to the rest of the world reaching Jews and Gentiles alike, and the many letters of  Paul, plus those of Peter and John, and it all ends with the end of the world as shown to John and revealed by him in the book of Revelation. From Eden to Eden recreated, that’s the journey of mankind and for the latter, for those who placed their trust in Jesus Christ.

I just had a copy of a Malay-English Gospel in the mini-library in my home when I was growing up, and it had a profound effect on me that piqued my curiosity and led me to search for the truth until I accepted Christ at 14. I read about Jesus (Yesus or Isa in Malay) in that Gospel, and He has remained in my mind ever since. Over the past 40 years, I have known Him personally and grown in my faith and have served Him as well, and as faithfully, as I could. It all started because of the little book among the other books. Indeed, I can testify that the Word of God is God’s life changing gift to me!

Festival of Tabernacles

https://odb.org/2024/07/02/a-national-campout

The Festival of Tabernacles is one of the celebrations instituted by God for the Israelites to remember the time their ancestors spent in the wilderness after God delivered them from Egypt back into the Promised Land. That journey was mostly spent in an oasis just south of Canaan called Kadesh Barnea. They lived in temporary shelters during those 40 years in the wilderness before Joshua led them across the Jordan River to conquer lands flowing with milk and honey despite the fortified cities, strong armies and the sons of Anak (descendants of giants).

We do not have the same ancestral heritage like the Israelites. But as modern-day day Malaysian Christians, we could perhaps remember the sacrifices made by our forefathers making their way to Malaya at the start of the last century and how God using evangelists like John Sung reached out to those early immigrants who then made it possible for many of us in subsequent and later years to hear and receive the Gospel and accept Christ into our lives. We must always be thankful to God for our lives today that we may serve Him in our local churches in air-conditioned buildings in fellowship with other like-minded believers to celebrate the goodness of God, Sunday after Sunday, when our ancestors toil day and night just to put food on the table. Yes, the world has moved on. As we look to the future, let’s not forget our own past.

Egypt represents the world, while the wilderness is a place of preparation before we enter into God’s promises, plans, and purposes for our lives, as represented by Canaan. Thus, we should also recall the time in the past when we were yet sinners and Jesus nevertheless reached out to us through the Holy Spirit to touch our hearts and lift the scales over our eyes to see the glory of God. We must appreciate and be thankful to God that He brought us out of the miry clay and placed us on the rock that is higher than I (Psalm 40:2). We are now on solid ground. We will not falter and will instead stand firm despite the fiery darts of the enemy. We are no longer selfish and self-serving but selfless and always willing to give and share out God’s blessings upon our lives.

We don’t have a Festival of Tabernacles here, but we could spend some time remembering our journey in Christ, from who we were in our previous life until who we are today in God. The LORD, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is our God, and we are His people. Jesus Christ is our Lord and Saviour and the protector of our hearts. Let us remain true and faithful servants until our very last day here on earth as we look forward to an eternity to be spent with Him!

At the pleasure

https://odb.org/2024/07/01/serving-at-the-pleasure

To those of us who have studied law or are involved in law enforcement, we are acquinted with the phrase “at the pleasure of,” and it is usually used in the context of detention. Thus, if a minor is convicted of a penal crime, he can’t be imprisoned but will be detained at the pleasure of the YDPA (his majesty, the King of Malaysia). This practically means he will be sent to a correctional facility, but not a real prison.

Likewise, if an adult commits a crime but pleads insanity and the court agrees that he was not of sound mind at the time of the crime, he will be committed to a mental institution at the pleasure of the YDPA. In the case of the minor, he may be released when he reaches adulthood and for the insane person, when his mental condition is under control. But in the latter case, he may never be released at all.

When someone serves at the pleasure of the Prime Minister, or the President of the United States as in today’s ODB life story, it basically means it’s a political appointment which terminates when the appointing person is no longer in office.

However, when we serve Christ at the pleaure of God, it will never end because God is immortal while we are mortal in relation to our life here on earth. It basically means our service is for God and His purposes, and it is until our dying breadth.

We just heard a very illuminating sermon yesterday of the parable of the talents. When read with the parable of the 10 virgins and taken in the context of Jesus’s teaching on His return, it means that we can not be only waiting and not serving. While we are to be prepared for His return, we need to serve Him by making full use of the talents and gifts He has given us. Thus, we need to serve Him at His pleasure so that when He returns, He will be proud of us as true and faithful servants of God. Not a question of success but faithfulness to our calling and appointed role in His Kingdom of Grace.

Serve Christ at the pleasure of God in order that God’s plans and purposes may be fulfilled in our lives! That His sovereign will may be done here on earth as it is in heaven!

Have a great and wonderful week ahead, everyone, and may we live in the fullness of His will! Amen!

What is that to you?

https://odb.org/2024/06/30/what-is-that-to-you-3

John 21:22 is perhaps one of the most profound statements made by Jesus that spells out a fundamental core of our faith. It speaks of our faith being very inclusive as in love your neighbour, but at the very core, it is very personal. Personal because our spiritual walk, the race, is between us and our finish line, and Jesus Christ, our Lord. We have our own lane, our own narrow path, our own road. The rules are the same for everyone as in the path being the narrow one. But it is a personalised one. The rewards and blessings, the trials and tests, and the suffering are all unique to us. Not that something that no one has gone through before, but no two believers will have the same exact experience in God. We are all uniquely created beings.

That is why when Peter asked Jesus, how about John, Jesus’s answer was that if I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? Not that John will become immortal (which history testifies that he was not!), but that what’s John’s calling is of no consequence to Peter. We will all have our distinct calling and battles to fight, birthed out of our own unique journey in life, and conceived by God even before the foundations of the world. That is also why when it comes to matters of faith, we should only listen to the still small voice of the Holy Spirit and do not allow other factors or human pressure to force us into any decisions. We are answerable to God and God alone. People may be disappointed, or they may have certain expectations of us, but ultimately, His plans and purposes for us are for us and not anyone else.

Having said that, we can not make our own rules. We can not compromise and change the narrow path into the broad one. That is not our choice. That is already fixed and set. We should pause to enjoy the roses but not get distracted and wander off into the somewhat magical but illusionary pathway created by the devil to seduce and tempt us away from Jesus. Keep our eyes and focus on Jesus and our tasks at hand and keep on persevering, pushing on towards the goal set before us in Christ Jesus!

Psalm 1:1-2:

Blessed is the one
    who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take
    or sit in the company of mockers,
2 but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,
    and who meditates on his law day and night.

Deserts into pools of water

https://odb.org/2024/06/28/seeing-a-future-of-hope

If you travel from Egypt to Israel via the Rafah crossing, the unfortunate scene of the current Israeli-Hamas war, you will notice a distinct change in the landscape. From parching desertlands to green agricultural farms and vegetation. The change of scenery is spectacular, to say the least, and as a believer, you can not help but marvel at the mighty power of God. Isaiah spoke of this thousands of years before in Isaiah 41:18 – I will turn the desert into pools of water and the parched ground into springs.

Modern-day Israel is thus a testament to the divine grace and goodness of God. Of course, if you are into documentary programmes, you will know that irrigating water from the mountains for farming is something done since ancient times like in the grape growing (to make raisins) Muslim minority communties in China along the ancient silk road to the the west. There is another city in China where the source of water from their great lake comes from glaciers in the mountains. In the case of Israel, the wonder of science and technology (and God’s provision) was the ability to bring fresh water from the Sea of Galilee down south over many kilometres to grow agri produce in desert places.

Taken in a spititual sense, this speaks of God being able to change our own parched desertlands into pools of water. It speaks of turning our barrenness into fruitfulness. It speaks of turning our poverty into prosperity. In our own lives and our church. It speaks of transforming the same old boring stuff again and again into fresh experiences of joy and mercy. Dullness into sparkles of colour and light. Weariness into smiles of joy.

My prayer for us today is that we will all begin to experience a revival in our spirit in the days to come, that there will be a great outpouring of His anointing and the Holy Spirit upon our lives, that many lives will be set free to know the Lord and many bondages and chains will be broken. May the heavens be opened in these last days for mankind to experience God in special transformative ways that His plans and purposes will be fulfilled in our lives for His glory!

Life’s pilgrimage

https://odb.org/2024/06/27/lifes-pilgrimage

I think what distinguishes us believers from non-believers is that we not only have God in our lives but also a purpose in God. We have a calling in Christ with God’s plans and purposes for us, conceived even before we were formed in our mother’s womb. Life’s journey is not the end itself because as people justified by grace, saved by our faith in Jesus Christ, we have a destination beyond this life. It is written in John 3:16 that we shall not perish but have eternal life. Books and songs have been written that we are mere pilgrims passing through this world, our temporary shelter, to our eternal abode where one day we will live with God dwelling among us in Eden recreated, the new heaven and new earth.

As much as we know that this world is temporal, when we live out life – the days, weeks, and months and years – can feel so long. Paul once said if he could, he would want to leave this earthen vessel and be with Christ, but while to die for him is gain, to live is Christ. It is not our place as faithful servants of God to unsurp God’s will for our lives. Our duty is to serve Him with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength despite this being only our temporary place.

Perhaps if we look at Hebrews 11:8-10, we will be inspired by the faith and trust Abraham had in uprooting his family to journey to an unknown far country in response to God’s calling, looking for the city with foundations whose architect and builder is God Himself:

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

Be like Abraham, be as bold and courageous as him! Be on a journey of faith! Life is a pilgrimage with God to the city with foundations whose builder and architect is God. One day, we will be there with God in Christ. In the meantime, we serve and please Him and Him alone!

Inter-generational learning

https://odb.org/2024/06/26/learning-from-each-other

The book of Ruth is probably the empitome of the inclusiveness of God as it tells the story of an outsider, a Moabite, who followed her Jewish mother in law, Naomi, back to Judah after the death of her husband. To put this relationship in context, the Moabites are enemies of the Israelites. Ruth later found love in Boaz and, as a result, became the great grandmother of David and is thus part of the geneology of Jesus Christ. In other words, a naturalised Jew was one of the ancestors of our Lord Jesus Christ.

In today’s ODB, the emphasis placed was the relationship between Naomi and Ruth of how the elder taught the younger what to do when it came to Boaz. However, Ruth also was the one who suggested and volunteered to go out to the fields to take whatever was left behind as Jewish law required harvesters to leave some harvest behind for the orphans, widows and the foreigner. Both Naomi and Ruth were widows and penniless when they arrived at Judah, and this law allowed them to have something to make a meal for themselves.

In most cases, it is the older who has eaten more salt who teach the younger. People who had gone ahead first who had experienced the ups and downs and pitfalls of life. For example, I was advised by my seniors in the university to stay faithful at a workplace. Although my work organisation that I had spent 27 years with had helped me raise my family and gave me opportunities to travel, in hindsight and retrospect, I believe that I would have had a richer work experience if I had moved around a little when I was younger.

However, in the contemporary work setting, where people are progressing from mere Internet to AI (when I started work, the world wide web was at its nascent stage), the older ones have much to learn from the younger generation. Even fresh graduates may be better at doing certain tasks compared to those 5 years older, what more ancient people in their 50s! There is thus much we can learn from the younger ones and vice versa. Even in Christian worship music, the younger ones are more in touch with the contemporary scene, and if we embrace such diversity, we will not be only singing 30-year-old worship songs in church over and over again!

The message this morning is that as much as we have lots to teach and share as older ones, we have much to learn too from the younger ones, even our own children. That is the essence of intergenerational learning. Always remain humble as the LORD opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble.

The power of prayer

https://odb.org/2024/06/25/humble-j%c3%b8rn

We know prayer can move mountains, and that prayer moves the hand of God. When we pray, something happens in the spiritual realm. Perhaps the physical manifestation may take time, but at least something is already moving in the heavens. That is why we pray that His will be done here on earth as it is in heaven. Jesus has given us the authority that whatever we bind here on earth will be bound in heaven, that whatever we loose (permit) here on earth will be loosed in heaven.

If we can’t be the boots on the ground preaching the gospel, we can pray for those who do. Likewise, if we can’t be that missionary reaching out in a closed country, we could pray. Prayers cover their work with the blood of the Lamb and protect them from the fiery darts of the evil one. Prayer also helps them clear the way for the Holy Spirit to move in their midst. That the hearts of their audience may be softened and their eyes opened to see, understand anfld accept the mysteries of God, which is Christ. Colossians 2:2 – the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ.

One of the best ways to pray is to follow the example of Jorn of today’s ODB life story. One by one, by name, as we imagine their faces. We could start by praying for our cell group and those that we are reaching out to, like our neighbours and our colleagues and family. The most important thing is to allocate time and do it regularly on a consistent basis. No one may know our contribution to the Kingdom of Heaven, but what matters is we have the ears of God as we pray for others in our midst. It will require time and effort to do this consistently, but it will be well worth the efforr as we will see the physical transformation on earth one day! We don’t just pray for salvation of souls but the transformation of lives and a deeper understanding of Christ and the things of God. May His name be lifted up, and may His glory shine forth in all the nations all over the world! Amen!

Fear of God

https://odb.org/2024/06/24/in-awe-of-god

Proverbs 9:10 teaches that the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom. The fear of God here means awe and respect, rather than bring scared or afraid like the Isrealites in Exodus 20:18 where they trembled with fear when they saw thunder and lightning at the time God gave Moses the Ten Commandments for the children of Israel.

The same way life takes a real meaning when we know God as taught by Solomon in Ecclesiastes, whose famous words were “vanity of vanities, all is vanity (meaningless)”, Solomon in Proverbs teaches that true wisdom is having the fear of God. In other words, the wisest thing any man can do is to know God and fear Him. Just knowing Him is not enough, we need to also fear Him.

The slight problem we have as believers in this post-Jesus era is that we might be too used to the grace of God that we sometimes forget Solomon’s teaching to fear Him. For example, God is a holy God. We need to be holy to face Him in prayer and supplication and worship. As much as we can not be 100% without sin as a human being and need the blood of Jesus to redeem and cleanse us, we must, with the power of the Holy Spirit, confess, repent and overcome our habitual sins. We can not live in the cycle of sin and confession day in and day out without true repentance, just because God is gracious. We need to fear God as much as we know He loves us.

Heed the advice of Solomon to fear God as it is the beginning of wisdom. Solomon chose wisdom instead of riches when given a choice by the LORD. But wisdom starts with the fear of God. Once we cultivate the latter, we will be blessed with the former! Have a good week ahead, everyone! May we become wiser as we exercise the fear of God in all that we do!

Riches in heaven

https://odb.org/2024/06/23/rich-in-good-deeds

Today’s ODB story of Oseola McCarthy donating 150,000 dollars to a nearby university to create a fund for needy students after slogging for 70 years as a washerwoman is both inspiring and exemplary. It is the personification of 1 Timothy 6 of coming and leaving here with nothing, and thus, we should focus on storing up riches in heaven. It echoes Jesus’s teaching in Matthew 6:19-21 on the same subject, and Jesus’s rationale is that riches in heaven will last for eternity where moth and rust will not destroy nor the thief steal.

Of course, Oseola’s kindness begs the question, why slog so hard and be miserly on herself only to give it all away? She should have just enjoyed life to the fullest with whatever little she has. This is because she didn’t have much in the first place, and she had to work very hard for her money.

I think the key to Oseola’s ability to be so selfless is contentment. Paul taught in 1 Timothy 6:6-10 that godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing to this world, and we can not take anything out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. For those who want to get rich, fall into temptation and a trap, and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. In other words, she was content to live simply and miserly so she may accumulate some wealth when she retires.

However, when she retired at 86, she had enough for her old age and thus probably had a goal to do a special deed for future generations. That is likely the second key to Oseola’s ability – she had a goal to do good deeds. So, rather than leave behind a small fortune doing nothing or giving it back to the state, she made sure it benefited society. That is why some wealthy individuals leave behind fortunes to create foundations for the good of all, instead of leaving inheritances for their heirs to scoundrel and waste away.

The message this morning is that as we age and retire, do provide for a comfortable retirement in our old age. But contentment with what we have is key as in the process, we could focus on doing good for others and store up treasures in heaven for our next life with Christ in eternity. Always remember we came with nothing on earth and will also leave with nothing except for our good deeds in Christ and our riches in heaven.