https://odb.org/MY/2023/08/02/the-powerful-and-the-weak

Ezekial 34:1-2, 7-12 is a prophesy of God against the leaders of Israel during the time of Ezekial for not being the shepherds of the people, for only caring for themselves as they allowed their sheep to be plundered and become food of wild animals. Thus, the LORD declared that He is against the shepherds and will hold them accountable for their sheep.

I think that as we progress in our Christian walk and assume leadership positions in the church, we have to remember that we have essentially become shepherds for our congregation. With the role comes the responsibility. We need to tend and care for our sheep and protect them from the enemy who is here to steal, kill, and destroy. Not just a question of protecting them from being deceived by the evil one or the world (that is controlled by the former) but to ensure to the best of our abilities that they are on the right path to fulfil their full potential in God. That our sheep are able to live out the plans and purposes God had prepared for them before the foundations of the world, for I know your plans for me are to prosper me per Jeremiah 29:11.

But taking this a little further, I think everyone is a shepherd in some context, a leader to someone else. As a senior at the workplace. As an elder brother or sister or even the elder cousin. As a father or mother or a husband to a wife. As a manager or a section leader or a supervisor. We have people who look up to us as their role model or even as a mentor.

Be a proper and caring shepherd who looks out for the sheep around you. We don’t only care for ourselves but look out for the interests and good of everyone. If the company goes under, all will be affected. All will be out of their jobs. I hear nowadays companies with a workforce of about 4,000 are looking to slash up to 2,000 people. Times are tough, and jobs are getting scarce. Care and look out for one another as caring shepherds lest God turns against us. If God is for us, who can be against us. But if God is against us, how will we stand?

https://odb.org/MY/2023/08/01/faith-of-a-child-2

This story of Jesus asking the disciples not to hinder the little children from coming to Him is well-known to espouse the principle that Jesus reiterated – we need to have the faith of a child to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. See Luke 18:15-17.

What, then, is the faith of a child? A child, as we all know, has limited knowledge of the world and also a limited experience interacting with people. The world of a child may even be characterised by the fairy tales read to them. It’s a “happily ever after” kind of world. To us adults, it is unreal and unrealistic as the world is harsh and people can be evil. People are, in general, looking after themselves, selfish rather than selfless. But the child not knowing much just thinks positively of everyone. He thinks everyone is good. While time and experience may have conditioned adults to think otherwise, Christ looks at the good of everyone, and thus, that’s a good trait to have as a believer. God loves everyone, including our enemies, and we must do likewise.

Secondly, a child’s reaction is almost instantaneous. As adults, we may sometimes say that such decisions are rushed or rash – doing without thinking through. We hesitate and weigh the situation and think of the pros and cons, and alas, sometimes the moment just passes. As adults, we may have a tendency to over-analyse things. But faith often needs an immediate response. Do we help that person over there? Do we offer to pray for him? Do we send him RM1,000? Do we apply to join the Doulos ship? Do we become a missionary for God? Usually, when we hesitate and think, we end up not doing.

Thus, in my view, our faith and response to God are usually hampered by overthinking. But if we are like little children, we will respond immediately in faith and trust God to do the rest. That is why I believe Jesus taught us that to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, we need to be like a child. Moreover, if we think like adults, just like the Sadducees and Pharisees, we may not be able to believe that we will be “born-again” as a child of God. Can we even believe in two births and one death?

There is a lot of wisdom when Jesus said we need to be like a child to enter the Kingdom of God. Do not hesitate. Be like a child, move in faith. Trust the Lord. Be like Peter, just jump into the water as Jesus calls. Be bold and courageous like Joshua and Caleb. Faith requires action, not thinking.

https://odb.org/MY/2023/07/31/staying-on-track-2

In life, we learn about boundaries as we grow up. Even as a toddler, there are things we can and can not do. Like we are not allowed to climb down the stairs. So, it’s common to install a detachable gate at the entrance to stairs. Toddlers and young children need to avoid combustible things, and thus, lighters and matches are put away. Anything a child may swallow is kept away, especially medication. These boundaries are put in place for our own good to protect us.

As we grow up and start going to school, we learn that there are social nuances and boundaries. So even though girls are treated like boys when young, they become different when puberty sets in. Thus, as they grow up, boys avoid touching girls. In fact, as we enter society, inappropriately touching a female may result in a sexual harassment case against us at work or may even lead to a criminal charge of molest. At the workplace, sexual harassment encompasses a variety of actions beyond just touching, and that includes words used in conversation or in writing or the things we send out via WhatsApp. Even when driving on the road, there are clear boundaries – we need to stay in our lane and not cut queue or drive against traffic signs or lights. All these boundaries are meant for orderly living and driving. It’s part and parcel of life as we know it.

Therefore, when we enter into the Kingdom of God as believers redeemed by Christ, there are likewise spiritual boundaries. We just heard a coined phrase “spiritual fornification” by our local preacher at our worship service yesterday. It basically means we must always remember that we may only worship the one and only God and not go round searching for other gods or alternative spiritual experiences lest we are put away or “divorced” by Christ before He comes again to invite us as His bride. We will recall that during the betrothal period, Joseph thought of putting away Mary who was already with a child prior to their marriage, but didn’t do that as an angel assured him that Mary’s child was conceived supernaturally by the Holy Spirit.

Know our boundaries as we journey with Christ on this narrow path to everlasting life. Stay the course and don’t get distracted from our calling or be diverted into the wide and easy road that leads to destruction. As sheep, we will know the voice of the Shepherd – listen to Him. Jesus has given us the Helper – the Holy Spirit will guide and convict us of our sins. He is the voice of our conscience and more as He is Christ living in us. He not only keeps us honest, but He also empowers us and strengthens us when we are weak.

Move out in faith, believing and trusting God. Do not let unbelief deprive us of our full potential in Christ, like how one whole generation of Israelites were left behind except Joshua and Caleb. After being freed from the bondage of slavery, because of unbelief, they spent another 38 years in the wilderness before the new generation could enter the Promised Land. As much as the LORD told Joshua to be bold and courageous for He is with him, Moses repeated the commandments to them to remind them to keep them when they live in the Promised Land. There are still boundaries, and as history will show, Israel later disregarded them and ended up being exiled first by the Assyrians and then the Babylonians. Know and remember our boundaries with God – as much as He is our Father and Shepherd, He is still God.

https://odb.org/MY/2023/07/30/lower-deck-people

I’m sure everyone has experienced this before – we hurt our little toe or our finger or practically any part of our body, but there’s an impact on the whole body. Maybe because it’s just a small cut, it doesn’t really bother us. It will heal in a few days. But the pain is nevertheless felt. Although we can function as normal, we can not really fully function at our best. Just put one arm in a sling or a wound on one leg that we need to keep dry and see how difficult it is just to take a bath!

It’s the same with the body of Christ, the church. Every member needs to do his or her appointed part. We work together as one. The pastor or the leaders can not be the only ones doing the work. Everyone needs to pull their weight, their share of the burden. Also, everyone needs to move together with God so that we move together as a body. Not some move ahead, while others stay behind.

But of course, there are the frontliners and those in the backroom. In a company, the sales are out there pitching for the jobs, but it is the delivery people with their solutions and coding that make it all happen. The back office folks then need to make sure that all processes run smoothly from the paperwork to the invoicing to the accounting and the collection. They need to ensure that there are no governance or compliance issues, for example, that the anti-bribery pledges are adhered to. The back office and delivery people are seldom the stars, but they are nevertheless crucial. You can make a big sale, but it comes to nought if the product is not delivered in time per specifications. But if delivered but the paperwork was not done properly, we may not be able to translate the sales into proper revenue as there could be leakages. Or worse, we could even lose money on a job if we need to spend more than we are earning to complete the project.

Whether in the world or the church, everyone working together as one is fundamental to the success of any organisation, especially for it to operate at optimum efficency. In the church, in particular, everyone must do its part, whether it’s worship, preaching, chairing, ushering, or visitations or follow-up. Even as a member, turning up for the service or the cell group meeting is a contribution that encourages, and if we participate, it will surely make the service and meeting more meaningful to all.

Blessed Sunday, everyone! Go to church for an on-site service, and lend your voice to the singing and worship – you will be a blessing to everyone who attends!

https://odb.org/MY/2023/07/28/from-crucible-to-service-or-the-long-game

In this age of near instant gratification, the world sort of promotes quick success. Rather than save RM40,000 a year to have RM1 million in 25 years, some people aspire to be a millionaire before they turn 30. For those who graduate from college around 23, that’s only after 7 years of working.

Even in the church, this is sometimes carried over, with some expecting to achieve spiritual maturity and leadership after becoming a Christian or serving for only a few years. As there is somewhat a dearth of capable leaders in church, some churches promote their capable members quickly up the ranks, looking more at the externals, than for the heart that has already been tested and refined by God. Or, as another example, when we pray for something, we expect God to provide or answer us almost immediately.

The Israelites spent 40 years in the wilderness after God, using Moses, freed them from their bondage of slavery in Egypt, in part due to their insolence and unbelief but partly also because they were not ready to enter the Promised Land. Thus, the 40 years was the time used by God to raise a new generation that was mostly raised in the harsh conditions of the desert who were totally reliant on God daily for their sustenance and direction (manna, water source and the cloud/ball of fire). Even Moses spent 40 years working for his father in law Jethro as a shepherd in the mountains after fleeing Egypt before God called him to free the Israelites from Egypt.

In the faith, a quick rise to prominence, whether in terms of position or giftings or profile (right in front as a worship leader or preacher), may not be good as Christian life is a long game. A lot of things inside us take time to change. God with His infinite patience may take years to mould and transform us into a proper image of Christ. For example, humility takes time to cultivate. It’s a long walk to the end. Overcoming a few obstacles at the front, although good and admirable, is not everything as there are many more ahead in our journey of faith. We need perseverance, but more importantly, we need stamina to last the long haul. It’s surely not a 100m dash but a 10,000 km journey on foot!

One last point – certain things can only be done in the spiritual realm if we have had a genuine internal transformation. It could be having access to the spiritual dimension or God opening up the mysteries of the Kingdon to us. Granted, it’s a long game. But I think we will be more effective if we are quicker in allowing God to transform us as then we will have more time to do more effective things for Him. If we are only changed in our 70s, we will have less strength and not much time left to do those things for Christ.

https://odb.org/MY/2023/07/27/extra-grace-required

The most fundamental tenet of our faith is that salvation is by grace. There is nothing we can do on our own that can save us as we are all born sinners and thus deserve wrath. That’s the thrust of Ephesians 2:2-10. We were dead in our transgressions, but God, in His rich mercy because of His great love for us, made us alive with Christ – it is thus by grace that we are saved.

Therefore, instead of uncertainty and trepidation, we have certainty of where we are going after we die. The question is whether our names are written in the Book of Life. Not a question of a weighing scale of whether our good deeds outweigh our bad. Not a question of whether our prayers and social welfare in our old age outweigh the sins and transgressions of our youth. If our names are written in the Book of Life, we will live with God for all eternity.

Of course, the effort then comes in after we are saved as we need to work out our salvation with fear and trembling as Paul teaches in Philippians 2:12. In Ephesians 2:10, Paul exhorts us that we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Thus, even the good works that we are to do have been planned and prepared in advance by God for us.

If we follow the track suggested by Paul, we will be OK. Christ saved us by His death on the cross, in God’s abundant grace. Then, we work out our salvation by doing the good works God has prepared for us. Don’t rebel and go our own way. Do all things without grumbling and arguing so that we may become pure and blameless children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation (Philippians 2:12-16). Go with the flow as the Holy Spirit leads. All this arguing and grumbling will just waste time and achieve nothing when there is much to be done.

The last point I like to bring up today is that as we are saved by grace, we should likewise give extra grace to those around us. People can sometimes be dumb and silly or just plain irritating but forgive them. Cut them some slack. It’s OK. We are not perfect, as yet when we were sinners, God saved us.

https://odb.org/MY/2023/07/25/every-grief

I have written before on Revelation 21, and I’m writing it again today. It is about the new Jerusalem and the new heaven and new earth. The dwelling place of God that Isaiah wrote about many years ago in Isaiah 65:17-25 and which the Apostle John was given a glimpse while he was exiled at the island of Patmos.

The eternal life or “life everlasting” that John wrote in John 3:16 is actually Revelation 21. Ironically, heaven will be on earth and not a place in another dimension. As the dead in Christ rises on the second coming of Christ, we will all be given a glorified body, a body that is physical and yet will not be contaminated by sin and will not slowly rot away. On top of that, the place where God dwells among His people will come with unrestricted access to the tree of life, upon which as we partake of the tree, we will continue to live. Thus, Revelation 21 is Eden recreated, as it was at the beginning, and so it will be at the end of time. For Christ is the Alpha and the Omega. This is the hope of glory for all believers. A life lived in eternity with our Lord Jesus Christ. That is why it is said that as believers, we will only have one death and not two, as since we have had two births (natural and spiritual), we will have only one death. https://harvest.org/resources/devotion/born-twice-die-once/

In Matthew 10:12, Jesus warned us not to be afraid of those who want to kill our body but can not touch our souls. Fear only God who can destroy both soul and body in hell. At the end of time, souls that are condemned with the devil and his evil compatriots will be destroyed in hell. That is the second death. You may read about this in Revelation 20.

This beautiful earth with all the creatures and living things created by God for man – we will get to relive it again at the end of time in the new heaven and earth. The original intent of God for man to have dominion over all other creatures on earth will now materialise again. The sin of Adam redeemed by the Lamb of God, the stain and sting of sin are no more!

A word of caution, though. The new heaven and new earth and the new Jerusalem are not for everyone in the sense that not everyone will be there. This future place, this future heaven and earth, is, however, available for anyone who wishes to book a place there. We can do so by accepting Jesus Christ into our lives today as our Lord and Saviour. One day, we will all meet up there at this place for those whose names are written in the Book of Life.

https://odb.org/MY/2023/07/24/hope-in-grief-2

The preacher at my local church articulated yesterday that the natural precedes the spiritual. For example, no matter how hard we pray, we will die one day. Of course, life and death are in the hands of God. As some say, there are two things we can not avoid in life – death and taxes.

I lost my mum in 2009 and lost my dad last year. So I’m technically an orphan, although the term usually depicts someone who lost their parents while they were young and had to grow up without their biological parents. Nevertheless, when I lost my parents, I had hope even though I grieved. They were both in the Lord and had been active serving Him when they passed on. Thus, I’m comforted that one day I will see them when Christ returns.

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 is the passage of Scripture where Paul taught on the rapture of the living, and the dead in Christ rising again on His second coming. But it starts with an exaltation that we as believers not to grieve like others in the world because we have hope in Christ – the dead in Christ will rise again one day. Though they may die, they will live – for Jesus is the resurrection and the life (John 11:25). Coincidentally, this is the verse I had placed on the tombstone of my late father and mother and is our hope of glory in Christ. We know that one day, we will all be reunited with our loved ones who had died in Christ, whether family or fellow comrades and servants in the Kingdom of God.

I think the message today is to remain on the narrow path and be faithful to God’s calling for us. This is because for 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 to be real and to work for us, we have to be in Christ when Christ returns. There is thus a deep and strong motivation for us to be faithful to God. We will see our loved ones and our fellow servants of Christ again on that day! We look forward to that glorious day of reunification. We have hope in our grief, yes, but we ourselves must remain true to the cause.

Have a good and blessed week ahead! May the King of Glory continue to mould and transform us so that we may fulfil His plans and purposes for our lives!

https://odb.org/MY/2023/07/23/remember-in-prayer

One of the most powerful weapons we possess as a believer is the power to communicate directly with our Lord Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father. Besides the relationship part, prayer is powerful because it can move the hand of God. Prayer is also powerful because, as believers, we have authority and power over demonic forces. Thus, as we pray, we will assist angelic forces as they battle evil principalities of the air in the spiritual realm. The demonic forces also gain power from the worship of those who believe in them.

In addition to the relationship with God and the intercessory prayer, we can also remember others in prayer. We can make it a habit to pray for a list of people from our loved ones like our spouse, our children to our family, our cell group members, the people we know in church whom we know need prayers as well as our friends and colleagues. We could pray for others as they go through crises or issues in life or just pray for their general well-being and health, and most importantly, that the Lord will strengthen their faith or that they will not lose sight of Christ and the narrow path as they live out life. As Christians, we have a concept of remembering and covering others with prayers like a layer of protection. And we can also pray for those in closed countries who are underground believers or who are already facing persecution for their faith.

The message this morning is that we all ought to develop a life of regular prayer and communion with God, and as we spend time praying, use the time to pray for people we know who are in need of prayers. For example, people who are miserable at their current jobs and are on the lookout despite the challenging economic outlook. Or those who are currently unemployed and looking for a job. Or those who are inflicted with sickness for God to heal them or to taper down their suffering.

Prayer is usually unseen and in the background. The people we pray for may not even know that we are praying for them. Yet it is a potent spiritual tool available to us as believers in Christ. Invest time in it and pray for people!

Have a blessed Sunday worship service this morning, everyone! Exalt the Lord on high, for He is worthy of all our praises and worship! May He dwell in the praises of His people, may our worship be a sweet incense unto His throne!

https://odb.org/MY/2023/07/21/room-for-silence

The story of Elijah at the cave in the mountain with the wind, earthquake, and fire but only meeting God in the gentle whisper is a passage favoured by and popular among preachers. The account is in 1 Kings 19:9-14, and the context is Elijah had fled the scene after defeating and killing 450 prophets of Baal at Mount Carmel. Despite the spectacular victory calling fire from heaven to consume wood soaked in water proving that Yahweh was real to the Israelites, he feared for his life when Jezebel, Ahab’s Queen who introduced Baal worship to the Israelites, threatened to take his life.

The spiritual principle is that while God was in the spectacular (God being God), He is also found in the gentle whisper, or “the still small voice”, as the King James version puts it. Sometimes in life, we need to distil all the drama happening around us and quiet down our hearts to hear the still small voice of the LORD. We need to cut through all the “noise” to decipher God’s voice reaching out to us.

But I think as charismatic Christians propagating healing and signs and wonders, we also need to realise that God is also in the ordinary things we do. Healing ministry has its place, but the steady daily proclamation of Christ through our lives and the life of the church is equally, if not more important. Missionaries of old spent years just being part of the community to proclaim the Gospel. Many sacrificed their lives in the process, like those reaching out to head hunting communities in the interior. But look at the Bataks of Sumatra today. They are proud of their Christian heritage despite their murderous past. Catholic missions built schools and hospitals that were of significant impact to communities in their efforts to proclaim Christ to the masses. Today, the best schools in the world are often Catholic schools.

Don’t look for God only in the spectacular. He is found in the ordinary too. In the gentle whisper. In that still small voice. In our quiet worship. In our quiet time with Him. When we meditate on His Word. When we reach out to Him from the stillness of our hearts.