https://odb.org/MY/2022/12/06/great-expectations-2

Simeon and Anna, the Prophetess in Luke 2, illustrate the point that some dreams and aspirations (in this case to see the Messiah) take years to materialise. Both were very old when they saw the Messiah, but they had been waiting for years in anticipation and preparation. It was so good for them that they finally had their wish cone true – now they can die in peace, satisfied that their life ambitions have been fulfilled. They have now seen the Messiah!

Are we in the same boat? Do we have spiritual aspirations and dreams that remain unmet after many years? Have we left them buried and forgotten? Have we moved on in life, leaving behind these supposed spiritual milestones in our lives? Perhaps we were to plant a church. Or build a church building. Or volunteer for missions in a foreign land? Perhaps we are close to retirement and still want to work, but God is rekindling those past dreams and aspirations. Perhaps now is the time to step out in faith as our children are all grown up. Perhaps now is the time to dig out those long buried dreams and dream them again. Not just dream them but put them into motion. Realise them, rather than still being caught up in the affairs of the world, earning our living to save for our rainy day. Perhaps now is the time to start trusting God for our future, rather than relying solely on our sweat and toil to accumulate our savings for our old age. Perhaps it’s the time to evangelise, to do regular visitations, to pray and minister, instead of just existing day by day waiting for our last day. Perhaps it’s time to truly live for God rather than for ourselves!

Pray for the leading of the Holy Spirit. Now may be the time to dream those dreams again. Now may be the time to dig out those buried aspirations. It may be the right time to fulfil our spiritual dreams and aspirations in God. Simeon and Anna waited for years; 50, 60, 70 years. Our time may be now. Step out in faith. Let God do the rest. Seek Him and trust in His leading. Start being active again in the Kingdom of God despite our age and weakened state. Put whatever remains days we have to good use for Christ, while we still can.

https://odb.org/MY/2022/12/05/daily-dependence

In raising children and even in training subordinates, our goal is to make them independent from dependent. They start by being dependent on us, especially our children, but as they grow older and more mature, we want them to be more and more independent, capable of making their own decisions and earning their own living.

But with God, our relationship progresses from independence to daily dependence. That is why, in the Lord’s prayer, Jesus taught us to pray that our Father in heaven gives us our daily bread. Bread signifies our sustenance, the food that we require to live life, and it’s a daily thing. There is a sense that we are asking God to help us continue living by helping us to earn our living, or as we toil the land, we get our produce and fruits. But there is also the sense that our relationship with God is one of dependence. The more mature we are as believers, the more dependent we are on Him.

The more mature we are, the more we need to pray for our family, our cell group, our church, our work, our ministry, our city, and even our country. We should start off each day with a prayer, committing our day to Him, that our life will reflect His glory. That we will do His will each day of our lives. There is a sense that we need Jesus every moment of our lives. It’s not shameful to need Jesus because indeed our relationship with Him is one that progresses from independence to dependence, total dependence.

The message today is clearly that as believers, we must be more and more dependent on God. We can not live lives that are independent from Jesus. Jesus must be a part of every aspect of our lives; be it when we wake up, our commuting to work, when we work, our lunch break, our time with our family and we retire to bed. Even in our dreams, we should involve Jesus so that we don’t end up dreaming ungodly dreams! As we grow spiritually, involve Jesus in more and more areas of our lives. Then, the second aspect of our daily bread will become real, which in turn will bring the first aspect into greater tangible reality!

https://odb.org/MY/2022/12/04/a-labor-of-love

One of the fundamental principles of faith that is often preached is the concept that obedience is better than sacrifice. This is particularly crucial in our service for God. It is very aptly illustrated by Saul when he disobeyed the rule that only the priest may offer sacrifices unto the LORD and lost his throne as a result. At the deeper level, it means we respond to the prompting of the Holy Spirit, rather than we deciding what we want to do even if the latter involves more of a sacrifice on our part. To illustrate, it is better to give RM1,000 to someone God prompts us compared to giving RM2,000 to someone else we ourselves want to give, although it costs us more in the case of the latter.

Another principle in our service for God is that faithfulness is more important than success. So, a minister of God faithfully serving a congregation of 50 over 20 years is better than he moving around until he ministers to a congregation of 1,000. Or looking at it another way, it is better for a minister to be faithful to his calling to a ministry of 50 rather than to strive to grow that congregation to 1,000 as a sign of success. In His service, faithfulness is the virtue we strive for, not success as we want to hear Jesus commend us on that day – come to your rest, true and faithful servant!

Thus, as we know, every one of us has a specific and unique role to play in the Kingdom of God. We are each that brick that makes up that wall. Our goal is to fulfil God’s plans and purposes for our lives. We want to live in the midst of His will for us. Be faithful in what God gives us. We may not be reaching out to thousands and millions, yet to the few whom we minister to, our message is meaningful and crucial. For example, my blog has around 70 views a day, but I continue to do this and send out my commentaries each day that I’m able. Should I cease since I only have 70 daily views? Of course, 70 is better than 5, but it is a far cry from 3,000 or 5,000. In the end, for me, faithfulness to God is still better than success. We do what we can. We do our best within the sphere of influence God has appointed for us. We want to be that true and faithful servant, not necessarily that successful servant of God.

https://odb.org/MY/2022/12/03/christmas-light

We will notice a few interesting facts as we read Exodus 3:4-10. One of them is that although God is within the burning bush, He could see that Moses had gone to the burning bush, suggesting that God is seeing Moses from a place other than the bushing bush itself. Of course that is possible as He is God. He is omnipresent. So He is at the burning bush and yet has a helicopter view. This is one of those passages in Scripture that demonstrates the omnipresence nature of the LORD. The most striking fact is obviously that the bush is burning, and yet it is not consumed by the fire. Somewhat like the Christmas tree that is lighted by real candles.

The third thing we will notice is that God asked Moses to remove his sandals as the ground where God is is holy. Sandals are dirty as they offer our feet, and thus, our body protection from the ground. Especially so in the desert, which is very dusty, full of sand and dirt. It is thus a good practice that Asians do not wear shoes in homes. We try to keep dirt outside as much as we can.

As we read on the passage, we see God’s heart for His people. He came down to earth because He heard the cry of His people and wanted to rescue them from Egypt and bring them to the Promised Land, a land flowing with milk and honey and inhabited by hostile peoples. His heart remains so today as He still wants to rescue us from the world (Egypt) and bring us into His Kingdom (the Promised Land) so that we can be our best for Him and serve out His plans and purposes for our lives. It is the place where we can find true peace and contentment, living out His will for us.

What’s the message this morning? I believe it is that He still wants to rescue us today from our Egypts and bring us into His Promised Land for us. But remember, as much God is also our friend and brother in our Lord Jesus Christ, He is holy. We need to remove our sandals when we are with Him and sandals in our context, representing our attachment and sometimes obsession with the world and the things of the world.

https://odb.org/MY/2022/12/01/the-power-of-mutual-encouragement

One of the great things of the Kingdom of God is that each and every one of us has a part to play based on the gifts and talents uniquely given to us by God, to fulfil God’s plans and purposes for our lives, preplanned by God for us even before the creation of the world itself when we were all still in the spirit form.

Some of us could have spent years after we have known Christ living in the fullness of His glory and will, just doing what God had prepared for us. Yet there are many still searching for our “sweet spot” in His kingdom, the place where we know we will excel because that is what we were created for. We may serve in a variety of ways before discovering our true calling, based on the needs of our church and community.

One of the ways everyone of us can serve, however, is actually to be a Barnabas, an encourager. Paul encouraged the Jewish believers of Christ in Hebrews, who were under pressure to revert to Judaism. In Hebrews 3:13, Paul exhorted them to encourage one another daily, so that none of them will be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. And that is something everyone can do. Just encourage one another in the faith. Pat someone on the shoulder if you feel he or she is down. Pray and send a Word from Scripture to someone in need. Pray for someone in need. Don’t just forward multiple messages in WhatsApp, but write one yourself and give it to someone as the Lord prompts us. Say and speak positively about the goodness of God and what lies ahead in the future for us, our inheritance in Christ in the heavenly places, our place in the new heaven and earth, the new Holy City of Jerusalem, the mansion Christ has gone ahead to prepare for us and the treasures that we have stored there during our lifetime on earth. There are just so many great things to look forward to, and if we are suffering now here on earth, it can never compare to what we have ahead of us in glory. Paul said this before in Romans 8:18.

Be a Barnabas, my brothers and sisters in Christ and friends. No one hates an encourager. Instead, everyone will appreciate an encourager. Have a great day ahead!

https://odb.org/MY/2022/11/30/warning-sounds

A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger – Proverbs 15:1.

I think everyone is aware that we intentionally say all the wrong things in anger, harsh words that are calculated to hurt. Yet, we don’t actually mean what we say, especially to our loved ones. Unfortunately, the damage would have been done, and usually, it takes a long time for the emotional wounds to heal. That is why people advise that we shouldn’t make important decisions when angry. In fact, we shouldn’t also make major decisions when we are very happy and elated as both extremes in emotions do not bring the best out of us. Let things settle down first, then decide so that we do things rationally after praying about it, seeking God and considering all angles and views.

To avoid saying harsh things in anger, perhaps it’s best to walk sway from a heated confrontation or deescalate the situation by talking about something else or just apply Proverbs 15:1 by speaking gently. The idea is to not add oil to fire, and the justification is that words wrongly said would have far-reaching ramifications. So be a peacemaker, not a “batu api” (fire stone in Malay), meaning don’t be an inciter. If we could remain calm, we would be a gem indeed!

As we get older, we will also realise that anger increases our blood pressure unnecessarily and may lead to health complications like a stroke or cardiac arrest. So, being slow to anger is not only a virtue but is also healthy! We could avoid catastrophic consequences.

The message today is thus – be gentle in speech and slow to anger. That will go a long way in preserving relationships and lengthening our life span!

https://odb.org/MY/2022/11/29/a-hot-meal

Matthew 25:40 is a concept that Jesus espoused encouraging us to help our lesser brethren in their times of need. Jesus begins at verse 34 by inviting the righteous to come and take their inheritance in the Kingdom that was prepared since the creation of the world. This is because they had fed Him when He was hungry. They had given Him a drink when He was thristy. They had clothed Him when He needed clothes. They had visited Him when He was in prison. They had looked after Him when He was sick. Meaning to say when the righteous had helped those of His brothers and sisters who needed help, they had helped Him. It is similar in concept to building treasures in heaven; that is, what we do for God counts towards our riches in heaven. Such riches are intangible here, but they will mean something solid and real when we are in heaven. Those riches could also be the inheritance that Christ spoke about in Matthew 25 verse 34.

This concept of being kind to others in the Kingdom and broadly being kind to everyone (storing treasures in heaven) is radical because it goes against the grain of the world, then and now. The world either takes kindness for granted or just refuses to be kind to others. Everyone minds their own business and goes about life not being involved in the lives of others. You do your thing, I do mine. I’m not obliged to help you as you need to help yourself. In fact, I’m in need of help myself! Why should I be kind to you? Are others kind to me? Do they give me a green pass? Do I get a special treatment, a VIP lane? I get treated like everyone else. So get in line. That’s life! Life doesn’t afford anyone any special treatment. You get life as it is. What is it in for me if I’m kind to you? Nothing!

Except that Jesus taught that if we are kind to another brethren and I would say another human being, we are actually being kind to Him. Jesus thus gives us a reason to be kind to others. Everyone we meet and face in life is Jesus personified, and if we think that way, we will always be kind to everyone lest we ended up being unkind to our Saviour and Lord, who died for our sins and saved us from the sting of sin which is death.

It is strong and difficult teaching but helps us break through our conventional thinking to only think of our own interests most if not all the time. It is teaching that will alleviate us from only storing riches on earth for our old age to storing riches in heaven for our life in eternity. It helps us focus more on the spiritual than only be mindful of the natural. Our work in the world still needs to be done – at least we are not only putting aside some for the rainy day, but we are also putting some in heaven for the time when we are there!

https://odb.org/MY/2022/11/27/so-beautiful

Before I had Ivan and Daniel, I never quite understood the fuss people had over babies and toddlers. Everyone were like saying how cute they were, and yet, for me, they seemed overrated. They were just babies and toddlers. Nothing too special. They were messy and looked so fragile. So I never carried a baby or child before until I had my own. I was afraid that if I had made a wrong move, I could have broken an arm or a leg.

That all changed when I had my own baby and child. Of course, my wife had to carry them in her womb for nine months and deliver them, but they were mine as they were a product of our marriage union. Suddenly I realised what the fuss was. They looked really cute and handsome! I remember being fascinated by their tiny fingers and toes. Their tiny hands and legs. They even had hair on their heads! (But customary for Chinese families, we had their heads shaved for their full moon celebration).

Why the change in me? Obviously, when the baby is ours, the whole perspective changes. They looked cute. Although they are still fragile, I quickly learnt how to handle them, to carry them, help them to sleep, to feed them, change their diapers, but despite all that I never did bathe them until much later. Bathing babies carry high risks, and so that I left to the experts who were my wife, our helper, and mum in law.

That is why if my outlook on babies could change drastically when they were mine, how do you think the Lord looks at us when each of us are uniquely His? Paul declared in Ephesians 2:10 that we are His handiwork created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. We are specially and uniquely created by God. We are His. Like our own babies and children are ours, we are God’s very own.

This morning, as we go to church to worship Him and listen to His Word being preached, remember that God loves us. We are His. Each and every one of us is His. We are all uniquely created by Him. Despite our weaknesses, despite our stubbornness, our pig headed-ness; He loves us and will continue to love us. Why? Because we are all His, redeemed back by the blood of Jesus on the Cross of Calvary. God loves us.

Let’s give Him all the glory and honour that He deserves. May His name be exalted all over the earth! Amen!

https://odb.org/MY/2022/11/25/enduring-hope

In the natural, we know that every living, breathing, and moving creature needs to be born or given birth to before it comes out into the earth and live. It is mostly a situation of an egg and a sperm becoming one and being fertilised, just a question of whether the embryo is developed inside or outside the body. That’s our first birth.

We also know that every living creature has a life span – with mosquitos probably living for a few weeks, but humans living around 80 years on average, and some animals like tortoises living even past 120 years. Whatever is the average life span of our species, we will eventually die. That’s our first death.

But if we accept Jesus Christ into our lives as our Lord and Saviour and repent of our sins, we will experience what Jesus called a born-again experience (John 3: 3-7). Of course, we are not going back into our mother’s womb and being reborn as someone had asked Jesus before in the past. It’s the spiritual birthing of the spirit that is the fundamental core of our body. Once we are born again, we are able to relate to God in the spiritual realm and will become more aware of the happenings in that realm that despite us living in the physical world, there is another dimension that is hidden from us and yet is a hive of activities. Paul mentioned before in Ephesians 6:12 that our fight is not against flesh and blood but principalities and powers of darkness in the high places. That is thus the second birth only experienced by believers.

As much as Revelations 21 speaks about the new heaven and the new earth and new holy city of Jerusalem with God dwelling among His people for which those who are victorious will inherit and God will be their God and they His people. Revelation 21 also foretells in verse 8 the ultimate end for those who are cowardly, unbelieving, vile, murderers, sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars – they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulphur. That is the second death, and it is an eternity spent without God.

The question worth pondering today is whether we will truly be experiencing the second birth only, or will we also be sucked into the second death. The logic and theory is that it is one or the other, and yet we know that after experiencing the joy, peace, and grace of the second birth, some people do descend back into darkness and will thus be risking the second death. As believers, let’s make sure we remain at two births and one death only!

https://odb.org/MY/2022/11/24/hopes-and-longings

Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life (Proverbs 13:12). We all have our hopes and aspirations, and the older we get, the less confident we are of seeing them come to pass. Sometimes, it is just a hope and desire for someone we love to be on a normal path, but he or she chose the road least travelled. Sometimes, these hopes are our dreams that we have left buried like the Shunammite woman in the time of Elisha (2 Kings 4:8) who had lost her hope for a child as her husband was already old.

Our hearts could be sick when our hopes are not fulfilled, and yet, with the passage of time, we have learnt to accept the reality of our situation. Time heals, they say. But if the hope or longing is fulfilled, it is a tree of life. Something that could last us for eternity as the expression, “the tree of life,” is the key to eternal life at the Garden of Eden before the fall. Indeed, hope and longing fulfilled will make our heart settled and happy, particularly experienced by people who had found their soul mates and life partners consummated in marriage. Or if we have found that the thing we do is really what we have been made for, that sweet spot of who we are and what we do in life merging as one. Or we are right now fulfilling God’s plans and purposes for our lives.

Like the Shunammite woman, God can restore a lost hope. In that story, Elisha prophesied to her that she will have a child somewhat in return for her generosity in providing him a permanent place to stay whenever he was in Jerusalem. God rewards our generosity to others, and sometimes, this could mean resurrecting our dead dreams and hopes, our buried longings and aspirations. We are seeing that unfolding right before our eyes, even as Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is at the cusp of fulfilling his hope and aspiration of finally becoming the Prime Minister of Malaysia after being the PM in waiting since the time of Dr M.

Like Anwar, God can do the same for us if not now, one day. Just continue to do what we do best for Him. One day, the LORD will reward our labour of love. Amen