https://odb.org/MY/2022/10/17/god-spoke

As much as the first words of God is significant both literally and metamorphically, to me the more significant fact is that the spoken words of God actually created all things out of nothing! As humans, we create using our hands whether we are wordsmiths, artists, musicians, scientists or designers or a potter. Of course we can speak and sing and create speeches, messages or songs but nothing physical may be created by just our words. We cannot just say it to make a guitar, for example. A lot of craftsmanship is required to make the guitar. But God could and He did that when He created heaven and earth and all the living and non-living things and beings in there. He created things out of nothing! Through His spoken word, the whole system of how the natural and spiritual world operate was created and made into existence. Laws of physics, chemistry and biology were created simultaneously as He created the earth and all things in it. The marvel of Genesis 1 is the power of His Word. He spoke things into existence for He is God.

The phrase, “let there be light” is significant as they were the first spoken words of God as recorded in Genesis 1, the chapter that chronicled the beginning of heaven and earth, the seas, the creatures of the sea and land and air, the plants and humanity. Before there was light, the earth was just darkness -formless and empty. After light came, darkness was overwhelmed. It speaks symbolically and metamorphically of the power of light over darkness of how light represents God and His people and darkness represents the evil one. Scientifically darkness is defined as the absence of light as it is through light that we can see and everything we see is actually a reflection of light and colours as we them is also a reflection of the colour combinations of light. Thus natural light emanating from the sun consists of colours of the rainbow and all colours are a combination of those colours.

At the personal level, I think the encouragement for us this morning is to be thankful and grateful that the God that created heavens and earth is our God. He is our heavenly Father, our Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. He is one and yet three as the Holy Trinity.

This morning as we come before God in worship and devotion, lift up our troubles and issues at work, in college, school or in the family or church or ministry. Commit our cares and burdens unto Him. We have deadlines to meet and yet we are going to be on scheduled leave. Or we have multiple deadlines to hand in stuff; projects and assignments to complete. Contracts and tenders to close. Transactions to run and finalise. Living life itself is not always smooth.

Commit our hearts to God. Commit our issues and troubles to God. As He created heaven and earth and everything in them, He is the creative one to help us out of our predicaments and difficult situations. Seek Him in prayer and ask that He reveals His will to us for the situation we are facing. Pray that He will help us find a solution to resolve our issues and troubles. After all, in the whole earth and heaven and the entire universe, only God is able to create something out of nothing with just His Word!

https://odb.org/MY/2022/10/16/the-indwelling-christ

After Jesus died on the cross of Calvary for our sins, He rose again 3 days after and was victorious over sin and death. He appeared in His glorified body (that is the hope of our salvation) to His disciples and believers for 40 days before He ascended to heaven to be with the Father. 10 days after His resurrection, the Holy Spirit came on earth on the day of Pentecost. His second coming to mark the end of this age is highly anticipated by all believers throughout the ages where He will come again in His glorified form to rule the earth.

Until His second coming, He had promised and had sent us another advocate, the Spirit of Truth to be with us. The Holy Spirit thus lives and dwells in all believers and will transform us from within more and more into the image of Christ. That is why it is impossible for a believer not to be transformed after receiving Christ in their lives. No doubt we have our own will but if we resist the changes brought by the Holy Spirit all the time and if our heart is always unrelenting and hard, why do we even accept Jesus in the first place? Surely if Jesus is our Lord and Saviour, we will let the Holy Spirit work in our lives. In fact, we want to be transformed. We want to give our fullest cooperation to fulfil the Father’s and Christ’s aspirations, plans and purposes for our lives.

Christ via the Holy Spirit dwells in us. There is power and might. The Holy Spirit made the Apostles bold and filled them with power although they were initially discouraged and were fearful of their fate after Jesus died on the cross. But after the day of Pentecost, they became bold to proclaim Christ crucified and resurrected and many more were added to their midst daily as they themselves moved in signs and wonders. Millions and millions of lives have been touched throughout the generations over the past 2,000 years.

I think I am as guilty as the next person. We may not have been fully cognisant and may not have actively and purposefully allowed the Spirit in us to change and transform us. We know God and yet we resist His attempts to make us more like Him. Shall we make a change in our heart this morning as we go to church to worship Him? Make it our resolve to be more like Christ and to allow the Holy Spirit to do His work within us like the seed of the egg transforming itself into a chick. Allow the seed of faith in us to grow like a tree who is planted by streams of water that is fruitful every season! Blessed Sunday, everyone!

https://odb.org/MY/2022/10/14/baby-boy

When Moses recalled God’s love for the ancestors of the Israelites in Deuteronomy 10:15, he spoke about the broader scope of God’s love covering the orphans, widows and foreigners. This extent of God’s love has often also been highlighted in the pages of this blog that God loves those who are weak and oppressed in society. Even Jesus illustrated this when he told the story of Lazarus the beggar and the rich man in Luke 16:19-31. The beggar who ate off the crumps from the table of the rich man when he was alive was in a much more comfortable position at the bosom of Abraham after he died while the rich man was in such torment in Hades that he just wanted a drop of water to quench his thrist.

I think when it comes to the heart of God, He is always for those who are poor, weak, under privileged, oppressed and marginalised. A life lived well and comfortable on this earth is not always a good thing for eternity. That is why Jesus also said before that it is easier for a camel to enter the eye of a needle than a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God. Wealth and prosperity have a tendency to cloud the judgment of man and lead him astray and away from God.

However, in the era of the church after the death and resurrection of Christ, it is not so much a matter of whether we are poor or rich in life but whether we have Jesus in our life to lead us onto and along the narrow path to eternity. Will we remain on that path? Perhaps if we are comfortable and wealthy, we may become complacent but if we are poor and oppressed, we may be more inclined by our circumstances to depend on God and thus remain on the path of righteousness. Also as God’s heart is for the weak and oppressed, perhaps He is more compassionate to those of us who are poor, weak and oppressed.

I think the lesson today is for us to make the effort to understand the heart of God more and more, and to then fashion our lives to be in sync with Him. We live for God as we have been redeemed by the blood of Jesus. What better way to live for God than to understand His heart more and the lesson today is that His heart is always for the poor, weak, oppressed and marginalised. So if we are a minority in a society and have to bear with all the injustices that come with it, know that God’s heart is with us.

https://odb.org/MY/2022/10/13/will-you-still-love-me

Romans 5:6-11 highlights the nature of God’s love that transcends our sinfulness and unrighteousness that while we were yet sinners and unrighteous, God sent His one and only son, Jesus Christ, to die for our sins and reopened the way for humankind to be reconciled to God. That is why Jesus declared Himself as the way, the truth and the life. He is the only way to the Father. He is the truth in the sense that His words and deeds are true, that He was not only a teacher but God incarnate and personified. He is the life as through Him we will have eternal and everlasting life that though we may die, we live, a life that transcends death and time that will transport us into a new realm one day here on earth when heaven and earth will merge with God dwelling among His people as He originally intended back in the day before man met the serpent and sin.

The question today is whether after accepting Christ and becoming a believing child of God, will God still love us if we sinned? Can we still sin after we are in the light? Yes and surely so because we are still human. But will God still love us? Will He still accept us?

The fact that God made the first move to reconcile us to Him while we were yet sinners is proof that if we still sin after we have known Christ, God will forgive us and accept us. This is because His love is unconditional and He will accept us as we are, flesh and blood with our old self still intact despite us being born again with our new spiritual self. We will always be work in progress until the day of judgment. God accepted us when we first sought Him into our lives and He will still accept us today and in the days to come.

Does that mean our life is not transformed from knowing Christ? Are we still behaving like our old self, living a life of evil intentions, scheming the downfall of everyone else, only thinking of our own self interest? Are we living a life of sin? Are we living a life that is incompatible with our faith?

I think the message today is that as much as God still loves us even if we sin after knowing Him and as much as that He will forgive Him as we confess our sins and repent of them, we must progress daily from worse to bad, bad to good in more and more aspects and areas of our lives. It is a daily crucifixion of our old self to let our new self take control and be dominant. The light of Christ must shine forth within us to overpower all darkness and evil desires in us. We love others and put the interests of others first to the extent that we love our enemies. We may be a long way from perfection but we need to be in a journey heading towards that, on the path of righteousness towards heaven and not on the path that leads to destruction.

Never give up and never be afraid to turn back to God if we ever strayed because He loves us!

https://odb.org/MY/2022/10/12/life-expectancy

Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom – Psalm 90:12.

We can see with our own eyes barring accidents and unforseen circumstances like the Covid-19 pandemic at its earlier stages or acute illnesses, we as humans can usually live for around 80 years. In fact, ballpark for our life expectancy is around there. Some live much longer like our previous premier, Tun Dr Mahathir who is 97 already this year.

Yet as much as 80 years is a lifetime for us, it is just a day to God. In fact, a thousand human years could equal a day for God. It is a figure of speech as time although moves sequentially and linearly for us, God being God can see all things all at once or may move along time as He so wishes. He can see and be in timelines we have yet to experience in our lifetimes or in time to come. Until of course the end of the present age comes with the second coming of Christ.

But before the end of time comes when we as believers of Christ will live for eternity, our time on earth as mortal beings are limited. Life and tide wait for no man. Yet if time is like a boat, our time on the boat is finite and definite. We need to make the most of it while we are still on the boat. Once our time is up, we will leave this dimension and will no longer be able to do anything anymore here or influence anything here. All that we have will be left behind. With nothing we came, with nothing will we leave. Only our legacy and deeds will be left here on earth and the treasures we had stored in heaven at the room Jesus had gone on ahead to prepare for us.

To those of us who procrastinate a lot, do what matters now. See the people we love and are dear to us now. Travel when we can to see the world. Serve God with passion and as much as we can. Do His will. Fulfil His plans and purposes for us. Don’t wait anymore. Be faithful to God and His calling. We will be old or incapacitated later or later may never come.

Teach us to number our days O Lord that we may indeed gain a heart of wisdom. May we all gain wisdom (i.e. God) as we number our days (do what matters with the limited time we have)! Amen!

https://odb.org/MY/2022/10/11/your-part-gods-part

The story of Abram (Abraham’s original name) responding to God’s call out of the Url of the Caldeans to Canaan is probably one of the top 10 most famous stories in the bible. So famous that the writer of Hebrews mentioned the same thing in Hebrews 11:8 that by faith Abraham when called to go to a place he would later receive as an inheritance, he obeyed and went even through he didn’t know where he was going.

It is famous as Abraham is the father of the Jewish people who through Jesus Christ, a Jew by birth but God in person, Abraham became a blessing to many nations and with us as believers in the past, the present and the age to come, we are now a part of his descendants that is now more numerous than the stars in the sky and the sand at the seashore.

Abraham speaks of God’s calling and provision as we respond and obey. His experience speaks of us moving out of our comfort zone to an unfamiliar place, a place inhabited by the Canaanites, a place that the LORD promised to his offsprings. It’s a challenge “to get thee out”, a challenge to obey and go like Abraham obeyed and went even though he did not know where he was going.

If we have a strong desire to obey a prompting or call from God, go ahead even though we may not exactly be sure what lies ahead. Abraham didn’t know but that didn’t stop him from uprooting his family and to take all of his possessions, livestock and servants and go. Not a question of the blessings that follow but more the fact that as we respond, God will show and direct us like He did with Abraham. If we have faith, we can move a mountain and that is exactly what Jesus meant – if we have faith, we can move the mountain of our life forward. We do our part to respond, to obey and go and God will do the rest. And even if the LORD were to lead us through the valley of the shadow of death, we will fear no evil as His staff and rod comfort us.

I have been personally grappling with this issue for some time now and am still seeking God as to what is His call for me and as I hear Him more clearly, I pray for the strength and resolve to obey and go like Abraham did during ancient times. He is the example, the beacon of our hope the same way Jesus was purposeful of His mission on earth; the difference being that Jesus knew exactly where He was going and will go the moment He was born here on earth as a child conceived by the Holy Spirit and carried and delivered by the virgin Mary.

O Lord give us the strength and tenacity to respond in love and boldness as You call us out to our promised lands. May we be like Abraham, Moses, Joshua, Caleb, David, Peter, John, James, Paul, Barnabas and many others in the bible who had responded positively to move forward as God had called them!

I learnt quite a number of years back during a counselling seminar about the power of gratitude, especially thankfulness to the creator. It applies to everyone whether those in the faith and those yet in the faith. Gratefulness releases a combination of dopamine, oxytocins and endorphins in the brain that is similar to a runner’s high. Thus biologically it is proven that gratefulness actually makes people happy and have peace. Something inbuilt and internal.

I however take the view that as believers, gratefulness and thankfulness are even more potent, more powerful, particularly, if we are grateful and thankful to our Father in heaven. If we are thankful for what we have despite what we are going through, if we rejoice in God although we are down and struggling – God sees and emphasises with us. Perhaps He may alleviate our situation or make our problems go away. Or perhaps He does not. But whatever is the outcome, His promise is that He will be with us throughout it all. We may feel we are all alone but He is there with us.

Thankfulness and gratefulness take a deeper meaning as believers because our Heavenly Father is a person like you and I. He created us in His image. He has feelings too. He gets angry and is compassionate as seen in the Old Testament of ancient Israel. When He was personified by Christ on earth, we could see that Jesus is also an emotional being like you and I. He cried when He saw Lazarus dead and his sisters and family in so much grief.

So I’m saying that the same way that we are happy when others express their gratitude and thankfulness, what do you think our Heavenly Father will feel if we do so ourselves to Him? Will He not be happy with us? He will know that we notice and acknowldege His work in our lives. He doesn’t need our recognition as He is God and yet if we give Him due recognition and honour, I’m sure He will be pleased. We always sing we give all honour, all glory and that all power belongs to Him – mean it by recognising and acknowledging His grace and mercy and compassionate work in our lives. It is the Holy Spirit who has shaped our hearts all these years to know God. It is Jesus Christ who died for our sins and liberated us from the clutches and destiny of sin amd condemnation. Thus as believers, thankfulness and gratefulness will not only have internal effects in terms of endorphins but also an external effect as we have an ongoing daily relationship with our God. It will sure be well for our relationship with God if we are thankful.and grateful to Him for all that He has and will do in our lives. Therefore in all things, give thanks and by prayer ahd supplication, present our requests to Him (Philippians 4:6) and the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus!

https://odb.org/MY/2022/10/09/the-power-of-gods-word-2

We all know that there are two aspects of Scriptures as set forth in the Bible. One is the logos side of it which is the rationale and logic and principles as it was written – the meaning of which must be extracted and understood within the context (background, cultural norms and literary forms existing at the time it was written). Like the expression Jesus used, “if you have the faith of a mustard seed, you may move this mountain”. The use of extreme contrasts to express the point that with faith in God, no matter how small and actually it doesn’t really matter how strong, one can do wonders. It doesn’t literally mean moving a mountain but a mountain could mean a community so deep into their cultural norms and yet could still accept and believe in Christ crucified and resurrected. It is not literal and yet it has a literal meaning. Therefore to teach and preach on principles as enumerated in the bible in terms of the logos part of it, we need to limit ourselves within the principles and tenets of our faith.

Yet, we know the Word of God is a living Word. The second aspect of Scriptures is its rhema. An utterance or meaning that we may apply to our situation or to give us direction. Meaning to say lessons taught and directed to, for example, ancient Israel are applicable to us, the modern church, in this present age and time as we are the spiritual Israel and thus even to us as individual believers. It is this aspect of the Word that most preachers focus on as a true sermon must contain a Word that is relevant to what we as a congregation or as individuals are going through. And that is the most difficult challenge for most preachers – what is the living Word of God to speak to the congregation right now for this moment and season of time? Most preachers spend most of their preparation time seeking God on this. So even if we have heard a passage preached many times from various sources, in person or online, God is still able to use the same passage to speak to us at our moment of need to prompt us or nudge us in a certain direction or to comfort and encourage us or strengthen our resolve.

What is the Lord’s message to us this morning? I believe it is to continue to read His Word and don’t neglect that. Maybe we have read the bible through a few times already. Maybe we have doctorates on the study of certain aspects of Scriptures and know the Word of God inside out. Yet, there is always the rhema aspect of God speaking to us that is relevant and applicable for us this morning to help us through and to guide us whether in our life, our work, our relationships, our ministry or just for the plain issues of life that we face. Read the Word daily and may it be a lamp unto our feet (Psalm 119:105) that may brighten up our steps as we walk the pathway of life!

https://odb.org/MY/2022/10/07/birds-of-the-air

Jesus used the “light and heavy” (gal wahomer in Hebrew) illustration to highlight the point that if God is good in something less important, surely He will be good in something more important. So if He takes care of the birds of the air, what more will He take care of us, His children created in His image for which He had made plans for even before the foundations of the world. He already “invested” in us all these years despite us not being fully committed to Him, will He let all that go to nought? He sent His beloved and one and only Son to die for our sins.

Read Matthew 6:25-33 carefully and we will notice that Jesus said it is the pagans who run after these things – what shall we eat, what shall we drink and what shall we wear? Notice that He said, your Heavenly Father knows that you need them, but seek ye first His Kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be added unto you. The point is not to run after these things. Our Heavenly Father will provide for us in due course because He knows we need them. Instead focus on Him and the things of God. Elsewhere Jesus said before (Matthew 16:26) – what good is it if a man were to gain the whole world, but forfeits his soul? In fact when Jesus was tempted by the devil, the devil offered Him the world if He were to bow down and worship him.

I believe as a believer we must always keep in mind what Jesus taught in Matthew 6 and 16. We need to know and remember and be reminded what matters most ultimately. Seek His Kingdom first and His righteousness. Material things while necessary for survival will eventually come. If our focus is just on material things, then we will not be going after God and the things of God, and one day we may forfeit our ticket to heaven that was bought for us by the blood of Christ. Always maintain a balance between pursuing our career and vocation (eat, drink and wear) and God. Don’t ever neglect the latter. Keep on at it and the other things will be sorted out by God for us.

https://odb.org/MY/2022/10/06/envisioning-our-neighbors-future

The LORD’s instructions in Leviticus 25 to the Israelites to help fellow Israelites who are poor like they would of a foreigner and stranger is basically not charging them interest when lending them money or not making a profit when selling them food. The premise was that so those who became poor and unable to support themselves may continue to live among them. It is at the community level. But in this instance like in the other instruction to leave some produce behind in the fields for the widow, poor and the foreigner during harvest, the expectation is that the poor will work to earn their keep. It’s just that they should be helped at cost whether it is capital or food.

But in the New Testament when the struggling church in Macedonia gave sacrificially to financially help believers in Jerusalem, it went beyond providing capital or food at cost. It was an outright grant or gift. It was the same in the case of Noedesha, a small economically challenged town in Kansas, a couple providing a college scholarship to every student in that town to further their studies. The intention was not so they could continue to live among them but to alleviate the social economic situation of the town. In the contemporary Malaysian context it would have meant giving every university student a grant of RM100,000 to pursue a local private university degree. RM100,000 is a lot of money to many struggling families and would have help in raising their social economic status.

What’s the Lord’s message to us today? I believe it is that if we could, we should be generous and helpful. In the modern context that could mean a monetary gift to someone in need or buying someone a meal. It could be to a brother or sister in church or a neighbour or even a homeless stranger in the street. The world is headed towards a recession because the rich nations wanted to maintain control by imposing sanctions. The impact is inflation at home and with interest rates raised to manage inflation, demand will decrease and thus a recession (defined as no growth for 2 quarters). The thing is that the West has not fully grasped the fact that the economy is now a global phenomenon. Sanctions against China and Russia will not only affect the countries concerned but the whole world. Things will become worse at the local level before it becomes better. The days may come when fresh grads will earn RM1,000 to RM2,000 again when they are now earning RM3,000 or more.

Those of us who are better off should thus help those in need when the tough times come. Time to save rather than spend. Prepare for the rainy day as well as prepare to help out when the time comes. Save up so we may have some capital to help others.