https://odb.org/MY/2023/04/04/at-home-in-jesus

We keep our pet cat in a room with an ensuite bathroom. Over here in Malaysia, bedrooms with ensuite bathrooms are common, unlike in more advanced countries, where plumbing is premium and very costly. For our cat, the bathroom is a less messy place for her potty as it makes cleaning easier. Although she will want to come out of her room at every opportunity, to be with us and roam around the house – at any sign of danger, she will run back to her room, for example, if there are strangers in the house. Her room thus becomes her place of refuge, her hiding place. Not only her feeding place and where she manages her bodily functions, but really her permanent ‘home’, her safe haven.

As believers, we have given our lives to Jesus the day we accepted Him into our lives as our Lord and Saviour. As much as we already have a permanent home in heaven which we will get to go to one day, we also have a ‘permanent’ home while we are pilgrims in our temporary home here in our present earth. This earth in its current state (as opposed to the new heaven and new earth in Revelation 21) is only our temporary home, and yet we have a permanent home in Jesus. A home where, like my cat, we find refuge, a hiding place from evil, a place of comfort and joy, of peace and compassion. It is a place where we can truly be ourselves, with no pretence but only our genuine self – where all our ugly hurts, weaknesses, and vulnerabilities are exposed for our Lord to see. Instead of condemning us, Jesus comforts us and helps us to be perfected in our weaknesses. That we will be victorious in our struggles against the desires of our flesh, where we will be overcomers for Christ. The place where we will be transformed as Christ moulds us into the person He had called us to be before the foundations of the world.

Do not wander about in search of another home in our pursuit of the things of the world as we, like everyone else, are attracted by its flashy lights. The world is seductive as it is deceiving. We know it is temporal, and yet sometimes we are too engrossed in the temporary. I agree there must be a balance as we still need to live this life. A lifetime here on earth as much as it is a pilgrimage is still a lifetime in human terms. As much as we are only passing through, it is many years. But no one in heaven is accusing us of being selfish for wanting to pass through this life as comfortably as possible. It’s just that we must not neglect what is eternal and must always remember what really counts in the end so that when push comes to shove, we prioritise God and His causes, and not our own fleshy desires. If we have an excess RM500 this month, do we indulge in a new bag, shoes, or clothes, or do we help a brother in need?

Today’s message is a reminder to keep our permanent home in Jesus as we pass through this temporal home on a pilgrimage. The Lord is, after all, our Shepherd whom we will not want as He will lead us to still waters and green pastures, and give us rest, and even if He leads us through valleys of shadows of death, we will fear no evil, for His staff and rod comfort us. Ultimately, surely goodness and mercy shall follow us throughout our days as we dwell in the house of the Lord forever!

https://odb.org/MY/2023/04/03/finding-strength-in-god

In relating with God, there is always this tension between relying on our own strength and gaining God’s strength in our weaknesses. When do we rely on God, and when do we use our own talents and gifts as the latter are also God-given?

Two Sundays ago, I had preached a message on Paul and Acts 9, and a comment I received was that God usually uses us based on our availability and not so much on our talents and giftings. That is true, and availability must be a prerequisite in our service. If we don’t make ourselves available, God can never use us. And yet, when we say availability, it means more. It means that despite our weaknesses, if we are available, God will perfect us our weaknesses (2 Corinthians 9:12).

However, when we compare Paul against Peter, John and James, we will see that Paul was uniquely positioned to reach out to the Gentiles being a learned Hebrew person raised in a Greek-speaking world immersed in Greek thought and culture. Thus, we can be called and chosen based on our strengths and giftings and experience in the world and ministry, and also, most of all that we are today were knitted together by God Himself to create a unique ‘you’ that will be the square peg to the square hole in His Kingdom of Grace.

However, as we read 2 Corinthians 9, we realise that Paul himself is not without weaknesses. That is not unexpected as we are all humans living in a broken world. The world to come as revealed in Revelation 21 is our ultimate destination, but until then, we need to accept and deal with our own imperfections. That is why we are made perfect by God in our weaknesses. It is in our weaknesses that we can see God working. Despite our weaknesses, God can use us.

For example, there are many preachers who are gifted in expressing words and in presentation; funny and entertaining and yet enriching. But I’m neither all that. Yet I have been called to preach from the pulpit. I can only be myself with my own weaknesses in speech and presentation. But the beauty of all this is that God can perfect me in my weakness, and it works the best in the context of preaching because ultimately, after all the theatrics, it is the message from God that really matters. The life of God that we bring to the pulpit, our sincerity, our effort, and our preparation – that will count for more in the spiritual realm than the human talent and skill of a preacher.

We all have weaknesses. But if we wait until we are perfect to serve God, we will not get to start. The idea is to serve God despite our weaknesses and see God perfecting us in our weaknesses. In fact, as we rely on the Lord in our weaknesses, Jesus will transform us from within and make us a better person in the process – a person with more love, compassion, grace, and forgiveness.

Start today, and do something for God. Take up a role in church or a ministry. Volunteer our time and service. Play music in our cell group. Lead worship. Be an usher. Get involved in the audio-visual ministry. Help out in Zoom. There are lots to do in the Kingdom of God!

https://odb.org/MY/2023/04/02/bluestone-church-bells

As we celebrate Palm Sunday today, the day that signified the entry of Christ into Jerusalem a few days before His crucifixion and subsequent resurrection, let’s appreciate that the truth of the Messiah is not hidden from us. In Luke 19, it is recorded that Jesus wept over Jerusalem even as His disciples rejoice as He made His way into the city. In verse 41, Jesus said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day, what would bring you peace – but now it is hidden from your eyes.”

It is most unfortunate, but until today, the truth on the Messiah and the salvation of Christ are still hidden from the Jews. Israel has a population of about 9.3 million, of which 7 million are Jews and yet there are only a handful of Messianic Jews – estimated to be between 10,000 to 20,000. Thus, at most, it is only 0.28% of the Jewish population.

Most fortunately for us, after Paul was commissioned by Christ to reach out to the Gentiles in Acts 9 and trained by Christ personally for 3 years (see Galatians 1), the Gospel has travelled across the globe out of Judea and Samaria and the message is not hidden to the millions of us throughout generations.

On this Palm Sunday, we remember Christ’s entry into Jerusalem to prepare for His work and sacrifice on Calvary. We rejoice Christ’s triumphant entry into Jerusalem as His sacrifice on the cross had a profound impact on the sins of mankind and had changed the course of history.

Let’s be thankful that the scales of our eyes were removed to see the truth and that we had the presence of mind and the desire to accept the truth into our lives and become a child of the Almighty God through Christ Jesus. No doubt we did this voluntarily out of our own free will. But be grateful that we are able to enjoy a fellowship and relationship with Christ with minimal persecution, although some of us may have to go through hardships in order to worship Him in spirit and in truth. Praise the Lord for His steadfast love endureth forever, and it is renewed every morning like dew. Amen!

https://odb.org/MY/2023/03/31/rest-assured

I recalled just a few weeks back I was down with a serious cold, had a bad sore throat, and was running a temperature up to 38.5 degrees Celsius. With the fever, I only wanted to sleep. Didn’t want to do anything. I had no appetite to eat. I only ate to take my medicine. But as I lay down on the bed, I wanted to sleep only but couldn’t. Not only in the daytime but at night as well. In the night, I was drifting in and out of sleep. Didn’t really rest. Didn’t have any dreams in my sleep, which to me indicated a restless sleep.

Now that I have recovered. I sleep early and wake up early. But in my sleep, I have dreams, and although I can’t remember the details well, I knew I had slept well.

Sometimes, in life, our awake times mimic our sleep time. Although we are not sick, we are restless. We are very busy at work chasing deadlines, clearing one document after another. There are just so many tasks to attend to. Now it’s the end of March approaching April. In Malaysia, this is the tax filing period for individuals. So we are busy compiling our EA forms, looking for our receipts for tax deductions. In the midst of all that, some of us may be facing a family crisis. Or we may be moving house. Or we may be in between jobs or are retiring from a full-time job. Or someone in the family is facing a health emergency or is hospitalised.

In the midst of all this turmoil, it is good to have God in our lives. Why? Because we know that despite the bleak outlook in the economic situation and the turmoil we are facing, we have Romans 8:28 that we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose. In other words, even if something devastating happens like the passing of someone dear in the family, the ending will still be good. Like King Hezekiah during Isaiah’s time, we need to put our trust in the Lord and find our peace in Him amidst all this turmoil and whirlwind of happenings.

Do pause in the midst of our busy schedules and pray. Seek out God that He gives us an understanding and some meaning to the things we are going through. Even if we feel we are so alone in a new environment, a new city, a new neighbourhood, or a new workplace, God is with us. Jesus Christ is in our lives, in our midst. Seek Him out for our rest, our peace in the midst of turmoil. Trust him that He will give us rest!

https://odb.org/MY/2023/03/30/to-do-or-not-to-do

Romans 7:14-25 has been a source of debate because if it describes Paul’s personal struggles with sin, then it contradicts Paul’s assertion that believers have freedom from sin in the Holy Spirit as described in Romans 6:17-18 and 8:1-2. Thus, many scholars now believe that Paul’s narrative in Romans 7 is more a literal technique to dramatically describe one’s general struggle with sin under the law as opposed to our freedom from sin in the power of the Holy Spirit.

But the reality, I believe, as most of us have experienced, is that there is indeed an ongoing struggle with sin, even as believers empowered by the Spirit. We can be driven by emotions and sometimes get disportionately angry with others, especially when driving and confronted with unethical queue cutting drivers. So we display our dissatisfaction with such situations by honking at such drivers when we should be exercising compassion and forgiveness.

Or after paying for a meal, halfway home, we realised that the restaurant had under-charged us by omitting an item. Do we turn back and spend another 20 mins in traffic, look for parking, and go back to the restaurant to pay them for the omitted item? Would we do that if we were over-charged? The thing is, by not doing what is right, we are committing sin. In the earlier case of queue cutting, shouldn’t we have taken photographs and reported such unethical drivers to the authorities? For example, those driving on the emergency lane during packed highway traffic conditions.

Is our struggle with sin in not doing what is right or doing what is wrong when we don’t want to? I believe, like Paul, we have the freedom not to sin anymore in the power of the Holy Spirit. Thus, we must clearly refrain from intentionally doing evil to avoid the embarrassment of telling God later why we did what we did in our next conversation with Him. I think if we intentionally do evil or hurt others, we will have a tough time explaining ourselves to the Lord. Also, for not doing the right thing, perhaps it will be easier to justify to the Lord; but even then, if we had disobeyed a prompting of the Holy Spirit, we had not only sin but would have missed out on the blessing and experience of responding to His voice in our heart.

I guess the message this morning is that whenever we face sin, we should remember that if we intentionally do evil, we will have a tough time explaining our behaviour to God. What are we to say the next time we face Him in prayer? We can avoid the issue, but for how long can we do so? It is my prayer for myself and everyone that as we journey on with God in this walk of faith that we will overcome sin and our weaknesses more and more, that we will always remain faithful and true to our calling in Christ until the day of Jesus Christ.

https://odb.org/MY/2023/03/29/god-had-other-plans-2

Every time I read about the story of Moses, I marvel at God and His providence. His miraculous ways are simply amazing. At a time when Pharoah had decreed that all newborn Hebrew babies were to be killed, there were people like midwives and mothers who dared to risk their lives to keep the baby. When the mother could not hide the baby any longer, she put the baby into a basket at the Nile, and of all the people who found the baby, it was Pharaoh’s daughter! She recognised him as a Hebrew baby and asked her servant to get a Hebrew woman to nurse the baby, and it turned out that the woman was Moses’s mother! So now Moses and her mother were reunited but under the protection of Pharaoh’s daughter.

We, of course, know the story of Moses as he fled Pharaoh’s Palace at the age of 40 after killing an Egyptian tormenting a Hebrew and at 80 had the experience of seeing the burning bush and after answering God’s call for his life, went on a subsequent 40-year journey where he rescued and brought 600,000 Hebrew slaves (not counting the women and children) out of Egypt, across the desert into Canaan, the Promised Land. Moses had a life that was a series of miracles fulfilling God’s plans and purposes for His people, including many miracles in confronting Pharoah and during the 40-year sojourn in the desert.

Perhaps our own lives may not be as miraculous or as miracles-filled as Moses’s life, but if we are older now, our parents would have lived through and survived the Japanese occupation of Malaya, where many were killed during WW2. Or the fight between the British and the Communists where many innocent lives were also lost in that tussle or the infamous May 13 racial riots. Or those difficult years in the 70s where Malaysia was still developing and life was much tougher than now. Or even these past few years, where, as of today, around 37,000 Malaysians have perished due to Covid-19.

God has a plan for each and every one of us. We are His square peg for His square hole in the Kingdom of God. All that we are today in our spiritual journey with Him, all that we have become in terms of our talents and giftings and experience in Him and at work, He has a plan for us in His glorious Kingdom. We are where we are today because God has placed us here for His glory. Like Paul, who was uniquely placed to reach out to the Gentiles beyond Judea, having grown up in the Greek-speaking world of Tarsus and yet schooled in Hebrew as he was a rabbi, we are all uniquely placed to fulfil God’s plans and purposes for our lives.

Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters in Christ, do reflect on our spiritual journey today and ask the Lord what is His calling for us at this season of our lives if we are not already living in the center of His will? The Lord has brought us this far with all of our life experiences and to this stage of our spiritual journey. Are we living out His destiny for us while we are still alive in this world?

https://odb.org/MY/2023/03/28/stress-to-peace

If we needed to do something, whether in church or at work, there would be some pressure to do it well and thus there is stress. Naturally, we want to meet the expectations of those around us. There will be pressure to conform and to perform. The key, in my view, to doing well is preparation. The more we prepare and train for it, the better we will become, and that applies to work or ministry like leading worship or preaching from the pulpit or participating or leading a cell group discussion.

I just finished preaching a message in church last Sunday from Acts 9 on Paul’s road to Damacus experience. I had infused my own life experiences with God to illustrate His heart in choosing Paul, who was uniquely placed, to reach out to the Greek speaking world of the Gentiles, and for the first time in preaching, I ran out of time! I usually struggle to fill up the allocated time. Thus, in my spiritual journey in ministry, I have, in my own eyes, progressed in speaking even though as I had shared; I write, sing, and play the guitar better than I speak! In other words, I have now done better in preaching from the pulpit from the day I had to read from a prepared text to nowadays when I still write out my message, but I use the written text more as a prompter. I’m still a long way from preaching off the cuff, but I know I’m getting there! Was there stress in going up to the pulpit to preach? Yes, of course there was. But the more we prepare and the more we internalise, the better we will become. Also, the more we do and practice, the better we will become.

Besides work and ministry, another aspect of life that stresses us out is just the things and occurences happening around us. Life just revolving as we know it, the earth just turning on its axis as it journeys around the sun and as a result a day becomes the next and becomes a week, a month and a year. Life goes on, and time moves on. Thus, we worry about our future, our children and things like when will Christ come again and what are we doing preparing for His coming? Are we ready? Are our children and loved ones ready? If the great tribulation materialises, will we be able to stand firm for our faith like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego? Or will we crumble under the pressure of life and take the mark of the beast and bow down to the anti Christ?

Do not be anxious over anything – in all things present our requests to God, in prayer and supplication and the peace of God that surpasses all understanding, will guard our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus. That’s Paul in Philippian 4:6-7. In other words, trust God in every situation and thus, trust God that we and our loved ones will prevail in times of great tribulation that we will remain true to the faith until the day of Jesus Christ.

https://odb.org/MY/2023/03/27/hes-listening

The life story illustration in today’s ODB is Chuck Norris, the famous martial artist Hollywoood actor and world karate champion, who had worked with Bruce Lee, when the latter was at the peak of his career.

https://www.baptistpress.com/resource-library/news/chuck-norris-tells-how-gods-plan-was-bigger-than-his-own/

Chuck attributed his faith to the prayers of his mother, who constantly prayed for him. I also attribute my faith to the prayer of my late mother and later my late father, who both prayed for me and my family, especially those times when I used to travel abroad for work when my children were still young. I’ll say that the constant prayers of my late mum during those times kept me safe during all my travels. During those times, my parents also helped us take care of our boys while we were both busy with our jobs as we used to travel more than 100km daily from our home to the city to work.

As my children now have grown up with my elder one having already graduated from university and working, and my younger one halfway through his studies, I believe it is now the time for us to do what my parents used to do for my family – that is to pray for my children, particularly for my elder child who is working abroad. We need to constantly keep them in prayers as the prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective (James 5:16).

Keep our righteousness before God, fulfil His percepts and laws in our hearts, maintain our faith in our Lord Jesus Christ until the day of Christ that we may all be blameless before His throne of grace; in the meantime, pray for our loved ones and those who need our prayers. Our prayers will be powerful and effective as we are righteous before God. The Lord will hear us out and fulfil our prayers in His time. Always pray and don’t give up. Pray for our children that they will keep the faith and remember God in all that they do. Pray for our loved ones that they will know God one day and will be saved.

https://odb.org/MY/2023/03/24/recognizing-gods-voice

One of the things we learned and practised in my previous church was to hear the voice of God. It is not an easy task, but we start by picking up the obvious from a passage of Scripture. Then we dwell deeper and ask more personal questions like what the Lord is really saying to me now? We try to relate to what we are going through and what God is saying, but in reference to the Scripture we are reading. As we do this daily and thus more and more, we will get better at it, and as we face challenging issues in life, we apply the same method and soon we will be hearing God’s voice speaking into our situation. The proof of the pudding is in the eating! To have the confidence to hear God’s voice in real-life situations that we are facing in real time, we need to start from the basics.

Like wolves being able to recognise howls of other wolves or orcas hearing and recognising the whistles of orcas in their pods, we can recognise the voice of the Lord as we are His sheep and He is our shepherd. As believers, we hold on to John 10:27-28, where Jesus says that my sheep hears my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. If we are His sheep, we will surely know His voice. But it does not come immediately, and neither will it come naturally; as to hear God’s voice, we need to enter into the spiritual realm and connect with God in the spirit. All that requires time and practice. But if we practice hard and do this daily, we will be good at it, and when it really matters, we will know and recognise His voice.

Recognising God’s voice doesn’t mean it is a treasure-hunt game of deciphering clues and knowing the next move. Jesus could tell us to make our own choices in life. He could tell us to follow where our hearts lead us. Or He could say things like if our heart is to serve Him, maybe this is the best decision for us. Maybe it’s not a bad idea to follow the Logos Hope ship around the world for a few years to serve God when we are still young, healthy and strong! https://www.om.org/ships/.

Hearing the voice of God is something real that every believer is blessed with, but it is something we need to develop to be accurate and sharp. As we get better, we can also pray for and help others to hear God’s voice for their unique situations. It can be as easy as the logical answer as per the tenets of our faith or based on a principle from the bible – for example, don’t do what King Saul did or do what Paul did in being determined to go to Jerusalem despite knowing they will likely execute him (see Acts 20). Or it could be grey and thus require wisdom from God or a word of knowledge and spiritual discernment.

https://odb.org/MY/2023/03/23/why-do-this

When we study in school or even university, we will wonder whether we will ever use the stuff we study. I did law, and thus, when I graduated and started practising, there were, of course, material we used immediately like the civil court rules. In fact, we were drafting pleadings based on court forms. My second son is doing computer science, and I’m sure the difficult maths and programming languages he is learning will be immediately used if he takes up an IT-related job later on.

This brings us to the question of the day – will we ever use the stuff we learn from the bible? When we learn about Paul, for example, how useful will such information be in real life? Or we study about the life of Abraham, will we get to use those facts?

I think when it comes to the Word of God, the approach is slightly different. The information we learnt we could always contribute as part of our participation in our cell group if a similar topic or a corresponding example ever arises. However, with the bible, bible knowledge is learning about God and His heart. Thus, even if we don’t get to reproduce the knowledge we have acquired, we have learnt about how God relates to His people. In the process, we have the assurance and confidence that He will treat us likewise. If He forgives in the bible, we know He will forgive us in our lives. If He intervenes into the natural in the bible, we know we can depend on Him to intervene in our situations. Perhaps He will give us similar chances that He gave Paul or John or David to have a comparable spiritual journey. If we are willing, our road to spiritual maturity and success will not be limited. God will give us all the opportunities that we desire if we want to serve Him and give our lives to Him.

Our faith is very much a relationship with God and Jesus Christ, our Lord, and His Word is the lamp that guides us along. As we read His Word, Jesus speaks to us. The Holy Spirit convicts us. We are strengthened and encouraged. As we read about Paul, we are astonished and admire his staying power and dedication to the cause of the Gospel, and we are inspired to do the same.

Study the Word, read about God and His interactions and love for His people. Nothing will be wasted or not useful. Everything that we have read and learnt from His Word will be useful in His time as all Scripture is God breathed and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction and for training for righteousness that the man of God may be complete and equipped for every good work (2 Timothy 3:16-17)!