https://odb.org/MY/2022/07/06/you-can-do-it-2

We are all acquinted with the power of encouragement as the teaching is always it is better to encourage than to criticise. So someone didn’t do as well – we say, it’s ok, try again or work harder and do better next time. It is a good principle to follow whether in the world or the church, just that in the former people tend to be more exacting in their pronouncements, less forgiving and more demanding of results. So bosses have less patience to tolerate incompetence and tardiness and will surely scold and rebuke us if we produce less than stellar results or are slow. The reason I guess is that at the work place we are paid to do a job and thus there is a clear expectation of our job scope and responsibilities.

We can adapt the same approach in the church. If someone doesn’t conform, we can scold and reprimand and criticise. However, in matters of faith, there is also the concept of voluntariness as well as pace. Different ones of us are changed differently and most of the work is done by the Holy Spirit on the inside, in the heart which is not outwardly visible immediately. We should let the person change and grow at his or her pace.

The encouragement I like to emphasise this morning is somewhat different. It has more to do with dealing with disappointment and hardship in the walk of faith. Sometimes the going is so tough that instead of the tough gets going, we are tempted to throw everything away and walk. The eternal promises are just so far out and unreachable that the toil of the present living just overwhelms us. It may be too difficult to live out the faith if we are constantly persecuted by friends and family. That is why the body of believers need to step in to encourage those going through such severe difficulties in the faith. Don’t give up. Don’t despair. God is with us. The sufferings will not last forever. Everything we go through now is still worth it and cannot compare to the glory that awaits us in eternity Paul wrote this before in Romans 8:18 and it is true. We must hold on and believe that it can only be true because we are trusting in the one amd only true and living God!

Be the encourager, be the builder of faith. That’s our role as a fellow believer. Don’t give up. God will come through eventually. Even if he doesn’t, we are already assured a place in eternity. In the end, that’s what matters. He is our God and we are His people. Let us all be like Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego who went into the fiery furnace and believed that God will save them but declared that even if God did not save them, they will still not bow down and worship the golden statue made by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon – see Daniel Chapter 3.

https://odb.org/MY/2022/07/05/wisdom-and-understanding

I think while it is outstanding and astounding that Julian of Norwich spent 20 years praying in isolation to seek the Lord after seeing visions of Jesus’ crucifixion as she was healed from a sa crerious and potentially fatal illness, it is probably not something practical in the modern world. That was in the 14th century. To spend 20 years in solitude praying to seek the meaning of those visions now would look very much an opporunity lost to share and testify of that experience – but the point remains that God speaks and reveals things to us, during ancient times speaking to Abraham and Moses and all the prophets, to Paul and the other Apostles, to Julian of Norwich as well as to us here in 2022. The Lord reveals of Himself and the mysteries of the Kingdom as we seek Him in prayer, as we dwell and meditate upon His Word.

I’m sure many of us have experienced receiving revelations from God as we read His Word. Something like a different perspective to a passage of Scripture. As we read on and pray, God may reveal an aspect of Him that we didn’t see before in a familiar bible passage. To those of us who prepare sermons, we know that even as God speaks, we must never take passages out of context. Any Scripture needs to be read in the context of the chapter and the book and in line with the literary style of the period it was written, in consistency with the cultural practices of that time and most importantly in conformity with the established tenets of our faith. We are not here to propagate a new movement of the Christian faith! Although God may use a passage or word to speak to us literally, it is not wise to rely on its literal meaning to form the basis of a message or sermon. A personal Word to us is not the same as a Word for sharing with others or a congregation or for teaching.

Having said that, I encourage that we all seek to pursue the Lord speaking to us through His Word as revelations confirm and assure us that God is alive and real to us in our personal context. As we read and pray and meditate, ask that He opens up our mind to see and our hearts to receive of His Word to edify and encourage and strengthen us. For Him to let us know and assure us that He is with us as we go through the rigours and the ups and downs of life, its many challenges and storms. The reality of God in our lives is an essential facet of our faith that we must cherish and cling on to dearly. We have the means and the ability as a child of God redeemed by the blood of Christ to reach out to the most powerful force in the universe, a direct line to the Great I Am, the Almighty God, the creator of heavens and earth. Read His Word, study it, meditate upon it and He will give and teach us the Wisdom of His ways!

https://odb.org/MY/2022/07/04/no-greater-love-7

There is no greater love than a man who lays down his life for his friend. Jesus said this in John 15:13. Although He did that for us when He died on the cross for our sins, He meant it both literally and figuratively. This is important because although the literal meaning is the ultimate, the figurative meaning is what most of us will likely encounter in our lifetime. That means love involves sacrifice. When we love, we are willing to part with something. It may not be our life but there must be something that gives. There is a cost to love. If there is no cost, then perhaps the love is just verbal, just words without action. It is just saying but without doing anything.

Jesus taught us to love God with all our heart, mind and soul and to love our neighbour. Is there something that we can do to show that we love God and our neighbour? Is there an action that can follow our love for God and our neighbour? Are we helping the poor and needy? Are we giving our time and talents for the church, for the Kingdom of God? Are we serving God? Are we putting in time to attend our cell group so that we may grow and help others in the group with the sharing of our life? Do we share our thoughts and our life experience during our cell group meetings? Do we share about our walk with God? An action is involved, a sacrifice is made when we do something for someone and that may just involve us sharing our life in a cell group. Or we could clean the church or the toilets as our sacrifice and love for the congregation. That is love because love must be love in action. Loving God and our neighbour is not merely refraining from sin and doing evil. It is not passive. It is active. It usually requires something from us.

Unless we are in the battlefield fighting a war for our country or the police confronting criminals to maintain peace and order, we are unlikely to be sacrificing our lives for another. But sacrificial love need not only be about sacrificing our lives. Can we give of something that is ours to give? Our time, talent, money, effort for someone else, for the Kingdom of God, for the glory of the Lord? We cannot remain passive and uninvolved forever. It is time to step out, step up and get into the fray. That is what love really means. Love = sacrifice. Have a good week ahead everyone and let’s action our love!

https://odb.org/MY/2022/07/03/he-knows-my-heart

When we make a genuine mistake, apologise and try to make amends but people nevertheless accuse us of having done so intentionally, only God knows our heart intention and thus this is not an argument we can win. The Lord doesn’t judge by what He sees with His eyes or what He hears with His ears but He will judge with righteousness and justice. He is able to see deep within us into our hearts. Whether we were sincere and genuine.

There lies the crux of the matter. The situation we will likely face however is the converse of what was illustrated in the ODB example today. Rather than us having made a genuine mistake and not having the intention to cut the queue and accused of having intended that, it is more of us behaving in a manner that is outwardly acceptable but inwardly insincere, fake and false.

In conformity to socially acceptable behaviour, in fact socially acceptable “Christian” behaviour, we may do certain things or take certain action to flow with the crowd. Unfortunately our hearts are not really in those things. For example, we may give to a beggar to show people our generosity but not with the intention to help the beggar. Or we participate in a program to help the poor because everyone is participating but our heart is not with the poor.

The thing is while we can fool human beings, we can’t fool God and a lot of these things only become really meaningful to us and to God if our actions and hearts are aligned. To God as He can see our hearts, what really matters is the intention of our hearts. Are we real, genuine and sincere? Do we really believe in the cause? Or are we just flowing with what everyone is doing? I think this is important to God because if we are genuine and sincere, there will be more to come in the sense that God will open more opportunities for us to do such noble things for more people. For example, when we give and we give genuinely, the Lord will open more avenues for us to give. Granted our resources are finite, but there will be different groups we can give to because in the end, the actual amount is not as pertinent as the heart to help. We can give smaller amounts to help more people and enjoy the blessings that come with blessing more people which may include the ability to give even more!

Therefore let us examine ourselves this morning as we worship the Lord in church. Let us do things with sincerity and genuine love. Remember God sees our heart. Make sure our hearts are always real before God and man. Have a blessed Sunday in church everyone and may He dwell in the praises of His people and may we be enveloped by His tangible presence as we praise and worship Him today!

https://odb.org/MY/2022/07/02/surviving-together

Some people believe they can be a believer but need not join a church or a fellowship. Their argument is that their relationship with God is between them and God and thus they don’t need to involve anyone else, or rather it is perfectly OK to relate to God without involving other believers.

That belief is of course incorrect and misconceived as we need each other to grow spiritually and in maturity. The community of believers encourages and supports our faith, besides being a form of check and balance for us, for example, with someone telling us if we are off the narrow path. There is strength in numbers whether in war or peace, whether in prayer or spiritual warfare, whether in evangelism or discipling. Two is better than one and three is better than two. It is true with knots and threads and it is true with people. Even at work, working as a team is more encouraging and inspiring as we are able to achieve much more compared to working solo.

That is why Paul wrote in Ephesians 4:11 that Christ gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and the teachers to equip His people for works of service so that the body may be built up. The various ministries are to equip and build up the people of God for the work of God. They are not the work itself as they are to prepare the body for God’s work.

Of course when we meet as a body, we meet all sorts of people in various forms. Different believers are at different levels of work in progress in terms of our conforming to the image of Christ. That’s part and parcel of spiritual maturity. No doubt what matters most is our relationship with God and yet we need to relate to others in the body as part of our spiritual growth. The fruit of the Spirit can only be birthed and formed as we interact and relate with people, as we go through the difficulty of dealing with all sorts of people – even those who are in the family of God. In the modern Christian world, we cannot be a hermit and grow in Christ because part of that growth comes from us growing as we relate and connect with others. Never an easy task and sometimes we wish we can be all alone in our room or house. But that’s not life. God has made us with company. We are not alone. There are many out there. They need us as much as we need them. That is why we always need to meet as a congregation.

My encouragement to us today is that if we have been comfortable attending church online, it is time to dress up and step out of our rooms and houses and start to physically go to church. Real interactions in life occur face to face. Even businesses and companies have started to get people back to offices. The present ethos is work from home if you are not well otherwise come to office, in the same rein – unless you are not well come to church to worship God as a congregation!

https://odb.org/MY/2022/07/01/celestial-communion

I just had an interesting conversation with a Muslim colleague on the Holy Communion a few days back. Basically I explained that it was initiated by Jesus for us believers to remember His death until He comes again. It was originally a Jewish passover meal to commensurate God’s grace in sparing the lives of the first born of the Israelites when they were in Egypt when the Angel of Death came and took the life of every first born in every Egyptian family during that time including the first born of their livestock. The sign that caused the Angel of Death to bypass a home was the blood of an unblemished lamb splashed on its doors and Jesus later became the Lamb of God that redeemed us and avoided us as believers from eternal death and damnation.

The original Holy Communion was actually a proper meal that started with Jesus breaking the bread and giving thanks to God but for the congregation to partake it as part of a Sunday worship service it has been simplified over the years into a piece of bread and some juice. There is nothing physically magical in the bread and juice in the sense that they didn’t originate from any specific place or anywhere special like the zam zam water. Yet even though the significance is spiritual, there is something supernatural that could occur as we partake the elements. Believers have been known to have experienced healings and breakthroughs by just partaking of the Holy Communion. Nothing magical but there is both spiritual and supernatural significance. The only rule churches have is that we have to be believers to partake of the sacraments. If we have not accepted Christ, we must refrain from it as it is only meant for those who have accepted the death and resurrection of Christ in their lives.

In my previous church, we don’t just partake of the elements corporately but we use the time to also pray for one another or with families praying with one another. I think that’s a good practice to use that solemn time to pray for another and cultivate the unity of the spirit and the body. That as we remember what the Lord did for us and be thankful for the gift of salvation and eternal life, we give thanks together and use the opportunity to pray for the needs of one another.

Let’s partake the Holy Communion seriously, and the coming Sundays as we partake of the sacraments, use that time to examine ourselves, seek forgiveness and repent from our sins and thank the Lord for His love and mercy in calling us to be children of God, to be a part of the Kingdom of Heaven.

https://odb.org/MY/2022/06/30/giving-god-my-work

I was with a group of companies for nearly 27 years before I recently found a good opening elsewhere and exited. My pastor said that 3 more years and I would have clocked 30 years and would equal government servants on the pension scheme! In my 27 years, I was not at a single job. I had moved around a few times but I was nevertheless at a job for a long time with the last stint at nearly 13 years. So obviously there were times when I wanted to join another organisation, do something else in a new environment and yet we don’t leave just because there’s another opportunity elsewhere. Actually, in the present work culture, employers value loyalty less than youth and even though they complain when the young nowadays leave after a short stint, they still prefer youth to experience. The young brings vibrancy and a buzz to organisations but crucially they are cheaper, more productive, abounding with energy and ideas. Yet we should not leave for just a few hundred more or just for a change.

This is because as believers, we also believe in God’s calling for our lives and for some of us, there could be a calling to be where we are for a season and sometimes that season is a long one. There is something to be achieved in our lives and for those around us where God has placed us.

That is why there comes a point where we need to look at our work as something we do for God as part of our worship and living sacrifice for Him, not just a job to put food on the table. Some of us have no choice but to stay where we are and it could be for a variety of reasons like a good salary, excellent benefits, proximity to our homes or we are already a master of what we do. Some have not much choice because they are civil servants. Yet we sometimes still wish we could move on somewhere because the work has become less of an adventure more of a chore that pays the bills.

Some of us dream of going full time for the Lord but ultimately our job is our calling whether we are full time or working in the world. That’s our land, the place where God wants us to be and has placed us to be. Cultivate the land that God has given us. Until a really good opportunity comes along and we have the prompting of God to make a move, stay on and do our best for the Lord.

Whatever you do, do it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward (Colossians 3:22-23).

https://odb.org/MY/2022/06/29/run-2

The story of Joseph in the bible of how he ran out of the house when Potiphar’s wife tried to seduce him is the classic illustration of the point that the best way to avoid sin is to flee from it. Conversely, probably the worse way to avoid sin is to go to it and attempt to resist it. 99% of the time and I think 99% of us will fail and fall. The spirit may be unwilling to sin but our flesh is weak.

But for this morning I like to emphasise instead on the results of Joseph maintaining his righteousness. If we read on in Genesis 39:11-23, we will see that Joseph was framed by Potiphar’s wife as having molested her even though the opposite happened and he was innocent. Joseph was unjustly thrown into prison. It was a terrible situation for him as he was just sold as a slave by his brothers and now he is in prison. But if we read on the story, we will see that despite his horrendous situation (and can we say because of his horrible situation?), the LORD was with him. God was present with him in his miserable circumstance and although it was harrowing, he maintained his righteousness throughout and God was with him and showed him kindness. God granted Joseph favour with the prison warden and was put in charge of the prisoners. In other words, instead of suffering as a prisoner, Joseph became essentially like a warden as he was given responsibility over all the prisoners and the warden didn’t pay any attention to all that was under Joseph’s care because the LORD was with him and gave him success in all that he did. That is the classic example on how God will be with us if we maintain our righteousness and flee away from temptation and sin. God will grant us favour with our vendors, customers and bosses and will bless the work of our hands as we maintain our righteousness before God and man.

So beloved brothers and sisters in Christ, do not entertain the thought of sin. Flee far away from temptation and sin. Go the other way. Run from it. Maintain our righteousness before God and man. God will be with us and bless the work of our hands. We will in turn be successful before God and man! Isn’t that a win-win situation?

https://odb.org/MY/2022/06/28/the-big-welcome

Today’s concept of accepting a friend of a friend as your friend is certainly interesting to look at from the perspective of us as a friend of Christ. I think we are familiar with this concept of A being a friend of Mr so and so and since we know Mr so and so, we accept A as our friend. This is often used in business for introducing contacts and networking but also socially to broaden our social circle and to extend or receive help or to support one another.

Applying it to us as believers and applying Matthew 10:40-42, if anyone accepts us because we are a friend of Christ, he or she accepts Jesus and since it is the Father who sent Jesus, he or she accepts God the Father Himself. More crucially, Jesus stated that whoever accepts a prophet as a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward and whoever accepts a righteous person as a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward. Therefore, just as the disciples were sent out to minister and reach out to the lost tribe of Israel (at that point, not yet to the Gentiles or Samaritans), we are likewise sent out to reach out to our friends, acquaintance and relatives and whosoever accepts us as a friend of Jesus, will be accordingly rewarded. God will bless and reward those who receive us the same way He would bless and reward those who had received the disciples during the time of Christ. Now who wouldn’t want the blessings and providence and grace and mercy of the Almighty God, the creator of heavens and earth and all of and in the universe? Perhaps they will receive the greatest blessings of all time, the gift of salvation, the gift of eternal life, the pathway to heaven and eternity?

The message this morning is not to be fearful or be daunted by the prospect of reaching out. As a friend of Jesus, we bring the Good News and the gift of salvation and most importantly if they receive us, they are receiving Jesus and receiving the one who sent Jesus and thus they will be receiving Father God, and Jesus had promised that whosoever receives us as a friend of Christ will be rewarded accordingly. Thus, my prayer for us today is that the infinite blessings of God will be upon those who receive us, even those who take the trouble to read this message and the many messages before in ODB or my blog or other writers who write for God to bless and encourage the brethren. May the heavens be opened and may His provision and protection be upon us all and all who gladly receive us and our messages even as we go through these tough and stressful post pandemic times and the ongoing Russian-Ukraine war, with escalating prices of almost everything and increasingly recessionary and uncertain economic outlook!

https://odb.org/MY/2022/06/27/more-than-enough-3

This account in 2 Kings 4:1-7 is a well known story of how God through Elisha protected and provided for the widow of a prophet who had just died so that her two sons are not taken as slaves to repay the debt of the dead prophet. God intervened into the natural by turning a small bowl of oil (most likely olive oil) into pails and pails of oil that she could sell for cash to repay her husband’s debt and redeem her sons from slavery. It is supernatural and a miracle because it turned little to much like how Jesus turned 5 loaves of bread and 2 small fish to feed 5,000.

God is God. The same way He created the world and all the things in it by His spoken word (see Genesis 1), He could easily make nothing into something and something into much. In modern day accounts of believers, we would have heard numerous accounts of how God worked miracles among His people including multiplying rice containers such that it doesn’t go empty for long periods of time or miracles of a cup of raw rice filling a whole rice cooker of cooked rice! Or how missionaries living in faith and sometimes from meal to meal suddenly getting a gift of a meal from a neighbour (liked cooked dishes) or suddenly receiving a deposit of money into his bank account. All these goes to show that when it comes to our basic needs, God provides and sometimes and in some cases miraculously.

What’s our takeaway message today? I believe everyone of us can experience God like that widow in Elisha’s account or that boy with 2 loaves and 5 fish in Jesus’s miracle of feeding the 5,000. Give whatever little we may have and let God do the multiplication. When we see someone in need, give whatever we can. Even a small sum will go a long way as God can multiply our gift. So maybe RM20 can only buy a 5 kg pack of raw rice. But if that pack of rice can last for months would our RM20 not be worth much more? Or a small gift may trigger an avalanche of giving by more people and thus enable the heavenly showers of blessings to be poured out?

God is a God of miracles. Never look down or underestimate our giving whatever the amount. God is able to do much with little – what’s important is our sincere and genuine heart to help out. We do our small part and let the Lord do the rest!