The Covid-19 pandemic, now turning endemic, has turned upside down many lives across the world. From upheavals in families caused by lost lives, children losing both parents to the virus to restaurants and businesses closed for good as the prolonged lack of income just meant that they can’t continue paying their workers, their rent and meet their other commitments. Inevitably, those at the lowest level of the chain suffer the most as workers lose their jobs when businesses close. Even large industries like consumer electronics and automotive are facing serious supply issues caused by the current global shortage of chips.
Unless you’re a government retiree with a life long pension or a government servant, no one is spared from the anxiety and uncertainty of what the future lies. We don’t know how long we can hold on to our jobs. In fact, we are unsure how long our companies can survive the impact from the pandemic in terms of sales, margins or even the continued availability of raw materials to manufacture our goods. For example, you may have secured orders for 100,000 units of your products for this year but with the unavailability of a key component, you may only be able to actually sell 10,000 units this year with the 90,000 postponed to next year, affecting both this year’s as well as next year’s sales. Or we may have to contend with rising prices causing less people buying our goods or services as people have less in their wallets due to the present economic situation. As consumption makes the world go round, depressed demand across markets leads to a cascading downward spiral with disastrous consequences.
If we are faced with the negative effects of the pandemic, if we lose our businesses or jobs in the process – as believers, we can trust in the unseen and put our faith in God. We need to believe that whatever happens, we may be hard pressed but not crushed, perplexed but not in despair, persecuted but not abandoned, struck down but not destroyed. Whatever may happen to our businesses and jobs, we will be preserved by God. We will suffer but will not be destroyed. We need to make adjustments in our lifestyle, in our spending but we will find a way out of this maze with God’s grace and guidance. Certain plans and even dreams need to be shelved. Certain aspirations need to be curtailed and adjusted but we will see this through as God is with us all the way.
The message today is don’t give up hope and despair. The Lord is still the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. Jesus Christ is still our Lord and Saviour. The Holy Spirit is still with us, living in us. March on, continue our walk. In fact, be more fervent in our faith and serve God more. Get more involved in prayer and ministry as we explore and search for the light at the end of the tunnel. Get ourselves busy in God, don’t sit around and sulk. As we look for new things to do in terms of our jobs and businesses, serve God by helping out others in our predicament, minister to people in need, be active in church. There will be a way out as we are a people who believe and trust in the unseen. We are a people who fix our eyes on the unseen as what is seen is temporal but what is unseen is eternal!
For those of you who are close to my father and I, you will know that although we loved each other very much, we were not physically affectionate or that close to one another. I would say that we are certainly not as close as me and my Ivan and Daniel.
As I reflect and think about this as to why we were like that – I guess this was because I didn’t grow up in that manner with him. When it came to our “father and son” relationship, the dynamic was that we didn’t speak that much when I was growing up. So, there was always a little gap in our communication. When we spoke, it was very much on a “need to” basis. For example, I always joked and teased my mum, and play with her, but I never did that with my dad, not even once; when I was growing up or even when I became an adult.
Having said that, my relationship with my dad wasn’t bad in reality as he did include me in the things that he liked to do. So, before I was even 6 years old in Pasir Puteh, Kelantan he used to take me go fishing for big prawns at the river in our little town. He used to fish, and I would watch and help him take care of his catch. We used to have a feast of nice big prawns every weekend!
My father’s first posting after Teacher’s Training College was to Pasir Puteh, Kelantan in 1964 at the tender age of 22 and he married my mum around that time too in 1964. I was born 4 years later in 1968 in Ipoh, Perak (being the first child, my mum flew back to her hometown to deliver me) and I lived in Pasir Puteh after my birth. I do know that Pastor Sharene Thoo, my missionary cousin, used to stay with us during the school holidays to help my mum care for me while we were in Pasir Puteh. I think Sharene was probably around 9 or 10 then and I was maybe around 4 or 5!
One thing you all may not know but people in Pasir Puteh know this very well – my dad was a well-known football referee. He didn’t play the game as such – he ardently played badminton. But he was a referee for many years. My classmates and friends who played football all knew him as “Cikgu Michael – repri bola” (in the local Kelantenese dialect).
When I was around 6, my dad managed to get a transfer back to Perak (not to his hometown Ipoh, but to a town called Sitiawan, an hour’s drive away). That was in late 1973 and we stayed there until late 1979 before he got a transfer back to Pasir Puteh in 1980 for the second time and I did my Primary 6 until my Upper Six in Pasir Puteh, Kelantan.
When he was in Sitiawan, he was very involved in scouting and was a very active scoutmaster. He used to take me along for his weekly school scout meetings and also camping trips with his boy scouts even though I was studying in another school. So, I learned scouting since Standard Two although in my ACS Primary School, you can only join the Boy Scouts when you’re in Standard Four. Like refereeing, he was very faithful and diligent at scouting, going for jamborees and scouting trips all over Perak.
On his last fishing trip in Sitiawan, Perak before we went back to Pasir Puteh, Kelantan for the second time, I remembered going out to sea with him. We were fishing in and around a place called Pulau Sembilan, just off the coast of Manjung. I was 10 or 11 then and it was one of the best experiences I had with him as my dad. We caught some fish and the guys cooked them on board for us to eat and until today, I will remember that meal as the best fish meal that I ever had. The fish was just freshly caught and it was simply out of this world! I still remember this vividly after more than 40 years! A storm later came, and as the sea was rough and dangerous, we had to land at a small island to take refuge and we spent the night together as father and son at the beach to tide over the storm.
In my 50 over years here on earth with him as my father, he saved my life twice! Once when I nearly fell into a monsoon drain at the edge of my little town when it was raining heavily and where the drain flowed into the river (my sister distinctly recalled this incident), and at another time when I fell into a freshwater pond, and he lifted me up straight away.
The last phase of my youth with him was our time back in Pasir Puteh the second time. As I said before, I was there from Primary 6 to Upper Six and in those 8 years before I went to University Malaya in PJ to pursue my tertiary education and later embark on my career; it was a time when God touched his life, it was the time when Jesus came into his life. This second time in Pasir Puteh, Kelantan was extra special and I believe divinely arranged by God as my whole family accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord – starting with me at first then my sister, then my dad and mum. It was also the start of my father’s involvement in ministry and church, I would say for close to the 40 years of his 80 years of life here on earth.
The thing which stood out for me about my dad’s involvement in ministry and church was his dedication and faithfulness to the cause. The same way he was dedicated and faithful to refereeing and scouting before he knew Christ, he demonstrated the same dedication and faithfulness to God’s work. Even my son, Ivan, commented on Friday night (18 March 2022) how he remembered his Ah Kong having been so faithful taking the National Service bible studies with Brother Moses and Pastor Lydia, week in week out, without fail, 10 to 11 years back. For the past more than 15 years since joining WFA, he has been active in his Life Group, and I believe his Life Group members have been blessed by his dedication, leading and his prayers. In fact just hours before he was admitted to the Emergency Ward on Friday afternoon (18 March 2022), he was still counselling his Life Group members over WhatsApp.
When my late mum was alive, she and my dad used to pray for our family and that was crucial as I used to often travel overseas then, with Huey Mian working and yet taking care of the boys at home. When my late mum left us, my dad then started to pray for us. With him having left us now, we now need to start praying for our family ourselves.
For the past 13 years since he had his heart attack in September 2009 after our first trip overseas as a family to Hong Kong (after the passing of my late mum in April 2009), we can truly see the goodness of God in his life. God saved him during his heart attack. Sister Phoebe told us how bad the ECG charts were when he was first admitted, but by the next day everything turned good like a miracle, and he survived and lived on for nearly another 13 years since 2009. He was examined by the National Heart Institute and didn’t require any stents or by-pass surgeries (only blood thinning medication). I am thankful and grateful to God for those 13 years. In those 13 years, he got to know my step-mum, Jenny Lee, and married her in September 2010 (exactly one year after his heart attack), and Jenny really took care of him not only his health but his appearance as well (as my wife put it, transformed him from head to toes). God had given him a new lease of life, a second chance at life in 2009 and I am grateful that God brought Jenny into his life. It feels like my dad was somewhat like King Hezekiah whom God extended the King’s life for another 15 years!
For the past 3 years plus since January 2019, since we discovered his medical conditions from his ischemic bowels to his colon cancer, to his abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA), we had all taken turns to care for him when he was first admitted to hospital in Segamat and later in Johor Bahru, took him to Hospital Tuanku Ja’afar, Seremban for his regular SOPD and MOPD appointments, saw him though his two surgeries, took him to Institut Kanser Negara for his cancer appointments, took him to Serdang Hospital for his AAA appointments. I still remember the fear and uncertainty he had when he was wheeled in for his first surgery at the JB General Hospital to remove his ischemic bowels and colon cancer. I held his hand and kissed him on his forehead and cheeks before he was wheeled into the OT. The church prayed for him then and he made it through alive! Praise the Lord for His goodness and grace!
On his AAA, in the end, he made the decision with our support not to go through the surgery to repair it as it would have resulted in him losing both his kidneys and to spend the rest of his days on dialysis. Also, he may not survive that complex surgery which was expected to take at least 8 hours. My classmate, Joo Seng, an orthopaedic surgeon, agreed that it was the right decision to take as he could have sufferred a stroke while on the OT and thus, in addition to the dialysis, he could have been paralysed. He took the risk that his AAA may rapture at any time and that day came too suddenly on Friday evening (18 March 2022) when we were all the least prepared. We had all hoped that he would live for another 5 years but God loved him more to call him home earlier than we had expected.
In closing, I just like to say that at the last moments of his life, I managed to be at his side – when I arrived at the hospital, he gripped my hand tightly, glad and happy that I made it to see him, and I am glad and happy too that I managed to see him, and thank God for His grace and mercy in this regard. I tested positive for Covid on 10th March 2022 and although my seven-day quarrantine would have ended on 16th March, I had messed up on my MySejahtera reporting and was thus still red on Friday 18th March 2022. Fortunately my wife, Huey Mian, asked the doctor on duty and he approved that I drop by to see my dad since I had already served my 7-day quarantine period. I just needed to wear double masks and gloves.
My last words to him were “It’s OK, Pa – you go ahead first”, meaning to say, we will see him again on that day. It broke my heart to see him struggling to catch his breath but I knew that Christ welcomed him into His loving arms when he breathed his last.
I like to end with 2 Timothy 4:7-8 – “He has fought the good fight, he has finished the race, he has kept the faith. Now there is in store for him the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award him on that day, not only to him, but also to all who have longed for His appearing”.
I praise the Lord for the determination and dedication shown by my dad for Christ over the last 40 years and I pray that my wife and I and my children, Ivan and Daniel, my step mum, Jenny and my sister and her family will emulate him and demonstrate the same determination and dedication to Christ in our lives!
3 Generations of Lims
Akong’s Eulogy (By My Eldest Son, Ivan Lim)
Firstly, I’d like to thank everyone for coming to my grandfather’s funeral; regardless of how close your relationships were, I’m sure he’s been a positive influence in your lives one way or another.
Ever since I was young, my Akong has been a beacon of light shining bright in this dark world. I remember him spreading the gospel every week in a youth military camp, leading life group sessions, bringing new members into the kingdom of Christ, going to church to serve our Lord every single week in addition to praising, praying and worshipping him in his daily life. Despite his old age, his enthusiasm towards Christ never slowed down, in fact, if anything, he became even more passionate towards him, evident in his actions. He’s an example that I hope to follow, that no matter how old or frail we get, our love towards Christ stays the same as the first day we decided to accept and serve him.
My Akong was a great man who always cooked for us all these years; I remember his beef rendang dish that I’ve always specifically craved and his knife skills which were always so impressive to watch. Going even further back in time, I remember playing badminton with him in my backyard and sleeping with him on his iconic “pillow” which was a “soda beng tin container”. I also remember sitting in his old Proton Saga with barely any air-cond as he fetched me home from school, and 10 years later I had the privilege of returning the favour by fetching him back home from the hospital with my own car.
Moving forward in time, my Akong celebrated every single one of my birthdays and still messaged me with lovely messages even though I’m currently continents away. I could always feel his love and care despite being so far away in a foreign land. I will always miss those memories being in his company every birthday, every Chinese New Year, every Sunday in church and in his lovely home.
Despite not ever being able to see him again, I thank God that I was able to have such a supportive grandfather who gave me encouragement in my business, studies, in remembering Christ and just my life in general. I thank God that I was able to be his grandchild and that I was able to see him one last time before I left Malaysia.
His bright smile alongside his warm hug will always be the last memory that I have of him and I will always remember him saying, “All the best Ivan in your studies, Akong and Aunty Jenny loves you.“
To everyone, our family are and always will be the most important people in our lives; always remember to visit your parents, grandparents, aunty, uncles; you never know when it would be the last day you ever see them and don’t wait till it’s too late to only remember everything you’ve taken for granted.
I’d also like to take this chance to thank aunty Jenny for taking care of Akong all these years. Without you, he would’ve not been even close to how happy he was when he was with you. You gave him unconditional love which gave him his second push in life and I’m forever grateful for that. I pray that God gives you the strength that helps you, in addition to all of us through his passing and know that we will be here for you no matter what.
From witnessing the type of man that my Akong was, I’m sure that he’s in heaven right now with our Lord Jesus Christ watching over all of us. Instead of just feeling sad about his death, let’s all remember the great man that he was and appreciate all that he has done for us.
Whenever we miss him, let’s all look up in the skies and remember our favourite memory of him so that his love towards us will never ever fade from our hearts.
In the Songs of Solomon 2:15, it was mentioned to catch for us the little foxes that ruin the vineyards. These little foxes are quick and cunning and come in the night under the cover of darkness to devour the grapes and in the process, ruin the harvest and even the vineyards. They are not a major pestilence like locusts that arrive in millions eating up and destroying entire crops of plantations but just minor hindrances to a complete harvest at the vineyards. It’s that 0.5% discrepancy tolerance for wastage, pilferage or just plain bad grapes among the good. It’s just that the little foxes will likely go for the choice ones and thus it’s a loss to the farm. It will be better for the business if the little foxes are eliminated but it may require more work.
Are there little foxes in our relationships that are a source of annoyance and hindrance? Do we irritate people with our idiosyncrasies, our way of doing things? It is certainly not something fundamental like a betrayal or something hidden and evil like a backstabbing vile poison vial. It is nevertheless an irritant and sometimes these things will mean whether we progress further or remain where we are in our relationships, work or ministry.
For example, when I quarrel with my dear wife, it usually has to do with every day mundane stuff like why didn’t I finish up the peanut butter but leave some behind? Or in washing up the dishes, why was I so lazy to leave them to dry at the strainer but not use a cloth to dry them up and put them back onto the open rack? Or my frequent mistake – why did I leave the detergent container open after using the detergent for the washing machine? Some of my mistakes had more serious consequences like not tightening the lid of a container properly after use and thus the next person may spill the contents when he or she lifts up the container. There are others like forgetting where we left our keys, forgetting to lock the doors etc.
At the relationship level, we could have said something in jest but inappropriately. Made a comment without thinking through and ended up saying what we think, which will usually not end well if it was not properly filtered through in the first place. These gaffes or slips of tongues could be done in private and sometimes publicly like through the pulpit. Best way to resolve all these mistakes is to apologise quickly and not to do it again. We are all WIP and not perfect but should minimise minor irritants in relationships as sometimes a good relationship will not become great because of these little foxes that ruin the vineyards.
Catch for us those little foxes that ruin the vineyards – perhaps have a look at our lives over this weekend, reflect and see where we could be an irritant, an annoyance or hindrance to fruitful, harmonious and successful relationships? Can we do better? Could we improve ourselves and catch our own little foxes? Have a good weekend ahead and do take time to bask in the glory of His presence as we spend time with God in our quiet time!
The greatest and dearest hope we have as believers is the promise of eternal life afforded us by our belief and faith in Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour. Jesus spoke of Himself being the Way, the Truth and the Life that we can only go to the Father through Him because when we see Him, we see the Father. That is why Paul boldly declares that all the sufferings we go through here on earth pales in comparison to the glory that awaits us in Christ, that will be revealed to us.
We don’t really know for sure how heaven will be like, we can only imagine it as a place where there is no more pain and suffering because it is place without sin. It is a place where everyone will live in harmony with one another, as God will finally dwell among His people once again. It is the Garden of Eden all over again as originally intended by God but this time round sans the serpent, the evil one. We will once again be able to partake of the Tree of Life that will give us immortality, life eternal. Our flesh will not waste away anymore. We will no longer grow old and die. As believers of Christ and co-heirs with Christ, we will have a rich inheritance of glory in Him, in heaven.
But Jesus goes one step further. He said He would go and prepare a place for us as His Father’s house has many rooms or some versions say, His Father’s house has many mansions. Not just a place where we can live forever, a place of harmony and no strife in terms of an environment or land or dimension but a place for us to stay, to call home too. It is a room or mansion of a larger house, meaning to say, we will have a bed to sleep on, a kitchen to cook our food, a sofa to relax and sit on. It is also a place to call our own, a place to store the heavenly treasures we had accumulated during our stint on earth as a believer of Christ, doing things for the good and spiritual well being of others, for the Kingdom of God. Jesus Christ, our Lord and Master, had gone before us to prepare this place for us, a place that bears our name, a place we can call as our own in heaven.
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, as we go through another day here on earth facing the challenges our work or studies or whatever we do bring – always remember that there is more to it in life than as we see it in the physical realm. Don’t live by sight alone but by faith, believing and trusting in things unseen. Don’t live by bread alone, but by every Word that comes forth from the mouth of God. In all that we do here on earth, always remember we have a place in heaven, already prepared for us by our Lord Jesus Christ. One day we will see that it is worth every tear, sweat and toil we put in here on earth for the glory of God.
For organisations without a fixed source of income, voluntary funding in the form of donations is key to its continued existence. With the spread and reach of social media, crowd funding is now a very sought after fund raising method. The NGO has to remain relevant and true to its cause and similar minded people in the public will help them financially and rally around their cause. The advantage of crowd funding is that we are not beholden to any single individual or entity except to stay true to the cause that we profess.
In a way, churches and mission organisations are also crowd funded, just that it is not the general public but the public within their congregations or for missions, believers who believe in and follow their missions. The church and missions are thus not beholden to any single individual or organisation. Furthermore, Christian funding has a biblical basis in the giving of tithes and offerings and thus people who give have less likelihood to want to exert influence. The giving is unto the Lord and not to the church or organisation per se. As much as we give to the local church, we may also give to other notable causes and charitable organisations.
What is the message today? I believe if we are leaders of churches and mision organisations, we should always let God fund and finance His work. We should thus be careful of anyone who wishes to provide significant funding to ensure that there are no strings attached like wanting to have a say on how the church or mission is run unless they are already an accepted part of the leadership. In God’s work, we do not exchange money for leadership and neither should we accept money in consideration of influence. The church and mission are led and funded by God Himself through His people and servants and not by any single individual.
Likewise if we give to God whether to our church or to any mission organisation, treat our giving as our contribution to the Kingdom of God, a heavenly cause. We should not try to exert influence with our money without ourselves pulling up our sleeves and getting into the plough. Give as God leads but if we want to influence the direction of the church, put in our share of the work together with our share of the pain and tears. Finance without sweat is not the way to the heart and pulse of the church or mission. If we want to have a say as God leads us – give our money, time and effort. They should all come together as one package. Have a good day, everyone!
The explanation given in today’s ODB on the use of salt to preserve meat during Jesus’s day is insightful for us to better understand the concept of being us being the salt of the world. In those days, the refrigerator was not yet invented as it was a time prior to the discovery of electricity. Thus to preserve food, particularly meat, salt was used somewhat similar in concept to salted fish or dried meat that we have today. Thus, salt acted as a preservative or a shield, an obstacle to prevent the meat from getting bad. However, when we think of salt today, we immediately think of processed salt that we see today, which is pure. But in those days, prior to the industrial age, salt was not pure. They came from salt marches and are contaminated with impurities.
Thus the use of salt by Jesus to illustrate our role vis-a-vis the world is brilliant and outstanding! We must become like salt to be the obstacle to the inevitable corruption in the world. We will be the ones to preserve the purity of society. But for salt to work well it must get rid of its impurities. That is why Jesus said, what’s the point of salt if it loses its saltiness? It will not be able to perform its function to preserve food anymore. That is why for us to be the salt of the world, we need to be pure before God.
Of course, there is the other aspect of salt and that is to give taste to food and thus we as Christians to give taste to life in the sense that we give the world a taste of heaven through our lives. As salt gives food taste, we give the world a taste of the supernatural realm through signs and wonders, healings and miracles working through us by the power of the Holy Spirit. We are seated in the heavenly realm with Christ!
Therefore is there a formula in sharing the Gospel? Yes and no. Yes, in the sense that there are fundamentals that we need to explain and cover, for example, concepts like salvation is by grace and not works, all have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God, Jesus died for our sins so that we may be reconciled to God, we need to repent from our sins and accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour. But no in the sense there is no fixed script on how to share the Gospel. In the end, to share the Gospel is really being the salt to the world as lived out by us for all to see. That will always be the main attraction, the glory of God in our lives. Once those we are reaching out to gets attracted by the idea of having God in their lives themselves, we can then guide them through the fundamentals of the faith and what it means to be a child of God in the Kingdom of God.
Have a good day ahead everyone! I tested positive for Covid-19 last Thursday (10/3) and have had a couple of rough days after that but praise the Lord that I’m getting much better now through the help my dear wife who cared for me for my daily food (I’m stuck in my room on quarantine and putting on weight!) and someone close to us who took so much trouble to send us Chinese medicine, wild honey and vitamins! Praise the Lord for His goodness and mercy indeed for all these loving people in our lives!
Even in ancient times during the time of Micah, the LORD God had emphasised the need to temper righteousness with justice and mercy. Religious adherence to the law was necessary to maintain the people’s relationship with God and yet it is meaningless if there is no justice and mercy. God Himself was just and merciful.
When Jesus came onto the scene, He rebuked the Pharisees and Sadducees for their religious adherence to the law with no regard for justice and mercy. Their emphasis was on the external acts and omissions when Jesus spoke about what’s more important is what’s inside them. Although men (and women) can’t see, God can. So one could know the law very well, is very pious on the outside fulfilling all his or her religious obligations and yet harbour evil, hatred, revenge, spite, resentment and unforgiveness inside.
Jesus liberated us by dying on the cross for our sins. He broke the veil at the Temple into two. He fulfilled the law and put the law into our hearts. So we are now justified by faith in Christ and not by law. Our righteousness is by our faith in God covered by the blood of the Lamb. Jesus also brought righteousness to mankind as a whole, to us Gentiles at the far ends of the world, no longer restricting it to the tribes and people of Israel and Judah.
Yet the age old issue of externals have reared its head again even in our present church age. People are still impressed by our outward religious credentials, churches still adore our seminary achievements, congregations are still obsessed by labels like prophet, apostle, evangelist and reverend. Have you heard someone being introduced as teacher X or singer Y or helper Z or encourager A or edifier B or counselor C or usher D?
Righteousness must always be tempered with justice and mercy, love and compassion, grace. The church must not be like the world. We cannot be obsessed with the externals. In fact, if we can claim to be righteous and yet cruel and cunning and conniving and manipulative – are we even righteous in the first place? Righteousness and evil cannot reside and co-exist in the same person. We cannot be righteous and yet not just and merciful, gracious, compassionate and kind. Righteousness in the Spirit must be accompanied by the Fruit of the Spirit. There are just no two ways about it.
About 2 years after I accepted Christ many years ago, I joined a church that emphasised a lot on being the remnant of God’s people. I was in that church for 8 to 9 years and a lot of who I am in God today was shaped by my experiences then; the good, the bad and the ugly. We were taught to be soldiers for God’s army – when other churches were 20% core, 80% periphery, we were 90% core. A complete laying down of our lives were required, in fact, expected and demanded. Tithes and offerings were set at 20%, for example. Of course, in foresight, the extent of the requirements in relation to the world was questionable although the approach of being a remnant of God’s people could not have been incorrect. We were taught not to read Christian books unless sanctioned by our leaders. Not to read secular books and magazines. To only listen to Christian music as pop songs were worldly and of the devil. The church never needed to hire cleaners for their buildings as we all chipped in to clean toilets, vacuum floors and arrange chairs. The senior pastor didn’t need nannies as the leaders took turns to babysit and care for the first family’s five children.
In times of great moral depravity, there will always be a remnant of God’s people who will be true to Him regardless of the situation. It can be seen in Israel and proclaimed in the book of Zephaniah despite the continous deterioration of the people’s faith in God since the highs during the time of David. In fact God allowed the Babylonians and Assyrians to overrun Judah and bring everyone into exile amd over time brought back the remnant to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem.
After the Acts of the Apostles and following severe persecution during the early days of the church age, the devil tried to destroy the faith after failing to prevent the birth and later the ministry, death and resurrection of Christ. But the faith persevered on despite severe persecution with many martyred. When the state became the church and went into the dark ages perpetuating evil, there always remained a remnant who were true and remained faithful to God. They went underground or into the shadows.
The time will come for the Great Tribulation to engulf us as revealed in the book of Revelation. It is predicted that this may come during our lifetimes and with the volatility of the situation in the West with the Ukrainian war still raging, the events revealed in Revelation may arrive much faster than we may even expect. Perhaps in the next 4 to 5 years instead of the next 20 to 30 years.
The question today is will we remain as the remnant of God’s people who will keep the faith pure and holy before God and not bow to false gods or the anti Christ. Will we resist the mark of the beast without which we will not be able to buy or sell or trade or participate in economic activity? The time is not in our hands, it may or may not come now. But if it does, will we be the remnant for God or will we stand with the rest of the world?
It is natural and human to worry. Mothers fret and worry over their children, even when they are already adults. Children worry over their parents as their parents get older. I recall when I was young I worried about how my mum, my sister and myself will carey on with life if something were to happen to my dad as he was our sole bread winner. He was in his early 30s then and he will be 80 this year. God has indeed preserved, bless and kept him safe all these years. As working people, we worry about our work like now, I worry about the supply of equipment to my company with the global volatility of chips supply and the Ukrainian war. With the pandemic, businesses and the government worry about the future while politicians worry and fret over the coming elections in Johor.
While we know worry doesn’t help or change anything, we can’t help but worry. It’s human nature. However, in Philippians 4:6, Paul offers a good solution out of this human predicament and quagmire. He exalted us not to be anxious over anything but in all situations, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present our requests to God. He precedes that with rejoice in the Lord always in verse 4, meaning to say, we rejoice in God no matter what we are going through and instead of worrying, we present our supplications to God, believing and trusting that He will take care of us and our family, that He has our best interests and our future at heart which sort of brings us back to Romans 8:28 where Paul had said that God will work all things together for good to those who love Him and who are called according to His purposes. In the end, all things will work out for good. We will go through trials and tribulations but we will prevail with God at our side strengthening and encouraging us on.
In all situations, instead of being anxious and worry, give thanks to God and pray and commit them to Him, pray and commit our children’s future to Him, pray and commit our church to Him knowing that He will work out what’s best for everyone. Pray and commit our work, our job and our career to Him. Pray and commit our ministry and future plans to Him, He will be the lamp to light up our paths. In all things, present our requests to Him with thanksgiving and the peace of God, which surpasses and transcends all understanding, will guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus! Amen!
It is undeniable that the LORD loves and cares for both humanity and other living beings. Although animals do not have soul that live forever and thus there is no afterlife or heaven and hell for animals, they are nevertheless created to live alongside us. Animals live based on instinct and not conscience and although they can be trained to behave a certain way, they don’t really have a moral sense of right and wrong. For example, in the wild, any other animal that is smaller is a potential meal, whether between a leopard and a cheetah or between leopards. Just because you’re a predator or a carnivore doesn’t make it unlikely that you may be killed and eaten by another meat eating predator. The hunter can become the hunted in an instant!
Two points I just like to say this morning. The first is that as God loves both people and animals, we should likewise love people and animals. There is no way we can profess the faith and yet be cruel to or mistreat animals. They exist to complement us and some to provide us with food. Thus it is good for children to have pets, to teach them love and compassion, to give them a companion to love and cherish, to have a playmate to care and nurture while young.
Secondly, as much as God can and will take care of the animals in the forest, the birds in the sky and the creatures that live in the water and the sea – God can and will take care of us as humans. There are wars, famines, natural disasters, calamities and diseases (pandemics), and people and animals do perish in the process, but in general everything that wants to live is given every opportunity to continue living. We all have an in-built tenacity to live, to survive, to strive for our next meal, to catch our next breadth.
So, if God cares for people and animals, what more will He care for us as His children and chosen people? We are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of God’s own possession, to proclaim the virtues of Him who called us out of darkness into His wonderful light (1 Peter 2:9). We are God’s people, we belong to Him, redeemed by Christ with His blood for His purposes. Will He not preserve, protect and keep us safe that we may serve Him and fulfil His plans and purposes for our lives? For God will work all things together for good for those who love Him and who are called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28).
Let’s worry less of the future but put more thought to the present. We have the inherent ability to move forward, to live on. Live our lives to the fullest in the present for the glory of God that we truly become the light and the salt of the world! Proclaim His goodness and His love and compassion for people and animals alike! He is great and His mercies endure forever. His steadfast love never ceases. He is indeed our God and our Father and we are His people! Amen, to God be the glory, forever and ever!
Ronnie's Thoughts 