https://odb.org/MY/2022/04/29/spiritual-diagnosis

Some of us may have a tried and tested method of a past formula or a past practice that had brought us good results in the past. Maybe it brought us a better well being or prosperity or good business or career prospects and promotion. Since accepting Christ, things have not become better and better but due to the recent Covid pandemic, our situation may have become worse. We know that it has nothing to do with our decision to accept Christ or to give our lives to Him as the pandemic had far reaching consequences and affected nearly everyone, one way or another. And yet we are tempted to go back to our old ways, our past formula, our past practice. In the hope that there may be a change in our circumstance – desperate times require desperate measures.

The people of Judah during Jeremiah’s time did exactly that. They burned incense and gave offerings to the gods of Egypt, the Queen of Heaven (possibly, Isthar) and other pagan gods in clear defiance to the warnings from His prophet Jeremiah. But their situation turned worse because the LORD deserted them and allowed calamity to befall them.

In the modern day context, perhaps, we have gone on to try to adopt Feng Shui guidances. Or have looked into some new age practices, going into crystals and other stuff. Rationalising that all these are natural phenomenon, are faith neutral and thus do not compromise our faith.

The truth of the matter is that it was never a question of whether something else is of another faith or doesn’t bring us into another spiritual dimension or is part of nature. It is instead always a question of where does my help come from? Is it the LORD, the maker of heaven and earth? Are we relying on the One who watches over Israel, who neither slumber nor sleep and thus the sun will not harm us by day nor the moon by night? See Psalm 121.

Desperate times require desperate measures. If we are in a really bad situation, desperately reach out to Christ. He will surely hear us and help us. Don’t ever turn to other gods or other questionable practices especially those with a spiritual slant. Ultimately why lose our soul for temporal relief when we know very well that suffering produces perseverance and perseverance produces character? Let God be God in our lives, let Him truly be our God, our shelter, our stronghold and fortress. Let there be none other than Him in our lives!

https://odb.org/MY/2022/04/28/growing-in-faith

Every believer knows that trials and tribulations is part of Christian life. They are very much part of life as life is not a bed of roses ever after as in “happily ever after”. Life is life. It is not a fairy tale and neither is it a fantasy in our heads. Things happen, people get hurt, we get hurt. People get sick, people die. We suffer illnesses. We suffer losses. There are ups and downs. It’s never smooth sailing. Its waters can be as calm as that of a lake or as turbulent as the Indian Ocean.

Christian life is however fraught with more trials and tribulations, mainly because we are not to conform to the pattern of this world. We live our Christian life based on a different set of standards (right-side up) and sometimes we go through some trials because of the stand we make for Jesus. For example, we disagree with certain practices of our work organisation and we resign for ethical reasons. Some resign only after they found another job. Some resign immediately without a next job. Some resign for a lower paying job. But suffice to say, we will go through some hardship and suffering for making our stand for God. Or we follow God’s leading and there is a price to pay to be a working missionary in a spiritually closed or dark country.

I think the message today is that even as we go through life with probably more trials and tribulations as a believer compared to the man in the street, those suffering and hardship have some meaning for us in our Christian life, itt is not in vain. As a believer, God does a work inside us as we suffer but persevere. Bitterness in life makes everyone stronger but as a Christian, we will also grow in maturity in Christ. To be matured as a Christian is to live wisely and faithfully and that means we live harmoniously with our beliefs i.e. our actions are always consistent with our faith. We live as Christ would want us to. We are the same inside and out. We don’t be nice in front, but stab at the back.

We see pillars of faith, great men and women of God and we marvel at them. That’s on the surface. More often than not, there was much that had gone on before and unseen to the public. It’s like the 50 takes to make that perfect 30 secs clip. So much work and perseverance. To have maturity in our faith – we cannot avoid the hardship and suffering that comes with it. Persevere through, let God work in us and we will see the results in us in time to come. We will one day be the person God wants us to be. Amen!

https://odb.org/MY/2022/04/26/age-is-just-a-number

I’m now in mid-fifties and having been a youth and a young adult before, I can testify that there are differences in the things we could easily do when younger and which we could still do now but with more effort. I recalled I could spend the whole day shifting house on my own, loading and unloading stuff, packing and unpacking boxes. But now I dread the day when I have to move house again. Of course, we accumulate more things along the way but the energy to work at it the whole day is possibly no longer there or even if still there, will take a much longer time to recover. Or working late to finish a report, paper or an agreement. If I were to sleep at 3.00 am now and wake up at 5.30 am, the next day will practically be ruined! In the past, I could do that the whole week! Those who have done IPO projects will know what I’m talking about.

So age is not a mere number. But being young doesn’t mean that we cannot be spiritual and a leader and being older doesn’t mean that we can only be pew Christians or arm chair critics. Being young, we will have all the energy in the world but not the time as we balance our career with ministry. We may not have the experience, confidence and boldness but that’s really a “chicken and egg” situation. With practice, we can only get better.

But being older and retired, we may have all the time in the world but not the energy or the motivation to serve God with all our heart. Perhaps it is easier to become lazy and complacent, relying on our past contributions to justify our position or just an excuse not to contribute anymore. After all, salvation is not by works but by grace and our faith in Christ and yet we forget that we must love God with all our heart soul and mind and loving God means serving Him and living life as a living sacrifice unto Him.

Without belabouring the point, I think as much as age plays an important role in terms of experience and spiritual maturity and physical energy, we must always give our best whether we are younger or older. It is not right to say leave it all to the younger folks and just be a spectator and neither it is correct to say leave it to the more experienced and spiritual (meaning older) folks as they are better at it having done that for years. We know spiritual maturity and age don’t necessarily correlate. But that’s not the point this morning. The message today I believe is that we should all serve and do our part while we can no matter what’s our age. This is because there may come a day when we are afflicted with a serious illness and thus incapacitated or we are severely diminished in our ability to serve. Or we may be called home to be with the Lord. Serve God now while we can. Don’t wait till we retire or after we have achieved our career goals. And if we have retired, continue to serve God, don’t leave the work to the younger ones. Serve Him while we can, while we still have breath.

https://odb.org/MY/2022/04/25/pulled-to-safety

In my eulogy for my father, I wrote of two instances where my father had pulled me up to safety. Once when I nearly fell into a fast flowing monsoon drain during a downpour, that was just about 50m from a river and another time when I fell into a fresh water pond. Today’s ODB story reminds me of those two times my dad had saved my life. It also reminds me of Peter who was walking on water suddenly overcome by doubt and fear and began sinking and Jesus pulled him to safety.

I’m sure there was divine intervention when my father pulled me to safety in those two instances. Or those times when I was travelling on the PLUS highway (I have been doing this daily for the past 21 years except since WFH due to MCO etc) and had averted a serious accident after being able to avoid the car in front by a whisker. I remembered clearly even after nearly 20 years when the car in front suddenly jammed its brakes and pulled to a full stop, but I managed to swerve to the left to avoid colliding into it, by just a mere split second. It was a multi car collision but I was saved. Praise the Lord! It was really good that there were no cars at the left lane then. Or that time when a car had turned in to the left lane to let me pass to suddenly turn back into my lane! Fortunately, I managed to react in time. Surely God was in those situations alerting me quickly to the situation at hand so I could take immediate remedial action.

There were also instances in the past when the Lord helped me out of a crisis at work by giving me an idea out of a difficult situation or helping me to come out with a viable compromise to break a deadlock. Or rescuing me when others had abandoned me at the pit. Sometimes we become casualties due to structural changes in the organisation or just plain personal agendas or political games at play. But if we love God and are called according to His purpose, He will make all things work out for good. If He has a plan for us, He will make sure His plan is fulfilled and not derailed by human machinations. Humans may manipulate situations for their own purposes but God is sovereign and above all things. He will protect His flock and will rescue us.

The point I like to make today is that the Lord does rescue people as we can see of countless examples in the bible as well as my own experience in life. Christ is alive and real. He rescues even if it was our stupidity and naivety that had put us into that delicate situation in the first place. Look at the big picture – it could all be part of an elaborate plan of God for our lives. Just flow along and go with the flow. Put our trust in Him as even the waves and wind still know His name! Let go my soul and trust in Him, even the waves and wind still know His name! Amen!

https://youtu.be/YNqo4Un2uZI

https://odb.org/MY/2022/04/24/feeling-dusty

I guess one of the unavoidable circumstance in life is aging. Two things are certain in life – death and taxes. But the latter will figure less and less prominent in our life as we age and retire from gainful employment. Aging and death are part of our human life because of the sin of Adam and Eve at the Garden of Eden at the start of creation. Man lost his immortality due to sin but Jesus restored it by dying on the cross for our sins and in the process, through His resurrection, defeated sin and death and as the first fruit of His victory, we look forward to that glorious day when we will all be ressurected like Jesus and sin and death will finally lose its sting over us. Though we die, we will live as Jesus is the Resurrection and the Life!

Until that day comes, we will, as the ODB writer puts it today referencing Warren from his ministry team, feel dusty. Feeling dusty or old is a natural progression in life. As we age, we get illnesses and diseases. We need to take medication. Our memory becomes worse. We are not as quick as before. We tire more easily. Few will sympathise with our cause because the world only looks at what you can give them. That’s the rhythm of the world. So if you don’t meet their expectations, they will show you the door. That’s the world.

But God is not the world. He is used to His people not meeting His expectations and standards. During ancient times and even today. God recognises that man is inherently weak, due to sin. With Jesus dying for us, He overlooks our sin with the redeeming blood of Christ covering us. Yet, if He were to pierce the veil of Christ, He knows we are not as holy and clean as we would like to be. Yet the LORD is compassionate and loving. He gives us a way. As we follow Him and obey His law, He will transform and mould us as His Spirit lives inside us. Despite our age and that we are aging on the outside, we are renewed snd strengthen on the inside. That is what that matters in eternity, our inner man. Also God’s love and compassion are not dependent on how we can be of use to Him, how much we contribute to His Kingdom. What we do is always important in the larger scheme of things, but it will never detract us from His love and compassion. So long as we trust Him and put our faith on Him, He will be there for us.

So are we feeling dusty? Don’t let that discourage us from continuing our fervent walk of faith. Don’t let that stop us from fulfilling God’s plans and purposes for us. We can still serve Him and do His work even as we age and get dusty. Strive on and serve Him! Don’t give up, ever!

https://odb.org/MY/2022/04/23/what-counts

Whether in church, at work or at home, we will encounter differing views. At work, it is less of an issue as there is a clear line of command. So even if we disagree, the boss makes the call and takes accountability for that decision. At home, the husband or the father is the head of the family but in practice, decisions are usually by consensus. Thus, it means that if the wife or the mother disagrees, it is rarely carried. Even though in church, there is also a chain of authority as in the elders, pastors and committee or board, differing opinions may be more difficult to deal with. This is because everyone serves on a voluntary basis and are ultimately answerable to God. In fact, attending church itself is voluntary and thus if a person with a different opinion gets ostracised, he or she just leaves and moves on to another church and there are many churches out there.

How do we deal with differing opinions? Paul advises that let peace prevail. In Romans 14, Paul teaches that we should go on a path that leads to peace and mutual edification. In a way, it means trying to accommodate everyone’s point of view and if someone will be stumbled by our decision, then we refrain from taking that action. That’s rather radical because prevailing wisdom is to go with the majority. But a path leading to peace and mutual edification is not necessarily the path of the majority. In fact it speaks of accommodating the dissenting view.

I think at the base of all decisions, we should always follow Paul’s advice to go for peace and mutual edification. What’s the point of pushing through the view of the majority if it stumbles a few whom Christ has saved? Unless not taking that action endangers the spiritual health of the whole group or church. In which case, it is for the overall good and benefit of the whole community of believers. If that’s not the case, then I think it’s better to just act in the path of peace and mutual edification, bearing in mind the spiritual well being of the dissenting voice.

At the personal level, I think a much easier approach to peace and mutual edification is to hold on to the belief that everyone is entitled to his or her opinion on a variety of issues and it is not for us to impose and neither must they conform to our way of thinking. So if someone supports BN or PN or PH, they are entitled to their viewpoint. We are not to condemn or ostracise them.

What’s the message today? Always go for the path of peace and mutual edification unless everyone is jeopardised. That should be the basis of our decisions as I believe that is the path that will be pleasing to God and glorifies His name. If possible, no one should be left behind. We should run as fast as the last man running as we want to bring everyone along if that is possible.

https://odb.org/MY/2022/04/22/earth-day

God created the universe and the earth and all things in them. God then created man (humankind) and placed him in the Garden of Eden and it was man’s responsibility to work and take care of the Garden of Eden. Two distinct trees existed in Eden, the tree of life for which its fruits will ensure the immortality of man and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil whose fruit is forbidden for man to eat because if man eats it, he loses his immortality. But the serpent came into the picture and created doubt in the mind of Eve whether it was really true that if they were to eat the forbidden fruit that they will surely die and as the fruit looked good (anything forbidden will look good!), Adam and Eve ended up disobeying God and was banished from the Garden of Eden, the land that they were supposed to work and take care. In the process, man was separated from God and had to toil hard on the soil at where they were.

We will now have the opportunity to return back to “Eden” one day in the new heaven and new earth promised in Revelation 21 if we accept Jesus Christ into our lives as Jesus as the second Adam, the Son of God and yet the Son of Man, had redeemed mankind by dying on the cross as the unblemished and pure Lamb of God.

What is our land? Where is our place of influence? What has God appointed us to be? Where is this place that we are to work at and take care of? Where is the Garden of Eden that God had prepared for us?

I have shared before that the Kingdom of God is where we are. Our homes are embassies of the Kingdom. We are an extension of the presence of God as the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit lives in us. Our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. So our business, our place of work, our school, our college – those are our sphere of influence. That is our land, the place God has appointed us to work at and to take care.

Is our land a permanent physical place? Should we remain at the same place of work till we retire? Should we reside only at one house for our entire life? Should we only do that one business for our whole life and for generations to come? Our land is where we are and if God has placed us at our present work location, then that is our land. We work at it and take care of it. But be open to the prompting and the still small voice of God that doesn’t usually come in the thunder and the fire and storm but just a still small voice. Listen to the voice of God and like Abraham He may call us out of our land to another land far away, the Promised Land that He will raise generations of descendants that are as many as the sands at the seashore and as numerous as there are stars in the sky, out there in the vast universe. Like Moses, He may call us out to rescue His people from slavery and captivity or like Joseph make us go through various difficult situations before settling as the deputy to the most powerful man in the most powerful nation then, in order that the few generations of the Abrahamic may survive the great famine and live on. Or like Joshua, He may call us out to conquer our Jerichos and do battle with the sons of Anak, the fortified cities and strong armies of Canaan.

Work our land and take care of it! If like Adam and Eve we have been banished from our original land, we now need to toil and take care of the land where we are now at. Work at it, take care of it. In the end, our land is where God places us!

https://odb.org/MY/2022/04/21/really-alive

It’s a strange question but a pertinent one nevertheless – will we really be alive again on Resurrection Day or will it just be in our heads? I never ever thought of it that way but the author of today’s ODB says that many carry that question but few dare to speak it out loud.

If we believe that the Bible is the Word of God, then I believe that the question will probably not arise at all. This is because Revelation 21 and 22 clearly show us what will the end of days be like. There will be new heaven and new earth, the new Jerusalem where God will dwell among His people. We will have the tree of life again and we can therefore live forever again as God had earlier intended before sin came into the picture and broke our direct link to God, that Jesus had to die on the cross to reconcile man to God and break the sting and bondage of sin and death. The subsequent resurrection of Christ is the first fruit of His resurrection (1 Corinthians 15). He was the first to be resurrected as an example of how we will likewise be resurrected one day in the same glorified body as Christ did. Thus knowing what God said in His Word is true and will come true, we will have no issues looking forward to the hope that one day we will be resurrected as Christ did. That is also why many have over the ages dared to live and die for Christ’s sake. We do not pursue life for our benefit and interests only but for the goodness of God, for the sake of the Kingdom.

What’s the message today? I believe God is saying to us that whatever we do on earth will never be in vain. The heavenly reward is real. The new heaven and new earth, the new Jerusalem are all real. Jesus is really alive today and He will be alive tomorrow and forever more! Many have lived and died for Christ’s sake alone. We can also be like the martyrs and saints before us. Any injustice or unfairness or suffering we experience now here on earth can never compare to the glory and beauty that await us one day (Romans 8:18). God sees our very actions and He sees the actions of those around us too. He will protect and preserve the interests of His people, there is no doubt about that. Amen!

https://odb.org/MY/2022/04/20/love-is-worth-the-risk

Most of us would have known someone who had loved before and because of bad experiences in the past, chose a single’s life. Even if we have not seen a real life example ourselves, there are abundant portrayals in movies and TV dramas. Not necessarily a lonely life as one could fill up our time with our own pursuits and being single means we can, in most instances, do as we think fit. No need to align or prioritise interests with our loved one or as some say, our better half. We just pursue what interests us – like photography, fishing, badminton, running, gym etc.

I think people who decided not to open up for love again do so because they don’t want to get hurt again. They don’t want to be vulnerable, don’t want to risk getting rejected, hurt, betrayed or abandoned. But then life is like that – no pain, no gain. Or put it another way – no venture, no gain. You don’t move out of your comfort zone, you remain there and sometimes, that zone is when we were only 16, years and years ago when the first girl we fancied rejected our invitation for tea. Of course, I’m exaggerating. It could well be closer to present times but you get the picture. Our comfort zones are usually frozen in time, a time in the past – certainly not the future and unlikely the present. We have not moved on since then. We are still stuck in our past bad experience.

The message today however I believe goes deeper than that although we should come out of our comfort zone, open up to love and be vulnerable. And it should apply to all areas of our life, whether our faith, our ministry or our jobs. Maybe it’s time to move on and try something new. The world is your oyster, they say.

The message today is deeper as it concerns our love for Jesus. Do we love Jesus? Even if Jesus were to ask us 3 times, will we answer Him yes? Have our past experiences with human love caused us to be unconsciously rejecting Jesus? Are we declining to go into a deeper relationship with Him? Has our past experience with church itself cause us to refuse being more involved now? Because we were deeply disappointed in the past? Because we were disillusioned as we gave our all before and had to pick up the pieces of our faith? Love and vulnerability goes hand in hand. If we can’t be vulnerable, if we close our hearts up, we will never be able to truly love Jesus. All we will probably ever do is just skim the surface. There is much more to our life in God, I believe so – just that we need to open up and allow God to take control and take over. Put our trust fully on God and He will work all things together for good. Note that Romans 8:28 only applies to all who love Him. Read it and you will see.

https://odb.org/MY/2022/04/19/come-and-worship

If you read today’s ODB text, it is writing about giving everyone a chance to worship, putting particular emphasis on a mother with 3 children – a baby, a toddler and a five year old. With the church members helping her with her eldest and the toddler, she managed to exhale, close her eyes and worship God.

However, if you go into the Scripture of the day at Deuteronomy 3:9-13, the LORD was speaking through Moses about giving everyone a chance to listen to the Law being read. To assemble the people, men, women, children, foreigners residing at their towns so that they can listen amd learn to fear the LORD and follow carefully all the words of the Law.

I recall during the nearly five years I was worshipping at another local church, the time when my eldest was around 2 to 3 years old to when he was around 5 years plus when we move on to another church, I used to bring him to walk around the corridors of the church when the message was being delivered. He refused to attend the children’s ministry session and no one from the ministry actually tried to coax him to attend or helped me to attend to him. So during those few years, I didn’t get to listen to any of the messages preached. I also recall in another church before that when we were all involved in ministry tasks, my wife used to run the children’s ministry class every week and thus she also didn’t get to listen to the message for quite a number of months.

Whether it’s the worship or the message, everyone should be given the chance to attend and experience the presence of God, to hear the rhema and logos parts of the Word preached. That is why some churches insist that everyone is present in the sanctuary hall from babies to youths to adults to the older folks and the children’s church is a separate service, not a babysitting service to the parents. If the children’s church needs to run concurrently with the main service, there must be a fair rotation of people involved so that no one is always left out from parts of the main service. Everyone should be involved in ministry but everyone should also be ministered to.

Assemble all the people – men, women, children and the foreigners. Let everyone be present to worship the Lord in all His splendour and to hear His Word being preached!