RENDER TRUE JUDGMENTS

Zachariah 7:9 - “Thus says the LORD of hosts, Render true judgments, 
show kindness and mercy to one another…”

The Lord of host has spoken and thus it is our responsibility to obey. The commandment of the Lord is sure, steadfast and simple. He is not giving out unachievable commands but that which are simple enough for every ordinary person who loves the Lord to obey and walk in it. He is asking us to do two simple things and they all have to do with our attitude in our every day exchange of life with fellow human. He is asking us to render true judgments, and to show kindness and mercy to one another.

What exactly does that mean? What is “render true judgments”? Render means cause to be, turn into, or provide. So the Lord is commanding us to make sure that every judgment given must be true and just. We are not to be quick to judge or freely judge which is to be presumptuous, gainsaying or speculating. It is so easy to make judgment. It is not right to judge another person’s motive or the motive of a person’s heart. We can’t possibly look into their heart and “know” what they are actually thinking or scheming. We must be kind and merciful instead. We must take the side of a person who may not know the whole story.

I think it is definitely safer to be kind and merciful than to make judgment when we don’t know it all. So judge not and you will not be judged. Jesus’ advice is simply that the measure you use to judge others will be the measure use by others to judge you! Follow the simple admonition of the Lord – “Render true judgments, and to show kindness and mercy to one another.” Let us be just and fair in our assessment of a situation. And when there is a shadow of doubt show kindness and mercy rather than fall into the trap of rendering false accusation!

2014 - ANOTHER GREAT YEAR

Well, goodbye 2013 and welcome 2014! Another year another step in the journey of life! 2013 seems to be rolling pass so fast – in a blink of an eye – and we are on the eve of a new year. It has been six months long journey for my dear wife who had to endure chemotherapy. It hasn’t always been easy for her, suffering the pain of the needles, the discomfort, and the boring hours of treatment. Many times I wish I’d know how much it takes to endure it but I was not in the position to know. I can only watched from the sideline how she goes through with it. I must say that she really take it in stride.

Praise God that the tumour in her lungs had shrunk and I find her able to breathe more easily. She’s able to hold a conversation without the interruptions of irritation of the lungs followed by coughing. 2013 proved to be a trying year for us but also a wonderful year. Judson had graduated, called to the bar and now working. Joyce has come along well in her studies, her relationship, and her involvement in the work of the Lord. Jesher has finished his STPM and looking forward to Internship with the church and to Uni after that.

We have our ups and downs but 2013 is a good year – a good year to praise God, a good year to thank a lot of friends, a good year to thank God for His great provision, love and grace. 2014 will be better. The work of God will intensify. The ministry opportunities will increase. The challenges in life will undoubtedly get tougher BUT God is good and I will braced myself for yet another year of great adventure of faith in Christ.

There is no need for New Year resolution. There is only the continuing walk of a long obedience in the same direction – keeping my side of the bargain, that is, to be faithful in service, to be gracious and compassionate in attitude, and to be simple and humble in conduct and in conversation!

Looking forward to another good year – another great year!

LET US ARISE

It’s been a while since I last reminisce about life, faith and everything else under the sun. In a couple of my posts on Facebook I teased out a little about the excitement I have been anticipating as I sense that some good things are about to happen in the church. Some people were asking me what it is all about. I think it is too early to spill out what I think is in store but I would like to throw out some thoughts.

One of the things that a few of us have been mulling about is to re-look at “doing church”. Are we building the church of God rightly? Did we miss anything? We have been around for 30 years (FGA Centre) and I have been in pastoral ministry in this church for the last 28 years. Where are we going? Where are we heading? Did we come close to what God has purposed for us to be? And I think it is always good to take two steps back and re-examine ourselves in the light of the vision and passion that God placed in the founding fathers of the church.

I, for one, am interested in all that God has for the church. So, starting next year we will emphasise the whole premise of God’s Word through Isaiah – “LET US ARISE!” From January to April 2014 it would be to ARISE AND RETURN - Christ's Kingdom in Us. Then, from May to August 2014 it would be to ARISE AND BUILD - Christ's Kingdom in the Home. For the third trimester, that is, from September to December 2014 it would be to ARISE AND SHINE - Christ's Kingdom in the Marketplace. Each trimester emphasizes on a different aspect of the REIGN OF CHRIST --- in an individual life, in the basic Christian community (family and homes), and in the community at large (Penang and Beyond).

While we seek to establish the Kingdom of God in and through us, the Church Leadership continues to diligently seek to discover God’s purpose for us and with courage and tenacity to change as the Lord leads. After all we have been around for the last 30 years and it's a good to seek God afresh for a fresh mandate.

So, one of the "reformations of FGA Centre" is to re-establish that Christianity is a way of life, not a series of religious meetings; but an expression of the priesthood of believers. No church is lead by a single leader but by a team of leaders who collectively expresses the gifting of the 5-fold ministries. We must return from seeing Christianity as an organization to seeing Christianity as an organism. We have to stop thinking in terms of bringing people to a building which we call “a church”, but to think in terms of every believer’s home as a potential for the church to be expressed as believers gather together. One other thing is the idea of rediscovering the Lord’s Supper in its depth of meaning and significance through celebrating it in the home.

Before I sign off I would like to comment that the small group gathering of friends and fellow followers of Jesus Christ regularly for edification, for mutual care and concern, and fellowship is the way to “do church” in our context and in the 21^st century!

Think with me.

SEALINK CONFERENCE IN MYANMAR

After a trip to Yangon, Myanmar I realized that I must be fully appreciative of my homeland Malaysia. I may not like a lot of things that are happening here. I may not be happy with the inflation, the rising cost of living, and the price hike of petrol. I certainly am frustrated with corruptions, violence and injustices. Yet, I am thankful I am a Malaysian. I am thankful that there is still freedom and peace in this country. Myanmar is trapped in the 70s. But I am sure that if the government of the day in Myanmar continues to work towards greater democracy, greater freedom and peace they will rise up to be a great nation. What about Malaysia?

I saw much unemployment and much poverty in Myanmar - people living in just basic sustenance. In Malaysia we have so much food, so much resources and luxury. Let us not fall into the trappings of affluence and become blurred in our vision of the future – lackadaisical and laissez-faire, no longer visionary and far-sighted. As Christians we need to think beyond the NOW and be prepared for the near return of our Lord Jesus Christ. Are we ready? Are we willing to sacrifice to see the Gospel of the Kingdom spread to the ends of the earth? Passion without sacrifice is just selfish passion but passion with sacrifice is the fuel that the Lord can use to set the world on fire – the fire of revival.

Years ago, in my younger days, I was so fired up for missions. I travelled quiet a fair bit to East Malaysia and Thailand for missions. I have long forgotten the adrenalin rush of missions. I am too contented with the “ministry” back home in Penang. Yeah, I do attend mission conferences and consultations but somehow it has become academic and rhetorical. I realized, after SEALINK in Myanmar, that I could no longer be a champion of Global Mission from a purely philosophical-rhetorical verbiage but to start getting my hands dirty – to be holistically involved in societal transformation with the Gospel of the Kingdom of God. I pray that I will begin to walk the walk and not just talk the talk till the cows come home (they never do – period!) 

HAVE YOU NOT KNOWN. HAVE YOU NOT HEARD.

Isaiah 40:28-31 (Amplified Bible) - Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, does not faint or grow weary; there is no searching of His understanding. He gives power to the faint and weary, and to him who has no might He increases strength [causing it to multiply and making it to abound]. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and [selected] young men shall feebly stumble and fall exhausted; But those who wait for the Lord [who expect, look for, and hope in Him] shall change and renew their strength and power; they shall lift their wings and mount up [close to God] as eagles [mount up to the sun]; they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint or become tired.

The everlasting God, the Lord and Creator of the ends of the earth does not faint or grow weary. What a God we worship. He is super-duper great and wonderful. We should never doubt His goodness. He gives power to those who are weary. He gives strength when we are wearied from the many onslaughts of the enemies of life. Sometimes we are not sure what hits us. We are not looking for trials. We are not searching for trouble. But life itself does not leave us alone. As long as we are here in this broken world anything unpleasant can happen. It is not always bad – maybe a little – but it certainly will shake us out of our comfort zone. Even in those circumstances He increases strength – causing it to multiply and making it to abound – so that we will be renewed. God did not promise us a trouble-free life, trials-protection scheme and zero-temptation pathway BUT he promises changed and renewed strength when we are faint, wearied and exhausted emotionally and spiritually.

I remembered a song by Phil Driscoll entitled Soldier. The song speaks of believers are soldiers engaging in the battles of life and returning home from the battlefield discouraged, wearied and exhausted in our spirits.  There have been long hours and days digging deep into the trenches with no sign of relief. There have been battle scars, wounds, weariness, exhaustion, doubt, fear and uncertainty all around. But the song ends it this way: when the day is over, when the night comes and you lie down on your bed REMEMBER you are still a child – a child of God.

Especially those of us who are serving the Lord; feeling weary and tired battling through tough situations, difficult people and relationships, and engaging in spiritual battle and warfare – we need to know clearly that when we put down our fighting gear for the night to rest a little we remember we are still His child. We are our Father’s sons and daughters. We may be soldiers for Christ in this battle torn world advancing the Kingdom of God but we are still His children – loved by Him with an everlasting love. He will renew our strength. He will cause us to mount up with wings like eagles. We will soar above the clouds – above our circumstances and into the very arms of the Father’s warm embrace. We will have abundant strength in the weary-land.

Whenever I feel the strain and the weight of responsibility in the work of the Lord, I needed to stop on my track, pause for a moment, and go into the chamber of my King. It is there that I would receive renewed strength and the comfort of the Lord. It is there in His presence that I am once reminded that I am His child and I belong to Him. He loves me with an everlasting love. No weapon forms against me will prosper. Nothing can separate me from the love of God. The devil cannot snatch me out of the palms of His hand.

Nothing can compare with the time a child has in the presence of his Father. His abiding presence removes all weariness of self-imposed expectations, all frustrations of the unexplained dynamic of relationships and unexpected circumstances and all fears of unknown paths that we know we have to walk through. Like Isaiah, in quietness and confidence, shall be my strength. It is learning to rest in Him completely – confident trust and quiet faith!!

Father God, I love you! 

Today's Spirituality: Pandering to the Drama of Some Side Show Artists?

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THANK YOU.

THE STILL SMALL VOICE OF GOD

The cacophony of secular ideas and thoughts have slowly but surely silenced the still small voice of God calling us to gaze upward into His countenance, to emanate the light of His glory, and to surrender to His perfect will. We are being bifurcated in our allegiance; on one hand, we pledge to follow Him all the way, but on the other hand we are drawn to the stirring of the growing barbarians – the relapse to neo-paganism where we make our own gods out of our hearts and our minds.

Let us stop on our track, pause for a moment, before we go any further down the path of foolishness or in a cruder form, a sublime stupidity. Why? How could we ever live our lives without the Lord? How could we even try to make sense of our lives by ourselves? We need the Lord. We need to learn to gaze into His face. We need to surrender to the perfect will of God!

There are no options and no substitutions to being in the presence of God. It is better to spend a day in His court than a thousand elsewhere. It is better to hear the still small voice of God and walk in obedience than justifying and debating within ourselves because of the rational yet dissonant sound of secular ideas and philosophies. We have the Word of God. We have the Spirit of God. We need to open our hearts to the leading of the Lord.

I am struggling with my mental processes, my imagination, what the Bible says, and what I see within and without the church. All of these have given me a spiritual “headache”. As an example, I don’t see how people could say so easily “God said these” or “God spoke to me” or “God told me to tell you.” How could we use terms like these so easily and freely? How do we know that we know He has spoken? What is the indication? What is the sign that He said it? Is it audible? Is it an impression? Could our impression be wrong? How often have we been right? Is there a possibility of presumptions and assumptions when we said it so freely? If we could use it so freely, then those who can’t means what – they are not in tune, not in close intimacy?

Yet I can’t deny the fact that God would choose to do that either. I have read in the Bible how he had spoken in a still small voice to the prophets. It is a known fact that God does speak in such fashion.

So what should we do? I believe that it’s a learning process for all of us. I think I will have to press in and press through, patiently wait upon the Lord and learn to hear and recognized His voice when He speaks. There’s no other way to go. Even if we said that He speaks through His Word we still need that still small voice reassuring us from deep within that indeed He meant for that text, that passage or that portion in the Bible to be personal to you. Perhaps one of the most assuring thought from the Scriptures is found in Isaiah 30:18-21 –

Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you. For the Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him. For a people shall dwell in Zion, in Jerusalem; you shall weep no more. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry. As soon as he hears it, he answers you. And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction,  yet your Teacher will not hide himself anymore, but your eyes shall see your Teacher. And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left.

I think now is the time when God’s grace is found in abundance. He will be gracious to our cries. He will hear us as soon as we call upon Him. Isaiah said that even though God gave us “the bread of adversity and the water of affliction” – times of testing and trials – yet in the midst of it all the Holy Spirit, the Teacher of righteousness will not hide anymore. We will see the Teacher of righteousness and will hear when He leads and guides us with the still small voice from behind us – “this is the way, walk in it.”