Hope of Resurrection

Today I have a privillege to preach the Hope of Resurrection in Hope EFC, KL. I began with certain questions such as what are you hoping for? And why Hope EFC? I said that if we have hope only for this life, we are to be most pietiful.

In this life we may have trials, difficulties, problems, struggles, etc. but we are to remind ourselves that "The Redeemer Lives". We have the living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Job says "I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes—I, and not another." (Job 19:25-27). Alfred H. Ackley composed a song which goes "I serve the living Savior Christ Jesus lives today!He walks with me and talks with meAlong life's narrow way."

What does it mean for you that Jesus rose from the death?

As I literally Carry the Cross

Today we STM have day of prayer and fasting, where by we reflect the sufferings and death of Christ. Our theme is “Lord! Jesus, help us to walk in your steps.”
Each pastoral group is assigned to make stations such as Gethsemane, Jesus cross, Jesus tomb etc. As I went around each station it reminds me of the sufferings and death of Jesus Christ for me sinner. In one particular station, there is a cross to literally carry and walk. I saw some students carrying the cross, at first I thought unnecessary and shame to carry the cross in front of many students and lecturers. I went there and had prayer reflecting the sufferings of Christ; I told Jesus that my soul is struggling to carry the cross. As I prayed my spirit inside compel me to carry the cross and walk. And I took the cross and walk some questions came to me
1. Do you feel a shame to carry the cross?
2. Are you ready to follow the foot steps of Christ?
3. Are you willing to pay the price in following Christ?

4. Are you willing to carry your own cross and follow Christ daily?
Phil 1:29 came to my mind which says, “For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for him.” Yes, Lord I will follow you. Please help me so....
Simply to thy Cross I cling

EFCMalaysia Conference Reflection 2

To continue my previous post on my reflection of EFCM conference, I would say that I did make some commitments as I walk to the front to the altar and also I have some kind of deeper understanding in my commitment to God for full time service.
I made a commitment to walk closely to him. He is calling us for intimate relationship. The apostle Paul says he did one thing that he might know him… (Phil. 3:10). In the Bible the word “know” usually means intimate relationship. The only one thing that God desires of us is to have an intimate relationship with Him, to know him more and more, to walk with him daily, to walk with him closely. The only one thing Paul did was to know him more and more, to have intimate relationship with Him. As I walk to the alter I meant to say that I will walk closely to him. And I also prayed “Lord! Help me to walk closely with you. Strengthen my legs….
As I walk with him daily, there may be something in me that God wants to transform, God wants to change. I prayed that “He might chop of my right hand” meaning my identity, security, strength etc. if it blocks my walk with him. As many of us walked to the alter some songs came into my mind “have thine own way Lord, have thy own way… make me and mold me humbly I pray” and “I surrender all, I surrender all”. Rev. Edmund Chan says when many Christians ask God to change they mean to empower their rights hands, their security, their identity. It is not surrendered prayer before God to change. So I totally surrendered to God for His change.
And also in one part of his message, he says that it is Jesus/ God who says “I will make you fishers of man”. On the top of my commitment to God as a fulltime worker (as a pastor), it is the commitment of God to make me fishers of man”. It is the promise of God to make me fishers of man. I find rest and confidence in the Lord that He will touch many lives through me with only one condition if I surrender all of my life, plans, all that I have and walk with him closely. My inner spiritual life will overflow to others. EFCMlaysia conference was really a blessed conference.

EFCMalaysia Conference Reflection 1

It is a privilege for me to attend EFCMalaysia Conference. EFCMalaysia conference is not like EFCMyanmar conference where we discussed administration, money and etc…. But for them it is purely for spiritual purpose. I would say it is “a spiritual conference”. The theme of the Conference is on Reviving the church. The speaker is Rev. Edmund Chan from Covenant EFC, Singapore. God mightily uses Rev. Edmund to revive many lives and many of us made commitments. I did made some commitments.
I could not join the first night; I joined from the second session. He preached on “Leadership Spirituality and Soul Fatigue” where he talks about inner spiritual formation. He says “ministry is an overflow of inner life”. He goes on to say that to build the inner spiritual life and to revive spiritual life there is no direct way. We need to read the Bible and maintain quiet time. I realized and confessed that I failed to do so. Being a Bible College student, there are times I failed to have quiet time. There are times I could not give my time for quiet time- reading the Bible and meditate on it and prayers. There are times I simply could not have quite time due to my spiritual dryness. There are times, my academic readings and writing papers withered my spiritual life. There are times, my struggle of writings and readings make me down, pulls me into the pit and …… I swim in the sea…. I lost the joy of being in the present of God having relationship with Him in quiet time.
I realized and confessed that I failed to see God’s face. I made a commitment to maintain regular quiet times. I pray that He will enable me so……. And I strongly believe lives will be touched and revived as a result of an overflow of my inner spiritual life.

Peter O’Brien’s class Reflection 2

Peter O’Brien’s class on Justification by faith in Pauline Epistles was inspiring, compelling and challenging. All his words are meaningful and all the sentences that he made are coherent and they are all arguments. In every class he begins by the word of prayer. Even in his prayers, his words are so coherent and they all go smoothly.
I could see that he is not only a scholar but also a pastor who inspires and challenges to preach. He says that we are all recipients of the marvelous grace of God because of Jesus works on the cross therefore we are to share the grace that we received. We are justified by the grace of God; we have the assurance of justification. There is nothing we can do to be saved, we are all ungodly but God justified us. Being justified by God, we are created in Christ Jesus to do good works. His teachings in the class compel me to preach and teach about the grace of God/ the justification by faith which I freely received. How he builds his arguements in his teachings are challenging as I am struggling writing papers.

Reflections on Peter T. O'Brien's Class

I have a privilege to sit under the feet of Peter T. O’Brien and learned Justification by faith in Pauline Epistles. He firstly comments and critics on the leading scholars like E. P Sanders, G. D. Dunn, and N T Wright on New Perspective. He concludes that they (the mentioned scholars) look too narrow and don’t aware of the wider scope of the Bible. He points out that justification and covenant of God which Sanders, Dunn, and Wright develop has only a few connections in the Bible. But justification has much more connection with the justice or righteousness of God rather than the covenant of God. According to his statistic only one hundreds (25%) out of eight hundreds has connection with the covenant of God. The rest seven hundreds have connection with justice of God.
Then, he compares the faith of Abraham and the faith of today’s Christians which really strike me a lot. God says it can’t come through any other except Abraham and Sarah only. Humanly speaking it is impossible. God’s promise is something and circumstance is the other. Did Abraham believe in circumstances or promise of God? He believed in the promise of God. Many of the believers today may believe in circumstances not in the promised of God. Abraham did not know how it is going to happen, but just trust in the promise of God. He trusts that God is going to bring something out of nothing. It was like raising out of the death. Abraham believed in God who raised the death and who created something out of nothing. Although it seemingly impossible from human perspective his faith is stronger and stronger. Paul is talking faith in the God who raised the death. God is the one who will raise us in the last day. Paul is saying that Jesus is raised from the death. And we Christians believe and trust in the same God. Abrahams’ faith was credited to him as righteousness and not him alone but also to us who put our trust in the Lord. Our sins are forgiven, God no longer credit sin against us. Past, present and future sin is forgiven.
O'Brien did an exegesis of Romans 4:16-31. Based on v.22-23, all are equally sinful and equally in need of God's righteousness. His teaching is really inspiring and challenging. He made me realized that I am a debtor to my people and others just as the apostle Paul says he is a debtor to the Jews and the Gentiles. His class challenged me to pray and decide to teach God’s word to my people in Kuala Lumpur. My people in KL, though they say they are Christians, they never go to church; their spiritual life is really withered. They really need spiritual nourishment. Truly, I am a debtor to my people.