Preaching Twice within 14 hours

It was a weekend ministry in Sandakan, the town of my birth. It started off with an early flight as before 10am I already landed in Sandakan after a 40 min flight. I had no idea what my hosts had planned for me in terms of accommodation. As they had bought my tickets to reach there early I thought I was going to stay in the church house. But they took me to morning tea without telling me that lunch would follow straight after that at 11.15am. I ate plenty both times and checked into the hotel at 1pm and rested from 2.30pm to 4pm.

From 60s to 70s

I am truly in my 60s, though not many would believe it, especially those who see me in action. Tomorrow I am flying off to a city in the East Coast of Sabah and it was more than 3 months since I flew for ministry. I thought in my 60s, I would probably fly more often than drive, as driving on Sabah roads could be treacherous to say the least. When I was in my 30s when I left my HQ post as Treasurer-General I thought to myself that if only 10 Districts invite me to preach, that would be fine as I travelled to 28 districts in 3 years when I was 31-34 years old.

The Devil is a Kill Joy & Hindrance

Often times when I am just about to rejoice in the work of the Lord, there is something to dampen the spirit or outright hostility from certain quarters. The devil tempts unspiritual people to do his dirty work to kill joy as the Holy Spirit is a source of joy for those who do the works of God. I was winding down the month of June and the first half of the year with great satisfaction and joy of what the Lord has done. I thought May was amazing bur June was even better. I spoke 4 times in June and twice outside of my own congregation. To top it up I conducted a day long seminar on the book of Revelation and spoke for more than 5 hours almost non stop except for a 45 min lunch break and a short coffee break at 10.20am after the first session.

The Blind Leading the Blind (Matt 15:14)

We cannot afford to be blind. Yet there are many blind people, not physically blind but spiritually blind. It is tragic because even many so-called church leaders are blind. They claim to be able to see, but truly they are blind and because they claim not to be blind, Jesus will judge them even more: "Leave them. They are blind guides. The blind leading the blind, and both will fall into the pit." (Matt 15:14). In my first sermon at a former Seminary in KK, I preached the second week of the second Semester. I felt the anointing so strong that even with translation (from English to Mandarin), the sermon was loud and clear and everyone who heard was truly blessed. A foreign lecturer who came up to me: "Tony you are a preacher man!"

In the Hot Seat

I am glad for the first time in my 7th month as pastor, the chairman of the church council chaired last night’s meeting. I still have to speak out often but I am no longer in the hot seat as in the previous six months I was asked to chair all the meetings. I still had to calm troubled hearts and minds and arbitrate disputes between elders and deacons. The goal is church unity starting with the unity of the church council.

Pastor-Scholar

Last Sunday I played the fool and spoke about my two primary gifts, preaching and teaching. If it is a gift from the Lord, there is no ground for boasting, so says Paul the apostle (1 Cor 4:7). I was preaching about those who have the Spirit know the gifts given to them by the Lord. But often times, people just sit in the pews and not serve as if they are not gifted at all. Of course, I cited the lazy slave who was given one talent but hid and buried it. But those with two or five talents traded with their talents and made many more talents for their Lord.

My Book in 50 countries in 6 Continents

The first eight days of June was super hectic. I preached for 7th consecutive Sunday. After next Sunday I shall be taking a week break to prepare for the End-Time seminar. Yesterday, we celebrated Pentecost Sunday with just over 100 worshippers. Our one unit shop-lot church hall could hardly hold anymore. It started with a dance and tambourine presentation with the song, "Yahweh Elohim..." and it was most powerful as my soul shook a couple of times as I sat there meditating on God's love and power. Then we had a wonderful worship with three songs then came the Bible reading of Revelation 11:1-12.

The Week that Was and Still Is

I thought I could not beat the month of May. But June started with a bang. I preached one of my best sermons on Sunday 1st June, being my half year anniversary in my current ministry. On Monday, 2nd June I gave an webinar on "faith and sacrifice in the context of leadership" at 8pm and took 7 questions in less than 25 minutes. I was tired after the hour long session and I did not sleep well Monday night. At 7.30am the next day I turned on my WhatsApp after getting up before 6am. My friend asked me whether I would be attending the SIB College's 60th anniversary events. I asked him whether we should go up together.

Serving the Lord

The month of May ends tomorrow midnight. I still have a prayer meeting to lead tonight and tomorrow’s worship rehearsal. I can’t remember when I had a break from preaching. But I felt the anointing strong and on Sunday I shall be speaking of end-time harvest conciding with harvest festival celebrated with the majority tribe here in Sabah and on Sunday’s Gawai celebrated by Dayaks, Ibans and the natives of Sarawak. But this month is a month in the Lord’s service.

Betrayal

It’s been five weeks. I thought I got over the sense of betrayal that I felt 5 weeks ago. But the pain does not go away. In fact I would not be writing about this if I did not know what to do going forward. It was not right to step down in less than half a year and many members would be shocked if I did, so I bore with the insult and betrayal but the wound did not heal after 5 weeks.

Pressing On & Planning Ahead

In the past couple of days I had sleepless nights. Just as Sunday night could be taxing after the exertions of the weekend and it was hard to relax and let the mind wind down. On Tuesday night, we had our church council meeting and again I was asked to chair the meeting which I duly obliged. As it was our first business since the election of office bearers last month, the meeting went for just over three hours and we ended at 11pm sharp. In fact, I had to apologise to the council members for the lateness when we were still on AOB at 10.30pm. But we managed to get many things done, not least the activities and programme for the next few months including our Leaders' Retreat scheduled at for the first week of December.