Revelation is Real 2.0

This morning I read this passage from Luke 20:9-19 for devotions. It contains one of the toughest verses to interpret “those who fall onto the stone will be broken into pieces and those the stone falls upon shall be ground to dust”. Jesus spoke this parable against his enemies who plan to have him killed. God’s vineyard is rented out to tenants and when the time comes to seek out fruits from the vineyard God sends his servants one by one (prophets in the OT) and when the time comes sends His only son (Jesus) into the vineyard. One by one God’s servants was mistreated, cast out and some killed. The tenants refused to give account of the harvests of the vineyard and asserted control over it as if they were the owners or landlords.

I am not talking about Augustine’s tome on the Trinity of about 500 pages long. I spoke about 3 hours  on the Trinity to a group of students between 18-20 years old school leavers waiting for their O and A levels results. There were 54 participants with 6 coordinators so I have a 60 strong audience. I thought we were having the talks in an air conditioned room at the Retreat Centre only about 12kms from where I am but it was under a shed open air, a good enough environment but a little tough on the speaker who has to endure the heat from 10am onwards. I felt comfortable in the first hour but 2nd hour and the final session were hard to get through. But I guess it was a cost savings measures so I had to endure it in order to get the message across.

Early this morning at 6.30am I started my journey from KK to my former place of ministry and reached the Chapel at 8.45am just as they were singing the opening worship song. I was slightly late for Sunday service because thick fog blocked my way twice, first on the way up Tamparuli Hills and then from Bundu Tuhan to Kundasang past the foot of Mount Kinabalu. When I was driving up Tamparuli Hills, I saw the clouds covering the valleys below. For a moment I was above the clouds and in the midst of the clouds. Brought along the wind or spirit within the wheels of my car I sped along as if riding on the clouds.

My wife and I are planning a vacation somewhere nice this Lunar New Year. Having escaped Christmas ministry by not accepting speaking invitations for the first or second time in my 25 year ministry I will try to escape the busyness surrounding CNY by disappearing for a little while. But before that I am occupied with two speaking engagements. Having spoken last Sunday where 50 people came forward to be prayed for, I am now preparing for a series of lectures on Trinity for a students’ Camp organised for Form 5 and 6 students waiting for their SPM and STPM results. This camp is sponsored by Full Gospel Business Men and I still have friends there who issued me the invitation. Then by the last week of January I will return to Ranau for one last time.

Amidst my travails and uncertainty of the future, the Lord showered me with much comfort. First, I realised if the anointing to preach His Word is present that is the most important thing. Without the anointing, all is gone. No position or wealth can buy God’s power. He anoints whom He chooses to do His bidding. I am also comforted that my book continues to create waves worldwide. One recent book published by Cascade Books just a few months ago “Models of Premillennialism” cites me and my book as the torch bearer of Asian renaissance of the historical premillennialism within scholarship and especially in South Korea which has 300 NT scholars with PhD.

I am severely limited by the languages I know or do not know. In Singapore more than once I was embarrassed by Chinese uncles and aunties because I could not speak Mandarin well. My mother tongue is Cantonese and as a little child until Primary school I spoke only Cantonese. My mum and grandma told me that I could speak as early as 1 year old while my son started to speak after 2 years old. But my Cantonese is at best moderate and when asked to pray in Cantonese I refused. My mum is Hakka and I picked up some Hakka in my younger days as my maternal grandparents spoke only Hakka. My grandad loved me a great deal and when I was in JB for my SPM he was already in his 70s but he would drive me to and fro English College where I attended school and played sports almost every afternoon.

I received an invitation to preach today in the Sunday service about 10 days ago. At first they did not give me the topic so I prayed and came up with what the Lord laid in my heart. So today I preached in church “the righteous man shall live by his faith” from Romans 4 and Habakkuk 2:4. I had three main points in my sermon. How we are made righteous before God so that we can approach Him in boldness and rejoice before Him. Rejoiced I did today and the Dusun song moved me to dance along. Then one of my favourite worship songs was sung. Tears flowed as I worshipped the holy God. I told the Lord that I am entering my 25th year in ministry - a quarter of a century (suku abad).