A Glorious Weekend

For the first time I recorded in video for about 2 minutes my journey to Kiau Nuluh, a village about 20 mins from the main road from KK to Ranau. I did not realise it was that far into the foot of Mount Kinabalu. But the Superintendent was very gracious and he said I was on time though I was late for 15 minutes. We started forthwith and I spent about 5 hours in all to explain Matthew 24 on Jesus’ teaching about the End time.  If I had 8 or 10 hours I might try the book of Revelation, so there could be another seminar  next year in the same District. About 150 people turned up, double more than I expected and the glorious thing was that there were 40 youths or so with many women and men as well. At 4pm I was sent forth with blessings of rice, vegetables, pineapples, and several kinds of fruits. My truck at the back was filled with the good gifts of the Lord through his people.
I drove back to Ranau where I had spent the night on Friday. My wife and I went to our former church at Muhibbah, Ranau where I pastored for 15 months. They had a big do 10th anniversary celebration and on Saturday morning while I taught at Kiau Nuluh my wife represented me at the anniversary service. The President came and officiated at the event. On Saturday night I managed to attend the Gospel Concert where the preacher came with a team of singers from Indonesia. Fantastic performances and I thoroughly enjoyed the night having spent the day teaching and my spirits were refreshed. But I had to preach on Sunday so I took leave as soon as the concert ended at 10.30pm and went back to the hotel to rest and prepare for Sunday service.

I remember it was in the same hotel when I first came 5 years ago as the preacher at the convocation and on that fateful day I was informed by the President of my appointment as pastor in Muhibbah. As I preached at the same church on Sunday it came about as a closure to my ministry in Ranau and I have no idea when I would set foot again in the town that became my base of ministry for 50 months. On Sunday the church at SIB Pekan Ranau started at 8.30am and I only got to preach at 10.40am. There were three church ceremonies including the Holy Communion, dedication of a newborn and eleven baptismal candidates shared their testimonies. I was fighting tiredness and the lack of sleep over two days was hard to overcome. But preaching is always the right tonic for my soul because in preaching I stand at the centre of God’s will. Another pastor and an elder who is a member of the general council of SIB mentioned to me afterwards that for the first time they understood the passage on Luke 16:1-15 “make friends with mammon and when it fails you will be received into everlasting habitations”. I still managed to preach for 40 minutes and we worshipped the Lord in response to His mighty Word. By the looks of it, many people were blessed and at least 10 people came up to thank me for the message though it was a hard saying of Christ, “what is esteemed by men is an abomination to a God!”. We had an hour long lunch fellowship before checking out of the hotel and I drove back to KK reaching home just before 5pm. It has been a glorious weekend.