2021 Overview (Part 2)

The "Love, Romance and Marriage" seminar for the teenagers and youths was the highlight of the 2nd quarter of the year and it fell on the 24th April, being my 39th anniversary in Christ Jesus. While all around us cancelled their conferences and seminars fearing the spike in Covid19 cases, I was given the courage to go on to hold a face to face meeting and we could have a full-house if not for extra precaution that we took to limit the number of participants. The Q & A went for 30 mins with a few adults joining in the discussion. And in early May, we managed to get another session after Sunday service to encourage the praise and worship team which made up of almost all the youths and not a few adults in church. About 50 people stayed behind after service for the event (see photo). By mid-May, we realised that the Covid19 cases kept on rising and we knew it was not going to be long before the government announced another MCO (lockdown). I said to the church that I wanted to celebrate Pentecost Sunday (23rd May) in church and Harvest Festival for the Kadazan-Dusun, the majority group in Sabah (30-31st May) and the Lord duly granted my request. In fact, on Pentecost Sunday we had 120 people came to church and we turned away about 10 at the door due to overflowing capacity. What a God! A month or two before this, the Lord gave me the verse in Ecclesiastes that we should keep doing the work of the ministry while it is still day and not fear the plague. "Whoever watches the wind and the clouds will not sow." So we kept sowing and thus, we reaped. By the second half of 2021, we concluded our Teenage Bible Study (Kelas Tunas Remaja) finishing my commentary on John's Gospel (1-12) in Malay. I had a two-week break before starting an adult Bible Class on the book of Genesis. The turnout over Google Meet was encouraging as there were weeks that we had more than 40 members joining in. We concluded at the first week of October on Genesis 9 on the life of Noah and the flood - "I have seen you as righteous before me in this generation" (Gen 7:1). Noah was the only righteous man in his generation. The whole world turned from God and people were wicked and violent and God judged the world by destroying all human lives by the Flood. "As in the days of Noah, so shall be the coming of the Son of Man" as Jesus put it. Again, we live now in the days of Noah and the hardly can one find a single righteous man in church or outside the church. God have mercy!