My Son's Wedding

I am just about to walk to the Hall where I will serve in my dual capacity as father of the groom and officiant in the wedding ceremony. It is a sunny day near a Beach Resort. The Gospels have a number of parables whereby a king prepares the wedding of his son and also a parable or two about the coming bridegroom and his bride. Every day is a new experience and today is not the same as before. I have preached many wedding sermons before in my 30-year full-time ministry but normally another celebrant will officiate in the exchange of vows and rings.

The Child Jesus Grew in Wisdom

In the Gospel of Luke, it is written that the child, Jesus grew in wisdom and found favour in the sight of God and men. I quoted this verse when I prayed for an infant who just turned 1 year old last night. I prayed that the parents be granted wisdom to teach the child the words of God and specifically I added “found in the Bible”. I thought if parents really teach their children the words of Lord for 10 years, say 3 to 13 years old there is a chance that the child will be totally illiterate in the Bible.

God's Famine of His Words

One notable observation in my three Christmas services was that hardly anyone (in fact I saw not a single soul) brought with him or her a real Bible. When I asked them to open the Bible in their hand phones, a few did but a majority did not even bother. Either, they were hoping that it is being projected onto the screen or that they are content with the preacher reading it aloud from the pulpit. Either way, I felt rather depressed over the whole thing, and a fellow pastor who texted me said the same things. It is indeed a famine of God's Word. The urgency is real. Next time, I will cry aloud to insist everyone owns a hard copy of a Bible. If they don't open the Bibles in church, don't expect them to read it at home.

A Famine of the Words of the Lord (Amos 8:11)

I just sent out my course outline for “Exegesis & Biblical Hermeneutics” for the January-May 2024 Semester. It is less than 3 weeks before the teaching Semester starts on 17th January. My course covers the whole of the Bible and that’s why I set out the passages and chapters of the Bible books that I will cover in the course. It’s basically to teach how to exegete and interpret the Bible in its entirety. And alas I realised how little people know the Bible besides what is taught in generalities in Sunday school and sermons.

The Family of God

As usual I received Christmas greetings from near and far. Most will accompany the greetings with a family photo. This year is blessed as I have my family with me, all four of us worshipping the Lord and listening to Christmas Eve’s sermon. My family is precious to me and God’s family is precious still. So when I posted a photo on my Seminary’s group I posted a photo taken just after the Christmas service with the church members and mu wife, son and his wife too. But that photo is God’s family and it is God’s family the church that is the most important and I represent Him as Lord of the church, celebrating His family and to God’s family I am dedicated to His service, the ministry of the church.

Preacher & Professor

More one is given more is expected. If you are given five talents you have to multiply five more and make it ten. I was standing with two of colleagues as I was packing my stuff just prior and both were enjoying their Christmas break without preaching. They are senior Professors, but I am also a preacher. Hence, every Christmas since 1994 I have received invitations to preach though I must have taken at least two years off preaching when I was in Singapore to visit my son in NZ over Christmas and one time to just have a break from speaking in Singapore.

Year in Review

Winter Solstice is a good time for reflection and review. It marks the shortest day in Northern Hemisphere and it marks the day when darkness becomes shorter and daylight begins to increase. Darkness and sorrows of 2023 are passing away and many look forward to a brigthter 2024, though wars in Ukraine and Gaza continue to take its horrific human toll. Wars are instruments of Satan to kill destroy and annihilate human beings created in the image of God.

Is it self-promotion?

The only planned launch of my latest book was cancelled in the last minute and I cared less for that. I have sold my other 4 books without much fanfare and the fifth book that I published (it is my 6th book as the first is published by T & T Clark in 2005) has already sold 100 copies in six churches that I had preached it since 29th October 2023. But yesterday on Sunday I shared about how I came to write all my 6 books in 10 or 12 minutes and after some reflection last night I thought it might have been a bit excessive and felt some conscience pangs as self-promotion. Then on further reflection in the past 12 hours, I also realized that often times, an author would launch his or her book and if it is a public event the author will usually speak for 30 or 40 minutes about the book with another 20 minutes for Q & A.

Preparing for “Prepare the Way” (Mark 1:1-11)

 I had a good sleep last night. I did not get up even once until 3.55am and I did not go back to sleep but got up for my morning devotions and then prepare the messages for tonight and tomorrow’s Christmas services. John was sent to prepare the way for the coming of the Lord Jesus. He was sent to prepare the way for the people so that they might be ready to welcome the King. And only the people who would come to John is ready to face Jesus Christ. 

"Strangers & Exiles on the Earth" (Hebrews 11:13)

I read the passage from Hebrews 11 for my evening devotion. I was struck by a number of verses, "God has prepared for them a city". An unseen, unknown and unreachable city, humanly speaking. No wonder one needs faith like Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. So much of our time is taken up to take care of our earthly interests. Where we live, what cars we drive, what cloth we wear, how many gadgets we own and the list goes on, but do we dwell in tents like Abraham, Isaac and Jacob? It speaks of the impermanence of this world, the transient nature of life. When I come to "strangers and exiles on earth", I was given a massive boost in my spirit. I am preparing to move for my 22nd or 23rd time in the last 30 years.

Love Story in the Song of Songs: How Does it End?

I just wrote a 500-word abstract for my proposed paper to be presented in an Old Testament Conference in Europe. It will either be presented at the SBL International Meeting in Amsterdam or the joint meeting of the Society of OT Study (UK) and the Dutch OT Society (OTW) in Tilburg University. I plan to attend both meetings since it is only two days apart during which I could spend a couple of days in Geneva or Rome before flying back to Amsterdam for the SBL. It is something I had planned for a long time, more than 15 years since I wrote a paper in 2007 for the IOSOT meeting in Slovakia or was it Slovenia?

Review & Price of Books

Last Sunday in church, a person asked whether I would give discount for my books. It is sold at RM40.00 (USD8.50) each. Maybe one or two people thought my books are on the expensive side. I know some Malay books are sold at RM30.00 or even RM10.00 each but it is not the price but the quality of writing, and the substance of the contents that determine value. When the person asked me last Sunday, I thought to myself that I have to protect my "brand". Why is that Apple could sell their products at a premium? It is because of the quality, reliability and on some instances the beauty of such products. All my books are written with tears and sweat. All except the latest book are written during unpaid sabbatical lasting between 11 to 18 months while I wait for my next appointment. There are no sponsors and I do everything myself and I pay for the publication and the printing.

Leaders & Leadership (A Breaker in Micah 2)

Any advancement in the world, whether secular or spiritual, has a leader behind it who has the vision, pursue it and execute it until its fulfilment and success. Whether it is conducting a church service, running a church office, a prayer meeting, chairing a council meeting or AGM, everything depends on leadership. In Micah 2 in the last couple of verses, Micah foretold that there would come a breaker who will break through and lead the way before a king and God at the head of it all. There are three personalities in this verse - one the breaker, second the king or Messiah and then, the Lord God himself.

21 Days b4 2024

My spirit is greatly stirred as we near the end of the year. A few days ago, my good friend said when I told him, "I am going on an adventure again" - "Are you Indiana Jones?" No I am not, but I have always felt my life being devoted to Christ, I become or have become His Majesty's secret agent (weapon - a chosen arrow like in Isaiah 49) like James Bond. Even the Greg Storm that killed more than 200 people in 1996 could not stop me from fulfilling my job as preacher in the interior villages. Last Thursday, another friend from West Malaysia was quite surprised that I had pastored three indigenous churches, basically a cross-cultural ministry and I told him that I had preached in nearly 130 village churches in the State of Sabah.

Book Seller & the Five-fold Spiritual Offices

I am a book seller. I survived on my book sales and itinerant preaching for nearly 18 months before my current paid position. I may return to my former job of selling books and itinerant preaching. Most people are happy with one or two things in which they are good at. Most people I know are pastors or professors. Not many have done both in equal fashion. After 20 years of earning a PhD, I have pastored three churches for 9 years and taught in three Seminaries for 9 years. Two I spent waiting for my next appointment and in writing books. So I praise God that I have a proven track record in both pastoring and also lecturing. The third gift is obviously a scholar or writer. Not all professors are writers and scholars. They might be good in teaching but they rarely published books. I have the good fortune in exactly 2 years after my PhD, I already got my revised thesis published with T & T Clark. For 14 years, I was a one-book wonder, almost like in sporting terms, a one-slam champion.

Service, Repairs and Realignment

I am no mechanic, but I am a car enthusiast. Yesterday at service, I was told there were five things wrong with my 14-year old car. First, engine mounting and the sales advisor asked whether I had it changed before. I do not even know that there was such a thing called engine mounting. Even the battery tray was loose and needs replacing. The casket cylinder head cover also had its day. All parts should have been changed 2 or 3 years ago but I just drove my car without much awareness. I suppose it is thus with our spiritual lives.

A Lasting Legacy

I spoke about establishing one's legacy, especially when one reaches the grand age of 60 and we have a decade ahead of us to truly make a mark and establish one's legacy. All theology is contextual. In light of the challenges in Malaysia for those who have eyes to see, we need to have a godly response and prepare for what lies ahead. In the past couple of months, a number of issues came out that would be a challenge for the Malaysian church. The Protestant and Evangelical Church as a whole at the most make up 4-5% of the total population with close at least 3.5% of that number coming from the indigenous churches in East Malaysia. One may conclude that in Malaysia, the Bahasa speaking churches make up the majority of evangelical Christians in Malaysia. Chinese and English congregations make up at most 25% perhaps, but three-quarters of the Church is Malay speaking. If such vast majority Christians are Malay speaking, one's focus must then to strengthen these Bahasa/Malay speaking churches.

"I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision" (Paul in Acts)

One of the key verses that has sustained my 29 years of ministry is this testimony by Paul recorded by Luke in Acts. Paul encountered Jesus on the road to Damascus, and I guess to those called by the Lord, each of us has a conversion story, some dramatic, some not so dramatic. My conversion was dramatic but my call to full-time ministry even more. For weeks, I had visions leading the that vision on the 2nd Sunday of May in 1983 during worship in church, I received the call to devote my life to my Saviour and God. I have not looked back since that day, and despite falling down 7 times I rose up each time and continued on the fateful path. "All my days are written in your book before one of the them came to be", says the Psalmist. And truly God is faithful and true. I was 30 years old four months and five days old when I began that adventure of my life in entrusting my life and the life of my family to the Lord. It's been 29 years and one day today, I can testify that the anointing in my life has just gotten stronger every time I preach in the past month.

The Lord Calls

The Lord calls. 29 years ago He called me into full-time service. In fact, I received the call 40 years ago (May 1983) but it took more than 11 years of nurturing and equipping before the Lord knows I am ready. Can anyone be ever ready to serve the holy and Almighty God? That’s why it is God who calls for no man enters into this on himself or his own good wishes. Without God’s call it is meaningless and those who serve without a calling are not His servants but careerists. There is nothing worse than those who think Christian service is just a job or a mixture of the holy and the common. Many will sin for a piece of bread. And the Lord’s servant must know His calling to follow the Lord devoutly and minister according to His strength and truth. We serve the one true God.