"Going" from 2008, "Coming" to 2009

Looking out of the window at the First World Hotel at Genting on the early morning of Boxing Day (26 Dec), this thought floated through my mind:

“I lift up my eyes to the hills,
where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord,
the Maker of heaven and earth.”

It was a hectic trip with a lot of driving. It was a time to get away, a time to look back in order to move forward - to look back at 2008 and see how to move forward in 2009. Entering the Cactus Valley,

Is 2008 like the beautiful flowers that blossom for only a while, …

or like a cactus, robust and strong standing in the midst of adversity?

2008 has taught me a lot of things. It is a year with a lot of personal reflection and solitude. It is a year of learning to be still with God. It is a year of personal discipline and self study. Yes, there are storm and tension moments, but my help come from the LORD.

Many questions arose in my thoughts. Have I written and reveal too much? (Like the BoH Tea valley spread all over?)

(Or the Beautiful Garden behind the IPOH Cave nourishing others with my thoughts?)

Why aren’t the people in Bethany more forthcoming? Why the lukewarm? Is it the lacking of the knowledge of God’s Word? Or is it lacking in love and zeal for the Lord? Or are we just tourists, moving quickly from one place, look and see and then move on to another, leaving the church as the same as it is after one year? The answers lie with all of us. Still, there is no comment…

See you in 2009!!! Have a blessed new year.

“The Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore”

Why I started my blog

Blogging started 3000 years ago. It may be longer than that.

The most readable blog at that time would be about a shepherd boy. Although a shepherd himself, he was able to see himself as a sheep with His God as his shepherd. As he grew older, he made more enemies. Most times he was pursued by them. Yet he looked to God and write:

In you, O LORD, I have taken refuge;

let me never be put to shame;

deliver me in your righteousness.

Many years later, he became king. I guess that was when he decided to make his blog known. And so I have the privilege of reading his blog. So do you. Perhaps reading this shepherd turn-into king’s blog is the first place to start before one starts to write his own blog. Want to know where to read his blog? Do let me know and I will provide the information.

I too have my own encounters. I started to keep a diary a year later after I became a Christian in 1976. There seemed to be a lot of things happening after receiving Christ as Saviour and Lord. Life seems so different. At first it was about just reading the Bible. Then it was about trying to do what the Bible said. Then people became the most important things in life. It was not about success, being first in class, or the best runner in school anymore. It is not about getting. It is about giving. Giving my time to help others in their studies. Giving my energy to encourage those who just became Christians. Giving my pocket money to support the Christian servants. Life gradually started to be different. And when I gave, God gave me more in order that I could continue to give. He gave me “more time”. I didn’t need to study a lot to do well in exam. He gave me more energy. I could still be among the first few in a race even though I seldom trained due to lack of time. He gave me more money so that I could give to those in need. I seemed to be HIS channel of giving without loosing what I liked to do – studies and running. I needed to write them down. And so I started to keep a diary. But with my poor command of English, it was just my diary, my God and me. Writing helped me to listen to my heart and to God. It also helped me in sharing my life with church friends. Sometimes, I revealed too much about what God was doing in my life, people got frightened. One young Christian lady once said to me after hearing my struggle: “you are so transparent that it frightens me.” Since then, I try to be careful in my sharing. My writings got lesser and lesser. … Then the writing stopped. Those pages-old diaries are still in the shelf somewhere. Eh, don’t know where.

Then I came to Bethany. I find that people just don’t open up, except a few. Perhaps being transparent is frightening. Or perhaps we have not learn to listen ... to God or how he is working in our lives. Not sure about this.

This year, I want to be like David the shepherd boy. He doesn’t need to wear a mask. He sinned greatly and we know how he felt when we read his blog. And that is why I write mine even though I have yet to read any others blog, except David Ben Jesse’s. He cared to write. Or was it God who inspired him to write?

Blogging help to be transparent and share my heart. One day, every secret will be made known.

Share our blogs, share our hearts and remove all masks.

"Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs. (Lk 12:1-3)

Agape
Mark

The Universal Christian Language

Christians speak a kind of universal language. When they do, you kind of feel it and know it.

Rightfully, Christians should always use this language in all their conversations. Should always, but seldom. It is a language that Jesus taught His disciples. – Agape

I have just finished reading this book, God’s Smuggler by Brother Andrew. It is a very old book. I first read it about 22 years ago. Thought I would like to go through some old books that challenge me to exercise faith in God, while the sermons on the Book of Hebrews are still fresh on my mind. It is more or less an autobiography and how his works in the communist countries led to the beginning of Open Doors, a Christian para-church organization. There are 2 lessons I learn from this book – Agape and Faith.

How do we speak Agape, I wonder? This thought came to me as Brother Andrew told a clerk of a hotel in communist country Rumania that he was looking for a church. Though he didn’t know Rumanian, he could communicate with the Christians through a universal language – Agape.

Thoughts drift back to more than a decade ago, somewhere in the north …

This universal language is most powerful when we cross border and into unfamiliar ground. I experience this when I was in London. You could know who the Christians were without them telling you they were Christians when Agape was spoken. Our universal language spoke loud and clear. Being alone there and always looking out for friendship, I always spoke in that language – Agape. When I was in London, around the campus and in the dormitory, I made it a point to smile when my eyes came into contact with another. This was the beginning of my Agape language. Very few reciprocated. Probably I was an oriental and more inferior. Those who did smile back would always be greeted with nod, my second Agape language.

One day, an Indian lady came to the centralized kitchen while I was preparing lunch.

“We had a volleyball game this Saturday morning and would you care to join us?”

She caught me by surprise but gave me a hope. After more than 1 week, I had already concluded that people around the campus and in the dormitory were not that friendly. My first instinct when talking to her was that these people who went around inviting students were Christians doing evangelistic outreach. After all, I am no novice in this kind of strategies, having involved in Campus ministry for many years. Anyway, it was an opportunity to meet Christians and to get to know people. So, why not?

After the game, they invited me to their fellowship and it turned out that they were the Church of Christ, a somewhat “off-skewed group” who believed that only "those who are baptized and always doing evangelism are saved". We then had a 2-hours (till pass mid-night) debate in my room using Scriptures. That was the time I felt all my effort in Scripture Memory was really put to good use. Unable to convince me and all their quotations were put to contextual challenge, they never came to talk to me again. So much about Christian love – Agape?

Real Agape came when I happened to talk to a French classmate - Luke. By instinct, I knew he was different; it was a kind of telepathy feeling or spirit-met-spirit experience. He invited me to a Campus fellowship and I got to know more Christians and the international fellowship where most of them are Singaporean, a few Malaysian, and one Ethiopian. All of them were very young in faith but very eager to learn.

It’s time to use the Universal Christian language again.

"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. (John 13:34)

Agape
Mark Lim

Be an Agent of God’s Blessing

Some of us are familiar with what Hudson Taylor used to say: “God’s work done in God’s ways never lack God’s Supply”

Ever wonder how God really provide for those in need?

I learnt this from my previous church. We worshipped in a very old wooden hut rented from an old couple along Balestier Road. We were poor and few in number, about 20 odd of us. Before I came to this church in 1976, there were some problems and many left. According to the pastor, someone came and “steal the sheep”.

In 1982, I was in my first year in the university (as a sophomore, Polytechnic students were exempted from first year engineering) and by God’s grace had received a scholarship. I knew in my heart (a very strong feeling) that God sent the money ahead for HIS future use. How did I know? When I received the scholarship, I needed to sign a bond. The two guarantors a\were my eldest brother, who is the church treasurer and Brother Tan, a businessman and a very godly brother whom everyone respected. He has since gone to be a pastor of another church. When you are dealing with money and with godly people (who gave everything they had to God) around you, you instantly know that the money belong to God. That was how the feeling came to me but I wasn’t quite sure what God was doing then.

In 1983, the church roof leaked quite seriously after many days of continuous raining. The church was in need of money for the roof repair. I then contributed whatever was leftover from the scholarship. No one knew where the money came except Brother Tan and my brother.

The following year, my pastor was on a mission trip to Canada and required a substantial sum of money (slightly more than $2700). The pastor pleaded relentlessly through his sermon. He asked for a collection. Very few responded. I knew that God again wanted to take back what HE had entrusted to me. One non-Christian visitor announced publicly that he would give an interest free loan to the pastor. The whole congregation felt very embarrassed. After the worship service, I told my brother to use the scholarship and whatever saving I had in his bank for pastor’s mission trip. After this second incident, I knew quite clearly that I was to be God’s agent of blessing to this poor church.

In 1985, one church brother enrolled in the Philippines theological seminary. This was my last year in the university and after offering my financial support for his dedication to serve God, I actually graduated from university studies with nothing in my bank account but learning everything about God’s riches.

Shortly, thereafter, I went to USA for job training and on returning from the States left the church in 1986 due to personal reasons.

People use to think that becoming a Christian is just to gain a passport to heaven. For me, becoming a Christian is to be God’s Agent of blessing.

And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus (Phil 4:19 NIV)

Mark Lim

How to get Money for church work?

Most people go to church to worship God and make friends.

Whether the church building is beautiful or full of facilities like cafeteria, internet or game rooms actually does not matter much to most of us. We go there only once or at most twice a week and only for a few hours.

Perhaps if you work in the church, 8 hours a day for 5 days a week, then that is a different thing altogether. Bigger offices, better copier, broadband internet are all useful for those working there. But then, where do you get the money to beautify or build facilities in a non-profit organization like the church?

That is one of the topic is our every BPCES committee meeting. We had a meeting last Sunday and well, it is still about money. Money is needed for upgrading and renovation for year 2009. I believe it is even more discussed in the Elders and Deacons court. Money, Money, money and where to get money? In such a meeting, we need lawyer, accountant, financial controller and businessman. What has a blur engineer like me who play with machine and silicon (soil and mud) got to do with such a discussion? Just like someone in the congregation once told me direct in my face, “there are better people in the BPCES who can do a better job than those in the committee now” (A hint for me to step down actually, as committee discussions are always on money)

Hence, we need deacon who likes to talk about money. If not, the deacon attending such meetings will be stressed up. Deacon Casey, after attending many of such meetings has already told me that he is being stressed by all these sub-committee and has relinquished his BSG leadership. As for me, with hindsight and wisdom, I rejected the job of deacon in Bethany.

How then should a church deal with money?

Biblically speaking, tithing is not a command in the New Testament. Let’s turn to 2Cor 9:7

Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

Giving should always be done without compulsion. There is no such thing as each members should contribute $XXX a month. Each of us has to decided in his heart how much to give.
So if, we can’t get enough money, the simplest way is - don’t renovate or upgrade. It is just a building that we come once or twice a week. Of course, not many would think like me. I don’t think you do. This is where godly wisdom and faith is needed. The church leadership has to make a decision (going to the bank, going to the congregation, or going to God) to get money.

Going to the bank to get money need no faith and everybody can do that without much wisdom needed. The end result would always be more painful as we need to pay interest and still repay the money borrowed. How our church leaders make that decision is clearly seen in the past and the repercussion continue till this day.

Going to the congregation to get money, the leaders need faith in the people. People who support your vision for the church will be moved by that vision and are more willing to give.

Going to God for money, the leaders need faith in God. Do you believe God can provide money for the church needs? Yes, I have seen how God works. I will share with you in my next blog.

If we truly believe that God want us to upgrade HIS church facilities, church renovation, have more rooms for church workers, then ask God for the money! Let’s not harp at why some people are not giving enough. That is lacking in faith. And people don’t respect pastors and church leaders who lack in faith. Not sure about you. I don’t respect pastor who has no faith that God will provide for his work.

Learn from Hudson Taylor and George Mueller

Mark Lim

Hello God

A peom on Prayer:

Hello God, I called tonight

To talk a little while ...

I need a friend who'll listen

To my anxiety and trial.

You see, I can't quite make it

Through a day just on my own;

I need your love to guide me,

So I'll never feel alone.

I want to ask you please to keep,

My family safe and sound;

Come and fill their lives with confidence,

For whatever fate they're bound.

Give me faith, dear God, to face,

Each hour throughout the day;

And not to worry over things,

I can't change in any way.

I thank you God, for being home,

And listening to my call;

For giving me such good advice

When I stumble and fall.

Your number, God, is the only one

That answers every time;

I never get a busy signal,

And never had to pay a dime.

So thank you, God, for listening

To my troubles and my sorrow;

Good night, God. I love You, too,

And I'll call again tomorrow!

~ Author Unknown ~

What’s Up – Self-induced or External stress?

Ever since I have received an email from someone who shared about the stresses over church ministries, my heart began to wonder … Is doing God’s work that hard? Then I began to turn to the Bible:

The LORD is my light and my salvation—

whom shall I fear?

The LORD is the stronghold of my life—

of whom shall I be afraid? (Psa 27:1)

If doing God’s work induces so much stress to the point of burning out, how about my office work? In these difficult times of economy woes, Psalm 27 is always my solace. We heard so much about retrenchment, pay cuts and more uncertainty in the coming year 2009. Yes, I am fearful what lies ahead. There is not much business in the company. That forces me to relook at my faith and think hard. God is good to remind me of faith – Forsaking All (doubts), I Trust Him. I wrote that blog from the bottom of my heart.

The last 3 weeks was “fire-fighting” some problems in the China product left behind by those who have left the company. There is this constant fear of not being able to find the solutions within the time allotted. Yet God was gracious and I managed to meet their demand within the time given. The Lord is my light and my salvation. After the storm, what's next?

In this time of uncertainty, would I be able to say like the Psalmist? (Psa 27:13,14):

I am still confident of this-

I will see the goodness of the LORD

in the land of the living.
Wait for the LORD;

be strong and take heart

and wait for the LORD.

Mark Lim

Be Connected – Facebook is face-book not animated book

A facebook should have a face. Otherwise why call it face-book.

No offence to those who posed cat, dog, and even ??? as their faces. Maybe they are just afraid that people will steal their photo and do something evil to them? Or more likely they want to know about others but want to hide themselves from people. Surprisingly, even the pastor does that when he is supposed to connect with people. (I hope to get a lot of bombardment in the comments, please do)

When I was invited to join facebook, my initial thought was also to avoid putting a “face”. But then, I asked myself, “What is there to hide?” If someone is going to harm me by using my photo when I know it is the right thing to do, would I chicken out? When the prophet Daniel knew that the satraps are out to plot for his downfall, they found no ground for complaint and corruption. So, the only way to get Daniel is through his prayer life. (Read this in Daniel chapter 6). Did Daniel chicken out in his prayer? NO! He continued to pray in his house with open windows and that got him in the lions' den. A blameless person need not fear, except the fear of God. Having pondered over that, I decided to put my best picture in the facebook. When you see my face there, you know who the most important people in my life are! I want to be transparent. Transparency teaches me to have a clear conscience.

Actually, I thought of writing this only after seeing a pretty lady decides to unmask herself by putting a “yearbookyourself” photo with a "back to the future" photo in the facebook!! Not bad! Not bad! Funny? No, she is beginning to unmask herself by moving into the future!! So, if you are still hesitating, follow her footstep, go to http://www.yearbookyourself.com/ and get a new face!!

Let’s open up and be connected!!

The LORD would speak to Moses face to face as a man speaks with his friend (Exodus 33:11 )

Blessings to All,
Mark Lim

God is Gracious in Time of Need

There were some technical problems in the product that my company sold to China. For the past week, we were trying to resolve it. Failure to do so would gravely affect the company’s business. Time was running out. We had to deliver by Monday 3 Nov. The engineer who was working on this was facing some problem and I needed to work with him to resolve it. The previous designer has left the company and the design was not properly done. I came to know about this only after the problem was feedback to us by the Chinese.

This morning, after worship, I went to my office to work on the product. Throughout the morning, I was praying for divine help. Num 6:24-26 kept going through my mind:

"The LORD bless you and keep you;
the LORD make his face shine upon you
and be gracious to you;
the LORD turn his face toward you
and give you peace." '

At this moment when time is not on my side, I am asking God to by on my side. Negative thought also came to mind. If I could not get 1 unit to work, I would probably have to work through the night.

We tried many things, changes and addition of components. Throughout the work, I was praying continually asking for wisdom. Then something came to mind. Maybe I need some high Quality capacitors. Sometimes, this method works, sometime it doesn’t. I have done it before. This is my best hope. As the engineer made the changes, I was still praying silently. When we measured the performance, there was a vast improvement; we were almost meeting our requirement!

As I drove back to church at about 12:30pm, my heart kept repeating:

The LORD is good,
a refuge in times of trouble.
He cares for those who trust in him (Nahum 1:7)

Mark Lim

Devotion Thought (Heb 5:12-13) BSG material- Spiritual Milk or Solid Food?

Heb 5:12-13 (NIV)
… you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness.

For many years, our BSG is relying on materials prepared by Pastor David or someone else for Bible Study. The materials are sometimes so simple and members would rather not answer the questions. Questions like Multiple-Choice-Questions, fill in the blanks, true or false and “choose and match” at time make me wonder I am in an English class meant for Primary 6 preparing for PSLE. As in Hebrews 5:12, such discussion questions are like spiritual milk. When would our members be able to move on to solid food of spiritual intake of the WORD? What is this solid food anyway?

Spiritual milk is when someone is feeding you, like preparing BSG material for the group to discuss. Solid food then is when you Study the Bible yourself without the “milk” prepared for you. This mean, you just read the Bible passage and study the passage without any prepared questions, and preferably without any aids either (use aids only after studying the bible). Use a Bible with a lot of cross references at the bottom of the page and an introduction for each Book of the Bible. If not, then you have to rely only on your Bible knowledge, which you acquire through your bible reading. Generally, those who are consistent in reading the bible should start studying the Bible on their own.

Wait a minute! What’s wrong with just drinking spiritual milk?

There is nothing wrong with spiritual milk. It can help you grow in your faith as 1 Pet 2:2. But relying on spiritual milk only would never make you a teacher. (OK, I am not interested to teach other, I just want to come to church on Sunday and worship God). Also, when your life is disturbed and troubled, you began to question your faith in Christ. Like what? Maybe a 3H problem.… It can be a “heart” problem. Like when a tall, dark and handsome non-Christian man comes along and you fall in love with him. Then you disappear from church. It happens right? And will happen again. Or when you feel jilted by someone. Or when you get into a not so right relationship with an opposite sex and then end up with a game adult plays call “adultery”. We see that happened in BPCES. Then there is the “hand” problem. You get so busy with work and study. Then there is no time for God. There are just too many things to handle and it become a "hand" problem. We see some of them going through this now. Then there is the “head” problem. Financial crisis strike now and many are worried. Their mind and head are just too occupied with the daily life and job security. Some have headache over it - "head" problem. God become second place, or no place.

So what’s next after spiritual milk? Solid food? Not yet, take some spiritual cereal first.

Toddler drinks milk, infant starts with cereal. Infant are always asking questions. Daddy, why this? Daddy, why that? There is no end to questions. Spiritual cereal is like that, asking questions. Who, what, where, when, why and How – 5W and 1H. Why did the writer of Hebrews say they are not ready for solid food? What is Christian maturity? What is solid food? How do I get this solid food? Who are the “dull in understanding”? What is the elementary truth of God’s word? There are many questions to ask, maybe no answer yet. But, it's OK, like an infant.

Infants are also beginning to be selective, they may not like your cereal, so you need to change and modify to suit them. This is their power of observation. Observation forces them to “see” think and decide whether they like the cereal or not. In observation, look for repeated words, comparison and contrast an item, people, and word. Look for key verse, thought, theme, argument, and idea in the passage. Is there any similar things written elsewhere in the Bible? This is what we call cross referencing. Cross References can be: (5E) enlightenment, echo, example, etymology, or elaborate a verse or passage.

OK, I am going into “solid food” so it best to stop for now.

Your words were found and I ate them, And Your words became for me a joy and the delight of my heart; (Jer 15:16 NASB)

Mark Lim

23 Oct 2008 9am

Devotion Thought on Heb 4:14-5:10 – Let us approach the Throne of Grace

I woke up on Monday morning with this verse lingering in my mind:

Let me hear of thy steadfast love in the morning,
for in you I put my trust.
Teach me the way I should go,
for to you I lift up my soul. (Psa 143:8, NRSV)

I was reading on this passage in Hebrews. Priesthood may sound quite alien to protestant as compare to Catholic. We tend to forget that we Christians are all priests (1Pet 2:9). One of the main function of a priest is to intercede on behalf of his fellow people. Am I continually praying for others? Have I prayed for those under my charge, the people in our church, the Bethany Share Group (BSG) members, the BSG leaders, those that are new in the church, just baptized, … It sound like a long list. Are we encouraging people to pray for one another? Prayer meeting attendance is low. Does the BSG encourage and promote prayer? What about my own prayer life? The only meaningful time is the daily night prayer walk. God seem to speak to me most often through such a time.

Do we always receive favorable answer in our prayers, as in Heb 4:16, a verse I have memorized since I first became a Christian some 30 years ago? The verse stated that we may receive mercy and grace, not always a “YES” answer, sometime “NO”, sometime “WAIT”.
A story floats through my mind from one of my reading:

Several years ago my family and I lived just down Sanders Bluff Road from Barry and Brenda with their three young boys, John, Drew, and Wade – a wonderful family. Barry was fun, a man of deep faith who talked openly of his love for Christ. Pat and Brenda enjoyed having tea together (a picture of one of their outings is still magnetized to our refrigerator), and the boys were great with our Joshua, who trailed them in age. We were excited about our new-found friends.
In 1993 Brenda contracted liver cancer. In the months that followed, family, friends and churches in our area prayed, fasted, and believed in God for a miracle. I have never seen such a consistency or fervency of prayers. Barry, a great man of faith, was a spiritual rock, ministering to his family and waiting on the Lord. Nevertheless, the answer for which we prayed – Brenda’s healing from cancer – did not come this side of the grave. At the end of this unrelenting illness her emaciated body, only a shadow of the lovely young mother we loved finally succumbed to the disease. The funeral heralded the victory we as Christian have in death, yet I believed an emotional under-current ran through the auditorium that day as sincere, saddened believers asked the question, “God, why did you not answer our prayers?”
To this example could be added countless thousands: the child born with a deformity in spite of prayers for a healthy baby; the missionary who loses a spouse in an auto accident on the field of calling; a homosexual entangled in lust, desperately asking for deliverance from his obsession; the unanswered prayer for a job, or the request for financial help that seems to get so higher than the ceiling. In times of God’s silence Jesus’ promise of “whatever you ask in prayer” (Mk 11:24) seems mocking. (Philip Yancey, Disappointment with God. Three Questions No One Asks Aloud, Grand Rapids :Zondervan 1988)

I too had a one long struggle. In 2006, during church retreat, I requested prayer from my group for one Air Force project that required 23 very stringent environmental testing – like 4000 feet altitude test, 30g shock test (one g = 1 atmospheric pressure), and many others, costing about $40,000 in all. After 4 months of gruesome testing, from July to October 2006, there were 2 major failures. One failure was repeated after remedy with additional cost of a few thousand dollars and the failure was solved. Another major failure was not due to design but was inherent to the product, which I told them that it would also happen to the one that Air Force is presently using in their aircraft (bought from Israel). In fact, in term of performance, my unit worked better the Israelis product. However, Air Force could not accept my explanation and the project was deemed as failed.

During that period, I often quote Heb 4:16 during my prayer. My spirit was challenged to believe that God would see me through. The failure incurred heavy loss as there was no payment from the government. All testing were paid by my company. At the end of it all, I was lectured and ticked off by my boss for the failure. It was the lowest point of my working life. Where was God’s grace? I have done all that is to be done base on my engineering judgment. What had prayers done to me all these months, during the difficult period? Even though it is a failure, I still believe in God and thank Him for making me walk through difficult times.

Then in April 2007, for some unknown reason, Air Force changed their mind and accepted all my environmental testing as pass, paid all the cost and requested us to proceed with the production of more units. I felt redeemed from being ticked off by the boss! God is gracious and His grace surpasses all our understanding.

Call on me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you and you shall glorify me (Psa 50:15)

Mark

Financial Crash - Pray for the innocence who are suffering

Enough of my thoughts for the time being, although alot of things are still going in my mind. When words are many, transgression is not lacking, but the prudent are restrained in speech (Prov 10:19).

Last week financial crash has shaken up everybody, even the dosmestic helpers are worried. They are worried that they might be sent home. Read these:

SINGAPORE, Oct 12, 2008 (AFP) - As the global financial storm blows fear through Asia's stock markets, Filipino maid Christy Arciaga is jittery -- even though she does not own any shares.
Her businessman employer has lately become more irritable as he has watched his investments being swallowed in a sea of red ink, and the 46-year-old domestic helper is often on the receiving end of his bad moods.
"My employer would turn on the television every morning to check the latest stock market report even before breakfast. He is often angry and tells me he might send me home even before my contract ends," Arciaga said.
"The thought of going back has caused me sleepless nights. What about my family? Two of my children are still in college."
Thousands of migrant workers, among them maids, restaurant staff and labourers working in wealthy Asian cities such as Singapore and Hong Kong, are worried that an economic slowdown and retrenchments resulting from the crisis could hit their employers' pockets, and leave them without jobs.
This would mean that the flow of remittances they send home to their poor families will dry up -- and with it money for food, clothing and school fees.
Another maid, Myra Catacutan, 34, said she recently heard her employer angrily talking on the phone with someone, presumably a financial adviser, demanding her money back.
"My employer was shouting to the one on the other line: 'Give me back my money'. When she turned to me, she was teary-eyed and told me she could lose a big amount," she said. "I am worried she might let me go."

Let's pray for these people, who suffer due to the "rich" being hit by the financial crash. Talking about loosing job, a joke just strike my mind (let's relax abit, lah!):


Ah Huay At a Job Interview

Ah Huay went for a job interview to be a secretary.
When the manager saw Ah Huay's colourful attire and gold & white hightlighted hair, his mind is screaming, "NOT THIS WOMAN". Nevertheless, he still had to entertain Ah Huay.
So he told Ah Huay, "If you could form a sentence using the words that I give you, then maybe I will give you a chance! The words are GREEN, PINK, YELLOW, BLUE, WHITE, PURPLE and BLACK."
Ah Huay thought for a while and said: "I hear the phone GREEN GREEN, GREEN, then I go and PINK up the phone, I say YELLOW ... BLUE's that? WHITE did you say? Aiyah, wrong number lah ... Don't PURPLEly disturb people and don't call BLACK, ok? Kum Siah."
The manager fainted.

Great Leaders reproduce themselves

There was a time when Bethany PCES had a singing team. We sang at the very West of Singapore, Jurong Point. We also sang at the very East of Singapore, Pasir Ris NTUC Downtown East. We also sang at the very heart of Singapore, Orchard Road. We sang because we had a very passionate musical leader, the Superintendent of the Sunday School. When she left, the musical team disappeared. There was no one to carry on the work.

There was a time when Israel had no giant killer. They were challenged for forty days by a giant. Then came a giant killer, David the Goliath killer. From then on, Israel raised up many giant killers. In 1Chron 20:4-8, we read of many giant killers under the leadership of King David – Sibbecai, Elhanan and Jonathon were all giant killers. Great leaders reproduce themselves. This is real leadership.

It has been said: "SUCCESS WITHOUT A SUCCESSOR IS A FAILURE"

A Moses reproduces his Joshua. A Paul reproduces a Timothy & a Titus. Those without a successor lasted just for that moment. Those with a successor set up a legacy.

Passionate leaders who are in the thick of action will always be on alert to search for potential leaders. In 1Sam 14:52, Saul is always looking out for potential warriors. Passionate leaders are able to observe and shift out potential leaders to invest their lives on them. Those who can’t are at best mediocre. Serving with the para-Church, Singapore Navigators in the tertiary institutions (SP & NTI) has taught me to be discerning and constantly on the look out for potential leaders, as students stayed only 3 to 4 years.

Many years ago, Dr Raymond Lee planned to go to Chiang Rai and serve as a missionary for one year. Pastor David excitedly announced to the committee. “This could be BPCES first missionary”. David personally told me that Raymond felt very strongly of the calling. I hinted many times to him that we need to mentor adult, not just youth, but he didn’t get my hint because when I said adult, I was thinking of Raymond. After waiting for years, it never happened. Raymond is still in Bethany. This year, Dr Raymond again wanted to go Yunnan and serve for one year. Again Pastor David excitedly announced to the committee. Would history repeat itself? When there is no mentoring, growth stalled. I have personally served with Raymond before and firmly believed that his desire is genuine. In year 1987, three of us – Luh Sy, Raymond and I volunteered as tuition teachers for the Houggang Center under the leadership of Elder William Ng. We had many students and it was the best community service the church had ever organized, according to my opinion. Every Thursday night, after classes, the 3 of us together with Brother Wai Teck had fun squeezing into Daniel’s car when going home. Even before I left for USA at the end of that year, my students gave me a farewell lunch at the Kelong at Upper Thomson Road. There is real joy in serving.

I believe there are many potential leaders & servants in Bethany. Who would want to go to Yunnan and squat in maggot-invested toilets if not for the heart to serve? These are the potential leaders (?) – Raymond, Ginnette, Siew Poh, … that great leaders will invest their time on them. Church leaders who understand the principles of successive leadership should talk to them and try to find out more about them rather than just let the mission trip of 1 week come and go.

One of my interests is to learn and study the Word of God. At the same time, I am looking for Christians who share my passion by sharing devotions, Bible study materials, and some training to those who are interested.

I am reminded of this story of an elderly gentleman who boarded a bus with a bouquet of flowers in his hand. As he sat down, he noticed an attractive young girl sitting across from him. Her eyes kept drifting over to the flowers. It was obvious that she was taken by them. In a few minutes it was time for the man to get off the bus. Standing to his feet, he handed the flowers to the girl and said, “I noticed that you like flowers. I would like for you to have these. I think my wife would like you to have them, too. I’ll tell her I gave them to you.” With that, he stepped off the bus… and entered the gate of a small cemetery.

I often try to see what people’s flowers are. Do you know yours?

Look out for that girl who admire your flower and give it to her. I have yet to find one. Or perhaps, I have no flower!

And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others. (2Tim 2:2)

Struggling with Scriptures – The Sequel

Understanding Scripture is difficult. Applying Scripture is even more difficult. I am reading this book – Applying the Bible, by Jack Kuhatschek and have been pondering over how the Bible can be made more alive in my life. One chapter sends a chill down my spine:


During the late sixties and early seventies, I was a student at the University of Texas. It was an exciting time to be on campus. Vietnam War protestors held huge rallies and marches. Long haired hippies gathered for rock concerts and love-ins. With over forty thousand students on campus, something was always happening.
One day a group called the “Children of God” came to town. They pulled up in front of campus in a large bus covered with religious slogans, such as “Jesus Loves You” and “Drop Out for Jesus”. Immediately they began passing out tracts, preaching judgment and salvation, and talking with anyone who would listen.
Our InterVarsity chapter didn’t know quite what to make of them. Their zeal was contagious – and a bit frightening. They accused us of believing a watered-down version of Christianity. They claimed we were guilty of spiritual adultery, of embracing the harlot – Babylon the Great – because we had not dropped out of society.
To make matter worse, they supported their charges with Bible verses. They took us to passage after passage that seemed to support their position.
I remember one passage clearly – the story of the rich young man in Matthew 19. In that passage, a man came to Jesus and asked, “What good things must I do to get eternal life?”
“If you want to enter life,” Jesus answered, “obey the commandments.”
“All these I have kept,” the man replied, “What do I still lack?”
“If you want to be perfect,” Jesus answered, “go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
The Children of God had taken Jesus literally. They had sold or given away all that they had in order to follow Jesus. Why hadn’t we? They demanded. Were we unwilling to obey Jesus’ command?
For many of us, the whole encounter was very painful. Most of us were young Christians who tried to be sensitive to the Lord’s leading. Although we couldn’t refute their charges, we felt immediately that they were wrong. But our common sense couldn’t protect us completely from the fear that perhaps we were being disobedient to God.
In fact, a few days later we discovered that two very young Christians from InterVarsity chapter had decided to join the Children of God. Without a word to us, they drove off in the bus to the group’s commune in South Texas. We never heard from them again.
Biblical commands are sometimes difficult to apply. Some people may say, “God said it. I believe it. And that settles it!” But it isn’t always that simple.


I too had a similar experience and feeling during my early days of conversion. On most Sunday afternoon, I would follow my church on street evangelism. We moved around the HDB blocks knocking on doors, distributing tracts and engaging in spiritual conversation to whoever would want to listen. I remember this incident when I managed to get a listening ear. He was keenly learning from the Bible and had invited me back the following Sunday. On the following week there was an older lady with him. I soon found out that the lady was his teacher and she was a Jehovah Witness. Her knowledge on the Bible was undisputable. Every verse about Christ as the Son of God and salvation is by faith through grace alone that I brought out was calmly countered by her. I remember clearly one verse that she used to refute me about the second coming of Christ, when the earth will be destroyed and there will be a new heaven and new earth (Rev 21:1). She replied that the earth will always remain, quoting from Ecclesiastes 1:4 (NIV) “Generations come and generations go, but the earth remains forever.” Intuitively, I knew she was wrong, but being young in faith, I could not how to answer her and many of her claims.
After I left the discussion defeated, I vowed that I will forever learn and study the Bible. I am still working and struggling at it.

But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. (Psa 1:2)

Mark Lim

3 October

Struggling with Scriptures

In 1Samuel chapter 15, verses 2 & 3 we read about our Holy God who gave the command, “Thou shall not kill” telling Saul to kill women, children and infants!!

This is what the LORD Almighty says: 'I will punish the Amalekites for what they did to Israel when they waylaid them as they came up from Egypt. Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy everything that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.' (NIV)

The preacher’s two explanations: (1) the focus of this passage is on obedience (verses 22, 23) and not killing of people, (2) God is sovereign and not to be questioned, is similar to our parent’s reason of “just obey my words, this is for your own good”. Like an inquisitive child, these answers alienate my understanding of a loving God further and contradict what I am told that Christianity is a reasonable faith - a faith in God that can be reasoned, not blind faith (i.e. just believe) like other religions. While I am convicted and encouraged of God’s sovereignty through the preacher’s testimony of how God performed a “miracle” to bring him back to Singapore for his church’s anniversary, yet the question remains unsolved – “why did God want to kill innocent infants?”

I once read a Buddhist critics, sent to me by sister Wei Lin, that Christianity is a cruel faith where you read of God being a warrior and killing innocent people in the Bible while Buddhism is truly benevolence with absolute no killing of all living things. 1Sam 15:2&3 would surely serve to justify his argument if we can’t find any explanation within our understanding of Christian theology, however good this passage is being preached.

Before you read further, which is only a handful of you, let me honestly say that I am not attacking the preacher or any church leaders with this blog. My writing is a reflection, journal and struggle of my walk and faith in God. IT IS MY PERSONAL ENCOUNTER WITH GOD. However, I think some of you may face the same struggle (or just curious) and so you choose to read what I write. Others will ignore this blog. Journaling helps me to be honest with God and transparent to people. I need not wear a “mask” to church. What you read is what I am thinking (but not all things. There are so many thoughts and I write down the strongest thought that convicts me.) Also, I am learning and do correct me if my thoughts are somewhat off skew, just like a concern sister-in-Christ who sometime ago sent me an email to caution me about my thoughts on pastor. Thank you.

My finite mind will always struggle with my infinite God and His Word


TO BE CONTINUED …. (will be back, after much thinking & struggling)

Giving teaches me compassion

Recently, I read and prayed with tears from a letter from Gospel Mission To the Blind Ltd, a Christian charity organization. This organization reaches out in love and compassion to the blinds, encouraging them and helping them to find new meaning in lives and most importantly, eternal lives. Sister Cheng Choo, blind herself and a graduate from Singapore Bible College, has been instrumentally running the organization. Her monthly letters to all donors have always touched my heart and teaches me compassion. Here is an excerpt of the letter:

Life and sight are very precious and wonderful gifts from God. Our hearts ache whenever we know of some one losing their sight. Please pray for Chua Bin Lay, our new contact, a pre-believer, who was also told that she is suffering from cancer, and at the 4th stage.

One of our youths, Amanda Chong, was suffering from cornea problem and had undergone several eye surgeries. However, her vision was getting very blur in spite of those surgeries.

In March this year, her doctor found a suitable cornea for her, and with much fear and anxiety, she had the transplant of a cornea done. The surgery seemed successful, and she was enjoying clearer vision in one eye for a while. However, in mid July 08 when the stitches were supposed to be removed, her eye doctor found foreign bodies in the eye, and he was fighting very hard to prevent a rejection of the cornea. Amanda was put on steroid. She became very depressed and fearful that her body would reject the transplanted cornea when the doctor said that there was not much improvement when she went for her check up after about 12 days. Her mother sent us SMS requesting that we encourage her. Instead of just encouraging/counseling her, we also prayed with her over the phone. In early August she came for Bible study, and we laid hands on her and prayed with her. During subsequent check ups, her doctor told her that there was a 60% improvement, and reduced the dosage of the steroid.

Amanda is now very happy, and would appreciate it if we can continue to uphold her in prayers, so that she can receive divine healing and see with perfect vision, not just in the eye that has the transplanted cornea, but in the other eye as well.


There was a time when I also learnt compassion through giving, from the homeless in London. It was 1993 - 94. In one cold winter evening while walking home from my University, I saw this homeless squatting and shivering at the corner of a street. Looking up, our faces met. His agonized face instantly triggered me to dip into my pocket for a British Pound and flung it to him. A transformation took place and I saw a jubilant and smiling face. In those days, one could get a good meal of fish and chips with a pound and a half from a subsidized nursing home’s canteen nearby. Since then, I would sometime walked the streets of London, with a pocket full of coins, though I always gave intelligently and gracefully. On another occasion in Chinatown, a haggard and worn-out woman with a baby in arm came out to me, “Spare a change, please.” I asked her many questions to ascertain her need, and after I gave her some money asked why she chose to approach me. Apparently, before she begged from someone, she would look into their faces, hoping to see a compassionate face for a better chance of success and bigger change. As a scholar from British Council and with a monthly salary and allowances from NTU for my studies in London, giving away a few coins on many occasions meant nothing to me. But the value of compassion and kindness will always serve as a fond memory of my stay in LONDON.

He who is kind to the poor lends to the LORD ... (Prov 19:17)

How friendly am I?

Sunday, 21 Sept, 10:45am;
Me: “What do you think about our church worship today?”
Masio: “Oh, it’s very good. I know the song, Jesus, Lamb of God, (give the Malay version of this song), we sing it in our church in Sabah.”

Friday, 19 Sept, 9:15pm;
I was taking my daily prayer walk around the quiet Pasir Ris Drive 3, a time for quiet reflection and talking. Friday night is always a consoling welcome for rest after a fatigue week. “What is God doing in Bethany?” I asked, as I remembered about Experiencing God – God is always at work. The word – MASIO flash through my mind-eye. Oh, I have forgotten about Masio, the visitor who came on the 24 August Sunday worship. I found it hard to pronounce his name and he wrote it down on a piece of paper. He is a Christian, working as a cleaner in Geylang. He was looking for a church and came to Bethany PC on that Saturday afternoon. For the last two Sunday, I didn’t catch up with him and has totally forgotten about him. OK, I need to talk to him this Sunday. Strange, I have never been prompted like this before.

Sunday, 21 Sept, 2:50pm, inside SBS Bus 53
Sitting in the bus on my way home after the Be-friender meeting, I kept drifting to the conversation with Masio this morning. He is no ordinary visitor. He talked about the importance of worshipping God, “If I die tomorrow, I am ready to go. The Bible say, the 666 is coming soon. At that time, those without the mark cannot buy food. … If I don’t come to church, no use joining my friends to drink and get drunk, no good.”

Here is a man, away from his home and his church. Yet, he took the effort to seek the LORD instead of joining his housemates of 15; about 5 of them are Christians, in worldly pleasure. He is looking for Christian friends. It reminded me of my days in London alone, searching for a church and for Christian friends, … that sojourner feeling. Yep, God always has a special concern for orphans, widows and sojourners. (Sorry for getting too emotional each time I think of London. It always is a special place in my life).

We need to make friend to foreigners like Masio, a blue-collar worker as a cleaner in a hotel in Geylang. More so, I am encouraged by this brother-in-Christ. This may be the first place to start creating an environment for spiritual growth and reproduction - be a friendly church to foreigners & sojourners!


Mark Lim
23 Sept

Create an environment for Spiritual Growth & Reproduction

As I listened to the Prime Minister’s National Day message concerning Singapore pro-creation policy, many thoughts crossed my mind about why people choose to remain childless and Christians cease in spiritual reproduction as well. Political leaders and Christian leaders are both concern about raising the right kind of leadership and population growth. I shall share my experience on raising leadership some other time.

Singaporeans are busy people, those of us who have traveled or stay aboard will agree. We are busy with our career to the extent of neglecting our social lives and are not ready for marriage. Then there is another group who is married but for personal reasons, chooses to remain single. Parenting is a burden and a hindrance to their career path and freedom (to travel, leisure, etc). This is a sign of immature thinking. The third group chooses to remain childless are usually because of health reason.

As Christians, we too need to ask ourselves honestly why we are not reproducing. Witnessing, evangelism, reaching out to others for Christ, are hard work. If we are not clear of our faith, it can be a burden and hindrance to our comfort zone, a sign of spiritual immaturity. Reproduction is God’s way of creation – “Be fruitful & multiply”. All living things (plants, animals, organism and humans) reproduce as they mature. Then there is another group of Christians, who are not spiritually healthy. These are the one who will give up their faith at a sign of crisis or trials. We are busy Christians with our job, family, church and leave little time to make a conscious effort to reach out to our friends and colleagues. We often use the word “fear” to describe our feelings. For the older ones, we may be now “spiritual menopause” Christians.

Thank God, for this year, we started building a “women court”- a ministry for the ladies in our church, after 3 years of voicing this out in the committee. I have received some encouraging feedback from visitor. Although it is important to build up our “Holy place” and the “Holy of Holies” – worship ministry, as a church, we need to continuously enlarge our “Gentile court”, creating an environment where we feel at ease to invite friends into our midst. Are our Share Groups “non-Christian friendly”? Are our ministries meeting the needs of the community? The Church exists for the world, because Christ came for the world (John 3:16). What ministry or projects will meet these needs? A discipleship/evangelistic environment is one where the norm is to share our lives, how we live in the awareness that God is with us, with one another – to Christians by our encounter with God, to non-Christians by our testimony and Gospel. My first 3 years as a Christian was in such a discipleship environment. It was where sharing daily devotions, loving and caring for one another was the norm for a Christian community. This naturally led to witnessing for Christ. Maybe, we were young then, and also homogenous, we were all students. Can a church create such an environment? Yes, but it is difficult as we are busy Christians. I have thought of many possibilities. It is not just about providing a training evangelism program. You may want to think about it also.

We need to raise up Christians with a mindset of spiritual growth. But it can never be an individual effort. We must create an environment such that it is a norm to grow & reproduce. People must see that not to grow and bear fruit is abnormal. We have not created such an environment yet.

Let us be like a good Jew, who is taught to do 3 things in his lifetime – Write a book, plant a tree, raise a child. For me, a Christian - write my thoughts, bear spiritual fruit, raise a spiritual child.

Mark Lim

To motivate, Bring out their best, not their weakness

During our monthly prayer meeting, one sister asked me to sing solo when I would lead the next prayer meeting. I turned her down and saying that I hated being asked to do something in public what I am weak in. She disagreed with me that saying that it is all right.

Flashback, year 1974, I was just starting Secondary 3. My Form teacher, Mr Ling Ding Ing who taught us English was concerned of our English & Grammar. I was perhaps one of the weakest in class. As long as I can remember, on most occasions, during our English class comprehension, he would call me to answer questions in the passages. Most of the time, I got the wrong answer and was very embarrassed in class. Needless to say, I hate English and it was the only subject that I failed for my O Level.

In that same year, we started learning Additional Math. After the first 4 weeks and completing on the topic Indices & Logarithms, my Math teacher, Mr CC Chen, asked each student to solved questions on the board. I remember there was one very hard question that almost no students could get it right. Maybe Mr CCC saw my eager face and finally called me to the board. When I produced the right solution, almost the whole class breathed out a sigh, “Wah!” I instantly grew one foot taller at the moment. After that incident, others class students also heard about me and some even asked me for help along the school corridor. Since then, I grew to love Maths and hate English. For Secondary 3 & 4 I was topped in A Math, and Secondary 4 in E Math. Till this day, I can still clearly remember the names and the faces of these 2 teachers, they changed my life.

Mark Lim Teng Lye
16 Sept 2008

A Mission Field near Bethany Church

The "hornet nest" is being stirred when news have it that the old Serangoon Garden Technical School in Serangoon North Ave 1 is going to be converted to a Foreign Workers Dormitory. Many of the resident voiced against such a proposal, claiming security of their women and girls; drop in property prices, road congestion and many uncalled for behaviour of the foreigners. Singaporeans do has split behaviors - we despised foreign workers who are blue-collars and who hold lowly paid jobs like construction workers, cleaners and maids while accept easily the white- collars foreign professional and expatriates. This may be due to the unruly behavior of the foreign workers while the foreign professional and expatriate are are deem better behaved. However, we do forget about the Michael Fayes incident and other cases involving foreign professional.

When I first read the news, my thought was, "Wow! God is bringing a mission field nearer to Bethany Church." These lowly foreign workers are from Thailand, India, Mynmar, etc. Many of these would need friends, and maybe languages lesson. While Bethany usually spend one week a year for oversea mission trip to Thailand or Yunnan, here the mission field is being brought to our door step and we can reach out to them without facing the discomfort of toilets with maggots and muddy roads. If we are serious of mission to Cambodia, Thailand, or Yunnan, we should first prepare ourselves for mission trips by reaching to these "mission fields" in Singapore. As Simon Lim is teaching English to the Cambodians, we too can teach English to the Thais or Mynmar workers and learn their languages as we teach them. The only different is Simon is teaching children while we may have to teach adults. Any not many are willing to teach adults (?)

Of course, are we willing to give the time and energy? Oversea mission trips - as missionaries sound exciting and lasted just one or two weeks. Local mission trips are less glamorous and more tedious. It is not just one week, but maybe months and years. Would our oversea missionary trippers willing to start our local mission work? Would those having a call to go oversea consider this local mission field as a training and preparation for them to help them feel whether they can see "that the harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few"? Before we jump into the Cambodia, Thailand and Yunnan mission works, are we willing to also move into a closer mission field back home?

(Some of us might still be asking: "Mark, what are you talking about, these foreigners are just foreign workers, not people we want to witness to. Those in Cambodia or Yunnan, are the one we want to witness to. It is the place, not the people we are talking about".

Mark: "Yah, for me, it is the people not the place I am talking about. In God's perspective, it is not place but people. People is the most important of all God's creation.")

Acts 1:8 - When the Holy Spirit has come upon you, you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea, and Samaria and to the end of the earth.

Mark Lim

Friday Prayer Meeting

This is the first time Sister Siew Poh joined our first Friday of the month prayer meeting. It is nice to hear her talk about her volunteering work at Singapore Anti-Narcotite Association (SANA) and some of her health problem. In prayer meeting, we get to know more of the people in our group and so understand each other better. But usually, the turn out is very low. Those who come are the one who see the need to give and just be part of the group. Everyone is given the opportunity to speak and so it is good to hear from one another. We may not spend much time in prayer but more in knowing the lives of others.

Which bring me to my point of writing this blog. As christians we need to talk about our life, and how God is working in our lives, or sometime, fail to see how God is working in our lives. Either way is good, the knowledge of God working in our lives help us to experience His presence and join Him in whatever He calls or guides. Also, the failure to see how God is working in my lives, will help me to be sensitive to Him and learn to sense His presence. The worse is to be apathy to Him.

As a body of Christ, I am trying to inculate this aspect of Christian living - sharing with one another how we can see our lives in God's perspective - by email on SHARE-A-THOUGHT, DEVOTION, REFLECTION, and reading articles. Hopefully, others will learn to draw near to God through all these and not feel that I am intruding into their spaces.

I hope Sister Siew Poh will continue to share her lives with others which can encourage others to shares their also.


Mark Lim
8 Sept 2008

Heart - to – heart: THINKING ABOUT 1Samuel 8

Last Saturday night, I somehow turned to 1Samuel Chapter 8 from my New Revised Standard Version Bible and read through the passage. It was a sad passage and I felt for our brother Samuel of the past. It must be very sad for him and I believe the book 1Samuel might be written by him. In my mind, I was imagining what Samuel (as a father and church leader) would have been thinking when he was writing this passage that would one day come to us as Scripture…


"God, look at my sons, my godless sons! Everybody knows they are hooligans, perverting justice and accepting bribes just like the sons of Eli. LORD, you know, I tried so hard to be a good father. I even named them Jevovah is God (Joel) and the Lord is my father (Abijah). I thought this can help shape their character. Every time, someone called them, Jevovah is God and the Lord is my father, surely, they would be conscious of their behaviors. You know, LORD, my mentor; Eli wasn't a good father either. I learn nothing good from him about parenting. Since young, I was away from home. I seldom see my father (sobbing); I don't have a role model. And now, everybody is rejecting me and asking for a king. (crying)"

"I know you tried very hard to be a good father, and even named your sons after me. That is why I didn't punish them and you like I did to Eli and his sons. Now, listen to the voice of the people (repeated 3 times in verses 7, 9 and 22). What they are asking is reasonable. They have not rejected you, but me. My people are always reluctant to know and obey me, ever since they left Egypt. Since, there is no better judge after you; I will give them a king. But warn them that a king makes more and tougher demands from them than a judge."


Lessons learnt: ·

• A father's concern

Don't know how our children will turn out to be. But we must continue do our best to guide them in the godly path. ·

• As a leader, I should live exemplary life.I must do what I teach and say.

It tough being a leader, always under scrutiny (just feel like quitting) and go to another church ·

• God is gracious, even if I fail in my duties (as parent or leader), God takes the blame.

It's comforting to read how God comfort Samuel. This is the assurance we have from God when we serve Him. So don't quit. ·

• Listen to the voices of the people

The people whom we lead and serve do have their grievances as well. Learn to listen to their voices as well as their unspoken voices. Critics (although not always right) do have their views too.

Mark Lim
20/8/08

Slight Disappointment

We have our Bible Study last Sunday on "Experiencing God" after worship service. Wonder why the Men's adult is not meeting. Pastor again came and joined the group, which is ok. But I wish he could mobilise or at least gather a few men to have some healthy sharing rather than having 2 adult with the youth. I actually wanted to ask him to take over and I moved to the Men's group.

During discussion, Shannen again shared about her problem with her new boss. Then Pastor went into a counseling session: analyzing her situation, giving advices, illustrations, commenting on new bossess syndrome, etc. As a result, we didn't really move into the topics. I can understand his style. He like to talk. I was thinking for the last few days whether to ask him to take over the BS. I can then meet up with Tony and Cheong and start the Men's group again. With the 3 of us, it's OK to continue moving ahead, just like the good old days.

One thing I observe about Pastor is that he didn't know when to let go. He is present in every meetings (I hope I am wrong). It is important to let go and let others grow. There is no need to share your thoughts on every issue, and have the final say. While most of us respect him for his seminary education and leadership, I wish he can raise up more leaders himself instead of just concentrating on forming team for ministries. Then the English Committee would be very different. Right now, any members can be in the Committee and most of the time is by default.

Another dissapointment was preparing BSG material for the youth. I started to prepare the 1Timothy material since February and told him about this. Maybe he has forgotten about it and he also asked Susanto to prepare the adult BSG. As a results, there are 2 sets of material and so it wasn't very pleasant for Susanto. This time round, I have started preparing the Hebrews material without really telling anyone. 2 weeks ago, he told me that he is asking Susanto to prepare the first 3 chapters of Hebrews and wanted the adult and youth to use the same BSG material. As such, I stopped working on Hebrews. I realize that I am doing all this is because I am sort of crazy over studying the Bible. Sometimes, I can be doing thing overboard.


Mark

Church Split - it will happen again!

I had a few emails correspondence with a former church member who came back to visit us during Sunday worship service. After separating from us for almost 2 decades to start a new church by a former elder, many of those who joined this elder in forming a new church have now left him, accusing him of spiritual malpractice. This visitor intends to write a book or journal to expose what the elder did - taking away about more than three hundred thousand of dollars of offering given by the English Service worshippers. It seem to me that he is doing this out of vengence, bitterness but credit it to "doing good for the future generation" by informing them of spiritual malpractice.

I learn a few lessons here. Why did they (mostly teenagers & young adults) choose to follow the elder while the rest of us (most married couples with children and late-twenty working adults) decided to remain in this church. Didn't it occur to them that there was something amiss. The elder encouraged them by saying that they were planting new churches. But, the split was not amicably. There were strife and war of words when the split took place. Many things happened to them, according to this visitor. They were cursed, because their church was in Onan Road. Onan was a son of Judah (Gen 38) killed by God. He spiritualised the whole episode that his church is cursed with the "Onan curse" (whatever that is) and many of their members left. He also claimed that the Elder told "dirty jokes" and cursed some of the members during his sermons. The lesson learnt here is that when they followed the leader who split the church acrimoniously, the same situation of church split will happen in the future also. And so, it happened to them.

The seond lesson is that we should not take vengence in our hand. If it is spiritual malpractice, God will punish him Himself. Who are we to judge the action of others. I disagree with this visitor on the way he is doing but he is adamant in continuing with his book. I have written to him, telling him to sort out the issue personally as according to what the Bible say, "If a brother sin against you, go and tell him alone (Mt 18:15)". It would be interesting to see how the Elder react to his book.

Mark

Church Leadership

There's something bothering me about the leadership of my church that trigger me to consider speaking up. But talking about wrong doing of church leadership is usually unhealthy and seen as taking things in our own hands. Wrong doing of leaderships are supposed to receive punishment from God and not man, as God said, "Vengence is mine, I will repay" (Rom 12:19). So, I decided not to write any Share-A-Thought for the month of July.

However, for personal learning, I just want to add a few lines here about what's wrong with the church leadership. Christian leadership is different from secular leadership. How so? Jesus said," You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. It will not be so among you; but whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be your slave; just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many" (Mat 20:25-28). Wow! Where in world do you see a leader becoming a servant, except Jesus Christ who washes his disciples feet.

What does this mean practically to us Christians? This mean that Christian leaders should not have special privileges. After all, which servants have special privileges except those who are first? One special privileges is car-parking lots. In fact, the whole church car-parking lots are all reserved for Pastors, Elders and special important people, those who they think are first. Any visitors who walk into the church will not fail to see many parking lots with designated vehicles' numbers. It just doesn't look like a church but a country club. For a Christian leader to be a servant mean that he has no rights to spend the church money like his own, after all, he is a servant and servants can't use the master's money with freedom. Here, we see the church funds being used till it is negative and in deficit. Surely, a servant must give account of how the master money is being used.

But if Christian leaders are servants and has no privileges, then who want to be leaders?
Hands up, all who still do!

Spending money in the Church

One of the role of the deacon in the BPC is to attend the Elders & Deacons Court. At this meeting, members discuss over many issues concerning the church affairs and in particular how money is being used. If you look at the statment of income and expenditure for year ending 2007, it would be shocking to find that the Chinese/Hokkien Service had a deficit of $11,539.83. This is about 2-3% of their collection. To some, this may not be a big amount. But for a church that is dependent on worshippers' contribution, this is down right poor mismanagement of the good-will offering that people give to the church. Yet for this year 2008, we hear of renovation, buying of new electronics gadgets, and many things to make the church more conducive for worshippers. With this thoughtless spending, it will be another year of deficit.

There are at least 3 ordain ministers & preacher in this Elders & Deacons Court. I wonder whether they are mindful of how money given to the church is to be used? Most likely, they feel that money used for beautifying the church is well spent. Granted, but why do it till the account ends in deficit, going into the red?

Quite scary, isn't it? I wouldn't want to join them in this Elders and Deacons court and be held accountable for it one day, on earth or in heaven. We have just completed the study of 1 Timothy. I wonder how many is heeding the warning:
"... and do not participate in the sins of others; keep yourself pure." (1Tim 5:22)

When money is concern, every members want a say...

Mark Lim

Organ Trading, the dilemma

The big discussion that is going for the past 2 weeks is should organ trading be made legal. Those who are suffering from organ failure or have loved ones going through such a struggle will know how it feels. Others, who are healthy will try to make a moral judgement. The best way out is to have altrustic donors. But in this world where 'money rules' - oran trading is seen as giving the seller (usually a poor healthy chap) a better life financially and giving the recipient a second life, so to speak, abeit the financial gain of the middle-man, runner, doctors, etc. If legalise, human body will now have a price tag. If not, sufferers will continue to hope for compassionate and altrustic donors or go abroad searching for their needed organs.

The lesson learnt:
(1) Keep myself healthy - eat right, exercise regularly and maintain a healthy lifestyle. if this still doesn't help, then it is God's will for me.

(2) Be a willing donor - yes, if any of my family members do come to such a state that need an organ, I must be mentally prepared to donate with LOVE (1 Cor 13:3 - If I deliver my body to be burnt but have not LOVE, I gain nothing)

(3) Life is precious - From the Christian perspective, the body, soul and spirit is the most precious creation of God. Encourage healthy lifestyle - physically, socially, and spiritually to people around me.

Mark Lim

Preparing two messages for one sermon

“God or Money, Who is LORD? What a title!” the worship leader announced the sermon title on 29th June 2008 during the Sunday Service, before I stepped up the pulpit to deliver the sermon. Why did I choose such a title, indeed?

During the first week of May, Pastor David sent me an email requesting me to preach on the last Sunday of June. Since I have done a lot of studies on the Epistle of 1Timothy, I gladly accepted it. As I started to prepare the sermon on 1Timothy chapter 6, I realized that key theme of the passage is on godliness and also with money/wealth. This is going to be a sensitive topic best avoided. Godliness, yes! Money, no! After many hours of preparation, praying, reflecting and meditating, I managed to come out with a simple outline:

Title: Directions for Christian Growth
(1) Good conduct (v 1-2),
(2) Godliness (v 3-16);
(3) Generosity (v 17-19)

By mid June, I have completed preparing the sermon, including the introduction and illustrations, except the conclusion, which I usually leave it to the last week after much prayer.

On 15th June during Sunday Worship, before the invited speaker started his message, I was staring at the title of the sermon for 1Tim 3:14-4:16: Protocol of God household. “What does it mean to the congregation, can they understand that? Can it be simplified, or make clearer and more personal? It doesn’t seem to make any impact on me.” I mused over the title, trying to come out with a better title for his sermon.

It was then, that inside me whispered: “God or Money, God or Money”. I realized then that my spirit was telling me that it is not for me to judge others sermon’s title but my sermon should be God or Money. “Why, this title?” I asked myself. The answer was very simple: Jesus Christ said it in Matthew 6:24. I wrote on the church bulletin: 1Tim 6: God or Money, who is more important? Introduction: Matt 6:24. I knew then that the effort of preparing the sermon during the last five weeks was going to be wasted if I were to change the title and look for another outline. Then, the amazing thing happened, the sermon outline just flew through my mind, as if the message just drop from nowhere, I started to write: (1) … in the workplace (v 1-2); (2) … in the way of life (v 3-16, 20-21); (3) … in the wealth (v 17-19). Within a minute or two, I had a new title, outline and even an introduction! All this happened so fast that I could still hear the speaker making his introduction and protocol greetings. It’s time to refine the title and made it more personal and Christian-like:

Sermon Text: 1Timothy 6:1-21
Sermon Title: God or Money, who is LORD … ?
Introduction: Matt 6:24
Outline:
(1) … in my WORKPLACE (vv 1-2)
(2) … in the WAY I live (vv 3-16, 20-21)
(3) … in my WEALTH (vv 17-19)
Conclusion:

Preparing the second message for the same Bible text was more spirit-led and soul searching. Many beautiful memories of how God provided for my financial needs, especially the bursary and scholarship that I received for my undergraduate studies convinced me that this would be a far more meaningful message than the first one I had prepared. My routine nightly 9:15pm prayer walk became a time of close fellowship with the Lord. It is time to throw away the first message. Did God want me to change my sermon? If it was from God, what was His intention? I remember the time when we are looking for another pastor and many responded with “no money, no additional pastor” arguments. Perhaps, this notion of money decides how the church is to run should be corrected.

There was still a nagging fear of how the congregation would feel after reading the sermon title. I then sent the sermon outline to Pastor David for him to print onto the worship bulletin. Hopefully, this would soften their anxiety on such a sensitive title after reading the outline. Just like the worship leader has said, “What a title!”

Serving Him with you,

Mark Lim Teng Lye
1st July 2008

Sermon Outline for 1 Timothy 6 on 29 June 2008

This was suppose to the be printed into the worship bulletin for the Sunday worship on 29 June 2008, but somehow it didn't appear:



Sermon Text: 1 Tim 6
Sermon Title: God or Money, who is LORD ...?


Introduction:
Jesus Christ said, “No one can serve two masters …
You cannot serve both God and Money.” (Mat 6:24)

“There are 3 conversions necessary:
The conversion of the heart, mind and the purse”
- Martin Luther

1. … In my Workplace (vv 1-2)
Be respectful, not complacence
Why? God’s name not be slandered (v1)

2. … In the Way I live (vv 3-16, 20-21)
· Be contented, not avarice
Why? (1) we can’t take money out of this world (v 7)
(2) love of money is a root of all evils (vv 9,10)

3. … in my Wealth (vv 17-19)
· Be generous, not arrogance
Why? God is the provider of everything (v 17)

Conclusion:
“… I will bless you; … and you will be a blessing. …
and all people on earth will be blessed through you” (Gen 12:2,3)

Be a blessing …in my workplace, in the way I live, in my wealth