What is Fasting ?
It is abstinence from food for a period of time for a specific reason.  Fasting will build you up.  It is a time to seek God, to hear God.  We encourage you to fast together as a church for 21 days from the 24th January to 13th February.
 

Why Fast ?
Jesus has shown us the way to fast.  After Jesus was baptised, He fasted.  Before He began His ministry, He fasted.  For that 40 days, His fast was led by the Holy Spirit.
 

What are the benefits of Fasting ?

1. To receive divine guidance, revelation / an answer to a specific problem
2. To hear God better and to understand more fully His will for your life
3. To weaken the power of the Adversary, freedom from bondage (ie the world, the flesh, the devil).
4. To cope with present monumental difficulties, to be released from heavy burdens
5. To break through a depression
6. To seek God's face and have a closer walk with Him
7. To resist temptation and set free from everyday sins
8. To humble yourself

Do we live to eat or do we eat to live ?  Food can be a bondage.  When you fast, dont use that tme to watch tv - instead, spend that time with God.
 

What were the three temptations that Jesus overcame ?

1. Realizing that fasting is a spiritual warfare - Satan offered food.  Jesus overcame the stronghold of false satisfaction
2. Jesus overcame false spirituality.  Christians get into spiritual problems when we want to use shortcuts to spirituality (for example, the priest who fasted for the wrong motive).  Jesus said this is not the way to spirituality.  We have wrong perceptions of spiritual heights.
3. Jesus overcame false values.  Satan made a false claim that the world belongs to him.  Satan cannot offer you the real Godly values.  We are polluted by what we hear, see, eat and perceive.  For example, if you want to be somebody, you must wear branded goods, or get good grades .... these are not God's values.

Are you ready to fast ?  Come, let us fast together from the 24th Jan and experience God's work in your life through fasting.
 

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17th January 1999
Topic:  The Beatitudes.
Speaker:  Rev. Yakub Ng  { Summarized by Sharon Cheuk }
Scripture Ref: Matthew 5: 1-12

Background.

During Jesus’ ministry on earth, after preaching the good news throughout Galilee, he went up on a mountainside and taught his disciples the Beatitudes.

The word “Beatitude” is derived from two words: “beautiful” and “attitude”. At the start of each of Jesus’ exhortation, he used the words “blessed are those”.  To be blessed means to be happy, fortunate, to be in good state.  It is similar to the Arabic word “shalom”, which means peace.

In the Beatitudes, Jesus is teaching us how to be truly happy.  How?
 

Point 1: To be poor in spirit, to mourn, to be meek (v.3-5) = to have humility before God.

What does it mean to be poor in spirit?  People who are poor in spirit realise that they cannot do anything without God.  It is an ability to trust God fully.  People who know that they are spiritually poor do not boast about their spiritual experiences.  For instance, when the apostle Paul was taken up into the heavenlies, he did not boast about the experience, but talked instead about the thorn in his flesh.  The benefit of spiritual humility is the inheritance of the kingdom of God.  Note that we are not promised the kingdom of this world, because the world cannot offer us everything we need.

To mourn also infers humility, because when we mourn, we experience brokenness and sadness because of our sin.  We are promised God’s comfort when we mourn.

When we are meek, we are also practising humility.  Note that a meek person is a person strong in character.  It does not imply weakness, but it means a refusal to compromise one’s principles.
 

Point 2: To hunger and thirst for righteousness, to be merciful, to be pure in heart (v.6-8) = to be holy.

When we hunger and thirst for righteousness, Jesus promises us that we will be filled.  And when we are merciful to others, we will be shown mercy.  As we pray in the Lord’s Prayer, we ask God to forgive us as we have forgiven others who have sinned against us.  This is not the world’s way.  The world’s way is to take revenge, to take an eye for an eye.  To be merciful is to show kindness, eventhough it may hurt our pride to do so.

To be pure in heart means to have good thoughts, to refuse to participate in wickedness, to desire to serve God’s interest all of the time.  When we are pure in heart, we shall see God.  And when we fast, we cultivate this purity as we ask God to search our hearts.
 

Point 3: To be peacemakers (v.9) = to maintain harmony.

When there is no harmony, there is no happiness.  Harmony takes a lifetime to cultivate but just a second to destroy.  How are we to be peacekeepers?  We need to humble ourselves.  We must not be like many church members who demand power, which splits the church. Our reward as peacekeepers is to be called sons of God.
 

 Point 4: And when we are persecuted because of our righteousness and because of our trust in Jesus (v.10-12)….

We are exhorted to rejoice and be glad, because our reward in heaven is great.
 

To consolidate all the above points, let me tell you a story:

An honest Indonesian banker, a Christian, lost his job.  As a result his car was repossessed because he could not meet his car payments.  He took a lowly job as a Registrar in a clinic, attended a church led by a young lady pastor, and served as a backup singer in that church.  Recently he had a call from a charitble group from Australia.  The group wanted to donate USD100m to assist the poor in Indonesia.  Because it did not trust the Indonesian politicians, it decided to entrust this fund to the banker, who would administer it for a commission.  This happened on the day he had to move from his house, due to his financial difficulties.

Likewise, Joseph, when he was sold into slavery and thrown into prison, remained humble.  In his own good time, God rescued him and restored him.

So God blesses people when they are humble, holy and are peacemakers.
 

Conclusion.

Let us conclude by reading Psalm 1.

“Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of the sinners or sit in the seat of mockers.  But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.  He is like the tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither.  Whatever he does prospers.  Not so the wicked!  They are like chaff that the wind blows away.  Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgement, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.  For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.

Note that this does not infer that we stop making friends with non-Christians.  However, we should not compromise our principles because of them.  We should maintain our holiness using the Word of God as our yardstick.

Hence, in this season of fasting, let us strive for these three things: humility, holiness and harmony.
 
 

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Nehemiah was a cubbearer to the king.  It was a risky job because he had to taste every drink offered to the king to confirm the drink is free from any poison.  During Nehemiah's time, the Israelites were distressed - they had survived captivity and they saw their city Jerusalem destroyed.  Nehemiah wept & prayed to God.  He prayed for his people - he was just an ordinary person praying.  He wasnt a priest, nor any kind of church leader.  Like Nehemiah, we can pray for our people.

Why should we fast ?  Nehemiah 1 : 5-11
What was Nehemiah praying for ?

1. To look for God.  Nehemiah was asking God "What  are You doing now ?  Where are You now ?  Are You real ?  If You are there, I really want to know you and know what is on Your mind".
2. To repent (vs 6).  Nehemiah confessed his own sins, the sins of the Israelites and his forefather.
3. To intercede for someone.

1. When his enemy was ill
2. When his prayers returned unanswered

Fasting is not a hunger strike where you twist God's hand.  It is not demanding - eg. God, if You dont give me Grade A in my exam, I'll go on hunger strike !  If I die, it's Your fault !"  You dont gain points for not eating.  Fasting is not a virtue by itself.  Read Isaiah 58 : 3-10.  We do not fast primarily for health, instead good health is a by-product of fasting.

Why do we need to come to God and fast now ?  Look at the current situation.  We should pray and fast for our Prime Minister.  Mahathir said that we are going to face a world deflation (the total wealth in the world today is not as rich as we think it is because a lot of us are living on borrowed money).  Why is this happening ?  Why ?  Because nations have sinned against God.  They have mocked God.  This matter concerns you - plead to God, ask for God's forgiveness.

What about La Nina ?  Have you ever wondered why God sent La Nina ?  Because He wants us to REPENT, to get out from our comfort seat.  You may only spend 5 minutes to pray everyday - now you need to pray longer.  Pray for Sabah, for Malaysia, for the world, for the church and its leadership, that they may listen to God.  Pray for our individual lives.  Are you in a roller-coaster situation ?  Are you sincere to God ?  Actions speak louder than words !

Dont ask God "What is Your will for my LIFE ?"  Instead, ask Him "What is on Your mind ?"

How do you fast ?  You can fast 1 meal or 2 meals, or eve 3 meals (full fast).  Do not fast for more than 40 days because our bodies cannot cope with it (scientifically proven - that is why Jesus only fasted 40 days).  If you decide to do full fast, after 3 days, you 'll be able to hear God clearly.  You may have ulcer as toxins / poisons are being disposed by your body - you may get more pimples.  You will smell bad and feel weak physically.  You are not only being cleansed physically but also spiritually.  Since we are not eating, we have more blood flowing to our brains, thus bringing more oxygen which may cause headaches to some people.  However, this extra oxygen will cause us to be more alert and therefore we should grab this opportunity to seek God.  Dont switch on the television while fasting because whatever that you feed on (eg. TV) will feed into your spirit.  Do not rush yourself into fasting.  The longer the time of fasting, you will need a longer period of preparation before fasting and a longer period in coming out of fasting.

The situation in this world are real.  Are you prepared to pray and fast for this world ?  Are you ready to seriously come out of the roller-coaster, come out from you comfort seat and plead to God ?  What is on His mind ?  What is on His mind ?  Why dont you ask Him to reveal it to you through your prayer and fasting ?
 
 

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Background.

The Lord heard that the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were filled with sin, and decided to go down to see whether their sins were as great as He had heard.  Upon hearing this, Abraham proceeded to negotiate with the Lord.  After the negotiation process, the Lord agreed not to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah if there were ten righteous people in them.

We can see that this was not a normal conversation between God and Abraham.  This was a conversation of life and death.  We never expect death when it comes.  Hence, we should ask ourselves the question: What is life all about?  Considering its transient nature, we should invest our life in that which is permanent.  According to the Scriptures, there are 2 things which are permanent and will not pass away:
(a) The Word of God; and
(b) The people of God.

Hence, when we sing “My life is in you, Lord” we are really saying that our lives are permanent.  However, we have to be conscious of the fact that many people’s lives are not.

To be a giant for the Lord is to invest in life and to save people for the Lord.  How are we to do this?

Point 1: We should allow our inner qualities, which are God-given, to manifest.

God has given each of us inner qualities, which are meant to manifest outwards.  However, we tend to suppress these qualities due to our shyness.  These qualities also get drowned out by our physical appearance.  We need to make a conscious effort to draw out these qualities and abilities.
 

Point 2: This inner character needs to be found in Jesus.

In order to draw out these inner qualities, we need to seek Jesus, understand His character and see His likeness.  We need to touch Jesus and allow Him to touch us.  We need to spent time and develop a relationship with Jesus.  We need to ask God what He likes, in prayer and fasting.

There are 3 levels of prayer.  The first level is a one-way communication, where we talk to God.  The second is a two-way communication, where we communicate with God.  The third level is where we listen and start moving in His presence.
 

Point 3: Possible sacrifice of our outward appearances in order to draw out our inner qualities.

We should not wait for the day when, because we are slow in cultivating our inner qualities, God decides to sacrifice our outward appearances in order to ease their manifestation.  In other words, God may one day take our beauty (and our pride) away from us, so that we are dependent on Him, and are forced to develop our inner beauty.  For instance, Paul was struck blind because he had too much pride.

Conclusion.

In conclusion, I quote this saying:
“Without God, man cannot.  Without man, God will not.”

God will use human lives for His purpose.  Of course our God is all-powerful, but he chooses to use us to execute His will.  God will not move until we are available.
 
 

 
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7th February 1999
SERVING  THE  TRUTH  &  THE TRUE  GOD
Speaker : Rev. Yaakub Ng  {Summarized by : Margaret Kong }
Scripture Ref : Acts 9:1-19

In the old days, parents like to name their children after the names of great people. Saul’s parents named him after the first king of Israel, King Saul. (Philippians 3:5).  Saul was full of hatred and anger of the Christians.  He was jealous because he wanted the followers of Jesus to be bound by the law of Judaism.  He did not realise that the law leads to death.  The good news of Jesus Christ had spread out of Jerusalem and this caused Saul to become even more zealous in persecuting them, more angry, more jealous. (Acts 9:1-still breathing treats and murder…) Why?  It is because more people are abandoning the law.  Saul felt threatened. Saul said to himself, “I’m not going to let them throw away the traditions”.  Traditions are good so as long it brings life, not death.

Saul was not alone in persecuting the Christians.  He has a company of similar men with him. Saul believed that Jesus died, but he didn’t believe that Jesus has risen.  On that day, the persecutor was pursued by the Lord.  He was near Damascus and before he entered the city, Jesus ‘zapped’ Saul.  He fell to the ground (verse 4) because of the power of God (that is why when we are being prayed for, we fall down.)

God said to Saul, “Saul, why do you persecute me?”
Saul answered, “Who are you, Lord?”
When you hear a voice in the daytime or night time, you should ask, “Who are you, Lord?” Or say “Yes, Lord” ( Example Samuel) God may speak to you through other people. After the ‘zap’, Saul couldn’t see for three days.  Three days he fasted spending time for deep reflection. He relied totally on what was in his heart and mind.  He had memorised the law in his heart, thought about what he had done to the Christians.  He thought he was doing God a great favour by defending the Jewish faith.  Jesus Christ himself defends us because when we are persecuted, actually it is Jesus who is being persecuted.  We also have an attitude like Saul - we are the ‘persecutors’ of the ‘way’, the ‘truth’.  Therefore we are opposing the ‘way’.  You come into the service not prepared to worship God.  Are you pure?  If not, we are like Saul, thinking that we are righteous but instead we bring all sorts of things into the service.  Come with a pure heart.

When God called Ananias, he answered, “Here I am, Lord”. God commanded him to meet Saul but Ananias lacked faith and was fearful because he knew Saul was not a good man.  But God said, “Go”.  When you walk in God’s way He will lead you. Do not be afraid.

When Ananias laid hands on Saul, the scales on his eyes fell off. For some of you, your spiritual eyes are blind.  Can you see Jesus? Can you see the ‘way’ to heaven?   Pray for the scales to fall off. After his eyes were opened, he was baptised.  When you received Christ, you’re already a Christian.  You don’t baptise to become a Christian - baptism is instead a sign.  Water baptism is to set you aside as one among the followers of the ‘way’.
 
Come and worship with a pure heart.  Renounce things that are holding you back.  Ask God to forgive you for all the persecutions that you have done against other Christians.  Ask God to remove the scales from your heart.  Come, come with a pure heart.
 
Consider :
Are you serving the True God ?  Are you doing God's will ?
If you are not sure, pray to God and ask Him to reveal Himself to you like He did to Saul.
 

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14th February 1999
Topic:  Seeking The presence of God
Speaker:  Kenneth Thien  { Summarized by Sharon Cheuk }
Scripture Ref: 2 Chronicles 15
 

Background.

We never realise how important electricity is to our lives, until we are without it, because in this world, almost everything is run on electricity.  Likewise, the system of this world is dependent on the presence of God – without God, nothing is possible.  Yet we seldom realise this.  We may believe in our minds that God and the Bible is true, but we need to see how this affects our lives.  We need to seek after the presence of God.

In our scripture passage today, we meet a good king, Asa.  During Asa’s reign, the crime rate was high, morality at an all-time low and everyone was fearful for his own safety.  Asa realised there was a need for national reformation, and so he sought after God with all his heart.

The key to being in the presence of God is to seek Him with all our hearts.  How are we to do that?  Asa did 5 things:
 

Point 1: He took heed of the Word of God.

He was serious about the Word of God.  We receive the Word through reading the Bible, through sermons from teachers, sermons from prophets, through the body of Christ.  To be serious about the Word means saying to God, “God, I won’t let go of this Bible until you speak to me.”
 

Point 2: He destroyed the idols in the city.

Asa deposed of his grandmother, Maacah, from her position as queen mother because she had made an Asherah pole.  He also destroyed the pole itself.

Asherah was Baal’s wife, a goddess which the Israelites worshipped.  The Asherah pole was described in the Bible as repulsive and obscene, because it was fashioned in the shape of a male reproductive organ.

What are the idols in our life which we need to remove?  When we seek God, we will start to sense His anger against our sin and against the idols which take hold of our lives.

As Asa, as king of Judah, had the power to destroy the idols in his city, so we can only destroy the idols which are in our possession.  In other words, we cannot destroy the idols which our parents, say, worship.

Asa did not remove all the idols, however.  He left the high places intact, although God gave him a chance to destroy them.  These high places refer to the altars of Baal, erected by Asa’s forefathers.  Sometimes we need to repent even of our forefathers’ sins, because they could be a hinderance to our spiritual lives.  There is a story about Win Wally, who was cursed with living in houses with limited space.  One day the Lord revealed to him that this curse existed because one of his forefathers had born false witness, thus causing someone to be imprisoned, in a confined space. Win Wally repented of this sin and the curse was lifted.

Because Asa did not fully remove all the idols, he made 2 wrong decisions during his reign as king.  The first was an unholy allegiance with the king of Aram, instead of trusting God to help him defeat this army.  The result of this was war between Aram and Judah.  The second error occurred when Asa was ill.  He did not seek the Lord for help, but from his doctors.
Likewise, some of us may have been Christians for a long time, but because past sins have not been dealt with, our spiritual lives are hindered.  Hence we will suffer the consequences of sin.
 

Point 3: He was serious about worshipping God.

The Bible mentioned that Asa brought all the beautiful articles, which he and his father had dedicated, into the temple of God.
 
Likewise, we need to be serious about our worship to God.
 

Point 4: He made an oath of allegiance to God.

Asa gathered all the people of God around and pledged allegiance to Him.  All Judah swore to this wholeheartedly.  He even went as far as to put to death all who would not seek the Lord.  This is not to mean that we should destroy anyone who are non-Christians.  However, it served to underline the seriousness of Judah’s intention to be righteous, in order to obey God, above life itself.
 

Point 5: He made a covenant with God.

A covenant is not a mere agreement.  An agreement is conditional and revocable, but a covenant is neither of these things.  A covenant can only be broken when death occurs.

Making a covenant with God is saying, as per the words of Yit Tien’s song,”Though my world may fall, I will never let you go.”
 

Conclusion.

In conclusion, when we seek God with all our hearts, we are to take heed of His word, to destroy all the strongholds in our lives, to be serious about worshipping Him, to pledge allegiance to follow Him and to make an unbreakable covenant with Him.  And God’s promise is that when we seek Him, He will be found.
 
 
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The Israelites suffered during those years of slavery in Egypt and as we know suffering will always be part of Christian life.  I want to encourage you that God was there with the Israelites protecting them and He will do the same for you.

In Genesis 12: 2,3 God promised to make Abraham a great nation. I will bless you.  And make your name great. And you shall be a blessing.  I will bless those who bless you and I will curse him who curses you.  And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. This promise was given long before Abraham had a son. The Jews began to wonder if this promise would be true and so God reminded them through Jacob in Genesis 28: 3,4.

Joseph was sold to slavery because of his brother’s jealousy and yet God raised him up to be the Prime Minister of Egypt.  At the end of his life, God reminded Joseph in Genesis 50: 20 that though his brothers plotted evil against him, God meant it for good.  He held no bitterness against his brothers.

Exodus 1
In this season of Lent, how can you prepare yourself for that of Exodus as one day we will leave this earth?  Be discerning about the political climate and systems that you are living in.  Many Israelites were born in Egypt because Joseph ruled there for many years.   At first, they were well treated but after the death of Joseph and his generation life became more difficult.  Yet the number of Israelites grew tremendously.  The land was filled with them.’ (Vs 7) There was a new ruler (Vs 9) and therefore the climate of politics has changed.  The new Pharaoh wanted to stop the growing numbers of Israelites.  Though at this moment we are enjoying the freedom to worship, do not take things for granted.  Be discerning! Whatever the politicians promise us, let us be discerning.  Trust God, not men.  Time will come when your faith will be tested. There will come a point in time where the saturation point will be reached and we will no longer be welcomed (Example, the multiplication of churches- church planting)  How were the Israelites tested?   Refer to Vs 11.  The more hardship the families faced, the closer they were to each other. “But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew.” Vs 12

Exodus 2: 1-10
Moses was born during this time when baby boys were killed.  This brings us to the point concerning the resourcefulness of the Jewish people.  We can see that the Jews are rich in Europe and America because they are resourceful, good savers and have entire perennial thinking.  When hard time came, Moses’ mother was able to hide him for 3 months and later had to think of another way to save his son.  It is very natural for a mother to ensure that her children will survive.  So, she made a basket where she laid her son to drift along the Nile River. Her actions showed her resourcefulness. Therefore, we should be resourceful during the time of troubles.

But above all, the Jews were God-centered people in those days. Though Moses’ mother was resourceful, she had to trust God that Moses would survive.  We have to let God be God.  A lot of times we think God needs some help.  Hence, we do things that we should not be doing.

The next point concerns ‘responsiveness’. Miriam was posted by the river to watch over her brother.  The Pharaoh’s daughter saw the basket.  Miriam’s responsiveness is reflected here when as soon as the Pharaoh’s daughter said, “This is one of the Hebrew children” (Vs 6), she responded by offering the idea of having a Hebrew nurse for the baby.  In the end, the whole family was reunited.

We need to trust in God.  Trusting Him to protect our family, to protect our nation.  Let us be discerning of the whole situation and be prayerful as well.  Pray for our state during this time of election. Let us be resourceful, as many of us need to ‘tighten our belts’.  We may be unable to further our studies overseas but remember Education is about being God-centered, not about where to study. Don’t walk away from God’s covering and respond to his working out of this will in your life.  Let us enter this season of Lent with a sense of Destiny.

Prayer
On this first Sunday of Lent, we remember what our Lord Jesus came to do and the period towards Jerusalem to make that great sacrifice.  As we meditate on Your word, on how You have been with the Israelites and us as well, Lord we acknowledge that You are to be the center of our lives.  We commit ourselves to You as You put into our lives situations, experiences and challenges.  We pray that You will draw near to us and that we’ll not waver.  We will walk straight after You. In Jesus' name.  Amen.

 
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