HAS THE TIME ARRIVED YET?

Christmas 2014

As we enter into Advent, the next thing in mind is Christmas. Everywhere Christmas decorations are glittering at us both in churches and in public places. However the recent Bible episode has also dominated the media front pages of the nation. Over the last couple of Christmas, the same issue of the use of the word ‘Allah’ and the Malay version of the Bibles have saturated the speeches of politicians and the pages of facebook users. What is it all about? It is a sophisticated and complicated matter which involved every arena of society; looks like it is not going to be resolved in the near future. Only Christmas can bring about a solution to such a complex situation and issue.

Christmas is a season of giving. The gift of Christ to this world is given sacrificially, un-conditionally and eternally; there is no boundary, no expiry, no class privilege, and no exception. Christ Jesus came into the world to bring us the KEY to eternity, perfect peace, unending joy, full salvation, wholesome life, etc. In these challenging times, let us begin to learn to give ……

In April this year, I learn to give my time and attention to the Bible Society of Malaysia. It is definitely not my wish or my desire to take up the president post, especially having known that I will be going from a frying pan into a direct fire.

In November, we give our son, Joshua, into the gift of marriage with Tien Li in order that they can learn to give to each other in their new adventure and journey of married life.

Siew Lan is giving herself to assist in MICPE (Malaysian Indigenous Clinical Pastoral Education) and also equipping herself with TEE classes in the pursuit of B.Th. Charlotte is giving herself in serving Campus students through Alpha Malaysia. Sarah and Ching Seng are giving to each other in the setting up a family. As usual, I am giving my time (i.e. over time) and attention to seeing many parishioners eventually becoming true disciples of Christ and living lives worthy of the Lord. This intention has also been extended to all those who are interested, including churches and individuals.

Joshua and Tien Li's wedding

May the God of Christmas continue to teach and equip us to give our every best to each other and beyond in His name. Wishing you all a Blessed Christmas and a Meaningful New Year!Let us give in prayers for each other.

Shalom,+Moon Hing & Siew LanJoshua & Tien Li, Sarah & Ching Seng, Charlotte

THE TRUE MEANING OF RESURRECTION

CHRIST HAS DIED    CHRIST IS RISEN     

CHRIST WILL COME AGAIN

This is a very challenging Easter. There are many unresolved mysteries. The missing plane MH370 is still not found. It is still difficult to know why the Korean ferry has capsized. Someone like the late Karpal Singh, the Tiger of Jelutong, a fighter for the truth and justice of this nation has to go at this crucial hour. The issues of ‘Allah’ and the confiscated Bibles are not resolved and no one knows when it will. The economy of the nation has been stretched and GST is coming next. Haze has come and gone and now the water rationing issue for Klang Valley has begun, first with one month and now it seems to extend to 6 months. It seems that Brain drain has been on the upward trend. The increasing mishandling of funds was revealed by the Auditor-General annually and little has been done to rectify them. Religious and racist extremism are on the rise without any authority curbing and taking action. 

Looking at all the gloomy scenes, hope seems to have little chance to glitter. It is like one looking for stars in a dark and cloudy sky. The longer and harder the search, the more disappointments dawn upon those who seek! However, if we have faith in the Lord, we know that after the clouds have gone, the stars will appear again. We need to wait patiently with firm assurance that the stars will appear after the clouds. Similarly, Easter reminds us the same just as the Lord will always be there. We will certainly see Him after the cloud of doubts or problems. He has not left us. He is there before, during and after the cloud of doubts; the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. In spite and despite of many ‘setbacks’, Easter reminds us of God’s faithfulness and love. We are just like a little pawn in the chess board of God. The bigger picture is in the fulfillment of God’s master plan for each of us. Resurrection is the final chapter of death. Therefore death is not the end but the beginning of a new hope and aspiration.

I believe that these next few years will be most crucial. There will come many changes – many groups will come to the end of their usefulness and many will begin anew. Struggles and resistance will be thrust to the foreground but metamorphosis of nations, governments, communities, religious organizations, families, business conglomerates, schools, colleges, tastes, habits, etc. will take place at a much rapid pace. The world will be more flat but more hostile. Precisely, the greater the challenge is, the greater the opportunity for the ministry of God’s peace and salvation. But where are the ministers and workers of God?

People these days are more interested with the paper qualification than the actual training for ministry. More people are going after the title than doing the real work. Beware! Lest our Christianity become a toothless tiger – only the form is available but not the substance. There is a real sense of lacking in real and intentional disciples making.

What is the real purpose of Christ’s resurrection? He came and died and rose again for the individuals and not the church. He is interested in the individuals and not the church. He came and called individuals to be disciple of Christ and not the church. His real call to individuals is to follow Him and be his disciples and not to be deacons, elders, priests and bishops.

Have we missed the point?

Eastertide 2014

Ministering in Prayer

Baptism Ministry

       

Visit Macao

Carrying the Cross along
Via Dolorossa  

EASTER 2014

How much has Christ risen in you?

Christ is Risen! The response during Eastertide is “He is Risen indeed!” Often the thought of the presence of the Risen Christ bothers me. Where is the Risen Christ now? This seems to be a silly question – of course, Christ has been ascended and is seated at the right hand of God the Father, as described in Rom 8:34. What I really am interested is ‘Does the Risen Christ have a place in our lives?’

Some of the shocking news in recent headlines is the financial scandals and immorality with church leaders and in churches. Unfortunately, such scandals also exist everywhere both in our own churches as well as in other places. God is very sad and probably regrets in making us. On another note, we are frequently reminded that we are a fallen race and we really and desperately need Christ to save us from the fire and damnation. So then how much are we saved – quarter, half or fully saved. In other words, one can refer this as ‘How much has Christ risen in each of us?’

The Scripture calls this Sanctification. ‘We were saved, we are being saved, and we will be saved’ – a famous quote used by many great leaders. Sanctification is a journey or a process; and it starts at the point of salvation (for many do not exactly know where the starting point is) and ends at the time when we meet with Christ face to face. In the process of sanctification, each one of us will still have much vulnerability and can also succumb to temptations (the reason for asking to be led away from temptations in the Lord’s Prayer). All leaders are usually subjected to greater temptations and are main targets of the evil one. Much prayer is needed for them. They are usually in the front-line and are facing the fiery darts directly. Leaders are also frequently subjected to greater and stricter judgment. (James 3:1)

However, Easter should always remind us that we need the Risen Christ to rise from within our lives. He should rise from our inner most thoughts, world view, behavior, habits, manners, secrets, social life, spiritual life, relational life, prayer life, recreational life, time management, mind management, leisure management, health management, etc. From what we can observed, it is not sufficient to score an ‘A’ in our preaching or time management or pastoral skill or theological knowledge and fail in our money management or health management or leisure management or moral management.

Our life is liken to a wooden barrel which made up of many staves. It is not good to be a water holding barrel if one stave is very short while the rest are in full length. It seems rather better to have all the staves at half length equally – in this manner, the barrel can at least hold half barrel full of water. Our aim is to lengthen and strengthen the staves until they reach their maximum length i.e. to have Christ risen in our whole lives.

May this Easter be a reminder for us to strive towards the raising the shorter staves of our lives!