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00:00 They given up their businesses. They given up their families. And they're following him for three and a half years. And then suddenly the guy say,
00:06 "Hey, I'm going away." It's like having everything pulled out
00:12 from under you. And you can understand sudden fear, anxiety, loss of faith sets
00:18 in. All right? And so, but Jesus says, "I come to give you peace." Now, this
00:24 peace is more than the lack of conflict. If you look at numbers which is the context of which is the Israelites they
00:29 leave Mount Si and just before they enter the promised land there's this blessing which we're all familiar with
00:36 speak to Aaron and his son saying thus you shall bless the people of Israel and you say say to them the Lord bless you
00:41 and keep you the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you the Lord lift up his countenance upon
00:47 you and give you peace now here we actually have this concept of pe if
00:52 peace is the lack of conflict What do you think the Israelites will do when they leave Sinai and enter the
00:59 promised land? They're going to do a whole bunch of what? Fighting and wars.
01:05 So peace cannot just be a lack of conflict. Peace is a in a Jewish concept
01:12 of shalom, a wholeness, an inner completeness, a fullness. Okay? It's it
01:20 it's every aspect of your life, physical, psychological, social, spiritual, it all flows into being in
01:28 the right relationship with God. It's that perfect situation. And and this is
01:34 what God talks about. Paul talks about in one Colossians 19 to20. For in Christ
01:40 all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell and through him to reconcile to himself all things whether on earth or
01:48 in heaven making shalom by the blood of the cross. It's more than just the forgiveness of sins. You know it's
01:54 reconciliation. All the waring parties, the disunityity, the disruption, all the pain and suffering, the entire universe
02:02 is actually brought to that place where there's perfect prosperity, perfect
02:08 peace. That's what he's talking about. It's like if you watch this movie
02:14 recently, Maleficent, I actually a very nice movie. Before you leave, you should try to catch this.
02:21 Like most movies or fairy tales, the best part is the last part. where the evil queen is defeated. Um, and a couple
02:29 are going to get married and they're all standing there. Everybody's dressed in the best. All the blood has been wiped
02:35 off the floor and uh the people are reconciled. The fairies together with the wing beings together with the
02:42 humans. They're all in amidst all the rubble. There's perfect prosperity and peace and the future is great. That is
02:52 the perfect picture of shalom. And then when Jesus walked through those doors,
02:58 he said, "Shalom." That perfect place where God wants you to be. You know,
03:05 they can only sing about that in songs in a place far, far away. That's the place called shalom. And then the first
03:13 thing he does is to show you his scars. I mean, what's the deal? How many of you
03:18 got star scars here? Put your hands up. See, some of you got scars. They're not say
03:24 what do you do with your scars, right? You hide it. The women lots of
03:30 powder, right? Ah, the men you wear the belt further up. So, you hide the scars.
03:38 We're ashamed of it, right? If you look at the book of John, the gospel of John, they've got three or seven miraculous
03:45 signs where Jesus progressively displays his glory. His glory means who he really
03:52 is. He's actually his his identity is masked by the nature which he has taken
03:58 upon himself fully human. But one by one he lets down this mask as it were and he
04:05 reveals the inner nature that shines right through. His glory is shown when
04:10 he turns water into wine. His glory is shown when he heals officials. His glory is shown when he feeds 5,000 people. His
04:18 glory is shown when he's walking in water, healing the man born blind. And ultimately, his glory is shown when he
04:25 actually raises a man from the dead. But here you actually have a situation where
04:31 there's a locked door and Jesus walks through a locked door. That's not
04:37 enough. The most important thing he does is that he shows them his scars.
04:42 That's what it's all about. He shows them his scars. Just as Moses lifted up
04:48 the serpent into the wilderness earlier in the gospel, so must the son of man be lifted up so that whoever believes in
04:55 him may have eternal life. And here you have Jesus trying to tell his disciples
05:01 there are two aspects of glory. That's there's the humility which or or
05:07 humiliation which we will see when you lift a man totally naked on the cross bleeding and writhing in agony. That is
05:15 humiliation. But the same word lifted can also be used to mean glorified.
05:23 So on one hand you look as terrible, horrible. On the other hand, it's
05:29 wonderful. And here you have Jesus coming through locked doors, a miracle walking through a locked door and
05:35 displaying the very scars that he has overcome because he has risen from the dead. They shot him but he didn't take.
05:44 He rose. That is a emblem of honor instead of humiliation. During the
05:50 cultural revolution there was a guy called Shuyang in the Hanan province. Um
05:56 he was like most people at that time who were Christian were made to walk through
06:01 the streets wearing a big hat, a dun hat. You know the that that that that
06:07 conicle hat which you put on your head and they'll write your sins. you'll be a a professor, you'll be this and that and
06:12 and for Christian he had the white this this stupid man believes in Jesus Christ and for first day they had given out so
06:19 many dance hats that he didn't get one he was really upset the next day when they paraded him down the road he
06:25 insisted on the hat and they gave him the hat big dance hat and says this man believes in Jesus Christ and he walked
06:32 down there proudly with tears of joy on his face he was so proud that when the
06:39 day was over after being pelted and insulted and humiliated by the people of
06:44 the province. He said to the police, "Can I keep this hat?"
06:51 And he did. They let him keep the hat. They were very angry. He kept the hat. And every day his relatives would see
06:56 him, his family would see him feeding the cows, grazing the sheep, wearing the dun's hat. He couldn't get rid of it
07:02 because he was proud. What was to others a humiliation to him was a badge of
07:09 honor. And when Jesus Christ entered that room, the first thing he did was say, "Peace
07:17 be with you. These are my scars. This is what glory looks like." You see, our
07:24 idea of glory is u something shining uh like a shiny object. If you look at
07:29 Jesus when he first told the disciples, you know, who he was, well, he he
07:35 intimated as much and and Peter said, "You are the Christ." The moment he says you are the Christ, he says to them, "Look, the son of God, son of man will
07:41 be, you know, crucified and after three days he will rise." But they only heard the word crucified. They only heard that
07:47 he will die. And and so therefore, their faith fell. Uh after three years, his
07:53 faith fell. And he had to take them to a mountain of transfiguration. And at the mountain transfiguration, his true
07:59 nature shone through that human veil. And there was next to him Moses who
08:04 represented the law and Elijah represent the prophets. And they both spoke to him which mean they testified of who Jesus
08:11 was. And you know the sound came from heaven. You know what they said? The father said this is my beloved son. You
08:20 know you know what he said? Listen to him. Yeah. Uh what does Jesus said that I'm
08:27 going to die? The whole focus of this issue is listen to him. Why? Because
08:33 their faith had been flagging because he had just told them he was going to be crucified and they lost faith. In fact,
08:39 when they came down from the mountain, some of disciples who were not up to the mountain had so little faith that they couldn't actually heal people anymore
08:47 because of that seinal moment when he told them he was going to die. It's very hard to swallow. Our idea of glory is
08:53 that that marvelous light, isn't it? But when Jesus came to the upper room again
08:59 when he risen from the bed dead, he showed the glory. The eighth sign of glory, that glory is in his hands. That
09:08 was what it was all about. The crucifixion, the cross, the scars that bear testimony to that great event. And
09:15 so therefore, it brings us to the last point, which is the mission. He said to them, "Peace be with you. As the father
09:22 sent me, even so I am sending you." And so therefore, here we see the nature of
09:29 the of God. God is a sending God. Right from the beginning, he is a God who
09:37 sends. He sends his son to us. He sends the Holy Spirit to us.
09:44 The son sends us out for a mission. His son sends the holy spirit. Here we see
09:52 father, son and holy spirit. The trinity involved in the act of missions and the
09:58 nature of our being is actually our new nature is actually our missions. We are
10:04 a people defined by our missions or what god is doing. We are going to be like
10:09 Jesus Christ empowered by the spirit bearing the cross. In fact, Jesus said, "If anyone would come after me, let him
10:17 deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it. Whoever loses his
10:23 life for my sake and the gospel sake will save it." So when he comes through the the locked doors of the upper room,
10:28 the first thing he shows you what? His scars. The second thing he will say to you is what? Go.
10:36 And you've got to bear the same scars as he did. And this is the ministry that he invites
10:42 us to participate with and continue. And we don't do it alone. We do it with his
10:49 power. And when he said this, he breathed on them and said to them, receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they will be forgiven.
10:55 If you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld. And he's talking about the gospel. When we go forward, forgiveness
11:02 or judgment turns on the gospel of Jesus Christ emblematic by the scars. that we
11:09 take these scars and we go to the world. We offer the world peace.
11:14 Implications of us, we are all sent because the nature of our God is a
11:21 sending God. And so therefore we are Christian. The moment you say we are Christians, we are the scent ones. We
11:28 are all on a mission. Well, the missions is not an extra department of the
11:33 church. It is not one department has a little bit of u how shall we say budget you
11:40 know 5 10% whatever and then we're okay already. Uh missions is not primarily a check writing in ministry.
11:47 Missions is all of us believing that when we are actually saved by Christ we
11:53 bear the peace of Christ and we need to take that peace of Christ and and go back to the rest of the world wherever we are. We are all missionaries. We are
12:01 all on a mission. We need to see our lives as a mission. And so therefore, our gospel foundation is shalom. If we
12:08 as we are filled with the spirit of God as we are filled with his peace and his prosperity and his wellness, we cannot
12:15 help but go forth because our our cup of wine is overflowing. It flows out.
12:21 Imagine the great commission doesn't necessarily describe all of what it is because it's
12:27 some people take it like a command. Well, why you to share the gospel? Oh, go no choice. I know Jesus told me to
12:32 make disciples, right? Isn't it? And then most people talk about evangelism in hush tones and in with a very guilty
12:38 kind of complexion on their face. I should have shared the gospel. I didn't know. I was too afraid. But the point is
12:44 that if our lives have a gospel foundation, we've been changed by the shalom. We've got no choice. Got to
12:50 share it because it so fills our life. And sometimes we don't share it because maybe it doesn't fill our life. We need
12:56 to have gospel intentionality in our lives. So we actually purposely do things in our lives and reshape our
13:03 lives, the trajectory of life so that it reflects that the gospel is our center.
13:09 We need to have a clearly defined mission. It doesn't have to be in Afghanistan.
13:14 It can start in your back room. It can start with your family. We adjust our
13:21 lifestyles to the people whom we're reaching out to. And the main aim is to display and to declare the gospel. Now,
13:29 how is being missional going to look like? I'm going to bring forth on this
13:34 podium here for people who have expressed this in different ways in
13:41 their lives. So, some of you you might think it's a big extreme because they go to all parts of the world. Uh but it's
13:48 it's I wanted them to come up here so that they could show you what life is like being a missional kind of
13:54 Christian. Uh uh so uh let me invite um Sam Q who's a missionary kid himself uh
14:02 with our four esteemed guests whom he'll um introduce you to as they come. Just give them a warm warm welcome. Warm hand
14:09 of welcome. [Applause]
14:29 Thank you.
14:42 One, two. There we go. Hey, good afternoon church. How we doing? Y'all good?
14:49 Excellent. Excellent. Uh so as as Dr. uh Dr. Peter mentioned, uh these are four
14:55 missionaries that we as a church as FBC uh support and and they were very conscientious when I when I met with
15:01 them yesterday. They said, you know what, what's the what's the dress code? Do we have to wear a suit and a tie? And
15:06 I said, "No, no, no. Uh we're pretty chilled out, just maybe business casual." Uh and then Andrew came up to
15:12 me today and he said, "You're wearing a a long sleeve t-shirt. You're you're so formal." And uh actually I'm not dressed
15:18 this way just to be formal. It's cuz I know how how cold this room can get. That's all. Um but yeah, uh this is a
15:27 this is is a treat for us to to be able to to pick their brains and and have a conversation with uh with these people
15:34 who are in mission uh full-time. So uh let me
15:40 start my stopwatch because I know we're on a clock. Okay, here we go. Uh maybe just to start
15:47 off uh as an introduction, could you share with us your your name uh the organization that you work with and also
15:54 a brief overview of what you do? Maybe let's start with Andrew. Hi, my name is Andrew. I serve in u
16:02 organizations called El Shadai Central Bahhat is a faithbased humanitarian NGO
16:09 which focus mainly towards the diasporas in Malaysia.
16:15 Hi, I'm Martin Martin Chao. I'm a Malaysian.
16:21 Yeah. Um I've been um from weekly Malaysia uh translation translation. I'm
16:30 China since uh 205. That's come close to 15 years. Uh we are husband wife. We are
16:38 not look alike but we're husband and wife. Uh we uh are doing community work
16:44 development work in China in Kuming. My wife will say more things.
16:49 I'm Dina uh from weekly serving in China Kuming. Uh we actually work with the
16:55 migrant children uh from poorer villages in China.
17:01 I'm Pari. I work with uh Operation Mobilization. It's a Christian mission organization. uh works around
17:07 internationally in 110 countries and I lead the team here in Malaysia. Awesome. Thanks. Uh so maybe we can
17:14 start with uh Martin and Diana. When you say that you uh you do community work,
17:20 uh maybe I can direct this one to to Diana. Uh what kind of work does that uh does that include?
17:26 Actually, we have a a center called Happy Ark uh in Kuning. The children come from Monday to Friday after school
17:33 to do their homework to close the education gap and on Saturday we actually do character teaching uh like
17:41 our Sunday school uh that's what we try to uh teach them values uh good moral
17:47 values character building correct and we partner with the top uni uh three
17:52 top uni there titan and suta and the police department and also inos
17:59 and how How many how many students and and volunteers do do you work with? Okay, normally we have 100 kids coming.
18:06 Uh and then now this year maybe less about 80 plus 90 because a lot of family
18:13 goes back to village to build their own house. Uh we have uh
18:20 uh this uh uni student that come in and help us. Yeah. So one of the uni student
18:26 is a top scholar from Li Jang and the government asked us to support him and
18:32 through this happy uh the second year as he was voluntary his time in happy one
18:39 day he come and told me sulous I am a believer now actually I was quite
18:44 surprised I asked him why do you want to be a believer or a Christian he said I'm
18:50 I feel so empty you know even I'm a top student in the best uni in Yunan and I
18:57 feel so empty but every time I come to happy I see all of you teachers we are
19:03 Christians there I see the joy the love and the peace that you have and I wanted
19:09 that and praise God he came to know the Lord and he finished reading his Bible
19:14 in four months. Wow nice. Uh so so from what I
19:20 understand these these after school activities and and the reason you guys are there is to be in close contact with
19:26 these students and these volunteers uh and through your lives be able to to share the gospel that way. Is that
19:31 right? Preach at all time if necessary use words. Nice. Excellent. Yeah. Um cool. Uh let's
19:40 move on to to Andrew. So so I know that uh that you work with refugees. So people from from all over the world who
19:46 are who are here because perhaps in their in their home country they're uh um politically or racially or
19:53 religiously persecuted. Um and I understand that you run both a school and you also do community development
20:00 work. So I understand the the school portion. Uh talk to me a little bit about the the community development that
20:07 you do. Okay. because we believe that other than providing them educations, we also
20:12 provide empowerments especially for the teenage and also the adults. Uh what
20:18 you've seen outside afterwards is are the bags that produced by the Afghans
20:24 Hazara people. The people over there are actually Afghanistan. Uh they are refugees and the bread that was produced
20:30 were also produced by some of these refugee teenage children. It's a skill enhancement.
20:37 Um see a lot of times when we provide works and that there also an opportunity for spiritual encounter uh I I just got
20:46 an example that um this lady whom that we come in contact with I will just
20:51 mention her name as why coming from a specific countries in Pakistan uh in the
20:57 province of Quueta she's from the Hazara tribe and uh over the period of time she
21:04 came to faith and deeply within her heart that she wanted to also engage with her people. About two years back
21:11 when I was engaging with the Afghanistan's communities of the particular tribe which is of the same
21:17 language. She has been actively since then going back to their own communities
21:23 engaging with them in their own language. Something that which we have never been able to do it effectively if
21:29 we are using our own uh um our own English language.
21:34 Somehow God used very unique way having these people to faith engaging with
21:40 their own people. We talk about generations. These are the new believers who going to their generations to reach
21:46 out to their own people. Uh God works in a very amazing way.
21:51 Wow. So, so this this lady who who you just uh call why um she came to faith at
21:59 at one of these uh community development centers uh doing doing sewing and and
22:04 empowering them uh and now you've the team has discipled her to go into her
22:10 own community to be able to share with the people there. Wow, that's fantastic. Great. Great. and uh and and Pari, tell
22:17 tell me a little bit more about the work that you do with with OM here in Malaysia. It's a little different from some of the
22:24 stories. I work uh in an office behind a desktop. The work that my team does is to support what happens on the mission
22:31 field to provide a structure to support that. So for instance, we we do accounts and we make sure that their funding goes
22:37 to wherever they are and they get their monthly uh income. We also do
22:42 fundraising for projects. So in large amounts we send money out. Um we
22:47 communicate the stories and what God is doing around the world. So we need people like accountants, graphic designers, writers, journalists. Um so
22:54 that's some of the work I do. Um but I also come alongside people who sense
22:59 that God is calling them into missions and are trying to discover what that means and what that would look like. Um
23:06 we like to work a lot with young people because um there's a lot of potential there. So one aspect and one person I
23:14 think of is Baguio. He is a boy from the north part of Sabah. He's from a tribe
23:20 called the Rumus tribe. And um for many years he went to one of our youth camps
23:26 called Teen Street out in Sabah. Um and after that after finishing high school
23:31 he went off to university actually here in Mananjong. Uh and during that time he would do some short-term mission trips
23:37 with us. He's been to Nepal and different things like that with us. Um, so when he graduated, he called me up
23:44 and he said, "Auntie Pari, I'm graduating and I want to take a gap year and serve God." And uh, he's been on
23:51 that. He's on his last leg now. He finishes in January. And in this period of time, as we've been talking and
23:59 praying together, God has shown him that he needs to step into ministry full-time. Um, so he has a young man, a
24:05 Rumorous boy who is the first graduate in his family, but he's willing to lay it down and serve God full-time. So next
24:13 year he will serve with us in Sabah in helping us our work with the next generation,
24:19 right? Wow. Uh so it's there seems to be a a common thread. Um like like none of
24:25 you are involved with uh anything that's that's uh purely evangelistic like
24:30 nobody's planting churches uh or or doing campus crusades or anything like that. Um but it's just as you do uh the
24:39 community work that you do, you come into contact with with non-believers and that's how you share the gospel. Uh
24:46 that's great. and and yeah, when when I met with them yesterday, this is uh this is one of the things that that we talked about that that we wanted to share with
24:53 you all uh how how the gospel gets across. Um uh and and and you don't
24:59 really have to go in and and plan to church. You just have to relate to different people. Um great. So, uh this
25:07 next question, uh I'd like to direct to Martin. So, so I know that that you were an accountant before you went to
25:13 full-time missions and Diana, you were a stock broker and before you as you moved
25:19 into China, uh, your daughter Joyous was was 7 years old. So, maybe Martin, can I
25:25 ask you what motivated you to to move into full-time ministry into China?
25:31 Uh, before I forgot, I I got to thank the church for praying for us and supporting us. Thank you so much. Um I
25:38 don't know how many people see me here before but I just want to express my gratitude uh as to the question that
25:45 this is our family tagline is that God is too good life too short
25:52 God is too good life too short and uh before that um before going to full-time
25:58 I used to join short mission trip I went to the Pakistan um to help the Afghan
26:04 refugees went to India to help with Gujarati earthquake. Went to Bangladesh
26:09 to help with the flood victims and went to the uh uh what call Thailand Myamaran
26:16 borders to help the Koreans and Cambodia. So every time I come back I come back
26:21 with stories that I tell my wife we we can't continue living like that that
26:26 time we don't have joyous we are double income no kids and every night we go to
26:32 the the uh the club there to uh practice our golf stroke away and uh
26:41 just I would say that we we need to be a need to be a blessing. We need to live
26:47 simple. I I told my wife we we because uh
26:52 I when we first married and my wife intend
26:57 to decorate our place like a pal. I say uh we need to uh rethink how we spend
27:04 our finance and uh every year we have a new year resolution that we want to be
27:09 debt free before age 40 and in fact we put in a resolution that we want to be
27:14 full-time in fact. So I I thank God uh that we have managed to do that and uh
27:21 we can go to full-time and also when you go full-time Joy is very young. So um we
27:28 encourage you God is uh too good life too short. We need to be a blessing. Amen. Yeah. And and when when my
27:35 parents, my family moved to to Bangladesh, I know especially my mom was extremely worried about uh me and my two
27:41 brothers uh because uh you know will will we be how would our well-being be
27:47 in in Bangladesh? Uh is the water going to be clean? Is there going to be proper health services? And what's the
27:53 education like there? Uh so maybe maybe Diana, did you worry at all about uh
27:58 about Joy as you guys went? Uh yes, I'm like you. I'm human. I have
28:03 my fear especially fear of finance because I earn so much like five figure
28:09 every month and now I have to depend totally on God. Uh it was so fearful for
28:14 me. It was like paranoid. We'll tell you the story next time if we have opportunity how I overcome my fear of
28:21 finance. But I like to uh share with you uh we are human but God is a special and
28:27 extra extraordinary God. Uh he's very faithful.
28:33 Amen. Thank you. Thanks. Thanks for that. Um Pari, I want to ask you uh yesterday you told me that
28:40 you were uh basically a brand new believer when when when you uh went into
28:45 full-time ministry with with OM. Uh did you have any fears or doubts uh when you
28:50 went when you went in full-time? Yeah, of course. I was young, so I didn't know very much of the Bible. And
28:57 one of the main things was I thought, who am I to go out? What do I know to say to people? Um, I was new in the
29:04 marketplace. I was just beginning to enjoy uh the fruit of my labor and the
29:09 fear of losing a steady income uh of not having savings. I was also concerned I
29:15 was still I'm sing still single and um and at that time concerned who would
29:20 marry a poor single missionary uh and that was a big fear but uh in you know I
29:28 think so I've been in ministry 23 years and the fears don't necessarily go away
29:34 because in different seasons of your life there'll be different things that will be challenging that will bring fear that will bring doubt um so as I said
29:42 I'm still single I'm 50 now. Um but about 10 years ago when I was 40, I
29:47 remember now so over the years um you know as I was challenged by just living
29:52 in a in ministry in single in singleness um God just gave me the grace and you
29:58 know would just keep speaking into my life and gave me the grace and led me to a point where I was content as a single
30:05 but at about age 40 I met somebody who was a missionary a single never married.
30:10 we were the same age doing the same ministry and it just seemed like wow this is you know the right match and is
30:16 this the answer from God and as I prayed about it God said no and God closed the door and that took me into a whole
30:23 another season of questioning God and and actually being angry with God and saying um you know I have given so much
30:30 and I ask you for one little thing and you are saying no again it just seemed to me unfair but I had I was just
30:37 grappling with God as to um particularly Jeremiah 29:1 where it says, "I have um a hope in a
30:44 future for you. I have good plans for you." And I just grapple with God on that. I said, "What does that mean? I
30:50 think this is for everyone else but me." Um and God just had to take me through that and to recognize that yes, it is
30:57 still true. The hope in the future, it just looks different. Um and it doesn't mean it's any less, but it's different.
31:04 So to say in many ways the fears and doubts um don't necessarily just go
31:09 away. They're there. We're very like she said we're very real. We're human beings as well. But it's the what do you do
31:16 with that and you just grapple and with God and and cling on to his promises and the truth of who he is.
31:22 Yeah. Yeah. Amen. and and uh when we met up with when I met up with uh with the four
31:27 of them yesterday and we we conversed about this and uh one of the things that we wanted to get across to everyone is
31:35 that uh missions being missional comes at a cost right so I know that a lot of
31:40 a lot of us in here we we do maybe we do ministry part-time uh uh maybe we're
31:46 involved in serving in the church um and all of that comes at a lost. Uh so so
31:53 thank you for for sharing that that very personal story with us. Um Andrew, I
31:58 understand that that you were in the the training business for for 28 years. You you had your own business and 7 years
32:06 ago uh you you moved into full-time missions and gave up that business to
32:12 focus on on ministry. Um maybe let's talk about a bit about the time when you were still in business. Was it difficult
32:20 uh juggling the business, family, ministry all together?
32:26 Yeah, I do not only start a business uh ministry 7 years ago. I started 20 years
32:32 ago. Uh bivocational because I was working and also ministering at the same
32:38 time. Uh I just wanted to be like Paul, you know, like a t maker that means I work and I still serve at the same time.
32:46 And uh of course there's a lot of juggling need to be done. Uh every one of us are given a priorities. Every one
32:53 of us are given the 24 hours. How we invest our times will tell who we are.
32:59 I mean we can actually go all out to make a lot of money or we say that I want to make enough money so I can
33:04 survive so that I can take whatever time I have available to serve God. This is
33:10 our my my objective. So I don't want to to make a lot of money uh to live comfortably. I want to make money in
33:16 order to survive. Uh over the last um seven years before I
33:22 even go into full-time, it was a huge challenge for me, a struggle because the
33:28 ministry keep growing, is expanding. So I cannot do two job at the same time. So
33:34 I have a choice got to make. Uh the choice is to continue doing what I'm doing and the ministry will never grow
33:41 because they need a lot of time and concentration. So I decided that the only choice I have to do if I really
33:47 want to be faithful in what God calls me to do, I have to make a ch a choice to
33:52 say that if God has made the ultimate sacrifice, what other sacrifice can be any anything that other than my life
33:59 that I offer to God? So I decided to stop my business and move it into the full-time uh work. I have no regret in
34:08 what I'm actually doing because at that time is also a huge challenge from
34:14 selfmployed having a easy money to no employment and rely on people.
34:21 uh you know when we as a missionary especially for my wife you find it very hard to accept now we got to ask people
34:29 for money you know and at that kind of age uh for many years we we have to learn
34:37 how to trust that God is more than sufficient and over the seven years God has never
34:44 uh stopped in supplying the need I I need to be thankful that you know uh
34:50 it's a journey that all of us have to struggle through. We are no injurious. We're just as human
34:56 as any one of you. Uh but God has been faithful over the last seven years uh when I has come out
35:02 to do it on a full-time basis. Yeah. So, so just to be clear, the business closed down. Is that right?
35:09 Yeah. Uh yeah. So, so when I heard that I was so, oh, because it's sort of like
35:14 the the millennial dream, you know, owning your own business, being your own boss, going to the beach whenever you
35:20 want, that sort of thing. Um, but and andrew gives it up, you know, for seven
35:25 years ago to go into full-time ministry. Um, uh, so yeah, thank you. Thank you for for sharing that with us. And, and
35:32 as you as you struggle with that, and you mentioned that your wife, she was worried as well. Um, was there any verse
35:39 that uh that that that you held on to during that time?
35:44 I'm always reminded from um John uh chapter 10 verse 10. He said it I want
35:50 to give you life abundantly. He do not only want to give you a life
35:57 merely to survive here. God actually want to give us abundant life. A
36:02 fullness only God can provide. The same way when we have that abundant life, we
36:07 also want to share the life with others because we do not want to merely live on
36:13 earth which is temporal because we have an eternal life that we need to look into. Whatever that we invest now has a
36:21 has an after effect after that. So we want to invest with what is eternal.
36:27 What we live here is only temporal. uh a day will come every one of us will have to leave this earth and where will we be
36:35 after that so we want to invest life that will give abundant to the others
36:41 and also to our own self amen that's good thanks John 10:10 um maybe to to wrap it up I want to ask all
36:48 of you the same question and that question is this as as we as FBC sit here in our seats I I I get the feeling
36:54 that a lot of us will feel like but I'm no missionary I'm just an average Joe um
37:01 what can I do uh to to participate in the mission of God? What can I do to
37:07 become more missional today itself or tomorrow? Uh and what would you say to
37:13 encourage the average Joe that's that's seated here? Maybe we'll just go down the line and we'll start with Andrew and
37:18 then move on. Sorry, you. Yeah. So, how would you encourage uh us
37:25 as a church individually? Uh each each person who who feels like uh I'm not a
37:31 missionary, I'm an average Joe. How would you encourage us? Always remember the God, who is this God
37:38 that we worship? Firstly, if this God is a God that creates the heavens and the
37:43 earth, he's a supreme God. Number two, you got to ask is what is God doing at
37:49 this present time? God is always at work. Whether the church are ready or not, God is always at work. Number
37:58 three, we got to ask how can it come in partnership with God. God is not going
38:04 to ask you for your program. God is asking you to partner with him. to us when we go and do what God is presently
38:11 doing. Uh we we we are taking a great joy because go you have to also remember
38:17 one one time when this author of this purpose-driven church uh Rick Warren he
38:24 said that God has actually create the wave. He only want us to ride on the
38:29 wave. You cannot go and create the wave your own self. God in every season and every time has create a certain wave and
38:37 the church has to need to know what is the first 20 21st century wave that God is creating. If you have brought these
38:45 refugees, migrants, stateless people into our land, God has create that wave for the church to ride on it.
38:52 Amen. Thanks. And and Martin, how how would you encourage or or what what should we do as an average person uh to
38:59 participate in the mission of God? I think we're going to ask oursel hard
39:05 question. How can I be a blessing since we are receive so much blessing?
39:13 Uh the tagline I give to you also PG square P pray give and go. So if you're
39:21 not ready to go give you're not ready to give pray. I mean everybody
39:28 have a responsibility as well. everybody can do something. So I I believe uh church I mean God had
39:35 bring the people here for a purpose. So we we shouldn't we shouldn't sit
39:41 about at least uh come and visit us at Kuming. Get your heart tender.
39:48 Uh don't bring your children to oversee developed country. Go to somewhere undeveloped. They'll see how easy to
39:55 take care of them. they'll be more thankful. And the verses I want to leave with you
40:00 is Zechariah 4:6 here. I think you're very familiar. Not by might, not by
40:06 power, but by by your spirit. A lot of times we forgot it's all God's work.
40:12 We forgot that we need to be uh everything power might by my spirit. So
40:17 when you write on like this what Andrew say or he say about Rick Warren
40:23 partnership with him and you find um there's a joy
40:28 there's a joy I think um everybody of us are quite healthy most probably you live
40:34 up to 90 over years old so you retire at 60 you're talking about 30 years more
40:39 think plan go thank you thanks and Diana
40:45 okay uh go back to basics Read and pray every day. Read your Bible and pray every day. Uh the need for you to come
40:53 is greater than the need there. There's so much need in China, but the need for
40:58 you to come is greater than the need there. And do you want to know God's
41:04 direct line, a call to him is my favorite verse. Jeremiah 33:3. Call unto
41:11 me. Call unto me and I'll answer you. I will show you great and mighty things that you do not know. The harvest is
41:19 plentiful but the workers is few. Go. Thank you.
41:24 Thanks. Thanks. And Pari, same question. I would say live simply in that to uh
41:32 recognize that God is our Jehovah. God is our provider. So in all the things that we have whether physical or even
41:39 talents and skills just to to live very simply with and not uh spend too much so
41:44 that we have time and we also have extra resources to then give to God's kingdom and not build our own kingdom but to
41:51 build God's kingdom. So live simply simply. Great. That's great advice. Well uh uh that's unfortunately that's our
41:58 time. Uh I know in in 25 minutes that there's not too much that we can cover. So really this is just the surface. Uh
42:05 and when I had uh when I conversed with them yesterday, uh I was with them from from for two hours really. Uh so please
42:12 please do uh take them out for lunch, grab them after church and have a conversation with them uh to to hear
42:18 more about what they do. Um but also in the bulletin uh you'll see that there are uh there's a brief overview of of
42:26 the work that they do. Um and at the back of the bulletin you you'll see a pretty cool crossword and also two
42:33 questions. And these these two questions are really conversation starters uh because we don't want the conversation
42:39 to end here. We want us to be a missional church. We want each and every
42:44 person to be missional. And so these these two questions are are for you to take home and to discuss with other
42:50 church members or or your friends and your family to keep the conversation going. So as I usher our our
42:56 missionaries off the stage and ask Dr. Peter up, uh can you please give them a hearty warm round? Thank you.
43:08 Thank you Sam. Thank you our brothers and sisters in Christ for
43:15 such lovely sharing. We should have more episodes like this in it where people
43:21 share and their lives actually speak to us. Just want to summarize that um two
43:27 things. The motivation that I got from this was um God is too
43:34 good and life is too short, isn't it? And we have God's shalom. Andrew gave up
43:41 his business after a while because it's really pales in comparison when you look
43:46 at his life in Christ. And Martin Diana too um had very uh prominent position
43:54 society and they gave that up. Why? because they found something greater. And if you look at Matthew chapter 13,
44:01 the man who found a great treasure in the field, he goes off and he sells all he has to get the treasure and he sells
44:06 it with great joy. They don't do it reluctantly. So poor me, I got to go to King or what to do. They do it with
44:14 great joy. And that's the position where every person who sent by God feels. And
44:21 why why does God have to send missionaries anyway? Why can't the the local people just do that? Because
44:28 because God is a sending God. God sends people. Um there was a story told of a
44:35 pastor who who encountered a young lady in Germany. He was sent to Germany. Lived day in and day out in a secular
44:42 occupation with the German lady. And the Germans are very secular. And one day she said to him, "You know, you can't be
44:50 a Christian because you're just like me and I'm a non-Christian. You read the same things. You are concerned about the
44:56 city. You're concerned about all the things that I'm concerned about. And yet
45:01 you are a Christian and I'm like you. Which means maybe I can be Christian. I
45:08 can be a Christian too. You see when we are missional we we we cross the
45:13 culture. We inculturate. We go into that culture and become part of those people
45:18 so that they can identify with you. We go through the same struggles. We go through the same pain. We go through the
45:24 same challenges. But when we have those challenges, we dig deep into our
45:29 Christian resources. And when they see us do that, then they say, "Hey, I can
45:36 be like that, too. We are able to not only display and declare the gospel of
45:43 Jesus Christ." So that's why God calls missionaries. And I'm going to just end
45:48 here with a u a song. Thank goodness I'm not singing a song. A beautiful song I
45:54 found on the internet and really encapsulates this idea of God giving us so much in our darkness and pain. All of
46:01 us come to church and we want to be ministered through in our darkness and pain. And and sometimes when God blesses
46:07 us, that's all we do. We don't go further than that. But we actually have to respond. Um we'll just have Michelle
46:15 sing it to us.
46:26 This song is called Be With You. The words will be up there. So, we invite you to sing along if you can.
46:43 Savior of my soul.
46:49 I confide in you through all my darkest moments.
46:57 In you I find my peace, my comfort when I'm weak.
47:04 Trust in you through storm and raging sea.
47:10 [Music] Faithful. You're my God.
47:18 You're the glory and the lifter of my hand.
47:26 Your light fills my days. It leads me in your ways
47:34 forever. I surrender all to you
47:41 and I live to worship you.
47:49 My Jesus, your only one for me. Nothing will ever take
47:58 your place. My precious savior. [Music]
48:05 Who can stand between my Lord and me?
48:11 Lord, I live to all you.
48:19 And I long to bring my life in offering.
48:26 Take me higher. Draw me deeper.
48:34 I give all to be with you.
48:40 [Music] Sing again. Faithful.
48:47 Faithful. You're my God. [Music]
48:53 You're the glory and the lifter of my head.
49:01 Your light it fills my days. It leads me in your ways.
49:08 Forever I surrender all to you
49:15 and I live to worship you.
49:23 My Jesus, you are the only one for me. Nothing
49:31 will ever take your place. My precious savior.
49:39 Who can stand between my Lord and me?
49:46 Lord, I live to honor you
49:54 and I long to bring my life in.
50:01 Take me higher. Draw me deeper.
50:08 Take me higher. Draw me deeper.
50:15 Take me higher. Deeper.
50:24 I give all to be [Music]
50:30 to be with you.
50:36 [Music]
50:44 The last slide.
50:50 There's no slide. Let me read to you what Nehemiah says.
50:56 And I told them of the hand of my God that had been on me for good and also
51:03 the words that the king has spoken to me. And they said, "Let us rise up and
51:09 build." Let's pray. Father Lord, we recognize that we are a people
51:15 who are sent by you. You've placed your hands
51:20 with those scars upon our lives. You filled us. We ask this morning. You take
51:28 us higher. You draw us deeper as we give our all to
51:34 be with you. As we say, we will rise. We will build. We'll extend and be part of
51:41 your kingdom. As we watch you move, we pray and thank you for this wonderful opportunity to be your partners
51:49 to do your purposes and establish your gospel. We ask for Jesus' sake. Amen.
