It was written on their faces

It was written on their faces

FGB Jaya One/Brother Aaron Andy/20/7/12

This afternoon, I want to focus on the first line of the FGB Mission statement – to reach men everywhere for our Lord Jesus Christ as well as to share on God’s promises and my testimony. My purpose is to encourage you to go one step forward. We have a miracle working God. In times of need, we know that as children of God, we have access to divine help as promised in Psalm 121.  I lift up my eyes to the mountains—    where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord,    the Maker of heaven and earth.

I am a healthcare manager. I do wellness projects for the country at large. One time, I was organizing an event at Summit in USJ, when a lady came and asked me “Do you remember me?” I did not remember but she explained that 3 years ago, I had come to SJMC to pray for her when she was a cancer patient. Later, I had also went to her house with others to pray for her to have children. At that time, she was struggling through a period of depression and God’s Word began to mean so much to her. She leaned on the Word of God and after recovering fully went on to become the top piano salesperson in the country. I thank God that I was given the opportunity to pray for her.

Another time, a friend of mine called Bernice asked me to pray for her mother for salvation. At that time, I was supposed to go quite soon to Australia. So I told her I would come and pray after I came back. Later, God prompted me strongly that I had to go and pray before the trip. Together with some other brothers and sisters, we shared the gospel with her and she and her 2 sisters gave their hearts to the Lord. Bernice’s mother even told me “Brother, be sure to take me to church when you come back”. After my short trip to Australia, I called Bernice and to my surprise found out that her mother had just passed away 2 days ago. I am so thankful that the Lord prompted me to witness then.

This month is mission month in my church. Why are we here? Jesus is the Son of God. He walked on water and He is coming back again. We need to bring the salt and light into the marketplace. Acts 1:8 speaks about receiving the power of the Holy Spirit from on high and being empowered to be witness to the ends of the earth. Jaya One is part of this ends of the earth. What God has designed is for you and you alone. Everyone is in God’s plan and purpose. Do we have choices in life? Yes! Our choices will lead us in which direction we will go.

There was a young man walking by the sea who saw a strange vase, and upon rubbing it, saw a great genie appear. “Ask 3 times anything you wish for and it will be granted to you. The man asked firstly for a million pounds, followed by a red Ferrari and finally asked to be irresistible to all women. And upon his third wish, he became a chocolate. Choices determine which direction we will go.

God gave me a wonderful, married life, but I did not give priority to God in earlier years. The fact that we will have lunch after this is a reality. Death is also a reality, but we don’t want to talk about it. I used to drive my wife to church and pick her up for 10 years. We had a wonderful life. Business was good and we traveled overseas often. During one of her travels, my wife suddenly complained of abdominal pain and we sought treatment then and even when we returned and ended up in Mount Alvernia in Singapore for a CT scan. The doctor told us that this is the end of modern science for my wife had a tumor in the pelvic bone and it was malignant. She only had 2 months to live.

My wife was Cantonese, and both sides of the family had a mixture of different religious beliefs and everyone prayed for her. Still, nothing could help. Death came steadily into my life one step at a time. Every time the phone rang, it sent a shiver down my spine. I asked God “Why me?” As the doctor said, she passed away, and had a Catholic funeral. I asked the priest how I could praise God in this time of grief, and he asked me “Didn’t you have a wonderful time of marriage?” I realized that the fact that the two of us got together was already a blessing from God. Marriage is a God ordained covenant. I came to understand what it means that a tearful prayer is a successful prayer, having to bring up the children by myself. Life was like falling into a bottomless pit. I said to God, I surrender to you my time, my tithe, my family, and then everything fell into place. All my children graduated and even served in church. God never let me down.

One moment I wondered if God had gone on a holiday from my life but God never left me. I don’t know my future but I know God holds my future. Its crisis and challenges that drive us to God. In my distress I called out to God. Many depend on their own strength and intelligence but when human strength comes to an end, it is the beginning of God’s strength. In my poverty, I see God’s riches. I had to go through this situation to recognize that God is almighty! All of us have a testimony! He is true in spite of all situations. God will see us through.

When things don’t go right, firstly, don’t blame yourself. Secondly, don’t blame God but just trust Him. We had a family trip planned from 4 months earlier where we would meet in Paris and travel around Europe. However, in Paris, my son got a very high fever. The doctor said that if it did not come down, he would have to be admitted to a hospital in Paris. We prayed like never before and on the 3^rd day, my son found the strength to travel to Milan where my daughter stayed. In the hospital in Milan, we found out that he had malaria which he had caught during a mission trip just before the family trip. He spent 5 days in the hospital, and the bill was going to be 3,600 Euros. However, to our great relief and surprise, it turned out that Italy was the only country where if there is an emergency, the government pays for everything. He received a lot of care in Milan, as malaria was extremely rare in Europe.

Everyone of us has experienced God’s touch. We are called to be witnesses. In Acts 4:20, Peter and John exclaimed “As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.” Jesus said that we are to go into the world in a most significant command. We are all in God’s plan and purpose. We are to be witnesses, to give testimony about how we overcame.

There was a Bible school student who felt God ask him to go out into the night and shout Jesus loves you. Sheepishly, with no one around in sight, he shouted Jesus loves you twice and quickly ran back indoors. Several years later, he related this incident during one of his sermons, and a young lady told him how she had been going through a very tough time and was about to commit suicide when she heard someone cry out “Jesus loves you” twice. There was no one around, and she thought it was an angel.

There are many in the world who have that longing for salvation, comfort, peace and joy and we have the answer. We are in God’s plan and He has empowered us to reach someone’s life.

In Montana, there were 20 people searching for gold when one of them found gold on a particular hill! Now they needed to go back to town to buy supplies as the gold extraction would take a long time. All of them promised to tell no one but the next morning, there were already 200 people on the hill. The truth was no one leaked the information. However, the fact that they had found gold was already written on their faces. They were so excited.

We know our sins are forgiven. We know that we are lifted up. We have a treasure far more valuable than gold. Why then do we not let this great joy and excitement light up our faces?