I thank the Lord for the honour and privilege to serve in NECF Malaysia as Chairman. I am also very thankful for the foundation laid by my predecessors, Mr David Boler and Rev. Datuk Prince Guneratnam during their tenure as Chairman, for we cannot begin to be effective in nation building without a solid foundation.
Today, we are living in very challenging and transitional times, both for this nation and for the Church – for it is the end-time hour.
On one hand, it has been a season of growth for the Church where we have seen more and more Christian leaders emerging and churches being planted. At the same time, disasters loom over the world and conflicts erupt worldwide with ever-increasing frequency.
Locally, we brace ourselves for bigger and more unsettled times ahead with the Lina Joy court case, the constitutional crisis spilling forth and where the Government of the day is being “unusually questioned” by the former premier.
But we have been called for such a time as this, and the challenge is to move forward – to grow, to advance, to be a light unto this nation.
And how may we achieve that?
In the morning of the BGM itself on May 20, God spoke to me in my quiet time from 1 Peter 1:16, “because it is written, “Be Holy, for I am holy.”.
I sense that the first order of the day is holiness.
Our fullest experience of God will only come when our lives are holy and our hearts are pure.
The enemies of holiness are just too many. We see the rise in uncleanness in many forms, such as ‘acceptablabsenteeism’ from honouring God on Sundays, ‘itching ears’, proliferation of ‘other gospels’ and the increasing availability of pornographic materials.
There is a rise of the same spirit of laxity, compromise and unholiness of Nadab and Abihu in their service to God, which got them killed in God’s presence in Leviticus 10.
All these forms of uncleanness will chip away our effectiveness and testimony.
There is so much to do, and the danger is to rush out to do it without due regard to the Lord’s yardstick of holiness.At the end of the day, we may look like ‘heroes’, but would we be holy?
Without holiness, there will be very little fruit in everything we do.
Without holiness, suspicion and disunity will creep in.Without holiness, God will not release His resources. When there is lack, we do not have a financial problem; we have a spiritual problem.
JC Ryle said, “Holiness is written on everything in heaven…”.
My prayer is that this would be true of everything NECF does. My encouragement to all members is that we serve and sacrifice in such a manner as to be found by Him without spot orblemish, as admonished by Apostle Peter.
I look forward to working together with all members of NECF towards achieving greater unity in the Lord’s church and growth for our Lord’s kingdom in this nation.
Excited about the future,
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