Missions: A Faith Journey

Bro Terence Ooi

So glad to be here. Four years ago in our room on our knees, we asked God what was our vision for the next year and I heard God say, pack your bags. It didn't make sense at the time because we just had a baby.

But a Christian walk is a walk of faith and without faith it is impossible to please God.

I asked once which is the biggest harvest field in the world and some said Africa and others said Mongolia and I said no, it's your school and your workplace. All of us can fulfill the call wherever God place us.

There is one mandate and that is to make disciples of all nations.

This is our fourth year, praise God and God is watching the food we eat and the water we drink in the field and we thank God for all the support we have been receiving.

We work with an NGO called Starfish Malaysia. In Malaysia it's very sensitive so we don't call ourselves a Christian organisation.

Our area of focus are the two horns In East Malaysia. It's a very poor area of Malaysia. We have four hostels with about 200 children under our care. We run disciple classes with them as well as tuition. It's education for the poor. If you want you can come and help to teach English or Math. They are very lacking in education.

We bring in doctors and dentists to give care for them. Their teeth are all back and with gangrene so they need help.

We also work with leaders. We train them and they use sports as evangelism. They did a sports programme all on their own.

We also use business as mission. Economic empowerment. We loan them seeds for Roselle. They are rubber so we loan them these seeds and we guarantee them a buy back for a certain yield. We make enzyme drinks to sell them. So now they are earning close to 1,000 ringgit per month.

We also use corn to elevate their income. Both as animal feed and as food.

We also participate with government officials to share our heart and ideas. Sabah for the last 15 years, they have been bottom in school results. It's very depressing so we hopefully can help.

There's this place call Kapit, a remote area accessed thr. ough a 3 hour boat ride, which has the highest teenage pregnancy in Malaysia. The businessmen have come in and destroyed the girls and boys there. We want to build a youth centre to help them. It's now under construction.

Debra just published this book called "Live to Last". It talks about her journey as an 18 year old girl. One day she told her mom she wants to go to New York to do children's ministry. It's not the nice areas of New York but the Bronx areas. I also wondered how her mom allowed her.

When she was there, she saw from the roof top the second plane that hit the tower. It changed her life as a young lady. We only have a few books left.   But you can get them at MPH.

I still find it odd that I'm called a missionary. Because people think missionaries are old. Second, they think missionaries are poor.

Thirdly, is that they introduce me as a missionary, but in their hearts they think they're not. Also they think missionaries need faith. But do you know a businessman also needs faith to sign that deal. Or even in your career. Parents, grandparents and teachers need faith. All of us Christians need to have faith.

What type of faith do I need to live a missionary lifestyle?

1. Faith of the Unknown

Hebrews 11:8

By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.

In Malaysia to do a transaction you need the ringgit. In US you need the US dollar. In China, you need Renminbi. To operate in God's Kingdom, the currency is faith. Look at Abraham. What are the unknowns in your life? There is that hope in the unknown. He's known as the father of faith.

What about Joseph? He was a dreamer with a tongue he could not control. His dreams told him he'd be a leader. Second only to the Pharaoh. But from that dream he went in to prison and was a forgotten man. Life is not smooth sailing roads. It is with steep mountains and deep valleys.

What about Moses? Also has faith in the unknown.

Two years ago, my wife woke up in bed and said she thinks she's pregnant. So I went on my motorcycle to buy a tester and it proofed positive. But the next day she was bleeding. And she was bleeding for a few days. I was reluctant to bring her to a Cambodian doctor because in 3 week's time I was coming back. The doctors checked and he found a cyst and second he said the baby is 9 weeks old and had no heartbeat. We came back and declared the word of God.

The year before we had a miscarriage so in my human mind I thought oh no, it'll happen again. So once we reached, we straight away from KLIA went to the doctors. And the doctor said the baby is only 9 weeks and has a heartbeat. The Cambodian doctor had it wrong. That situation was about us and where was our faith.

In the book she said, faith is not just about believing for the sake of believing for a positive outcome but trusting the one who can do it.

Let's put our faith where faith is supposed to be, which is in God.

2. Faith in God's Greater Riches

Hebrews 11:24-26

24 By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, 25 choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, 26 esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he looked to the reward.

You need to really read this over and over. Moses is the grandson of the Pharaoh, yet he chose to share in the oppression of God's people. Because he was looking ahead for a greater reward. He was looking at how he wants to fulfill God's call in his life.

Hebrews 11:39-40

39 And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise, 40 God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us.

Where's your trust this morning? Some of us put our trust in our bank account. I can relate because it's tangible. Or we put our hope and trust in our children's education. I'm not saying don't study but I'm saying we can trust God's riches and it's greater and better.

I always have this idea of giving. I must have then only I can give. If I don't have how to give? But if you study the word, all who gave had nothing.

Paul's missionary journey would not have happened without the support of the church of Philippi. There was even a guy put in place to make sure Paul is being financially supplied. But the Bible said the church was in extreme poverty. It was a poor church that gave.

Luke 12:13-15

The Parable of the Rich Fool

13 Then one from the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”

14 But He said to him, “Man, who made Me a judge or an arbitrator over you?” 15 And He said to them, “Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.”

Life is not measured by how much you own. It's not about how many shoes you have. Some people collect shoes. Not by the quality of the clothes you wear. Life is not measured by your house or the things you own.

Put your hope and faith in God. That is the anchor of our soul. When a ship drops an anchor, the ship needs to reverse so that the anchor holds. But most of us drift with the anchor so it does not anchor us but becomes a weight.

3. Faith in the Power of God.

There is such a thing as faithless faith. Or faithless Christian. Just by going to church does not make me a faithful Christian. When we see Jesus, what will he say? You good and faithful servant?

I asked myself why Jonah didn't go to Nineveh because he didn't believe that God can forgive the people of Nineveh. God told him to go there to preach but he didn't believe that God can forgive them.

Many of us have gone through tough times. Poor or abusive upbringing but let's trust that we have a God that will heal, show mercy and grace.

One day, a criminal was sentenced to death and on his last meal he was asked who he wants to see for the last time and he said his brother. As he walked to the gallows with a hood over him, just at the last second before the platform was released, there was a siren and he heard footsteps coming towards him. The warden opened his hood and brought him to a room and showed him a letter. He was pardoned by the governor, and he just have to signed a letter and he is a free man. That is mercy.

So he went out as a free man. Then he went home and he saw another letter on the table. He opened it and in it was a guarantee of a job on Monday and he will have a home on an island and a limousine to drive. That is grace. He was given more than he deserves.

It cannot be explained. That grace is scandalous because the people heard of this and accused the governor for doing more than he should.

If faith is the currency, then surrender is the transaction.  I know today is Harvest Mission but faith is everyday. The greatest challenge for a Christian is on a Monday.

1 Corinthians 15:36

How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies.

Our dreams have to die. Our plans have to die. If only these things die that is pulling us down, then we can live. Jesus said, lift up your cross, deny yourself and follow me. The idea of lifting up the cross in the Greek is to lift up the cross on your shoulders so that others can see.

Rev Ronald praying for Bro Terence and Sis Debra.