Lifting the Lid

Rev Ronald Ooi

I had a wonderful meeting over breakfast with the ministry leaders this morning. We are closing the gap so that every ministry is interdependent with one another. And we had a time of prayer and this will continue for a while. Nehemiah rebuilt the wall together with the workers around him and they closed the gap but there was some form of opposition but as long as we are united we can do all things. Amen? As we grow in maturity the church will bring in new ones and we will disciple them.

I want to interview my wife this morning. This is impromptu. Time has flown, five months we have been here. Are you ready to leave Penang yet?

Jasmine: No. The people have been so accepting of me and it's hard to leave. TOP has been a fertile ground and all the seeds we have sown have grown and developed. My heart is bursting with joy and you all made me feel so welcomed and loved and you have been feeding us with all the makan makan and has helped me grown by leaps and pounds.

Ronald: I know I'm not ready to leave Penang yet and you know why? Because the durian season is not here yet and I'm waiting for the best durian in town. But I'm also waiting to see like what Jasmine said about the seeds being sown, of seeing like spring of young shoots springing up. I sense that in my heart and we see how the young people are growing up with the adults coming alongside with patience and love and also the cell groups which my wife have been going around.

My health and energy is not like before and I trust you understand why as I have a lot of challenges but God gave me a younger wife who has a lot of energy so I must find ways for her to release this energy. By the time she comes back at 11pm I'm already half asleep. I'm really looking forward to retirement as this year was supposed to be the year we're with our children and stay quiet for a moment. If the Lord takes me home tomorrow I can say Lord, I have done what you have asked of me.

We went to Balik Pulau and saw some local fruits as the durian season is not here yet. I want not just to see the best durians but I also want to see the best in all of you. That this is going to be the best in TOP. Gabby steals everybody's heart when in the interview she said mommy you're the best.

We are moving into discipling and when you grow as a disciple the work will do well. Bro Koay spoke at the prayer meeting about the worker and the worshipper and sometimes we can be so busy as a worker that we forget we are first a worshipper.

Jasmine: My husband has helped me and encouraged me to share and grow like a caterpillar to a butterfly. I used to be very shy but he has helped me open up. So this butterfly is for him. We are like elevators. We bring people up or we bring people down. And when we step into that elevator, how do they feel? Will they feel like it's bringing them up, or bringing them down to the basement, Minus 1? TOP is the only elevator with a Minus 1. So I hope that all of us will be that elevator that takes people up. Similarly, I'm also very concerned about family and marriages where we will continue to affirm and encourage one another and we will have happier homes and happier children and happier spouses. Encouragement is like oxygen. It's like those oxygen therapy as it helps you shine and glow. 

This morning I want to share about lifting the lid. There is this story we all know about David. If there is no Goliath we would not have known David. Goliath brought up the David we know and I'm praying this morning that we will find there is a David in all of us.

1 Samuel 17:34-37 (NIV)

34 But David said to Saul, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, 35 I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. 36 Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. 37 The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.”

Saul said to David, “Go, and the Lord be with you.”

There's no greater joy in my life than to see others succeed. Maybe it's this father in me and I'm sure every parent feels the same in wanting to see their children go far in life. Teachers play an important role in teaching us the ABCs at kindergarten. The kindergarten teachers then surrender us to primary school and then to the secondary school where we have the secondary school teachers that takes us to another level.

1. Lifting the lid

And the secondary school teachers leave us to the university lecturers. I call this lifting the lid. This is a container and there's a lid here. When I take out the lid, the lid determines how high we can go.

I take my lid off him so that he can go higher. As long as I have the lid on him, that's the highest he can go. Another way is I improve myself and I go higher and move the lid up and he can also go higher.

Just last night someone WhatsApp me about someone preaching at a Bak Kut The outlet winning souls. I almost gave up on this man who is about my age. This guy came to Bible school and he did something wrong and I had to suspend him. In Bible school it is very strict and I suspended him hoping he would change. He went for rehabilitation and he came back to apply for Bible school and I told him he cannot afford to make another mistake.

I had to bench him but he came back and grew from the lesson. He sent me some photos yesterday and he is now an evangelist and he has won 38 people at his Bak Kut Teh outlet. I am so encouraged and I told him well done. I suspended him for 6 months but he never regretted it. That's what a father does. You correct wrong.

David here took the challenge to fight Goliath. From a Shepherd a low position to the highest position. He was able to lift the lid himself. He may have killed the lions and the bears but no one saw it. The sheep didn't clap for him but he loved his sheep and he became a sheep leader.

So when Goliath came he knew he has done this. David was a man trained by God in the wilderness. I love training. That's the key to the next generation. One of the most fulfilling time was when I was at Bible school. To train and train and train. But you must want to be trained. To ask God to grow you.

Me and Jasmine have been doing that, to bring out the best in people. Building people and empowering lives. So that we can take the lid off them so that they can become what God intended them to be.

David is another who is in one of the largest developer in Malaysia. God has taken him from the dumps of society to one of influence in the corporate world.

Saul had a weakness. The army wasn't with him. He put the lid of impatience over himself. Because of that he cannot go on. He was living in an attitude of denial. And when he was rejected as King he lived like everything was okay. Then pride was another lid.  Jealousy, anger, deceit were lids that he put on himself and because of this he lost his kingdom.

I sat under James Maxwell before and he said as long as we limit ourselves that's as far as our organisation will grow. If you don't grow then that's the level the organisation will reach. You are the lid. Churches and organisations are dynamic. We are meant to grow. And serving is a lifetime serving. Different seasons and different approach.

If you throw an apple up it will come down. It's the law of gravity. It's a law. Same as the lid. When you grow them, grow the worker and the work will grow. It takes patience and encouragement and there are no shortcuts. It's a lot of work. Take the lid off yourself. Don't limit yourself. When you overcome the obstacles the word cannot shouldn't be I'm our vocabulary.

I was in a hotel and asked for a soft pillow and they said cannot. Cannot be done. It's limiting. At least say I'll think about it, or let me research first or give me some time and cannot should be our last word. That's where we change our mind set. The spirit of cannot seems to be a Malaysian thing. Can TOP be different? Can Penang be different? Say can with me. Sometimes we stop our children by telling them they cannot do this, cannot do that and they grow up thinking they cannot.

I don't like to talk too much about Josh, because we can be misunderstood as boasting but it's not. My son grew up as a Pastor's kid growing up in public school. He was an ordinary boy. Jasmine can you talk about the godly do dirt?

When we go looking for gold, there's a lot of dirt with it. The same with children, do we look for the good and not the bad. We highlight what's good in them and it gives them the opportunity to developed themselves.

He just spoke to 700 scientists in Japan. He was sent there as a team. What I was saying is that when he was young the whole house was a laboratory. We groomed him from young. He has a head gift, a hand gift and a heart gift. Heart gift is that he's soft and he loves animals. Hand gift is that he likes to do things and also a head gift. So we just took the lid off him.

Look for the gold and not the dirt. Look for the good.

2. Lift the lid for others.

1 Samuel 17:51-53 (NIV)

51 David ran and stood over him. He took hold of the Philistine’s sword and drew it from the sheath. After he killed him, he cut off his head with the sword.

When the Philistines saw that their hero was dead, they turned and ran. 52 Then the men of Israel and Judah surged forward with a shout and pursued the Philistines to the entrance of Gath and to the gates of Ekron. Their dead were strewn along the Shaaraim road to Gath and Ekron. 53 When the Israelites returned from chasing the Philistines, they plundered their camp.

David went out and cut off Goliath's head and the rest of the army came out and they are now ready to fight the Philistines. He did something that brought out the best in others. When we take the lid off ourselves we complete others with our courage. So that they can be the best that they can be.

Ananias and Barnabas took the lid off Saul who became Paul, one of the greatest apostle. We sometimes take the lid off someone and another come and put the lid back on. So you need to also learn how to take the lid of yourself. Let's not use people. The world use people. We must not. We do not use people, we grow people. My wife and I are sowers. To build people. That's what we do. We want strong people who can stand persecutions .

My wife is my lid lifters.

3. Don't let others put a lid on you.

1 Samuel 16:11 (NIV)

So he asked Jesse, “Are these all the sons you have?”

“There is still the youngest,” Jesse answered. “He is tending the sheep.”

Samuel said, “Send for him; we will not sit down until he arrives.”

1 Samuel 17:28 (NIV)

When Eliab, David’s oldest brother, heard him speaking with the men, he burned with anger at him and asked, “Why have you come down here? And with whom did you leave those few sheep in the wilderness? I know how conceited you are and how wicked your heart is; you came down only to watch the battle.”

1 Samuel 17:33-39 (NIV)

33 Saul replied, “You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a young man, and he has been a warrior from his youth.”

34 But David said to Saul, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, 35 I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. 36 Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. 37 The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.”

Saul said to David, “Go, and the Lord be with you.”

38 Then Saul dressed David in his own tunic. He put a coat of armor on him and a bronze helmet on his head. 39 David fastened on his sword over the tunic and tried walking around, because he was not used to them.

“I cannot go in these,” he said to Saul, “because I am not used to them.” So he took them off.

David had opposition as others tried to put a lid on him. Saul even tried to put an armour on David and he refused because it didn't feel right.

We have to discover each other, the gifting and personality. And our different love language. If I buy flowers for Jasmine she'll ask, why waste money they'll die tomorrow. We are all different so we need to discover and understand each other. Then we can embrace each other and work together.

If we did not take the lid off my son, he would not be a scientist today, probably just a preacher. We took his kid off and he flew. My daughter also fly. We need to take the lid off them.

Take the lid off. Stretch your heart TOP and recognise that we are different and from today onwards no more putting lids on people. We are going into another level now. It can be done. We cannot say cannot. Who says anyone among you cannot be a Pastor. Who says none of you can be a politician. Who says cannot? You'll never know. Who says someone here cannot be a greater scientist than my son? Who says? Who says one of our children cannot become the Prime Minister of Malaysia? From now onwards all can. With God all things are possible.