CHRIST LIKENESS

By: Ps. Eddy Chang

Philippians 3:1-14: ".... I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."

Most of us enjoy and happy when we received gifts, material gifts. It's nice right? :) indeed it is. Paul shared with us in his letter to the Philippians about a greater gift. He wrote the letter while he was in jail, asking the people to rejoice in Him.

There are other letters that he wrote during his time in jail: Ephesians, Collosians and Philemon. His intention is to:

• Strengthen the people
• Alerting the people from false teaching
• Help the people (us) to know and becoming like Jesus.

I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death - Php 3:10 NIV

This is our (the) mission in this world, our obsessions, to becoming like Jesus, we are on the way! Wouldn't it a tragedy to get to the top of the ladder and find out that we put it on a wrong wall?

What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals - Zig Ziglar

John 15:5-6 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.  If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned"

John 14:26 "But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you"

John 15:16 "You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you"

"What would Jesus do if He is doing your job?"

VOLUNTEER BASIS

By. Ps. Seno Widjaja 

Why you want to be a "volunteer"? the key is our God have shown His lifestyle to us, a serving lifestyle! He is a volunteer himself.

WILLINGLY:

Praise ye the Lord for the avenging of Israel, when the people willingly offered themselves - Judges 5:2 KJV

My heart is toward the governors of Israel, that offered themselves willingly among the people. Bless ye the Lord  - Judges 5:9 KJV

ACCORDING TO HIS PURPOSE & GRACE:

Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began - 2 Timothy 1:9 KJV

3 key points or basis of being a Volunteer:

1. APPRECIATE YOUR SERVICE - "PERSPECTIVE"

• Whatever your service is, know that it is good and important. And we shall do it with a grateful heart.
• Build a perspective that whatever we do is for God.

2. LIVE YOUR SERVICE - "ROLE MODEL"

• Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ - 1 Corinthians 11:1 KJV
• "Who is the most impactful person in your life?", it is interesting that each people maybhave different answer: parents, pastor, best friends
• A child may not do what they are asked to do but most of the time, a child will follow what the parents do.
• Our lifestyle, quality of life defines who we are. Whether we like it or not we may be a role model for someone out there.

3. LOVE YOUR SERVICE - "ATTITUDE"

• And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry - 1 Timothy 1:12 KJV
• Your attitude attracts your lattitude
• It is not about what's/who's right or wrong but about the right way to respond to what's/who's wrong.
• Love & Be faithful in our service, whatever we do now is for the benefit and blessing for us in the future. It is proven! 

4. GROW YOUR SERVICE - "EXCELLENCE"

• Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity - 1 Timothy 4:12 KJV
• Continue to grow our service, and not be stop by age nor years of experience. We shall continue to grow, continuous improvement.

5. FOCUS ON YOUR SERVICE - "PRIORITY"

• See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise,  Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.  Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is - Ephesians 5:15‭-‬17 KJV
• When we put priority towards our focus, we will not be slowed down by hiccups in our life.

6. SHARE YOUR SERVICE - "TEAMWORK"

• Now as he walked by the sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers.  And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men - Mark 1:16‭-‬17 KJV
• No man is an island! It is always about team work!
• Jesus is clear about this: he gathered, motivate, equipped and mobilized the disciples.

7. SOURCE OF YOUR SERVICE - "PRAYER"

• And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet, and heard his word - Luke 10:39 KJV
• Martha, without first listening to Jesus, already made herself busy, concern about the work, concern about not able to satisfy or achieve the work. But Jesus reminded us that we always need to start everything, in our service, with prayers (sitting at God's feet)

#Day 249: 06 September 2016, Tuesday

BLESSING

Isaiah 41:10 ESV - Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

I arrived early at the venue. Today is the HR Tech Interactive 2016 forum where I am invited to be one of the panelist for open discussions.

A new experience for me and honestly, I was nervous. I can easily list several reasons on why I am nervous: It is my first time doing it, a lot of great people taking part, which somehow challenge my confident level.

But God is Great!! He always with me through out the event. And I walked through it with gladness.

I firmly said it is not because of my competencies but solely because of His Blessing, His Grace and His favor.

Thank you Jesus for allowing me to take part.

Like my Site Manager wrote to me, "Thank you for bringing our flag out there, bringing DHL IT Services to the outside world to know"

I pray more blessing and trust will be given to me to bring forward my organization to even wider world.

Thank you Jesus for the blessing.

#fgccmalaysia #uplifting #blessing

#Day 248: 05 September 2016, Monday

OPEN DISCUSSIONS

2 Corinthians 4:2 ESV - But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God's word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone's conscience in the sight of God.

A quick one today.

We had an open discussions tonight with important members of our church. We clarified some important points, aligned on ways moving forward and openly share concerns and feedback.

A fruitful discussion driven by strong commitment and love among each other and for the church.

As the verse said "...by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone's conscience in the sight of God"

I learned that only by having an open discussions, with a heart full of acceptance then we can bring the best out of everyone and make the best decision together.

Let us always be ready for an open discussions. What a blessing!

#fgccmalaysia #uplifting #opendiscussions

#Day 247: 04 September 2016, Sunday

FREEDOM & PRODUCTIVITY

By: Ps. Eddy Chang

Matthew 25: 14-19 - Parable of the Three Servants

TRUE FREEDOM

During the Malaysia Independence day parade show, one of the tv presenter said that Independence is not merely a freedom from physical-slavery but it is also (and I believe is most important) freedom from the mind-slavery.

In Matthew 25, the parable about the three servants, it was not written of what the man wants the servants to do with the talents. This shows the freedom that the man gave to the servants.

For the man with one talent, although he was given the freedom, he did not practice the true freedom. He still live in mind-slavery.

Just like the Israelites after they were delivered out from slavery in Egypt. They spent 40 years in wilderness and unable to reached the promise land. They are not able to reach the true freedom, the victorious life)

As for the other servants, they practice their true freedom and we can see the result!

TRUE FREEDOM DRIVES PRODUCTIVITY

In Matthew 25:21 - His Lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.

Indeed, when we live in our true freedom, with God, we can see several feedback:

• Affirmation - "Well done! Good servants"
• Promotion - "ruler over many things, bigger things"
• Celebration - "enter the joy of the Lord"

REFLECTION:

What about us?

Matthew 25:14 NLT “Again, the Kingdom of Heaven can be illustrated by the story of a man going on a long trip. He called together his servants and entrusted his money to them while he was gone".

• We are entrusted with our talents
• We will be asked on how we use the talents

Are we practicing our true freedom? Or are we still living in "slavery", our mind-slavery? Are we productive? (i.e easy to be angry, low self esteem, think highly of ourselves, stagnant on where we are, etc)

Are we F.R.E.S.H? Are we a true servants?

Galatians 5:13 MSG:
It is absolutely clear that God has called you to a free life. Just make sure that you don’t use this freedom as an excuse to do whatever you want to do and destroy your freedom. Rather, use your freedom to serve one another in love; that’s how freedom grows. For everything we know about God’s Word is summed up in a single sentence: Love others as you love yourself. That’s an act of true freedom. If you bite and ravage each other, watch out—in no time at all you will be annihilating each other, and where will your precious freedom be then?

#fgccmalaysia #uplifting #Freedom&Productivity

#Day 246: 03 September 2016, Saturday

THROUGH HIS EYES

"Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life."
—John 9:3

There a lots of things in life that may make us asking why it is happening. Especially when things happened not according to our expectation, be it about our job, about our relationship or about anything.

And a lot of time, we make an assumption about it. This not happening because his fault, that not achieved because her fault, and so on.

But I learned about John 9:3, I learned about how Jesus sees things, that everything happened for a reason, a good one, a good reason. Everything happened so that the work of God might be displayed in it.

I want to learn to see the good side of things.
I want to learn to see through His eyes.
What a blessing.

#fgccmalaysia #uplifting #throughhiseyes

#Day 245: 02 September 2016, Friday

NETWORKING

Matthew 7:12 - "In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you...."

One of the session on our 2nd day of facilitation is about Our Network, it touches on the area of reflection on how wide our network is, and who we think we would like to improve our level of networking or improve the relationship.

Some of them were asking "why do we need to build our network, isn't being expert in what we do is enough? People will come and ask us to be in their network"

There is a sense of truth in the argument. But as human, we know that relationship takes two to tango. We cannot always sitting in a passive mode and expect our network widen by itself. We need to take part in building our own network, actually, we need to take responsibility in building our relationship with others.

An african proverbs once said "If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go with others"

It is so true! We can't go far by ourselves. We need others, we need to build our network.

Richard Branson affirmed this with his comments "Succeeding in business is all about making connections"

I guess the same advise can be apply in our community life, professional life and even personal life.

To build a successful community, successful career or successful life is about building our connections, and of course it have to be build on top of a strong integrity and values

So, what are we waiting for?

#fgccmalaysia #uplifting #networking

#Day 244: 01 September 2016, Thursday

ABOUT GIVING BACK

‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ - Acts 20:35

A new start of the month and I am about to do my facilitation session again. Giving back as the Facilitator of Knowledge, sharing the importance of the Certified Logistic Professional

Denzel Washington, one of the best actor I know once said "At the end of the day it's not about what you have or even what you've accomplished. It's about who you've lifted up, who you've made better. It's about what you've given back".

What a powerful message. A really encouraging and motivational message that energize myself to share and give more. More of my time for others, more of my sharing to others.

Indeed, happiness is not from how much we get but how much we give.

So, be a cheerful giver! What a day full of blessing.

#fgccmalaysia #uplifting #aboutgivingback

#Day 243:  31 August 2016, Wednesday

THROUGH OTHERS

Ecclesiastes 4:12 ESV - And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

Short one today. Am contemplating on stopping asking questions.

And I was given an advise today. About talent in seeing what others may not see, especially in relation to risk management or organizational aspect.

I was given an idea that it does not need to be always me raising the question. It can be by other people as long as the objective is achieved.

It make senses. Especially in ensuring a harmony within the community.

I guess I can try this out. For the better of everyone.

Thank you Jesus my God.

#fgccmalaysia #uplifting #throughothers

#Day 242: 30 August 2016, Tuesday

RAISING YOUR QUESTION

Ephesians 4:29 ESV - Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.

Today I learned about how asking questions is an art. An art because I realized sometimes being honest, clear and sincere is not enough. That sometimes it has to consider the situation surrounding the listener, that sometimes it also need to consider the condition of the audience, be it mentally or physically.

It has to fit the occasion and that it may give grace to those who hear.

I need to remember this by heart.

Enough impact and damage. Time to withdrawn and be silent. Sometimes it is also good to stop raising your question for the happiness of others.

Sometimes. God bless.

#fgccmalaysia #uplifting #raisingyourquestion

#Day 241: 29 August 2016, Monday

RECHARGE

I am taking annual leave today. The physical tiredness came in after the hectic work week and the Fresh Camp :)

It is wonderful to hear what Isaiah said about the greatness of God.

Isaiah 40:28-31 - Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

What a wonderful message for me. I am in awe of the greatness of our God. Only 2 weeks of busy work, I already complain about tired.

I am glad He is not like me :) He is indeed God of all God, the King of all King!!

Thank you Jesus. I know now I will renew my strength as You are are my savior and my God.

Resting at home :)

#fgccmalaysia #uplifting #recharge

#Day 240: 28 August 2016, Sunday

VOLUNTEER

Acts 20:35 ESV - In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive'.

It's the end of our FreshCamp retreat!

There are so much blessing and reminder that God set out to my heart. Seeing the smooth progress of the retreat lead by only few people (Frank, Cris, Reil, Evi and Sandy. Supported hy myself and wife), a great message from our Pastor and Guest speaker, to the miracle of healing of one of the participant leg and many more.

I see how God really set our path straight even when our plan is far from perfect. He made it good in the end.

Honestly, I can see how physically tired the organizer are, including myself. But none of them even mentioned the word "tired". I learned a lot about their spirit of serving, the spirit of a servant leader. Kudos everyone!

Indeed, Volunteer, Never busy always fruitful

In my own translation, we may be busy with all of our life activities, but for God, we will never say we are busy, we are always fruitful!

Afterall, It is more blessed to give than to receive.

What a blessing!

Colossians 3:23-24 ESV - Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.

#fgccmalaysia #uplifting #volunteer

#Day 239: 27 August 2016, Saturday

STRENGTH OVER WEAKNESSES

2 Corinthians 12:9 ESV - But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness..."

One of the key input on the message today from Brother Ari, that we need to focus on our strength and not on our weaknesses.

That God created us fully, as His grace is sufficient for us. That we need to trust in Him with ALL our heart. Not half not quarter but ALL.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. - Proverbs 3:5 NLT

I summarized the beautiful message with the Joyce C Lock message:

J

Indeed it is a very encouraging message. Do not spend too much time on finding your weaknesses that you forgot your strength.

What a blessing.

#fgccmalaysia #uplifting #strength

#Day 238: 26 August 2016, Friday

FRESH CAMP

Matthew 25:40 ESV - And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’

I am excited! We are having our 1st Fresh Camp!!

A refreshing retreat for all our church volunteers.  Not only active in serving others, we believe our volunteers also need to be serve. And this retreat is tailored to answer this purpose.

We have approximately 98 participants, from adults, professionals, youth as well as children. All gathered with a common mindset that we are to be refreshed and uplifted. And with the amazing blessing from God, the 3 days 2 nights event produces an amazing experience and blessing!

I trully learned the spirit of serving, the meaning of a servant leader and I experienced an amazing power of God guidance and support in these retreat.

It is true indeed, that nothing is impossible for Him. I am thankful for everything, I am thankful that I am part of our volunteers. We may not have the time but we have the heart!

Thank you Jesus.

#fgccmalaysia #uplifting #freshcamp

#Day 237: 25 August 2016, Thursday

ADAPTABLE

The Lord says, “I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you - Psalms 32:8 NLT

The only thing that is constant in this world is a change. And this is exactly what happened today, a new immigration ruling to be applied as of 1 September 2016.

Some people may see this as a challenge, some may see it as a show stopper, some may see it as an indication to avoid Malaysia as a place to stay.

What about us? I believe we need to take a step back and not rushing in making a conclusion.

God promise us that He will "guide us and watch over us", and His promise endureth forever! Whatever changes and whenever it happens, trust that He will uplift our adaptability, that He will watch over us.

All we need to do is to brave ourselves and put our trust in Him. New immigration ruling? I trust He will make things new and provide the best for us.

In Him in trust. God bless.

#fgccmalaysia #uplifting #adaptable

#Day 236: 24 August 2016, Wednesday

NOT GOOD ENOUGH

2 Timothy 2:7 ESV - Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.

"I am not good enough", thats what my colleague said during our dinner tonight. She felt she is not good enough for the new role she is holding because all of the challenges that she is facing at this moment.

I believe we all experienced that feeling before. When the challenge seems making us small and weak. When the mountain seems too high for us to climb.

Be patience and be silent, as God will make a way when there seems to be no way. And remember that He created us according to His own image.

Psalm 139:13-14 ESV - For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.

Yes, we are fearfully and wonderfully made. We not only good enough for Him, we are great creation!

And I told her, like any other mountain you have climbed to be where you are. I know, you will walk through this mountain as well.

After all, difficulties only make you do it better.

#fgccmalaysia #uplifting #notgoodenough

#Day 235: 23 August 2016, Tuesday

TRUTH HURTS AND HEALS

John 8:32 ESV - And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Sitting alone and thinking
Thinking about what's happening
An act of questioning
Becoming a drawback that sting

The truth will set you free he said
But sometimes it also come with hurt and sad
With the feeling of dissapointment and scared
Of taking a next step that may again looks bad

But I believe the truth is also heals
Helping everyone to see the real deal
Like a medicine in a form of pils
It will break all the hurt and slowly heals

I promise I will learn from this day.

God bless.

#fgccmalaysia #uplifting #hurtandheals

#Day 234: 22 August 2016, Monday

BEING A GOOD LEADER

Learned a lot today of what it meant to be a good leader. I facilitated an Active Leadership workshop today.

Anyway, just wanna share this verse from Titus.

Titus 1:7-14 ESV - For an overseer, as God's steward, must be above reproach. He must not be arrogant or quick-tempered or a drunkard or violent or greedy for gain, but hospitable, a lover of good, self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined. He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it. For there are many who are insubordinate, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision party. They must be silenced, since they are upsetting whole families by teaching for shameful gain what they ought not to teach.

These are the key elements of being a good leader. A good leader shall act like God's steward.

The rest... Titus said it all. What a blessing.

#fgccmalaysia #uplifting #beingagoodleader

#Day 233: 21 August 2016, Sunday

ADAPTABILITY

By: Ps. Eddy Chang

Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves - Matthew 10:16 KJV

This verse speaks about being sent for a mission. About how God is sending us to where we are in this world, in the middle of all "wolves" of the world and at the sametime be wise and harmless to them.

WISE AS WOLVES

It is interesting how we are sent as sheep, an animal that has no defense mechanism. No claws, no sharp teeth and not even a poisonous arsenal.

While wolves, seems like they have everything! Claws, sharp teeth, well organized when they attack and deadly. "Wolves" sometimes represents devil, the bad people, false prohets, other means of authorities and even during the era as the Roman Empire. In short, it represents the world, the place where we are placed.

• Adaptability means able to change or be changed in order to fit or work better in some situation or for some purpose. Adaptability also means flexibility, adjustability, modify and change.

One thing interesting is that God wants to learn from a "Serpents". Even though we know a serpents is like a wolves, representing the bad and the ugly. But God wants us to learn the wise and smart nature (cerdik) of a serpents: patience and quick in action.

God wants us to continuously improve, continuous to learn even from a "serpents". There is always be something that we can learn even from a "serpents".

• Remember, God calling has nothing to do with our personality, has nothing to do with our background. It is about our willingness and commitment.

HARMLESS AS DOVE

A dove represents Holy Spirit. And it also represents purity and honesty.

A dove does not have a gall bladder in their body, they dont have a place to keep all negative "poison" in their body.

Like a dove, we need to stop keeping all the "poison" in our life, all the hurt, enviousness and everything that pulling us down in life, that stopping us to continuously learning, to be uplift.

Talking about leaving behind the "poison", we also need to have a high expectation in life while  at the same time having an excellent spirit to always get up when we fall, to allow ourselves to be continuously uplifted.

• "Successful people are successful because they form the HABITS of  doing those things that failures don't like to do" - Albert L Gray

In the end, It is not about the wolves, not about the doves but it is about us, the sheep. Are we fit to the place we sent? Are we making a change?

Are we adaptable?? Are we looking at God grace, at Him who sent us??

God bless.

#fgccmalaysia #uplifting #Adaptability

#Day 232: 20 August 2016, Saturday

LEE CHONG WEI

2 Timothy 4:7 ESV - I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

It is finished. Olympic Men's Single final is completed. Chong Wei, the last Malaysia hope on getting the Gold Medal fought the race, unfortunately he lost to Cheng Long, the next golden boy of China

Although he lost, he have stolen a lot of Malaysian hearts and even Indonesian like me.

He fought and finished his race and he kept his faith. He remain as a champion to many people in the world.

As for us, have we fought our fight? Our good fight? Flourish whenever you are planted, once said. Have we? Have we fought our fight whenever God puts us?

At our office? Our local church? Our home? Have we giving our best and spread the good news of love?

I hope one day I can be a Lee Chong Wei, fighting my food fight and living as a true servants of God.

Fight our good fight and keep the faith!

Proud of you Lee Chong Wei

#fgccmalaysia #uplifting #LeeChongWei