Ancient Path

SEPTEMBER TO DECEMBER 2020

September to December 2020

Message From Senior Pastor

1-4 Ancient Path

Features

5-6 A Mellow Gold 7-10 A Very COVID Christmas 11-14 Navigating COVID

Message From Founding Senior Pastor

15-18 Three Defining Marks of a Life Well-Lived

DUMC Stories

19-22 There are Angels 23-24 A Letter from Hope 25-28 The Longing of Our Souls 29-30 I Remember My Faith 31-32 My Journey of Building a Prayer Altar

Damansara Utama Methodist Church Dream Centre, 2 Jalan 13/1, Seksyen 13, 46200 Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia T +603.7958 7388 F +603.7958 3787 E general@dumc.my dumcMY W dumc.my The church office is closed on Mondays.

From The Editorial Team:

We are living in an era of constant change, and we witness something new every day, to the point that we may be numb to it. Nothing surprises us anymore. With instantaneous information available through social media, and the constant bombardment of “news”, today’s generation can be overwhelmed by what used to be considered “unusual” or “shocking” in times before, and begin to believe that this is “acceptable” and “normal”. But it should not be “acceptable” nor “normal”.

Romans 12:2 tells us “Do not conform to the pattern of the world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – His good, pleasing and perfect will.” Floodgates was created to be a vessel, a platform where we can publish articles and testimonies to bless and inspire God’s people towards Godly renewal of the mind mentioned by the apostle Paul, and which will stand out from the daily bombardment of confusing and possibly unhelpful “information”.

In Floodgates, we, as a Church, the Body of Christ, can share stories and bear witness to God’s amazing grace and give Him the glory. Also, we can remind ourselves that we are nothing without Jesus, that we would just be part of a dying world and hopeless.

On the cover, “G” is at the centre of the title, Floodgates, just as we need to place God at the centre of our all. Our name Floodgates originates from Malachi 3:10 “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.” Father God, may we all, children of God, be blessed when the “floodgates of heaven pour out…” and be reminded that the presence of God in our lives is the blessed life.

The ANCIENT PATH

by Chris Kam, Senior Pastor

Ibelieve the greatest cry of people today is for significance in their lives; for having the integrity to honestly live out their lives in alignment with what they think is good and meaningful. There is an old English idiom that says that “an Englishman’s home is his castle.” It suggests that people are free to do whatever they want to in their own home, and no one should tell them what to do there. The question I am asking is, are we the same man at home compared with the one outside? This is an issue of integrity and someone defined integrity as what you do when no one is watching. Imagine stopping at a red traffic light at five in the morning with no one watching and no car in sight. What would you do? Imagine now what you are at home, with no one watching. The opposite of integrity is hypocrisy.

Jesus has called us to a higher standard of integrity and if you have been reading the Gospels, you would realise by now He had some really strong words to say about hypocrisy. He rebuked the teachers of the Law and the Pharisees, the religious leaders who seemed to hold such a moral high ground. Jesus called them “whitewashed tombs, beautiful on the outside but on the inside full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean.” (Matthew 23:27). What a rebuke!

This pandemic has allowed us much more time to be at home and there may be a lot more quieter moments for introspection. This is an opportune time to look deeper into ourselves. We need to allow the Word of God to change us every day as it is key to growth and maturity.

1Meanwhile, when a crowd of many thousands had gathered, so that they were trampling on one another, Jesus began to speak first to his disciples, saying: “Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. 2There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. 3What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs.” (Luke 12:1–3)

Jesus says here that as followers of Christ, be on your guard, watch out, that hypocrisy will not be like the yeast that spreads within and corrupts not only you, but others around you as well. Hypocrisy is living a double life and the warning is that you will be exposed one day. We will be held accountable for all that has happened in our lives, including those things done in the dark and in secret. Hence, we are called to live a life of integrity, not that we are perfect, but we are real and humble enough to admit and repent when we are wrong. That is the heart God is looking for. A true life of freedom is when we have nothing to hide, nothing to fear, nothing to lose and nothing to prove.

Apostle Luke recorded this story of Jesus: When Jesus entered the temple courts, he began to drive out those who were selling. “It is written,” he said to them, “‘My house will be a house of prayer’; but you have made it ‘a den of robbers.’” (Luke 19:45–46)

Jesus was incredibly angry at the misuse of His Father’s house for the purpose of business. People were driven by greed and the poor were exploited. The religious leaders were making money off the system by buying and selling animals for sacrifice, thus making the temple a den of robbers. This was religious hypocrisy at its worst.

It was about losing the spirit of what it was meant to be. How easy it is for us to fall into a man-made system and act out of dubious motivation. We may even look religious on the outside, but powerless on the inside (2 Timothy 3:5).