Category: English

After two thousand years of development, the church has naturally developed a set of worship habits. And these habits of worship are liturgy. Although everyone is an independent individual with different personalities, emotions, cultures, thoughts, and expressions, when worshiping, everyone can have a unified body language and expressions. Through consensus, careful consideration, and continuous improvement, under such circumstances, a set of common ways are developed to express various theological thoughts during worship. These liturgies are the essence of time-honored practice and are the precious heritage of the church.

However, these liturgies cannot be understood by unbelievers, new believers, or normal believers. It is not that these rituals are meaningless, but it’s more than they can understand. Therefore, liturgy is unattractive to them, even boring. These dull impressions deterred them from the liturgical church.

Take mathematics as an example. Imagine a school that starts teaching calculus in the first grade. What are the consequences of this? How can a school appreciate the value of calculus when its students have no idea what basic mathematics is? Is calculus worthless? Does calculus have to be abolished? neither. The real reason is that in the first grade of elementary school, they have not yet able to understand calculus.

Therefore, is it reasonable for the church to expect non-believers, new believers, or ordinary believers to appreciate the liturgy and devote themselves to liturgical worship?

The church should face up to the problem. In the past, we often debated whether liturgy is valuable and whether it needs to be maintained. These are false propositions and will only shift our focus. The reason is simple; would we argue to abolish calculus in schools? Would we debate whether calculus has value? we will not. Why not? Because arguing only shows our stupidity.

In education, we will proceed step by step, so we have primary schools, middle schools, and universities, and the courses used are all developed slowly and orderly. Can the church also progress step by step?

The church must have fresh expression so that non-believers can gradually enter the church, integrate into the church, receive cultivation, receive training and grow spiritually. In addition to liturgical worship, can the church have more fresh ways of expression to provide more appropriate channels for non-believers to enter the church?

To plant more churches in every generation, we must change. If we want to fish, we must go where there are fish. Not only do we have to go where the fish are, we also must do it the right way. Otherwise, how would you catch fish?

The Chinese have always been in search of truth, trying to find various of philosophies and methods to pursue the meaning of life, which includes the relationship of the individual, the society, and the nation.

Laozi, Confucius, Mencius, Zhuangzi, and other philosophers have all been searching for answers to life’s questions. They talked about heaven, Tao, virtue, righteousness, ethics, etiquette, on how to look at life and how to live a harmonious life in the world.

However, without the existence of the Creator in all these talks, all the philosophies are just like a blind man touching an elephant and seeing only a small corner of it.

According to my underestanding, the [Heaven] that the ancient Chinese talked about is God, the [Dao] (the truth) is also God, and the [Virtue] they talked about is God’s law. The morality is the law of God. A moral person is one who fears God and obeys God’s law. The standard of morality is the Bible. Anyone who follows the teachings of the Bible is a moral person.

The purpose of discipleship training is to make us understand God’s Word better, and through intentional practice, to live out what is taught and to become a moral and ethical person.

The more moral a person becomes, the more he or she will be able to connect with God’s creation, and thus receive a greater blessing in the laws of creation, achieving harmony with all things in heaven and earth, and bringing inner tranquility and peace. This serenity and peace are what Lao Tzu calls Wuwei (non-action). Wuwei does not mean not doing anything as many have thought. Wuwei is to be unmoved by the outside world. Wuwei is to enjoy the present moment, to allow oneself to realize one’s abilities and potentials in peace and tranquility, hence, to contribute to the world.

The more one grows in spirituality, the more one receives God’s blessings. Blessings and spiritual growth are linked together, and when spiritual grows, the more blessings one receives.

Blessings should not be taken for granted, nor are they free. Blessings come through spiritual disciplines that lead to growth in spirituality. Discipleship training is the best and most practical spiritual discipline to help you have a better life.

The Chinese have always been in search of truth, trying to find various of philosophies and methods to pursue the meaning of life, which includes the relationship of the individual, the society, and the nation.

Laozi, Confucius, Mencius, Zhuangzi, and other philosophers have all been searching for answers to life’s questions. They talked about heaven, Tao, virtue, righteousness, ethics, etiquette, on how to look at life and how to live a harmonious life in the world.

However, without the existence of the Creator in all these talks, all the philosophies are just like a blind man touching an elephant and seeing only a small corner of it.

According to my underestanding, the [Heaven] that the ancient Chinese talked about is God, the [Dao] (the truth) is also God, and the [Virtue] they talked about is God’s law. The morality is the law of God. A moral person is one who fears God and obeys God’s law. The standard of morality is the Bible. Anyone who follows the teachings of the Bible is a moral person.

The purpose of discipleship training is to make us understand God’s Word better, and through intentional practice, to live out what is taught and to become a moral and ethical person.

The more moral a person becomes, the more he or she will be able to connect with God’s creation, and thus receive a greater blessing in the laws of creation, achieving harmony with all things in heaven and earth, and bringing inner tranquility and peace. This serenity and peace are what Lao Tzu calls Wuwei (non-action). Wuwei does not mean not doing anything as many have thought. Wuwei is to be unmoved by the outside world. Wuwei is to enjoy the present moment, to allow oneself to realize one’s abilities and potentials in peace and tranquility, hence, to contribute to the world.

The more one grows in spirituality, the more one receives God’s blessings. Blessings and spiritual growth are linked together, and when spiritual grows, the more blessings one receives.

Blessings should not be taken for granted, nor are they free. Blessings come through spiritual disciplines that lead to growth in spirituality. Discipleship training is the best and most practical spiritual discipline to help you have a better life.

How can we practice spirituality through discipleship training training?

Let us first talk about what is spiritual. Spiritual, in short, means things, actions, etc. that belong to the Holy Spirit. When a person is called spiritual, it means that he is a person who obeys the Holy Spirit. The more spiritual a person is, the more he obeys the Holy Spirit, and the better he produces the fruits of the Holy Spirit.

How do we do spiritual formation through discipleship training training?

In order to be spiritually trained, discipleship training training must be intentional.

What is intentional?

Intentional means that before we do anything, we must have a clear goal and move toward it with all our effort. However, in the process, we will inevitably face difficulties and challenges. Therefore, we must review and make corrections from time to time. In making corrections, we may have to change our mindset or change our strategies, and leaving our comfort zone.

The author of the book “Peak- How to Master Anything” lists four standard actions of “intentional”: 1) Clarity of Purpose 2) Focus on Purpose 3) Clear Feedback and 4) Leaving the Comfort Zone.

Our goal in discipleship training is to grow in 4 areas. The first is commitment to Christ. The second is servanthood. The third is being a witness for Christ. The fourth is learning the character of Christ.

Each time we do discipleship training, we emphasise the direction in which we want to go. The curriculum is also designed towards these goals. Each time we study, we have specific reflections and application. We also actively pray for the Holy Spirit’s help so that we can have life changes and be willing to leave our comfort zone to engage in more ministry.

Our strategy in discipleship training is firstly through intentional teaching and training. The second is the transforming power of the Holy Spirit. We believe that with the two power sources that God has given us; the Bible and the Holy Spirit, life change in our trainees is just around the corner. Not only will their lives be changed, but they will also be trained to be leaders in the church, to serve and to grow the church.

Prayer for the participants of the discipleship training is vital. We believe that through prayer, the Holy Spirit will work in the participants to bring about change and deliverance.

Intentional discipleship training is the best spiritual discipline because we do it intentionally. We are here to help people grow spiritually. We emphasise the concept of knowing and doing. For us, knowing but not doing is not knowing. Spiritual growth can only come from doing God’s Word, anything else is just a waste of time.

Why do we need spiritual disciplines?

For a non-Christian to be a moral person, he relies on his conscience, social norms, philosophical ideas, or religious doctrines.

For a Christian to be a moral person, he relies on the Holy Spirit and the Word of God.

One of the cruel realities that mankind needs to face is that we are still under the power of the flesh. The desires of the flesh control us like our debtors. We don’t do the things we want to do and we do the things we don’t want to do. For example: we know we need to control our diet, but we always indulge our appetites. We know that exercise is important, but we always prefer to stay in bed. We know we need to control our temper, but we can’t. We know it’s easy to get caught up in erotic websites, but we always get caught up in them.

The one thing that can combat the desires of the flesh is the power of the Holy Spirit. Paul tells us that the Holy Spirit has freed us and the flesh is no longer our debtor. The power of the flesh (the law) no longer controls us. We already have this power, but it must be exercised. It’s like a baby who naturally has the strength to run a hundred meters, but that strength must be exercised. He must learn to roll over, crawl, stand, and then stumble for a step or two until he can walk normally. After that he must spend years, even a dozen years, in constant practice, before he can run a hundred meters in a race.

Spiritual disciplines are like that. We already have the Holy Spirit dwelling in us. The Holy Spirit has released us from the power of the flesh. We are like a born-again baby. Even though the lusts of the flesh no longer control us, but we are still in the flesh. Thus, the power of the Holy Spirit and the power of the flesh are in us at the same time, becoming two opposing forces. In such a situation, we must train our spirit to obey the Holy Spirit, not the flesh. In every confrontation between the Spirit and the flesh, we must choose to support the Holy Spirit.

Spiritual discipline is what helps us to be strong enough to obey the Holy Spirit.

For example, when we face injustice, our emotion will stir up. This anger provokes the flesh to desire revenge. The desire to retaliate will cause us to do many irrational acts. After the irrational actions, we will have a lot of remorse and pain. To quell this remorse and pain, we must create lies or excuses to rationalize our actions.

However, the Holy Spirit will speak to us when we develop feelings of anger. If we are obedient to the Holy Spirit, the Spirit will lead us to respond to our circumstances in the right way. In the face of injustice, we can protest and fight rationally instead of resorting to emotion or violence.

Spiritual discipline is submitting to the leading of the Holy Spirit in all aspects of life and rejecting the desires of the flesh. Such discipline will make our inner being stronger and stronger to resist the power of the flesh.

If we do not submit to the Holy Spirit, then the power of the flesh will grow stronger and stronger until it overwhelms our inner being and we cannot resist the lusts of the flesh and fall into sin.

Discipleship is spiritual discipline, and it is the most effective spiritual discipline. Discipleship is the most effective spiritual discipline. It helps us to be strong enough to obey the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

In the last sharing, we mentioned that when a person does not apply what he/she have learnt, he or she is in fact not knowing.

In short, to say that one knows, but does not apply, is not knowing.

Unfortunately, the church does not understand this. Let me give you some examples:

1) Churches led Bible studies that focus only on knowing what the Bible teaches, even emphasize the need to study Greek and Hebrew, but never focus on application. Whether the members are applying what they have learnt is not the concern. In many cases, the members also satisfied with just knowing, but not applying. Some of them even see knowledge as a spiritual standard, thinking that “knowing” is a spiritual progress. This is like a person who puts on Superman’s cape and wears his underpants on the outside and thinks he can fly into the sky.

2) It is good that Sunday sermons in churches focus on the expository preaching. The problem is that churches seldom evaluate whether members are applying it in their lives or not. Pastors spend all their energy on interpreting Scripture, but very little on the practicality of applying it. Interpretation of Scripture is certainly important to help us understand the Bible correctly. But to understand it correctly without applying it is like buying a big bao, putting it in our hand, not eating it, stinking it up, and throwing it away. To do so is basically idiotic behavior. Unfortunately, this does not just happen for a week or two, but it is repeated weekly in the church.

3) The church seldom teaches something outside of the Bible that can help us with how to practice. As a result, we know very little about what we can do to help us practice. For example: How can we be more productive? How to develop good habits? How to deal with emotions? How to handle conflicts? How to communicate effectively? etc.

4) Church pastors and members often measure the quality of pulpit by “whether there is any new light” (In fact, they are not talking about spiritual light, but new knowledge, i.e., new knowledge or new arguments that they have not heard before.) The church equates knowledge with spirituality. The measure of a person’s spirituality is their knowledge of the Bible. Certainly, knowledge is very important, but it is even more important to live out what you have learnt.

Churches should think about how to effectively help their members practice what God has taught them. Here are some suggestions:

1) The church can focus on teaching one book of the Bible until the members have a deep grasp of it and apply what they understand in their lives before switching to another book. Don’t jump from one book to another, teaching a little bit here and there in the name of diversity, so that members will not be bored, but in fact, members may not know the contents of the Bible for decades. I often have the thought that it is enough to know few books in the Bible well and apply it well.

2) Churches must implement purpose driven discipleship training, or intentional discipleship training. Purpose driven means that the participants will be able to apply God’s Word and grow in life. Intentional means that there is a conscious emphasis on applying what is learnt from the Bible to life.

We all want to be healthy and we all know the principles of health, such as exercise, eating habits, managing emotions, managing stress, positive thinking, etc., but we have a hard time implementing them in our lives. When the doctor tells us that we have 3H (high blood sugar, high blood pressure, high cholesterol), we may be nervous for a while, determined to exercise, to control our diet, to manage our emotions, etc., but after a few weeks of implementation, we return to our old lifestyle.

Why does it so hard to implement the knowledge in our lives?

What good is “knowing” if what we know cannot be applied in our life?

In fact, knowing but not doing is the same as not knowing. Knowledge is only true knowledge if it is put into practice, otherwise it is false knowledge. We will forget what we have learnt in a short while. This is why Sunday sermons are ineffective. If we do not apply the sermon immediately after hearing it to deepen the impression of the message in our minds, then our minds will not store the message as a long-term memory. Generally, we will forget all the teaching we have heard in a day or two at the most. So, what is the difference between that and not listening at all?

A doctor, after learning about medicine, must practice in the hospital for a long time in order to bring out what he/she has learnt, otherwise he/she cannot become a doctor even if he/she has graduated in medicine.

A lawyer, after learning about the law, must practice in the court or in the workplace to bring what he has learnt into practice, otherwise he will not be a competent lawyer even if he has graduated with a first-class degree in law.

A pastor, even with a doctorate in theology, can be a disaster to the church if he did not follow the Word of God.

An automobile mechanic, who has learnt all the principles of automobiles, but has never repaired a car, even if he has tested it for faults, has no way of fixing it.

Basically, knowledge without practice is not really knowledge, it is just cool on its own.

True knowledge is knowledge in practice. Knowledge is real knowledge when we live out the knowledge.

There is a Chinese saying that it is easy to know but difficult to practice. This saying is wrong. Without action, there is no knowledge, so how can knowing be easy and action be difficult? Knowledge and action are two in one. If there is knowledge, there must be action, and if there is action, there will naturally be knowledge. This is what the Chinese Philosopher Wang Yang Ming called the unity of knowledge and action.

The goal of discipleship training is to progress in true knowledge. When we learn, we must apply it in life. Repeated compliance deepens the learning. This is the purpose-oriented discipleship and intentional discipleship training.

What are the most important things in life?

I think everyone will have a different answer to this question, but in general, money, fame, power, achievement, family, self-fulfillment, and so on.

Why did you come into this world?

How do you define the meaning of life?

How do you measure the correctness of your answers?

Or is everyone’s answer right, as long as you are happy? Anyway, it is your life and no one else needs to intervene. Simply put, it is none of your business.

For Christians, is there a meaning to life that we cannot change?

What does the Bible say about this?

According to the Bible, there are several things that a Christian must do in life. If you accomplish them, then your life has meaning. If you don’t, you are wasting your time.

First, become a person fully committed to God. The summary of the law is to love God and love our neighbors. The only person who has kept the law is the one who is fully committed to Christ. Only such a person can be pleasing to God.

Secondly, become a servant. We came to this world not only to live for ourselves, but also to serve others. Jesus said that he came to serve, not to be served. If all human beings could serve one another, the world would be a better place.

Third, become a person fulfilling the mission of God. Jesus’ Great Commission is for us to fulfil 5 verbs, i.e. go, make disciples, baptise, teach, and obey.

Fourth, become a little Jesus. God wants us to obey all His teachings and submit to the Holy Spirit, not to the desires of the flesh. Christians must choose to obey the voice of the Holy Spirit.

These four life goals are also the goals of discipleship. Discipleship is about helping Christians to continually progress in these four areas in their lives. This is a purpose driven discipleship, and it is also an intentional discipleship. When we fight, we don’t just swing our fists randomly in the air, but we strike accurately at our enemies.

The short-term interest rates of Bank Negera have far-reaching effects on the economy. The Bank Negara must adjust interest rates in order to control the movement of Ringgit within the country and abroad.

The Federal Reserve in United States regulates short-term bank interest rates based on the index of national inflation. This is because excessive circulation of US dollars in the market leads to over-consumption by the public, which increases the demand and therefore the price of goods. Higher prices of goods also lead to higher production costs for manufacturers and higher prices for goods, so that the manufacturers can pass the costs to consumers. This vicious circle will exacerbate inflation. When this happened, the Federal Reserve must raise bank interest rates to attract more people to put money in the bank to reduce the flow of USD. Higher interest rates will lead to an increase in the demand for US dollars, as money from all over the world that is seeking a stable rate of return may flow into the US in order to get higher interest income.

The increase in demand for US dollars will lead to a strong exchange rate for the US dollar. This is one of the main reasons why the US dollar is on the verge of breaking 4.8 (to the Malaysian Ringgit) this year. Unless Bank Negara Malaysia follows the US in raising interest rates, the demand for the Malaysian currency cannot be boosted. However, Bank Negara is not at liberty to raise the interest rate as this will lead to higher cost of loans, weakening the public’s willingness to take loans for investment and hence weakening the economic growth. On the other hand, the interest rate on housing loans or other loans for the public will also be raised, adding to the financial burden of the Rakyat, and possibly leading to an increase in the number of bad debts of the banks, and many houses will have to be put up for auction. This is something that no one wants to see.

Malaysia’s foreign reserves are limited, unlike some countries with abundant foreign reserves. These countries can enter the currency market and buy the country’s currency to stabilise the country’s exchange rate. For example, Singapore can enter the currency market to buy SGD to stabilise the exchange rate of SGD to USD. Their foreign reserves are abundant, and they have the backing to do so. Malaysia does not have this ability; therefore, we can only watch the exchange rate go downhill helplessly.

The country’s foreign reserves are the country’s savings, just like our savings in the bank. If you have hundreds of millions of deposits in the bank, then the impact on you in the economy crisis is very minor. If you have only a few hundred dollars in the bank, even a slightly economy crisis will be a great impact to you.

Malaysia’s economic conditions were better than Singapore’s in the 1960s, so why are they doing better and better while we are becoming weaker in comparable? Why does Malaysia have less foreign reserves and more debt? Why does Singapore have more foreign reserves and less debt? The answer, as you and I both know, is the general quality of our people. Many of our people just want to rest at home, rely on nepotism, rely on connections, rely on corruption, rely on the political patronage to get money. In additional, our government does not rely on meritocracy, but on political maneuvers. Such a government can hardly have good political performance.

If our government confiscates the assets of those few super corrupt people and their family members, then I think the exchange rate of RM will go up immediately. Of course, this is just my little fantasy, it is impossible to realize.

If the country is to progress, we must have the support of all the people to work together so that we can see the results. If some people only want easy money, refuse to work hard, rely on nepotism, corruption, pandering, and only want benefits, then the country will be dragged down.

The same is true of the church. If there is a part of the church member that only wants to satisfy their own needs and do not want to contribute, this will only take up the resources of the church and hinder its growth. How can the whole church be mobilized to grow the church together? The only way is to awaken them and help them grow spiritually. This is why discipleship training is an indispensable ministry of the church.

The whole world knows the importance of quality and works its best to pursue progress in quality.

Why? Because quality is the only way to ensure our survival. No matter what industry you are in, from agriculture, manufacturing, services, tourism, technology, internet, finance, education, politics, etc., everyone is pursuing for quality, and those who do not have quality cannot survive.

In Ipoh, there is a shop called Funny Mountain which sells soya beancurd at a higher price and in small portions, but it still has a long queue of customers every day and its business is very good. Why do so many people pay more than the average price for a smaller portion of soya beancurd? Are people following blindly? Is it the power of advertising or internet celebrities? Possible in short term, but not in long term. Funny Mountain has been in business for decades and still has a long queue every day. This shows that there is only one reason, and that is delicious beancurd and high quality. There are some other shops around this shop that sell soya beancurd, but the business is just average. This shows that Funny Mountain has maintained its quality for a long time, and no one else can shake its market share.

If you dine in the Klang Valley nowadays, it is difficult to find local cooked food. Most of the shops or stalls have foreign workers at the helm of the kitchen and the taste has suffered a lot as a result. This is why many tourists appreciate the food in Ipoh, as the foods still cook by the local. In fact, shops or stalls helm by foreign workers cannot survive in Ipoh. In Ipoh, you will still see many elderly people cooking, and their decades of culinary experience delight your taste buds. Simply put, the quality of food in Ipoh is the main reason for the holiday traffic jams here.

Malaysia has a system of quota in many fields to ensure that a particular race can survive without competition in some areas. Take the education sector as an example, the number of university graduates of a certain race has indeed increased significantly, but employment opportunities are only available in the public sector, and private sector employment opportunities are only available through mandatory quota or unspoken rules. Generally, private sector’s appraisal of them is not so favorable. Why is that so? The key is quality. Their number of graduates has increased, but the quality is generally poor and they are not competitive. Is this good for the growth of the country?

Quality is the way to survive. We will end up losing more than we gain if we sacrifice quality for quantity. Quantity will not make us last; only quality will last. Look at the 97 new IPO companies in Bursa last year, only one is own by them.

One of the deviations of the church is the overemphasis on quantity. Although we all know the importance of quality, we still deliberately focus on quantity and are proud of it. We presume churches with high numbers are successful churches, while churches with low numbers are nominal churches. Many pastors also pride themselves on being pastors of large churches. Some pastors are ashamed to present themselves as pastors of small churches.

Discipleship requires both quality and quantity. Discipleship believes that quantity has value only when quality grows. Quantity alone without quality growth is meaningless. The goal of discipleship is also to correct this deviation in the church.