BLESSED CHRISTMAS 2008

Shalom All,

Greetings in the Name of our Lord.

Tomorrow is Christmas Day. What a day of Joy for all of us! So Jenny and I would like to wish you all of you "Khag Molad Samekh and Shana Tova" in Hebrew...meaning "Merry Christmas and Happy New Year". Here also is a simple poem for all of you....

Two thousand years ago the King of Kings was born.
'The Lamb of God' later made to feel the thorn,
If his words are accepted and not scorned,
They will make us all reborn.
Though God's grace, Joseph and Mary presented
A gift to the world that day, which we can all repay,
by living the ten commandments each and every day.
Try to remember and keep in your heart and mind
Jesus's gospel while here on Earth,
Redemption not a life lived in constant mirth.
Peace on Earth, good will toward man
Everyone should try it, whenever they can.
The Lord gave us the option and choice of 'free will,'
Now it's up to us to fit the bill.
So when you’re Christmas shopping for family and friends,
and money is tight at both ends,
Remember that the greatest gift of all,
Is your love of Jesus in the manger stall.

My reflections for this Christmas for all of us....First and foremost, we must continue to thank with joy our God for sending His Son, just like the shepherds of old were recorded to have been filled with joy in Luke 2 v 20: "The shepherds went back to their flocks, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen. It was just as the angel had told them". And now, may I pray for each one of you, as I pray for myself, four very important gifts of Christmas from our Lord:

The first gift is “The Gift of a Renewed Life”, in 2 Corinthians 5 v 17 “this means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun”.

The second gift is “The Gift of Service”. From Isaiah 6 v 8 - ''Then I heard the Lord asking, “Whom should I send? Who will go for us?” And I said, “Here I am. Send me!”

The third gift is “The Gift of Worship”. May our heart be filled with joy always as we seek to worship our Lord! just as in Mathew 2 v 11 "They entered the house and saw the child with his mother, Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him”.

The fourth and the last gift are... “Thanksgiving Gifts and Offerings” from our heart, for the abundant life we have received from Him...may we imitate what the wise men have brought to Jesus’ appropriate gifts” as in in Matthew 2 v11: “Then they opened their treasure chests and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh”.

On the November 16th, 2008, Jenny and I went to a Tha Yang church in the Province of Petchaburi (two hours away from Bangkok towards the south of Thailand) together with Pastor Prasit, who was preaching that Sunday service....Jenny and I spent time with the children there and helped them watch a Thai Christian Cartoon movie.

On the November 22nd, 2008, I attended a Filippino speaking church service, this service was held on Saturday as on Sunday, the pastor would have to conduct services in Thai. The Fillipino church workers are doing missionary work in Thailand. I was invited to share a short message to the congregation. Praise the Lord for opening doors!

Three days later, I was invited to go to the Lumpini Primary School, together with the Lumpini Evangelism Group. We gave Christmas gifts and The Book of John to the children.

On November 29th, 2008, Jenny and I went to Bang-Pa In and we had a meaningful time fellowshipping with the Full Gospel church leaders. In the evening, we went to a market to distribute Christian leaflets to the local people. The following day, that is Sunday, I preached for almost 2 hours on the topic “The Return of Israel”. Two Myanmar brothers came to me after the service to tell me they believe that they are from the Tribes of Benjamin. God loves His people and has said "Your name is Jacob, but you will not be called Jacob any longer. From now on your name will be Israel”. So God renamed him Israel. Then God said, “I am El-Shaddai - “God Almighty”. Be fruitful and multiply. You will become a great nation, even many nations. Kings will be among your descendants! And I will give you the land I once gave to Abraham and Isaac. Yes, I will give it to you and your descendants after you” - Genesis 35 v 10 - 12.

May the Lord bring you joy and peace throughout this Season and the coming Year 2009 and may His light wash away all the shadows of your life.

God Bless!

Blessing,
Pastor Steve Peter H S Kok

OBEY HIS CALLING

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ....

Shalom! And Greetings in the name of our Lord.

This is the first part (Part 1) of my November 2008 Report.

During the past one month, I was unexpectedly afflicted with fever, diarrhea,mouth ulcers and sore throat for two days in a week, and this pattern continued for the duration of 4 weeks during the month!.... Now why this attack on my health that sent me to a private clinic, as well the hospital, for a check-up??...And all the doctors could say was : food poisoning, or viral infection!.....

Now I recall that some two years ago, God has spoken to me clearly to resign from my job as a computer professional to take up His call to serve him in the mission field...... but I kept on saying “No!” or delayed to do so for another 6 months to a year. ....Then God was quite emphatic and said: “No, you must go do mission work.".

During this period of my vacillation , my car broken down inexplicably many times in a month......then also, the power supply to my room was cut off even though I have paid my electricity bill, and many, many unexpected mishaps came to upset my mundane life!.... These shook me quite a bit and soon, I was made to realise that perhaps I have failed to heed God's promptings to me... and I began to nudge myself, "Should I not take Him more seriously His beckoning and obey His call ?"..... O yes, being human, like everybody else, it is all so natural for us to want to stick to our own seeking and ways, to stay in our comfort zones and do little for God,and to ignore or delay God's call or will for us....but, as often is the case, we too often will find that by our disobedience, we will pay a price for this disobedience, as I certainly have learnt from this since! .......

What a frightening flashback this is for me!

Now coming back to Novenber 2008 now... in early November, the Lord also prompted me to go out from Thailand to serve Him elsewhere.....but I said I would delay this till end of February 2009 ....and what happened to this dillydallying? ...... Answer : this train of sickness and ill health coming upon me!!....

So it is all too clear to me now that I cannot, and should not, delay any further!....I must make a decision to go one month earlier!.....for when God calls us , he means business with us, and we must obey and follow Him without delay and excuses!.Amen to that, yeah?

On the November 10th, 2008, God led me to the vision and the following website: http://faithwithyou.blog.com/4125908/. Tab this, and you will find God's message loud and clear for all of us!

You will recall that I have previously shared with you briefly about the transformed life of Bro. Francis Elijah Kok....you may read his testimony in this link: http://faithwithyou.blog.com/4294325. I hope you will be touched by his story.

On the November 1st, 2008, a pastor invited Jenny and me to a presentation of songs and dance by some northern hill tribes in Pathum Thani, about an hour's drive from Don Mueang Airport. This event was organized by the leader of some Hill Tribes from northern Chiangmai who are now Christians. Before the function ended, I was invited to close with a prayer .... it was such a joy for Jenny and me to witness the working of the Lord on the lives of these Thai Christians. Praise the Lord. Truly our God is Great!

The next day, I was invited to preach in the Jaisamarn Full Gospel in Bang-Pa In.. Jenny was my interpretor as I shared God's word about “ End Time prophesies”. In the afternoon, we went to visit the King’s Palace near the church..... In the evening, we went to a village church planted there recently - it is called “Bethlehem House, so appropriately named after our Lord Jesus' birthplace!.

The following Sunday, I was invited to preach at the Navanakorn Church, which is about 1 hour's drive from Don Mueang Airport. My message was based on the Book of Jonah - the importance of fasting and praying for the city of Nineveh. And its relevance today of doing the same for God's Kingdom work for Thailand..

I will be sending the next report for November 2008 (Part 2) next week.

May God Bless all of you.

Blessing,
Pastor Steve Peter H S Kok

MERRY CHRISTMAS 2008 AND HAPPY NEW YEAR 2009

TESTIMONY FROM BRO. FRANCIS ELIJAH KOK

Home – A Dream or a Dream to far?

Hi – To all, as Pastor Steve Kok have mentioned in his blog, my name is Francis Elijah Kok, and I will share my testimony when I am ready. Please read my testimony with an open mind and heart, because this is a testimony from a real life prodigal son. And I chose my birthday today – 30th November to share this and since I am already 41, I intend to something meaningful.

I guess it is time and I titled my sharing as above : Home – or a dream too far?

Where do I start or how to begin? I will use the story of the Prodigal Son to launch my sharing. All should be familiar with the story of the Prodigal son written in the Bible, it is written that the son returned to open arms of his father and mother…….but to me, it have been remained yet still a dream or a wish.

To start, I came from a simple family of four, I am the youngest with an elder sister. Though we were baptized as Christian at the age of 15 in a Methodist Church, I confessed our faith have never been strong – or is it the fear of insecurity that we are poor and not well-to-do as other church members? I really don’t can answer, but as far as I can remember, I find it difficult to fit in during youth meetings or groups meetings.

Guess time passed quickly and I passed my STPM but not able to get into a university and because of financial reason I did not get into any private college at all. At that time, I am still an innocent kid to life, to the streets. I found some work in a paging firm, work10 hours from 10pm -8am everyday and attend a private college in the day-time for my NCC Diploma in Computer Studies. My dream? If can’t be a lawyer, I hope to be a good programmer.

Where did my down fall started? I guess it started when I pushed myself to reach the heart of success. It started when I started resenting my mother when she forbids from this and that, even to the extend of trying out as a junior programmer because the starting pay is low and I have to temporary support the family because my sister resigned from her job to study full-time.

To cut the story short, I change jobs very fast, each time hoping to get a higher and better salary and of course with higher salary I am able to get a credit card and getting to know the wrong parties. I started to fall from grace and I cant blame anyone but myself. I sarted to get big-headed, wanting to start a business and earning big money. I started to get involve in the 3 big WWS : Wine,Women and Song. In time, I get into big debts and started borrowing from loan-sharks……… and this is my biggest down fall. At that time I am married with a nice and beautiful daughter. My parents bailed me out by selling our house.

Here is the beginning of my end….I pray that those who read my testimony, please when or if anyone of your members fall from grace, please pray and try to support them, and also churches, please not to condemn them, pray for them and give them a platform to stand again.

I was never really given the chance, after the sale of the house, everyday it will be non-stop nagging, scolding, condemning, I feel so lost, and I turn to alcohol to release myself. Again, I went deeper into sin…. I can’t find a job, everything I tried failed, even when I want to temporary drive a taxi,, my parents are against it, how to get cash or money? Again I turn to loan-sharks……… but this time I am not able to pay them back. What did I do? My brothers – I ran, I ran as far as I can. I left Malaysia to work in Singapore and it is so difficult to make ends meet.

I ran away for more than more than 10 years. The first few years it was so lonely out there, my mother refuses to let my wife to bring my daughter to see me, saying it is to punish me for my sins and wrongdoings. My daughter is about 4 then. During the years in Singapore I was lonely, so lonely that alcohol is my only friend. I tried going to a church, a famous church in Singapore, but when I confessed my sins, when I give my testimonial, there is no hands to assists me, I was out-chaste, I was chastise, but never a word of encouragement from members of the church. Because of my hard-drinking, I was never able to send money home. Somewhere along the line, I lost and found a new job. And this job is with the gambling or betting job, soccer betting. Deeper into sin, I invested into this venture also, I travelled to China, Thailand, Macau, Hong Kong and this world of sin is something that makes me fall deeper. All the women, all the drugs and all the sin you can buy with money.

Yet this venture failed. I lost my investment badly, my wife divorced me, and what breaks me is when I return to Malaysia, my daughter refuses to see me, can’t blame her then, for I have not done my part as father. I came back and work as a part-timer selling games for pc. Again I was offered a job work in a Soccer Betting environment. This time I met Pastor Steve Kok in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

We met via Skype many months ago. I still harbour some hope to return and walk again in His path, so as to have the warmth and love of a family again…we chat for quite some time during breakfast, and somehow God work mysteriously. I am on the verge of losing this job of mine again and I will be flying home back to KL, Malaysia soon. God punishing me for time and time falling deeper into sin or God not wanting me to work in this environment anymore. I pray it is the latter.

I have started reading the Bible again, and praying to God again…..it is a struggle everyday to try and walk the right path. Every turn seems to be a wrong turn. At the time of writing this testimonial I am still unwanted back home. This prodigal son returns home to loneliness.

I hope and I pray that when I return home, I am able to find a stable job and use my experience as a programmer yet I feel so at lost now. I pray that to those who have read this testimony, do not give up hope. Continue praying, I am sure the light at the end of the tunnel will appear one day and do keep a small prayer for me. It is so difficult to walk right, and I am coming home to loneliness and emptiness. And I pray that also one day I might be able to see my daughter, she is 12 next year.

Pastor Steve have been an encouragement to me, until today, he never gives up on me, still wanting me to join him on his missions.

I pray that those who read his blogs and his visions, his writings, blogs and visions are not easily accepted by people, including myself, for his heart is true and he have the love of God in him.

Blessing,
Bro. Francis Elijah Kok