“There are two ways of getting to know God,” Peter Chin said at Menara TA One on Friday, 21st August during the FGB Revival Evangelistic Lunch meeting. Having been asked to give an impromptu sharing of his testimony, Peter very willingly told his story of how God changed his life.
“There is the easy way, and the tough way,” he continued. “The easy way is when someone tells you about God and shares the Gospel with you, and you pray to accept Jesus as your Savior. The tough way is when you have to go through a difficult time. You have to suffer. Maybe because of an illness of a loved one—that’s what happened to me.”
Peter grew up in Malacca. During his school days, he would occasionally attend a Catholic church, and he thought that made him a Christian. He eventually moved to KL, and his bachelor life consisted greatly of gambling with his friends. “We loved mahjong,” he said.
He was soon involved in all sorts of gambling and would even travel overseas to visit casinos. He met his wife and got married, but continued to “cheat on her” with his love for gambling—lying and sneaking off to gamble with friends.
This went on until his wife left him a note stained with tears, telling him that smoking and gambling were bad for him. His heart was softened and he lay low for a while; but not for long. “I still went back, because Christ was not in me. The Holy Spirit was not in me. Then God taught me a lesson.”
Peter’s wife was diagnosed with breast cancer. “We weren’t Christians. We didn’t know how to pray. We just knew how to cry.” During this time, his wife had a Christian colleague who showed them the love of Jesus, and led Peter’s wife to Christ. Peter saw the evidence of God’s love, but remained stubborn.
His wife had a vasectomy and quickly recovered, but her friend continued to visit every Saturday morning to read the Bible to her. “I was touched,” Peter said. They were invited to church, and Peter was surprised by what he saw. It was not what he was used to from his early days in school. Something touched his heart, and he accepted the Lord.
“From that day, I changed. I really changed completely.” His gambling friends were surprised that he stopped smoking and gambling. From a man who couldn’t resist even the sounds of mahjong tiles clicking together, he was able to totally give it all up. “I’m a Christian now,” he declared confidently.
“I give glory to Jesus for His mercy, His healing, and His love for me and my family!” Peter continues to serve in FGA (Full Gospel Assembly), and has been serving in FGB for nine years now.
The meeting continued with a sharing from Ps. Manjit Singh. A former banker, Ps. Manjit has been bestowed with the gift of healing and teaching the Bible. He often ministers with his wife, Ps. Sharon, and together, they pastor a multiracial church called River of Life Sanctuary in Desa Sri Hartamas, which emphasizes reaching out to the Punjabi community.
Ps. Manjit also shared a brief testimony of how he came to know the Lord. Coming from a large Sikh family, he grew up going to the Sikh temple. When he was 14, his brother’s teacher invited them to an Inter-School Christian Fellowship. The meetings were fun and he attended regularly. Eventually, he began to attend Bible studies with this same group of people.
Somewhere along the way, he just knew that Jesus was the true God. At first, Ps. Manjit’s father had no objections. To him, all religions were the same and he even encouraged Ps. Manjit to go to church. It wasn’t until Ps. Manjit turned down an invitation to go with his family to the Sikh temple that his father realized his son was a Christian.
Coming from the Indian caste system where Christians are of a lower standing, Ps. Manjit’s father had a difficult time accepting his conversion. Despite being the black sheep of his family, Ps. Manjit’s father still paid for his university education. “God was very faithful,” he said.
Ps. Manjit can also attest to the changes in his own life as he grew in his faith. Before he came to know Jesus, he was very abusive and said a lot of harsh things. But as he got to know the Lord better, he began to serve his father and sit with him. The changes in him touched his father, but his father still wished that he would just give up his faith.
Over time, as Ps. Manjit prayed for his family, they began to be more open to the Gospel. Today, many of them are Christians and actively serving the Lord with their lives.
Before he went on to share from the Word of God, Ps. Manjit paused and asked if he could pray for several individuals who were present as he felt led to do so. Calling them out of their seats, he prayed over them before he proceeded to preach out of Luke 19.
Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.
When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.
All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.”
But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.”
Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
(Luke 19: 1-10)
“The story is about a very short man,” Ps. Manjit said. He explained about how Zaccheus lived in a metropolitan city called Jericho, and was hated by many because he was one of the chief tax collectors, and tax collectors were known to be corrupt crooks who robbed the people of their money.
“This was at the peak of Jesus’ ministry when crowds were following after him. Word got to Zaccheus that Jesus was coming to town, and something in his heart prompted him to go to see Jesus.”
Being short, he knew that he would not have a good view of Jesus. Since he also knew which route Jesus would be taking, he decided to climb up a tree he knew to be there and wait for Jesus’ arrival.
As Jesus walked by, He stopped and looked at him. “He said, ‘Zaccheus, come down.’ It’s amazing!” Ps. Manjit said. “I don’t know if this is your first time here, but maybe there is a tingling in your heart that urged you to come. I want to tell you that that prompting, is not your own. Many times, God prompts us to do something. That’s the way that God leads us. And we need to do something about it.”
Zaccheus did something about it. He climbed up the tree, and he saw Jesus. Zaccheus made the effort to reach out to Jesus, and because he did, Jesus stopped and acknowledged him in the midst of the crowds.
“The thing about God is this. If you make an effort to reach out to Him, He is available for you as well. He knows if you are hiding up a tree, or if you are fearful of something. But you have to make that effort. Countless people have had that urge in their hearts, yet did not obey it and lost the opportunity of God meeting with them.
“Today is your opportunity to respond to God, and God will respond to you. This is the day that Jesus is passing by in your life, and this is the day to respond. When you respond, you will find that Jesus knows you by your name.
“It is also the same for all of us in our Christian walk. If you desire to do something for God and you make the effort to separate yourself for the Lord, He will meet with you and bless you.
“When Jesus saw Zaccheus, he told him to get down from the tree. Zaccheus didn’t say, ‘Me? I’m a tax collector. I don’t want to become a Christian, I just wanted to see who You are.’ Instead, he came down right away.
“If Jesus is tugging at your heart, you should be excited about it! He doesn’t want to just be a friend. He doesn’t want to just know your name. He wants to come and live with you. He wants to come into your home!
“God lives in me and I have a relationship with Him. Wherever I go, He’s with me. Jesus does not want to have a ‘Touch n go” encounter with you. He wants to come and be with your joys and your troubles, and He wants to see you through your whole life. That is the wonder of knowing Jesus.”
“When you open up your heart and respond to God like Zaccheus did, God will make a change in you. When Jesus comes and lives with you, you will find that a change will take place. Zaccheus made the decision to give back four times the amount to the people he cheated. Similarly, God will make something beautiful with your life.”
Ps. Manjit encouraged anyone who felt Jesus tugging at their hearts to take one more initiative to invite Jesus into their lives. “Reach out to Him. He will be there, holding your hand.
“Once He comes into your life, it will be a glorious life. I can tell you that after forty years of being a Christian, God is still the best! I would not have anything else without Jesus. I can’t live without Jesus. I’m so dependent on Him. And it’s a wonderful thing, because He is so good!”
Ps. Manjit closed the session with prayer, after which lunch was served down the hall. Those who wanted healing or prayer remained behind for Ps. Manjit to pray over them while the worship team sang, “I Surrender All.”
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Esperanza Ng
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