Lucas Chow - Navigating Life's Uncertainties

today we are talking about navigating through life's uncertainty with Jesus as our hope our anchor and the only certainty in our life how do we do that you know recent times especially uncertainty is the state of the world many of our lives are continually being disrupted having you know some of your holidays your work trips are being canceled and having BCPs and WF h what from homes and teleconferencing and all these things you know that's kind of like a is a new norm right now much holidays it's next week and some of you are having a headache because you're gonna sit you're gonna be at home with your kids 34-7 some of you are gonna go nuts like that and so what to do now many businesses are taking a hit from Kovac things are getting more and more uncertain the world is sitting on its H because we are unsure of how long this will last when were we n or you were going even longer or how so that's why today it is a privilege to have mr. Lucas chair with us because look Lucas here is besides having lots of experience in very various well-known companies and also he knows uncertainty quite a fair bit in his life but he also is a very committed follower of Jesus so church can you help me wherever you're watching with me together put your hands together to welcome mr. Lucas on the 2008 global financial crisis was considered by many to be the worst crisis since the Great Depression in the 1930s while businesses were retrenching workers to stay afloat one man led media cocked survived the crisis without cutting its workforce let's welcome Lucas Chow former CEO of Mediacom Syntel and far-east orchard and chairman of health promotion board until how navigated through life's uncertainties and how his faith changed the way he work wealth and life itself good morning Lucas good morning good to have you and with us it's a pleasure no touch let's give him a big hand again welcome him into this place thanks very much for having me thanks for being here with us you know let's start off with some like harder questions I mean we all know of the various things that you do and positions at Yahoo but what about you personally like what some you know the hobbies might have interesting experiences you might have in life and you can just share with us sure I call myself a no man but with the curiosity of a young boy my late mother she used to tell me that all the toys she bought for me instead of playing with it I will basically dismantle it and and find out what's inside so I'm always very curious about how things work and I'm quite a foodie for those of you who know me I enjoy food very much many of us do as well yeah so there was one stage I was very interested in coffee so when I'm interested in something I wanted to find out more about it so I spent a lot of time energy and all that to find out about coffee beans whether you grow coffee beans you know the aerobic are and so on so forth and how do you roast them and how do you brew them well so I even bought quite a few of those coffee making machines whether they are automatics or from from fully automatics to fully menu and I even bought the smallest expresso port house it was it was actually for one cup and you can actually carry it for camping of the travel so that that's me there's some curious to find out but the problem with me is that I also lose interest quite easily so I lost interest in them and and most of them are of course you know not used anymore and at the end of the day I found that this automatic machine in the morning you just press a button and then you know Express what comes out and that's the best exactly and and then in my in my retirement all right I venture around Singapore to find out what are the best poker food that we have Wow so you can imagine that because when I was working it's hard for me to go and eat Hawker food because you know Hawker centers normally are not air-conditioned and I'm expecting to wear suit and tie when I go to work it's very difficult to wear suit and tie to have hog food without taking a shower so so now it's like I've been back in the Vengeance you know I go around Singapore find also do you call like at least I should I should do that alright somebody have suggested to me alrighty when I publish it so you can share with us online for those of us are watching online absolutely ok but this is not the biggest takeaway for ok so watch that space you know you have such a storied career you know in many senior positions in different companies you know maybe you can just walk us through the journey that you had and how was it like ok um I'm really blessed actually to be given so many opportunities in my career as you can see that you know I have been to many industry and I helped see in a position in some of these companies and I'm not I don't think that I'm smarter than any one of you here or my well-connected you know being born in Hong Kong and come to Singapore in 1978 as a foreigner I don't have the natural network that many of you have and I'd only I don't really work harder than any one of you so I really think that it is really God's grace that given me all these opportunities so many of you know that I was the CEO or chairman for organizations and all that but many of you would not know that I actually started as a delivery boy when I was in Hong Kong I got my diploma from the Hong Kong Polytechnic and then I went to do my degree in in England and then I came to Singapore 1978 a national day of 1978 from England after I study and I started working in filler packets Singapore as an engineer I was I had a very good career with Hilda packet I was among the first few expatriates to to be sent from Singapore to the headquarters and you know I see remember I have a reserve parking lot you know just outside my office while everybody is packing in a huge parking lot right it's almost like perfume I work in Hilda packet for 20 years and then I move on to Tsingtao to meet a cop and two fairies before my retirement and then in my retirement career right now which is right now okay you see a lot of people think that you know retirement it's it's like just you know have a lot of time in your hand go fishing go golfing and things like that but I'm gonna tell you it's quite different don't send the retirees to Kiera for movie tickets or backward during Chinese New Year you know because you see for retirees for people like myself right we have not much time so so time is very very precious to us so so we don't want to waste our time okay so time is very precious so I'm always in a hurry but in my retirement I've been involved in the marketplace ministry so I initiated the salt and light pot all right now is actually under a company called thirst collective is a non-profit company and under the company we also have thirst th irst as well and we are in the process of setting up a Chinese Pato so and also in my spare time I'm helping out with sort media which is a cinema and entertainment company and we have a cinema in capital Tower Wow not many people would know that actually you are the one the whole solid light is your brain Chao and you know you created it and machine recent times it has been so helpful especially during the kovat season where this way we get the source of positive news among all the negative news right so really thank God for your you're calling doing this whole retirement I'm due to do this and the champion this we thank God for that and of course when we started we do not know that it is for a purpose for such a time like this yeah so so great you know today we are talking about navigating through lives uncertainty and you know with the whole situation of Kobe 19 and Singapore and we do not know exactly how things are going to be and in our conversation but previously you are very familiar with uncertainties in your life so how do you make sense of uncertainties and the situation in your life how do you navigate through a some you know wisdom and advices that you can give all of us you sure let me let me first start with talking about uncertainty is certain if I may just bring up the first PowerPoint slides here uncertainty is certain our history has been telling us that the world is full of uncertainty you know we can't really predict what's going to happen tomorrow when I was preparing for this this sharing and this interview the price war the price war in the crude oil just started and within a single day crude oil actually dropped by 25% and of course recent days has it recovered somewhat but it is still one of the lowest you know since 1991 and then just as we thought that you know we have the covert 19 and and all that and you heard that that the wall street you know the brute the bull run literally ended 11 years of pool ran and we are in one of the worst time even worse than the global financial crisis the cotan 19 as an example is a disease that many people when we when it first started many people many countries thought that it is so far away it's not gonna affect me because it is something so distant but look at it today it practically turned the world upside down so if I if you allow me that I would like to quote some Bible verses from the book of James book chapter 4 James chapter 4 verse 14 to 15 you do not even know what will happen tomorrow what is your life you're a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes instead you ought to say if it is the Lord's will we will live and do this or that I was heading a printer division in Hiller Packard Singapore we were responsible for the design manufacturing and marketing of the printer it's an entry-level printer nevertheless we have big dreams for this little printer so my engineers was they they were very very clever brilliant they come out they came up with a printing solution cuz I've called them Bozak printing so you can imagine that if you have a picture if I divide the picture into like mosaic tiles and I print each of this tile on an a4 size printer and thereafter I put it back together like mosaic I have a brilliant poster and even wallpaper just as we thought that well we deserve more bonus and more recognition I was asked by the company to transfer the division and the product to somewhere else I was asked to dissolve the division and find jobs for everybody so me and my team at that point in time was scratching our head and tried to process what what is happening to us but the consolation we took away was our experience in developed the printer and working together there's something that we stay with our brain and he cannot be removed just as the saying goes one door closed the other door open I think it is not if it is not because of that most probably I would have retired in Hillier pocket and I would not be working in Tsingtao and MediaCorp I want to share with of every one of you here change is the only constant change is the only constant sometimes we need that push in order to change and sometimes is the change that we desire to capture pull us forward whatever it is my conclusion is change is the only constant and we find ourselves changing every day my body is telling me that I'm changing every day I cannot be running faster than you and you know and I cannot do a lot of things when I was younger after the again if I may use the covert 19 situation at the example look at you right now you has changed your social distancing is making you you know making the church worship service change you you wash hands you know more frequently and in fact I was a people share with me a very funny video of Prince Charles at some of you may have seen it on the Internet he step out from his car as usual and he and he reached out his hand and tried to shake hands then suddenly he withdraw you know it was so funny that he withdraw that his oh yeah yeah we know supposed to shake hands then he walked to the other person he reached out his hand again and the other person just basically keep the hands to himself oh I'm sorry you know so you see just just because of something like that many many things has changed before this thing started I already have some of these things like washing my hands we eat together we use serving spoons and so on and so on so forth not because I'm smarter than any one of you but because you know I went through the SAS spirit and thus a spirit also taught me a lot of lessons I have changed since then I know that many companies right now is most probably scrambling to to to implement PCPs the business continuity plans and so on so forth but still no one can predict what is going to happen what is going to happen next so and uncertainty therefore is certain so what should we do that shall we then do nothing my advice to you is that don't be a boil frog the boy frog is talking about you know if you put a live frog in in water and you increase the temperature very very slowly the Frog basically will be buoyed alive it is a metaphor to caution us to be aware of the even smallest change the gradual changes around us and pay attention to those kind of changes even though life is full of uncertainty change is the only constant and you want to prepare be prepare for it and you want to even take advantage of the change of the situation but first and foremost you need to pay attention to what's happening around us I want to say that so what are we going to do in respond to changes in respond to uncertainty I think you have to do you have to make sure that you change in response to changes again case in point we talk about covet 19 interestingly is that a lot of people do not want money because we always say that old money is dirty right literally pun intended but nowadays you you give people money money they would say no no no no the direct transfer paila you know pay wave whatever pay whatever form of not touching the money because they know money has been transacted many times it was so funny that when I saw one of the social media video clip that some some people wanted to sanitize the money so they put the money in the microwave to ended up that of course you know how money cannot be microwave so it ended at a lost and people want to stay away from crowded places and so on so forth just as we saw that many of the cinemas you know even blockbusters and all that are being deferred the premiere has been deferred you know travel has been delayed the hospitality industry the the the other industry has been affected we are talking about tens of millions of people are being affected but that in itself it doesn't mean that everything goes down because then you suddenly saw an online shopping you know some of the people normally they don't they do not want to shop online and you will see that the online shopping has actually grow in terms of volume online streaming because although they it cannot go to the cinema that they still need to be entertaining right so you see that the under the online streaming platform has been doing very very good business during this period of time the Chinese word of crisis we call it wait see when there is danger there are also opportunities the question is whether you are prepared to capitalize on it I give you the example even because of cover 19 even very traditional churches right now as change they provide online streaming just like hope Church is doing right now and some of them actually reported that their their self groups and their life groups have more gatherings and more people are attending those of those gatherings and they have actually seeing more people attending their church services including those attending online in commercial terms we call this under rich or underserved market segments so in times like this we have to ask ourselves are there any market segments that are underserved and under rich I also want to share a little bit about preparedness at peace time so we have to practice at peace time how are we going to prepare ourselves at a peace time in my humble opinion the best time to get ourselves ready for crisis is as peace time many people look at Singapore the way that will respond to this covert xix situation and say that wow you know we're ghost ended and and our hospitals are doing handling it very well and all that if I may quote some of our ministers during a reason in the view he say that it is not by chance it was a long preparation to prepare our health care system our health care professionals we talk about ventilators I mean because covered 19 some of the patients will require ventilators and ventilators you cannot just go out there and get it when you need it we have sufficient to handle the situation in Singapore is because we were prepared I used to do something of what I call scenario play some of my colleagues may remember this I used to have a wall room very close to my office so in that ballroom we gather informations about competition about the environment that we are operating in internal as well as in external environment internal environment can be P P due to turnover AIDS or whatever so we put all this information in the war room and we look at them and we play out various scenarios what if that this happen what shall we do but of course you know it is hardly any chance for us to hit this thing on the booze eyes and say that whatever scenario play it it came out exactly as it is very rare very rare but that goes to show that but that that's helpful because when you do the scenario play certain elements of the scenario play may come out and that could be very very helpful when that comes out so at least you know you are prepared you are better prepared then then you're not we know that even with our government we run rehearsals we run drills those are very important to get yourself and your organization ready for such a situation and to identify some of the potential issues that you can you can iron out during peacetime and last but not least I think most important most importantly we have to remain to be flexible and we have to adjust to changes our church is able to also kind of like I do this size down and do pop-up services in the various like good it's because before this we are we have been doing pop-up service blackout services and everyone's very much prepared for this as well so it's really quite true and I'm hearing a few things change in response to change don't be a boy form get prepared for things and I'm hearing as well in terms of getting ready doing peacetime you know thing of the various scenarios so these are really good and I understand more as well what difference does your faith mix you know your relationship with God and your understanding of God you know Horace how do you navigate through life uncertainties with God and his values in your life what some experiences you can share of us sure I I wasn't a Christian you know when I was my family you know I was born into a family that you know ancestor worship and things like that so I wasn't a Christian and too much later part of my life and my grow up the advice I always hear its man up man up because I'm the I'm the oldest boy in the Emily you know so being the eldest boy you know you're expecting to you know kind of carry the family flag and so on so forth so whenever it come to problems like that you know you man up I still remember that before I before I come to know God the way to deal with uncertainties and diversity is basically bite my lips and somehow rather find strength to continue and and overcome and just just carry on just go through it right we overcome this that's right but then ever since I be become a became a Christian and come to know Jesus I can slowly trust in God with my problems and I develop a habit of praying and speaking to him about my problems so building trust and and relying on God to me is a process is a process that it started with something very very small and then eventually everything if I may I want to share a very quick example I still remember I was a young Christian at that point in time and I was supposed to make a presentation in a multinational company and presentation is very important some of you will know that you know actually making break in your career in some companies right so I used to prepare very very well you know a drill a practice blah blah blah but I was quite cheeky since I think I was a young Christian as it has since people tell me that I can rely on God so I finished preparing all my presentation ID instead of practice I just laid on the table and I say that God if you are so good you're gonna guide me through and I go to sleep so I was I didn't a very bad example we're not supposed to test God of course but to my surprise you know the next day when I went through the presentation many people was asking me who's your coach you're just using examples and using terminologies that we you know and we never heard you speak about so in my heart I was too shy to say that exactly it wasn't me what's up somehow god I was too shy to share that time that there was God that there was guiding me through so every time when I find myself in situation of uncertainties and and so on and so forth I have developed a habit of going to cut in pray and asking for advice and wisdom now you see when you move in certain position and some time our problems cannot be openly shared and I just want to share with you one particular example during the last global financial crisis I was a CEO for media call and you know that at that point in time many companies were badly affected retrenchment was a very common practice so one day my CFO came to see me and say that Lucas we have to retrench 10% of our people if not we will not stay afloat in the black so it really it really burdens me because if I actually you know activate the retrenchment which is a very common thing to do at that point in time a lot of my staff they may not be able to find another job elsewhere because all their skill sets are only suitable for the media industry they have no experience outside and besides the people out the people the industry the company outside are not really are not really hiring so I asked myself how can I act as a leader how can I act with humility how can I act justly how can I act with compassion so I was at my wit's end and I remember at that point in time you know I really committed a lot of my time praying and seeking for wisdom then the idea of the media copy of was born the idea was simple I mean everybody make everybody work 10% less and take home 10% less of course the idea was simple but the implementation was not but with God's grace we were able to survive the global financial crisis without any retrenchment wow that's amazing during that time hmm thank you Oh was it challenging that time when they say that in the implementation was challenging was tough because you see the common wisdom at that point in time even some of the board members was what's questioning why am I not retrenching just we change right let's rearrange because that's easy there's the clean cut you know and and many of many of the company also took that opportunity to right-size themselves because they may be carrying a lot of the load so and of course you can imagine right miracle was it's a company that we provide free to air television radio newspaper you know etc you cannot have a blackout screen screen on television especially during such a time you know like that the radio station has to go on we still need to do do news coverage so we are basically asking everybody to to do 100% of their work in ninety percent of the time so it was it was very challenging I still remember the first week when we did that the continue was closed but some of the staff have to go on because the news has to go on the broadcast has to go out and all that and I was back in the office right so the people come to my office and say that boss the containers closed we have no food so we drove to the famous terrible Hawker Center and packed the foot pack for our colleagues sila nasi lemak yeah and that kind of thing so yeah I mean that they'll go to show that well the idea was simple but the implementation to getting the support containing the logistic going and all that it took a bit of fine-tuning but what motivated you why didn't you just you know just returned you know what can what kid what why you have the heart to really want to keep everyone together and well as some effects that we saw you know after that as well ever since I became a Christian I model after Jesus the model of servanthood leadership you are the leader you are like a shepherd to the Frog my job as a leader is not only to provide return for us yeah and so on so forth my job is also to look after my frog my people and these are my friends and my colleagues so it will it is every time when you need to make a decision of letting somebody go it's a very difficult one for me because they are my family they are my friends you see them every day how am I going to tell them that I'm sorry you you know you are one of the 10% and you have to have to go and Desai's I think during that time many of them actually has informed me that they have family members had already been retrained and some of them are so breadwinner for the family so the burden is really on me so I want to just maybe share with all of you some of you really desire to be you know the CEO or the bosses or whatever it is the bigger the job you have the more responsibility that you were gonna have on your shoulder and and you can only be a good leader if you really truly truly care about the people that under you that's so good let's get look us a big hand again thank you you know one one big area of uncertainty in many of our lives is in this place for the marketplace right sometimes we do there are lots of unknowns in lots of hopes and disappointments as well so from your own experience how can we navigate this area of uncertainty in the marketplace even better what advice would you give us you know the thing is this that how do you make decisions right because decision decision decisions not only the senior management making decision we make decision every every day we make decision as to what are we going to have for lunch what I'm going to have for dinner where do we go holiday you know we we make decision all the time whether you are Christian or you are pre believer you make decision all the time so the question is that how do you make such decisions all right now I want to share a little bit of myself here if you don't mind I just finished my I just received my all levels results so I was in a Christian at that point in time and I do not know whether I should go to do engineer ring or should I go to medicine right so they're two very different track and then my teacher was asking me if my school was asking me this question so I took I work on a current in my pocket I flipped head or tail you know and then I ended up doing engineering no way really flip it I flip it - so in front of my teacher my teacher also didn't stop me maybe my teachers should be wiser but my teacher didn't have I she didn't stop me so she saw me took our College from my pocket I flip it and pop you know so engineer but actually I don't think I should be engineer I don't think I should be a doctor because that is really not my area of interest but that's basically you know decided my career and I became an engineer and the Reza history that's what they say but again then what is the difference between now that I became a Christian right so how do you decide how do you make decisions you know I remember at that point in time I was with I was with Tsingtao I was listening to my colleagues are here you know I was with think tower and I was doing you know very good because you know the business is doing well you know we have very good relationship with everybody colleagues and then my bosses and so on so I was I was just having a great time and then we just celebrated we were just celebrating a turnaround of our business you know it was a very challenging time for that year but you know the team actually managed to turn around and we were in Malacca and you equatorial Hotel celebrating and so on so forth I have a phone call and some of you nodding your head because you remember I receive a phone call and there was some executive search firm and say that Lucas you know we want you to go to meet a cop and be the CEO and I remember laughing hahahahaha is a joke that was before they throw me into the pool but then I'll get you know credit to the to the search firm they keep on calling me keep on calling me keep on calling me and at that point in time I thought I I pray about it and I and this time I didn't flip back on this time I went to see my pastors and and you know the pastors will always tell you they're pray about it prayer very peppery right so so of course my my posture is also my confident and he said go pray about it I did I did I pray already so how you know then he he came back and said okay let's pray together and all that and after praying he give me this sentence he said that look media is a very important industrial segment the CEO will control you know what what are the contents going out and so on so forth isn't it better to have you a Christian at the head than somebody else but after that you see that you still go home and pray about it fine so so the change that the difference was I eventually you know agree that okay I will do it because moving from Tsingtao to miracle was a sacrifice both in terms of financial and in terms of other things as well so so I have to say it was a it was some sacrifices to have to take but I didn't realize at that point in time perhaps the reason of going to meet a call was for such a time like this for the global financial crisis to save jobs so God has a plan and lead you as you follow him I believe I believe God has a plan amen so flipping coin buses following order and thinking what he wants and you know praying true I think that's amazing right why don't you share with us more about you know how do you came in Oh God I think we would love to hear about your faith journey something that maybe not many but personally how do you came in know Jesus and all these things here all right I will I will title it em I see one two three when em I see em I see one two three so you know because we have covered 19 and all these acronyms are in order so I thought that you know I should use some acronyms of em I see one two three the first M I see is men in control I came from a very humble family background you know we don't have much money growing up so we work very hard I still remember in 1978 when I when I came to Singapore what I had at that point in time is just a return ticket to Hong Kong and not more than a few hundred dollars in my pocket I work very hard I save money I invested my money wisely and and I and my career was doing quite well in HP so at a very young age at the very young age I already up there you know I remember when I returned from the US after my expected assignment from the from the US I bought a pretty big plot of land with a house in the west coast of Singapore I was not happy with the house the house is not very all right Eric all I turned it all down rebuild it to my specification I was already driving a European car so I was living the Singaporean dream you know so I was I was really happy I was you know Korea is doing well I was in good health and so on so forth so I believed that all this was because of me I work very hard for it and therefore this is something that I built it to my effort and my intelligence and that is why I call this face men in control as am I see one just as I thought that I have it made for the rest of my life disaster hit one day my first wife call me from the office and say that she's not feeling well and we were young and say that why don't you go see a doctor and and take a look at you she did but weeks later she still complained that you know she's still having this pain so I say in that case you better go see a specialist so she went to see a specialist and when the result came back when she caught me with a result we were both shocked because she was diagnosed with advanced stage of liver cancer I didn't panic because I have money I have connections at that point in time because I know some of the best oncologist in Singapore so I say that don't worry we will fight it and and we will be fine but when their oncologist told me that she don't have much longer to live I couldn't believe it I say there's no no way no way so we went to Mexico for alternative medicine treatment but she didn't get better and shortly after she came back to Singapore she passed away and left me with our young son so I was M I see two men in crisis that was men in crisis I starting to ask myself what happened I sent it to ask whether there are a divine being in control it is obviously something beyond my capability to even change or manage it was a very difficult period of time because I have to manage average manage my work balance between my work and to look after my son because I will get up very early in the morning make sure that he has breakfast go to school then I go to work I work very hard during the day I will come home make sure that he has his dinner do his homework tuck him to sleep and I got many nights I would go back to office and work and the cycle just continue continue continue continue I starting to ask myself whether there's other meaning in life what exactly is this life or about who give us this life where we come from where we going after we pass away so I have many many questions and that led me to actually look into various religions you know including churches and I think at that point in time somebody actually told me to do church and I started to debate with the pasta by micellar you know why should people die why should good people that I mean I think if you see me at that point in time maybe you don't want me to you know I'm not welcome because after service you know we spending debating with the pasta you know why should we why this money bet you know having money is not bad you know and all these kind of things so so I think some of the churches see me coming mostly in the pastor's minds that here's this guy again but through this it prompted me to search a little bit further that am I really in control are we really in control of everything or there's somebody else up there that is in control of everything so I want to go back to now the final phase there was one Friday night I was I was tired but I couldn't sleep what these questions keep coming up Kay coming up and very early in the morning I'm supposed to take my son to his school for his eca and I know that II see a you know you have to wait you have to wait for awhile and I I need that at that point in time you know internet day and mobile data is not so readily available so I reach out to something that I wanted to bring along you know to occupy myself so I saw on next to my bedside there's a book that somebody gave me a book the title of the book is that when God doesn't make sense obviously from some Christians you know when God doesn't make sense okay fine I mean to me that's a great title because you know God you really doesn't make sense if you exist you know why is it all these things happening so I took the book and I went to the school and when sitting down underneath a tree and I was starting to read the book but as I read the book something speaking to me for the first time in my life I realized how wonderful I am that I am Alive and I realized that there is a divine being that he is in control of our life I starting to see leaves that in different shades of green I can see the butterfly flying in front of me I can hear my son and his friends playing and laughing and so on so forth and at that moment I accepted that there is a God and he is in control so that is my my third phase which is men in Christ and I want to end this is because you know do you want to know who gave me that book you want to know who my current wife she's the one who bought me the book brought me to church lived through those period of time that I was searching and Here I am so am I see one two three I'll use you it's so amazing to hear how eventually you lay down your cry and your self-sufficiency and tons of Jesus and making me a lot and Savior so what some I would say you know closing clots that you might have maybe as we go to live and you know this is really unknown so many unknowns but it was something that over the decades of living you have grown to be certain about okay so if I may have my last PowerPoint slides where do you find your anchor where do you find your anchor a very valuable lesson to me to learn is to trust God and to make him my anchor in my rock not only that he is all-wise and he's all-powerful he's also consistent and he's faithful he's the same yesterday today and tomorrow and I know that he loves me in a world that is full of so many uncertainty I know that God is the only certain because he never changed and I want to have a shout out to you today that for those of you who have yet to know this awesome god of ours and you have not accepted Jesus into your life there are no better time than now to find out more thank you so much thank well let's give Lucas another weekend thank you so much thanks to those of us who are watching online as well and while watching in the various location and centers I would really want to ask you to give me some more of your time - for me to just round things up and to give us some thoughts because we don't just want to be here to hear some good advice or practical pointers and just move on but I hope for us to pause a little to reflect a bit and to just think about ourselves and our lives in this last 10 to 15 minutes of our time you know I really loved the stories and the practical advice that your share you know thank you so much Lucas you know can you help me just give me just go to Lucas another big hand thank you so much for sharing with us you know none of us here we none of us like uncertainties as human beings most if not all of us want our lives to be filled with certainty and with peace you know we want good surprises we never won the bad ones we hope for the best we want things that are not the best possible way but we all know that life is filled with uncertainties and as how Lucas put it change is constant change is constant you never know whether our jobs will be there the next day we never know whether our businesses and our investment will surely succeed you give us a good RI a good return investment in return we never know how our kids will turn out eventually we never know when we may be our time to be an NCI D to be patient 321 we never know when this disease will go away and when you eventually or it might eventually Q many of us uncertainty can be a very difficult thing to bear however from the Bible and from many life examples around I have seen and I know the uncertainties are God's opportunity to touch us to reach us and to show himself to Russ and I'm so thankful that Lucas you said so Varner believed to us about your experience and your time in doing your crisis time it's not still touching that but when you look back at his story you will see that how God beautifully turned this very uncertain time in his life into an opportunity that he can take a pause he can reflect on things you can think about some of life's hardest and greatest question that maybe in the past many of us you never really consider these questions and I'm sure that many may be in our meets here that some of you here you have come into a relationship Jesus during your most uncertain time in your life maybe some of you here you are really going through a very challenging time you are going through a lot of stress anxiety a lot of pressure not knowing what's ahead of you maybe in your family with a children maybe your own health maybe in your finance and you're all worried I mean and maybe yes we look at this whole Cove igniting thing as you read through the news you get a bit of anxiety as you reach the news that wow how things how many things were really going to end the world that we live in is really so uncertain you know never can we imagine even soccer can take a sense to you and those of you who are Liverpool fans god bless your soul because you are going through the most uncertain time in your entire fanfare life you know Pasadena will keep you in prayer you know things game things are really changing I was so challenging but on a more serious note on a more serious note maybe maybe God is using this uncertain time in your life to cause you to ask certain questions about life about yourself what do you what do I truly need in life where do I go after this life what else can I hold on to that is the more certain what is my anchor in my life what is life really all about is it really just about pursuing material gains seeing our kids grow up travelling around the world and taking off our bucket list is there really more to life than this who is the ultimate giver and sustainer of life and maybe some of us here during this uncertain time it is a great time for you to pause and to reflect and to think about some of these questions you know one of my favorite time of the day is to put my son to bed because that's the time that I can have a great conversation with him I can pray with him and he doesn't run around and just do all sorts of nonsense but he can sit down and have a good conversation with me so sometimes during the night and at those times he asked me some of the most intriguing and most interesting questions that I can hear in life and he asked this recently he asked me this question where do we go after we die do we become like mummies because we were reading about ancient Egypt and what they do is that they read the people up in mummies so he's asking me do we become that mummies you know so got an interesting question there was once he asked me and that's our that's that's him and at the corner there's a bright spot that's not a street lamp right that's a moon okay he asked me this question why is the moon white I mean it's quite intriguing right I never thought of it why can't it be purple rainbow pink you know why is it white he was asking me that and just very recent he asked me this question that I was quite taken aback he asked me Papa why do people pray to the wrong guy I was quite taken aback because I'm not sure really how to answer him like there's a lot in that question that he's asking and you know I was just done know even like how a child wonder and ponder whether is that God in life maybe some of us it is time for us to really think about that you see in times of uncertainty we are well positioned to see to see our own in the belly he as human beings to control life we will see that life is really beyond us to predict to manage and in times of uncertainty and I find it so true especially hearing from Lucas today that it is a time that we can lay aside our pride lay aside our contentment in life and begin to seek God and the thing about God and the thing about life who he really is and I'll tell you today even those of us who are watching on screen that the God of the Bible is to create a God the God of the Bible is the God who gives us life he's the God that created the universe and everything in it he is that big powerful person out there but not only is he there he is also a personal God God wants to know you God wants you all ready God wants you to know him he has already known you God wants you to know who she is he wants you to have a relationship with him to love him and to do life with him and only God knows what life is truly all about and today I want to tell you God is reaching out to you he's reaching out to you to each and every one of you he knows you more than anyone else on this earth but what stands between you and him today is this thing called sin you know many many of us might understand sin to be something that's like doing wrong things or doing bad things things like cheating lying doing unloving things to someone thinking last few thoughts pry most all of us in some time another in our lives we would have done some of this but you see scene is more than just what we do scene is that thinking that and their believing that we can do life all by ourselves apart from God sin is thinking that we can handle life on our own that we don't need him we reject this relationship with him and we don't care about who God is that is sin at the heart of it it's not about whether we do more evil or we do more good as long as we think that we can live life on our own or but ourselves work good on our own there is sin you know I experienced that before and I think Lukas was mentioning it's a story that how he he found contentment in everything that he has and why do I need him why my sinful and some of us think that way and then in particular it's a heart of sin and me too I thought that way before what I thought I don't need this spiritual crutches because I'm a self-made man I can just do my I can just whatever I want I just walk higher I can achieve it but God in His love and mercy have chosen to reach out to all of us he has graciously offered to write this wrong and to pay for the penalty of our sins the Bible tells us in Romans chapter 6 verse 23 for the wages of sin is death the penalty of sin the penalty of our sin his judgment is eternal death but the Bible the bus yes the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord God sent his one and only Son Jesus to come to earth many years back to die for our sins to pay for our sins and he didn't just die he resurrected proving himself to be God and that's why now when we believe in Jesus when we trust in Jesus and what he has done for us every one of us here every one of you here can have a relationship with God you can have this personal relationship with God if you confess our sins and believe in Jesus you can experience this new life in him in Romans 10 verse 9 the Bible says if you declare your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead you will be safe and God I know and God I know is this person it's a person that I know and I do live with I can go to him every day he'd it is not Christianity it's not just a religion when I come to church I believe and have some faith in something that would give me certainty know what give me sanity is not this idea that I have but it's really this relationship with God that I have that I know that he's there and he doesn't change and today this same God wants to give you life to the fullest in Jesus he wants to let you know that he's reaching out to you and he has sent his one and only son Jesus to die for you as a sign of his greatest love for every one of us God is the only certainty that you and I can ever ever have in this time of uncertainty he is truly the anger of our lives there's some of you here many of you here in fact they're watching all of us on screen you do not have this personal relationship with Jesus you do not know who Jesus is you do not you have taught about him you've been to church you're consider Christianity but you have never ever received him into your life maybe today might be the day that you make the decision because uncertainties is the best time that you're well positioned to consider some of these things and to let God come into your life to touch you and to reach out to you some of all of us as believers right here in our life groups and in our centers as we navigate through this very uncertain times I want you to know that we have the greatest news on earth and that that is that jesus is alive he didn't just die but he resurrected and because of that we can have confidence we need not feel in this life because no matter what life can throw at us we know that Jesus is our hope he has overcome everything he has overcome the greatest thing on earth that is death and that's why we can live life with hope in him with the power that he gives us and we have confident that no matter what can it might happen around us in the world he can turn everything for his good in his purpose in his timing because he is a sovereign God and there's a god that we worship and there's a God that we love can I just invite everyone who is the Nexus everyone who is watching us in our centers Jesus rise on your feet

Channel: Hope Singapore

Views: 13,476

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Id: wKbKrrI8qKw

Length: 56min 55sec (3415 seconds)

Published: Sat Mar 14 2020