This happened three and a half years ago; I had this idea because I’ve been a missionary and pastor in Hong Kong for almost five years. But two and a half years ago, I was actually struggling: “Do you really want to go back to Singapore?” Because I am a Singaporean, I have been serving in China, the Philippines, Hong Kong and other places for the past few years, and I have also shepherded children in different churches, different businessmen, and different university fellowships.
Two and a half years ago, I actually thought, “I’m tired, I’m tired – I really want to go back to Singapore to rest and give up my ministry in Hong Kong!” But one day I came back from a mission trip in the Philippines, and I went to McDonald’s, and I saw a young man over there, who was dressed neatly (shirt, tie), but he seemed very unhappy. After I bought the meal, I sat down next to him, introduced myself as a pastor, and said to him, “Hey, young man, “Hi, is everything OK? Is there anything I can pray for you?” The young man said, “What’s wrong with you, what’s your business?” But when he said that, his eyes were red.
So I said, “Okay, can you ask the pastor to pray for you and bless you, and you can tell the pastor what’s going on?” Then he waited a little and looked at me and said, “Yes, pastor, you pray for me!” “Actually, I went to apply today, but I don’t know if I can pass the application? I am the eldest in the family, and when I go back today, my parents will ask me to move out, because there is not enough room to rest at home, and the family does not have enough funds. In addition, my job is unstable because I have been working as a casual worker, part-time worker, and contract employee since I came out of university.” When I heard this, I actually felt heartache.
A young man in Hong Kong said to me, “Not having money is one thing, not having a place to live is another, and I feel tired of running every day.” I asked him, “Hey, young man, what is your dream?” If God gave you a dream, He wouldn’t take it away! He will look at you and fulfill your dreams and everyone’s dreams on His time and schedule!
“Pastor, I don’t know if I’ll have enough for my next meal, and I don’t know where I’m going to stay… Don’t talk about dreams, I don’t even dare to think about a dream!” To me, a 22-year-old kid who had just graduated said such things to me! I felt so heartbroken, so I decided to stay, and I said, “All right, God… We changed the name of the church to “Dream Ministry”! Because when we took the church back, the name of the church had not been changed. REVER IS A FRENCH WORD FOR “DREAM,” SO WE’RE CALLED REVERSER MINISTRIES.
At that time, we blessed the child with God’s Word and said to him, “God actually has a dream for you, and that dream is to give you a “future”, so don’t let your future be affected by your current difficulties! When the young man heard this, he was amazed and said, “Even though I am not a Christian, I feel a very comfortable peace!” I went on to tell him, “Your dreams will enable you to fulfill what God wants you to do!” I asked him again, “What do you want to do?” 「 Pastor, I want to be a banker” (it turns out that he just went to Citibank to apply, but he didn’t know if he would be able to pass).
I encouraged him, “If God gave you a dream to be a banker, He wouldn’t take it away! He would look at you and fulfill your dream and everyone’s dream according to His time and schedule!” In human thinking, dreams are always considered unrealistic. Especially for children in Hong Kong.
But what I’m saying is God’s promise that it will be fulfilled and that it will be won! Then I said to this young child, “Every human being is God’s dream, and God has a plan and a goal for you!” That’s how I encouraged him, and then I prayed for him.
After a week or two, he called me back and said, “Pastor, I want to believe in your God! Because I have never seen such a god make man’s dream come true! I believe in miracles, and my dream will come true!” Then a month later, he received a letter from Citibank saying that he had been accepted! Then I used this opportunity to preach the gospel to him, saying, “God loves you, and God uses His love and dreams to build people’s careers.
God gives a dream to everyone, and God will give you a dream, and God will fulfill it, because God is a faithful God!” I’ll give you an example, Walt Disney, the founder of Disney, doesn’t he own a Disneyland? But when Walt Disney died, Disneyland in Florida was still unfinished, but his workers said, “This dream has been fulfilled!” Walt Disney’s idea and purpose was to create a “world where people go.” The happiest place” as the goal!
God said, “I have a plan for you.” So you know, God is preparing, preparing a dream for you. And everyone’s dreams are unique, and everyone’s dreams are very different.
As long as you believe and have hope, God will fulfill your dreams. Because He has chosen you and given you the destiny, the plan, the goal, and the will to accomplish what He wants to do! I want to encourage you to ask, when you get tired of running, “God, what dreams can I have, what can I accomplish?”
Because what you can become must be based on the dreams God has given you. And it’s not what you can do, it’s what you can become! For God is a faithful God, amen. The young man said to me, “Pastor, I want to be a relationship manager in a bank. Today he has been promoted, and in these three short years, following God, he has risen from manager to director. Although he is not in my church, God allowed the two of us to have this communication, and from this communication, God told me to bring a dream, a hope, and bless the young people in Hong Kong, so that they can know that God’s love is eternal and eternal! Through this experience, although it was only a very short hour, I was there to have breakfast with this young man in Hong Kong and pray for him, which could not have been easier, but through this young man, I changed me and made me want to stay in Hong Kong so that I can bless the young people in Hong Kong.
I would love to bring down the secrets of heaven and bless the people of Hong Kong and bring them hope, hope and expectation. Because God loves people, and God loves you Hong Kong people! Amen.
神把梦给每一个人,神会给你一个 梦,神也必定会成就这梦,因为神是一个信实的神!」 我给你一个例子,迪士尼的创办人Walt Disney,他不是拥有一个迪士尼乐园吗? 但Walt Disney 去世的时候,在佛罗里达的迪士尼乐园都还没完成,可是他的工人却说:「这个梦想已经成就了!」Walt Disney 的意念与目的就是要创造一个「让人去到世界上 最幸福的地方」为目标!
1. The power of the gospel – the whole family is blessed
The story also starts from when I was born, since I was born, my mother has been seriously ill, although she has sought countless medical treatments, the medicine stones are ineffective, and the family is even more destitute.
Since that moment, on the most conspicuous table in our house, several “distinguished guests” have been invited one after another – Guanyin, the land god, the Buddha, etc. Although my father pulled my seriously ill mother and young me every day, punctually offered them offerings, offered incense, bowed down, and even underwent strict training in posture, after several years, these “miracle doctors and immortals” did not seem to have discussed and formulated a “treatment plan”, and my mother’s condition did not improve at all. In desperation, my father had to take my mother, who had no way to seek medical treatment, to “find” Jesus, who was “in the limelight” at that time, and was said to be a “great immortal with higher mana”.
Later, as the truth of the Bible deepened, their utilitarian hearts were eliminated and their faith was established. Finally, one day, my parents resolutely smashed the idol that they had worshiped in their family for many years, threw away the medicine jar that Lai Yi had lived for, and bravely opened the door of their home to those who believed in it in the confusion and doubts of their relatives, established the first church in the village and served God until now.
I was about five years old at the time, and because of my parent’s faith, I became a “little Christian” as a matter of course. But because I grew up in this “special” family environment, my “hatred” for God grew day by day!
2. God’s Elect – Personal Grace
“Cowardice and shame” is the deepest feeling and evaluation I have for those who believe in Jesus, especially my parents, as an adult.
It can be said that I grew up surrounded by all kinds of bullying and abuse from my neighbors! And any resistance and dissatisfaction will be severely reprimanded by my parents. I couldn’t understand what they were saying: This is suffering for the Lord! I just know that this God has made the mother who was once called “tigress” so cowardly and incompetent to her father, who was once regarded as a “capable man”! I hate God! I want to change this reality!
I’m very good at making friends, especially those who are seen as “ruffians” who are always easy to befriend. I enjoy this life because no one dares to mess with me. What God, what Jesus, unconsciously disappeared from my life. I squandered my life and youth in sin.
“So-and-so just crashed and died!” my friend casually told me, but it was a bolt from the blue! Not only because the deceased was my former best classmate, but also because I suddenly realized: I am afraid of death! Death was so close to me, and all of a sudden, fear permeated my heart. For many days after that, I was thinking, “If I die, where will I go, and who can solve the problem after death?” all of a sudden, Jesus came into my mind again, and it was my first encounter with Him after a long absence. Although it was only a brief experience, from then on, Jesus began His wonderful work in my life.
When my parents again urged me to pray and read the Bible, I no longer responded to them with the same tiredness as I once did, “Enough!” and I said to them, “I will pray.” And I prayed. Although that time, it was not so much a prayer as a reproach and a question against God! But I felt that God was listening! I felt that God was by my side!
Within a few days, my father forced me to quit my job. He said he was going to ask me to do something more important.
3. Experience the Lord’s grace – life renewal
It was only after I followed my father to a dilapidated village that he told me that I needed to study theology here for a few days. In desperation, I could only comfort myself, I should be at peace when I came! What I didn’t expect was that I made a best bosom friend here, Jesus.
In those few days of study, my myths about faith began to be dismantled, the value of life began to be repositioned, and my understanding of Jesus began to deepen. In just half a month, my life seems to have undergone an earth-shaking change. My once hard knees finally bent and I knelt before the Lord and confessed my sins and repented! I truly felt a sense of relief and joy at the forgiveness of my sins, the Holy Spirit came into my life, and I knew I was saved!
The Lord Jesus said, “The Son of Man has come to seek and save that which is lost.” (Luke 19:10) I am convinced that anyone who humbly confesses their sins and seeks Him will, like me, experience a “grace turn” from darkness to light, from pain to joy, and from bondage to be delivered!
4. The call of grace – total devotion
After being born again, although I did not experience Paul’s great light and did not see the vision of Moses, I truly felt God’s graceful call to my life to make my mission clear – to serve Him!
Although I have been receiving a lot of theological equipment over the years, and church leaders and my wife have constantly urged me to serve full-time, because of the endless “ambition” in my heart, my desire is still to try my best to be a good Christian, to participate in the church as much as possible, and to work and earn money is my primary goal in life. However, in the process of “serving God and mammon”, I felt the difficulty of “not having both fish and bear’s paws”.
In my work, whenever I work hard, I feel the constant depression and pain of my spiritual life, in the ministry, whenever I see the lack of shepherding workers in the church, the urgent need of young people and college students, like flock without a shepherd, my heart is full of anxiety, and in prayer, I keep hearing the reproach of the Holy Spirit with sighs and the gentle call of the Father—my son, my heart is mine. More than once, I burst into tears with excitement and shame.
After a long struggle, I finally relied on the Lord to overcome my “fear” of full-time ministry and responded to God’s call in the depths of my soul that I was willing to give my whole life to the Lord and dedicate my life to the Lord.
In the nearly 10 years of full-time ministry, although it was tiring, it was full of joy! I still can’t forget (and sometimes still experience) the struggle to withdraw from the pressure of ministry, the pain of mixed interpersonal complexities, and the helplessness of financial constraints in the face of various needs.
But thank God for allowing me to experience these “sufferings” in my ministry life, and it is because of this that I have experienced more deeply what “wonderful grace” is! It is a painful and joyful process, and it is a leap of faith that can lead one to “hear about him and see him with my own eyes”!
Pray that the Lord will continue to guide and strengthen me – that I can “serve Him with confidence and righteousness in holiness and righteousness.” (Luke 1:75).