Welcome to Skyline!
The world is preoccupied. Not with wars. Or famines. Or climate changes. But with fear. Even the historic election of Barrack Obama has been overshadowed by concerns with the dreaded global meltdown. While the cautious remain on the sidelines, the brave (or foolish?) go bargain hunting. One thing is clear. God is in control and His economics will still prosper us in the midst of crisis. His investment laws stay intact whether the market goes up or down. They have to do with giving, not just any giving but with giving in obedience to His word. What are they?

Firstly the Laws of Harvest dictates that we must sow our seed to receive our reward. The seed principle is biblical (Gal 6:7). Next the seed must be rendered useless, that is, once the money is given, it does not benefit us anymore nor is it under our control (Jn 12:24). Jesus said: “Unless a corn of wheat..dies, it abides alone. If it dies it bears much fruit.” Thirdly sow what we expect to harvest; corn seeds produce corn. Kindness gets kindness. Finance produces finance: “what-soever a man sows, that shall he reap.” Next make sure it’s sown on good ground: faithful ministries that preach the gospel and touch the poor and needy (Mt 13:8).

Fifthly sow to your harvest size not from your harvest size (2 Cor 9:6). Do not let a poverty mindset hinder you. While God is not after your money but your heart, He asks does it have faith? Next establish your harvest size when you sow. The TLB reads: “A farmer who plants just a few seeds will only get a small crop, but if he plants much he will reap much” (2 Cor 9:6). Seventhly wait with patience and thanksgiving. There is always a period of waiting between sowing and harvest. “Cast you bread upon the waters, for you will find it after many days” (Ecc 11:1).

Finally, your harvest is a miracle. When you receive it, remember, part of it is for you to use in this cycle of sowing again (God gives seed to the sower); a part of it is of course for you to keep. God is 100% true to His Word. Meltdown or miracle? God says miracle! You can claim yours today.

Ps Philip Lyn                
           Skyline: 2008 Year of the Sabbath

Welcome to Skyline!
Last Wednesday history took the form of a fully poised, dark-skinned slender and eloquent figure from Hawaii in the person of 47-year old Barrack Hussein Obama who was elected the 44th President of the United States of America, the first African-American ever to hold the highest office in the land. That he has both the brains and personal charisma to lead is unquestioned. A graduate of Columbia University and Harvard Law School, he embodies the ultimate realization of Martin Luther King’s dream of an America where “men & women would be judged not on the colour of their skin but on the content of their character”.

Obama said as much in his victory speech: “If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible; who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time; who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer!” It was devastating rhetoric. How might it change America, you may ask? The world certainly hopes Obama will right the wrong policies of the Bush administration in Iraq, in global warming, and in American protectionism. Hopes are afoot that a tangible solution to the Middle East problem may be brokered in the days ahead. I remain uneasy. Obama is a classic wordsmith who plays to the gallery. I am uncertain of his persuasions and ask that we not let out prayer guard down even as we take note of the astonishing result history has delivered to our doorsteps today! God’s still in control of history.

The words of Witney Houston’s “One moment in Time” have filled my mind since Nov 4th; they pretty much sum up Obama’s glorious confluence with destiny this past week.
“I want one moment in time, when I'm more than I thought I could be
When all of my dreams are a heart-beat away
And the answers are all up to me
Give me one moment in time, when I'm racing with destiny
Then in that one moment of time I will feel,
I will feel eternity!”

God bless America! It’s the country where dreams come true, where rags can turn into riches, where a black man can become king, where lifestyles follow wealth! Today in our series on Money, we ask: what lifestyles should we choose as believers &followers of the Lord Jesus? You mean we have a choice? Yes! Listen in; you’ll be blessed.
 Ps Philip Lyn       

Skyline: 2008 Year of the Sabbath

Welcome to Skyline!
“The poorest man I know is the man who has nothing but money”. Who said this? It wasn’t Ghandi, Mother Theresa or Jesus. The words came from the American multi-billionaire and philanthropist John D Rockefeller, one of the richest men in the last century. Strange, that a man who had so much money should venture such a dictum. But he knew what money could and couldn’t do. C S Lewis put it in his own inimical way when he said “the man who has God and everything has no more than he who has God alone.”

It is true money alone is never enough to give perspective, purpose and value to life. It may make our lives temporarily more comfortable but it can’t provide the reason for our existence. Only something that outlasts money can. Only God can. So what has God to do with money? Isn’t God eternal and money temporal? Isn’t God spiritual & money secular? Many Christians think so. They see money and faith as separate compartments. So while they go to the bible for spiritual wisdom they turn to Fortune or Forbes magazine for advice and insights on investments and money! After all, the bible doesn’t deal with money right?

Wrong! God has a lot to say about money. There are twice as many verses on money in the bible than on prayer and faith combined!  Jesus spoke more on money than on heaven and hell combined. Also, a staggering 15% of the bible is on the subject of money. Why is money so important to God? Because money has a very subtle way of creeping in and controlling our hearts. Our attitude towards money often tells God the state of our hearts.

When Zaccheus said he would give half his money to the poor and pay back four times those he had cheated, Jesus didn’t say “great idea”! He pronounced that salvation had come to the house! He equated the eternals of salvation with the externals of money! Awesome stuff! Why? Because the only way He could be sure Zaccheus had changed was if money no longer controlled him.  To the rich young ruler pleaded Jesus had said: “Sell your possessions and follow me”. The guy turned away sorrowful. Had Jesus bungled Evangelism 101 and lost a potential convert? No. The young man’s heart was never ready for Him anyway. You see, money, not the law of God was what really controlling his heart. Money is important for God, not because He has perpetual credit crunch crises. Money is important to God supremely because our hearts are important to Him!    
Ps Philip Lyn
Skyline: 2008 Year of the Sabbath

Welcome to Skyline!
We connected immediately. Strangers no more. At a business lunch in a hotel of all places. We discovered we had been at the same school and shared the same teachers, probably classrooms too. The “really?” element rapidly dissolved into warm smiles and enthusiastic exchanges. “Did you know?, Had you heard?” punctuated our animated exchanges about expired principals, retired teachers and other colourful characters that dotted our journey together in our old school. We put aside “business” for a whole half-hour and luxuriated nostalgically in the black hole of the past. Then we came back to earth... with a thud and went back to talking dollars and cents again. Sigh.

It’s been like that this in the financial sector the past week. Volatility reigned. The wheels of the market spun their twisted threads of angst almost daily. Up and down. Fear and greed, currency and gold, stocks and bonds, profit and loss, inflation and recession, rumour and news all flowed and ebbed each day. A friend of mine wrote to say he sold all his stocks way before the 1987 crash in obedience to God and had not been back into the market since. “It’s all fear, lies and greed there.” He said the Lord told him never to venture into such things again. He even included property and long term bonds in his exclusion clause. Is that biblical, I wondered? Or is it just a view made personal for him by the Lord? Is money the heart of the matter (and therefore always evil) or is money a matter of the heart in which case greed and fear are the real problems?

When Warren Buffet stepped in with $5 billion to buy a stake in Goldman Sachs last month he articulated the mantra of his success when asked why he was investing when everyone else was fleeing. “Be fearful when market is greedy” he said and everyone nodded, “but be greedy when the market is fearful” he added, and everyone bowed in awe of him.  What does the bible say? Today we begin the series on MONEY. The first thing to understand is the non-negotiable area of tithing and giving and it’s a great place to start. Over the next few weeks we shall look at matters ranging from God’s perspective of money in earning, saving, investing, borrowing and lending and in leaving legacies. Nothing beats the bible: it’s the best place for wisdom on money. That’s our God!
Ps Philip Lyn
Skyline: 2008 Year of the Sabbath

Welcome to Skyline!
The old Carol King tune hummed in my ears, several years ago when I felt “the earth move under my feet”. I was in a tall building in KL and an earth tremor from a quake in Sumatra undulated through the city. I felt momentarily tizzy. That was about my worst ever experience of tectonic shifts on planet earth, nothing compared to others elsewhere.  Many years ago, a friend of mine ran out panic-stricken when a huge quake hit his hotel in China only to experience a greater terror on realizing he had left his false teeth behind! That was his aftershock.

An aftershock is a smaller quake that occurs after the main shock. It rarely takes a huge toll on lives but may destroy many buildings weakened by the initial quake. In May of this year a massive earthquake measuring 8.0 on the Richter scale shook Sichuan province in China resulting in the tragic loss of tens of thousands of lives. The aftershock a few days later destroyed 420,000 homes but injured only a few people and took no lives. The reason for this is simple: the people knew how to shelter after a quake. They no longer lived in their old houses but had shifted to tents or slept under the stars. They had made a shift to accommodate the quake and came out of the experience stronger as a community and wiser as a generation. People who survive aftershocks will rebuild their cities.

God is in the business of building His church so that the gates of hell shall not prevail against it  (Mt 16:18). The foundation is Christ, the concrete is truth and the canopy is love. A church of this make-up may sway with quakes and aftershocks but it will not fall. That’s what the Lord calls us to be - HIS OWN BUILDING - as He fashions and shapes every stone into His likeness. Together we will embrace God’s awesome destiny for us! In 1923, a massive earthquake destroyed Tokyo  leaving only one major building standing: the Imperial Hotel. Its architect was the American genius Frank Lloyd Wright. He had laid a foundation that moved with the earth yet strong enough to hold the structure. It took the quake and the aftershock and still stood. I believe God has made us such a church.
Ps Philip Lyn
Skyline: 2008 Year of the Sabbath