Okay. How you guys doing? Everybody's really quiet after that. What's up with that?
Hey, we are finishing up a three-part series that we did, what we've been doing on stewardship.
And so today we talked about stewardship of God's Word, was two weeks ago.
We talked about stewardship of God's money and the stuff that God's given us.
And today we're going to talk about the stewardship of our lives.
And so with that, I want to read the passage in your bulletin.
So would you please stand with me and let's read God's Word together and honor His Word as we read it.
And we're just going to look at the passage today comes from the book of Joshua and the book of Judges.
And you can follow along in your bulletin.
The people have just been released from captivity in Egypt after 400 years.
They've wandered in the desert for 40 years.
And now they are about to enter into the promised land.
And we picked up in verse 1.
Now when all the nation had finished crossing the Jordan, the Lord spoke to Joshua, saying,
Take up for yourself twelve men from the people, one man from each tribe.
Command them, saying, Take up for yourself twelve stones from here out of the middle of the Jordan,
from the place where the priest's feet are standing firm.
And carry them over with you and lay them down in the lodging place where you will lodge tonight.
So Joshua called the twelve men whom he had appointed from the sons of Israel, one man from each tribe.
And Joshua said to them, Cross again to the ark of the Lord your God in the middle of the Jordan.
And each one of you take up a stone on his shoulder according to the number of tribes of the sons of Israel.
Let this be a sign among you so that when your children ask later, saying, What do these stones mean?
Then you will say to them, Because the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord
when it crossed the Jordan.
The waters of the Jordan were cut off.
So these stones shall be a memorial to the sons of Israel forever.
Thus the sons of Israel did as Joshua commanded, and they took up twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan,
just as the Lord spoke to Joshua, according to the number of tribes of the sons of Israel.
And they carried them over with them to the lodging place and put them down there.
Then Joshua set up the twelve stones in the middle of the Jordan at the place where the feet of the priest
who carried the ark of the covenant were standing, and they are there to this day.
For the priests who carried the ark were standing in the middle of the Jordan
until everything was completed that the Lord had commanded Joshua to speak to the people.
According to all that Moses had commanded Joshua, and the people hurried and crossed.
And when all the people had finished crossing, the ark of the Lord and the priests crossed before the people.
Then after many years we're told that if Joshua leading God's people,
we're told that Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of 110,
and they buried him in the territory of his inheritance, Timnaheres,
in the hill country of Ephraim, north of the Mount Gash.
All that generation were also gathered to their fathers,
and then there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord,
nor yet the work which he had done for Israel.
This is God's reading.
Please be seated.
The people of Israel had seen amazing things.
They had been in captivity for 400 years,
and God raised up a deliverer to come in and to deliver them,
and now they have been walking in the wilderness for 40 years in the desert.
God had been feeding this mass of people for 40 years.
Can you think of that?
Every day a cloud followed them and covered them from the heat to protect them from the heat of the desert,
and at night a pillar of fire came to give them warmth.
The clothes they had on their back, we're told in Scripture,
the clothes they had never wore out.
Now I don't know how you would feel about wearing the same pair of pants and jeans for 40 years.
My wife could not get into that,
and most of us probably couldn't either,
but the clothes never wore out.
They had water for 40 years from a rock that followed them around,
and now they are about to enter into the promised land,
and the Lord has them set up a memorial,
a reminder for them of God's faithfulness.
Actually, it's a reminder of God
and what he's done in their life and how he's gone before them.
It's a reminder of God's relationship with us.
It's a reminder of God's stewardship to his people.
The stones just don't represent memories of the great and amazing things that God did,
but they represent God's presence with them now
and how he always will go before them,
and he will always work and do things.
And so when people looked at these stones,
it was a memory of these things,
but it was also a memory of them
because there was one taken for every tribe,
and these stones represented the people of God.
These represented God's people.
In verse 6, I find it very interesting.
He says, what do these stones mean to you?
It's very personal.
What does God's faithfulness mean to you?
As you look around and you see symbols of God's working in your life,
what does that mean to you?
When you see the things that God has brought you into
and the places that he takes you,
when you see his stewardship
and how he's gone before you so obviously,
what does that mean to you?
And how will you share with your children
the amazing things that God has done in our life?
I've asked Franklin to come up.
Franklin and Therese have been with Watermark
almost from the beginning.
They came right afterwards.
Franklin, and you've seen them walking around.
They are an amazing couple.
They came from Beijing.
Franklin was actually born in Hong Kong.
Therese was born in Taiwan.
And they have been married for almost 30 years.
Therese, is that correct?
I just want to make sure,
because Franklin told me.
I just want to make sure he's correct on that.
Okay, and so Franklin has been working
with some back in Beijing and in China and America
with some large corporations.
And now he's kind of at a different stage of his life
where he's kind of his own boss.
And so I've kind of asked him to come up
and share of God's stewardship and faithfulness
in his life in the things that God has been teaching him.
So Franklin, will you come on up and share with us?
Thank you, Tobin and the worship team.
And the powerful video that we have.
The question that the video showed was,
how do we feel in that dash in our life?
The dash from the date when we are born
to the date where we leave this earth.
How do we want our life to be remembered?
And how we want God to remember us as?
I think these are all great questions
to ask ourselves every day, examine ourselves.
Several weeks ago when I was asked to share with you
about stewardship and how it relates to my life,
I told Tobin that talking about my life
is easy to let pride creep in
and that I've done this and done that,
I've been successful in this and that.
So I pray that the Lord,
the Holy Spirit will guide me, guide my thoughts
as Apostle Paul reminded us in 2 Corinthians
that if I must boast,
I will boast of the things that show my weakness
because Jesus Christ is my strength.
The Bible passages that I will be quoting
will be in the bulletin.
So what is stewardship?
And it took me a while to check out,
make sure that I got the definition correct.
And it is a responsibility to take care of something
belonging to someone else
or entrust it to our care
and we should exercise diligence
and responsible management towards it.
So what are the things that doesn't belong to us
but we have to care for?
So from the very beginning of the Bible
in Genesis 1, verse 27-28,
So God created man in his own image.
In the image of God, he created him.
Male and female, he created them.
God blessed them and said to them,
Be fruitful and increase in number.
Fill the earth and subdue it.
Rule over the fish of the seas and birds of the air
and over every living creature that moves on the ground.
Throughout the Bible, God constantly reminded us
and reminded me that everything we have
were created by him and belongs to him.
And that included me and you.
God also gave man the responsibility
to make productive use of what he gave us
so that it will be fruitful
and it will multiply by managing it responsibly,
cultivating it, exercising control and influence over it.
And I look back, you know, as engineers or scientists
or businessmen or even students,
it's easy for us to think that we have made things.
We make things, we build things.
I was in construction and built things.
And finance things as a banker or as students.
We've got excellent grades, exceptional grades in exams.
We do it all with our own strength, tenacity,
take credit for all that work.
But let's take a look, think about it.
Examine a small part of a body, for example.
Without the wondrous and miraculous brain
that God created for in each one of us
and somehow being connected to our hands and feet,
without that connection in the most miraculous way,
we could do nothing.
We cannot even have the ability to lift up a feather
with our fingers.
So the last two weeks, we have explored
the stewardship of God's word and money.
And in discussing my life,
allow me to be transparent and vulnerable to you.
Allow me to reveal the things that has happened in my life
as it relates to stewardship of relationships,
time, work, children, etc.
All such things that have valuable lessons
that have taught me
and have enriched my life abundantly.
Hopefully, it will be an encouragement to you also.
I've divided my life into three phases.
The first phase is about my spiritual journey.
I came from a large, non-believing family.
Don't be scared.
A family with 12 kids.
I went to Catholic school,
in primary school,
which taught me that there is God
and our God is authoritarian
and disciplinarian to us.
When I do something wrong,
I will be punished
unless I go into confession.
And the way to redemption
was to say the Lord's Prayer
and Hail Mary so many times a day.
So from very young age,
I know and was fearful of this God.
But on the other hand,
knowing that this God
will save me from troubles,
so I prayed often,
saying the Lord's Prayer and Hail Mary
as I was told to do so.
Then when I entered junior high
and high school,
I went to a Protestant school.
There, the Bible was a required subject
that I must study
in order to go through high school.
The subject was called biblical knowledge,
so we were taught knowledge about the Bible.
Unfortunately, in those years,
we were caught by a change
in the education system in Hong Kong,
and the foreign teachers have to leave us.
And the one who ended up teaching me
the last couple of years of high school
smoked and sweared in and out of class.
So what taught to me from the Bible
was a total contradiction
to the behavior of the teacher.
Yes, I have gained some knowledge of the Bible,
but it was absolutely no meaning to me.
It was just a story,
and I really disliked
the memorization of the historical facts
that was required in the exams.
And let's look at my family.
My parents were good people,
honorable people,
taught me how to be a gentleman,
honest, hardworking, diligent man
that I can, you know, ought to be.
My father made the conscientious effort
to sit down with us
almost every Sunday morning
to try to impact us with his stories
and values repeatedly.
But all 12 of us behaved very differently
as we grew up in terms of values
and personality.
He had tried very hard
to impact us from a young age,
but not all of us enjoyed this time with him
or appreciate all the things he says.
There was not an authoritative standard
of value and behavior
that we can learn and love to live by.
After high school,
I went to the United States for college.
And there,
I left my family
and was approached for the first time
actively by Christian brothers and sisters.
In Wisconsin that I went to,
the brothers and sisters,
the Christian brothers and sisters
were very tenacious,
and they kept on asking me
if I were a Christian
every time I met them.
When I told them I was not,
they went their way
to fellowship with others,
leaving me cold in the fellowship.
So that had turned me off
and I stopped going
to the Bible study group
after a few times.
And I graduated from Wisconsin
and then went on to grad school.
And it was when I got to grad school
that something had changed.
The brothers and sisters
in the Chinese Bible study group there
was very warm and inviting.
It allowed me to search
and seek the Bible freely,
asking questions
and accepting
my sometimes off-the-wall answers.
The summer after I went to grad school,
looking for a place to live,
a brother rounded up 12 others
and rented a house
and called it the Christian house.
Though I was not a Christian,
then they invited me in,
accepted me as the one of them.
There I saw how these Christian brothers
and sisters lived their lives,
helping each other
and encouraging each other,
especially in studying the Bible.
I have the opportunity
to discuss many issues
in the Bible with them,
openly and in greater depth.
After a few months,
I began to really want to have
that peace and joy that they have.
As I said before,
being brought up in a Christian school,
all along I knew there is God,
but do not know who that God is.
It was when I was invited to a retreat
that I came to know
who Jesus Christ is
and why He has made
the substitutionary death
on the cross for my sins.
and a brother led me
to receiving Jesus Christ
into my heart
as my own personal Savior and Lord.
Brothers and sisters,
in this city of Hong Kong,
where we can meet people so easily
with so many events and gatherings,
many were brought up
with similar background as me.
Heard of God,
studied biblical knowledge
as a requirement,
went to church sometimes,
or have encountered
unpleasant experiences
with other Christians
at home,
school,
or business.
How do we exercise
good stewardship
to those who God
placed in our path,
allow us to lead them
to a personal relationship
with Jesus Christ,
or are we chasing them away
by being either too cold,
too warm,
too aggressive,
or too impersonal?
In Romans 10,
14,
it reminded me,
how then
can they call on
the one
they have not believed in?
And how can they believe
in the one
of whom
they have not heard?
And how can they hear
without someone
preaching to them?
I'm very glad
and blessed
that the Lord
put loving,
caring brothers and sisters
in my path
who ministered to me
at a critical point
in my life
before I graduated
from college
and go on
to the busy world
that was full of
distractions and temptations.
Little bit back
at this part of my life,
God has reached out to me,
but I was running away
from Him
for a long, long time.
But a seed was sown
in my heart
from very young days
and along the way,
and He never gave up on me
to call me home
to be with Him.
Let's take a look
at the second part
of my life.
The second phase
of my life
began after I graduated
from college.
This was shortly
after I accepted Christ
and serving
in a church
in Boston.
I was living a life
like a Christian
should,
doing all the right things.
My career
has been smooth sailing,
never skipped a beat,
always had a job
despite several
economic crises.
When I was not satisfied
with one job,
I would quit
and there was another one
waiting with more challenges
and more responsibilities.
Career-wise,
I was moving right along,
but spiritually,
I wasn't growing.
I attended Sunday school,
read the Bible occasionally,
but found it difficult
to understand
in boring reading,
and my mind
often wandered
and distracted
by work
or other things
that seemed important
for me to do.
after getting married
and children came,
life was busier
than ever.
Then the second one,
then the third one.
When I was
in my mid-30s,
I faced
the so-called
midlife crisis.
I was not satisfied
with the menial paycheck
and small pay raises
that decided
that it was time
to venture out
of corporate life
despite the steady paycheck
was what the family needed.
I went out on my own
doing something
more independent.
It was then
that my life
rapidly went
to a tailspin.
Making money
was a lot of work,
and the more difficult
it gets,
the harder I want to work
to prove that
I can do it
on my own.
As a man,
I was trying very hard
to be the provider
for the family
with my own strength.
This had taken
a toll on our marriage,
and we were
constantly fighting
for time
that I don't have
and income
that was not coming
in steadily
to provide
for the family.
Through prayers
of my wife
and brothers
that embraced us
through those
difficult times
had brought me
back to God's Word
through serious,
disciplined Bible studies.
and as I spent
more time
in reading
and understanding
God's Word,
His Word became
much more interesting.
His Word starts
speaking to me
with meaning
and application
to my life.
During this
trying period,
two passages
came to me.
Let me share it
with you.
In Matthew 6,
25 to 27,
it says,
Therefore I tell you,
do not worry
about your life.
What you will eat
or drink
or about your body.
What you will wear.
Is not life
more important
than food
and the body
more important
than clothes?
Look at the birds
in the air.
They do not sow
or reap
or store away
in barns
and yet your Heavenly
Father feeds them.
Are you not
much more valuable
in the day?
Who of you
by worrying
can add a single
hour to your life?
And then the other
verse in Psalm 127,
verse 1 to 2,
as I was
building buildings,
it meant so much
to me
because it says,
Unless the Lord
builds the house,
its builders
labor in vain.
Unless the Lord
watches over the city,
the watchers
stand guard
in vain.
In vain,
you rise early
and stay up late,
toiling for food
to eat,
for he grants sleep
to those he loves.
these words
have reminded me
that I have to
let go of my pride
in being the provider
for my family
and allowing God
to take care
of this family.
And then I,
second thing is,
I have also decided
that I do not want
to live in the second
part of my life
as in the first half,
allowing God
to be the captain
to steer this ship
rather than me.
And the third thing
I realized was
that work
should not only be work,
but work should be
my mission field.
Not long after
making those decisions,
the Lord opened up
the door to me
to return to China
in 1995.
And for the past
16 years,
he has provided
much blessings
for our family.
The Lord know
my weakness
and has used
these difficult times
to prepare
and equip me
so that I will be
more ready
and matured
spiritually
to go to places
where he had
led me to go.
All glory
and praises
to the Lord.
Brothers and sisters,
in this high-pressure
Hong Kong,
we're all struggling
to succeed,
to be recognized,
to build relationships,
fighting for time.
Many of you
are probably
in this stage
similar to my
first half of my life,
looking for opportunities
by your own
strength and ability.
by your likes
and dislikes.
You may be working
very hard
to gain the next
promotion
or looking for
the greener pasture
next door.
Have you been
thankful to the Lord
for the blessings
that he already gave you?
Are you submitting
to the Lord
to be a provider
for all your needs?
Are you turning
the captain of the ship
to God
to steer it for you?
Are we using
the opportunity
need at work
to minister
to those
who are struggling
in career
or relationships?
Are we reaching out
to them,
praying for them?
The third phase
of my life
concerns
passing the torch
to the next generation.
A month ago,
something struck me.
I went back
to my hometown,
my wife's hometown
of Taipei
for a reunion
with her brothers.
Teresa came
from parents
who were believers
and prayer warriors.
It was when we
visited the grave
side of her parents.
The Lord opened
my heart
to appreciate
our marriage
so much more.
He allowed me
to see
how from one set
of parents' prayers
led to the strong
faith from Teresa
and her brothers.
And now,
both of our families
have passed our faith
to our seven children,
three from my side
and four from
her brother's side.
When we came back
and lived in China
16 years ago,
just like many of you
came back as expats,
as an expat,
yeah,
we have a better
pay package,
much better benefits,
but on the flip side,
the company expects
a lot out of you.
They expect you
to be on call
24-7,
expect you to go
on trips,
and better,
to stay in a hotel
with co-workers
than spend time
with your family.
They make you work
until your wife
and children
do not see you
at all.
I'm sure many of you
felt the same way.
Maybe some of you
are children
of an expat
and looking at
the lives
of your parents,
you know exactly
what I meant.
At that time,
our children
were four,
six,
and nine years old
when we came to China.
They were at
their very active age,
ready to absorb
anything that was
taught by anybody
around them.
Since I travel
so much,
making time
with the children
and Teresa
have to be
intentional.
because there
were always things
that needed to be
done in the office,
or there were
phone calls to make,
and these days,
an email to return
from your buzzing
smartphones.
When we want
to relax,
there were hundreds
of TV channels
or shows
and sports,
maybe serving
the internet,
so much interesting
things that can
consume our time
away from our family.
fortunately,
when we were in China
in the mid-90s,
where the distractions
at that time
was limited.
But even before
we came to China
from a very young age,
we started reading
the picture Bible
to our children
almost daily
from cover to cover
and pray with them
even for the five
or ten minutes
that sometimes
I don't have,
that only half.
As they grew older
and able to read
and understand,
we graduated them
from the picture Bible
to the full NIV Bible.
So from a very young age,
they have a good overview
of the stories
and teachings
from the Bible.
With the three of them,
sometimes it's hard.
They were at different
level of reading skills,
so both Teresa
and I
have to juggle
to read the Bible
to all three of them,
until they can do it
on their own.
When I had to travel
a lot in China,
after talking with them
over the phone,
checking on their needs,
oftentimes I would pray
with them
over the phone,
letting them know
that they would have
to depend on the Lord
for their studies,
for their exams,
or other challenges
in their life.
During our conversations,
we let our children know
that we are also
depending on the Lord
for our decisions.
so that they can
model after us.
While in China,
we go to the
international church,
at that time,
the community groups
were not very well organized,
and when the children
stepped in the teen years,
the youth groups
were not developed,
and our children
did not click well
with the kids
in the groups.
so we have tried
different things,
but it was through
spending time
at home with them,
and our weekly devotions,
that we were able
to give them
spiritual nourishment.
We have dedicated
every Sunday evenings
to our family devotion,
and intentionally,
we made no appointments
or engagements
with anyone.
an hour to two
every Sunday evening,
we sat together
to go over
our schedules
and needs,
and to read
and discuss passages
in the Bible,
and sometimes
what we learned
from the sermon.
It was through
these frequent encounters
with God's Word
and how it interrelated
to our daily lives
that they came
to personal knowledge
and acceptance
of Jesus Christ
into their daily lives,
and were baptized
in Beijing.
Now that our three children
all graduated from college
and they are living
away from us
in New York City,
they face similar pressure
and distractions
like I did
when I would first
enter industry,
if not worse.
The three of them
felt the need
to hold onto each other
accountable
and continue
with this family tradition
by getting together
once a week
in devotions
and prayers
for each other.
For us,
as parents,
this is the greatest
blessing
and assurance
that the Lord
can give us.
Not to say
that we have succeeded.
There are still
many challenges
ahead
in their lives
because the world
consistently pulled them
in different directions.
It's hard to believe
where the faith
will be
if it weren't
for the urge
to come
to seek together,
seek the Lord,
together
with all three of them.
I've learned
through our children's lives
that exercising
good stewardship
to one of the most
precious gifts
that God gave us,
which is our children.
It's the most
worthwhile investment
that we've ever made.
It is worth
so much more
than any high position
or high return investments
that we've ever made.
there is nothing short
of spending time
with them
and time with them
in God's Word
from the time
they were very,
very young.
As in Deuteronomy 6,
verse 6 to 9,
says,
these commandments
I gave you today
are to be upon
your hearts.
Impress them
on your children.
Talk about them
when you sit at home
and when you walk
the road,
when you lie down
and when you get up.
Tie them as symbols
on your hands
and bind them
on your foreheads.
Write them
on the door frames
of your houses
and on your gates.
Brothers and sisters,
preaching to our children
in God's Word
may not touch
their hearts,
but talking about them
often
when you sit down
at home,
when you walk
around the road,
when you lie down
and when you get up,
making use of
daily situations
that they encounter
as a teaching tool,
reminding them
of God's creation,
allowing them
to experience
God's goodness
and reality
in their lives.
God's Word
also reminded us
constantly
that we have
to be very mindful
of our actions
and our speech
doesn't match up
with what I have
taught them.
Our children
are watching
every move
and every action
that you make.
How you react
to those around you?
How do you make
decisions in the workplace?
How do I deal
with my staff
and co-workers?
How do I manage
the things
that God blessed us with?
Helping them
to experience
the reality
of Jesus Christ
in their lives
personally,
will help them
build a solid foundation
for them to move forward
into their adult lives
and prayerfully,
one day,
they will pass
on the same faith
to their children
and their children's children.
Many Christian parents
will send their children
to church
and Christian schools
hoping that they will
learn the gospel
from it
and become good kids.
from my experience
through church
and Christian school,
those church
and Christian school
play an important part
in helping them
to learn from the Bible.
In the end,
a child's ability
to come to Christ
will be taught
at home.
Following your examples,
what you do,
what you speak,
your decisions
at home
and in business.
if we do not
spend the time
with the children,
then they will be
taught by others.
No wonder
from a study
from Focus on the Family
in America
that out of
100 children
that entered college
professing
their Christian faith,
only 30 of them
graduated
keeping their faith.
70 of them
went on
adopting the ideals
and liberties
that was taught
to them
by their professors,
their peers
and society.
That is astounding
statistics in America
and I don't think
Hong Kong
is any different.
For those of you
who are single
or do not have
children yet,
the same principles
apply on how
your lives
affect those around you.
Our best teacher
is Apostle Paul
who remained single
but yet
how he had administered
and loved
the brothers and sisters
in the communities
that he reached out to,
allowing him
to become
the spiritual parents
to many.
In 1 Peter 4.10,
each one
should use
whatever gifts
he has received
to serve others,
faithfully administering
God's grace
in its various forms.
let this be
a constant reminder
for us
to use our gifts
to affect
those young brothers
and sisters
that cross our path
so that they can find
the new life
through Jesus Christ,
spending time with them,
loving them
and nurturing them
so that they can become
spiritual parents also
and pass it on
to the next generation
of family and friends.
in conclusion,
let's
remember the video
that we just saw.
Ask ourselves
some questions.
What are things
that we can take away
one day
when we leave this earth?
Can we take our work?
Can we take our money?
Our ambitions?
our possessions?
Our plaques?
Our titles?
Or anything?
Can we take any
of those things away?
And then ask another question.
What are things
that we can do today
that will continue on
after we leave this earth?
Are we teaching
our beloved children
that God lead us,
lead them to Jesus Christ
and guiding them
to hold on to the faith
through adulthood
so that they can pass on
to the next generation?
Or are we
helping to
make spiritual children
so that their faith
will strengthen
through our relationship
with them?
It's not what you gather
but what you gather
that tells what kind of life
you have lived.
How would you like
our Lord Jesus Christ
to call you
when you meet Him one day?
Would you like Him
to call you
as in Matthew 25, 23?
Well done,
good and faithful servants.
You have been faithful
in few things.
I will put you
in charge of many things.
Come and share
in your Master's happiness.
Let us pray.
Father, we thank you
for this time
to allow us
to look into our lives
and to look into our lives.
Are we being
a good steward
to the things
that you have
bestowed upon us?
You reminded us
in Matthew 16, 26, 27
that
what good will it be
for a man
if he gains
the whole world
yet forfeeds his soul?
Or what can a man
give in exchange
for his soul?
For the Son of Man
is going to come
in his Father's glory
with his angels
and then he will
reward each person
according to what
he has done.
Father,
help us to exercise
good stewardship
in our lives
to those that cross
our path.
Reach out to them,
to our children,
spend time with them,
to our work,
allow you to be
the provider and guide.
Father,
we ask you to come
to our hearts today
as we walk
this journey of life,
allowing you to steer
the ship of ours
throughout our lives.
Help us, Lord,
in the name of the Son,
Jesus Christ,
we pray.
Amen.