I Will Even Prolong His Life

A scripture text is taken from Psalm 91, verses 9 to 16. Psalm 91, verses 9 to 16. Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most high, thy habitation, is God your trust, especially in days of danger.

There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague calm thy dwelling. For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.

Thou shalt tread upon the lion, and adder, and snake. These are symbols for Satan. The young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet.

Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him. I will set him on high, because he hath known my name. He shall call upon me, and I will answer him.

I will be with him in trouble. I will deliver him and honor him. With long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation.

Let us now pray. Eternal Almighty God, Thou who art our loving Heavenly Father, we come to Thee this morning all to worship Thee, and to praise Thy holy name, for Thou art good, and Thou hast not considered all our sins. So we ask Thee to cleanse us from every unrighteousness.

We thank Thee that Thou hast commanded us to pray for all men. And once again, as we realize there are only 15% who are called Christians in Singapore, the greater half, and much more than that, still do not know Thee, nor Thy Son. And those who know Thee reject Him.

O Lord, have mercy. We thank Thee for all those who come here, and those who still do not know Thee. We try our level best to show them the way, to repent in time, that we may not be lost.

Now, according to Thy Word, we pray for all those who are in authority. We pray for our government. We pray especially for our Prime Minister, as it goes about the world, making friends.

But we pray especially that He might know Thee, because He is our best friend. And You want to help all those who look up to Thee. We thank Thee once again for the last 40 years.

Singapore has been so blessed, not because we have wise Prime Ministers. We thank Thee for these, but because You have especially blessed Thy people here. And I believe Thy Church, if we serve Thee faithfully, will be one reason why Thou has kept us safe.

Almighty God, this morning, as we study into Thy Word, help us to know more and more truth, that we may be strengthened, that we may know how to follow Thee. And we pray for all our friends who come here and join us. May Thou bless them mightily, and may they be a blessing to their own churches.

We ask all these things in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. The title of my message this morning, I will even prolong his life.

This is based on my own life. And since many years ago, I asked the Lord to let me live up to 95. Well, I think it was before I was 80.

And someone said to me, I'd be happy to live up to 60. Why not live up to 90? Well, there are many good reasons. And I also would ask that the Lord will bless you to live a prolonged life.

Well, now the substance of my message, this time is based on my very recent experience. It was Friday night, October the 7th. Today is November the 6th.

It's a month ago. That night after the prayer meeting, we returned to college. And when we reached there, it was about 10, 45 p.m. And my students were carrying their handbooks up to my house.

And I followed behind. I was four or five steps from the ground. And for safety's sake, I should have grasped the handrail.

Alas, I missed the grip, which would send me falling backwards immediately to disaster. But somehow, I swerved inwards to the staircase. And as if it was nothing, I landed at the bottom of the staircase.

But with a severe bump over my left eye. After that, I could not follow what was happening. I was quickly rushed to Alexandria Hospital, where they made a thorough examination of me from head to foot until about 3 a.m. in the morning.

Suddenly, my wife appeared, which made me feel much better. Since I was in the first class, she could stay with me all the time. The medical report was I was completely untouched, safe and sound.

It was a marvel to me. Now I would like to share a Chinese proverb with you. In the light of the Word of God, the Chinese proverb says, Little children fall and they grow up.

That is a paradox. Little children fall down to grow up. But old people, when they fall down, they die.

It is very, very true. I could have died had I fallen just backwards. But in the light of Psalm 91, I would like you to turn to Psalm 91, which we read just now.

It is the most wonderful passage of Scripture for you and me, who are Christians and who trust the Lord. And I would like you to read responsibly with me to get the words more deeply imprinted in our hearts. Psalm 91, verse 9 to 16.

I shall read. Because Thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most high. Here, sir, my refuge is referenced to the writer of the psalm and mostly there from David.

Because Thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most high, Thy habitation. Please read verse 10. For he shall give his angels charge over thee.

Take note. God is mindful of us. He has his angels to take charge of us, to keep thee in all thy ways.

The devil tried to tempt Jesus to jump down from the temple, the pinnacle. And he said, the angels will come. But Jesus said, this is a rash thing to tempt the Lord.

But if we are in trouble, he will. For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. Verse 12, if you read.

Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder and slink. The young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet. Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore I will deliver him.

I will set him on high. Because he hath known my name, he shall call upon me and I will answer him. I will be with him in trouble.

I will deliver him and honor him. Even with a long life, I will satisfy him and show him my salvation. How comforting and beautiful it was for every trusting Christian.

Well, after three days stay in Alexandria Hospital, I was discharged. I thought I could make it back in church after a week. Well, nothing happened to me.

I was alright. But now realizing that old age is upon me, I am 86. It doesn't take place like a young person.

It has taken three weeks and to be exact, fully a month that I can come back to the school. I have been back at the Prime Meeting, but this is the first time I appear before you. But interestingly, two or three months ago we already applied to leave for Perth for our vacation.

And it was dated November 13 to December 13. There we would meet with Errol Stone. He was our speaker at our camp once.

And we are also asking him to speak for next year. Why? Because he is one like us who believe in the 100% perfect Bible without any mistake. That is the reason why we, please remember that, why we leave Life.Church. And that for the last two years.

As I realize now with the advance of age upon me, I am not as all round. Not that I will be round. That I will be so able to meet with every situation.

But I have asked the Lord to prolong my days. How did the Lord prolong my days to 95 years? I did ask for that. Many people know that I have told them I want to live up to 95.

He says He will give His angels to take charge over thee. To keep you in all your ways. And they shall bear thee up, lest you dash your foot against a stone.

I told you that when I missed gripping the handrail, I would have gone down directly. But how could I turn inwards somehow and then land down the step there without any hurt? You see, it was a miracle. But here in the Psalms we learn, as from Isaiah 63, 9, another place.

And the angel of His presence saved them. In His love and His pity, He redeemed them. You cannot charge me that I am boastful.

That I say that the Lord Jesus in His love and pity for me, sent an angel to keep me safe. And I thank God that the doctor at the hospital, it was his duty to examine me thoroughly from head to foot. And nothing happened.

I don't know whether you have seen a very famous picture. Of a little boy and a little girl crossing a stream made of very flimsy planks. And it is supposed the angel was unseen to the two little children.

That's how the Lord has saved us even without our knowing. He shall call upon me and I will answer Him. I will be with Him in trouble.

I will deliver Him and honour Him. To be honest, this falling down the steps happened so quickly. I had no time to call on Him.

But the Bible also says, pray without ceasing. If you are praying without ceasing, then you might have called upon Him when you fell. Well, I have learned to pray diligently early in the morning.

Wonderful experience. We have so many difficulties, we don't know what to do. But now we have learned to pray without ceasing.

Without ceasing at least for a season. And like my coming up to the pulpit here this morning. I prayed, O Lord help me that I might make it clear to the hearers.

Because I am not totally in power over my life. Well, we have a Friday night prayer meeting at the 5th floor. And the Lord really has blessed.

The Lord has blessed us with about 70 people. At least 70 coming to prayer. They like it.

Even the children like it. Because when I saw the children coming very ceaselessly. I put them number 1 in the prayer list.

The first thing is I pray for them. That the Lord will bless them. And the Lord will bless them in their school lessons.

And immediately we see a change. And more children are coming. As a grandfather, I have learned how wonderful it is.

I have got 2 grandchildren. And the older one has got into the habit. And I examined her, did you pray this morning? Yes, I did.

The second one, guilty conscience. But I was so happy. One morning I said, yes, this time I did not forget to pray.

And the children really like me to pray for them. As we see their behavior at the prayer meeting changed. They were solemnized.

I want to thank God for teaching me a further step in prayer. Through my falling down the steps. There was no reason why I should be so wonderfully kept.

Nothing happened to me. We must learn to pray without ceasing all the time. Every day with so many problems in our life.

Bring them one by one to Him. And you will see a difference. Amen.