Is This Your House? | Pastor Steven Soon

You're listening to a message to go from ex Church.

We hope this message will light up your day.

Let's go into Acts Chapter two, verse forty two to

verse severn. I'm just gonna read it and just follow along,

all right, Verse forty two. All the believers devoted themselves

to the apostles teaching and to fellowship, and to sharing

in males, including the Lord's Supper, and to prayer. A

deep sense of awe came over them all, and the

apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders, and all the

believers met together in one place and shared everything they had.

They sold their property and possessions and shared the money

with those in need. The worship together at the temple

each day, met in homes for the Lord's Supper and

shared their males with great joy and generosity, all the

while praising God and enjoying the good will of all

the people. And each day the Lord added to their

fellowship those who were being saved. Amen, what we are

observing here is the formation of the Early Church, all right.

So this is where you know Christ has resurrected and

went back to the right hand of God, and the

Holy Spirit is given onto the disciples and apostles, and

they came together, all right. And of course what happened

before this was Peter. Peter preached his first sermon, and

five thousand came to know the lot. And these were

the initial five thousand of the I think more than that,

because there were other believers and the disciples before that

as well. So at least five thousand, right, that was

the start of the early Church. They ate together, they shared,

they had good time together, they did live together, they

learned together, learned the world of God together, and they

served one another. Nobody was lacking, everyone's needs were met.

They shared, everyone put their hands to the plow if

there was a need. Again, they married, They loved the Lord,

and they loved each other. That was the early Church.

I want to present this to us. It's our church

the same, it's our church the same. It's good to reflect.

I reflect upon that all the time, because I think

it's very important that we go back to how initially

the church was. When the church was formed, how did

they in a sensegether, How did they serve the Lord?

How did they love the Lord? How did they love

and serve each other? And that's the thing that we're

going to talk about today, all right, so that if

you're writing notes, this is the title for my message.

Is this your house? Is this your house? Now? Many

of us here, I have been here for a while,

all right, We've been in x or x banda Otama

for a while. The first question I want to answers

is this, do you recognize that God brought you here?

Let's go to reflect a bit, think for a little bit.

Is this where God brought me to? This question is

very important because if God has brought you here, that miss,

there's a purpose, there's a plan. If this is where

God planted you. I'm gonna say something very blunt. He

wants you to love this house, very simple. But you

have to answer fas if this is the house that

God has brought you to, Okay, don't worry. For those

visiting from other churches, don't worry. Okay, Please love your house.

If you are serving currently serving in another church, please

love your house. But for those of us, but I

believe this message is also for you to remind you

to also love your house. And for the rest of us.

Seal who called ex church your home? Who call this

your house? Do you love this house. Psalm sixty nine,

verse nine says, this passion for your house has consumed me.

The Psalmi says this the passion, and in another inn

NKGV translation, it says, zeal for your house has consumed me,

and the insults of those who insult you have fallen

on me. What does that mean? That means this psalm

is saying any insults towards the house of the Lord

or towards God, he takes it personally, because no, you're

not just insulting the house, You're insulting my house. Right,

passion for your house has consumed me. How many of

us here have such passion? Don't need to answer, all right?

You think for yourself. I can tell you for certain

that for myself, passion for God's house really consumes me,

consumes me. I pray for the house. I think for

the house. I serve the house, I serve those in

the house. Do you have the same passion as this sumness?

And I want to tell you this, if this is

where God has planted you again, if you answer and say, yes,

this is the house that God has put me in,

then actually the plan is for you to have zeal

for the house I'm going to give some practical things. Again,

it's a short message, so I'm going to be very blind.

I hope you guys are okay. You that all right?

If you're part of this house, if you answer yes,

X MEU is my house. This is where God has

put me in. If you're part of this house, you

take care of the house. Simple. Right For those of

you who are in a family, right, if you're part

of your family's household, you will play your part to

take care of the family. If you have a building

over your head, a house that your family is in,

you would take care of the house. Right. You would

take out the trash, right, I'm appcire you would. You

wouldn't allow it to uh you know, faster and allow

infestation to happen. And in the same way, if this

church is your house, you will take care of the house.

Some practical things, right you you would check around and

see if the venue is cleaning. I'm talking about practical stuff, okay,

Like for myself as much as I can after all

of us leave after service, I will always go around

in between the seats. It's that trash. I know this

is a hotel and we paid for rental and there

are service rules that help clean the space. But you see,

for me, I see this as a house of God.

I would clean it myself. I know the hotel is

very generous with the mineral water. Right. I will always

clean up if there are any levels on the floor,

all right. And I'm not doing it because I expect

people to see what I'm doing. I'm doing it because

I love the house of God. I've been doing this

before XBU, when I was in XPJ, when I was

in ex Subanjaya. I'll make sure the lights are closed

last time, right. I would. I was given the privilege

to be the doorkeeper that mess after service, I would

lock the door last time, right, And I finally enjoy

a privilege to do so. Right. You know how many

of you I've texted you you left something behind? I

would know that only because I would swip to the floor. Hey,

somebody left bottle, somebody left a toy? Right, And we

text different ones it's this yours and can we ask around?

And no different ones? You do that? Also, It's not

just me, and I believe we all do that because

we love the house. And we do that without complain.

We do that without expectation of praise. No, we do

it out of love for the house. So, friends, this

is the first thing I want to ask us, elementary stuff.

Do you love this house? Do you love your house?

Can you imagine if all of us love this house,

those of us who call this home, If all of

us love this house, we take care of different things.

We look out. Hey, some things are a bit dangerous

for the children. Let's move it a little bit, you know.

We'll check whether the nursing corner is you know, done properly,

so that for the nursing moms they're able to nurse

their children securely without fear of intruders. Right, these are

things that when you love the house of the Lord,

you will do. And beyond the first question of is

this your house, it brings us to another question. When

you love the house, do you love those that are

in the house. Second point, and I bring us through

scripture first Peter four ten to eleven. God has given

each of you a gift from his great variety of

spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another. You

see this. The gifts are given not for us to

serve ourselves. It's for us to serve one another. Do

you have the gift of speaking, then's speak as though

God himself was speaking to you. Do you have the

gift of helping others? Do it with all the strength

and energy that God supplies. Then everything you do will

bring glory to God through Jesus Christ. When you serve

each other, you bring glory to God, all glory and

power to Him forever and ever. Amen. First Corinthians twelve

four five and verse seven. There are different kinds of

spiritual gifts, but the same spirit. This is the Holy Spirit.

It's the source of them all. There are different kinds

of service, but we serve the same Lord. Every time

you serve one another, every time you serve this house

or the House of the Lord, you are serving the

same God. You are ultimately serving God. Verse seven. A

spiritual gift is given to each of us so that

we can help each other, help each other. That's what

the church is for, my friends. When Paul spoke of

this into the Corinthian Church, he was addressing the church.

He was not addressing people who are not part of

the church. He was saying, hey, all of you, God

has given the moment you accepted Jesus. When the Holy

Spirit comes upon you and you're born again. You have gifts.

All of us have gifts, and all of us ought

to use these gifts to serve one another. When you

come to church, have you ever thought, I ask you

this questioner, if you come to church just not to

talk about hosts a little bit? Right? When you come

to XBU, have you ever thought it'd be nicer if

we have a few more hosts outside to welcome me,

more warmer, more welcoming. Right. I have thought of that, confession.

It'd be nicer if we have this. Well, I think

church service will be warm, if not by temperature, I

mean the atmosphere, if we have a few more people

doing this. If we can't have this, I have thought

of it. Have you thought of it? Can I share

with you this God has given you that revelation so

that you can be part of the solution. I want

to challenge you, my friends, especially those of you who

call this your house. When you see there is a need,

why not be part of the answered prayer? Right? I

would love to be hosting outside, But I think I

think I even if I want to, I cannot split

myself into half. I used to be a host. Uh,

you know I said, not part of the dream team.

But when I was in Subannjaya, I would as a leader.

I would stand outside to shake hands because I was available.

I wasn't doing other things right. I would do that

out of joy because I thought, Hey, last time when

I came to x Oh, I remember my first time

stepping into ex church, so many of the holes welcomed me.

I feel so warm and a little bit overwhelmed because

the holes are very warm and and you may not

believe this, but I meant introvert right, So when I go,

everybody want to shake my head. I feel a little

bit overwhelmed. But you know, and I think back. When

I think back, I feel like I feel so welcome, beep,

but excited that I'm here people see me. Can you

imagine if we have that at outdoor, you would want

to invite your friends or so all right? Or if

I invite my friends, I know my friends will feel

very warm and welcome and they come here serve one another.

When we see that there is a need in the house,

why not let's serve love and serve one another. Right,

And one thing that I want to say is also

this church is beyond Sunday service. Okay, we are not

trying to I can say this in terms of ex church.

We are not in the business of making a very

polished and well ordered, well run Sunday service. Personally, I'm

not into Am I interested to give excellence? Make sure

it's excellent. Everything that we do is excellent, yes, but

it's excellence towards the Lord. I myself am not interested

in having a very polished experience that is not fully church.

Church is us taking care of one another. Church is

us serving each other. There's some we started with X

chapter two. All the disciples, all the believers gathered together.

They eight together, They shared, they were there for each

other's highs and lows. That is so important, my friends.

If Church in our mind is just a Sunday thing,

let's ask a lot to help reframe our minds. If

you are experiencing the House of God on just Sundays only,

you are missing out on a big part of what

God intended you to experience in the church. That would

encourage you. If you're not part of homes, join the homes.

It's not another event. Homes is an avenue for us

to continue to do life. We don't have the privilege

of back then. Ex. Chapter two, they met every day.

You know, I actually don't know how they worked. How

did they work if they met every day? I really don't.

I need to probably do a bit of reading into that.

We may not have that privilege because we have work, right,

we have school. But whenever we can, we try, we

try to meet. We try to celebrate one another one another.

That's why we are so big on celebrations. But we

are also very big on being there for each other

in tough moments. We don't shy away from tough moments.

We go and get our hands dirty whenever we see

someone in the house going through a tough time. And

I've seen that in action for many of us here.

Let's continue to do that. It's not just Sundays. You know.

We are not an event church. We are living church.

So that means we don't shut off from Monday to Saturday.

Church goes beyond the Sundays. Now, my third point is this.

I talked about how living and serving one another and

I talk about how it goes beyond Sundays, right, But

I also want to say Sundays are also important. This

is an avenue where we allow room and space for

all of us to worship together, to pray together, to

pray for each other. I'm going to read First Corinthians twelve,

chapter twelve, twelve to thirty one, long patsun of scripture.

But do bear with me, follow along, highlight some of

the parts that stand up to you, all right. First

Corinthians twelve, twelve to thirty one says, this is the

human body has many parts, but the many parts make

up one whole body. So it is with the body

of Christ, who is the body of Christ. Us we

make up the body of Christ. Some of us are Jews,

some are gentile, some are slaves, and some are free.

Now why I'm trying. What I can gather from here

is that all of us are different. Right, we are

all different. But yet in the second part of verse thirteen,

we have all been baptized into one body by one spirit,

and we all share the same spirit. Though we may

be different, but we are united. But the spirit that's

within us, the Holy Spirit. Verse fourteen. Yes, the body

has many different parts, not just one part. If the

food says, I'm not a part of the body because

I'm not a hand. Oh, I can't do what the

hand does. That does not make it any less of

a part of the body. And if the ear says

I'm not part of the body because I'm not an eye,

went make it any less part, any less part of

the body. If the whole body were an eye, you

can you imagine that if your whole body was just

an eye, how would you hear? Or if your whole

body were an ear, how would you smell anything? But

our bodies have many parts, and God has put each

part just where he wants it. How strange a body

would be if it had only one part. Yes, there

are many parts, but only one body. I wonder what

was going through Paul's mind, because he had to repeat

a few times, right, verse only one that I cannot

never say to the hand, I don't need you. The

heat can't say to the feeth, I don't need you.

In fact, some parts of the body that seem weakest

and least important are actually the most necessary. And the

parts we regard as less honorable are those with clothes

with the greatest care. When I think about this, I

think about the part where the things we eat come

out from, not the most glamorous, but so important that part. Right,

Can you imagine if we don't have that party. Hello,

are we alive here? Yeah? You guys? Are you guys

hearing me? Can you imagine if we don't have that

part where everything we eat gets stuck? Oh? Man, I

can't imagine. So even the what we seem as the

least as the ugliest part of the least glamorous part

of our body is so important, right, so we carefully

verse trainentry continue. So we carefully protect those parts that

should not be seen, while the more honorable parts do

not require this special care. So God has put the

body together such an extra honor and care are given

to those parts that have less dignity. Friends, Body of Christ,

we are to take care of one another. Those of

us who have more in certain areas, a men to

take care of those who are lesser in certain areas.

That's how we take care of each other Verse twenty five.

This mix for harmony among the members, so that all

the members care for each other. If one part suffers,

all the parts suffer with it. And if one part

is honored, all the parts are glad. All of you

together are Christ's body, and each of you is a

part of it. Here are some of the parts God

has appointed for the church. And this is where it

gets a little bit humanized. First are apostles, Second are prophets.

Third are teachers. Than those who do miracles, those who

have the gift of healing, those who can help others,

those who have the gift of leadership, those who speak

in unknown languages. Friends, all of you are categorized here.

If you're not hearing this, let me say again all

of that I just read through the world of God.

All of you are part of it. You are not excluded,

you are not left out. That means amongst us here

there are apostles, a monsters here that are prophets. Amongst

here there are teachers. They are pastors. And when I

say past us, I'm not talking about title. I'm talking

about the gift of pastoring, pastoral care, loving and caring

for people. Some of you here have a gift of

really compassion, being there for people when they really need help.

That doesn't mean the rest of us are excused from compassion.

It's just that for some people they have a little

bit more inclination, is they will do it more naturally.

But all of us are called to have compassion, all right.

But every single one of us here are included in

this one little shot verse verse twenty nine. Are we

all apostles? Are we all prophets? Are we all teachers?

Do we all have the power to do miracles? Do

we all have the gift of hearing? Do we all

have the ability to speak it unnern languages? Do we

all have the ability to interpret unknown languages? Of course not.

Paul says this because all of us don't have all

the gift God has given us distributed gives in a

way that we need each other. That one is not

one person that is the answer to all. We are

the answer to all. If one of us here is

not contributing to the body, that means there is a

handicap right now in the body. Literally, I'm just following

the word of God. It's not pass the Sievehan's words.

It is the word of God. I'm just preaching the

word of God. It may be a bit hard, but

I hope you can accept the word of God makes sense.

If one part of the body does not serve the body,

there is a handicap. There is a handicap. But if

every part serves the body, wow, body has full mobility

to do all that. The body is called to do.

Let me rephrase that to the church. If every one

of us sow our gifts, unto each other, unto the

House of God, we will be a fully mobilized, effective church.

Oh I'm desiring for that one day. Are we there yet? No?

Are we getting that? Yes? Slowly but surely. But I

hope all of us can be part, can play our

part as the body of Christ. I want to share

little testimony of how that relates to my life three

years three to four years ago when God brought me

and a few others on the journey of planting X

b Tamaid. But by the way, in three weeks time,

we're celebrating our third birthday. Yeah, so fast, I cannot imagine. Wow,

it's been three years. But three to four years ago

when God put into my heart to plan X be

part of the planting team of X banda otama, I

was going through a very difficult time. It was a

time where I lost quite a few friends, friends that

are also brothers in arms in ministry. I won't go

into too much detail, but there was basically a lot

of backbiting that was happening that I wasn't aware of,

and many of them actually left the church, left the ministry.

I was really broken at that time. I felt like

I lost my community, my friends that I do everything

together with ministry. We went into the trenches together, going

through tough times, and we celebrate all the mouthstones together,

and I just lost them. In that season. I was

really discouraged, really discouraged. But yet here it is. God

has led us on the way to plant ex banda Otama.

And in that season, I pray to God it is

it called I want a community. I want a family.

I want a community that I can do life if

I don't want to be on my own. Slowly, Lord

and the Lord ministered to me in that season, and

remember very clearly what the Holy Spirit said to me.

Holy Spirit said, Stephen, I'm going to give you that community.

It's going to be xpu. But there's a catch. What catch? Lord,

You will have to be the one to build it.

You want it, you build it. And of course it's

not the labor of one man alone. A team called

that vision as well, and we came together and we

build this community. And yes we don't have a lot

of people, but I dare say there is family here.

And I say this on a very personal level. For me,

I'm very confident that I have a family here. I

know for certain that if there's anything that happens to me,

I know that there's a family that I can rely on.

I know for many of us here you also feel

the same for this community. And if you have you

don't feel the same. And again go back to the

first question I asked, is this your house? If God

has blunted you here and you're saying, why do I

not still feel the sense of community, I want to

encourage you the same with God has encouraged me build

that community. It is when you build it, then you'll

be part of it. And we always say this, We

always encourage and the leaders here would echo this. If

you want to be part of the community, fast, sirf

That is the fastest way for you to be part

of the community. And when you serve it doesn't have

to be crazy things. Whatever God has given you, whatever time, talent, treasure, gifts,

spiritual gifts, or even other forms of talents of giftings,

whatever God has given you, just offer that be available.

I'm sure you'll be a blessing to someone here because

every single gift the Bible says that God has given

us is not men for ourselves. Do you realize that

even the gifts right, the scripture doesn't say it's men

for pre believers. Paul wrote this to the believers and say,

you ought to serve one another as a body of Christ.

That means the first in terms of order, The first

surviyce we ought to give with our gift things is

to our brothers and sisters in Christ. That's a word

of God. Do we still reach out? Yes? Please do.

We must always reach out to friends who have yet

to experience the love of God. That is an order

from Jesus, the great commission. Right, So I want to

encourage us, and I'm coming to an end. He said,

I promise you. I didn't really promise. I did say

give a heads up that it's going to be a

short one because I just feel that. And to be honest,

if you xbu in this season, we really need extra hands.

I don't know if you have observed different ones are

wearing multiple hats today. We do it with joy, We

really do it with joy. But we hope more can

put the hands to the plow to do two things.

Serve one another first and foremost, get to know each other.

Don't keep to your clique. I hope we don't have clickes.

Church shouldn't have clicks. I hope we can be one

community that watch out for one and number two. Serve

the house, right, serve the church. This is what God

has given us, this is our house. Let's serve the house.

Let's do what we can. Let's build the house together. Now.

We had a haddle night on Friday night. Uh and

and I had a conversation with one of the guys

that I'm discipling, and after we shed certain things, the

guy came up to me and said, mister Stephen, when

you say build the house, what do you mean? How

do I build? Where do I start? And the answer

I'm gonna I'm gonna it was a fifteen minute conversation,

but I'm gonna just gonna summarize it. I told him.

I said, it's very simple. When you see a need,

you're going to meet that need. But you will only

know there's a need if you are part of the community.

You only you know a person has a need when

you have a relationship with that person, then you can

observe and you realize, oh, the person needs a bit

of encouragement. Oh, the person needs a bit of help

in this. Can I support a little bit? Right? I

just shad that you see the need, you try the

best to meet the need. And the second thing I

shaid is this care? Care for one another? Do we care?

Are we a church that cares? When new people come,

do they see that amongst us? I pray that one

day we will go beyond the super superficial relationship of

the high. Hello, welcome to church. How are you doing?

I hope one day we can have conversations like, hey,

last week you mentioned that you had this happen. How

is it now? Hey, I heard that your relative wasn't well.

How is your relative doing?

Yeah?

I heard that your family member was hospitalized? Can I

come to visit? Can you imagine that we have such

conversations beyond just Hi, good to see you again. I thinks, good, good,

that's it. I think you already have that at your workplace.

This is a house, and when it's a house, it's family.

It's cliche. Really, in two days, I think a lot

of people find this cliche, but it's the truth. It's

the truth. So can I implore you, my dear brothers

and sisters, if this is your house. Would you build

this house together with us? Are there dreams that God

has put into a heart for this house? Don't keep

it to yourself. Share, join us to dream together, to

build together. And I pray that all of the few

handfuls of us here, that these will become a tight

community that cares on one another, that loves one another.

And it's also welcoming to new people, that brings that

brings people into the fold part of the community. I pray.

And also one thing I want to share. And I'm

gonna end with this, when you start getting close, when

I start getting close, Sorry, I hope I don't affect you.

Playing the keyboard, I may accidentally step on the thor

and messes him up close. Ma right, Y're very close,

very close. When we start getting close, we cannot avoid

stepping on each other's toes. We will start to annoy

each other. We will start to irritate one another. We

will start to see certain indio secretive or this person

just and he just annoys me the way he says

that word. Ah, I cannot take it. But it's natural.

It's part of growing together. And I hope we learn

to mature from that. We hope. I hope that we

can overcome the I cannot take it too start tolerating,

and then from tolerating to start accepting, accepting each other's quirks,

accepting that we all have our own waitnesses. So we cover.

We cover today. Actually I'm not supposed to be. I'm

kahrnand about our dear brother Norman got sick this morning. Cover.

We don't blame him. People get sick, right, but pray

for him. Please pray for him. There will be well

cover each other. That's what family does, be there for

each other. And that's why I want to encourage as friends.

Is this your house, If this is your house, love

the house, love the people in the house, love the

lord of the house, God himself. And I'm gonna very

and shamefully gonna ask ned to help put up the

recruitment drive. Side m start with this. We are actually

accounting for really the need, the need. We need your help.

I'm not even coming to a point where ah would

you be would you be keen? I'm just gonna be

very blind and honest to say, representing the leadership of XPU,

we need help. We need help. So if you can

serve serve whichever arean capacity, if it's just one Sunday

a month, come serve. And I'm excited not just to

see how we serve one another, but I'm excited to

see how God honors you when you serve, because ultimately,

and just now, the Word of God says, when you serve,

if your gifts, you are actually honoring the Lord. It's

unto the Lord that you serve. And while when you

honor the Lord, the Lord honors you. My friends, and

I'm excited to hear a testimony. So many of us

have testimonies out of serving, out of sacrifice. I'm gonna

say this serving it's not gonna be smooth sailing. There

will be sacrifices you have to make. There will be,

but I tell you it's worth it because you're doing

it unto the Lord, and the Lord will never shot

change you. Amen. We hope you've.

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God bless