What really is a Church | Pr Stephen Kong

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

will light up your day. I just want to start by saying, you

know, when I first came to X I can't remember how many years ago,

maybe about about ten years ago. When I first came to ex Church,

it was in Neeli, Okay, the church was in Eli at that

time. Exemonium was not birth yet, okay. I was in Neila.

I did my foundation studies in Inti. Edmund was in the same university with

me, same classes, so I think your same class with me in foundation

in Inti uh. And of course in Ita I attended X d l I.

Okay, that was the first time I was introduced to X. There

was this one girl in the in the CF which was super gung hole.

She would invite everybody to church, everyone, you know. And so I

arrived in the campus and immediately that Sunday itself, I was invited the church,

you know. And so of course I came from a Methadist church background,

and the church in Kneelin, the Methadist church was Chinese speaking, and

if we didn't know, I can't speak Chinese, so I couldn't go to

a Chinese church, So I went to an English church. So that's how

I ended up in x Dli, you know. And I was there in

nextly Line. I rooted in x Line, and of course after one year

I graduated and and I moved to Nottingham, Nottingham here in Nottingham University.

And then after that, three years later we planted x seremoney. So I

got my math wrong. I was. I'm in extiras for thirteen years now

already, so it's about eight and a half plus four around that. So

it's about yeah, about child with thirteen years, okay, And so why

am I sharing that with you? It's because when I first came to AX,

maybe for some of you you have the similar experience. When you walked

in, your experience about church was very different. Okay. Maybe you came

from a very traditional background and you came in to walk into X. You

talked, you walk into a rock concert, you know, So I thought

about that. I thought like that, you know. Uh, And the

speaker for the day was so so on fire, you know that the preaching

was was loud, the music was loud, and I and I thought I

walked into a concert, but it was a church. And as I continue

to join axt church, I began to realize that church can really be fun.

You know, it can really be fun. There's a lot of joy

in God's presence. Because God's presence is here, there is freedom, there

is liberty. And and you know, church is not meant to be said,

you know, it's it's really a celebration. You know, that's what

we call our our services here. We call it a celebration Sunday, you

know, we call it a worship worship service, you know. So it's

the time of celebration. And just to give you some contexts, I was

born in a Christian family. Uh, so I was already in church in

my mother's womb, if you got that. Okay, So I'm my mom.

My parents are Christians, and so I've I've experienced church since I was

a kid or baby, you know. And every all the uncle anthets in

the church know me because I was I grew up in the church, right,

I was quite naughty, you know. And uh and then they know

me, you know. And so I I realized that I've always gone to

church just because my parents would force me to go in the sense. Uh.

And some of you may have the similar experience because you were born in

that in that family as well. And so I would say that I've never

missed a single Sunday service when I was a kid, you know, unless

I was sick and couldn't get out of bed, right. But there's no

excuse. There were there were that I have that it's enough to skip church,

not even exams, not even sleeping late, nothing, you know,

no event, nothing, there's no excuse. Good enough, and I will

always be in church every Sunday, you know. And so I I realized

that I went to church as a as a religious activity. It was a

tradition, it was a practice, you know. And then when I came

to ext church, I began to realize that I have got full of loving

to come to church, you know, in a sense coming to church,

not because I have to, but because I wanted to. Can you see

the difference, uh, you know. And I really enjoyed, you know,

I really enjoyed waking up on my own to go to church on a

Sunday. Back then when I was a teenager, my parents wake me up.

You don't have a choice, you know, you wake up in the

morning, the lights on seven am in the morning, breakfast is ready downstairs,

and you got to get up and go. You know, they would

drag me the church no matter what. Uh. And so I learned how

to wake up on my own, wake up early, and go to church

because I really wanted to. I enjoyed it. And then I found a

belonging and in my community here and acts. So I believe some of you

would have some sort of similar experience like that. And so I thought,

you know, I'm just going to share a bit more about the church,

you know, and and take us deeper. If that's okay, All right,

okay, So let's begin. And so what what really is the church?

Okay? And I've some slides which my wife had me prepare. Yeah,

it's quite a struggle to prepare the word and aside to prepare slides and

so much to does like got my wife to help me or she volunteers.

So okay, let's begin. So church, right in the Bible, the

church where if you go and look at the original word or the Greek word

is actually ecclesia okay, And a church basically if you go and read up,

the original meaning actually means a gathering okay, or an assembly called out

once okay, or the whole body of Christians. Okay, that's what the

church actually means. Okay, if you're gon't read the original word, because

today when we think of the word church, right, our minds can be

very fixated to how the world has painted the church. Okay. We imagine

like we walk into a building and that's a church. Right. But when

you look at the original meaning, you won't find a single word that points

to the building. Not a single word, okay, All of it points

to something related to people. Somebody say people and so, friends, I

want to let you know that the church really is the people. It's not

a building. Can I hear good? Amen? It's the people, right,

It's not a building. And in fact, in the word church itself,

if you look closely and in the middle of the word church, there's

two letters which is you are. And I like to say this that you

are the church. Really, you are the church. It's not the building.

It's not the place, but it's you, the people. The people

mix up the church and not the building. In fact, the word church,

you know, the Greek word has two parts to it. Actually,

it's car leo, which is to call an it, which is out Okay,

I'm not sure if I even pronounced that right, but don't judge me

on head. But you know, it just means to call out, okay,

call out once. That's what the church really means. Okay. And

it's the people. Remember, it's the people and not about the building.

And I'm saying this because some of you will know that we have just you

know, so cured this space. We are going to sign the tendency agreement

very soon, uh, you know, to to take hold of this place

as a permanent tenant, permanent tendency. And and even as we are beginning

to think about the place, right, were beginning to think about what renovations

to do, what improvements can we do to the whole because it's ours now,

right, I begin to remind the team that it's not a building.

It's really the people. Right. So everything that we do and everything that

we think about the space or the building, uh, it's not just about

the building itself, but it's for the people. You know. Remember,

it's the people. Right. And so don't don't get me wrong when I

say that, when I say this that when we think about the church building

or we're thinking about the people, we're thinking about the practicality of how it

is for the people, you know, how it's gonna bless you and us.

Right. And of course you may say that the building the church is

for God, right, of course, yes, But if we actually build

it for God, it would have to be in goal covering goal. You

knowiate this in our assault meeting to the leaders. Uh. You know that

if we actually build it for God, uh, the floor we will have

to be covered by goal. You know. The building structure will be in

silver and bronze, you know, and we probably never waste enough money to

do it, you know, so don't don't get me wrong. So in

a practical sense, it's really for the people, you know, we we

we design it practically for the people. We have you in mind, because

the church is not the building, but it's the people, amen. And

God's presence is here, you know. And so it's the gathering of believers

of people, uh, you know, And the Bible promises us were two

or three gather, you know, as long as you have two people,

you know, God is there in the midst you know, that's what the

Bible promises us. And He is here in our means, Amen. So

it's not just a building. Uh, let me, let me go for

the If it was just a building, then the church would have closed down

doing COVID literally, But how many of you know the church is still alive

even after COVID. You know, there was a time that the church building

or the doors itself we had to be closed. But if you were that

time here in acts in kl you would know that we get it online,

right, We get it to the you know, to zoom, to Google,

meets or whatever it is, to live streaming, and church went on

right. We continue together, you know, not physically in a place,

but virtually. And church is about the gathering of people right. And of

course, after the doors were open, meaning after they allowed people together,

we immediately opened our doors and we got people back physically into church. Because

nothing beats meeting physically in a space, right, being together in a space

right. Because we are all made as relational beings. How many of you

know that you know, we were not made to be solow. You know,

if we were made to be solow, God would have created Adam and

put him alone there. But he wasn't alone. He created if right,

and so we are not made to be alone. You're not meant to be

solo. And so that's why community in church helps. Amen. Yes.

And so the moment COVID was over, we opened our doors and everybody came

back to church. And that's what makes up the church, which is the

people. Amen. And I'm gonna show it to you in med in Romans

Romans, chapters sixteenth, verse three to five. Romans sixteen, verse three

to five says Great Priscilla and Aquila. This is actually Paul writing to the

Roman church, Great Priscilla and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus,

who raise their own next for my life, to whom not only I give

thanks, but also to the churches of the Gentiles. And look what it

says next. Likewise, greed the church that is in the house. Greed,

the church that is in the house. Did you see that? So

it's not the house that's the church. It's the people that's in the house

that is the church. That's exactly what powers referring to the church that's in

the house. It's not the house itself, but the people in the house.

Uh, you know, that meet in the house. And so in

those olden days they will meet in houses. I'm sure you could be familiar

with the scripture that says they went from house to house, okay, and

so they gathered in houses, you know. And so in the sense wherever

the people gathered in houses, there was the church. The church was there,

you know, the church was for the people. And then in fact,

I would let you know in advance that we do this in ext church

at least once or twice a year, whereby we actually close our physical building

and actually have people gathered in houses. How many of you here have experienced

our service in homes or worship in homes. Well, there's actually only a

one third of the of the service year, okay, so you would experience

one if you're around in September. In the month of September, we have

one of the services in which we want not be meeting here, okay,

we will actually meet in our houses in homes. Okay. So if we

have like, let's say, four homes in Semoney, we will meet in

four separate houses for worship service on a Sunday. And you may wonder why

do we even do that? And this is something that we call as the

fire drill, a fire drill okay, in which we never know, right,

there could be a day that the government says you can no longer meet

in religious houses or religious place of worship. You know, maybe they will

close down your building and they say, sorry, you can no longer meet

as a Christian group. What would you do? You'll go to somebody's house.

Right, you can still gather in somebody's house. Let's say we did

a ten kilometer radios for example, and meet and how many of you know?

Church can happen there because it's about the people, it's never about the

building. And so we do this in church actually in acts at least once

if not twice a year, which we call it worship at homes. We

won't come here, okay, And I hope that you can experience that because

it's really different whereby, you know, you strip down all the big sound,

the big stage, the big lights, nothing, it's big in the

house. It's just a guitar. And the question is can you still worship

the lot? You know, can you still worship the lot if there's only

let's say there's no guitar at all, it's gonna be a capella? Can

you still worship the lot? The same? Amen? Because it's not about

what you see here in the physical it's not about many instruments. It's not

about the sound, it's not about the lights, it's not about a big

space, you know. But it's about the people that gather and worship the

Lord. Amen. And so I will go on by saying that the church

consists of two parts. One is the local church and the second is a

universal church. And so the local church is where the body of believers gather

regularly in the local community, okay. And so basically where you're seated right

now is the local church, right where we gather in a local community called

Sermoney, okay. And so of course some of us stay here and some

of us don't. But basically it's a local church here in Sermoney or in

kl And there's another church in which is the universal Church, which is the

unified Body of Christ. Okay. And how many if you know, there's

only one universal church. Amen. Every believer or Christian or every church should

be unified under the one universal Church, which is the Body of Christ.

And of course today you can see they can be division in terms of the

way we do things or the culture or practices. I like to call them

as practices, because really, at the end of day, they all point

back to the same objective or the same purpose and the same reason, which

is to glorify Jesus, Amen. And if they do anything else other than

that, then that's questionable, you know. And so it's really the universal

Church in which we all be united, you know. And so you can

go to any other church around the world, and yet you can still worship

the same God. Does that make sense? Can go to a church,

And so I remember when I was in Indonesia, I went walking to an

Indonesian church and the singing similar songs, you know, they sang Hosanna,

except that it's in Basad Indawn. You know. Of course I could still

follow along because I know Basar Malayu Obasa, Malaysia, and it's very similar,

you know. And so you can still worship the same God, you

know, even in a different place, in different country. And I will

encourage you to do that, you know, when you go for traveling,

when you go for a holiday, wherever you may be, continue to find

a church and be rooted and to worship the Lord on every Sunday, the

Saburth, you know, never neglect that, Amen. And so I'm gonna

take us a little bit deeper about the relationship of Christ and the Church.

So what does the relationship of Christ and the Church look like? Two things

for you. Number one, the Church is the body of Christ. How

many of you know that the Church is the body of Christ. Em Vision,

Chapter one, verse twenty two to twenty three says this, and he

put all things under his feet. Okay, this is Jesus his feet and

gave him to be the head over all things to the Church, which is

his body. Jesus his body, the fullness of him who feels all in

all Amen. So Christ is the head. I'm gonna say that again.

Christ is the head of the Church, and the Church itself is his body.

That's what the Bible tells us. But more than that, the body

of the body, which is the Church, is also made up of many

parts. Right, do you agree? Right? The body which is the

Church is made up of many parts. It is one body, but made

up of many parts or many members. Okay, first, covintence chaelv.

Verse chief to twenty seven. I'm just gonna read for you tree verses.

It says for us, the body is one and has many members. But

all the members of that one body, being many, are one body.

So also it's Christ. For by one spirit we will all baptized into one

body, where the Jews or Greeks, where the slaves are free and have

all been made to drink into one's spirit. For in fact, the body

is one member. So for the body. For in fact, the body

is not one member but many. Did you get that the body is not

one member but many? So let me just go deeper in that. When

you have a body that has many parts or many members, you can just

picture how our body works. Okay, Actually, if you read the entire

scripture or portion in covinterceptis chelf it talks about whereby the body is made of

different parts, the hands, the feet, in order mouth, the ears,

and the eyes. Right, and the lake can't say to the hand,

I'm not the hand, and likewise I'm not part of the body.

They can't, right, because every part of the body has his own function.

You know. Likewise the church is the same. Right, And so

I read this before somewhere or that they talk about this whereby our church has

full time workers, and our church has members or partners who serve alongside with

the church, right, who have full time jobs in the marketplace. Can

you imagine if everyone over here were full time workers in the church, then

who will be out there in the marketplace? Think about it for a moment,

right, And so there is a place whereby some people serve in the

church full time and some are in the marketplace full time. You know,

they have full time job, right, just because if everyone was a pastor,

or everyone was a full time worker in the church, then who's got

to reach out to those in the marketplace. So there's a place for both

of that to coexist, right. And you can ask the question on the

other side as well, whereby if there were no full time workers, there

was no pastor, no one to serve in the church, and everybody was

out there in the world, then who will take care of the church?

Right? Who will run our worship services? Right? Who will organize our

prayer services? In fact, let me go deeper. Who will carry out

the marriages in the church? Who will help to bury the day? You

know, who will help to you know, whatever it is, organize events

in the church? Right. So there's a balance of both, right,

you need both. We need both. You need people who work full time

in the church to carry out the works of the church, and as well,

as people who work in the world, right, and each of them

have their part to play. Amen. And just as you look among us

in our worship service, there are many different dream teams, okay, and

dream teams is a jargon that we use in our church, which outside you

will know it as a ministry right as you know, ministry has quiet,

so it could be a host ministry, it could be it could be hospitality

ministry. And of course here we have many different names to call our dream

teams. Our ministry is right, and so every dream team or every ministry

has its part to play. Imagine if everybody wanted to be on the worship

team, you know, but no one's on no one's on the sound,

and no one's on on x TV, then you won't have any lyrics up,

you know what I mean? You could get a picture, right,

you know, if everybody is on a worship team and nobody's on the sound,

then you you won't want to hear me because I need to shout and

lose my voice, you know. So, and so every part of the

body, every member, every part of the body has his share to play.

You know. Just as you walked in this morning, someone shook your

hand right. That's what we call as our hosts, our hosting ministry.

Amen. And so every member of the body has its part to play and

has his share in the in the body, amen. And that's what makes

a church work. Right. And if one of the body says, I

don't want to do it today, then you know we will have a problem,

you know. But praise God that everybody, every member of the body

is functioning and is working. And that is why we have the Body of

Christ. Amen, and church is able to go on hallelujah. Right.

So that's the first thing. The Church is the body of Christ and Christ

is the head. And so if Christ is the head, then he has

to be the one that gives us a direction. Amen. He is the

one who tells us what we ought to do and what we're not, what

we should not do. A man, he is the one who drives the

church. He is the one who gives us direction, gives us vision,

gives us purpose, gives us our mission. Amen. Because he's the head

and we are the body. And so we are submitted to Christ as the

head. Amen. And so the second thing I'll share with you is that

the church is the bride of Christ. The Church is the bride of Christ

if we should. Chapter five, verse twenty five twenty seven says, husbands

love your wives, just as Christ also loved the Church and gave himself for

her, that he might scentify and cleanse her with the washing of water by

the word, that he might present her to himself a glorious church, not

having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy

and without blemish. So what should the church be. The Church should be

holy and without blemish. And so the Church is the bride of Christ.

And if you think about it, it's really a beautiful picture of marriage that

you can see in the church, whereby in a marriage there is a groom

and as a bride, right, and so Christ, Jesus Christ is a

groom and the Church is the bride. Okay, So we are the bride

of Christ. And so when you look at this picture of marriage, of

course, let me also say that in today's world, the beauty of marriage

can be tainted because today in our world today there's a lot a lot of

diverse cases all over the world, even Malaysia. Uh Is can I say

that it was not the intended way that God created marriage to be God.

When God created marriage, it was meant to be till death do them part,

right, uh, and nothing more than that. But of course today

in the world it is different, you know, you know, the world

has tainted the beauty in which God created marriage to be U And so I

must say that when I when I'm referring to them to the beauty of marriage

and refeeling to what God intended it to be. You know, the relationship

between a husband and a wife, or a groom and a bride, and

so it was the it was the most beautiful. And in fact, it

was the first relationship that God created in the garden because it created Adam and

then if and they were together, right, it's the first relationship. It

was created in the garden. And so let me let me begin and take

it further, you know, by saying that because the Church is the bride

and Christ is the groom, and hence the church is submitted to Christ.

The Church is submitted to Christ, just as how a wife ought to submit

to the husband. Right. But many people would sort of like quote the

scripture or context and say the wife is ought to submit to the husband,

without realizing that actually the role of the husband comes first, which is the

love the wife, as Christ love the church. And you know how difficult

it is, that basically means love unconditionally. How do you ever know that?

Because Christ loved the Church unconditionally and unconditionally just means that without condition.

Even though we may be failing, even though we have made mistakes, even

though we are not perfect, although we are being perfected, Christ still loves

us. Amen. That is the love that Christ has for us. God

gave his very best to us by giving his only son, Jesus Christ,

to die on the cross for our sins so that we may be reconcile with

him. Amen. And that love that God has for us is an unconditional

love. Unconditional love, you know, everlasting love, is steadfast love.

You know that that never changes and never moves. You know, regardless of

how much fel failed him, God still loves us and He forgave us of

all our sin, all our sin. Let me say that again, all

our sin since in the past, present, and even in the future.

That is the love of God that is so rich and so great and so

amazing for us. And that's one part that I really even today can never

fully grabs. You know, how could the love of Christ wash our sin

away? Not just past present, but even in the future. It's been

paid off already. And how many if you know, it's not free,

although it's free for us, but somebody had to pay the price. Somebody

had to pay the price. He was paid by the body and the blood

of Jesus Christ. Amen. And so even as a wife is submitted to

the husband, likewise, the church is submitted to Christ because we are the

bride of Christ. And it will be really foolish, you know. And

in fact, sinfully, the Church does not submit to Christ. Because God

knows everything, doesn't he. God is solving a man. He's all powerful,

he's all knowing, he's all present. Amen. So God already knows

what's best for us, even before we ask of it. You know.

Just picture yourself and just picture in your mind of an adult taking care of

a kid. Would a parent give a kid a car the keys to a

car, you know, if your kid is let's say below seventeen years old,

because in Malaysia the official driving license is to get licenses seventeen and a

birth right. So would an adult would a parent give the car keys to

a kid who is five years old or ten years old, they won't,

right, because if they drive the car out, they might not come back.

You know. Even worse, they may not come back alive because it's

dangerous for them. Right. And so likewise, our Father, our God,

who is the head of the church, he knows what's best for us.

Amen. And so whenever we do anything for the church, we ought

to ask God. We got ought to ask our Father what does he want

us to do? Amen? And so every initiated that we do in the

church, whether it's for our campus students with us, for our young woki

adoubts, whether us for our church as a whole. Were always looking to

the Lord and man will pray. God, give us wisdom, you know,

tell us what we are to do, you know, give us direction

so that we can do according to your perfect will. I believe, really

there's there's a there's a there's there's a there's a perfect will of God.

Amen. And we want to be in a line with God's perfect will.

Amen. And and and so we always ask God, what what does he

want us to do? Amen? Because and and we submit to him because

he knows best, Amen, So that we do not have to waste our

energy and our strength. And and even as we submit to God, he

will guide our steps. And so that's what the church ought to do,

or to submit to Christ, just as a wife submits to the husband.

Second thing is this the Christ, Christ loved the Church and gave his life

for her. I told you that earlier, right, he gave his own

life, and he loved us unconditionally. He loved us sacrificially and willingly,

submitting to the Father's will. And I really believe at the Cross of caroal

right, Christ gave his life up. The Romans who just did not take

his life. He gave his life up, because how can men take the

life of God? Right, he was Christ who voluntarily gave his life up

at the cross for our sins, so that we can be reconciled with him

a man. And the third thing is that the Church, so with the

Church, is being sentified day by day to be like Christ. So I

read through the scripture earlier that we ought to be holy. And what does

holy really mean? It means to be set apart, right. And when

we look at the word holy, right, it sounds like a very big

word, you know, And some of us would liken the word holy as

being sinless, being sinless. But you ask ourselves, can we really be

sinless? Not really, right, because the nature of sin is already in

us, you know. And even as we ask for forgiveness every day,

naturally we are still sinning because of the nature of sin that is in us.

And so to be holy, it's not to be sinless, but to

be but to sin less, not to be sinless, but to sin less.

And so we ought to be more and more like Christ. And the

Church is being sentified by Christ each and every day. Amen. And that's

why we come to church, right, And that's why we we listen to

the word right, to have our minds we knew, and to have a

heart scentify by the word Amen. And that's how the Church is being sentified

and being perfected to be more like Christ day by day until He returns and

brings us back to Him. Amen. Hallelujah. All right. So that's

there's two things I gave you. The Church is the body of Christ and

the Church is the bride of Christ. So now I mean, now let

me move and take you to another part, which is to share about the

purpose of the Church. In Acts Chapter two, Okay, why don't we

all turn to this scripture X chapter two. If you have a bibles,

I pray to you will bring your bible to church. And if you don't

have a physical bible yet, I encourage you to go and buy one and

get a physical Bible and bring it to church. And if you don't have

it's all right. You can turn to your neighbor and say, would you

share your Bible with me? Okay? Acts Chapter two. Acts Chapter two

was forty two to forty seven. Okay, let's read the word of God

together, it says. And they continued stayed fastly in the apostles, doctrine

and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. Then fear

came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles.

Now all who believed were together and had all things in common, and

sold their possessions and goods and divided them among all, so as anyone had

needed. So, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking

bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of

heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. Listen, todays

and the Lord added to the church daily those who are being saved. Amen.

So it is the Lord, it is God himself who adds to the

church. Amen. All of us are just being obedient to you know,

being obedient to His call and vessels and servants of God used by Him to

reach to the world. But it is God, it is the work of

the Holy Spirit that adds into his church those who are being saved. And

so if you look at the slight the purpose of the church. I've underlined

in in the words in readmanst that before right, and they continues stayed fast

in apostles Doctrin. That's one second. Second one will be the fellowship,

the breaking up braid, prayers that's for the free fund, will be wonders

and signs. And if you go on there you go also breaking up braid

and also praising God. Okay, so I'm gonna summarize this quickly the six

points. You can go to the next line. So this is really the

elements or the purpose of the church in which exists today. And if you

really look deeper, right, we have all of it in our church today.

And man, we have all of it. Okay, Yeah, thank

God, Praise God. So I'm gonna bring you to one, one of

each each and evera or then one by one. So the first tie is

this doctrine. Doctrine is basically the teaching of the world. And so the

Bible in Roman was to says, do not be conformed to this world,

but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what

is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. So as a church,

we ought not to be conformed to the pattern of this world. We

cannot allow the world or the influence of the world to come into the church.

And how do we do that to the word of God. Amen.

The Word of God has to be teached, you know, to the church

and to our hearts, so that we can continue to renew our minds,

and so that we will stay rooted in the ways of the Lord and not

be conformed and not be shifted like how the wind blows, you know,

in accordance to the world. And so we need the teaching of the Word

of God. And so in our church you will find that we have that

right. We have that we have a Bible classes which we teach the word

of God. We can go deep in it. In fact, I think

we have a cost ongoing for X, the Book of X. You know,

you can sign up for the teaching or the costs on the Book of

X. And I think past the man and the curriculum board. Yes,

we have a curriculum board in church that that rights syllables and that gives to

the teaching and the doctrine of the Word of God so that we and stay

routed in Him. So that's one doctrine. Second fellowship, And how do

you know in our in our church, our fellowship is very really strong.

And when we have a strong community, we love, you know, having

meals together. We love having fun together, we love having fellowship together.

You know, we love going out on our things together and spending time together.

You know. And in simple terms, it's just basically doing life together.

I started by telling you that we are not made solo. We all

need fellowship, we all need friends, we need a community, you know.

In fact, to raise a kid, that's a saying. You know,

it takes a village to raise a kid. Takes a village to raise

a kid, you know, and so many of us see are role models

or examples to kids, you know, who are younger than us or teenagers

who may look up to you, you know, as a as an elderly

or maybe I should used to the elderly, but someone who is older,

who has been to life ahead of them, you know, and they look

up to you as role model. And so in church we have that.

You know, we are made as relational beings and not as robots. Thank

God. We can have fellowship in church. We can have community in church.

Amen. What's the third one? The one is communion, which is

the breaking of bread. Friends, we do this in our church in a

month at least, if I'm not wrong, at least about two or three

times in a month, right, because we do it on the first Sunday

of the month, and we do it at two other homes gathering. Okay,

In fact, the Bible actually tells us that we ought to do it

as often as often as you do it in remembrance of Me, of Jesus

Christ, right and remembers on him. Do it as often as you know,

as often so you can even take it in your home. You can

take it in your in your in your family, in your family author,

wherever it is right, but take it as often. But in church we

also have the breaking of bread. And every time we break braid, every

time we take communion, we remember Christ. Amen, Remember Christ. And

there's power in remembrance, power in remembering what Christ has done for us on

the cross of Calgarry. Amen. So we do that we take community in

church. The fourth one is this prayer, and prayer is basically the time

whereby we activate our faith. You know, someone was coming to church and

we may have prayer needs, we may have struggles around the weak, and

where else can you get accommodity that prays with you is in the church,

right. Uh. And the Bible says when two or three agree, agree

in prayer, right, and in church you can have more than morning one.

We have two or three people who can pray together with you, and

we can agree in prayer and believe for a miracle for a break to amen.

And so prayer happens in church right. In fact, the Bible says,

my house shall be called a house or prayer. And that's why we

have prayers, a resurs, that's why we have prayer in church. That's

why we even have something called the pre worship prayer in our church. Did

you know that we spend a good. Twenty minutes before the worship starts,

we spend twenty minutes to pray for our worship service. We pray for each

and every one of you. We pray for the churches to happen in Malaysia.

We pray for the churches to happen globally. We also pray for our

nation of Malaysia. And we also pray for Israel because the Bible teaches us

to do so. Amen. And so prayer is really important and we need

prayer. Prayer is even as we move the hand of God in the supernatural,

the natural will then follow. Amen. And so prayer is the time

that we activate our faith in church. You know, we believe that change

will be broken. You know, the sick will we heal, the blind

will see, the lame will walk, and all of this, you know,

because God is here in this house. Amen. The free funt of

this worship and worship draws people closer to God. Worship. I think Pastor

Kene already pushed a very awesome message about praise, you know, and he

and and he calls it praise because Judah first, right. You know,

in the olden days, when they go to battles, they will not put

their spearmen and warriors in fun you know who they put the fun musicians,

musicians. They put worshipers at the front of the battle. Why because worship

comes first. Praise comes first. Right, even as we lift our praise,

God's glory and his presence comes down and He takes over. And that's

how they win battles. You know, I'm sure some of words may be

familiar with the story of Jericho. You know whereby the the Israelites march around

Jericho how many times? Seven times? And what did they do? Did

they should errols and use spears and swords. No, it was their shout.

He was their praise. It was the praise that brought the walls down.

Amen. And so praise is really really important. And we do that

in church every every Sunday, right at least good half an hour. Amen.

If you're doing homes and every I think almost every gathering that we have,

we will at least have a moment that we exhort the name of Jesus

to our praise and worship. Amen. And how we have worship, it's

not just about singing. It's a lifestyle. It's a lifestyle, Amen.

And the sixth. One day is power. You saw it in the scripture.

Just now the signs and wonders happen. That's where the power is.

Friends. In the Church of God, there is a power that God has

given to the Church, to the workings and the miracles of the Holy Spirit.

Amen. And why why does the church have the power and in all

day? Is to make a difference. Come on, it is to make

the difference in our community. Because many other places can have religious gatherings,

the question is is there a power in that place to change lives? You

know, do you see transformation? Do you see the sick get healed?

I want to let you know that in the church we have the power because

Christ is here in the church and man his presence is here, and we

have healings that take place. We have, you know, a change that

are broken, those who are going to depression can be set free only under

the power of the Holy Spirit who is here. Amen. So we must

not be a church that have the form of godliness but deny the power.

In Second Timothy, it says that you know, we gotta be careful with

that. We cannot be a church that has a form of godliness but have

no power in it. Come on, we need to have the power because

Christ is here and the Holy Spirit is at work. Can I hear good?

Amen? Amen? And in some way it's this it's just a ministry

unto God. It is a ministry to believe us, and it's a ministry

to the world. I think we had this in one of the Homesnots a

couple of years ago. It is a ministry under the law God, when

we worship God, when we pray unto Him, when we take communion,

it's a ministry unto the Lord we remember him. Amen's also a ministry unto

the believers, which is to the world to prayer, to baptism, to

fellowship. And it's also a ministry to the world to evangelism and meeting the

needs of the community around us. And that's why we do community works.

Amen. And so I want to say this our encourageation and everyone of us

to be rooted and to be found in the House of God, because there's

a lot of power in that. You see, the way how God has

designed the church to be is actually a very unique censorreby it's very practical.

You know, when you come to worship service on a Sunday, we have

a good half an hour that we praise and worship the Lord. The question

I'll ask you is this, how many of us actually spend half an hour

worshiping the Lord at home? If I should have raised our hands, most

of us might not raise our hands. And that is why in church we

at least have half an hour, come on, at least have half an

hour in a week. Then we praise God and worship God straight. We're

focusing on God, you know, and we just we also listen to the

world of God being preached for forty five minutes or one hour, you know,

we take our bi hors out, we take our note past hour,

we write notes, and we have undivided attention to the Word of God.

Because if I asked us, how when other time would we do that?

At home? You know, maybe we will be really busy at home,

you know, with our work and our studies, and we don't really have

the time. But in church, at least for two hours we are seated

here and we have an undivided attention focused on God. Amens us very practical.

Let me give you an example prayer service. How many hours will spend

one hour praying at home, undivided attention. You will pray for one hour,

non stop, nonstoper for one hour, praying for the needs of your

friends, the church, the nation, and so on and so forth.

Hardly, hardly ever, right, And sometimes I also catch myself like that,

you know. But in prayers we at least have one hour to one

a half hours of prayer, at least UNDI better attention, pray for one

hour straight, you know, and everyone participates. So that's the beauty of

it, right, It's very practical. So prayer service helps us to draw

closer to God. To prayer. Amen. And what about homes? Right?

If not for homes, I'm not sure how many of us we actually

spend time eating with one another or having meals with another. Let me go

deeper. How about what you share about your life struggles with others? If

it's not for homes, so think about it. Actually, our Sunday worship,

our prayer service, our homes is very practical. He draws us closer

to God and to the community here. Amen, Even as iron chapins iron,

even as our brothers another brother, sister chapins another another sister. There's

encouragement in the house of God. You know, and the Bible teaches us

to pray for one another. So just imagine, if you're alone at home,

how can you pray for one another? Who are you going to pray

for? You know who's going to pay for you. You know who's going

to encourage you, who's going to lift you up if you're alone at home.

So we need to be planted and rooted in the House of God so

that we will flourished and bear much food. Amen. And so I heard

this analogy online somewhere on Instagram. It's very funny. I would like to

share it with you. Our life is like a car, you know.

Our life is like a car. Imagine you have a car, and sometimes

some of us would put Jesus in the boot, in the trunk, you

know, And when we come to church on a Sunday, we'll open our

trunk and we take him out, and then we worshiped a lot for two

hours. And then after that, after service over, we go back to

the trunk and put him back in there, and then we go about our

life, you know. And he only comes out on a Sunday. And

of course some of us have grown and we would then position Jesus in the

back seat. And so now he's a passenger. You know, you're driving

the car and Jesus is in a passenger. You will talk to him,

he will talk to you. You, but you are a driving You are

on the driving wheel, right. You decide where you want to go in

life. And he's just a friend to you, sitting in a passenger at

the back. And some of us grow, even as we grow, we

will place him at a front seat as a passenger, and now he's a

friend. It's a co pilot next to you. Maybe he will guide you

through the direction. Sometimes you will listen, sometimes you won't. But you

are still in a driver seat. You are still in a jerver seat.

And even as we continue to grow, we will then eventually put Jesus in

the driver's seat. And so now Jesus takes the wheel and he lives our

life and guides our life. And we will then be a passenger, and

we would journey with him, and we will follow him, and we will

give him control of all life. I think this morning we saying, Holy

Spirit, take over right, all of my dreams, all of my hopes,

take over. I want to I want to live for you, I

want to live with you. I want to follow your ways. Amen.

So he's in a driver's seat. But the question is this, even though

Jesus in the driver's seat, are we a back seat driver? We could

still be in the back seat, but be a back seat driver. Whereby

when Jesus comes to a crossworld or a t junction and you're a butter offended

you and Jesus says, forgive him, he turns right and you say,

no, Jesus, how can I How can I forgive this this butter?

You know? I can't do it? And you want to turn left,

turn left, turn left, you know, choose a lot of unforgiveness,

and Jesus takes the right turn. Will you obey? You know? And

so question is is Jesus in the driving seat? Is he in a driver's

seat? And the next question we must ask ourselves is are we a back

seat driver? Are we a back seat driver? So we need to be

rooted in the house of God, you know, we need to be serving

in the House of God. I want to encourage you wherever you go,

whether it is for work, whether is for traveling, always find a community

and a church to be builted in. Always. And so I'm going to

quickly close to this testimony because my time is up. When I went to

the US for work and travel many years back, I remember before I went

to the US, I actually already researched about church to go to. And

as I landed there, that Sunday itself, I went to church. I

paid the price I had to pay for a cab. I think it was

in US dollars, so it's like fifteen dollars. Time is four so it's

it's expensive for a ten minutes drive. And so I went to church and

I immediately felt the warming church. You know, there were a lot of

somehow the church had a lot of elderly people, but they were really kind

to us. You know, they got they got to know that me and

my friends took a cab to church. They were like, oh, I

don't know, I will send you back home. You know on your way.

On your way back, you want to go and buy some groceries.

So they took us to go and buy some groceries, show us around the

place. I first time walking to the church in US, Okay, and

they sent us back home. And he told us, oh, so next

week are you coming, I'll pick you up here and so they continue to

pick us up the church, back and forth, back and forth. And

so I was working in the US for about three months and and and I

never skipped a Sunday. I continued to go right, and they continue to

fetch us. They take turns to fetch us. And they were so kind

they opened the house to us. In fact, I had worked on a

Sunday actually, but I told my boss, can you please just give me

my Sunday morning so I can attend church. Just give me my Sunday morning.

And what I would do is I would go in early on a Sunday

morning to open the store because I was a supervisor. I will open the

store, make sure the store is clean, and once the staff comes in,

I will then leave and go to church in the morning. And then

after I'll come back in the afternoon again at about two pm, you know.

And so I was found serving. I found routed in the church even

in the US. And here's where the testimony is. So after it came

back from the US, other students in the axt church also went to work

and travel in the US, and they also went to the same place that

I went. Uh And so I recommended a church to them, Hey,

you know what, you can go to the church. I went there.

Uh, you know, the teaching is sound. You know, it's a

good church. Don't know way they will take care of you. They will

take good care of you. And so the following years, uh, other

students also went to the same church, and they got really connected that the

people very friendly, they took care of them. Uh. And then and

and and they came back. And later on I found out like even as

the years went by, the first year, second year, third year,

fourth years, the students continue to go back to the same church. And

here's where the testimony is. I think by the third or fourth batch,

is it the fourth batch, some of the students were already serving in the

church, serving in the church in the US. And I was like,

wow, it started with me just attending a church, got connected, got

rooted, you know. But I never imagined that some of our students could

be in the church in the US and serving on the on the band,

you know, I think some of them were on drums, some were singing,

someone guitar something like that, you know, and and it's amazing,

you know. And so basically what I'm trying to say is that be rooted

in the House of God. Be rooted in the House of God. And

if you're always looking for belonging, let me give you a tape. Oftentimes

people say, I find my belonging in church, then I serve. But

how many, ever, know it's always the other way around. It should

be I serve to find my belonging. Do you know why, Because you

can never really truly find belonging if you just come into a Sunday service for

two hours and go back home. The interaction is too litter, too litter.

But when you really serve in the House of God, you will begin

to spend extra time with people. You know, you have to wake up

early, you have to come early. You know, you begin to serve

alongside people. And even as we prepare for service, we always have time

in between that we can chat, we can have fellowship, get to know

each other, ask another brother or sister, how you're doing, what work

do you do, you know, house, your family, and things like

that. And so it's only when we really serve and get routed in the

House of God. It is when we were fine to belonging. And I

want to encourage you to do that, and then you know, even as

we serve the Lord in the house, oftentimes we will step on each other's

toes. We were rubbed shoulders. And the more you serve, you will

have experiences like that. Now, I'm not saying that after this you should

go around and step on each other's toes, but you get the idea.

You know, when you're walking, when you are serving alongside somebody else so

closely, so closely, it's bound to happen. And so I picture myself

when I was in China one time, traveling and you're walking through a very

crowded place. It was sad impact and I was wearing white shoes. It

was not white after, you know. And so churches, when you serve

the Lord together is like that. You know you will only have opportunity to

step on each other's toes when you work closely enough. You know you will

only rap shoulders when you actually work closely enough. Amen. So I encourage

you. You know, if you're still looking for belonging, just slf be

part of a ministry and serve the Lord, and I wissure you that you

will fine sure belonging even when you serve the Lord. Amen. We hope

you've been blessed by this message. For more information on our church, please

visit as Church RG. We are also active on Facebook and Instagram. We're

believing that this week is going to be a good week ahead for you. God bless