Rev Clement Wong
Tabernacle of Praise's 34th Anniversary (Combined Service)
Good morning. I want to congratulate the church for 34 years of existence. God has been faithful. My question is have the church been faithful to God?
One day there was a church that went into a big church building project. The committee said to the congregation, we have good news and bad news. So they asked, what's the good news? The good news is that we have the money already. So they asked, what's the bad news? The bad news is that the money is in your pocket.
A church with a vision plans for the future. We must see beyond our lifetime. We must plan the church for our future generation.
But I see a huge problem in church. Many children are physically taller than their parents but is spiritually shorter. We have to build a generation that is strong in the Lord after we have gone to heaven. Our children, or grand children or great grand children.
So lets turn to your iPhone or for some your Samseng phone to Ephesians. (laughs)
Ephesians 4:11-16
And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; 14 that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, 15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— 16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.
This passage of scripture is what I call a very heavy passage. Full of words and much about the church. I will try to dissect it and help you understand what it means for the church.
That's why I am happy for the announcement where you all are working hard for the Christmas with the community event.
I believe the church is not build for the believers but for the world.
But in verse 11, we sometimes call this the five fold ministry. The Lord has given to the church the five fold ministry. They are offices given to the church.
It is easy to understand and remember. We have five fingers or for some who is more specific, four fingers and one thumb.
The first, your thumb is for the Apostles. He builds the foundation of the church. So the thumb is very important for the hand. You need it to write or even to use a spoon. If you try to break an egg with four fingers is very difficult without your thumb.
Then we have the Prophet. The index finger which we use for pointing. Who points the finger and say "Thus saith the Lord". He give directions from the Lord.
Next, your middle finger is the Evangelist. The evangelist is the tallest one and he stands out. They go town to town and cause a whirlwind and the pastors have to clean up.
Then we have the Pastor who is the ring finger. He marries you and he buries you.
And the last one, your little finger is the Teacher. What he says goes into your ears (sticks finger into ear).
They're a gift to the church. When I stand before my church, I always see myself as a gift to my church. You may say "Wah pastor so proud" but it's not me who says this but the bible says.
The five fold ministry is a gift to the church. Because of this, I feel a heavy responsibility. I feel the call of God in my life. I believe we cannot employ the five fold because he's a gift.
But you may say, "but pastor we pay you wat". But I always say you can never give me enough. Because I am a gift. But they say "if you are a gift then free lo". I've got smart church members. You can never hire a five fold ministry. You can never hire and fire. Some of you think you can and do it and you face the judgement of God. I say if you're not happy with me, tell my boss. It is wiser to fear God than men.
I am reminded that when I answered God, I remember God said it is He that called me and not man. When it is man that call me, then it is easy to give up. Have I tried to throw in the towel and give up? Yes, in all sizes and colours. If it is God that called me I will not give up.
If you want to be a strong church, love the gift that God gave you.
I tell my church you can never pay me enough. You can give me as much as you want but my reward comes from God. My pay is out of this world. (laughs)
Why did God give us His gift? Are we perfect? No. Are you perfect? No. If I am perfect, I wouldn't want my congregation. If my church members are perfect, they wouldn't want me. We are all sinners saved by grace. Anyone goes to heaven because he is handsome? If anyone qualify its me. (laughs)
Why? For the equipping of the saints. As like in a military to train you to put weapon in your hands and show you how to fight. To equip us for the work of the ministry. I realize that as a pastor my work is not to do the ministry but to equip the saints to do the work of the ministry. Who? Turn to your neighbour and said YOU. Who does visiting the sick in the hospital? Oh, we employ the pastor to do visitation. Who does the counseling? Oh we pay the pastor do that. Who pray for the needy? Oh we pay another pastor to pray. So what do we do? We go out and make money and eat 10%.
I see some churches, not TOP of course (laughs), it is like in a stadium. 22 players playing and 50,000 commentators. This is a problem with some churches, not TOP.
But the scripture say God gave the five fold ministry to equip you to do the work of the ministry. You lay hands on the sick, you go visitation, you share with the unbelievers. What does the pastor do? The pastor train you.
I am glad there are cell leaders. Cell leaders are like shepherds. You may say "wah Pastor I have 10 members and already so stressed. I don't know how you can handle hundreds of members." You need to be trained. You must be willing to be trained.
When you are in boot camp you don't ask why. This is the problem with the "Y" generation. Everything they ask why. You are trained to obey. You don't ask why. When the captain say jump, you say how high. When he says run, you ask how fast.
You don't ask why because at the battlefield bullets fly in all directions. When the sergeant say "hit the deck", you don't ask why. You hit the deck. Otherwise you hit the deck backwards. Then the sergeant will tell you "that's why la". (laughs)
God has given us the five fold ministry to equip us. Let's be obedient. If everyone of us do the work of the ministry, can you imagine how fast the church will grow. We are like the football spectators. We just complain. It is easy to complain but not easy to do it. You think it's easy to score a goal in front of an open goal? It is not easy.
So we want to tell our pastor to train us. To do the work of the ministry, to edify the body. Unless the saints do the work of the ministry we cannot edify the body. I used to almost visit everybody. It is impossible to visit everybody now. There's just no time. I cannot do everything. But we have others doing it.
A lot of people like to just talk. Don't just talk. If you want to talk talk to the right people.
Till we all come to the unity of the faith. When the body of Christ is being edified, then there is true unity in the church. The church cannot mature if we only want to employ somebody to do the work.
Look at the scripture. When everybody serves God, everyone is edified and there is true unity. There are too many babies in church. They don't do anything. They only complain. Some people after 20 years still ask "why nobody visit me?" Hello?!! You should be visiting others. Then the church will never grow. We are suppose to mature in Christ. And you can never mature if you don't serve. We need to grow up.
When you serve God in the ministry we will all come to the unity of the faith. The five fold that God gave to us is to mature the body of Christ. So the church must grow up. So that all of us can be a powerful force, all to be like Christ, no longer like children. When we grow up we will reproduce. When the church grows, we will need more pastors to equip the saints.
No prayer pastor, no visitation pastor. All of us should be doing that. If I visit you, then very serious already.
Can you imagine if all of us do visitation, how many is being reached? If half of you do discipleship, how many will be discipled? I still do visitation but rarely. I have leaders who do that.
We will jump a few verses. Verse 15, Ephesians 4:15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ—
The truth will help us grow. We may not like it but it will set us free.
Verse 16, how does the church work? Ephesians 4:16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.
The scripture says, the body is joined together and strengthened when everyone work together. The body can only be strengthened when everybody does their share. So in your anniversary, you need to ask yourself, what part do you play? Is it worship, music, multimedia, cleanliness of the church, usher, or the cell or even cooking? My mother used to cook and everybody loves her cooking and come just for that. And through that, she got many of her friends saved.
Another one of my member love coffee and he is a coffee connoisseur. He has many coffee making machine and many just want to go to his home because o that. And they got saved.
What can you do? Not what you cannot do. Many times you only think of what you cannot do. Some people want to sing when they can't. Want to try, don't try. You torture the congregation.
Can you drive someone to church? "Pastor out of the way la." There is no greater joy than to bring someone to church. Even if it is out of the way.
The sweetest words to our pastor is "Pastor what can I do for the church? Where you lead me I will follow, what you feed me I will swallow." (hilarious laughter)
I have been to many churches and in every church there is a unique person. There was this church where every service there is this elderly women that would come to the front of the church to dance. (Pastor Clement dancing to illustrate - laughs). So what? She has been rejected by many churches. Let her be accepted and loved. I see this church and I say they have matured. Let us all grow up.
One day there was a church that went into a big church building project. The committee said to the congregation, we have good news and bad news. So they asked, what's the good news? The good news is that we have the money already. So they asked, what's the bad news? The bad news is that the money is in your pocket.
A church with a vision plans for the future. We must see beyond our lifetime. We must plan the church for our future generation.
But I see a huge problem in church. Many children are physically taller than their parents but is spiritually shorter. We have to build a generation that is strong in the Lord after we have gone to heaven. Our children, or grand children or great grand children.
So lets turn to your iPhone or for some your Samseng phone to Ephesians. (laughs)
Ephesians 4:11-16
And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; 14 that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, 15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— 16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.
This passage of scripture is what I call a very heavy passage. Full of words and much about the church. I will try to dissect it and help you understand what it means for the church.
That's why I am happy for the announcement where you all are working hard for the Christmas with the community event.
I believe the church is not build for the believers but for the world.
But in verse 11, we sometimes call this the five fold ministry. The Lord has given to the church the five fold ministry. They are offices given to the church.
It is easy to understand and remember. We have five fingers or for some who is more specific, four fingers and one thumb.
The first, your thumb is for the Apostles. He builds the foundation of the church. So the thumb is very important for the hand. You need it to write or even to use a spoon. If you try to break an egg with four fingers is very difficult without your thumb.
Then we have the Prophet. The index finger which we use for pointing. Who points the finger and say "Thus saith the Lord". He give directions from the Lord.
Next, your middle finger is the Evangelist. The evangelist is the tallest one and he stands out. They go town to town and cause a whirlwind and the pastors have to clean up.
Then we have the Pastor who is the ring finger. He marries you and he buries you.
And the last one, your little finger is the Teacher. What he says goes into your ears (sticks finger into ear).
They're a gift to the church. When I stand before my church, I always see myself as a gift to my church. You may say "Wah pastor so proud" but it's not me who says this but the bible says.
The five fold ministry is a gift to the church. Because of this, I feel a heavy responsibility. I feel the call of God in my life. I believe we cannot employ the five fold because he's a gift.
But you may say, "but pastor we pay you wat". But I always say you can never give me enough. Because I am a gift. But they say "if you are a gift then free lo". I've got smart church members. You can never hire a five fold ministry. You can never hire and fire. Some of you think you can and do it and you face the judgement of God. I say if you're not happy with me, tell my boss. It is wiser to fear God than men.
I am reminded that when I answered God, I remember God said it is He that called me and not man. When it is man that call me, then it is easy to give up. Have I tried to throw in the towel and give up? Yes, in all sizes and colours. If it is God that called me I will not give up.
If you want to be a strong church, love the gift that God gave you.
I tell my church you can never pay me enough. You can give me as much as you want but my reward comes from God. My pay is out of this world. (laughs)
Why did God give us His gift? Are we perfect? No. Are you perfect? No. If I am perfect, I wouldn't want my congregation. If my church members are perfect, they wouldn't want me. We are all sinners saved by grace. Anyone goes to heaven because he is handsome? If anyone qualify its me. (laughs)
Why? For the equipping of the saints. As like in a military to train you to put weapon in your hands and show you how to fight. To equip us for the work of the ministry. I realize that as a pastor my work is not to do the ministry but to equip the saints to do the work of the ministry. Who? Turn to your neighbour and said YOU. Who does visiting the sick in the hospital? Oh, we employ the pastor to do visitation. Who does the counseling? Oh we pay the pastor do that. Who pray for the needy? Oh we pay another pastor to pray. So what do we do? We go out and make money and eat 10%.
I see some churches, not TOP of course (laughs), it is like in a stadium. 22 players playing and 50,000 commentators. This is a problem with some churches, not TOP.
But the scripture say God gave the five fold ministry to equip you to do the work of the ministry. You lay hands on the sick, you go visitation, you share with the unbelievers. What does the pastor do? The pastor train you.
I am glad there are cell leaders. Cell leaders are like shepherds. You may say "wah Pastor I have 10 members and already so stressed. I don't know how you can handle hundreds of members." You need to be trained. You must be willing to be trained.
When you are in boot camp you don't ask why. This is the problem with the "Y" generation. Everything they ask why. You are trained to obey. You don't ask why. When the captain say jump, you say how high. When he says run, you ask how fast.
You don't ask why because at the battlefield bullets fly in all directions. When the sergeant say "hit the deck", you don't ask why. You hit the deck. Otherwise you hit the deck backwards. Then the sergeant will tell you "that's why la". (laughs)
God has given us the five fold ministry to equip us. Let's be obedient. If everyone of us do the work of the ministry, can you imagine how fast the church will grow. We are like the football spectators. We just complain. It is easy to complain but not easy to do it. You think it's easy to score a goal in front of an open goal? It is not easy.
So we want to tell our pastor to train us. To do the work of the ministry, to edify the body. Unless the saints do the work of the ministry we cannot edify the body. I used to almost visit everybody. It is impossible to visit everybody now. There's just no time. I cannot do everything. But we have others doing it.
A lot of people like to just talk. Don't just talk. If you want to talk talk to the right people.
Till we all come to the unity of the faith. When the body of Christ is being edified, then there is true unity in the church. The church cannot mature if we only want to employ somebody to do the work.
Look at the scripture. When everybody serves God, everyone is edified and there is true unity. There are too many babies in church. They don't do anything. They only complain. Some people after 20 years still ask "why nobody visit me?" Hello?!! You should be visiting others. Then the church will never grow. We are suppose to mature in Christ. And you can never mature if you don't serve. We need to grow up.
When you serve God in the ministry we will all come to the unity of the faith. The five fold that God gave to us is to mature the body of Christ. So the church must grow up. So that all of us can be a powerful force, all to be like Christ, no longer like children. When we grow up we will reproduce. When the church grows, we will need more pastors to equip the saints.
No prayer pastor, no visitation pastor. All of us should be doing that. If I visit you, then very serious already.
Can you imagine if all of us do visitation, how many is being reached? If half of you do discipleship, how many will be discipled? I still do visitation but rarely. I have leaders who do that.
We will jump a few verses. Verse 15, Ephesians 4:15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ—
The truth will help us grow. We may not like it but it will set us free.
Verse 16, how does the church work? Ephesians 4:16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.
The scripture says, the body is joined together and strengthened when everyone work together. The body can only be strengthened when everybody does their share. So in your anniversary, you need to ask yourself, what part do you play? Is it worship, music, multimedia, cleanliness of the church, usher, or the cell or even cooking? My mother used to cook and everybody loves her cooking and come just for that. And through that, she got many of her friends saved.
Another one of my member love coffee and he is a coffee connoisseur. He has many coffee making machine and many just want to go to his home because o that. And they got saved.
What can you do? Not what you cannot do. Many times you only think of what you cannot do. Some people want to sing when they can't. Want to try, don't try. You torture the congregation.
Can you drive someone to church? "Pastor out of the way la." There is no greater joy than to bring someone to church. Even if it is out of the way.
The sweetest words to our pastor is "Pastor what can I do for the church? Where you lead me I will follow, what you feed me I will swallow." (hilarious laughter)
I have been to many churches and in every church there is a unique person. There was this church where every service there is this elderly women that would come to the front of the church to dance. (Pastor Clement dancing to illustrate - laughs). So what? She has been rejected by many churches. Let her be accepted and loved. I see this church and I say they have matured. Let us all grow up.
Note from the transcriber: This is one of the most difficult sermon to transcribe because it is interrupted by too many laughter. Shaking hands not good on the iPhone's keyboard ;-)
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| The Church Board together with Pastor Gideon and the Anniversary cake. |
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| And here they are ready to cut the cake. |
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| The lighted candles showing 34 Years of God's faithfulness to TOP. |
And here is a poem composed by by Bro Terence Low for the occasion.
TABERNACLE OF PRAISE (TOP)
Your Community Friend
Tabernacle of Praise
34 years of God’s amazing Grace
Tabernacle of Praise
JESUS CHRIST is LORD of this Place
Tabernacle of Praise
Lifting God high in worship and praise
God has placed TOP above and at the top
TOP stays top, praises go on non stop
God is faithful throughout the years
He saw our weaknesses and fears
He felt our sweat and tears
All our cries and prayers, He hears
We prayed fervently at PPN
We need to enlarge and extend TOP’s tent
To take up 3rd floor and no more paying rent
God heard and His Kingdom will expand
The Spirit of the Lord has anointed TOP
To preach the gospel to the poor and needy
Healing the sick and the brokenhearted
Setting the oppressed and captives free
3rd year of TOP’s Christmas with the Community
Touching lives with God’s love and mercy
To bring them joy, hope and charity
To love and to serve the needy unconditionally
We trust God for wisdom and direction
We will work and serve together in unison
Caring and sharing with one heart and one mission
Laboring in humility for one goal and one vision
TOP’s Christmas with the Community
Hee hee ha ha anyone who comes will be happy
Got so many kinds of food, so ho chiak and so tasty
Char mee, kueh and TOP’s famous baked cookies
TOP’s Christmas with the Community
Full of uncles, aunties and kiddies
Lots of fun games, prizes, goodies and freebies
TOP would not miss such evangelistic opportunities
Free haircuts, health checks, songs and talks
Exciting programs, activities, stalls for all walks
May each visitor feel God’s compassion and love
May everyone experience a special touch from above
We declare that JESUS is LORD over Jelutong
With God’s whole armor TOP is battle strong
Harvesting souls with victories after victories
JESUS’ name is lifted high in the community
5 comments:
Hi Kenny, thanks for this great job of putting the sunday message here week after week.
I would like to refer to the second last paragraph... " What you do, I'll follow. What you say (should be 'feed') I'll swallow. (laughs)"
Well done Kenny, great job! You have 90% of my message. Its "Pastor what can I do for the church, where you lead me I will follow, what you feed me I will swallow." (not laughs but hilarious laughter :D)
the above is me Ps Clement
Ok ok, amendments made Pastor Clement. After all, feedback is coming from the horse's mouth. BTW, please read my closing statement. Hahaha...
Bro Terence, you are welcomed and thanks for your poems year after year :-)
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