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Tabernacle of Christ: A Church That Inspires Faith in God

29 May 2023 blogpastor 1 Comment

My wife and I received a warm welcome after being ushered into the office of Pastors Francis and Peggy Ng, the husband and wife that founded the church and continue to lead it.

We were thrilled to be invited there as I have heard about this church and met the Senior Pastor in Covenant Pastors fellowship, and also heard him speak in a panel at a recent MFIS Equip Conference. Even in that short answer to a question, I noted his eloquence and his story-telling skills. The prophetic mantle is expressed differently through different personalities, and his is one that is winsome, inspirational and persuasive. Therefore, I was not surprised when he took the church stage after the song set had been sung, that he was able to lift the atmosphere and get the congregation on their feet, praising the Lord.

Pentecost Sunday

It was Pentecost Sunday, and I gave a teaching on “Following the Lead of the Spirit” to honour the presence and person of the Holy Spirit, remembering how He came on the Day of Pentecost to unify and empower the body of waiting and praying believers 2,000 years ago. The positive energizing worship really made it easier for me to teach the Word, and the message ended with a call for prayer and ministry. As I was praying for people in the front, I passed by a “catcher” with a familiar face that resembled an actor, but I thought this could not be. Later, I found out he is the famous actor, Charlie Goh, from Ah Boys to Men movies. There were members taking selfies with him and of course I took one too. Very pleasant person, and as it turned out, he is with Fly Entertainment, the same agency as new actor Paul Lee Wen Por, my nephew.

We were invited to lunch at nearby Northpoint where we got to know the pastors better. I must say their journey was inspiring and colorful enough for a book to be written. They left their jobs in their 20s to live by faith and join the church in full time ministry – without a salary. They experienced God’s miraculous provision in the midst of suffering hardship. The pastor of the church they had served told them then, “I did not call you and the church did not call you. God called you, so you have to trust God for finance”. That was the period that vital foundations were laid that shaped the trajectory of their life and ministry – faith in God and God alone would be a hallmark of their service. It distinguished them in all their endeavors in the church and in the marketplace. This positive faith in God has also been imparted the members, Sunday after Sunday, year on year with sermons and stories of healings, answers to prayer and prophetic encounters and breakthroughs.

A Remarkable Miracle

One of the most remarkable miracles the church witnessed was the healing of their son Samuel from autism. Not mild autism but serious autism. Peggy shared about their struggles with their son: the challenge of getting a school to accept him; reading books to him while he runs around the room; trying to handle him as he screams in public; and teaching a dyslexic son basic English and Math. In their helplessness, what can they do but to look to God in faith and pray? Indeed, the breakthrough they were looking for came in his secondary school years as marked improvements accompanied his advancement till he received scholarships from NTU university, and he is currently in a PhD program. This is nothing short of a miracle and I could see how their faces lit up when they shared this story. After all they were direct participants in the miracle! You can access the miracle story HERE.

We went home with our stomachs filled and our hearts infused with faith and warmed by their hospitality. Tabernacle of Christ is a church that God would be pleased with for “without faith it is impossible to please God.”

To view more stories of my visits/ministry in other churches go HERE.

Journal Jottings and Fruit of Revival

19 May 2023 blogpastor Leave a comment

I had this big box from buying a Philips all in one cooker. I decided to use it to store all my journals because the current box was too small. Since I was transferring it I decided to specify the years on the spines of the journals. The earliest existing journal was 1982. I had journals from an earlier period but I had somehow discarded them. The earlier ones were mainly devotional notes of my Bible meditations. On a whim, I picked up the oldest and began to read it. Surprisingly I could not put it down as it was so fun to read. I put some up on my Instagram story, and sent some to relevant individuals to affirm them, and stir pleasant memories.

I noticed that 1982 was a year that displayed some spiritual fruit ten years after the revival of 1972 caused my home church, World Revival Prayer Fellowship, to be formed. The significant fruit was the number of people who heard and responded to God’s invitation to them to serve Him in different ways. My journal recorded them.

Examples of revival fruit

There was Simeon and Jacob, two brothers who joined the Discipleship Training School of YWAM. The former went on to serve in a YWAM in Taiwan, and as a leader in two big Asian regions. It has been about 40 years, with more years to come. My journal jotting on 28 July 1982: “We prayed for Simeon Siau. The Committee sat down together to pray and seek the Lord’s will. I felt that the harvest is great but workers are few and the Lord wants to thrust him forth as a gift to the nations.”

The latter, Jacob, joined YWAM Calcutta on staff (see my actual journal entry below), and then YWAM Nepal where he got arrested with a YWAM team and spent a few days in prison for “preaching the gospel”. Later on, he returned to our home church to serve in a church plant, and later to return to the workplace. This is revival fruit.

My journal jot for Thomas Tan on 27 June 1982 was a mere 11 words: “We sent Thomas Tan with the blessings of God upon him”, but he has been serving the Lord the last 40 years. He joined Operation Mobilization Pakistan land team for two years. This was followed by WEC Missionary Training College, and then seven years with Frontiers, reaching the unreached Pushtun people group in Peshawar. After that, he returned home and has since been serving in the local church as a pastor. This is revival fruit.

My sister Joyce was not sent by the church but she felt a call to enter into the Evangelical Sisterhood of Mary to live in community and service. She has taken her vows and her new name is Beryl. She served in the Australian branch and returned back to the mother house in Darmstadt, Germany. I jotted in my journal on 20 May 1982: “Went to Crest book room to buy a Bible for Joyce before she leaves for W Germany next week. There was none suitable so I decided to give her the money $200 as a gift from us.” She has been serving with the sisterhood about 40 years now. This is revival fruit.

I was called into pastoral work in 1979, and that very year attended Tung Ling Bible School. However, it was in my third year of theological education (1982), that I was officially installed as assistant pastor to Pastor P.J. Johney. Later, on the 9^th March 1986, I was ordained. I served my home church for 40 years. This is revival fruit.

There are many others in my home church who went on to serve the Lord before and after 1982. Revival fruit.

Evidence of true revival

When the Spirit is poured out in mighty streams of living water, the lives of many are transformed. The desire to serve God is pervasive and is very strong and lasting in some individuals. It is like fire in the bones and it propels them into His service in the local church. Over the years of faithfulness, their spiritual gifts and strengths are identified and developed, and the passion is narrowed down and more specific. The flame does not die out, it keeps energizing them and carrying them over obstacles. When they fail it drives them closer to God and deepen their life. They respond to God with enduring faith. This is a significant fruit of true revival. Lasting fruit is one of the marks of a genuine revival. Going viral on YouTube does not qualify as revival fruit.

Journaling journey

My journaling journey seemed to have begun as Bible meditation notes. It was Rev Brian Bailey of World MAP, who encouraged this practice of writing down the insights one gathered from Bible meditation. Then it went into simple diary-like reports of what I did and what happened around me, without much reflection of where God had been present or what he may be saying to me. This was what my 1982 journal was like. I wonder how my journaling evolved. I do not know if I will go on to read a few more journals, maybe in 5 year intervals to get an overview of my journaling journey. This sounds like an interesting project, but I do not have time for this right now. God willing, I would like to do it.

Christ’s Finished Work: Providence

13 April 2023 blogpastor Leave a comment

Providence is God’s governance, care and control of the universe because he is Almighty God and Creator. God’s providence existed before the cross and the empty tomb and it moved events, people and history towards that turning point when Jesus died and rose again to defeat sin, death and the devil. Providence had always worked for the growth and the good of God’s elect, the vast family of God. It will continue to do so till the end of this age is consummated through the return of Christ to the earth to establish an eternal kingdom. For us believers, this providence that is focused on our good is one of God’s many blessings bestowed on his much beloved children.

Providence is God’s care and control of the universe, of history and of nations, of the church and its individual believers. It is his will and power to cause things to gravitate towards the end he intended. By involving himself in human history through the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God gave us an excellent model of his providential and redemptive love for humanity.

The oft-quoted verse in Romans 8:28 refers to God’s providence. “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” The “all things” is God’s ability to control all things in the universe and to cause all things to work for his good purpose for “those who love God”, that is, his children. This gives us great assurance and comfort about the past, the present and the future. We do not have to worry. Whatever happens to us, whether good or evil, all we need to do is to trust in his providential and redemptive love. He will cause all things to work for his good purposes.

Even in the face of seeming betrayal, suffering and abandonment, Joseph of the Old Testament, found God’s faithful providence in action in his life. Out of jealousy his brothers sold him into slavery in Egypt and virtually destroyed his life. However, God’s care and governance over the circumstances of his life, propelled him to the office of Prime Minister of Egypt, second in authority only to the Pharaoh. His long trial and experience of God’s intervention and control of events led him to say to his brothers: “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives” (Gen 50:20). This is God’s providence towards those he chose to covenant with.

Philip the evangelist experienced God’s providence when the Spirit transported him supernaturally to the desert road to catch sight of the Ethiopian eunuch, who while on his way back to Ethiopia, he happened to be reading a scroll of Isaiah’s prophecies, precisely when Philip approached his chariot. He explained to the eunuch the prophecy the eunuch could not understand, and he preached the good news about Jesus to him. The eunuch confessed his faith in Christ and was baptised in water. Tradition has it that he spread the gospel when he returned to his homeland.

God’s providence is often confused with God’s provision. God’s provision is God’s supply of our needs – material and spiritual. Apostle Paul confidently declared that God would supply all the needs of the church in Philippi according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus (Phi 4:19). To the church in Corinth, he wrote: “And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work” and “You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God” (2 Cor 9:8,11). God’s provision is one of the many ways we experience God’s providence but it is “technically” distinguishable from it.

What does providence look like today? That job vacancy that opened up right after you quit your job and the interviewer was somebody who was impressed with your integrity in his past work dealings with you. You bumped into an old friend who was as keen and passionate in starting a similar business that you have been praying about. That unplanned meeting with an uncle who shared with you a verse that resolved an issue that deeply troubled you in prayer. “The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives” (Ps 37:23 NLT).

This is part of a planned series of writings on the topic, “The A to Z of Christ’s Finished Work”. I am writing it alphabet by alphabet. Thus far the others that I have written can be found HERE.