Sunday, 21st November 2021
Rev Daniel Xi An Poon
Since we established our church in 2009, we have been searching for our church direction. We tried to copy what other churches are doing, but we still could not find our direction. Until 2020 when the pandemic hit, we could not go anywhere, but to pray every day. We have morning devotions and prayers six days a week, and Sunday Service once a week, and God started to speak to us more and more. God does not want us to be a copycat, but to follow the Holy Spirit and to follow His guidance. It’s just like when the Israelites left Egypt in the wilderness for 40 years, God provided and God led them Himself.
God does not want us to just be a local church, but to influence the nations. But we need to have this foundation, and we need to have unity. How can we bring unity to the group of people God has given to us? When we have the unity, then we can influence others, and bring impact to the nations. Right now, our mission is to have unity, to be committed to each other, to see God’s vision for us together, stop worrying about our own personal matters, but to be lifted up. God wants to lift us up in 2022, to let down of all of our ‘doing’, to let go of all our fear, but to completely relying on God. Following God is not a religious ritual, but a journey to experience our lives change.
Pastor Abraham Liu (Guest Speaker)
Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body. Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify 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 husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. (Ephesians 5:22-32)
God sees His church like a husband sees his wife. God cares about relationship a lot, and He longs to build an intimae relationship with the church. This is a great mystery that we must understand. The relationship God treasures is very close and initiate, it means that even in facing challenges, God will be with us to face it together. A lot of time, the relationship we have in our mind is different to the relationship God has in His mind. Unity is a choice, no on can force us to build a relationship with someone, and no one can decide if we want to have an intimate relationship with the other person or not. If we chose to be connected for the sake of unity.
What is unity? It’s when something happen, we don’t finger point at each other, but to come together, to solve problems and to breakthrough together. When we finger point, we will not make the other party feel we are teaching them, instead, they will feel rejected. Unity is when a problem comes out, it’s not to run away from it, but to solve it together. The enemy can attack us easily when we don’t have unity among us. Unity is to put the needs and wants of other party into our own plan, to stop thinking that we are always right, but to think for others.
We must see other people’s success as our own joy, to learn to celebrate other people’s achievement. It’s easy to see how we are different from others, we tend to worry about our own matters first, and when we see others having the benefit, the first thing comes to our mind is usually why we don’t have such benefit.
Unity is everyone to offer in this relationship. When we are connected, do not be disconnected when a problem emerges. In a family, in a friendship, in a relationship, we must offer. Unity brings power, it’s not the anointing of one person, but everyone offers their part and unite into one to bring power. What can I bring to our unity? Let us ask God, what can we bring to this connected relationship?
Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven. (Matthew 18:18-19)