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25 Sep 2016

Dating or Committing
  • Topic: CHRISTIAN LIVING, FAITH, KNOWING GOD'S WILL, LOVE, SPIRITUAL GROWTH, SPIRITUAL LIFE

Overview

Dating or Committing Pastor Paul Choo 25 September 2016 We live in a age of "ME”! Few people are willing to commit to anything. Probably less than 10% of people in church are committed to their church. Membership has its benefits but few Christians realise that the greatest benefit  is the blessing of God on those who are willing to commit themselves to His Church.   Most Christians know that the glory of God descended on the Tabernacle and the Temple -  and that Moses and Solomon were blessed by the very presence of God. But few Christians know that they can be more blessed than Moses!!

Dating or Committing
Pastor Paul Choo
25 September 2016


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This message actually is a follow-up on the message that I preached earlier on “Relationship to Fellowship to Unity”, today it's called “Dating or Committing?” Now what is the topic really? The topic is about church membership.

Now, according to statistics when you mention in a church the topic of church membership, up to 95% of your members will actually squirm in their chairs. Because statistics show that only 5-10 % of people that attend church nowadays actually believe in commitment and membership. The vast majority even if they are members just do it out of convenience, sometimes out of no choice. But those that really believe that membership and commitment is something important is between 5-10%. Now that's quite a shocking statistic. Why am I preaching on this today? Because I believe if we go to Punggol two things can happen. Of course, the first thing that we hope will happen is that the church will move on to a phase, new phase of church life. More people, more zeal for the Lord, more love for the Lord, more zeal for the lost. And you know,  a really vibrant, significant, impactful church. That's our dream. Many of you gave sacrificially for that and that's your dream.

But there's a possible number two scenario. Very possible, is that as great numbers come in, a whole new culture, I won't say new, a culture will set in. A culture of just coming to church. Even right now, you know I mean, we just have hardly any new comers come in every week. Maybe a dozen or so. And yet mostly we don't know each other. We just walk in here, some of you come to listen to something. Some of you come seriously to study the Word. It could be a movie hall kind of thing, it could be a lecture room kind of experience. And then off you go. Punggol, if we are not careful, it's going to be a culture like that, established. Because as more and more newcomers come in, fewer know each other, it becomes the norm. It becomes a norm not to just know anyone. Maybe just hi, hi, hi a little bit and the whole idea is we're just going to come in because mostly people don't know each other and that's the culture of Gospel Light Punggol and we're just going to come in and we're just going to go out. Now, if that happens and that's possible, then I can guarantee you one thing. There will be no blessing from God. We'll be impressive in the eyes of man because the church is large and many people come. But from God, no blessings. God doesn't bless a movie hall, God doesn't bless a lecture room. God blesses His church. And to God, Father, His church is family. Father-family. Not owner of a movie hall, not president of a university, a bible college. Father. God will bless His family. But don't expect any blessing if it's just another gathering place where people just gather to hear something, go out. No family spirit, no Father, no Father's blessing. Alright so today, we have a couple of weeks before we move into the new premises. My plea to you is: let us do our very best in the next few months or few weeks, rather, and prepare ourselves for Punggol.

Now, it's very difficult to get commitment for membership. We live in a culture where the bible says we live in the last times, I believe, and man will be lovers of themselves. What does that mean? It means that when people come to church the idea is not about others, it's not one anothers, it is about me. We're going to be, have plenty of consumers, customers coming to the church. We can't help it, this is the last days, this is the character of man, this is the overriding truth that man will be lovers of themselves. And so that will be kind of a epidemic of me, me-ism. And so you have a church where people will come in. Customers have the right to be critical. They don't like something, they have the right just to walk out and go somewhere else. That could be a possibility in Punggol. We live in a time where everybody is very independent. We really don't need community in a very real sense. For 90%, 95% of our lives we're pretty much self-sufficient. Need a transport, go to Grab, Uber. Need to find where's the best restaurant, you don't even need a friend to tell you anything, check where is the best restaurant, need to see a good doctor, just check who’s a good doctor. You don't need all this community. We can live pretty much on our own. And of course, you can have a virtual church. You want to worship with someone even better than Ee Kwang, I mean just go to your cellphone and you could get a worship leader right there wherever you are. Virtual worship leader. Virtual preacher. Internet, plenty of them. Virtual bible teacher, no problem. Very available, top quality. Of course, in this generation too, we get very impersonal, people don't like face-to-face contact. People are pretty awkward with face-to-face contact. They like just to contact each other via a text. And then also, we live in these times when everybody is asking ourselves why membership, what's the big deal about membership? Time again. You know everybody is so pressed for time, so much work, so many attractions, so many distractions. Where is there time to commit to something else, a new thing? Of course we know that if it's important we can always make time.

But there's another group here who says “I don't want to join a church because I've been hurt. I've been hurt in my previous experiences”. And I understand that. Some churches have really abused people. That is reality, we know that. In the last days all these things are going to happen. They pretend to preach Christ, actually they preach themselves. They preach Christ who doesn't give peace in their hearts but gives prosperity in the wallets. I mean stuff like that. You know people after a while get deceived, and they say no more church membership for me, I'm done. You know to such people, I say please, don't let the past paralyse you. I mean if you have a bad school experience, don't stop going to school. If you have a bad hospital experience, don't say I will never go to hospital again. Alright? That's not wise. Alright? So, so to all of you here, some of you have reasons why you don't join a church. Alright? Maybe you have a virtual church. Where I say a virtual church, when something goes wrong, will there be a virtual pastor to visit you? You have your WhatsApp group maybe, you say I do have a community, whatsapp. When you fall away is your WhatsApp group going to help you recover? So today I say to you membership, alright, I want to tell you today membership is important. The reason why many don't join membership, is that maybe we have not sold the benefits of membership clearly. You know sometimes we make membership something like this: Try it lah. It's good for you. You know maybe like try some sushi, it's good, you never know you might like it. I want to tell you today membership in  a church is not optional. Not from me. From the word of God. I want to tell you membership has benefits you cannot imagine to blow your mind. Watch what the bible says about membership. It's not that oh you just get a pastor to preach to you and a CG to care for you. Those are important things I'm not minimising those things. But by the end of today's bible passage I want to you to know that membership is an amazing thing and it's not an option, it is God's will for you and there are benefits that blow you mind, alright? So let's just look at a passage of scripture, familiar passage, let me just read it.

Eph 2:17-22
And He came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through Him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In Him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

Alright, let's just look at the first verse of this passage, “And He came and preach peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near.” The He of course refers to Christ. Christ came to preach, to give you a message not just by His words but by His life. What was His message? Prince of peace came to give us peace. The real peace. Not peace just around you not peace in the nation but peace in your heart. Not just peace with fellow men but peace with God primarily. He came to do this for us, all of us know we're sinners, all of us know God is holy, I don't even need to preach you- that to you. He's a holy God and we're sinful men. How can sinful man stand before a holy God and like it or not, someday we'll have to stand face to face with God and like it or not, all of us will live eternally.

Eternally, all of us, in hell or in heaven. There’s no such thing as some will live eternally, everyone will live eternally. But where? But He gives us peace and on that cross, He took all our sins. Every single sin. Past, present, future, He took all, missed out none. Came for one goal. To pay the penalty for our sins. The bible says, when He had paid the penalty for us, He said it is finished. And then He died. But three days later, He rose from the dead. “It is finished” means the debt is fully paid. It's not a medical word speaking of death. It's an accounting word speaking of a debt fully cancelled. He rose from the dead to prove when He said “It is finished” it truly is finished. If it's not finished He's still paying, He's still in the grave, He rose from the dead and the bible promises us “whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life with Jesus, with God for ever and ever.”

Alright, so here we come to this. I hope today all of you can say “I have peace”. Not just peace in Singapore, not just peace in my home, I have peace with God. I hope all of you can say that. I hope all of you can say comfortably I have access through the Spirit to the Father. And when you receive Jesus as saviour, the holy Spirit comes into your heart and assures you God, the great and mighty God is also your Father. Also Papa. Which we sang moments earlier. You're not sure of that, you're not 100% sure that God is your Father. Everybody knows there's a God in heaven, everybody knows that. Anybody say that I don't believe there's a god is a liar. Bible tells us that. They can deny God, deep in their heart they know there's a God, deep in our heart we know we're not beings of chance, we're beings of creation. The world is too complex a single atom is too complex to be by chance. Anyway who made the first atoms, who made millions of atoms? Evolution and all that trash. Who made the first thing that was evolved, if ever evolution is true? But you know, the bible tells us, if you have received Jesus as saviour, you will have this peace in your heart. To know where you will go, and who is God to you. Not a scary judge, but a loving Father.

Now we come to actually the main text of this, today's topic. “So then you are no longer strangers or aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God.” What's the difference between strangers and aliens? In our modern Singapore terminology, the strangers would be likened to illegals. A lot of illegals in Singapore. They are not supposed to be here. They just slip into the country, they're hanging around, they're illegals. That's the word “strangers”. They have no business to be here. And the word “aliens” is a little closer to foreigners living here legally. PRs, work permits, etc. Alright, so that's probably the, the similarity. A stranger, an illegal is always dead scared of the government. You want to freak him out just mention the word police. He runs. When you are with friends, all you need to do to make most of them uncomfortable is say “Can we talk about God?” It's almost like an illegal trying to run away from the word “police”. Ha.You know we talk with friends,you got friends, you talk about anything. No problem you know. You talk about sushi they don't like sushi they still talk about it. You talk about football, they don't like football, they still talk about football happily. Alright? You talk about anything, people will talk, the moment you say “can I say something about God?” It's like if they could run, they would run for dear life. Those are strangers, scared to death of God. They won't admit it, you know they're macho characters, you know. But the moment you say God, it's like something happens in their hearts. They know they are strangers, they have no business to be in God's presence, they will never get into the kingdom of God, they would be terrified if they have to meet God, which every man knows, sooner or later. It is appointed unto man once to die and after that the judgment. Those are strangers. Another group is the aliens. Just imagine alright if you're a foreigner, you have a work permit, you have a employment pass, you're ok. You don't feel like the stranger would feel. But you know your life is insecure. You know after a certain time, your pass may not be renewed, And then you're out. You know you don't have the same rights as citizens in many things. That's the word alien. Now I don't think we have strangers here. You won't be here, you'll be sort of freaked out. Even if your wife dragged you here, you'll be in the toilet for an hour or two, when it's over. But we may have some aliens here who in the presence of the church you're quite secure, quite comfortable but when they have to face a renewal of their permit. When they have to stand before God, sooner or later, they are not sure of their status. There's some here like that. And I hope you will not be like that. Because this citizenship of God is granted to you freely. Whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life. With God. Alright, so today if you are in that alien category, not sure exactly, if you die today not sure where you will be, my plea to you is stop being a foreigner, stop being an alien, be a citizen.

Alright now let's look at the next phrase. But you are citizens with the saints. Citizens are of a kingdom, of a country, so if you are truly a believer of Jesus Christ, you are automatically granted citizenship of God's kingdom. Alright, as a citizen, secured. Whether you are rich or poor, this is your home, you know even if you lose your passport abroad you can come home. This is my home, I know nobody can take my rights away. Whatever your colour, whatever your race, whatever your educational status, whatever your abilities, I am a citizen and I have citizens rights. That is a Christian. Alright.

So, here we see that you, if you have trusted Jesus as saviour, you're out of the domains of darkness, into the kingdom of His beloved Son. You see words like kingdom, citizen. This speaks of the universal church. The day you were born again, the day you received Jesus as saviour, automatically you are a citizen of God's kingdom. Huge. Every country, every generation, people have become citizens of God's kingdom. Universal church, sometimes poorly termed “the invisible church”. It's not really invisible, I mean, you more or less know, even if a Christian is from, a person is from another country, you more or less know by his character he's a christian. Singaporeans, you've ever been abroad you walk past somebody and you say that guy's a Singaporean. Somehow you know by the way he dresses by the way he talks. Especially by the way he talks, ya lah, no lah, Singaporean 100%. Same with people in the invisible church or the universal church, you know. I believe he's a brother because of the way he behaves. But then I want you to see the next phrase.

See the next phrase and just focus on the word here. A lot of people ask me, Pastor, where's this thing membership in the church, where's all this stuff about membership? Where's this stuff come from? You guys invented it? No, no, no, no, no. The word came from the bible. Members. Alright, I want you to notice, about members of the household of God. It’s no more nation. We're not talking about nation, we're not talking about nation here. We're not talking about kingdom. A kingdom is a big thing. It's impersonal. It's like us, we're citizens of Singapore. It's big. But most Singaporeans I don't know, they don't know me. If I'm in trouble they won't help me. They won't care a hoot about me. They don't know that I exist. But as a Singapore citizen, you're also a member of a household. A family. Now that's personal. That's small. Household. Not kingdom. Alright? So there is two kinds of church here. There's the universal church of which we all belong. And there is a local church much smaller than the universal church. Of which we all belong. And feel we belong personally. That is very important. you know the word church is mentioned 110 times in the bible, in the new testament. 110 times. Only 4 times, only 4 does it refer to the universal church. And over a hundred times the word church is mentioned, it means people congregated as a local body. I want you to know that you are already, whether you want or don't want, you have been registered as a citizen of God's kingdom, and you already have been registered as a member of a household. The word is “are”, you “are”, not you will be when you sign on. You are already. It's like NS. you see for the universal church it's automatic. You don't have to sign on, because there's no signature. It's universal that's why it's invisible. Nothing for you to sign, nothing for you to commit to, so to speak. But when you talk about the local church, you have to sign on. It's like national service in Singapore, You know national service when you reach a certain age, all you males. Whether you like it or don't like it, pop, your name comes up already on the NS roll. It's not like you say, excuse me, you want to join NS or don't want to join. Excuse me, it's not decided by me. It's decided by the government already. Everybody of this age, every male of this age is in NS already. Now after that, you go and sign on. A signing on is just a formalising of a fact. You see, joining a local church is not something you want or don't want. It's not like sushi, try it and if you like it, take it. You don't like it, stop it. NS is not like that, I'm sorry. You are already, a member of the family.

That's interesting, the word member there. This word, member, seems to be a bit of bad grammar. The word member here actually speaks of parts of a body. You never say, to a family, oh this is my brother, he's a part of my body. You know. You don't say that. He's just my brother. But this word member here speaks of parts of a human body. Alright. As you'll see in the next verse. Ok? For just as the body is one and has many members, same word, body parts. That's what we'll use the word. Body parts. Just as the body is one and has many body parts. Same word. Why does God use the same terminology? You are body parts of God's household. Sounds pretty weird. I'm not a body part of God's household. A household is made up of people. I'm one of people in God's household. No, no, no. You're a body part, God says. Why does God use this rather strange terminology for a family member? Because God wants you to know that a member of God's household is not detachable. It's not something you go in and go out. It sticks. It's pretty attached. And it's not only sociological. It's physical. It's visible. You see, you can see the body parts, it's all stuck together. God wants you to know, when you are a member of God's household you are a body part in the household. You're not like ah, just like, I'm a member in name, I'm a member on the list, but you know really I'm not committed. I'm not really part of this church, so I hope when you see that, you realise, ok, you are a body part of God's household. To be attached firmly.

Now, what does this church look like? Let's say we're all members we should all be looking like one unit. But you know, typical church looks like a pile of body parts. Couple of legs here, arms there, eyeballs. There's the nose department, there's the liver department, looks kind of awful You know you've been to a place where the body parts are dismembered? It's what the church looks like in the eyes of God. Dismembered body parts. Because it don't even feel attached to one another. 90-95% of all church attendees today don't feel attached, don't feel committed to the body. So I hope we get this.

Now what are the benefits? Ah, you are members of a household. Members of a family. It's wonderful to be members of a family. Last week I spent time with a guy, a leader in the Philippines who grew up in an orphanage. I think he was two years old, his mother had to. His father left his mum and he had to be given away to the orphanage. You know the struggles these people go through in the orphanage. 400 in his orphanage, in the island of Guimaras, Philippines, 400 people. He was one of 400. The trauma, the difficulty of being one child in 400. How he envied people who had a family, even if it was an imperfect family. Have you ever understood how precious it is to be part of a family? You know, some people say I just come to church, I just listen to Pastor Jason's preaching, that’s enough.

You know that boy who was in the orphanage of 400 people, every day they had a gathering, someone will tell them what to do. But they never really learned what family was about. They never really learn what life is about. You see, you don't really learn about these things in a lecture. You don't learn about life in a lecture, you learn about life in a family. You want to know God's truth? God's truth is all about relationships. Relationship with God, relationship with one another. God, Triune God, Holy Trinity. Relationships. Christ came to die for our sins so that we can have relationship with God, and with fellow citizens and with members of my household.

God invented the first institution, God invented this family. How can we learn to live in human society which is about relationships? By attending the best bible studies? Not possible. You learn it in family. You want to learn Christianity, you want to learn about God, through virtual sermons? Through listening to the best messages, you want to be an orphan and learn about God? You learn about these things in family. You learn how to give and take. You learn how to be patient, you learn how to humble yourself, you learn how to lead, you learn how to encourage, you learn a lot of things in family which you can't learn in a lecture. You can learn the theory of those things, those are good things, we don't know how to do them. That's why God put us all in families, and the day you become a child of God, he puts you in another family, it's called the household of God. Not lone ranger Christianity, not I come into church on Sunday and I go out. I can learn a lot of things on Sunday, yes, but you can learn a lot more by living with people.

You know God is love, what does that mean? It means you need other people, you cannot just sit down by yourself, God is love, He wants you to love, love what, love who? God is love, the God of love lives in you so that you can love others and be loved by others. Love cannot exist alone. So today, when you see all those things, you are now members of the family of God. Teaching the family, not just by words, but by the lives by examples, by the experiences you have. You're taught a lot of things in family. It's encouragement in the family. What orphans suffer from, hugely suffer from is lack of encouragement. We all need that. Accountability. The moment a kid leaves a family. Scary. On his own. Go wild, go crazy. Not accountable any more. Recovery, when you fall away. Who will help you recover? WhatsApp group will help you recover? Your virtual preacher on the internet will help you recover? Who will? It's a good benefits of the family.

But this is not the main benefit of membership. I'm not minimising this. This is important, this is good, this is precious. But this is not the main benefit. The main benefit you'll see in a moment. Ok, so, the kingdom of God, the household, the family of God is built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus being the cornerstone.

What is the cornerstone? The cornerstone is the main foundation stone. Of course we live in all this high rise, and all the engineering, so complicated. But in the old days, when you build a house, the key thing was that big, huge cornerstone, on which the main weight was taken. If you didn't have a good cornerstone, soon enough your building will start to slowly tilt and then collapse. Christ is our cornerstone. Alright, Isaiah tells us that. And then in Psalms it tells us that. He's our main cornerstone. Cornerstone of the church, what does that mean? The church is you. What is your cornerstone, that will not tilt and will not collapse and not disappoint you in time to come? Cornerstone is Christ. And you can say confidently Christ, I've received Him as my Saviour. He died for my sins. He paid the penalty for my sins. He suffered for me. And He rose for me. If you can confidently say that, you have a cornerstone. You will be strong. Come the winds of doubt and trials and everything else and you say God I can lose everything in this world, I'll never lose my Jesus, my salvation, my peace with God. Alright. So here we see Christ is the chief cornerstone, and the apostles and the prophets were the other stones of the foundation. Meaning the apostles and the prophets help to explain Christ to us, help to elaborate Christ to us. So today all of you, I want you to be sure, that you have this foundation. Not that I come to church, I have been baptised, I go to bible studies, I am part of a CG. I ask you one question, are you sure? 100% sure? That Christ died for your sins? Sure it's settled on the cross? And you say yes, have you received Him, yes. Right here, pastor. Right here in my heart. I know He lives.

Ok, built on the foundation, the church is built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone in whom the whole structure being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. How is the temple built? You know, the temple of Solomon. Alright the bible tells us, they went to a quarry, where there were beautiful rocks there. And they cut out huge stones, huge massive stones, each one was then brought to the place where Solomon built the temple. All those bricks, sorry, all those big rocks, stones, that were cut to be part of Solomon's temple, represent Christians. You and me. On Christ, I'm a rock, solid. I know my salvation, I know I'm saved, I know I'm going to heaven. You are that rock, cut out. But imagine a pile of rocks, how beautiful is it? How useful is a pile of rocks? You drag all the rocks, you put it near the temple, ready to built, but you don't built them up, you don't fit them together. Would it be a beautiful temple? No. When the rocks are brought to the place of building, the craftsmen then fitted each rock nicely and it became a beautiful temple. It was the iconic building of those days. Everybody knew about Solomon's temple. Wow! Amazing! It glorified God. It was an amazing building. Because the rocks were put together nicely. Fitted together. Not just a pile of rocks! But fitted together to be a holy temple. Each of us as Christians, thank God, individually, I know, I will stand on that day before God, I can stand before my God, Holy God who has seen everything in my life, I can stand before Him without quivering, because I say Christ paid it all. He did it all. No shaking on that day, no fear on that day. But then if it's just a pile of individuals, how good are you for God? How do you glorify your God. How do you become that iconic glory for God until you all come together and are joined together to be a holy temple in the Lord?

What happens when we become a holy temple? This is what happens. As Solomon was dedicating the temple this is what happened. As soon as Solomon finished his prayer, fire came down from heaven consumed the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple. Wow! The song leader was talking about Moses. How Moses was so blessed, he would enter the tabernacle, that was the precursor of the temple. And every time he was there, the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. And Moses met God face to face. The presence of God so real to Moses. God revealed himself to Moses. God spoke to Moses. Man to man, so to speak. Wow! And everybody says, wow what a blessed man that Moses had this personal experience with God. What about you? God wants to build us into a holy temple. To be a dwelling place of God. You don't have to be Solomon. You don't have to be Moses. We don't have to do complicated things. We just have to say, God I know the temple for today, a temple for the new testament is not made of brick, it's not made of goats' hair, tents, as in the time of Moses. It's made of living people like us. Joined together, to be a holy temple so that the presence of God, the glory of God, can shine in that place. Now to me this is the benefit.

You want to sell something, you'd better sell the real benefit. A credit card has benefits. Join a gym there's benefits that others don't have. Why do people pay big money and wait long waiting lists to join some country club somewhere because there's something there that the other places don't have. Now I tell you this, there is a glory of God awaiting people who believe this passage of scripture and says He wants to join us together to be a holy temple and in Him you are also built together to be a dwelling place of God by His Spirit. My friends, you know for many of us Christianity is like a second-hand religion. I know there is a God but He's like far away. I know He speaks to us, but through the Word. Other religions have a god that's far away too so what's the big deal with yours? Other religions have a god who speaks to them through their holy book so what's so special about yours?

We have a personal God. He wants to speak to us. You know when I read the bible every time, “and God spoke to him, and God spoke to him and God spoke to him”. It's like you mean the great God of the heavens is so personal? He is, my friends, He wants to be. He's the God of love, He wants to be near you. You know, if he's a manager of a big company, he talks to you through a supervisor, you know folks. But a father talks to you face to face. Now for most of you, have you experienced that? Is God like far away? Is God Pastor Jason's god? Is he your God? Ya, ya, I know God talks to me through the bible. Do you think that's all God can do? I'm not talking about wild charismatic dreams. I'm talking about God really leading you, guiding you. You will never experience it till you obey God. And God says you are a member of the household of God. You want to fight it? You know when you teach your kids a lot of things, you teach him one important thing- don't fight, try not to fight. But the most important is don't fight God, that is dumb, that's really dumb. When God tells you you are a member of the household of God, don't fight it. To deny that, to reject that is to deny the reality that God has already a place for you in His household. So my prayer to you is, be committed, be a body part of the household of God. Not just walking in and going out.

I tell you my own testimony, I have never been to bible school, I don't know the big theological terms, I don't know Hebrew, I don't know Greek, but I know my God. I know He's real. He's very real to me. He's more real to me than my wife. I tell you the truth. It's, it's, it's absolutely true. Half the time I can't see my wife, she's somewhere else. She's here, she's there, I'm there, she's here. You know my God is real, He's by me all the time. I can't heard her voice all the time, I can't ask for her guidance all the time, I can't ask for her opinion all the time. My God is real all the time. Real time. Am I smart, have I gone to bible school, have I learned some secret? I learn a simple secret -obey God. Another way to put it is- go to God's will, when you go to God's will, God will be there and He will be real to you. He won't be a second hand God. Something I heard about, I read about in the bible. He'll be a God you know personally. And that's what we want. How do you like a father that's second hand? I know I have a Father. I've never met him, He's never spoke to me. But I know I have a Father, how sad, how pathetic. For many of you, you have to say that about God. I call Him Father but where is Father? I've never heard His voice. He's a stranger to me. Your Father in heaven doesn't want to be a stranger. But you have to take a step of obedience. Don't just attend church folks. Be the church. God's not satisfied that you just attend church. You attend a movie, you attend a lecture, but you are church. Are you in reality? In head and heart. Or are you here in body? Alright? So this is my plea to you today, I told them, I told Pastor Jason, put membership forms out there. Take a step of faith. If you think this is PC (Pastor Choo) trying to push you. Go home and read Ephesians 2. Ask yourself. You are a member of God's family. Are you going to fight that? Are you going to say “Thank you God for reminding me. I'll take a step of obedience”. And as you take a step of obedience, someone will meet you there. His name is Father. He will meet you. And you will experience God in a way no preaching, no teaching, no anything can do. But only simple obedience, faith. Take the step knowing God will honour His word. And you will be built a holy temple, a temple is not made of brick. God will not fill Punggol with glory, God will fill you with glory. Because you are now part of this holy temple of God. New testament temple is you and me folks. Punggol is a blessed, beautiful building that God has given us but the most blessed thing  is you and me. So my simple prayer today is please take a step of faith. If you're not yet a member, and if you're already a member of this church, in form, in membership forms, and in, at least in the register, do it today in your heart. Say I will be truly what God wants me to be. May God bless you. May we move in there and may the glory of God shine on us. Let us pray.

Father, thank You so much for today. Thank You Lord for the wonderful privilege to be a holy temple for the glory of God to shine upon. Thank You God each of us can experience what Moses experienced and much more. This is our benefit, this is our blessing and we pray everyone in this church will avail of God's blessings. May we take a first step of obedience and we trust You to take and meet us as we take this step. In Jesus' Name, Amen.

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