At this year’s Leaders’ Commencement & Dedication Service, Pastor Yang preached an opening message about living our lives conscious of the Day of Judgment. He began with the story of generals who returned to ancient Rome after a victorious campaign. While these champions paraded on the streets in front of adoring crowds, slaves would be assigned to follow each chariot and whisper the words “memento mori” to each victor. These words mean “remember, you must die” and they served to remind every general of his mortality, that no
matter how successful one was in life, everyone would perish one day.
Each of us will stand before the judgment seat of Christ, also known as “Bema”. The scriptures tell us in Romans 14 and 2 Corinthians 5 that each of us will stand before the Judgment seat of Christ to give an account of our lives and be appraised by the Lord Himself. Everyone will be rewarded according to the way they lived.
As the shepherd of the house in Cornerstone, Pastor Yang emphasised the need to prepare for that very day, and reminded the leaders in attendance that everything done in the flesh will be worthless when tested by fire. (1 Corinthianss 3:12-15) He added that we must stop judging one another now because we will all be judged.
He called for everyone to invite the Holy Spirit to examine our hearts daily so that we may repent and put those areas of our lives that hold us back under the blood of Jesus. “Let us be sober and be aware. Let us not be like the foolish virgins who were asleep when the bridegroom returned. Awaken us!” he prayed over the group.
Pastor Daphne reiterated that we must make the most of our time on earth to go forth in faith and with power to reveal the goodness of God. To minister to a world without hope on the backdrop of our faith, hope and love in Christ. She encouraged the leaders with 2 Thessalonians 1:11 – to hold onto His promise that “He has given us all we need.” This was evidenced by the good things that the Lord had done in the previous year where
the church saw 302 baptisms, welcomed 705 visitors, ministered healing and deliverance to more than 500 people, and witnessed our Cell community’s growth.
Pastor Lip brought us the good news to re-initiate the Saturday morning corporate prayer times and on building a lifestyle of personal evangelism in 2023.
Glory be to God, the best of all things are yet to be seen!