Foreword

“Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to

you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their

faith.” Hebrews 13:7

Pastor David Jeng served the Lord all his life. His ministry spanned multiple countries, including the United States, China, Taiwan, the Philippines, Malaysia and Ethiopia. The church in San Jose was started by Pastor David and Pastor Merry, and many people have received the precious faith from the Lord and a life changing turning point was wrought. At the two year anniversary of Pastor Jeng’s return to the heavenly home, we have once again received provision of life through the message that he once preached.

This particular publication is a message delivered by Pastor Jeng at the 2009 Testimony of Christ Mission Summer Conference. This message encourages all brothers and sisters who attended the conference to be in unison to establish an influential church: that every Christian would brighten the corner where you are, and that the church would be a shining city on a hill. Years have passed, and yet these words are still filled with new light which encourages people's hearts.

This seed has fallen into the ground, in hope that the fruits that it bears become a field which can be harvested. The Lord’s servant, though he sleeps, by faith still speaks. May the Lord bless His own words.

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The Influential Church

Scripture:

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Mathew28:19

“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. ” Mathew 5:14-16

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Acts 1:8

“God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it.” Acts 2:32

“You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this.” Acts 3:15

his time I have the burden to share the topic of “The Influential Church.” As I was preparing the message, I had a feeling of

fear within me: What I’m about to share -- is that just my own theory, or can I truly lead this influential church? I cannot deceive myself, nor can I deceive brothers and sisters in our church who are sitting here. At least for SJCA, I cannot say that we are currently an influential church, but we do have a goal and a direction that we can move toward.

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I. Brighten the Corner Where You Are

Before the Lord Jesus ascended to heaven He told the disciples: “Go and make disciples of all nations.” You should go. Where should you go? Go to this world and make disciples of all nations. Not only lead them to believe in Jesus, but also walk with them so that they will become disciples of the Lord. This is a long journey and this is a long term plan: go and shine!

Today in our church, we have two statements that we must esteem highly. For us personally it is to brighten the corner where you are. Whether you are at home, at work, or at school, no matter where you are, please remember one thing: wherever I go, I want one outcome, which is to bring light to that corner because of my coming. This is what it means to “brighten the corner where you are.” When every brother and sister can live this out in everyday life, together we can become another reality: a shining city on the hill. When churches appear and glory is manifested, it is like a shining city on the hill. When this city shines, people will see the light. Their feet will depart from the dark path and enter into light.

How can we become a city shining on the hill? I have been considering this often before the Lord. Brothers and sisters, on that day the Lord told the disciples: “Go and make disciples of all nations.” The Lord gave this great commission to them: “Go.” But to do what? To “make disciples of all nations.”Since this group of people accepted the great commission, they became a group of people with a mission. They joined together to make disciples of all nations. This mission has been passed down from generation to generation for more than 2000 years until today. Up to now, the mission has not been fully accomplished. We have all accepted this entrusted mission, and we should carry it out until the day when the

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number of the saved is fulfilled.

One day a thought suddenly occurred to me. I attended a small group meeting where the small group leader said: “I hope before the end of this year, each group member can bring another person to believe in Jesus. Then next year our group can split into two groups.” Dear brothers and sisters, when I went back and talked with sister Merry about this, I was so scared -- we don’t have any friends who are not believers. All of our friends are in the church. Suddenly I felt there must be something wrong, and on that day when we knelt down to pray, we prayed that the Lord would give us new friends. We have believed in Jesus for so long that our social circle has gradually become smaller and smaller. We felt that we were the people separated from the world and we became an exclusive clique called “San Jose Christian Assembly Social Club”. So we are all good friends.

Once two new people came to our small group, and the whole group was so happy. We chatted joyfully among ourselves, but these two friends could not join our conversation, and they just smiled at us. Later we realized that these two new friends did not come back to our small group and we wondered why. Our problem is that we have become a clique where others can't fit in. I realize that my social circle has become narrower and smaller over a few decades. If I don't have friends outside, how can I shine? How can I reach out to others? That day Merry and I prayed, "Lord, give us friends." This is not just my situation; it’s the situation of many brothers and sisters as well. We have become isolated. All of our friends are brothers and sisters at church. We might have thought this situation was right and reasonable, and maybe we were even proud of it, thinking we were special. Brothers and sisters, don't you feel there is something wrong? It is not just a small mistake; it

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is a big mistake. I tried to analyze the situation, and where did we make the mistake? The Lord said, "Go." After three and a half years, hadn’t the twelve apostles also become an isolated clique? Their clique was a sacred one; they were a small flock and they gradually couldn't get along with others. The Lord was about to ascend to heaven, and He bestowed upon them the great commission, "Don't be a small flock any more. You need to go and make disciples of all nations." When you are ready to go out, you will discover that there is great learning about the word "go". You are going to the people and to preach the gospel. How are you going to do that? How do you convince people to believe in Jesus? How do you influence others?

1. "Go and make disciples of all nations."

─Christians influence others by entering into the world

Two weeks ago we had a chance to invite Intel's Vice President, Patrick P. Gelsinger, to share his testimony at our church. Intel is a great company in the world. Patrick Gelsinger is a very intelligent and powerful man. Their business generates 30 billion dollars annually, and among that 20 billion of the business is under Pat Gelsinger. I invited him to speak to us for the topic of how to balance your faith, your family and your work. He wrote a book titled "The Juggling Act: Bringing Balance to Your Faith, Family, and Work." You only have two hands. How do you handle three things at the same time? You have to throw one thing up; then another, and the other. You can't drop any. It's called juggling. You have to keep throwing one up in the air and catching the other two, and keep juggling these three things. You cannot miss any one, or else they will fall to the ground. You catch "Family", and another one is in the air, and the other one is juggling. You have to throw, catch, and juggle. I wanted to invite him, because he is the most

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suitable person to talk about this topic, especially in the Silicon Valley. God wants us to live a balanced life. When he faxed me his topic I was astonished. Was this his topic? It did not look like he was going to talk about "balance". It looked like a topic of extremism. His topic was, "Are you hot or cold for the kingdom of God?" He said that God is angered at us if we were lukewarm. Lukewarm means we are neither hot nor cold. What is “balance?” Balance means the middle, right? If there are extremes of one hundred degrees and zero degrees, then the “balance” means fifty degrees, right? We thought that “balance” means how to become a fifty degree Christian. Pat said, "No, God does not want us to be fifty degrees. God will spit out the fifty degree ones." I sat in the first row, and I could feel his saliva when he said "spit out". Dear brothers and sisters, here was such a powerful man, and if he said this and hit the table on the Intel stage, many would tremble at his words. Do you believe that? Because of his action Acer would shake, Dell would quake, and even HP would tremble. Suddenly, I was awakened. Pat said, "Brothers and sisters, I hope you make a decision before you go home today, either be hot or cold? Do you want to be hot? Either you be hot for the Lord, or for the world. Don't be lukewarm. God is disgusted with the lukewarm ones."

Brothers and sisters, God spoke to me through him. Suddenly I realized that to become an influential Christian and church we need to be either hot or cold. Lukewarm Christians and churches have no influence. He said, "What's my attitude toward my work? I do everything as I do it for the Lord, and not for men. I go to my office for the Lord, and I talk to my boss for the Lord, and I speak to my subordinates for the Lord. We all are full-time ministers because we do everything for the Lord." He shared that he took his company's airplane for business trips, and he read the Bible, prayed, and preached to the staff on the plane. Gradually,

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one by one believed the Lord and was saved.

My dear brothers and sisters, what does it mean to be an influential church and an influential Christian? It is to manifest the Lord. Paul said, "No matter what I do, I do it for the gospel." He can be influential, and his churches can be influential because Paul is very clear about this: "I am zealous, earnest; everything is for the sake of preaching the gospel and discipling the nations. No matter what I do, I do it for the sake of the gospel."

2. Let them see your good deeds

─People see Christ’s virtue in our lives

We read Philippians in our daily devotion. Paul said, “Some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, some out of goodwill, some so that Christ will be exalted, but others supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains.” Paul is a person who faced the target. He said, “But why does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false or true motives, Christ is preached.” When I read this I knelt before the Lord quietly for a long time and prayed, “Oh Lord, this is the person you want and the church you want. He is so clear about the target and the commission bestowed on him. It does not matter how many obstacles there might be in the process of discipling all nations as long as the gospel of Christ is preached.”

Brothers and sisters, I was captured by a few points in a book called “Purpose Driven Life”. Do you have a purpose in your life? Does the church have a purpose? Paul said, “No matter what I do, I do it for the sake of the gospel. I go because God has entrusted me with the great commission and that is to disciple all nations.” Dear brothers and sisters, since that point I have been encouraging co-workers and brothers and sisters that we are to aim for the target

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in all that we do. And what is our target? Our target is to preach the gospel.

A brother dined in a restaurant, and he knew I would come to this restaurant very often. He preached to the restaurant owner after his meal, but his words were limited in preaching so he invited me to go to the restaurant. He was like John the Baptist as he paved the way for me. He told the owner that I was an influential pastor in this area, and he would invite me to talk to him. My brother had a target and so did I. We went because of the great commission. Not long after, we have gained the restaurant owner. The reason I mention this is because my brother and I sincerely received the task from the Lord in preaching the gospel to the owner. We have been Christians for so many years, we have come to church for a long time, and God has given us this huge sanctuary but there are still many empty seats. Have we received this great commission: “Go, and make disciples of all nations”? This “Go” is not just go with a slogan, but we bring Jesus with us. The hymns told us to live out Christ and His virtue.

A gospel friend came to me one night, and we talked for a long time. He said, “I want to tell you that I want to be baptized. When is the next baptismal meeting?” I was amazed, but I rejoiced. I asked him how many times he has been to our church, and he said twice. We did not preach the gospel to him, why did he want to get baptized? It turned out that when one of the brothers helped him with something, in the beginning that brother said: “The reason I’m doing this for you today is so you will believe in Jesus and get baptized.” Direct and clear. There is no other purpose for doing so many things, just for him to believe in Jesus. He was so happy that day. That brother did it so well. In my heart I felt that it should be like that. We cannot become more and more exclusive as we move

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forward. The Bible tells us that we are separated people, but not strangers. We cannot go to the extreme so that we become a group of strangers. If you want to preach the gospel at work or at school, you’ll find that you have many things that need to be adjusted by God.

We need to accept the mission from the Lord again, we need to go and make disciples of all nations. This mission hasn’t changed for two thousand years. We need to accept this burden and go out today. The Lord Jesus is amazing. When he entrusted the disciples with this mission, he told them: “Wait for the power from above.” The disciples received this mission. But how could they be effective when they went out? How could they have power? Can they accomplish this mission? Dear brothers and sisters, that’s only possible through the Holy Spirit, through the power from above. What man can do is very limited. Every time when I felt that I could encourage brothers and sisters, lead brothers and sisters, walk in front of brothers and sisters, we all went out. But how can we be effective? Here is the key - wait for the power from above. Lord, if you don’t work, if you don’t send the Holy Spirit, what can we do?

II. A Shining City on the Hill

1. Church is the earthly testimony of the ascended Christ

─so that people of the world will see God through the

church

Thank the Lord, Brother Sze told us to be descendants of Abraham through faith. God promised Abraham that He would send Jesus to earth and then also send the Holy Spirit; and we are to wait for that which was promised. The disciples were so weak, and they themselves could see how weak they were. Can Peter

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preach the gospel? When Peter saw John, he dared not to lift up his head; if Peter couldn’t preach the gospel, could John do it? When the Lord Jesus was arrested, John followed at a distance. Who else was qualified to preach the gospel? Nobody was qualified.

Dear brothers and sisters, you need to wait for the power from above. How I wish the Holy Spirit would speak to each one of you. We all hope for the revival of the church. We sing the hymn which says: “It’s now”. How can this happen? We must receive power from above. Only when the Holy Spirit comes, can we overcome our weaknesses. Can the power of the Holy Spirit replace our weakness, and can we really work for the Lord? This group of disciples waited and prayed before God. Everyone can preach this message, but do you really believe what you are preaching? Are you going to actually do what you preach? There is one thing that every one of us must do - to wait before God. If the Holy Spirit doesn’t fill us, if the Lord doesn’t anoint us with power, how can we go out? Even if we do go out, what can we do? Thank the Lord, even though we are not faithful, God is always faithful. Let’s wait for the Holy Spirit whom God has promised.

Dear brothers and sisters, God is so powerful and so strong. Every time when I read the book of Acts I said: “Lord, if it’s possible please let me experience that picture – Peter, who denied the Lord three times, stood up.” Dear brothers and sisters, we always said Peter is an impulsive person. But I believe that he is a person with conscience. Wouldn’t his conscience convict him? Wouldn’t other people look down on him? If someone needed to preach the gospel, it should never be Peter’s turn -- he is the least fit for this since he denied the Lord three times. We thank the Lord, every time I thought of this, I felt that the key is: “Lord, please fill me with your power, with your Holy Spirit.” When the Holy Spirit

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fills us, we could overcome all problems in our mind. Peter, the person who was least qualified to preach the gospel, stood up. All the other eleven disciples stood behind him. He stood up in front of people and started to preach the gospel. If we read about Peter in the Four Gospels, we really couldn’t find anything good to describe him except that he once said: “You have the Word of eternal life, and whom should we follow.” But the Bible tells us when he stood up that day, what he said was different. His words pierced people’s hearts. What’s the key? The power from above.

When the summer conference is over, you will go back to LA either on the bus or drive home. You can tell your wife or your husband, just like the two disciples on the road to Emmaus said: “The messages we heard these days, the hymns we sang these days, and what we experienced these days, were not our hearts burning within us?” I believe we all had the experience that the disciples on the road of Emmaus experienced. However, unknowingly, the zeal went away and the power went away. We became ineffective again when we preached the gospel. Brothers and sisters, think about it, what’s wrong? Don’t continue on the wrong path. We must stop somewhere.

Brother Sze mentioned that he often experienced miracles and wonders when he went to China. I go to China at least once a year. I was reminded every time I went there, if we lived before the Lord, we could experience miracles and wonders. I went to Shenyang a few years ago. Brothers and sisters brought a lame person to me and asked me to pray for the person right after Sunday message. It was like the lame person at the Beautiful Gate in the Bible. I thought that Peter was different at that time as he said, "Look at me; look at me." They looked at Peter, and he said, "By the name of Jesus stand and walk." When Paul preached the gospel,

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a person paid attention and looked at Paul. Paul saw faith in that person's eyes and Paul knew he would be healed. Immediately that person was healed. Brothers and sisters, the lame person looked at me and I looked at him, but I was neither Peter nor Paul. Suddenly I realized that the son of the priest tried to cast out a demon. The demon said, "I know Jesus, and I know Paul, but who are you? Who are you that you want to cast me out?" I looked at him, and he looked at me. This illness knew who I was, and the devil knew who I was. I was cornered that day. Brothers and sisters had faith, and they started to sing "Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah..." even before I prayed. Praise the Lord, everyone was with great faith. I prayed with all my might and kept sweating. It reminded me of Jesus' prayer in the garden of Gethsemane. I really hoped that I could keep praying. Brothers and sisters, after prayers my burden was relieved and I went aside. I dared not look at the lame person. Brothers and sisters dared to look at him. They not just looked at him, they looked at his feet. Some even picked him up and helped him walk. I won’t dare to say he was healed that day, but his situation definitely improved. That was the difference. I rejoiced on the way home because God’s word was true. The lame person was healed by prayer alone without taking medicines or doing anything else.

Brothers and sisters, Brother Sze said yesterday, “Do you believe in the resurrection?” If you truly believe in resurrection, you would overcome death, the devil, and everything. We believe God. We especially need the mercy of the Lord and trust the Lord even more for what is impossible.

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2. The church is a shining city on the hill

─ causing people in the world to see the true light and

walk in a path of peace

When the construction of this church was about to be completed, it happened to be the time of the financial crisis. That was the most difficult time when there was a huge cash flow need. But nobody had the ability to offer much. Besides having quite a few extra projects that happened to pop up, the stock market was performing very poorly. I saw more and more brothers and sisters losing their jobs. Every day when I looked at the project and saw that money was about to run out, I really didn’t know what to do. We couldn’t stop because once we stopped, it would be all over. But if we didn’t stop, where would the money come from? I remember every morning when I came to church and saw brothers and sisters who were working on the construction, I called them to come over. We all knelt down before the Lord, once, twice. Sometimes we knelt down twice a day. After we prayed, we still felt heavy hearted. It was time to make the payment right away. We had to do these right away. We knelt down to pray, and knelt down to pray again. Thank the Lord, it was finally accomplished. I told the brothers and sisters that the project was over budget by 40%. Brothers and sisters at SJCA can testify that I didn’t report other offering and everything was according to the original plan. We kept praying: “Lord, this is the plan we originally reported. Now you need to take care of the extra work that came out later. Lord, it’s not that brothers and sisters are not willing to offer. It’s that we don’t have the ability to offer. Who can offer?”

Brothers and sisters, the Lord is responsible. The Lord will do it. The birds of the air do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet our heavenly Father feeds them. Yesterday a sister brought

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8 of her first fruits to me. I liked them and I said: “Thank you for bringing your first fruits to me.” She said: “The first fruits should be offered in the first place. Feel free to enjoy them. But the real first fruits were offered to God already.” I understood it right away. How did you feed the real first fruits to God? Because God said: “First fruits should be offered to me.” So God used the first fruits to feed the birds in the air that do not sow or reap. God said: “All right, let the birds eat the first fruits. The birds of the air do not sow or reap, our heavenly Father still feeds them. Isn’t it more so for you? You are building my house, the church. You are building a place where people gather in My name. Just because it’s a difficult period due to the financial crisis, I let you experience Myself.” I often knelt down to pray. Sometimes I really didn’t have much to say. But the Lord knows the burden inside me.

I remember one time I got really angry in the co-worker’s office. I received a pile of bills. The total amount was about $40K to $50K. I looked through them one by one. After I finished looking at them, suddenly anger burst out from me: “Lord, when is this going to end? This pressure is too much.” I exploded and tore all the bills and threw them in the trash can. “No, no, no! I cannot pay! Where is the money!?” When brothers saw that I was so angry they picked up the pieces of the bills from the trash can and mend them back piece by piece… You still need to pay the bill even though you don’t want to pay! Thank the Lord, He saw it. I have so many testimonies I can share. Nobody believes that we didn’t borrow even a dime from the bank. The covenant of God is always trustworthy. Since He led us into this project, He will surely accomplish it.

God said: “You should wait for the power from above that was promised by the Father.” There is a song, “Come, you people

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in need.” Do you feel that you are a person in need? Do you feel that you really need God? Do you feel that you want to testify for God but lack power? If you really feel this way, you don’t need to sit there and weep, you don’t need to shake your head. Come before God, kneel before God, pray, pray, and pray.

Dear brothers and sisters, I always think that our life time is so limited, yet so many things have passed by in the time God gives us. For me, most of the time has passed. A brother named Patrick P. Gelsinger, who is such a wise person, told us: “One thing I fear the most is that on the day when I see the Lord I still have a lot of resources that the Lord gave me, but I haven’t used them.” I prayed with sister Merry before the Lord: “I really don’t know how much time is left for me. But Lord, I don’t want to live in weakness, I don’t want to live by shaking my head all the time, and I don’t want to live in a helpless situation, because this is not the path of the Lord. Lord, save me from this situation where I have no use.” The Lord said: “You need to wait for the power from above to save you out of these weak situations.” That night the Lord gave us that thought, and told us not to be a group of indifferent people because indifferent people are useless people.

One day sister Merry encouraged me about one thing. She said: “I’m not like you with great ambitions. I know you want to do a lot of things. But I’m not like that. I wish that I would do my best in everything that I do. If I’m asked to wash dishes, I will wash the dishes to be spotless; if I’m asked to wipe the dining table, I will wipe the table to be as clean as possible, as if I were doing it for the Lord.” When she said these, all of a sudden it came into my heart. On the opening day of the conference, I was cleaning in the back. Because I had some other things to do, I said: “Ok, this is the last chance for cleaning. The conference is about to start. Brothers and

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sisters are coming soon. We are doing this as if we are doing it for the Lord, not for other people.” I told our brothers and sisters, I also told the Hispanic brothers and sisters. Brothers looked at me and said: “Since you said so, we will do as you said.” Brighten the corner where you are; a shining city on the hill. These are not messages being preached. Instead, it’s about how we should live our life before people and influence them.

Why should Christians live before others? This afternoon a brother named Don Liffengren, a bank manager, will come to talk about financial management in God’s way. He came and told me: “When I go shopping in a supermarket, I will put the shopping cart back to its original place before I leave. I would definitely not put the cart just beside my car and drive away like that. I want to preach the gospel and I want to testify for the Lord; when I see some trash on the ground, I will definitely pick it up. I want to preach the gospel and I want to testify for God.” I looked at him and said: “Amen.”

“Go and make disciples of all nations.” The word “Go” has a lot of meaning in it. We need to allow the Holy Spirit to work deeply within us. Other people won’t believe in Jesus just because you bring a Bible with you and tell them Jesus is the Lord. You need to let other people see Jesus Christ through you. When people come to church, they are not only seeing people, but they are seeing the Lord and meeting the Lord. By saying “seeing the Lord and meeting the Lord”, I don’t mean that they hear a message preached by me. If you want other people to meet the Lord in the meeting, you would be different as soon as you enter the door of the church. How we walk, how we handle the leftover food, how we handle the trash in our hands. Upon these trivial matters it is clear whether or not the city on the hill is shining. If we really live before the Lord, when

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we pray to the Lord, we would find that the Lord is teaching us in everything.

There is a person in our church who used to be a high ranking official in Taiwan. He is a very active member in the church. He came to me and said: “I like coming to our church.” Why does he like coming to our church? He said: “Pastor, when I went to the restroom in your church, I touched the door frame of the restroom with my hand and it was very clean. So I want to come to this church.” I was shocked because nobody ever said that before. How could a person believe in Jesus that way? If we want to be the city shining on the hill, our worship team on the stage is important. But our private life is more important. Although the Bible didn’t tell us how Peter, James, John, and Paul lived their lives, we can feel it from their words. Paul said, “You should imitate me.” Peter said, “You who are elders together with me should ….” They lived out their lives as a role model. This role model is God manifested through them. This role model could convince people, this role model could make people believe, this role model encouraged people to walk in the path of the Lord. “The power of a role model is boundless.” The great commission told us to make disciples of all nations. I started from thinking about the fact that I do not have friends, to thinking on the topic of how to preach the gospel. We really need God’s mercy on us so that we can really know Him and understand Him.

Thank the Lord! God’s promise has been given, and we need to wait for the power from above. If the Lord has mercy on us, He will change our lives and bring to the church a great turning point. We shall receive the power from above again, and be courageous, testify with power, and manifest His strong life through us.

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Prayer

Lord, we come to Your presence again, and we acknowledge how much we need You. In these end times, may we be Your strong testimony. Let us be influential Christians, and let our churches be influential churches. May we rise up and shine, and brighten the corners where we are, so every church can truly be “A Shining City on the Hill!” Have mercy on Your churches. Give us the revival we have been waiting for, so that we will no longer be the same. Let us love and live for the Lord with zeal. We pray in the Lord’s name, Amen.

Testimony Christ Mission 2009 Summer Conference

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Hymn

Arise And Shine Lyric by David Jeng

Music by Flora Wang

The world lies in the dark No light shines in the night People live without any hope We all have fallen from grace The help we seek cannot be found Our cries for help echo and abound We cry for help, our cries ring out Come save us now

Chorus: Children of God, arise Let your light shine all around Here among us now, the life of Christ Burning within our hearts, the Spirit’s fire Kindle brighter flames and set us ablaze Arise and shine, shine all around Jerusalem then to all the earth Stand! Stand for the Lord

Bridge: Arise and shine, shine all around Jesus the light of the world has come Nations come to Your light And sleepers awake to Your dawn Arise and shine, shine all around Every tribe and every nation Worship and adore You Declaring God’s eternal day

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