March 5-6, 2009
Kerteh Charismatic Assembly
Kerteh, Terengganu, Malaysia
Kerteh Charismatic Assembly received
The Elijah Challenge training back in 15-17 November 2007.
In March
2009 about
13 people arrived for the first session. Elder Eli led us in
a wonderful time of spiritual worship. Though the congregation
was
small, the
people
knew how to
worship God with all their hearts. I encouraged the people with a
message of what the Holy Spirit is doing today through ‘Kingdom
Stewards’. This is the era where we are all called to do the
works of the Lord.
At
the end of the sermon, I asked to those who have been trained
in Elijah Challenge to pray for the sick. An elderly lady
came forth to get her eye healed. She was suffering from slight
pain and irritation
in her left eye. The vision in that eye was also affected.
Six sisters volunteered to lay hands on this lady. One of the
volunteers was
Sister Alice who was healed of her arthritic fingers two
years ago. As I spoke forth the commands, these precious sisters
repeated in faith.
The rest of the Christians also raised their hands in supportive
prayers. After about three times, the elderly lady declared
that both the pain and irritation were gone. Her vision had also
improved.
She was to be completely healed the following day.
Friday came early for me. After prayer and my own personal Bible
study, I was ready for the Worship Service. (Offices in all Malaysian
states are open from Mondays to Fridays with the exception of three
states in the East Coast. Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu follow the
Islamic calendar and close their offices on Fridays. As Kerteh is
a town in Terengganu, churches held their worship services on Fridays).
By 9.30
AM, about thirty people gathered at the bungalow to worship God.
Among the congregation were Christians from India,
Philippines,
South Africa and of course, Malaysia. Many of these work for Petronas,
the national oil company and some for its auxiliaries. As usual,
the worship was amazing. Being the only church in Kerteh, the Christians
there know that they have to take every opportunity to gather and
worship God. Brother Tong Sin led us in many beautiful worship songs.
The presence of God was there and so it was easy to preach. I told
the congregation that I would give them ‘meat’ and preached
from Hebrews 11. Encouraging them all to not only have faith, I challenged
them to allow faith to affect and change their lives.
To evangelize the neighbourhood, Kerteh Charismatic Assembly organized
a barbecue that afternoon. A group of six Hainanese ladies joined
the rest of the congregation for the event. Since they had yet to
believe in Christ, I took the opportunity to minister to them in
my very limited Hainanese. They asked many interesting questions
about God and Christ.
After the food, we had a worship session and I shared the message.
I presented the basic gospel for the benefits of the Hainanese ladies.
At the conclusion of the service, I asked the infirm to come forward.
Some of these ladies came forth plus a brother from South Africa.
One of the ladies then excused herself to go home and lock her door.
We thought it was an excuse for her to leave the church. However,
to our pleasant surprise, she rushed back for her healing. Five ladies
were healed of their ailments - one was healed of shoulder pain,
another from stomach ailment, the third from headache and two from
painful ankles caused by gout. After the healing, we spent time to
encourage them to dedicate their lives to Jesus Christ.
It was a very good two days of ministry. We also rejoice that we
could spend time with Elder Ashok and his family, Elder Tan and his
family, and also the other precious brothers and sisters. Even though
Kerteh Charismatic Assembly is small but it is an important lighthouse
in Kerteh. God has sent many people from all over the world to this
little town and this church is creating a great impact in their lives.
We pray that God will give them many opportunities to win many souls.