On the morning of 28 May 2016, I woke up to the sound of pouring rain. It was cool and comfortable, and definitely conducive for sleeping in. That was not an option at all, for I was to declare an awakening message at the Congregational Meeting of Wesley Methodist Church’s (WMC) Pastoral Care Zones 3, 10 & 10a. Sitting up on my bed, I uttered a simple prayer, “Thank you, Lord, for showers of blessings! But please don’t let this deter anyone from the meeting.”
With an early start of 9am on a rainy Saturday morning, the Wesley Centre at Bible House filled up slowly. Having been a member of WMC before, it was nice meeting old friends and recognising familiar faces as these stepped in for the “Awakened. Aligned. Assigned.” seminar.
In the time given, just 3.5 hours, we decided that an introduction to the message of Archippus Awakening would suffice. As such, I shared “Another Awakening” and “Ready & Prepared” across two sessions. The small groups were then given an opportunity to dialogue and discuss, followed by a short Q&A time. All in, the meeting was concise and compact, ending promptly at 12:30pm.
As always, I am thankful for every chance to declare the message the Lord has placed upon my heart. Truly, He opens doors, and I simply open my mouth. Appreciate the partnership and facilitations of Geok Cheng and Jorge, the main organisers of this event, and also the presence and support of Rev Gladwin. That morning, I fulfilled another Archippus Awakening assignment and now, I pray for the Lord to align hearts as only He can.
Here are some takeaways and responses from the participants:
“Archippus Awakening has woken me up to the possibility that I have not really positioned myself to be where God wants me to be. This half day seminar by Henson Lim casts biblical perspective on the way we are living out our Christian lives – are we just doing ‘activities’; or are we living out our lives through God-given assignments? Henson meticulously and logically unpacked the case for what it means to live out the Gospel of the Kingdom. It is only when we understand this and live out God’s Kingdom for the good of others, that His Kingdom can be advanced. In all – the seminar was structured well, with a clearly presented case. A necessary ‘rest-stop’ for so many of us who are involved in some aspect of church activity and ministry, to ponder, reflect and realign.” Christina Stanley
“I believe it was indeed a God ordained seminar for Bro Henson to speak to us. It was timely to us as individuals and as a Church to be clear of our respective Assignments to do His will as we were made for His purpose. God bless!” Eugene Lim
“The teaching of Archippus Awakening is a stark reminder of the urgency for Christians to embrace the gospel of the kingdom and be accountable during the final hours of Jesus return.” Ken Lie“I thought that the underlying call to action (awaken) was powerful and the half-day was just barely enough time to briefly touch on the subject. Would have liked to grapple with the subject more but perhaps leaving where we left off would do better in terms of whetting the appetite. It is certainly a wake up call.” Terence Wee
“My takeaway from today’s lesson. It is not good enough to be awakened, we need to listen to the God’s prompting on what is our own assignment from God even day to day task takes on a special significance when we change our worldview to that of kingdom values. The challenge is to be a passionate church and not a lukewarm church.” Kelly
“Salvation is not the apex. It is just the beginning of our journey. To illustrate the point, many Ten Commandments movie end after crossing the Red Sea. Actually it’s just the beginning for the Israelites.” Jorge Lau“Henson is a dynamic speaker who shares his knowledge and experience with great conviction. He interjects his lessons with provoking thoughts and humour which enables his audience to identify deeply and reflect internally. From his life stories, it’s evident that Jesus’s love is shining in him and through him. Thank you for showing us that anyone of us ordinary folks can be Archippus as long as we are consciously making an effort to stay awake and understand what our assignment in life is upon getting that alignment with God.” Sharon Teo
“Spiritual dullness can happen easily and without warning if we don’t pay attention – day to day activities will take away focus and lead to spiritual slumber. We need not just to awaken our spirits but also renew our commitment with clear aim and objectives on assignments of the kingdom of God. The assignments of God in turn help us realign to improve our lives as Christians.” KC Lam
“The session is spiritually enlightening and enriching. It is well organized, and though provoking. It illustrates well about Christian’s responsibility to promote and extend gospel of Kingdom, instead of be satisfied with gospel of salvation. We are not to work for our salvation as we are saved by faith in the redemptive work of Christ on the cross, but we are saved to do good works which God has predestined for each one – the works of extending His Kingdom on earth, creating positive impact to the world around us. God does not need us for the good works, but He use these good works as a process and journey to nurture and transform us to be more and more Christ like. Church and small group (Area of Assembly) provide safe space for Christians to practice and train with Kingdom values and living, before we march on for Area of Operation, carrying out God’s assignment. Henson has crystallized this spiritual truth through his own walk and experience with God. I have been much blessed.” Justin Ong
“Henson impressed upon me the difference between salvation and kingdom. Salvation is not an end but the beginning to an end – Kingdom of God. Very often we do a lot on evangelism, the part on salvation and neglect discipleship, the part on building the Lord’s kingdom. Henson also reminded me that as long as we are God’s faithful servants, we can make a difference in contributing towards advancing the Kingdom of God, just like the anonymous Archippus.” James Tan
“Indeed God does not need us to accomplish His work or purpose, rather He involves us to help us grow in faith and in likeness to Christ. Having said this, God has an assignment for each of us. We need to align ourselves to God’s will and be faithful in carrying out our assignments, always checking if they are what God wants us to do.” Corrine Lam
If you’d like the message of Archippus Awakening to be declared in your church, community or cell group, email me and we can meet to discuss the most appropriate time and format.
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