Foundation Day Message

Foundation Day Message: CDC by Pastor Richard Lee

As we celebrated CDC’s 12^th birthday this Foundation Day, we had the tremendous privilege of having our very own Pastor Richard give us the message. Dear Pastor Richard had served faithfully in our church for almost a decade before he answered the call to go full time into the drug rehab ministry with Kenosis home. Nevertheless, he still plays an active part of CDC today, and is dearly loved and respected by all CDC members young and old.

His message text was based on 1 Peter 2:4-10, typified by the sermon theme based on Living Stones.

 ⁴As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him— ⁵you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. ⁶For in Scripture it says:
   "See, I lay a stone in Zion,
      a chosen and precious cornerstone,
   and the one who trusts in him
      will never be put to shame."^{[a] 7}Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe,
   "The stone the builders rejected
      has become the capstone,^[b]"^{[c] 8}and,
   "A stone that causes men to stumble
      and a rock that makes them fall."^[d] They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for.

 ⁹But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. ¹⁰Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

The sermon begins after the Bible reading, with a story – the tale of the King of Greece who boasted of the powerful living walls of Greece to a visitor. The visitor looked and looked again, and for the life of him, could not see any walls around Greece and exclaimed so. Then the King regally gestured to his powerful, well-trained army all around him and proudly declared “These are my living walls.”

Cornerstone - the name carefully chosen by the early pioneers of the church points to our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, the ultimate living stone, the stone that the builders had rejected that is in fact, the cornerstone, the foundation of all things. 

And in vs.5, we, each one in the church of Jesus Christ are described by the Apostle Peter as living stones, being built up into a spiritual house to be a spiritual priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices which are acceptable to God! CDC is not made out of the building in Bandar Sunway – CDC is made out of us! We are the living stones of CDC which form the house of God!

At this point, Pastor Richard draws our attention to some type of “stones” that we must not be:-

Deadstones and tombstones:- These may look good on the outside, but they are only on display, and do nothing of value to build up the church. (This brings to mind the rebuke by Jesus of the Pharisees, who were described as whitewashed walls which look good on the outside but have nothing good on the inside)

Kidney stones and gallstones:- These stones give pain to body of Christ and this is especially typified in a negative, complaining attitude. Pastor pleads with the congregation, if you have to say one negative thing about the church, you must back it up with five positive things. Sometimes, a single tile on the roof out of place can cause havoc!

Instead, God is looking for living stones that love God and love one another!

How, then can we be living stones?

The first foundation is our daily walk with God. To be true living stones, we must make the effort everyday to spend time with Jesus and His Word. Only by learning from the ultimate Living Stone, can we too learn also to be living stones according to God’s will.

The second foundation is our life’s testimony to men. Throughout the Bible, our mighty, Living God continuously stresses on the importance of holiness! “Be Holy, just as I am Holy,” says the Lord. We must ask ourselves this question “Are we doing more harm than good?” There must be a righteous difference between us and the rest of the world. As living sacrifices, we have a spiritual responsibility to honor Christ with our lives. We must be the salt and light of the earth!

In his closing, Pastor Richard refers back to our CDC Mission Statement:-Cornerstone Doulos is a family-oriented evangelical congregational church with an every Christian ministry mission.

Family-Oriented:- Our church focuses a great deal on spiritual family values, and the unity of all the members as a big family of God.

Evangelical:- Typified by our theme for the year – Go into all the world and make disciples of all nations. Our purpose in life is to know God and to make Him known.

Every Christian Ministry Mission:- The second part of our CDC name is Doulos, which means servant.  We are saved to serve. To Pastor Richard, a non-serving Christian is a contradiction.  Our main purpose in life is to serve God and serve others.

Therefore, let us be learn to be living stones, and united in our love for God and each other, build up this spiritual house that is called CDC together in Jesus name.

(Note: Perhaps some of us may desire to serve, but may not feel capable enough, or may not know where or how to serve. Here, the most important thing is to have a willing heart. Next, each one of us must join a home fellowship. It is here that we can first start effectively serving our fellow brothers and sisters and growing together in the Lord. Finally, ministry is not just about serving in church or home fellowship, but it is a natural extension of our lives as Christians. We serve the Lord by doing good wherever we go, showing kindness and helpfulness to others in need. God bless, Jason)