Churches today are lulled into a slumbering state by “feel good” sermons; shallow “seeker-friendly” messages and hyper grace doctrines. The sword of the Spirit that is being wielded in many pulpits today are blunt. It has no cutting edge or the Spirit of God to stir up one’s life. Instead of feeding the spirit of men, many preachers’ sermons are feeding the minds of men. But not that of Pastor James Singh! His preaching and prophetic ministry always cause a cross fire between God and the devil, holiness and sin within us.
That was the journey many at Etab took last 8-10 September 2017 during the Spiritual Emphasis Week with Pastor James.
On the very first evening of the Spiritual Emphasis Week, Pastor James preached a message on the FEAR OF GOD – a message that is shunned by the Hyper-grace churches. Yet it was so needed in many of our lives as we are all living in the last days, with the spirit of iniquity abounding and with many of our hearts waxing cold. We need such sobering message to jerk us out of our Laodicean state so that we could be serious with God and not continue to play with sins in our lives.
And now, with so many prophetic predictions of September 23, 2017 being the end of the world, Pastor James admonished our church to be the wise and ready virgins. Carnal behaviors of the foolish virgins depicted in Matthew 24:32-42 must be avoided by believers. End times is now and we are admonished by the message not to be the empty jar with no sense of preparation for the second coming of Christ; with no spiritual concern for the future and with no understanding of the numbering of days; with no understanding of weddings and lack of patience. Instead, we must be like the wise virgins who have plenty of oil; who cultivated the fear of the Lord and who have understood the concept of the wedding. If we fail to prepare, we will prepare to fail on the second coming of Jesus. When Jesus comes again, it will be too late if we are the foolish virgins for then, we cannot borrow someone’s spiritual fervency, faith and preparedness.
On the last day of the Spiritual Emphasis Week, Pastor James exhorted our church to manifest the kingdom of God within us by being the mustard seed (Matthew 13:3), though small, it grows to become a big tree. The application of this mustard seed is that the kingdom of God is internal – it is within us and it is unseen. Yet God expects us to let the little faith within us grow and increase and become an influence to others. Then Pastor James amplified on the concept of enlargement or expansion by using the parable of the leaven in a positive sense. Just as a leaven expands the dough, we as kingdom believers must enlarge like the leaven in our genuineness; faith, compassion, holiness and sound doctrine.
Accompanying every service during the altar-call, was the one-to-one prayer and prophetic download by Pastor James. This is the part that caused many of us to tremble in “fear” for the condition of our soul and spirit can never escape the sharp, accurate and searing prophetic office that God has given to Pastor James. Many fell under the power of God; many comforting words were given to those who felt God had forgotten about them; many sinful conditions of the hearts were exposed – but that was not to condemn the respondees but to beckon them to repent so that they could be revived by righteousness of God and be used more effectively again.
It is a joy to have Pastor James over to Etab because he is not only a dynamic speaker but also a prophet of God. He is a servant of God who fasts and prays often, meditating on the word of God for the nations. To think that he has just completed his 100-day fast last month and to enter into another 60-day fast this coming October 1, speaks volume of this man’s fervency to be the cutting- edge end time preacher and prophet of God.
I always enjoy sitting under the “footstool” of Pastor James as I am always enthralled by the many wise advices and prophetic admonitions and downloads he gave to both of us (Pastor Toh Nee and me). Above all, we enjoy his friendship because he and his wife, Rosie, were among the few friends that stood beside us and journeyed with us when we were at the lowest.
Here’s praying that Pastor James would continue to be that clear prophetic voice like John the Baptist, crying out in the wilderness of our time for men and churches to repent and believe in Christ for we are all living in the end times now and Jesus is coming soon.
