Previously, I talked about OBC’s faith-wisdom in 1883, 1889, 2008, and 2012, which led us to discover the church’s founding values.

• steadfast faith,
• indomitable courage,
• noble vision,
• hope, and
• generosity

In this message, we will talk about the faithful, indomitable, noble, hopeful and generous people of Oamaru Baptist Church and the faith-wisdom discovery map in the past three years.

The flow chart above indicates that we are still on “Faith-Wisdom Discovery”, and next, we will tackle “Testimony Writing and Sharing”. All the tools we discuss and learn are integral to our church planning.

Basic Biblical Principle

Between 1883 and 2023, Oamaru Baptist Church had many faith-wisdom waiting to be found.

The basic principle in faith-wisdom discovery is searching for and finding God in all the events in the church’s life.

The faith-wisdom statement above is taken from the “In Retrospect” article on the “Turning Back the Pages”, Oamaru Baptist Church Centenary 1883-1983, published in 1983, where the founding values are mentioned.

During all the years of its witness in Oamaru, the Church has been steadfastly loyal to the foundation principles of the Evangelical faith. The distinctive and historic Baptist witness to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, the absolute authority of the Holy Scriptures as the Word of God, the freedom of the individual personality before God, and the right of all to freedom of conscience have been maintained with vigour and without compromise.

Today we thank God for those early pioneer members who, with indomitable courage, steadfast faith and sanctified vision, established the Baptist Cause in this town. We bless our God for every remembrance of them. ‘Their faith and their hopes we share as a glorious heritage. God grant that we prove worthy of the trust they have left us.

“Turning Back the Pages, Oamaru Baptist Church Centenary 1883-1983

Applying the faith-wisdom principles

The slide below shows some events in OBC’s life from 2020 to 2023. The listing is not exhaustive. I selected a few for illustration purposes only.

Now that we have listed the events, how do we search for and find God in these events in OBC’s life in the last three years, you may ask.

Remember the basic Biblical principle I showed earlier (Slide No. 3) found in James 1:22 and 1:26 and summed up by the phrase, “Faith without works is dead”?

As believers, the church continues to perpetuate works of faith because we have been born again in Jesus Christ.

It is the same faith that moved the early pioneers, “who, with indomitable courage, steadfast faith and sanctified vision, established the Baptist Cause in this town.”

Looking at OBC’s Faith-Wisdom Discovery Map above and reflecting on the events listed from 2020 to 2023 takes us to two questions.

• One is hypothetical. Could those who left have stayed if they knew of OBC’s faith-wisdom statement?
• The other question is reflective. Now that you know OBC’s faith-wisdom statement, how does it impact your commitment to be part of OBC?

As I have mentioned in my previous explanation, Faith-Wisdom discovery must lead to forming a mission statement.

So, based on the faith-wisdom statement, we create a mission statement needed in planning programs for the church.

Oamaru Baptist Church must plan and implement programs that teach, train, and track the founding values of every member (dynamic discipleship).

• steadfast faith,
• indomitable courage,
• noble vision,
• hope, and
• generosity

Read the details of this illustration by click on this link –> 3 Meaningful Life Lessons from a Boy Scout Orienteering Course

My message for today is to deal with the subject of WISDOM in relation to our faith, and this, of course, is linked to Obeying God. Wisdom is what we all try to seek in our lives. 

Wisdom is defined as “The ability to recognise right from wrong” (Discernment).

So, who is regarded in scripture as one of the wisest men – who could I choose? 

There are so many wise people to choose from, and then the name of SOLOMON leapt into my mind as during his rule, he was regarded as one of the wisest leaders of his time.

I feel I must say this before I commence – this will not be a history lesson – that’s just to put your minds at rest because I want to emphasise the importance of WISDOM hand in hand with FAITH.

OK, let’s get to it. As they used to say on a children’s programme on BBC Radio, “Are you sitting comfortably, good then I’ll begin”.

1 KINGS 4 VSS 29 -34

God gave Solomon wisdom, great insight, and a breadth of understanding as measureless as the sand on the seashore. 

Solomon’s wisdom was more significant than the men of the East and greater than all the wisdom of Egypt. He was wiser than Heman, Calcol and Dorda, the sons of Mahol.  And his fame spread to all the surrounding nations.

(Here are a few hints for those interested in memorising scriptural verses!)

He spoke 3000 Proverbs, and his songs numbered a thousand and five. He described plant life, from the Cedar of Lebanon to the Hyssop that grows out of the walls. 

He taught about animals and birds, reptiles and fish. Men of all nations came to listen to Solomon’s wisdom, sent by all the kings of the world who had heard of his wisdom.

His Biblical writing included PSALM 72 and THE BOOKS ECCLESIASTES AND THE SONGS OF SOLOMON. He was, in short, a very busy King.

The Bible tells us that Wisdom is only effective when it is implemented.

But how do we use wisdom – how do we recognise it? 

It seems that Solomon, who had asked for wisdom to be a good ruler, left it too late – through his sealing a pact with Egypt by marrying Pharoah’s daughter, she was the first of hundreds of wives, by the way, because politically, this was the thing to do in his perception!  

Against all advice, Solomon ignored not only his father’s last words but also God’s DIRECT COMMANDS.

A case in point here is that Solomon’s actions remind us of how easy it is to know what is right and yet not do it! 

I’m sure we are all aware of this in our personal lives when the natural, not the spiritual, take over!

He was the King chosen to lead God’s nation. Still, he failed to get his priorities right because he charged his people excessive taxes and overworked them with the result that his people were none too pleased with him and, as the Bible states, ‘were gradually alienated from him’, yet people still came from far and wide to admire this King. He drafted people into forced labour and forced military service.

So, what about us? Our SECURITY AND CONTENTMENT IS FOUND IN OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD, AND ANYTHING OTHER THAN THAT, IS DESCRIBED IN SCRIPTURE AS ‘VAIN PURSUIT’.

Success in this world is not permanent, and if we don’t have the wisdom to balance out what our goals are, our relationship with God is on the wrong track; we are to be blunt on a hiding to nothing!

EVERYTHING HINGES ON A RIGHT RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD, AND DUE TO SOLOMON’S DISOBEDIENCE, it wasn’t until later in his life that he learned his lesson through REPENTANCE. Let us not forget that Solomon was responsible for building the temple in Jerusalem.

NOW READ:  Luke Chapter 2, verses 41 – 52

The KEY to Jesus’ experience is that he kept increasing his WISDOM AND STATURE in favour with God and men. The more he read, listened, learned and PRAYED, Jesus’s wisdom INCREASED.

Imagine Mary and Joseph had taken a trip to Jerusalem as it was The Passover and had travelled there by ‘caravan’; from all accounts, there were thieves that would attack people who were travelling on their own, so a traveller was safer in an organised and large group. Well, there he was amongst all the learned teachers in the Synagogue, listening to them and asking questions.

He was 12 years of age 12! There was this young boy, The Son of God, who later became a carpenter soaking up all the information God wanted him to learn. With commitment and dedication, he eventually preached the word of God and worked miracles and even defeated Death.

Now, what questions should we be asking ourselves?

Are we listening to God when we know what we should be doing, but DO WE DO IT?

Like Solomon, we have successes and positives, but these are temporary. If we don’t hand it all to God, those temporary situations turn into negatives in our lives.

A Personal Admission:

How many of us go our own way? I did when I was young.  

A Jolly Jack, my hearty – didn’t really want to know about what I had been brought up with. I remember referring to those cliques I had seen in churches over the years, and God got shoved aside. We can’t blame God for human behaviour when we know what road to take!

There was a young Lieutenant who knew I had come from a Christian family. He formed a prayer and study group – five of us, on my first ship, HMS GAMBIA – and eventually, a year later, in Singapore, instead of going to the local Sembawang bar I used to visit, I found myself joining a Naval Christian Fellowship which I attended recommended by a Christian Commander and it was great – officers and men all believing the WORD OF GOD. 

And, of course, later in my service, whilst based ashore for a year, I met Val, the only Christian girl on her ‘messdeck’ – she was in the Women’s Royal Naval Service! See the Pattern? God never let me go! He won’t if you search for HIM!

I expect I’ve mentioned this before, but when I was on my first ship, there was a Scottish Colour Sargent, Royal Marines, who I was told by a pal of mine ‘got religion’. 

Some years later, at our church in Conway North Wales, the visiting preacher was a familiar face – it was good old Jock, our old Colour Sargent! 

It made my day – You see, God works in mysterious ways, his wonders to perform.

Malcolm delivered this message during the 5 March worship-service at Oamaru Baptist Church.

We are running a series on Nehemiah, which I titled “Renewal and Resolution”. In the previous sermon, I talked about Nehemiah’s T.A.O. strategy.

Today, I am preaching the first of the four parts on the sub-topic, “A Ministry Strategy for OBC”, based on Nehemiah 2:11-20.

Awakened excitingly!

When driving alone on a not-so-busy highway, you cannot help but be sleepy. And if you haven’t had a good sleep the previous night, you might be struggling to be awake behind the wheel.

That happened to me one Wednesday morning while driving to Oamaru. I struggled to keep myself awake as I passed the Fonterra Dairy Factory at Studholme.

So, I prayed to the Lord to keep me awake until I reached the nearest driver-reviver spot. I thought of ordering a long black coffee, sitting down and relaxing.

Suddenly, I recalled the pot of soup I put on the stove to be heated. I planned to have a bowl before leaving home but abandoned the idea because it was already past mid-morning.

So I went off the highway, stopped, parked safely on the road shoulder, and called my wife, who is in town working at the office.

As I waited for her to pick up my call, my adrenalin was rushing, my hand started to shake, and that sudden sickening feeling in your stomach that you get for thinking about the possibility of our house burning.

I asked her to please go home and check our house. I told her the reason. After about eight minutes, my wife called and told me our house wasn’t on fire, and nothing was burning on the stove. She said I had the pot on the stove but hadn’t turned it on.

I thank the Lord that nothing serious happened. The blessing was the event caused me to be fully awake and alert all day until I reached home. Yes, the Lord God awakened uniquely!

Reviewing Nehemiah’s T.A.O. Strategy

Let us refresh ourselves with what Nehemiah did in realising the vision that God gave him.

To be at it

This idiom means “to be involved in doing something.”

• Nehemiah went to Jerusalem and stayed for three days. (v. 11)
• As the body without the spirit is dead, faith without deeds is dead. (James 2:26)

Assess objectively

• Nehemiah rode through the area at night. (Vv. 12 to 15)
• He went around secretly. (v. 16)

Operate smartly

• Identify the problem and share it with those who would be doing the work. (v. 17)
• Acknowledge the gracious hand of God in everything (v. 18)
• Anticipate opposition (v. 19)
• Focus on God of heaven, who will give us success (v. 20)

My “To be at it” version

The slide above shows a sample of my work diary. I developed the practice when I started working as a process documentation researcher and was assigned to remote areas. We had to maintain a work diary so that our field supervisor could check our work and data output.

When my wife and I started working online in 2009 and were paid hourly, our online platform had a work diary that our clients could see and provided the bases for actual work done and work to be paid.

My conviction is that by keeping a work diary, I can show accountability to my ministry supporters and leaders that I am doing work. So, my version of “to be at it” is illustrated by the pastoral work diary I maintain every week, showing where the weekly 30 hours go. I wonder how many pastors are keeping a work diary nowadays.

I believe that while the ministry worker deserves his or her wages (Luke 10:7), the wage provider is also worthy of his/her investment.

I also believe that the pastor is not over and above the other workers or labourers. Therefore, I am always aware that if the church people work eight hours a day to earn and give their offerings to God through the church, there is no reason that, as a pastor, I will not be committed keenly to doing the same.

In other words, the salary that I receive comes from the offerings that were gathered from the church members who earn their wages by the “sweat of their brows”, and so, as a good steward, I need to account for the work that I am doing.

The article I wrote on my ministry blog, “Why Pastoral Care Ministry is Given and Not Optional for a Pastor,” explains my understanding and commitment to pastoral ministry.

Using the M.A.P. Toolkit for Assessment and Operation

I caught the ministry toolkit vision in 1992. I worked as a process documentation researcher assigned to Antique, Philippines. I was part of the team developing tools for productivity, appraisal, and planning for farmer-beneficiaries of the agrarian reform program in the Philippines.

As we were working on these productivity tools, using the principles behind these tools for church growth struck my mind. I was able to apply some of the tools in my church assignments, but I never had the chance to sit down and organise them into a toolkit.

When we migrated to New Zealand in 2011, I shelved the idea of creating a toolkit that pastors and ministry leaders could use in their ministries.

As I got involved in the ministry of New Zealand Baptist churches, the vision of a ministry toolkit kept flashing in my mind through all these years.

In 2017, I started writing the ministry management toolkit titled “Ministry Appreciation and Participation Toolkit” or “MAP Toolkit” for Pastors and Ministry Leaders.

I dream that pastors and ministry leaders in New Zealand will be able to benefit from the toolkit I’m creating. I dream that they will use the MAP Toolkit to enrich the multicultural ministry of the church.

Furthermore, I dreamed of seeing every pastor and ministry leader worldwide using the MAP Toolkit and confidently leading and empowering every believer.

The need for a toolkit

If the doctor uses standard instruments in his practice (e.g. a stethoscope), what are the pastor’s common tools to use in ministry?

Or, if the auto mechanic has some practical tools for checking the car engine, what does the pastor have?

The usual ready answer is the Bible, commentaries, dictionaries, and other reference materials.

Let me ask, “Have you ever seen a doctor using his medical book to examine a patient, or have you seen an auto mechanic holding his “How to repair” book to check your car?

I observed that the doctor and the auto mechanic have their toolkits with them when they do their job.

Have you encountered a ministry toolkit that functions like the diagnostic tools that a general physician or a mechanic uses?

Regardless of age, young or old, the doctor uses the same tools, and so does the mechanic. Well, he might have some specific tools for a particular car model, but the essential tools that mechanic uses are similar for every car.

The Ministry Appreciation and Participation Toolkit are created for a pastor or a ministry leader to use on his ministry assignment, just like the image above.

Why M.A.P.?

The acronym MAP for Ministry Appreciation and Participation is intentional because the general, essential underlying tool here is the “map.”

We are now in the information, multimedia, and social media age. We appreciate and engage more when we see and can touch things, even if we are handling or swiping our smartphones or computers.

So, the MAP toolkit is a set of tools that will enable us to map and create a picture of our ministry areas so that our community will be motivated to appreciate and participate.

What can the MAP Toolkit do?

You might probably be asking what it can do to your church or a specific ministry.

Like any tool, the MAP Toolkit’s overall purpose is to be an instrument to accomplish a task and, in our context, church ministry management.

One of the tasks of the pastor or ministry leader is what Paul reminded Timothy in 2 Timothy 1:6, to “fan into flames the spiritual gift God gave you when I laid my hands on you.”

The MAP Toolkit has tools that will help keep the passion for ministry burning in the church and the community.

I have identified four things that the toolkit can do. I believe that we will discover more tools in the process of using this toolkit.

I will preach about these goals in the next two to three Sundays.

Conclusion

In closing, I have a confession regarding the false fire alarm story I shared at the beginning of this message.

Let me confess to you that when I arrived home that day, I went to our stove to check and found out that there was no way the soup would boil and overheat and would cause a fire because it is the type of pot that doesn’t work on an induction stove.

Looking back, I believe that God used my thinking of me forgetting to turn off the stove as a way to wake me up from a sleepy situation.

Remember in the previous sermon, we learned that “tao” means in Maori “to cook” (verb) or “cooking” (noun)?

For us to achieve “cooking” (operating and growing) an excellent “soup” (church) and to avoid any false fire or burning alarm (closing the church), we need to be “fanning the flame”, appreciating, and participating closely in God’s work.

Amen!

Last Saturday, I tried installing the big mirror, and of course, I need to nail the hooks on the wall first. I can only drive the nail halfway, and it will start to bend. I tried a screw, but it went into a few millimetres, and the screw’s head got busted.

As I am not a skilled carpenter, I asked for the help of my senior pastor, a builder. He came with his tools and installed the wall hooks with much ease.

I observed that he drilled a smaller bit into the wall to provide a pathway for the nail. Then he gently drove the wall hook’s nail into the wall.

“Whew, you made it look so easy”, I said.

I learned I was nailing on rimu (an NZ hardwood) studs, and there is a strategy to successfully drive a nail into this wood type.

Let us learn from Nehemiah’s strategy to achieve his Godly goal of rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem.

The T.A.O. Strategy

To be at it

This idiom means “to be involved in doing something.”

• Nehemiah went to Jerusalem and stayed for three days. (v. 11)
• As the body without the spirit is dead, faith without deeds is dead. (James 2:26)

Assess objectively

• Nehemiah rode through the area at night. (Vv. 12 to 15)
• He went around secretly. (v. 16)

Operate smartly

• Identify the problem and share it with those who would be doing the work. (v. 17)
• Acknowledge the gracious hand of God in everything (v. 18)
• Anticipate opposition (v. 19)
• Focus on God of heaven, who will give us success (v. 20)

In celebration of the Maori language week (11-18 September 2022), I searched the meaning of “tao”, and here are the following definitions or translations:

tao (/taʊ,ˈtɑːəʊ/)

• (noun) spear, javelin, lance.
• (verb) (-na,-ngia) to cook.
• (noun) cooking.

“Tao” in Tagalog or “tawo” in Hiligaynon and Cebuano languages means “human” or “person”.