Singaporean Charismatic Pastor Yang Tuck Yoong inspired more than 10,000 people in Indonesia to have the fire of the Holy Spirit reach everyone on earth.
In the second general session of the Everyone Asia 2024 conference conducted on July 4, Yang Tuck Yoong, founder and senior pastor of Cornerstone Community Church (Cornerstone) in Singapore, delivered a sermon based on Luke 3:15-16 about fire.
Initiated by Empowered 21, the worldwide relational network to mobilize churches and the more than 650 million Spirit-empowered Christians to fulfill the Great Commission by Pentecost 2033, the Everyone Asia 2024 conference was held from July 3 to 5 in Sentul International Convention Center, Indonesia.
“We came here to be changed by your [the Holy Spirit’s] power,” said Pastor Yang of Cornerstone, which has planted more than 150 churches, schools, orphanages, and Bible colleges in 16 different countries.
According to Luke 3:15-16, the Jews came to expect a man who might be Christ. John the Baptist came with the power of Elijah, and his words were like fire in the hearts of the people, so they were burned with expectation.
“Men and women would walk many miles, by tens of thousands, under that hot sun. They would walk in a desert for many miles away for John was baptizing them,” the pastor said.
They came to see a man who burned for God, the one whose voice was crying in the wilderness and their hearts were melting. “They began to reason in their hearts: Is this the Christ? Is this the one Moses talked about?” Pastor Yang stated that John denied that and prophesized that the one was coming, pointing out that while he baptized them with water, the one they expected would baptize them with the Holy Spirit and the fire.
He continued to claim that there is no escaping fire in the Bible, such as our God, who is a consuming fire, Elijah, who wore a belt on fire, and the Holy Spirit, who is the Spirit of fire.
“Elijah called fire from heaven, John the Baptist was the burning lamb, Moses stood in the fire of a bush... They stood in the fire and they were not consumed.”
“Fire is the most self-advertising thing in the world. When I was a young boy, there was a house on fire. You didn’t have to advertise for it. In just a few minutes, many people would come.” Pastor Yang said, “If you are a pastor here, I’m telling you it’s not the fancy thing in the church. You just set yourself on fire. People will come and watch you burn for God.”
“If the pastor is on fire, the church is on fire. If the pastor is dead, the church is dead,” he further stated.
Recalling his 34 years in ministry, the 64-year-old pastor shared how his heart went on fire. After becoming a Christian in 1974, he remained a half-Christian for six years: one foot in the world and one foot in the kingdom. However, he was invited to hear a man preach during a movement in Singapore called the Charismatic Renewal. During the preaching, the preacher claimed, “The Holy Spirit is here.” Then people started to drop to their knees. He raised his hand and said, “God, I'm in a mess. Why don’t you touch my life? I will give it to you.” He felt fire coming into him, and suddenly, like a million volts of electricity, his legs went soft like jelly, and he was on fire, every cell inside him was going to explode.
“Jesus said that you shall receive the power when the Holy Ghost comes upon you. If we are going to win everyone for Jesus, we need the power and the fire of the Holy Ghost.”
In 1998, Pastor Yang met German Pentecostal evangelist Reinhard Bonnke for the first time. Half through the lunch with eight people, he asked a question about how the anointing worked, and then Bonnke started to preach at the table like he did to 80,000. He looked at him across the table and laid this hand on him, “Many are called, few are chosen, and the Lord says, ‘I choose you.’ ” Pastor Yang confessed that he didn’t feel anything like goosebumps or shakes at once, but when he opened his Bible and started to pray back home, his prayer life started firing up.
Illustrating this experience of “being on fire,” he spoke to the participants, “You are going to catch something from this conference. We may not feel it or see it, but we don’t live by what we see or feel, we live by what we believe. And then you are going to go back to your towns, cities, and homes, and when you go back home, you are going to realize something has changed on the inside of you. You are no longer the same again.”
He continued, “Every great revival has a battle cry. The Moravians say the lamb that was slain has received the reward for his suffering. John Knox of Scotland says, give me Scotland now, or let me die. In the great revival on the course of Scotland, they said, rend the heavens and thou come down. The Salvationists said, ‘Lord, send another Pentecost,’ but I love what the Welsh Revival, the battle cry of the Great Welsh Revival, ‘Send the Holy Spirit now, for Jesus’s sake!’”
In the end, Pastor Yang encouraged young people to preach with their tongue of flesh, which is connected to the tongue of fire. “How many of you want the fire? If you keep the fire burning, the fire will keep you burning. We need the fire, for every soul on the planet is going to hear the gospel.”
