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A very good morning to all of you, welcome to Gospel Light and our first English worship service this morning. If you're here with us for the first time we are going through the book of Matthew and it would be great if you could turn your Bibles with me to Matthew chapter 5 and we are looking at verses 14 to 16 this morning, Matthew 5 verses 14 to 16.

Not too long ago we got a puppy in our family, a new little dog, cute little guy and we are currently giving him toilet training. So what we do is we keep him in a confinement cage that's where he stays and to keep him entertained, we want to give it some toys, some balls, so some longish stuff like bones for him to chew on.

So sometimes bye-bye at night, I will go have a check on how he's doing, whether he has peed, pooed or stuff like that. So one night, this week I went there, I took a look at him, it's in our balcony, it's dark, I didn't install lights, so couldn't quite see clearly, but I could see him jumping around, I could see all the toys and I noticed a new, new stuff there, new toy as it were, it's longish, I thought my wife had bought something for him or this fellow must have gone around the house and drag something into the cage, into the confinement area. So I wanted to take a closer look at what it is, I picked it up. I thought it would be something hard and plasticky, but it was soft and mushy and it was then that I realized I picked up his poo, poo. I used my bare hand and picked up my puppies poo-poo, that what as gross as it comes.

Well that taught me a lesson that I really need the, the light and this morning we're going to look at what Jesus said, that you are the light of the world, the world needs light because apart from light, they're in darkness, they can't see, they can't see spiritual realities, they don't know, they do not know God, they do not know the way of salvation and life, they have not known the Gospel, but the Christians, the people of the kingdom of heaven, Jesus says, are the light of the world.

This is a familiar text, especially here at Gospel Light Christian Church, well, I believe one of the biblical inspirations for our church's name will be Matthew 5 verses 14 to 16. In fact, the architects when they built this building, took reference from Matthew 5 verses 14 to 16. So this is a very familiar passage to all of us, this is something that you have heard before. In fact, I checked my notes, I preached a similar message about one and 1/2 years ago, but I'm sure, you've all forgotten what it is all about. So it's okay for me to preach this again, as we go through the series in Matthew.

Now if you look at this verse, there many things to talk about, but I want to focus on three simple points today alright. They all start with D, if you're taking notes it's easy for you to follow. Number one, I want to speak to you about the deployment of the Christian, how we are all deployed, how we are all sent, we are positioned where we are so that we may shine the light of the Gospel, shine the light of God. So number one deployment. Number two, I want to speak to you about our distinctiveness, very obvious we are the light, the world is in darkness, we should be a distinct people, the distinctiveness of the Christian and number three I want to speak to you about the dependence of the Christian, alright.

So it's very simple, three points and I start of with point number one, our deployment. Jesus is very clear that the people of the kingdom of heaven are deployed in this world to shine the light of God, to help people come to spiritual realities, to understand who God is, what grace is, what the Gospel is all about and how God is going to bless us, through His Son Jesus Christ and the way we are going to bless or the way we are going to shine this light into this world, according to Jesus, is when they see our good works, so let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works.

In other words, the christian, the church is here, is deployed in this world to bring good works to the world, to bless the world we live in, very simple. Sometimes we bless the world, we do good works individually, sometimes we bless the world, we do good works in the world collectively. I think when Jesus talks about the lamp, it talks about someone who's shining individually, maybe it's you, in your office, in your school, in your neighborhood, you are the only Christian you know, you're the only Christian in  your family. Well God says, He has put you there like a lamp, don't cover it, but shine be, be a blessing to your home, be a blessing to your community, be a blessing to your office, but sometimes we shine for God collectively and I think that's taken from the imagery of a city that is set on a hill.

So together as a people, together as a local church, God's will is for all of us who are true followers of Jesus Christ to bring good works to this community we live in Punggol, to bring blessings to this town we live in, Punggol. Of course from Punggol to the rest of Singapore and unto the uttermost parts of the world, but it begins here, we are a city set on a hill.

0:06:20.3

As you know, God has led Gospel Light here to Punggol for the past seven months, you say, what's the reason, is it so that we can enjoy a nice facility, is it so that it will be we can pat ourselves on the back and say wow, what a nice structure you have, no. I think it's clear that God brings us to Punggol, to be a blessing to Punggol. I shared this before but I'll repeat this again, we can be one of four types of churches in Punggol, you have four options alright. The first option is that we can see ourselves to be a church against Punggol, we can have this mindset that says, we are good people, we are Christians and Punggol people are bad people because they're not Christians, so we position ourselves against them, it's a us versus them mentality, we want to avoid them, we think that they are evil and we would have nothing to do with them, we, we would lambaste all that they do wrongly, that is one attitude we can take, church against Punggol. But I suppose that's not what God's will is for us, certainly not.

But then you have option number two and option number two is church, not against now, but church like Punggol. So we don't want to be so against, so we say we be like them, we have the same ideas, same goals, same dreams, same desires, same ambitions, our lifestyle is the same, let us be a church like Punggol, is that God's will, obviously not, we are to be lights, even though they, we know that they're in darkness, we, we don't say we are like them. The church is never meant to live like the world, to dream like the world, we are called to greater things in God. So again, I don't think Gospel Light should be a church like Punggol.

The third option, I think you have already seen it, is church in Punggol. So this is not so antagonistic like against, this is not trying to imitate the Punggol way of life, but this is isolationist approach, we want to cut ourselves off from Punggol community. We just want to stay here, we think that they are unclean, we think that we should not mix too much with them, we create high walls and barbed wires, philosophically speaking and we don't want to have anything to do with Punggol, we isolate ourselves, but that again is not the will of God.

So what's the fourth, and I think the biblical option, you're not against, you are not like, you're not in, but you are, excellent, you are for, we are called into this community for the community, you see that, we are called here to shine, we are called here to do good works, to bless this community, I think that's why God calls us to Punggol.

Now, this concept is not new, some of you who have read the Bible would be familiar with Israel, the Jews. Long time ago, the Jews rebelled against God and God taught them a lesson, so He sent the Babylonians to capture the Jewish people, the Israelites and brought them to their own homeland called Babylon. So now the Jews are dislocated, they became foreigners, they became aliens, they become exiled, in Babylon. Now, when you are in exile in Babylon as a nation, you can have a few options. Number one, you can be Israel against Babylon. So you say, I we need to rebel against the Babylonians, we will do anything to sabotage the Babylonians, but that's not what God told them to do.
0:10:27.4

Second option, oh Israel, since you are in Babylon, we will live like the Babylonians. Again, that's not what God told Israelites to do. You remember Daniel, he would not eat of the things that the Babylonians eat. He wouldn't be Babylonised as it were.

What, what about the third option, we would just be a people in Babylon and will have nothing to do with the Babylonians, not possible and that's not what God them, what God told them to do. So what did God say to Israel, God said in Jeremiah 29:7, before they were captured, go to this city, but seek the welfare of the city, where I've sent you into exile and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. So Israel, don't be a people against Babylon, don't be a people like Babylon, don't be just a people in Babylon, but be a people for Babylon, seek its welfare.

And today as a church, we seek the welfare of Punggol, that's what we should be, let our light so shine, let our good works be seen that they may glorify our Father which is in heaven.

We do that via our works as I've mentioned. Now some of you then say, well does that mean that we don't preach the Gospel, we don't tell them about God, of course not. If it is only good works without the Gospel words, how will they know our Father which is in heaven. But the point is, don't just go with your words, without your works, don't just go talk, talk, talk Gospel but you don't have the walk, walk, walk of the Gospel. So let your works so shine, be seen before others. For example in 1 Peter 2, we are told to proclaim the excellencies of Him, we are to tell, we are to herald, we are to publish, we are to inform people, declare to people who God is and His saving grace in Jesus Christ, but that's what we are to be.

I don't know about you, but I think sometimes we can think of church as an event we go to on Sunday, come to this building, come to this hall, listen to the sermon and go back home, that is church for you. You know something that's not what the Bible is saying, great, you come, great to be fed, great to worship God in songs but really we are not called to Punggol, just to be a church in Punggol, but we must be a people for Punggol, I hope you get that, I hope you see that in your life, if we as a people are not really serving and contributing to this town that God has called us to, we missed the mark,  we are like that lamp that has a basket covering it, we're like a city that wants to hide ourselves and not let the light so shine and help people who may be lost along the way.

Let me ask, twist a little bit and ask you, what do you think should be the aim of Gospel Light, what do people talk about when they mention church. Well I think this word looms large and that is the word big, what is Gospel Light, oh, it's, it's a big church, that is probably what many people like to think about. We like to aim for bigness, now I'm not against bigness. In fact, it's good in a sense to be big, if the church is truly filled with people who really follow Jesus, great, big means more people follow Jesus, who wouldn't celebrate that, we will.

But I don't really think that should be what we aim for, because number one, salvation is of the Lord, we can't engineer that. Number two, there's a danger that if big on numbers is our goal, we  can compromise and try all kinds of humanistic methods to bring people in.

I think a better aim for the church is not bigness, but be a blessing. I think when I go to heaven, if you go to heaven, God is not going to ask you, eh, how big is Gospel Light Christian Church, were you big or not, I don't think He's going to ask you that, I don't think He's going to ask me that. But what is going to be asked is, have you individually and congregationally be a blessing, that's the question.

Gospel Light, let me say this again, we are deployed, I believe God has placed us here to shine God's light and we must do so. It is a shame, if year after year we gather and we create no impact whatsoever in the community we live in, it is absolute tragedy. I don't think God gave us this building God, gave us the privilege to come here just to hang out with ourselves.

As I shared last Sunday, I want to remind you again of some of the simple things men and women in this church have embarked upon to serve and to start to connect with our community. We went door-to-door, I'm so glad many of you went, you went because you realize, you, you believe, we are not here just for ourselves, we really need to reach out to Punggol. Sure we want to reach the uttermost parts of the world, but you got to start somewhere. We start right here in Punggol. That's why we went for religious harmony festivities last Sunday. Now when we went there, we are not, we are not saying we are like every other religious groups that are positioned there, we are not, but we are saying, we are not here to be against Punggol. Neither are we just here in Punggol. But we are communicating to the residents right here for Punggol, we want to be a blessing to you.  Now, so these are some of our volunteers, they, they were creating hundreds of this sculpture, balloons, and they had actually training before hand, Lawrence would train them and create enough balloons, we, we welcome some of the VIPs, who dropped by in the carnival. We could see lots of people, it was like packed from I think before 5 from 3, 4 PM onwards, people were already there.

Our Telegu brethren were all there too and they were giving out their tamarind rice, I'm told they give out a thousand portions of tamarind rice and it was so popular, you could see the queue, you see the queue. Food, it always draws people, alright. And our Telegu brethren, it was amazing. I mean Punggol is big, but I didn't know that they were able to meet up with 130+ Telegu families, that's a lot, right.  I mean, how many Telegu people do you know, but they were able to meet or reach out to 130+ and what is the message we are sending, we are not a church against Punggol, we are not a church that just want to stay in Punggol, we want to be a people that is for Punggol.

So in our church, we, we have this student care services, we want to take care of the children while the parents are at work. Simon would share the Gospel and by and by, as the Lord gives us opportunity, this year we're going to start for the very first time, God willing, a kids Bible camp at the end of the year. Now, as a church we have not done that before, we never really had the right facility to do so. We were in hotels and so on.

But now that we are here in this building we have a wonderful opportunity. At the end of this year, school holidays, what do parents want, please get my kids away from me. I say yah, here we are, Gospel Light is here to take care of your kids, for two days, three days, send them here, we want to have, we want to know your kids, we want to serve your kids, we want, want them to have fun, but we also want to share with them the Bible, we want to bless your children. So we, God willing, as I mentioned, we have kids Bible camp at the end of this year, somewhere in November.

As a church we reach out to the community, we teach people English, there are lots of Chinese speakers and they want to learn English, so we said we are church for you. We want to serve you, we want to help you with English, of course, with the good works,  we hope it will be coupled with good words, the Gospel, but that's what we're doing, we give them a English classes and we weave the Gospel in, during break time, singing time, we want to share with them the love of God in Jesus Christ.

We have table tennis and I'm sure they play table tennis, they have fun, they help the people have past time well, but beyond that is to build relationships to share with them the Gospel.

YuFei, he plays basketball, as I shared with you, he goes around Punggol, he's the king of Punggol now, the king of Punggol basketball courts. As I've mentioned he's a very good player, he is only second to me, if you believe that, but he, he plays basketball with a mission, with a purpose to, to bless them. I mean he wants to get, he plays with those, he teams up with those who maybe others don't like to team with, with his life, he wants the impact of a good bunch of young people in this community.

We have started the morning exercise, I think I have shared with that, shared that with you before, we have tuition ministry, we have gamelan ministry, meant to reach out to the residents here, our Filipino congregation they go to Waterway Point, have picnics to get to know fellow Filipinos, to reach out to them and we are thankful Trevor, not minister Ng, alright Trevor, who is part of our church, he will be coming on full-time in about, coming on staff in 1 to 2 months time to focus on this area of community engagement. We need someone to really help us as a church facilitate all these resources and needs matching, so that more of us could serve and be a blessing here in Punggol. I think that's God's will, I think that's God's deployment that we as a church will not just be about Sunday services, but we will be missional, to love our neighbor, to serve the city, or to serve this town and to make disciples of Jesus Christ, that's what it's all about.

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Let me ask you, is that what your life is all about, missional living, either as a lamp, at work, at home, in school, or as a city here at Punggol, that's God's will for us, that's what Gospel Light should be all about.

But let me move on to my second point and that is distinctiveness. The only way we can create an impact, let me say, is when we are  a distinct people and when we talk about distinctiveness, it's easy, especially after I shared all that, the examples I shared, it's easy to think that distinctiveness is just about the things we do to serve people, like table tennis, give tuition, great things, but I suggest to you, this distinctiveness is not just the things we do, but primarily it's about who we are. We must be distinct not just in our doing, but also in our being.

I think Francis Chan said this, we focus on what God wants us to do and forget the kind of people God wants us to be. So often in church, we tell people to serve, serve, serve and you know what you do you obey you, you say, I want to serve God and so you do, do, do, do, do and that's all you focus on, but you forget that the reality is impact in people's lives, is not just what you do, but who you are. You see, many people can give tuition today, seriously, you don't have to be a Gospeliter to give tuition, you don't have to be a Gospeliter to play table tennis, you don't have to be a Gospeliter to do Zhan Mei Cao, you don't have to be a Christian to do those things. The PA the RC in Punggol can do all that, but what is unique about you, your life, who you are and you know something, there's nothing more nauseating to people, then to be reached out to with table tennis and tuition and so on and come to our church and see a people who are like the world. Hah, you mean, Christians also are like that aah. You know in this church I've heard sadly how people come and they say oh I like your Church for 1,2,3 but you know what I'm looking to come back anymore because Mr. so and so said that to me, Ms. so and so did that, I can't believe Christians are like that they say. I say, wow it's so sad is so sad, I mean, many of you, we, we try our best to serve people and we forget that hey we got to be the right kind of people, that are reflective of light in the world of darkness.

It was Gandhi who said, I like your Christ, but I do not like your Christians, your Christians are so unlike your Christ. Now maybe when he said this, he, he doesn't really have a right theology or understanding of Jesus, I think that will be quite obvious, but still it's a very, it's a very strong comment. Indeed he says the reason why I do not come to Christ is because of Christians and maybe you've friends, you've your parents who said, I will never be a Christian because I will always remember what that Christian did to me last time, I can never forgive.

You see Jesus, when He says you are the light of the world, He's not just talking about things you do, I think it refers also to the life you live. Another I think non-believer he said, the greatest single cause, now, Brennan Manning is not a Christian as far as I know, but still it's it's a comment worth considering from those who are not in the faith, the greatest single cause of atheism in the world today, is Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips and walk out the door and deny Him with their lifestyles, that is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.  Wow, that's quite a statement but number one I think, if someone really live such a life, maybe he's not a Christian that can be true, but on the other hand, it can also be true that whilst we believe in Jesus, really believe in Him, we might not be careful, we might not be walking right with God and we can be a cause of stumbling to those who seek Christ.

Now, that, this sounds really depressive, but switch it to the, to the encouraging part alright, Blaise Pascal he says, the serene silent beauty of a holy life, is the most powerful influence.

I've always had this question last time, when I read the Gospels, I read about, Jesus so on fire in reaching the lost. He was all out to reach the lost, He will travel distances just to meet the man who was possessed with the demon to reach him, to save him, He would, He would speak to the Samaritan woman when nobody would bother with her, He was on the go for witnessing, He's on the go to reach souls, He gave us the great commission, He told his disciples follow Me and I will make you fishers of men, so He is always very evangelistic.

But then when He came to the Epistles, meaning Romans, Corinthians, Philippians, Ephesians, when I read the Bible, I realized that in the Epistles, they are very few, very, very few direct commands for you to share the Gospel. Think about it now, can you find a verse, the only one I can think about is 2nd Corinthians 5, that we are urged to be ambassadors for Christ, to be about the ministry of reconciliation, to bring people to Jesus, but apart from that, the Epistles don't emphasize so much of going to preach and share the Gospel.

I scratch my head, I say why? Well I think Blaise Pascal highlights the why, because the most powerful witnessing influence, you give in your life is a godly life. So often Christians today, are performance driven, even in evangelism. You hear a sermon about evangelism and you feel guilty, you feel oh, I should do something. So what do you do, immediately you say I need, I need to go to the streets to give street evangelism, I need to go knock on doors and give tracts door to door, oh I need to stand at the corner of a street and preach. Nothing wrong with doing these things folks, nothing wrong, don't get me wrong.

But we forget, that evangelism is not just something we do as if it's divorced from the way we live. But evangelism, powerful witness is when we are the salt and when we are the light, when our life is so distinct, godly, holy, loving that we will then impact the world living in darkness. So instead of rushing to do evangelism, I think the scriptural call is first of all to be godly, to be holy, that creates impact.

I remember Pastor Paul, he would share in sermons, time past about how he, when he was a young Christian together with auntie Nancy they, they went to a conference in America. It was said that there are six sermons a day, it's those heavy going stuff, they have a selection of the best preachers that we know of in those days, but he said because he was young and because auntie Nancy was young in the faith, the sermons flew by him, you know it's so chim, so elevated it's not always easy to grasp.

Well, one time he was having a meal after the conference or in between the conferences, one guy sat next to them, asked about them and invited, auntie Nancy and himself Pastor Paul to his house for dinner. And so they went and Pastor Paul said that, that one dinner, one meal with this family impacted him far more than all the sermons he heard. So what so special about this family, big house, no, he says it's the smallest house in the street there, great meal, no, she, he says, the wife can't cook. What's the impact, he says, it's the way they live their lives, how the husband treats the wife, how the teenage daughter takes care of the younger brother, he's never seen this before and Pastor Paul told me that auntie Nancy saw it and says this is Christianity, that's what it's all about. And that man was a simple man, he was a messenger man, he was a errands boy, before those days where you've emails, you need people to physically pass you the letters, the notes, he was just a simple guy, the wife was a hairdresser who serve in church when they have concerts and performance, he would, she would do, do the hair of the actors and actresses, a simple couple but whose serene silent beauty of a holy life was a powerful influence.

Roll back the years, my wife yesterday was in care group, we were sharing, and she said that she was led to Christ because of her classmate, she saw that her classmate was very kwai, er, not like the rest of the class, she, she was a nice girl, she would, she would do things a little bit different, she wouldn't go to the movies, she would be dressed modestly and so on and she said there's something different about her and she would go to her family and see the way their family loves one another and she said that was a powerful influence in her life, that family, is the family that sat at the dining table of that messenger, boy Pastor Paul shared.

This influence passes on when people see it. You know, I think in Gospel Light, what's the most powerful influence. Oh, preaching, no, I tell you about preaching 1 and 1/2 years ago, I preach a sermon like this, you have forgotten all that I preached, I'm very sure. I think you may come here, oh, that's a good sermon, but within one or two hours you probably forgot most of what I said. The most powerful influence in church today is you, when you go downstairs when you are seating with the people, when you are having your meals, you see someone who is new, you go up to him and like the simple errand man, you say, hey hi, how are you, new in church, care to join me for lunch, I stay nearby come over, your love, your godliness, your holiness is going to impact far more people than this guy with his sermon could ever do.

How are we going to impact Punggol, just your pastor, one guy exercising spiritual gift to impact this community, that's, that's ridiculous. God did not bring us together as a body just to have one mouth to serve, no God brought all of us together, so that your lives will shine, that's what it's all about.

I'm really excited for you to grow deep in God and for you to have such a holy life that people in Punggol would, would have this irrefutable access to seeing the glory of God, I pray it will be true.

This week I heard about a Bible teacher, he said that he was at Grand Canyon, and the it was pitch black skies, but he says it was still very bright where he is because the stars were shining bright. He says when you hold your hand up underneath the stars, there's a shadow that is cast, that's how bright the stars were in contrast with the dark skies and he then mentioned Philippians 2:14,15, 16 that says, do I'm not sure what version this is, you can check out your own version, but I want to focus on that phrase that is in italics or in cursive, it says do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure children of God, without fault in the warp and crooked generation, then you will shine among them like stars in the sky. In the King James Bible, it is translated lights in the sky.  In the original Greek word it is luminaries, light bodies and certainly it can include the moon but it can include the stars, so I don't think it's a way off translation at all, but I hope you get the picture.

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We live in a world that is dark but all of us can shine bright like stars. How do you shine like stars, give tuition, go do Zhan Mei Cao, give do table tennis, is that all, no, look at what it means to be a star, your life is different. You avoid the commonest Singapore pastime, complain, you say, can I shine in the, how can I shine in this world, I tell you very simple, just don't complain, you already stand out, everybody complains. I took a Grab car here today and my taxi driver was, the Grab driver was complain, complain, complain, that's what we are all about that's what the world is, but the children of God stand out when we do everything without grumbling or arguing, oh, my boss's terrible, oh, my wife terrible, oh my, well, thank God, that's how you stand out and if you read further upwards in Philippians, you'll read about how Paul exhorts the Philippians to walk in a manner worthy of the Gospel, to be humble, to empty yourself, to be united in love, not to be self-centered. When you live this kind of a life, you are different and you shine as lights.

I know this is heavy going but let me end with the last point. We've spoken about the deployment of the Christian, I hope you understand that distinctiveness of the Christian is not just what we do but who we are. Finally I want to say an encouraging word and that is in the point of dependence. I know some of us, I know how you are thinking, that's how I think, I say wah jialat, this one very high standard, I can't make it man, this is really tough, you know why I'm scared of talking to newcomers, why I'm scared of inviting people to my house, because my life is rotten lah, I don't dare to lah, wah pastor you tell us to shine as lights, but I'm quite dark ah, I know .... you mean, who feels worthy.
Hey, but this is the encouraging point. Some of you may be, all of you may be familiar with this kind of luminous stars, you know this right. I mean if you are kids, you have these stickers, you stick all over your room and it's so nice when you switch off the lights, you can see them shine. But you know after a while they don't shine very well. Why, because they need to be exposed to the light, then they get light and I think about the Christian, you know, in and of ourselves, we can't shine, our light must be the light of Christ and that's exactly what Jesus spoke about.

0:39:44.7

In John chapter 8, He says I am the light of the world, eh, I thought Jesus has told us, you are the light of the world. Yeah, you are right, but I am the light of the world, your light shines only in as much as you are having My light in you.

So in Ephesians 5, it says, but you were sometimes darkness, but now are you light the world, walk as children of light. I suppose the point is this, our dependence to, our dependence for the ability to shine, is in Jesus Christ. Godliness, holiness is a result of an intimate walk with Jesus, it's not something you do, it's not something you can attain and achieve by yourself, it is an intimate communion with Jesus because He is the light and if you're walking in the light, you are the light and this is the joy that we can follow Jesus and He will make us fishers of men. As you abide in Christ, you abound for Him, as you are aligned with Jesus, you can go on your assignment for Jeesus.

Just a couple of months ago, my, my family, as you know, we went to Korea. I shared with you about Mount Hallasan, the terrible mountain please don't go, huh, huh, well the other place we visited was this cave. Now this cave is unique in that this is a cave created by volcanic eruptions, so the lava erupts and it melts through the core of some structures and it creates a cave like that. It's a very long cave, many kilometers, but we were only allowed to go about 1 km of this cave alright, so you see structures like this, these are the remnants, it's dark, it's really cold, I mean, above ground, it's warm, it's like summer kind of a temperature, but when you go beneath it's really cold, it's dripping wet and nothing grows here, nothing, just damp, wet, cold.

But as we walked we passed by this bench, you see this bench, I'm sorry my photo taking skills were not very good and I was not sure I was going to do with it but just took it anyway and I'm glad I could show that to you now. There are, there are benches like this, along the way and they are lights underneath and when you look a bit closer, it looks like this. Okay, Matthias looks a  bit unhappy but, but you can see something growing there and, and when I looked under it was, it was life. I thought nothing grows here, it's dark it's damp, it's eeee, nothing grows, but where there is light, there is life.

We live in Punggol, we now are in Punggol, it's as far as the Bible says, it's dark, there's no life, seems like no one is living for God, possibly, but that's why God calls us here, to shine the light of the Gospel, because where there is light there is life. I think one of the great joys we as a church could see or look forward to is, over the months and the years, as we faithfully live missionally, as we faithfully follow Jesus and grow in true godliness, all of us, we would see life pop-up all over Punggol unto the uttermost parts of the world, why, because where there is light, there is life, you are the light of the world, may God help us to be such a people for His glory.

Let's bow for a word of prayer together. We sometimes underestimate the power of light, we say we just have this little light, what can our little light do. The world is so dark, don't you realize that this imagery of Jesus is powerful, just a little light and it will overcome any darkness, that's the power of light. Some of you may think I'm just one lamp in my office, I'm just one lamp in my family. Hey let your light so shine, it's going to succeed. Light always overcomes darkness and I pray you will be faithful to God, to shine that light.

Can you imagine what this place would become, what Punggol be like, I mean I'm not, we are not politicians we are not government agencies but according to the Bible, you can make a greater difference in all these agencies can, because you bring light, you are the light and God would use you to really transform lives and bring them to a life changing relationship with Jesus Christ.

Many years ago, I decided not to pursue medicine but the Gospel, because I believe in the light. because I believe in the light. This morning, would you pursue God's call for you to be the light, aah, but friends, don't rush, don't rush, but start to say, I need to grow deeply in Jesus. I pray today you will devote yourself, to a lifelong pursuit of intimacy with Jesus. Oh, we have seen so many people, we have seen so many people run, we've seen so many people try to do too much, but their lives are not aligned and what a waste, what a sad state, it can result in. Be like a Mary today, do one thing that is needful, sit at the feet of Jesus.

I pray that God will stir in Gospel Light a deep, deep hunger for truth and obedience, a deep hunger for intimacy with Him, so that when we are dependent on Jesus, we will be distinct in this world and we can live out our deployments for His glory.

Father we thank You this morning for Your Word, may Gospel Light Christian Church, Your church be a people who will be faithful, faithfully following Jesus, so that we would see in our lives this silent, serene beauty of holiness and godliness, so that wherever you call us, individually or right here in Punggol, men and women in this world would see the light and glorify You in heaven. Father, we want to pray this morning for those who have yet to know Jesus in their life, please grant to them, repentance and faith that they will turn from darkness, turn from sin, turn from ignorance against You, that they may now believe in Your Son Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, oh God, bring all of us closer to the light, Jesus Your Son. We thank You we pray all this in Jesus Name, Amen.

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