Baptism, what is it all about? We… we hear about baptism and the world also has some views of baptism. If you talk to people who are not believers of the Lord Jesus Christ, to them, entering the water of baptism is as if you have sealed the deal. Aiyah, you are already… you are already given over to Jesus Christ. But really, what is baptism? Does baptism save? Does the water that you enter into wash away your sins? Well, this is what happens in baptism. Very simply, we go to a body of water and um… we immerse a person in water and after which he arises and rejoices. Alright? So this is what happens. This is at East Coast Park and we have the seawater but recently we have come back to our church building at 360 Dunearn Road and that is where we are going later on. And eh… our brethren entering the waters of baptism stands in the water and likewise we immerse them into the water and maybe after 10 minutes we… uh no… (Laughter from congregation) eh… just a quick while alright? For those entering waters, don’t be scared, don’t be anxious, it’s a split second and after that we, we raise the person up and all that is a symbol.

All that is a picture, all that is to say Jesus saves me and washes me clean of all my sins. The baptism itself does not save you. The baptism itself does not wash away your sins. The water we use as I always say, is not from some holy place, it is from PUB. And if you are the number 25^th person going into the waters of baptism, you’ll realise it doesn’t wash you of anything. But entering the waters of baptism is a public declaration that Jesus has washed away all my sins. That’s it! So it doesn’t save you but it tells others that Jesus has already saved you because you have already believed in Him in your heart. So baptism is an outward declaration of an inward reality that I belong to Jesus Christ. The water you enter doesn’t wash away your sins but it represents, it reminds us of the blood of Jesus shed on the cross to wash away your sins. That death, burial and resurrection of the new man is typified or pictured in you going into the water and coming out again. So that is all a beautiful picture. You see, baptism doesn’t save. Coming to church doesn’t save. Being born into a Christian home doesn’t save. Only Jesus saves.

We have been looking at the book of Romans and we last stopped at verse 10. Today in verse 11 is a repetition in a sense. It’s a reminder of all that we’ve gone through. The Bible says, “The Scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.” The key is believing on Jesus Christ. Are you saved? The question can be answered, have I believed? Have I believed in Jesus? It doesn’t matter what kind of a person you were. Whether you are rich or poor; male or female; Singaporean or not; good or bad; heh… been to church or not. The key is have you believed in Jesus? Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. The “whosoever” is huge… is a huge word. Anybody, that’s what it means. I’m so thankful it is “whosoever” because if God had said, “If Jason Lim believes on him, he shall not be ashamed”, I will be scared. Why? Because it might not be this Jason Lim, it can be other Jason Lims. But if it is “whosoever”, it means anyone of us. Everyone of you gathered here today, if you believe on Jesus Christ, you will not be disappointed. That’s the word! You will not be defeated. You will not be ashamed.

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The key is believing in Jesus Christ. In verse 12, Paul reemphasizes this: “There is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for it is the same Lord who is rich…” Rich in His mercy, rich in His grace, rich in His love, His forgiveness, His salvation on those who believe on Him. And in verse 13, just to nail it in, he says, “For whosoever”, again that great wide word, “whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” What is central to these three verses? Jesus Christ. Only Jesus saves.

Last week, I had an interview with our brethren who are entering the waters of baptism. And it was a great time. In the past years, I’ve always interviewed them and I felt so many of their precious testimonies are not shared with all of you. So this time, we sort of captured some moments on video. Eh… we interviewed many, actually all of them. But in this video I selected some. Some of these testimonies and they are all from our young people. And there is a theme I want to share with you today. These young people have been going or coming to church ever since they were small, even before they knew anything. Their parents are church-goers. They come along with their parents and for a lot of us, we assume that they coming to church equals to that they are believers, that they are saved. But you will hear right from the horses’ mouth that many of them did not really believe, even though they keep coming to church. Until there is a certain point in their life, that they realised coming to church doesn’t save. Obeying the commandments doesn’t save. Being born in a Christian family doesn’t save. God mercifully work in their hearts and they realised it’s believing on Jesus alone that saves. So I want to share with you this video. It’s a great video, I feel and I hope it will be an encouragement to you as parents. Don’t take your children’s salvation for granted. They coming with you to church doesn’t mean their hearts have opened up and received Jesus. Pray for your children. Pray for the second generation in GLCC that they will truly believe in Jesus. So let’s look at this beautiful video.

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(Video play)

And so this is exactly the verse l’d like us to look at in particular: “Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” You see baptism doesn’t save. Being born in a Christian family doesn’t save. You striving to keep all the commandments doesn’t save. Why? Because you cannot! As Jason, Jason Koh correctly pointed out. If you just break one law, you commit one sin, you’re… that’s it! You are going to hell for that! Why? Because God is absolutely holy! God is absolutely righteous! And He will not tolerate a single sin that goes un-judged, unpunished. And you see it is by believing in Jesus alone that saves. Because Jesus paid it all on the cross! And whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

Friends, if you are here today, you want to be saved, I say to you, there is only one way. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life, no man comes to the Father but by me.” It’s not your way that saves you, it’s the way of Jesus Christ. And if you call upon His name, you shall be saved. No “ifs”, no “buts”, you shall be saved. But let me move on in Romans 10 and I want to speak today also to believers, to my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.

In verses 14 and 15, we see a beautiful sequence of events that must take place in order for a man to be saved. What is it? Well, “How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent?” So you see a chain of events. Five links in this chain. You could see here in this highlighted words: call, believe, hear, preach and sent. A tremendous complexity in a sense, takes place when a person calls on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Supposed today you go home, it’s late at night and as you enter the house, what is the first thing you will do? All of us switch on the lights, right? We go… we throw the switch and we take it for granted  that when we switch on the lights, the lights come on. It’s really very simple, isn’t it? For some of you whose houses are more high class, you go in you snap a finger, maybe the lights come on too. It’s easy, it’s just a throw of a switch. But do you realise that in order for your house to be lighted up, there is a whole complex process that must take place prior to that. You say what’s the process? It looks something maybe like this. From the power plant to the substations, to the transformers, to the cables, to the wiring and then to your circuit boards. Do you know it’s a very complex process? And in order for a man to call on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, there are great things done prior to that. God had  in His eternal love, sent His only Son to be born as man, to live a perfect, righteous, holy life, in order for Him to die on the cross, to be the sacrifice and substitute for our sins. All that needs to be done! He rose again because He is the victor and conqueror over our sins.

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But that is not enough. The Bible tells us not only did Jesus die and rise again for our sins, the Bible also tells us God now sends… sends what? Sends preachers and preachers need to… preach; And people need to… hear; And then they need to… believe before they were called and then they will be saved. And so this is the sequence of events that are depicted in the Bible. There is that calling that follows believing, that follows hearing, that follows preaching, that follows sending. It is all the work of God, in securing that forgiveness and then giving us, sending us that forgiveness. Great passage here.

Let’s look at them in a sense, one by one. The first word is “call”. If a man is to be saved, he needs to call on the name of the Lord. He needs to call on Christ Jesus. This is an expression of faith, isn’t it? That you realise you can’t save yourself and you need to say God, Jesus, help me! When a man comes to that stage, when he realises that God is holy and that he is sinful and helpless and Jesus paid it all, when he realises it, he calls on the name of Jesus. It’s an expression of faith. We did note that last week, not everyone that says Jesus is Lord is saved. Why? Because they did not say it from the heart. They did not have a call that is rooted in believe. There are many people who called on God you know. For example, you get into a car accident, they  say, “Oh my… God!” And there are people who flippantly, mechanically use the name of the Lord. That doesn’t save them. It must be a call that is rooted in belief. The roots must be right, then that will be the right fruit. It is a believing heart that results in a confessing lips. And so they that called on the name of the Lord shall be saved. And we know this must be a work of God. No man will acknowledge and submit to Jesus as Saviour and Lord until the Holy Spirit works in his heart. I say this because in 1 Corinthians 12, in verse 3, the Bible says, “No man can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost.” See, it’s the working of the Holy Spirit in a man’s heart to convict him of sin, to convict him of his unworthiness, of his helplessness and now he places his trust, he calls on the name of the Lord, to be saved. The word “call” is a special word. It’s not just an ordinary ‘kaleo’. ‘Kaleo’ in the Greek is ‘called’ but this is ‘to call upon’. This is ‘Epikaleo’. And it is used to express worship, praise and adoration. So a man is saved when he properly out of his heart, calls on the name of the Lord. So that’s one. He needs to call. There are people who say, “Pastor are there any words I need to say in a sinner’s prayer?” You know sometimes we have this phrase: sinner’s prayer. What are the words we need to say in a sinner’s prayer, anyone knows? Actually in the Scripture, there is no such thing as a sinner’s prayer. Ok, there are no exact words you need to say and memorise. You see, it’s a heart of ex… it’s a heart of faith that expresses itself in a call unto God. By memorising and reciting words, it does not save you. It’s calling on, it can be as simple as this: “Lord, save me!” In the Bible, there is another man, the publican who said, “God, have mercy on me, a sinner!” And Jesus says he walks away, justified, forgiven. It’s as simple as that. So let us not be fixated on the sinner’s prayer. It is the belief in your heart that results in a genuine cry for help, for salvation. Alright? Sinner’s prayer not found in the Bible, it doesn’t save. It’s faith in Jesus Christ that saves. But let me move on.

Secondly, the word “believe”. Believe. I’m sure you already know that this is about believing in the heart and not just knowing about something in the head. It’s not head knowledge, it’s a heart believe. Remember last week, about this man Judas? I shared about Judas, fascinating, isn’t it? Everybody heard about Jesus, everybody heard what Jesus has been preaching for the past 2, 3 years. Jesus had been saying before Abraham was, I am. I can forgive sins. Jesus is saying I am God! I am the Lord! But when it comes to the very last night when Jesus said, “One of you will betray me”, all the apostles could say, Lord, Yahwah, Kurios, is it I? Is it I? Lord is it I? Except Judas, who couldn’t find himself say, “Kurios, is it I?” He could only say, “Rabbi, is it I?” Teacher, master, is it me? He couldn’t. Why? Because I think in his heart, he never really believed in Jesus Christ. He knew, he heard, he was exposed to the teachings, the miracles and the claims of Christ, but not in his heart. Here was a man who was not convinced, nor convicted about who Jesus really is. My friends, there is something different when you truly believe in Jesus with your heart. You totally commit yourself to Him, you believe in him for who He is in the Scripture and you depend upon Him. The key is believing, it’s not works. Again, I quote Jason, he is absolutely right. If you just break one law, commit one sin, that’s enough to send anyone of us to hell. That’s enough already! And if you want to be saved by works, you are a cursed man. The Bible described it. Because cursed is every man that does not all the law in the Scriptures. But blessed are those who believe. Those who say it is not what I can do but what Jesus had already done and I want to depend and believe on Him. Jesus paid it all. All… that’s why. That’s why He has to go to the cross. Because you can’t do it. And He had to do it all for you. And those who believe in Him will be saved.

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Two nights ago I was reading a story book with my son. A Bible story book. It’s about the stories of the Bible in children cartoonish, simplified form. And he was very excited to tell me about how Jesus died. And there was a page where Jesus was crucified between two thieves. And I asked him why Jesus died? He said He had no choice, He had to die because the soldiers are very powerful. He’s in this phase of power, you know? Every robot is power, any figurine is about power. He said the soldiers are very powerful. I said, “No, Shawn. Jesus died because He willingly gave His life for you and for me and for mummy and for everyone.” My son said, “No, no, no! No, no, no! It’s because He had no choice!” No, I said it’s because Jesus willingly lay his... “No, no, no!” and he turned me to a few pages before, to the garden of Gethsemane. Wah…he’s quite smart, he said, “Look at him! He had no choice!” He was agonising, He had no choice! He remembers the story rather well. But I tell him, “Shawn, no. Jesus was at the garden praying in a sense: Father, if there is any other way, if there is any other way man can be saved, then let this cup passed from me. But he says, nevertheless not as I will but as you will.” Because this is the only way. Jesus went to the cross, why? Because it was absolutely the only way. And He is the only way we can be saved. And so whosoever believes Him. Because there is no other way and if you believe Him, you will call upon Him and you will be saved.

But then, how can people believe if they do not know? That’s why we come to the third word here: “hear”. They cannot call until they believe and they cannot believe until they hear… eh… until they hear. No man can believe in Jesus until they hear about Jesus. Know about Jesus. In one of my… one of the groups I’m with, someone asked, “Pastor what do you do, or what can we do if the people that we want to share with or the people we hope will be saved, the people we’ve been praying for, would not believe?” What would you do? They have questions, they will not believe. What will you do? I simply say to them, actually I do not know what else I can do. Except to… to let them hear about Jesus. I mean I can answer all the scientific question if I can, philosophical questions if they have, but at the end of the day, they cannot believe until they hear, until they hear about Jesus. And one of the greatest blessings I’ve learned is, when you want to help someone come to Christ, help them see Jesus in the Bible. Take your time, be patient with them. Teach them from the Scripture. Show them from the Scripture who Jesus is. Just let them hear about Jesus because there is no believing until hearing. Isn’t it true? Jesus said, my sheep will hear my voice. Isn’t it true that the Bible says, “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.” Show them from the Scripture who Jesus is. And pray and trust that the Lord would help them hear His voice. That’s what happened to me.

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Years, years ago, I was not a Christian and I was determined not to have religion in my life. I mean, those who have religion are weak people in my estimation. I was determined not to have religion but I came to church just being curious and maybe trying to refute the claims of the Bible. But something amazing happened to me as I sat into the preaching and the hearing of the Word of God. Something just changed in my heart. From coming to be antagonistic, there is something the Word of God did into my… or did in my life. The Spirit of God was speaking to me and I was able to hear the voice of God. There need not be a lot of arguments. There need not be a lot of debates. I just needed to hear. And when I hear, eventually I believed. I want to encourage you. If you have friends, let them hear the Word of God. Let them hear it. You don’t have to fight them, you don’t have to debate with them. Yes, you reason, you persuade by all means, but you don’t have to twist their arms and force them. The key is to let them hear. I think that’s why in our church, we… we really want to devote in sharing the Word of God in as many ways as we can. We thank God for the generation and era we live in where technology allows the truth to be proclaimed far and wide. It doesn’t matter which part of the world you live in, as long as you have internet access, we can send the Word to you. And in this generation, I think we must be very, very responsible to the resources He has given to teach the Word. In the good old days, preachers used radio ministries, you know that right? The radio ministries, those you got to log in at a certain time and er… you can’t repeat it. But today we have it all in the internet, TV, whatever you have. But the goal is that people can have an opportunity to hear, so that they can believe, so that they can call, so that they can be saved.

But how are people to hear without a preacher? And so the fourth link here is: preaching. There are many people today who come to church to worship but we fail to realise we are to go and preach. You see that’s what happened. We say how shall they hear without a preacher and we change the preacher into a pastor. Get what I’m trying to say? How shall they hear without a… you know what we say, without a pastor. You say, “Pastor, it’s your job, what! They can only hear if you preach, because I don’t know how to preach.” By the way, let me give you a statistic I found out recently. George Barna, he’s someone who collects statistics about churches and ministries and he… he said… let me ask you: What percentage of people come to know the Lord as a result of the direct preaching of the pastor? This is his statistic ah. What do you think the number will be? What is the percentage of people who come to know the Lord Jesus Christ from or via the direct preaching of the pastor? What would your figure be? (Pause for response) Sorry? (Response from congregation) Wah lau! (A Hokkien dialect exclamation of astonishment) 3%!  Wah, he doesn’t really see the pastor very up! (Laughter from congregation) Ok, you have a 3% figure, anyone else? So out of eh… 100 people, 3 are saved because of the preaching of the gospel via the preacher, the pastor. Any one… any other figures?  (Pause for response) Sorry? (Response from congregation) 30%. Wah! 10… 10 times more! OK, a bit more 给面子(gei mian zi) (Mandarin words meaning give face). 10 times more. Anyone else? 15. Wah, you all are very conservative! Um… but actually you are all quite right. The statistics he got was 7%. 7%. And you think about it, I’m not surprised. I’m not surprised. Too often the church has had a fortress mentality. Fortress mentality means I must get people to church to hear the preacher preach in order for them to be saved. But no, actually in the book of Acts, you see the preaching of the Word done by… the believers! Every single one of them! You know in Acts chapter 8 there is a great passage where there was a persecution upon the church at Jerusalem and the people were scattered and they went everywhere preaching the Gospel.

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You say, of course they preach lah, the apostles were there what! Then, there is that verse in verse 1 that says, everyone was scattered except the apostles. So the apostles stayed back but those that went everywhere and went everywhere preaching were the believers. But today’s Christian churches have turned it around to say how shall they hear it without a pastor. No! It’s a preacher. You say what’s a preacher? Pastor, I… I don’t know how to preach like you. I don’t know how to give a 45 minutes sermon, so ‘cheong hei’. (Cantonese dialect meaning long-winded)  But I don’t know how to do it. Well, the word ‘preacher’ here simply is the word ‘kerusso’ from which we get the word ‘to proclaim’, ‘to declare’, that’s all! That’s all! It’s to proclaim! It’s to declare! You’re not there to sermonise. Not there to give a nice oratory. You’re there simply to proclaim Jesus is God and He died and rose again to save us from our sins. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. It’s just declaring, just telling, just witnessing. And how will people hear if the church today does not go and preach and declare? How can people be saved?

There’s a story that’s told of a couple who just got married and they met with a honeymoon disaster. Er… they booked a very nice room, in a very nice hotel but they got there really late at night. It’s the wee hours in the morning, so they immediately got up to the room and when they opened the door, they were very, very surprised. It was not a room as they had expected. It was a small dingy room with no windows whatsoever, and a small little bathroom that they can’t really use for bathing. And then there wasn’t even a bed for them. Just a sofa bed that allows you to pull out the mattress. But it was already very late at night and  they were really dead beat and they slept. The next morning the husband woke up with a stiff neck. Very, very angry, stormed down the stairs or the lift, got to the receptionist and said, “Hey, what’s up! I paid so much for a grand room and this is all I’ve got? I didn’t even have a proper toilet. I don’t have a proper bed. There’s no window. What is this?” The receptionist looked at him with eyes wide opened and said, “Sir, did you open the next door?” The man suddenly felt embarrassed. He was flushed, his eyes grew wide, he rushed up to his room and he realised there was a door right in front of him and when he unturned or when he turned the door knob, he opened himself to the presidential suite. He’s high on the 35^th floor, panoramic view of the rivers and the buildings and the mountains and everything. He had a great bathtub, a huge water bed - master bed there for him and he said, “Why in the world did I sleep outside?”

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We laughed at that because it is so weird. But that is exactly what happens in the world today. There is a great world of holiness, righteousness, joy and peace that God has prepared for those who loved Him. And those who’d believed in Him. But there are people today who just will not open the door. And the door is Jesus. They will not just believe in Jesus to enter into that blessed realm.

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And you know why they would not open the door? Because they do not know there is a door. The receptionist did not declare, kerusso, proclaim there is a door. My friends, people today are locked in their sins; caged up in despair. Why? Because they have not called. And the reason they have not called is because they have not believed. They have not believed because they have not heard. They have not heard because we have not preached. You see, declaring the Gospel to those who need it. And then those who preached must be those who are sent. They must be sent. Who sends you by the way? Who sends us? Pastor? No, who sends us? The Scripture tells us who sends us. In er… verse 37, 38 of Matthew, it is said, “Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest that He will send forth labourers.” It is God who sends us out!

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Can I say to you today, this is not for your pastor to hear only. It’s for you! And God has committed to us the ministry of reconciliation. Every single one of us. If you believe in Jesus, you are an ambassador for Jesus Christ. You are a salt, a light. God has given to you the great commission, not the great suggestion. This is what you need to be about doing. To declare the Gospel, He has sent you. And you know something about this, as you look at this chain of events, God has chosen to use man. Marvellous! Think about it. God could have sent the Gospel via the clouds. Every single day, the clouds can be arranged in such a way, whosoever believes in him shall not be ashamed. He… He could have done that right? Permanent cloud fixture. Whether rain or shine, you’ve the cloud there or the rainbow can be twisted in such a shape too. No problems. God could have dropped down the message on your floors every single morning like in manna. He could have done that. Or He could have used angels to proclaim to you.  But He didn’t do that. He chose to use you and I.  And we must recognise that you see. There was a fascinating passage in Acts chapter 10 and how the angels came to Cornelius and said to Cornelius: Cornelius let me tell you something important, a man is going to come and tell you the good news. You say, eh? How come the angel cannot tell Cornelius himself? I mean he came already, to tell him that someone who is coming. But that’s the way God has chosen to work. Work through you and I, man and woman who know of His saving love and will declare and proclaim His saving love.

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My friends, are you sent? You are already sent. Because you already have the Word of God in your heart. The great commission is already given. You don’t have to wait for Him to come, wake you up in the middle of the night and say, eh… I think it’s time for you to serve me ah! No, the moment you belong to Jesus, the great commission applies to all of us. We are sent but we need to realise it, you see. We need to realise it. I want to close in verse 15, where it says here, “And how shall they preach, except they be sent? As it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!” Strange phrase: How beautiful are the feet! Er… if I asked you to take off your shoes and socks and look at your feet, you may not term them beautiful lah. Or maybe you say mine very beautiful but if you look at your neighbours, you may not say very beautiful ah. Can you imagine the scene, all of us take off shoes and then… not the first thing you will say beautiful, right? When you meet someone, you will say, Oh, you have such beautiful hair. Oh, you have such beautiful eyes. Oh, you have such beautiful feet! Um… a  bit unusual, but why? Why beautiful feet? Well, I suggest to you they are beautiful because these are the feet that carry the Gospel of peace. The glad tidings of good things. And I also suggest to you that these feet are beautiful not because they are manicured or pedicured, painted or soft. No, I believe these feet are those that are dirty, bloody, scared and callused. Why? Because these are feet that have travelled great distances to bring the important message of peace to those who need it. They are beautiful not because of their external, they are beautiful because of the function. Beautiful feet because they fulfil an important function.

This is a text as it is written from Isaiah, chapter 52 and verse 17. In Isaiah, God is saying through Isaiah, that there will be a day where Israel or Judah will be captured by the Babylonians. But don’t despair, because in about 70 years time, God will call His people back to Israel. And so He says, there will be a day where there will be beautiful feet coming with the Gospel of peace. That is the context in Isaiah but Paul says, this is not only about the Babylonian captivity, it is also to men and women who are stuck and trapped and in prison and in sin.  And Christians, the Gospel messengers are those who come with the message of peace. The world doesn’t need to sit in sin and despair if the Christian would come and proclaim the good tidings, the glad tidings of good things. This is a vision by the way, can you see the vision? It is a picture. The people are trapped in a certain locality and they are wondering what’s happening in the war front. In those days, you do not have internet access. You don’t have Facebook, you don’t have handphones. And so whatever happens in the battlefield is unknown to the people until the messengers come back.  And they can see from a distance that these messengers are coming down the mountains. Coming down the hills. Coming down with a message and they look at them and they fear. In case they are coming as man of war. But no, they could see from  a distance there is no armour, there are no greaves on the shins of those soldiers and they are waving white flags. And these guys as they run down the mountains, they are shouting, “It is over! There is peace!” What a vision! And that is how God sees you and I. As people are trapped in sin and we being the messengers will come and wave the white flags, “Put down your weapons of rebellion! God is offering you reconciliation.” There is full, free, eternal forgiveness in His Son, Jesus. Believe Him! These are the glad tidings, not the sad tidings. The glad tidings of good things. God has offered you salvation and life.

This is the mission of GLCC, that we will be leading generations into a life changing relationship with Jesus Christ. Because it’s only Jesus who saves. And we must be a church that is going about with these beautiful feet. I saw beautiful feet last year this year when Gospelighters took on a wonderful ministry to go out into our neighbourhood and to invite them in to hear the Gospel of peace. Brethren, just going about. Some of you wear high heels. And I know it’s very difficult to walk on high heels but you still went. You went because you want to let people hear about Jesus, so that they may be saved. We have people who then subsequently came in, hear the gospel. We mingle with them, we relate with them and thereafter we have people who go to their homes, visit them in their houses. So that we can share with them the Gospel, let them hear about Jesus. So that they can believe, so that they can call and so that they can be saved.

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Not only in Op Zion, we have brethren who go out regularly to the streets. And they go out to the streets to proclaim the Gospel, to share the good news with people in the streets. Because people need the Lord. That’s it. Every single one of them needs the Lord. And we have brethren who serve in very creative ways, reaching the young. This is the ministry in the YMCA, you can see the T-shirt there. We go there, we build relationships with them to share with them the gospel. We have brethren who… young people, creative, they use sports as a platform to connect, to build relationships with people. We have camps, evangelistic camps. They’ve… they play dirty games, I don’t know what this is. Looks gross. But in the grossness, they share the gospel. We have our construction workers outreach in time past. Where beautiful buses, not necessarily feet, but beautiful buses that go out to the work sites to bring them in.  That the gospel may be declared to them. We have our ladies in our Filipino congregation who go out regularly on Sundays. To Lucky Plaza to share the good news, invite them to the body of Christ. We have ladies, men, our pastors who go to the Safe House Ministry every Thursday to share with them the Gospel. We have our Indian folks, who are regularly bringing the workers from the shipyards and construction sites. We have our brethren going out to BASC which is a before after school care where children are… are stationed where they can hear the Gospel stories. We bring them in to our church, we have Kids’ Club. And er… this is a wonderful picture, even in the children’s camp, how… how God gives us opportunities to… to pray and to lead young children so that they may be able to call on the name of the Lord.

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We must be a church that is not just gathering on Sundays. That’s not what God intends. He wants us to be gathered on Sundays to be strengthened, to worship Him, to praise Him, to grow. But there is a great task, a great mission for us on a Monday to the Saturdays. That’s what church is about. Beautiful feet. Bringing the Gospel of peace. But can I say, it’s not just in Singapore, let’s remember the mission fields. Because God does not limit our ministries to geographical locations. And last year we’ve been SMCI the e-campaign. I think many of you are signing up this year, I praise God for that. But it is this, that we go to distance lands as well to proclaim the Gospel. Nowadays you don’t have to walk so far, you have beautiful Jetstar, you have beautiful Cebu Pacific. They bring you very near. And your manicured, pedicured feet can still be very nice. And you can still do the work of the Gospel. You can go to classrooms to declare and preach. You say, “Pastor, well, sounds like I have no time for this. Um… we have these outreaches on Op Zion, I know you have all these things but I’m a very busy man or woman. I’ve no time to go for e-campaign. I… I would like to, but I’m really too busy and maybe… maybe I can be excused from the great commission?” I say to you, no, that has never been the will of God. We can never say that I am too busy for the great commission. You know why? Because the great commission is to be a lifestyle.

If you go to GLCC building today. Later on, some of you may be there. You go to our basement and that’s where our offices are. And one of the office there is a window pane and on that window pane, there is pasted on it, a pink, purple piece of paper. Very bright, very loud, and on top of it are these words: Hey! Christian read this! Yes, this is for you! Wah, it’s very offensive sounding but… but you go and read on it. And you will see that what is it about is this: There are easy ways for you to be missional. What is ‘missional’? In other words intentional. In other words, you realised God has called you for a mission. To be the salt, to be the light, to be the ambassadors, to be fulfilling the great commission.  You can be missional. It doesn’t have to be accidental or incidental. It is intentional. And it’s saying right where you are today, even if you are a very busy person, there are ways for you to live the great commission on a consistent basis and so it is there. Hey! You Christian, read this! It is for you! And it is right!

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You say what are the easy ways to be missional? Let me share them with you:

Number One: Eat with non-Christians. And I think Singaporeans can do this very easily. You love to eat. And there is a very good reason for you to eat. You eat with non-Christians, why? Why? So that you build up a relationship that you can earn, maybe the privilege to share with them about your Saviour. That’s it! You eat with them to build a relationship. You eat with them not so that you can gossip. You eat with them so that you can show your love for them. Build a relationship with them and simply witness to them. Now, if they don’t trust the Lord, doesn’t mean you don’t want to be his friend anymore, please. We don’t believe in that. I think we should love someone genuinely and unconditionally. But here it is, we need to eat with them because they will not hear if you are not with them.

Second advice is: Walk, don’t drive.  Wah, this one very hard! For many Gospelighters, many Christians, many Singaporeans, it’s a very difficult thing – don’t drive. But there’s wisdom in not driving lah. Anyway, COE is so expensive, er… this is another reason why you maybe can walk, don’t drive. It says here, get out of your house, take interest in your neighbours, ask questions, pray as you go. Save some gas, the planet and some people. Go and be with people.

Number Three: Be a regular. Be a regular in a joint, in a char siew stall, char siew “bung” (Hokkien dialect meaning rice), whatever, just keep buying from this uncle, eat until you “tor hueh” (Hokkien dialect meaning vomit blood), (Laughter from congregation) just… just build relationship until uncle likes you and then uncle, can I have a time with you and I… I… I enjoyed that before… I’ve done that with… with some before and… they actually do give you the opportunity to share with them the Gospel. And it says here, my friends at Starbucks donate a ton of left over pastries to our church, 2 to 3 times a week. We used them for church gatherings and occasionally gave to the homeless. Build relationships, be a regular. Since you go out to eat, might as well use that choice, also for the glory of God.

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Number Four: A Hobby with non-Christians. That’s fine. You don’t have to always play games with Christians. You can… you can have hobbies with non-Christians. Again, be intentional. Be missional.

Number Five: Talk to your co-workers. These are your colleagues.

Number Six: Volunteer with non-profits and…

Number Seven: Participate in city-events. The principle is quite similar. It’s to build relationship with those outside the Kingdom.

Number Eight: Serve your neighbours. Serve them. Throw their rubbish for them. Do little chores for them. Pass them a cake that you’ve just baked. Um… kind deeds. Build those relationships.  Don’t make the mistake of making missional another thing to add to your schedule. Instead make your existing schedule missional. Common sense, right? And then it says, we can be missional in every day ways without overloading our schedules. As you go about, make disciples. That’s what the great commission is. As you are going about, make disciples.

Lastly, how beautiful are the feet. The word ‘beautiful’ there is the word ‘horaios’ in the Greek. From which you get the word, which is derived from the word ‘hora”. And the word ‘hora’ means an hour or time. So think about it, why are the feet beautiful? Because they are timely. How timely? How “jun jun” (Hokkien dialect meaning exactly) timing are the feet of them that preach the Gospel? Because people need the Lord and it is timely when we obey God’s sending, to go and share the Gospel to those who need it.

One of the most touching story of the Bible, I feel is that of the Ethiopian eunuch and Philip. The Ethiopian eunuch is a man who wanted to know God, he did. He travelled maybe a 1,000 miles from the South all the way to Jerusalem. He hoped that when he gets to Jerusalem, he can hear the preachers; he can watch the Scribes; he can watch the Pharisees. He could hear what they are teaching, he could see the sacrifices and through it come to know the true and living God. But you know what? He didn’t. When he reached there, he saw all that, he still didn’t know how to be saved. He turned around and was a disappointed man on the way back to his country. He brought a huge entourage but it was a fruitless trip up to that point of time. He opened his Bible, he was reading. He said, I must know the Lord. And it was at that precise moment, as he was reading Isaiah, chapter 53, the great passage on the Messiah that Philip came right beside him and asked him, what are you reading? And Philip began sharing, preaching to him what? Christ. And it was at that point that the Ethiopian eunuch got saved. But you know how Philip got there? Philip got there because he was sensitive to the leadership of the Holy Spirit. God will give us divine appointments if you are surrendered to His will. If you are missional and intentional in all that we do.

April 15, 1912, it’s a… it’s a historic day. Anybody knows why? April 15^th, 1912, it’s just 2 weeks ago. This… this tragedy is made famous by James Cameron and his film. But it was about a hundred years ago, that the Titanic sank and on board were 2,200 passengers. Of which 1,500 sank or drown or were frozen to death. So 700 of them made their way out alive. And these were the people largely who were on these life boats. They managed to get on the life boats, children, women and those who couldn’t really quite fend for themselves. They got on the life boats and they were saved from the… from the icy cold waters. But the tragedy of this sinking of Titanic is not just that peo… it’s not just that the Titanic sank, but that actually there need not be a 1,500 death that night. Why? Because out of the 20 life boats, most of them were half filled anyway. They could save many more. But they wouldn’t. Why? Because they are afraid that when they go back, too many people would get on their life boats and the life boats collapse. And so the people on these life boats chose to ignore the cries, the screams of the people in the waters so that they themselves will be saved. It was only much later that one of the boats decided to turn back and when they got back, it was way too late. Because there were only 6 people, out of the 1,000 over who were still alive. They picked up these people, one of them was a young man. The young man, subsequently, 4 years later, in a Titanic survival’s meeting at… Ontario, Canada. He stood up and shared the story. He said he saw a man, saw a man who… exactly this gentleman, his name is John Harper. He saw this man gave up his life jacket to another man. As he was in the waters, he was swimming frantically, from one person to another person, one person to another person. He was swimming all the way. The waves were raging and brought this young man and John Harper together and… and this young man said, John Harper came to me, and he asked me this question, “Sir, are you saved?” The man says, “No.” He says, “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shall be saved.” Those were the words he gave him. The waters divided them for a moment and several minutes later, he came back again. And he asked him the same question. “Sir, are you saved?” He says, “No.”  And he repeats, “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou should be saved.” And soon after he said those words, he was too weak, too cold to swim on any longer and he sank under, never to resurface again. This young man, 4 years later, in Ontario, Canada said, “I was John Harper’s last convert.” Because he was a man, who went believing that they cannot be saved until they believe, and they cannot believe until they hear, and they cannot hear unless I preach. And declare Jesus is the Lord and whosoever believes in Him shall be saved. 0:56:28.6

Beautiful feet, timely feet. Is what the church today needs. Too many of us are bloated in our heads. Too few of us are walking with our feet, to carry the Gospel of peace. I end, maybe with the last illustration. A missionary doctor, he’s a Christian, he’s a preacher. He’s also a doctor. He came to a small African village and declared the Gospel of Jesus Christ. By the grace of God, there were some who were saved, and in particular a man who was stricken with a terrible disease called elephantiasis came to be saved. You say what is elephantiasis? It looks something like this. It is a disease by which there is immense swelling of the lower limbs. Why? Because there is a kind of parasite, a worm like parasite that resides in the body. It blocks out all the lymph-nodes and lymphatic channels. And so the fluids cannot drain back out to the body and it keeps accumulating in the dependent parts of the body. So it swells up, it gets disfigured, it gets deformed. It gets bruised and bleeding very easily. It’s heavy, it’s bulky. This is the one of the least R-rated pictures I could find already. There were many more horrendous picture of elephantiasis.

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But there was this man, stricken with terrible elephantiasis in Africa who came to know the Lord Jesus and he had a deep passion for souls. And though he was largely incapacitated by this… this er… difficult illness, he determined to share the Gospel, to preach Christ to everyone in his village. And that was what he did.

He took several months to go from one house to another, sharing the Gospel. And when his village was absolutely covered, he says, I want to go to another village, 2 miles away. And after he has covered that village, he goes to another village some 12 miles away. He will awake early in the morning before day breaks, he will journey all the way there and he will come home in the evening. But there was a day he came home really late, what happened was that he got lost, he stumbled, he bruised himself, he… he got injured, he was bruised and deformed and ruined in his feet. And he had to drag himself all the way back. And now he arrives at the doorstep of the missionary doctor. He knock, knock on his door. The doctor opened the door and saw that he was half dead. He was exhausted. He was bleeding, he was bruised from all those injuries. The doctor carried him to his room. Began to apply the ointments, put on the bandages. And the missionary doctor said this, that as he did so, his tears were mixed with the ointment and as he wrapped him up, he felt his heart drawn to this Christian like no one else. And one verse he could remember is this: how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the Gospel of peace.

Is your life… contented to be a manicured, pedicured, soft painted feet? Or would you choose to have bloody, dirty, scared and callused feet… in the service of Jesus Christ, to proclaim the tidings of great joy to those who need him? My friends, how can they be saved? If they cannot call on him? And how can they call on him, if they have not believed? And how can they believe, if they have not heard? And how can they hear, if they are not… if the preachers do not go? And how can preachers go, if we don’t realise today we are sent? Pray ye the Lord of the harvest, that He will send forth labourers. Not just in the faraway lands, but right here in your office, in your schools. Pray not just for others, but for God to enable you, to have these beautiful feet, bruised, bleeding and battled because of Jesus Christ.

Let’s bow for a word of prayer. Father this morning we are thankful for the salvation in Jesus. Indeed He is the only way and we are reminded today the people of this world need to know of Jesus Christ. To hear of Him that they may believe in Him, that they may then call upon Him. I pray for all our baptism candidates today, I thank you for each one who has believed in you. And I pray that you will bless their journey, bless their life. I pray for our friends who are gathered here this morning, that they will turn from themselves, unto Jesus alone for salvation. I pray today for your church. God give us hearts that will beat for souls. Hearts that will go forth with joy in preaching the Gospel. Enable your church to do it today, to be a people with beautiful feet. Father, use us. I beg you. I pray this. I ask that Jesus will be declared among the nations. That souls may be saved and you be glorified. I ask and pray all these now in Jesus’ name. Amen. God Bless.