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“A very good morning to all of you and welcome to Gospel Light, our first English worship service this morning. We are continuing in the Bible, in a series called “The Authority of the King”. For the past many months, one year plus, we've been journeying through the book of Matthew and today we come to Matthew chapter 9 and verses 1 to 8. I'm going to read these eight verses and injected in between, is a segment from Mark chapter 2. These are parallel passages and so I'm going to read Mark 9 with a few verses from Mark 2 and here we go.

‘And getting into a boat, He (that is Jesus) crossed over and came to His own city. And behold, some people brought to Him a paralytic, lying on a bed.’ [Matthew 9:1-8]. Mark chapter 2: ‘And many were gathered together, so that there was no more room, not even at the door. And He was preaching the word to them. And they came, bringing to Him a paralytic carried by four men. And when they could not get near Him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above Him, and when they had made an opening, they let down the bed on which the paralytic lay.’ [Mark 2:2-4].

'And when Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven.” And behold, some of the scribes said to themselves, “This man is blaspheming.” But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, ““Why do you think evil in your hearts?” For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘rise and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins” - He then said to the paralytic - “Arise, pick up your bed and go home.” And he rose and went home. When the crowds saw it, they were afraid, and they glorified God, who had given such authority to men.' [Matthew 9:1-8].

This story revolves, revolves around this paralytic, this man was lying on his mat. We are not told why he was paralyzed. Maybe he had an accident, maybe he had a tumour in the spine, maybe he had an illness that made him so weak for so long, he could not walk, maybe he has a nerve problem or muscular problem, we are simply not told what caused this paralysis. But this man must be a helpless man because he needed friends to carry him around. He probably can't work, he probably would have to be resigned to a lifelong stay on the streets begging for help, for food, for financial support.

I picture this man probably quite despised by the society because in those days, when you've such illnesses, they think this is directly attributed to some sin in your life. So he might be a despised man in the Jewish society. He might be someone very dirty, smelly because he can't get to the bathroom, can't get to the washroom very easily by himself at all. So this man must be reduced to quite a sad and pathetic state because of this disease. And I think he probably was quite hopeless, no one was able to help him in this problem and so he lie there.

But one day, probably he heard of this man, Jesus. He heard of how Jesus was going around healing people of all kinds of sicknesses, casting out demons, cleansing the leper, healing the Centurion's son who was also sick with paralysis. And maybe after he's heard about Jesus, hope rose within his heart, he said, “”I must get to Jesus, because this Jesus is able to heal me.”” Maybe he heard about how Jesus said that He was the Saviour, how He calls men and women to repent because the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Maybe he heard about how this Jesus was baptized by John in the River Jordan and how the Spirit of God came upon Him and how that was a declaration in heaven that goes, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” So hope arose within his soul.

I want to say for all of you today, the Bible is a wonderful book about hope. The Bible is a tremendous book of hope in God because this man had no hope until he hears of Jesus. And I say to you that's why I love being a preacher of God's Word. Sometimes we preach quite hard things, but at the end of the day, all these hard, difficult things channel us to this great hope in the Bible that there is salvation, there is cleansing, there is change possible because of Jesus Christ.

Today, you may be living a filthy life. You know you are living in sin, you know that there is no hope for you in and of yourself, but I want to tell you that there is hope in Jesus Christ. There is change possible in your life. So listen on to what this story tells us.

So this paralytic, he was hopeless until he hears of Jesus and I think he probably got his four friends together to bring him to Jesus. These four friends are wonderful, I mean these four friends stuck with this man and helped him to find Jesus and I see, and I see the church in these four friends. These four friends to me, represent what church is all about. You say ““What is church?””  Church is responsible to bring the sick, the needy, the filthy, the hopeless to Jesus Christ. That's what we're here for.

I mean the reason why God leaves us here on earth and not bring all His children to heaven the day we are saved is because we have a responsibility, we have a privilege, we have a calling to be like these four friends, bringing the needy to Jesus Christ. And I love the story of these four friends. They can't change the paralytic’s life, they can't, they have no power, they can't heal him. But they know that they can bring this paralytic to someone who can heal him and that is Jesus.

Gospel Light Christian Church, we have no power to change people's lives. I mean I can't even change my own life, but God can change our lives and our responsibility is to be regularly bringing people to Jesus. This is what I will call the fellowship of the mat. For those who are familiar with Lord of the Rings you have the fellowship of the ring and a group of people are responsible to bring or is responsible to bring the ring to be destroyed but the fellowship of the mat is about bringing people to be healed, to be saved, to be forgiven.

This story is a very important story to me, let me just use a whiteboard. It's a very important story for me because this encapsulates the mission of Gospel Light. Do you know what's the mission statement of Gospel Light? Leading, ah, ah, ah, you all don't, I can't write so fast. "Leading Generations Into a Life-changing Relationship with Jesus Christ."

How many words are there? 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9. There are nine words in this mission statement. Very long, right? Why can't we shorten it? Because I, I did cross, it did cross my mind such a long statement, why can't Gospel Light Christian Church mission statement be simply, life-change. Easy, right? What's the mission of our church? Life-change. Wah, so easy everybody can remember. So why did you make it so long-winded, you are so cheong hei (Chinese, meaning “long-winded”). Aunty Linda scold me, you see, of course, you cannot be life-change lah, changed life. Why? Because we cannot change people’’s lives.

Do you really think you have power to change people's lives by yourself? No. I have a hard time changing my life, I have a hard time changing my kids’ lives. But I know someone who can change your life, someone who has changed my life and He is Jesus. So what we are responsible for, is to be keeping on bringing people to Jesus Christ, pointing people to Jesus so that Jesus will change their lives.

And so in our mission statement, there are three, I'm using this as a, as a excuse to remind you of our mission statement, alright? There are three important elements. All starting with L, very easy. Three important components in our mission statement. Number one? Okay, “Leading”, and that is what we have been talking about, right? We can't change lives but we can bring people to Jesus who can change lives and let me say this, all of you who are believers of Jesus Christ, you can do this. You're all called to be bringing someone to Jesus, with your testimony, with the sharing of the Gospel, with your love shown to them. We always and we are all responsible to be leading people to Jesus Christ. I hope you see that and I'm going to talk more about that in a while.

Number two, second L, “Life-change”. In other words, as a church we do not aim for only information but we labour towards transformation. It's great that you are hearing the Bible being preached. It is necessary for you to have truth, to have information. But if you only satisfy yourself with information but you do not apply the truth, you do not seek to obey the truth, then it is pointless. All we do is just academic, theoretical talk. But the mission of this church is to help all of us and to remind all of us, we must be aiming for life change, transformation, not just information.

The last L, loving? Good guess, but no. Sorry? The Lord? Good guess, but no. Okay I'm glad I did this because I thought you all would know, but no. Lexicon? No. Last L. That's right, aunty Linda, “Legacy”. We must labour in such a way, it is not just to end with our generation, it is to be leading generations. We must minister in such a way that this generation will build into the next generation that will also build into the next generation that will also build into the next generation. I think that's biblical because that's how Jesus gave the disciples the great commission, “And Lo, I'm with you always, even unto the end of the age.” So He's commanding the apostles, the early church to minister in such a way that would last to the end of the age.

I’’ve, I'm sure you have seen many churches, rise, and go in maybe 1, 2, 3 generations. I'm in the second-generation, you are in the second generation of the church in a sense. I hope it doesn't end with me and I hope it doesn't end with you, I hope it will not end till Jesus returns. So this is our desire that we will be bringing people to Jesus Christ for life change and not only us but the generations after us will be faithfully discharging this great commission responsibility as well.

So the story of the four friends, tell us or describe, picture to us a church that is faithfully bringing people to Jesus. They were compassionate, they felt for their friend, they were committed, they didn't just talked about it, they didn't just feel it, but they took action to do with something about it.

They were very courageous because I think people will laugh at them, would scold them for trying to squeeze in by the front door. I think they were cooperative, all four different families, different backgrounds but all coming together for a common objective, the fellowship of the mat. They were not fighting, they were not arguing they were serving this man together, that's what church should be.

And I think they were also very creative because when they came to the door and it was packed, they then went up to the roof and they did something, no house owner or landlord would want, they took apart that roof and brought the man down before Jesus. They were very creative and I think church should also be creative. Now we must never compromise on scriptural principles, but we must be willing and ready to be all things to all men, by all means, we may save some.

So now this man is lowered and he is presented before Jesus. The Bible tells us Jesus saw their faith. I think definitely including the four men and very likely seeing the faith of this paralytic who wanted, I think to come to see Jesus. He saw their faith, and He said to the paralytic, take heart, my son, your sins are forgiven. Very interesting, your sins are forgiven.

When I was young, I remember I was very sick. I think I was having fever, headaches and I went to see the GP. The doctor saw me, took temperature, heard my lungs and so on, then he puts a blood pressure cuffs on my arm, he squeezed a sphygmomanometer pump, pump, pump, pump. That was the first time I experience this blood pressure cuff on my arm. I thought was squeezy, was uncomfortable and after he did that, lo and behold, my whole arm was filled with little spots.

I looked at the doctor, “What do you do? Wah, why my arm suddenly become red and patchy and all kinds of rashes came out.” I say, “What's wrong, give me some cream.” The doctor didn't do anything to my arm, he gave me a letter, told my mom, bring him to the hospital. I said, ““What happen to my arm?”” Well, when I was in hospital, hospitalized for a few days then I discovered I got...? Chickenpox? No lah. I got...? I got dengue fever.

So okay, for those who are not aware, the reason why the increase pressure here causes the red spots, it’s because your platelets are low. Platelets are responsible for stopping bleeding and so all that pressure resulted in all the micro bleeds in the skin. It is not dangerous, it's just a sign that you have dengue.

So I thought to myself, so often I'm like you guys. We all are like when I was young. We're so concerned about the superficial problems, but the real issue is not the skin, the real issue is in your blood. There is a virus running all around your body, causing you harm and that is the real danger. It's the virus it within not the rashes on the surface.

Why do I say that? Because when we look at this paralytic, we think his problem is paralysis. But Jesus says, “”No, your real problem is your sin, it's what is within, not what is outside.” Now I'm not saying that this man is paralyzed directly because of sins’ past. It maybe, it may not be, we do not know but Jesus here understands that the root cause of his problem is that of sin. And so He goes to deal with this root cause. Until this problem of sin is resolved, forgiven, healed, he will never experience full healing.

I still remember, well, my son, Shawn, he was very young and he got his finger caught in the door. Painful, right? You know what he told me? “Give me handyplast!” Do you think it will work? Nah. You today who are living in misery. There's unhappiness, there's discontentment within your soul. You know life is not what it should be. You know what? You're like Shawn, you are crying out to God, “Give me handyplast!” when the real solution is when you are forgiven of your sins.

So Jesus was saying, absolutely the right thing, “Your sins must be forgiven and your sins are forgiven.” When Jesus said this I think this is a phenomenal statement, because obviously He knows that sins cannot be forgiven until it is paid for. And for Him to say your sins are forgiven, I think Jesus is saying, “I'm willing and I'm indeed going to die and pay for your sins.” After all, the Old Testament talks about all these promises that are achieved because of the wounds that the Messiah would suffer.

'He was wounded for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities; upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace and with His stripes, we are healed.' [Isaiah 53:5]

So when Jesus says “You are forgiven”, Jesus is saying, “I'm going to bear the sins of your life on the cross.” And this is going to be given to you freely, out of His mercy. Your sins are forgiven. What a generous Saviour! What an amazing Saviour! He's not just here to heal you of sicknesses, although He can do that, but more importantly, He is Jesus, because He shall save His people from their sins. He's going to die for their sins, otherwise if there is no payment made, God is not righteous. God is an unrighteous God because sin must be paid for and so Jesus died so that God would be righteous in forgiving sinners of their sins. Here is the amazing love and the justice of God, it meets on the cross of Jesus Christ.

So when Jesus says, “”Your sins are forgiven””, I think it's a phenomenal statement, but that is exactly where the enemies would latch on. The Pharisees said, “”Why does this man speak like that? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?””. You know, prior to that, Jesus healed, Jesus cast out demons but it's not as open and clear as what He's saying here, “Your sins are forgiven” but because He's now making a statement of divinity, the Jewish leaders says, ““You are blaspheming!” and this begins a series of opposition and rejection against Jesus Christ.

So as you, I hope will continue with us in our journey through the book of Matthew. We are going to enter a new phase where there will be rejection towards the King. Remember Matthew organizes his material in the revelation or the presentation of the King, but after the King is presented, the people reject Him and this marks I think the beginning of this opposition.

But that's exactly why Jesus said this, “”Why do you question these things in your hearts?”. Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,” or to say, ‘Rise, take up your bed and walk’? But that you may know,” I'm saying this, I'm making it so clear, so that you realize “that the Son of Man, that is Me, has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So He's making a statement of intent, it is clear.

So now He turns His attention to this man and says, “I say to you, “rise, pick up your bed and go home”.” Now if He said, “”Rise, pick up your bed and go home”.” and He still cannot do it, then jialat (Chinese, meaning: “bad situation”) already right? That just shows Jesus has no power to forgive sins. He can say all He wants, but He is useless. But then we read of course, and he arose and went home.

Now Matthew, Mark and Luke doesn't quite describe to us how it all turned out in detail. I always think of a paralytic with very, very scrawny, skinny limbs probably no muscles, like sticks and then suddenly, woozz, the muscles came out, ta-daa! It, it all comes out and he, he's able to pick up and walk. I'm not surprise if it could be like this, but it must be something dramatic. It's clear, it's not he's struggling up but he got up, take up his bed, the bed is probably a mat that can be rolled up and went home. And the result is that when people see that changed life, they glorified God. When people see a man saved by grace, a man's life who is changed, a man who has this life changing relationship with Jesus Christ, the world sits up and say surely it is God and God receives the glory.

So what is the story teaching us? I, I think this story can be summarized as the fellowship of the mat, as I've mentioned and I think about how all of us are actually like this man. We have slept on our dirty mat before, have you? I have. And God used some friends to bring me to Jesus and change my life and this must be what this church is all about. Whenever I think about the fellowship of the mat, the paralyzed man, I, I hope this is not unkind or anything but I've shared this example with you before and I'll share it again. I think about a certain man in our church called Mr. Lum. You guys might be familiar with him, he, he joins us in our church services, he stays all the way at Chinatown, in York Hill.

And I share with you, Mr. Lum used to be very healthy, strong, fit, energetic man, he's part of the lion dance troupe. But one day he was stricken with a disease, this disease is called ALS. You might have heard of it, it's the ice bucket challenge, that people popularized maybe a couple of years back. It's the same disease that Stephen Hawking has. It's a incurable neuromuscular disease in that your nerves do not supply your muscles and therefore your muscles waste away, you are weaker and weaker and weaker and ultimately even your breathing muscles don't work and that's how you go. It's a very difficult disease to deal with and Mr. Lum has had this for several years already. He can't walk easily, I, I think you can certainly understand why.

In fact, he can't even brush his teeth properly. He can't move his arms, we all take this movement for granted, he can't do that. So there was a point, he could only brush with moving his head, his neck and I think many brethren here since then have, have brought him, bought him, supply him with different things that will help him cope with the daily needs of life better. But Mr. Lum was reached out by some of our church people years ago. They go to York Hill, they visit him, they help him with his needs and share with him the Gospel.

And this is what Mr. Lum said, “”They would hand me money in envelopes without telling me who it came from”. They only say that if I have any problems, they will help me. I finally felt my burdens being lifted off my shoulders. I saw a glimpse or glimmer of hope. At that point, I did not have a religion and I was not a Christian. But I saw the volunteers' genuine love and care for me. Even though I can never repay their kindness, they did not mind and they continued to help. Every week, they bring me to church to listen to their pastor's sermons. I learned about the Bible, God and His grace. I have been attending church for about a year or so (now this is of course outdated) and I feel so much more at peace than before.”

One of the key volunteers was James and I asked James or James shared about the life change in Mr. Lum. He said, “You can see that he has a certain joy and a certain peace. It's pretty amazing that he wakes up daily, knowing that life is not long, but we rarely hear him complaining to us. There is always an effort to be happy.”

My wife, she serves Mr. Lum, she has the privilege to. And I asked her, “besides helping Mr. Lum in his daily physical needs, do you think he has evidences of the life change because of the grace of God?” She said, she tells me, “he worries less and is more at peace. He really appreciates the Bible and Christian literature and enjoys hearing the preaching of God's word. He regularly quotes Scripture to remind himself of God's word. He believes that God has His purpose for his sufferings and though He may not take it away, He will grant strength to cope.”

Mr. Lum himself, he would say, “when I feel really helpless and when I don't know what to do, I remember the words of Jesus in Matthew 9:9-13 (By the way, this is what we are going to look at next Sunday.) He said that it is not the healthy who needs a doctor but the sick. He has come not to call the righteous, but the sinners. I know that Jesus will sit at the same table with me, He will never look down on me and He will use His divine power to strengthen me.”

I think this is what the fellowship of the mat is all about. Brothers and sisters in Christ, Christians going out with the Gospel, bringing the needy to Jesus, that there is hope for them, there is salvation for them, there is cleansing for them.

But, but I think the fellowship of the mat is not just in isolated stories like this, but every Sunday, we hope that this church, everything we do in this church will be used by God to bring people to Jesus, I hope that's true. I know you probably think that I or the preaching of God's Word is what is necessary to bring people to Jesus, I think that's true, but that's not all. I think all of us have a part to play to bring people to Jesus.

I think it begins right on, in the streets. It begins right out there when our traffic marshals are directing traffic. Do you know their main job? I know you think it's about directing traffic, but I think more than that, it's about showing people Jesus. Because you can direct traffic with a... we call “chow bin” (Chinese, meaning: used to describe someone with a grumpy look and sour disposition) or you can do it with joy and grace and delight. And I know of a brother they tell me who, who does this is such great delight, he's almost like dancing on the on the road. He does this with joy, you, you, why, why does he do it with joy, I think it's because he realizes he's doing it for Jesus. He's doing it to bring and to show people, Jesus. So that when people come by our church building they have the opportunity to hear Jesus and the Gospel of Jesus being preached.

I think that's what it's all about, it's not about the cars, it's about souls, it's about people, so that they are brought to Jesus. I think that's why, we have ushers, we, we hope that people will represent Christ well and welcome people to know about Jesus. This is what our worship team should be all about, singing of Jesus, telling people the Gospel of Jesus Christ and all of you who have a role to play, you're part of the fellowship of the mat. Maybe four of us, maybe 40 of us maybe 400 of us, I hope one day 4,000 of us, all of us carrying mats bringing people to Jesus, including our AV team. You say they are doing technical stuff, no, it's not just technical, it's spiritual, so that we can hear the teaching, preaching of God's Word, so that people may be brought to Jesus. So that all together, we are pointed to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

This is the fellowship of the mat and I think the fellowship of the mat should not just be the English congregation, of course. It should be everywhere, particularly also in our children's ministry. We, we labour together to point these little ones to Jesus. It’s a mat carrying time, it is heavy, it is difficult, it is cumbersome, people may laugh at me, oh, it's so hard, but we are altogether bringing little kids to Jesus. By the way, this is a little advertisement for those who are thinking about ministry, please consider joining the children's ministry.

As our church grows, it's easier to cook in the English congregation but in the children's side, we are, we are overstretched because we want to get into small groups to hear these children. We want to minister to these children, we don't just want to tell them, we want to hear from them and shepherd them, so that means we need a lot more people. So a little promo if you're thinking about ministry, this might be one ministry you can consider, especially when we are going to start our Saturday service soon. And I think about what they do, Sidney here, he makes himself so cute, so fun, he makes balloons. You say he's making balloons, no he's, he's, he's in the fellowship of the mat with his little ways, cooperating with others, we are bringing people to Jesus.

And let me turn this around and say actually all of you are supposed to be in the fellowship of the mat, all of you. You say, “Pastor, shaking hands and all this, you do can already, the ushers do can already.” No. Where in the Bible did it say, “the pastor have to shake hands?”. It's not part of the pastor's job description, but I see it as part of my responsibility and it's not just for the pastor, it's not just for ushers, it's the responsibility of every Gospeliter, it's the responsibility of every child of God. Why? We are all called to hospitality, all of us. Just as how Jesus left heaven to make us at home with God, eventually, we are all to step out of our comfort zone to help people be comfortable drawing near to God. It’s all our job.

Some of us say, “Oh, it's not me, ah, it's not me,” I say, “It's also not me, you know?” I, I am not a, I am not a social butterfly. I'm quite, I, I like to be alone generally. But it's not about you, it's not about me, it's about Jesus, it's about the person beside me. I can do a little, but I am not asking to go and greet one another with a holy kiss. No need, I mean that's culturally then, but the spiritual principle of hospitality is still valid, it might be just a little handshake. I mean, won't kill you right, as long as you wash your hands before you eat, that's fine. Or if you do not want to shake hands you find it awkward, have a little smile. That's all you need to do, say hi, won't kill you. At most the guy just say, hi, hi, that, that's fine, you can try another guy, but you did what you could do.

You know one thing, I hope this church will be, we actually just talked about it in our staff meeting this Friday. One thing we really felt our church should become is a friendly church, a warm and loving church. I think people came, come to this church and they see our ushers, they see us, they think, but after a while when they mix around with the congregation, they say actually people not so friendly leh.

Now, I understand, many of you are new and therefore, when you are new, you're also very insecure, you're very scared but I hope you will do this for Jesus. It's not comfortable, like these four friends, they must get out of the house, they must, must push through the crowd, people may laugh at them, but they did it because they see that there are needs, would you do it? Would you make it a privilege and calling you have from God to reach out to one and all around you?

Maybe it's after the service, just saying hi to people, greeting them, welcoming them, let this be the culture of the entire church. We do this not because we are forced to, we do this because we are glad to, because Jesus left heaven for us, I will leave my comfort zone to be with someone. I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll not always stick with my biological pod, huh, my, my cluster of family, I'll go out. I see a single mom sitting by herself, I'll reach out to her. I see a man awkwardly standing there, I'll say hi to him, I’’ll do that. And if all of us were to do that, I think people would see a friendly church and they will see Jesus. And I hope not only would we do this on Sundays, I hope that's what our small groups are all about, why do we have care groups, why do we have discipleship group? Because we are there to help one another, bring one another to Jesus. And that's why we pray for one another, another, we want to bring people to Jesus.

Let me say this, this fellowship of the mat is not just intra church, within church. Fellowship of the mat goes outside church. And I, let me just show you the series of pictures I always show. Go out into the Punggol neighborhood, knock on doors, serve people, let them know. We go out to the streets, we go out to the carnival that is coming up by the way I think it's in July, in about 2 months' time. We are going to go to the same place and we are going to lay out our booth and invite people, let people know that there is a church, there is hope in Jesus Christ.

I hope our Telugu brethren will be ready with their superb nasi briyani that is always a sellout, look at that! They love the nasi briyani. I hope that in our church we will continue to have many creative platforms, creative ways to bring people to Jesus. It may be a student care center which we have here, tuition ministry, conversational English classes, table tennis, I think three or four times now a week that we can get to know these folks and not just play table tennis with them but to point them to Jesus, tell them of our Saviour.

Like our youths who will go out to every basketball court in Punggol, playing basketball, building relationships, unfolding the fellowship of the mat. Having our youth club here, Club 39 in, in this building every single day where they not only play games lah, but also study a bit lah. And I don't know whether we already asked them to, eh take, let us take a photo, but they came here to study. We have a morning exercise, they call it Zhan Mei Cao, where the ladies would get together.

We have a new ministry, called UFO, unidentified flying objects sounds-like, but it’s not, it's urban farming outreach. So if you go to our building now, the perimeter you’”ll see some interesting a farm set-ups and we, of course, as a church are we growing vegetables so that we can eat vegetables? Not enough for all of you. But we grow because that's a way to get the community in, it's a fellowship of the mat. It’s a creative way so that we can get to know people and bring them to Jesus. This is a picture last year of mid-autumn festival where the folks would come with the friends and family and this year we are going to run it again. Again creative ways to bring people to Jesus.

And how about just that building across the road, Bright Hill, which we have heard about and how we are bringing the folks in, we are going to them. And not only Bright Hill, the, the Lord is opening doors for us. We, we have been approached by an elder care center at Sengkang. It's called St. Luke's Eldercare, Senior Care Center and we are going to go in there soon to preach the Gospel. I think there are plans to start table tennis there and so on and so forth. And all these, why do we do these things, really to teach table tennis? Really just to grow plants? Now these things are great, but I think there is something even greater. We can bring people to Jesus, that's what church is all about.

And sometimes bringing people is not just what we do in outreach, in activities but also in prayer. I remember Valentine's Day, just two months ago, right? Oh sorry three months ago, Valentine's Day. It was a, you know which day of the week? I remember because Valentine's Day was Wednesday and Wednesday is our prayer meeting day, so I could not have Valentine's Day with my wife. So we got to Valentine's Day prayer meeting that day and there was just a handful of us, mostly not attached, ha, ha, ha, handful of us, mostly married and so on, single. But we were there, was a smaller group, but it was Wednesday prayer meeting but it was remarkable because I remembered that time, that, that night.

When we went around sharing our prayer requests, this, these are the requests that I noted down. Ok this’ what I wrote in my, in my phone, my notes, few people but very encouraging, why? Because T&P, they reached five Vietnamese people in Vietnam when they were on tour and they're following up with them with materials that are sent over to them, please pray for them, that's their request. Then L says, he or she is excited about the Chinese nationals coming for table tennis. Not just because the table tennis group is getting bigger, but opportunities to share the Gospel. V is praying for Happy, Happy English. This is an outreach in the foreign workers dormitories where they teach English and build relationships and hopefully share the Gospel.

Z pray or thankful for a newcomer who has been coming since Easter, praying for his soul, for his salvation. H reaching someone via sharing chai tow kway (fried rice cake in Mandarin). So basically he was eating and the person asked is the chai tow kway nice, “Eh you try lah” and, and that's how they build up a relationship and the person came to church because of chai tow kway. You can bring people to Jesus via chai tow kway, no problem. And A was praying that he will reach one of our security personnels working here in our building. S was praying about reaching people via the puppet ministry. J was preaching, oh not preaching, praying about reaching his brother and sister-in-law, or her brother and sister-in-law. Another person targeting another of our security personnel in our church and E was praying that we will be beacons in the world.

We all can be in the fellowship of the mat, we can pray together. You know one of the things prayer meeting is about is that you don't pray just for yourself. That’s what prayer meeting does, it enlarges your vision, it gives you a kingdom perspective in the place of prayer. And we all can be in the fellowship of the mat in serving, in praying, in giving. I hope that's what Gospel Light is all about. I hope that's what your life is all about, about bringing people to Jesus because our Saviour has authority to forgive sins.

If you're here today and you're not a Christian, all this to you may sound so foreign. But let me say this to you, Jesus has authority to forgive sins. Why? Because He's the Son of God, who died on the cross and rose again to pay for your sins. There are two responses you can have today, you can say “Jesus is a liar, He blasphemes God like the Pharisees or you can be like the man on the mat that says, “Jesus is Lord, I believe Him and he is healed.

I hope today you will be like the man who admits your need on the mat of suffering. Look up to Jesus, realized that He has gone to the cross, died and rose again for your sins and may you find a life-changing relationship with Jesus. May God bless you.

Let's bow for a word of prayer together. The Bible is a tremendous book of hope, not just wishful thinking, but it's certain hope. A hope that is guaranteed, why? Because Jesus, God's Son has died and risen victorious over sin. Friends, ladies and gentlemen, turn your eyes to Jesus today. He has authority to forgive you of your sins. He has authority to change your life. He has power to heal you, to reconcile you to the Holy God. Repent of your sin and believe in Him today. Come and experience what it means to know Jesus as your Saviour, to have a life changing relationship with Him.

Today, all of us are here to be carrying your mat. I'm carrying one little corner. My brothers and sisters here are carrying a little corner and many here are praying for you, carrying that little corner. All of us are carrying a corner of this mat. And there's only one thing we want for you that you will come to know Jesus because He can save you. Would you do that today? Repent of your sin and come to Jesus Christ. He is my Lord, Jesus has changed me, He is still changing me and I want you to join me. I want you to know my Saviour, I want you to be cleansed of your sins and have this eternal life with God.

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, Gospel Light. Let me ask you, do you see the paralyzed all around you? Those who are incapable of coming to God. Those who are living filthy, dirty, sinful lives. We look at them not because we despise them, we look at them because we know that we were once like them. But won't you today pick up that mat? Pick up that mat in your office, pick up that mat at home, pick up that mat in church, pick up that mat in Punggol. Join hands with brothers and sisters in Christ. Get your care group to pray for that person you are reaching out to. Come be part of some of the ministries here. Be a part of the body of Christ reaching out, saying hi, welcoming people, telling them the Gospel. Won't we all be part of the mission of the church? And one day when we all die and we get to heaven, we will see this paralyzed man there, we will see our friend there, that Punggol resident there, our colleague there, why? Because we remembered carrying their mat to Jesus.

I think about how encouraging it is for me to know that they are brothers and sisters here who said there was this lady who needed transport, she can't quite see and she needed transport to come to church. Come let me help. You know that little act that you will do of bringing someone every Sunday to church, is not just a transport logistical service. It is spiritual service, you are bringing someone to Jesus. What a joy, and all that we do, can be an act of worship to a worthy God. Come join in the fellowship of the mat today. May we be Gospel Light indeed.

Father we thank You for Your Word today. May You encourage our hearts to arise and take up someone’’s bed, someone's mat. May this be the mission of our lives, bringing people to Jesus. And dear God, help us to step out of our comfort zones, dirty our hands because Your Son left heaven for us. We pray that You will help sinners, men and women today who do not yet know Jesus, come to know Jesus today. Grant to them repentance and faith, grant them a new heart. Save souls because Your son has accomplished it all on the cross. Bless each one here again. We thank You, we pray all these in Jesus’ Name. Amen.

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