+
Aa
–
2024
Day 03 / 03.07.24 / Pastor Edwin Lam, Senior Pastor of New Life Baptist Church

Day 3: Is God’s vision your passion?

Matthew 25:31-46

One of the greatest questions in the hearts and minds of every Christian is when Jesus Christ the Lord will be returning.

We are looking towards the Rapture!

But after that, there will be other events. And among them is the Great White Throne Judgement Day. (Revelation 20:11-15)

What we do between now and the Great White Throne Judgement Day will determine whether there will be more sheep or more goats. (Matthew 25:31-46)

Currently, the world has a population of 8 billion. In 20 years’ time, this will be doubled. There will be far more people living on the face of this earth than there has been in the entire history of mankind.

The Church of Singapore was growing quite beautifully for some time, but after a while we plateaued. I believe that one of the reasons is that we have lost that passion for souls.

Today are we on the cutting edge of reaching people for Jesus? Or is the Great Commission just a Great Commotion?

A heart passion for souls

What is evangelism?

I believe that evangelism is really presenting the whole Person of Jesus Christ to the whole person, by the whole church, to the whole world.

And I believe that you and I can be part and parcel of this, because we really want Singapore to be a blessing, not just to our own nation, but to the nations round about.

What we do between now and the Great White Throne Judgement Day will determine whether there will be more sheep or more goats.

But how can we have that passion for souls?

I think we need to have a perspective of a church. Is it an inward-looking church or is it an injured church?

You know, many times the church is injured by scandals, by all kinds of pettiness, by division. But when you have a passion for God and a passion for souls, those things do not matter.

Next to that, we need to have a passion for the people. Do people really need the Lord Jesus Christ? Yes. Jesus Christ is not just one of the saviours of the world. Jesus Christ is the only Saviour of the world.

He came to die for us on the Cross. So without Him, we know that people are going into a loss and Christless eternity.

The Apostle Paul was very single-minded about reaching his own people and other people for the Lord Jesus Christ.

By the same token, when Jesus came, He had only one mission, and that was to die on the Cross. I believe that is single-mindedness.

Today are we on the cutting edge of reaching people for Jesus? Or is the Great Commission just a Great Commotion?

Next, we need to have a heart passion.

Without that heart, we cannot reach people for Jesus Christ. Love must be the only reason and result of all that we do. “For God so loved the world.” (John 3:16)

Finally, I believe we need to have that lifelong passion.

You know, sometimes after a while, we lose the vision. But every one of us needs to arise and do the mission that He called us to do.

Look at those great servants of God, like Hudson Taylor, reaching out to the Chinese for Jesus Christ. Today his organisation is still reaching.

Look at Henry Martyn. He went to India and he left his life there. He said: “I want to burn out for Jesus Christ.”

Let us be set on fire for the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, when our hearts and our lives are on fire, we don’t need to tell people. They can see it for themselves. And I believe the only way to be on fire is when we have the vision of the Cross of Jesus. So let us visit the Cross often.

Let us pray:

Great God and loving Father, what a great joy it is to hear your Word and to respond to You because You call us, each and every one of us, to be a witness for the Lord Jesus Christ. So may You be pleased to help us to visit the Cross often to focus our hearts and our minds on Jesus, the Author and Perfector of our faith, and to be set on fire for Him. And may this fire never simmer down or even die down, but continue to burn brighter and farther for You.

For this is our prayer. We ask it in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.

/ Reflect
  • Read and reflect on Revelation 20:11-15. What is your understanding of what will happen on the Great White Throne Judgement Day?
  • How does the eventuality of the Great White Throne Judgement Day affect how you live your life today? How does it affect how you see friends, family and other people around you?
  • How will you ensure that you keep a lifelong passion for evangelism burning?
/ Pray
  • Pray for a heightened sense of the Lord’s Coming to inject an urgency within us to live purposefully in the right now. Stir our will to eagerly keep watch, because we do not know the day or hour of Your coming. (Matthew 25:1-13)
  • Ask the Lord for a heart prepared to share the Gospel passionately and often. “But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.” (1 Peter 3:15)
  • Speak blessings over the Singapore Church. Pray that the Church will wholly abide in Christ in order to bear eternal fruit: “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:4-5)