BETHESDA CATHEDRAL – WORD EDIFICATION (Oikos on 18th Jul 2014)
Announcements
1. Gospel Service by Rev John Elliott, Sun, 27 Jul, 9:30 am, Sanctuary.
2. New Comers Lunch: Sun, 27 Jul, 12 pm, Jacob Room.
3. Particulars Update: Please update your particulars, the forms are available with your
Oikos Leader / at the Service Counter on Sunday.
Word Edification: Evangelism
Speaker: Pastor Tay Cheng Kee
Scripture text: Luke 16:19-31.
1) In 1978, Pastor served as an altar worker at the Billy Graham’s crusade. He witnessed
thousands of people coming forward to accept Jesus Christ as Saviour & Lord and that
experience caused him the desire to be a soul winner for Jesus.
2) God has used Pastor to win hundreds of people to Christ. But nothing can compare with
the joy of seeing his own father receiving Jesus as his personal saviour. One day, Pastor
shared his testimony and invited his father to attend a Gospel Service. When his father
went to the service, he heard the gospel message and prayed to receive Jesus Christ as
Saviour & Lord.
3) Jesus narrates a story of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16:19-31. In life, the rich man
enjoyed all the material pleasure but Lazarus was a poor beggar begging for food. Later
both of them died. Lazarus went to Abraham’s bosom and the rich man went to a place of
torment.
In this story, we can make 3 observations:
I. Hades is a place of torment.
II. In hades, a person still retain their mental faculty. The rich man remembered his five
brothers and did not want them to end up in the same place (v. 25, 28). Thus he
request Abraham to send Lazarus to preach to them.
III. The scriptures (Moses and the Prophets, and the New Testament) contains the Truth
and is sufficient to point people to salvation. Those who have knowledge of the Truth
should share with others who do not (v. 29).
4) God wants us to share the Gospel with our parents, siblings and children. As Christians,
we have the Light of the world whereas our loved ones are still living in darkness. We are
the only ones who have the unique position to share the Gospel with them. And we can
prevent them from going to that place of torment. So we must not be indifferent, but we
must be compelled to act before it is too late.
5) When we share the Gospel with our mum and dad, we are obeying God’s command to be
his witnesses, hence He will give us the Holy Spirit’s empowerment to succeed (Acts 1:8).
6) God has given us spirit-powered weapons to demolish the strongholds that kept our loved
ones in bondage (2 Cor 10: 3-4). Through these God-given weapons, we can also pray for
ourselves to be free from the fear of rejection & shyness, and have the boldness to witness
to them.
7) God knows the problems we face when we want to be his witnesses. Sometimes it may
seemed to be a formidable task. But HE DOES NOT WANT US TO BE AFRAID OR
DISCOURAGED. He promised never to abandon us, but WILL ALWAYS BE WITH US
when we do the work of evangelism (Deut 31:8)
8) Peter tells us that the LORD DOES NOT DESIRE ANYONE TO PERISH: that includes our
mom and dad (2 Peter 3:9). In His patience, He desires that everyone to repent and be
saved.
9) It is God who has planted the desire and burden in our heart to win our loved ones to
Christ. Because he started his good work in our heart, we are assured that he will bring it
TO COMPLETION (Phil 1:6).
10) Sometimes it may a long time for a person to make decision for Christ, but we must
persevere in prayer and sharing the Gospel to our loved ones. It is God who will bring it to
completion as long as we are faithful to the task (Phil 1:6).
11) We must be intentional when sharing the Gospel with our mom and dad & family
members. We must plan and strategize. We must be diligent and alert for an appropriate
time to share our testimony / Gospel. We should exercise wisdom to share at an
appropriate time and be sensitive to them, and not to make them feel awkward. However,
we can be assured that half the battle been won because GOD IS ON OUR SIDE.
Whenever we share our testimony or present the Gospel, we are doing His will. So He will
come to assist us in the task.
12) Our task is just to be Christ’s faithful witnesses. However, we cannot guarantee the final
outcome. Ultimately, the result depends on God, and the Holy Spirit who does the work of
bringing conviction to our mom and dad. Moreover, they have to make the decision to
accept or reject the Savior.
Application
1) What are the obstacles you face when you want to share the Gospel with your mom,
dad and loved ones?
2) Who can you invite for the Gospel Service by Rev John Elliot on 27/7/14 (Sunday)?
Pray for the FRANs (esp. your mom and dad) you wish to invite for the Gospel
Service.
3) When you share your faith with a non-believer, how confident are you that the person
will accept Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord?