Dear BPCWAians. Thank God for the ACM and God’s will being done in the elections. What is the purpose of all the ministries in the reports in the ACM report? What is the purpose of having church leaders? The purpose is to bring glory to God. God’s glory is the ultimate end of all activities and of the leaders’ duties to the Church of God.

Why do you evangelise? Evangelism is not the sole purpose of a church, but it is one of the ways we bring glory to God. Through evangelism, man knows who He is. When man knows God and get saved, they see His glory and worship Him and serve Him aright. Christ prayed for this in His High Priestly Prayer. When Christ prayed for the future believers that will come after His death, He prayed, “Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.” (John 17:24). And Christ’s aim is that when He is glorified, He glorifies the Father (John 17:1). Since the chief end of man is to glorify God, and evangelism enables man to know God through salvation, then one of the very effective ways to achieve our end is to evangelise. I just answered why you evangelise. The questions that remain are – What does it mean to evangelise? How to evangelise? When to evangelise?

What does it mean to evangelise? It literally means “to tell good news”. We get the English word “evangelise” from the Greek word “euangelion”. This Greek word is translated as “gospel” in the English Bible. This word means good news or good message. When Christ said, “. . . have the gospel preached to them,” (Matt 11:5) it means to bring the good news to them. So, to evangelise is literally to tell people about the Gospel. It is an active and purposeful behaviour with a particular message. The behaviour involves speaking to them, not just being a good testimony but never actually speaking to them about God’s good news. Without knowing the contents of the Gospel, they cannot be saved.

How to evangelise? By telling them the GOSPEL. Many shy away from sharing the Gospel (ie evangelise) because they are unsure of what exactly to include in the message. I will recapitulate what was covered in our recent Evangelism Workshop. In the G-O-S-P-E-L message, people must know the following at least:

“G” for GOD: People must know that Jesus Christ is the living and true God. He is more than a mere good person. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (Joh 1:1), “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” (Joh 1:14)

“O” for ONLY WAY: the only way to heaven is through Jesus Christ, not good works nor our own ideas. “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” (Joh 14:6)

“S” for SIN: man must know that all have sinned. Sin is not based upon what man thinks is bad and evil and considers as sin, but according to what the Eternal Judge says is sin. There is no exception, and that is why all die physically. “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” (Rom 3:23)

“P” for PENALTY OF SIN: There is a penalty for even just one sin – eternal judgement in hell and the lake of fire. None can escape this judgement. Even what may seem to us like a “small” sin is worthy of this eternal punishment. “For the wages of sin is death . . . “ (Rom 6:23)

“E”for ETERNITY: Man either spends eternity in heaven or in the lake of fire after death. There is no reincarnation. Man must choose while he is still alive for “as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.” (Heb 9:27)

“L” for LIFE THROUGH CHRIST: Jesus died for our sin and resurrected 3 days later. You must lead the person to Christ and not leave him wondering how he can be saved. You must tell him how to come to Christ. Tell him that he must (a) confess that he is a sinner, (b) in repentance, personally ask God to forgive him and save him, (c) start to daily read the Bible, pray, and come to church to worship God and grow spiritually. “. . . but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Rom 6:23)

Have the above as a little card, or take a photo of it with your handphone if you need to. There is no excuse or fear of not knowing the basic message now. Neither let us be ashamed of the Gospel “ . . . for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth . . .” (Rom 1:16)

When to evangelise? Evangelism is an active and purposeful behaviour with a particular message. We learned about the particular message. The active behaviour is to proactively seek opportunities and reactively be ready to respond when opportunities arise to share the Gospel. It is a daily and natural habit. And it is a personal way of life. Hence, evangelism is not only during church Street E, Nursing Home outreach, and Sept 30in30. It therefore means that you and I must have ready Bible verses (whether in memory or hardcopy), wherever we go, even when on holidays. It means that we must be mindfully looking out for people in different situations in our daily lives. Sometimes visitors may even come to church and may not have heard the gospel before. It implies that we must have tracts in our pockets, car, handbags, school bags, home at all times. Let us be less distracted by window shopping, sightseeing, mindless wandering and chattering, but at all times be praying for and taking opportunities given to tell the GOSPEL to people we meet. A person who seeks to evangelise is one who deeply desires to glorify God because he wants others to see who God is, and hence worship and serve Him, not just avoid hell. Let you and I go forth because,

“I love to tell the story of unseen things above,
of Jesus and his glory, of Jesus and his love
I love to tell the story, because I know ‘tis true;
it satisfies my longings as nothing else could do.”

Yours in our Lord’s service

Pastor