In less than a month (2^nd of September 2011), we will be holding our annual gospel rally. The speaker is Rev Goh Seng Fong and his message is entitled “The Touch of Jesus.” In a time when people often face deep hurts as they live their everyday life, they need real comfort from God that contains the abundant life. This message, I believe, will minister to many. The choir will also be presenting two songs: “This is the Place where God is” (in Chinese) and “Without His Cross” (in Chinese and English). If you had heard the choir sing their four parts: bass, tenor, alto and soprano in harmony, you would be, like I was, mesmerized. We have also printed beautiful invitation cards. Please get several copies of it from Elder Kerh Li. Thus, invite your friends and loved ones to this important gospel rally.

Perhaps you are hesitant about inviting friends because you think that they will surely reject you. First, your duty is to invite. Whether or not they come, it is up to God to move their hearts. If you do not invite and they perish in hell, God will hold you accountable (Ezek 3:18) because you saw a man who is about to die for eternity in hell and yet you did not bother to save him. But pray before you invite him. If you can, give the names to Deacon Sin Kok and he will put it up in the Church Prayer Meeting List for prayer. Only God can move him to come. Thus, you must pray every day for him.

Second, perhaps you think that he will reject you because he will not feel that he needs the gospel and Jesus as your friend looks rather happy. This is not true. No matter how happy he may appear to you, deep down in his heart, he feels that life is meaningless. This is not surprising. How can he when he knows that he does not know where he will go after he dies? God created us with a desire to want to live for eternity and hence also to do things that have eternal value (3:11). Thus, how can he not feel that life is meaningless when he knows that all that he is doing last only for a while? How can he not feel frustrated with life when he is often hurt in his heart by people, the pressures of this world and the effects of his sinful nature? Thus, when you invite him, deep in his heart, he knows he needs Jesus and to hear the gospel message.

Third, if your friend is honest about his spiritual needs and emptiness, he will not be disappointed. The songs we sing and those presented by the choir soothe the soul. They are unlike the songs of the world that are devoid of life and often make you more sorrowful after one hears them. Because we are God’s children who have God’s eternal and overflowing abundant in us, when they come into our midst, they will, as the choirs sings, feel that the almighty and loving God indeed is in our midst. Hence, they will be satisfied by the evening’s program.

Above all, you must invite lost souls to hear the gospel message because your Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is not willing that “any should perish but that all should reach repentance” (2 Pet 3:9) and receive eternal life. Your Lord Jesus died to save you, how can you not fulfill His greatest wish? Let us work hard, pray and fill the sanctuary with friends that they too may enjoy God’s eternal life.