Bring Your FRIENDS TO CHURCH

Jesus’ final words, prior to His Ascension to Heaven, commanded His disciples to “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature,” (Mk 16:20). Our Saviour’s entire concern is for the salvation of the world that He created. He trained His twelve apostles for three years to establish His church where the worship of the true and living God would take place, with praise and thanksgiving, the preaching of the Word of God, the equipping of the saints and the ministering to the needs of His people. We praise God for the church where Christ is preached, worshipped, loved and served in this modern century. Since we are members and friends of the church, and have been blessed by God, and the ministries and activities it has rendered to us, are we bringing more of our friends to the church where their souls would be blessed?

Where Are Our Friends?

Our friends are those whom we know very well, as well as acquaintances we encounter at the bus or train stations, on the MRT trains, on the streets or at shopping malls. We have friends who are our colleagues whom we work with in the offices or other work sites.. They include friends from primary or secondary school days, in tertiary institutions. We can say that we have many friends, but only a few have we shared our deepest needs with. Nevertheless, are we close enough or concerned sufficiently to invite them to church to worship with us?

As a Pastor of Herald, I thank God for members and friends who have brought their friends to church.

Some of them have believed in Christ, received baptism and joined as members of Herald. How encouraging and joyful it is for the shepherd to see the church grow when one brings another, and two bring two others, and so many more.

I believe the best gift we can present to our friends this Christmas is the free gift of salvation in Christ. A good way is to invite them to join us in church besides sharing the gospel with them.

There are two events which we can invite our friends to in Herald:

On Christmas Sunday, friends from The Helping Hand will be joining us. They will be sharing about the mighty work of God in transforming their lives, and presenting a special item and a powerful message on 24 Dec. The other event is the Christmas Day Service on 25 Dec (10.00 am in Monday). There will be a baptismal service, transfer of membership and infant baptism.

Have You Prayed for the Salvation of your friends?

Why do we need to pray for the Salvation of our friends?

1) Human souls are the most precious in the sight of God. Every parable and most of Jesus’ teachings touch on the importance and primacy of the salvation of souls. Jesus said that He did not come for the world’s righteous people, but for those who need the physician. Indeed, people need the Lord. So, as our Lord reached out to the 12 disciples, and those He came into contact with every day, let us approach our friends with the good news for their souls.

2) The greatest gift for our friends is the salvation of their soul. We may give Christmas gifts to our friends, especially to their children. But after the Christmas festivities, all these good things are put away and are soon forgotten. But with the gift of eternal life they will be ever grateful to God and when they meet their Creator; they will remember our invitation and our leading them to Christ and His church.

3) It is important to lead our friends to receive the salvation of Christ because in becoming believers, they are led to heavenly ways. Not only will they receive the righteousness of Christ, they also have the in-dwelling of the Holy Spirit who will enable them to bear the nine-fold fruit of the Spirit, and He will bestow them with spiritual gifts and opportunities to serve in God’s Kingdom.

Our friends will receive all these great benefits from the Lord when we invite them to church, and when they believe and receive Jesus Christ as their Saviour and Lord.

Let us pray for our friends, and bring them to our church, especially this Christmas Season, so that they can receive the Greatest Gift on Earth – our Lord Jesus Christ.

Pastor Bob Phee