Our Nation Depends On Us How many of you are glad that you are Singaporeans? What is the role of the Church in our nation? Do we have a part to play in the destiny of our nations? Today we shall examine these questions. We will come to see that Jesus has empowered the Church to influence the nations. He has given Christians the power and authority to disciple nations. To influence nations towards godliness. Today we will come to understand how each of us can be used by God to influence our nation. What God expects of us. Jesus had given us a mandate. A mandate to influence our nation. This mandate was given before He ascended back into heaven. Turn with me to Matthew 28:16. Here is the mandate MT 28:16 Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." All authority and power belongs to Jesus. He has given this power to His Church. He has empowered the Church so that she may go forth to disciple the nations. Jesus has empowered us to influence nations for His glory. How can we do this? Firstly , we have been empowered with the privilege of prayers. We can influence our nation by praying for her. No one is ever an island to himself. Surrounding him are groups larger than him. They have effects on his life. He may be the best of persons. He may be the most successful of people. However if the society that surrounds him is less than what is expected, the person really does not have the best of things. Surrounding each of us is our family, the company that we work for, the school that we go to, the nation that we live in, the continent that we are in. Whatever happens in my family, company or school affects me. Whatever happens to my country affects my family, company and school. Whatever happens in my continent affects my country. Most people pray for their own needs. Good and well to pray. The effects and results of these prayers are however limited. I may pray for the best of things for myself. God may give me everything I ask for. But I am not going to be assured that I am going to have the best in my life. If my company goes bust, I may find myself jobless. If something happens in my school it is going to affect my studies. If something happens in our nations, it is going to affect us all. An earthquake can set back our lives quite a fair bit. A tsunami would be disastrous. A terrorist attack may paralyze our nation. It will affect us all. Can we ever be assured that there will never be an earthquake, a tsunami or a terrorist attack? Can we ever be assured that nothing will happen to Singapore? I don't think anyone of us can be fully assured of that. One thing we can do though is that we can pray for our nation. We have been empowered by Jesus to influence our nation. We can do so through prayers. Our prayers should not just stop short of asking God to protect our nation from disasters. We should pray that our nation will turn towards God. That Singaporeans will not just be satisfied with superficial material comforts but they will seek for the meaning of life. For the truth about life. We should pray that God will place Christians in positions of influence in governments, in businesses, in media circles, in social settings that can cause a difference. A difference in policies affecting us all. We should pray that these appointed servants of God will stand up and fight for what are righteous in the sight of God. John had a terrible boss. The boss was always shouting at him. And for no reason whatever. He was giving John assignments one moment and in the next asking whether the assignment had been completed. Something only a miracle worker could do. Completing assignments without needing time to do so. John could have thrown in the towel and resigned. He could have complained all the way. John did not. He remained calm and continued to trust God. He brought the matter before God and asked Jesus to step into the life of his boss. Jesus did just that. Shortly after, John's boss came to accept Jesus into his life. All of John's office began to see a transformation come over this boss. John's boss became one of the most understanding boss - someone everyone loves. Today he is serving the Lord in full time. Jesus had empowered us to influence others and to influence our nation. When I was working in SIA, a group of us started the Fellowship of Christian Airline Personnel. I encouraged the group to pray for SIA. I told them that if SIA prospers, we too will be blessed. This has come true. In spite of the fact that at one stage almost all airlines were losing money, SIA never did. SIA has done well and her employees as well. Because of the strategic position of Singapore, many people had proclaimed Singapore to be the modern day Antioch. Christians had therefore prayed for Singapore since her inception. The PAP government though a secular government had enforced godly policies. Corruption is not tolerated. Senior government officials have to step down if ever they get into divorce or immorality. Righteousness exhorts a nation. As a result, Singapore has prospered and we have seen millions of dollars being poured into missions work from Singapore. Jesus has empowered us to influence our nation. We can begin so by praying for her. Secondly, we should demonstrate the gospel. Many of us are already proclaiming the gospel. This is very good. However, more than this, we need to be conscious that our own lives are either promoting or destroying the credibility of the gospel. Our lives can either influence people positively towards Jesus or we can turn them off. We as Christians have a definite influence on people. Jesus has empowered us to influence people. He has empowered us to influence nations. Nations comprises people. If we can influence people, we will influence nations. Let us influence people positively towards Jesus. In my outreach attempts, I have found nothing more annoying than to hear non-Christians complaining about the behaviours of Christians. To them, if Christians are no better than they are, they do not see any reason why they should accept Jesus into their lives. It makes our evangelistic attempts more difficult. Often, I have to just shut up. What more can I say. Some Christians are what we call "well-intended dragons." They have good intentions. However, in their over zealousness they destroy the credibility of the gospel rather than contributing to its advancement. One lady who is not a Christian married a guy from a Christian family. This man's mother was a committed Christian. She was involved in many things in her church. She was however a very misled Christian. Therefore she was involved in dragon chasing - a Christian fad quite a few years ago. They will say "dragons are satanic - destroy all dragon images." However, when the $50 notes came out they had to shut up. The notes were printed with a dragon at the back. If they have to destroy all dragon images, they have to tear up the $50 notes whenever they receive them. No one ever did. This lady forced her daughter in law to destroy all the expensive carvings and statues of dragons which had collected. To this date, she is still filled with bitterness about her mother-in-law had done. Carl was also an over enthusiastic Christian. She would go into shops telling people that they will go to hell if they do accept Jesus. Just imagine that you are tending your shop and then this lady steps in and begin to tell you that you are a sinner and that you will go to hell unless you accept Jesus. You will think she is some nuts or other. But because she is such a cactus Christian, people remembers the prick and stay away from Christianity totally. If committed Christians in their zealousness can create unintended harm, what more the careless attitude of many other Christians who are not? If people detect us lying, what would they think. Don't think people cannot detect you lying. They can. Most of the time they don't tell you anything. You think you have got away with it. But you have not. In their minds they will say "what a liar. She is a Christian too." These Christians are just ….. If people see us live in sin, what can we say to them about repentance? If people see us unreasonable, what can we say to them about our God who is loving? We talk about sexual purity and yet at times people know that we are far from that. Then what about the words we use. Yes, our behaviours will influence people one way or the other. Let us influence them towards Jesus. Jesus has empowered us to influence nations. We can do so by praying for our nations and by being good Christians who live the ways of the Lord. Thirdly, we can influence the nations by being used by God to do acts of love towards our neighbours. God hates poverty -He hates people being taken advantage of -He hates disparity -therefore He expects us to help each other especially the disadvantaged. He expects us to minister to the sick - to visit those in prison -to counsel the troubled-to release people from demonic oppression. Will we be used by God to influence the nation by ministering to people in needs? Bro. Job works in NKF. It may seem like a secular job. However, he is ministering to kidney patients - being a role model to them - that they can indeed live above their circumstances. Bro. Joseph visits the prison every Friday. He visits their families too. He imparts hope that these prisoners can have meaningful lifes after their jail terms. We can be used by God by meeting needs and bringing the whole of society to what God intends it to be. We have been empowered by Jesus to influence our nations. We can do so individually. We can be a good Samaritan to our neighbours. We can also touch our community as CGs. We can do so together as a church. There are many issues of national importance as well. What do Christians say about homosexuality? About the casinos? Does the governments know what our views are? Does the public know how we think about such issues? Yes, national church bodies bring such issues to government levels. What about us? Can we not write to the forum pages? Can we not express our opinions on such issues with our friends in our coffee club talks? I have written to the forum pages on may occasions. Some they print. Some they don't. but I know the feedback unit receives them. Some of my views had been echoed by government ministers. I do not think I am the only one having a unique view of issues. However when the feedback unit receives the same opinions about an issue, doesn't the government have to consider such opinions a bit more carefully. We can indeed contribute by making our voice heard. We have been empowered by Jesus to influence our nations. And when we do so we are not alone. Jesus will be with us. All authority and power are His. He will be with us. We can therefore influence our nation through Jesus. We have been empowered by Jesus to do so. The power is with us. All that God is looking for right now is our willingness to do so. To turn a whole nation towards God - influencing them - teaching them all that Jesus has taught us. Will we indeed be God's ambassador to nations that badly needs Him? Will we receive our empowerment and go forth to influence the nations?

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