In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes the importance of going out into the world to share the gospel with those who have never heard of Jesus. He highlights the poverty and desperation of people in places like East Timor, who are in need of basic necessities like food, blankets, medicine, and water. The speaker urges listeners to give up their lives for the sake of others, just as Jesus gave up his life for humanity. He references the story of Abraham and Isaac, where Abraham was willing to sacrifice his son in obedience to God, and through this act, salvation came. The sermon concludes with a call to action, urging listeners to not only give up their lives but also to send their children to fulfill God's plan for their lives.

This message was recorded at Church of Our Saviour's Auditorium for your listening pleasure. You can download and listen to more messages at www.coos.org.sg If you'd like to respond to this message or would like more information, please contact us at 6885 0700 or email admin at coossg.org The message in tongues. My seed must fall into the earth. It cannot be half and half. Because when it goes right into the earth, it will bring forth life. So could you fall into this earth completely? And let my water and let my sunshine cause this to grow. And bring forth much fruit. And when the fruit falls to the ground, it will bring forth many more trees. So you don't need to be afraid to give things up or yourself for me. Because when you give yourself up for me, I will multiply it many times. How do you receive my love? Through believing in me. How do you believe in me? Use my love. I tell you to go to the poor places and give clothes to those who are naked and give water to those who are thirsty and give food for the hungry. This is what it means to love me. You don't need to be afraid. I will go and I will do this with you. You know I have overcome everything on the earth. The fruit is already everywhere ready. And I want it to... If you don't pick the fruit and wait till it falls to the ground, it will become broken. And will not bring forth life. But when the fruit falls to the ground, it will bring forth many more trees. So you have to give up yourself to achieve the things of the future. Thank you. Our friends from Hong Kong. Three of them have been drug addicts. And I'm very happy to say two of them not. The reason I'm happy to say two of them not is that over the years, we've seen many, many lives saved. And so many who've come from very difficult backgrounds are so loved by Jesus. And so embraced by him. So understood by him. And so much have their heads lifted by him that they are very willing, out of gratitude, to serve him and the lost. It's only just recently, only just recently, that we begin to have those who've not come from such difficult backgrounds coming out of equal gratitude to a savior, saying, I would like to give up my life for the lost and the poor. And so two of our young men here are spending their life with... We have a bunch of teenagers. Over the summer, we had 65 living with us. We've only got about 40-something left. But they're out of school in Hong Kong. They cannot go to school because schools won't have them. They're only 12. 12 or 13. They're not great criminals. They're just lost and empty. And these guys here have spent their life looking after them, helping them to have what their families never gave them, love and affection, unqualified, no conditions. So of course, you know, if you're loved like that and you never have been, all the teenagers who come in come to believe in Jesus very quick. And then they say, we'd like to stay, live with you. So since I last saw you, our house has got a bit bigger. Just before coming here this afternoon, I prepared PowerPoints, but I've scrapped them because I've got something else that I think, I hope, is what the Lord wants you to hear. Because I can remember, last time I was here, it was not this building. I can remember hearing something about Church of Our Saviour. Something to do with the Book of Esther. Something to do with being born for such a time as this. Something to do with if I die, I die. Do I remember rightly? I don't know if you've talked about this message for the last, maybe it was 20 years ago that I was here. But I want to talk about dying. And thankfully, our brothers, their prophecies were all about that. A few years ago, I visited the Walled City gang boss in a prison. Over the years, we've seen thousands and hundreds of gangsters from the Walled City and from other places come to believe in Jesus. And they got off drugs through believing in Him. And through the power of the cross and the Holy Spirit, their lives have been turned around. And the gang boss had found me several times. Twice he said, I'd like to give you my sons because I think the church can help them and I can't. And I said to him, no, they're your sons. Why don't you come to Jesus and then you can help your sons. But he was an opium addict. Several times I'd found him privately and said to him, God's told me that you cry at night. He couldn't admit his weakness to any of his gang brothers. But I always had a heart for him and I prayed for him for 17 years. On this day, when I visited him in the prison, he'd been found guilty of having a huge amount of opium, cooking it. And it's very easy to detect cooking opium. It smells for days in your nostrils. Anyway, he'd been found guilty and I'd missed the trial because I'd been out of Hong Kong. And I only had a short time with him so I gave him a Bible and I said, I know this is going to be hard for you because you will go through drug withdrawal in prison. Just call on the name of Jesus. And the next week, I met him in the cell of the court. He'd just been sentenced to many years in prison. And I asked the jailer, may I see him? He was an Indian jailer in the Hong Kong court prison below the court. And he said, yes, but I'm just giving you five minutes. And so I went in to see this gang leader. His name is Coco. And I said, Coco, I only have a little time so I'm not going to waste time. We have to talk about Jesus. And he said, it's all right. I've already believed in Jesus. You gave me that book and I began to pray and I got off opium. Praise the Lord. And then he began to pray and then he began to pray in tongues. And then he prophesied for half an hour. And the jailer didn't come back for half an hour. I had a box of tissues with me and he wept his way through the whole box. And I wept myself through the other half of the box. Was that the best day of my life? Though that day it was. You see, for me, it's just as important that a man who sleeps in the streets or a widow that nobody has noticed, they're just as important. The gang leader is no better and you can applaud. But do not applaud more than for the smallest unnoticed child. They are important. And my life is filled with such huge joys to see these men and women and children changed. But it's killing too. I mean it's killing too. Just last summer, I remember, three times in one week, men rang me up and gave me their children. This has nothing to do with the Hong Kong government or social welfare. I couldn't go through the welfare. One man was about to throw one of his kids out of the window and he said, Jackie, you're the only person I trust in the world. Will you help me? Well, there's no time to drink to phone up the social welfare. You must go. And it happened three times in one week and I thought, God, this never gets any better and I never get any more used to it. Every time I talk about dying, which is what I'm going to do, you've got to die again and it just always is going on. We took this man's children and said we'd look after them. One of them was terribly sick, just a little baby because being born on drugs. Mother was on drugs. Mother had gone away and poor father, who I'd taken off drugs years before, he couldn't, he couldn't stand changing a nappy six times a day when he's on edge. He's a very violent man and the next day the police came and questioned us. Why have we stolen the children? So we live every day laughing because we see lives change and crying because we're tired. Death is at work in us. Deuteronomy 4.12 says this. Death is at work in us but life is at work in you. This is the principle of the gospel. The principle of the gospel is this. The gospel always brings life to the receiver and death to the giver. If the gospel brought death to Jesus Christ why would we think that in preaching the gospel it would be any less for us? So no. He says if anybody would be my disciple he must take up his cross and follow me. If it killed him to give life to us and he invites us then to do the same why would we expect that it would be any less? So the mixture of our message is life and death and laughter and tears and such it is. But for us life is never ordinary. Life is never flat. And I want to read you a passage from Genesis 22. This is when Abraham has at last got the son of promise Isaac. He's waited for so many years for this son. He's been through very many difficulties and at last in his old age and Sarah in her old age they have the son of promise and the promise is that through generations through this son generations are going to be blessed and salvation will come to the earth. And then Abraham is asked by God and who could understand why to offer up his son. Verse 6. Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering placed it on his son Isaac and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham Father yes my son the fire and the wood are here Isaac said but where's the lamb for the burnt offering and Abraham answered God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering my son. People remember this today. God himself will provide the lamb. Could Abraham possibly have understood what he was saying and the two of them went on together and when they reached the place God had told him about Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it he bound his son Isaac laid him on the altar on top of the wood and then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son but the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven Abraham Abraham here I am he said don't lay a hand on the boy that you fear God because you have not withheld from me your son your only son Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns and he went over and he took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son so Abraham called that place the Lord will provide and to this day it is said on the mountain of the Lord it will be provided what a terrible story God would ask Abraham to give up his son who would think of a plan like that but who would think of a plan to save you and I by having his own son offered on the cross what a strange plan no wonder it makes no sense to the wise no wonder it is a stumbling block to the Jews foolishness to the Gentiles no wonder no wonder no wonder not a one of us would have a plan of winning the world by having our son I said every time somebody comes to the Lord that I know it is the best day of my life but I tell you something even better since I last saw you I have had a lot of sons and a lot of daughters and since I last saw you they are having kids one thing that is even more exciting to me than seeing people come to Jesus through me is seeing people come to Jesus through them that is so exciting now I said we got two young men here today who came from normal families do you know in Hong Kong we are so tired every day we are not disheartened we are not down the plug hole we are just tired because when you give up your life for lost you get tired we just don't go to work and go home we are always there the people that we live with we live with all the time and then we look after their parents and their grandparents and their children and we work with the poor that's it but we don't get that much help you see the rest of the church in Hong Kong maybe it's different in Singapore it's full of people with normal families they've got mothers and fathers who love each other they've got cars and jobs and sometimes those churches they give us people with problems they say we found this man who sleeps in the street or my relative's got a drug addict will you take him and usually this is what I say well, listen you've got more than us you've got the whole church of nearly normal people who love Jesus we're all exhausted do you think we could do it the other way around do you think that we could teach you how to get a drug addict even more tired and you've got cars and families and some of you go to bed at night but they don't they say we've got jobs they think our ministry is to their the poor and their ministry is normal this is not optional can we not have the church a little bit more even if those people would come and share with us they would find that we've got treasures that they long for they're so rich do you know our kids those who've been drug addicts those who've been criminals they're in China they're in Philippines they're in Thailand they're in India what are they doing they're praying for sick babies who should die at birth and they sit with them and they bathe them and they wash them and they put feeding tubes in them there's a whole family that live in 100 square feet up to 12 family members there's a hole in the middle of the floor and below is all the excrement this is in the Philippines where we've got a team that live with people who make their homes on the graves we don't pay them to do this by the way because we haven't got much we just share what we've got and they love to do it they're doing great exploits but they're the poor you see you see they love to give up their lives because their lives have been saved and this has been our prayer for so long dear Lord dear Lord please would you send us some normal people now I know this sounds funny but you see we have foreigners who come from other countries to help us and nearly all the foreigners who come from foreign countries are women who've been abused in their youth or people who've had great problems of their own that's why they want to help the poor because they know and we say God this is fine but it takes those people so long to recover from their hurts and we have to spend a lot of time praying for our helpers who are supposed to be praying for the people we're helping we say God could you send some people normal people please who love God anyway but they don't come or at least they haven't come that much yet maybe the trickle is starting and I'm here with a plea for you I'm here with a plea for you this week if you've known the love of God if you've tasted of his sweetness at all there's no other way to serve him except giving up your life and this is voluntary this is not a sentence of death at all we're not sentenced to death we're just privileged to answer his call and this is what Jesus said about his father in John 17 the reason my father loves me is that I lay down my life only to take it up again no one takes it from me Jesus was not sentenced to die by his father he was allowed to choose I have authority to lay it down and I have authority to take it up again he said this is why my father loves me God the father had this extraordinary plan of winning you and me for eternity by having his son killed but his son voluntarily responded no it's not so easy for him to respond in fact he spent his whole life practicing and even the night before it was still difficult for Jesus and he said God is there another way is there another way and I know many many people in the church say is there another way and in our Hong Kong churches it does look as if there's another way normal Christians live a normal Christian life go to meetings jump up and down on stages while we are exhausted and die and they say you've got a special ministry Jackie and I say well no I think we're all called to give up our lives would you like to do this with us we'd really like some help two things one is that we are called to give up our lives and you've only got one so you may as well give it up because it would be awful to meet Jesus and say whoa I do regret that I didn't you see these poor people in East Timor that you've heard about at least I hope you heard about the poor people all over the earth who have never heard of Jesus they are the poorest people they are desperate for food they are desperate for blankets they are desperate for medicine they are desperate for water the most number of people worldwide who have never heard about the love of the Lord Jesus Christ are desperately poor and they are not going to come here to hear the gospel we have to go there so why haven't people gone something to do with guarding a life and living a normal life so other people can go but I say no don't go if you've tasted such good things go to the ends of the earth because those poor aren't going to watch Jesus on TV they haven't got electricity and they are not going to hear about him unless we go so would you and the other thing is this because this week so many young people 300 last night were commissioned to go to East Timor to just begin be saved and that's the poorest nation in Asia the most destitute now those young people are just going for a week or so and this is my plea to you if they are your children would you let them go forever we've got hundreds of people saved because they've come to us foreigners have come to us to say I'll help now those foreigners have had distressed lives and they say out of gratitude I would like to come others come and go because their parents want them to come home and live a normal life and get married and give them grandchildren would you release your kids do you know the best present my parents ever gave me they were not believers they were absolutely amazing my parents when God said to me go this was 39 years ago I told my mother she was not a believer nor was my father I said I'm going to get onto a ship traveling around the world and pray to know where to get off and my mother said well that's alright by me but daddy won't like it and then I went to my father and he said well I understand this but mummy won't like it and then one day I overheard them persuading each other it was alright this is amazing I mean that had to be God because of course parents worry about their children I got about 25 Singapore dollars that's all I left with and that's all I arrived in Hong Kong with imagine your parents not being worried but somehow that was a gift that God gave them and this is what they said to me we've given you an education it's now your life could you ever give your children that present of releasing them not so that your children are going to live their lives fulfilling your expectations but are free to fulfill the plan that God has for them Abraham had been promised that generations would be blessed through his son and he was being asked to give up his son but it was in the giving up of his son that salvation came and that is why God said to him now I know now I know that you fear God because you have not withheld your son your only son that's all I've come to share with you it's either the giving up of your life so that others can find life going to the ends of the earth or it's will you give up your kids now this has to be the right time Singapore and it was just 10 minutes before I came here that I really felt God wanted me because you see this young generation is ready and it's the parents that aren't will you let them go freely like my parents let me go what a gift to me and I was younger than a lot of the kids that are going just for a week my parents let me go for my life and it was because I left them that later on my parents believed in Jesus it wasn't that I stayed they believed it was because I left that they believed they didn't understand what I was doing at all but they were tremendously pleased and proud and because of that they already had this generosity in their heart most of my life I was never with my parents I missed them dying I missed all my all my sisters children growing up I miss my parents dying but I've missed nothing because you see I'm going to see them in heaven and I've had hundreds of kids that would never have been born if my parents hadn't released me so you see I'm not a loser I'm the winner I just missed that time on earth with them but I have eternity to rejoice over those that coming into the kingdom because my parents let me go willingly and now I willingly let my kids go and I pray that you'll let not just ex-drug addicts serve the Lord but your best children and if that's the message at Christmas to bring your treasures to the Lord could it even be your children please stand we're going to have communion please stand and we're going to celebrate that God did not withhold his son God so loved you and me that he gave his son he did not sentence his son he gave his son and if God had not given his son if his son had not willingly taken up the father's plan to die for the world we would not be here today and so the invitation is for us to share in that privilege by giving up our lives for the lost and for some of us here even to the giving up of the treasures that we've given birth to and nourished that many more may find life could it be that Singapore's old enough to do this I know it's not easy but it will bring life to the world if you'll give up your life and give up those you love they're very safe with him he will provide a lamp