The Impossible Made Possible
By Ps Alby Yip
In July 2017, we were at the tail end of paying the outstanding sums for the previous upgrading project that cost $15 million. On 16 July 2017, a member came and having found out the outstanding amount was $170,000, the person wrote a blank cheque and asked that we fill in whatever was needed. It was indeed a God-given blessing. We rejoiced and gave thanks!
A few weeks later, we found out that our 30-year land lease that commenced on 1 July 1994 would be due for renewal before the lease expired on 30 June 2022 and the estimated amount was $15 million! How were we to raise $15 million on top of the ongoing operational amount which would add up to $30 million in five years? Plus, this large financial need had surfaced so quickly after we raised $15 million for the redevelopment project over the seven years prior!
Realistically, we can’t raise such a huge sum, but divinely, God can provide. The church leaders certainly could not raise the sum by themselves, but God ‘raised’ the generosity of His people and even blessed us with new worshippers to give, and with cheerful hearts. When you read the annual financial reports carefully, especially at the critical junctures of the lease renewal process, you will see the fingerprints of God’s presence and provisions.
I am privileged as Senior Pastor to be in the “front passenger seat” but I must confess that at those critical junctures, my legs slammed the “imaginary brakes”. But as the months inched on, I witnessed first-hand God “driving” His plan ahead despite many difficult turns. This filled in me, as I told the Session, a quiet confidence that God will work things out in a much greater way than we envisaged.
GOD DID! For those who missed the ECM: we had estimated in 2017 the lease renewal fee to be $15 million. Just last week, the Singapore Land Authority offered us a renewal fee of $4.64 million, less than a third of the original estimate. We had zero dollars for the land lease in 2017, but now we have $10.17 million – more than double what is needed. I’m reminded of the Lord Jesus’ promise, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” (Matt 19:26)
Dear brothers and sisters, now that we have experienced God’s faithfulness and goodness, we must also respond in godly trust in the impossible made possible. When the Lord promised eternal life in Matthew 19, a rich man who was willing to give much to follow Jesus left when the Lord asked for his all. The man “went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.” (v.22)
The all was too much for him to give. But the Lord was not asking for all his money. The Lord was asking for all his heart. “What” we are willing to let go is secondary to the “Who” we let into our hearts. When Jesus is the Lord of our hearts, He will enable us to make, whatever that it may be, the impossible possible.
That is why in Zion Bishan, we endeavour to Present Everyone Mature IN Christ. Praise God – many of you already are. Hence, I must end by echoing Paul, again:
“I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.” (Phil 1:3-5)
