HOPE SINGAPORE: OUTRAGEOUS LOVE

Our Easter Service, titled Outrageous Love, was held in April to show the outrageous love that God has for all of us. The service started off with a video showing us some of Jesus’ character, His promises and His goodness. When the video ended, strings of light flashed across the stage, setting the scene for the dance performance. Even though the audience could not see the faces of the dancers, they could see the energy and passion that the dancers gave and they gave the dancers a rousing applause when the performance ended. 

Afterwards, Hope Church Singapore’s own short film production was featured, about the complicated relationship between a man, his father and his fiancée. This man and his fiancée had to take care of his father after the latter suffered a stroke, with his fiancée even having to quit her job. Throughout several scenes, it was very clear that the man did not want to forgive his father, even though his fiancée wanted him to.



Due to the stress and pressure, that man betrayed his fiancée and hurt her deeply. Even so, she chose to take the first step to forgive him, even though what he did to her hurt her so much, simply because it is more painful to hold on to the wrongs. The message of this film is clearly described by C.S. Lewis: “Everyone says forgiveness is a lovely idea, until they have something to forgive”. When the time comes for us to forgive those who sinned against us, can we really choose to forgive? Our Senior



Pastor Pastor Jeff then came up to preach the message of forgiveness in relation to love. He taught that forgiveness is necessary in our lives, that we need to bear with those close to us and to forgive them, even though the cost to forgive and the effort to deal with the consequences is great. God paid the highest price for forgiveness when He sent us Jesus, His one and only beloved Son to die for our sins, and it was all because He loves us outrageously and wants us to know that.

A brother Emmanuel shared after in a testimony of how he felt abandoned and bitter against his own father. After years of growing up in a what he perceives as a good and complete family, his father suddenly murdered his mother and ran away, leaving him orphaned. But through Christ and “The Passion of Christ”, God allowed him to deal with the pain that was in him and also to be able to forgive his father.



Once the testimony was over, a presentation involving the main character (of the film) who was splashing red paint over the electronic whiteboard to symbolise our sins and after he finished doing so, he washed away the paint to show that nothing but the blood of Jesus is able to wash away all our sins. Many were touched and during the altar call, they came to accept Christ as their Lord and Saviour.

Written by Ezra Yeo Zhi Xiang