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If you have your Bibles, it will be great, Matthew chapter 9, this morning. Let me start with a simple illustration.

There was a man, a salesman who was sent by a shoe company to Africa. So he went to Africa, he got there and when he got off the plane, he saw the people. And he immediately called back to his headquarters and said, “I'm in Africa now, but I don't think we will have any business here. Everybody walks around barefooted, they don't wear shoes, they don't need shoes, send me back right away.”

Well, an hour later, another salesman of another shoe company was arriving in Africa. He got off the plane, he saw the people and he also called back to his headquarters and said, “this is amazing, there's so many people here who need shoes. They're barefooted, send all the shoes here.” Two men who see the same things, but have very different perspectives. And so it is for us, we can see a lot of people and we can think of problems and issues and trouble. But for Jesus, he saw needs. And that's what we read in Matthew 9 and verse 36, “when he saw the crowds”, he did not think of problems and issues and irritating people, “he had compassion for them, because he saw that they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a Shepherd.”

Our Saviour was moved for people when He saw the needs. And now in the next verse, He's going to give you the plan. What are we going to do about it? What is He going to do about it? When He sees the multitude struggling in life, struggling in a life without knowing the true God. What is Jesus' plan for saving them? Very succinctly captured in the next few verses. “Then He said to His disciples, “the harvest is plentiful but the labourers are few, therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into this harvest.”[Matt 9:37-38]

This is a very simple text, many of you would be familiar. But I think in this text, it reveals to us the harvest plan, God has for His Church. What are we going to do? I mean, Church is not just a place where we gather, sing songs, hear the preaching, go home. Church is on a mission. We are here to seek and save the lost, like what Jesus did. And how are we going to do it?

Well, here Jesus lays out for us His plan for the harvest. So I like to just share with you three simple things. Three simple steps, as the plan for the harvest.

1.    Visualize
Number one, I think Jesus here teaches me that we need to visualize. The plan for the harvest begins with visualization. Begins with seeing the way Jesus sees. Because like the salesman, we can see the same thing, but have very different perspectives.

So we need to see as Jesus saw. What did Jesus see? Jesus saw that the harvest is plentiful. He likens the people to a harvest, this is an agricultural parallel. He's seeing that they are like crops. And if you know anything about crops and harvesting, there is always a window period to harvest, isn't it? I mean, you pass that window period, the crops just died out. It just waste away and you do not get the opportunity to harvest a beautiful crop.

So, He says, “people are like that, there's a window period for you to reach them with the Gospel. And if you don't do it within this window period, the opportunity is lost.” So there is a sense of urgency when He gives this parallel, the harvest, people are like the harvest. You got to go, you got to be on time. You cannot miss the period.

Likewise, if you remember the earlier verses, Jesus says, “you got to see people like sheep. So not only do you see them like sheaves of wheat, but you see them as sheep of the flock.” They are people who are struggling in life, harassed like I've shared with you last week. The word really means “to be bruised, beaten, battered, mangled, torn”. It's a terrible picture of tremendous injury. And not only are they injured but they are helpless, they are abandoned. No one cares, they are like sheep without shepherd.

Sheep are absolutely dependent creatures, they can't survive on their own. And Jesus is saying, the people in those days are abused, bullied, taken advantage of. Nobody cares for them. The religious leaders who are supposed to lead them to God actually lead them further away from God. They are helpless without their shepherd. So there is a sense of need and that's why Jesus and His life is driven by a heart of compassion towards them. Because He saw them for who they are, He saw that they are desperate and there is not much time.

Vance Havner, a preacher in time past, he says, “the tragedy of our time is that the situation is desperate but the saints are not.”

In other words, people are struggling but the Church doesn't feel the desperation. We, we are very happy in our little, little corner, in our little 39 Punggol Field Walk. But we don't realize that families are breaking down, lives are breaking down because they do not know God. And we don't have forever to reach them with the Gospel. By the way, we are here in Punggol for 30 years. At least, that's what I know from the lease accorded to us on this piece of land. I do not know what's going to happen after 30 years. But we have one life time, you have one life time to impact people. And, and if we don't use this well, then the harvest is gone.

Remember the Good News - The Gospel. The Gospel, simply means “The Good News”. The Good News of Jesus Christ, dying and rising to save man from their sins. This Good News is only Good News, if it arrives on time. And if we are too late, when people go, it's no more good news. It's the worst news, you can hear in hell. Because you knew that there was a message that could save you from your sins, but you didn't hear it. And there maybe lots of people today around us struggling because the Church is not desperate about the situation. We don't see people for who they are, we don't see the urgency.

This week, actually about seven days ago exactly, I was reminded about how little time we really have. How, how we need to be seizing the opportunity. I … I mean most of you would know by now, Mr. Lum had passed away, Sunday morning, exactly 7 days ago. And it just reminded me of how we don't have all the time in the world. We got to know this man five years ago, when our Church was worshiping in downtown in Novotel. And the there was a group of brothers and sisters here, a very good group of brothers and sisters here who loved this man and served him all these five years. And I tell you their service, their ministry, their friendship to Mr. Lum is top-notch, amazing love. And because of that, I think Mr. Lum came to know the Lord. Some one, two years ago., his life began to change. They said that it was a very perceptible change in him. And even in the last few days of his life, he was not talking about anything else, but that his friends and neighbours would get to hear the Gospel at his funeral. That was his main wish.

Now, this man did not have long to live. Now, he was stricken with this disease called, ALS. I think most of you would know by now and the doctors gave him 3 to 5 years to live. This year was his fifth year and so, every day he lived on, was a day for him - a bonus. But imagine, we did not have the opportunity, if, if, imagine we … we were in Novotel and we did not go out to the blocks there. We did not go to the neighbourhood and reach the people. I do not know where he will be today. But because of the love of Christians who saw the need, I think he's now in a great place.

Well, our comms team has put together a simple little video. I thought I'll share it with you right now, and then I'll say a little bit more about Mr. Lum's life. Take a look.

Mr Lum's testimony:

About six or seven years ago, I was a single man. I had a normal job working in security. As I was working, I suddenly fainted. The doctors said I have ALS. The first time I heard this, I didn’t have a faith at that time. I felt distracted and out of my wits, and I didn’t know where I was heading. While I was sick, Yong-En Care Centre introduced some volunteers to me. These volunteers were from Gospel Light. There were some good friends at that time, Mr. James, Weijun, and Yiren.

A year or two while I was there, I came to know the Lord. They taught me how to pray. A few months ago, I felt sick all over because I kept falling and other things. One morning, when the pain was incredibly bad, I went into the hospital again. A doctor told me that I had stomach cancer. He said that it was in the fourth stage and that it had spread all over. But on that day, strangely, I felt very peaceful. When I replied to the doctor, I said with a smile that I can accept this with an open mind. During this road, it might be His desire and it is also my own desire to be by the side of the Lord sooner. Because the Lord has always been helping me. I am no longer afraid of death, and I feel very peaceful and joyful. With my own experiences, I hope to encourage other old folks, or even younger people. That they could be like me and have an open mind, because all of this is planned by the Lord.

Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. [Matthew 6:34]
[End of Testimony]

This was his favourite verse and I thought about Mr Lum and how he reminded me of Jesus going to Gadarenes. You know we, we went through the story, Matthew 8 and Jesus almost as it were, took a long trip across Galilee to reach this one demoniac of the Gadarenes, and came back. I thought of our Church, almost as it were we, we went all the way to Novotel. It’s not so far but, in a sense, we went all the way to Novotel. And if there's one thing I really thank God for that move from SCGS and everywhere else to the hotel, is that God gave us the opportunity to reach one man for Jesus Christ. And I thought I am so thankful to the brothers and sisters here who seized upon that opportunity to serve the residents, those who are down and out in that community.

His one wish as I've mentioned, was to share the Gospel with his friends, his neighbours. And that was I think what could take place. That the care of the brothers and sisters here was not only when he was alive. But even after he died, there, there was a consistent strong effort to make sure his dying wish was fulfilled. And so they gathered together, they organized the whole funeral. These are the friends of Mr. Lum in the Lion Dance Troupe. I think some 40, 50 over the two nights came. And they all showed and paid their respects to Mr. Lum. And we are just thankful that many could hear the Gospel. Who knows, God could use this one life to ignite many more lives and bring them to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Mr. Lum reminds me, we look at people as if they will live on forever. But no, the opportunity doesn't always last. There's always that window. For him it's clear, 3 to 5 years. For us, I do not know. For some of us, maybe next month. We do not know, but while there is time, there must be an urgency for the Church to go forth.

There's a song that Fanny Crosby wrote and it is:-
Rescue the perishing, care for the dying,
Snatch them in pity from sin and the grave.
Weep over the erring one, lift up the fallen,
Tell them of Jesus, the mighty to save.

The Church will never be able to be part of the harvest until number one, we learn from Jesus, the need to visualize. The need to see people not as just my colleagues, not just as my neighbours, not as my competitor, but you see them like crops. There's a time, there's a window period, there must be an urgency to reach them. To see them like sheep without a shepherd, struggling and going through pain because of alienation from God. So that's step number one.

2.    Agonize
You say, “what's step number two?” “Well, let's go, let's go and learn how to share the Gospel. Let us go into the neighbourhood. Let's, let's do that.” Now, if you say that, I … I think that's tremendous. I love people who do not just feel, but they do. I love it when you are a man who acts upon your convictions. Wonderful! But whilst that is good, that's not what Jesus said, because the next step in the harvest plan, interestingly is not go, preach. But Jesus says, “first of all, you've got to agonize, agonize in the place of prayer. The harvest is plentiful, the labourers are few, therefore pray earnestly to the Lord.”

So instead of saying, “let me do it,” He says, “let's look up to God, let's begin in the place of prayer, let's begin on your knees.” What is needed today? The great need today is for you to pray. And this is not just saying a one-liner: God save souls. Because the word there is pray earnestly. Now, actually in the original Greek, there's no “earnestly” there, it is just one word. And the word really means, “to beg”. so beg, that's a strong word! But you ask with such an urgency, you ask with such seriousness, that you say, “Lord, until and unless you work, there is no way, the harvest can be reached.” So you beg the Lord and that's what it takes.

If we are to reach Punggol, if we're to reach the uttermost parts of the world. We got to see people for who they are, and we got to learn to pray earnestly. We got to learn to beg. You say, “what do we pray for?” Well, some of us may say, “we, we pray that God will give us opportunities.” Some of us say, “we pray that God will give us people to talk to, we pray for soft hearts, we pray for people to be receptive to the Gospel. We pray for obstacles to be removed.” I say that's great! But you know that Jesus didn't say that. He says, “what you need to pray for, is that the Lord will send out labourers.” The great need today is labourers. The labourers are few! There are very few people in comparison to the harvest that is before us. And so our prayer should be, “Lord, send forth labourers.”

You know in our Church we have three words that summarize our mission. Three words and they are : Know, Grow, Go. Very simple what, cannot forget what! Know, Grow, Go. Someone asked before, what do you mean by that? Is it that if I don't know and if I don't grow, you will ask me to go. As in, you will kick me out of the Church. No, no, no, no! That's not our mission. Our mission is to help you know Christ, our mission is to help you grow in Christ. So that is not just something you profess but we, we would be joyous to see more of Jesus in you. And when there is more of Jesus in you, you will go.

Go where? Go to the harvest! You will be a blessing in your workplace, in your school, where you work, live and play. You will go. And that's what we are all about. And that's what prayer should be all about. So often we pray, “Lord, bring more people into our services.” Nothing wrong with that! Great! “Lord I pray that John and Mary will be able to come to Church.” Wonderful! Pray that! But would you add on this prayer, “Lord, send us out, not just ask people to come in, but Lord, send us out.”

Let this Church be a missional Church. Not thinking always about gathering and, and just having a good time together but that, we will go. You see the health of the Church is not measured only by its seating capacity. In fact, that is not a very good gauge but it's measured by its sending capacity. Are we really healthy? Are we really a good Church? Well, must be good, right? We have a nice building, many people come. Well, if the sending capacity is abysmal, then we are terrible Church. We are just playing a game. We are just deluding ourselves. Nice building, big numbers, we're all right. No, we are not alright! We, we are disobedient to God.

So what is the great need today? Lord send forth the labourers. Now, it's not easy to go out to your office. It's not easy to go out to your workplace. It's not easy to go to the Philippines. It's not easy to go to the uttermost part of the world to give the Gospel. It's not easy because you have barriers. Barriers like fear, worries, anxiety. You have problems like apathy and indifference. You have obstacles like the love for comfort, the love for convenience, the love for your possessions, the love for the things of this world. These are extremely difficult barriers and that's why Jesus says, “you pray, you pray that God will send out.” And the word, “send out” is a Greek word, “Ekballo” which means “to throw out, to cast out, to throw something with great force”. We are all so comfortable that inertia is so great. Life is good so why do I bother to take a step out of my comfort zone and tell my colleague and tell my friend that they need Jesus. Unless God's people pray and ask the Lord of the harvest to send us out.

Andrew Murray, 1910, 108 years ago, in the missionary conference he said this and I thought this is so, so appropriate, “we shall need three times more men, four times more money, and seven times more prayer.”

That's God's plan! How to reach the world with the Gospel? More prayer. Pray to the Lord of the harvest that He will send forth labourers.

You know one thing that would change this Church. I'm saying this for real. One thing that would change Punggol. You say,” what is it?” Elections lah. No, no, no, no. I'm not talking about elections. One thing that would change Punggol. What is it? If we pray more. What will change Gospel Light today?” “Pastor, can you preach fiercer?” It won’t change you, I guarantee you. “Pastor, can you be more gentle?” It won't change you. What will really change you? What will really change me? Is when we follow Jesus' plan. We agonize, we pray, we say, “Lord, send us out, because the harvest is plentiful but the labourers are few.”

Do you believe that? And how will that change your prayer life?

So Jesus says, “if we are to reach the harvest, number one, please visualize, see as Jesus saw. Number two, please agonize, go to your knees in prayer, don't just pray for health, don't just pray for your children's education.” Pray this, “Lord send forth labourers.” It's absolutely God's will. You don't have to wonder if that prayer will be answered. It will, it's God's will.

3] Mobilise

What's number three? Well, one of the side effects of being a Pastor is that, I don't have or a full time employed pastor is that I don't have to go Army. It's a real fringe benefit for me. So for 12 years, I don't have a, some of you looking at each other, “hah, serious ah, maybe I'll be a pastor here soon man.” Ya, for 12 years, I do not have to go for IPPT. I do not have to go for in camp training. I do not have to turn up for any exercises. It’s real cool man! I've already thrown away my uniform. By the way, all the “barang, barang” [it means things] gone. 12 years I think long enough, “see gor liao” [means mouldy in Hokkien dialect], it's mouldy already. It’s gone!

So by-and-by, I've received some texts and emails and letters from Mindef and say you got to turn up and for something. Sometimes their system not so, not so accurate lah. So I got to remind them, “ay, I'm a full-time pastor, I am disrupted, I don't have to go.” And they say, “alright so, so on and so forth.” But last year they sent me a mobilization notice. And they told me to, to be on standby, there's a mock exercise. You know how the sirens are, and how they go on the TV screen and show that, don't know funny names, have to turn up for exercises and so on. So I got that email, on that letter, I ignored it. I mean I've not done it for 11 years, I got a text saying you got to be ready, can't go overseas or you go to notify if you go overseas, I say, “alright.” But I didn't bother.

So on the day itself the TV screen, the phone text, it's my unit that was mobilized. But of course, I say, “it's not for me.” But soon, at about I think 2PM is the last period you can turn up, they said, “Sir, can you come?” I said, “what, come for what? I'm, I'm not in the army, I have not served the army for 11 years already.” “But Sir, you are in the list, you've got to come.” I said, “no, I'm not going.” “But, sir, then you have to bear the consequences.” “OK, I will bear the consequences.”

Few days or two weeks later, I received a letter. Capt. Dr. Lim Kim Guan, you are required to turn up at so on and so forth to meet the CO and to explain your absence from the mobilization exercise. When I saw the letter all the horrible words came out - AWOL, charged, DB. And I thought, “wow, this is terrible, I'm going to detention barracks for missing my mock exercise. I'm going to be in, I mean the, the Army version of jail and I might appear in the newspaper, Pastor of Gospel Light in DB.” I said, “whoa, this is terrible, oh no!” You see, I, I didn't know, I'm still part of the Army.

Well, that didn't happen for the apostles because the third point I say in reaching the harvest is got to visualize, you got to agonize and then you got to be mobilized. That because that's what Jesus said to them. Matthew 10 verse five, just five verses down, you see these 12. These 12, He had been speaking to, He sends out. So it's not the case whereby, “ay, guys, you just pray and you can just stay with Me, enjoy life here with Me, but we just pray and others can go.” No, He says, “you pray and you must always be praying but here you are, you got to go, just like I have gone, you are to go.”

Hey it, it involves all of us. You know the plan to reach the world, the plan to reach Punggol will never come to pass if we are only saying, “Lord, send him, send her, send them but don't send me.” You got to mobilize yourself. You got to go.

Hey, this sermon is not for us to find an excuse and say, “sharing the Gospel, the ministry of the Gospel is for the pastors, for the elders, for deacons, for care group leaders, not for the ordinary member.” No, I, I think it's for all of us. The great commission is given to the Church, to all of us. And can I remind you one thing, sometimes we think that the harvest plan of God is only about sending evangelists, preachers, who tell people believe in Jesus Christ and your sins will be forgiven. I think that includes this, but it's more than that. Why? Because the fundamental problem is that people do not have shepherds, shepherds. And when we say mobilize and when the apostles are mobilized or sent out, I think it's more than just touch and go ministry. You get what I'm saying? It's more than that! People need shepherds.

And let me say this, in our Church, we have seen more and more people come and join us. But there's one need, a big need that it's very hard to fill and that's what we need to go to prayer for, and that is shepherds. I'm not saying that we can do this easily, but we can do this right now. We can begin to pray, “Lord, give us more labourers, more shepherds, people who are willing to journey with others in their lives.” This Church needs are [is] just going to get more and more and more overwhelming. And if you guys think that I can meet all the needs, that's, that's a lie because Jesus didn't. He knew very well that He by Himself will never meet all the needs. But that's why He says, “pray, pray, God send forth the labourers.” And let's pray. Will we? Pray for more care group leaders, pray for more disciplers, pray for people who will journey with ladies, men who will journey with men in their lives because that's the need.

I was teaching my son Chinese 成语 [cheng2 yu3, Chinese idioms], and I reminded of this phrase, “袖手旁观”[xiu4shou3pang2guan1]. You know, what's that “袖手 [xiu4shou3]? Put your hands, you know the Chinese last time their clothes very long one, “put it in” means you have to, you have to rest lah. “袖手旁观, you know, that’s the attitude of many Christians today - hands nothing one! “两手空空” [liang2shou3kong1kong1 means nothing in one’s hand], but never mind just “袖手” lah, just hide it there.

Hey no, no place for this, if you're a follower of Jesus! Put your hands to the plow, please. Let's go and reap the harvest, let’s go and care for the sheep. Can you imagine what Church would look like if all of us were follow Jesus' harvest plan. I mean, we won't come to Church and say, “who's going to serve me today ah?” “where's the food ah?” “Huh, how come no one say hello to me ah?” And I mean, if all of us were to be activated, because God is working in our hearts, what a different Church this will be! There will be no one who's going to stand alone by himself. Everybody who comes in and say, “hey, I want to know about God.” You say, “yah, sure, let me help you, let me… let me meet with you at McDonald's for a month, let's study the Bible once a week and hopefully, you'll come to know God.” What a different Church, Gospel Light will be! And I guarantee you, what a different Punggol this will be! No need to change MP. Change people, change the Church of Jesus Christ.

So let me remind you, the tragedy of our time is that the situation is desperate but the saints are not. Are you desperate enough? Do you see lives for what they are?

Spurgeon, he said, “if sinners be damned, at least let them leap to Hell over our bodies. If they will perish, let them perish with our arms about their knees. Let no one go there unwarned and unprayed for.”

Brothers and sisters in Christ, just three very simple things for you to do, to do today. The harvest plan for Punggol, for Singapore, for the uttermost parts of the world.

Number one, see as Jesus saw them. That they are sheep, that they are like sheaves. And there's a window period God has graciously given us to reach them. The Good News is only Good News, if it arrives on time.

Number two, let us as a Church agonize on our knees. Pray, pray more than anything else that the Lord will thrust this Church out, into our spheres of influence.

And then number three, let us all be ready to be mobilized. Hey, you do not know how to share the Gospel? You do not know how to read the Bible? Would you start looking to be trained? Would you start praying, “God help me, I don't want to be a spectator, I want to be a servant, I want to be a labourer.” Would you do that? And I pray, “many, many Mr. Lums, many, many demoniacs of the Gadarenes, many, many struggling right around us will be brought back to God through Jesus Christ.”

Let's bow for a word of prayer together. Perhaps there are some of you right now, sitting here who absolutely fit the description of sheep without shepherd. This morning, can I warn you and can I pray for you? I warn you, because we all are sinners heading for hell. We all face the righteous judgment of God. And I say to you, “if you are to die right now without knowing Jesus, you're heading to hell?” Why? Because you are sinful and God is holy. But let me warn you today and let me encourage you today to turn to Jesus Christ, God's Son.

The central message of the Bible is that God has given us a ransom. God has given us a payment for our sins and that is Jesus, His Son. He's the lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. And so dear friends, this morning, repent of your sins and believe in Jesus Christ. He alone can save you from your sins. You're like a crop, you don't have forever to turn back to God. But this is the time for you to turn to God. Do that right now, regardless of what religion you came from, regardless of what racial background you came from, regardless of what social economic status you came from. We all need Jesus because He said, “I am the way, the truth and the life, no man comes to the Father but by Me.” So this morning let me pray for you, let me direct you to my Saviour, our Saviour - Jesus Christ.

Dear Church, what is following Jesus like, for you? Coming to Church services? Hear some sermon? Sing some songs? Drop some money? Or does following Jesus influence every day of your life? Being on mission, right where God places you. My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, do you think about the lost? Friends, this morning, would you repent? Would we all repent of our self-absorption? And ask God today to give us eyes that see, hearts that beat for the helpless, for the harassed, for those who are without the Shepherd. You know, I know, if you're a follower of Jesus Christ, you would want that, because Jesus lives in you. But do ask God today to help you see as His Son saw.

Then let me encourage all of us, to step it up in our prayer life. There's no hero in this story of missions, the only hero is God and His Son. We are not going to be the hero that will save the world. But I believe if we are to pray to our Hero. We are going to pray to God, He will send His labourers. So be done away with that hero mentality. But let's come to God in prayer, following His plan. Lord, cast out, thrust out, break through the barriers of fear and apathy and idolatry and covetousness. O, send us out and God send me out, let me be a witness for You today, let me be rescuing the perishing, caring for the dying. Lord, would You send forth many today to be care group leaders, shepherds, disciplers in our midst. For this Church needs that, the harvest needs that. And if you are to step up and you have to go down on your knees. This will change our Church, change our lives, change Singapore, that's God's plan.

Let us pray. Father, thank You for Your Word today. Would You be pleased to save souls and change this Church. No more resting on our laurels, but help us to know, to grow and to go. Lord, grow this Church in our sending capacity, grow our missionality, grow us as a house of prayer. Thank You that the plan is not complicated. Thank You, it's as easy as it were, as one, two, three. But make us obedient, give us faith to follow. Once again, we thank You for friends who are here. Lord, they need Jesus, touch their hearts, turn their eyes to Your Son, we pray. And we ask all this now in Jesus Name, Amen.

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