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I'd like to begin this morning by talking a little bit about Simon.  Simon is our Children's Ministry Leader.  He's a wonderful brother-in-Christ, a great friend, a good colleague and I think many of you would know Simon has many passions and one of his passions in life is fishing. Ever so often, I'll see on his social media posts beautiful pictures of a great harvest of fish he would catch off the shores of Malaysia. Simon is a generous man, once he catches the fish when it's a lot, he knows he can't finish them, he will also pass some over to sister Hau Chun, will then cook the dishes or the fish for us and the staff will get to enjoy it. By the way, this Thursday I'm told it's “assam” fish for staff members.

Simon loves fishing and I could see that on his face.  He really is happy when he fishes - this one, he may look a bit tired but look at the next picture, he looks even happier don't you think and the last one I show you - he looks so happy, he looks so excited I can see the little child in him, just bubbling through his face. So I asked Simon one day, "Simon if you could do this every day, how would you feel? If this is what you do every day, how would you like it?" Simon said, "I'll be very sad." I said, "Why?" "I'll be very sad if this is the only thing I do, if this is the only aim in my life." Simon knows that he is here for greater things. Nothing wrong with fishing, nothing with enjoying the various gifts that God has given to us in life but he knows that he's here for a greater purpose, for something of eternal value. I think that's the same thought that Peter, Andrew, James and John would have in their lives.

The Bible, in Matthew 4, introduces us to these four men – Peter, Andrew, are brothers, so are James and John, two pairs of brothers. They were fishermen. They were professionals alright. They fished for a living. They were really good at what they do, I'm pretty sure. But the Bible tells us that they were willing to leave everything and to follow someone who called them from fishing. So one day Jesus walked by the Sea of Galilee and reached out to these four men and said to them, "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men." (Matthew 4:19) and deep in the hearts of these four men, they knew that God is calling them to greater things, things of eternal value and they were willing to follow Jesus. This was a day that changed their lives forever and so this morning we're going to look at a simple call, the simple statement Matthew 4:19 that says - "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men."

The first thing I like us to see is the kind of people Jesus called, the kind of people Jesus was inviting to be part of His team.  Jesus came to fishermen, very ordinary people, nothing spectacular. These were probably very uneducated, simple folks, not the genius or the scholars of the day. I know that for sure because the Bible tells me in Acts 4:13, the religious leaders were shocked, were astonished, were amazed that Peter and John were so bold in preaching, even though they were "uneducated" and "common men". So these boys were not from RI or RJC, they're from Hwa Chong, no, no, no, they are not from RI, from RJC (these are prestigious local colleges), they were just, they were just very simple people, you wouldn't think about them if you were selecting a team of world changers right?  There is very little going on for them, there's nothing spectacular, they were very unlikely candidates but what God sees is very different from what man see.

0:05:40

We, we look for titles, we look for riches, we look for influence, we look for intelligence, we look for fame but God did not look at these things.  God looked at one thing; you say what is that one thing that made them the choice of Jesus Christ?  If there's one thing I see in this passage is simply this word - they were willing.  They were willing to follow Jesus. You say what's so big deal about it?  You must understand to follow someone means you have to leave where you are and where you're heading, to follow after the other. You have to leave and these men were willing to leave it all to follow Jesus. The remarkable thing is that when we read Jesus calling them, they immediately left their nets, they immediately left their nets - the word immediate tells us just how willing.

Can you imagine someone comes to you, even if I may say Jesus comes to you and say, "John, leave your job and follow Me!"  You may still agonize, "Aaaah, give me one more year, give me six more months.." Hey, they left immediately.  The word left there in the Greek is an emphatic way of leaving, it's to abandon, not to go back to again, they left it all, they left their nets, the net was a means, a tool of livelihood, they were, they were saying, "I'm not going to fish for fish, I'm going to trust You, Jesus, I'm going to follow You." Not just Peter and Andrew but James and John.  "They left the boat and their father" (Matthew 4:22). They left their livelihood, they left their family. "Aaah….", you say, "how are they able to do that? I mean wouldn't this be abandoning your family and neglecting your home?" Not quite, we are given a little glimpse of the background of James and John in Mark 1 verse 20 where it says that this family had hired servants so the family of the Zebedees, James and John's father, they were probably decent, they were business owners,  they hired servants and so this was not neglect, this is not saying leaving their parents to die and fend for themselves. But I think the point is clear, they were willing to leave it all. Now some of you may find it strange, how come, how come one man Jesus, walked into their lives, met them for the first time, said to them, 'Follow Me' and they would leave? That sounds so weird, that sounds so spooky, so eerie, so unreal!

Imagine today someone you've never met, came to your home, knocked on the door and say, "Hey, Eddy, follow me" and then your husband actually left and followed him. You say, "Siao ah? [local dialect: crazy], what happened to my husband?" I mean, why would he follow, he doesn't know it, oh, I,I,I get it, if you do not know who that person is, following that person is ridiculous but you see the back story to Matthew 4, is in John 1. John chapter 1, about a year earlier, Jesus and these men had already met. In fact, we are told that they knew that Jesus is the Messiah, they spend good time together, ate with him, lived with him for a while, for a day, and they knew for sure that He is the Messiah, and therefore knowing who Jesus is, they were willing to leave it all and to follow. But the point is this, God chose men who were willing to follow. Peter totally understood what it meant to follow because in Matthew 19:27, he said, "See, we have left everything and followed You." It was not just a casual jog or casual stroll, it was a deliberate intentional leaving of their fishing lives, of their old lives, of what they were living for and now living for what Jesus has called them for.

Following Jesus requires willingness, willingness to leave, willingness then to follow. See in the Bible there are others who wanted to follow Jesus, maybe some of you say I want to follow Jesus, I want to follow Jesus. Well, there are some others who wanted to follow Jesus. Example or exhibit number 1 in Luke 9 we are told someone said to Jesus, "I will follow You wherever You go." (Luke 9:57) Sounds like a sisters' act song “I will follow you, follow you where…”, OK, alright, I'll follow you wherever you go, now we do not know a lot about this man except in Matthew 8 we are told, he's a scribe. A scribe is a religious guy, I mean he's someone who copies the Old Testament. He sort of becomes the photocopying machine if you can think of it that way. He knows the Bible, he studies it, he's someone very intimately in touch with it and so this guy seems like a good candidate to follow Jesus, don't you think?

0:10:50

Someone who is educated in the Old Testament, know something and well regarded in society.  Hey, if I could have a A-star candidate like this, why not? But Jesus was not superficial. He knew what was in the heart.  He gave him a challenge - He said to him, "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head." (Luke 9:58) I am the Son of Man, foxes have their homes, birds have their homes, but I don't. When I'm on this earth, I have no place really to rest, that is what it means to follow Me, would you want to do that? Jesus, I will follow you wherever you go, his idea is probably Jesus is going to conquer Rome, Jesus is going to bring the new kingdom in, Jesus would be the victorious King, he says, I will follow you wherever you go but that's the idea he had until Jesus bursts his bubble and says if you follow Me, it means you must be willing to suffer, it means you must be willing to lead a difficult life because that's the life I'm going to live, are you willing? We do not read of this scribe after this, we do not know what happened to him, maybe he said this is not the price I'm willing to pay, I don’t know.

Exhibit number 2, this time, Jesus approaches him. He said, "Follow Me." So Jesus sees someone, said follow Me and this guy says, "Lord, let me first go and bury my father." (Luke 9:59) Let me just handle this, this matter first. Jesus then said, "Leave the dead to bury their own dead." (Luke 9:60) Wow now this sounds really cruel, my father die, you cannot let me bury, 1, 2 days cannot aah? No that's not the point - the point in this is that this is the proverbial way of speaking that I need to take care of my family business, I need to take care my father and the rest of his life, it's not that he actually died, it's just to take care of him, for the latter part of his life, it’s likely a long process so Jesus says, "Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God." (Luke 9:60)

Jesus is communicating to this man following Jesus following Me requires a priority because to many people you say I want to follow Jesus, but later! After I gotten my house, after my family is settled, after my kids are grown up, after I retired, after I've nothing to do then I follow Jesus. If you follow Jesus, you must be willing to put Him as priority. That's what it means to follow Christ.

To the third man who said, "I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home." (Luke 9:61) Jesus seeing his need responded, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God." (Luke 9:62) In other words, if you follow Me, you press on, you persevere, there's no vacillating between two positions. As a song we would sing, I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back, no turning back.  Following Jesus requires perseverance so what Jesus is communicating in Luke 9 written for us is that you must be willing to follow Christ, you must be willing to pay the price, you must be willing to put Him first and you must be willing to persevere, are you willing?

Well Peter, Andrew, James and John were willing. They left all to follow Jesus. We live in a day and age where we don't quite understand the word follow anymore. For example on social media, when we say we follow, it means we like,  we press the button like, we subscribe,  we share, eh I follow Jesus, okay look at my Facebook - all Jesus one!  That's what it means for me to follow Jesus, but that's not what the Bible says. Now that's how you follow on social media maybe, but Jesus is calling you to follow Him in your life, not on Facebook and to follow Jesus in your life means you will leave your old ambitions, leave your own goals, leave your own old aims and say, "I'm going to go where Jesus is going to go." He's going to the Cross.  He's going to give of Himself.  He's going to die.  He's going to sacrifice Himself.  He's going to the lay down His life.  He's pursuing the Father's will.  He's doing the Father's business that's what it means to follow Jesus.

Today we have a very cheap form of following Jesus we call that Christianity, but it is not. We say that following Jesus means I come to church, I attend a service, I hear a sermon, I drop some money into the offering bag, I am a follower of Jesus Christ; no! If you're still living your old life, chasing your old dreams, living for your old ambitions, you're not following Jesus. Click all the Facebook likes you want but you're not following Jesus.

Following Jesus means I leave my old life and I say, Jesus, Your life as my life. Now, I'm not the one who says these things. You say wah this is so absolute, so extreme, so ridiculous, how can it be so? I'm not the one who said it, Jesus is the one who said it. He says, "If anyone would come after Me," anyone, you say, I want to follow Jesus, great, if you want to follow Me then "let him deny himself, take up his cross" (Luke 9:23) A symbol of death, lose your life. But we have a whole bunch of churchgoers who comfort ourselves that simply because I was baptized, simply because I attend church service, I am a follower of Jesus.  You are accountable to how you respond to these words I'm not going to be the most popular guy this morning I'm sure.  This will not be the most popular sermon, wah this guy is like siao [local dialect: crazy], say such things but I'm not crazy, I think you're crazy if you don't believe what Jesus said. I think you're fooling yourself if you, if you still think that if I'm living for my old life, this is my goal and dream, I'm a believer, I'm a follower, I say something is wrong. It's either Jesus got it wrong or you got it wrong because this is what He said.

0:18:12

Oh yes, I don't deny myself to earn favor with God, no, no, no I'm not saved because I was so good at leaving these things behind, no, I was saved purely by the grace of God, I'm saved purely because Jesus so loved me and died for me. But you know what it means to believe to follow Jesus?  It means you say, "I hate my sins, I see the supremacy of God, I see the supreme worth of God," and I say. "There's nothing better in life, there's really nothing better in life, than for me to live for Him and His glory and His purposes." That is what it really means when you say I believe Jesus is the Lord. You don't believe in Him as Santa Claus or a genie in the lamp.  You will say, "I'll die because Jesus is worthy."

Dietrich Bonhoeffer he says, "When Christ calls a man He bids him, 'come and die.'" Christianity is not about living it up.  Christianity is not about coming to church, so that God will bless my business, my bank account it's calling you to die. Next week church attendance will drop, wah this is not the religion I want. Now let me tell you, when Jesus calls you to die, it’s not for your, its’ not for your detriment, yes you're suffering, yes, you're going to go through hardship, the fishermen who follow Jesus they had a hard life, I guarantee you that but I tell you today, they are rejoicing. And I tell you, forevermore, they will be so glad they make that decision years ago. Jesus says if you're willing to lose your life, you will save it.  You'll really find real life in God but if you want to save your life, you want your car, your house, your bank account, your riches, your fame, then you are going to lose your life, you are going to waste your life, so come and die. In Chinese we say “你去死–Nǐ qù sǐ”  [Chinese: you go and die]  well, probably this is the sermon this morning, “ni qu si” so that as you “si” as you die, you will find real life in God.

Francis Chan he says, "The world says love yourself, grab all you can, follow your heart." Everything around us say live for yourself, do you realize that? Advertisements say live for yourself, all the commercial say you get this you'll be happy, you grab this, you buy this, you possess this, you will be happy, the whole world is saying, live for yourself, but "Jesus says deny yourself."

Hey my friends, you can't have it both ways. Really, you can't. Today this is so absolute, who are you living for? You can't say I'm a Christian and I'm living for the ..., you can't you know, you can't, you can't that's what he is saying, you want to follow Me, you say you are following Me, then deny yourself, wow!   On the last day, how many of us would hear those words, 'Well done, thou good and faithful servant." And how many of us may hear those words, "Depart from me, I never knew you." But I went to church! "I never knew you." I was baptized! "I never knew you." I gave money to the offering bag! "I never knew you. You never followed Me."  Jesus calls them, "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men." (Mat 4:19) They left it all.

0:22:23

Now why did Jesus call them to follow Him, why?  Some of us think, oh, because Jesus very lonely, huh, walking on this earth for three years is a lonely journey so He needs some attention, He needs friends, so He got some people along. That's not what He called them for.  He was very intentional. He called them that they may become fishers of men.  He called them so that they may be reaching souls, so that they may be preaching the gospel, so that they may be pointing people to salvation and life, so that God would use them to be channels, ambassadors that sinful men may be reconciled with the holy God that they may be rescued from hell. God wants to use them, Jesus wants to use these men to be fishers of men.  That's the purpose, that's the purpose of God. I say categorically that the purpose of God for His children, His followers, what God's goal for you, you don't have to wonder, He wants you to be a fisher of men, that's the great commission, that's what He gave His church to do, He left us here, not so that we can build our little empires, He left us here so that we may be effective fishers of men, because that's what Jesus himself came to do. He left heaven and the glories of heaven, He was willing to leave, He left it all, why, so that He may seek and save that which is lost and if we say we follow Jesus, we will also go and seek and save that which is lost. Doesn't that make sense?  I think it makes absolute sense.

RA Torrey was very absolute when he says, "I would like to ask what right a man has to call himself a follower of Jesus Christ if he is not a soul-winner? There is absolutely no such thing as following Christ unless you make the purpose of Christ's life the purpose of your life."  I mean, if Jesus lives in your heart, if Jesus lives in you, don't you think it will be natural for you to say, I want to reach souls for the glory of God. You know how scary it is, if you think about your life, for the next 20, 30, 40 years, you carry on what you're doing right now and you never bother to tell anyone about Jesus, you never pray for any opportunity to tell anyone about Jesus and you end up dead and you look back at your whole life and you say I've never spoken about Jesus to anyone. You know how scary that sounds to me? I think it should scare you. I think it's scary if we are so lulled in this Singapore dream, to achieve so much in this world, on this earth, that we totally forget to follow Jesus and to be a fisher of men. "Follow Me and I'll make you fishers of men." That's God's purpose for you.

Now I don't think this means that you always have to go and be an overseas missionary. I'm not saying every Gospeliter be a overseas missionary, no that's not that. But everyone of us a missionary, I think that is very true. A missionary in your office, a missionary at home, a missionary in school, you don’t have to cross the sea, maybe you can cross the desk, maybe you can cross the street, maybe across a table, lunch with someone you tell them about Jesus.

Well we have looked at the who - the who, very ordinary men. We have looked at the why - God wants them to become effective soul winners, fishers of men. What about the how, how are they going to get there? How will these simple uneducated men become world changers, who will lead many to a life-changing relationship with Jesus Christ, how to do that? Very simple in this text, Jesus said, "Follow Me," That's all, as simple as it comes, two words, not a complex description of a curriculum, but say, follow Me. But Jesus, I never been to RI, doesn't matter, follow Me. I was never a scholar, follow Me. I, I may not have understood the Pentateuch, the Bible, the prophets, follow Me, learn of Me, watch Me!

You know, if today I want to learn fishing, I might go to Simon and say, hey Simon can you help me, I want to learn fishing. What would Simon do? Do you think he will ever get back, Pastor, come err, get me a room and a whiteboard and I'll draw and will show you how to fish, do you think he will do that? I think that would be a lousy way to teach me, right? I mean if you want to teach me how to fish, then the best thing for Simon to say is, “follow me”. So, I will follow him to Malaysia, I will see the kind of boat he uses, I will see the kind of bait he catches, he uses, how he throws the line, how he reels it in, I'm going to watch how determined Simon is, I'm going to learn from his courage, his wisdom, his perception, I'm going to see how risk, how much risk is he willing to take, how far out into the sea, I'm going to see all that and I'm going to learn all that, I'm going to see how he hooks the bait, every detail. I hope, I will remember by watching him.

You know how you can be a good fisher of men, how you can be effectively winning souls? The Apostles learned in the best way possible, three years with Jesus, on the job training, seeing how He ministers. You know, fishing and soul winning is not very different, it requires patience, skill, courage, determination and I think they would have seen that in Jesus' life. How Jesus approached the woman at the well, how Jesus spoke to the man who was lame, how Jesus healed the blind, they will see how Jesus ministers to the leper and to all around and they will learn and learn and in three years’ time, Jesus discipled them effectively.

I think sometimes in church, also in Gospel Light Christian Church and if I might may say to our shame, I don't do, I don't think we do it well. I don't think we are helping people well enough, I pray that would change in time. So often we are looking to the Sunday sermon to equip us, teach, I think it's great but I don't think that's good enough, it is not sufficient. You know I used to do surgery. Okay, this example you have heard before maybe but I used to be in medicine, do surgery and I would say this, some of you are medical students I hope you will not be offended.  I hope the medical training system has improved since my time, but when I first started doing surgery it was a nightmare because I've no clue how to do it. For five years studying in medicine, all I learned is the disease, the diagnosis, the how to investigate, what medicine to give, but the actual skill of of surgery is not learned, nobody taught me but in any case, we would have to be thrown out in the deep to try to do some surgery on our own, so that's what I did.

We are given simple cases like lumps and bumps, they are called lumps and bumps, those little things that you need to remove from people's skin and I will do that. They will tell me a little bit and this is what you do, roughly what you do, read this, go and learn and and that's what I did. So after I learned that, read that, I tried to cut people down. I try my best.  I tried to transfer what I read what I've heard to actual practice and wah, jialat [local dialect: difficult] that time. I mean, cutting is easy, I mean just a blade, how difficult can it be, but the difficulties, when you need to stitch it back because when you stitch it back we use needles and not the sewing needles where it's straight, alright. The needle we use is curved, it's like a semicircle so you you drive the needles through the skin through the layers and it comes out and then you tie like a neat little tie but the problem with me is, I have no clue how to handle that curved needle so I ee-eh, ee-eh, how come never see the aik, aik, aik, we call it geow, we call it geow, geow, geow, geow, geow, wah and finally when it came out hey, the needle bengkok [malay: bent] one know.  I think within the flesh, it has gone a tour around the world, wah, curve here, curve there, finally came out, wah, heng [local dialect: lucky] ah, came out, tie first, tie first and even my tie is terrible, I don't tie it tight. Tie already, eh come out, never mind, try again eeergh huh, and and so I tell you if you are one of my patients, I'm so sorry. Your wound would probably a lot of orh cheh [local dialect: bruises], bruises all over, the skin doesn't come quite right, some remnants of the lump will still be left behind, what to do, I, I tried my best, I really tried my best, I sweat okay, it's very cold in the OT, but still sweat. I'm not the worst already, I heard my friend, he also like me, never well-trained, not trained enough, not helped, not discipled, he went to the operating theater was doing appendectomy, wah, and then one bleeding vessel was spurting all over and it was like wow fountain, it was like pooling up in the belly right?

The blood was like just keeps they use the sucker to suck the blood away, but as it sucks the more blood comes out. He was, I don't know whether what happened to the patient but I think for an hour or two he was just sucking blood.  I mean this kind of disasters, why, why would disasters like this happen I tell you why all right, because we were not discipled.  We were told to read, we were just given some simple instructions now I really hope medical system has changed since my time. Aren't you glad I'm not a doctor today? I hope things have changed, but the problem is that we did not, we were not discipled well.

You know that's what happens to church. We like people to serve, serve, serve, share, share, share, now let me get this right. There's nothing wrong with us with a new believer coming to Christ and encouraging him to share the gospel, I think it's fine with, with proper support to the brother. So often we assume he's going to do alright, we send him out wah, missionary here or serve him serve there and we totally leave it to him and you know what he's going to he's going to do what I did...he’s going to sweat buckets and then he's going to have a such a negative experience he says, I'm never going to do it again because God is calling me to do mission impossible. Hey but I think that's where the wisdom of Jesus comes in, yes, I want you to be fishers of men, but you've got to come and follow Me. I'm going to send you out and I'm going help you, I'm going to do feedback and AAR with you or after action review with you, but be with Me, I'm going to help you, so grow with Me then you can go for Me. The first call is not go be fishers of men. The first call is follow Me, I will make you fishers of men, that's the wisdom of our Savior.

0:35:01

You see Acts 4:13 tells us, that these uneducated common men could change the world, not because they were smart, I think God deliberately chooses people who are not that impressive type, so that we know the reason they succeed is not because they were naturally gifted in this so that everyone would know the secret source is that they had been with Jesus. Jesus built into their lives so well that they excelled in being fishers of men, they had been with Jesus.

Someone said with-ness is key to witness, sharing the gospel being an effective soul winner, being a good evangelist is more than learning a set of techniques. It's more than memorizing a script.  It's more than having clever answers to questions.  A good witness of Jesus Christ, is someone who is much with Jesus Christ, follow Me, follow Me, that your life will change, your convictions will change, your skills will change, your knowledge will change,  follow Me, that Christ may be seen in you then you will be an effective fisher of men -  with-ness before witness and that means if we really want to see the great commission advance, if we really want to see this Church create waves in community and see people come to Christ I say to you, Church, we've got to be much with Jesus, we got to be willing to spend time in growing, discipling others and being discipled ourselves. Don't you see the need here, time, time we got to spend time, don’t waste time but spend time well, growing people.

In Perimeter Church from where Pastor Pope is from they have this slogan and which I think it's absolutely spot-on if you consider the ministry model of Jesus. He says, Think Big, but Start Small, so that you may Build Deep. This is the strategy of Jesus Christ. He definitely preached to thousands but do you realize His main strategy is with the 12, His main strategy as He got nearer and nearer the Cross, He actually didn't preach more and more, He preach less and less because He would spend more and more time with this small group to build them deep, so that one day they would do great works. This strategy I would summarize it as - A Few Good Men. He will spend three years.  Much of His time is given to 12 men, that's it. That’s it, very slow three years, I mean frankly with one preaching, he could impact thousands of lives, but He chose to invest deeply in 12 men.

Can I have two volunteers?  It’s not easy work so anyway I need two volunteers, I forgot to appoint, but two brave souls!  Robert is going to play the role of a very effective soul winner. Nicholas is going to be a shy guy. Alright just nice, the casting is perfect. This guy is is up and about, he’s a effective great soul winner, he’s a shy guy. This shy guy all he knows is to spend time building men. He’s very young chronologically but he is very matured spiritually. He is going to build into older men and women, alright - so this is Nicholas. So Robert what I need you to do, I need the whole church, all of you to co-operate alright, so that it’s fast otherwise you can’t have your breakfast or your lunch so what Robert will do is every year he will go out and share the gospel and he is very fruitful.  Every year without failure, he gets to reach 10 souls.  Nicholas, all you need to do is to go to anyone and point to 3 persons, ok? 3 persons once he points to you please help the little boy stand up and stay standing up alright. Clear? Alright, Robert do your soul winning work and Nicholas do your soul winning work. Nicholas has got his 3, you need to get your 10 quick! Ok, thank you so much, all 10 of you, just stay there, alright stay there. So out of this world Robert has called 10, share with them the gospel and brought them to Christ. Nicholas has got 3. Now Nicholas is going to spend this year and the next year discipling these 3 men including his father. Ok, any way, huh …. He is going to disciple them and help them grow and learn about the Bible, learn about Jesus, learn about being missional in their life, sharing the gospel, so for the 2nd year no change still the same 4.

Robert you’re the great evangelist you have won them to Christ, you go and get another 10. The third year, Robert is still faithfully sharing the gospel, Robert so add on another 10. Robert is going to move all around the Church alright.  Now Nicholas has so invested his life in these 3 men that now all 4 of them have the heart of Jesus. All 4 of them say I want to be fishers of men so all 4 of you, go each one of you touch 3 lives, you get it? So 4 of you, each one get 3 so you would have 16 altogether alright? So go. So this is year number three, get your 6 guys er get your 3 guys each -  eh you all must stand and if you all don’t stand, I blur leh!  Now, after this, we come to the fourth year, Nicholas and his gang – they are now going deep into the Bible, they’re studying, they are not doing anything in the fourth year except discipling, continuing helping people grow but our Robert is still hard at work - he is preaching another 10 people preaching to another 10 people and they come to faith so Robert you still have to get going. I tell you what you just keep walking and get 10 all the time, just keep doing it.

Now we come to the six-year.  In the six-year these gang that is so discipled by Nicholas and Nicholas’ disciples now they're willing already to reach another 3 each so each of you go touch 3 lives. Seventh year, Robert get another 10, you should have 70, 7th year do they do anything in soul winning?  Not needed - they are still discipling, they’re still growing together but when it comes to the 8th year, each one of you go reach another 3, please go…. Well 7th year goes on, 8th year goes on, 9th year goes on, the 10th year, Nicholas' group each one of you reach another reach another 3, alright you can freeze there, you can freeze there.   Look around you.  I don’t think you are that faithful la.  You all never touched 3 lives - Robert of course have not touched all 70, 80, 90 people but look around you which part, which side of the church is more reached - you right side or left side?  Who did a more impactful ministry over the course of 10 years, Nicholas or Robert?  Let’s give Nicholas a round of applause.  Okay thank you very much, you may be seated.  Robert, thank you so much. I'm just making fun, hope you don’t mind.

Now I did this experiment 10 years ago. So once in a decade, 10 years later, maybe we’ll do it again, but I hope you see the point. Sometimes we lament that Jesus method is so slow, don’t you think, when we talk about discipleship investing deep in a small group in a few life group, such a waste of time, so slow. We want to do faster, we want to do more impactful things, we want to have a greater reach today. I say that's very short-term thinking and that's not Christ like thinking because I think Jesus' strategy - you really want to follow Jesus in strategy - a few good men.

It may not be so clear but let me do the mathematics for you. Year 1 Robert reaches 10.  Nicholas plus his 3 would form a group of 4.  2nd year, Robert will get another 10, looks very impressive, outstripping Nicholas.  Nicholas is cool shy guy disciples another 3 - that's all they do, but by the end of the 2nd year, they have caught the vision, they are discipled, they are matured and equipped prayerfully of course not every time, but in general, matured and equipped. This time in 3rd year, Robert continues to do outreach, Nicholas group begins to be outward looking 16. 16 for 2 years and then you ballooned to 64 by year 5 and it will balloon to 256 by year 7 and then it’ll balloon to 1024 by year 9 and by year 11 you be 4096. Give me one a few more years Punggol be reached. But you look at Roberts' not Robert the other ministry model, and you have this diligent super evangelist that is always reaching people, you know, but the rest of the them you know what they are doing? Eye power - in army we call eye power – look only don't do but that’s not the way Jesus has ministered.   He didn't get his 12, to watch Him do it and then say I'm gone bye-bye.  He got 12 to watch Him do it so that they may also do it - that's discipleship. That's building deep - that's what it needs.

This is a great book, Robert Coleman, I do not know many other books he’s read, he’s written, but this one, but I think it’s a classic – it’s called the master plan of evangelism just a short, simple book. What I like about it is that is biblical.  It derives its teachings, its observations from the text itself. It gives you a helicopter view of the strategy of Jesus. You see to the untrained eye we look at the Gospels, we look at the life of Jesus, as if it is very random, sometimes go here, sometimes go there, sometimes preached, don’t know what He's doing with the 12 anyway but we think He is very random as if it's a just very ad hoc but no…..the genius of the strategy of Jesus is a few good men right from the beginning.  The King after His ascendancy, after His victory over the devil, one of the first things He did was to gather the 12 because that will be where His hopes lie.  This will be His strategy to reach the whole world and you see throughout the gospel how He works deliberately to building the 12, so that one day when He died, one day when He rose again to heaven, one day when His Apostles were preaching in the midst of fierce persecution, people would say it's amazing, these common and uneducated men could do such things because they had been with Jesus. If I may say, reverentially there will be a smile on the face of Jesus as He saw what was happening on earth, I have built into them well.

Think big!  I pray Gospel Light will be a church that thinks big.  I hope we will never think ah we're pretty much a packed hall that's all we want to do. I don’t think that's what God calls us to God calls us to be fishers of men think big, hey but start small.

Every one of us start small and all of us praying Lord would you give me someone I can disciple?  Would you lead me to some men some women I can pour my life into and invest into - no need to be many, 3, 2, 4, whatever that maybe I just want to do what you've told me to do, I want to follow how Jesus did it, the best I can.

This must be one of the most amazing days in the lives of the disciples, when they received the call of Jesus and followed the call of Jesus.

My friends this morning, Simon tells me it is so sad if fishing is my only aim in life. Can I say that to you too?  It is so sad if fishing for money is your only aim in life. If fishing for fame is your only aim in life. If fishing for accolades is only aim in life it’s so sad, so sad because you totally do not believe that God has promised greatness, beautiful promises of the eternal life to come, when we follow Him.

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My friends, you can live for souls.  Look at Simon's face when we catch a fish, if you are a soul winner, you know the joy of leading people to Christ and let me say this - I think you can imagine a greater joy when the people you invest in are leading others to Christ, that is the joy God wants us to experience in our lives.  Would you make a choice today to follow Jesus and to be a fisher of men to follow Him in His Word.

Maybe today you need to grow and let me encourage you to find ways by which you can go deep in the Bible, pray for someone to come into your life to disciple you. Nothing wrong with praying for that, nothing wrong with asking people to - hey could you help me, my spiritual life, I want to grow. I see that in your life. I want to learn that from you, I want to learn how to fish like you do. I mean this is the main business, would you ask God for this and for some of you who are matured and equipped, would you think about investing your life in a few good men, a few good women, would you do that?

Some of you say but Pastor, this takes too long, I’m already 60, 70 years old, I want to die already no time to do it.  Let me tell you something, Jesus knew he had three years but He never said no time for my disciples, I go and preach, because He knew He had not much time, He invested even more into these men.

My friends, there is no plan B, this is the model Jesus left for us. I don't think anyone of us is smarter than Jesus. I don't think anyone of us will do ministry better than Jesus and if He said this is my key - if this is His key ministry as demonstrated in the Bible, I pray you will follow in His footsteps. I pray you will obey the great commission that says, teach them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you, teaching them, discipling them takes time but you know that investment is well worth it.

For some of you who are already discipling I said please keep it up, press on.  For some of you who are not discipling, you’re matured, equipped, but you’re serving here and there, I say great that you’re serving but don't neglect this private ministry with a few men, a few ladies.  You don't have to tell me, you don’t have to wait for me to assign you, you’re doing it for the Lord. You know I walk around the church and I speak with people, I hear from people and I ask them is there anyone investing in your life, they say no. Is there any anyone investing in your life, they say no.  I know this is my fault that we have not really had a church culture, practice, where the older spiritually are investing in the younger but I pray we would change that.  I pray you would say, Lord, use me to change that.  I can’t disciple the whole church, that's obvious, Jesus never disciple the whole world,  He discipled 12 but each one of us can disciple a few and if we start small, build deep we can dream big.  Would you want to be part of this?  Would you want to leave and follow Jesus. I pray you will.

Let's bow for a word of prayer together. It's amazing that Jesus came to these fishermen who were nobodies.  God has chosen the foolish things, the simple things, the base things of this world to confound the wise.  I’m thankful He chose Peter, Andrew, James and John, because that means you and I today can be used by God. It is God's will, God's desire to use you to reach souls for God's glory but what it takes today is a willing heart.  A heart that is willing to say yes to God and no to me.  A heart that is willing to say no to my ambitions and previous prior goals but yes to the Father's business.  To be willing to say no to comfort and ease, and to say yes to suffering and shame. If any man will follow Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily but if you're willing to lose your life, you will find life.

Would you today say, Lord grow me, I want to follow you better, I don't see that I am effectively reaching people for Jesus. I don't see that I’m winsomely helping people to Christ. Well, follow Him. It’s time for you to grow.  There’s a time for you to learn.  There is a time for you to be discipled.  I pray you will say, Lord, help me bring someone into my life to disciple me.

For some of you matured and equipped, don't waste your life, don't waste your Christian growth, don’t waste how God has built into you, don't let it end with yourself. Hey, go give it away, give your life away to a few young men, a few young ladies in the faith, go give it away.  Great you’re serving in ushering, great you’re serving in cooking, great you’re serving in many ministries but you know what is most precious in your life, it's that you will give your life to a few.  Follow Me and I'll make you fishers of men.  Oh the joy of Peter, Andrew, James and John, I pray this will be the joy of Gospel Light, that we all could say, Lord, thank you for using me.

I pray this morning, if you're here with us for the first time I tell you, Jesus came to seek and save that which is lost.  Jesus came to save you, my friend.  He came to save you from your sins.  He came to die on the Cross.  He did everything for you.  He paid for your sin and He's calling you today to repent to turn your life around to believe Him.  To believe that He is the Son of God who died and rose again.  To believe that He is able to save you from your sins, to believe that He is the Way, the Truth and the Life to God!

This morning, would you follow Jesus, would you repent and believe in Him that you may be saved. Let me be a fisherman this morning, let me show you Christ and may you grab hold of Jesus Christ.

Father, thank you for Your Word, thank you for Christ, your Son who not only gave His life as a ransom for our sins but He lived His life as a model for our ministry. I pray as a Church we will be wise to follow after Him.  Be with those today who are new who may not know Jesus, Lord, grant to them, repentance and faith, help them turn to your Son. We thank you.  We pray all this, in Jesus name, amen.

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