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00:00 Today I want to share from the book of Acts. Acts chapter 11.
00:07 Acts chapter 11. You know if you read Acts chapter 11, it is you hear breaking
00:14 news. You know, you hear breaking news from CNN and and BBC. And when you read
00:19 the book of Acts, there's a lot of breaking news here. A lot of breaking news. It all depends how you read it. I
00:25 know. uh whenever I read it I I I try to dramatize it what is happening there you
00:32 know so if you read the Bible that way I is it's it's very very powerful now
00:38 there was breaking news at Antioch if there has been a news channel called NCC
00:45 Antioch news channel that would be breaking news you know breaking news in Acts chapter uh 11 verse 19 it says here
00:53 in verse 21 the Lord's hand was with And in Antioch, a great number of people
00:59 believed and turned to the Lord. Wow. Breaking news. Then another breaking news was you know the there was a man
01:05 Barnabas who came and and he was full of the Holy Spirit. He had encouraged them.
01:10 And then in verse 24 it says a great number of people were brought to the Lord. Wow. What a breaking news. And
01:16 then in if you go back to Acts chapter 13 you know they had sent out Tim. Uh in
01:21 fact in between there is another breaking news in verse 24 of chapter 12. The word of God continued to spread and
01:28 flourish. But in Acts 13, in Acts 13, there is breaking news. In verse 49, the
01:34 word of the Lord spread through the whole region. That's breaking news. In Acts 14, it says that at Iconium, Paul
01:41 and Barnabas went as usual into the Jewish synagogue. There they spoke so effectively that a great number of Jews
01:48 and Greeks believed. A great number turned to the Lord. A great number believed, a great number. And I want to
01:53 speak prophetically over First Baptist Church. There will be breaking news coming out of this congregation saying a
01:60 great number of people believe the Lord. [Applause]
02:08 Yeah. God wants to produce a breaking news here. A sister's testimony is a
02:14 breaking news. Amen. You know what I would do with this kind
02:19 of testimony? And I would say I take this testimony and share it with someone
02:25 and then I would preach Jesus Christ to them.
02:31 I say can I pray for you? Immediately what I will do I'll pray for that person
02:36 and after I pray for the person always ask them how do you feel? Don't don't go away you know how do you feel? I feel
02:44 better I'll pray again or the pain is still there. You know, I was in China, Changdu, and um this lady had a pain in
02:52 her in her ankle. And so I I prayed for her and uh I said, "How is it?" He said,
02:59 "Uh still there." So I prayed for her, you know, I prayed
03:05 for her some more. Still there, you know. I I I I prayed. I prayed in Jesus
03:11 name. I know. I prayed. She said, "Still there." Okay. I said the Lord will heal you.
03:18 Next morning she woke up no pain. And what is why is it so significant?
03:24 Because she suffered from it for 3 months but she was healed. She was healed. You
03:33 know what we would do when somebody gets healed? I want to tell you especially if they are not a Christian. I want to tell
03:39 you about Jesus Christ. You know and you can share with them about Jesus Christ. And that is how you
03:45 share the gospel when you pray for people. So today after you know there is
03:51 an assignment for you. You can go back to your friends and say we heard a testimony of sister Theresa of this is a
03:57 condition and all that and you know today she testified that God had healed her completely.
04:04 Hey can I pray for you? And then you pray for them. And after
04:11 you pray for them, you share Jesus Christ and you ask the amazing question.
04:16 Do you know for sure? I think you all know the question, right?
04:22 Do you know for sure that you will be with God in heaven? And then you pause a
04:27 bit when you die
04:32 [Laughter] and they say, "I don't know." The next
04:39 question, if you were to stand before God and God were to ask you, tell me why I should
04:45 allow you into heaven. What would you tell him? I don't know.
04:51 And then you can share the gospel. Heaven is a free gift. Eternal life is a
04:56 free gift. You don't have to earn it. You don't deserve it. It's a free gift. God gives
05:01 it to you. But we cannot receive it because we have sinned.
05:07 But he's loving. He doesn't want to punish us for our sins. But he's a just God. He has to punish us for our sins.
05:14 So the only way he can handle this dilemma is sacrifice himself in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus came took
05:22 our sins on the cross. Before he died, he said it is finished. Meaning he had paid the penalty of all our sins once
05:29 and for all. And now only response that we have is to receive him by faith.
05:37 You know there's breaking news that's happening in FJ uh in in our church and it is just
05:46 sharing this gospel sharing this gospel. I was talking to
05:51 Taho and he has been telling me what has been happening here and I I said hey you
05:56 have all the ingredients of breaking news and maybe today I just come and ignite
06:03 it and let it spread out spread out. Wow,
06:10 look at this. All of you right till the end. When I came, there was only about
06:15 half of this group. It has been quite a long time since I came. So that means
06:20 that I'll come another 3 years later. Breaking news.
06:27 Now why did that happen? That happened because the early church kept the gospel
06:34 central. That's how I entitled my message. keep the gospel
06:41 central. And when you look at the scriptures, especially the Antioch church, they kept
06:48 the gospel central. And you look at ordinary people sharing
06:55 the gospel. You look at Acts chapter 11 in verse 19. Now those who had been
07:01 scattered by the persecution that broke out when Steven was killed traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch,
07:08 speaking the word only among Jews. Some of them however men from Cyprus and Siren went to Antioch and began to speak
07:15 to Greeks also telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus. The Lord's hand was with them and a great number of
07:22 people believe and turn to the Lord. The first point is evangelism becomes the top priority.
07:29 When you keep the gospel central, evangelism keeps becomes the top
07:35 priority. And how do we measure that? It everyone is sharing the gospel. In fact,
07:41 you know, I there is alternative title to this and I borrowed it from Air Asia.
07:46 Now everyone can share. So every time you see air Asia you hear
07:53 my words now everyone can share right everyone can share here ordinary people
07:60 people who were scattered through the persecution in Jerusalem there they they came and they were speaking the word we
08:07 don't know who these people were but they ordinary individuals they are not the who is who they are the whosoever
08:13 and they were carriers of the gospel ordinary members are active in sharing the gospel and the result Because a
08:20 great number of people believe and turn to the Lord. Ordinary people. Ordinary people.
08:26 You know just in the month of August alone just August alone I had led 14
08:33 people to the Lord on one to one.
08:41 And uh not only that, we multiply. In verse 22,
08:49 news of this reached the church in Jerusalem and they sent Barnabas to enter. When he arrived and saw what the
08:54 grace of God has done, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts. Verse
08:60 24, he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord. How is
09:05 it? It didn't say that Barnabas went and preached, but it said that a great number of people were brought to the Lord. So number two, not only ordinary
09:12 members are active in sharing the gospel. The second point is leaders multiply the sharing of the gospel. So
09:18 what I did was I said hey this this one really works. And so I went to the pastors. If you can convince the pastors
09:25 that means you can convince the ordinary members. How many of you know that?
09:30 So I went to these pastors. I also oversee the Tamil church. So I went to the Tamil church pastors and I asked
09:36 them, "Hey, how do you normally share the gospel?" And they look at me and said, "Oh, we have our own methods."
09:43 Okay. So I shared I shared that gospel uh the way I just told and I I heard
09:50 that you have already studied this before under Eee you have already studied this and so uh I said could you
09:57 suspend suspend your methods and try this you
10:02 know and and I said next week I'm going to come and check on
10:08 you go and share with people and then you you you come and tell me. So the
10:14 following week I came and uh one pastor she uh in fact I spoke to two and then
10:19 the third one and the first pastor said I spoke to three people the first week
10:24 and two people got saved. Wow they were very encouraged. Another pastor who was with them when I was
10:30 talking to them. Well he he also spoke to three people and two people got saved. Wow. They were very encouraged.
10:36 So I said continue next week. The second week, uh, Lydia, her name, she spoke to
10:42 five people and four people got saved. The third week, she spoke to four people and all the four got saved. The last
10:49 week she spoke to four people and two people got saved. In the month of August, she spoke to 16 people and 12
10:55 people got saved. Wow. And then the other pastor, somebody
11:01 by the name of Kalai, he had spoken to eight people in the month of August and three people got saved. The other person
11:06 is pastor Alex. Pastor Alec just returned from Sri Lanka. So he was only there for 3 weeks. And so and he spoke
11:13 to six people and six people got saved. And that means just in that one month
11:20 alone uh they had spoken to 30 people and 21 people got saved. If you want to
11:27 look work look at percentage it's 70%. And the the head of Tamil church is
11:33 somebody called William Thomas. William Thomas is a very very gentle person and
11:40 while I'm sharing with them this and he's just listening and um he is a man
11:46 who when he walks and steps on an ant the ant won't die.
11:59 Last week I was preaching in the Tamil service exactly the same. I preached the same
12:05 thing and and I was coming out. William Thomas
12:10 said Dorai just this week I had led two people to the Lord. I had led two people
12:19 to the Lord. Not only ordinary people share but leaders help to multiply the
12:26 sharing of the gospel. Lydia Paul, sorry, Lydia Ramen had now gone and shared with one of her members and the
12:33 member in just one week had led five people to the Lord. Wow.
12:40 And then why didn't this happen before? Then I realized there are three kinds of
12:46 evangelism. There is mass evangelism when we usually have it during Christmas and Easter or
12:53 even having a healing rally or even having an evangelistic meeting there where one person speaks and many people
12:59 listen then there is what is called a small group evangelism alpha is one example or as what our youths do they
13:05 have a gospel camp they'll go to peace haven in gings and they'll have a few people speak and then they uh they have
13:12 a gospel camp so mass evangelism one person speaks in uh a small group
13:17 evangelism. A small group speaks. But when it comes to personal evangelism, everyone speaks.
13:26 Everyone speaks and as we everyone begin to speak, as they begin to share,
13:31 something is happening. Lydia Raman was a person she holds some by the way these
13:36 people very difficult to speak to them. They show they hold masters in theology. When you talk to William uh to Lydia
13:43 Raman, I want to demonstrate this. She is like this. the most passive pastor I've ever seen.
13:50 Yes, pastor, but yes, pastor, but you know, yes, pastor,
13:57 but her body is also like that, you know. I'm not I'm not exaggerating. I just,
14:03 and here I'm jumping up and down and say, "Hey, yes, pastor, but and today
14:08 Lydia Ramen." Whoa. She said, "My joy is double every time."
14:15 And I see this, "My joy is double." In fact, last week she spoke to nine people and six people got saved.
14:23 Wow. How is that? Because she kept the gospel central.
14:29 She kept the gospel central. You know, one of the things that we do
14:35 is that, and you know this already, you know, but I'm coming to activate it. I only do two things now. Either I do
14:41 personal evangelism or I activate personal evangelism. In fact, what I've done in the church now is I've taken the
14:47 pastors and I said, "Look, you only stay in the office for two days in the office. The rest of the days you're outside. Go out. Don't be bound by the
14:56 uh by the desk. Go out." And that going out, this is what happens. You know,
15:01 either you are activating evangelism or you're doing personal evangelism. And uh
15:07 one of the things we begin to pray is the way we pray is Lord give me open doors.
15:13 The second thing we say give me open hearts. And the third prayer is give me open mouth. Meaning my mouth
15:22 that I would open my mouth and speak. You know how it is. We sit beside this
15:27 person. Want to speak or not? Want to speak or not? Want to speak or not? You're an LRT. You know want to speak or
15:32 not? the station comes, the person gets up and goes and then we are great in justifying maybe it's not the Lord's
15:39 time now. And that was what Elaine said of her
15:44 mother in our prayer meeting. Um I was demonstrating this you know what is
15:51 happening in the church actually demonstrating the the gospel presentation using their hand and I did
15:56 this and then uh the prayer meeting was over and everybody was going out in fact everybody has left and Ela and her
16:03 mother were sitting there Elaine's mother uh I mean her name is Suin uh the
16:09 husband passed away beginning of the year and uh so Elaine said oh my mother
16:14 now is not the time now is not the time but That day before I went for the praying meeting, I had told myself I
16:21 have not spoken to anybody. God help me. Give me an open door. Give me an open
16:26 heart and open mouth. So I walked and then here was Ela saying this is not the
16:32 time for my mother. So I look at auntie and auntie uh can I talk to you? Yeah.
16:38 Can I ask you a question? So I asked the two questions. You know I've asked this question to so many people now they said
16:44 don't ask. you know, so I we asked and she said she didn't didn't have any answer to this. So I shared the whole
16:51 gospel and then asked her, "Does this make sense to you?" She said, "Yes, would you like to receive this free gift of eternal life?" She said, "Yes." Then
16:59 can I pray with you? And then she stood up and she prayed and right there she
17:04 received the Lord Jesus Christ. [Applause]
17:11 First baptist tubang it is you.
17:18 I've changed our missionary tagline. Now everybody is a missionary.
17:25 I read an article long time ago. They're making of a missionary. What is a missionary? A missionary is one who
17:31 carries the message of Jesus Christ. A missionary is one who is on a mission.
17:37 And a missionary is one who keeps repeating this, keeps repeating this, keeps repeating this, keeps repeating
17:44 this, doing this over and over again, over and over again. Everyone, I've
17:49 changed the whole mission strategy of our department. Instead of a mission department, now I've called the whole
17:54 church. You're all missionaries and we are bearing fruit. There is
17:60 breaking news out of this that is coming through. ordinary people sharing the gospel,
18:06 leaders multiplying the sharing of the gospel and then the church is active in sharing the gospel in regions beyond.
18:12 You find that in Acts chapter 13 in they were they sent Paul and Barnabas together with John and we read from
18:19 verse 44 onwards on the next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord. When the Jews saw
18:25 the crowds they were filled with jealousy. They began to contradict what Paul was saying and heaped abuse on him.
18:31 Then Paul and Barnabas answered them boldly. We had to speak the word of God to you first. And then he goes on to
18:37 say, "The Lord has commanded us. I have made you a light for the Gentiles that you may bring salvation to the ends of
18:42 the earth." When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honored the word of the Lord. And all who are appointed for eternal life believed. The
18:49 word of the Lord spread through the whole region. The whole, you know, today what I do with students or anybody
18:56 traveling anywhere. In fact, two students, one of them was going to lead university. So I sat with her and I
19:02 taught her this how to share the gospel one to one one to one to one. Another
19:08 young man was uh studying uh in UK at he was at he's going to attend the bar
19:14 there. So I got hold of him and I shared this with him that when he goes to UK
19:19 he's doing this one to one. He is not having an evangelistic campaign. He is going to speak to someone about Jesus
19:25 Christ on a onetoone onetoone. You know God is scattering. I we
19:31 was saying that we now have more than 200 missionaries. Yes, we sent but then I saw that God was sending missionaries
19:37 outside the mission department. In fact, he didn't even ask our permission.
19:46 God didn't even confer us confer with us missions director. He is sending people to Copenhagen.
19:53 He's sending people to Sweden. He's sending people to Taiwan. He's sending people to Hong Kong. In fact, they're
19:60 sending people to Kazakhstan. Hey, these are not in our list.
20:05 And then I saw what is God doing? And so we begin to equip people today.
20:10 Begin to equip ask we are not asking you to have a evangelistic campaign. We are asking you to speak onetoone. I went to
20:16 KAP. I was taking a a church camp 20th anniversary. So before the things
20:22 started after my breakfast, I was loitering around in that foyer. The manager came
20:29 and I I the normal talk asked his name what he's doing and all that after that
20:35 I said can I ask you a question say sure so I ask you a question do you know for sure by the way you know
20:41 it come where it comes from it comes from 1 John 5:13 1 John 5:13 says believe in the name of the son of god
20:47 that you will know that you have eternal life that JB Phillips translation says believe in the name of the son of god
20:52 that you may be quite sure that you have eternal life. So, we are not just pulling this out of
20:58 the air. And so, I said, "Can I ask you a question? Do you know for sure that you'll be with God in heaven when you
21:06 pause when you die?"
21:11 And he said, "No, I'm not sure." The next question, what would you tell God
21:17 when he ask you why should I allow you? So, I shared the whole gospel. At the end, I said, "Does it make sense?" He
21:22 said, "Yes." Would you like to receive this gift of eternal life? He said, "Uh, I need to think about it." Now, many of
21:29 us would say, "Oh, but Dai, the person didn't receive." Actually, if you go back to the Bible, it says nowhere it
21:35 says, "Go and convert the people." It says, "Go and preach the gospel. Go and preach the gospel." When you're
21:41 preaching the gospel, you are sewing the seed. When you're preaching the gospel, you are planting the seed. If you're sowing the gospel, if you're preaching
21:48 the gospel, you're watering the seed. Praise God. If the person uh receives and therefore you reap the harvest but
21:55 your work of sharing and and and proclaiming the word of God is done you
22:00 share. I went to my cousin who lives in Ka for years for years. I have not met
22:06 him. He's older than me. And so when I went and shared and when I they they
22:12 asked me this ma the amazing question how did you become a Christian? That's it.
22:18 you know and then I shared with them and when I came to the first one and said heaven is a free gift eternal life is a
22:24 free gift my his wife by the name of Selvarani she was amazed she said you
22:30 mean anyone can enter heaven I said yes there are people outside they're working
22:36 very hard
22:42 really they don't know
22:47 I have my brother-in-law who came to my house three weeks ago. My brother-in-law and my sister, they live
22:53 in Pucho, they know a lot about Hinduism and um I have taken them for
22:59 evangelistic meetings and I've shared with all kinds of things, you know. So I I came back after a funeral and they
23:06 said, "Oh, you went for a funeral, you pray for the dead." I said, "No, I don't." Then I turned the whole
23:12 conversation and asked that question and I was quite amazed that they do not know
23:19 that whether he would be in heaven or not. You know the Hindus what they do in Hindu funerals they will send the eldest
23:26 boy uh to to to to walk around the casket they'll carry a pot a clay pot
23:32 and they will break that port and water is spilled actually it comes off ecclesis you know simp and then the and
23:39 then the priest will say go to heaven go to heaven he said it in he says it in Tamil I can't speak Tamil here you know
23:46 I mean so I can speak but I I don't want to speak so Uh so he said go to heaven.
23:53 So I remember finishing everything and then uh after the cremation I was walking with the priest. I said you know
23:58 when you went around uh you said go to heaven go to heaven. How sure are you that that soul goes to heaven? He said
24:05 I'm not sure. I want to tell you First Baptist Church
24:12 the gospel is a powerful powerful means
24:17 of telling people hey you don't have to do anything. It is all done for. Heaven
24:23 is a free gift with all that knowledge. They don't
24:28 know. I went to a place it is a different it's a different kind of religion. No, they
24:35 all wear white. So I was one of my uh uh janitors mother passed away. So I was
24:41 went it's a bit late. So I went there and they were telling me about their religion. So I asked her, "Excuse me,
24:47 this this person who just passed away, do you know where she's going to be? Will she be in heaven?" She said, "I don't I don't know."
24:54 So I said, "Turn around." And I asked her. I said, "What about you?" Ask the same question. Same question. Same
24:59 question I asked. And she said, "I don't know." So people do not know. They're working
25:06 all kinds of means. And so here, so the first thing is they keep evangelism the top priority. Evangelism top priority.
25:14 When I say evangelism is top priority, that means they do daily. In Acts chapter 2:47, it says that the Lord were
25:21 adding the people to the church daily. In Acts 5:42, it talks about they were
25:26 sharing the gospel, preaching and teaching daily. In Acts 16:E5,
25:31 he say it was daily. Acts 16:5, let me just read that. He said, uh, so the
25:37 churches were strengthened in the faith and grew daily in numbers. In Acts 17:1 17 it says, "So he reasoned in the
25:45 synagogues with both Jews and God-fearing Greeks as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who
25:50 happen to be there daily." Acts 19:9 Acts 19:9 it says that when Paul but
26:00 some of them became obstinate, refused to believe and publicly maligned the way. So Paul left them. He took the
26:06 disciples with him and had discussions daily in the lecture of Tyrannus. This is it. He had lectured them daily. And
26:13 you know verse 10 says this went on for two years so that all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia
26:19 heard the word of the Lord daily. Daily daily daily. Now I know many of you had
26:24 had actually gone to university. If I had take 10 stones and throw in the air right here all all of them will hit us a
26:31 graduate. Right?
26:36 So I am a psychology student and my parents ask me, "So how many times do
26:41 you attend the lecture?" Twice. Oh, you mean twice a week? No, no, no.
26:47 Twice a year. Twice a year. How do you ever know psychology that way? In fact,
26:54 you'll flunk, right? But you know, that's exactly what we do. We say gospel
26:59 is central, but we only share the gospel twice in a year. Easter, Christmas,
27:06 and we say we are going to reach the world. When I started, I didn't study psychology. I studied forestry. I
27:13 studied engineering. When I first started out, I didn't know everything about forestry. I didn't know anything about engineering. But I went to the
27:19 lectures every day, every day, every day, every day, every day, every day, every day for the next four years. Then
27:25 I understood everything. You know, God is not calling us to be an expert witness. He's calling us to be an
27:32 effective witness. And for you to be an effective witness, you have to be sharing the gospel every day.
27:40 Every day, every day, every day, every day, every day, every day. I asked
27:45 myself, right? What is the difference for you? Always share the gospel anywhere you go. Anyway, what is the
27:52 difference now? Previously, I would share the gospel when opportunities
27:58 arise and hit me on the face, you know, then I would share. But now
28:07 I actually look for opportunities. I plan for opportunities. I call up people. I say,
28:15 "I want to have coffee with you. I want to come and visit you." I I actually
28:20 plan and I will speak to a friend and said hey can you speak to your brother
28:26 he said I'm I'm afraid okay invite him for lunch both of us will go for lunch and I will speak to your brother oh that
28:32 is very good do you see the difference when you keep
28:38 the gospel central you are not waiting for opportunities to come and knock the door you go after that opportunities and
28:45 God wants more people to be saved than we want to get them saved And that's what happened this this this
28:51 August. That's what happened. That's how it I could explain to you why that whole month that I was able to and last week I
28:58 shared and four people received received the Lord. And so you you go after you go after you
29:06 you go after. I tell you man, I know we can talk about transformation but God
29:11 transforms first our heart. Our heart is the gospel first. God has to transform
29:18 our hearts. There's an Indian song, Tamil song. It's
29:23 an old song. You won't hear it now.
29:30 And he sings this way. Actually, the one who sings is MGR. He sings this way. He said the the the
29:38 thief is hard at work, but the police is also hard at work.
29:44 But he said no matter what they do nothing is going to change. It's only
29:50 when the thief changes his own heart that theft will be stopped. It is the
29:57 changing of the heart and it has to come through the gospel of Jesus Christ.
30:05 We want to have a community transformation my brothers let loose ABC into the
30:11 community one by one. one by one. Don't invite them for evangelistic campaign per se though that they are those are
30:17 important but you go and share the gospel. those people whom you know by the way it is not a cold call by the way
30:23 it's not a cold call you're not you're not talking to strangers you're talking to the people who are within your circle
30:28 of influence your network of of people your own people don't go and call anybody you know hawk stall this one
30:34 that one not not everyone will do that not everyone will do that though I will tell you this once you once you start
30:40 doing this you will go for cold calls I I know when you start doing this you
30:45 will go for cold calls but I'm not asking you to start there start with your You know my my my daughters Joanna
30:51 Joanna now is working already and every time I ask her so who have you shared the gospel with who have you shared the
30:57 gospel with who have you shared with you say dad will you stop this who have you shared the gospel with and uh
31:04 so I taught her this and two weeks ago she led two people to
31:10 the Lord. Hey, if you want to really know how to
31:17 share the gospel, you already have it. Your e E, right? You already have it. How many of you have done e E?
31:26 Some some of you do not put up your hands. How many? Huh? It Yeah, it's just
31:31 like asking the students how many of you have finished the assignment. You know
31:37 scared because I call you can you explain that please? Uh I I think there's work to do. It's not
31:43 complicated. You're not going to do 13 weeks. It's a very short one. Okay. It's a very short one you can do. I've taught
31:49 the people and they are doing it. By the way, actually the brother who came and taught us is a brother from Indonesia.
31:55 Yeah. He's from our church and he has been in our church for eight years. In fact, E in Indonesia is a big thing.
32:02 It's a real big thing. So, uh so you could learn this now. Not only that, you
32:08 have to do it daily. So, everyone so evangelism becomes a top priority. But when evangelism becomes top priority,
32:15 disciplehip becomes the essential activity. Once you get saved, then you need to disciple them. And you read that
32:20 in Acts chapter 11. Acts chapter 11 in verse 25. Then Barnabas went to Tarsus
32:26 to look for Saul. And when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year, Barnabas
32:32 and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.
32:38 So disciplehip follows evangelism. Immediately you begin to disciple them
32:44 immediately. In fact, the church is kept busy. Now there are so many kinds of evangel uh disciplehip. It's onetoone. I
32:49 I disciple people onetoone. Uh I have five people that I disciple on a
32:56 weekly basis onetoone. Uh I spend one hour with them every week and I'm very
33:01 religious about the one hour because they are working and I am working. So I one hour. Why? If you ask me, Dai, why
33:08 do you go and disciple one to one in spite of the fact that you're a pastor in a church? I said, because I have to
33:14 answer the question. Jesus said, go and make disciples. So, at least I can say I'm discipling someone.
33:22 When Jesus asked First Baptist Church, who are you discipling? I go to church, Lord.
33:28 Wrong answer. Who are you discipling?
33:36 I preach Lord. Wrong answer. And I found out that when I begin to
33:42 disciple people, they actually follow you. You know, they actually obey you. They don't argue with you. I tell them
33:48 water baptism, water baptism, Holy Spirit baptism, tithes and offering. Thanks. Today people come and argue with
33:54 me. Got tithes. Here, Old Testament, New Testament, they all argue, you know. But when I disciple people, they obey. They
34:01 obey. How to read the scriptures. This is how you read the scriptures. When you read the scriptures, look for God. Look for God first. This is God's book. Look
34:08 for God. Don't look for what it says first, then will come later. Look for God second. Look for people. God is
34:13 interested in people. God is not interested in an idea. What is an idea? Idea doesn't float around. Except in the
34:19 universities, they all float around. Do you know science? Science talks about the what. But God in in other circles is
34:25 the is the who. That is why when you talk about the Big Mac theory, they talk about what. But who started the Big
34:31 Bang? Oh, then you got to ask. But the Bible starts in the beginning
34:36 God. So I said look for God. Look for people. The third thing is look for verbs action. That means you will do it.
34:44 Not reading it so that I have bad good knowledge but so that you will obey.
34:50 And so we can disciple them. I have discipled several of them like that. Of course I also disciple in small groups
34:55 but it's great joy to disciple one by one. So disciplehip becomes essential activity. But why do you disciple them
35:02 anyway? You disciple them so that they become effective witnesses.
35:08 You know I've got theologian friends and they ask me dai if that is what you say
35:13 why did Paul or why didn't Paul give any direct commandments to evangelize in his
35:19 epistles? I said my friend you have to understand the context in which he had written. Those episodes were written so
35:26 that the Christians would remain and continue to be effective witnesses.
35:38 If you keep the gospel central, evangelism becomes the top priority. Disciplehip becomes the essential
35:45 activity. Now listen to this. The apostolic movement becomes a fundamental
35:51 necessity. If the gospel is central, it's burning in your hearts, you will begin to say,
35:58 "How can we take this gospel to Taylor's College? How can we take the gospel to
36:05 Ini College? How do we take the gospel to the refugees and the migrant workers
36:11 who are here? How do I take the gospel to the parts of K in Kada where it's a
36:16 Thai border, a lot of ties around there, but they're Malaysian citizens? How do I take the gospel to Clantan? How do I
36:24 take the gospels to Joro? How do I take the gospel to Thailand? How do I take the gospels to Myanmar? Oh, how do I
36:30 take the gospel to the Jews? How do I take the go? You will begin because when you keep the gospel central,
36:38 you will begin to spread out. And that is what the apostolic movement is all about. It is spreading out. It is going
36:43 out. It is sending forth. I know we have been caught up with the word apostle and all kinds of things. But if you take the
36:50 apostolic movement as such, it has got to do with the gospel. No wonder Paul who said, "I'm a servant
36:57 of Christ and apostle set apart for the gospel." Set apart for the gospel.
37:03 It is the spreading of the gospel. It is going for the gospel. So when Teo or Dorin Chan said, "Will
37:12 you please come to First Baptist Church and speak on missions?" I said, "I will come." Because one church cannot reach
37:20 Malaysia. Do you know how many% Christians are in Clang Valley? That's a radical question.
37:26 You don't have to answer it. Only 5%. Only 5%. You think FG alone can reach
37:32 it? Cannot. We need First Baptist Church. So that's why I've come to speak to you
37:39 so that you would go out daily. You would go daily in your area of circle of influence. You know in the last
37:45 Wednesday prayer meeting I said who is traveling? I said who those of you are traveling this week come out. I think about 20 of them came out. Some are
37:51 traveling to Jakarta. Some are traveling to Kazakhstan. Some people are traveling to Bangalore. And I said you are going
37:58 there to share the gospel. Husband and wife. I said make sure each one share the gospel.
38:06 Does it change? It changes everything. When you keep the gospel central it changes everything. My wife, my wife is
38:14 the head of family counseling. She thinks her husband is very very aggressive. I am. And uh she's a very
38:20 gentle one, you know, no go all this very very gentle, you know, club. She's a club. She's from Sarowat. They have
38:26 long pauses. Then when they stop a sentence, long pause. For me, I'm not used to pauses, you know. So I thought they
38:33 they have a comma. I thought they've already stopped. So I've already come in and I have spoken a paragraph.
38:40 And and when she continues, she starts there. Oh, okay.
38:45 And you know what happened? What happened this week? She was sharing the gospel with somebody. You know why? The
38:53 reason why we do not share the gospel is we are fearful. What are we fearful for? We do not know what to share.
39:04 But if you can start with those two diagnostic questions and share the gospel this way.
39:12 I assume you all know e right? No. Yes. No. No. Oh, really?
39:22 When do I stop? It's 10:30. Do I stop now?
39:27 Okay, let me just finish with this. So number one, if you keep the gospel central, you will make evangelism top
39:33 priority. Number two, you will make disciplehip an essential activity. And number three, you will make the
39:39 apostolic movement a fundamental necessity. You will do this. You will do this. In acts 13:1-5, he saw how they
39:47 were gathered together. In verse two, while they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, "Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the
39:53 work to which I have called them." So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off. And the two of them went on their
39:59 way by the Holy Spirit went down to Seusia and sailed from Cyprus. When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the
40:05 word of God in the Jewish synagogues. Could you imagine traveling to Kalasango, you want to go and see all the fireflies, but you stop at
40:12 Kalislango and he's you're having coffee and you're sitting down. Lingo is not very busy, you know, and somebody comes and sits down there and then you you
40:18 talk to them, you know, small talk, you say, "Okay, all that and then
40:25 you start asking and he said,
40:36 how do you say
40:42 you don't say mi
40:49 I had a Sri Lankan security guard and I said, "Can I talk to you?" He said, "Yes." So I said, "You want English or?"
40:57 He said, "Basa." Basa. So I talked to him in Basa. At the end of it, he was a Buddhist and I shared with him all in
41:03 Basa and asking questions like that. I had another friend. Hey, what do you call this one? Okay. All right. Said that at the end I said,
41:19 And he said, "Yeah." And he received the Lord. Amen. Amen. So
41:27 next time, wherever you go, speak to one person. I want to speak to one person. Tomorrow, tomorrow is today's what?
41:33 Sunday. Tomorrow when you go to the office, hey, I want
41:38 to talk to this friend. I haven't talked to him yet. Don't ask him to come to church. Never in the Bible it says go
41:43 and call the people to come to church. It never said that. But he say go. You
41:48 go. You go. You go. Go to your friend. Go to your brother. Go to your sister.
41:54 Go to your nephew. Go to your niece. Go. Go. Speak one to one. One to one. And
41:60 finally, this will only happen if you make Jesus Christ. As I bring this door close, bring Jesus Christ. Make Jesus
42:06 Christ the foremost authority. Because here 11 in Acts 11:23
42:12 when Barnabas came he said he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts. What
42:19 do you mean through? Remain through. He's abiding. But I like to look at it in some translations is follow the Lord.
42:27 Follow the Lord. Remain true to the Lord means follow the Lord. In Matthew chapter 4:1 19, you know, Jesus said to
42:33 his disciples, "Follow me and I will make you good Christians sitting in
42:39 FBC." No, he didn't say that. Did he say that? No. Follow me and I
42:46 will make you intellectual students of the Bible. No, he didn't say that too. He said, "Follow
42:52 me and I will make you fishes of men." Now my friends I want to tell you is is
42:59 all the thoughts that you had I also had the same thought I also had the same thought until I began to you know
43:04 something happened to me some in June something really happened to me that don't you have to invite me and second
43:09 time I have to tell you uh something happened to me but the word of the lord that came to me is dai keep the gospel
43:17 central that's what happened to me in June uh and that that changed everything for me but I said god I did keep the
43:24 gospel central he said no and then when I actually begin to do that things begin
43:29 to change follow me and I will make you fishes of
43:34 men. I want to quickly make a gospel presentation so that because many of you don't I thought you all knew that's why I didn't go into it. I'm going to make
43:40 the gospel five minutes only because I normally share only five minutes. Okay. When I meet somebody one of the first
43:46 questions I ask them is the first question is do you know for sure that you know
43:51 that you will be with God in heaven? You're asking about them. You're not talking about something else. asking about them. Do you know for sure? Do you
43:56 know for sure that you'll be with God in heaven when you die? Usually all of them actually say I don't know. The second
44:02 question is if you stand before God uh and ask you why should I allow you into heaven? If God would ask you, what would
44:08 you say? I don't know. Maybe he knows that is but that still means they don't
44:14 know. Then I say look heaven is a free gift. Now this one you must heaven is a free gift. Heaven is a free gift.
44:20 Eternal life is a free gift. You don't have to earn it. You don't have to deserve it. God gives you as a free gift but man cannot receive it because they
44:26 has sinned. Now you everybody say yeah the world weighs the sin say nobody's
44:31 perfect you know that's how they use the word imperfect so nobody's perfect yeah they know that but you need to press in
44:37 present fist so you have to ask them uh what do you understand by sin that is a retro question don't have to wait for them to answer and said sin is not just
44:44 wrongdoing not just wrong actions it's also wrong words that we speak you know
44:51 some of these Indians also have wrong words they call people donkey
44:57 you uh if the person who comes to the house they don't like they call the dog has
45:02 come now in in the English it doesn't come out but in Tamil it's terrible you know
45:10 okay so wrong words okay wrong words not only wrong words but wrong thoughts you
45:16 could have even wrong thoughts that are violating God's words God's command and
45:21 wrong desires wrong feelings uh things like envy and bitterness and lust and
45:27 all kinds of things. So these are all categories of sin. Now by this time you have got the attention but then you
45:34 press a little bit further. You say you look like a good guy for dinner. You look like a good guy. Maybe you you only
45:39 do three sins a day but in a month you would have done 90 sins. In a year you would have committed more than a
45:45 thousand sins. Actually if you calculate is 1,80 but you don't have to get into that. Just say more than a thousand. And by the grace of God if you lived 80
45:52 years you would have committed 80,000 sins. No, Freddy didn't tell me if I have committed 30 80,000 sins and you
45:59 are God the judge, would you let me into heaven? Would you 80,000 sins? You wouldn't. You
46:06 wouldn't. In fact, all of the people I asked, I know you're thinking, this is a trick question. I'm already safe for what? I can what? I mean, but all the
46:12 people I asked, they said, "No, no, no." They would say, "No, no, won't not." But you know,
46:17 God is a loving God. God is a loving God. And therefore, he he doesn't want to punish us. He he he doesn't want to
46:24 he doesn't want he loves us. He doesn't want to punish us but he is a just God. He has to punish sin.
46:31 And then you can go into a little bit story there. You know I I don't have time. I don't want to take too much time. I think I'll leave it to fill in
46:38 the blanks you know. Uh I didn't know otherwise I would start with a story. Yeah. Maybe the second
46:44 service I'll do that. Uh so in order to be a loving God and a just God, God has
46:50 to sacrifice himself in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ came.
46:56 Jesus Christ came. Uh if I were to use this uh piece of paper, sorry, I use
47:02 your bulletin. This is man sin. Jesus Christ came
47:07 sinless. He was fully God, fully man. And God laid all our sins on him. And
47:13 when he died on the cross, before he died, he said, "It is finished." He was buried
47:19 in the grave. He rose again. He ascended to heaven. And now nothing is stopping
47:25 us from receiving this free gift. The only thing that would stop us is the
47:31 kind of faith that we have. There are three kinds of faith. It is not blind faith. Blind faith is believing without
47:37 knowing. We are not talking about that kind of faith or temporary faith. Temporary faith is you have a need, I
47:43 pray for you. God answers that need. Whether it's healing, whether it is a something that you need, we pray as
47:49 important as it is. But that is not saving faith. The third one is an intellectual faith. Intellectual faith is something that you know you believe
47:56 but you don't trust. Very quickly there's a story of blondin who is able to walk on a tight rope because across the falls. He said I am going to
48:03 take a wheelbarrow full of sand. How many of you believe? Some say believe some people say let me see. He successfully went across and then he
48:09 emptied the wheelbarrow and then he said hey how many of you believe that I can actually carry a man across? Uh this
48:15 time all said I believe I believe. They say any volunteers
48:21 and uh no volunteers. Then a little boy put up his hand and he said I I I and
48:28 the boy went into the Vbero and he successfully took him across Niagara Falls in the tide rope and everybody
48:33 rushed to this little boy and say hey you're a brave boy how did you do this? You know what made you do this? He said
48:39 because I trust him because he's my father.
48:45 Saving faith is knowing, believing and trusting Jesus alone for salvation. And
48:52 then I ask them, is this does this make sense? Usually they say yes. The next question is, do you want to receive?
48:59 That is actually what I share. All this thing about 12 people coming to the Lord, 14 people coming to the Lord is
49:05 exactly that. Exactly that. Now, somebody said, "Dor, that sounds uh a
49:10 cookie cutter kind of thing." I thought about it, you know. You know I come from an engineering field. Some of you come
49:16 from a physics field. Some of you coming from a biology field. Some of you come from a mathematical field. And one of the fields in some all of these fields
49:23 we we have a magic word called formula.
49:28 We agree with formula. Why can't there be a formula here?
49:34 I'm talking out of personal experience. I had so many ways of sharing the gospel. But when I took this one, I had
49:40 much more fruit than I ever had before. Do you follow?
49:47 I finished already.
49:52 Let's stand. [Applause]
