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00:06 Good morning. Um we're we're trying a couple of new things today. Uh trying a new software.
00:14 So bear with me in case we have some technical difficulties. Um another thing is that as you can see in your bulletin
00:20 um the topic for today is called minister uh and the people. Um, however,
00:26 after um uh looking over and and and praying over um I've decided to change
00:31 the title last night um to a different title. And the main reason is not because I disagree with
00:38 with many theologians who have who have written about this text and who identified this text to be a text where
00:44 we really learn how how a pastor or how a minister is supposed to relate uh to his people. Um, but more because I I I
00:51 read the great commission again and a and to me it's a command to all Christians to somehow do ministry. It
00:59 says that everybody is called to to make disciples of all nations, baptizing them
01:05 in the name of the father, the son, and the holy spirit teaching them um to observe all that I've commanded to you.
01:11 So so it's kind of every Christian is actually called to do some form of
01:17 ministry. So instead of just uh looking at how a minister should should should should be towards his people. I believe
01:24 this text talks a lot about how we as a church uh could do ministry for the
01:30 people. So I hope to to go through four points today on on on what this text teaches us about how we can conduct
01:36 ministry. And before we get into that, let me just um say a word of prayer. Um, Father, Lord, I I pray that uh you be
01:43 with me right now, Lord, that you pour your grace upon me so I may uh speak your word truthfully, honestly, and in
01:49 love. Uh, Father, I I pray for uh that you continue to convict my heart about this text, Lord, that you let me speak
01:56 of the overflow of the conviction that you have made in my heart, Lord, that you may convict other hearts today as
02:01 well. And I pray all this in Jesus name. Amen. Um so we have um gone through the
02:08 book of Galatians over the last couple of months or a couple of weeks and um we have heard a lot about from Paul and and
02:14 his tone was always very harsh in the book of Galatians and the book of Galatians starts off without him
02:19 actually having a commendation right he he starts off very heavy right away uh talking to the Galatians. We have heard
02:25 from Paul the apostle, right? He he he showed how he has apostolic authority.
02:32 We have heard from Paul the theologian, right? He he explained to us how we are
02:38 saved by grace through faith, right? And and he he explained how how Jesus plus
02:45 nothing equals everything. How how we cannot add on to the works of God to our
02:51 salvation. And then we heard from Paul the defender of faith. He he kind of
02:58 defended in especially in Galatians chapter 3. He defended his position. He people were arguing how about the law of
03:04 Moses and he he stood there and explained to us how the law of Moses is not contradictory uh to the uh
03:10 justification by faith alone. And today we get into a different text.
03:16 He changes his tone, right? He we start hearing from Paul the man, Paul the the
03:23 pastor, Paul the the lover of souls, Paul who's who's passionate about the people that he's trying to reach.
03:31 Um the reason I say that is because when we look at the text um uh he starts off by saying brothers
03:37 and and in the middle of the text he will say he will call people my little children. It's it's a language of
03:43 endearment. He cares for the people he's trying to reach. And he says at the very end, I I wish I
03:50 could be present with you now. I wish I could be with you. I and changed my tone. I I want I want
03:56 to be loving to you. I want to be with you. I want to pray with you. I want I want to talk to you in person for I'm
04:02 perplexed about you. It's a it's a very different tone from you fools, right, which we heard about in in earlier on in
04:08 in in Galatians 4. Early on he talks about you foolish Galatians, right? So he suddenly changes his tone and and is
04:14 very caring about them. So So what does he say? And and we get into the first
04:20 point. He says this, "Brothers, I entreat you become as I am for I also have become as you are."
04:28 Now what does it mean to to become as you are? I mean we we know that Paul
04:34 through all his missionary journeys, right, he always stayed at different towns and and he kind of lived with the
04:39 people. He he got to know them. He started living with them, getting acquainted to their customs.
04:47 Probably ate the food they ate, drank the drink they drink, you know, got to know them personally, understood their
04:53 struggles, understood their fears, was able to minister to them from the point of what their struggles are, right?
05:02 And that kind of became the foundation for for many great missionaries. You guys might know Hudson Taylor.
05:09 Hudson Taylor was a a British missionary who who went down to China and instead
05:14 of uh making everybody a British gentleman, he he decided to to become like the
05:21 people. Um his his missions were successful because he started to dress like them.
05:26 That that's Hudson Taylor. That's a Brit up there. Yeah. Um the picture may be too small,
05:33 but you see the gentleman in right in the center. That's Hudson Taylor. And he
05:38 was very successful reaching out to the people of China because he started to understand him. He spoke their language.
05:43 He became like them. But but many of you might know the story of Hudson Taylor which is what the early uh or late 19th
05:51 century early 20th century. But there's another gentleman
05:56 St. Patrick. I don't know. I mean how many of you guys know St. Patrick? I mean St. is we
06:02 all know him for I guess drinking Guinness uh on I think May is it May
06:08 17th or Yeah. Uh and and or March 17th. Yeah, March 17th. And uh dressing in
06:15 green colors. Uh I I don't think he'll be too happy if he knew that his legacy was uh going to bars and dancing to
06:23 Irish songs. Um no, he was he was a a man who lived in the fifth century.
06:31 uh in the fifth century and um he was born uh in a uh Christian family. His
06:37 father was a priest. Um his sorry his grandfather was a priest. His father was
06:42 an elder and he was a bit of a rebel. Got a lot of trouble and uh when he was about uh 16 he was captured he was uh
06:51 kidnapped uh by Irish barbarians. you know, Irish
06:56 uh Irish pirates or raiders who came into the town and and and they kidnapped him and made him a slave in Ireland.
07:04 Uh so for about six years he he served as a slave uh to a tribal head, a druid
07:11 and um he probably was a shepherd and from his confessions uh we read that that was a time where he really somehow
07:18 started to gain a personal relationship with Christ as as as he was reflecting by himself. So when opportunity provided
07:24 itself, he fled uh from um the captives.
07:30 Um a voice told him to go find a boat and he he found a boat and uh he went on the boat and uh three days later he was
07:36 in England back in Britain which is Roman Britain at that time, right? Roman ruled Great Britain. He was there and uh
07:42 went back to his hometown and felt a calling upon his life, became a minister, became a bishop and when he
07:48 was about 48 years old, 20 years later, he felt a call to to go back to Ireland.
07:56 So the the the slave returned back to his captives to free them from the
08:03 slavery of sin. And it's it's a beautiful story how how how he came back and he started to to
08:10 spread the gospel there. And how did he do it? He he didn't do it by what was culture during that time. You see during
08:16 that time people thought that the Irish was were unable to be reached. There were barriers who who were illiterate
08:22 who were who were illiterate and nobody was able to reach them. But he did
08:27 differently. He went there. He spoke their language. He got to know them. He understood their struggles. He understood their pains. He became like
08:33 them. and he was able to to reach and do great works in Ireland for the gospel. And as
08:40 you can see, I'm not sure all the blue dots there uh about uh ministries or or
08:46 kids set up a monastery set up because of uh St. Patrick
08:52 and that's about 200 years later. That's the influence you have. And and some people even claim that because of St.
08:58 Patrick the the Christian word came down to Germany and hey we have the reformation there and that's the reason
09:04 we are ultimately a Baptist church isn't it yeah so um um it has great effect so he
09:12 really got to know the people but some of you might be sitting here what does it have to do with me because I don't feel called to go to Ireland uh I don't
09:19 feel called to go to China I don't feel called to be a missionary and this text here in Galatian talks about um this
09:26 Paul says you know it was because of a bodily ailment that I preach the gospel
09:31 to you at first. So it wasn't his plan to go and preach the gospel to the
09:37 Galatians. He he didn't say he didn't feel conviction in his heart, I must go and see the Galatians. Probably what happened he was he was traveling and um
09:44 some people claimed that he uh might have gotten malaria. He was in a swampy zone uh uh and maybe got malaria, got
09:50 sick and he had to go to a place where he can get healed, where pe people could take care of him and and so by
09:55 coincidence he was in Galatia.
10:00 So by coincidence these people were in front of him. By coincidence he he he
10:06 had to minister to the people which were right there which God brought to him. He didn't plan it.
10:14 So let's look around in and in in in this church here in FBC. Who has God coincidentally
10:20 brought to us? We have the Filipino ministry.
10:26 They're just downstairs. How many of us here know any of them?
10:34 How many of us here have have gone downstairs and and try to become like them and and get to know them for their
10:40 struggles and their pains and pray for them and and be a church and do ministry to them?
10:48 How about the tele ministry? How many people sitting here know any of
10:54 the families who go to the tele ministry except for maybe the pastor?
10:59 How many of us have have have taken the time to to get to know them and understand them? They are countrymen,
11:05 aren't they? We cannot say that that language is a barrier. Most of them do speak English and if they don't, they
11:11 usually speak Malay. How about
11:17 the Nepali ministry? We all know one person, Shanti.
11:24 And I include myself in in the same group. I I'm the same. I I do not know many of the other families.
11:31 This this passage is working in my heart as well. I'm questioning myself, you know, how
11:38 how much time have you spent to to get to know them, become like them, to understand them for their struggles and for their pains and and and and minister
11:45 to them and and be a church to them. You see, Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians
11:52 9:20-22, "To the Jews, I became as a Jew in order to win the Jews. To those under
11:58 the law, I became as one under the law that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law, I became as one
12:04 outside the law that I might win those outside the law. To the weak, I became weak that I might win the weak. I have
12:11 become all things to all people that by all means I might save some.
12:19 Paul became like the people. And let's not let's not even get get further to the other congregations. How about the
12:25 congregation right here? I mean, half of us are going to leave
12:31 this building right after I finish speaking. None of us are going to half of us are
12:38 going to not even stay back and and try to get to know the rest of us here. And
12:43 we do not know it. There might be somebody here who's going to be sitting by himself and nobody's going to approach them.
12:50 There are people sitting right here who who are broken, who are hurt, who who might just need an encouragement, who
12:57 might just need a prayer, who might just need a listening ear, but but we're too busy doing our own thing and going our
13:03 own ways. We might be the only opportunity that
13:10 that person will have all week to hear prayer, to be prayed for, to hear a kind word,
13:18 to be encouraged. But very so often we we we go into our
13:24 little holy huddles and forget about the people standing outside.
13:30 And maybe it's because we are judgmental people because we we kind of judge people from a distance, right? Oh, I
13:36 cannot relate to them. I've got nothing in common with them. I cannot understand their language. I understand their
13:42 culture. I don't eat their food. I I don't do what they do. I'm so different. So, we we're judging them from a different without from a distance
13:48 without trying to get to know them. See, Mark Driscoll in his church, he tells a story. He tells a story of this couple
13:55 uh who came from the south into his church and after the service they came
14:02 up to uh our pastor Mark and they were pastor we really enjoyed your service.
14:07 We really enjoyed the word. But we must tell you this. Before the service, we
14:12 saw four people standing outside and they were smoking.
14:17 And after that, they came on stage and they let worship, pastor. They were smoking and they came on stage
14:24 and let worship. And then pastor Mark Driscoll looked at them and says, "Really? What were they
14:30 smoking?" He said, "They were smoking cigarettes, pastor." And he's like this. Praise the
14:36 Lord. It's amazing the word that the work that God is doing in those four people's
14:43 lives. Couple of months ago, they were all still drug addicts.
14:49 And now they're only smoking cigarettes. You should really get to know them and
14:55 see how God is working in their life. You see, often we have no idea what's
15:01 going on in people's life if we don't get to know them. We have no idea that we might have something in common with
15:06 them because we never speak to them. We might have the same hobbies. We might have the same interests. We might like
15:12 to watch the same movies. We might like to play the same game of golf.
15:18 We wouldn't know if we don't become like them and go down there and get to know them and greet them and meet them.
15:26 So, I really believe that that is what Paul is trying to say. And it's not just in this passage and not just in the
15:32 Corinthians passage, but he talks about Jesus becoming like we were. You see in
15:38 Philippians 2:5-8, "Have this in mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who though he was in the
15:45 form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied
15:50 himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled
15:57 himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross." Even Jesus became like us so
16:06 that we may be saved. This is not a new thought.
16:12 This is the gospel. So my first point today is this ministry
16:18 is becoming like those we are trying to reach as a church.
16:27 And you know it's it's it's not easy. And you might be sitting here today and you're thinking, "Wow, I I do not know
16:33 how to encourage a brother. I do not know how how to pray for somebody. I do not know how how to how to just sit
16:40 there and listen to somebody." And I think if you are one of those people sitting here, I think you're one of those broken people that we have failed
16:46 as a church to reach until now
16:52 and stay back and connect with us. And I pray that we able to change that
16:57 because Paul continues to say, he says this, become as I am.
17:04 Become as I am. What what does it mean? I don't think it's from any position of pride that he says, "Oh, be like me."
17:10 And he doesn't say it that way. So what does he mean? I was thinking, what does it what does Paul mean when he says,
17:15 "What does it mean to become like Paul?" And I think when we reflect back on on on um the whole verses and passages that
17:23 we have read on the Galatians, we can learn a lot about the character of Paul.
17:28 And I I I got six, what it means to become like Paul.
17:34 See, in in the first chapter uh until the second chapter 113 to 214,
17:40 especially in 25 and 214, I'm not going to list out all the passages, but what he pretty much talks about is that he's
17:46 loyal to the gospel. that regardless what what circumstance
17:51 came, regardless what Peter was saying and doing, he would stay true to the gospel. Regardless if an angel should
17:57 come down from heaven and tell something difference, he will be true to the gospel and he will not waver. He will stand firm.
18:05 We learn from Paul that being like Paul is being debt to the law, not trying to do works for our salvation. We we are
18:12 debt to that so that now we can by grace live for God. We don't have to live for
18:18 our own salvation. Do we have to acquire our own salvation anymore? But we are free to now live for God.
18:25 We are no longer under the law. So becoming like Paul is by like living
18:31 by faith in Christ that by living by faith we do not
18:37 nullify the grace of God but rather we what we heard last week
18:42 about adoption enjoy the benefits of the gospel by faith in Christ. We're not all
18:49 sons of God. We're not all hes with Christ.
18:57 Paul says it's no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me.
19:04 So becoming like Paul is becoming like Christ. That is what he means.
19:11 And he repeats that back in 1 Corinthians 11:1. Be imitators of me as I am of Christ.
19:19 So the call is to become like Christ. But my question here is how many of us
19:26 here are people who can say become like me and not from a proudful position but in the same way that that Paul is saying
19:32 it because Paul is kind of modeling his faith for us and saying become like me
19:37 calling us to model our faith for others. How many of us here can can say that? I
19:43 I I look around this church and I see many I see many godly men and women who can say that become like me who can
19:51 model their faith for others. So my question is are we are we doing
19:58 that? Are we becoming mentors? Because I see I see two kinds of people
20:03 in church. People who say yes I can model my faith and people who say no I
20:09 can't model my faith yet. And if you're here and you're saying that I can't model my faith yet, then you need a
20:14 mentor. So you either have mentors or mentees here and and we need to connect you
20:20 guys. And I I pray that that some of you men
20:26 and women here who who know that you can model your faith. You you find somebody and say, "Hey, brother, sister, let's
20:33 let's sit down once a month. Let's meet up. Let me let me share with
20:38 you how how how God has worked in my life.
20:43 Let me share with you and help you become like me in my faith.
20:51 I I remember when when I was starting to read the Bible a lot and and and I I started I'm getting really fervent for
20:56 for the word. I I was really blessed because I had somebody I had Scott Carter who came to me and said, "Masimo, I'm free every Tuesday. Here are 10
21:03 books. Choose one." I was kind of predestined to men mentorship, you know, but it it was it was it it was a blessed
21:10 time for me. I really learned so much because somebody took the time to meet up with me every Tuesday morning at 6:00
21:17 before I went to work in Puchong. That's a couple of years back now. I
21:23 really grew so much. I encourage you here if if you somebody who who who see somebody else who you find is a godly
21:28 woman or godly man, go up to them and say, "Hey, brother, sister, you know, can we meet up once a month? Can you can
21:34 you can you teach me about how how God has reached in your life?
21:40 Maybe we can take a book or maybe we can take a passage or maybe we can just take a topic and we can we can talk about it."
21:46 I say and I I pray that that some of you who are able to be mentors that you you pick somebody just go to them. Hey,
21:51 let's let's meet once a week because I really believe that this pastor tells us that as that what ministry is and
21:58 ministry is modeling our faith.
22:05 Paul then uh in this passage um talks about false teachers. Um I have then
22:10 become your enemy by telling you the truth. So so people did not want to hear the truth. um they rather hear other
22:17 people who are giving them fluff. They make much of you but for no good
22:22 purpose. They're that they're telling you things about you which make you feel good. They want to shut you out that you
22:28 make much of them. And their purpose of making you feel good is that you make them feel good in return that you make
22:34 much of them. And we have that today, don't we? We we
22:40 have a lot of teachers and and we have a lot of people who who proclaim to be uh
22:45 good Christians who who give us a lot of fluff who who say a lot of things just to make you feel good about yourself.
22:53 They they always have the same kind of style. They they will they will start off saying, "If you're here today
23:00 and you feel heartbroken, if you're here today and and you have
23:06 somebody who has sinned against you, if you're here today and you you're
23:12 struggling with health problems, if you're here today and you have
23:17 financial difficulties, let me tell you, that's not what Jesus wants." They
23:23 always say the same thing. Jesus wants you to have total victory in
23:28 your life in every area. Jesus wants you to become a better you.
23:38 Jesus wants you to look great and feel great.
23:45 Jesus wants you to know that every day can be a Friday.
23:53 And God wants you to know that you can have your best life now.
23:60 Really, can we really have our best life now?
24:05 The only way that we can have our best life now is that our destiny is hell.
24:12 If our destiny is heaven, we're going to have our best life later.
24:17 And I I I pray that we as a church would have our best life later.
24:25 And usually after they they tell you all these things, they will tell you what you must do next, right? You must have more faith,
24:33 must give more money, you must do all these things. And and they say things to make you feel good
24:38 about yourself cuz it sure sounds good that you make much of them. They always elevate gift above giver and say that
24:45 they are the messenger of that gift and then you you praise them and they make much of their own name.
24:53 They don't really speak the truth, do they? Of course, it's it's not always easy for
24:59 us to speak the truth. Sometimes difficult for us to speak the truth. And it's also how we speak the truth which is important. And Paul asks us to speak
25:06 the truth in love. He says in Ephesians 4:11-15, "And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the
25:13 shepherds, and teachers to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, so that
25:19 we may no longer be children tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about in every wind of doctrine, by human
25:26 cunning, by craftiness, in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in
25:31 love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is head into Christ.
25:40 We are supposed to speak the truth in love. And and he see two things. We can
25:45 we can either just speak the truth without love. And if we do that, Tim Kellis says truth without love is
25:52 imperious self-righteousness. The problem is if we speak love without
25:58 truth, it's cowardly self-indulgence. Both are selfish.
26:05 See, if you just speak love without truth, we're just trying to build up our own name.
26:11 Ministry must be marked by by speaking the truth to love. Uh, sorry, the the the truth in love.
26:19 You see, we we it's not about the the difficulty we have in speaking truth is because we might upset some people,
26:26 right? Because it might not sound good to some people, because they might anger
26:32 against us, right? That's what Paul writes in this passage. You you have become have I now become your enemy because I spoken the truth to you.
26:39 But it's because we are so concerned about how our name is looked at.
26:44 We have to speak the truth so we can exalt Christ's name, not our name.
26:54 Every time we we do ministry and I pray, I think ministry must look like this. Ministry must be a ministry where we
27:01 don't become as important as we should be. Or let me say it differently. Ministry is successful when any person
27:09 can leave that ministry and that ministry can still function. See, we don't do things so that we
27:16 become important. We show people how Christ is important.
27:21 Francis Chan recently tweeted this. He said this, "A movement starts when a founder really knows Jesus.
27:28 You know how a movement dies when the followers only know the founder.
27:35 So are we here speaking the love, the truth in love to people
27:42 so that we can exalt Christ's name. So I believe my third point is ministry
27:48 is speaking the truth in love for the glory of God and not the glory of self.
28:02 Paul when he comes to the end of of of his um
28:09 passage says this. My little children for whom I
28:14 am again in the anguish of childbirth. Paul is saying that he has pain for the
28:22 people he's trying to reach. Paul says that
28:28 he feels like he's giving the pain of child. I I I've never given child birth. Um um I heard it's painful.
28:38 So he he compares the the pain that he's having for for the people he's trying to
28:43 reach like like childbirth because it's difficult.
28:49 It's not always easy to do ministry. I mean a lot of you guys who who are in
28:56 ministry you know I mean he's there he has ministered to the people and he has
29:01 told them the truth of the gospel and now there are some other people coming in and telling him telling them some
29:07 other stuff and he feels in the verse just above our passage today he feels like this I'm afraid I may have labored
29:13 over you in vain he's struggling but he's not giving up
29:21 he's continuing in what he's You see ministry when it begins always
29:26 begins good right and he he he tells this story and though my condition was a trial to you even though I was I was
29:32 sick even though it was was difficult for you at the beginning you received me well you received me as an angel of God
29:38 as Christ Jesus it's kind of like how how when we start a ministry right or when we start becoming part of a
29:44 ministry everybody welcomes us even though we might be a trial to them because they have to explain us how to
29:49 do all these things in the ministry even though we might be a bit of a burden at the beginning they they all they're all nice to us and they they receive us well
29:55 and everything is kumbaya right we all we all feel good everybody feels good we we think we're doing
30:02 something for other people but after a while problems start to arise
30:09 I've yet to heard of a ministry which everything was fantastic all the time problems will arise why why do problems
30:15 arise well first of all I think because we usually try to reach people who are broken and sinful because we all are
30:20 broken and sinful right so Because you're reaching to people who are broken and sinful. There is about to be pain.
30:26 It's not going to be easy all the time. There's going to be disappointment at time.
30:31 Secondly, characters start to collide, right? We all have different personalities. We have different ways of
30:36 doing things and and suddenly we we collide and we rub against each other.
30:42 So it gets difficult maybe because suddenly there's a moment
30:48 where some truth had to be spoken in love and and it's not perceived well
30:55 people people get angry and even though you care for them you had to speak it
31:00 and it gets difficult. Paul talks a lot about how he was
31:06 willing to suffer for the people he was trying to reach.
31:11 Paul says this, "For as we share abundantly in Christ's suffering, so
31:16 Christ we share abundantly in comfort, too. If we are afflicted, it is for your
31:22 comfort and salvation. For we do not want you to be unaware,
31:28 brothers, of the afflictions we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond
31:34 our strength that we despared of life itself."
31:40 He was going through so much struggle that he was desparing of life itself. He
31:45 was willing to go through his pains. And there other passages which show that Paul has been beaten. He has been struck
31:51 down. He has been shipwrecked. He is always concerned. He doesn't know who to trust.
31:58 Always anxious about the churches that he's trying to reach. He's willing to go the extra mile for the people he's
32:06 trying to reach. in in Colossians he says I rejoice in my sufferings.
32:14 He rejoices the fact that he can pour his life
32:20 out to others so they may have life in Christ.
32:29 Um recently uh um in the international student ministry in the ISM
32:36 um one of the girls um lost her father. Um it was a um devastating time for her
32:45 and what happened was that all the
32:50 fellow friends, students came to her house.
32:57 Um, they were with her, they prayed with her,
33:05 they comforted her, they just took their time, whatever plans they had, they stopped whatever
33:11 plans they had and they were with her. But they actually actually did more than that.
33:16 They all started taking out money to buy her back a flight ticket so that
33:22 she can be with her family. uh a last minute flight ticket costs
33:27 about 6,000 ringit. So all the students they they and they
33:34 don't have much money themselves. They're students, right? They started taking out money. They they gave her money. They let it
33:40 cost. They were willing to suffer a little so
33:46 that somebody else can experience the love of Christ. That somebody else can
33:52 be blessed. that somebody else can be comforted.
33:58 See, we give and we do ministry not that we receive back.
34:03 We give and we do ministry so that some other people can receive. So that other people can experience Christ. So that
34:10 other people can feel the love of Jesus in their life.
34:16 You know, it's it's amazing how how we can learn from these students,
34:22 how they ministered to each other. See, you don't have to be a a ministry
34:29 leader. You don't have to be a pastor to do ministry.
34:34 See, we we we do ministry together as the church.
34:40 As a church, we can apply all these these these practices
34:47 And um I'll ask the worship team to come up already. Um I would like to um just
34:54 end today by by reading you a quote from um Hudson
35:01 Taylor. He says this, "It is only in the trial of God's grace that its beauty and
35:08 power can be seen. Then all trials of temper, circumstances,
35:16 provocation, sickness, disappointment, bereiement
35:21 will but give a higher burnish to the mirror and enable us to reflect more
35:27 fully and more perfectly the glory and blessedness of our master.
35:36 Are we willing to suffer for the people that we are trying to reach?
35:43 And as we look back over this passage, I believe this passage teaches us four
35:48 things on how we can do ministry.
35:53 Ministry is becoming like those we are trying to reach as a church.
36:01 Ministry is modeling our faith.
36:06 Ministry is speaking the truth in love for the glory of God and never for the glory of self.
36:13 [Music] And ministry is being willing to suffer for those we are trying to reach.
36:21 It might be difficult. We might have to suffer a little to go downstairs and meet the Filipino ministry. We might
36:28 have to suffer a little bit to come here at 11:00 at night on a Thursday to get to know the Myanma ministry.
36:34 We might have to suffer a little to to reach upon our own characters and and and sit down with somebody who we do not
36:40 know and say, "Brother, can I pray for you? Is there anything going on in your life? Would you like to share? I'm here to listen. I'm here to be part of your
36:47 family because we all adopted into the same body of Christ."
36:52 I believe that's how Hudson Taylor did ministry. I believe that's how St. Patrick did ministry. I believe that's
37:00 how Paul wrote about ministry and that how he asked us to do ministry and how he did ministry
37:06 and I believe that's how Christ did ministry. He came down and he became like us.
37:16 He modeled his faith for us. He exalted God's name and always spoke
37:24 the truth and love to us. and he was willing to suffer for us so that we
37:32 may be saved. And I pray that this church, I pray that
37:38 FBC will be marked by such form of ministry.
37:44 Will you pray with me? Father Lord, we ask you to work in every
37:52 person's heart here. Lord, give us a servant's heart.
37:58 Let us be people who are willing to step out our own cultural guards
38:05 and meet and reach the people you have brought to us.
38:10 Father, help us when it gets difficult to listen to the truth.
38:17 Help us when we have to listen to truth even though it's not popular.
38:23 and help us to do ministry even when it gets difficult.
38:28 Father, let us not be people who bail because we are here to glorify our name.
38:34 Let us be people who persevere because we're here to glorify your name.
38:40 [Music] Father, I pray for this church that we may all become your ministers. I
38:47 pray all this in Jesus name. Amen. [Music]
