Finding the Lost

Sister Melinda Song

John 1:43-49, NIV

⁴³ The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, ‘Follow me.’

⁴⁴ Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida.⁴⁵ Philip found Nathanael and told him, ‘We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote – Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.’

⁴⁶ ‘Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?’ Nathanael asked.

‘Come and see,’ said Philip.

⁴⁷ When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, ‘Here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.’

⁴⁸ ‘How do you know me?’ Nathanael asked.

Jesus answered, ‘I saw you while you were still under the fig-tree before Philip called you.’

⁴⁹ Then Nathanael declared, ‘Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the king of Israel.’

What does it mean to be lost? You are lost when you are unable to find your way or when you not know your whereabouts. Like the TV series Lost.

People don’t purposely get lost. The Bible describes our state of being lost as “all we like sheep have gone astray” (Isa. 53:6).

When we are lost, we have to be found. There was a massive search to find MH 370.

Imagine the joy of both the finder and the lost when the the lost is found. John Newton was so happy that he wrote a song about it. Amazing grace is one of the best loved if not the most well-known hymn. Even my mom who claimed to be a non-believer loved it. The words “I once was lost but now am found” never fails to touch my heart and bring me to tears.

Let us look into our passage to find out more about finding the lost.

⁴³ The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, ‘Follow me.’

a.     Jesus found Philip.

-       It was intentional and purposeful. The finder has to take the initiative. God took the initiative. “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost” (Lu. 19:10).

-       Recapping Pastor’s massages over the past two weeks, Jesus was ready, he was prepared and he acted.

b.     Jesus asked Philip to follow him. He did not just leave him as he was.

-       The Greek word in the Epistles for "follow" and "followers" is mimetes (literally "mimics"). believers are called to be little imitations or "mimics" of Jesus Christ.

-       To be a follower is to be a disciple, to learn from a master and do what he does.

-       The Greek word for Christian means “little Christ”.

⁴⁵ Philip found Nathanael and told him, ‘We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote – Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.’

a.     Philip in turn found Nathanael. He did as Jesus did! He was a new believer. He did not wait until he graduated. This was training on the job. Jesus found him so he found Nathanael.

Jn 17:18 “As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.”

Jn 20:21 Again Jesus said,‘Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.’

b.     The only qualification to introduce someone to Jesus is that you know him yourself. Do you know Jesus?

c.     Philip told Nathanael about his new find. How often do we share info of our good finds? How come we are reluctant to introduce others to the best find ever – Jesus Christ? Could it be that we are jaded?

d.     Philip’s testimony was informal (anywhere as the opportunity arises), informed (he was simply sharing what he knew) and infectious (I can imagine his enthusiasm).

46 ‘Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?’ Nathanael asked.

‘Come and see,’ said Philip.

a.     Objections and rejections are normal. Be wise! Learn to discern between those who seek to argue for the sake of arguing and those who are genuine truth-seekers. Nathanael was a sincere doubter. Before I became a believer I argued for the sake of arguing. My mind was made up.

b.     Philip helped Nathanael to see Jesus. People often need to experience Jesus first. Praying for others, helping them and meeting their needs enable people to see Jesus. We are Christ’s ambassadors (2 Cor. 5:20). People cannot see Christ, the Head, but they can surely see the Body, the church, which is you and me (Eph. 5:23, Col. 1:24). Can people see Jesus in us?

⁴⁷ When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, ‘Here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.’

⁴⁸ ‘How do you know me?’ Nathanael asked.

Jesus answered, ‘I saw you while you were still under the fig-tree before Philip called you.’

a.     Jesus already knew about Nathanael, before Philip called him. God goes before us and He is with us in our soul-winning efforts.

Reminder! The promise “surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matt. 28:20) is given in the context of the Great Commission

b.     Soul-winning is essentially God’s work. Without Him we can do nothing (Jn. 15:5). Salvation belongs to our God (Ps. 3:8, Rev. 7:10, 19:1). And it is not by might, nor by power but by His spirit (Zec. 4:6).

⁴⁹ Then Nathanael declared, ‘Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the king of Israel.’

a.     Picture the joy that filled Philip’s heart. There is great joy when the person receives Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour.

Lu. 15:7  “I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who do not need to repent”

Ps. 126:6  Those who go out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with them.

Sometimes it may not be our privilege to lead the person to Christ. But don’t lose heart! God may be using you as a link in the chain before the person comes to know Jesus.

b.     Nathanael became a disciple of Christ and was one of the 12 apostles. You never know who you might be winning to the Lord. You could be sharing the gospel with a future Hudson Taylor or Billy Graham?

Salvation is of the Lord but He chooses to work through people. He sent Jesus, His only begotten Son, and now He is sending you.

Mark 16:19-20, NIV

¹⁹ After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, he was taken up into heaven and he sat at the right hand of God.²⁰ Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it.

If you would go, God has promised to be with you and back you up. The question is. “Are you willing?” Will you join the search and rescue team to find and save the lost?

Many thanks to wifey for her sermon notes.

Prepared for Action

Rev Gideon Lee

Combined Service and TOP's 32nd AGM

Pastor Evelyn sharing a little on Wycliffe, which does bible translations. 
And thanked TOP for their giving and support.

Testimony on Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday event at TOP by Sis Joyce.

Today I want to continue to talk about the church being ready. Not just being ready but also to get others outside the church to be ready. We want to be prepared for action.

1 Peter 1:13-16

Be Holy

13 Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed.14 As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. 15 But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; 16 for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”

I want to talk about being prepared for action when I said the church must be ready. It is not about sitting down and waiting. This ready calls for action. That we must be ready to action anytime.

There are three areas we need to prepare ourselves.

1. We need to prepare our mind
2. We need to prepare our body
3. We need to prepare our heart

1. We need to prepare our mind

Albert Einstein is supposed to be the cleverest person on earth. He was interested in many topics. He was interested in many many subjects. And many people visit him from time

to time. And he'll spend time talking to them. But often in the middle of the conversation he would get up and said he's sorry but he has to go to work. Because in the middle of the conversation an idea can come to him. He is someone who thinks. We not only need to think but it is also about right thinking.

Peter 1:13 Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed

How do you know you have a brain? Some people asks how do you know there's a God? He can't see him. So we ask do you have a brain? How do you know? You can't see it. But God has given us the capability to think. But often it is not right thinking. The things we should be meditating on we don't. And we know what we think, we become. As a man thinketh so he is, the bible says.

To get the right kind of action we need to have right thinking. What is right thinking? How many of you know about Bruno Mars song? "It's a beautiful night. I'm looking for something dumb to do. Let's get married tonight."

We need right thinking. Not do dumb things.

Philippians 4:8

8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable–if anything is excellent or praiseworthy–think about such things.

What I'm trying to say is that we need right thinking as mentioned in Philippians. When we have the right thinking what happens? We'd have right actions.

The most important is the word of God. We should be thinking and meditating on the word of God.

Psalms 1:1-3

​1 Blessed is the man

who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked

or stand in the way of sinners

or sit in the seat of mockers.

2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord,

and on his law he meditates day and night.

3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water,

which yields its fruit in season

and whose leaf does not wither.

Whatever he does prospers.

When we fill our minds with God's word whatever we do we prosper. Let's prepare our minds by having right thinking. Right thinking and positive thinking is different. Right thinking is based on the word of God.

2. We need to prepare our body.

If you look at the first verse in Peter, be self-controlled. That tells me that we need to exercise self-control. The body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20

19 Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor  God with your body.

As we prepare our minds our body must also be ready. How many of you spend time

to exercise. Some people say pastor that's not important. The church needs to be mentally and physically healthy. I'm saying this to myself too. My wife is laughing at me.

We need to be healthy to serve God. Do we honour God with our body?  Because of time I cannot go into detail. But it includes the way we dress or how we treat our bodies or upkeep ourselves. It's more than just being healthy.

We have to have self control in certain ways and that includes the food we take. We have to really take care of ourselves

1 Timothy 4:7-8

7 Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train yourself to be godly. 8 For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.

Physical training has value but we also need to have godliness.

Galatians 5:22-23

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

When we do our part and exercise self control God will help us. He will help us produce the fruits of the Holy Spirit in us. We must cooperate with him and he will

Know how to operate in us.

3. Prepare your hearts.

1Peter 1:14 As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. 15 But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; 16 for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”

Desires come from our heart. What we want starts from the heart. Then we think how to get them or do them. And the longer we think on them we will do it. We have to start with our heart. That we have good desires. No evil desires. Our desires should be holy. We desire to be holy because God is holy. It starts with our hearts. Have we prepared our hearts?

Matthew 5:28

28 But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

Nobody just wake up one day and commits adultery. It starts with a desire in the heart. And we think how to do it and it becomes an action.

Matthew 6:21

21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

What comes out of our heart is important. We need to prepare our heart.

God is going to move in TOP. We need to be ready. All of us can arise and shine for him even in the simplest thing. It doesn't matter what God calls us to do. It is time to arise and shine. It is time. Some say we have been so many years but no breakthroughs. Sometimes we think we're waiting for the right pastor to come or the right board to be elected. No, it's starts with you, now.

If you hear what the Holy Spirit is saying we need to action. Pastor Mike gave us a word, we need to break the box. Some may say it's been more than 30 years, what box? Box also gone.

We need to break tradition, not saying that tradition is not good but we need to break forth. We don't know how fragrant is that perfume but unless we take it out of the box we won't enjoy the fragrance. I hope you hear what God is saying. This is not me. God is telling us to break the box so that the perfume can come forth and others can experience it.

As I end this morning, it's time for us to rise up. It starts with one person and that the fire will be caught by people. Wherever you can serve God, say God use me. Prepare our mind, prepare our body, prepare our heart.

In TOP we have groups that goes biking, or go hill climbing. If you like biking go see Bro Tommy. And there's a group that goes hill climbing. There's also a group that plays badminton. If you like badminton go and see bro Kenny. They play twice a week. Go and join them.

Also prepare your heart. Don't have a critical heart. Out of the abundance and outflow of your heart comes the issues of life.

Get Ready

Rev Gideon Lee

Matthew 25:1-13

The Parable of the Ten Virgins

​1 “At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 2 Five of them were foolish and five were wise. 3 The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. 4 The wise, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. 5 The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.

6 “At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’

7 “Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. 8 The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’

9 “ ‘No,’ they replied, ‘there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’

10 “But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut.

11 “Later the others also came. ‘Sir! Sir!’ they said. ‘Open the door for us!’

12 “But he replied, ‘I tell you the truth, I don’t know you.’

13 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.

I want to start by telling you a true story. About the sinking of the titanic. There was a lady on board the ship that went in the life boat as it was sinking. Just before they cast the life boat down, she remembered she needs something from her room. The guard told her the ship is sinking and there's no time left. What's so important that she had to go back to her room? She pleaded so the officer told her she has three minutes. After that they will not wait for her. She got off the lifeboat and ran to her room. As she passed the gambling hall she saw all the money left in the room but she passed it and went to her room. She has a lot of money and jewellery in her room but instead of taking them, she found the three oranges that she was looking for. And she made it in time back to the lifeboat.

There are things in our life that will change our perspective in life. No longer was her money important or her jewellery. She knew the three oranges were food she will need.

The same is with the coming back of Jesus. Even though it's been 2,000 years since he came we may have lost our perspective. I want to sound the alarm and how we live our life should be like that.

The story of the ten virgins says that. The Jewish wedding has three stages. Stage one is the engagement. The father of the bride and groom will agree to a certain amount of dowry and put in trust for the couple. The second stage is the betrothal. That's the wedding ceremony on paper. No physical contact yet. After that is the wedding celebration. That's where there's the wedding dinner and the groom will bring the bride home and their first night together where the consummation of the marriage takes place.

How many of you remember the day you got married? I remember the day when I got married. I could not sleep the whole night because I was so nervous. And I was up early to put on my suit and to go and fetch Serena from her house. All the groomsmen or all my guys were there early with me. And when we reached there, they had games where I have to win her over. As we reach, we blast our horns. She knows we are coming but she does not know the exact time I will arrive. I'm pretty sure she too cannot sleep that night and she was up early and waiting for me. We made a lot of noise so that she knows when the groom will arrive.

So as I arrived, the younger brother opens the door and I had to give what? Ang Pows (laughs). And I had to do some stuff. To sing a song of ten reasons why I loved her. And it had to be animals cause she knows I loved animals. Like you're as lovely as a peacock. Then the bridesmaids were all there stopping me. The ten virgins. So I gave Ang Pows again and then I saw her in all her beauty and splendour. So I asked myself what did I do to deserve her (wahs).

It is at this stage that Jesus talked about the ten virgins. They knew the groom was coming but they did not know the exact time. The ten virgins had to be ready. The groom had to travel great distance and it was at night. Maybe it's cooler. The groom will often delay and try to be late, like a game. He may delay but he is definitely coming back for his bride, the church. So he will send a messenger to announce his coming late at night.

The bible says one group was wise while the other was foolish. They were foolish because they had not prepared enough oil. The wise group brought extra oil. And as it happened, the groom came late and the five foolish virgins asked for oil from the wise virgins. But they cannot give their oil, so they asked why don't they go out to buy oil. So the five foolish virgins went out to buy oil, that's when the groom arrives.

And the groom sees his bride for the first time. And he took the bride home and closed the doors for the celebration. The foolish virgins finally arrived and asked to go in and the groom said I don't know you. Jesus said this to the foolish virgins.

Here are some things we can learn.

1. Some things in life cannot be borrowed.

We say sharing is caring but there are just some things in life that we hold dear and can't share. What are some of those things? Like your spouse. We talked about the Ten Commandments and one of it is that he is a jealous God. He does not want to share you. He is a jealous God. Another is our faith. You cannot use other people's faith to get to heaven. So if your father is a missionary, you cannot "tumpang" (ride on) on his faith to get to heaven. Just because your father is a Christian does not make you a Christian. You have to believe and have your own faith. You have to know God personally. You can't share.

Just like the five wise virgins. They can't share their oil with the foolish virgins.

2. There are some things that cannot be put off until the last minute.

Our church has fire insurance. Let's say we don't have it and as a fire breaks out we want to buy the insurance. Just like the virgins who needed to buy the oil last minute late in the night. Like studying for your exams last minute. The mommies know their children's time table better than them. They will wait till the last minute before they cramp everything in. How many of you like to do things last minute? That's why we must have deadlines. In a company there's always a person called Mr. Last Minute. These foolish virgins needed oil last minute. You cannot make withdrawals without deposits.

There was this parent who thought the pastor could change the mind of their daughter. After some time, the pastor said he cannot change the mind of their daughter. The parents were disappointed and asked the pastor why he can't change her mind? The pastor said "with due respect, how can I accomplish something in 30 minutes what you couldn't do in 30 years". Some things take time and we have to invest time into it. Some say pastor, let me make money first and then when I'm old I'll serve God.

I'm encouraging the young to rise up and serve. Don't wait till you are old. The standing board member list is up there and you see all their handsome faces. I'm glad there are new young faces. I'm not despising the old, except B.A. (laughs).

Also we cannot put off accepting the Lord as our saviour. We cannot say wait until the last minute.

3. If we are not prepared we can miss our great opportunity

The five foolish ones were not prepared and they miss the grand wedding celebration. Everybody was involved and sometimes it lasts for weeks. If we are not ready we may miss out on some great opportunities God has in store for us.

God has put in my heart our best season for this church is going to be evangelism. I'm going to lead all ministries towards reaching out. I believe this is what God wants for our church. And I want everybody involved. If we're not ready we are going to miss out on the opportunity. And I want the church to move with me. How many of us have shared Jesus with anyone this year? Like the Mike Constantine and Juwita Suwito concert, I was a little disappointed. I mean the programme went well but 99% of the people were all Christians. We should be encouraging others to make a decision for Christ but we have to tell them about Christ. The bible says he who wins soul is wise.

Evangelism fails because we are not willing to go out. We know what to do but we are not willing to go out. It takes time and effort so we think it's inconvenient. Think about how you know about Christ. Did someone took the time, effort and money to share with you? Let's do it for others.

We should not be like the five foolish virgins, we should be ready. The Royal Rangers has a mentoring programme that uses camping and other tools to disciple. But the motto is ready. Ready to serve God , ready to praise him and ready to be anything he wants us to be.

Church what is our motto? Arise Shine is our theme and our tagline is blessed to be a blessing. Can we have a motto "ready"? Let's get ready. I'll drill this in us knowing that Jesus is coming back soon.

No one know the exact time, not even the Angels but looking at the seasons we can tell but exactly when we don't know. Looking at the season we know it is soon. And we need to be ready.

Not only we need to be ready but we need to get others ready. Wouldn't it be a shame when we get to heaven and we see our best friend and relatives in hell. We need to be ready and get others ready.

I want to end with this quote. The best way to be ready for tomorrow is to be ready today. The best way to be ready for Jesus is to be ready now.