Transcript is created as the audio recording wasn't well-captured.
Neo Ban It
Let's just close our eyes, bow our hearts before the Lord's presence. Let's focus on Him. Our mind is so prone to wandering away from Him. But even in this short time of worship, through the songs that we have sung, I trust that the Lord in His beautiful way, in His loving grace, He has reached out to each one of us. They have not merely paid him lip service by singing these songs, but we have also meditated upon the words of the songs. We have allowed the Lord to speak to our hearts. We've learned like the Psalmist who says, Be still and know that He is God. There is only one way we can worship God. Jesus says, worship him in spirit and in truth. Everything else is peripheral, helpful, perhaps in lifting us up because of the environment created, the music that's being played. But ultimately, worship has to be in the spirit. the Spirit of God that dwells in us, and upon His eternal truth, the Word of God that is our foundation. We cannot just choose to worship God any or how we want.
Jesus has given a prescription. And so I want to encourage you for the next few moments in the quietness of your heart, in the stillness of your spirit. Would you just open yourself to the Lord and allow Him, allow Him to draw you to Himself to speak to you? Burdens you may have, concerns that you carry, whatever. Let's lay this all aside and know that Jesus is here in our midst, the King of kings, the Lord of lords. He's here among us. Heavenly Father, we thank You for every privilege that we can come before Your presence whether we do so individually in our quiet time, in our time of solitude just between each one of us and yourself. Or a time like this, O Lord, that you gather us as a people of God, as a family of God, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some, but all the more so because we see that we are living in perilous days, and the day of your approaching is soon. We might have repeated this so many times, console ourselves with that promise that You will come back soon enough for us. And yet along the way, Lord, we struggle sometimes in our walk with You. You allow disappointments, discouragement to set into our hearts.
But You also put unspeakable joy in us when we know that Your joy is our strength, when we learn to wholly submit ourselves to You. And only this we can do by Your grace through Your Holy Spirit. Not because we are worthy, not because we are creative in worship or whatever, but simply because You receive each one of us just as we are. All because Jesus has paid the price and has made it possible. Jesus who invites us to come boldly before the throne of grace to find mercy, grace and help even in time of need. Jesus who has promised us that He has come to give us life and life to its fullest abundance. Jesus has declared, I am the way, the truth and the life. No one goes to the Father except through Him, and we have chosen Him as our Saviour. May we truly crown Him as also our Master and our Lord, that He cannot just be our Saviour to guarantee our salvation and our ticket as it were to heaven, but that He is the Lord unto whom we wholly submit to. Obey, not just merely call him Lord, Lord, and not do the things that he has called us to do.
So forgive us, O Lord, cleanse us as you come before you and receive the cleansing blood of Jesus. Every sin, every trespass, whether knowingly or even unknowingly that we may have committed, Every thought that has not been worthy of You, the things that we meditate on that are not of praise worthy to Your name, Lord, forgive us, cleanse us. Not that we have to be sinless and perfect to come to You, but because we truly need the blood of Christ to cleanse us and His righteousness imputed on us, that we can stand here right now and confidently and so gratefully declare you as our Saviour and our Lord. Lord, so often we take you for granted. But on Sunday mornings, usually we know how to put on our Christian attire, put out the Christian facade. And then at the end of the first day, for the rest of the week perhaps, It's back to business as usual. Forgive us, Lord. Renew us, Lord. Heal us and restore us. He who has not given His Son for our sake but gave Him up, how will He not now also through Him freely grant us all things? It's not about the needs in our lives. It's about the Spirit of God that is alive within each one of us.
So Lord, as You cleanse us and as we offer ourselves now afresh as living sacrifices before Your altar, we give You thanks. Be enthroned here, Lord, in our midst. But more importantly, sit on the throne of every single heart here gathered. And Lord, for this service, we give You all praise, all honour, all glory. And even as in a moment's time, Lord, through Your servants, You prepare us to receive Your Word, because faith comes from Your Word and Your Word is Spirit and Your Word is life. So we give You all thanks, all praise and all glory, committing this service unto You and every one of us unto Your loving hands. Thank you. As we pray this, in Jesus' name, amen. Amen. God bless you. Please be seated. Thank you, Tony and the worship team for a simple time of worship. Today, as you can see, we have many, many guests here. I think God is very good, you know. Sometimes I always, and you know, I always count the number of people who's absent, who's present and all that. And funnily enough, when on Sundays, when some members are away and good numbers are away, God somehow brings the replacement, the reinforcement.
But I'm really so thrilled to see Pastor Po Wing, my classmate of four years in Singapore Bible College from 1980 to '84. … Okay. Pastor Tham, we met each time when he comes over, and usually on his way to ministry in India Bible School, he's the one with the PhD, you know, the permanent head damage. I only could do four years BTH. Bachelor of Theology, Buay Tahan. Enough. All these years, never done anymore. Maybe do some courses here and there.
But he has been a very diligent... Now I say this after he got his turn to speak back, right? So that's fair. That's how we go, no problem. But it's always so thrilled to have friends that stretch back so many years, isn't it? And enjoyed times of ministry together. He's with the ambassadors for Christ. Actually, I'll leave him more later in the course of the message to share concerning his ministry. Last week when I mentioned that he'll be coming and we normally tell our members who the speaker will be, there is a change and the topic and the text. And all I know that he's speaking on missions and evangelism. The text is from Genesis to Revelation. Okay, it's the whole book. Whenever we don't put out the text for you, we say it's the whole book. You go back and read it. Okay. So without any further ado, let's just put our hands together, shall we? And let's warmly welcome Pastor Tham.
Tham Po Wing
I just want to let you know that God has moulded me over the years I don't like to study. I don't like to read. I just barely pass my English. And I discovered that we actually went to the same school. Pastor Ban It is just two years younger than me. So let me tell you this. When I went to the polytechnic and finished, I threw all my books away. I'm never going to study again. I literally threw them away. And then God called me to be a pastor. I had to study some more. Then as your pastor said, I went on and did my master's. Not because I want to, but because God moved me. and I went from someone who didn't like to read to somebody who has to read to pass exams and then to become a person who loves to read I'm still reading today I just finished one book I would recommend to you God is amazing I didn't want to be a pastor really I pastored three churches one is the group that you are sitting with you know NBC that was my first church I was a church planter with them we planted I didn't plant the church a team of us planted the church and they called me to be the pastor I didn't want the job okay but I was called to be the pastor and they sent me to Bible College and that's where I met your pastor we struggled I don't know about your pastor. He has a photographic memory. I don't have it. I have to do this. He can stand and hold the mic and just give you the message. I can't do that. I struggle with preaching every single time. And the reason is that it's complicated. There's so many things to teach.
I have to have a clear train of thought and I can't remember everything. So I struggle. Three churches. On my last day at my last church, my wife said, Thank God, it's over. That you finished. Okay. Alright. And then I told her, I believe God is calling me to be a missionary. Really? Now that's 11 years ago. 2014 was my last day at the church. and they had a celebration and they sent me off. So I've been teaching. Yes, with my PhD, I struggled for... I started in 1991. I took a break, I came back to Singapore, pastored the NBC again for two more years and went back. I had to translate Greek, Hebrew, Spanish... not Spanish. French and German. I don't speak German. I don't speak French. But I have to pass those exams. You know how long it took me to get my PhD? I wouldn't recommend it to your pastor. I started in 1991. I finished in 2005. I tell you I was at the table studying and my two girls are growing up and they're laughing at me. They are studying for exam and I'm studying for exam.
So that's me. So I am just overjoyed. I look back and said, why did God allow me to go through that suffering? My PhD really was a journey of tears because many times I don't know how to take the next step. And my wife said, It's okay to quit. You can quit now. It's alright. But you know, I heard God say that I should do this. I will finish. I pray, I hear Him say that I will finish. I don't know how. I don't know how I get the money to do the PhD. It's even more expensive Then the Masters, on the day they said, I passed, we had a big celebration. God came through because I followed Him. And so the Christian life is God telling us something, we follow and He comes through and say, God, you're so great! And you take the next step. Being a pastor is very difficult. Because every Sunday, he's not going to tell you that, I'm going to tell you. Every Sunday he has to preach a new sermon. You know how long it took me to prepare this sermon? A couple of months. It's not going to be a good sermon because I'm not a good speaker.
But I just have to work at it. It's still not finished. But he has to preach a new sermon every Sunday. Hey pastor, that's the same message you gave last week. You can do that. It's a tough job. And pastors spend so much time sometimes on the text that they forget people. See, that's the struggle your pastor is facing. He needs to feed you But he also needs to take care of you. He also needs to evangelise. He also needs to disciple. How do you do all these things and yet be a model to you? And so a lot of pastors end up stuck in the study. They are so poor in evangelism and disciple making. When it comes to a passage on disciple making and evangelism, they will preach on it There are no life examples. You don't see it in their lives. And so what happens, church members, pastor is not discipling and evangelising. I think it's okay.
And so church life is, you know, we are in many ways very similar to the non-Christians outside. We are attracted to the same thing. We spend time in amusement park like they, you know. You see any difference between a Christian and a non-Christian in an amusement park? The only difference is that we come to church on Sunday. They don't. So I want us to turn to, oh, the clicker, right? Where is the clicker? I'm supposed to have a clicker. I'm wearing hearing aids on both sides. I'm getting deaf. I'm going deaf. I can't hear my students, and now I have to wear hearing aid. I have cataracts, so I can't see. Can't hear, can't see? I better do what I still can see and hear something, alright? So this morning I want us to focus on how to be fruitful and joyful from this passage. Now I have colour-coded it for a particular reason so that you can see what is repeated often.
So John 15 famous passage. Let's pray. Father, I thank you that we can be here today. I pray, Lord, that you would use me, use your word, may your spirit find in each one of us a receptive heart. Help us, Lord, to serve you and our generation at this time in Singapore's history. I pray this in Jesus' precious name. Amen. Now, it's a very common passage, A passage that is well known. You might have read it many times. Let me read it with you. Jesus said, I am the true vine and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes that is trimmed, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, and you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, it is he that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me, he is thrown away like a branch and withers, and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire and burned.
If you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you. that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be full. See, this passage has a very common theme. The Father wants us to be fruitful. And He actually tells us how we can be fruitful. And He tells us when we are not fruitful, what will happen to us? And when we are fruitful, what happens? God gets glorified and we receive joy. And I think what happened is that many Christians don't have a joyful life because we are not following what He is saying to us. I think the passage answers at least three questions.
What is fruitfulness? How to be fruitful? What fruitfulness does? What fruitfulness looks like? That is bad English. I Google it and that is bad English. what fruitfulness does, what fruitfulness looks like. Jesus didn't even answer the first question. What is fruitfulness? Because it's obvious from the passage. If you don't have fruit, you're not fruitful. So he is talking about it, but he doesn't answer the question, but he actually answers the second and the third. So second and third is one and two. How to be fruitful? He says, abide in me. remain in me be connected with me and I in you as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine neither can you unless you abide in me I mean Jesus is using an agricultural, vegetation background to show us we all know you cut the branch, the branch dies cannot bear fruit anymore. It's logical and so he uses that he says abide in me and then later on we didn't read we read the passage it says abide in my word abide in Jesus abide in his word and then later on I think later on verse 8 abide in my love we have to be connected to Jesus connected to love in order to be fruitful so there are two principles for a fruitful Christian life And I think we all thirst for that. A fruitful Christian must stay connected to Jesus. Yeah, we know that.
But often we don't live it. Alright? And that is our problem. A person who abides in Jesus is a person who listens, listens, reads, spend time, read him. But often we spend time with people. We don't spend time with Him first. We're not prepared for the day. All right? A lot of people say, I mean, I have spent time discipling a lot of people and they say, Hey, Po Wing, I'm not an early bird. I'm a night person. I said, Wow, that's not the biblical way. Because by the time you go home and read the Bible, you are harvesting. You are not prepared for the day. So, he says, Abide, obey. Be connected with me. Be connected with my word. And then ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you. That is not a blank promise. Some people take this verse out of context. Ask whatever you wish and God will give it to you. Prosperity preachers will say that.
But the context is asking so that we will be fruitful. And if our objective is, Lord, I want to be fruitful, that is the prayer that God will always answer. He will always answer that. Because why? The key is bearing fruit. And when we pray and ask Him, Lord, I want to be fruitful. Show me how I can be fruitful. Show me why I am not fruitful, He will answer that prayer. And what happens after that? God gets the glory and we become excited and happy. Matthew 4:19 is the other famous promise. You follow me and I will make you fishers of men. Have you ever claimed this? I don't know half of you. If you have never led one person to Jesus Christ, You have not taken this promise to heart. Because this promise says that if I follow Jesus, I will be able to lead people to Jesus. I love to fish, but I love to fish for people even more. Why? One is temporary to eat the fish in stone.
But the other one is eternal. You will see them in heaven. So which is more important? Fishing for people for eternity. Do you spend enough time with Jesus every day? Do you just rush out and get to work? You know I know some people, they get out of bed, shake shake, put on something and run off to work. You have not asked God to prepare you for that thing. Jesus gave us many examples. Woke up, went to a lonely place by himself and prayed. That's how he starts the day. And the day before he picked the twelve apostles, he spent the whole night in prayer. And that's what I want. I like to sleep too. But if we want to be hearing God's voice, we have to pray, fast and ask and I think this is a great place to begin this is the house of prayer and we pray and get the direction before we start the day so that we don't miss opportunities see when we live our life every day we will have opportunities to meet with people people who are struggling people who have issues, but they always put up a nice friend. I'm fine. Some people even smile and they make you laugh.
But inside, they want to commit suicide. So if you're not prepared before the day starts and get information from the Lord, he's not going to be able to use us. I bumped into a 74-year-old lady in the Tanah Merah MRT last week. I came out, that's where my sister is and where we are staying. And she was handing out something. So I had walked off and I'm just wondering, is she a cultist? So I went back and I said, May I have one of your... I looked at her, Okay, not a cult. And I started talking to her, you know, it was a hot day, okay? And she said, Oh, what's your name? And she said, Her name is Mary. How old are you? I actually asked that question, right? Oh, I'm 70. I said, I'm 72, years 72. Oh, okay, we're in the same age bracket, you know? I'm so happy to see you doing this. Why are you doing this?
Because nobody is doing it. from a Presbyterian church. You think all Presbyterians are not evangelicals? She's very evangelical. There's enough tracts. So I thank her for it. And I prayed with her. And then I went off. And then I passed a place called Chagee. You know, Chagee, right? Chagee, alright? I have never patronised Chagee in my life. But as I was walking by, I heard the Lord telling me, Buy Mary. That's her name. Buy Mary a green tea latte. So I went in, I ordered. Oh, I took so long. Business was good, okay? So I said, Lord, you sure this is what you want? It might be a waste of money. Maybe by the time I get back there and she's gone, that I know I heard wrongly. So I went out, but she's still there. I went up to her and I said, The Lord wants me to give this to you. You should see the smile on her face. I said, God appreciates what you are doing and I appreciate what you are doing. A lot of people don't appreciate what you are doing, but it's okay. God appreciates you, I appreciate you, and even if 1% of the people actually read the tract and becomes a Christian, She has done her job. She fulfilled her calling, alright?
And so prayed with her and I went off and I said, Lord, thank you for people like Mary. What about you? See, plants grow. Jesus said, abide in me and then there will be fruit. Fruitfulness comes with abiding in Jesus. How? Look at the vegetation while you have water, sunshine, fertilizer, they will grow naturally. Those of you who have a backyard, you don't have to tell weeds to grow, they will grow. Weeds will just grow and take over your house because what is in their DNA? And I believe it's in the DNA of Christians that we thirst for growth. We want to grow. So how do we do that? Hopefully, as disciples of Jesus, we can learn from the plant world. I'm telling you, I'm a lousy gardener. I have never planted anything in my life except a plant that cannot be killed. you know, just add water, that's it, you know. That's the only plant I ever planted in Singapore.
So I went there to the US. I started planting. My wife said, Hey, it's good for you to go out there and plant something. And she stays inside. It's good to plant something. Alright, so I planted tomatoes. I planted the easy ones, cucumbers. Wow, everywhere I plant, they come out. I'm so excited. This was 2009, we moved into the house in 2008, one year later. When we moved into the house, there was nothing in the backyard, not a single tree, just grass. And you can't eat grass, right? So, I learned something. You plant the vegetables, they will grow given the right conditions. That is also a cucumber plant, did you know that? And you see the white arrow? That's the cucumber plant climbing up to my persimmon tree. It's 20 feet high. The cucumber plant climb and that is, you know, I'm just a foolish gardener. I'm just looking after what is here. I forgot to see, look up and the cucumber actually plant. You're not supposed to do that. Why? You want it to stay low and they will give you bigger and fatter cucumbers.
What I want to illustrate in this is that The trees know sunlight is there. It will go. And you know what? I ended up having cucumbers from those long ones that I missed. I told my wife, Oh, I harvested everything already. That day I came in and said, Oh, there are two more up there. And I came in and showed her it was that long. My point is the cucumbers was yearning for sunlight. to get away from the other plants so that the leaves can open and you have lots of nutrients. You know what that is? Bitter melon, which I missed because I harvested the one at the bottom and I know and behold there was one that is high up there in my neighbour's yard. Actually the fence, that's my neighbour's yard. It had climbed over and it has a, I can see it. You know what this is? This is arugula. And if you have never eaten arugula, you're missing something. It's wonderful. It's a health food. It's like number one, number two. Kale arugula.
And so I planted arugula from seeds in my yard. So I was on the table working with the seeds and some fell because they're so tiny. And lo and behold, after rain, they were growing in between the cracks. You know how thick the concrete is? The concrete is that thick. They put together and then there is a slight gap with sand in the middle and the arugula grew. Can you imagine? Why? Because it rained, it had sunshine, it had a little bit of soil, it grew. That is the first of the vegetable kingdom. Given the right condition, it will thrive. And then what about Christians? I want to submit to you this morning that it's in our DNA to grow. We are supposed to be spiritually hungry. Lord, I want to be fat, I want to grow, I want to flourish, I want to be fruitful. Please give me fruit. And so if you have never led a person to Jesus Christ, that is... pray. Pray for the first one, then pray for the second one. You will never be the same again. You lead one person to Christ, it's sort of like catching fish.
How many of you have ever caught a fish in your life? Real fish, not in the tank in the supermarket, all right? Okay, out there. How many of you have caught a fish? So few, no wonder. You're not excited but you like to eat fish, don't you? We like to eat fish but we did not touch the fish, you know, so slimy. Let me tell you this, if you have ever caught a fish in real life, you will never be the same. My mother never caught any fish in her life. When we drove in the US, she caught her first fish. You can see on her face the big smile you know she cooks fish all the time but she's never caught a fish let me tell you that if you have led a person to Christ that person became a Christian because of you and that person is growing and the person has surpassed you you would be so excited that I want to do that again Lord so Christians This is the other example. You probably have never seen it. It's called a yucca. My church member just gave me one. This is my advice.
When your church member give you something, study it first. I planted it. It was a small plant. It became a huge thing. And look at all the flowers, the white ones. They look very nice, but the moment the flowers drop, it looks so ugly. And it has big, big seeds. And each seed has hundreds of seeds inside. And so I planted one, it end up like a big plum. And it's very dangerous. It's so sharp, if you fall on it, you will die. So some people plant this outside their windows so that no burglars. So the animal kingdom, I mean the vegetable kingdom, they thrive, they want to grow. They want to be fruitful. What about us? That's the reason why Paul says examine yourself. See whether you are in the faith. Test yourself. Or do you not realise this about yourself, that Jesus Christ is in you unless indeed you fail to meet the test. And what is the test?
Let me suggest you, one of the tests is fruitfulness. A Christian should be fruitful. And if a Christian is not fruitful, never led a person to Christ. I know some Christians They are worshipping remotely. It's not that they can't walk. They want to worship in their pyjamas. Alright? So just roll out of bed and then... I'm not sure if they are Christians. Examine yourself. So if you're not fruitful, examine yourself. You know, in the last 10 years, there are a lot of people who call themselves I'm an ex-Christian. I don't go to church anymore. I am ex-evangelical. They have all kinds of names. They said, I'm deconstructing my faith, basically destroying their faith. Obviously, some of them are really searching because when they come to church and it's like that, it's not making any difference in their life and they are frustrated. And I can understand that, right?
But I think we have to bear in mind, God says examine, and I suggest to you, if you're not fruitful today, is good to examine yourself. We are supposed to be fruitful. If Jesus lives in us and we are reading the Word and we are abiding in Him, we should be fruitful. I first heard the gospel when I was in Pre-U 1. I come from a non-Christian family and my family can attest to that. I was the first one to accept Jesus. Never heard the gospel. Within six weeks, I heard the gospel, I read all the four gospels. I said, Jesus, it's not just Christmas. We celebrate Christmas. Now I know who he is. And my friend Richard was very bold. In the gym said, You know, you know you're a sinner? I said, You don't have to convince me. I know I'm a sinner. I became a Christian. That was 50 years ago. Now I have white hair. I'm close to the other end. And I look back at the 50 years, I am so grateful to Richard, you know, Scott. I was in the school only for six weeks. And then I went to Polytechnic. And I never saw him again at only one time. I was working, he was working around Shenton Way and we had lunch. By then he was already not really growing in his life. You know a Christian and plants have something similar? A growth stage, and if you are not careful, it will be a plateau stage. And if we are not careful, it will be a declining stage.
So which stage are you in? As far as Richard, I look at him, his reaction. I told him, I'm so grateful to you. I became a pastor, church planter. And if you didn't share the gospel with me, I would never have done those things. I'm grateful. But he wasn't interested. I want to have lunch with him to thank him. He said, No. And then I saw On Facebook, I was sitting on one of those chairs in a hospital. I said, Oh, I'm so sorry. I think Richard is dying. His same age as me is 72. It turns out he was giving blood. Okay, so it's not bad for a 72-year-old to give blood. Now, of course, that picture might be a few years old, but he was giving blood. To me I said, I feel sad. I feel sad that he was so on fire and he changed my life. And right now, he is like that, not interested whatsoever. And I feel bad. I want to pray. I've been praying for him.
So where are you in your journey? Where are you? Are you growing, plateauing, or declining? See, a true disciple of Jesus will always be fruitful. It's in our DNA. We can't help it. We want people to become Christians. We want them to enjoy what we are enjoying. We want to bring them to heaven and have a big reunion. That's why my family, I was the first to become a Christian. My four sisters and three of them are here. My brothers, two of them are here. We pray for our parents. 30 years. 30 years. When I became a Christian, first Sunday I went to church, I didn't know that was not church, that was Sunday school. I went there, I know nothing, right? And it was the book of Romans. Somewhere in Romans. And the teacher was a medical doctor. His lesson was zoom, zoom, zoom. I didn't know what he was saying.
So I went home, I told my sister, I said, my older sister is here, I went to church today. Would you want to come with me next week? But she agreed to come with me next week. We told our parents, I told my mum, Hey, I went to church today, mum. My mum said, If you ever go again, you come back, there will be no lunch. Now, I grew up in that era, right? They are traditional Chinese. They worship ancestors. Christianity is foreign. That's not us. So my sister went with me the next Sunday. Book of Romans. Zoom, zoom, zoom, zoom. And at the end of the class, by the way, the Sunday school teacher never even find out, did not introduce himself to us. He doesn't know who we are. He doesn't know that I'm just a new Christian and my sister is not a Christian. My sister was very direct. At the end of the class, she went up to the teacher and said, Dr. Tan, I have no idea what you said today. That was so politically incorrect, right?
So we left as quickly as we came in and said, We are never coming back. That's my journey. So I'm telling you this that we can be fruitful even talking like Richard talking to me from a non-Christian background. I appreciate it. He tried and then what? So sad. He has become plateaued or declining. So my question to you this morning is where is your disciple? Are you fruitful? Who is following you because you are following Jesus? See, Satan wants us to be busy with many things. By the way, my family and I, we spent like seven days in Japan. We went to Universal Studio. I think that might be the first Universal Studio that I went to because for the sake of our two grandsons, I don't like amusement park. Because to me, I feel like it's a waste of time. I see people running around. They're having all the fun, but it's just for the fun, right? Which is good.
If you are tired, it's good to have some fun. But if every day of our life that's what you aim for, that's bad. Because that is not life purpose. So we are called to be ambassadors of Jesus 24/7. So you work for the subway system or whatever, you work for them from 9 to 5. But you work for Jesus the whole day. You're looking out for opportunities. In the office, somebody has a problem. You can say a word. That's my suggestion to you. Fruitful Christians must stay connected to Jesus. The second principle of the fruitful Christian life is allow the Father to prune us. That's the part that we don't like to talk about. Pruning. Pruning is very difficult. And so when I'm growing all these things in my backyard, I really don't like to prune my vegetables and my trees and my plants. Oh, they're doing so well. I have all these pears and persimmons and nectarines and figs. They're doing well.
Why do I need to prune them? But you know this is a principle the vegetable world. You want growth, you have to prune. You have to cut off the parts that are not growing. The parts that are growing very well. You still have to prune because you want to encourage more growth. You know why? Give example, cucumbers and tomatoes. They love to give us leaves. You know leaves need a lot of energy. And so when you plant tomatoes and Cucumbers. They will have a lot of leaves. They will have flowers as well. They will become cucumbers and tomatoes. But they have more and more and more leaves. And the leaves will crowd out the cucumbers and the tomatoes. And if you don't cut them off, you know what happens? It suffocates the plant. There is no airflow and you will have diseases. Okay, so pruning gives airflow, tells the plant, I don't want the leaves, I want the fruit. I want the fruit. And when you see tomatoes, cucumbers, the more you harvest, the more the plant will produce.
But what happens if you don't prune and you don't harvest, the plant will say, This is what I read. I can't hear the plant saying it. The plant will say, Okay, my job is done. I've given you 10 tomatoes. Okay, he quits. And you have a dead tomato and cucumber plant. But more you prune and harvest, it will give you more and more and more. Of course, there's a limit, all right? Okay? So failure to prune, there will be no growth. So we have to allow God to prune us. Now, I'm not a flower guy. flowers are beautiful. Roses are beautiful. But I'm more of a vegetable and fruit guy. Why? Because I get to eat them. I can't eat flowers. All right? The one exception would be roses. My wife love roses and so I plant that lots of roses. The aroma. It's year round. Where we live, it flowers like two, three times a year. Always roses on the plant.
But you know what I discovered? If I don't prune it, I will have no roses. That's the same principle. If we want to be fruitful as Christians, we have to allow God to prune us. And there have been many people, famous Christians, God prunes them. Joni Eareckson Tada The lady who is a paraplegic can only move the neck and up here, everything else is dead. You know she has cancer twice? She's still fighting the second bout of breast cancer. She suffered so much. But you know what happened is that in the midst of the suffering, you see the joy of Christ come out of her. Every nurse that comes into her hospital room, she will share the gospel. And non-Christians are watching Christians. When Christians go through pruning, non-Christians are watching us. Why? If we react the same way as they, so what's the difference? And you see the joy, the perseverance of Christians, these are the things that attract non-Christians.
How come the person, how come you can take this with joy in your face? And that's what they want. my testimony to you. One day I was reading... I didn't read this verse that day. I was doing my QT, but this verse flashed into my mind, Oh God, owe no man anything. And I hear God telling me, Don't owe anybody anything. Lord, I don't want to owe anybody anything. Now, during that period, Our older daughter just moved out. She has many things. The house is very empty. Now we have to rearrange. So I have to rearrange things. And then I came across a whole stack of stamps that I had forgotten all about. See, she and I had gone to sort of like Walmart, Sam's Club to buy stamps. So I went in, went to the checkout, I said, I want a book of 20 stamps. And the lady said, Okay, pay first. And then you wait here because I don't have stamps in my drawer to give you. Someone will give you.
So I said, Okay, I pay. It was like 780, something like that. They are forever stamps. Okay, forever stamps. You don't have it in Singapore. Forever stamps is the US government trying to trick people to buy lots of stamps. Why? Because it says forever. You buy at this price, you can use it forever. And every year they increase the price. So you think, Oh no, if I buy now, then I won't have to pay more later. And so you buy a whole stack, right? Singaporeans, right? So I bought. I said 20 stamps. And I paid. Waited. Two of us waited. 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 20 minutes. I was really upset. 20 minutes. And then so one of the managers said, What are you doing here? He said, I'm ready for my 20 stamps. Okay, stay here. I'm going to get it for you. He got somebody else to come and service us. Gave us 20 books of 20 stamps. Instead of 20 stamps, 20 books of 20 stamps. For seven something. Oh, that is a bargain, right?
So I was telling my daughter, they made a mistake. But serves them right. Time is money. And I've been standing here for so long, all right? So we went home. It's their mistake. I didn't steal, right? No, I have a mentor. He's 95 years old. He just celebrated his birthday. I will meet him once a month and we will talk. And I told him this two months ago. He said, Oh, you didn't do anything wrong. Keep it. It's their fault. My mentor is 95 years old. I said, But God has been bugging me, owe no man anything. So just before I left for India last month, I wrote a very nice letter. So it was a slap on the face that your customer service sucks, all right? So, enclosed the cheque. It was very painful, okay? I don't mean to buy $180 worth of stamps. So I wrote a cheque, enclosed it, mailed it to their headquarters. Never hear from them. My bank account is still the same. And then my wife came and she said, Oh, just before we left, Sam's Club wrote us a letter. We don't have an account to receive this kind of money.
Here is your cheque returned to you. I said, Thank God. Now, now I can spend the money and use the stamp. I didn't steal from them, right? You know, I don't want to be the pastor, know that the pastor who stole a hundred over dollars worth of stamp from this place, right? What are you stealing? If I have stolen stamps, what have you stolen? What is God putting his finger on? See, that's how God prunes us. God speaks to us, you need to take care of that. See, God saves us. Yes, our sins are forgiven. We are going to heaven. But he's in the process of pruning, making us like Jesus. And there are imperfections, there are problems in our life. maybe lack of forgiveness or patience or whatever. And he wants to deal with those and he's bugging you. Are you taking care of that? Let me suggest to you, if you take care of that, you will be even more fruitful because the slate is clean. God, I come clean. Please use me. God uses only pure instruments, right? He say that.
Second question. What fruitfulness does? What does fruitfulness look like? More proper English. What does fruitfulness look like in real life? And I just want to give you a couple of examples. Fruitfulness is a life that gives God glory. It's in the passage. Fruitfulness gives Christians You can tell that this person is fruitful when God gets the glory. Remember, just before this passage, the blind man born from birth, they asked Jesus why was he born blind, parents fault or his fault? Neither. What did he say? He is born blind so that God will get glory. And when he was healed, he was so joyful. That's the two prong reason or the result of fruitfulness. Do you see your life giving God glory? Do you experience joy every day? Fruitfulness gives God glory. This is my Father's glory that you bear much fruit. Show yourselves to me my disciples.
When a Christian is multiplying, a Christian is leading people to Jesus and discipling them, God gets the glory. That's me. That's my fig tree. Every morning I go out there during the fruiting season, that's like June. I look at it from flowers, no, there are no flowers on the fig tree. It becomes fig. And I am happy. I say, Lord, this is your creation. I give God glory every morning. And every morning from June to July, I come back inside with a bowl of figs. If you have never eaten fresh figs, come and visit me. Okay? My two grandsons love them, and they know which one to pick from. The brown ones. Every morning, for more than a month. Sometimes morning, every morning, and sometimes even in the evening. I am so joyful as figs, and my neighbours will come over. Can I have some of your figs? And I said, Yeah, sure.
How long does it take to plant this fig tree for it to give you so much fruit? I said, Five years. He said, Okay, thank you. I just picked your figs. Okay. Our first attempt never grown tomatoes. It was wonderful to see them grow. 2015, a little bit later, you see the harvest, I can't finish eating all that, by the way. The reason I do that is so that I can go around the neighbourhood and say, Who wants this? I have 95% of the people living around us are Indians. I'm so glad there are some Indians here. They love vegetables. And if you give them vegetables, they will always open their door to you. I would bring a basket. You know how selfish people are? I brought a whole basket of tomatoes, cucumbers. get this lady she walks in and comes back with an empty basket I meant to I meant for my neighbours but she would again but I say I understand so the next time I will say please take some okay now this is 2024 it was just like two years ago this is from one week this is called arugula if you have never tasted arugula it is a healthy healthy vegetable. You can eat it raw. It's a health food, very expensive. Lettuces, chilies, nectarines from one plant. And see, I'm harvesting. This was last year. I have nectarines, I have Asian pears, and later on I will have American pears. You know, you think planting is tough work. Wait till you harvest. the new harvest is hard work cutting them getting them ready and putting them in the freezer my third harvest last year persimmons okay that is physical vegetable world let's look at the spiritual world the lady Bee is a Malaysian Sujin is a from Thailand one day Bee came in with her two children, a young son and a young daughter.
Okay, watch it, sitting there. At the end of the service, I went up to her and asked, introduced myself and found out she's from Malaysia. Oh, I'm from Singapore. We speak the same language, sort of. So we talked. And I asked her, Why are you here? America is so bad. I'm so scared of leaving my children in the public school. They will learn to be bad. And so we tried the temple, we tried this, we tried that. At the end, she and her husband said, Let's try the church. So she's coming to the church for an answer. So that... that was Sunday. Ah no, this is not that. It was later, okay? I asked her address, went to visit her with a couple from our church. They have been in our church for 20 years, sort of like some of you. Two from Thailand. And we did something that I easily don't do. I shared the gospel on the dining table. Five of us, that's a crowd man. Me, two more five church members and a husband and a wife. Husband is from Thailand and served as a monk for one year. It's like their national service.
But he really didn't think too much of it. Share the gospel at the end of it. Do you want to ask Jesus to be your Saviour? They both say yes. Wow! Sigh of relief, because what happens if one say yes, one say no, that's going to be a problem. If they say both say no, that's okay. But they both say yes. And so I turned to the church member. I said, Lin and Tee, can you start discipling them? I'll give you the material to disciple them. 20 years as church members, the husband told me, Pastor, We don't know how to do it. We have never done it before. In my heart, I said, What have you been doing in church for 20 years? See what I mean? So I said, Well, let's start next week. I will start the first lesson and I'll show you how to do it and then you carry on. So they did. They carry on for six months. They were so happy discipling this couple. At the end of it, Tee came up to me and said, Pastor, that was such a good experience. Do you have any more such contacts? I said, You're supposed to be looking for your own contact. You're supposed to be looking for your own, you know? It depends on the pastor. The pastor is dead, man. Right? So, and they began teaching in Sunday school. That's the growth. And the children grew up in church. This is one example of being fruitful. I want to share something with you. Maybe you have never seen it before. This is a principle of evangelism that helps me. There are at least two kinds of non-Christians, Type B and Type A. Type A is the people who are easy going.
They will listen to you, they will accept your message, like me. God opened my heart. Okay, it's not me. I'm a sinner. God opened my heart and then Richard shared with me, within three weeks, I accepted Jesus. I took in the message. So that's type A. Type B are the people who like you as a friend, but they don't like the message. And so what happens? You look at these people, you spend time with them. You spend time with them. And then your prayer is to move them from being on this side of the triangle to the other side until they make a commitment to Jesus. So let me suggest to you, if you don't have a... write it down on your phone. Have a piece of paper on your phone, three columns. Type B, second column type A, and the third one Christian. And then you put names under each of the column. You will be surprised. I've done it so many years, and I see God moving the person who is type B, type A, and then being a Christian.
And some of them are sitting here today in Neighbourhood Baptist Church. Because they come to our church, they are not Christians. And I got to baptise them. What privilege. So, can you all do this? Let me illustrate this. I was in the army a long time ago, 50 years ago. That's me. I'm not always that fat, okay? I was kidding. Alright? That's me. That's Jimmy. Jimmy, I led to Christ. The last month I was in the army. And then Lin, non-Christian. I was sharing and said, No, no, don't talk to me. So what kind of a non-Christian is Lin? Me. Type B. And then last month, we met up again because of Jimmy. Jimmy was in the mall and saw Lin, Hey, are you that guy from that camp? We started talking. I tell you for the life of me, if I look at the two of them, I will not be able to recognise that he is from the same camp. I don't even look alike. I think it's God's providence that He recognised him, and we met up. I had shared Christ with Lin in the army. He said, Don't talk to me about the gospel. I don't believe.
But this time, we were in Japanese one, sat down, drank coffee, and I used this iPad with the bridge illustration. He sat through it for 15 minutes. He listened. At the end of it, Lin, where are you? I'm in the middle I'm thinking I'm thinking I said okay you were thinking 50 years ago and you're thinking you don't have much time I'm 72 you are 72 we are heading the other way you know don't take too long to think so we left I gave him a bunch of gospel tracts and said I'll be praying for you and then last week I met up with Jimmy and we talked about the situation and we said what What do you think is Lin's problem that keeps him from becoming a Christian? What is the one thing that he's struggling with? He has everything, he retired, he has CPF and he has got pension. Every day he can go and swim. He has no money worries. I sense his problem, he has no grandchildren. His only son, married, don't want to have children. That is something that was bugging him. So please pray. We are praying for him. So that explains it.
Chris is not here. That young man on the right came to our church. We led him to Christ and then his landlord picked him out. He needs a place to stay. And so what happened? My wife and I, we were without children yet. Oh, come and stay with us. He came and stayed with us for two years. Two to three years. And became my brother-in-law. Okay? Why? Because my sister, we were doing church planting still. They became a Christian, fell in love with my sister, became my brother-in-law. Hey, evangelism has fringe benefits. Yeah, they became my brother-in-law. and went to Bible school, became a pastor, and one of his sons is now a youth pastor. That is called third generation. When he has children, hopefully one of them will become a full-time worker. That will be fourth generation.
But you have to open your home for 2-3 years. And then when you open your home for 2-3 years, they know all your secrets. Right? So one day he came and told me, Hey, Po Wing, you're not treating your wife well. So I said, Oh, okay. And explain to me, I apologise to my wife. I'm telling you, there are no perfect people, not even pastors. I'm not perfect. You know how many times I apologise to my two daughters, my grandchildren, even come down and apologise and apologise to my wife? Because God is pruning us, right? He's the guy who lives across the street from us in North Carolina. He's been my neighbour for now four years. For the first two years, Hindu, medical doctor, serve in the US Army, drive one Tesla after another, owns two homes. Every day somebody is fixing his house, he's that rich, alright?
When you talk to him, He knows the American system. He really knows. He's a tough nut. How to share Christ with this Hindu? And I'm so glad that some Indians here, you will appreciate it. That was my prayer. How do I, as a pastor, encourage my church members to evangelise and disciple if I am not evangelising and discipling? Pray for him. Prayed for him, prayed for him. And then without knowing it, last year, everything came crashing down. Outside his house, he was standing with me. He was looking at his house. Hey, Po Wing, if I die today, I don't know who I'm going to give this house to. In my heart, I was thinking, Just give it to me. No, in my heart, I was there, but I was just wondering why is he saying that? Life has no meaning I have all this but I have no one I'm alone and he ran over to me one day and said you're the guy that I you can help me my girlfriend my girlfriend is pregnant and I'm thinking to myself what can I do my girlfriend is pregnant and she got pregnant twice both times lost the baby you know he's carrying the guilt that I wasn't there and my girlfriend lost her baby and the girlfriend broke up with him and said, I'm not going to marry you. Maybe superstition, I don't know.
But he's very superstitious. He has an elephant on the front door. There was no elephant and then one day there was an elephant. So I asked him, What happened? He said, Well, my house is facing the wrong direction. Putting the thing there so that the bad things won't come into my house. Superstitious, super smart. One day, as I was praying for him, I heard the Lord telling me, Go and invite him for tea. I mean, we've had him over for dinner before. But that day, invite him over for tea. So, I called him, invited him over for tea. Then discovered he loves English tea with milk and sugar. Wow, so much sugar, medical doctor, it’s killing you! You know? So, drink tea, have cookies. And I shared the gospel with him. I used the bridge of life, step by step. He reads the gospel verse, I put it on the drawing and explained to him. At the end of it, I asked him, Are you on the left or are you on the right? In the middle, No, it isn't, I'm on the left. Do you want to accept Jesus to be your Lord and Saviour? Yes, I want Jesus to be my Lord and Saviour. And I pray with him. accepted Jesus that day and he started coming to our church and he's rarely absent but he's usually Indian time okay I started discipling him he's so serious he brings his iPad he takes notes he asks questions he tries to memorise scriptures which is hard and then I went to India I handed him over to my son-in-law And my son-in-law said, I'm really so busy, I'm worship leader, I'm doing all this. I said, This is something that you need to do.
So he agreed. And they finished six months. He finished. I'm telling you, the changes in him brings me so much joy, brings God so much glory. Do you know this iPad it says? It's brand new. When I went to India last year, I'm a student who doesn't have a, he has a broken computer. So I gave him my brand new iPad. I came back and I told them. And Anbu said, oh, you're going to India again. You need an iPad. No, don't buy, don't buy one. I'll give you mine. But you cannot give it to an Indian. You have to bring it back. So, you see, from being a selfish person, he has become generous. You know he paid for a buffet dinner for my students in India? See that? You see the changes? Fruit. And so when we get back to the US, I'm starting the next level of discipling. I'm hoping that Anbu and another neighbour next door, Daniel, American Indian, looks like very fair American Indian. join us for a book reading. We finished it last year and the two of them will lead the next group and we are going around the neighbourhood knocking on doors and we already have people who agreed to join us. Please pray for us because it's not easy. You know why? Americans are very mobile. You develop a relationship with them, next day, Oh, I'm moving. You know Anbu is the fifth neighbour in that house? We have lived there since 2008 until now.
But we have had five sets of different neighbours. We will reach out to them, give vegetables and start conversation. And before we get to the gospel, oh, they're moving. That's the challenge, one of the challenges I face. So let me encourage you when you fall follow the Lord Jesus, you will have joy. And God will be so glorified through what you do. And I just want to end with this example. I'm sure your pastor has a bigger library than mine. He's a reader, I'm not. At the end of I'm 72, my wife says you better get rid of their books because when you die, nobody is going to read them. So I'm giving it to India. So I packed all my boxes. But you know, different companies have different requirements. I repacked the books three times. Okay, this is the last time I'm packing it. 40 boxes, about 50 pounds each. Came to 1,700 pounds. You know how much it costs to ship from where we live all the way to the school in India where I'm teaching? Total cost. 3,600 US. And on top of that, the Indian government taxed $1,000. 4,600. I don't have the money. Do you have the money to ship something like that? Do you believe in this? God always pays the bills for what he has ordered. You google it, you won't find it. Something like that. It's something floating around on the internet.
When it's God's will, It's God's will. God will pay. And so I'm a testimony to you. If you trust God to be fruitful, He will always keep His promises. I don't like to read. I end up with so many books. God, this is your problem. So, He going to get rid of it. He's going to pay for it, right? So, I wrote a letter, sent it out to people. This couple that we are having book discussions with next door, Daniel and Anna. After we finished the Bible study, we gave them the letter. They went home, and then they came back and knocked on the door. We want to give you this for this. 10 US $100 bills. I hardly see real $100 bills. Everybody use credit card. Some reason he has 10 new $100 bills. This is for them. That's how faithful God is. Just before I left North Carolina to fly to India, everything came in. Different people gave. A Malaysian gave 3000 US. It added up, paid for my airfare. You know India doesn't pay anything. My Indian brother says he says, India doesn't pay for anything. You come, you pay for your airfare, you stay there, you pay for the lodging, you eat, you pay for the food, you take transport, you pay for that. And then they want, Do you have any else to give? That's India. It's sad. Hopefully they'll climb out of it.
But you know, God provided. And I am here to tell you this. My wife and I, we've been in ministry since 1981. God has always provided. I don't know how we're going to send our two daughters. They are sitting here for their college. education, you know. But God has always provided. And we see God is faithful. We were at our dinner table praying for our older daughter who chose to go to a sort of semi-expensive private Christian university instead of a free university that even pays her to study. No, that is a better school. We prayed. We said Amen at the dinner table. And the postman was at the door knocking. And he said, You have a registered letter you have to sign for. And he said something very funny. I think you need this. Don't know why he said that. When we opened it, was a cheque, a big cheque that paid for her college education and more than enough. That's my testimony to you. If God tells you, He will not only pay money wise, but if He calls you to reach certain people or do certain things, He will always provide the resources. Question is, are you willing to take the first step to trust Him?
Let's pray. Father, we want to thank You Lord that You are a great God, You are our Father. You know what we need You have provided long before we ask. So Father, we want to pray that we will trust You. Lord, we want to be fruitful. You have given us that desire. Father, we pray that it will become a reality in each of our lives. We pray this in Jesus name. Amen.