Fan & Follower
Fan & Follower
In behalf of Grace Christian Fellowship in Antipolo Philippines and my family, I want to greet you all a blessed Sunday. This is the ministry that God entrusted to us in the Philippines. Praise the Lord!
I would also like to introduce my family. On the screen is my Wife Guene, our children, Jogee, who just turned 24 this month, there's my only son Thirdy and our youngest Geeamor.
It is my privilege to be ministering to you here this morning. I would also like to take this opportunity to let you know that the Lord had used Pastor Jerry tremendously in my personal spiritual growth as well as in my ministry. Pastor Jerry made an impact in my life when he mentored me about Discipleship.
I remember one time, my wife and I, talked to him at an E12 event in the Philippines. He spent time --- actually hours with us talking about discipleship. He was very patient with us in answering all our questions. And that's where our awareness of true discipleship all started and my perspective on ministry changed. Pastor Jerry never stopped from mentoring us since then.
Today, our church, is experiencing growth both in quality and numerically because of discipleship.
Not only that, the things I learned from Pastor Jerry, I passed on to pastors in my group in manila, and eventually to more groups of Pastors in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. In connection with discipleship a ministry were opened for pastors, and we called it Jesus in Jersey.
This is our avenue for reaching out to pastors who love basketball. We organize leagues for pastors with the theme and guiding rules on Christlikeness in Character. We use this platform in order to mentor and intentionally pass on whatever we have learned about true discipleship. We do this so they will become interested and gradually embrace discipleship.
When pandemic happened, We do not stop learning from Pastor Jerry through online mentoring. My desire is see more and more churches in the Philippines grow numerically and in spiritual maturity. By the way, BCI family, thank you for sharing him with us.
Today I will be sharing with you a message you may have already heard, but let me share them with you again based on my actual experience in the church.
Let me start off with a short quiz. It is going to be very easy and I hope you all pass. All you need to do is say what item or product that the word I will be showing on your screen is best known for. Is that clear?
Ok, let’s see how quick you are:
Coca-cola - Soda, in the Philippines we call it softdrink
Colgate - Toothpaste.
Apple/Mac - Computer, cellphone
Starbucks - Coffee
Toyota - Car
Rolex - Watch
Jansport - bag
Christians - Follower of Christ
I heard correct answers. Congratulations! You pass the quiz. You know it very well because this church is a disciple making church, Praise God!.
But for those who couldn't answer, may you find the answer in my sermon today.
One of the problems we are faced in the world today is the difficulty in identifying Christians. Right?
How do the people around us see us?
Do they even notice how different we are from the world?
What are we individually known for as a follower of Jesus?
Can they identify us as a Disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ?
During the early days, Christians were not called Christians but disciples. Disciples of Jesus. One who follows and imitates Christ. In the history of the Roman Empire, if you are submitting to Caesar, you are called a Caesarian, Yes! because you belong to Caesar. So even if you are a male, you can be caesarian. (Well, that was supposed to be a joke… you know, surgical procedure for women— caesarian section).
I would like to share with you today a message that I love to share especially to fellow pastors, leaders and fellow believers. It is important to know and understand the 3 kinds of people who follow Christ.
In Matthew 8:1 it says, “When he was come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him.”
There are 3 kinds of people who follow Christ:
Fan - they are admirers of Jesus.
Crowd - a large group of people that follow Jesus around-- maybe because of the food. There was bread and fish and they were fed. Others were there because of the miracles and the healing of the sick.
And some were there, because they were disciples of Jesus.Disciple - a true follower of Jesus.
So, there is a difference between a Fan and a follower.
Some of us here may be a fan of personalities and celebrities, athletes, artists…. and more.
Some of you were probably fans of Lebron James of the NBA basketball? He won Championships and became MVP.
In soccer, some of you are probably fans of Christiano Ronaldo.
In boxing - we are fans of ? Of course, our very own Manny Pacquiao.
So, now let see, what is the difference between a fan and a follower?
A fan has bumper stickers on his car.
A follower sticks to Jesus and fishes for men.A Fan Likes Jesus on Facebook.
A follower reads and acts in faith on the Book.A fan wears an “I love you Jesus” T-shirt.
A follower truly loves Jesus.A fan is an admirer of a preacher.
A follower is addicted to Jesus.A fan wears the cross.
A follower bears the cross.A fan (maybe, not knowing) is lost and is headed for eternal torment.
A follower is a child of God filled with hope and love, and destined for heaven.
Remember this “It is easy to be a fan, nothing required, no qualification needed. But a follower needs total commitment to follow Christ and be his disciple.”
Which are you? Are you a fan or a follower of Jesus? Jesus is looking for followers not Fans.
Sadly, many people in churches today, are just FANS and not followers. But I believe here in BCI we are followers of Jesus and not just fans. Amen? Praise God!
Allow me to share to you my joy, my story and my testimony on how the Lord blessed the ministry in Antipolo with one of the big factors of church growth that is discipleship. And I know that you will rejoice with us because you are a part of what God has done.
In 2003 I planted a church in Antipolo City Philippines together with my wife, Guene. For 9 years since I started the work, it was a happy church. I was sincere and committed, BUT the sad truth is, in those 9 years I failed to teach the believers to become true followers of Christ and to make disciples. I taught them the Sunday routine of arriving, attending, and departing. The quarrelling and gossiping they learned on their own.
Well, people would come to church, take their favorite seat and then leave after the service. Yet even though that was the case, we still experienced an increase in number of attendees. How? Some single adults married and added their spouse to the membership. There were a few new babies born to the couples who would later join the cradle or nursery Sunday school. Children grew to be teenagers, adding new members to the youth group. And though the gospel was being preached, that was basically how we grew in number.
Very few were added to the church and spiritual growth was very slow, if not stagnated. Our numeric growth as a church was like this: we started the ministry with less than 15 in attendance. Then a few were added, we became 20, then 30. Then after 9 years we had a membership of around 50.
Unfortunately, we got stuck to 50-60 at a maximum, because I and my wife, regardless of how committed we were, can only do so much. I did not train able leaders to do ministry with us. It became hard getting commitment and involvement from the church. I later on grew tired and discouraged. I started getting sick. I can say, I hit rock bottom emotionally and I wanted to quit. I got burnt out in the ministry.
So, throughout the years of having a maximum of 60 members, we planned more events and activities to boost our attendance. We celebrated our church anniversaries with lots of food because Filipinos love to eat, we served lechon to attract more attendees, Pilipino style. You know? Well, with all the festivities, not to mention the take home lechon our attendance would expectedly reach 100. But, come the following Sunday, when there was no more lechon, the visitors would not return. So we would go back to a 50 to 60 attendees.
It was very discouraging. Quitting was the most desirable thing for me to do at that time ….depression crept in… BUT the Lord carried me in His arms and saw me through those trying times. Unexpected friends came and comforted me with their prayers, and the Lord sent mentors who talked to me, Pastor Dave Sera Josef and my family included. And during that time, E12 discipleship was introduced to me and to my wife ..by Pastor Jerry. Gradually, we had this renewed hunger to know and seek God more: And at the same time we wanted others to have the same experience.
I recovered from my depression and found our love and devotion to the Lord rekindled. I sought to be mentored about discipleship. I prayed to understand it more. I did research and studied about growing churches. I then found out that Discipleship is their strength.
We finally decided to give top priority on doing the great commission in our church, GCF Antipolo.
It felt like starting all over again in the ministry, only this time we were determined to Go and make disciples. We started to train our members to share the gospel, and we taught them how to disciple and help others grow in their faith resulting to involvement in the ministry.
The goal we made in the church was: “Every member a minister”
If you are a part of this church, you must be involved.--- you should be able to share the gospel and make disciple. You know what, after a couple of years making disciples, we grew in quality and in quantity of 120. Then at just before this pandemic, we had in our church 200 plus.
As disciples they were maturing in the faith and continually making disciples. And ministries were opened. We had a monthly youth ministry or youth worship service called UPLIFT with an attendance that grew up. There are several times on an uplift service the youth attendees had to line up outside the building with the heat of the sun just to attend Youth Service. The attendance grew up from 200 to 700 young people. Many surrendered their life to Christ as their Lord and Savior. Of course it was all by the grace of God and for his glory.
If we would only continue on in getting involved in sharing the gospel and making disciples, it will bring unstoppable growth.
One of our joys in the ministry is seeing the youth come to Christ. We have witnessed young people in our church come to the Lord, grow in their faith, serve in ministries, and finally decide to serve full time as pastors. We presently have 4 young men enrolled in Bible school and 2 newly graduated pastors. I would like to share with you some of them:
A. Japhet - during his early years in the faith, I assigned him to only one task in the church. To operate the stage lights during our worship time (just that, nothing else). After a few years of continuing ang growing in the faith and in ministry, he is now preaching, teaching, making disciples and sharing the gospel, Lord willing he will graduate from the bible school in 1 and a half years
B. Jet - He came to know Christ as a young boy in Sunday school. When he became a teenager, I assigned him to be an usher in the church. His assignment is just to open and close the door to the worship hall every Sunday, and to greet people “Good morning” with a big smile. Today he is now a pastor teaching, making disciples and sharing the gospel. He also recently graduated from bible school last month.
C. Divino - I shared the gospel to Him when he was a teenager, and early on in his faith, he wanted to serve in the church. So I assigned Him to head our before-and-after care team. They set up everything in the church: the sound system, speakers, projector, wires, mics and then, his team would pack-up after the service. He grew and continued in the faith. Today, he is a good preacher and evangelist, and he also graduated last month being a full-fledged pastor.
They started from small tasks and allowed themselves to be discipled and God do the amazing. Let us prioritize what God has commanded us to do, to fulfill the great commission.
The bible says Matthew 28:19-20 “Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. 20 teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you: and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.”
This is Jesus’ Great commission, Jesus last intention, then last commission. And His last intent must be our top priority.
Sharing the gospel and making disciple is not a one time event. Discipleship is a journey, it’s not a program, its a life time process. And Christianity is not about being religious BUT about propagating the gospel to the world. Our calling is not to act like a Christian but to really become one in lifestyle.
And we must not stop growing unto Christlikeness ‘til He comes. And We are called to grow. We are called to Grow.
The bible says in Ephesians 4:14 “Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming.”
We are called to grow brother and sister.
Look at the picture of this baby. Babies are cute: whatever they do they are always cute. BUT when someone in their 40s behave and act like a baby, it is no longer cute. something is not right.
Just as we grow physically, we also need to grow and mature spiritually. Because if we don’t, we are no different than this Bondying.
And it is a spiritual handicap. This is why in our church in Antipolo, my challenge is, if you have been in the church for a long time, you should be able to point others to Jesus and lead others to grow.
During baptism of new believers in our church, I always ask them “Do you like a regular or a special baptism.”?
If going to heaven is your only concern then you will be given what we call the Special Baptism. Special baptism is a 30 minute immersion and you go straight to heaven. (If your not willing to follow Christ and your only concern is going to heaven, so ill give you a special baptism)
And Regular baptism is when you are willing to follow Jesus, obey Him, share the gospel and make disciples. The immersion will not take a minute.
I am just joking. Please DO-NOT do the special baptism here in your church.
But seriously, Christians, let us Grow in our faith, let us share the gospel, lets start making disciples.
The Lord can use all of you. God uses even the ordinary people. Remember the disciples of Jesus? They were ordinary men. But the Lord used them greatly for his kingdom and glory.
So, Let us work TOGETHER. The harvest is plenteous but the laborers are few. We need more laborers, evangelist and a disciple maker. This is what happens when we work together
An experiment was done on two horses. One horse like this on the screen, can pull a heavy load that weighs 8,000 pounds. Then they got another horse that can pull a 9,000 load or pounds. Now, the question is, When you take these two horses, how much weight can they pull together? 8,000 PLUS 9,000=suppose to be 17,000 pounds. Correct?
Surprisingly, they discovered that together, these two horses can pull 30,000 pounds. Amazing, right?My point is, that there is power when we work together.
So, let us help each other. Let us all get involved and be a part in the great commission. The harvest is plenty, and the Lord needs more laborers. Many more people still need to hear about God's saving grace through Jesus Christ.
Be involved in spreading the gospel.
Just be willing and available to be used by God for His purpose and for his glory.
You can start SMALL, or start with just one person, tell that one person about the love of God, I believe that YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE in one’s life.
Let me end with this story:
There was once a young boy who saw a starfish by the shore as he was walking. He knew that it would die when exposed to too much sun. Seeing the helpless starfish, he carefully picked it up and threw it back to the water so it will live. But the thing is, the whole stretch of the shore was filled with starfish tossed by the tide. There were just too many of them. Again, knowing that the helpless starfish would die when left on the shore. The little boy started picking one star fish at a time and threw it back to the water. It seemed impossible to rescue all of them for they were too many.
Then, a man came, looked at the boy and asked, “What are you doing?”
The boy replied, “I’m trying to save this star fish.”
"You wont make a difference” answered the man who saw how plenty there were.
You know how the boy responded? The boy took another starfish, threw it back into the water and said, “I made a difference in that one’s life”
So what’s the point? You may not be called to minister to many, but you can make a difference at least in one person’s life. Amen?
Do not fear. Do not be afraid to testify. Be of good courage. In Acts 1:8 “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
You will receive what? Power! To do the impossible, to become a witness, that you could witness, God can use you.
As I end my message, this is my prayer for you.
On the screen is the Australian emblem. The two creatures on this emblem, the kangaroo and the emu signifies moving forward because they both do not know how to step or walk backwards, they will fall if they do. So, they represent forward progression. Putting on the emblem means "Advance Australia".
And this is my prayer for This church (BCI) may we not move back but to advance and move forward. To progress and to grow in Christ.
Australia cries, "Advance Australia!" - Let yours be ”Advance BCI for the glory of our God!”
Lets pray.
Rev. Jun Gapilango