Good morning. Wow, I missed you. What do you think of my fashion this morning? Yeah, I got it a few weeks ago from Sri Lanka. My dear friend, one of the prominent church leaders of Sri Lanka gave it to me. Well, actually he bought it and gave it to me, of course. And then this is what he said, David, the next time you get to speak at a missions conference, you need to put this on. And I'm going, this is just a regular Sunday morning service. But thankfully, The message is coming from 2 Timothy, and 2 Timothy is all about discipleship. And missions, the essence of missions is making disciples of all nations. So I'm going, wow, I think I should put this on and ask some of those people here who may have received the spiritual gift of discernment, Would you tell me if this is man's shirt, or man's dress, or even miniskirt, you know? I just, I wanted to know. Well, my message this morning comes from 2 Timothy chapter 2, verses 8 through 13. Now, this text, however, hinges on 2 Timothy 2.2. which Pastor Jesse covered two weeks ago. So let us read 2 Timothy 2 out loud all together. Are you ready? Get set, go. What you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses in trust of faithful men who will be able to teach others also. Now, in this brief, short text, we find four spiritual generations. Now, who are those people? Number one, Paul, and then Timothy. And then there are faithful men. And then those who will be empowered and discipled by these faithful men. Now this is what is fascinating about this whole process. By reaching out to one, we reach out to many. Isn't it fascinating by reaching out to one, we reach out to a multitude of people. Look at Jesus, he reached out to only 12 people and he developed them. Now, one third of the world's population are following Christ. We, amen, amen, yeah. Only three people are excited about that, huh? Yeah, why don't we give God a big hand? Yeah, yay, excellent. Now, we call this process multiplication through discipleship. Let us watch this video. Came across this very interesting story about a man called Kindle. Apparently he was a Sunday school teacher. We just want him to serve God. He would show up to church every Sunday and serve faithfully in teaching the little children about Jesus Christ. He was a Sunday school teacher who had a great passion, who wanted to do more than just doing it on Sundays. So during the weekdays, he would actually follow through with all the children who came to his class on Sunday, to make sure that they understood who Jesus was. And it helped them understand a better relationship with him. And there was one kid in his class who came from a very rough background and couldn't understand who God was. So Kimball would take the extra step in going and visiting this kid, in his place of work. And back in those days, you know, the kids were working as laborers. They would visit him at his shoe store where he worked and would tell him about Jesus and kept persuading him about what an amazing plan that Jesus had for his life. And finally, in the back of the store, this little young kid, you know, accepts Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. And his name was D.L. Moody. An amazing man of God. And because someone called Richard Kimball decided he was going to pursue it. But here's the interesting thing. The story doesn't end there. The story actually begins there. Because D.L. Moody received this incredible salvation experience and said, I gotta do something about it. Quits his job. and begins preaching the gospel, and God uses Deal Moody to go throughout the whole world, and when Deal Moody was traveling in the United States, there was a man called Wilbur Chapman, who hears the message of Deal Moody in one of the Evangelistic Crusades, and responds to the message and says, I gotta do something for Jesus, and Wilbur Chapman then begins to preach the gospel himself, and while Wilbur Chapman is preaching the gospel, a baseball player who was well-known in America, listens to the message of Wilbur Taftman, and at the end of his crusade, he comes up and gives up his life to Jesus. And his name was Billy Sunday. And Billy Sunday, right after he receives Jesus, quits his career at baseball and says, I'm going to devote the rest of my life in serving Jesus Christ. So he begins to do crusades just like Wilbur Taftman does. And as Billy Sunday begins preaching the gospel, a man called Mordecai Ham, who is a very astute gentleman, who is very refined, who is seated in his crusade, hears the message of Jesus Christ, stands up and gives his life for Jesus Christ. And this guy, Mordecai Ham, goes to a little town called Charlotte in North Carolina, and he's preaching the gospel in the 10th crusade meeting. And there's a bunch of kids who are standing outside and they're saying, we got to go in there and we're going to cause trouble tonight in that meeting. And in that bunch of friends, there was one kid who didn't want to cause trouble, but he just wanted to see what would happen when they caused trouble. So he walked into that tent meeting to come and see what would happen when his friends would cause trouble. But as he sat there in that tent meeting, hearing Mordecai Ham preach the gospel, something within him resonated. And he said, I gotta respond to this. So he went the next night, and the next night when he heard the gospel, he went out to the altar and gave his life to Jesus Christ. His name was Billy Graham. And Billy Graham, hold on, I'm not done yet. Billy Graham, till date, it is inestimated that through the ministry of Billy Graham, 2.2 billion people have heard the gospel of Jesus Christ through the ministry of Billy Graham. It all began in a chain of series with a man called Kimball, a Sunday school teacher. of all people who said, I'm gonna be devoted with the gifting that God has placed in my life, I'm gonna do it every Sunday sincerely, I'm gonna go out of my way and I'm gonna tell these kids about Jesus and what he started, ended up reaching 2.2 billion people and more because we're not taking into account all the other people who got saved, all the other evangelists who were saved in the process as well. Never underestimate what God can do through a simple act of service that you do for his kingdom. You need to recognize that what God has given, whether you think it's significant or not, in God's eyes, it's absolutely significant. Are you reaching out to one? Are you empowering one person? Are you discipling one person? Last Sunday, Pastor Jesse taught us that disciple makers have to be disciplined, have to be consistent in every aspect of their lives like a soldier. like an athlete, like a farmer. Now, my message this morning comes from, as I said, 2 Timothy 2, verses 8 through 13. And this text gives us the three sources of inspiration that will help us overcome obstacles and keep us going in the ministry of multiplication through discipleship. Now, what are those? Number one, we got to know Christ. This is what Paul says in verse eight. Remember Jesus Christ raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel. Now, look at this. In speaking of Jesus Christ, whom God raised from the dead, the apostle Paul adds this seemingly unnecessary qualifier, descended from David. In doing so, Paul intentionally makes the emphasis of his words to fall not on the resurrection itself, but on the fact that through his own Resurrection, Jesus proved to be the long-awaited Messiah, the Christ, the heir to the glorious promises of God for David. The essence of Paul's gospel is to present Jesus Christ as Christ. Jesus means Savior. But Christ means King, the Lord, the Master. So Paul is saying to Timothy, Timothy, when you disciple people, I know you will present Jesus as Savior, one who has set you free from the bondage of sin, from the bondage of oppression and hell. But Timothy, you should not stop there. You should go on to tell people that Jesus Christ is their Lord and their Master. Because without completely submitting your entire life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, consistently engaging in the process of multiplication through discipleship is not going to happen. Now, this text is asking you this question. Is Jesus Christ the Lord of your only spiritual life for 90 minutes Sunday mornings? Or Jesus Christ is the Lord and the master of every aspect of your life 24-7? Can you pray with me? Thy kingdom come, thy will be done. In use of my life, in use of my money, in use of my time, although fulfilling the great commission in my life may cost me something very expensive. over a month ago, almost 200 people from our church signed up to support Cambodian children. Yay. Am I the only one excited about that? Wow. Matt, thank you for your enthusiastic response. My goodness. Momentarily, I thought, is there anybody here? Wow. Goodness. At the invitation of the churches of a certain province of Cambodia, I started preparing for my own gospel evangelistic campaign in Cambodia three years ago. The province where I'm going to hold this crusade is full of idols. Now, in the process of training their pastors for evangelism and praying together with them, Pastor Ham Sui, the chairman of the Pastors Association, asked me if I could financially support them to reach out to all 200 churches of the province and build relationship with the pastors and invite all those pastors to work together to win the whole province for Christ. And I said, that's a great idea, but I have a question. Why do you need money to reach out to your own pastor friends? Pastor Hamsui didn't say anything, but one of his young associates told me this. Dr. Chung, there's a long story behind, but in short, our relationship has long been cut off, and we have remained enemies for decades. So I brought that up to my board, and my board decided to support that cause. Now the leaders of this pastors association went to seven different regions of the province, and the pastors came together, they worshiped together, they ate together, they decided to forget about the past, and they decided to forgive each other, and they decided to work together for the kingdom of God. They are one now, they are all reunited, because Jesus Christ is their master and their Lord. But the story doesn't end there. The last time I went to Cambodia, while I was serving there, there was the outbreak of the pandemic, so my ministry was seriously cut short. I didn't have the time to go visit all these 200 pastors while there. Having returned to Seattle, maybe two to three months later, I heard that Cambodian Christians were so suffering, so we sent food to these suffering Christians of Cambodia. And some people came to me, handed me money and said, David, would you strategically supply food to non-believers in the name of Jesus in Cambodia? Which I did. Thank you, Grace Community Church. Our church, you guys also gave to this project through our international partners ministry. So when they, amen, amen. When the Christians of Cambodia received the food, they were overjoyed and they were so grateful. On the day of the food distribution, it was a big thing that the The governor even came to that site, and the governor himself distributed the food to the Christians, and one of the local Cambodian TV stations featured that story as one of the important stories on their primetime TV news, and the secular media was praising Christian church for the good work that they were doing. The story doesn't end there either. A year later, in the summer of 2021, the governor invited all the 200 pastors to his office and he held a religious leaders meeting. In the presence of the leaders of the other religions, the governor praised the Christian church for setting a great example of loving by action. After that, he turned to the leaders of the other religions and he scolded the Buddhist and the Muslim leaders and told them to learn from the example set by the Christians. The chairman of the Pastors Association asked if I could supply lunch for this event with the governor. And my board said, We'll be glad to do that. And the pastor's spirit is just soared up and they're all so in high morale and they're ready to share the gospel with the people. And I'm in the process of dialoguing with these leaders to reset, to resume my evangelistic ministry in Cambodia probably next year. Jesus said, go make disciples of all nations. Praise God that our church is lately making an impact in Cambodia. It is our resolution that we will turn this nation around from the ignominious killing field in the past to the vibrant mission field of God for now so that glorious kingdom of God will come to Cambodia in the future. The Apostle Paul is saying, unless we are committed to Christ as the Lord and the master, it's going to be hard. for us to carry out the work of multiplication through discipleship, especially when there are obstacles and suffering. The second point, the second source for inspiration for discipleship, indoor suffering. Paul elaborates on his suffering this way. This is my gospel for which I am suffering, even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But God's word is not chained. Therefore, I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. Now, what is the biblical remedy for suffering? Paul's answer is simple. He says, endure it. Endure it! Let me set this in the proper context. Paul is an old man now. 2 Timothy is the last letter that Paul ever wrote. Now he is arrested for preaching Christ and making disciples. He's in prison and he's shackled with chain. As he is awaiting his own execution, which is soon to come, he is pleading with Timothy, his spiritual son, one last time. And I feel like the Apostle Paul is pleading with us, Grace Community Church, one last time, Timothy, Grace Community Church, keep multiplying the spiritual generations of disciples through your life and through your ministry, which I started. If you are suffering in the wake of your life and ministry, endure it for the sake of those who will come to know Christ through your ministry. Never give up, Timothy. Endure hardship, persevere, persist, pursue, trust in the Lord, and keep moving forward. Amen. I had the privilege of training for ministry under the international evangelist, Luis Palau. When I attended Luis's evangelist conference three years ago, little did I know that that was going to be his last conference because a year and a half later, he died of cancer at age 86. In that conference, the first speaker was a young pastor. And he spoke on the most popular three most common temptations facing evangelists. The desires for money, the desires for fame, and sex. Louis was the second speaker. As he stood behind the pulpit, he praised that young preacher for the relevant message. But then he said, there is one more temptation that the young preacher didn't mention. And I want to tell you, there is one more temptation that all evangelists must overcome. That is the temptation to quit. When I heard that, I had tears welled up. in my eyes because I had thought about quitting many times. Paul said, therefore I endured everything for the sake of the elect, that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. You may ask, how can you endure everything, including suffering? We find the key in Jesse's message last week. training and self-discipline like a soldier, like an Olympic athlete, and like a hard-working farmer. If self-discipline is too hard, Pastor Jesse and I wholeheartedly invite you to our Disciple Makers class. This is a class where like-minded Christians come together for spiritual discipline for multiplication. In fact, towards the end of my message, I'm going to give you an invitation to join our discipleship class. So listen carefully and respond faithfully to the call of God for training for multiplication. And the third source for inspiration for discipleship, expect reward. Paul says, here is a trustworthy saying, if we died with him, we will also live with him. If we endure, we will also reign with him. If we deny him, he will also deny us. Even if we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself. Since this passage is so clear about God rewarding our faithfulness, I'm not gonna try to unravel the meaning of this text. Instead, let me tell you a story of my friend. Abraham Lye is an evangelist in Myanmar. His ministry is to reach out to college campuses, young people on college campuses and disciple them. When I went to Myanmar years ago for my own ministry, one of the Baptist churches in Tacoma gave me $500 and said, would you hand it to Abraham Lye? It is our church's support for his ministry. And I also withdrew $500 from my ministry account that was for my travel expenses. The next day, when my wife Kay was dropping me off at the airport, she said, honey, how inexpensive Myanmar may be, $500 for 10 days is ridiculous. It's too, I mean, it's just too stingy. So for just in case, I put $100 more in your pocket. I'm going, praise God. You know, I've been to Myanmar many times over. It's a really cheap country. We don't need any extra money. $500 is good enough. So praise God, I'm freely entitled to embezzle this $100 for my own enjoyment later. I flew long hours to Yangon, arrived there, Abraham Lai was at the airport. I handed him the envelope that had $500 inside and I went to the hotel nearby the airport. I was gonna spend the night there and then go back to the airport the next day and then fly out two more hours to the city where I had a ministry. Now, as I was checking in that hotel, my heart sank. Because the hotel rate for one night was $100. And I'm going, oh my goodness, whoa, Myanmar is expensive. So as soon as I checked in, I opened my luggage and I was trying to find that $100 that my wife put somewhere. So I stick my hand into every pocket of every clothes, including even underwear, because although there was no pockets in the underwear, but anyway, anyway, As I was desperately trying to find this $100 bill, a spooky thought came to my mind. What if Kay put that money in that envelope that I handed to Abraham Lye? I had to ask my wife about it, so I opened my computer, turned it on to send her an email, and right at that moment, I received an email come from Abraham Lye. This is what he wrote in that email, Dr. Chung, I thought that the Tacoma Church was sending me $500, but when I opened it, there was $600. Is this extra hundred dollar bill an extra blessing? And I'm going, oh. In use of the most profound theological terminology, I began to freak out. You know, I'm going, oh, I desperately need that $100 for my living expenses, my travel expenses here, but how can I retrieve that $100 from this poorest of the poor Christian leader who has been faithfully making disciples in spite of all the persecution? I just, oh, how can I save my face? I didn't know what to do. It was an agonizing experience, but I mustered up all the courage that I had, and I wrote him, Abraham, that was not an extra blessing, that was an extra accident. Would you bring that money to me tomorrow morning? And he said, of course, of course. I'll see you at the airport the next day morning. He brought $100. I mean, he brought an envelope to me. As soon as I saw him, I got it from him, stuck it in my pocket. I ran away. I just wanted to go. you know, just disappear from him because I was so embarrassed. I had two hours and a half left until my plane was to depart but I had no guts to stay out there to visit with him. I just walked inside the security zone and then went to my terminal or departure gate, whatever, stayed there for two hours and a half and my airplane came and I moved to the, I flew to the other city called Calimio. After serving there for three days, I began to, you know, I need to check out how much money I had, so I got the envelope out of my pocket, and I pulled the money out, but then, my goodness, he wrapped that money with a paper! And I'm going, Abraham must have been embarrassed himself as well if he was, you know, he wrapped that money with paper. When I opened the paper, unwrapped the paper, to my shock, there was two 100 bills. And I'm going, this guy made the same mistake as I made. And then on that paper, he wrote this note. He said, Dr. Chung, thank you so much for loving my country and empowering our leaders for the kingdom work. I believe in the power of the gospel that transformed human hearts and transformed people will transform in turn our nation. Please find the two $100 bills enclosed 100 is your money, of the other 100, $50 is from my son, the other $50 is from me and my wife. When I read that, I broke. I began to weep. Why? Because I knew that an average pastor's family in Myanmar lived on $100 a month. Evangelists were getting paid even less, but Abraham Lye gave more than half of his monthly income to help empower others for God's kingdom work. As I wrapped up my ministry in Kilimio and checked out from the hotel, I had to pay exactly $600 and I became penniless. The local pastors asked me, Dr. Chung, do you have any travel money? I said, no, but I don't need money. All that I need to do is to fly twice or three times and fly back. If I ever have to spend money, then I have this almighty plastic credit card. And they said, Dr. Chung, you got it wrong. In our country, there is not a single place where you can use the almighty plastic credit card. In Myanmar, without cash, you never travel. And they insisted to give me $200. If you have never respected me, from now on, you will have to respect me as a great fundraiser. Because I raised $200 out of the poorest of the poor pastors of Myanmar. I really did not want to take $200, so I also insisted, I don't need money, I'm not going to take it. But just to save their face, I took $100. Flew back to Yangon, Abraham Lai and his son Isaac were waiting for me at the airport. We went to a Chinese restaurant, had a nice meal, nice fellowship. The bill came, and the total was $70. And I gave them that $100 bill that the pastors of Myanmar gave me. And then the merchants gave me $30 back for change. I really, really, really wanted to give that $30 to Abraham Lye because I don't need $30, but I didn't want to appear to be, hey, you gave me $100 and I spent money and this is the leftover, you keep it. I didn't want to appear to be like that. So I thought maybe the next time God sends me to Myanmar, I'm going to bless Abraham Lye 10 times more. and I kept the money, $30 in my pocket, and I flew seven hours to Korea, and then 12 hours of layover, and then another 10 hours back to Seattle. Boy, when I came home the first day, I was exhausted. The second day, I was meditating on what the apostle Paul said when he said, I did not know whether I was in the body or out of the body. I was really tired. On the third day, because of the jet lag, I couldn't really sleep well. I got up early in the morning, opened the email, and I received an urgent email from Abraham's son, Isaac. This is what he wrote. Dr. Chung, my dad died early this morning. He has had asthma for so long. Last night, really late, he could not breathe. So he was struggling to breathe as he was coughing. But we didn't really pay a whole lot of attention because he used to do that. And then a few minutes later, he was able to breathe. So I didn't really pay a whole lot of attention. But as he was struggling to breathe for a couple of hours, we thought that something was really wrong. And we called a taxi and put him in the taxi. We took him to the hospital. But on the way to the hospital in the taxi, he completely stopped breathing. My wife, Kay, is a pharmacist. She said in the United States of America, all asthma patients, all asthma people with asthma carry a small rescue inhaler in their pockets, which costs less than $5, maybe $20, maybe $30 at best. Abraham lie was too poor to buy $30 a piece rescue inhaler to save his life But he was wealthy for God to be able to give $50 for the ministry of multiplication of leaders and disciples in Myanmar Let me conclude my message. Today's message hinges on 2 Timothy 2.2, where Paul pleads to Timothy, what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. Grace Community Church. If we are to reach out to empower one person through discipleship, God will honor our commitments and save a multitude of the elect. Can we be faithful to the call of Christ and commit ourselves to be an unbreakable link of this process of multiplication? This requires faith in Christ as the Lord. This requires endurance in the midst of afflictions and suffering. And this requires a mighty expectation for God, for his wholesome reward, either in our lifetime or beyond. This is the most important part of my message. I know self-discipline is not necessarily easy for everybody. That's why like-minded Christians are meeting once a week to check on each other's progress as a disciple and as a disciple. Our church is offering a new discipleship class starting in mid-January next year. Jesus commanded, make disciples of all nations. Paul commanded, what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. I want to we can only give what we have. If we do not empower ourselves, chances are we are not going to empower anybody else. I want to invite you to our discipleship orientation meeting starting at 8.30 a.m. on Saturday, November 12th at the chapel of our church. A light breakfast, will be served. And I'm going to lead you in prayer now. But after the prayer is over, we'll all stand and sing the final song. As we are singing the song of commitment, I want to ask you to take your phone out and text the word training. with your commitment. David, I want to come. I want to come to that discipleship orientation meeting and check out if this class is for me, if this class will give me self-discipline. Text the word TRAINING to the number on the screen. May God use us to empower and develop disciples for his kingdom's sake. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for the message you have given us this morning, Lord. We put ourselves in the shoes of Timothy, looking up to Paul, who pleaded with him to faithfully make disciples And Timothy should not break the link of multiplication through discipleship. As we receive that message, oh God, we feel like the prophet Isaiah. When you called him, he said, here I am, God, send me. Would you give us more Timothys? Would you give us more Isaiahs who will cry out to you, God, here I am. Train me and use me so that multiplication will keep going as I reach out to one to empower that person, to disciple that person, for your kingdom, for your glory, for your purpose. In Jesus' mighty name we pray. Amen.