In the book of Matthew 5: 18-22 , we read that the first disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ were two sets of brothers , namely ; 1. Simon Peter and Andrew 2. James and John , the sons of Zebedee . They were all professional fishermen . For many years , they had been casting their nets in the Sea of Galilee . The Sea of Galilee is similar to the other seas of other nations . This sea is not a special body of waters where fishermen always catch plenty of fish . Of course , there are times , these brothers and other fishermen caught nothing . Instead , they were caught and called by Jesus . Their career of professional fishing was used by the Lord in caring of people . They were made by God as fishers of men . And so with the rest of other disciples , they were trained and taught by the Lord to be people oriented for 3 years . Before , they were only associating with people of the same trade and Jesus showed them the godly way of handling different people groups . They were instructed by the Lord , to go , to preach ( minus the pulpit ) the message about Kingdom Living. Healing the sick , raise the dead ( not necessarily the dead but those who were in their faith for Jesus ) , cleanse those who have leprosy ( not necessarily looking for dreaded disease persons but those who need to be guided to come to God again ) , drive out demons ( not imitating the Ghost Busters in every house , person , city , municipality etc . but helping people to be delivered from chronic sinning ). Freely you ( disciples ) have received ( the teaching of Jesus ) , freely give (expecting nothing in return , do not wait for L.O. If there is , received with thanksgiving prayer short prayer please ). Mathew 10: 7-8 .
Last week , we have a pleasant time of planning sessions with the pastoral staffs headed by Ptr. Rainier at Ibay , Laguna courtesy of Congressman Allan Cayetano . Each of us contributed ideas of simplifying the vision of the church into a short sentence that can easily understood by everyone . After spending more than one hour in exchanging ideas with one another , I felt my stomach empty though we have a fantastic dinner . The following morning , Ptr. Rainier suggested a simple sentence on the Vision Statement after gathering the ideas . It goes this way , We are spiritually mature leaders to win the lost at all cost. In other words , nobody can be considered spiritually mature unless he or she has a burden for the lost and winning that person to Christ Jesus .
May this message inspire you all to step forward with the Gospel of our Savior Jesus Christ . May God of heavens bless you all richly !
Shalom !
Ptr. Tony Jordan Tan
*also included in the weekly word