Dear BPCWA worshipper, This week, we continue on the theme of the mind, though in another aspect. Thus far, we have seen how what fills the mind becomes what we are. One’s character and demeanour are shaped by what one’s mind is like. This means that Christians must be very mindful of the thoughts that fill our minds each day. Certainly, there are many more remedies that God gives to us of how to reign over our minds. We often don’t realise that our minds are a spiritual battleground. But just like in any other battle, we can fight or throw up our hands, surrender, and let ourselves be overrun. If we think we cannot fight the battle, we will
Read moreDear BPCWA worshipper, After last week’s pastoral, have we been more conscious about what has been on our minds? This is a question that has many implications on our holiness, our walk, and our testimony before man. And most surely, it has a significant impact on our love for God. If we can have sinful thoughts without even performing the act, then we cannot fulfill God’s injunction, “Be ye holy; for I am holy” (1Pe 1:16) without minding our minds. This is because holiness is not just doing the external act. Importantly, we will also not be loving God with “all our mind” (Mk 12:30). It is therefore important that we consciously think about what we fill our minds with
Read moreDear BPCWA worshipper, “What’s on your mind?” An innocent and possibly common enough question that we don’t think twice about. But have you ever thought about why we ask that? The fact that we ask that is probably because we assume that there is something going on in our minds in the first place! Today, let me ask you that question – what is on your mind? Actions stem from our minds. A little more than a week ago, the events at Westfield Bondi Junction stunned Australia and even the world. Few would have guessed what was on the mind of the attacker before his attack. Now, the police have set themselves the task of going through his actions and
Read moreDear BPCWA worshipper, What was the first thing you did this morning as you woke up? Probably the very “usual” things that you do every other morning. After that, what did you do next? Probably the usual things you do every Lord’s Day morning. Perhaps even our breakfasts are our “usual” breakfasts. We are people of routines. It is certainly important that we build good habits into our daily lives and have the discipline to live them out. But what if one day things change suddenly, a major part of your life is suddenly totally disrupted . . . and may even change forever? Sudden life changes. 1)Health events. One such example that life can take a most unexpected turn
Read moreDear BPCWA worshipper, Last Lord’s Day, we closed off our Easter celebrations with our Anniversary Dinner. Though our church was started in February, it has been our tradition to celebrate it on Easter instead. We are thankful that we could once again do it this year, something that we don’t take for granted anymore after we were unable to have it during the period of COVID restrictions. It was by God’s provision that we could have it together in a restaurant in an area separated from other diners. Despite the double-digit increase in food prices that we have been experiencing in our supermarket shopping, God has moved the heart of the restaurant owner to keep it at the same price
Read moreDear BPCWA worshipper, Today is Easter wherein we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! His victory over death means that we too will have our bodily resurrection one day. Christ’s life, death, and resurrection completed the work of salvation for both the Old and New Testament saints. In the weeks before Good Friday, we looked at the doctrine of election and how God irresistibly drew us to salvation. How should we respond as we commemorate Christ’s finished work today? Responding with greater love, devotion, and worship of our Lord. With the recent revisit of our doctrines of salvation, we must understand that these are not mere impersonal theological doctrines to tickle our minds or for debates
Read moreDear BPCWA worshipper, This is a precious week in the Christian calendar. While the Easter weekend does not mark the actual dates of Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection, we set a yearly reminder in commemoration of Christ’s sufferings, death, burial, and bodily resurrection to complete the work of salvation. On Friday, we will be having the Sacrament of the Holy Communion, also known as the Lord’s Supper. Though it is something that we have every month and familiar to most, I want to bring us back to the night when the Lord’s Supper was first instituted by our Lord at the last supper Christ had with His Apostles. The significance. It was the night of the last Passover and the twelve
Read moreDear BPCWA worshipper, When Romans 3:11 states, “There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God”, it does not mean that an unbeliever cannot cognitively and intellectually understand the Gospel, or is totally disinterested in God. What “understand” means is that the natural man would not want to join in agreement of heart with God. “Seeks” refers to a begging and craving after God and a strong desire to have Him. So, fallen man may cognitively know the Gospel message and may even be interested in its concept. Yet, because fallen man loves sin more than light, he will not submit to God to come to Him totally on God’s terms (John 3:19-20). Hence, it is only
Read moreDear BPCWA worshipper, Last week, we saw that our relationship as a human race to Adam is more than just about tracing our ancestry to one man. We saw how the significance is more than physical. We are all sinners because of Adam’s fall. This is because Adam is the federal head of mankind (Rom 5:18-19). This is what theologians rightly identify as original sin, which results in the total depravity of man. Be aware that some Christians reject this state of man after Adam’s fall, despite undeniably clear affirmations of it in the Scriptures. This week, I hope to answer the questions that are often asked to Calvinists, “If man is totally depraved and cannot choose God due to
Read moreDear BPCWA worshipper, At a recent Teens QnA, we answered a question posed about whether we all came from Adam and Eve. An important follow-up question to that is “So what”? Most people just mainly think about “Oh, we are all related in some way then!”. But we need to see beyond this aspect and realise something more critical. The believer must have a clear understanding of our relationship to Adam, its consequences, and how we are saved. Unbelievers may ask, “If I became a sinner because of Adam, how can God punish me when I became a sinner because of Adam?” After all, did not God say, “The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear
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