An Honest Heart

Dear BPCWA worshipper, I will be recapping during worship service the lesson the children learned during our recent Holiday Bible Program. At the same time, the theme for last year’s HBP, “Truly Truthful”, comes to mind. We often consider truthfulness as the absence of a falsehood. However, there is another aspect of truthfulness that I want us to consider in today’s pastoral, and it is the importance of an honest heart.  A dishonest heart. Created in perfection, man became sinners in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve fell. The effect of that was immediate. Before that, Adam could commune with God face to face and was perfectly satisfied to receive His commands. But sin changed all that and

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When Families Fail

Dear BPCWA worshipper, During Chinese New Year, there is a great emphasis on the family. Families come together for reunion dinners. For example, in China, it is a time when people will travel even long distances to be with their families. Every culture has its occasions where family reunions are treasured. This is no surprise, because in a sense everyone comes from families, by God’s design. But by His design, there is a very important role that families are intended to fulfill. Human beings have that sense deep down in us, whether we realise it or not. God’s intent for families. However, as Christians, “togetherness” and “closeness” alone are not God’s only intent for families. The fifth commandment uses God’s

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Do You Have an Idol Factory?

Dear BPCWA worshipper, Perhaps many would gasp at the title of this pastoral, or at least think it is most ridiculous to suggest that you would even open such a factory. I, a Christian, own an idol factory? We walk past shops selling images of false gods and are probably grieved by them. However, if we are honest with ourselves, these shops can be the physical representation of what is in man’s heart. Who is God to you? In his Institutes, Calvin remarked that “the human mind is, so to speak, a perpetual forge of idols. . . men are forging gods at will” (1:11.8). Forge is the process whereby a blacksmith forms, makes, or shapes something. In this case,

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Watchnight Service: Live With No Regrets

Dear BPCWA worshipper, I want to use this pastoral to recap the message God directed our hearts to during the Watchnight Service as we closed off 2024. I hope we will all take to heart the lessons God gave us through His Word as we entered 2025. The message was from 2 Timothy 4:6-8, “For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. 7 I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: 8 Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all

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The Only Way to Have a Blessed New Year

Dear BPCWA worshipper, This is the first Lord’s Day of 2025. Soon after the celebration of Christmas on 25th December, we ended yet another year. Each passing year marks another year checked off of our lives and this world’s existence. Yet another year was ushered in at the stroke of midnight on Wednesday as 2024 closed and 1st January 2025 started. The uncertainty of life. While we often wish for a good year, 2024 ended on a rather ominous note for the world. The last days of 2024 were marked by tragedy, with 2 plane crashes happening a few days apart, in Kazakhstan and Korea. With flying becoming a normal occurrence in modern life, those who boarded their planes probably

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Recapturing our Church Theme

Dear BPCWA worshipper, Before we close the chapter for 2024, I want to use this pastoral to revisit our church theme for the year.  It is apt even that we do so now, after the Christmas celebrations that commemorate our Saviour’s 1st coming.  When we put that together with how Christ walked while on earth, it should make the remembrance of His birth even more meaningful for 1 John 2:6 says, “He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked”.  Christ was born to live out the Father’s will.  Let us also remember that we must walk on this same path, living only to do our heavenly Father’s will. In Christ.1) The

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God’s Good Will

Dear BPCWA worshipper, With only 3 days before Christmas, the world is rushing by in preparation for their festivities. It is easy to get drawn into the world’s revelry and way of life, forgetting why we, as Christians, celebrate Christmas. It is a good time for us to ponder the heralding angels’ proclamation that eventful night, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men” (Lu 2:14). Last year, we considered “on earth peace”, so I want to consider “good will toward men” today. God’s good will. The word “good will” comes from a compound word in Greek, made up of eu (good) and dokeo (think) which when put together would be “good thoughts”, referring

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Emergency Response Preparedness

Dear BPCWA worshipper, We live in an uncertain world. When I first came to Australia, many elderlies who had been living in Perth for many years told me how safe Perth was. They could leave their doors open (without fences) and no harm would come to them. Sadly, things are different now. A church worshipper who closed the side door of their house but accidentally forgot to lock it when they came to church returned home to find that an opportunistic intruder had entered while they were out, in broad daylight. But though it is certainly traumatic returning to a ransacked house, we live in a world today where emergency incidents may happen whether the building is empty or in

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The Challenges for the Church in an Ungodly World

Dear BPCWA worshipper, The world’s influences have and will always have a significant impact on the church. The church is intended to be made up of people called out from the world, to be a light to the world. BPCWA is a local church. As a church witness, we are to reach out to people as part of the Great Commission. The significance of being “called out” will become more apparent and distinct as we live in the perilous times of the last days (2Ti 3:1). The darker the influences, the brighter the church must shine for Christ. While we want to be zealous in reaching out to everyone, BPCWA must never forget that God’s purpose for His church is

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An Old-Fashioned Church in an Ungodly World

Dear BPCWA worshipper, From the vantage point of the world and even many believers, the church is “changing for the better” and it must continue to progress with the people’s desires in this world to “remain relevant”. We must realise that this is not just a concept, but it is something that will affect us in BPCWA. I want to explain further today why there is such a great chasm between us and the world and how we must respond. Hold on to our doctrines. The church is called to hold forth the word of life (Php 2:16). This is our fundamental mission, without which we cannot be God’s faithful witness and light in this ever-darkening and sin-filled world. Biblical values

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