Dear BPCWA worshipper, This being the last day of the year, tonight is our Combined Watchnight Thanksgiving Service. Certainly, it will be a long day – beginning at 9 am for most of the English worshippers attending BBK or Sunday School. In the afternoon, we will have the Chinese Worship Service while several teams will also be ministering at the Nursing Homes. Finally, we will have our Watchnight Service at 7:30 pm and close off the year with prayer together after the Service. Even for a normal Lord’s Day, it would be a pretty full day for many. But isn’t being caught up in the Lord’s work till we usher in the New Year the best way to spend our
Read moreDear BPCWA worshipper, Today is Christmas Eve, and tomorrow we commemorate the birth of Christ when He came to earth and took on human flesh more than two thousand years ago. Last Lord’s Day, we sang the hymn “The First Noel”, which resounded with the chorus “Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Born is the King of Israel!” As the Light of the world, the announcement of Christ’s coming through this momentous birth would bring unparalleled joy and eternal hope to mankind. The world when Christ was born. Israel was God’s chosen witness to the world and appointed in God’s plan to bring forth the promised Messiah, Christ. God intended Israel to point all men to the Almighty God. God would give
Read moreDear BPCWA worshipper, Let us continue to recap our church theme for this year fromEph 6:18 “Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watchingthereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints”. Watching in prayer. The word for “watch” here means “to keep awake”. But, mybrethren, can I ask, how has been your life of prayer since then and recently? Have youbeen watching thereunto? Or have you been distracted or slumbering again? This iscertainly why I am recapping the church theme in greater detail here. Perhaps we mayhave gone to the church camp and our hearts were challenged. Reminded by the Wordand roused by the atmosphere and the time allocated to prayer during the camp, werenewed
Read moreDear BPCWA worshipper, The year is coming to an end, and it is apt for us to remindourselves of our 2023 theme taken from Eph 6:18 “Praying always with all prayer andsupplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance andsupplication for all saints.” This verse is not just something for the Pastor or churchleaders. As long as you call yourself a Christian, this verse is for you and God is tellingyou what He wants your prayer life to be like. Prayer is expected in every Christian’s life. This statement almost needs not to besaid and certainly should never be disputed by any truly born-again believer. Whatdo you think of a marriage where the husband and wife don’t speak
Read moreDear BPCWA worshipper, We live in an agricultural country with varying seasons. Over the past few months, the time was ripe for strawberry picking. Though we may not be familiar with the life of the farmer, many of us are at least familiar with a bit of gardening. Even children may know the little herb, flower, or vegetable seed sachets that are sold from stores which give instructions on the best season to sow the respective plants. Try as you may in the care of the plants, some herbs will not produce their usual bushy leaves at certain times as they prepare to bear seed. Experienced gardeners know when to expect the plants in their gardens to seed and will
Read moreDear BPCWA worshipper, God answered His own question regarding why He instituted marriage wherein two become one flesh, “ . . . And wherefore one? That he might seek a godly seed . . .” (Mal 2:15). The Hebrew word “seek” means God not merely desires but He requires and expects to find and secure godly children in His people’s family for Himself. God gives us children in our families to bring up godly children which He seeks for Himself. It’s not just about baptising them as infants and then neglecting the godly nurturing and godly living that God expects as well. We thank God for the young lives that He has blessed us with in BPCWA. At the same
Read moreDear BPCWA worshipper, Every year, we conduct a family seminar on a topic relating to marriage or bringing up children. This year, I chose to cover the topic “A Picture of a Godly Seed”. Every week in our prayer booklet, we pray that families will bring up godly seeds. Even the children in the church today, when asked, will tend to know how to answer and even pray that they should be godly seeds. Singles must read this pastoral as you need to know this topic well, else how would you discuss such objectives if you are in courtship? Elderlies must also read this because you must be able to advise your own married children, and not be a negative
Read moreDear BPCWA worshipper, In this final part of the pastoral series on our historical Reformed Faith, I want to help our worshippers understand an important part of our covenantal Reformed Faith, which is often what distinguishes between those who term themselves as “reformed” vs the historic Reformed Faith. Covenantal Signs & Seals. Since it is the same covenant running across the OT and NT, the substance of the covenant is the same in the OT and NT, but with different administrations. This is particularly apparent in the covenantal signs. The signs and seals of the covenant are “instituted by God, to represent Christ and His benefits; and to confirm our interest in Him: as also, to put avisible difference between
Read moreDear BPCWA worshipper, What is our Reformed Faith? As we heard in last week’s sermon, even when someone claims to hold to “Calvinism”, it is not necessarily an indication that the believer or church holds on to the same beliefs as what historical Calvinism propounded. Although one may be a 5-point Calvinist (i.e., holds on to TULIP), the person or church may still not be of the same system of beliefs as we are as Presbyterians. A website that includes the word “reformed” may not be talking about the same Reformed Faith that we hold on to. Another identifying mark of our Reformed Faith is on the matter of God’s covenant with man. Reformed Theology is Covenant Theology. But yet
Read moreDear BPCWA worshipper, Do you realise and treasure this heritage that we have from the 1517 Reformation, namely “the Reformed Faith”? In Article 4.1 of our church constitution, it states that “The doctrine of the church shall be in accordance with that system commonly called “the Reformed Faith” as expressed in the Confession of Faith set forth by the historic Westminster Assembly together with the Larger and Shorter Catechisms, together with other Biblical doctrines that are not specifically stated in the Westminster Confession.” It is called the Reformed Faith because it truly re-formed the deformed faith propounded by the Roman Catholic Church. The Reformed Faith is nothing but simply what the Protestant reformers, used of God, systematised to bring back
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