Dear BPCWA worshipper, This Friday, we will commemorate Good Friday. It must be an important occasion for every Christian. At Christmas, we often remember His incarnation – that the Almighty God would take on human flesh to be born into this world. We know, teach, and defend the fact that Christ is 100% God and 100% man. A week ago, we had the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, where we read the familiar passage, “And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me” (1Co 11:24). In today’s pastoral, I want us to consider why Christ had to suffer physically. Christ suffered
Read moreDear BPCWA worshipper, The Social Gospel has infiltrated many movements and churches. It is so prevalent today that it is more unusual to find a church that does not support the Social Gospel than one that does. This pernicious Social Gospel will keep knocking at Bible-Presbyterian Churches’ doors to try to gain an inroad. BPCWA will not be spared. The thinking of the world will be so geared toward this that churches that aren’t actively involved in social work will be considered unloving. Whether BPCWA will be faithful to God’s mission depends on whether we keep ourselves alert and heed God’s warnings about another gospel coming in, or choose to follow the destructive flow. Guilt-tripping BP Churches. The Social Gospel
Read moreDear BPCWA worshipper, In last week’s pastoral, I covered the first 2 sessions of this year’s Church Study Series. It is important that I recap the study in our pastorals because a lot of information was covered. This was already increased from the original schedule of 2 to 3 weeks, but could not be increased further due to fellowship schedule limitations. I would however encourage all worshippers who would like to learn for the first time or refresh their learning on this topic to watch the presentations which are on our YouTube channel at bpcwa.org.au/YouTube. The errors of the Social Gospel. The Social Gospel is social activism. It is another gospel and another Jesus. How is that so? It applies
Read moreDear BPCWA worshipper, The topic I chose for our Church Study Series this year was, “The Christian and Social Concerns”, which was conducted over 3 weeks in February. These recordings were dubbed into Chinese and screened over the past few weeks. Churches are increasingly involved in social work, which has become somewhat of an accepted norm. All worshippers in BPCWA must understand it from a biblical perspective and not simply follow others. Hence, it is important for us to revisit the key salient aspects after the series so that we do not forget them, and in case we did not grasp them well. The pervasiveness of religious social concern. We are probably familiar with the name of the Nobel Peace
Read moreDear BPCWA worshipper, Last week, we had our church extension briefing following our worship services. Today, I will summarise and document what was communicated as it is important that BPCWA chronicles each stage for future generations. Project and builder update. As communicated in our previous session, only one submission was received in response to both tenders. After the initial pricing was received last August, the builder worked on finalising the pricing and sent us the second quote we received last month. To satisfy ourselves with the reasonableness of the quote submitted with only 1 tender received, we engaged a Quantity Surveyor to provide an independent price review of the project. The Quantity Surveyor’s estimation was 29 percent higher than the
Read moreDear BPCWA worshipper, During our Worship Service today, those who serve in BPCWA will rise together to take our vows as we rededicate our service to God. Many will be people we may think are not serving because we don’t “see” them serving God. This is because much of the service in BPCWA is done by the lay people who diligently serve God from their homes, late into the night after work, on their days off from work, and during weekends. While “working from home” has become a norm in society today, “serving from home” when we are not in church has always been a characteristic of many of us for BPCWA. Particularly because we do not have a large
Read moreDear BPCWA worshipper, Next week, we will be having Rededication Sunday. It has been a practice in BPCWA whereby those serving are encouraged to renew their vows annually. However, any practice should not simply be a ritual nor continued only for the sake of continuity. Since it is coming up next Lord’s Day, I thought it would be a good opportunity to explain to and remind everyone this week why we are having it. Why do we have it annually? We need to be reminded about why we serve at least yearly. Otherwise, we can serve with the wrong motives.Even for those who may be aware of why we have Rededication Sunday, it is a good reminder for us as
Read moreDear BPCWA worshipper, It is our 39th Church Anniversary already! Thank God for His mercies and grace to have seen us through all the ups and downs and for preserving us. The fact that we are still functioning as a church and seeking to be faithful to God today is due entirely to His longsuffering, patience, and leading alone. Time has flown by very quickly and will not wait for any man. Many things can happen through that time. The important question we must ask ourselves is not how long the church has been. This is because every year that passes is either a year of doing well for the Lord, or a year wasted. So, rather, we must be
Read moreDear BPCWA worshipper, We cannot earn salvation by obedience to the law of God, but when we are saved through the Covenant of Grace, obedience is expected by God in the covenant. The underlying requirement in the Covenant of Works is obedience. Just because man failed to obey God in the Covenant of Works and fallen man hates obedience thereafter does not make obedience something bad. Let us not forget, even our Saviour, Jesus Christ, “Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered” (Heb 5:8). Obedience is the priority. Obedience is what pleases God, “Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams” (1Sa 15:22). But we
Read moreDear BPCWA worshipper, Perhaps some may groan at the title of this pastoral. The fallen nature does not like obedience. Contemporary thinking disdains obedience because they view anyone who promotes obedience as being self-centred and autocratic. What is vaunted today instead is individualism and independent thinking. We live in a society that promotes individual rights and liberties, aka “I must have a right to do whatever I want” and “be my authentic self” from the heart. We chafe against the need to obey and being “strict” is viewed negatively. The philosophies in the world are working overtime against anything that sets boundaries and rules. However, Christians must not undermine its importance. Instead, we must see obedience in biblical light. Israel
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