PASTORAL CHAT
My dear Readers
Whenever I meet with John Calvin and sit at his feet to hear him expound the facts of life I must let him guide me in greener words of truth. For example, when Calvin quotes Jonah 2:9 to show it is God who saves and not man, he teaches, “once saved, always saved.”
However, we often put salvation in the human effort after Arminius, but one verse from St. Paul according to Rom 10:9 is sufficient, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”
Next March we are making a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. When we shall come to the Garden Tomb which is empty and believe that Jesus is risen and now ascended to heaven we shall be saved. Calvin further assures us we are not only saved, but always saved.
These words I’ve written come from a dream in the early hours of the morning and they are for you. Many who attend Church are trying to do their best to be saved. But salvation is from God the Lord and Jesus is coming again very soon at the end of the world. Matt 24:3-14 gives many signs one of which is earthquakes. From Dec 26, 04 with the bursting of the Tsunami (undersea earthquake) which killed 300,000 around the Indian Ocean up to 80,000 killed one month ago in Pakistan and to the latest in Iran, there were 10 quakes, a sure sign of the end of the world. Are we ready? Accelerated missions whereby the gospel will be preached to all nations will hasten Christ’s coming even now!
The second message I preached at Errol Stone’s Church is Christ is coming very soon so let us redouble our efforts as stated in Matt 24:14, “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.” Amos Go of Chin State, Myanmar came to see me for help. He appeared before our Church. He is responsible for one church and linked up with two other churches. By helping them keep piglets they would be able to support the pastors. Another graduate from FEBC who runs an Orphanage of 30 young people also needs our help. Thus the gospel will be extended to far away Myanmar (Burma). Remember Christ is coming very soon and there is no time delay. Amen.
Your affectionate pastor
T. T.
A Testimony from a visitor of our Church
Greetings to you all in the name of Jesus. My name is Reena. I was born in a Muslim family in the southern part of Bangladesh. I was brought up in a Muslim culture and family. In 1976 after my marriage I heard about Jesus through my husband. My husband was a believer. He used to go to Church every Sunday. I used to keep and hide all his clothes for worship on Sundays so that he will not go to Church and just stay at home. I wanted to bring him back to the Muslim faith. He used to read the Bible loudly so that I could hear it. He would also leave the Bible around the house so that I could pick it up and read it. In my childhood I was taught that if I will touch the Bible I will be paralyzed so I never touched the Bible. One day after much courage I touched the Bible. I was perspiring thinking that I will be paralyzed but nothing happened. I used to treat my husband very badly but he was always good to me. One afternoon he took me to a house where there were other Christians. They were very good to me. I was thinking why these people can’t be Muslims again. When I gave up trying to convert my husband I decided I will leave him and go to my father’s house. My eldest daughter was only three months old. The night I decided to leave him, I had a dream. I saw that I was with my daughter trying to go to my father’s place with the help of a small boat. Suddenly there were big waves and everyone said that this boat will get drowned and we will die. I saw a big wave coming towards our boat. I started crying and shouting. Suddenly I heard a voice saying “Fear not. I am with you”. I asked him who he was and he said “I am Jesus Christ. I am the way your husband is telling you again and again”. Then the storm got quiet and on the bank of the river I gave my life to Jesus. The next morning I went to church and got baptized. After that me, my husband and all the children worshipped the Lord. We also did evangelical work. Now God is giving us more strength and wisdom to do His work.
I request you all to remember me and my family in your prayers and our evangelical ministry in Bangladesh. Praise the Lord. Amen.
THE GOSPEL OF LIFE: Chapter XVII
John 17:1-4
1. That Jesus Christ may be glorified as the Son Who has glorified the Father (v. 1; Phil. 2:9-11)
In the first petition that Christ be glorified, it means to give glory to the Son by carrying Him through the cross and the grave. That He might accomplish the work He was sent into the world to do, whereby He might be exalted to the right hand of God and given the name that is above every other name.
Stier remarks, “These words prove the Son is equal to the Father, as touching the Godhead. What creature could stand before his Creator and say, “Glorify Me, that I may glorify Thee”? The glory of God is the end of all creation (Shorter Catechism A.l) But nothing brings such glory as Christ’s finishing the work of redemption by His death, resurrection and ascension.”
We know how Jesus’ resurrection and ascension are glorious aspects of His redemptive work. Can it be said of His death with two thieves nailed beside Him, and He Himself hung naked on the cross? J. M. Neale says, “But just as we think an earthly general more glorious when he is in the heat of battle, covered with blood and sweat and dust, than when he is clothed in purple and in fine linen, and in the midst of triumph, so our Lord in one sense was more glorious when He was lifted on the cross than ever – I say with all reverence – when He rose from the dead.” (Read Phil 2:9-11).
Let us therefore glorify Christ the more in His death and remember Him at the Lord’s Table wherein His glory shines the brighter. Perhaps it is from the glory of His death that an analogy is drawn by the British Colonial Government who erected a Cenotaph at the Singapore Padang to “Our Glorious Dead”. If they who died in two World Wars were glorious for the cause of righteousness, how much more our Lord who died to confer righteousness and life on sinful dying men! (v. 2-4)
In the cross of Christ, I glory
Tow’ring o’er the wrecks of time;
All the light of sacred story
Gathers round its head sublime.
John 17:5
2. For restoration to the eternal glory
“And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.” (v. 5)
“The meaning of this verse I take to be as follows: ‘Father, my earthly work being now finished, I ask to be restored to that heavenly glory which in an unspeakable manner I had with Thee, as one of the coequal and undividing Trinity, long before this world existed. The period of my humiliation and self-imposed weakness being accomplished, let Me once more share Thy glory, and sit with Thee on Thy throne as I did before my incarnation.’ It is needless to say that the things asked in this prayer both here and elsewhere, are very deep, and reach far beyond man’s understanding. The glory which the Son had with the Father, in the time before creation of the world, is a matter passing our comprehension. But the pre-existence of Christ, the doctrine that Father and Son are two distinct persons, and the equal glory of the Father and the Son, are at any rate taught here very plainly. It seems perfectly impossible to reconcile the verse with the Socinian theory – that Christ was a mere man, like David or Paul, and did not exist before He was born at Bethlehem. Let us also learn the practical lesson, that a prayer for glory comes best from those who have done work upon earth for God. A lazy wish to go to glory without working is not according to Christ’s example.” – J.C. Ryle. (Socinianism leads to Unitarianism).
“And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.” In this doxology by the apostle Paul in I Tim 3:16 we see Christ come from glory, returning to glory! Unless Christ is God, He has no glory to return to.
