PASTORAL CHAT
My Dear Readers
Why Miss the Blessings of Baptism?
It seems to me that the trend of the Church is to delay Baptism than to expedite it. The reason is “to make sure”. But in the Acts we see the Apostles when they convert a new believer they hasten it.
As far as True Life Church is concerned we have been holding a Catechism Class under Dr Jeffrey Khoo for nearly a year and Baptism is announced for Christmas Eve, Dec 24, 8 pm. Join the class now, still two more months to go. Parents with infants please register early with the Children Sunday School or Worship.
Jesus says, “He that believeth and is baptised shall be saved.” Jesus guarantees your salvation when you have believed and submitted to Baptism, you will be saved.
Rehoboth 12th Anniversary Thanksgiving Service will be held on Saturday 6 pm, Oct 30, 04. Speaker: Elder William Seah. Venue: FEBC Hall, Dinner 7 pm.
BPs remember the 16th Century Reformation whereby we became Protestants. Reformation is an ever on-going process and I will speak Oct 31 at RELC on the 20th – 21st Century Reformation that we need. Ours is we have one Bible, the Word of God for today. Why have we become the True Life B-P Church?
Dr. Arthur Steele, Founder of Clearwater Christian College has kindly consented to speak at FEBC Graduation next May 8, 05. Dr. Steele lectured at FEBC on three successive years. He was my classmate in 1958-9 at our Alma Mater, Faith Seminary. The next day after graduation he will go with us to our Mersing Resort in Malaysia.
Annual Bible Camp and our place is Mersing again because we all like it. We have booked it for next June 7 – 10, 05, Tuesday to Friday. Our speaker is Dr Jeffrey Khoo. Pray that the Lord will give us not only a time of relaxation but reviving of spirit. May God even call someone into the fulltime ministry.
Lautan Biru Resort, Mersing is a sacred place of holding Bible Camps whereby souls are not only saved but also called to fulltime ministry. So God is supplying us enough to pay tax to the Government. Today, we are self-sufficient, even starting to earn for the Lord.
Your affectionate pastor
T T
**********
THE GOSPEL OF LIFE: Chapter VII
John 7:15-18
Theology the Queen of Sciences
You can get a PhD in mosquitology, be able to count how many hairs there are on its proboscis, and you are recognised a scientist. It is Calvin who has stated that true knowledge (therefore the apex of knowledge) is that of God, and of man.
The Jews – scribes, lawyers, Pharisees, were scholars, well versed in the minutiae of Jewish law, but it was such a stagnated accumulation of man-made knowledge. When our Lord spoke, what a contrast! He who is the fountain of all wisdom and knowledge (Prov. 8), who comes down from heaven, from the bosom of the Father, teaches theology! The queen of sciences, the true and highest knowledge! And not forgetting man, whose soul is worth more than the whole world, He spoke plenty on humanity. This brings down His opponents to a momentary admiration, “How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?” Were they not astounded when Jesus at twelve years of age sat in the temple among the doctors?
Now theology cannot be learnt like any other science. It cannot be learnt by an unconverted person: “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” (I Cor 2:14) “Except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (Jn 3:3) This is what our Lord means when He tells the Jews that His high source of theological knowledge, reposed in the Father, is beyond their grasp, unless they would do His will, be submitted to the Spirit of God. “If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.” (Jn 7:17) If Jesus preaches only Himself with no reference to the Father, He would be teaching heresy, He would claim glory for Himself. But, He testifies otherwise. The Jews being blind in their own conceits could never understand theology. Hence they could not see in Jesus the Second Person of the Holy Trinity to this day. So it is with us. There are those who attend Church all their lives in modernist established churches, even elders and ministers of the Word, who deny the fundamental doctrines of the Christian faith. These are the modern scribes and Pharisees, blind leaders of the blind. Those who follow them will fall into the ditch (Matt 15:14). Calvin says, it is the humble who will understand theology!
John 7:19-24
Works of God are above the Sabbath Law for man
It has been noted that the Jews clashed with our Lord on a number of occasions on the observance of the Sabbath. Eighteen months after the healing of the man invalided for 38 years at the pool of Bethesda, this matter still simmered in the breast of the fault-finding Jews.
Knowing what was in their heart Jesus exposed their hypocrisy. “Did not Moses give you the law and yet none of you keepeth the law?” It was an open secret that the Sabbath was broken by the Jews themselves. This happened in the days of Nehemiah also. Read Neh. 13:15.
Jesus now posed before them the question, did not the Jews as a custom circumcise on the Sabbath? For Moses’ Law says that a male child must be circumcised on the eighth day. Now when the eighth day fell on a Sabbath, would they circumcise or not? They would. And did not circumcision involve work? Yet Moses’ Law at this point was not broken. “A higher law overrides a lower law.” A work commanded by God, a work for the relief of human suffering, and for the meeting of an urgent need, would be exempt from the rigorous demands of law. Then why did they seek to kill our Lord? For doing works of mercy on the Sabbath Day?
“Judge not according to appearance” means not by the letter, and “judge righteous judgement” means by the spirit as well. There is a legal obligation but there is also a moral obligation.
What a wonderful principle of equity is enunciated by our Lord for our guide on keeping the Lord’s Day holy today. There can also be extremes on our part, to dictate to our brethren what can be done and what cannot be done – on the surface of things. We must weigh every circumstance, and judge not by the letter only but also by the spirit. A good principle to remember is, the higher law of humanity overrides the lower law of ceremony. “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.”
**********
Baraka B-P Church, 11thHoly Land Pilgrimage (Aug 26 – Sep 11, 2004)
