Lord’s Day, Vol. 3 No. 11

(1) Tracts

Mark 16:15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.

In BHBPC’s newsletter dated on 16 March 2014, it was reported that we received two printed tracts – “Will I Get to Heaven” and “Who is Jesus Christ” of 10,000 copies each and two invitation cards – “That Blessed Hope” and “Study of the Life of Christ” of 10,000 and 8,000 copies respectively as an answer to our prayers. We began distributing these tracts and invitation cards on 13 March 2014.

The printed tracts and invitation cards have since been given out in the neighbourhood estates of Dairy Farm, Hillview, Bukit Batok and Bukit Panjang. On 12 March 2015, the last copies of invitation cards and tracts were distributed. We are reprinting another 10,000 copies each of “Will I Get to Heaven” and “Who is Jesus Christ”. Two new tracts – “Best Life Insurance” and “Bought With a Price” and new invitation cards based on John 3:16 would also be printed for distribution.

Please uphold this important ministry in prayer. If the Lord moves you to serve Him in this area, you are most welcome.

(2) The Role of Parents in a Christian Home (Part 1) 

The marriage covenant was instituted in the Garden of Eden in Genesis 2:18, 23-25 when “the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a help meet for him…And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. And they were both naked, the man and his wife and were not ashamed.” 

Marriage is God-ordained so that man is not alone but he should have a help, meet for him. The word “wife” was first used in Genesis 2:24. Procreation was God-ordained as recorded in Genesis 1:27-28 “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.”

“Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate” (Psalm 127:3-5). Indeed, children are gifts from God. What does the Bible teach with regard to the role of parents to their children?

The God-ordained responsibility of the father and mother in a family is to “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6). Specifically, fathers are told not to provoke their children to wrath but to bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord (Ephesians 6:4). Therefore, parents are to lead their children in the way of life everlasting by giving them the gospel from an early age.

The first step is to bring the child for infant baptism at the earliest possible time. Baptism does not save a child but is a seal that the child belongs to the family of God. It is an act of obedience on the part of the parents in a solemn vow before God that they would teach the child the Word of God so that the child may repent, and receive the Holy Spirit and have faith in the Lord Jesus, according to the riches of His grace and glory.

Acts 2:38-39 “Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.”

Stormie Omertian aptly described the role of parenting. He wrote, “It’s the best of jobs. It’s the most difficult of jobs. It can bring the greatest joys. It can cause the greatest pain. There is nothing as fulfilling and exhilarating. There is nothing so depleting and exhausting. No area of your life can make you feel more like a success when everything is going well. No area of your life can make you feel more like a failure when things go wrong…We don’t have to live in fear of what new phase of development may bring…At every stage of their lives, our children need and will greatly benefit from our prayers.”¹ (To be continued)

Yours lovingly in Christ,

Pr. Lek Aik Wee

¹ Stormie Omartian, The Power of a Praying Parent, Kingsway Publication, 1995, p13.