Lord’s Day, Vol. 5 No. 05
3rd Anniversary Thanksgiving
Thank God for gathering His people to remember the Lord’s goodness toward His church on her 3rd Anniversary here at BHBPC on 22 January 2017. Rev Dr Tow Siang Hwa, our Pastoral Advisor, sends his greetings to all.
The message was “Steadfast, Unmovable and Always Abounding” taken from 1 Corinthians 15:51-58. The church of the living God is the pillar and ground of the truth. There is no other organisational entity whereby God has entrusted to be His witness and to proclaim the truth but the church of Jesus Christ. We are called to be God’s witnesses in these last of the last days, the last hour of human history before our Lord returns to receive His church to glory.
Today, the line of truth is blurred and men call good evil and evil good. A time likened to the days before God sent the global flood to destroy the known world wherein only Noah and his family of 8 were saved when they got into the ark before the rain came.
A time before fire and brimstone rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah when two angels came and ushered Lot and his family to safety, but Lot’s wife looked back and turned into a pillar of salt. A precarious time, the silence before the storm.
As a weather man, a fisherman, when you observe a sudden chill, a thrill of a twirling wind, you know that you have to hoist the anchor and ramp the outboard motor full speed toward the harbour. A storm is brewing fast behind you. And you have that moment to evacuate before the storm overtakes you.
We are living in a world ripe for God’s judgment. This world will not again be judged by water as God has promised by the rainbow covenant but it shall be judged by fire. With the flood, one can survive by getting into the ark. With a fire, the only out is up! The moment of escape will come very quickly and all who are watchful and ready will be caught up, translated, taken to heaven bodily to be united as a bride to her Bridegroom, Jesus Christ, the only Saviour of the world.
Let us:
(1) Appreciate what God has done for us in Christ (v57)
(2) Consecrate our life to serve Him profitably for an eternal reward (v58)
We give thanks to God for what He has done to free us from the bondage of sin and to give us true peace and joy through Jesus Christ. This is the power of the gospel. It is able to give you the strength to love the law of God and to obey and to prosper by it.
Solomon summarizes well the duty of man “Fear God and Keep His Commandments”. This is what is required of man. And God through Jesus Christ has given us the strength to do so.
The Bible explains to us what Christians have in Christ that is worthy of our perpetual thanksgiving:
a] Peace with God (Rom. 5:1)
b] Grace (Favour) from God (Rom. 5:2)
c] Hope in God (Rom 5:3-5a)
d] Love of God (Rom. 5:5b)
e] Joy in God (Rom. 5:11)
1 Corinthians 15:58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.
Jesus Christ is not only our Saviour but our Lord. We are exhorted to love God and to love our fellow men as a testimony of true discipleship in Christ.
The people of God who fear God will be willing to trust God and continue to do God’s will.
Yours lovingly,
Pastor Lek Aik Wee