Lamentations 3:22-27 It is of the LORD’S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. 23 They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. 24 The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him. 25 The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. 26 It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD. 27 It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.

The believer is made spiritually alive by the Holy Spirit. Although he has the power to overcome sin, he will still experience physical death. The Apostle Paul described the dead in Christ as those who sleep in Christ. In the day of the resurrection, when Jesus returns, God has promised the dead in Christ will be awakened by a physical resurrection of their mortal bodies. And those who are physically alive, during the time of Christ return, will not experience death, but will be clothed with an incorruptible, glorious, resurrection body.

On 28 January 2014, Blessed Hope Bible-Presbyterian Church (BHBPC) came into existence when registration approval was received from the Registrar of Societies of Singapore.

A small group first gathered to pray on 15 August 2013 at the Praise Chapel of the Salvation Army Building.

It was on 24 September 2013 that the application for registration of BHBPC was submitted. 127 days later, the Lord answered our prayer. We saw the good hand of God leading us.

When Nicodemus the Pharisee came to Jesus, he was spiritually dead. Jesus said to him, “Ye must be born again.” To be born-again is to have a spiritual life, having fellowship and communion with the living and true God. In John 3:8, Jesus uses the illustration of the “wind” to describe one having spiritual life. He says “The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.” (John 3:8) The wind is invisible, you cannot see the wind with your eyes but you can feel its breeze. When you fly a kite, you see the reality of the wind blowing when the kite is lifted up in the sky. The presence of the Holy Spirit in the believer’s life is such, not visible to the naked eye yet the true believer is able to overcome sin and temptation by the power of the indwelling Spirit.

In John 4, Jesus initiated the conversation by humbling Himself to ask drink from the woman at the well in Samaria (for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans). In fact, historically, they were bitter enemies. The Jew would not stoop low to ask a drink from the Samaritan even though he may be thirsty. Jesus reached out to the unlovable and outcast Samaritan proactively. He did not despise her but saw this “outcast” as a precious soul needing the gospel. Jesus’ act of condescension startled the woman. This brought forth a response from her. Jesus utilized the illustration of “living water” that will quench her thirst forever alluding to everlasting life from God to arouse her interest to seek to know more of the truth.

2 Kings 2:15-25 And when the sons of the prophets which were to view at Jericho saw him, they said, The spirit of Elijah doth rest on Elisha. And they came to meet him, and bowed themselves to the ground before him. 16 And they said unto him, Behold now, there be with thy servants fifty strong men; let them go, we pray thee, and seek thy master: lest peradventure the Spirit of the LORD hath taken him up, and cast him upon some mountain, or into some valley. And he said, Ye shall not send.

The Apostle Paul tells us the benefits of being spiritually minded is life and peace while the curse of carnal mindedness is death. He instructs us to live for the things that are eternal not the things that are temporal. He is teaching us a heavenly value system that is very different from the temporal gratification that the flesh offers us in this world. True peace is a life without regrets.

The redeemed man, therefore, is holy in the sight of God in that he is made holy by the merits of Jesus Christ. This is the meaning of the phrase “that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us”. When we repent of our sins and received Jesus Christ into our hearts, believing that He died and rose from the dead the third day, we are saved. By the indwelling Holy Spirit, we have the divinely-endowed strength to reject the way of sin and walk after God in holiness. Hallelujah, what a Saviour!