Honour Our Parents

Deuteronomy 5:16 Honour thy father and thy mother, as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee; that thy days may be prolonged, and that it may go well with thee, in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.

On Mother’s Day, it is fitting to rehearse the Lord’s 5thcommandment, the foremost of human relations, for children to honour their father and mother. A command to give thanks to father and mother for they are the imparter of life to us. Without them, we will not have our existence. Children owe their existence to their mothers who gave birth to them after carrying them in their womb. Not an easy task to carry, bear and finally to give birth. The physical toil upon the mother’s body is tremendous from conception to the full term of the baby, not to mention the painful process of childbirth.

When the baby is born, the mother began the process of caring for the little baby amidst her physical weariness after childbirth. The feeding of the baby, the changing of the diapers, the cleaning and bathing. The mother communicates with the baby by her touch, by her voice, by her presence, bringing love and security to the infant child.

The infant grows to be a toddler, able to turn, crawl and learning to walk. Mother is at hand to guide each step of the way. What an effort! The mother sings, speaks, prays, read the Scripture to the growing child, bringing the child up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord (Eph. 6:4b). The father is no less involved if not more in the upbringing of the child. What a responsibility entrusted to father and mother in the nurturing of the young life.

When the child is sick, feverish and weak, mother and father sponge the child, sometimes for long hours when the temperature is high. The occasions when the child is rushed to the clinic or the hospital, the anxious times of emergency. The toddler’s bible, the children’s bible, the bible stories read to the growing child. The bible songs taught to the delight of the child. The message of the gospel imparted, line by line, precept by precept, with prayer. Thank God for father and mother.

He Sought To See Jesus

A man’s most precious mission in life is to find his Saviour. More than his course of study, choice of career or even life-partner, is the privilege of being connected with Source of his origin, Sustainer of his life and Saviour of his body and soul – Jesus Christ.

(1) Jesus Came to Save Sinners (v1-3)

KJV Luke 19:1And Jesus entered and passed through Jericho. 2And, behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus, which was the chief among the publicans, and he was rich. 3And he sought to see Jesus who he was; and could not for the press, because he was little of stature.

Zacchaeus was a chief tax-collector, a very rich man with a successful career, in a worldly sense. But there was something amiss in his life which he sought to find. That missing link in his heart concerning life and its ultimate beginning and end. He was living in Israel, the only nation entrusted with the oracles of God’s law which reveals that man is made in the image of God (Gen. 1:26-27; 2:7).

Genesis 1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them… Genesis 2:7And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

And that image of God in man was marred when man first sinned (Gen. 3:1-7) and as a result of man’s sin, sickness, pain, sorrow, finally physical death came upon man from generation to generation without recourse.

Jesus Christ, is the Saviour, prophesised in the Old Testament Scriptures, who will solve man’s sin problem to give man eternal life.

Standing On the Promises

Joshua 21:45 There failed not aught of any good thing which the LORD had spoken unto the house of Israel; all came to pass.

This statement was the concluding thought after the LORD gave unto Israel all the land which He sware to give unto their fathers; and they possessed it, and dwelt therein (Joshua 21:43). Israel was restfully settled in the Promised Land according to God’s promise.

However, it was recorded later in the Book of Judges Israel’s incomplete obedience to the good instructions of the LORD cost them dearly from generation to generation. They failed to separate from the idolatrous people of Canaan both in worship and marriage till today.

Jesus Lives! (John 20:1-8)

The account in John’s gospel was the Apostle John’s personal testimony of how he arrived at the conviction even before he saw the resurrected Christ that Jesus is alive. He has risen from the dead.

It was Mary Magdalene who was early at the tomb of Jesus when it was still dark on Sunday morning, three days after Jesus was buried to find the stone of the tomb taken away – John 20:1 The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre. She immediately ran to Peter and John to inform them that Jesus’ body was missing from the open tomb. Peter and John immediately ran to the tomb.

Christ’s Seven Sayings On the Cross

(Edited and Extracted from “The Guide to the Gospels: A Comprehensive Analysis of the Four Gospels” by Graham Scroggie)

(1) The Significance of the Sayings

Last words are always important and are carefully stored in the memory, especially the last words of the dying, of the martyrs, of people who have been great leaders, inventors, discoverers, writers, and of our own loved ones. But all the greatest last words which have ever been uttered throughout all time are not of comparable significance and value with the Seven Sayings of Jesus on the Cross, and just because no one before or since can be compared with Him, no one before or since has been at once Perfect Man and Very God. It is His Divine-Human Personality that gives all that He ever said its value.

(2) The Number of the Sayings

“That there should be exactly seven, the sacred and mystical number of Scripture, is itself not without its significance” (Trench) No Evangelist records all of them, but each Evangelist records some of them. Matthew and Mark have one; Luke has three, and John has three.

Dwelling In Thy Courts

Psalm 65:4 Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to approach unto thee, that he may dwell in thy courts: we shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple.

The psalmist pronounced God’s blessing upon the worshipper whom God caused to approach Him in holy worship. He comes and dwells in the courts of God’s house by an irresistible call.

(1) God Draws

The psalmist tells us it is God who draws us to Him. Jesus says in John 10:27-28 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.

What a privilege to hear the voice of the Great Shepherd of the sheep calling us to be assembled before Him. As God draws us, He also prepares our hearts to approach Him. He draws us with an irresistible love. Jesus says in John 10:14-15I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. 15 As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep.

He Is So Precious to Me

1 Peter 1:8 Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:

How precious is the Lord Jesus! Faith in Jesus Christ brings unutterable joy to the Apostle Peter’s heart. He had the privilege to spend precious time with Jesus during the time of His earthly ministry. It transformed his life forever. Such is the heart that is stayed upon Jesus.

Dear friends, are you facing some distress? I urge to come to Jesus for comfort and suckle. He is able to understand our heart cry. He is able to help you!

Hymn Stories

(1) A Wonderful Savior

A Light out of Darkness

Fanny Crosby (1820-1915), America’s most prolific hymn writer, authored more than six thousand hymns, blessing millions worldwide. Embarrassed by the volume of credits to her name, she used over two hundred pseudonyms. Fanny Crosby did her composing in a dark room – total darkness – for she was blinded in infancy by a doctor’s mistake.

Her father died when she as a year old, requiring her mother to hire herself out to a wealthy family. When her grandmother heard that the little child was incurably blind, she said, “Then I will be her eyes.” She took long walks with Fanny and graphically described the sunsets, clouds, trees, flowers, birds, and beauties of nature. Her grandmother’s word pictures were so vivid that Fanny even had a favourite flower – the violet. She learned the sweet communion of prayer together with her grandmother as she knelt by her side.

Remembering Dr Tow

Our pastoral advisor Rev Dr Tow Siang Hwa went home to be with the Lord on 8 March 2019. I thank God for Dr Tow who prayed over the phone on a Saturday in August 2013 where he committed to the Lord the beginning of Blessed Hope Bible-Presbyterian Church, the last church that he has an active part in planting at the age of 88.

No Melons But Manna (Numbers 11:1-11 c.f. selected verses of Psalm 78)

It was in the wilderness outside Egypt that the children of Israel faced acute food shortage. God met their need by raining food from heaven. This heavenly food was called “manna” – Exodus 16:15 “And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, It is manna: for they wist not what it was. And Moses said unto them, This is the bread which the LORD hath given you to eat.”

What does “manna” look or taste like and how did they eat it? Numbers 11:7-9 tells us “7And the manna was as coriander seed, and the colour thereof as the colour of bdellium. 8And the people went about, and gathered it, and round it in mills, or beat it in a mortar, and baked it in pans, and made cakes of it: and the taste of it was as the taste of fresh oil. 9And when the dew fell upon the camp in the night, the manna fell upon it.”

The psalmist recounted the response of the children of Israel to God’s provision of manna in Psalm 78:22-24, “22Because they believed not in God, and trusted not in his salvation: 23 Though he had commanded the clouds from above, and opened the doors of heaven, 24And had rained down manna upon them to eat, and had given them of the corn of heaven. 25 Man did eat angels’ food: he sent them meat to the full.”