Our Sabbatical Jubilee
(A Message by Rev Dr Jeffrey Khoo at the Watchnight Service of True Life BPC,
31 December 2009)
True Life Bible-Presbyterian Church was founded in 2003 by the late Rev Dr Timothy Tow. It was founded upon the vital need to preach, teach and defend the 100% perfection of the God’s forever infallible and inerrant Words without any mistake. It has been six years since we started, and 2010 will be our seventh year. The seventh year is a sabbatical year, an important year for us to take stock of what the Lord has done for us and what we can do for Him in the year or years to come by His grace.
What characterises a sabbatical year and what can we look forward to in a sabbatical year? From the Bible, we know that the sabbatical year is a time of remembrance, a time of release, and a time of rejoicing.
Time of Remembrance
“And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the LORD thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm: therefore the LORD thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath day” (Deut 5:15 cf. 15:12-15)
One of the reasons for the Sabbath law was evidently for the sake of remembrance. God required the nation of Israel to remember His good and gracious hand upon them by delivering them from out of slavery and poverty and blessing them with liberty and prosperity in the Promised Land.
Why did God have to institute the sabbatical law of remembrance? It is because we are by nature forgetful and ungrateful people. We forget easily what God has done for us. Not only do we forget, we even rebel against Him who has only done us good. There is a Chinese saying, “When you drink the water, do not forget its source.”
May the year 2010 be a year when we as a church will spend time to reflect on what wonderful things the Lord has done for us. For this reason, we are going to issue a 7th Anniversary Magazine to remember and thank God for how He has led us and helped us throughout our six years of existence.
When we held our first worship service at the Regional Language Centre (RELC), we would have been quite happy to have 50 people in the congregation, but the Lord sent about 150 people, three times more than what we had expected, and today we have more than double that number, about 350 each Lord’s Day. This is not to say that numbers are important, but we believe the Lord is blessing True Life with such increase because we have been faithfully preaching, teaching and defending God’s forever inspired and preserved words to the glory of His Name. People have been saved and helped through the pulpit ministry of this church. Our pulpit is not a man-pleasing pulpit, but a God-fearing and God-honouring one. If you have been blessed by the Lord in True Life, would you not write a thanksgiving testimony for our anniversary magazine? Let us remember the Lord by giving thanks to Him for all the blessings we have received from Him, and 2010 is a good year to do this being our sabbatical year.
Time of Release
“And if thy brother, an Hebrew man, or an Hebrew woman, be sold unto thee, and serve thee six years; then in the seventh year thou shalt let him go free from thee. And when thou sendest him out free from thee, thou shalt not let him go away empty: Thou shalt furnish him liberally out of thy flock, and out of thy floor, and out of thy winepress: of that wherewith the LORD thy God hath blessed thee thou shalt give unto him.” (Deut 15:12-14).
The sabbatical year was a time of release, when servants were freed from their obligations to their masters. The masters were also required to reward them with goods; the servants were not to go away empty. What a wonderful law of humanity. It is God’s law that we prosper our neighbour, to give to his need, to seek his wellbeing, as it is written “it is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35). This is against the philosophy of greed, “What is mine is mine, and what is yours is also mine.”
Let us continue to pray for FEBC’s release from her afflictions by those who seek to take over FEBC’s birthplace and home. Pray also that the Lord will uphold FEBC’s faith in His forever infallible and inerrant words, divinely inspired and preserved in the Hebrew and Greek Scriptures on which the Reformation Bible—the King James Bible—is based. May this sabbatical year be a year of liberty for us, freed from every hindrance to teach and defend not only the perfect inspiration but also the perfect preservation of the infallible and inerrant words of the Canonical Scriptures which are the sole, supreme and final authority of Christian faith and practice (Ps 12:6-7, Matt 5:18, 24:35).
Personally, if there are those who have wronged us, we should forgive them, and release them from all their debts. They may have yet to say sorry, but never mind, let it all go under the bridge, forgiven and forgotten inasmuch as the Lord has also forgiven us and cleansed us from all our sins. Have we not sinned against the Lord during the year that is about to end? Do we not desire His forgiveness, and to start with a clean slate? If we do, then we must not only repent of our sins but also forgive those who have sinned against us. Jesus said, “For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (Mark 6:14- 15).
Time of Rejoicing
“Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the jubile to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month, in the day of atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout all your land” (Lev 25:9).
The “trumpet of the jubile” in Leviticus 25:9 was to signal a holy year of jubilation. The word “jubile” here is from the Hebrew teruah which means “to make a loud sound”—a jubilant call to God’s people to rejoice in Him and to thank Him for His goodness and faithfulness in their lives.
The year 2010 is a year of rejoicing for True Life. It is by the Lord’s grace and mercies that we have reached our seventh year. I want to announce this ahead of time. I believe there is no better time to celebrate our seventh year than in our church camp. It will be our Sabbatical Jubilee Camp, and we will be having it in Pulau Tioman, a beautiful island resort off the coast of Mersing. It is a place both scenic and serene, back to nature, and most conducive to get ourselves refreshed spiritually and to enjoy one another’s fellowship. Our camp theme is “Glorifying and Enjoying God Forever” (Ps 115:1) and we have invited Dr Paul Ferguson to be our camp speaker. Know that in such spiritual retreats, we experience a little bit of heaven on earth. Know also that God has instituted such sabbatical jubilees to give us a foretaste of our heavenly jubilee which will happen when our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ returns. The camp will not only be a time of physical rest and recreation, but also a time of spiritual rest and re-creation—a time when we seek the Lord and ask of Him, “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me” (Ps 51:10).
I pray that all True Lifers will make it a point to go for this camp. The Sabbatical Jubilee Camp will be from June 14th to 18th. So please block out these dates and apply for your leave as soon as possible. We will also prepare something special for our seventh anniversary thanksgiving service on October 3rd. Let us pray for a blessed year ahead—our sabbatical jubilee. May the Lord be greatly exalted in each of our lives in the new year.
Far Eastern Bible College
FEBC had a blessed day of prayer on 4 January 2010 at the Shalom Chapel of Calvary Tengah Bible- Presbyterian Church. The Principal spoke on the topic, “When God Works Satan Also Works” (Acts 5:12-42). He exhorted the students to be prepared to face opposition and hardships when they want to obey God’s will according to God’s Word and do God’s work in God’s way. He encouraged the students to study the life of the Rev Dr Timothy Tow, FEBC’s founding principal, and the history of FEBC to see how Satan has not ceased to attack the College time and time again, and how the Lord has protected and preserved His School of Prophets for His good purpose. So, we are not disheartened by the trials the College is currently facing. There are those who wish to silence or prevent FEBC from teaching the perfect preservation of God’s inspired, infallible and inerrant words without any mistake (Ps 12:6-7, Matt 5:18, 24:35). But we reply like the Apostles of old, “We ought to obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29).
The year 2010 will be an eventful year for FEBC. It is no secret that Life Bible- Presbyterian Church (LBPC) has sued to evict FEBC from her birthplace and home due to FEBC’s firm belief of a 100% perfect Bible today without any mistake (the doctrine of Verbal Plenary Preservation). The case is scheduled to be heard in the High Court on 25 January. The affidavits-of-evidence-in- chief of LBPC and FEBC are red-spotted in the FEBC library, and if you wish to read them, you are welcome to do so (see the librarian Mrs Ruth Yap during office hours). “For we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth” (2 Cor 13:8). May the Lord honour our testimony for Him and preserve our birthplace and home at Gilstead Road, “Remove not the old landmark; and enter not into the fields of the fatherless: For their redeemer is mighty; he shall plead their cause with thee” (Prov 23:10-11).
We thank the Lord for 13 new students this semester. They are Michael Accadio (Ghana), Desnawati Ambarita (Indonesia), Chan Choy Leng (Malaysia), Clement Chew (Singapore), Donald M dela Cruz (Philippines), Samuel Eio (Singapore), Rudi Jeams (Indonesia), Kim Jung Lan (Korea), Kim Min Shick (Korea), Kong Sing Soon (Malaysia), Lee Do Yeoul (Korea), Nguyen Van Hieu (Vietnam), and Jonathan Poh (Singapore) from Calvary Tengah who has enrolled to study full-time for a semester to earn his Certificate of Religious Knowledge before starting his university studies. Our “Basic Theology for Everyone” classes on Monday and Thursday nights attracted 200 students who filled the FEBC Hall to the brim, overflowing into the dining area. Please pray for FEBC.
FEBC’s Opening Day of Prayer, 4 January 2010, at Shalom Chapel, Calvary Tengah B-P Church
