HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR IN THE LORD

How can this be auspicious?

Great expectations loom ahead as every one looks toward yet another New Year, wishing that it will be more auspicious (祥) than the last. Yet, to be honest, we must admit that it may not be so. Envy, murder, dishonesty, war and a possible nuclear holocaust await us daily as we flip the newspapers and look at the world around us. This great catastrophe hanging over our heads is the result of sin and more than millennium human effort have not made things better.

The Bible says, “…the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth…” (Genesis 8:21b)

Living under the eyes of an all holy and righteous God, what we can expect in this coming year is His judgment. Nothing auspicious at all, you may think!

God taught the early people of God a very real object lesson: He told them to kill a lamb (羊) and offer it up as a sacrifice for their sin. This was a picture of the TRUE LAMB of God that would come in the future. Finally about 2000 years ago, the REAL LAMB of GOD came in the person of Jesus Christ. He died on the cross as a sacrifice for our sins once and for all. Through Him we can have forgiveness of sins, peace with God and the hope of eternal life. The true meaning of 祥 indeed?

“That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” (Romans 10:9)

Health and wealth this new year profit very little, if we have to spend eternity in hell, don’t you agree?

“The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” (John 1:29)

If you realize that you are a sinner in need of the Lord Jesus Christ to save you, call upon Him now by saying the following prayer, or any other suitable prayer, from your heart: “O God, I confess that I am a sinner. I believe that Jesus Christ died for my sins according to the scriptures, was buried, and rose again the third day according to the scriptures. I repent of my sins and receive Jesus Christ as my Lord and Saviour today. Please help me live a new life that is pleasing to You. Thank you God. In Jesus’ name I give thanks and pray. Amen!”

[Ed: Do avail yourselves to the angpow tracts (with our church details) to give to relatives and friends as you make your rounds this Chinese New Year.]

CELEBRATING CHINESE NEW YEAR

To the non-Christian Chinese, this is the celebration of celebrations, the festival of festivals. This is the time for yearly family reunions when the grown-up children come home to visit their aged parents. For a whole week before New Year, all buses, trains, planes between Singapore and Malaysia were fully booked. Private buses, cashing in, demanded a higher fee.

Chinese New Year is a time to indulge in feasting and attire. Despite the recession, the Chinese people can still afford to lavish good things on themselves and their children. Angpows (red packets of money) still exchange hands briskly, the seniors pampering the juniors, even as nephews and nieces call on one another’s uncles and aunties, etc. The philosophy of the Lunar New Year celebrants seems to be: “Why worry, once a year at least, let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!” (1 Cor 15:32; Isa 22:13). As for the angpow recipients they compare notes with one another to see if this year’s angpows yield more than last year’s. Then, like squirrels hiding away a windfall of nuts, the juniors will stash the sums earned from the angpows in the POSB with a chuckle.

Let me here give you, young people, a word of advice for your own good. “Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth …” (Eccl 12:1). Learn to honour God from your young days with your substance. Be sure you give back to Him that sacred tenth, worshipfully. If you honour the Lord, the Lord will honour you. When you leave school to earn your own livelihood, you’ll soon find out if my words, based on God’s Word, are true. – Rev Dr Timothy Tow (Life B-P Weekly of February 9^th 1986)

IN BUT NOT OF THE WORLD

Summary of YPF Camp Messages by Thaddeus Wong

Here is how to be in the world but not of it.

1. Abide in Christ the True Vine. We’re branches. We need to stay close to make us better Christians.
2. Be Fruiting. Everyone will know you by your fruits in the spiritual sense. It’s what comes out of you.
3. Be Loving. Jesus Christ was like that. We (1) need to do the same, even to our worst enemies!
4. Be ye separate. Romans 12:1–2 is key.
5. Live in the Spirit. Remember your Christian values too.

I obviously am convinced and convicted by those principles. There are times which I conform and times which I stand out “like a sore thumb”. Maybe it could be my compassion to my schoolmates (Jesus is definitely that). Alas, many fail and conform; some fall away. Jesus was right when He said that the world is deteriorating. All I see is not from bad to worse—it’s from appalling to downright abominable! Thank God for the faithful remnant that sticks to that good old faith.

So how to do the above? We thank God for Revelation 1:3. So…JUST DO IT! No questions.

IF YOU’RE CHRISTIAN, DON’T DRINK

“Teetotalers may view the drinking of toasts to be abominable and incompatible with their stand, as witnessed by this narrative from The Teetotaler (1840): At the anniversary of Cheshunt College, Sir Culling Eardley Smith was in the chair. This gentleman, after dinner, said ‘he had subscribed to the Teetotal Pledge, which of course was incompatible with the drinking of toasts;’ when the Rev. J. Blackburn, (minister of Claremont Chapel, Pentonville,) said ‘he was not a teetotaler,—he was not in bondage,—and on that subject he had very recently been preaching.’ What could the Rev. Gentleman mean by this, but that he had recently been preaching against Teetotalism? Let the Rev. Gentleman look at drinking customs and their enormous evils, and ask himself if he has done his duty; or whether he expects to be pronounced ‘a good and faithful servant’, if he continues even from the pulpit to encourage the great damning evil of this nation.” From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toast_(honor).

2 Peter 2:19, “While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage.”

CHRISTIAN GREETINGS

From Kobe, Japan

A Happy New Year.

Thank you for your kindness for sending to me your Church Weekly every time.

We know that Jesus Christ will soon return to the earth. But on earth almost all the people do not believe in the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. It is very sad.

It is troublesome for us that the earth’s climate has changed. Especially the latest summer was hotter than before. Many Japanese are troubled by the climate change during summer season. Many elders and small children are facing trouble in summer. There will be more trouble in our human life and in future until the Second Coming.

Celebrating all He is and all He means to us.

Setsuko Takashima

“But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness” (2 Pet 3:10–11).

From Kuching, Malaysia

Greetings in our Lord’s precious Name.

Thanks to God, and we rejoice with you in God’s providence of your new premises. On behalf of Calvary Kuching BPC, we enclose herewith cash RM3000 as gesture of love and fellowship in the Lord.

May God bless True Life BPC as you remain stedfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord.

God bless in Christ,

Jeremy Teo, 12 Jan 2019

[Ed: Heartfelt thanks to Calvary Kuching for encouraging words and thoughtful gift.]

Young People’s Fellowship (YPF) @ Resort Lautan Biru 2018