COMBINED YOUTH CONFERENCE

Reported by Karina Leong

This year’s Combined Youth Conference (CYC) 2019 was held in Calvary Pandan BPC from the 25^th to 28^th of June. In addition to the full-timers, thank God that those who could not make it full-time joined us as part-timers, making a total of almost 40 participants.

The Conference theme this year was “My Repentance: True or False?” with Psalm 51:10 as the theme verse. This is a very needful topic to address as many young people today struggle with assurance of their salvation and with living holy lives. Our main speaker was Rev Clement Chew (Pastor, Tabernacle BPC), who shared God’s Word with us through eight messages: (1) What is Repentance? (Matt 4:17); (2) Repentance — The Necessity (Ps 51 Superscription; 2 Sam 11); (3) Repentance — The Plea (Ps 51:1–2); (4) Repentance — The Confession (Ps 51:3–6); (5) Repentance — The Restoration (Ps 51:7–12); (6) Repentance — Examples of False Repentance (1 Sam 15:10–23); (7) Repentance — Examples of True Repentance (2 Cor 7:9–11); (8) Repentance — The Fruit (Ps 51:13–19).

After each main message, we broke into groups for discussion. Rev Chew also addressed the discussion questions after every discussion, before he began his next message.

For morning devotions, Bro Samuel Joseph (True Life BPC) expounded on the Epistle of Jude: (1) Earnestly Contend for the Faith (Jude 1–10); (2) Clouds without Water, Trees without Fruit (Jude 11–16); (3) Building, Praying, Keeping (Jude 17–25).

Afternoon activities included a workshop by Pr Joshua Yong (Calvary Pandan BPC) on Tuesday on “Trends of the World and I,” evangelism on Wednesday, and games on Thursday. For the workshop, Pr Yong gave us six principles that we can adhere to when we engage in world-trendy activities: (1) Have a transformed mind, shaped according to God’s Word. (2) Have a sober mind that is alert and prepared. (3) Be obedient to God. (4) Be content. (5) Ask yourself if you will be brought under the power of that activity (i.e. addiction). (6) Is the activity expedient?

These principles are useful in serving as guidelines for us to have the right attitude towards the world and its temptations, so that we do not fall away from God. We also had group discussions on some of the world trends that we encounter as youths and evaluated them, using the principles that Pr Yong shared with us.

Evangelism was held at Blk 241 along Jurong East Central. Though many did not answer their doors when we knocked, thank God that we were able to share the Gospel with those who did. This exercise helped some of us to experience tracting for the first time. May we continue to make evangelism part of our lives. We pray for those whom we shared the gospel or tracts with that the Holy Spirit may work in their hearts.

For games, we had a quiz on the Bible as well as on the messages. We also played ball games for recreation, which gave us an opportunity to bond with the other CYC participants who are our brothers and sisters in Christ.

On the final evening, we had a time of testimony sharing, where some of us gave thanks for the spiritual blessings received through the messages, for God’s enablement for them to even come for this Conference in the first place, etc. They also shared their favourite hymns for us to sing. It is a joy to hear how God’s Word impacted our brethren’s lives.

At the end of the Conference, there was a Question-and-Answer (Q&A) session. Thank God for the many questions asked, and for Rev Clement who painstakingly answered them with much detail. Some of the questions were application questions, while some were asked to clarify certain verses in the Bible.

Thank God for this year’s CYC: for a blessed time of learning God’s Word and fellowship with His saints. I pray that all of us had been enriched by the messages and will be challenged to truly repent of our sins, and to walk closely with our Lord and Saviour. When we doubt our salvation or continually sin against God, thinking we can hide our sins from God, we can never have true joy or peace deep in our hearts.

It is only through God’s grace that we were able to have yet another CYC this year. Thank God for the hard work of the organizing committee, as well as God’s provision of speakers who patiently shared God’s Word with us.

All Glory be to God!

TESTIMONY OF SALVATION
Jermaine Pearl Encarguez

Good afternoon, brothers and sisters in Christ. I thank God that He used True Life BP Church’s Filipino Bible Fellowship to allow me to share my testimony on how good, loving, kind, and powerful our God is.

First of all, my name is Jermaine Pearl Encarguez from Iba, Cabanglasan Bukidnon and my journey began when I was born in a Roman Catholic family. God is amazing because I can see how He worked in my life and how He walked with me throughout these years. I thought believing in what I learned from our church satisfies my soul and guarantees me that I can go to heaven, that I am pleasing in His eyes because I always went to church and pray. That’s what I believed in, and everything seemed so easy for me. I was achieving what I wanted and living according to my desires. I was always captivated by how the world looked so beautiful in my eyes. Since primary to secondary, I’ve been so confident with myself, believing that I can do things on my own and believing in my strengths. I thought I knew God a lot, that I don’t need to study more on His words because listening every Sunday is enough to grow in my faith. But I was so wrong. I was not even living in Him, but I was living with the world surrounded by all the desires that enticed me the most.

When my parents transferred me to Promise Mountain Christian Academy, besides the academic books, they also studied the Holy Bible. I admit it was my first time opening and holding a Bible. I felt completely different. People were different in their ways, and it seemed like I didn’t belong there.

I was isolating myself from others because I didn’t want them to share God’s word with me. Until one day when we had a chapel hour, our Korean pastor shared the word of God with us. From that moment, I realized that those people around me were fully committed to God and full of passion in serving Him. I thank God that He brought me to a school where wisdom takes place when you live, knowing the true God.

After four years of studying in that institution, my soul felt so satisfied with what I learned. However, I was still a Roman Catholic and still attending that church every Sunday. I was still scared at the time to continue attending religion other than ours because I didn’t want to be scolded by my parents. So when I entered college, I didn’t manage to reread the Bible. Everything felt so comfortable and went according to my desires. But then I became boastful that whenever someone approached me and shared the word of God, I would turn away and say, “I know about that already.” I realized that I’m surrounded by worldly desires again.

I had a group of friends who loved the world a lot, and I did not notice that I had become one of them. One day, I met a group of friends who are very devoted to worship God with their best. I recalled about what I learned from the pastor who preached to us from Joshua 1:8. The word of the Lord says, “This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.” I felt the guilt and became sad knowing how I turned myself again to the world even though I was privileged to learn about the truth. You might think that this situation is not a big deal, but these small and unnoticed actions will turn into a greater sin that could make us blind from the truth and deaf to His words.

Our weekly devotion, together with my friends, helped me a lot to give time to praise and worship God. Indeed God provided an instrument for me to go near to Him. From Proverbs 13:20, the word of the Lord says, “He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.” I learned that we should always be wise to select our companions—companions that will help us to grow faithfully and not foolishly. But most importantly, we should also be an instrument for others who are blinded and lost. As the years passed by, I finished my studies and found a job at the same school where I started to know God. Those people also helped me to understand more in every circumstance in life, that there’s always time to wait and there’s a right time when God will grant you what you prayed, and faithfulness should always take place.

After one year and three months of service, I was given an opportunity to work here in Singapore, and that opportunity turned out to be my most magnificent journey to serve God. Through my friend who invited me to attend here in FilBF, I became one of God’s children. Before, I was still not sure whether I should continue to visit here because I was afraid that my parents would be against it. But later on, I got the courage to tell everyone that I accepted Christ as my Savior and as my Lord. My life had changed, I feel comfort whenever I am alone, and I feel safe whenever trials and temptations surround me. Serving the Lord is indeed not easy as well for the enemy exerts effort to put me down and to measure my faith and how long I can hang on. Just recently, both of my parents almost died due to a heart attack and pneumonia. We thought it was the end for them, and I thought I couldn’t reach them anymore to share God’s word. The enemy knows how much I love my parents and made ways to disturb me. But I saw how God works in my life and how He shows His miracles. Philippians 4:6–7 says, “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” How I thank God for delivering my parents from their physical infirmities. He still has plans for them, and I will take that chance to continue sharing God’s word and praying that I will be able to help them too, to know who God is and to accept Him as their Savior. I thank my brothers and sisters in Christ who are there to give comfort and reminders that God is greater than the enemy. Indeed, they helped me a lot to open up myself to others and helped me be a keeper of God’s word.

Praise God oh most high! He is greater than all our enemies; let’s not stop to share the good news with others, and let’s continue to walk with faith in Him.