January 23rd, 2011Vol.26No.4

SUNDAY COMBINED WORSHIP SERVICE

PreparatoryHymn JasonTeyPrelude RuthWongCalltoWorship AdrianCheng/KevinLau*Hymn RHC8Holy!Holy!Holy!*Invocation/GloriaPatri1

ResponsiveReading Joel1:10‐20Hymn RHC122GlorytoHisName(1,2,3)PresentationofTithes&Offerings*Doxology2/OffertoryPrayerScriptureReading Amos9Hymn RHC244FillMeNowPastoralPrayer/Message KoLingKang/KongVuiYip

TearingDownandBuildingUp*Hymn RHC332MomentbyMoment *Benediction/ThreefoldAmenAnnouncements*TheLordBlessYouandKeepYou3

*CongregationStanding1&2RHCFrontInnerCover

3RHCBackInnerCover

PASTORAL CHAT My dear readers,

1.“A year of Disasters” – 2010

Straits Times (5 Jan 2011) carried a “Headline Review” of the year 2010, calling it “A Year of Disasters. Earth-quakes, heatwaves, killer floods … we had it really bad last year …” (Not forgetting the unusual “deep freeze” which gripped much of the Northern Hemisphere, dislocating air communi-cations and delaying or canceling of thousands of flights. – Ed)

Then, the ST article continued, “One of the most devastating earthquakes in the past 100 years, last year’s Haiti quake killed more than 220,000 people. Only the 1976 Tangshan earthquake in China claimed more lives – 242,000.”

The quake in Chile released 500 times more energy than the Haiti quake.

All told, there were 950 natural disas-ters with the loss of 295,000 lives, esti-mated. The worst earthquake-hit coun-tries were Haiti and Chile.

In terms of the number and intensity of storms, 2010 had one of the severest hurricane seasons of the past 100 years. In addition, there were at least 19 tropi-cal cyclones.

All in all, Straits Times’ comment was: 2010 was “A Year to Forget.”

From the prophecy point of view, how-ever, the year 2010 was a year to re-member, and to take special note of as a harbinger of our Lord’s return. We re-call our Lord’s words: “… upon the

earth distress of nations, with perplex-ity … Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory” (Luke 21:25-27). What language can be more clear and understandable? Be warned, therefore, and be ready!

2. Creation Ministries International (CMI) wins souls for Christ

From Dr Carl Wieland, Australia, comes the latest report: two persons just wrote of their conversion to the Lord through the ministry of CMI.

Testimony No. 1: Gareth M wrote to Creation Ministries International as fol-lows: “In today’s age of reason, I be-lieve your scientific site is as important now as Martin Luther’s move was in his age.

Thank you creation.com [CMI’s website] for bringing TRUE scientific reasoning to the table. I love science and learning, but I can see that all in science is learning about the complexities in that which our Lord has made. I have met many, many Christians who have walked away from Christian faith be-cause of this ONE topic … people are more brainwashed than educated, the teaching of God’s Word is being for-saken, let alone teaching of sound sci-ence from the Christian world view!”

Testimony 2: James F (USA) wrote to CMI’s Dr Jonathan Sarfati: “You most likely do not remember me. About 6

years ago you were with some creation ministry that came to a church my fa-ther forced me to attend. I discussed with you about the world wide flood. It was that day I understood the Bible to be true and have recently believed this in my heart in the past year. Thank you.”

3. Powerful Impact by Dr Phil Stringer at SGBF (Calvary Pandan)

Baptist Pastor Phil Stringer from Chi-cago, USA, made a powerful impact at SGBF on 16 January 2011, preaching from Genesis 3:15 on “The Woman’s Seed” – the Virgin-born Son of God, Saviour of Promise.

Dr Stringer is also a stalwart defender of KJV. In the Preface to his monograph on the story of the KJB, he writes:

“Those who use the King James Bible are accustomed to hearing it criticized. Self-proclaimed rationalists, modernists, evangelicals, and even some fundamen-talists delight in belittling and criticis-ing the King James Bible. Cults, rep-resentatives of major world religions, and secularists alike commonly attack the King James Bible and look down upon those who respect it as the Word of God in English.

“All of a sudden, this constant barrage of criticism of the King James Bible (often referred to as the KJB throughout the rest of this monograph) is suffering some degree of disruption. As the four hundredth anniversary of the release of the KJB approaches, attention is being focused on the incredible influence of the KJB over the last four hundred years. Some of the criticism is being re-

placed by a serious look at the literary, political, linguistic, and cultural influ-ence of the KJB.”

In his Introduction, Dr Stringer writes: “The influence of the King James Bible can be traced in many areas. Its legacy is unmatched in Western Civilisation. According to Vanderbilt University Press, the King James Bible is the best-selling book of all time. According to historian Adam Nicholson, more than five billion copies of the King James Bi-ble have been sold over the last 399 years. According to Nelson publishers, the King James Bible is the most fre-quently quoted document in existence. Donald L Brake calls the KJB the “most famous and influential Bible in English history.” The Story of English, (a his-tory of the English language), goes even farther, calling the KJB “probably the single-most influential book ever pub-lished in the English language.” This reference makes every other English Bible translation seem minor in signifi-cance.”

At Calvary Pandan BPC, we hold the KJB in highest esteem: “The KJB is the most faithful and accurate translation of the Bible in English, closest to the original. It will never be replaced by any Modern English Version, all of which are contaminated and corrupt in some part.”

Please pray for me as I minister in Melbourne and Sydney Jan 20 to Feb 13.

God bless all readers.

Faithfully in the Lord Dr SH Tow

DEVOTION Dear Brethren,

Evangelism – The Duty of Every Christian

For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of: for necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel! (1Co 9:16)

I wonder how you feel every time the topic of evangelism is brought up. I am sure we all know that this is the duty of every Christian, and every church that is a healthy one would definitely be active in evangelism. Does it make you feel excited, that you are part of the active work of ex-tending God’s kingdom? Does it cause you to reminisce, on how someone brought the gospel to you in the past that led to your salvation? Maybe it is something you feel very passionately about and you would want to seek an opportunity to share the gospel at every chance you have. Or perhaps you feel uneasy and uncomfortable, guilty that you have not been actively doing your part as a Christian. Or maybe you even get somewhat irritated and angry, and resent the fact that people keep harping on evangelism as if it’s the only thing that Christians should do, or that it seems to be the benchmark of spirituality that people use to measure you.

However way you feel about evangelism, we must all acknowledge that it is indeed one of the purposes and duties of a church. Churches are established to be the witness and testimony of God, and every effective church is one that would go into their own community (Judea) and surrounding region (Samaria), and engage in foreign missions (to the uttermost part of the earth) to spread the gospel (Acts 1:8). This is the great commission that Jesus Christ gave to His dis-ciples before He ascended to heaven, to go to teach all nations. This is what Paul and the other Apostles fulfilled, as they went around preaching the gospel, establishing churches, and bringing souls to Christ. In fact, Paul in the verse above described it as a ‘necessity laid upon me’. It was not something that he did not only because he ‘felt like it’, but because he was compelled to, that he saw it as the inexorable duty of every church, and also every Christian.

As Christians and members of a church, this is what we must come to see as well. Realize that it is not just the church’s responsibility to evangelise, but every individual believer as well. We cannot just wait until the church conducts a gospel rally, or when groups go out to do street ev-angelism, that we fulfil this duty. It has to be our constant focus and goal, to always be on the lookout for opportunities to share the gospel. After all, every church is made up of individuals, and every individual has their part to play in the extension of God’s kingdom. Every one of us has friends, family, classmates and colleagues who do not know Christ, and have not heard of the gospel. The necessity is therefore laid upon us to go and preach the Word to them!

May we all have the heart of Paul that cries out ‘woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel!’ You may say, ‘I don’t feel the burden or the urge to go, and therefore I won’t’. Well, we must pray that we would, pray that the Holy Spirit will grant us that desire. And even if we don’t feel like it, we still should, for we know that it is an act of obedience to God, and a humble heeding of His will that we go out to share the gospel with the people around us.

A healthy church is a gospel-minded church, where the leaders and members all have a heart and desire to go and win the lost to Christ. Any church that does not do so is one that has lost its mission and purpose, and is no longer effective to God. May this never be said of us.

In Christ, Lingkang

ANNOUNCEMENTS, PRAISE & PETITIONS 1. Church Vans: Departs 12:15pm. 2. Revival Prayer Meeting: 8:00pm Tuesday. Speaker: Ko Ling Kang. Join us to pray for the revival of the church. 3. Fellowship Lunch: Next Sunday after service. Please bring a dish to share. 4. Wednesday Bible Class: There will be no class this Wednesday (26th January) in view of Australia day outreach. The next Wednesday (2nd February) we will begin a new se- ries, as we will be listening to a DVD series entitled "The Disciple - Himself and Other Disciples" by Dr. Mark Minnick. This series will teach us what it means to be a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ, and will be teaching primarily from the Sermon on the Mount (Matt 5-7). There will be a total of 12 messages, run over 6 weeks. There will be notes provided at a cost of $15 per set. Do come and be blessed! Classes on OT history will resume when Lingkang returns on the 23rd of March. 5. Australia Day Outreach: This Wednesday, we will meet first at church at 2pm for prayer. If you would like to join us later in the day please see the map in the foyer for the family-friendly location where we will be based. All are welcome! 6. Mens Fellowship & Ladies Fellowship: The next Mens Fellowship and Ladies Fellow- ship will be on next Sunday 30th January at 6pm with dinner provided. Please invite your friends. 7. English Basic Bible knowledge Class: The course will be commencing on the first Sunday of February 6/2/2011. Those who wishes to seek baptism, transfer of member- ship, or interested to know more about Christian salvation and faith, please contact Bro- ther Mark Heath. 8. 25th anniversary magazine: For those who are interested in writing short testimony in the magazine, please see Andy for more details. 9. Travelling Overseas: As many will be travelling in the coming weeks, please check rosters and organise replacements where you will be absent from Church. Email

angeline830@gmail.com after you have arranged a replacement to advise changes to the ros-ter.

10. Thanksgiving & Prayer: 1) Please pray for speedy recovery for Mrs Ching Lin Lee, who recently has had an operation, and is now recuperating in Gairdner Rehabilitation Unit at South Perth Hospital. 2) Preacher Ling Kang is leaving on Wednesday 26/1. Please continue to pray for his various

ministries whilst back in Singapore. He returns to BPCWA at the end of March. 3) Please pray for safety and journey mercies as many brothers and sisters will be travelling or going away during the holiday break. 4) Revival of the church. 5) A pastor for BPCWA. 6) Those who are away, working or travelling. 7) Those who are sick or weak. 8) Church safety & security.

Service Duty (23/1) Combined (30/1) Combined (Lunch Fellowship) Speaker Ko Ling Kang/Kong Vui Yip Sonny Lim/Andy Yu

Worship Leader Adrian Cheng/Kevin Lau Michael Lee/Andy Yu Prep Hymns Jason Tey Kenneth Chong Musician Ruth Wong Joyce Yip Welcomers Barry & Juanita Palm, Leonard Law Truc Pham, Albert Ho

Offering Stewards Leonard Law, Caleb Cheng, Barry Palm, Adrian Ng

Joel Wong, Eddie Ho Kenneth Chong, Albert Ho

Ushers Caleb Cheng, Rowena Cheng Joel Wong, Pinky Fu P.A. System Eddie Ho, Joel Wong Terry Chong

Kitchen Duties Lee Fung Fong, Andy Ho, Barry Palm Christine Chia, Yi San Chieng Yi Min Chieng, Joanne Koo, Phyllis Koo

JSS Singspiration Karen Yap, Terry Chong Hui Ling Wee, Yi Jye Chieng

Van Drivers Shie Tian (M) Leonard (C) Eugene (U) Camilia (M) Caleb (C) Terry (U)

Old Folks’ Home Ministry Subiaco Adrian Cheng (Karen Yap) Andy Yu (Grace Yu)

South Perth Hall A: Caleb Cheng (Rowena Cheng) Hall B: Barry Palm (Grace Yu)

Hall A: Barry Palm (Junita Palm) Hall B: Jason Tey (Adrian Ng)

Bayswater Mark Heath (Angeline Yong) Barry Palm (Junita Palm)

APPOINTMENTS OF THE WEEK Tuesday 25/1 8:00pm Revival Prayer Meeting

Ko Ling Kang, Adrian Cheng, Ruth Wong Wednesday 26/1 2:00pm Australia Day Outreach Friday 28/1 7:30pm Fellowship Meetings: Regen/Youth 180°/CYAF/CYPG

8:30am Pre-Service Prayer Meeting 9:00am Sunday School/BBK Classes 10:00am Combined Sunday Worship Service

2:00pm Concorde (Nursing Home) – 25 Anstey Street, South Perth Onslow Gardens (Nursing Home) – 39 Hamersley Road, Subiaco

Sunday 30/1

3:30pm Ben Ritcher Lodge (Nursing Home) - 480 Guildford Road, Bayswater

ATTENDANCE & OFFERINGS (16/1)Attendance: 141 (Combined-117; JSS-24); Prayer Meeting - 33 Offerings in Total: $3,330.40 General Fund: $3,330.40 (#3387-$254.50; #3388-$116.40) Mission Fund: (10% of General Fund is set aside for missions)

SHORTER CATECHISM Q4. What is God? God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable, in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth.