Scripture Memory: Not Judgmental.
VERSE : Romans 14:13 "Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall in his brother’s way."

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O Worship the LORD in the Beauty of Holiness

15 October 2006
8.00 am Worship Service:
Rev Colin Wong (Don't Be Paralysed, Get Organized)
10.45 am Worship Service:
Rev Colin Wong (The Secret Place of the Most High)
6:00 pm Rehoboth Worship Service:
Rev Wei En Yi (Yes To Brotherly Love, No to Busy Bodies)

22 October 2006
9.30 am 56th Anniversary Thanksgiving & Baptismal Service :
Rev Charles Seet (The Ultimate Thanksgiving)
6:00 pm Rehoboth Worship Service:
Mark Chen (Walking In The Light)

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This coming Sunday, Life Church will be celebrating her 56th Thanksgiving Anniversary. It will surely be a time of joyous worship, glorifying and thanking God for His great faithfulness, enduring mercy, abounding grace and eternal love for us. As a family in Christ, we have been through times of tribulation and joys, but as we reflect on these experiences, we realize the immense love of Christ for our Church.

In Ephesians 5:25, although Paul was exhorting on spousal responsibilities and duties, every sermon of his would be characterized with the preaching of Christ (1 Cor 1:23). Here we see him expressing with delight the love of Christ for the church as a model that husbands should follow in the way they ought to behave toward their wives. The church is always the object of Christ’s love.

Our Lord Jesus loved the whole world (John 3:16). He was not willing that any should perish but He had a special love for those who have trusted and obeyed Him. We are bought with a price (1 Cor. 7:20) – the shedding of His own precious blood – to redeem us from eternal condemnation, thereby granting us the gift of eternal life (Romans 6:23).

He sought after us not because we are good. On the contrary, we "…were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another" (Titus 3:3), "dead in trespasses and sins" (Ephesians 2:1) and "fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). But the verity is, out of His immeasurable love, He has "chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love" (Ephesians 1:4).

We deserve nothing, but our Lord Jesus Christ loved us with a love of sympathy, confidence and mercy. He has inscribed us upon the palm of His hands (Isaiah 49:16). Nothing can sever us from His love for us, "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:35-39).

Having tasted the benefits of His salvation and His love for us, dear readers, have we loved Christ as we ought, with all our heart, soul and might (Deuteronomy 6:5)? Have we yearned to reverentially fear him and yet come to him with child-like familiarity? Do we guard jealously His honour and glory in our lives that nothing in our conduct would bring shame to His Name? Do we show His love to others through us? Do we desire to let His Word mould us into His image?

Christ’s love for the church is as deep as the ocean, and as high as the heaven because it is a matchless love. He gave Himself for the church (Ephesians 5:25). His love was not an idle emotion but it was a love that demands humiliation, suffering and self-sacrifice on His part that was demonstrated when He hung on the cruel cross. The Son of God became the Lamb of God to take away our sins. This was done willingly and obediently in accordance with the will of God the Father. He did not let anyone stop Him from fulfilling the will of His Father to drink this cup of suffering (Matthew 16:23 cf. Luke 22:42). Hence, through His righteousness and death, we are saved. As a result, to every believer who has trusted Christ, death is no more a menacing fear because He has removed the sting of death. "But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ"(1 Corinthians 15:55-57)! This is the great extent of Christ’s sacrificial love for the church. "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13).

Shall we not be so enthralled by Christ’s sacrificial love for us, that we are compelled to give Him our love in return? Are we daily denying ourselves and carrying the cross to follow Him? Are we putting our hearts in submission to His will and commandments? Are we constrained by Christ’s love to serve Him? Are we putting our hands to labour for Him in His vineyard? Can our hearts sing with conviction, "So I’ll cherish the old rugged cross, Till my trophies at last I lay down; I will cling to the old rugged cross, And exchange it some day for a crown" ?

Christ will nourish and cherish His church (Ephesians 5:29). He will make it glorious in the end. Through the sanctification of God’s Word and the conviction of the Holy Spirit, the church will become without spot and wrinkle (Ephesians 5:27).

Satan however is determined to cripple any efforts toward this goal. Paul warned the Corinthian church to be aware of Satan’s devices lest he should get an advantage of the church. (2 Corinthians 2:11).

Satan can weaken the church firstly, through the leaders of the church. As long as he can lure them to conform to worldliness, to commit moral impurity, discard spiritual integrity and be involved in sexual immorality, the church will inevitably be weakened.

Secondly, Satan can use members to sow seeds of discord among brethren in order that strife and discouragement will prevail among leaders and members.

Thirdly, he can persuade the church to slumber into spiritual apathy and shoot his fiery darts of pride, sloth, selfish ambition, judgemental attitude, busyness of work and discouragement into the heart of every believer. Then we may become BP Christians, ie. ‘Back Pew’ Christians.

Last but not least, Satan can weaken the will of the leaders by causing them to have a sense of purposelessness, resulting in the lack of spiritual and moral courage to lead the church. As he did to the priests in the days of Malachi (Malachi 2:1-9) so the ancient foe’s strategies are the same even today. His desire is that every church will hang a sign at its door "Closed down for good. Didn’t know what our business was."

Life B-P Church must therefore not be ignorant of Satan’s devices. It must continue to be a Bible-driven church. Every one of us must love His Word, read it and have a great desire to obey and practice what God wants us to do in our lives. In the end, we will be made holy and without blemish, a church that is glorifying to His name.

Christ loves Life B-P Church. He has been faithful to us. He will surely help us to prepare ourselves for the Lord’s second coming. May we echo Isaac Watts’ heartfelt cry, "Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all." —QKK

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Members are encouraged to invite their friends and relatives.