Scripture Memory: Submission.
VERSE : 1 Peter 5:5 "Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble."

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O Worship the LORD in the Beauty of Holiness

31 December 2006
8.00 am Worship Service:
Rev Colin Wong (God Said: "Go Forward")
10.45 am Worship Service:
Calvin Loh (Our Dwelling Place In All Generations)
10:30 pm Watchnight Service:
Rev Charles Seet (The End of All Things Is at Hand)

7 January 2007
8.00 am Worship Service:
Rev Colin Wong (Waiting Upon The Lord)
10.45 am Worship Service:
Rev Charles Seet (Waiting Upon The Lord), Lord's Supper
6:00 pm Rehoboth Evening Service:
Mark Chen (Looks Like A Glut This Season!)

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When the clock strikes 12 tonight another new year will begin. Many may hope that 2007 will be a really ‘new’ year – i.e. one that will have none of the problems, trials, disappointments and failures of the present one. The word ‘new’ somehow conveys thoughts of better things than we had before. Thus on every New Year’s Eve we express the usual wishes for one another to have a happy, blessed or prosperous New Year.

Unfortunately not every ‘new’ year in the past has fulfilled all our expectations. As the years come and go, each has brought its share of blessings, but every one of them without any exception has also brought its share of burdens! And we can easily extrapolate the same from this for all the ‘new’ years that are to come as well – each will keep presenting us with an interesting mixture of blessings and burdens. As long as sin and all its unpleasant effects continue to exist and thrive in this world, there can really be nothing new under the sun (Ecclesiastes 1:9).

So if every year generally brings us through the same cycle of things with nothing really new under the sun, why do we bother to welcome the New Year? I would like to suggest that only those who are in Christ have the very best reason to welcome every new year – Because each year brings us one step closer to the time when all things will finally be made entirely new by our Lord Jesus Christ!

Every passing year will bring joy to our hearts when we are able to add to it the words of the apostle Paul in Romans 13:11, "for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed." How thrilling it is to know that we are now another year closer to that glorious final phase of history, when God Himself will say, "Behold, I make all things new" (Revelation 21:5). All expectations for things that are new and better than before will be fulfilled when that eternally fresh New Year begins! At long last there are only blessings and no burdens. All the sorrows and trials of former years are completely forgotten, never to haunt our lives any more!

The only reason there may be for sadness is for souls who will forever miss all these eternal blessings. They are barred all access to the new because they still remain in their old misery and corruption of sin and are therefore utterly incompatible with the new (cf. Luke 5:36,37). Dear Reader, there is only one way for you to be compatible with God’s eternal New Year, and that is to be a new creature (2 Corinthians 5:17). The old in your life must pass away and all things must be made new! And the only way that you can be made new is to be in Jesus Christ. He alone can make you walk in newness of life (Romans 6:4).

How then will you begin your New Year? To make the best of it, make sure that you begin your life anew with Christ.

As the New Year is about to begin this would be a good time to look ahead and prepare yourself for the many opportunities for spiritual growth and service that it will afford you, if the Lord tarries. Prayerfully consider what resolutions you should make in order to help you to grow spiritually and to do your part for God’s kingdom in 2007.

Next year’s church theme is "Towards prayerful and consecrated living for Christ." This theme will help us to focus on our walk with the Lord, which is our source of strength for Christian living as well as for every work that is done for His kingdom. Isaiah 40:31 tells us, "But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint."

We need strength to face the many challenges that are ahead of us, including the task of building up a meaningful and warm fellowship in the church, expanding our evangelism and discipleship programme, and carrying out the bulk of the Beulah Project construction work. Without receiving spiritual life-giving strength from our source and looking constantly to the Lord, we will have no power or ability to do any of these things (John 15:5).

The following are some specific goals that we as a church can trust the Lord to help us fulfill in 2007:

• For our new members and visitors: To create a strong desire for true piety in their hearts so that they will begin to walk with the Lord.

• For our existing members: To renew their commitment to walk close to God (or even to return to a close walk with Him) so that their lives will show spiritual improvement.

• For our children and youth: To challenge them to live not for self, but for the Lord Jesus Christ. To pray that at a result of this, some of them will eventually give their lives to God for fulltime service.

• For our young adults: To continue to grow in spiritual knowledge and godly wisdom and to serve the Lord faithfully.

• For parents: To revive family prayer, where family members uphold one another in prayer. The family that prays together stays together.

• For our elderly and infirmed members: To help them discover God’s sufficient grace for them to cope with their infirmities through prayer and complete reliance on Him.

• For our church leadership: To seek to become spiritual prime movers that God can use to lead the church from victory unto victory and for His glory, like the early church (Acts 4:31-33).

• For our missions: To strive for more spiritual depth and quality in our existing mission stations, rather than to grow in numbers and outreaches.

I trust that the above list of goals will move you to pray and to discern the role that God is leading you to play in accomplishing them. In order to be equipped to do your part well, you may want to enroll in the weekly Wednesday Night Bible Classes which will begin this week. Rev Colin Wong will be starting off the series of classes with a study of the Epistles of John. Please set aside time to receive in-depth teaching from the Word of God so that you may be "perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works" (2 Timothy 3:16).

One indispensable equipping ministry in every church is the Sunday School where systematic biblical instruction is specially catered and delivered to each age group. Today is an important day for our Life Church Sunday School, when students who have done well this year will receive their prizes. Dear Reader, if you and your family are not already attending Sunday School, now is the opportune time to begin building yourself up in your most holy faith (Jude 20). When Sunday School classes commence next week, be sure to sign up yourself and your children for them.

And if you are a new Christian seeking to be baptized, remember to enroll in the Catechism class which will begin on 14th January (9:30 am at the Chinese Service Hall) and which will culminate in a baptismal service on Easter Sunday.

Be sure to mark one very important event in next year’s calendar: our Church Camp at Harris Resort in Batam, Indonesia. Please set aside these four days in your calendar (11th – 14th of June) to sit at the feet of Pastor David Yan from Emmanuel Church in New Zealand, and be blessed with devotional messages that are based on the theme "Take Time to be Holy." Many have testified that they were blessed by his very pithy and practical messages during the church camp in 2005. Don’t miss this opportunity to hear him again!

Let us commit ourselves both individually and corporately to prayerful and consecrated living for Christ so that He may be glorified! —CS

What better time and what better season,

What greater occasion or more

wonderful reason

To kneel down in prayer and lift our hands high

To the God of creation who made earth and sky,

Who sent us His Son to live here among men

And the message He brought is as true now

as then.

So at this glad season when there’s joy everywhere

Let us meet our Redeemer at the altar of prayer

Asking Him humbly to bless all of our days

And grant us forgiveness for our erring ways.

And though we’re unworthy, dear Father above,

Accept us today and let us dwell in Thy love

So we may grow stronger, upheld by Thy grace,

And with Thy assistance be able to face

All the temptations that fill every day,

And hold onto our hands when we stumble and stray.

And thank you, dear God, for the year that now ends

And for the great blessing of loved ones and friends.

- Helen Steiner Rice -

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