Dear BPCWA worshipper, How has your walk been since the retreat and camp? The church theme is not just for us to be excited after the retreat and camp, and then for us to revert to our old ways thereafter. It is a lifelong theme for a lifelong walk!

Final summary. Over the past few weeks, we have been walking through the sermons preached based on our church theme “Walk as Christ Walked”, taken from 1John 2:6 “He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.” We often say we want to love God more. If so, then start walking as Christ walked and you will demonstrate your love for God. In doing so, your love for God will also grow. But there are prerequisites to walking as Christ walked. The first condition is total consecration. It means denying self, devoting myself to Him, and being willing to make sacrifices to do so. A major hurdle, however, is self. Hence, humility is the second prerequisite to walking as Christ walked. Humility is needed for absolute, unquestioning submission and obedience to God, and denial of self. We then considered how we should walk in Christ. In having loving relationships with one another, we must love as Christ loved. Beyond physical demonstrations, love requires us to be willing to suffer for another’s spiritual good. We must also be careful not to stumble another in how we walk because Christ takes such offenses very seriously. We must also increase in our fruitfulness. There must be increasing evidence of the fruit of the Spirit in our lives. There must also be increasing sacrifice and service for the Father. God prunes us to bring forth more fruit to glorify Him. Walking as Christ also means we will walk in sanctification, being devoted with an obsession to be set apart for the Father. When we desire and give ourselves “IN CHRIST”, we will be overcomers and have victory. We must decide and choose to do so.

How to walk as Christ walked. This was summarised in the final message on “Victory in Temptations”. 1) Pray and draw nigh to God. If you are serious with your sin, are you willing to pray “Father, make me willing to do your will, whatever it takes, even if it is chastisement from your Hand”? 2) “But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof” (Ro 13:14). Perhaps you have been allowing certain sins in your life. If so, you must be honest and stop pretending like you want to live as Christ lived. Instead, sincerely stop making provisions for these sins to be part of your life. You must honestly be willing to make changes in your routines. Free time gives provision for the flesh. Remember, idleness makes you have idols. But busyness in God’s things is good.  3) “Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ” (2Ti 2:3). As God’s soldier, He has given you the full resources. But you must endure the challenges of walking as Christ walked. And don’t entangle yourself with things that will distract you. To avoid distraction, keep life simple as your priority. 4) “Lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us” (Heb 12:1). Stop moaning about being set back by your sins. God tells you to just lay it aside and run the race instead! If you don’t fight to win, you will make provision and not lay your besetting sins aside. 5) “Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen” (1Jo 5:21). Deal with the idols in your life instead of trusting in them. An idol is anything that occupies the throne in your heart.

The importance of reflection. I took time to go through 2 sermons in each week’s pastoral because I believe it is an important topic for every Christian. God expects us to walk as Christ walked. God saved us to walk as Christ walked. What will it be like at the Bema seat judgement if we ignore all this and choose not to walk as Christ walked? Even if you have already heard the messages at the Family Camp, I hope you reflected on the lessons every week instead of setting the pastoral aside, thinking “I’ve heard them already”. In a church with sound teaching, we can have a lot of “head knowledge”. There is a saying “Been there, done that”.  We are also forgetful people. We may have heard the messages, but the purpose of my going through it is for us to reflect, after the camp, and to ask ourselves – have we been practicing what we have learned? The church encourages everyone to go for the retreat and our camp not just to be hearers, but to be doers. Every time we are tempted to think “I know that already”, we should follow up with the question to ourselves “Have I been obeying what I have learned since I already know it?” The reason that I have been going through the sermons slowly over several weeks is not to “fill up” the pastorals, but to help you to take time over the past 4 weeks to ask yourself, “Where is my walk at? Have I started after the camp desiring to walk as Christ walked but left those resolutions in the first week after the camp? Am I seriously desiring to walk as my Saviour?” Be honest with yourself.  You are the biggest loser if you don’t care. I would say in all seriousness – check your salvation if there is no genuine desire in your heart to follow your Saviour’s walk.

As we closed off with the last message on overcoming in temptations, I hope that every Christian will stop their self-delusion to convince themselves “I can’t”. God has provided us everything in our power to help us live a life as Christ walked, in every stage of our life, and in whatever He places in our paths. Don’t be the Christian that starts well and ends badly. Neither do we have any excuse to be the Christian who has a bad start. The only reason we fail is our unwillingness to fight to win. 

Yours in our Lord’s service,
Pastor