Dear BPCWA worshipper, In this pastoral, I will continue with the morning devotion messages preached from Prov 27:7-8. I hope you will read it to refresh and reaffirm key lessons to be learnt. Necessary Hunger to Keep Growing. “The full soul loatheth an honeycomb; but to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet” (Pr 27:7). Isn’t being full a good thing to be desired? Not always so. It can remove appreciation of what is good and needed. The honey in the honeycomb is full of protective antioxidants and comes with many other health-promoting qualities. One who is hungry will be grateful to have it. But despite all this goodness, the foolish full soul wants nothing of it! What is
Read moreDear BPCWA worshipper, I wrote about what was covered at the Family Seminar in some recent pastorals. Families are important because one of the reasons that God ordained marriage is to have godly seed for His church and work. However, we must also remember that God has also called some to singlehood as well. While God has set some apart to marriage to glorify Him in that estate, He has also set apart some singles to glorify Him for His work’s sake. So, to set things in the right and complete perspective of both groups in the church, it is also important to cover in this pastoral God’s purpose for singles in His church and work on earth. A single
Read moreDear BPCWA worshipper, Today, we commemorate Reformation Sunday. As many of you are aware, the 1517 Reformation was sparked by Martin Luther, a previous Roman Catholic theology professor and monk, when he nailed the 95 Theses (statements) on the door of a church in Wittenberg, Germany. The 95 Theses disputed the errors of the Roman Catholic Church’s teachings and practices regarding salvation, penance, and indulgences. Luther had come to realise that the theology he had learned and was propounding as a Roman Catholic was not what the Bible, God’s Word, taught. Though it was not initially meant to be a protest but to seek clarification and even perhaps not quite expecting the uproar that would follow his action, Luther would
Read moreDear BPCWA worshipper, Last week, I wrote about what I covered at the Family Seminar. I hope that every married couple, grandparent, and parent has watched the video on our YouTube channel by now. I wonder if there are some parents who, in their minds, may be thinking “Is that really so?”. On the other hand, there may be some who may feel that as long as the children are taught “what is right”, the children will make the right choices, irrespective of what the parents do. Will that certainly happen? What even the world knows. To say that the family’s life does not affect the child is to simply be in self-denial. While we do not believe or disbelieve
Read moreDear BPCWA worshipper, In this pastoral, I want to recapitulate the salient points of our family seminar so that key lessons take root in our lives. Is it useful for grandparents, singles, and the young? Of course. Grandparents, you still engage with your children and grandchildren. Singles, you may have a family one day. The young, you are part of a family. And we all are ultimately an influence to children in the church too. So, do read on, praying that God will help us be godly examples. Better still, I hope that parents and everyone who missed the session will watch the video of it on our YouTube channel bpcwa.org.au/youtube. Teaching by my example. Your example speaks louder than
Read moreDear BPCWA worshipper, Have you ever taken the trouble to go out of your way to buy something for a specific purpose, paid a very high price to purchase something that is not worth anywhere close to what you paid for? What if, when you finally want to use it for your purpose, that thing refuses to function the way you intended it to – how would you feel? Well, we often say that God chose to save us for His purpose, but do we actually want to live a life to fulfill His purpose? Or do we refuse to? In this 35th Anniversary year, BPCWA and individuals in it must truly reflect upon this fact lest we go on
Read moreDear BPCWA worshipper, Winter is officially over, and spring is here! How do we know? Is it just merely by the calendar? Not totally. We also observe it from the changes around us. We see God’s creation changing according to His calendar as the seasons change. His creation obeys his creation command to “Be fruitful, and multiply” (Gen 1:22) as we see that even birds prepare nests to birth their young and actively protect them. They know that spring is the best time for the survival of their chicks, and so they change their habits when they sense the warmer weather come after winter, without the need for printed calendars or humans to tell them to do so. God made
Read moreDear BPCWA worshipper, Thank God for seeing us through another year, and that with the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions, we could continue with a Combined Worship Service before the ACM, have the ACM in church, and eat lunch together in church thereafter! We cannot take it for granted, as the government is warning that it is not an if COVID-19 comes into Western Australia again, but a when. What we have now are rare opportunities that we must humbly thank God for each day in today’s new COVID-19 and its variant ravaged world. The importance of chronicling. Our ACM reports this year reflected the changes that we experienced over the past year, particularly through the pandemic. We are recording these
Read moreDear BPCWA worshipper, Some weeks ago, I announced that we were starting a new topical study for Teens QnA. The first of these subjects was about “Dark Things”. This is an important trend that Christians must be very aware of because it can be so prevalent around us that many may not notice the shift towards dark things. For the benefit of those who did not attend and also for reiterating the lessons learnt, I will summarise in this pastoral what was taught in the 2 sessions in June. The trend toward dark things. There is a trend towards dark things that has crept in stealthily into our society today that it has become more commonplace than we realise. This
Read moreDear BPCWA worshipper, Let us continue on the final part of the highlight of some key lessons from the study of the book of Joshua. Last week, we looked at some lessons from the conquest phase of the children of Israel. Today we will visit some highlights of the phase of land divisions, and the farewell instructions of Joshua. Accepting our lot in life. How the conquered land would be divided among the tribes after the victories was ordained by God. Lots were cast to show that they were not to choose for themselves, but that God will decide for them. They were not complaining or murmuring. Neither were envies and jealousies noted. They accepted their lot as God had
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