Lord’s Day, Vol. 9 No. 37
(1) Gospel Rally
Thank the Lord for His grace in holding our annual Gospel Rally on 5 September 2021. Praise the Lord for bringing 5 visitors. The theme of this year’s message was “Jesus Christ and Him Crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2).
Our message answered the question “Who is Jesus Christ?” and “Why was He crucified?” The answers to these two questions became the one sole meaning, purpose and focus of this writer’s life, the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 2:1-11.
We look for meaning in life? Where do we come from? What are we doing? Why are we doing what we are doing? And where does all this leads? “Jesus Christ and Him crucified” provide the answer to man’s long search for His origin, meaning, purpose and destiny of life. This was the reason our visitors were invited to hear the message in this gospel rally.
The jigsaw puzzle of life begins, continues and ends with the Person of Jesus Christ. And what happened to Jesus Christ affects all of us most intimately. We would surely want to know the truth of what happened to Him. He was crucified! He was sentenced to death by the most cruel form of capital punishment in the known world.
Death by crucifixion, to be hung on a wooden cross. To have His hands and feet nailed to a wooden cross and to suffer the agony of carrying His own weight until it overwhelmed Him and He died.
What was He bearing while He was on the cross in those 6 hours on the cross and the sudden darkness that fell upon the earth in the last 3 hours of His crucifixion from 12 noon – 3pm? He was carrying the weight of human sin. He was paying the penalty for the sins of all that He will save! This was why Jesus Christ was crucified. So that He may be the ransom paid for the human sins that men might be saved through His work of taking the penalty of their sins.
When did this take place? It was at the pivotal point of human history, B.C. before Christ, and A.D. the year of the Lord at A.D. 30. We are in the year of grace 2021. It was 1991 years ago when that event took place.
The Apostle Paul was declaring the testimony of God, the witness of God to all mankind through His Son, Jesus Christ. The testimony or witness of God may be summed in Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
Jesus Christ entered human history in the fullness of time, born of a virgin – the seed of a woman (Genesis 3:15). The seed of man is tainted with the curse of sin. The curse of sin, the Bible tells us, is DEATH. None can escape. But for Christians, we are born-again to live forever more. When a Christian dies, the Bible says, he is asleep for one day, when Christ returns, he will awake again!
Who is Jesus? He is the Christ. The Saviour of the world.
John 4:42 (KJV) And said unto the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy saying: for we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world.
This was the woman who met Jesus at Jacob’s well where she was drawing water, a Samaritan woman, half-Jew and half-Gentile.
All life emanates from Jesus and all life finally is traced to Him. Just as a beam of light. The path of light will not only get narrower as we approach its source, the brightness will not only get brighter but stronger.
John 1:3-5 (KJV) All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.
The truth of the matter is that Jesus Christ is the Creator and the Sustainer of all life. Jesus Christ is also the Saviour and the ultimate Judge of all mankind. We must know Him of Who He is and What He will do! Knowing Jesus is to know the wisdom of God and the deep things of God!
(2) Home-going of Mdm. Kwan Woon Chun
Our beloved member, Mdm. Kwan Woon Chun, went home to be with the Lord on 5 September 2021 when his son Xavier Kok called at night. Mdm. Kwan suffered a stroke in May 2020 and was immobilized and unable to speak. She was baptised on 29 December 2021 at Blessed Hope Bible-Presbyterian Church. This was her baptismal testimony:
When I was young in primary 3-4, I went to church following my friend. Later, I stopped going. I came to know and receive Jesus as my personal Lord and Saviour through my late daughter Maisy Kok in 2019 when she came back from Hong Kong for medical treatment.
I would like to receive baptism in public confession of faith in Jesus Christ. I confess my sins and believe Jesus died to save me from my sins and rose again from the dead the third day to give me eternal life. I believe, as the Bible promise, I will see my daughter again in heaven. All praise and thanks to God. Amen.
Mdm. Kwan is now reunited with her daughter Maisy in heaven with Jesus. All praise to God.
Yours lovingly,
Pastor Lek Aik Wee