Category: Weekly Newsletter

Abide with Me

Psalm 23:4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

It has been stated that only the person who can face the prospect of death realistically is able to live his life with purpose and confidence. Such was the conviction of a rather obscure English pastor, Henry F. Lyte, when he wrote the text for this hymn in 1847, shortly before his own home-going. It has since become one of the favourite hymns for Christians everywhere during times of sorrow and deep distress.

Henry F. Lyte was born in Scotland on June 1, 1793. He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland, and was a member of the Church of England all of his life. Through his lifetime he was known as a man frail in body but strong in faith and spirit. His health was continually threatened by asthma and tuberculosis. Despite his physical frailties, he was a tireless worker with an established reputation as a poet, musician and minister.

It was he who coined the phrase, “It is better to wear out than to rust out.” Wherever he ministered, he was greatly loved and admired by his people.

For the last twenty-three years of his life, Lyte pastored a poor parish church among fishing people at Lower Brixham, Devonshire, England. During these later years, his health became progressively worse so that he was forced to seek a warmer climate in Italy. For the last sermon with his poor parishioners on September 4, 1847, it is recorded that Lyte nearly had to crawl to the pulpit and his message came as from a dying man.

His final words made a deep impact upon his people when he said that it was his desire to “induce you to prepare for the solemn hour which must come to all by a timely appreciation and dependence on the death of Christ.” On his way to Rome, Italy, he was overtaken by death at Nice, France, and was buried there in the English cemetery on November 20, 1847.

Enter the Strait Gate

Matthew 7:13 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:

“Enter the Strait Gate” is God’s call to men throughout the ages to a life with God. The word “strait” means narrow, restrictive, expressing the difficulty to enter. What is the strait gate? It is the gate of salvation. It is the gate of conversion and regeneration. This entrance through the strait gate describes the beginning of this blessed life.

And there is none more authoritative on earth and in heaven to represent God as His Son, Who is God, the Second Person of the Godhead, coming in human flesh, possessing the faculty of human speech, “opened his mouth, taught” the multitudes.

What is the message in the heart of God that He wants to convey to mankind? It is the truth that there is no life lived that is more abundant than the life of true godliness that Jesus has just painted to the multitudes in Matthew 5-7. So here, in Matthew 7:13, at the beginning of the conclusion of His sermon, Jesus urges His listeners to individually make a decision — “enter ye in” if they have not so entered. It is God’s desire that all be saved. All who will hear this message are urged to hearken to the command to enter.

Wash and Be Clean

It was the prophet Elisha who said to the Syrian general Naaman, plagued with incurable leprosy, “Go wash in the Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt me clean.” (2 Kings 5:10).

It is interesting to observe Naaman’s unbelief and prideful response in 2 Kings 5:11-12, “11But Naaman was wroth, and went away, and said, Behold, I thought, He will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the LORD his God, and strike his hand over the place, and recover the leper. 12 Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? may I not wash in them, and be clean? So he turned and went away in a rage.”

How did Naaman come to seek Elisha’s help? It was a little Hebrew maid from Israel, carried captive to wait upon Naaman’s wife when the Syrians invaded Israel who told her mistress of God’s prophet in Israel who can heal her husband. Her testimony was that the living and true God is Israel’s God. Seek Him and Naaman shall find salvation.

(1) The Resurrection Life

It has been observed that on an average 24-hour day, for a fully grown adult, on the average, our heartbeats 103,689 times, our blood travels 270 million km, we breathe 23,040 times, inhale 12.4 cubic meters of air, eat 1.4 kg of food, drink 2.7 litres of liquids, lose 0.4kg of waste, speak 4,800 words, including some unnecessary ones, move 750 muscles, our nails grow .00011 cm, our hair grows 0.435mm, we exercise 7,000,000 brain cells. The day a person dies, all these activities of a normal day ceased. That’s the physical aspect of life.

But there is the emotional aspect of life. We build relationships. We touch lives with our lives. We cherish family ties. We build friendships. We laugh together, sing together, enjoy the company of one another. We care for one another, we help one another, we love one another. We eat together, go places together, support each other, strengthen each other.

Then there is a day of parting, when we say goodbye to one another when death strikes, goodbye in a physical sense when they die. And we would miss them, we would bring flowers to the tomb wherewith they are buried to remember the good times.

As Christians, we bury our dead. And so, when we visit the Christian cemetery, we see many of our friends and loved ones who had gone before us.

And we cherish the good memories of how their lives were an integral part of our lives once before.

This was what Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of James and Salome, were doing for Jesus, their Lord and Master, who they had the privilege to follow for 3 ½ years of His ministry on earth when Jesus died. It was on a Friday afternoon when Jesus died at 3 pm.