My Dear Readers,

By God’s grace, Hope Bible-Presbyterian Church is now 20 years old! We had our 20^th Anniversary Thanksgiving Service on 4 June 2006, and our guest speaker that day was our founding pastor, Rev Edward Paauwe, who had served as our pastor for 12 years. We had wonderful fellowship with him and his wife, Mrs Lehia Paauwe. We wish them well as they attend to the flock at Bible-Presbyterian Church of Western Australia, Perth, and it is my prayer and hope that we can still have regular fellowship with them in the future.

 

Our Duty to look after our Pastors.

 

Our association with Rev & Mrs Edward Paauwe must not be forgotten. They had worked very hard to lay the foundation of our church, and with little financial rewards. Their contribution to our church must be cherished and remembered by us. “Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine.  For the scripture saith, Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn. And, The labourer is worthy of his reward.” (1 Tim 5:17-18). Under clause 14.10.2 of our amended church constitution, it is stated that “Hope church will consider to help and assist the retired pastors as much as possible.” It is important that Hopefuls never forget their past pastors, and that includes Rev Peter Chua who was here in 1998-1999, and must pray and endeavour to assist them in the future. I therefore “beseech you, brethren, to know them which labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you; And to esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake. And be at peace among yourselves” (1 Thess 5:12-13). This applies to Pastor Ki when he retires from our pulpit in the future.

 

Remember that our Church is Bible-believing.

 

Hope BPC was founded in 1986 as a Bible-believing church and as such we “should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.” (Jude 3). We must accept and believe that the entire Holy Bible is God’s inerrant and infallible Word, the supreme and final authority in all matters of faith and life. Anything that is not in the Word of God must not be accepted as doctrine. At the same time we must not interpret the Word of God to suit ourselves or please others in order to accommodate their beliefs. For example, we do not believe that women should be pastors, or that our church should embrace charismatic teachings or our worship service should be entertaining with a band playing, and worshippers dancing about. We must have the courage to defend and not be ashamed with our beliefs and doctrine because it is what the Holy Bible says! We must not allow ourselves to be influenced by “liberalism, modernism, new evangelicalism, ecumenism, Romanism and New Age mysticism”.

 

Warning about Apostasy

 

Many churches were founded as Bible-believing, but after one or two generations most fell into apostasy. False teachings and teachers were slowly and very subtly introduced into these churches, and before anyone realises it, these churches become liberal and apostate churches – they deny the Holy Bible as God’s Word, and the records in it, such as the creation history, Christ’s Virgin birth, His miracles, death and resurrection which are considered as myths, and just plain stories. In Adelaide and in cities of all western countries we have near-empty churches. There are very few young people in churches nowadays. Many have been conned by “the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life” (1 Jn 2:16). These days, many people behave like the Israelites in the time of Judges, when “there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes.” (Jud 17:6). Nowadays, people are saying that as long as we are happy doing things our way it should be fine and it is none of anyone’s business if we cheat the system as long as we benefit. To avoid this and our church from falling into apostasy we must “stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel;” (Phil 1:27).

 

The Lord Jesus Warns!

 

The Lord Jesus warns in Matt 24:4 “Take heed that no man deceive you”. Many have been deceived and, sad to say, more will be deceived in the future. If we continue to ignore God’s warnings then we are heading for trouble.

 

Remember our own children and grand children. We need to leave a church that is Bible-believing to them. We need to do it now so that the true doctrine is embedded in their hearts. If we do not do it now they will turn to other gods, become disobedient kids, turning to promiscuity, adultery, theft, illicit drugs, deception, etc….What would happen to them? 1 Cor 6:9-11 warns: “Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,  Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.” We do not want to be responsible for this, do we? It is no point sending our children and grand children to church, especially to attend Sunday School, and be involved in church activities, when we are not showing an example. If we are lukewarm and careless in our attitude and loyalty towards God, the Bible and church, do not expect them to be obedient when they grow up, or to marry in a “traditional Christian way” – they are more likely to marry with their own children as grooms men and bridesmaids! It would not happen to us, you say. Wrong, this is already happening. One night your phone may ring in the middle of the night from an unknown caller threatening you with death or legal action because your son had got this caller’s daughter pregnant, or police may knock on your door to inform you that your beloved “well-behaved” child had been found dead in the gutter from an overdose of an illicit drug! You never thought such a thing would happen! You blamed God, church and everyone, but yourself. No, it is you to be blamed. You have ignored God’s commands – at your own peril! What is your duty as a parent? “And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates” (Deut 6:7-9). We have a big responsibility for and to our children who “are an heritage of the LORD” (Ps 127:3). If we do not take on this responsibility it is most likely they will fall into immoral and unethical activities, and give us plenty of heartaches, and trouble in our twilight years! We do not want our children to rob or murder us when we are helpless in our ageing years, right? Worse still, as they are spiritually bankrupted and wicked, “God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;” (Rom 1:28) and they become deceived and turn to religious extremism, believing that they can kill for God. Our Lord has warned “Yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.” (John 16:2b). I pray and hope that none of our kids will end up like these. If they do we may have to take the blame for allowing the world to take control of our and their lives!

 

We are needed to glorify God

 

God needs you. Your church needs you. Your pastor, elder, deacons and church leaders need you. We need your involvement in all facets of Christ’s and church work. For our church to be Bible-believing and “a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish” (Eph 5:27), we have to take action. We must sow seeds of salvation to bring others to Christ. We must look beyond our locality and to plant churches in other suburbs, towns and cities in Australia, and in other parts of the world. By the 40^th Anniversary of Hope BPC in 2026 AD, may we have daughter churches in other parts of the world, and that our sons and daughters be actively involved in The Great Commission (Matt 28:19-20). What a blessing it will be for our church in Adelaide and all the brethren here by then! If we are idle, uninterested, lukewarm, and disobedient, then remember “The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.” (Jer 8:20). How sad!

More Lively Hope

© Hope Bible-Presbyterian Church
14 Bedford Square, Colonel Light Gardens, South Australia 5041