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Volume. XXIX, No. 7 An ObservationWhat was once a thriving community of Bible-believing Christians of both young and old is today a sad and pathetic sight of 30 - 40 elderly folks during worship in a church I visited during my past visits to Perth. Who will continue the gospel witness of the church when the older generation passed on? There was no Sunday school or youth group at all. I wondered what's gone wrong? Can it happen to us?
Vacation Bible School (VBS) ministry in Hope BP Church has come a long way. I remember some 20 years ago when Pastor Ed & Mrs Lehia Paauwe asked me to come to co-labour in VBS Hope, there was indeed a struggle to find enough kids to have a VBS programme. To add to a good number, some Korean kids came from the Pure Presbyterian Church here in Adelaide. Those early days were a real struggle to reach the younger generation. Praise be unto the Lord for the faithful labourers of many in Hope Church in the ministry of the Sunday School, as I can see so many parents and kids at Hope VBS 2014. The dining area of the stone mansion was a beehive of activities and the numbers of kids, helpers and parents testified to the goodness and faithfulness of the Lord in establishing the VBS ministry at Hope. I also observed a new generation at VBS Hope this time round. We must not rest on our laurels but go labour on to strengthen this particular mission to these young lives entrusted to our care.
I recently made a mission trip to Chiang Mai, North Thailand and was invited to attend a funeral service of a well-known pioneer American missionary by the name of Eugene Russell Morse. He was brought to the mission fields by his missionary parents when he was merely a couple of months old. He grew up in China & Tibet but later went back for his education in America. He soon returned to China, Burma and Thailand to pioneer missions amongst the Rawang and Lisu ethnic people in that regions. He was indeed a missionary statesman. But what really was an inspiration for missions was the legacy he left behind, his sons and daughters continue to this day the missions he pioneered some 60 years ago or more. Go to the website: North Burma Christian Mission and you will learn more of the ongoing missions by the Morse family. The labours of this veteran missionary & his family had made an impact in the lives of millions in that part of Asia. The Morse family reminds me of another missionary family, Rev.Dan Ebert and his sons of the Hilltop Missionary Training Centre in the Philippines.
As we are living in a fast changing digital age, I have always been challenged to do something to keep pace with digital technology in the area of online missions. From time to time, since I launched my digital videos of Bible contents and other kind of postings, I have been surprised to find others serving the Lord who were interested to use my Bible video clips or PowerPoints for their teaching ministries as visual aids. I have since been receiving requests from America, Holland, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, etc. So it dawned upon me that I must work further to establish this online mission on a global outreach as the days of much travelling will slow down in place of doing online missions from home.
Many thanks to Pastor & Mrs Ki, Hope Session and congregation for generous support with love gifts over so many years.
My son - Calvin Lim is now working for Calvin Klein and my daughter - Judith is doing Radiography in her 3rd year at Monash University. Poh Lin and I thank the Lord for looking after us all these years in His service for the furtherance of the kingdom of God through missions and online missions.
Preacher Hai Seng Lim
iSketch studio Melbourne
BORN ONCE DIE TWICE OR BORN TWICE DIE ONCE
Scripture Text: John 3:1-21
How many times can you be born? The answer is very straight forward, isn’t it, each one of us can only be born once. Our mother gave birth to us only once, no human being on earth can be born physically twice.
But do you know that the bible tells us that we can be born twice? According to the bible we can be born once physically and we can be born once spiritually. So from the bible we are told that there is a physical birth and there is a spiritual birth.
However, this is not the end, in the bible, we are also told that there are two kinds of death – physical death and spiritual death. But there is a great difference between the two kinds of birth and the two kinds of death. And the difference is this, you, or a man, or a woman can be born once and die twice or you can be born twice but die once. What do I mean by this? The bible teaches us that you can be born physically once but you have to die two times – physically and spiritually. But you can also be born physically once and spiritually once and then you die only physically, spiritually you are alive.
How can this be possible? Well, the answer is in John chap 3:1-21. Jesus in this passage is explaining to this man by the name of Nicodemus that he must be born again. Jesus said to him in v.3, “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (Joh 3:3).
But Nicodemus was puzzled. So he asked Jesus two questions, “How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?” (Joh 3:4). Nicodemus could not understand how can a man be born again when he is already physically born. But Jesus is talking about something else. V.5 is Jesus’ answer to Nicodemus, “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (Joh 3:5-6). What Jesus is telling Nicodemus is this, if you want to enter into the Kingdom of heaven, you must be born spiritually, otherwise you cannot enter. To be born again spiritually is to believe and your trust in Jesus Christ as your personal Saviour and Lord. Why is this so?
The answer is in v.15, “15 That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (Joh 3:15-16).Why is Jesus able to give you this spiritual or this everlasting life? Because Jesus though He is a man, but He is also fully God, only Him can give you that spiritual birth and this everlasting life.
What about you? Do you understand what Jesus is saying to you? Do you wish to die once, and be born again twice or do you wish to born once but die twice. You see, every one of us will die physically. No one born into this world can escape death, this is physical death. Whether you are young or old, whether you are rich or poor, whether you are very smart or not smart, we all have to die and leave this world. And you cannot take anything with you when you leave this world. You leave everything behind, your money, your favourite books, your paper qualification; your prizes you have won in school and everything else will have to be left behind.
But just as Jesus is offering Nicodemus, a second chance or a second life, if you desire to be born-again, Jesus is offering this to you also. If you receive Christ Jesus into your hearts as your Saviour, He will give you the spiritual birth so that you will live forever with Him in heaven and you die only once, physically.
However, if you choose to reject this offer of spiritual birth or spiritual life, then you will not only die physically, you will also die spiritually. Because John 3:18, warns us with these words, “18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God”.
Dear friends, do not think once you die, everything will be over for you and you will have peace. The bible tells us that man is different from animals; man is created with a living soul. Gen 2:7 says, “7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” And this soul, your soul, will live forever, either in hell or in heaven with God.
For Nicodemus, he finally understood what Jesus was showing him. Thanks be to God, Nicodemus was born twice, physically and spiritually and so he died only once. How do we know, if you turn to John 19:39, you will see there that Nicodemus was with the other disciplesto lay Jesus in the tomb.
(Article taken from weekly of New Life BPC, London, dated 27 July 2014) |
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