O Worship the LORD in the Beauty of Holiness

	8.00 am	11.00 am
Call to Worship	Eld Roger Lim	Eld Roger Lim
Opening Hymn  +Invocation-Gloria Patri	Immortal, Invisible, God Only  Wise (HGG 23)	Immortal, Invisible, God Only  Wise (HGG 23)
Scripture Reading	Exodus 18:13-27	Exodus 18:13-27
Hymn	My Jesus, I Love Thee (HGG 384)	My Jesus, I Love Thee (HGG 384)
Offertory Hymn	The Lower Lights (HGG 568)	The Lower Lights (HGG 568)
Doxology & Prayer
Pastoral Prayer
Sermon	God’s Requirements for Church  Leadership, Acts 6:1-7 (Rev Charles Seet)	God’s Requirements for Church  Leadership, Acts 6:1-7 (Rev Charles Seet)
Closing Hymn	Lord, Let Me Serve (TSMS 265)	Lord, Let Me Serve (TSMS 265)
Benediction
Announcements

 

THE HIGH CALLING OF BEING A MISSIONARY

Introduction

This is our 73rd year as a church and the LORD has blessed us with a history of doing mission work. If the LORD Jesus should tarry according to the heavenly Father’s will, we will have more wonderful opportunities to continue in this spiritual privilege of going beyond our shores with the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ.

It is with a bright future in mind that I would like to share this article written by Allan Patterson of Gospel Fellowship Association Mission. This Christian organization is associated with Dr. Bob Jones Sr. and you can find this article here https://gfamissions.org/high-calling-of-being-a-missionary/

The High Calling of Being a Missionary by Allan Patterson

“I AM A MISSIONARY!”

These are words I heard many times from Dr. Dreisbach, my mentor at GFA and the missionary hero of numerous missionaries and hundreds of God’s people. No one who knew him questioned the reality of his passion. While he loved reading about missionaries from every era and in every kind of setting, he made it perfectly clear that his own missionary hero was David Livingstone, a man of great conviction, compassion, and deep love for the lost.

Say rather it is a privilege.

To Livingstone it was almost sacrilegious to talk about missionary “sacrifice,” for in his estimation missionary service was the highest earthly honor. He argued, “If a commission by an earthly king is considered an honor, how can a commission by a Heavenly King be considered a sacrifice?” He elaborates on his view of missionary service:

For my own part, I have never ceased to rejoice that God has appointed me to such an office. People talk of the sacrifice I have made in spending so much of my life in Africa. Is that a sacrifice which brings its own blest reward in healthful activity, the consciousness of doing good, peace of mind, and a bright hope of a glorious destiny hereafter? Away with the word sacrifice. Say rather it is a privilege.[1]

If you knew the satisfaction ... you would have no hesitation in embracing it.

Livingstone was sometimes challenged about the wisdom of his living such a rugged missionary life. To those who questioned he answered: “If you knew the satisfaction of performing such a duty, as well as the gratitude to God which the missionary must always feel, in being chosen for so noble, so sacred a calling, you would have no hesitation in embracing it.”[2]

The worth of souls, the pleasure of the work itself, and the increase of the Redeemer’s kingdom are motives sufficient.

Livingstone was not the first to have this high view. He followed in the footsteps of William Carey, who is considered the father of modern missions. Carey describes his resolve and pleasure in the work, and in words that he wrote early in his ministry when there was “little success”:

I am, notwithstanding the little success we have had, far from being discouraged; and should I never succeed, yet I am resolved in the strength of the Lord Jesus to live and die persisting in this work, and never to give it up but with my liberty or life. The worth of souls, the pleasure of the work itself, and above all the increase of the Redeemer’s kingdom are with me motives sufficient, and more than sufficient to determine me to die in the work that I have undertaken.[3]

She had it in her heart to do something for the heathen.

Missionary men reveled in the honor of serving the King of Kings, and missionary women also shared this view. Harriet Newell and her husband, Samuel, joined the Judsons as America’s first official foreign missionaries. Harriet was the first to die on the foreign field, passing into glory on the Isle of France at the age of 19. Her husband wrote back a message for her mother about how Harriet looked upon her calling as she was dying: “Tell her that dear Harriet never repented of any sacrifice she had made for Christ; that on her dying bed she was comforted with the thought of having had it in her heart to do something for the heathen, though God had seen fit to take her away before we entered on our work.”[4]

My highest desires gratified

Ann Judson and Harriet Newell were close friends, and they shared the vision of finding the richest enjoyment in life from being a missionary. Ann wrote: “Oh, if it may please the dear Redeemer to make me instrumental of leading some of the females of Burmah to a saving acquaintance with Him, my great object will be accomplished, my highest desires gratified, I shall rejoice to have relinquished my comforts, my country, and my home.”[5]

I cannot thank Him enough for the honour.

Like Harriett and Ann, Mary Slessor extolled the missionary life. Writing near the end of her amazing ministry in west Africa, she exclaimed: “Mine has been such a joyous service. God has been good to me, letting me serve Him in this humble way. I cannot thank Him enough for the honour He conferred upon me when He sent me to the Dark Continent.”[6]

God had an Only Son, and He was sent to the habitable parts of the earth as a missionary physician.

Livingstone’s view of the missionary role was not his alone. All those called of God in this special way are part of that privileged multitude. To cement his conviction that it was the greatest possible honor to be a missionary, Livingstone often focused on the truth of Jesus’ role in coming to earth. He marveled that God sent His own Son as a missionary: “It is something to be a missionary. The great and terrible God, before whom angels veil their faces, had an Only Son, and He was sent to the habitable parts of the earth as a missionary physician.”[7]

I was a missionary!

Reader, what is your view of being a missionary? Livingstone considered it an “unspeakable mercy to be permitted to engage in this most holy and honorable work.”[8] Who can doubt that now in heaven all these men and women, along with a myriad of others, glory in this thought—“I was a missionary!”

Will you join their ranks?

• © 2022 by Gospel Fellowship Association. Used by permission. Find other missions-related content on GFA’s blog, Commissioned: gfamissions.org/commissioned-gfa-blog/.

Conclusion

Indeed, may our LORD call His people in our midst into the mission field. When He considers us and calls us, let us be ready!

^“Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest.”

Luke 10:2

– Joel Seah

[1] W. Garden Blaikie, The Personal Life of David Livingstone (Barbour and Company: Westwood, New Jersey, 1986), 243.

[2] Ibid.

[3] Terry G. Carter, The Journal and Selected Letters of William Carey (Smyth and Helwys: Macon, Georgia, 2000), 69.

[4] Harriet Newell. The Life and Writings of Mrs. Harriet Newell. Rev. ed. (American Sunday School Union: Philadelphia, 1831), 246.

[5] Arabella Stuart, The Lives of the Three Mrs. Judsons (Particular Baptist Press: Springfield, Missouri, 1999), 30.

[6] W. P. Livingstone, Mary Slessor of Calabar (Hodder and Stoughton: London, 1917), 322.

[7] Blaikie, 493.

[8] Blaikie, 154.

  

Appointments for the Week

Monday, March 13

        7.30 pm     ERBL: OT Historical Books (Rev Charles Seet)

Tuesday, March 14

        8.00 pm     Prayer Meeting (Joel Seah)

Thursday, March 16

      10.00 am     Ladies’ Prayer Group

        7.30 pm     ERBL: History of Presbyterian & B-P Churches (Rev Lee Hock Chin)

Saturday, March 18

        3.00 pm     LTF / YAF

Sunday, March 19

        8.00 am     Stephen - A Man of Faith Acts 6:5, 7:54 - 8:3 (Rev Quek Keng Khwang,with Holy Communion)

  8.00 am Choir Practice

  9.15 am Library (Sanctuary Balcony)

  9.40 am Sunday School / Catechism Class

10.15 am Coffee Corner

11.00 am Stephen - A Man of Faith Acts 6:5, 7:54 - 8:3 (Rev Quek Keng Khwang)

11.00 am Children’s Ministry

11.00 am Chinese Service

11.00 am Filipina Service (Rm 1-6)

12.15 pm Library (Sanctuary Balcony)

  2.30 pm Thai Service (LMH)

  4.00 pm Indonesian Service (Rm 1-6)

 

Announcements

Church Camp 2023

13-16 June 2023

Anchoring Our Faith In A Postmodern World

Speaker: Pastor Tan Soon Yong

Radisson Golf & Convention Center, Batam

Registration for church camp 2023 is now open. You may go to the church's website at www.lifebpc.com/church-camp-2023 to register online. Please register early!

 

Infant Baptism on Easter

Sunday, 9 Apr 2023. Parents, please email the church office with your full names, contact numbers, and your child's name and date of birth by 26 Mar 2023.

 

Vacation Bible School

Vacation Bible School (VBS) is back!

Theme: Mission Himpossible.

Date: 31 May-2 Jun 2023.

Lifers needed for the available areas of service: teaching, logistics, craft, games, F&B and photography.  To register, visit lifebpc.com/vbs
Note: Children’s registration (4-12 years old [N2-P6]) will commence in March.

 

Door to Door Evangelism

19 March 2023 (Next Sunday)

Meet in Beulah Room 2-11, 12.30 pm

Contact: Amos

 

Traffic Wardens

Lifers are invited to serve our Lord as Traffic Wardens on Sunday. Kindly contact Dn Yeo HS if you are available.

  

Street Evangelism @ Ion Orchard

7 April; 7-9pm. Contact Tan MS / Lee CW

 

Mental Health Seminar

Date: 6 May 2023

Time: 3-6pm

Venue: Beulah MPH

Speakers: Rev Lee Hann Yang & Dr Daniel Kwek

Register at https://forms.gle/Dax8umTHXtXEY9go6

Deadline: 30^th Apr

 

Exploring Christianity

Exploring Christianity is a course that looks at how the Bible addresses these pertinent questions about life. It is a 5-part series and is suitable for (1) Non-Christians searching to know who God is (2) Christians who would like to understand the basics of what it means to be a Christian.

The seminar will be held on 1 May 2023, from 9am-12.30pm at Beulah Centre. Lunch will be provided. All Lifers are encouraged to bring their non-Christian friends and family members to this introductory course on the Christian faith.

To register, please visit: https://tinyurl.com/ExpChr2023