Honouring God

"Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready to hear, than to give the sacrifice of fools: for they consider not that they do evil. Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God: for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few." (Eccl. 5:1-2)

How careless we can be when we take the weekly Sabbath Worship for granted. We must check ourselves by asking: Have we dishonoured God and His house by our sluggish aproach toward Him? We observed that some have approached God in a very careless manner like: missing worship regularly and comes into to Church only when it is convenient; habitually late for Worship; inattentive during Worship; not taking Sunday duty very seriously & etc.

Dearly beloved, we must never let familiarity breed contempt. Our Sabbath worship must be more than a weekly routine. We must refresh our zeal and love for the Lord from time to time. Slothfulness in the Lord's business is a very clear sign of dishonouring the Lord.

In order to honour God with our worship, let us approach God with reverence and holiness. Here are a few practical suggestions:

• Sleep early on Saturday night. Pray for preparation of heart of worship before going to bed.
  
  
• Get ready what you need to bring to Church on Sunday the night before.
  
  
• Honour God by coming early to worship. Sometime it is the children or other family members that causes the delay, find a solution to over it.
  
  
• When you are in the Sanctuary, settle yourself down by silent prayer and meditation before the Lord. Please observe silent and quietness prior to start of worship as other worshippers may be praying to prepare themselves for the service.
  
  
• If you are on usher duty, please make sure that you should be at the reception counter at least 15 minutes before service commence.
  
  
• If you are taking the Scripture Reading, please make sure to check with the speaker and worship chairman in case of any changes or printing error in the Church bulletin.

If you require transport from others, please prepare early so that all can arrive Church in time.

"But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him." "God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth." (John 4:23-24) Yes, when we honour God, God will honour us!

Affectionately,
Pastor David Wong

Letter of Appreciation

4th February 2007

Dear Session of Kulai/J B B-P Churches,

Subject: Love Gift for Mrs. Liu (Ev. Esther Tan)

Greetings in the Name of Lord Jesus Christ.

My family and I would like to express our heartfelt thanks to the brothers-sisters in Christ and the Session of Kulai/JB B-P Churches for your love gift in Christ and the help rendered to us during this time of need. We are also thankful for your prayer support for my wife.

We have received the love gift of RM1,000 (Kulai B-P Church) and RM500 (JB B-P Church) through Rev David Wong with much appreciation.

We thank and praise the Lord for Kulai/JB B-P Churches and may the Lord continue to pour His bountiful blessings upon the congregations.

In His Name,
Rev Joseph Liu and family

Editor's Notes: Mrs Liu was called home to be with the Lord on 18/2/07.

SMS received from Pr. Harrison (Miri BPC) on 14th March 07

Dear Rev David Wong,

Thanks for praying for us. We had a good rest in Singapore and we are doing fine. My last medical report in KL was quite satisfactory. Today we will be flying back to Miri. Once again, thank you for upholding and remembering us.

Pr. Harrison

My First Mission Trip to China

We would like to thank our Heavenly Father for keeping us safe and healthy during our recent mission trip China.

The night prior to our departure (Feb 21), Pastor David Wong was feeling very uncomfortable; his whole body was aching and having fever. Pastor David said that it looks like symptoms of Dengue fever, after hearing that I was very worry. His body temperature measured to 38°C. If this is confirmed it would upset the whole mission trip. So I prayed earnestly to the Lord. Thank God for listening to our cry. On the following day, the Lord had graciously healed Pastor David through the flu tablets he took the night before. We could then proceed with our journey in peace and assurance.

We arrived safely on 22/2/07 (the fifth day of Lunar New Year) afternoon. We went to Jehovah Nissi Christian Bookstore to attend to some matters after settling down in a hotel. Sister Chen gave us a dinner treat. We also had the opportunity to fellowship with the new General Manager of Nissi, brother Zhan. He raised a question to Pastor concerning the true spiritual estate of many "Christians" in China today. He noticed there are big crowd in the Church and all of them claimed to be Christian, but their lives and their beliefs are contradicting. They ignore Christ's teaching and biblical principles by thinking that as far as they believe in Jesus Christ and get rich, they are safe. This is the danger that many Churches are facing in China today. May God have mercies upon these "Nominal Christians".

We left Xiamen on 23/2/07 morning and it took us three hours to reach Fuzhou by coach. We spent an evening there before proceeding to the next station. It was rather crowded in town. When we walked on the pedestrian path, people, motorbikes, bicycles & etc coming from all directions, for a moment, we don't even know how to move about. The taxi drivers are even more daring. The first taxi that we took it met with an accident by hitting an old man riding a motorbike at a traffic junction because both of them were rushing through. Thank God that it was only a minor accident and nobody was hurt. It was horrifying to sit in a taxi, and crossing the road. No one will give ways, not the drivers or the pedestrians, regardless of the traffic signals, which I find to be extremely dangerous. However, a brother advised me: when you are crossing the road, just look straight and cross, don't be afraid. Don't look at the cars … they wouldn't dare run over you. Nevertheless, whenever I sat in a cab, I always prayed silently with much fear and trembling that the Lord will protect us. All these are so different at home.

The following day we set off for Pingtan. Perhaps it was during the New Year Festive season, the bus station is packed with large crowds. The journey took about three hours by ferry. We had a quick lunch and at 3pm we went to join the brethren and their families for an outing in a local park. There were singing and games, Pastor gave a short exhortation. The others took the opportunity to share the gospel message to some new friends. After dinner, an evening service was conducted from 7-9 p.m. Pastor gave an exhortation on family issues. The next day being the Lord's Day (25/2/07), Worship Service cum Lord's Supper was conducted in the home of the brother Zhen Bin (temporary meeting place for the BPC of Pingtan). After lunch, the brethren brought us to see the most beautiful beach of this isle. We had wonderful time of fellowship together. Thank God for their desire for wanting to learn more about God's Word. We truly appreciate their Christian hospitality. Later in the afternoon, the brethren arranged a private transport and transferred us to a village at the mainland call Haiyao. We had a late dinner and Pastor was approached to preach at the Evening Service in which he was not prepared. However, ready or not we had to do the job. Pastor preached a New Year gospel message to the congregation consisted mostly of old folks.

On Monday morning at 8am, we left for another fishing village to conduct a revival meeting. The people congregated in an unfurnished Church building. There was no washroom as they were still short of funds, so we had to walk to a nearby home of a believer. I truly praise and thank God for raising this small congregation (I only saw two or three brothers) to build a new Sanctuary for the Lord. May the Lord enable them to complete the construction for His glory. Amen.

On the 27th morning, a Church Leaders' Meeting was held in Haiyao's Church. It started off with singing from 9am till 10.30am. Some older folks were praying silently in the Sanctuary. But as the preaching session commenced, some younger ladies started falling asleep, chit-chatting, and quite a few were talking over their mobiles, others passing snacks to share. I feel that they are very irrespective towards God and the preacher when approaching the sanctuary. May God have mercy on them and cause them to repent that their desire for God and His Word will increase.

On Feb 28th, we moved on to another village call Guandao. The Church building was erected on a hill top. About twenty people came for the meeting. The service ended at about three in the afternoon.

(…to be continued)

Reported by Un Yuet Mui