Bulletin Announcements – 9 October 2016
- Holiday program for Sunday school children are on today. We encourage children Year 5 and 6 to join English service during the time. Term 4 will start on 16 October for Sunday school and 11 October for Play Group. Have a safe holiday!
- S9 baptism preparation classes: They commence this Sunday. If you are a believer in the Lord Jesus and wish to be baptised, please speak to any of the S9 ministers. Remember, baptism is an outward sign of an inward reality. As a Christian, you have that inward reality. Then, you have the opportunity to publically declare it in November at the WSCCC baptism service.
- We thank God that the following deacons have been elected for the 2016-2018 term at the AGM (25/9). The office-bearers will be appointed at the first Diaconate meeting in October. The deacons are: – English: Sam Chan, Anthony Choong, Desmond Chu, Leslie Lee, Lily Shen. – Cantonese: Joseph Chan, Richard Chiu, Harry Law, Kit Ling, Steve Ma. – Mandarin: Vincent Cheung, Frank He, Ben Qian, Kris Tan, Simon Wu.
Ariel writes – a weekly Scriptural devotion:
“We have become the scum of the earth, the garbage of the world—right up to this moment.” (1 Corinthians 4:13b NIV)
Paul has just been writing about “us apostles” and how they’ve “been made a spectacle to the whole universe”. He continues; “fools for Christ” and a bunch of weak, dishonoured, and brutally treated men. Then what some might consider just one step too far he writes the sentence above. Did Paul cross the line from demeaning to crude? After all this is not dinner time conversation. Think of “scum” and “garbage” as the black goo mixed with hairs that’s stuck in your shower drain hole. It later came to mean the lowest of criminals who weren’t worth keeping at the public’s expense and so were thrown into the sea. Why speak this way? What’s Paul’s point anyway? Well, in v14 he tells the Corinthian church it’s to lovingly warn them. Some of them had become arrogant looking down on the apostles, seeing their state of poverty and persecution as a kind of curse. These Christians thought health, wealth, and safety were blessings to attain for. It’s a shame some Christians still feel this way no matter how much they hear God’s word. Truly blessed are those who find their belonging and belongings in Jesus!
from pastor Ariel