12 OCTOBER 2014
BULLETIN!
Address: 10 Bishan Street 13 Singapore 579795
Tel: 6259-1943
Fax: 6259-4279
[email protected] www.livingpraise.org.sg
Living Praise Presbyterian Church
Order of Service
THE GATHERING
2014
Meeting Time
!
Call to Worship!
Deacon Wilson Tay
!
!
!
Songs of Praise
!
!
How Deep The Father’s Love For Us
!
!
Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)
!
Prayer of Adoration and Confession
!
Songs of Praise
Sunday School
!
!
My heart Is Filled With Thankfulness
10.30am to 12pm
!
!
When I Survey The Wondrous Cross
(every 1st Sunday - combined
Family Communion Service)
1 John 4:7-12
Youth & Young Adults
9am to 10.15am
English Service &
OUR WELCOME, PRAYERS & GIVING
!
Welcome & Announcements
!
Prayer of Intercession
!
Oﬀertory
!
!
!
Doxology
!
!
!
Mandarin Service
Elder Wang Kim Meng
10.30am to 12pm
(every 1st Sunday Holy Communion Service)
This Life I Live
Join us for Lunch
Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow
Every Sunday!
12pm to 2pm
THE WORD
!
Scripture Reading
!
Tabitha Lee
Revelation 2:1-7
Sermon! !
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
Michael Yong
The Church That Loses Its First Love
THE SENDING
!
Closing Song
!
!
!
Benediction
!
!
• Get to know someone new.
• Talk to someone about the
message.
Pray
with
someone.
•
•
Speak with a pastor, elder,
deacon or a friend.
The Church’s One FoundationT
Three-fold Amen
Please carry our conversations about God over to lunch and
minister to one another.
Our Mission in Living Praise Presbyterian Church is to know, love and enjoy God forever –
and lead others to do the same.
Our 10 Year Vision by end 2022 is to have 100 (+ existing in 2012) families, to know, love and enjoy God
forever and lead others to do the same.
Published and Printed by Living Praise Presbyterian Church
MICA (P) 031/05/2013
Welcome to Living Praise!
Dear friends,
On behalf of the leaders and members of Living Praise Presbyterian Church we warmly welcome you to our
church. We hope that you'll be blessed by your visit this morning as you find out more about Jesus and meet
some of His people.
Do stay back after the service, join us for lunch fellowship and speak to us. We would love to get to know you.
We warmly invite you for our regular Sunday services from 10.30am - 12pm. If you would like to find out more
about our church activities do contact me at 91821644.
Pastor Yuk Yee, on behalf of the leaders and members of Living Praise.
CONTACT
OFFICE
EXT
Acting Senior Pastor
9182-1644
105
[email protected]
Reverend Tan Hoo Sun Daniel
Associate Minister, Mandarin Ministry
98331984
108
[email protected]
Preacher Stanley Soh
Pastor, Youth & Young Adults Ministry
9695-9286
104
[email protected]
Pastoral Associate (Chaplain & Sunday School Ministry)
9698-6051
[email protected]
Pastoral Associate (Church and School Ministry)
9770-9539
[email protected]
STAFF
Reverend Foo Yuk Yee
Carol Ng
Gerard Su
EMAIL
Roy Chang (Study Leave @ Singapore Bible College from July 2014- June 2017)
Tan Lip Teng Senior Church Manager, Administration & Facility Management
Evelyn Tan
9622-4659
Admin Executive
101
[email protected]
0
[email protected]
MINISTRY TEAM (ELDERS)
Richard Ong
Elders & Deacons Court Clerk, Chairman Personnel
9297-9680
[email protected]
Hospitality Ministry
9824-5105
[email protected]
Wang Kim Meng
Family Ministry
9630-3096
[email protected]
Chan Siew Heng
Cell Groups Ministry
9754-5689
[email protected]
Sunday School Ministry & Assistant Treasurer
9651-1442
[email protected]
9179-7029
[email protected]
Treasurer & Young Adults Ministry
9144-3480
[email protected]
Missions Ministry
9824-4536
[email protected]
Tan Yeong Nam
MINISTRY TEAM (DEACONS)
Jessie Wong Sow Har
Daniel Loke Kwong Yan
Wilson Tay Swee Kiat
Church and Worship Ministry
Martin Chen Wee Bang
MINISTERS
Congregation of Living Praise
12 October 2014
Name
RESPONSE SLIP (Please tear off)
(Dr./Mr./Mrs./Ms./Mdm.)
Address
Email
Mobile
Age Group
Please tick
where
applicable
Home
18 & below
19-30
Oﬃce
31-40
I would like to join a Discovery Class to find out more
about Christianity.
I would like to know how to be a Christian.
41-50
50 & above
I would like to join the New Members’ Class and be
Baptised / Confirmed / Transferred
(Kindly circle your response)
I would like to join a Cell Group.
I would like to join a Foundation Class.
Others:
I would like to know more about church activities.
I heard about Living Praise from __________________________________ (Family / Friend / Came On My Own)
2
SERMON OUTLINE!
12 OCTOBER 2014
Scripture: Revelation 2:1-7
Title: The Church That Loses Its First Love - Ephesus
Preacher: Michael Yong
Introduction
1. The Lord Jesus watches the church
His authority
His evaluation
2. The Lord Jesus evaluates the church
Commending her for guarding the gospel
Warning her for not proclaiming the gospel
3. The Lord Jesus promises His presence to the church
Who listens and obeys
Who conquers
Conclusion
Reflection
Do stay back to pause, reflect and pray about what God has spoken to you during the service. Please be
mindful of others who may be praying. Do share with others over lunch fellowship to encourage them.
Sermons are available on our church’s website at www.livingpraise.org.sg or on your Android ph ones!
Download LPPC App from https://play.google.com/store. Search using the keyword:
"LPPC" or "Living Praise Presbyterian Church"
3
Praiselines by Elder John Seah
12 OCTOBER 2014
From The Pastoral Leadership Team
RESTORE OUR FIRST LOVE
(REV 2:1-7)
It is possible to restore/recapture the first
love. With much prayer and study, the former
love for God and His truths can be rekindled.
What is first love?
First love is not the humanistic “eros” love. First
love is pure and sincere.
First love is to love God not only with our lips, but
with our hearts. When we sin, we must repent
with contrite hearts and tears like King David.
First love is to love God with all our soul and with
all our strength (Mark 12:29-31). When we love
God, we should not spare our soul and our
strength, not even our lives. Maybe we can love
God once, but it is not easy for us to love God
with all our soul continually for our lifetime. We
have to make a daily decision to do so.
The Greek word for ‘first’ is protos, which points
less to the chronological as to the quality of love.
From this Greek word the words also derive for
‘place of honour’ or ‘leader; or ‘the first’ or ‘take
first place’.
The Lord wants us to live directly before Him and
with Him and that He has first place in our
hearts.
What does it mean that they (Ephesians) have
forsaken their first love?
First, the Ephesians have forsaken their first
love for God.
The Ephesian Christian experienced greater love
of Christ through the Apostle Paul’s sincere Bible
study and they became men and women of God.
They had kept this great love of Jesus in their
hearts. It was their first love. How did we
experience our first love? 1 John 3:16 says, “This
is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid
down his life for us. And we ought to lay down
our lives for our brothers.” When we know and
experience Jesus Christ who laid down his life for
us on the cross, we can have his burning love in
us. How can we express our first love to Jesus?
We also should lay down our lives for our
brothers. (1 Jn 3:16b).
Second, to forsake one’s first love means to
forsake God’s commandments. To love God is
the first commandment. To love one’s neighbor as
one’s self is the second commandment. (Mark
1 2 : 3 1 ) . J e s u s t a u g h t u s t h a t t h e fi r s t
commandment demands a love relationship with
God and the second demands a love relationship
with our neighbors “Love your neighbor as
yourself”. How did Jesus teach us to love our
neighbors? “So in everything, do to others what
you would have them do to you, for this sums up
the Law and the Prophets” (Matthew 7:12).
The Ephesians lost their first love because the
love between brothers grew cold in the course
of exposing and punishing false teachers in the
church. In the beginning, the church in Ephesus
had a burning love toward God. (Acts 20:36-37).
However, this love grew cold when arguments
and division grew among Christians.
The Ephesians lost their first love because they
did not renew it everyday. Rev 2:5a says,
“Remember the height from which you have
fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first.” It
is not easy to remember continually. We should
renew everyday to remember always. It is just like
the saying: “Out of sight, out of mind.” As we feed
a fire charcoal in order to maintain the fire, our
love can cool down unless we fan it into fire
everyday. Likewise, we should renew our
burning love for Jesus everyday through God’s
word. Otherwise, our love for him will gradually
cool down and become cold. In order for us to
recover our first love, we should realize how and
why we had fallen from it.
How can seasoned/matured Christians
restore/recapture our first love? How can we
have the kind of love Jesus had and not let it
grow cold?
4
When we first became a Christian, we typically
experienced a "first love" for the truth, eagerly
studying God's Word. What we were learning
was so exciting, we would burn the midnight oil
to learn more. We also zealously went about
sharing the gospel with others.
Christ says the Ephesians had begun with an
excitement and love for truth, but internal
betrayal and spiritual battles had eroded much
of their enthusiasm.
So Christ told them, "Remember therefore from
where you have fallen; repent and do the first
works" (Revelation:2:5).
Jesus also warned Christians in the end time,
"Because lawlessness will abound, the love of
many will grow cold" (Matthew:24:12). This is in
stark contrast to the true love Christ said would
characterize His Church: "By this all will know
that you are My disciples, if you have love for
one another" (John:13:35).
There was a time when David found he had
drifted away from God. He no longer felt that
former joy he had had. He repented and
fervently prayed, "Restore to me the joy of
Your salvation, and uphold me by Your
generous Spirit" (Psalm:51:12). David was
reconciled with God, stirred up God's Spirit and
went on to serve Him faithfully and zealously for
the rest of his life.
If we return to a diligent study of the Scriptures
and ask God to restore a spiritual hunger for
His wonderful truths, God will hear and answer
us (Matthew:7:7-8).
Then as we study it will be like God is speaking
directly to us, and we will be uplifted by the
hope that has motivated the faithful down
through the centuries. This love for the truth can
help us not fall for the "lawlessness" that
abounds in the end time (Matthew:24:12).
In 1 Thessalonians 1:3 Apostle Paul said that
we persevere because of hope. The reason we
can persevere in spite of many temptations and
hardships is because of our hope in Jesus’
second coming. The secret of overcoming this
atmosphere is to hold on to the hope of Jesus’
second coming.
Jesus commended the church in Ephesus for
not tolerating false apostles (Rev 2:2d, 3, 6).
Our community must be a community of love. At
the same time, we must guard against bad
influence from false apostles who hinder and
destroy the Christian community. We should not
follow evil trends of the time. At that time, false
apostles (Nicolaitans) spread gnosticism and
hedonism. This hindered gospel faith. However,
the church in Ephesus exposed them and
warned against their false teachings.
In conclusion, we have to repent and restore
our first love everyday. We have to meditate
on the love of Jesus on the cross and restore
our burning love for Jesus. And we must love
our neighbors as ourselves.
Our best, our first, love for Jesus must come
before everything else! If we let anything else
come before our first love, then it is no longer
the first love, but the second, or the third.
Let us ponder:
Does our love belong to the Lord Jesus first?
Has He absolute priority in our lives? Does
everything else in our lives come after Him? Do
we really try to listen carefully when He wants
to speak to us through His Word in the Bible,
and have true fellowship with Him in this way?
Do we love the Lord Jesus above all else, even
if we have lost everything that was dear to us,
when for some reason we can no longer work
or cannot move? Have we learned to love Him
before all else? And have we heard the
admonition of Jesus to the Christians in the
church at Ephesus and adjusted our lives
accordingly? May God help us!
Staying close to God and stirring up His Spirit
will also help us avoid allowing the lawlessness
of others to drag us down.
God wants us to continue assembling together
and considering "one another in order to stir up
love and good works" (Hebrews:10:24-25).
Fellowshipping with God and our fellow
Christians can help us keep our love from
growing cold.
5
THANKSGIVING, PRAYERS & ANNOUNCEMENTS
Cell
Group
Ministry
12 OCTOBER 2014
We give thanks to God as we embark on a new study
series on the book of Revelation. Pray with us as we learn
about the early churches - their works of love and of the
gospel, as well as areas that needed repentance and
changes. Pray that our cell group leaders will continue to
learn and teach with humility. May our cell group
members continue to place priority in coming for cell
group meetings, and find joy in doing so.
We also thank God for our current group of trainees who are in our Leadership Training
Programme. They will be completing their training in November. We thank God for
enabling them to come together regularly to learn since April 2013. Pray for them in their
preparation of writing a short evangelistic talk. May the Holy Spirit grant them
understanding of God's Word so that they in turn can share the gospel clearly and
faithfully through the bible passages.
Pray alongside Pastor Yuk Yee, Michael Yong and Siew Heng as they review the bible study
materials for next year. May God protect their time and grant them wisdom.
6
THANKSGIVING, PRAYERS & ANNOUNCEMENTS
Our sincere condolences to John Seah & Fancy on the passing of
Fancy’s mother, Madam Lam Wai Kwan on 4 October 2014 in Hong Kong.
May the Holy Spirit draw near to them and their families in their time of
grief. May they experience the deep love, peace and comfort that our God
gives.
Ladies Prayer fellowship
LPPC move to
New Chapel Update
The update on the move back to
Ladies Prayer Fellowship
the new chapel is rescheduled to
next Sunday, 19 October after
the worship service as the Sunday
School teachers will be present in
the service.
Date:! 19 October 2014 (next Sunday)
Time:! 9 am
Venue:! Classroom #02-06.
We invite you to join us for a time of sharing
and prayer.
CHURCH SCHEDULE
OCTOBER-NOVEMBER 2014
Week
(Mon - Sun)
6 Oct - 12 Oct
Sunday Sermon
The Church that Loses
It’s First Love - Ephesus
Scripture
Text
Weekly Cell
Group Study
The Church that Suﬀers
- Smyrna
Revelation 2:8-11
20 Oct - 26 Oct
The Church that
Compromises Pergamum
Revelation 2:12-17
27 Oct - 2 Nov
The Church that
Tolerates Immorality Thyatira
Revelation 2:18-27
3 Nov - 9 Nov
The Church that Lives
Like The Walking Dead
- Sardis
Revelation 3:1-6
10 Nov - 16 Nov
17 Nov - 23 Nov
The Church That Is
Indiﬀerent - Laodicea
24 Nov - 30 Nov
Seven Church of
Revelation
- LPPC
New
Member’
s Service
Event
Revelation 2:1-7
13 Oct - 19 Oct
The Church that
Endures - Philadelphia
The Church that
Endures - Philadelphia
Cell Leaders Meeting
Revelation 3:7-13
The Church that
Compromises - Pergamum
The Church that Tolerates
Immorality - Thyatira
The Church that Lives Like
The Walking Dead - Sardis
The Church that Endures Philadelphia
The Church That Is
Indiﬀerent - Laodicea
Seven Church of Revelation
- LPPC
Revelation 3:14-22
28 Nov-3 Dec - Changrai,
Thailand Mission Trip
7
MINISTRY INFORMATION
OUR FAITHFULNESS
5 October
Attendance @ Service
242 (English Service)
45 (Mandarin Service)
Sunday School
200 Children
224 Adults
Roster
12 October
19 October
Duty Pastor/
Elder/Staff
Elder Wang Kim Meng
Pastor Carol Ng
Service Leader
Deacon Wilson Tay
Elder Chan Siew Heng
Annabelle Wang,
Musicians &
Singers
Jeanette Choong
Phoon Kwong Mun,
Ruth Chen & Tabitha Lee
Tithes & Offerings!
$18,749.50
Our 10 Year Vision
By end 2022 to have 100
(+ existing in 2012) families,
to know, love and enjoy God
forever and lead others to do the
same.
Scripture Reader
Tabitha Lee
Kho Yee Lin
Visual Team
Edwin Chua
Kelvin Tan
Audio Team
Welcome Team
Phillip Hoh &
Joshua Lee & Keefe Quek
See Yoong Hwee
Elder Tan Yeong Nam
Elder Jimmy Tan
Susan Chin, Bryan Ardian,
Building Up,
Reaching Out,
Passing Down
CELL GROUPS
Benjamin Ho, Daniel Lee,
Ushers
Desmond Hwang,
Celine Hong &
Hong Suan Heng
Susan Chin, Elvira Tan,
Isaac Lee, Ryan Tan &
Ariel Christian
If you are interested to join a Cell Group, please fill in the response slip on page 2.
Thursday, 8pm, Bishan
Elder Wang Kim Meng 9630-3096
Thursday, 2pm, Bishan
Elder Sue Kim Lee 9695-5395
Friday, 8pm, Marymount/ Toa Payoh
Friday, 8pm, Yio Chu Kang/ Thomson
Friday, 8pm, Bishan
Saturday, 3pm, Bishan
Saturday, 3pm, KCPSS (01-01)
Saturday, 3.30pm, KCPSS (01-03)
Sunday, 8.45am, KCPSS (Tamil Language Room 1)
Elder Jimmy Tan 9626-6068
Tan Nguan Sen 6457-4754
Elder David Lim 9620-2953
Elder Chan Siew Heng 9754-5689
Steven Tan 9686-1906, Loh Pui Wah 9630-7618
Elder Tan Yeong Nam 9824-5105
Chew Siew Chin 9618-2745
Sunday, 9am, KCPSS (01-01)
Elder Kok Siew Hoong 9622-6087, Chew Wing Kee 9111-0114
Sunday, 9am, KCPSS (01-02)
Felix Lim 9826-9750 , Wilie Wu 9652-1180
Sunday, 9am, KCPSS (01-07)
Elder John Seah, Tay Swee Kiat 9144-3480
Sunday, 9am, KCPSS (01-08)
Priscilla Lam 9754-5182
Sunday, 9am, KCPSS (Tamil Language Room 2)
Sunday, 9am, KCPSS (02-05)
Pr Stanley Soh 9695-9286, Tan Nguan Sen 6457-4754
Elder Richard Ong 9297-9680
ARRANGEMENT OF CHAIRS
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
The chairs that we use for our Service have been kindly arranged by our brothers and sisters in Christ from Zion BP.
Please help to keep the chairs arranged orderly after our Services.
Thank you for your loving consideration.