VOL XXXXVIII NO. 49 (FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION ONLY)

Transcription

1 VOL XXXXVIII NO. 49 ORDER OF SERVICE 9.00 am & am 4 December 2016 Worship Leader: Albunus Ng Speaker: Mr Quek Tze Ming Prayer/Holy Communion: Rev Lim Kheng Hai Scripture Readers: Karen Er/Tan Gek Kee Silent Prayer & Meditation Prelude Call to Worship Opening Songs O Come O come Emmanuel Come Thou Long Expected Jesus Opening Prayer Gloria Patri Responsive Scripture Reading Psalm 25 Worship in Songs Be Still My Soul Fairest Lord Jesus You Alone Can Rescue Beautiful Saviour Offertory & Thanksgiving Prayer Doxology Congregational Prayer & Announcements Scripture Text Luke 9:7-20 Message Food, Feasting, and Kingdom? Holy Communion Oh, to See the Dawn - by Choir Closing Song Joy to the World Benediction Three-Fold Amen Worshippers are invited to come forward for personal prayers with elders/pastors in the front pew. (FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION ONLY)

2 MOUNT CARMEL WARMLY WELCOMES YOU! Dear guests, we invite you to join us in the Fellowship Hall for Welcome Tea. Food, Feasting, and Kingdom? Luke Food shows us that God Delights in Us What is your favourite food? Why do you like this food? 2. Food shows us that God Provides for Us Where does your food come from? 3. Food shows us that God will Restore Us Which is your favourite buffet place? Let me tell you about a buffet (Isa ; ) You give them something to eat. (v. 13) - 2 -

3 PRAYER PAGE This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us whatever we ask we know that we have what we asked of Him. (1 John 5:14-15) REGIONAL CONCERNS With the Syrian government making large territorial gains in Aleppo, once the largest city and an industrial hub, continue to pray for an end to the 5-year civil war. The ongoing war has driven five million Syrians into exile and killed at least a quarter of a million people. Pray for the survivors to receive the basic necessities and have the will to move on with their daily lives. Pray for peace and order to be restored soon. CHURCH CONCERNS BIBLE LAND TOUR (27 Nov to 9 Dec): Uphold Ps Boon Leong and the team of Carmelites, family members, friends from other churches, on their Israel-Jordan tour. Pray for journey mercies as they travel on air, land and sea. Pray for good health and adaptation to weather, food and environment upon all. Pray for enriching experience with God, deeper understanding of the Bible, and closer fellowship with one another. CHILDREN MINISTRY : 1) Christmas Celebration/ Outreach (17, 25 Dec): Pray for Scripture Union ministry team, headed by Ps Flora Chew, as they facilitate Christmas programme on 17 Dec - WHAT IS CHRISTMAS? for Sat KidSparks, neighbourhood, CWK children and friends) and on 25 Dec - CHRISTMAS - SANTA? GRINCH? JESUS! for Preschool, Primary 1-5 and friends. Pray for unchurched children to enjoy the Christmas programme and to consider attending our weekend ministries on a regular basis. Pray for all children to understand the true meaning of Christmas, and experience "LOVE, JOY, PEACE, HOPE this season and beyond. 2) Thanksgiving/Promotion Sat (31 Dec): Pray for SBC students Erika Rotani and Evandreas Teguh facilitating this at KidSparks. Pray for children to have grateful hearts for all blessings received & challenges faced this year. Pray for children to be enthusiastic to face the new year with confidence & hope in the Lord, and in their daily lives. LADIES CHRISTMAS LUNCH: Thanksgiving for the overwhelming response to the A LOVELY CHRISTMAS Outreach lunch 120 ladies of which about 30 are non-christians. Pray for readiness of hearts to receive God s Word. Pray for wisdom and strength be upon the committee as they finalize details, and for the ladies who will serve in various assigned roles. Pray for 100% attendance this coming Saturday. CHRISTMAS CAROLING: Thanksgiving for 18 carolers who will visit the NUH wards on Sat, 17 Dec. Pray for our final practice today with the guitarists. Besides singing English carols, we are also singing songs in Hokkien, Cantonese and Mandarin. Pray for God s enablement to memorize and sing in dialects. May we bear Christ-like testimonies in words and actions. May our presence, songs, gifts, bring joy, encouragement and hope to the patients, families and loved ones. MISSIONS: 1) Yangon, Myanmar (2-6 Dec): Pray for Ps Peter and his team of 7 Carmelites and friends from other churches as they seek God s guidance on their ministry involvement there. Pray for good exploration under SEEDS with Laval Yau. Pray for Ps Peter as he preaches God s Word at Hesed Community Church. Pray for good health and journey mercies upon all. 2) Meeting of a brother with the principal of EAST in CAN on Dec: Pray for God s guidance regarding starting EAST Extension for pastors of minorities. PERSONAL CONCERNS *Pray for journey mercies as Carmelites & families travel locally or overseas during this holiday period. Pray for time of rest, relaxation, renewal of ties and bonding amongst family members and friends. *Pray for those undergoing medical/surgical procedures, or in recuperation, that they will put their trust in God and experience His peace. Pray for non-believers to be receptive to God s Word and be convicted to profess their faith in God during their illnesses and recuperation. Pray for caregivers to have strength and grace to take care of their beloved ones. "He who kneels the most, stands the best." - D.L. Moody Come join our prayer warriors in Room #03-06 on 7.45 pm! Everyone is encouraged to come for prayer meeting once a month

4 Age Has No Limit for Serving God in the Missions Field (Part 2) On 31 st July 16, I wrote an editorial on the subject on the ageing population of Singapore. Due to Singapore s excellent healthcare system, many who are retiring at 65 (or in some cases earlier) are still healthy. They still have many good years ahead when they can put their energy, time and skills to good use to serve the Lord Jesus Christ. In many ways, the retirees are a good workforce to be reckoned with. Let me share two examples. When I first came to Mt Carmel in 1986, I met Henry Lam. In the 1970s, he was working in the Air Force. Due to encouragement from a sister to use his skills, he went to study Aviation Avionics in United Kingdom (UK). After graduation, he served under Missionary Aviation Fellowship (MAF) in Kenya for a while. Then he returned to UK to study Theology at All Nations Christian College. His aim was to serve full time in the mission field. Regrettably due to some misunderstandings, his vision to serve the Lord of the Harvest did not materialize. Henry moved on to another church that was closer to his home. Even though he no longer worships at Carmel, we still keep in touch because of our common interest in missions. In September 2012, Henry suffered two massive and consecutive heart attacks. He almost died but due to God s mercy, he survived and sensed that God had given him a second lease of life. Never has one single day passed, without him thinking about serving God full time again. Therefore, Henry applied to serve with MAF and after ten months of assessment, he was accepted for training in Cairns Australia. At age 64, he still believes that he has the energy and skill to serve God. His prayer letter carries the title SERVING GOD IN MY GOLDEN AGE (NEVER SAY I AM OLD ). Henry is still waiting for his posting upon completion of his training in Cairns. In the same editorial on 31 st July 16, I wrote about Rosy Chew going to serve at Mount Carmel Pontianak in August Upon her return to Singapore, she wrote a summary of her experience. With her permission, I like to include in this editorial: In December 2009, I went to Singkawang on a mission trip to teach Phonics to the youths and Conversational English to two elderly adults. Never did I know I would go back to Kalimantan again as I do not speak Bahasa Indonesia. Perhaps another place, I told the Lord as I am not good in learning a foreign language. Wherever I went for mission trips, it was just short term learning and memory of some basic words or phrases that I needed to communicate or sing simple songs. However, a proposal came from Pastor Peter for me to go to teach English in Pontianak. Of all places why Pontianak? some concerned friends asked. Anyway, I met up with Yee Xian our full-time worker there and found out the learning needs of the students there. Somehow, I knew I had to respond to this call. It came after I prayed about going back to work. Both my adult children are married and I may be bored staying home I thought. However, there was no desire to work again but to use my talents and experience to serve the Lord was another matter. Soon, I started looking for teaching materials to teach TOEFL (Teaching English as Foreign Language), Conversational English and English for Economics Students. I knew I might not be the best qualified person to go but I was available! Moreover, I felt so loved and privileged to be sent on a missions with so many friends, the church and CGs praying for me. Actually I only wanted to encourage and support Yee Xian s ministry as I know it is never easy to be out there in the mission field. Edmund and I arrived in Pontianak on 6 th August since he wanted to accompany me and see the ministry there. The TOEFL course was taught in the first week from 9am to 5pm with tea-breaks and lunch in between. It consisted of Listening Comprehension, Grammar and Structure, Reading Comprehension and Writing. Edmund and Yee Xian helped to read the scripts for Listening Comprehension. They also assisted me in Group Discussions. It was my first shot at TOEFL and I knew I would make some mistakes. I was really thankful that I was serving girded by much prayer - 4 -

5 support from friends especially when I needed the wisdom to make necessary changes to my lesson plans. I used teaching strategies like Mind-mapping, KWL, Retelling, Pair Work and Group Work to encourage the students to listen, speak, write and read English. I was greatly encouraged by the students participation and feedback. Imagine my surprise when I heard a reluctant student open her mouth to read what she had written at the end of the Conversational English week! At the end of TOEFL, a young man told me he never knew he could write such a long essay of more than 200 words about himself in English. Personally, the Lord reminded me that He can still use me if I am willing to put whatever I have in His hands: my five loaves and two fish. Teaching in the village at Desa Kapor proved challenging but meaningful. I learnt that the Indonesian students relied a lot on translation to learn English. I used Show and Tell and Word Web to teach them to listen, speak, write and read English. I also used relevant songs to teach English and had an enjoyable time teaching the Secondary 3 and 4 girls the HAPPY song. I knew something more can be done for these village children like getting them to read and one day they may be independent readers of English. I had brought a set of second hand readers with me. Probably guided by the Holy Spirit, I was attracted to these readers because they contain key words and teaching strategies on how they can be used. One Saturday afternoon, I gathered the students in my hotel room and we made the flash cards based on these books. Then, I wrote the questions for the 15 books as my time in Pontianak was running out. The Saturday before I left for home, I conducted training for the youths on how these readers can be used in their English classes. With teaching support from Yee Xian and the youths, hopefully this reading scheme I Can Read will take off in the coming months. To encourage the youths to continue speaking English, I also suggested a Buddy System with a senior youth mentoring a few junior youths under his/her care. They are to find a common free time when they can meet to listen, speak, read and write English. I also enjoyed having the youths come for breakfast at the hotel where I was staying. We talked about their family, ambition or dream followed by me praying for them. My dream for them is one day they will be a blessing to their own people. In fact, they are already doing that when they give tuition twice a week to the children in the villages. I was given a holistic picture of how TRIPS (Transforming Rocks Into Precious Stones) is benefitting for these youths. Besides, financial support for their academic studies, they are trained socially in Salmah s kitchen to help out with meal preparation, cooking, followed by washing up and cleaning after that. Spiritually, they serve in church on Sundays and at prayer meetings on Wednesdays. Since I came home, I have been repeatedly asked when I am returning to Pontianak. I know it will be in the Lord s time. To those who are considering where the Lord is sending you, I would like to encourage you with this verse Ecclesiastes 12:1 Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come and the years approach Moreover, I am reminded to serve the Lord and remain faithful as stated in Ecclesiastes 9:10 whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might. (End of Rosy s testimony) I hope that the two anecdotes will encourage our Senior Carmelites that they can still serve our Lord Jesus Christ no matter what stage of life they are at. When we avail ourselves to serve Him, He will place us in strategic places for services. If you want to know more, please do not hesitate to contact me. You will never know what God has in store for you. Ps. Peter Teo - 5 -

6 N EWCOMERS TEA FELLOWSHIP We invite our guests to join us for Welcome Tea every Sunday in the Fellowship Hall after each Service. A N N O U N C E M E N TS Our Holy Communion is open to all who have confessed Jesus in baptism. If you are visiting and are regularly partaking Communion in the church where you come from, you are welcome to join us. Easter Catechism 2017 Registration for 2017 Easter Baptism, Transfer of Membership & Reaffirmation of Faith is open now. Classes will commence on 8 Jan Candidates, who have worshipped with us regularly for at least 6 months, may register with Angelica at Church Office (angelica@carmel.sg; ). Closing date for registration is 16 Dec Staff Movement Ps Boon Leong is at the Israel-Jordon Bible Land Tour from 27 Nov to 9 Dec. Ps Jabez and Marianne are leading a group of youth to DAJ Home (Selangor) from 2 Dec to 7 Dec. Ps Daniel and Ps Peter are in Yangon, Myanmar for mission trip from 2 Dec to 6 Dec. Sincere condolences to Teo-Wong Mai Lyn, Joseph Teo and family. Mai Lyn s father was called home to be with the Lord on Sunday, 27 November ATTENTION: PARENTS/GUARDIANS OF PRIMARY 1-5 CHILDREN DECEMBER SCHEDULE: 4, 11, 18 Dec: Combined holiday programme on Christmas theme 25 Dec: "Christmas - Santa? Grinch? Jesus!" programme by Scripture Union ministry team TIME/VENUE: 9.00 to Room 03-05/06; am to Room 01-03/04 SONG PRESENTATION ON 24 DEC (CHRISTMAS EVE SERVICES): All children are warmly encouraged to join the singing group for song presentation, details: TIME: 5.30 to 7.00 pm (1st slot), 8.00 pm to 9.30 pm (2nd slot) VENUE: HOPE SANCTUARY There will be a dress rehearsal on to 8.00 pm (for children's segment), Hope Sanctuary. Please confirm your child's attendance on 20 Dec, and participation (one or two time slots) on 24 Dec to Ps Asst Margaret Ong or margaret@carmel.sg by 18 Dec. This is for the purpose of logistics and meal-arrangement (24 Dec only)

7 A N N O U N C E M E N TS "A generous person reflects God's likeness who gave His One and Only Son." A big THANKS to Carmelites who contributed their things or/and gave with a generous spirit. The Youth Ministry's garage sale raised a total of $6237 for Selangor's DAJ Home. Pray for the team of 23 as they travel via train and minister to DAJ's children and youths from 2nd to 7th December DCG Leaders Meeting 8 January 2017 After 11 am service in ACE Room All Parents of Youths Meeting 15 January 2017 After 11 am service in HOPE Sanctuary NEXT SUNDAY 11 DECEMBER 2016 MINISTRY INVOLVEMENT 1ST SERVICE MINISTRY INVOLVEMENT 2ND SERVICE Ushers Albunus Ng & Team Shalom CG Refreshment Bt Batok CG Worship Leader Kenneth Lim Congregational Prayer Rev Lim Kheng Hai Musicians Vanessa Wong Scripture Readers Joyce Go Serene Lim Welcome Corner Steven Wong/Tan Mun Kiat Dn Jonathan Lum/Sunny Yap Librarians Baet Yeok Lin/Baet Kwee Chin AVA Crew Peh Chee Siong/Peter Go/ Sam Kong Choy John Tan/Francis Tay/ Jessica Koh Please make all cheques, including those for the Development Fund, payable to Mount Carmel BP Church Ltd (exact payee name must be stated on the cheque). Please note that NO receipts will be issued for cheques received by the Church below $5,000 except upon request. All Offerings and Pledges to Mount Carmel BP Church Ltd is not tax deductible

8 TODAY Rhoda - Combined Service Hope Sanctuary 9.00 am/11.00 am Youth - Combined Service Hope Sanctuary 9.00 am/11.00 am Mandarin Service Chapel am Remnant Korean Service Chapel 2.30 pm SEMS Service Hope Sanctuary 7.45 pm Ushers: Youth/Tsame CG Refreshments: Ayer Rajah CG AVA: Yu Ta Wen/Lee Sin Yee/Chan Wen Hui/Christie Phua Welcome Corner: Tan Choon Kiat/Sim Chui Hoong/Joyce Lin Librarians: Cheang Siew Eng/Kristin Cheang Thanksgiving Flowers: Ng Cheng Ker & Lee Beng Beng Lim C L/Kee P M THIS WEEK Wednesday, 7 Dec 7.45 pm ACE Room: Prayer Meeting Chairperson/Devotion: Eld Siew Kim Siang Thursday Men s Group (TMG) : Break in December Thursday 8.00 pm Hope Sanctuary: Choir Practice Saturday, 10 Dec 5.30 pm Chapel: SES Worship Leader: Chan Kum Soon Congregation Prayer: Yvonne Ng Speaker: Rev Peter Teo - Lessons from The Mysterious Magi (Matthew 2:1-12) NEXT SUNDAY 11 D 11 DECEMBER,, 2016, 2016 English Services Hope Sanctuary 9.00 am/11.00 am Speaker: Rev Peter Teo - Lessons from The Mysterious Magi (Matthew 2:1-12) Youth - Combined Service Hope Sanctuary 9.00 am/11.00 am (due to Youth Camp) Mandarin Service Chapel am Rhoda Fellowship ACE Room am Worship Leader: Tita & Olive DVD: The Twelve Words of Christmas Remnant Korean Service Chapel 2.30 pm SEMS Service Hope Sanctuary 7.45 pm PASTORAL TEAM Senior Pastor Rev Oh Boon Leong boonleong@carmel.sg Missions & Strategic Planning Rev Peter Teo peterteo@carmel.sg SES & Care Group Rev Lim Kheng Hai khenghai@carmel.sg Ladies, ConnexUs & Rhoda Ps. Assoc. Ang Lee Luang leeluang@carmel.sg Children Ps Asst Margaret Ong margaret@carmel.sg Youth & Family Rev Jabez Chia jabez@carmel.sg Young Adult & Youth Ps Asst Marianne Wong marianne@carmel.sg Pastor-at-Large Rev Daniel Chua daniel@carmel.sg SEMS Ps Asst Joyce Goh joycegoh@carmel.sg Mandarin Service Rev Johnny Tee johnny@carmel.sg Mandarin Service & HLO Ps Tang Bin tangbin@carmel.sg Remnant Korean Service Rev Ezra Jang ezrajang@gmail.com BOARD OF ELDERS Eld Bruce Lockhart (BOE Chairman) hisbl@nus.edu.sg Rev Oh Boon Leong (Session Moderator) Eld Yeo Siew Yam ysywpl@gmail.com Eld Ho Peng Kee pengkeeho@gmail.com Rev Peter Teo Rev Lim Kheng Hai Rev Jabez Chia