Zion Bishan Bulletin 10 May 2020 Livestream
10 May 2020
10 May 2020
10.30 am Livestream
Call to Worship
Meditative Hymn: Crown Him with Many Crowns
Scripture Reading: Hebrews 12.1-2 NIV
Message: "Thorn-Crowned King beyond Crown-like Virus”
Response Hymn: Living Hope
Mission Focus
Corporate Life & Prayer
Offering
Benediction
Announcements
We are pleased to welcome you to worship with us! If you are new to Zion Bishan, do drop us a note on our contact form and our hospitality team will get in touch with you in the coming week. Please use the same contact form if you want to find out more about our faith, or about our activities and programmes.
http://www.zionbishan.org.sg/about/contact-us/response-form/
Our Sunday services at a glance
Speaker: Pastor Alby Yip
AV: Benny Ling
Songs for personal worship and reflection:
www.zionbishan.org.sg/songs-for-reflection
Looking Ahead
Friday, 15 May
8 pm Zoom Prayer Meeting (Registration required):
www.zionbishan.org.sg/friday-prayer-meeting
Sunday, 17 May
10.30 am English Livestreaming Service
“She is No Fool”
Speaker: Pastor Zheng Haoren
| Pastors (more info) | |
| Rev Dr Alby Yip, Senior Pastor | 9844 9536 |
| Rev Dr Dev Menon, Pastor | 9829 6051 |
| Rev Zheng Haoren, Pastor (Comm Dev’t) | 6353 8081 |
| Rev Ebinezar Mohan, Pastor (Tamil) | 8198 9696 |
| Rev Kew See Seong, Pastor (Mandarin) | 9489 4967 |
| Rev Lim Jit Thye, Pastor (Cantonese-Mandarin) | 9182 6957 |
| Rev Daniel Nge, Pastor (Mandarin-English) | 8428 0525l |
| Rev Dr David Wong, Advisory Pastor | |
| Rev Dr Quek Swee Hwa, Pastor Emeritus | |
| Ministry Staff (more info) | |
| Dn Paul Yeo, Hokkien Ministry | 9751 1897 |
| Mrs Emily Quek, Special Projects | 9001 2926 |
| Mrs June Tan, Children’s Ministry | 8388 1883 |
| Mrs Ruth Quek, Children's Ministry | 9728 7145 |
| Mr Vernon Quek, Y. Adults/Evang. | 9796 0196 |
| Mr Linus Koe, Family/Media | 9728 9343 |
| Mrs Sharon Quek, Trg/Mobilisation | 9788 0195 |
| Mr Quek Tze-Ming, Assoc Min Staff | 9060 8340 |
Speaker: Pastor Alby Yip
Thorn-Crowned King beyond Crown-like Virus
Hebrews 12:1-2
Introduction
"Therefore…
“Let us fix our eyes on Jesus…
... at the right hand of the throne of God"
Conclusion
Reflection Questions
- What is the most important message you learnt from today’s message/passage?
- What can you learn from the “heroes of faith” in Hebrews 11?
- Why was the Lord Jesus joyful and was able to despise the shame of the Cross?
- What comfort and challenge can we derive in knowing that Christ is at the right hand of the throne of God?
Our Church
ZB COVID-19 Ministry Initiatives — In today’s Mission Focus, we thank God for the relief work our church is doing for our community. Thank God for sufficient volunteers that serve cheerfully and share Christ and His love to those they come in contact with. Do pray for the following work that will carry on through the Circuit Breaker and beyond:
Golden Jasmine Care Packages – May God open doors to share the gospel as we care for others from different religions in this neighbourhood.
Safe Sound Sleeping Place (S3P) – We are at full capacity of 5 rough sleepers. Pray for our team of 10 volunteers as they befriend and reach out to them.
Food Aid Meal Delivery – Thank God for the opportunity to work together with the RC in this food delivery. May Christ be seen through these actions and for the church, as ambassadors of God, to be a place of refuge in times of trouble.
Our People
Mothers – May our Lord bless the mothers, grandmothers and spiritual mothers in our midst this Mother’s Day. Thank you for always being gentle and affectionate toward us, ready to share the gospel and even your own lives because of Christ’s love (1 Thess 2:7).
May School Holidays – With the much needed break from home-based learning, pray that our children and youth will not be idle in this time of school holidays. Pray for parents to seize the opportunity to do more faith-based activities during this break.
Our World
Migrant Workers – Do keep the situation in the migrant worker dormitories in prayer. Thank God for the much that has been done to care for our workers, but pray for continued effort to assist the quarantined areas.
Pray for ourselves to see how we may play a part, through initiatives like WePals (p. 7), to connect and befriend the migrant workers in our midst.
Also pray that our domestic helpers will join the DHF (Domestic Helpers Fellowship) to find support for each other during this global pandemic where they are apart from their families.
Chacko & Radha Thomas –Our long-term missionaries based in the UK updated us at our bi-weekly OMP (Overseas Ministry Partners) prayer meeting on 29 Apr. We thank God that Chacko is able to continue his preaching and teaching ministry online to people in Europe, South Asia, and the larger OM (Operation Mobilisation) world. People in the UK are now more open to the Gospel and to be prayed for because of COVID-19. Pray that believers in the UK will use these opportunities to point open and spiritually hungry ones to Jesus.
- Mr Vernon Quek is preaching for Holy Grace Presbyterian Church this morning.
A Little “Leaven” Spreads the Compassion of Christ
Written by Ps Zheng Haoren
And again He said, “To what shall I compare the kingdom of God? It is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, until it was all leavened.”
Luke 13:20-21
Captain Ernest Gordon, an agnostic, was a company commander with the 2nd Battalion, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. He fought several battles in the Malayan Campaign and the Battle of Singapore but was captured as a prisoner of war (POW) and conscripted to build the bridge over the River Kwai. When he became seriously ill, he was sent to the “Death Ward”. He could not walk and shared a cot with flies and bedbugs under pitiless jungle heat.
The allied soldiers behaved like barbarians in the POW camp. They stole from each other, robbed dying colleagues, fought for food scraps. The law of the jungle prevailed. Gordon was happy to die but God had other plans. He sent in two new sick and frail prisoners, both believers. The two gave 24-hour care to Gordon. They boiled rags and cleaned and massaged Gordon’s diseased legs every day.
To the great surprise of everyone, Gordon survived, and as a consequence many of the POWs experienced a revival of faith and hope for life. By God’s grace, the life testimony of just two believers transformed not only Gordon’s heart but the hearts of many in the POW camp. These two displayed and spread the compassion of Christ. Gordon returned home to Scotland to pursue the vocation he had found in the camp. He was ordained a Minister of the Gospel in 1950.
Over the last five weeks, our ministry partners in West Asia, South Asia, and Southeast Asia have been inundated with pleas for help. This COVID-19 pandemic has triggered lockdowns across the globe which in turn are causing severe hardship to the poor, the orphans, the widows, the sick, and the aliens (migrant workers) in developing countries. Coupled with economic downturns, multitudes are facing starvation.
Our ministry partners dug into their resources and have mobilised their staff and volunteers into food distribution and feeding projects. In the earlier weeks, they were able to raise funds locally. These soon dried up. The launch of our CV19 MRF (Mission Relief Fund) and the generosity of individuals was timely to meet present needs. But how long can these last? Given the projected timeline of this pandemic, we know that the current scheme of help is not sustainable. How Lord?
Despite the uncertainty, crisis relief efforts by our ministry partners and Zion Bishan will continue for as long as resources can last. For together, we believe that with our limited resources and prudent stewardship, God will multiply the efforts. May God be merciful. May He use the little “leaven” that we could offer to spread the compassion of Christ and transform hearts!
Encourage One Another
Pastoral word from BPCIS
Written by Ps David Wong, Gen. Secretary
Since the start of April, our seven BPCIS churches have been live-streaming our Sunday services. Thank the Lord, reports indicate healthy attendances and offerings, in fact, increases in some churches.
Our pastors continue to meet via Zoom, and share about how the COVID-19 pandemic is changing the way we think of church and ministry. We have decided to postpone the July Leaders Retreat to next year. In its place, our retreat speaker Bishop Emeritus Robert Solomon will address a webinar on “No Longer Business as Usual: The Post-Pandemic World and Church”. Details will be announced.
While the current circuit breaker has curtailed movements and meetings, opportunities have opened up for service to our community. Two of our churches have “safe sleepers” staying at their premises. One of them is delivering meals and groceries to low income families and elderly people living on their own.
Our Good Friday gift has been sent to help believers in China affected by COVID-19, and another gift will go to migrant workers likewise affected in Singapore. Meanwhile our churches are rallying to help their own members as well as others in need.
As the apostle Paul commends the Thessalonian church, so we do the same, “Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.” I Thessalonians 5:11 ESV
Continue to worship at your church, listen to the sermons, be faithful in giving, keep in touch with your small group, and read your church bulletin. Take advantage of technology and time provided by this God-appointed pause to meet virtually to study, pray and fellowship. Pray for God to keep us close to one another and to the Lord. And don’t forget to reach out to those in need.
In these strange and uncertain times, do not hesitate also to reach out for help. God has brought our work, our study—and our faith—to our homes. Overnight, parents have become tutors, teachers, and home-schoolers. Working from home, taking care of children and elderly parents, spending extended time in the confines of our home—all these can take a toll. Our elderly, lacking tech-savvy to keep in touch, are prone to loneliness. Let us remember one another, and as needed, give or receive help.
BPCIS has planned some years ago for 2020 to carry the theme, “Sharing Resources”—how appropriate. At such a time of crisis, we need one another more than ever. We are glad to announce that Mount Horeb BP Church has voted unanimously to join BPCIS as the 8th church. Together may we stand firm, though we may not meet physically or see each other face to face.
Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel....
Philippians 1:27 ESV
Bi-Weekly OMP Prayer Meetings
13 May, Wednesday, 8.00-9.00pm
To pray for our Overseas Ministry Partners (OMP), register here:
www.zionbishan.org.sg/pray-omp
This week, we will be praying for Indonesia and West Asia.
Domestic Helpers Fellowship (DHF)
Every Sunday, 8.45 -10.00am
(via Zoom Meeting)
All employers, do encourage your helpers to attend and help them setup and use Zoom. For helpers who are new to DHF, please register them via email at ziondhf@gmail.com.
Non-Christians are welcome! Join the fellowship for encouragement through sharing and stories of God.
Be a Pen-pal to a Migrant Worker
Missions at our Doorstep
WePals is an initiative to connect and befriend migrant workers through the exchanges of letters. They seek to help migrant workers and Singaporeans psychologically and emotionally during this crisis, and to provide a bridge for both communities to connect.
Consider becoming a volunteer! More information can be found at:
www.facebook.com/sgWePals
Weekly Friday Prayer Meetings
Friday, 8pm, Zoom Meeting
New to Friday Prayer Meeting? Join us! www.zionbishan.org.sg/friday-prayer-meeting
Zion Bishan Family Challenge!
#zbfamilychallenge
Through the month of May, the Family and Children’s Ministries will be sending out fun challenges for EVERYONE to participate in!
Young and old, send us your photos or tag Zion Bishan on Facebook with your challenge attempts!
Stay up-to-date for the upcoming challenges by liking and following our Facebook page today! www.facebook.com/ZionBishan/
ZB COVID-19 Mission Relief Fund
Application Information
If you wish to apply for relief through this fund, please complete the online application form here: https://www.zionbishan.org.sg/mrf
This is for ZB members or regular attendees only. Applications will be accepted up to 31 Dec 2020.
Contact your Cluster leader or email care@zionbishan.org.sg for inquiries.
