Scripture Memorisation

Deceit

Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things,

and desperately wicked: who can know it?

The Word on Worship Order of Worship

Psalm 138:2I will worship toward thy holy temple,

and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy

word above all thy name.

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* Congregation Standing

Call to Worship Elder Mah Chin Kwang

Hymn 19: Come, We That Love The Lord*

Invocation & Gloria Patri*

Responsive Scripture Reading* Psalm 69:30-36

Hymn 66: Fairest Lord Jesus! Collection of Offerings

Doxology & Prayer*

Hymn 108: I’ve Found A Friend

Children’s Sermon & Scripture MemorisationPastoral Prayer Sermon Pastor Prabhudas Koshy

“Blessed are the Meek and Hungry”Matthew 5:5,6

Holy Communion Hymn 182: Lead Me To CalvaryHymn 348: Guide me, O Thou Great Jehovah*

Benediction & Threefold Amen*

Today, 3 August 2014 Next Lord’s Day, 10 August 20149.00 – 10.00 am CHURCH CHOIR & CHILDREN’S CHOIR CHURCH CHOIR & CHILDREN’S CHOIR

MALAYALAM FELLOWSHIP MALAYALAM FELLOWSHIP

10.30 amCH

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EWorship Leader: Gan Chin HwiPreacher: Pr Daniel LimMusician: Sarah YapFlowers: Ivy Seah Ushers: Robert Ooi,

Johnny Lim

Worship Leader: Pr Daniel LimPreacher: Pr Daniel LimMusician: Eunice ChoyFlowers: Lee Kim LeiRefreshments: Roscelle LimUshers: Sam Cheah,

Leow Beng Wee

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Worship Leader: Eld Mah Chin KwangPreacher: Pastor Prabhudas KoshyMusicians: Jollyn Low, Chloe PawaUshers: Linus Kok, Andy Lee,

Chan Tuck Whye, Ng Kwan Teng, David Lau, Maverick Pang

Greeter: Winnie YapAV Ministry: Crew No. 1Flowers: Jessie NgRefreshments: Cecilia Siah, Corliss Tan, Lena ChanJunior Worship: Diana Chan (Mabel Lim), Carolyn (Jasmine Low), Pr Kelvin Lim

Worship Leader: Dn Lok Kwok WahPreacher: Pastor Prabhudas KoshyMusicians: Sarah Lee, Dorcas KoshyUshers: Cornelius Koshy, Edwin Quek,

Jason Low, Johnny Lim, Marcus Lim, Cayson Chok

Greeter: Mong Jee PawaAV Ministry: Crew No. 3Flowers: Karen QuekRefreshments: Karen Quek, Esther Quek, Jolyne ChoJunior Worship: Dorothy Ng (Jenice Choy), Pr Kelvin Lim (Chloe Pawa), Andrew Koh

1.30 pm

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ICE Worship Leader: Norefel Resuma

Preacher: Pr Dennis KabingueMusician: Dorcas KoshyUsher: Anthony EvangelistaRefreshments: Juvy Baybayanon

Worship Leader: Eric DelinaPreacher: Pr Dennis KabingueMusician: Chloe PawaUsher: Julius Del RosarioRefreshments: Edeliza Ballega

3.30 pm

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ME Venue: 487 Bedok South Ave 2

English Speaker: Dn Arvind PawaDialect Speaker: Pr Jeremiah Sim

Venue: 41 Toa Payoh RiseEnglish Speaker: Pr Jeremiah SimDialect Speaker: Eld Alan Choy

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Some are prone to point the finger at others and even at God when they fall into temptation and commit sins. So the apostle James cautions us, “Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God” (James 1:13a). Blaming others for one’s own sin started in the Garden of Eden. Adam said to God, “The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat” (Genesis 3:12). Adam blamed his wife, and he extended the blame to God as well! He seemed to imply that he would not have sinned if God had not put Eve in the garden with him.

The blame-shifting in the Garden continues today. Proud and unyielding hearts desperately look for someone else to bear the blame when they are confronted with their own sins. There must be someone else— the spouse, sibling, parent, boss, co-worker, pastor, friend, or God Himself.

Don’t Blame GoD!It is important that we take note of James’ caution: “Let no man say …I am tempted of God”. Some believers tend to misinterpret Godsend trials as God tempting them with opportunities to sin. Such a notion is far from the truth.

So James gives a stern warning to those who may pin the blame on God with responsibility for their temptation to sin. James is very concerned about such an idea of God, and desires that his readers will reject the suggestion that God has a hand in inducing people to sin.

One’s thoughts about God affect one’s decisions and responses to life’s experiences. If one presumes that the temptations of sin that he experiences are from God, he will then have an ill-conceived excuse for the sins he would commit. As James noted, he would then say impious and despicable things, such as “God tempted me with sins.”

To say that “I am tempted of God” is, first of all, to make a false claim about God. It is a heresy to say that God tempts us with sin. Any thought or statement that depicts God as the author of sin is contrary to the unmistakable teaching of the Holy Scriptures that all of God’s works are holy. Moses avows in Deuteronomy 32:4, “He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.” Psalm 145:17 declares, “The LORD is righteous in all his ways,

3 August 2014

Whose Fault is It That You Are Tempted?Prabhudas Koshy

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and holy in all his works.” Likewise, Psalm 92:15 affirms, “To shew that the LORD is upright: he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him” (cf. 1 Sam. 2:2; Ps. 111:3; 119:137; Zeph. 3:5; Rev. 4:8).

Secondly, such a statement deceives the heart to consider sin as an unavoidable matter that God has laid on him. Such a belief stands contrary to all the counsels and admonitions of God in His Word. God commands us to depart and be separate from everything unholy. For instance, 2 Corinthians 6:17 admonishes us, “Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you”. The Lord God would have nothing to do with those who follow the way of sin. He calls all His people to “come out” from all sorts of unclean and false people and their ways.

How scandalous and diabolical it is then to say, “I am tempted of God”!

Though our trials are permitted by God, He is not the author of the temptation of sin that befalls us simultaneously with those trials. No temptation of sin is designed or discharged by God. As James says, “for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man.”

God will never cajole and coax us to sin. God will never influence us to sin by infusing evil thoughts, inclinations, or desires. Nothing that God does is evil; His ways with His people will never lead them to sin. The tempter is the devil (cf. 2 Corinthians 2:11; 11:3, 13-15; 1 Thessalonians 3:5). God is holy and He leads only into the paths of righteousness. As David confesses, “He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake” (Psalm 23:3).

Let no one think that God lays upon him, through his trials, an unavoidable compulsion to sin. The trials that God permits in one’s life are never to compel one to sin, but to sanctify and strengthen him. All that God does is good and perfect (cf. James 1:16, 17). Therefore, do not yield to the temptations of sin, saying, “God has tempted me!” It is very impious of anyone to make such a dreadful assertion.

God influences us only unto righteousness while Satan, the world and our own lust tempt us with sin unto unrighteousness. The Lord never tempts us with sin. On the contrary, He is ever ready to protect and deliver us from sin’s temptation. So the Lord taught us to pray, “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil” (Matt. 6:13). God will aid every one of His children who yearns

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to be delivered from evil temptations. Did not Jesus say, “Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation” (Mark 14:38; cf. Matt. 26:41)?

aDmit Your Guilt Some may not blame God, but they point at the devil, the world, friends, parents, siblings, church members, church leaders, etc. Though some of these are common sources of evil temptations, the above Scripture points out that there is a more subtle and dangerous fountain-head. It lies within every one and is identified as “his own lust”.

The word “lust” (epithumía) indicates “strong desire” or “longing” in a bad sense. It depicts man’s inordinate and impure desire or appetite. King James Bible has translated it also as “concupiscence”. It is often used with words that connote materialism and sensuality. The New Testament usages of the word are instructive: “evil concupiscence” (Col. 3:5), “deceitful lusts” (Eph. 4:22), “foolish and hurtful lusts” (1 Tim. 6:9), “youthful lusts” (2 Tim. 2:22), “worldly lusts” (Titus 2:12), “fleshly lusts” (1 Pet. 2:11), “ungodly lusts” (Jude 1:18), etc. Hence, “lust” represents the corrupt inclinations of the human heart.

“Lust” is not a dormant, harmless curiosity or idea of the heart. Quite the reverse; it is a very powerful feeling

that can numb one’s moral and spiritual senses, and draw one to corrupt and damaging activities. James reveals to us lust’s powerful ploy with the two verbs he used in the above verse. The first verb translated “drawn away” (exélkō) conveys the idea of being “dragged out” or “forcibly hauled or compelled”. The second verb translated “enticed” (deleázō) comes from a root word (délear) that means “bait”; it signifies being beguiled and lured into a trap or snare. Powerful enticements and deceptions are at play when lust is at work in our hearts. Our thinking and feelings will be so desensitised that we can be wheedled into destructive conduct. Like the bait on the fisherman’s hook that entices the fish, lust also would entice a man into sin’s temptations; and once hooked, he, like the fish, would be dragged away!

Beloved church, there is a great need for us to realize that our own lust is a great danger to us. We must recognize and act against our own lust, lest it may soon drag us into shameful and hurtful mischief of sin. Our temptations are often self-inflicted perils. So let us be vigilant against ourselves. Peter cautions, “Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul” (1 Peter 2:11).

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Prabhudas Koshy

Our Good God And His Gifts

The Bible teaches that God gives us good and perfect gifts. In other words, when God presents to us a gift, it is without any taint of evil. It is also perfect, without any flaw or lack.

God’s gifts truly reflect His goodness and holiness. God will never send to us anything sinful or evil. We know, therefore, that anything that comes as a temptation of sin cannot be from God.

God has given us a perfect Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. God has also given us His perfect Spirit to guide and comfort us, and His perfect Bible to instruct us in His infallible truths. Divine promises, counsels, rebukes, corrections, instructions and commands are all His gifts from above. Moreover, the holy desires, and abilities are divine gifts. Christian virtues (or spiritual fruit) are bestowed upon us by the Divine Spirit. Even when God allows some problems in our lives, Romans 8:28 assures us, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”

The good things which we cannot produce or achieve on our own, He will give unto us as gifts. How wonderful it is that God bestows on His people good and perfect gifts!Illustration by Melissa Neo

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down

from the Father of lights. James 1:17

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LORD’S DAY on 27 JUL 2014

Tithes: 3,230.00 Offerings: 8,732.35 Bldg Fund 2015: 1,000.00; 700.00; 100.00; 50.00; 20.00 [50.00 (Chinese Svc)]Designated Gifts: General Fund 450.00; GBI (Ethiopia Students’ Support) 100.00; 30.00; Missions Fund 20.00; Daniel Lim 500.00; Ho Kee How 200.00;

NON-SUNDAY GIFTS

Tithes: 1,150.00 Bible Witness: 2,000.00

BUILDING FUND 2015Total as of 27 Jul 2014 348,725.50

SPECIAL FUNDS

COLLECTIONS

“And now, behold, I have brought the firstfruits of the land, which thou, O LORD, hast given me.

And thou shalt set it before the LORD thy God, and

worship before the LORD thy God.” – Deuteronomy 26:10

THE GETHSEMANE CARE MINISTRY

9TH THANKSGIVING SERVICESpeaker: Pastor Koshy

Chairman: Eld Alan Choy Date: Fri, 8 Aug Time: 7.30 pm

Venue: Level 5, Auditorium Singapore Post Centre

Ushers: Danial Wong, Low Chip Hung,

Benny Skariah, John Peh, Ho Kee How, Francis Lim

Greeter: Lee Kim Lei

Testimonies Songs by TGCM brethren &

Voices of GethsemanePreaching of God’s Word

We encourage all worshippers to attend & also to invite your friends.

GETHSEMANEMEN’S FELLOWSHIP

Speaker: Pastor Koshy Chairman: Eld Mah Chin Kwang

Date: Sat, 9 Aug Time: 2 pm (Please take note of the

change in time)

Venue: TGCM Premises 202B, Ponggol Seventeenth Avenue

Transport from Punggol MRT station at 1.45pm.

CATECHISM CLASSCatechism Class begins today

(Aug 3) at 9.00am. All catechumen,please meet Eld Mah Chin Kwang

at the “Open Room” facing the North Lift Lobby.

SUNDAY FELLOWSHIP LUNCH

Those who would like packet lunch after worship service for the month of August, kindly place your order

and make payment to Sis Aileen Tan.

CD/DVD ORDERSRecordings of the 4th Missionary Conference are available for order

at the reception table.

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Time & Place of Worship10.30 am

Level 5 Auditorium Singapore Post Centre

10 Eunos Road 8 Singapore 408600

(next to Paya Lebar MRT station)

Prayer Hotline8138 8139

SMS or Whatsapp your prayer item

Our Office510 Geylang Road, #02-06

Singapore 389466 Tel: 6741 1910 Fax: 6741 1016

Our Websitesgethsemanebpc.com

biblewitness.com

Our PastorPastor Prabhudas Koshy

Mobile: 9001 1119 Email: pastor.gbpc@gmail.com

Our SessionPastor Prabhudas Koshy Elder Mah Chin Kwang

Elder Alan Choy Elder Ng Poh Kok

Deacon Arvind Pawa Deacon Daniel Lim

Deacon Lok Kwok Wah Deacon Kelvin Lim Deacon Francis Lee

Tuesday Night Bible Study & Prayer8.00 pm @ L5 Auditorium, SingPost Centre

Wednesday Lunch Hour Bible Study1.15 pm @ Bible Witness Bookroom

Thursday Seniors’ Ministry11.00 am (Please contact Pr Jeremiah Sim)

Friday Morning Prayer6.45 am – 7.30 am @ Church Resource Centre

For more information, please call the church office at 6741 1910.

Please stay back after worship to join us for:

Refreshment & Fellowship12.30 pm – 1.30 pm

Adults’ & Youths’ Bible Study1.30 pm – 3.00 pm

Children’s Bible Study1.30 pm – 3.00 pm

Post-Worship Activities

Weekday Activities

Bible Witness Magazine

Bible Witness Web Radio

Church Weekly

HOLY LAND BIBLE STUDY TOUR

Israel & Jordan

Date: 1- 10 Dec 2014

Join the Bible Study Tour organised by Bible Witness

Media Ministry.

Presently, there are 7 seats still available. Some participants are unable to join the tour

due to unforeseen circumstances. If you would like to go, do sign up quickly.

YOUTH CAMPGethsemane Youth Fellowship

Topic: Spiritual Growth and Hindrances

Speakers: Pastor Koshy Brother Andrew Koh

Date: 24 - 27 Dec, 2014 Venue: Tanjung Piai Resort

Pontian, Johor Fee: $60 per youth

A 4D3N Camp. Register quickly — invitations are

available at the reception table.

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