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Report by Samson Hutagalung

"I have preached righteousness in the great congregation: lo, I have not refrained my lips, O LORD, thou knowest. I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart; I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation: I have not concealed thy lovingkindness and thy truth from the great congregation" (Psalm 40:9-10).

David’s commitment to declare God’s greatness and His truth among all the people of God reflects our prayer and passion behind the GBI-Online ministry. "God shall send forth his mercy and his truth" (Psalm 57:3), and for that purpose, God has appointed "the church of the living God" as "the pillar and ground of the truth" (1 Timothy 3:15).

Hence, it is with much thanksgiving to our God that I write this brief report on Gethsemane Bible Institute (online) or GBI-Online. Six years have passed since we made our first humble efforts to start this ministry. His grace has enabled us through this ministry to extend the teaching of God’s Word in our church to God’s people all around the world. Our hearts are thrilled to see how the Lord has used GBI-Online to educate and edify God’s people everywhere.
I am glad to report to you that the Lord has used GBI-Online to spread the Gospel everywhere. We have now 155 active students, learning God’s Word from different countries. These students came from different backgrounds and countries, such as Singapore, Malaysia, The Philippines, Indonesia, Australia, India, Ethiopia, Nigeria and Zambia.

GBI-Online now offers several courses, including the following: (1) Systematic Theology 1 – Theism; (2) Systematic Theology 2 – Bibliology; (3) Systematic Theology 3 – Anthropology; (4) Systematic Theology 4 – Soteriology; (5) Systematic Theology 5 – Ecclesiology; (6) Systematic Theology 6 – Eschatology; (7) The Book of Jonah; (8) The Names of God; (9) Theology of Prayer; (10) Divine Adoption; (11) The Book of Revelation. In addition, we currently have two ongoing courses that Pastor Koshy is still teaching off-line, namely (1) The Books of Ezra and Nehemiah (which quite a number of you are taking online, due to the current situation), and (2) The Book of Isaiah (which Pastor Koshy teaches during every Wednesday Lunch-Hour Bible Study).

We are glad to know that some of you desire to study the Book of Isaiah. Thus, we shall try to make it available in GBI-Online as soon as possible. Since the Book of Isaiah is still ongoing offline, we shall offer this course gradually. We shall make available the study of the first nine chapters of the Book of Isaiah, and we shall add more lessons as we go along. You may remember Pastor in prayer as he labours to teach these two subjects.

Currently, we can access 12 courses at GBI-Online. Let us make use of the time and opportunities that we have now to learn God’s Word in-depth. Visit http://www.gbi-online.com and sign up for any course from those made available for your learning. Blessed be the LORD God who hath not left us destitute of His mercy and His truth.

Apart from the courses mentioned above, we are also working on another two set of courses which Pastor had taught before for Wednesday Lunch-Hour Bible Study, namely (1) The Book of Zechariah, and (2) The Book of Job. We are working on the technical issues; when ready, they will also be offered as part of GBI-Online.

During this period of global pandemic, how good it is that we spend more time with the Lord in the study of His Word. As the apostle Peter wrote in 2 Peter 3:18, "But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen." As the Lord commands us to know His Word, let us hunger and thirst for its knowledge and blessings. Without His truth that edifies us, we cannot live a life that is pleasing to the Lord.

May we continue to pray for Pastor Koshy, as he labours day and night to teach God’s Word and makes it available through GBI-Online. Please also pray for our GMC media staff (Arnold Diaz, Matthew Peh and Melissa Mah) and me, as well as all who labour daily to record, edit and make available the teaching of God’s Word.

We also thankfully remember all those who have assisted us, from time to time, in many different ways. Continue to cheerfully give as the Lord leads you, that this ministry may be well-maintained and become profitable to God’s people – not only in Gethsemane BPC, but also all around the world. May the Lord make Gethsemane BPC a blessing to God’s people everywhere.

In recent times, it has been asked repeatedly, "Can I take Holy Communion at home by myself? Can Holy Communion be observed with my family at home, or in private?" These questions are raised because some famous charismatic pastors encourage the private partaking of Holy Communion at home by individuals.

Baptism and Holy Communion are two ordinances that Christ has instituted. When He first instituted those ordinances, it was the apostles (and not all the believers) whom Christ commissioned to administer them. According to Matt 28:16-20, Jesus commissioned the apostles to baptise. While Christ called people to baptism, it was the disciples whom the Lord designated to baptise (see John 4:2); not all who believed on Him were given the prerogative to baptise themselves or one another. Likewise, He instituted the Holy Communion when only the apostles were with Him in the upper room (Matt. 26:20-30; Mk. 14:16-26; Lk. 22:14-20). Upon Christ’s ascension, the apostles were the chief leaders of the church who led in the ministry of the Word and sacraments. The Lord also gave the church evangelists and pastors to work along with the apostles, as the ministers of the Word and sacraments in the churches. (This is evident from the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles - cf. Ephesians 4:11.)

After the Lord Jesus called Paul to be an apostle (to the Gentiles), he received instruction concerning the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. Concerning which he wrote, "For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread..." (1 Cor. 11:23). Now, Paul’s words regarding baptism, "For Christ sent me not to baptise, but to preach the gospel" (1 Cor. 1:17a), should not be thought of as dismissive of his ministerial duty concerning baptism. Instead, he was emphasising that when he was in Corinth, preaching the Gospel was his primary duty, and then baptising. Paul did baptise those who turn to Christ with their household (cf. Acts 16:28-33; 1 Cor. 1:14-16). So, even Paul who joined the apostolic team, as "one born out of due time" (1 Cor. 15:8), was involved in the administering of the sacraments in the early church.

The New Testament shows that baptism and the Lord’s Supper were done in the presence of the apostles or by men appointed as leaders of the churches by the apostles. (Acts 2:42; Acts 20:7, 10-11). In all those records of Lord’s Supper, the presence of the apostles is mentioned.

Even when it is recorded in Acts 2:46 concerning the Jerusalem church "breaking bread from house to house," when taken in its context, it is not a reference to individual families or individuals breaking bread on their own, but the believers coming together in houses and, as a church, breaking bread. Moreover, the immediate context of this record (v. 42 – "they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship") demands that we should recognise those ’house to house’ gatherings as including the apostles. So, if need be, believers may get together with their ministers of the Word in their homes and break bread.

But there is no evidence that believers were permitted in the New Testament era to take Holy Communion on their own in their homes. The practice of the New Testament churches was to come together to break bread, and not breaking bread at home by each family or each individual. Consider the following biblical evidence.

Acts 20:7 - "And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight." The norm was for believers to come together on the Lord’s day (the first day of the week) to break bread. The apostle Paul was in their midst, ministering to them the Word. (See also Acts 20:11). The record of Acts 20 is an emphatic witness against the private breaking of bread in one’s home!

The church in Corinth, according to the apostle Paul, gathered together in one place to break bread. However, Paul severely rebuked them when each of the church members started to eat on his own (ignoring the order that was instituted by the apostles and practised by the early church). While admonishing them for such frivolous conduct, he said, "When ye come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord’s supper. For in eating every one taketh before other his own supper: and one is hungry, and another is drunken" (1 Corinthians 11:20-21). In Corinth, the issue of the private partaking of Lord’s supper was further worsened due to their selfishness, insubordination, divisions, lack of forbearance and love for one another.

So Paul continued his rebuke in 1 Corinthians 11:22, "What? have ye not houses to eat and to drink in? or despise ye the church of God, and shame them that have not? What shall I say to you? shall I praise you in this? I praise you not." These words of the apostle show that he certainly did not regard eating at home individually as the proper manner of partaking in the Lord’s Supper. Later, he insisted that the coming together in Christian unity and in love for one another is the way to participate in the Holy Communion. Otherwise, he advised that "if any man hunger, let him eat at home; that ye come not together unto condemnation. And the rest will I set in order when I come" (1 Corinthians 11:34). Eating at home as an individual family or as individuals – and not as part of a fellowship of the church, as well as without a minister of the Word – was not regarded as manner worthy of the Lord’s Supper. In other words, the partaking of Holy Communion by oneself or by families was against the divinely taught pattern of its practice in the early church.

The exhortation that the apostle gave to the church in 1 Corinthians 11:33 – "Wherefore, my brethren, when ye come together to eat, tarry one for another" – is instructive. Earlier in 1 Corinthians 10:16, Paul had reminded the Corinthian church of the partaking of the Lord’s Supper as a communion of the body of Christ (not an individual affair) – "The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?" Undoubtedly, the fellowship of the brethren as a church was an essential part of the Lord’s Supper.

The clear teaching of the New Testament is that the Lord’s Supper ought to be administered when believers gather together as a group, with their ordained minister of the Word – for the singing of psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, for worship, for the teaching of the Word of God, for prayer, for fellowship. It was never practised, according to the Scriptures, individually at home. Holy Communion is to be observed with the church family.
That’s not all. The Bible also warns us of the great dangers of partaking the Lord’s Supper against the definite counsels of the Word.

Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians clearly show that the individual partaking of Holy Communion, apart from the communion of the church, was against the order, discipline and unity that the Lord expects within His church. Such individualistic partaking of the Lord’s Supper will destroy the church’s cohesion, submission to the divine order concerning worship and ordinances.

Another danger is that careless and unbiblical partaking of the holy ordinances would provoke God to wrath. According to 1 Corinthians 11:27-32, such behaviour invites His chastisement, even sickness and death – "27 Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. 28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. 29 For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. 30 For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. 31 For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. 32 But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world."

Moreover, the private partaking of the Holy Communion is a dangerous trend that will lead to more flippant and irreverent practices which are unbiblical. For instance, if fathers and families will serve Holy Communion at home on their own, what would prevent them from baptising themselves or other family members? Since the Bible does not warrant commemorating the Holy Communion at home on one’s own or observing it with one’s family at home, or in private, such self-appointed role speaks of careless and presumptuous behaviour. Partaking of Holy Communion at home without the fellowship and the oversight of the ministers of God ignores the clear Biblical records and instruction on this matter. It not only portrays ignorance of and irreverence to the biblical guidelines, it also breaches biblical unity and order within the church. Such is not the practice of the ordinances that we see in the Bible.
It is also crucial for us to note that such private partaking of Holy Communion has not been the practice of Reformed, Presbyterian churches. Westminster Confession of Faith (Chapter 27 - Of the Sacraments - Section 4) states, "There be only two sacraments ordained by Christ our Lord in the Gospel; that is to say, Baptism, and the Supper of the Lord: neither of which may be dispensed by any, but by a minister of the Word lawfully ordained" (cf. Matt 28:19; 1 Cor 4:1; 1 Cor 11:20, 23; Heb 5:4).

Well, things are changing for the worse in these days of apostates, self-lovers, insubordinate people who infiltrate the church, even persuading some of the very elect, who have not been thorough in their study of the Scriptures. Lamentably, more and more churchgoers want to do things their way! In these days, many so-called Christians prefer the ease of turning on the television/you-tube to watch a preacher and commemorate the Lord’s Supper. Such a practice is irresponsible as it flouts the biblical instructions on the matters of administration of sacraments (baptism and Lord’s Supper), church unity, and submission and accountability to the leadership of the church (cf. Hebrews 13:7, 17).
In situations when a believer is sick at home and unable to attend church, the minister of the Word, together with some of the leaders and members, may visit the sick for fellowship and break bread. But can the believers take Holy Communion on their own in times of national crisis (like war and pandemic) or natural calamities that prevent them from gathering together as a church? The Scriptural examples show that believers should wait in prayer for the Lord to change the circumstances that prevent them from gathering together and partaking the Holy Communion. When the God-ordained sacraments were precluded during the 70 years of exile in Babylon, the saints of the Old Testament waited in prayer until God once again made them possible. During their captivity, they offered no sacrifices or sacraments like the Patriarchal times (before Moses). Hence, in rare times when the sacraments are disrupted, we should not hurry to practise them in ways not prescribed in the Scriptures. Instead, we should humbly search our lives, repent of our ungodly attitude and actions, and pray for God’s merciful restoration of church fellowship gatherings (whether it be in the church building or homes of believers) and the biblical practice of sacraments.

1 Corinthians 15:20-23 declares, "But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming."

Among the many wonderful benefits of Christ’s resurrection, one timely benefit for us to remember in these days of disease and death is that His resurrection is a sure pledge and guarantee concerning our own resurrection. This passage above reveals to us various truths about this assurance that the risen Christ provides to all His people.

Firstly, it is said concerning Christ who is risen from the dead, that He is "the firstfruits of them that slept" (v. 20, cf. v. 23). Paul’s usage of this agricultural metaphor in the said text was meant to affirm the believers of their own bodily resurrection. Now, before the ancient Israelites began the full harvest of their crops, they were to bring the first crops that farmers had gathered – called the firstfruits – to the priests as an offering to the LORD (Lev 23:10). The significance of the firstfruits was that they not only preceded the harvest, but were also a pledge of the harvest. Thus, the firstfruits served as a foretaste and an assurance of the full harvest to come. When Christ rose from the dead, he became "the firstfruits" of all who die in the Lord concerning their bodily resurrection. By pointing to Jesus’ resurrection as "the firstfruits", Paul was affirming that like Him, all believers who die will also rise from their graves. The believers’ resurrection will be of the same kind as our Lord’s. That is to say, the fact of the bodily resurrection of Christ, the "firstfruits", also guarantees the believers’ bodily resurrections in the final harvest of their resurrection. Like Jesus, believers will rise with a glorified body. Like Jesus, they will live in their resurrected bodies eternally.

While affirming that believers have the assurance of their own resurrection in Christ’s resurrection, Paul also said that "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive" (v. 22). Though Adam, the first man, brought death upon this earth through his disobedience, through Jesus who became a man and died, we have the blessed hope of resurrection. Jesus’ humanity was inextricably linked to His resurrection as well as ours. It was because Jesus died, was buried, and was raised as a man, that He could become the firstfruits of all His people who would be raised to glory.

John Calvin wrote, "As … Adam did not die for himself alone, but for us all, it follows, that Christ in like manner, who is the antitype, did not rise for himself alone; for he came, that he might restore everything that had been ruined in Adam." Redemption involves the rescue and renewal of our souls, as well as our bodies. Our hope for eternity is anchored on our Redeemer’s resurrection. Our hope of a blessed, celestial life begins with His resurrection and consummates, at His coming, with the resurrection of all who died in Christ.

Because Christ’s resurrection is firmly connected to His people’s resurrection, we must not think of Christ’s resurrection in isolation from ours. As we remember that our Lord has arisen from His grave, let us rejoice that His resurrection also promises our own bodily resurrection and our eternal dwelling in heaven with our great Redeemer-King.

Upon our death, our bodies dissolve in the grave and return to dust, but our souls shall be with Christ in heaven. The apostle Paul speaks of this in 2 Corinthians 5:8 – "We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord." When Jesus returns and calls our bodies out of the graves, our souls will be united with our glorified physical bodies, and we shall be with the Lord forever! 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 affirm this glorious truth: "For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord" (cf. Dan. 12:1-2; Rev. 21:1-4).

Written by J.C. Ryle
(Today we publish an article by John Charles Ryle (1816 –1900), the first Anglican bishop of Liverpool, who was a faithful witness to the Gospel of Christ to the end.)

"In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came unto him, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Set thine house in order: for thou shalt die, and not live. 2 Then Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall, and prayed unto the LORD, 3 And said, Remember now, O LORD, I beseech thee, how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight. And Hezekiah wept sore" (Isaiah 38:1-3).

Sickness, disease, decay, and death are the common lot of all mankind without exception.

You have a striking proof of this in the chapter from which my text is taken. The Holy Spirit shows us a king and ruler of men, a dweller in palaces, a possessor of all that money can obtain, a good man, a holy man, a friend of God — laid low by disease, like the poorest man in the kingdom. Hear what the Holy Spirit says, "In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death"!

This is the old story. It is the history of every child of Adam for the last 6,000 years — except for Enoch and Elijah. It is as true of the infant who only lives a few hours as it is true of Methuselah who lived 969 years. The story of every patriarch in the fifth chapter of Genesis concludes with the simple words, "and he died".

There is no discharge in this war.

Sooner or later, all die. There is no exemption for any rank or class or condition. High and low, rich and poor, gentle and simple, learned and unlearned, kings and their subjects, saints and sinners — all alike are liable to disease and all must submit to the "king" of terrors. The admirals and generals who have left behind a world-wide reputation, the statesmen who have swayed senates and made indelible marks on the history of their own time — are all carried, one after another, to the grave. Rich men, in spite of all their privileges, enjoy no immunity from sickness and death.

No medical skill can prevent death.

Our physicians and surgeons are unwearied in their efforts to find new remedies and modes of treatment. They compass sea and land in order to prevent disease, discover remedies, diminish pain, and lengthen life. But in spite of all that medicine and surgery can do, there is something which the ablest doctors find beyond their reach. When the time appointed by God comes, they cannot keep men and women alive.

After all, there is nothing amazing in this. The tent in which our soul lives — the human body — is a most frail and complicated machine. From the sole of the foot to the crown of the head, there is not a part of us which is not liable to disease. When I think of the variety of ailments which may assail our frame, I do not so much wonder that we die at last — as that we live so long.

But whence comes this liability to sickness, disease, and death?

How are we to account for it? This is a question which will arise in many minds — and it is one which ought to be answered. Perfection is the ordinary mark of all God’s handiwork — perfection in the heavens above us, and the earth beneath us, perfection in the movements of the planets, and perfection in a fly’s wing, or a blade of grass. Look through a telescope or microscope at anything which God created — and you find nothing defective. How then can we account for the power of disease, decay, and death over the body of man?

There is only one book which supplies an answer to this question. That book is the Bible. The fall of man at the beginning, has brought sin into the world — and sin has brought with it the curse of sickness, suffering, pain, and death. These are not things which God created at the beginning. They are the consequences of man’s transgression. To suppose that a perfect God would deliberately create imperfection, is a supposition too monstrous to be believed. It is man who is to blame — and not God. The countless bodily sufferings that we see, are the just consequence of man’s original disobedience.

Here, to my mind, lies one among many proofs that the Bible is given by inspiration of God. It accounts for many things which the atheist cannot explain. When I see a little infant convulsed with bodily pain and hovering between life and death in a weeping mother’s arms, I would be utterly puzzled and confounded, if I did not believe the Bible. But when I turn to the Book, the mysterious problem is solved. I learn that suffering is the result of Adam’s fall. That infant would not have suffered — if Adam had not sinned!
I ask you to learn from this chapter of Isaiah, that:

Sickness is not an unmixed evil.

That King Hezekiah received spiritual benefit from his illness — I think there can be no doubt. The good man saw things in his sickness, which he had never seen clearly and fully in the days of health.

I do not say that sickness always does good. Alas! We ministers know to our sorrow, that it frequently does no good at all. Too often we see men and women, after recovering from a long and dangerous illness — more hardened and impious than they were before. Too often they return to the world, if not to overt sin — with more eagerness and zest than ever. The impressions made on their conscience in the hour of sickness, are swept away like children’s writing on the sand of the sea-shore when the tide flows in.

But I do say that sickness ought to do us good. And I do say that God sends it in order to do us good. Affliction is a friendly letter from Heaven. It is a knock at the door of conscience. It is the voice of the Savior knocking at the heart’s door. Happy is he who opens the letter and reads it, who hears the knock and opens the door, who welcomes Christ to the sick room. Come now, and let me show you a few of the lessons which He by sickness would teach us:

1. Sickness is meant to make us think. It is to remind us that we have a soul, as well as a body, an immortal soul — a soul that will live forever in happiness or in misery — and that if this soul is not saved, we had better never have been born.
2. Sickness is meant to teach us that there is a world beyond the grave — and that the world we now live in is only a training-place for another dwelling, where there will be no decay, no sorrow, no tears, no misery, and no sin.
3. Sickness is meant to make us look at our past lives honestly, fairly, and conscientiously. Am I ready for my great change — if I should not get better? Do I truly repent of my sins? Are my sins forgiven and washed away in Christ’s blood? Am I prepared to meet God?
4. Sickness is meant to make us see the emptiness of the world and its utter inability to satisfy the highest and deepest needs of the soul.
5. Sickness is meant to send us to our Bibles — that blessed Book, which in the days of health is too often left on the shelf, and is never opened from January to December. But sickness often brings it down from the shelf and throws new light on its pages.
6. Sickness is meant to make us pray. Too many, I fear, never pray at all, or they only rattle over a few hurried words, morning and evening, without thinking what they do. But prayer often becomes a reality — when the valley of the shadow of death is in sight!
7. Sickness is meant to make us repent and break off our sins. If we will not hear the voice of mercies — then God sometimes makes us "hear the rod".
8. Sickness is meant to draw us to Christ. Naturally we do not see the full value of the blessed Saviour. We secretly imagine that our prayers, good deeds, and sacrament-receiving will save our souls. But when flesh begins to fail — then the absolute necessity of a Redeemer, a Mediator, and an Advocate with the Father, stands out before men’s eyes like fire, and makes them understand those words, "Simply to Your cross I cling!", as they never did before. Sickness has done this for many — they have found Christ in the sick room.
9. Last, but not least, sickness is meant to make us feeling and sympathising towards others. By nature we are all far below our blessed Master’s example — who had not only a hand to help all, but a heart to feel for all. None, I suspect, are so unable to sympathise — as those who have never had trouble themselves. And none are so able to sympathise — as those who have drunk most deeply the cup of pain and sorrow.

Brethren, when your time comes to be ill, I beseech you not to forget what the illness means. Beware of fretting and murmuring and complaining, and giving way to an impatient spirit. Regard your sickness as a blessing in disguise; a good — and not an evil; a friend — and not an enemy.

No doubt we would all prefer to learn spiritual lessons in the school of ease — and not under the rod. But rest assured that God knows, better than we do, how to teach us. The light of the last day will show you that there was a meaning and a "needs-be" in all your bodily ailments. The lessons that we learn on a sick-bed, when we are shut out from the world — are often lessons which we would never learn elsewhere. Settle it down in your minds that, however much you may dislike it, sickness is not an unmixed evil.

Beloved Gethsemaneans and friends,
It was with heavy hearts that we announced three days ago the suspension of our usual gatherings, such as Sunday worship services, Bible studies, prayer meetings, fellowship meetings, evangelism sessions, etc., until further notice. The recent measures that we have taken to maintain our coming together for worship services in smaller groups of 50 to 100 people, are no more feasible with the new advisory from the government. So the Board of Elders (BOE), having no other options, decided to suspend all church meetings for now.

The Sunday worship services have been pivotal in the spiritual nurture of our members and the ministries of our church. Those solemn assemblies of our church have provided us with many marvellous blessings of His presence, truth, love and communion. During our gatherings, the brethren have been channels of His gracious work towards one another. How blessed were those times of singing, praying, and hearing of God’s Word as a church!

The worship of God is the most sincere and passionate expression of our hearts’ love for God. The public worship of our God is to be maintained as much as possible, for it is our highest and foremost duty. King David has said, "I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the LORD" (Psalm 122:1). Likewise, Psalm 84:1-2 express the deepest desire of a child of God for the public worship of God: "How amiable are thy tabernacles, O LORD of hosts! My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the LORD: my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God." It is also declared in the same psalm that "a day in thy courts is better than a thousand" (Psalm 84:10a).

Lack of public worship, prayer meeting, Bible study and fellowship gathering can lead to spiritual deterioration of the people.

That is why Scripture commands us: "Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching" (Hebrews 10:25).

The live streaming of Sunday worship services (10 am & 6 pm respectively), and Tuesday prayer meeting (8 pm) are temporary measures that the BOE has put in place, with the prayer that the Lord will help us to resume our regular gatherings soon. In the coming weeks, the preachers and I will do our best to be in touch with you and minister to you, whenever it is

Advice to maintain the sanctity of worship

The words of Psalm 42:4-5 are the thoughts of a godly man who was prevented from going to the house of God for public worship. He was kept away from the LORD’s house by the hostility of his enemies. From far, he fondly remembered his previous participation of the worship in God’s house, and prepared himself to worship God with great devoutness. He wrote, "When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me: for I had gone with the multitude, I went with them to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept holyday. Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance."

Likewise, we, with reverence and love for our God, must eagerly prepare to worship God in our present situation. Let us be ready in our homes (or other convenient locations) and, like the psalmist, be stirred with joyful memories of worshipping with other believers in the church.

• Though you may be worshipping from home or another conducive place, remember that you are participating in the public worship of our great God. So, make every effort to have an uninterrupted, solemn time of worship (just like it is in the church).
• Call your family members (if they are Christians) to join the worship. (If you are the only Christian at home, and it is not conducive to worship at home, you may want to consider another location or a fellow believer’s home). Please make preparations early.
• Instruct your children to maintain the sanctity of worship by participating in the whole worship with seriousness and solemnity.
• Do not move about within the house.
• Be appropriately attired for the worship of God.
• Be respectfully seated and prepare your hearts in prayer 10 mins before the worship service starts.
• Be ready with the Bible and hymnal in your hands (Revival Hymns and Choruses). If you don’t have the hymn book, follow the lyrics on the screen and sing aloud reverentially to God whom we worship.
• Be participative in the order of worship - join in the reading of Scripture, singing and prayer.
• Avoid a casual or leisurely attitude. Do not approach the time of Sunday worship (or Tuesday prayer meeting for that matter) like the way you would watch TV or some video clips on your computer / mobile phones. Refrain from munching titbits or eating your meals, drinking coffee, etc.

Advice for streaming the webcast of the services

• Prepare your streaming devices (computer or TV screen) early and test them out.
• Ensure that your device is sufficiently charged or connected to the power supply.
• Turn on to audio/speaker mode (unless you are using an earpiece).
• If you plan to project / ‘screen cast’ the live streaming of the worship/prayer meeting, please ensure early that all your devices are connected and properly working.

Let us heed the exhortation of Psalm 96:9 – "O worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness: fear before him, all the earth." May we draw nigh to God with hearts that are prepared and guided by His Word and Spirit.