Testimonies of Nominees for Deaconship

The BOE has nominated 6 brethren to be appointed as deacons, having prayed and deliberated for more than a year. They will join Dn Lok Kwok Wah, who has been serving as a deacon since 2007. They have been interviewed by the BOE before confirming their nomination. Brief testimonies of their calling will be published in the bulletin this week and the next. Let us remember them in our prayers as they prepare themselves to serve the Lord in our midst upon their appointment.

Re-dedication to Serve as a Deacon

Lok Kwok Wah

By God’s providence, the Lord has called me to serve Him as a deacon of Gethsemane Bible-Presbyterian Church since 2007. Two previous roles in the Session include being Assistant Treasurer and Assistant Clerk of Session. One other duty was leading the Ushers’ Ministry (2009-2016). Prior to that, I was led to co-labour with Pastor in the Bible Witness Media Ministry as a full-time worker in 2001, and this has remained so till today by His great mercy and strength. My main responsibilities are to supervise the printing and distribution of the Bible Witness magazine, as well as to assist Pastor in organising Bible Witness Retreat, Holy Land Bible Study Tour, etc.

Currently, I thank God for His grace to serve as GBWL’s Operations Manager. Now I re-dedicate myself to the Lord to persevere in serving Him as a deacon of the church. I covet your prayers, that the Lord will help me to discharge my duties faithfully and always for His glory.

Brief Testimony of My Calling as a Deacon

Lim Ah Sang

When Pastor Koshy approached me, on behalf of the BOE, to consider taking up the office of deaconship, I was surprised and apprehensive – reasons being I am relatively new to the church, and I am also no longer young, as well as the medical conditions of my wife and son that I have to cater to.

As I seek the Lord’s confirmation of His calling, He brought the following to my mind:

1. I was reminded of the near-death incident of my son, our salvation in Christ, and how the LORD used an old lady (88 years in age) with a heart ailment, to daily minister to us. In gratitude, I have promised the LORD to serve Him wherever He calls me. Sometime in 2003/2004, while we were in Foo Chow Methodist Church, my first calling for service came through an ex-inmate in the church. He asked me if I was willing to witness for the LORD in Changi prison. Being young in faith, I was dissuaded by brethren in the church from the prison ministry because of the complicated characters whom I would have to minister to. Though fearful, but to honour the promise which I had made to the LORD, I proceeded with the ministry, trusting that He would help me. God honoured it by sustaining me all these years (1 Sam 2:30b).

2. From the exhortations on the LORD’s prayer in Matt 6, during our recent prayer meetings, I was pricked when Pastor reminded the church what the Lord Jesus meant in His prayer:
   • “God’s will be done” (v. 10), that is, not self-will.
   • The plurality of the pronouns used in the prayer: “our”, “us” and “we” (vv. 11-13), which signifies that our chief concern should be the body of Christ, not being self-centred, just saying, ‘me and my own family’.

3. In my daily devotion (of which an extract of the last paragraph of the daily devotion dated 30 September 2021 is given below), I was convicted to continue to trust in the LORD, not to fear adversities in my life, but to serve Him as He calls. In these past 21 years of many trials, the good LORD has seen me through them all, even delivering my son from near death in 2000, and my wife from her rare cancer in 2017. Should not I continue to put my trust in Him and serve Him as He calls?
   
   “The LORD should always be trusted and praised for saving us from all our distresses. Psalm 68:20 declares, ‘He that is our God is the God of salvation; and unto GOD the Lord belong the issues from death.’ Let us not fear our adversaries or adversities, for God will give us wisdom and strength to lead us safely at all times for His own glory.”

4. I was further reminded that I cannot be a disciple of Jesus Christ or be found worthy of Him if I place my family over Him (Matt 10:37; Luke 14:26).

From the above, I am convicted of His calling. The following lines of John E. Bode’s familiar hymn is my prayer:

“O Jesus, I have promised me to serve Thee to the end,
be Thou forever near me, my Master and my Friend.
I shall not fear the battle if Thou art by my side,
nor wander from the pathway if Thou wilt be my guide.”

All praise be unto the LORD!

Testimony of My Calling as a Deacon

John Zhang

I give thanks to our good and faithful God for giving me the opportunity to serve in our church. By God’s grace, our church has grown abundantly through the sound and faithful preaching of God’s Word by our pastor and preachers. When Pastor Koshy mentioned on several occasions that our church needs more people to serve in its various ministries, it resonated strongly with me. Having been encouraged immensely by so many brethren in the church who have tirelessly given of themselves to God’s work despite their own health, work or family commitments, their faces naturally came to my mind when Pastor mentioned the need for more deacons and elders in our church.

Hence, imagine my sense of unworthiness when Pastor first asked me to pray about serving in the office of a deacon. I thought that I am not the right person, because of my awareness of my own imperfections and flaws. I assumed that others would take up that role, while I continue to help and serve in the background, without any formal appointment. Pastor astutely corrected my wrong thinking, and encouraged me to continue praying and seeking God’s will.

By God’s mercy and grace, I was led to reflect on Pastor’s assertion that many would dismiss God’s calling if they reckon that they should serve only if they are “perfect”. God forbid that any of us should continue to wilfully sin against our good God; yet to wait for a perfect life without any sin to serve God is not possible in this present evil world. I have learned that waiting for a day when we deem ourselves perfectly ready to take up any appointment to serve in a larger capacity in the church is not right.

By God’s grace, it is also during this time at our prayer meetings that Pastor preached on the life of Moses. While I cannot compare to a spiritual giant like Moses, many of his concerns at the burning bush closely reflected mine. With each reason or excuse that he gave, I identified more and more with him. And just as God patiently answered each of Moses’ reasoning, He has also been patient and gracious to guide me and give me the burden to serve.

As I reflected on what He has done for me on the cross and how I have come to know Him as my Saviour and Lord, I became assured of His grace to help me serve Him. I am also reminded of His grace which He has bestowed on me every step of the way, whether in health, work or family. And it is with this growing conviction of mind that I yield myself to serve Him as a deacon and glorify Him. I put my confidence on His good promises to provide me with what I lack, to correct me if I err, and to strengthen me if I feel weak. As long as I allow myself to be used for Him and rely on Him, He is able to strengthen me beyond my own faults and weaknesses to use me according to His will.

I ask for the church’s prayer for myself and my family, that the Lord may grant me continual strength and wisdom, to serve Him with clean hands and a pure heart, according to His will and plan.