PASTORAL LETTER RESOURCE FOR THE STATE ELECTION

1.     All authorities are ordained by God with the mandate of governing a nation for the common good. [Romans 13:1]

2.     The Bible does not prescribe the form of government but states what are the indicia of good government. A good government is one that is just, not tyrannical and oppressive; fair, impartial and equitable; incorruptible, not open to bribes; honest and open; and righteous and careful to legislate just laws.

3.     Malaysia’s political system is based on parliamentary democracy. A democratic government is a government of the people, by the people and for the people. It is elected by the people through the process of free, fair and open elections held regularly.

4.     In Malaysia we have an elected federal government as well as elected state governments. We elect representatives to the federal Parliament and the State legislative body. In the 10^th Sarawak State Elections we are electing State Assemblymen to the Council Negeri. The Council Negeri makes laws. From these elected representatives a Cabinet is formed to administer the state of Sarawak in accordance with the Federal and State Constitutions and the Rule of Law.

5.     We are instructed to Honour all people, Love the brethren; Fear the Lord and Honour the king[ 1 Peter 2: 17] . In a democracy like Malaysia, the government comes from the will of the people as expressed through regular elections. Therefore, in the same way as we honour all people we also honour the authorities which come from the people; and authorities are not to be feared, only God is to be feared.

6.     In this forthcoming 10^th Sarawak State Election, Christians are called to seek the welfare and good of Sarawak and the people of Sarawak. We are to pray for a good government that will fulfill the mandate which God had placed on all authorities. We are to exercise the responsible  the right to vote and to ensure that such a good government is voted into power.

7.     We are to pray that the right to vote can be exercised free from intimidation, undue influence and bribery and corruption. We are to exercise our vote free from such intimidation, undue influence and bribery and corruption.

8.     We must vote freely secure in the knowledge that whichever party is voted into government will be vested with all the powers, authority and financial resources of the state to bring development and good governance to Sarawak and the peoples of Sarawak.

9.     So as Priests, Pastors and Elders of this congregation, we call upon all members of this congregation to actively exercise our rights and responsibility as citizens of our beloved nation and state and to ensure that a good government which will ensure that there will be good governance is voted into power.

10.            May God bless Sarawak and Malaysia and her citizens.

The Bible is God's Precious Gift to Christians

 WHY WE NEED THE BIBLE

The Bible is described as the most loved, most translated, most sold and also the most feared book on planet earth. Down through the ages kings, rulers, government and even some authorities within the church have tried to ban, abolish, restrict and curtail the use and accessibility to the Word of God. But God kept and preserved it. Why such intensity and focus on this ancient book? It is because other than the gift of salvation through Jesus Christ and the precious indwelling  presence of the Holy Spirit, the Bible is probably the most essential gift to Christians. It is described as:

1.Food. ‘Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation,’ 1 Peter 2:2. Just as in the natural, our spiritual health and growth are dependent on a regular and consistent intake of the Word.

2.A Sword. ‘For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.’ Hebrews 4:12  Like a skillful surgeon the Holy Spirit uses the Word of God to operate with precision for our spiritual well being. ‘Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.’ Ephesians 6:17 We are in a spiritual warfare with demonic forces which can only be countered with the authority of the Word.

3.A Lamp. ‘Your word is a lamp for my feet,
   a light on my path.’ Psalm 119:105  The Bible provides clarity and directions for the Christian daily walk and serves as a road map through the journey of life.

4.A Seed. ‘For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.’ 1 Peter 1:23 Life and hope come from receiving and believing the promises of Bible.

5.A Mirror. ‘ ²² Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. ²³ Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror ²⁴ and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. ²⁵ But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.’     James 1:22-25  The Bible is like a mirror which helps us to see a true reflection of our conditions from God’s perspective.

The Bible is crucial for the building of a strong church ‘All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness’ 2 Timothy 3:16 The Bible is paramount for the continual strengthening and building of the church and to be light and salt of the earth. 

We give thanks to the Lord for the release of the Bibles in our nation recently. Let us pray for a continual freedom of access to the Bible. May we treasure, read, study, share and diligently apply the precious gift of His Word.

God bless Malaysia!

Pastor David Kueh

KMF PRESS STATEMENT

Sarawak Ministers Fellowship

No.45, Lorong Keranji 4F, Tabuan Desa, 93550 Kuching. Telephone: 082-364099. Email: kmf.kch@gmail.com

Media Statement On

Restriction of Religious and Civil Rights of Christians In Sarawak

14^th March 2011, Kingwood  Inn Hotel, Kuching

The Sarawak Ministers Fellowship, consisting of Kuching Ministers Fellowship, Miri Pastors Fellowship, Sibu Pastors Fellowship, Bintulu Pastors Fellowship, and Gempuru Besai Raban Jaku Iban Malaysia (an alliance of Iban churches), fully stands with the Christian Federation of Malaysia on their 10th March official media statement regarding the detentions of the Bahasa Malaysia Bibles in Malaysia.

We view the detention of the latest batch of 30,000 copies of  "Perjanjian Baru, Mazmur dan Amsal" (New Testament, Psalms and Proverbs) at the Kuching Port by Kementerian Dalam Negeri on 12th January as another blunt violation and unconstitutional curtailment of the religious liberty of the Christians in our Nation and the State of Sarawak.  

The Bible detentions are not the only difficulties which our churches face in resolving key religious liberty issues with government authorities. We have repeatedly encountered restrictions that ran contrary to the guarantee of religious freedom provided in the Federal Constitution.

Article 8 of the Federal Constitution states that “All persons are equal before the law and entitled to the equal protection of the law”, and “there shall be no discrimination against citizens on the ground only of religion, race, descent, place of birth or gender in any law “

Article 11 provides for every person to have “the right to profess and practice his religion”, and that every religious group has the right (a) to manage its own religious affairs, (b) to establish and maintain institutions for religious or charitable purposes, and (c) to acquire and own property and hold and administer it in accordance with the law.

Furthermore, under the 18 Point Agreement for Sarawak in the formation of Malaysia, it is clearly stated that there is no official religion for Sarawak. Therefore the detention of the Bibles at the Kuching Port is not only unconstitutional but it also violates the spirit of the agreement for Sarawak to participate in the formation of Malaysia.

We are deeply disappointed and want to register our strong protest on how these continuous problems have impeded our Christian rights to practise our faith. Therefore, we call upon our Government to diligently uphold the rights of the Christian community in our State as enshrined in our Federal Constitution.

We acknowledge the biblical teaching to accord respect to the Government and to dialogue and work with those in authority to uphold peace and harmony in our land.

New Year Resolution? READ the Bible!

Wow, it is amazing 2010 is coming to a close. And knowing what most of you would do at this time of the year, pondering away a list of next "break through" or "big things" you want to accomplish in 2011, may I humbly suggest this one simple thing - READ your Bible.

Yes, read your Bible from cover to cover in 2011.

Here is a list of Bible Reading Plans to help you out:

52 Week Bible Reading Plan [PDF]
Read through the Bible in a year, with each day of the week dedicated to a different genre; Epistles, The Law, History, Psalms, Poetry, Prophecy, and Gospels.

Bible Reading Chart [WWW]
Not technically a “plan”, but have total freedom and control with this minimalistic, yet beautifully designed, Bible Reading Chart to track what you have read over 2011.

Chronological Bible Reading Plan [PDF]
Read through the Bible in a year in the order the events occurred chronologically.

The Discipleship Journal Bible Reading Plan [PDF]
Read through the Bible in a year. Four chapters a day beginning in Genesis, Psalms, Matthew and Acts.

ESV Daily Bible Reading Plan [PDF]
Read through the Bible in a year taking a reading from each of four lists; Psalms & Wisdom Literature, Pentateuch & History of Israel, Chronicles & Prophets, and Gospels & Epistles.

Professor Grant Horner’s Bible Reading System [PDF / NEW Bookmarks + .PSD File]
Read through all the Gospels four times, the Pentateuch twice, Paul’s letters 4-5 times, the OT wisdom literature six times, all the Psalms at least twice, all the Proverbs as well as Acts a dozen times, and all the way through the OT History and Prophetic books about 1.5 times each year.

Robert Murray M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan [WWW]
Read through the New Testament and Psalms twice and the Old Testament once in a year. Also contains Don Carson’s modified version spread over two years.

Straight Through the Bible Reading Plan [PDF]
Read straight through the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, in a year.

Tabletalk Bible in a Year [PDF]
Read through the Bible in a year. Two readings each day; one from the Old Testament and one from the New Testament. (This currently links to their 2010 plan)

The Legacy Reading Plan [PDF]
Read through the Bible in a year. What makes this plan different is that it doesn’t have set readings for each day. Instead, it has set books for each month. The aim is to give you more flexibility, but also to ground you in “a book” and its message.

Two-Year Bible Reading Plan [PDF]
Read through the Bible over two years, with Psalms and Proverbs being read four times during those two years.

Praise God we are living in a nation where the Bible is abundantly available. And what greater joy is there than to come feast on God's very own words - His very own revelation of Himself to us!

Happy Reading!

Christmas 2010

EBC wishes everyone a Merry Christmas!

Kudos to the Mandarin Sunday School's children team - a most creative performance by them!

And also special thanks to the Mandarin Youth Group that gave us two awesome performances too!

Alpha Course - Marriage

This evening when I stepped into the "dance hall", I almost couldn't recognise the place! 

The whole place is SOOOO romantic! Welcome to EBC's Alpha Marriage Course!

Since I was busy taking photos, I didn't really get a chance to focus on the topic tonight, but judging from the attentive faces, I guess it must be interesting.

Another thing I noted was - everyone was looking so gorgeous tonight! For example, sister Karen here is simply DASHING, while Elder Phang is *ahem* so cold COOL looking!  :D

Much thanks to brother SH & sister Emily who are heading our first Alpha marriage course.

Bible says:

"So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love." (1Cor 13:13)

And I pray all the participants will be empowered by the Holy Spirit to manifest their precious saving Faith through LOVE, first and foremost in their sacred marriages, that the world may witness and glorify God.

Praise the LORD!

Video Update:

家庭营 2010 - Part 2

One of the key activities over the Family Camp was a series of teachings on 内在生命 by Pastor Ivan. And in the spirit of the Parable of the Hidden Treasure (Matt 13:44) we can see how precious are these teachings as discovered by brother Simon ;)

The workshop styled lessons are very pragmatic, teaching the participants how to overcome some "works of the flesh" in order to lead a more effective life for the glory of God.

One such example was "Self-Esteem"  ;)

A note:  In many circles, self-esteem has become more of a narcissistic, lover-of-self (2Tim 3:2) promotion as taught by many prosperity gospel televangelists. It has resulted in making many churches "man-centered" rather than "God-centered" since they don't look to Christ and His cross as the source to liberate them from guilt & condemnation, rather, they deem self-help psychology as a better solution.

But praise God pastor Ivan didn't go down that path but rather admonished the church to look unto Jesus who has redeemed us through His death on the cross that we might receive the adoption as sons! Thus, today when we boast about our freedom - freedom from "low-self-esteem" - we will boast the way Apostle Paul boasted:

But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. (Gal 6:14)

One of my favourite lessons was on - Redeeming the Times.

Using Parable of the 10 Minas (Luke 19:11-27) as the foundation, pastor Ivan taught on the importance & urgency of Christians in being occupied doing the Lord's work.

Like the dear sister in the photo above, we know Jesus Christ is coming back soon. Many of us are awaiting eagerly for His return. We look and look everyday. But unfortunately we don't know the exact day nor the hour of our Lord's return.

So meantime, what lessons can we draw from the Parable of the 10 Minas? Let's take a look... and I will use the basket of bananas as the minas the Master had given us prior to His departure :)

Some are of the Martha type - they worry too much...

Some are the "bo-bian" (reluctant) type - they need to be pushed, kicked in order to move... all the while complaining & murmuring...

Some are the joker type -  monkeying around with the Minas bananas... instead of redeeming the time they waste time... ;)

But the worst is the selfish type -  they ate all the bananas for themselves!  :(

So how should we serve instead? Like this - with a WILLING & SMILY heart that shows on the face... because it is such a privilege to be a servant of God Almighty!

We serve with a HUMBLE heart... knowing it is the LORD who gives grace & empowers us to serve!

We sincerely want to thank Pastor Ivan and his beloved wife for their time & love in coming to serve at our church. We pray also that we may see them soon.

Last but not least, I heard some are already signing up for 2011 家庭营...  :)