The doctrine of Predestination is a doctrine little understood by most Christians and much debated by Christian scholars. The Reformed theologians are extremely adamant on their belief in Unconditional Predestination and vehemently attacked the Arminians as heretics. The sovereingty of Almighty God versus the importance of the Freewill of man rest on the two ends of the seesaw;moved by the invisible hands of their supporters. These four weeks study in November 2009 will cover on What is Predestination in accordance to St Augustine and John Calvin, the Arminians and John Wesley’s arguments, Middle Knowledge and Determinism and lastly the Scriptural bases for the various arguments. The notes to these four sessions which will be held at HGC Ampang can be located under the BTS 3 Notes on the right hand bar of this main page.

I was in Church yesterday and we were taking the Holy Communion. In our Church , the practice is that everyone will walk orderly to the front of the sanctuary and take a piece of the communion bread and a small cup from the serving stewards. Each will then return to his or her seat to wait for the minister to instruct us to partake the bread and cup together. Now, seated beside me was an African brother and due to some reasons he abstained from going out and participate in the Holy Communion. My immediate thought was that this brother was serious and sincere about participating in the Holy Communion. Perhaps, he feels unworthy to partake the Holy Communion because of some unconfessed sins in his life or perhaps he feels angry with God. Whatever the reason is, I give this brother his due respect because he didn’t treat the Communion with contempt.

Nevertheless, I was more bothered by the thought that if he was in sin, all the more he needs to participate in the communion! Christ would forgive him of whatever sins he had committed. Christ would want him and welcome him back to the fellowship of His body. God would love him because he was not frivolous with his faith but fears the LORD. He needs the communion more than others so that he can feel forgiven and accepted back into the fellowship with Christ and the brethren. I was so tempted to give my bread and cup to him and tell him all my thoughts but I didn’t. I feel this requires more than just a few words. This thinking of not participating in the Holy Communion has to be addressed more fully and a change of mind or conviction, has to be effected.

I recall that in my younger days as a Christian, our Youth leader used to tell us that if we have sinned or have backslided then we should abstain from partaking the Holy Communion. He read this from some Christian magazine. We all believed in this teaching. This may not be wrong but looking back I feel this was incomplete and the emphasis was wrong. The emphasis should be that we must confess our sins and quickly get back into fellowship with the Lord and the brethren and not to abstain from participating in the Holy Communion. The minister should also explain this and lead those feeling guilty to immediately confess their sins and come back into fellowship with God instead of staying away from the fellowship by not participating in the Communion.

I believe that all Christians , not matter what spiritual or physical states they are in, must partake the Eucharist because this was the commandment of Christ. If anyone is not right with God, then, get right with God. Just as what Paul had said in I Cor 11:23-26, each time we partake the Eucharist, we proclaim the death of the Lord Jesus until He returns. It is a spiritual union with Christ in His death as well as Life in His Resurrection!

I have always been fascinated with David’s life and his close walk with God. David was chosen by God to be anointed as King over all Judah and Israel at a very young age. At 22 years old, he was anointed as King over Judah. At 30, he was anointed as King over all Israel. He was incredibly young to be King over such a difficult nation as Israel. What were his secrets? Why was he chosen and how did he become what he was? What was his walk with God like? Apart from reading from the historical records in I & II Samuel and I Kings on David’s life, I have found the Davidic Psalms as the pool of rich revelation of David’s thoughts, his meditations, his theology, his prayers and his feelings. Hence, I have structured this study of by combining David’s life and his psalms together. In so doing, we may be able to get a richer result by examining his life and thoughts at the same time.

Starting from 15th Feb 2009, Bible Training School Level 3 (BTS3) at Hope of Glory Centre will commence a series of 4 weekly lessons on David and His Psalms. The notes on these four lessons have been posted under the BTS3 index. You can download them by going to the BTS3 index on the right column of this site.

Outline of Study

DAVID AND HIS PSALMS Session 1 (15/02/09)

1. David’s life and walk with God
2. David’s anointing
3. Introduction to Psalms
4. 73 Davidic Psalms

DAVID AND HIS PSALMS Session 2 (22/02/09)

David’s Prayer Psalms (Mizmor) and laments
His prayer life and prayers

DAVID AND HIS PSALMS Session 3 (01/03/09)

David’s Contemplation Psalms ( Maskil ), Meditation Psalms ( Shiggaion ) and “Golden” Psalms (Miktam)
His meditations and reflections on righteousness and evil.

DAVID AND HIS PSALMS Session 4 (08/03/09)

1. David’s Procession Psalms ( Songs of Accents or Pilgrim songs)
Worship

2. David’s Creation Hymns and Messianic Psalms. Also included the Hallel
Praise and Prophecy

Dr Lester Sumrall once said that there are two foundations in the Church from which spiritual gifts will operate healthily and perfectly. They are (a) unity and (b) love. Without these two elements present in the Church, the Holy Spirit will not give spiritual gifts to the people and even when given, the gifts will slowly fade away. The purpose of spiritual gifts is not just for self edification but for the edification of every one else.

Dr Lester further explained that one of the most destructive forces against the unity in Church is schism. He defined schism as “a division or separation.”

“God does not want a schism in the Church. He does not want us fighting with one another. When a person comes to you grumbling or finding fault with another person, don’t even argue with him. The best way to put a stop to it is by saying ‘Why don’t we pray about that situation ? God will take care of it for you.

It is the beginning of the moving of God’s power among us when we start caring one for another, really caring. There should be a real spiritual relationship among God’s people.

It is so easy to become selfish and isolated, to separate ourselves when God wants us to flow in the Body. You cannot see yourself as a separate entity. You cannot go off into a corner and say, ‘Look at me. I’m really great !’ No, you are not great. God is great. Jesus is great ; the Holy Spirit is great ! You are what you are because of what God did for you through Jesus.”

( The Gifts and Ministries of the Holy Spirit – Dr Lester Sumrall)

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