Zion Church Online Bulletin

Week No. 52 | 25 Dec 2022 Christmas Lord's Day Service

LORD’S DAY SERVICE ORDER

PRESIDER: Elder Ridwan Dinata
*Silent Prayer
*Confession of Faith
Hymn 56
Responsive Reading:
57. Christmas Day
57. 圣诞节
Prayer by Elder Ridwan Dinata
Scripture Reading:
Luke 2:1-14
路加福音 2:1-14
Choir Anthem by Sharon Choir
Christmas Medley
圣诞拼凑
Sermon by Pastor Samuel Kim
Savior of life born in a stable
生在马厩里的救世主
Hymn 122
Offering Prayer by Elder Ridwan Dinata
Offering Song:
Prince of Heaven (天子耶稣)
(Sharon Praise)
Announcements by Elder Ridwan Dinata
*Hymn 6
*Benediction by Pastor Samuel Kim

*Congregation Standing

ANNOUNCEMENTS

  • Let us continue to pray for the growth and revival of our church and for the work of evangelism and missions.
  • Let us continue to pray for God’s protection of all nations in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic situation.
  • Please refer to the following for our service times:

    • Lord’s Day (Sunday) service @ 10:45am*
    • Lord’s Day Bible study at 1:45 pm
    • Wednesday service @ 7:40pm*
    • Saturday Dawn service @ 6am

    *Also broadcasted live on YouTube: http://live.zionchurch.sg

  • Final reminder to please submit your Ministries’ 2023 budget latest by next Lord’s
    Day, 31 Dec 2022 to the finance department.
  • Please refer to the following schedule for the end-of-the-year services:

    1. (31 Dec, Sat) New Year’s Eve Watchnight Service @ 10:15pm
    2. (1 Jan, Sun) New Year’s Lord’s Day Service @ 10:45am

    *Please note: There will be Dawn service on 31 Dec at 6am.

  • There will be all-church cleaning today after the fellowship. Let us clean our Father’s house to usher in the new year. There will be no bible study today.
  • HORA Ministries is hosting a 2-Day special seminar series: “Patriarch Ya’akov (Jacob) and Assurance of Salvation” by the acclaimed Rabbi who loves Jesus, Dr. Baruch Korman.

    Date & Time: 7 Jan 2023 (Sat), 1:30pm-5pm, 8 Jan 2023 (Sun), 10:40am-12:00pm
    There will be a total of 4 lectures. Registration is free but mandatory to ensure seats are reserved at:
    https://register.horaministries.com

    Please pray that God’s glory will be proclaimed and that all who attend will be blessed through the Word.

UPCOMING PRAYER DUTIES

Wednesday Service 28 Dec: Deacon K.B

Wed Basket Bearers: Eldress Deborah Chew & Eldress Naomi Foo

New Year’s Eve Service 31 Dec: Elder Tan Pau Soon

New Year’s Eve Basket Bearers: Elder Ridwan Dinara & Elder Steve Yoon

New Year Lord’s Day Service 1 Jan: Elder Steve Yoon

New Year Lord’s Day Basket Bearers: Elder Anthony Lim & Elder Ridwan Dinata

OFFERING & TITHE

Via Internet Banking

You can give an offering electronically by transferring to the following account:

Please make sure to indicate your name, type of offering and the date info under the memo/remarks sections when initiating the transfer. Please indicate your offerings’ purpose especially for TITHES (to be listed as TH).
Note: Any online offerings without indications of whether for tithing, thanksgiving, building, mission, etc will be recorded as regular offerings.
Thank you for your assistance.

1. For regular, tithes, thanksgiving, special, and missions offerings ONLY
OCBC Bank Account: ZION CHURCH
Account#: 621835867001
PayNow UEN#: T00SS0141D

NOTE: Please specify Name, Purpose and Date (ddmmmyy) of the offering in the MEMO or Bill Reference Number section. See Example 1.

2. For Building Offerings ONLY
DBS Bank Account: ZION CHURCH
Account#: 047-903777-2

NOTE: Please specify Name, Purpose and Date (ddmmmyy) of the offering in the MEMO or Bill Reference Number section. See Example 2.

3. Offering toward Missions Offering or Book Drive to support broadcasts of the Historyof Redemption Series globally, can be made in the following ways to HORA Ministries:

1) Direct bank transfer to:

DBS Bank Account: HORA Ministries
Account#: 271-310151-9 (Account Type: Multi Currency Account)

* The old HORA Missions Funds account is NOW CLOSED, please take note to transfer to the above new account starting October 2022.

2) PayNow to HORA Ministries via NRIC S7638942Z

3) Indicating “Book Drive” or “Missions” on the offering envelopes.

Use the following acronyms to indicate Purpose (offering type):

    • RO = Regular Offering
    • TH = Tithes
    • TG = Thanksgiving
    • SP = Special Offering
    • MO = Missions Offering
    • BO = Building Offering

Example 1:
JohnDoe TH 05APR20
SamMiller TG 05Mar20
JaneSmith RO 03May20

Example 2:
JohnDoe BO 05APR20

By Mail

You may mail your offering cheques to Zion Church to below address:
“Finance Department”.
2 Gambas Crescent, Nordcom 2 Tower 2 #10-13. Siangapore 757044.

By ATM

You may transfer via ATM:
BUT PLEASE NOTE THAT YOU WILL BE UNABLE TO SPECIFY TYPE OF OFFERING if you use this option.
Please inform any Finance Team member if want your offering to be recorded.

  • Eldress May Ling
  • Deaconess Leh Tieng
  • Elder Steve

Living Manna

Sermon Summary
Is Christmas a Burden For Me?

Scripture: Matthew 2:1-7

This year as we come upon this Christmas season, let us ask ourselves this question – are we truly happy and looking forward to Christmas? Through the familiar story of Jesus’ birth, let us look at two groups of people, one group had a positive response while the other had a negative unhappy response and who felt Jesus’ birth was an absolute burden.

1. King Herod and all of Jerusalem

Matthew 2:1-3 records 3 wise men inquiring of ‘he who has born king of the Jews’? When King Herod heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. The word “troubled” is “tarasso” in Greek and means “to shake up, to disturb, to agitate”. King Herod was very burdened by this news, as he wanted to stay king. The people in Jerusalem were burdened because even though they were under a tyrannical king, he was a tyrant they were familiar with.

Likewise, we become burdened by the Word of God when we do not want to change. Each time we hear the Word, we know how much God loves us. We love God and want to do more, but many times our flesh is at war with our spirit, so we don’t do the things that we desire or get inspired to do, and when we force ourselves to go through the routine, we get burdened. Let us not be burdened this year. Instead, let us recover the joy of Christmas!

2. Chief Priests and Scribes

King Herod sought the chief priests and scribes for more information on the birth (Matthew 2:5-6) and they quoted the prophecy from Micah 5:2 that the Messiah will be born in Bethlehem. Yet none left their comfort zone to journey to Bethlehem which was only about 8 hours walking distance away to check it out. Our founding pastor once preached that if those chief priests and scribes were alive today, they would only be celebrating Christmas as a ‘feast of mere words’. We too will be participating in a feast of mere words and will be just as guilty as these chief priests and scribes who took no action and remained in their comfort zone in Jerusalem, if we were to have no joy and anticipation towards Jesus’ birth this Christmas.

When the Word we receive does not move our hearts, it becomes just mere knowledge that produces pride and self-righteousness (1 Corinthians 8:1; James 2:26). As many years as we have been Christians are the number of years we have celebrated Christmas. Is Christmas still special? If we receive the Word of God by faith, it will challenge, encourage and stir us to do more – to pray, read the bible, and love more zealously (Hebrews 4:12). But if it doesn’t, the Word is just tickling our ears.
Now let us look at the good examples.

3. Three Magi from the East

There are many theories of who the magi were, although no one is sure. They were Gentiles who could have come from as far away as Persia, India or Arabia. They saw the star, recognized it was special and followed it from their country all the way to Jerusalem. Matthew 2:10 states that they “rejoiced exceedingly with great joy”. This phrase is a repetition of the same thing. To rejoice is to be exceedingly happy. To rejoice exceedingly is rejoicing double the intensity. Combined with great joy, it is like saying they rejoiced and rejoiced, greatly and greatly. It is God’s way of showing us their hearts of great happiness and jubilant ecstatic joy.

The Bible records them as having better faith than all the scribes, Pharisees and even King Herod. It was because they were joyful. When the magi saw baby Jesus, Matthew 2:11 recorded how they responded:
(i) Immediately they fell down on their knees and worshipped Him. Falling to the ground is a sign of humility.
(ii) Secondly, they only worshipped Jesus, not His parents Mary and Joseph, only baby Jesus.
(iii) Lastly, they brought gift offerings of gold, frankincense and myrrh. They didn’t come empty-handed. Gold in the bible refers to tribute given to kings. It also signifies faith that has been tested through numerous afflictions but remained strong (1 Peter 1:7). Gold also symbolizes their loyalty and allegiance to the King baby Jesus.

Frankincense is a raw material used for incense. In the bible, incense symbolizes prayer. It is given to priests, thus signifying that Jesus is the true high priest. Frankincense is the sweet aroma of sincere prayers that we must bring to God (Exodus 30:34-35; Psalm 141:2; Revelation 5:8).
Myrrh is an antiseptic gum, a perfume that is put on a dead body to embalm it, to prevent it from decaying. It is a foreshadowing of Jesus’ death on the cross. For us today, myrrh symbolizes in the world where everything is decaying, our faith will not decay but remain strong and steadfast. May we bring these 3 gifts of loyalty, prayer and unchanging faith to our Lord Jesus Christ on Christmas Day!

4. Shepherds, Simeon and Anna

Luke 2:8 records shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. This nighttime vigil is only done during lambing season when ewes give birth or during Passover when the Passover lamb had to be offered unblemished and was thus protected day and night. Because the shepherds faithfully stayed at their post, we were able to meet the angels bringing the good news of Jesus’ birth. After hearing the good news, the shepherds went in haste to meet the Lord, and later shared and evangelized to all about the birth. (Luke 2:15-17).

Simeon was a devout man who was waiting for the Messiah (Luke 2:25-26). He believed the Word of God and it happened as he was promised. We too must have such an anticipatory and waiting heart. Anna was a very old lady who could recognize Jesus and shared with all who too were waiting for the Messiah (Luke 2:36-38). There are lessons we can learn from them:
(i) They were faithful – the shepherds were faithful to their duties; the magi were faithful in following the star; Simeon was faithful to the promises given to him by the Holy Spirit and Anna remained in the temple faithfully in prayer. Today, our little acts of faith in whatever ministries we are serving in church, are like pieces of bricks that will build into a huge wall in the end. This is what it meant by being found to be ‘trustworthy’ (1 Corinthians 4:1-2).

(ii) They sacrificed the comforts of life to meet Jesus. The magi walked 1000s of miles to follow the star, the shepherds were out late at night in the cold. Simeon and Anna never left the temple. They all chose faithfulness to God over their own comfort. In order to meet Christ truly with faith, we have to break out of our comfort zones and leave them.

(iii) They took action and boldly evangelised (Ephesians 6:19-20).

Conclusion

How do we have a truly joyful Christmas this year? Joy cannot be switched on automatically. True joy can only come from being thankful! Joy is automatic when we are thankful. So, this Christmas, write a thanksgiving list! Take the opportunity to sit down, reflect and remember, and make a list of how God has blessed you, and what you are thankful for. Then joy will come naturally. Then, like the magi, we will be ready to prepare and present the gifts of loyalty, prayers and unchanging faith to God this Christmas!

AMEN.

Missionary Lauren Li

2022-12-24T14:24:45+00:00
Go to Top