Zion Bishan Bulletin 26 Apr 2020 Livestream

26 April 2020
10.30 am Livestream

Call to Worship

Meditative Hymn: Every Promise

Scripture Reading: 2 Thessalonians 2.1-17 ESV

Message: ""Warning: Fake News! Stand Firm!""

Response Hymn: He Will Hold Me Fast

Corporate Life & Prayer

Offering

Closing Prayer

Announcements

We are pleased to welcome you to worship with us! If you are new to Zion Bishan, do drop us a note on our contact form and our hospitality team will get in touch with you in the coming week. Please use the same contact form if you want to find out more about our faith, or about our activities and programmes.
http://www.zionbishan.org.sg/about/contact-us/response-form/

Our Sunday services at a glance

Speaker: Mr Vernon Quek
Worship Leader: Ps Dev Menon
AV: Vernon Quek

Songs for personal worship and reflection:
www.zionbishan.org.sg/songs-for-reflection

Looking Ahead

Friday, 8 May
8 pm Zoom Prayer Meeting (Registration required):
www.zionbishan.org.sg/friday-prayer-meeting

Sunday, 10 May
10.30 am English Livestreaming Service
 “Thorn-Crowned King beyond Crown-like Virus”
Speaker: Pastor Alby Yip

Speaker: Deacon Danny Chua

Warning: Fake News! STAND FIRM!
2 Thessalonians 2:1-17

Fake News – Jesus has Returned??? (vv. 1-2)

Not Yet… First, the Rebellion & the Lawless Man (vv.3-12)

Before Jesus returns, there will be intense false teaching led by one key individual. Even many who claim to follow Christ will fall away from the Gospel truth.

(i) We don’t know exactly who this man of lawlessness is

(ii) But we’ll be able to recognize him through his actions

(iii) The Lord Jesus will easily crush him in the end (v. 8)

Church, STAND FIRM!

Motherly Assurance: God will surely bring us through! (vv. 13-14, 16-17)

Fatherly Exhortation: So, we must stand firm! (v. 15)

Questions for reflection:

1. What was one truth or lesson you remember from the message? Why?
2. In this climate or fear and anxiety, what false teachings are Christians at risk of believing?
3. How can we help one another in our AGs to love the truth and stand firm in the Gospel?

Our Church

ZB COVID-19 Ministry Initiatives – Pray for the team looking into the results of the ZB COVID-19 Survey #2. Over 170 have responded and provided perspective on how our members are coping during Circuit Breaker. Pray for our Pastors, Cluster and AG leaders who will be looking into the pastoral care of all our members.

Thank God also for many who have donated to the ZB COVID-19 Mission Relief Fund. Pray that this will bring relief towards the saints, especially to those in the mission fields.

We also give thanks to God for the opportunity to reach out to residents under Comcare. Through the provision of meals, pray that the recipients will experience God’s love. Pray also for Zion Bishan and RC volunteers as they work together in this food distribution.

Safe Sound Sleeping Place (S3P) – Zion Bishan will house 5 rough sleepers until the end of Circuit Breaker. Thank God for the 3 guest stayers, referred by MSF and Homeless Hearts of Singapore, who have settled in.

Pray for our staff, volunteers and Living Room Café that will be checking-in, befriending and providing meals for our guests. May this be an opportunity to show the love of Christ to the most vulnerable in our society.

Our People

Extension of Circuit Breaker — We thank God for our government who are doing what they can to stop the spread of the virus so that life can return to normalcy. But on the other hand, we pray for one another as we deal with the implications of this extension. These are some potential implications:

Addictions – Having to spend extended time on computers and devices, pornography and gaming addictions are very present dangers. Pray that all of us deal seriously with sin in our lives and look towards Christ and His church for love and support.

Household relationships – Some families will struggle with being unable to go out, working from home and home-based school. May God help us patiently bear with one another and forgive as God has forgiven us.

Our World

Ministry Partner in Indonesia —
A ministry partner was able to distribute basic food to some disabled families who had almost nothing to eat. Many were very appreciative of this effort. Pray for protection and safety of this ministry partner as they seek to minister to other disabled groups with food aid and carry on their work creatively, especially in this time of isolation and lockdown.

Loving One Another in a Virtual Era

Written by Vernon Quek

With this week’s announcement of the extension of Singapore’s Circuit Breaker until June comes the bleak reality that our interactions with one another will remain virtual for at least the foreseeable future.

How are you doing in this season of Zoom (and other virtual platforms) that has been forced upon us all? Are you adjusting well to this new Zoom culture? Or have you found the frequency and intensity of all these virtual meetings tiring and draining? I believe that no matter how extroverted you are, that given the Circuit Breaker extension, it’s only a matter of time before we all fall into the latter category. This is why I thought it’d be a good idea to pause this week to start a conversation about how we can best approach this ‘virtual reality’ both individually and together as a church family.

Luke ends his book on the Acts of the Apostles with this account of the Apostle Paul in Acts 28:

¹⁶ And when we came into Rome, Paul was allowed to stay by himself, with the soldier who guarded him…³⁰ He lived there two whole years…and welcomed all who came to him, ³¹ proclaiming the kingdom ofGod and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance.

Notice here that Paul also had a period of being confined to a house (for much longer than us) and what does he do? He does everything in his limited circumstances to continue proclaiming the Kingdom and Jesus.

I’ve found this helpful in my mindset when it comes to Zoom because I’m starting to dread the amount of virtual meetings I have every day. Some meetings are necessary (like work meetings), but this helps me choose to take some additional meetings on top of the necessary ones as a deliberate way for Kingdom-work to continue in my life. So I’m not just zooming for the sake of zooming, but I’m doing so intentionally to help myself and others keep our eyes on the Jesus and His Kingdom. This helps me remember why these tiring virtual meetings are worth doing.

But notice that I said some additional meetings. One wise thing every Christian needs to do so is to think through how to balance being deliberate about ministry with pacing ourselves so we can do so sustainably without burning out. This is no different when it comes to virtual meetings! What is a sustainable pace for you? What is the right balance between doing the ministry we’ve been called to in loving one another, but not doing so much that you stop trusting in what God is doing and take it all on yourself (inevitably leading to overwhelming fatigue)?

Let’s think this through; Individually, together in our families, and in our AGs. And let’s love one another by helping each other get this balance right – especially when we can’t say yes to every meeting!

Here are two articles that help us understand why video chats like Zoom are so tiring and some things we can do to manage this fatigue:

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/deviced/202004/why-video-chats-are-wearing-us-out?

https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20200421-why-zoom-video-chats-are-so-exhausting

ZB COVID-19 Mission Relief Fund

Donation Information
To donate towards the fund, please use the following banking information:

General & Missions Fund
DBS Current A/C: 070-901056-3
PayNow: T10SS0029GGMF
ZION BISHAN BP CHURCH

IMPORTANT: Indicate “CV19 MRF” in the remarks column when transferring using electronic means.

Application Information
If you wish to apply for relief through this fund for yourself or for your household, please complete the online application form here: 
https://www.zionbishan.org.sg/mrf

This is for ZB members or regular attendees only. Applications will be accepted up to 31 Dec 2020. 

Contact your Cluster leader or email care@zionbishan.org.sg for inquiries.

ZB COVID-19 Survey #2

Directory of Businesses
The team thanks members and friends who filled in the survey last week. Do pray for follow-up action as well as on-going efforts to pastoral care for our members as well as aiding the community.

We are still accepting more entries for member-owned businesses to be added to a Zion Bishan inventory of businesses. We hope this will help business owners in our church during this difficult Circuit Breaker period.

To register your business: https://www.zionbishan.org.sg/biz

Pray for Foreign Ministry Partners

29 Apr, Wednesday, 8.00-9.00pm
Register for Zoom invite: https://tinyurl.com/FMPPrayer29Apr

Friday Prayer Meeting

Friday, 8.00pm, Zoom Meeting
Attendance has been very encouraging as more people are joining from home!

We will be praying especially for our church, nation and the world in this critical time.

To join us on Zoom, register with Lydia. Call 6353 8081 or sign up online at www.zionbishan.org.sg/friday-prayer-meeting