Rosehill Baptist Church

08/07/2015

NOTICE: This page has moved to a new one as linked below. No more updates is expected in this site in the future.

We exist to help people find their way back to God and equip them to do the same.

21/01/2015

Announcement: We need to change the name of our church page from Baptist Church to Christian Church. Since we are no longer allowed to change the name as per FB policy for pages with more than 200 likes, I would like to invite all who liked this page to like our new page under the name Rosehill Christian Church. As soon as the no. of likes in the new page exceeds 245 which is the no. of likes for this one, I can merge this to the new one and close this old page.

Please help us to reach the number of likes needed by inviting your friends to like the new Rosehill site, although it is practically empty as of now.

God bless!

20/01/2015

Devotion, Jan 21, 2015: Num 7:89-8:26

The Preparation of the Lamp and the Levites

PROMISES TO POCKET
In almost every case where God uses things or people for some mighty work ahead, He also specifies elaborate preparation for them. The animal offerings are prepared well from how they are raised, chosen and brought to the tabernacle, or later the temple, for offering. The priests before they serve on their given tasks go through detailed personal preparation and cleansing. Samson and John the Baptist were called to make vows of separation for their tasks. In this passage, the lamps and the lampstands were prepared as well as the Levites. God ordered Moses, "Take the Levites from among the people of Israel and cleanse them." (v. 8:6). The cleansing was elaborate, involving sprinkling of water of purification, shaving the whole body, washing of their clothes (v. 7) and equally detailed sin offering involving a bull, fine flour and oil (vs. 8, 12). After the cleansing, the Levites were brought before the Lord and the people of Israel laid their hands on them (v. 10), after which Moses and the priests were to offer them as a wave offering (v. 11). Only after these elaborate cleansing ceremony are the Levites declared to be the Lord's (v. 14) and are fit to serve in the tent of meeting (v. 15), wholly given to Him from among the people (v. 16).

Verse 19, however, gives us a beautiful analogy on how God looks at this special group of servants when He calls the Levites as a gift to the priests. Just like an ordinary gift, great care is usually taken in thinking up and selecting them, especially when they are given to a special person. So much thought usually goes into the gift selection, preparation (wrapping, ribboning and card dedication) and even giving (picture a special dinner scene when a man gives a special gift to a woman he loves). All these images come to mind as we contemplate upon this thought of the Levites as a gift. And all for what? To do service for the people of Israel at the tent of meeting and to make atonement for the people of Israel that there may be no plague among them when they come near the sanctuary (v. 19). The Levites are like the people's guarantor and shield.

When we think about serving our God, it is also expected that He will require us to cleanse ourselves. Before we offer at the altar, we are told to be reconciled with our brother (Mat 5:23-24). Before anyone names the name of the Lord, let him depart from iniquity (2 Tim 2:19). And verse 21 of this letter says, "Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work."

POINTS TO PONDER
It is no great mystery why the cleansing is necessary. Serving God is like serving in the cleanest environment possible. I remember working in a semi-conductor factory where the assembly line is meticulously maintained free from any contamination that every worker wears some special overall called smocks (like the gowns worn by scientists), breathing masks and head caps that cover all the hair. Semi-conductor chips are so sensitive to contamination from cloth fibers, hair or moisture from breath during the manufacturing process that all these precautions are taken to make sure none can render the products substandard or useless. The "cleaning" protocol ensures that the result is well within the specifications. What does this tell us about the Levitical preparation?

The work that God calls us to do is delicate work. All people work is delicate work. One can build a house and if the outcome is not so good, the house will still be a house. But if we work with people and outcome is not so good, we have destroyed a life, a human being. And lives are precious to our God. We cannot afford to produce contaminated people products. The environment has to be sterile. That environment is our lives. Mat 5:14-16 tells us that we are the light of the world - the lamp that drives darkness away. We can hardly be that unless the light we shine forth is bright.

But when we say that our life must be cleansed, sterile because it should suit the best environment in God's laboratory, it is not precluding us serving in the slums or avoiding literally and figuratively dirty places and people. The place we go to and the people we meet are expectedly "dirty" with sin. But we should not come to them "contaminated" ourselves. Or else, it's like washing dishes with greasy hands. The output will surely be dirty still.

PLANS TO PURSUE
I thank the Lord that we can come to Him with all our sins and contaminations and He will cleanse us (1 Joh 1:7). The Levites were not perfect people. They needed cleansing. So do we. There's no reason why we won't serve the Lord when all it takes is to come to Him for cleansing when we feel that we have been contaminated. But when we desire to serve Him, we cannot avoid being cleansed first. I start my every day with a prayer where I have the chance to confess all of my sins past, present and future to the Lord. That way, I always have a fresh start for the day. I know that in the process of interacting with the world, I cannot avoid being contaminated again. But surely, the promise of cleansing by the blood is always available for me and others who come to the Lord seeking forgiveness and cleansing. If my life be a lamp, I should strive to shine as brightly as I can to dispel as much darkness as possible in this darkened world. If the world is already a dirty place because of sin, we should strive not to add anymore of our dirt to it.

19/01/2015

Devotion, Jan 20, 2015: Num 6:22-7:11

Blessings and Offerings

PROMISES TO POCKET
There's no doubt about the fact that our God blesses His people. God goes to great lengths to bless Israel. He does the same thing to us. Nothing can ever compare to the act of redemption that Jesus did so that we may have life more abundant with the Father in heaven. In this passage, the Lord spoke to Moses and taught him to bless the people (v. 24). God gave him the words by which to bless them and wish upon them God's blessings (vs. 25-26). The same way that God's word was powerful to bring everything to existence in the six days of creation, here He gave His words to be uttered in a blessing to Israel and when done in the spirit that is consistent with the natural state of nation's hearts, when God can see His name upon the people, He promises to bless them (v. 26).

Isn't this how the Lord has always done things for us? He does not only call us to do a certain task but at the same time, He provides the means by which His requirements can be delivered. Jesus called His disciples to fish for men but at the same time promising them that He will make them so: "Follow me and I will make you fishers of men." (Mat 4:19). He required His people to tithe but He also prospered them so that they can give their tithe. He required the land to have a rest from farming every seventh year but He also doubled their harvest on the sixth (Lev 25:21).

But notice that the blessing that the Lord sends almost always uses human instrumentality. God taught Moses and Aaron to bless the people so that God can bless them. He also taught them to give their offerings (7:1-3) and through these offerings, He blesses the Levites who do not have a land to farm (Jos 18:7) but are dependent on the offerings (v. 5; Deu 18:1). God blesses people so that He can bless others through the ones He blesses first.

POINTS TO PONDER
When we come to think of it, the way God blesses has great wisdom and beauty in it. By blessing one person so that he can bless others, He does not only extend favor to everyone. He also strengthens the sense of brotherhood and community among His people. By making everyone of us an instrument of blessing to one another, He teaches us to look out for each other, to care for each other and thus greatly developing our hearts to learn to love the way He does. It has been firmly established that a fierce sense of selfish interest is the bane of a society. As long as everyone is busy looking out for one's interest only and not also of others', the best relationship that God intended for people will not ever become a reality. And how much blessing we miss by being selfish is beyond calculation. With selfishness, we stay the hand of God from opening more opportunities and prospering the work of our hands so that He can bless us and many others the more.

PLANS TO PURSUE
It is my prayer that the people of God will always remember this blessing pattern by the Lord. When He blesses, His intention is for the blessing not to rest solely on the one He blesses. Otherwise, we will all be like spoiled children, getting everything we want for ourselves not minding if others have enough for their need or not. We become so self-absorb that we miss half of what life God intended to be: a life of relationship that is full of love and care for one another. This loving and caring should be expressed in giving and sharing. I crave to have the wisdom of God in applying this principle in my life. He is showing me that whenever I become generous to others, He also becomes generous to me. And the exhilaration that this truth brings to my heart is indescribable. I pity the poor soul who never experiences the reality of God's generosity by withholding blessing to others whom God intended for that person to bless.

But here's one thing that I also need to remember. When I bless others by distributing what God has blessed me with, I should always make sure that the one who benefits not only receives the goods but also understands and appreciates that the blessing is from the Lord, not from me, and for acts of obedience to His word on which all of His blessings rest, with the exception of our salvation which is purely His own. "I give this to you because God wants to bless you for your obedience." should be the opening line of all of my sharing and giving. As the heads of the father's houses brought their offerings so that the Levites may have provision (vs. 2-3), so shall it be for me and my household, as the Lord enables.

19/01/2015

We all need this. God bless us all always!

These principles will help you grow mighty in prayer.

18/01/2015

Devotion, Jan. 19, 2015: Num 6:1-21

The Nazirite Vow

PROMISES TO POCKET
Israel is a separate people to the Lord not because they chose to be separate but because God chose them to be separate unto Him. Beginning with a call to Abraham, God chose Him to be the seed for a nation that would soon be Israel. And it came to pass that Israel as a nation was born. A law was given to govern this nation, separate from the usual laws that governed other nations. They didn't have a king, separate from other nations which had kings. God was their King. Their laws were peculiar to themselves and that added to their sense of separation. Together with the laws of separation were the many promises of blessings when the Israelites obey the laws of God. Many times they did and were blessed. But many times, they disobeyed and their disobedience resulted to many miserable experiences as individuals and as a nation.

In this passage, we have the situation reversed. This time, a person who is referred to as a Nazirite makes a vow to separate himself to the Lord (v. 2). This separation however is not intended to invite God's favor to be saved or pardoned from one's sins. Unlike those who make vows with that intention, the Nazirite separates himself for the Lord as an act of thanksgiving, a personal response to God's salvation and deliverance. The vow involves abstinence in food and drink (vs, 3-4) as well as things concerning hair (v. 5) and avoidance of the dead, whether animals or people regardless of their affinity or consanguinity to the dead (vs. 6-9).

God prescribed the rules that a Nazirite would follow in this passage. This is an indication of God's acceptance of such vows and whenever God deems something as acceptable, it means it has His approval and therefore blessings.

POINTS TO PONDER
In general, God approves of our separation as long as it is intended for purity and holiness. But there has to be a limit to this separation. That's why, even a Nazirite had a fixed period of separation the end of which is marked by a prescribed ceremony to be done at the tent of meeting together with the priest (v. 13). In our day and age, we have fasting as our times of separation where we abstain from food, wine, intimate relationships, etc. Fasting was also practiced in the Old Testament. Although fasting is not a substitute for having a Nazirite vow which, by all indications in the life of Samson (Jdg 13), John the Baptist and perhaps Paul (Act 18:18), takes months or even years, it serves a similar purpose and even more because fasting is usually paired with prayer which is the primary reason for abstinence in the first place.

But in this time of the New Testament, we are to separate ourselves only concerning the worldly things and acts of the unsaved. We cannot separate ourselves totally from them because they are what we are here for (1 Cor 5:9-10) and what our God intended for us to do to bring them to Him (Mat 28:18-20).

PLANS TO PURSUE
Whenever I am inclined or the Lord impresses upon me to separate myself in prayer and fasting for Him for a few days, I will not refuse nor delay the obedience to His prompting. I know that such divine plans for me is just a preparation for some special task or special blessing and I would profit greatly in not tarrying. For example, God called Samson to be a Nazirite because He intended for Him to be a Judge. He also called John the Baptist to be a Nazirite because He intended him to prepare the way of the Lord Jesus.

But there are still some things that I should consciously watch out for if I have to be separated from the world without being out of it. It is too easy to be caught up with what the world is doing, especially the seemingly harmless ones that can easily spiral to some form of sticky habit or even addiction. I will be on the lookout for those and seek the aid of the Holy Spirit for deliverance from such.

As I vowed myself into servitude to God, I may not have the ceremonial observances of a Nazirite but that does not make the task easier. And I won't treat it easier either. But I shouldn''t beat myself up for sometimes tripping as a Nazirite would whose defilement required an equivalent sin offering and other ceremonial acts. My Lord and Savior Jesus Christ has done all the atonement for me on the cross and for that I am ever grateful.

18/01/2015

16/01/2015

Devotion, Jan 16, 2015: Numbers 5

Order In the Camp

PROMISES TO POCKET
"Let all things be done decently and in order." (1 Cor 14:40). This summarizes the sentiment of God when it comes to His churches in our time. But way back when Israel was still learning the ropes on how to exist as a nation, independent from the control and direction of their pagan masters, God already showed such meticulous attention to order. That's how we may understand the whole passage in Numbers 5. God, indeed is not the author of confusion, but of peace... (1 Cor 14:33). Peace among husbands and wives, among neighbors and among various peoples. This is one of the hallmarks of God's character that He wants to be manifested in the lives of the young nation. This is also the state of affairs that He wants in our homes, neighborhoods, churches and communities today. I like the rendition of CEV in declaring why God wants order in the camp. It says, "Now that I live among my people, their camp must be kept clean." (v. 2b). This directive is given to target individuals who are specified as ceremonially unclean by the law: those with leprosy, with bodily discharge and those who have touched a dead body (v. 12a). If in those days, God's camp needs to be clean and orderly because God dwells among His people, today He dwells among His people not through our churches and homes. He brought it as close as it can get: He dwells within every believer (1 Cor 6:19). And because this is so, the cleanup must start from every individual child of God. God wants our life to be orderly so that our families can be orderly, our churches can be orderly and finally our communities can be orderly. God is a God of order and peace.

POINTS TO PONDER
A student of the bible will soon realize that this book is largely about orderliness. Instructions upon instructions can be found to that effect. Starting with the decalogue or the ten commandments, God acquaints us with how He wants us to live in a orderly manner in His family. Disorder is the hallmark of the devil and that is not what God wants among His own people. Disorder can easily start in the mind and then translate to our relationships. A disorderly man will have a disorderly home and that easily spills to his workplace and then to the community. Our relationship with God is the first indicator of how our relationship with people is going to be. We cannot hope to have an orderly relationship with anyone without a good relationship with Him first. An unbelieving person may be led to think that what he has in his relationship is okay. As long as there are no brutal fights going on between him and his wife then all is fine. But a relationship like that is barely surviving. The harmony depends mostly on external circumstances. Real and lasting peace and orderliness has to come from the inside. A real test for order comes when everything from the outside is disorderly and confusing. But we who have the spirit of God in us, can sail through the confusion of life and come through fine for the peace of God is with us.

PLANS TO PURSUE
I will strive to make my relationship with God as orderly as possible. I believe that my communication with Him in prayer and His responses to me through His word will continue to strengthen this relationship day by day. But I will not stop here. Work is also to be done in making my relationship with others flourish and this is only possible in a mentoring relationship. Unless I feel the burden of being a mentor to someone, I know my relationship with that person will remain to be superficial or, at the most, professional. There is a level of involvement that is required so that one can have a real and meaningful relationship. I know this because of two reasons: I am a husband and I am a father. There's no way a relationship can approach the minimum standard that God intended it to be unless that degree of involvement is reached. What is that degree may be on a case to case basis but involvement will always be the key. Mentoring or discipleship will easily provide such involvement. If I am a mentor, my disciple's life will be open to me. His problems can be my problem and his growth must be of great concern to me. In return, our common objectives concerning his growth and eventual promotion to being a mentor himself will become a mutual aspiration and labor for both of us. I believe God blesses such relationships because it leads to order in His camp.

15/01/2015

Devotion, Jan 16, 2015: Num 4:1-33

The Tasks of the Levites

PROMISES TO POCKET
We have here a detailed job description of the three groups of Levites by their clans which are named after a census was ordered to be done in the previous chapter. The first on the list are the sons of Kohath, from thirty to fifty years old, who are tasked to carry the holy things from inside the tent of meeting after Aaron and his sons have covered them and prepared them for transport. Now it is dangerous to get in close contact with these holy things. Merely looking at them can cause death (v. 20). And so a special commission has to be given by Moses and Aaaron to the Kohathites so that they can come near and do their tasks (vs. 18-19).

The next clan to have an assignment in the transport of the tabernacle are the sons of Gershon who "shall carry the curtains of the tabernacle and the tent of meeting with its covering and the covering of goatskin that is on top of it and the screen for the entrance of the tent of meeting, and the hangings of the court and the screen for the entrance of the gate of the court that is around the tabernacle and the altar, and their cords and all the equipment for their service" (vs. 25-26).

Lastly, the sons of Merari, again from thirty years old up to fifty shall carry the frames, the bars, pillars and bases including the pegs and cords with all their accessories (vs. 31-32).

These passage paint a beautiful picture of a tribe working as a team. Though accounted by clan, each of which has a specific duty, they all contribute to the common goal: to transport the tabernacle according to the word of the Lord. The corporate think tanks are not the first to come up with the idea of division of labor. The Lord did and He assures us that if we are available, we have something to do to contribute in making the loads of life lighter and better for all. Notice that there are no exceptions to the servitude required to the clans - only in age which is understandable since able-bodied men must be assigned to the heavy task of carrying loads. Otherwise, all are part of the clan's specific undertaking.

POINTS TO PONDER
In the work of God, there are heavier tasks and there are lighter ones. God calls many laborers because the tasks are always available in great number and there seems to be always a shortage of laborers (Mat 9:37). Unlike in the work of the Levites which require carrying actual and heavy loads, there are countless more tasks in the ministry of God today that even children can do. Or those advanced in age can do, for that matter. For how much does it cost for a child to invite his or her classmate to come to church on Sundays? The same is true for an elderly person. How much does it take to write a letter to somebody who has been away for sometime from his family and church because of work? Does it require too much from us to comfort a friend who is grieving or one who is broken-hearted? Does it cost so much to buy somebody something to eat for lunch?

Most definitely, young or old, we all have something to do for the Lord. But it takes a different mindset, a truly transformed one, to see the endless possibilities of serving God. One has to learn to live for others. As long as our mental attitude is fully occupied with our own need, we won't find the time nor the willingness to contribute to the expansion of the Kingdom of God. As long as our own personal pursuit of happiness takes the front seat, God's business will have to take the backseat, and sometimes to be forgotten too. But glory to God, those who found that they have much to do for Him to be too preoccupied with the self are able to do more for themselves by leaving that particular task to the Lord Himself. It is He that gives us that assurance that if we seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness, all our personal aspirations will be taken care of by Him (Mat 6:33). No wonder that the happiest people on earth are those who do not spend a moment of their time personally pursuing that goal but leaving it all for the Lord to deliver.

PLANS TO PURSUE
All the above discussion would sound theoretical to some. Too ideal, in fact, to be practical. And they are right, at least from a general perspective. But this I find. Every big thing has small beginnings. Before one can become a Peter, one has to learn to leave one's safety net. Before one can become a Paul, one has to see people as not imprisoned in iron bars but enslaved by sin. Before a church can become a church of one thousand, it has to start as a church for two or three.

I am determined to make myself available for the Lord's use. The fact that serving Him is the only way to finding real happiness in this life, comes only second to the fact that serving Him is what I am called to do. I no longer mind that I easily forget things. God can use forgetful people like me. I don't mind that I am not good in meeting people, especially new ones. I am always uneasy in a crowd. But God does not care about that either. He knows how to put words in my mouth so that I may have something to say at the right moment to the right person. It doesn't matter to Him that I easily get irritable, although I am also working on it with lots of prayer and self-control. He has a task for irritable people too, mind you. I prefer to work on my own but He puts me in charge of many people. I am not good with details but He puts people around me who are. He surrounds each of His ministers with clans to do specific tasks so that the workload becomes lighter. He does the same to me. He will do the same for you too.

Where else then should I be if not in His employ? I would rather not be anywhere else and doing something else. I haven't found my calling; my calling has found me.

15/01/2015

Devotion, January 15, 2015: Numbers 3: 1-20

The Uniqueness of God's Calling

PROMISES TO POCKET
There is nothing truly special about the tribe of Levi. It is just one of the twelve tribes of Israel. But God called them to a special task - the care of the priests, the tabernacle and the congregation of Israel. In terms of qualification, nothing can be said about the Levites that will commend them to God, more than any other tribe. There seems to be no rhyme or reason as to the choice of the Lord. And isn't this so too about us? I believe for instance that some of the people I know "deserve" God's mercy even more than me. But God reminds us that He usually uses the foolish things of this world to confound the wise (1 Cor 1:27). Regardless of the lack of qualification, God will still be able to accomplish what He plans regardless of the instrument He uses. He does not call people to serve Him because they are unique. His calling is what makes ordinary people unique. The fisherman can become an orator. The physician can become a historian. The lawyer can become a preacher, etc and all by God's grace.

But something else makes God's calling special. While it's true that everything in this world is owned by God by virtue of Him creating them, His call, at least for the tribe of Levi, bestowed them with divine ownership twice over. "The Levites shall be mine." says verse 12. This special ownership by God of the ones He calls can also be a result of a deliberate and careful act. From among the many possible candidates, He took the Levites from among the people of Israel (v. 12a). Again, the parallelism of their experience with ours is striking.

POINTS TO PONDER
As I contemplate upon this passage, my mind is brought back to one of the lessons I conducted for a science class about the different organisms in our ecosystem. Children being what they are have ready answers as to which living thing they are more inclined to like. The baby bear wins hands down for cuteness. The birds and the fishes are definitely attractive because of their varied colors. Some animals are preferred for their fierceness or strength. But there are those which are considered unlikable. Earthworms are definitely yucky. Vultures are repulsive for their rotting-meat diet. Snakes will definitely not find themselves in the list of children's pets. But then we find out that even the unlikables have their own purposes - essential and indispensable. Earthworms are considered decomposers, responsible for enriching the soil and helping plant to grow better. Vultures function as garbage collectors, cleaning up rotting meat so that harmful bacteria may not live in them and infect hapless other land animals. Snakes are important in controlling the rapid multiplication of rodents that may become pests by sheer number.

What does this analogy remind me of, you may ask? Well, it is that sometimes, in our own minds, we cannot fully grasp why God calls some people while skipping over others which we think are more qualified. We look at appearance, but God looks at the heart (1 Sam 16:6). But once God calls somebody, as He did the Levites, we should bestow upon that person the necessary respect and honor as befitting one whom they represent. The purposefulness of the divine calling and the uniqueness it bestows upon the ones He called should caution our hearts from insolence toward them, regardless of the estate from whence they come. For where they came from is no longer relevant compared to where God places them now and where God wants them to be in the future.

PLANS TO PURSUE
So let our heart beware that we become a hindrance to them whom God called. In God's physical absence in this world, they are the ones representing Him and doing His works. They are the ones who play the vital role in the expansion of His kingdom. In our time and space, some of them can be any one of us. God calls us also from our lowly estate of being one with the fallen sinners of this world. Let us honor our own calling too with a life that befits that calling. We should be careful to remind ourselves of our greater responsibility because every call of God always involve a heart that goes out for others. We should be wary of becoming puffed up by the knowledge of our own call by reminding ourselves of this one fact: His call is not based on what we have; it is based on what He wants. I would like to look at my uniqueness then this way: I am uniquely blessed to be a blessing. I am uniquely enabled because I was uniquely lacking. I am uniquely called because I was totally lost. I am uniquely fruitful because I am generously nourished by His grace. I am uniquely alive because the life that I have is from a unique Savior. In summary, none of what I have is mine but only possible because of God who calls me to be what I am. Praise be to His mighty name!