Pastoral Letters

A Brand New Start in CNY 2019!

February 10, 2019 Author:Elder Teo Chin Tian
During the Chinese New Year, many Chinese would start the exodus of leaving cities where they work or study, to be home for the Chinese New Year. There was an exodus of people recorded in the Bible where God delivered the Israelis from the bondage of slavery by the Egyptians. Through a mighty act of God, He delivered the Israelites from the hand of mighty Pharoah and set the people of Israel free from slavery and into freedom.

Exodus 12:31;37;40-41:

During the night Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Up! Leave my people, you and the Israelites! Go, worship the Lord as you have requested. Take your flocks and herds, as you have said, and go. And also bless me.” The Israelites journeyed from Rameses to Sukkoth. There were about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides women and children.  Now the length of time the Israelite people lived in Egypt[b] was 430 years. At the end of the 430 years, to the very day, all the Lord’s divisions left Egypt.

God, with a mighty act, set the Israelites free from bondage of slavery to the Egyptians. The Israelites were finally free—free to worship their true and living God, free to move to a new promised land which God promised was a land flowing with milk and honey, a land fertile with produce able to greatly satisfy the needs of the great nation Israel.

In the same way, when we receive Jesus Christ as our Savior, our Lord set us free from our bondage to sin. The moment we receive Jesus Christ as our LORD and Saviour, Jesus has set us free from the bondage to sin. We are no longer slaves to sin but alive by God’s Holy Spirit and is free from the bondage to sin. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. The old has gone, the new is here!” (2 Cor 5:17)

Let us know that the moment we receive Jesus Christ as our Saviour, we become the children of the living God. Jesus Christ has set us free through His death and resurrection. We are a new creature in Jesus Christ. God promises us victory to overcome sin and the world! Let us start the new year with a resolution of heart, mind, soul and strength that we would live for God and not live for our own sinful self. God promises that He will give us the strength to overcome our sinful habits, sinful self and oftentimes our sinful stubborn will. 

It was Joshua who eventually led the next generation of Israelites to the promised land. This was the departing message of Joshua to the Israelites (Josh 24:14-15):

Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.

May we, as we start this Chinese New Year, resolve in our hearts to throw away other gods, throw away sinful habits, and to serve the LORD faithfully in 2019! May we echo the resolution of Joshua “But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD!”

God will bless you richly in this Chinese New Year and beyond.  He will transform your life towards godliness and holiness for His glory! Press on, and enjoy the freedom God has given you so as not to sin but to live a life that will please and glorify Him until His soon glorious return.