I still use the old domain!

http://robinian.net

I think it is time for me to write something on blog otherwise you all might think I’ve forsaken it.
BTW, Happy New Year to you all, and may God’s blessings be shown to you in this New Year.
Just want to say, for the last while I had been very stressed by a number of things, some of which are told here. Thank you so much for your spiritual support and encouragements. God, our Lord, is very gracious to me, guiding me in various ways. Although the things that I’ve been going through aren’t easy, the grace of God in the Lord Jesus is more than sufficient for me.

I benefit so much from the faithful preaching in the evening services at my home church, and the book I’ve started reading, the Letters of Thomas Chalmers. God is indeed sustaining me by His Holy Word, and the words of His faithful servants. I cannot do anything, but to rejoice in the Lord for His provision and providence. What can be better than being a child of the most holy and sovereign God, who is the Sustainer of all!

Lord, my God, I now come unto Thy throne of grace and all mercies, acknowledging Thou art the Sovereign. Thou art the all-knowing God, nothing can be hidden from Thee, as Thou hath made them all come into existence by Thy holy will. Thou knowest me, O Lord, how deeply troubled and distressed I am. Nothing in my very self is pleasing to Thee, for I am a sinful hell-deserving man. But I thank Thee for the Christ, Thy only Son, my Saviour, who by His works on earth and death on the Cross for my sins, which I can come before Thee holy and blameless. I, therefore, thank thee for His imputed righteousness. Lord, I come as Thy child, crying unto Thee for help, for Thou art my Help and Refuge. I pray that Thou wouldst enable to face all the difficulties, even those in the lion’s den. Give me wisdom to speak to those who are in Thy visible church, yet not thy children, but with great authority over me. Grant me faith and courage to be constantly standing for Thy awesome everlasting truth. Guide me and guard my way that, although walking in death’s dark village, I shall fear not. Help me to sense Thy holy presence especially when facing those who are against Thee and Thy Word. Casus me to stand by faith of the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank thee that I can come in prayer. Continue to equip me that I might be more conformed to the likeness of Thy Son, that Thou wouldst receive more glory. Pardon all my sins and iniquities. For my Saviour’s sake, Amen.

Psalm 28 (KJV)
A Psalm of David. Unto thee will I cry, O LORD my rock; be not silent to me: lest, if thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the pit. 2 Hear the voice of my supplications, when I cry unto thee, when I lift up my hands toward thy holy oracle. 3 Draw me not away with the wicked, and with the workers of iniquity, which speak peace to their neighbours, but mischief is in their hearts. 4 Give them according to their deeds, and according to the wickedness of their endeavours: give them after the work of their hands; render to them their desert. 5 Because they regard not the works of the LORD, nor the operation of his hands, he shall destroy them, and not build them up. 6 Blessed be the LORD, because he hath heard the voice of my supplications. 7 The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him. 8 The LORD is their strength, and he is the saving strength of his anointed. 9 Save thy people, and bless thine inheritance: feed them also, and lift them up for ever.

Well, I just had the last day of classes for this year this afternoon. It is really the time for the "turbo" mode for the exams.

After college, I went to see my minister and got things off my chest (sounds like I went for a confession, but I'm not a papist by no means!!!) I'm indeed very thankful for his support and understanding.

Fantastic news, my date for the Local Review is to be brought a month forward, which would be either the end of April or the beginning of May. Please continue to pray for me for wisdom!

As some of you know that I've been thinking of buying the whole Collected Writings of John Murray (4 volume set) for some time, especially since given another Hope Trust voucher, for which I'm truly grateful to its trust.

Although having received this £150 voucher, I still had a degree of hesitation in using this for the whole set, which would cost me about £120, and, therefore, I won’t be able to buy anything else really. I, then, went on ebay to search for it, and there it was, brand new, opened for bidding. Long story short, I got the set for £28.50, fantastic! Praise the Lord!

Well, time to do my Greek now, cheers!

I bet everyone is looking forward to Christmas, so am I! But, as usual, there's always something blocking me to this great season- they're exams. They'll start on the 11th and, therefore, end on the 21st, much later than the previous years. I guess it is because of the late start this college semester.

That means I'll have less time for the preparation for my grand Christmas dinner! haha

Well, the most important thing is that I need to start working on my Greek, right now!!!!!!

Also, this week I don't have any appointment with that church, which is great, but last week I met the pres. rep. the first time, very difficult.

P.S. sorry for not mentioning my placement in full, hope you'd understand. (you can always email me.)

It seems to be the case that some evangelicals within the CofS have lacked confidence and competence in defending the historic Reformed faith. As a result, they would compromise on various areas, like the style of worship, the use of hymns and psalms, and, even, the preaching of the Word. Somehow, they have less certainty about the relevance of the Reformed faith in the 21st century, and, therefore, they would try to “tone down” certain emphasises to make the message more acceptable to more people, for example, less emphasis on the reason why we are in enmity with God, and more emphasis on the purpose of life in human beings rather than God’s glory as their chief end. To them, it is alright as they are, in their understanding, still preaching Christ. This shift from the historic Reformed faith to a kind of mere evangelical belief is, in fact, doing the church more harm than good. This is not just about so-called “making the message more relevant to people,” what they are doing is actually changing the message, the message of the crucified Saviour. In their minds, if we preach the message which Paul preached 2000 years ago; folks would be out off, as it is about the how sinfulness mankind escape from the wrath of an angryGod. Rather, their message is about accepting Jesus as Lord and Saviour, without any clear explanation of the Lordship of Christ, or His definite saving purpose. People, then, would have no idea why they need to be saved, from what? In their conception, being a Christian is just about letting God to lead you in your life journey. Those so called “evangelicals” are, ironically, ashamed of the Gospel (Evangel), as they doubt the powerfulness and the relevance of it. This is why Paul said, “I am not ashamed of the Gospel.” Furthermore, he warned every one of us who are turning a different gospel that in Galatians 1:8-9 (ESV) he says8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed “ἀνάθεμα.”

Perhaps, some of you might think I’m a wee bit too critical, but it is true what some of the evangelicals are doing is changing the content of the Gospel, the Good News of hell-deserving sinners like us can came to God by grace alone, through Christ alone, and through faith alone.

If evangelicals, especially the new blood, don’t realise the need of the importance of going back to the Reformed faith to preach “Christ and Him crucified”, the CofS will soon be conquered by liberals. The quantity of evangelicals within the CofS is important, but the quality is even more so.

Let us fear no more! “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?” Rom 8:31