Greetings in Christ Jesus and happy new year!

The Montreal UBF ministry will resume its monthly Bible Academy series. This month’s topic is on time. We hear a lot of idioms related to time. “Time is money,” “Time is short”, etc. We will learn about how to apply value to our God-given time. We will hear a special presentation by Ernest Chan, a topic on the scientific point of view on time by Jason Northey, and a Bible message on John 17 by David Jumeau.

God be with you!

“…and asked, ‘Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.’”

Matthew 2:2

Praise God who sent Jesus to be our King of kings and Lord of Lords! On December 20th, 2009, we held our Montreal UBF and U de M UBF Christmas worship service to celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. 80 attendants (5 from U de M UBF) came to listen to the three part Christmas message through the Matthew 2 lecture by S. David Jumeau, the musical message led by S. Andrew Christopher, and the theatrical message led by S. John Giesbrecht. We thank God that He is using our Canadian shepherds took leadership in preparing for this service.

We learned that Jesus is our true king. Other kings conquered other nations. But our King Jesus is the only one who conquered death. Jesus is our shepherd who gave his life for us. Through Jesus’ shepherd love, we too can shepherd others with Christ’s love. Finally, Jesus is our true object of worship. God created us to worship. Human beings love and worship people and things. But worshiping people and things disappoint us in the end. Only Jesus who is the same yesterday, today and forever, is the one who is our true object worthy of our worship. The Magi taught us the meaning of worshipping Jesus.

Our students worked over 5 weeks in order to prepare for this service. While preparing for the theatrical message based on “Good news of Great Joy”, they sacrificed some of their study time for their final exams and work time to worship the baby Jesus. When they worshipped Jesus, they had great joy.

In the spirit of the Magi, we presented our offering for the Bethesda medical clinic in Uganda.

God bless you with Christmas spirit and joy! May God use Dr. John Jun to lead the UBF ministry through double ministry and encouragement of our international missionaries!

We are in the midst of preparing our Christmas service on December 20th, 2009

Our prayer topics are as follows:

• Main Message by S. David Jumeau
• Music Message led by S. Andrew Christopher
• Christmas play message led by S. John Giesbrecht

The program starts at 2pm and finishes at 5pm. Christmas dinner will be served afterwards.

Our Christmas offering will support the Bethesda medical clinic in Uganda for ongoing construction to the facility. Please see http://www.ubfmedicalmission.com for more information on UBF medical missions.

May God bless our Christmas through the message of Christ’s birth!

Addendum: Let’s pray that there will be no snowstorm before the service. The past two years, there had been snowstorms which prevented our students, friends and family to not come. May God help those we have invited to participate Christmas.

We praise God that Misn. Peter Jang’s family has been faithfully serving the word of God thus far. They have several prayer topics:

• Misn. Peter to serve Genesis Lectures (in French; He just completed Genesis 13)
• Misn. Teresa to master the French language. (She is taking intensive French lessons.) Also to pass the French language requirement exam to be an accredited nurse in Quebec
• Serve and pray for Quebecer students at the University of Montreal
• Find an ideal Bible house near the campus

2009 October Tyrannus Academy Report

A Study on Marriage

Genesis 24:7

“The LORD, the God of heaven, who brought me out of my father’s household and my native land and who spoke to me and promised me on oath, saying, ‘To your offspring I will give this land’-he will send his angel before you so that you can get a wife for my son from there.”

Greetings in Christ Jesus, our Lord! On October 30th, we had our Tyrannus Bible Academy on the theme on marriage based on Genesis 24. Several people gave presentations relating to our single years, on the principles of marriage, and on God’s work in establishing a family. This academy was a very good occasion for those who are preparing for marriage and as a reminder for those who are married. It was a successful Bible Academy due to the hot topic of marriage itself as 10 new students came. We could learn about the necessity of commitment not only in marriage, but in our relationships with God and with others.

S. Jason Northey gave a book report on: “How I Kissed Dating Goodbye”. The author, Joshua Harris, received a lot of criticism on this book because dating is a social norm in today’s society. The reason behind the author’s premise is due to our post-modern consumer-driven (“shopping cart”) mentality. Even Christians fall into this kind of mentality (though it might be “cleaner” than typical relationships). In the end, such relationships become temporal, and after breaking up, people become victims of confusion, dissatisfaction, and emptiness. After experiencing many failures in dating relationships, Harris made a decision to “kiss dating goodbye” and entrusted his future marriage in God’s hands. Harris emphasizes on our relationships starting with our relationship with Christ and with others (family, friends, and the body of Christ). We become like salmon swimming upstream going against the culture of society as we strive to model our life after Christ and in learning Christ’s love. Therefore our attitude towards our “unmarried” lives should be a gift from God. Our “single” lives are free to grow in the image and character of Christ. Then we can experience true joy from this commitment. (I learned later that Joshua Harris is now happily married.)

S. John Giesbrecht gave his lecture based on “I Isaac Take Thee Rebekah” (Author: Ravi Zacharias, RZIM ministries). Presently, many people doubt making a commitment “till death do they part.” But the best way to learn about the true meaning of marriage is to turn to the one who first established marriage – God himself. Although traditions vary culturally and change, Biblical principles do not. Biblical principles in marriage are: getting outside help, to be kind, to be pure, having a willingness to commit, and prayer. Abraham recruited his most faithful servant to get a wife for Isaac. Rebekah possessed the characteristics of kindness, purity, and commitment. Abraham’s servant entrusted everything to God in prayer. After reading Genesis 24, we learn that it is God who is the real “match-maker” and the establishment of Isaac’s family was truly a testimony of the mighty God.

S. Ernest Chan gave his message on “God Will Get A Wife For My Son” based on Genesis 24:7. His message was humorous and insightful. When Abraham was 140 years old, he wanted to hold a grandson in his arms. According to his vision, he believed that God would provide a wife for his son from his homeland. Rebekah would be a woman of faith and a woman of kindness. (Camels drink 10-100 Litres of water. So serving Abraham’s servant and each camel was quite a labourous task!) Was Isaac and Rebekah happily married ever after? Yes! Isaac loved her and was comforted after his mother’s death. We learn that God worked very hard to establish this marriage. God is the author of marriage. S. Ernest shared his personal testimony on how God established his own marriage. He realized that God’s way in establishing the family is wonderfully mysterious.

Afterwards, several Bible students (Rita, Alexei, S. Sylvia, and Veronique) shared their testimonies and how Bible study changed their hearts about their view about God and marriage. They repented of having a worldly view about marriage and saw the importance of establishing a committed relationship with Jesus. Because of Christ, they are full of hope to establish a godly family.

Misn. Luke Hong concluded with Matthew 19:4-6. Misn. Luke emphasized on commitment in marriage.

God established marriage for man’s happiness and mission. Therefore, we need to include God in establishing our marriage and challenge our wrong ideas and weak commitment. Commitment is possible if we are committed to Christ first. When we make this commitment to Christ at first, we realize that we are not all saints. We live as forgiven sinners. Going to church does not make us holy. We can easily pretend to have superficial relationships, but if we really care, we come to Christ, and we bring others to Christ – even those who we think are prospective marriage candidates. We come to know Christ’s love and we learn to love (and forgive) one another. Practically speaking, how can we establish marriage in God without dating? We have to trust in God’s leading. Misn. Luke prayed long and hard to establish godly families in the Montreal ministry. He discovered that God’s leading is unique for each family. Marriage for marriage itself is not the goal. Marriage is the beginning of a new life. May God establish families who value their relationship with God as of absolute importance and for our happiness! May God establish Christ-centered families as the key foundation in making North America as a kingdom of priests and a holy nation!

John Giesbrecht, Andrew Christopher, and Ernest Chan prepared the first part of the evening presentation. We studied the influences of modernism and post-modernism and the various types of humanism that had arose from the beginning of the 20th century up until now. The Powerpoint slides will be added soon.

David Jumeau gave his lecture based upon Genesis 1:26-31: “Man Is Created in God’s Image”. Man, from God’s point of view, is not just physical, but a living soul. Man is a spiritual being that shares God’s attributes of holiness, moral judgment, creativity, and divine love. Man also has a mission to be a caretaker of this world. God also confessed his love to man: “You are very good.” We are very precious in the sight of God. Click on the link to download the lecture. (Genesis 1:26-31 in pdf format)

Philip Wong, Véronique, and Rob shared their testimonies.

Our next Bible Academy will be held on October 30th, 2009 with the theme of marriage. May God bless this event and that we may be edified with God’s word.

David Jumeau

In the world, there are various postulations about who man is. Through this Tyrannus Bible Academy, we want to study from the Bible on how God views man and how it contrasts with the world view. May God enlighten us to know about who we are and know God’s purpose for our existence.

A message, presentation, and testimonies will be presented. A warm meal will be served thereafter.

God be with you!

Singkil Dancing Team - July, 27th, 2009

You can find Misn. Luke Hong’s report at UBF.org.

York ministry posted a conference photo album at http://picasaweb.google.ca/yorkubf/CanadianSBC2009#

Some reactions about the conference:

• “I want to know Christ!” Thank God for blessing Canadian Summer Bible Conference with powerful messages, testimonies, wonderful programs. may God bless Canada to be kingdom of priests and a holy nation! – Mercy Cha (Humber)
• awesome – James Oh (Guelph)
• Montreal always has the most “sickest” dances – Grace Oh (Guelph)