50 Years Building His Kingdom - Far Eastern Bible College

dulging in time-consuming sports “for bodily
exercise profiteth little” (1 Tim 4:8). We
should not go to the cinema for the fleshly
films, nor go to parties that serve intoxicating
drinks. And you know many of the
newfangled things that I am not acquainted
with. All these indulgences dissipate the
strength and glory of your young life.
These can lead only to destruction. I need
not talk about smoking, which is universally
judged anti-social, nor drinking, for
you are all royal sons of God (I Pet 2:9)!
King Lemuel’s mother has this word to say
to him and to us, “It is not
for kings, O Lemuel, it is
not for kings to drink wine;
nor for princes strong drink:
Lest they drink, and forget
the law, and pervert the
judgment of any of the afflicted.
Give strong drink
unto him that is ready to
perish, and wine unto those
that be of heavy hearts”
(Prov 31:4-6).
How about sex You
cannot eat the cake and
have it. I am not talking of
free sex, casual sex, promiscuous
sex. “Stolen waters
are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant.
But he knoweth not that the dead are
there; and that her guests are in the depths
of hell” (Prov 9:17,18). Aids, Aids, Aids!
I am talking of couples intending to marry
and you may decide it is okay so long as it
is okay. But in my counselling of Church
members and those outside our Church
there are the cases that did not work. The
peerless example of Joseph and Mary
should teach young couples to keep their
virginity to the Day they make their vows.
Not given to such worldly living, you
should put your heart and soul to building
up your career. Young Lifers, your days
are very competitive. Most of you are in
tertiary education. I need not tell you to
work hard. “Whatsoever thy hand findeth
to do, do it with thy might; for there is no
work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom,
in the grave, whither thou goest”
(v.10). You have to make hay while the sun
“Like the
Vietnamese boat
people, let us pull
our oars together,
helping one another,
through hard times
ahead. As the
Chinese saying
goes, “Striving
together in the same
boat.””
shines. You must succeed at whatever level
of attainment God has given you the talent
to achieve. If you are not cut out to finish a
tertiary education, be content with a Poly
diploma. Calvin says it will spell disaster
for you, a one talent man, to try to do a
five-talent man’s job. Whatever your hands
find to do, do it with thy might, and God
will bless you for it.
The YAFer, now having obtained his
or her degree, can go further. But do not
attempt beyond your means, like those going
to China to invest. Many tell me they
have lost out. We have the
results of the Suzhou
project. “For the love of
money is the root of all evil:
which while some coveted
after, they have erred from
the faith, and pierced themselves
through with many
sorrows. . . But godliness
with contentment is great
gain.” Be not ambitious for
the world, but rather for the
Lord. Therefore do not fall
away from attending
Church and prayer meetings,
and do not neglect
your personal devotion and
the gathering of your loved ones in devotion
together as a family. Be a Bible-Presbyterian
not only in name but also in deed,
reading the Bible everyday.
The next point logically following
career is marriage. It is the will of God generally
that a man should marry when he
comes of age and so with the woman. “Live
joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest
all the days of the life of thy vanity, which
he hath given thee under the sun, all the
days of thy vanity: for that is thy portion in
this life, and in thy labour which thou takest
under the sun.” This is the lot given us in
this temporal world of 70 to 80 years. Every
Christian should be happily married.
But we have a problem of those coming
of age and are not married, especially
among our young ladies. Here comes a
great temptation and that is to marry outside
the fold. To marry a non-Christian, a
Roman Catholic or a Seventh-Day Advent-
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