Pastoral Message (Page 34)

By Not Known As National Day approaches in Singapore on 9 August, Christians in this land should ask what does it mean to be living as citizens in exile? As citizens of a particular country, we have our rights and obligations. That means we are committed to the city and the land. Christian citizens should speak up on matters related to life in Singapore. Exiles are only…

By Not Known Recently at church camp, the speaker mentioned about the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed of A.D. 381 in his discussion about the mission of the church, where it states, “I believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church.” Traditionally, these have come to be known as the Four Marks or Attributes of the Church. As we explore the Book of Acts, particularly…

By Not Known But they soon forgot what he had done and did not wait for his plan to unfold. Ps. 106:13 I am not a very patient person but I have learned to wait. In my Secondary school days, I once waited for my classmate for an hour. I was more worried about him than I was angry. Perhaps, something unfortunate happened to him.  Eventually, I couldn’t wait any…

By Not Known “But if anyone loves God, he is known by God,” (1 Cor. 8:3). What does it mean to be known by God? Since God is omniscient, what is so special about being known by God? To understand these words of the Apostle Paul, we have to turn to the Old Testament. God said to Israel, “You only have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you…

By Not Known Psalm 32 is a song of the confession of sin composed by King David after he had been rebuked by the prophet Nathan for his adultery with Bathsheba and his murder of her husband, Uriah (2 Samuel 11). David tried to cover up his transgressions so that nobody knew about them. He thought by murdering Uriah, the case would be closed and nobody would ever know what…

By Not Known One of the biggest mistakes of the Pharisees was to follow religious performance to the detriment of spiritual relationship.  They thought that spirituality is all about something to do with what was written down by human beings.  In fact, they almost perfected that task-oriented impersonal religion.  It was their obsession to the last detail…

By Not Known As we commemorate Father’s Day today, and as we give thanks and remember our earthly fathers, at the same time I pray that we would reflect on our relationship with our Heavenly Father, particularly His great love for us. 1 John 4:10 tells us, “This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our…

By Not Known “Meaningless! Meaningless!” Qohelet said, “Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless!” (Eccl. 1:2). Thus begins the reflection of Qohelet, translated “Teacher” (NIV) or “Preacher” (ESV), on the meaning of life. What is the significance of his bleak conclusion that everything is meaningless? Commentators point out that to properly understand the Book of…

By Not Known An OMF biography by Ralph Toliver of missionaries facing persecution in China has this title “真金不怕火炼,” which literally means “real gold not fearing the refining of fire”. We read of this in today’s passage in 1 Peter 1:7, These (trials) have come so that your faith – of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire – may be proved…

By Not Known “Every word of God is flawless; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.” Proverbs 30:5 There have been so much discussions on legislating and curbing the rampant rise of fake news recently. In the past, we used to take in good faith everything that is reported in the newspaper to be true.  Nowadays, news are circulated so widely via different…