Pastoral Messages (Page 68)

By Not Known Having been told that his wife will take legal action against his stubborn stance, an unrepentant husband who had strayed said, “Up to you lah… Take legal action lah. Sell it (the flat). Do whatever you like.”  This is an example of a person who has allowed his sin to go spiraling down further.  Instead of acknowledging his…

By Not Known For the Jews, the temple was everything.  It still is.  It is for them the symbol of God’s presence in their midst.  When the woman of Samaria said to Jesus (John 4:21-23) that she perceived that he was a prophet, she was referring to the destroyed temple at Mount Gerizim just about a hundred years before.  This Samaritan temple was…

By Not Known 1 Timothy 2 is a difficult chapter because it raises numerous issues that rouse gender sensitivity. When read plainly, Paul seems to prohibit women from teaching and having authority over men in the church (v12). But before the battle line is drawn for or against Paul’s instructions, let’s keep in view the central focus of the chapter:…

By Not Known The first thing I learnt about prayer many years ago was that God does not depend on me to pray.  Yet he wants me to keep the lines of communication with him open faithfully and consistently.  I used to think that prayers are what I bring to God and depend solely on my initiative.  Prayer is not my initiative.  It is God’s. …

By Not Known For those who follow the NBA or NFL, you would no doubt be familiar with MVP.  The one-time great basketball player, “His Airness” Michael Jordan won it numerous times and also three All-Star MVPs in his career.  It stands for Most Valuable Player ― one who single-handedly motivated teammates to play cohesively and contributed to the…

By Not Known ‘Time, Gentlemen please’ used to be the closing time cry by the landlord in English pubs. Only six months ago I was writing my introductory pastoral message, and I can scarcely believe time has flown so quickly. You may feel differently! Time is a fascinating concept and our perceptions of time differ radically. A short amount of time may seem to…

By Not Known When it comes to prayer, numerous buzzwords compete for superiority ― power prayer, synchronised prayer, prayer walk, prayer warrior, prayer encounter, etc. On one hand, each of these helpfully elevates the practice of prayer. On the other hand, each unhelpfully associates the efficacy of prayer to how it is done and who does it. We ought to critically…

By Not Known A friend recently sent me the following story entitled ‘Walking the Dog’.  It was about a flight from Seattle to San Francisco which was unexpectedly diverted to Sacramento. And it was announced that there would be a delay for an hour but  passengers could get off and re-board. Everyone got off the plane except one lady who was blind.…

By Not Known The Kingdom Tower in Jeddah is about to begin construction.  It will be the tallest building in the world at more than 1 kilometre high.  This massive project is part of a 23-hectare waterfront district and will have a total construction area of 530,000 square metres (Singapore’s largest mall: VivoCity has an area of only 139,000 square…