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 Ecclesiastes, it…
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,…
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…
By Not Known If you were granted a wish before the throne of the richest and most powerful monarch on earth, what would you ask for? To ask for something too small will not commensurate with the ability of the king to grant your request. To ask for something big but trivial will show your…
By Not Known As parents, we desire to leave an inheritance for our children, and we try our best to fulfil it. We buy an education-cum-insurance plan so that we may send our child/children to university. With a degree or post-graduate degree, we hope that they can earn a living and secure their future. We…
By Not Known Last week, Pastor Clive Chin reminded us about the importance of prayer in the Pastoral Message. A small group started to gather for prayer for the worship service before the service started. Pastor Edward Goh in his sermon challenged us to live with a sense of urgency because the Lord’s return is…
By Not Known Many Christians are reluctant to pray for various reasons. We stumble over our words and feel a bit self-conscious at times, especially praying in public. The problem is compounded when we compare our prayers with others, who sound more articulate than us. But prayer, in the Christian life, is as important and…
By Not Known For those unaware, earlier this week, apocalyptic news sites reported a claim by numerologist David Meade that the end of the world was going to be ushered in tomorrow (23 April) by the appearance of a mysterious Planet X. In case you might assume this is part of a comic-book superhero movie…
By Not Known “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be…
By Not Known Living in a fast-paced country like Singapore with easy access to so many instantaneous forms of communication, waiting has become something unpopular. I must confess I have not gotten a lot better about waiting. I am now writing this pastoral message on a reasonably fast laptop. Whenever my husband and I want…