SIBKL @Sg Buloh Sermons

Must you go on the knife for eternal life? Get cut off to meet the cut off? Who do you follow when Jewish zealots go “I scream potong”? When legalistic parties try to sue nuts, it goes to the Supreme Court where Justices James and Peter rule that forcing Gentiles into Hot Bird is unconstitutional. Something like that anyway.

Check out the A-List in Lystra! Paul and Barnabas are mistaken for Zeus and Hermes! Hold my Birkin. Paul has some patina to scrape off. The betrayed sasaeng turn on the apostles and start start throwing mud. They throw rocks too. And just like that, our celebrity apostles get stoned.

Paul and Barnabas enter Pisidia unMarked. Some well-timed psalms later, the Jewish leaders are seen agog outside the synagogue. And when the reviews split the crowd, the apostles discover you can’t stop what the herd incites when love and hate collide.

Acts S2E2: A part or apart.

Acts Season 2 begins. Pathos in Paphos. Paul makes a surge at Sergius Paulus. But he’s flock-blocked by an evil wizard. Powers clash. Having left Salamis, Paul now leaves the magician uncured.

Forty days fast and pray. From Monday till Malaysia Day, we bring ourselves, our people and our land before God in unwavering prayer. We say no to life’s excesses and we simplify, clean house and make room. Whether you’re a Forty Days newbie or a battle-hardened veteran, you need this. Your spirit needs this. We launch last Sunday. Jump in from the start!

Launch of Forty Days Fast & Pray:
Releasing the Kuasa of God through Fasting and Prayer

It’s the end of Ecclesiastes as we know it. And I feel fine. Wanna know why? Cos it says in the book, six times, “eat drink and be merry”. Oh totally yeah!! So let’s pop the grape juice, hold my sneer, and give it up for… what? “After the sun sets, only darkness awaits?” What kind of title is that? No! After the sun sets, the party awaits! Eat drink and be merry, remember?? Guys?? Anyone still there?

Erm, hello?

Ecclesiastes 05
After the sun sets, only darkness awaits

Memang betul: this Ecclesiastes thing is going all out to bust down every grand narrative: money, success, enjoyment, and now what? Righteous living? Itu pun meaningless? Too much. This whole book sounds like one giant click bait.

Ecclesiastes 04
Righteous living does not pay off

The 90s! Ah, back then Malaysians were truly rolling in fresh mint. We took our baths in coffee and we watered our plants with chardonnay. Or was it the other way around? Whatever we did, we also chugged gen zees out into a world so hot, it would melt right down before they could walk. And that’s when the whole thing ended in a bittersweet orchestral mess. Just like most parts of Ecclesiastes.

Rodney Koh takes you down the only road he’s ever been down in this Ecclesiastes bonus episode: Work, what for?

Make it big, they say. Always be closing. Have a winner’s mindset. All well and good. Except everyone’s gonna die in the end, and everything you’ve built will get torn down by someone else anyway. You might not even get to enjoy your spoils. No, really, that’s in the Bible. Sorry, what? Yes, the Christian Bible. No, dowan. My pastor said don’t make bets.

Ecclesiastes 03
Success is not satisfying

Repetition is tedious. But centuries of repetition is poetic. Ah, such elegiac beauty, to see time wear down mountains and empires. It’s too bad nice people also go to ruin. And burnt cheesecake. I like burnt cheesecake. A few months ago, I saved a slice in my fridge and I forgot all about it. One day, it grew legs and walked right out. Sigh. Some things should last forever.