Paving the Wei

Sermon by Ps Daniel Khong at the Faith Community Baptist Church on 19 Sep 2026. The general epistle of James was likely written by the brother of Jesus, and is a broad letter to the 12 tribes of Israel which are scattered abroad. This means it is not specific, but covers many topics/lessons that he has learnt in life. Because it covers many things, the book of James is recommended to new believers. In the first verse after the initial greeting, James says that we will all have trials and a testing of our faith. But if we go thru this, we will become perfect (mature) and complete in our faith. GV Wigram wrote that "Sorrow and trials are like the sand and grit that polish a stone". What must we hold on in order to be mature in trials? 1. Reliance on God It does not matter what the problem is, we need wisdom to go through it. If we lack wisdom, we should ask God and he will give to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given. God is interested in us and ...

Recap: In the previous  post  I talked about divorce and (premature) death as one of the things that we should avoid (duh!) if we want our kids to be successful. Just because we stay together does not mean that our kids will do well, but it is almost certain that if we become a single parent, the hurdle gets even higher.  So, how do we maintain our marriage for 10, 20, 30 years...for as long as we can?  Professor Arthur Aron of SUNY Stony Brook became famous for his 36 questions that will lead to 2 persons to fall in love. These start off with questions like "...whom do you want to be as dinner guests?" and "would you like to be famous?" to more serious questions like "when did you last cry?" and "share a personal problem and ask your partner's advice on how to..." Well, this probably do not apply to those already in a marriage as these questions are to make you fall in love. The bigger question (and more important one) is how to remain in lo...

Can Project Management be applied in real life?  The quick answer is obviously a "Yes". But the more important  and likely the more difficult question to answer is "How?"  In my previous posts, I mentioned that that project management is where we intentially plan for what lies ahead, and is the exact opposite of allowing " nature to take its course ". More often than not, most of us live our lives as though we are out at sea, drifting in a tiny boat that gets tossed by the wind, where the waves push us up, down, and sideways and there is not a lot we can do about it, except to hope for the best that somehow we will find land and survive.  But what if we make a conscious effort to harness the wind to our advantage? Just like the windsurfer who uses the board and sail to move forward, we too can plan ahead so that our lives can move towards the direction that we want it. If we make a conscious effort of what this is, we can say at the end of our journey on E...

In the series of "Life after..." by the Straits Times published 14 Sep 2026, producer/director Desmond Tan, 51, was commenting on his Stage 4 cancer diagnosis. Due to his workload, he would survive on 2 hours of sleep, 2 cups of coffee and 2 cans of Red Bull. In his interview, he mentioend that there was a prominent director of commercials also had the same type of cancer, who has since died.  Not only that but the list included other colleagues with breast, pancreatic, lung and colon cancer. In his own words, "many of us are relatively young and healthy. That really got me thinking that there is something wrong with the industry." He continued that, "I actually think that sleep is very underrated and people do not talk about (it) enough." In the same newspaper, there was another article with the title "Weighing a promotion against work life balance". The question that was asked if whether it is worth to give up a promotion for better...

Sermon by Pastor Daniel Khong at the Faith Community Baptist Church baptism weekend on 12 Sep 2026. Becoming a Christian is a journey...it is an ongoing walk, some with big steps,  some small and some missteps. The important is we progress. One important step is baptism or water baptism. In the verses  Matthew 28:19-20, Scripture  asks us to go and make disciples and also to baptise them in the name.of the father, son and holy  spirit. The origin of the word baptism means "covered with fluid". Before Jesus started his public ministry, Jesus got baptised. Why is it important, and significance of baptism? 1. Baptism is an act of obedience We are commanded to get baptised and teach others to obey everything Jesus has commanded. The idea of being cleansed by water was in the Torah - where the priest has to clean himself. When Jesus approached John, he insisted that he is baptised by John. When John refused, Jesus replied that it should be done for he must car...

Recap: in the previous  post I wrote about how we  should start reading to our kids as early as possible to ensure success in their future. This is to make reading into a lifelong habit while they are still at a point where we can very much control or influence their lives. For those who say they cannot control their kids at this age...well, wait 'til they grow older. Trust me, it gets tougher.  The unfortunate fact is that many parents are lazy and chose to make the handphone or iPad into a habit. Yes, I get it - we are all tired after work, and we want somentime for ourselves. The issue is that this becomes convenient and when it is already a habit, it is almost impossible to wean because let's be honest - our mobile phone is our life.  If we as adults cannot stop putting down our phones, how can our kids who grew up on phones do it? So, what are the other pitfalls that parents can do (or not do) that can be a showstopper for our kids' success?  These are the...