By Rev Tan Eng Boo Earlier this year, I came across a Facebook post about the arrival of Himalayan vultures in Singapore. I was excited about their arrival, and I contacted some birding friends who shared the location of where these rare visitors had been spotted. The very next morning, I made my way to Clementi and was rewarded with a magnificent aerial display of these birds in mid-air. I managed to capture a photo of these impressive birds of prey in flight. Himalayan vult

Photo by meriç tuna on Unsplash We see from Jesus' parable of the soils that there are at least four different kinds of people to whom the Word of God comes. The first group consists of those who pay no heed to the gospel at all. Never do they show any positive response to Scripture, not even on the surface. They are so hardened to God's Word that the devil is able to snatch it away from them (Mark 4:4, 15). The second group responds in what seems to be an exceedingly positiv

By Harriet Connor Photo by Jonny Gios on Unsplash Who’s Your Family? Some people argue we should see our church as our “first family.” Jesus certainly refocused membership in God’s family: Now anyone can join the family not by bloodline, but by faith in him (John 1:12–13; Gal. 3:6–9). God’s family now grows primarily through the spread of the gospel, not the birth of children (Matt. 28:19–20). Consequently, those without spouse or children have a valued place and purpose in

By Jonathan Pennington Photo by Jametlene Reskp on Unsplash Texts and Their Reception The “blasphemy of the Holy Spirit” language comes directly from the Gospels and is found in parallel accounts in Matthew 12:31-32, Mark 3:28-29, and Luke 12:10. In all these cases the literary context varies slightly, but there’s a consistency in emphasizing the one greatest and unforgivable sin—the “speaking against” or “blaspheming” of the Holy Spirit. Space doesn’t permit a fuller explor