• 1 May 2010

Three things are never satisfied; four never say, “Enough”: Sheol, the barren womb, the land never satisfied with water, and the fire that never says, “Enough.” (Prov 30:15b-16) Infertility is on the rise: current statistics say it now affects one in six couples.[1. http://www.abc.net.au/health/library/stories/2007/05/30/1919840.htm.] If you are not personally affected,

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• Guan Un
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• 1 May 2010

Here is the third part of this six-part series written by Guan who, in his spare time, likes to think about things. He is married to the remarkable M,[1. ‘M’ stands for Mary, here abbreviated to M in an effort to bring the world of Sesame Street just that little

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• 1 May 2010

In the midst of the grief and pain of infertility, Karen Galvin found joy and opportunities to grow in godliness. In Briefing #262, Phil Wheeler wrote some pastoral reflections on infertility, entitling his article ‘A silent grief’. But I believe that infertility ought not to be so. In my experience,

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• Tony Payne
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• 1 May 2010

One of the more fascinating books I read last year had the ironic title The Book is Dead. Long Live the Book. It was a book seeking to persuade me that books are history. The author, Sherman Young, ran the provocative thesis that a ‘book’ was not the outer

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• Tony Payne
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• 1 June 2010

Some parents resent being the taxi driver. I offer to do it whenever I can. When else do your teenagers actually consent to sit within 10 metres of you, let alone talk to their friends while you listen? And besides, the opportunity to pay out their appalling music

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• 1 June 2010

Hell is not a popular subject for Christians and non-Christians alike. However, for Jesus, hell was a very important topic—so much so that much of the information we have about it came from him. In this article, Jonathan Gibson explores several alternative views of hell as well as what the

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• 1 June 2010

At the risk of being too general, most Christians agree it’s good and wise to keep the intention of the Sabbath by taking a day off every week and resting.[1. There have been some great Briefing articles about this. See, for example, ‘The relationship between the testaments: Law and Sabbath’

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• 1 June 2010

There has already been so much published on team leadership that, upon being asked to write this, my immediate response was, “Not another one!” I’m not even sure that ‘team leadership’ is the right category to use, for it leads us into business pragmatism rather than the Bible’s relational categories.

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• Tony Payne
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• 1 July 2010

It was more than your average laid-back, phlegmatic Aussie could take: for about the 47th time in one day, an American pastor with a warm smile was shaking my hand and thanking me so much for the work I was doing and the valuable contribution Matthias Media was making to

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• 1 July 2010

For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. (Mark 8:35). This book will frighten some. Let none who want a book to soothe read on. We face the Cross.[1. Howard Guinness, ‘Author’s Preface’, Sacrifice,

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