When sacrifice isn't really sacrifice

  • Ian Carmichael
  • 20 July 2015

Romans 12:1 is often used as the go-to verse to back-up the challenge to be fully committed as a Christian. To give up my ambitions, and really make sacrifices for the sake of God. But as I was reading Romans 6 it struck me that reading 12:1 this way is probably misreading it and unhelpful.

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Why we don’t ask God for things—and why we should

  • Jean Williams
  • 17 July 2015

Nothing is too trivial for me to pray about, from the common cold to parking spots. But I often forget to ask for things that really matter, from big things like the growth of God’s kingdom to little things like daily help with my anxieties and ungodliness.

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Down-under round-up: 15 July 2015

  • Sandy Grant
  • 15 July 2015

Important reads on Aboriginal evangelists, the pitfalls and positives of pastoring a small church, temptations when discipling, music and discernment, and liberalism.

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The Christian passport

  • Phillip Jensen
  • 14 July 2015

Passports are really important. You can’t enter the kingdom of heaven with the wrong one. You can’t use anybody else’s passport. You have to have your own. It must be current. It must not be a fake or forgery. It must be recognised by the government. Without the right passport there is no entry into God’s kingdom.

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Cell group day 1: City University Campus, Buenos Aires, Argentina

  • Terry Blowes
  • 23 May 2015

It was our first cell group meeting. There was Victoria, a committed student leader in her second year of university; Paula, a new person in her first year of study; and me, the missionary who had arrived to accompany and train leaders. The other people who were invited didn’t come.

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Biblical recruitment: Cross-shaped servants

  • Peter Tong
  • 13 July 2015

If the human-centered approach to serving in church doesn’t happen to be the one you want to foster, then perhaps you could try these tips for encouraging a cross-shaped mindset for ministry.

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A cloud of motivation

  • Ruth Baker
  • 16 June 2020

A cloud of perfect people might make me feel self-conscious. But a cloud of faithful witnesses who are just like me—that sustains me.

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Calling to ministry

  • Tim Grant
  • 3 July 2015

Regularly when I sit down with someone, they’ll use the phrase ‘called to ministry’. I don’t have a dislike of this phrase, it can be very useful—only when most people use it, it isn’t.

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The art of biblical interpretation: Inspiration and interaction

  • John McClean
  • 6 July 2015

The third in this series on reading the Bible well. This time John looks at how knowing that God's word is his changes how we approach it.

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Redefining marriage

  • Tony Payne
  • 1 July 2015

Amidst all the sound and fury about same-sex marriage, it’s often hard to find a straight-forward, clear, thoughtful Christian defence of what marriage is. Sandy Grant has had a crack, and a very good one, in this recent public lecture at St Michael’s Wollongong.

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