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.
What did you do to prepare for church last week? You may think this is an irrelevant question if you’re not a pastor or service leader, but we can be better disciples—and disciple-makers—if we give careful thought to how we meet together.
Sometimes we expect our small group leaders to faithfully go about their ministry no matter what—always there, always ready to serve... essentially emotionless reliable small-group-leading AIs.
Important reads on Aboriginal evangelists, the pitfalls and positives of pastoring a small church, temptations when discipling, music and discernment, and liberalism.
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.
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.
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.
Bible reading with ready ears and an open heart is engaging and fruitful. There’s something fresh about letting God speak for himself, especially when you search the Bible yourself, making the effort to hear.
1 Thessalonians 2 is a fascinating chapter for helping us think through what ministry should look like, because in the space of just a few verses Paul compares himself to a father, a mother, and a child.
It sometimes can be hard to know what to pray for workers, especially if there haven’t been any recent prayer points. However, the Bible is full of gold when it comes to praying on behalf of God’s people.