Biblical teaching about the church assumes that there will be a mix of older and younger people present in the congregation. We see instructions directed specifically to older people (like 1 Timothy 5:9-11) and to children (like Eph 6:1-3). There are instructions on how younger people should treat older people and vice versa (1 Timothy …
There are many people who think Christians are uninformed anti-scientific people who believe things disproved by scientists years ago. Richard Dawkins famously said that faith is believing something that you know isn’t true. This prevents quite a few people from even considering the claims of Christianity. Why would you bother? Surely science has proved that …
It all sounds so easy. Come to Jesus, and all will be fine. God does it all; you are saved by grace; it is all about what God does and not what you do. Just trust Jesus, and you’re in! And it’s true. It is wonderful news. The only way to be saved and get …
In my last blog post (which you can read here), I noted that we should be praying to our Father often, making the most of the privilege we have to speak directly to God. We should actually ask and not keep censoring ourselves. God, in his wisdom, will decide which requests to grant and what …
As part of working through the Sermon on the Mount recently, it has struck me how difficult this blueprint for being a disciple really is. It is indeed a narrow and difficult road spent following Jesus. All the values that kingdom people are supposed to hold to are the opposite of what our sinful natures …
Sometimes we can feel like the Christian life is all about trying to stop doing things we shouldn’t be doing. After all, we’re all sinners. God, in his great mercy, often points out our sin to us as we read his Word and hear it explained. We can always do a better job of being …
There is a common saying in English: ‘stop and smell the roses’. It is an encouragement to slow down and enjoy life a little. It remains good advice. All of us have a tendency to get too busy and stressed, and it is good for us to slow down and enjoy the good things in …
If all kinds of Christian churches believe that the Bible is God’s word, that should be enough, right? All Bible-believing churches should be very similar to one another. In an ideal world that would be true. The reality is that we are all sinful people who don’t always agree on things and who read the …
Being part of a Presbyterian denomination means more than doing some things together with churches in the same region; it also means being connected in a country. The denomination my church is a part of has sister churches in Sydney, Canberra and Queensland. How can we possibly connect in a useful way with churches so …
People vote for all kinds of reasons, according to what is important to them. Sometimes there is one issue that is close to someone’s heart (like the environment or asylum seekers), and they will vote for the party that has the best policy on that issue. Many simply vote for the party that they think …