Most churches run Bible study groups which usually start this time of year. There will be announcements in many churches urging people to read the Bible with others in groups weekly or fortnightly. If you usually take part, you’ll go along. If you have heard those announcements and ignored them, thinking you are too busy …
You’ve probably heard the term “work-life balance”. It is a mythical creature, the perfect combination of work and the rest of your life. It is what all progressive companies want to offer their employees, and what every employee wants. In Perth, at least, the perfect work-life balance probably means to have lots of time for …
It can be difficult to relax properly. I’m sure you know the feeling, especially if you are usually a very busy person. You take a day off, or a longer period of annual leave, and for the first few days you are a little tense. You find it hard just to read a book or …
As we come to the end of another year, many of us are a little reflective. We look back on what has happened in the past year. For some, it will be eventful; perhaps we moved jobs, countries, or graduated to a new stage of life. For others, it will have been uneventful; we did …
In Matthew 9, Jesus decided to eat at a party with some less-than-respectable people, the friends of Matthew, who had become his disciple. An implication of this is that Christians should not restrict our meals and friendships to other Christians; we need to be prepared to spend time with people who are not believers. I …
It is Christmas. Again. There are some that love tradition, doing the same things in the same ways every year. Even if you don’t love this kind of thing, you cannot avoid it. The supermarkets are full of the same music, the decorations are dusted off and put up, and various meals are organised for …
There is a pattern that repeats in the lives of so many people once they become a Christian. Before someone comes to know Jesus, commonly their families are not Christian, and all of their friends are not Christian. Now, their lives have changed in many ways. They become passionate about the Bible and church and …
I love reading. Reading good books stretches the mind, makes you think about things you otherwise wouldn’t, and sharpens your thinking. This time of year, perhaps you have a little more time to read. Here are some brief reviews of books I have found helpful in the past year for different reasons. CHRISTIAN BOOKS The …
Demons can probably get a better score on a theology test compared to most Christians. That’s a scary thought, isn’t it? We see it in Matthew 8. When Jesus comes across a man afflicted by demons, the demons know who Jesus is, they recognise his authority over them, and they know what his mission is …
As we read the Old Testament, we see many descriptions of idolatry. Idolatry is when you worship something instead of God. The most common idols the Old Testament people of God worshipped were the gods of the Canaanites, Baal and Asherah, and the gods of surrounding nations like the stars from Babylon and Persia. We …