By Jason Harris

It’s inevitable. You can run from it. You can hide from it. You can pretend it won’t happen. But as sure as the rising of the sun, things change. There are three truths we must face head-on if we’re going to successfully understand and navigate change.

1. Change is scary

Fear is the instinctive human response to change. Change makes us feel out-of-control as we face a future that is unpredictable. I recently spoke to a pastor who was informed in no uncertain terms that changing the lights in their church building could result in Read the rest of this entry »

By Jason Harris

Studying the Word of God inevitably results in some hard questions. Paul the Apostle gives us an excellent example of how to handle things that are hard to comprehend. In Romans chapter eleven, Paul has just finished almost eleven chapters of deep doctrinal material—things like election, free will, sovereignty, justification, sanctification, and glorification—but Paul does not end this doctrinal section of Romans with a final apologetic exhortation. The way he ends this section of Romans is very instructive for us in dealing with these same issues.

First, Paul acknowledges God’s knowledge and wisdom in positive praise to God. “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!” (Romans 11:33) Paul does not feel that he has successfully captured God Read the rest of this entry »

Atmosphere could be defined as the weather or climate at some place. So is it even logical to refer to “the Australian atmosphere”? After all, the Australian atmosphere today may be the Indonesian atmosphere tomorrow. Just as the idea of a line between Australia’s atmosphere and Indonesia’s is a slightly hazy concept, so there are no clear delineations between Australia’s blogosphere and that of the rest of the world. Still, there is enough distinction to make it worth talking about and definitely enough to make it worth developing.

In the last week, we’ve seen the blogosphere abuzz with the Sword of the Lord editor’s comments on blogging (see here). It’s not my intent to comment on that here, but the point I do want to emphasise is that Read the rest of this entry »

By Dr. Jim Berg

The purpose of confronting men in the church who are not fulfilling their obligations to their families is to restore those men to usefulness and to reconcile them to God and to their wives and families. Read the rest of this entry »

There are many things that good conservative people disagree on. Are they all equally important or are there some things that are less important than others? The answer to this question will determine the entire direction of our lives and our ministries. Read the rest of this entry »

By Dr. Tim Jordan

Balance is defined as “stability produced by even distribution of weight on each side of the vertical axis,” “equipoise between contrasting, opposing, or interacting elements,” or “an aesthetically pleasing integration of elements,” according to Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary. However, a definition that will probably make more sense to Christians is found in Solomon’s instruction to his son in Proverbs 4:23-27: “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life. Put away from thee a froward mouth, and perverse lips put far from thee. Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee. Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established. Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: remove thy foot from evil.” Read the rest of this entry »