Articles
Articles from Sola 5 Pastors
The Art of Listening: How We Hear God’s Word Matters
Picture the scene: the Lord Jesus travelling through the cities and villages of Galilee, preaching and teaching with authority. Great crowds gathered from town after town, drawn by his miracles and his message. Yet as Luke 8:1–18 reveals through the parable of the...
When Outrage Replaces Trust: A Tragic Story of Sin, Deceit, and Unchecked Zeal
In the mid-17th century, Oliver Cromwell led his forces into Ireland, convinced that God had raised him up to execute divine justice. At Drogheda, after the city fell, his army slaughtered soldiers, civilians, and priests alike. Cromwell later wrote that this massacre...
Who Will Deliver Me? Finding Victory in the Struggle Against Indwelling Sin
“Daddy, I want to obey, I just can’t.” Those tearful words from my young daughter capture a struggle every Christian knows intimately. After yet another session of discipline, she sat broken-hearted on my lap, expressing the very tension the apostle Paul wrestles with...
Blessed Are the Persecuted: Understanding Christian Suffering
The Sermon on the Mount concludes its beatitudes with perhaps the most uncomfortable pronouncement of all: “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:10). This final beatitude is amplified in vv....
Blessed Are the Peacemakers: How the Gospel Transforms Conflict into Wholeness
The human heart beats as electrical impulses move through its chambers, telling it when to contract. When this natural rhythm fails, surgeons implant a pacemaker—a small battery-operated device under the skin—which sends pulses to stimulate the heartbeat as needed....
Blessed Are the Pure in Heart: Seeking God with an Undivided Heart
Matthew 5:8 reads: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” This simple yet profound beatitude invites us to ask ourselves searching questions: What are you aiming for in life? Where are you headed? What are you seeking? The beatitude communicates a...
Blessed Are the Merciful: What It Means to Receive and Extend God’s Mercy
In Matthew 5:7, Jesus declares, “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.” This beatitude, like the others in the Sermon on the Mount, describes not how one becomes a citizen of Christ’s kingdom, but what such a citizen looks like. Jesus is painting a...
Blessed Are Those Who Hunger and Thirst for Righteousness: What it Means to Hunger for God’s Righteousness
Manny grew up in poverty in Lagos, Nigeria, where his family of thirteen survived on less than $2 a day in a two-room cinder block house. Like many poor Nigerian children, he had no shoes—a dangerous reality that exposed him to disease. One day, a white missionary...
Blessed Are the Meek: The Gentle Giants of God’s Kingdom
Our world has a habit of swapping price tags. Like a thief who rearranges values in a jewellery shop, society places the highest price on youth, appearance, wealth, power, and immediate gratification while devaluing the true jewels of inward beauty, righteousness, and...