Articles
Articles from Sola 5 Pastors
Our Hope in God’s Heart: A Reflection on Zephaniah
The book of Zephaniah, often overlooked, delivers a sobering and stunning message: God’s judgement is real and near, but so is his astonishing mercy. Taken as a whole, the prophecy delivers a call to holy seriousness and a holy hope rooted in the unchanging character...
The Tyranny of Titles: What to Call Your Pastor
Cultures vary greatly in the food, music, and fashion they enjoy. But the love of titles seems universal. South Africa is a beautiful Rainbow Nation of cultural diversity; yet our religious landscape is littered with ministerial titles, with pastors and bishops dying...
Boasting in Shame: Christ’s Strength in Our Weakness
When Paul reflected on his ministry, he made a statement deeply counterintuitive to a culture—even, at times, an evangelical culture—obsessed with power: “If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness” (2 Corinthians 11:30). In the...
Practical Purity: Fuelled by Prayer, Proclamation, and People
In his letters to the Thessalonians, the apostle Paul provides a compelling model for Christian growth, not only through doctrinal teaching but by his pastoral heart revealed in prayer. In 1 Thessalonians 3:11–13, he shares what he prayed for this young church—not...
God’s Leviathan: Learning to Trust the God of Transcendent Majesty
Job 41 contains one of the most intriguing images in Scripture. God poetically confronts Job—and, by extension, us—with the monstrous sea creature, Leviathan, to illustrate the truth of divine power, majesty, and mystery. This text is more than a poetic curiosity; it...
Do I Stay or Do I Go? A Call to Genuine Discipleship
John 6 records one of Jesus’ most challenging and polarising sermons. After miraculously feeding thousands, and identifying himself as the bread of life, he confronts the crowd with truths that cut to the heart. At its heart, the text asks a simple but probing...
The Way of Sexual Holiness: A Guide for Pursuing Purity
The history of the Western world has seen two significant sexual revolutions. The first occurred when Christianity came to dominate the Roman world. Before Christianity, Roman sexual ethics permitted free male citizens virtually unrestricted sexual behaviour, with...
The Ascension: Christ’s Essential and Ongoing Ministry
The ascension is often overlooked in Christian theology and worship. While we (rightly) give attention to his incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection, we too often treat the ascension as an afterthought. But Acts 1:1–11 presents it as a pivotal event, which not...
Contending for the Faith: The Way and the Power to Contend
We have seen in the two preceding posts that Jude urges believers to contend for the faith once delivered to the saints (v. 3). The question arises: How exactly do we to contend? Is our response to spiritual infiltration one of confrontation and judgement, or is there...