Bethesda Shalom

Hebrews 10:23-25 Is the Church of Jesus Christ necessary for one’s sanctification?  Perhaps this is something that you’ve not before considered and so understandably, you may need time to ponder this pertinent question. I say pertinent, because we are living in a day where there is a small but increasing number of Christians, whose attitude towards the local visible Church Body is one of disdain and scorn.  Content they are to stay at home and to find their fellowship in the world of virtual reality.  This my friends will never do!! From the Churches inception, those whom the Lord added to His Church, met together, and it is the coming together with other believers – skin touching skin– that we grow in holiness as we learn to forbear with one another in love, forgiving one another as Christ forgave us.  At what cost are you prepared to be found in such sanctifying fellowship?  May God give us ears to hear. 

Haggai 2 Having seen the wonder of God’s greatness, Brian now turns to share on the wonder of God’s glory!!  Even the sun in all its brilliance; the stars in their glory; do not compare to the glory and the majesty of the One who brought them into existence in a moment!  Oh, that God would come again and reveal His glory in revival!  God is willing, but the question is, are we? Who is willing to carry this burden of revival, which at its centre has to do with the very glory of God?   

Hebrews 5:8 – 6:3 It is my firm conviction, based on the evidence and testimony of Scripture, that God in every age and in every generation, is calling His people up to higher ground, and that the work of sanctification; that work whereby we are being fashioned by the Holy Spirit into the image and likeness of the Lord as we yield our lives to Him is an ongoing one which shall not reach its conclusion until the coming of the Lord.  God is wanting to raise up a people of spiritual maturity; a people such that He can trust with Christian service in the field of battle!  As one surveys the length and breadth of the land, one has to ask; where are the spiritual giants of yesteryear?  God is calling His people up higher in these last days that we might be fitted and prepared for ministry.  Will we heed that call?

Hebrews 12:1-2 The clear and uncompromising call of Scripture is an exhortation, calling the people of God unto holiness!  Praise God for the many victories won over besetting sins and the great gains made thus far.  Yet, could it be, that God is saying to you and I; there is still something amiss in your life that I’m calling you to perfect.  Something still lacking which I’m calling you to address. My Brother, my Sister; the Word God is this; DO NOT SETTLE FOR “ALMOST HOLY” WHEN GOD IS CALLING YOU TO “BE HOLY”.

Philippians 2:5-11 “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross” (Phil. 2:5-8). When one ponders such an unthinkable act of humility, Jesus Christ – very God of very God – humbling Himself in being clothed in humanity and coming down to earth to die the death of a criminal upon a rugged cross; how can we not humble ourselves before Him?  Why is it that so often, pride will keep us from saying sorry?  May the Lord grant us much grace to take to heart what Brian shares.   

John 3:16-21 There’s something wonderful about the sun (S-U-N); its sheer power and brilliance in casting forth its rays; reaching every inch it seems of the earth’s surface.  Yet do you know, there are some places that even this great light can’t reach—chasms which burrow deep beneath the earth’s surface—their steep and rocky sides shielding out the light.  The deeper that chasm goes, the greater the darkness becomes!  Do you know, I’ve found that the human heart is not too dissimilar; like that great chasm, it is adept at concealing itself from the searching rays of the SON (S-O-N). This sermon is a call for the people of God to prepare their hearts as to how they intend to hear from God.  It is a call for willingness on the behalf of us, to step into the light of God’s searching truth, in order that we might be brought up to higher ground.  

Isaiah 40:9 How amazing are the wonders of our great and gracious God!!!  Beyond our comprehension and thinking.  In this opening message, Brian sets before us, the awesome wonder of God’s greatness and calls the Body of Christ to place their faith in HIM!! 

Mark 4:35-41 There is coming a day when all that will be shaken, will be shaken.  The Church of Jesus Christ is going to go through a very turbulent time in the days ahead and a great testing will distinguish between those who are truly for the Lord and those who are not.  It is imperative that the Bride of Christ is found abiding in faith, hope and love; these three shall remain, but the greatest of these is love.

1 Peter 2:3-8 Brian brings a very moving message on the preciousness of Christ.  Amongst the varied fruit of a true believer, this one distinguishing mark must be present.  Is Jesus Christ precious to your heart, and if not then why not?

Matthew 26:36-45 According to NHS data, there has been a 28% increase in the number of hospital admissions for stress and anxiety in the past decade.  Between, 2017 and 2018, there were 595,000 cases reported in the UK relating to work-based stress.  However, it’s not just in the workplace, everywhere one look’s, people are under pressure.  In one of the biggest surveys into the impact of stress; the results showed that three in four Britons have at least on one occasion over the last year (2018), been so stressed that they have felt overwhelmed or unable to cope.  Undoubtedly, much of this stress and anxiety I’m sure can be alleviated by slowing down the pace but the fact of the matter is, some of it cannot be helped.  Where pressure increases, there must be an avenue for that pressure to escape; and the God-given means for the child of God, to bear the burdens given us by God is prayer!

Matthew 6:7-13 It seems that almost every other month, another Christian in the position of leadership, jumps to a social media platform to announce to the world that they’re stepping down from ministry due to some moral failing; or in the case of the last two months, that they’re abandoning the faith altogether!  Apostasy has always existed in the ranks of the fold and exhortations abound in the New Testament, calling us as believers to perseverance!  What you ask, is the secret of enduring faith and victory?  In one word, humility!!  “God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you” (James 4:6-8).     Indeed, we are charged with the task with taking to arm us for the fight, the whole armour of God; but we must never forget who it is that is on our side, fighting for us.  Our Lord instructed us to pray “…lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil” (Mt. 6:13). 

Zechariah 4:6-9 So often in our theology, we begin with man first and forget that the opening words before ever mention is made of man is; “In the beginning God…”  God is the great first cause of all things.  By Him and through His Word, the whole universe was brought into existence.  How often do we really seek counsel from the Lord for direction at life’s crossroads?  How often do we consult Him and enquire of His counsel?  In this sermon, we really bring home the need for a Word from God in season.  God is faithful and delights in revealing His will!  For the soul that seeks Him, standing on His promises; that soul shall never be disappointed.  It matters not the mountain that stands before you; if God has spoken into the situation, what He has said, He will do!  The question is, will we believe the Word of the Lord?

Revelation 14 We come in this teaching to our first interlude since beginning the second section of the Book of Revelation. This is a very quick-paced chapter, full of various visions.  A lot of ground is covered in just twenty verses.  First, we are met again, with that special group of Jewish men; 144,000 Messianic believers, gathered on Mount Sion with the Lamb.  Next, John sees, three heralding angels, proceeding one another, each with a different cry.  Finally, we are met with a vision pertaining to the end harvest - the gathering together for the day judgment both of the righteous and the wicked.  May God help us as we study this chapter, to make sense of what is written.

2 Chronicles 14 It seems that the hardest thing to get Christians to do today is to pray, and because there is no individual prayer life there is no corporate prayer life!  The prayer closets of the average Christian are perpetually vacant and the Church prayer meeting has long been abandoned.  I don’t know about you, but for me, this send’s the strongest possible message.  If actions could speak (and they do); they would say in short; “WE DON’T NEED GOD!!”.  What is prayer but in its simplest essence, making our requests known unto God.  Yet here’s the irony; the man who does not feel his need, will not pray his need.  The great urgency of the day is not to convince Christians to pray, but to convince them of their need to pray!!!  This sermon is a clarion call, for the Church to again discover the greatest weapon ever given it…prayer!  In this day of great peril, who will be willing again to seek the Lord in prayer?  Let us do so, not only individually, but also corporately, that we might see the hand of Go

Matthew 16:13-18 Pastor Jason from Bourne Evangelical Church brings a very timely word from the Lord in season.  Using the promise that Jesus made to build His Church, He shows how God is still at work in the land, raising up a faithful remnant for the glory of His name.  Those who want to do things their own way find themselves in apostasy as Church after Church across this land closes its doors for good.  Yet, those who want to do things God’s way—faithfully preaching His Word and standing on it, are finding that God is still the same, mighty to raise up a testimony of His true Church in the earth!!  Do it again O Lord, do it again!! To find out more about Pastor Jason Wright, please visit here: https://www.bourneevangelical.org/

Revelation 13:11-18 We come in this twenty-second teaching part to a second beast which John saw coming up out of the earth.  Who is this second beast, and what shall be his function and office?  How does his activity correlate to the person of the first beast?  What is the image that John beheld, speaking and causing as many as would not worship the image to be killed?  Then there’s mention made of a mark, which all men shall be made to receive and without which no man might buy or sell unless they have this mark.  What is the number of his name and the wisdom needed for understanding? We discuss all of these questions in this teaching and turn to the Scriptures to shed precious light on the answers. 

1 Samuel 22:1-3 “The world’s greatest men usually enter incognito. The tough youngsters who gathered in Jesse’s back yard of a summer afternoon to play the ancient equivalent of piggy-move-up would not have shoved Jesse’s youngest boy around quite so freely if they had had a touch of second sight to let them see that they were taking liberties with the greatest king Israel was ever to know.  But their blindness made possible many a glorious day of fun for the boys in the neighborhood...Such are the ways of God when He prepares His saints and heroes:  He leaves them unrecognized by the world until the day of their “showing unto Israel””. – A.W Tozer

1 Samuel 7:1-13 As Christians, we ought never to lose the living testimony of a Living God in our midst!  The increasingly secular world in which we live declares that God is dead and as such, derides anyone who would dare to come out in the public square and declare that Jesus is real and living! The great danger in our day is that we can become so PC that we’ve nothing left of a Christian testimony whereby God can be glorified!  We must resist this temptation to “fit-in”.  Has not the Lord been good to us?  Has He not by His mighty arm delivered us again and again out of many dangers?  When we had no one else to turn to, was not the Lord our rock?  As we dig into 1 Samuel 7, we see that while Israel walked with the Lord, they had a testimony of His mighty deliverance; but when they turned their hearts from Him to serve idols, then was this testimony lost.  This is a call to return unto the Lord with wholeness of heart that we might see again in our midst, a living testimony of a Living God.    

Revelation 13:1-10 I cannot stress enough, the importance and the significance of the chapter that is before us tonight, in better aiding our understanding of the nature, role, and function of the antichrist in his hour of power during the Great Tribulation.  It is important to point out, that John does not stand in isolation in the things he sees. The prophet Daniel, some 600 years before, foresaw similar events.  He too saw beasts rising out of the sea, the fourth being diverse from the others that came before it, having ten horns. Both the book of Daniel and the book of Revelation, due to their nature and the similarities of the material found within them, have been labelled as apocalyptic.  God in his wisdom has given us two such books so that by reading both in tandem, we would arrive at a fuller understanding of eschatology.  By understanding the one, it better aids our understanding of the other; and it is for this reason that we are going to be spending quite a bit of time this evening studying the bo

Matthew 16:24-25 When you purpose with all your heart that you are going to walk through this life with the single determination at every juncture to say, YES to the will of God and NO to the will of man!  Get ready, for a life of misunderstanding; judgment, criticism, and persecution.  To walk with God friends at times is to tread a lonely path of obscurity, and we have to settle it in our heart from the onset that we will seek only the smile and approval of God!  If this was the path the Master went; should not the servant tread it still?  Who will say YES to the Master?  YES to Your way and No to Mine?