Bethesda Shalom

Roger closes out the Sanctuary Conference with a very timely and sober teaching.  By analysing current trends within modern evangelicalism, Roger provides evidence that we are indeed living in the last days.  Not only does Roger warn of the current danger facing the Church but he also provides a strategy whereby the Church might stand and gain ground in the midst of apostasy.

In this session, David Nathan passionately admonishes and warns the body of Christ in The United Kingdom of the danger of being divisive over secondary issues firmly stating: “Unless groups of people like yourselves begin to unite one with another, there is no hope for the church in this country… there is no hope because if there’s no unity in the body of Christ do you think God is going to be amongst you?” It is time for the church to return to her first love and arise in the power of The Living God.

As a believer are you carrying unforgiveness and bitterness in your heart? In this session, David Nathan expounds Matthew chapter 18 verse 1. We MUST choose to forgive all offences in the power, strength and grace of God.

In this teaching session, Chris Lawson fervently warns the Church of “potentially dangerous and harmful spiritual practices”. Many unsuspecting Christians are being deceived through various books and authors who have employed new age occult principles whilst cloaking them in Christian terminology.

Sarah Young is the author of the popular and widespread contemporary “Christian” devotional entitled “Jesus Calling”.  In this teaching session, Chris Lawson gives an “extensive refutation” of the book and its author, thoroughly demonstrating by solid documentation, that this book substantiates another Jesus, another Gospel and another Spirit.

Paul brings a very serious and sobering Word, calling the Bride of Christ to make herself ready for her husband!!  There are many titles for Christ – Lord, Saviour, King, Redeemer – yet there is one title that is often lost in our understanding of who Christ is, namely Christ my Husband!!  Marriage in the West is being decimated!  As the sanctity and fidelity of matrimony is being lost, so too is the Church’s perception of this holy union between them and the Bridegroom, Jesus Christ.  Jesus is coming back for a bride unspotted by the world, a wife who has made herself ready!!  Will you be found a faithful bride upon His soon return?

Romans 10 The Apostle Paul continues to pour out his heart and affection for his countrymen, his kinsmen according to the flesh.  Well noting their zeal for God, Paul points out the sad reality that their zeal is not according to knowledge.  Seeking to establish their own righteousness via the merits of the law, they have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God which come by faith in Jesus Christ. In absolute simplicity and beauty, Paul lays out for his brethren the means by which they might be saved by faith, confessing with one’s mouth the Lord Jesus and believing in one’s heart that God raised Him from the dead for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord in sincerity and truth shall be saved!!  In an age where the gospel is so misunderstood, this sermon comes as a refreshing reminder of exactly what a man must do to be saved!!    

In this final session, Roger brings the heart of Jesus Christ towards His sheep and warns pastors of the consequences of leading one of these little ones astray. Jesus is calling a last day's remnant to Himself and is looking for pastors who will lead His flock and prepare them for His soon return!

In this teaching session, Roger comprehensively and very competently demonstrates the dangers of the Emergent Church, which claims to be emerging in these last days to meet the needs of a post-modern generation.  Rather than focussing on narrow doctrine, this new movement focusses instead on experience; but the many spiritual disciplines and exercises that it promotes and practises are rooted in Roman Catholic mysticism and are taking many that are being misled back to Rome!!  

Roger shares much insight and wisdom as it pertains to his more than three decades of Christian ministry.  Perhaps the single greatest sign that we could very well be the generation to see the return of the Lord is the unprecedented rate at which apostasy has come wholesale into the Church.  Roger indeed stands as a watchman in our generation, sounding a trumpet and warning the body of Christ to be on guard against deception!!

Romans 9 Paul’s great heaviness and continual sorrow of heart was for his own kinsmen according to the flesh.  Such was his great love for his nation that he wished himself were accursed from Christ for his people Israel.  Nationally, they had not come into the salvation of Messiah with only a remnant being saved.  Paul in seeking to reconcile this fact with the faithfulness and justice of a covenant keeping God, demonstrates from history that God has always chosen to call by election showing mercy to whom He will, calling for Himself not only a remnant from Israel but a people also from among the Gentiles!! Admittedly, this ninth chapter of Romans is a very difficult passage of Scripture over which many have argued and debated.  In seeking to be faithful to the text of Scripture, we endeavour to exegete the passage faithfully!!

Romans 8:24-39 Jesus told His disciples plainly,"...In this world ye shall have tribulation: but be of god cheer; I have overcome the world (Jn. 16:33). The Apostle Paul in echoing the same sentiments, spoke too of a necessary suffering with Christ that we might receive our inheritance as beloved children in an age yet to come. The great hope of our glorification with Christ at His appearing ought to be a great source of encouragement to us as believers, not least when enduring under trial and hardship. In these final verses of Romans chapter 8, Paul is relentless in his argumentation, mounting one case after another; all designed to lift the believer’s eyes heavenward. The gist of his reasoning is this: We are the children of God, foreknown of God before the foundations of the world, predestined, called, justified with the sure hope of being glorified. If this be so then what weapon formed against the child of God can prosper? If God be for us, who can be against us? Be of good courage!!

Romans 8:15-23 Paul continues in this chapter to set forth the redemptive purposes of God in Christ Jesus for mankind.  Turning away from looking at the believers experience in the here and now, Paul now looks ahead to the future wherein shall be revealed the full redemptive purposes of God in the glories which await us at the coming of Christ.  When asked how this can be?  The answer lies in our adoption as sons and daughters of God!  As such we have been grafted into the family of God and have received the Spirit of adoption whereby we cry Abba, Father!!  As such we have now become heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together!  This sermon seeks to lift believers’ eyes above this world to see the wonderful inheritance that has been laid up for us in the ages to come when the Saints shall inherit the earth in a Kingdom that is yet to come wherein creation itself awaits the manifestation of the sons of God at which time it too shall be deliv

Romans 8:1-14 Romans chapters 6-8, when taken as a whole, form one of the most powerful portions of Scripture in the whole Bible as it relates to regeneration.  Chapter 6 sets forth the power of sin broken…chapter 7, the strength of sin through the law…and chapter 8, freedom sin through the Spirit.  Many it seems like to live in the realm of theological head knowledge and fancies but where is the practical application that grasps the precious truths contained in these chapters and brings beauty of godliness down to earth!!  Though many read Romans 6 and 8 as though written across the pages are the words “do not touch”; every page cries forth “try me”!!  In the chapter before us we turn to look at the power through which men find victory over sin, namely the blessed indwelling Holy Spirit!!

Romans 7 One of the most abused and misunderstood chapters in the whole of New Testament is the chapter before us in this sermon, namely Romans chapter 7.  I say abused, because for many this chapter offers a supporting crutch for them to continue to live in habitual sin; for after all they’ll say, if Paul struggled with sin doing those things he desired not to do and not doing those things he desired to do – then who are we!!  I say also misunderstood, because so often in the exegesis and application of Holy Scripture, we must first establish beyond all shadow of doubt what a passage/verse cannot be saying!!  Romans 7 is sandwiched between two chapters either side (6 & 8) which refuse to allow for the position of defeat in the area of sin in the life of the believer.  This sermon seeks to debunk the myth of Romans 7 offering a seeming safety net to excuse sin and brings out the true understanding of the chapter so that a proper application can be made to our lives.     

Romans 6 In the mind of many Christians, the only difference between themselves and that of sinners is that they are “forgiven”.  Grace is viewed as an insurance policy in which we can sin now and claim forgiveness later.  Admittedly, whilst many would not be so brazen as to put it in those exact words; the sad reality is that in experience, this proves to be the policy under which many who name the name of Christ live!  Paul begins the sixth chapter of Romans with a question; “Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound”?  He spends the rest of the chapter showing categorically that this cannot be the case.  For Paul, the cross of Jesus Christ was more than a place where sins are forgiven but was the place of his own funeral and subsequent resurrection from the dead.  The implications of the mystery that Paul presents in this sixth chapter are so profound and the ramifications so powerful, that if heeded, and acted upon, one’s Christian worldview and experience will never be the same again! This sermon i

Romans 5:12-21 One has only need to open his eyes to see that there is a fundamental problem with the world we live in.  Though it shines with the beauty of a rising sun and glistens with the splendour of a snow capped mountain; though one cannot escape the beauty of the vast array of wildlife, as beautiful as all this is, that beauty is overshadowed by the presence of a lurking enemy, poised to take it all away.  That enemy has a name and its name is death! Many today deny the doctrine of original sin.  To them the Garden of Eden is just a myth.  However, Paul takes the reader right back to the Garden and in so doing lays down the truth of what took place; “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:” (Rom. 5:12).  In Adam, through the offence of one, all died, yet in one man Jesus Christ, through His obedience, the free gift of everlasting life has now come to all who would receive.

Romans 5:1-11 Paul has already dealt with two great doctrines in the preceding two chapters of this great epistle to the Romans, the doctrine of justification by faith and the doctrine of redemption.  Now Paul comes to another great doctrine and pillar of the Christian faith, namely the doctrine of reconciliation which results from the other two.  Can it be, that we who were formerly at enmity with God have been brought into a state of friendship?  This is the great clarion call of the Gospel; be ye reconciled to God!! This sermon lays out this wonderful truth and encourages believes who are enduring trials of affliction to lift up their heads heavenward and to fix their hope on the eternal prize laid up for them in Christ!!      

Romans 4 For 1500 years, Israel had been under the heavy yoke of the law.  This had been their rule of life since the time of their coming out of Egypt when God entered into covenant with them at Mt. Sinai.  Paul was clear of one thing (himself being a Pharisee for many years), by the works of the law shall no man be justified in the sight of God!  If any man was going to stand a chance of gaining right-standing with God, it was to be by faith alone that the reward might be of grace! In this fourth chapter of Romans, Paul seeks to address this seismic shift in religious worldview by pointing out that such a concept of imputed righteousness on the grounds of faith is nothing new!  Abraham, the father of the Jewish nation predated Moses by some nearly 1500 years, yet Abraham had this testimony before God, that he was counted righteous on the grounds of his faith and not by the works of law.  Paul lays hold on this truth and expounds this great doctrine of justification by faith by demonstrating that righteousne

Romans 3:19-31 Words such as expiation, propitiation and atonement are words that have generally lost their meaning in today’s society; yet, these words are key to understanding the great transaction that took place on the cross!!  Theological concepts such as 'substitutionary atonement' has become repulsive to a Church that generally has no stomach for justice and righteousness.  God is holy and as such He must punish the guilty.  How can a holy God remain just and at the same time punish the guilty?  In this sermon, the glorious truth of justification by faith through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ on account of God’s grace toward us is brought out for all to see.  Our being brought into right standing with God came at a great price.  May we ever rejoice in this truth!!