Bethesda Shalom

1 Peter 2:11 The largest Christian newspaper in the world "The Christian Post", in an on-line article dated October 28th 2011, titled "Pornography in the Pew - A Hidden Sin, reported from leading surveys that 50% of Christian men and 20% of Christian women are addicted to pornography, 60% of Christian women admitted to significantly struggling with lust.  37% of pastors admitted that they struggle with internet pornography and 51% said that its a source of temptation.  More than half of pastors surveyed (57%) said that addiction to porn is the most sexually damaging issue in their Church.  56% of divorces involved one party having an obsessive interest in pornographic websites. Brethren there is a pandemic of sexual lust sweeping the evangelical Church ranging from the pulpit to the pew!!  Lust dear soul is a beast, that if not slain will destroy all in its path and take a soul down into hell!!  A sobering call goes forth in this message calling the Body of Christ to sexual purity both in thought and in deed.

Luke 12:15 There is today in the West, what some call the “dream”, but I call deception and God calls wickedness!!  It is the sin of covetousness.  Behold how it has slain its ten thousands.  See the miserable plight of those leaving the poor habitations of the developing world and coming over to the West, chasing the dream and the lie that promised wealth brings with it, promised happiness and fulfilment.  Behold the faces of the rich and wealthy, see their countenances; ask them if you will…”has money, wealth and material possessions brought to you that which your heart longs most for?  They will answer with a resounding NO!!  Jesus warned us:  “Take heed, and beware of covetousness”!! This message is an exhortation to the body of Christ, to flee from the sin of covetousness.  In this sermon we break down what covetousness is, what lies at the heart of it and its relationship to idolatry.  We take a look at the seriousness of this sin called covetousness which has become common place in our Western culture

Genesis 4:1-9 If we could truly see how many have been slain and homes destroyed; the strife, the rivalry, the bitterness and resentment resulting from the sin of jealousy and envy we would be lost for words!!  Whole Churches have been split and homes left in tatters under a false guise and pretext, when the real issue underlying the destruction is the spirit of jealousy and envy!!  King Solomon put it fearfully in Proverbs 27:4 when he said:  Wrath is cruel, and anger is outrageous; but who is able to stand before envy?  Though envy often wears the guise of a smile and a hug, it has concealed in its hand a dagger, which it seeks to drive into the very back of the one it so embraces!! How do you respond when a friend is exalted in place of you?  How do you respond when you are greeted with the news of the success of your fellow neighbour?  How do you respond when a thing you so desire, another from your own midst receives in your place?  Is your countenance one of favour towards such or one of suspicion?  Are

Proverbs 16:18It has well been said that the sin of pride is first and chief among all other sins and indeed is the very root of all sin!!  Pride simply put is having an inflated view of our own worth; it's arrogance and haughtiness; it is to usurp the throne of God which is His rightful seat alone.  How so you say?  In essence, pride says: "I will do what seems best by me" or in the word's of Satanist Aleister Crowley, "do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law".  Though the clear command and express will of God has gone forth, pride asserts that it will nonetheless do what is best in its own eyes!!This message calls those who have lost their way in going away from God to return again to the LORD.  God promises, "...return unto me and I will return unto you, saith the LORD of hosts" (Malachi 3:7).  The problem is; this response is one which only the humble in heart can make.  The question is, will you humble your heart and return again to you first love?

Exodus 12:15-20Spiritually, what sort of year has 2014 been for you?  Have you grown in spiritual maturity?  Have you deepened and maintained spiritual disciplines?  Have you been the spiritual shepherds of you home?  If the answer is an honest no, then it is more than likely that leaven has made its way into your home and has begun its corrupting influence in your life, the lives of your family and the life of the Church!!  In the New Testament, leaven is a symbol of sin.  Due to the powerful property changing properties of leaven the Scripture warns believers of the dangers of allowing sin to go unchecked in their lives and the need to purge it out from their midst. As we close out this year, an exhortation is given in earnest, calling every Christian to make a diligent search for any traces of leaven, beginning first in their own life, with the end purpose in view of purging their house of leaven!!  May God give us the grace to heed and to act upon what we hear in this message!!

How We Got Our Bible (Pt.12)In this final part in the series 'How We Got Our Bible' we explore the differences and similarities between some of our most popular English translations of the Bible  that are out there today.  We answer such questions as:  What is a formal equivalence translation and a dynamic equivalence translation?  How can you tell the difference?  What is a good translation of the Bible?  Should a Christian use a paraphrase Bible as their main Bible for study?  What about Eugene Peterson's, The Message?  Is it a reliable translation or has there been deliberate attempts by Eugene Peterson to corrupt the Word of God in the name of inclusion?  Is the NIV a reliable translation?  We seek to answer these questions and more in this final part of the teaching as we explore the topic of Bible translations.Download notes (pdf)http://traffic.libsyn.com/bethesdashalom/5c_The_Translation_of_the_Bible_Pt3.pdf

John 12:24 Set before us in the verse at hand is the key to the Christian walk!  How many books have been written, how many sermons preached, giving the five-step formula to Christian success, when the essence and heart of the matter is contained in this single verse before us.  Why is it that men for the most part don’t like the key that Jesus extends, but instead prefer in vain to cut their own key?  It has to do with the cost of that key!!  We all want the finished product, but we don’t all want to pay the asking price!!  God has a blueprint for the Christian life and it has to do with an instrument of death, upon which we are to die daily.  Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it beareth much fruit.   This message explores three areas in the Christian life in which the Christian is called to deny himself, pick up his cross daily and follow Jesus; firstly in the battle against sin; secondly in sufferings and persecutions and lastly in waving our rights as be

How We Got Our Bible (Pt.11) The battle rages today in some evangelical circles as to which the are best Greek manuscripts to use in translating the New Testament.  Some argue that the Byzantine manuscripts are more reliable because there are far more of them, whilst others argue that the Alexandrian manuscripts are more reliable because though fewer in number, the age of the manuscripts are far closer to the original.  All modern Bible translations today with the exception of the NKJV and a few others are based on the Alexandrian type-text which has been the case since the controversial publication of the RV Bible in the 1880's.  Up until that time, all English Bibles had been based on the Byzantine type-text.  Why the need to change this?  Are the modern Bibles corrupt? Which Greek text is the most reliable?  Does it even matter?   We seek in this teaching to answer these questions and to explore the position of a growing group within conservative Christianity who hold that the King James Bible is the absol

How We Got Our Bible (Pt.10) As of October 2014, the Bible has been translated into some 2883 languages.  This statistic represent a staggering 98% of the world’s population.  In spite of this, there are still global projects underway to see the Bible translated into many more languages.  God in His infinite sovereign wisdom chose to have the original inspired Autographa written in the languages of Hebrew (Old Testament) and Greek (New Testament).  Yet. He did so with the foreknowledge that not everyone in the world would speak these languages, meaning that translations would inevitably have be made.In this teaching we explore some of the earliest versions of the Bible; Syriac, Latin and Coptic.  Moreover, we explore the amazing history of the English Bible from the first ever English translation in 1380 up to the King James Bible of 1611.  Whatever way you look at it, courageous men of God gave their lives to give the English speaking people the Word of God in their own language!!  The question is, what are

How We Got Our Bible (Pt.9)  In comparing the figures for the amounts and dates of the available manuscripts for classical Greco-Roman authors with that of the New Testament, there is no way that the charge can be levied against the New Testament that we cannot know what originally written whilst at the same time quoting authors of classical antiquity.  This is because New Testament scholars have at their disposal some 5800 Greek manuscripts of the New Testament, some dating within decades from the original manuscripts.  In short, if one is to dismiss the Bible as being reliable, then on what basis and authority does that one have to say that he knows anything of ancient secular history, seeing that the standard by which ancient history is derived, namely the manuscript evidence is absolutely eclipsed when held in comparison against the Bible!!  In this teaching we examine the manuscript evidence for the New Testament and ask the question, 'Is the Bible that we have in our hands today what was originally writ

Leviticus 10:1-11 The key ingredient missing in today's Christianity that was not missing in generations past is the fear and reverence of God and the things pertaining to Him!  There was a time when even sinners knew, Church was not a place for joke and idle chit-chat, the sanctuary was the sanctuary!!  There was no place for entertainment in the pulpit and the people of God in the pews had a great reverence for God's Word.  Fast forward to this generation and the whole of worship has become one great mess of entertainment!  The sacred had been consumed by the profane!  Where are the clear distinguishing marks, the boundaries, separating the holy from the unholy?  The clean from the unclean?  This message is a call to God's people to once again put difference between the holy and the unholy!!  

How We Got Our Bible (Pt.8) I’m sure that every Christian at some point in their experience when talking with an unbeliever about the Bible has had the accusation thrown at them that the Bible has been changed and is full of errors!!  When asked this question, I usually respond by throwing the question back at the person by asking them ‘how do you know?’  It is at this point that one is greeted with a barrage of responses ranging from; ‘there are so many different versions of the Bible’ to ‘there are no originals?’  These are all very valid responses and deserve a proper response.  The Christian makes a very bold claim, namely that what he holds in his hand is the Word of God.  To simply assert this whilst side-stepping the issue of preservation will simply not do.  The question that we have to deal with as Christians is the same question that every religion of antiquity has to deal with; namely, have we in our possession a true representation of what was originally written down?In this teaching we seek to an

How We Got Our Bible (Pt.7) By what authority did the early Christians add additional books to the canon of Holy Scripture?  How did they recognise these additional books as Scripture?  Why 27 books of the New Testament and not 26 or 28?  If the Old Testament was attested to by no less authority than Jesus Christ Himself, then by what authority was the New Testament received?  Did a council of bishops convene in the 4th century to decide which books would make up the New Testament?  If not, then how did the New Testament come to be developed?  We endeavour to answer these questions in this teaching, and as we shall see, the issue of the New Testament canon cannot be tackled without placing central, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself!!Download notes (pdf)http://traffic.libsyn.com/bethesdashalom/3c_The_Canon_of_the_Bible_Pt3.pdf

How We Got Our Bible (Pt.6) This teaching focuses on the apocryphal books and asks the question, 'do they belong in the canon of Holy Scripture?'.  Apocrypha is the name given to the 15 additional books that appear in some Bible translations which contain Jewish religious literature.  If one was to pick up a KJV Bible today, one would turn the page from Malachi, past the page separating the Old and New Testaments, straight into the first chapter of Matthew’s Gospel.  However, in the original KJV Bible of 1611, one would have turned from Malachi to 1 Esdras!!  In fact, the Apocrypha was a part of the KJV for 274 years and was not removed until as late as 1885.  If one picks up a Roman Catholic Bible today, one will find that it consists not of 66 books but of 73 books which includes some apocryphal books known as the deuterocanonical books.  Do these books belong in our Bible and if not why not?  What about the great mass of so-called lost books claiming to be from Bible characters, known as the Pseudepigrapha

How We Got Our Bible (Pt.5)In this part of our study on how we got our Bible, we now turn to look at the canon of the Bible.  When we use the word canon, we don’t make reference to that large military weapon mounted on wheels for that is spelt cannon!  Canon is defined as a general law, rule, principle, or criterion by which something is judged (Oxford Dictionaries).  When the word is used in the context of the Bible, i.e. the Biblical canon then it refers to an accepted list of books that are considered to be authoritative Scripture coming from God.  At the very heart of the issue of canon lies the question; How do I know that the books I have in my Bible are the books that are divinely inspired by God?  It is this question that we will seek to place at the very heart of this teaching!!  This teaching we will focus on the Old Testament canon. Download notes (pdf) http://traffic.libsyn.com/bethesdashalom/3a_The_Canon_of_the_Bible_Pt1.pdf  

How We Got Our Bible (Pt.4)We conclude this final part on the inspiration of the Bible by looking at Isaiah 53.  This Messianic passage predicts with the most stunning precision and accuracy the person, mission and ministry of Messiah.  So staggering and graphic is this passage that many Jews, though not all have sought to deflect it away from Messiah choosing instead to assert that it applies not to the suffering of Messiah but is allegorical of the suffering of Israel as a nation.  In this teaching we shall analyse this astounding passage and document the clear fulfilment of the many prophecies contained within this passage which could apply to none other than Jesus Christ of Nazareth.  There is absolutely no doubt that this prophecy provides irrefutable proof that the Bible is indeed the Inspired Word of God!!    Download notes (pdf)http://traffic.libsyn.com/bethesdashalom/2c_The_Inspiration_of_the_Bible_Pt3.pdf

How We Got Our Bible (Pt.3)  Without question, the foremost claim to the Bible being the Inspired Word of God is prophecy.  No other religious book dares to do what the Bible does.  A staggering 27% of the Bible (just over a ¼ ) is comprised of prophecy; that is, God goes down on record to state things that will happen prior to them happening so that when they come to pass you will know that what God said (past) was true and therefore what God says (future) is also true!! In this teaching we begin to explore the breathtaking prophecies contained within the pages of the Bible, especially as they relate to Israel's Messiah.Download notes (pdf)http://traffic.libsyn.com/bethesdashalom/2b_The_Inspiration_of_the_Bible_Pt2.pdf

How We Got Our Bible (Pt. 2) When we speak of the Bible being the inspired Word of God, how are we to understand this?   Did God dictate word-for-word what He wanted written down so the writers of the Bible became human typewriters or did He make full use of their characters and personalities making full use their literary writing styles to bring into being His Word?  Were the authors of the Bible conscience of the fact that they were penning the very Word of God or were they oblivious to this realty?  In this teaching we seek to answer these questions and many more as we explore the Biblical concept of inspiration and the evidence to support it from Archaeology. Download notes (pdf)http://traffic.libsyn.com/bethesdashalom/2a_The_Inspiration_of_the_Bible_Pt1.pdf

Alan shares a gripping testimony about the dangers of Reiki and the spiritual implications of practicing such energy healing techniques.  This message is part of The Sanctuary Conference 2014.  For information about future conferences please visit:http://www.sanctuaryconference.co.uk

Romans chapter 6Paul brings a strong word calling the Body of Christ to holiness.  There is much misunderstanding in the Body of Christ regarding what true holiness consists of.  On one extreme there is a total absence of such a concept and on the other legalism abounds.  Paul seeks to bring the balance through the sound teaching and exposition of Romans chapter 6 and surrounding chapters.  May the Lord open your eyes and grant you grace to see these precious truths!!  This message is part of The Sanctuary Conference 2014.  For information about future conferences please visit:http://www.sanctuaryconference.co.uk