Living Rock Church: Recent Episodes
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It was really only when Jonah was going down deeper and was about to hit rock bottom, that he then prayed to the LORD his God. Why wasn’t he praying during the storm, or for the perishing sailors? Even in this distressful situation, and as low as one can go, and even from the depths of Hell or Sheol, God hears our prayer and answers them.
To watch today’s video, just click on this link!
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Today we started a new series in the Book of Jonah. Jonah was one of the minor prophets, and yet his story certainly is big, and he certainly foreshadows Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection. But a key part of this story is Jonah’s unwillingness to go on the mission that the LORD wanted him to go on, which was to speak to people in the capital city of the Assyrian Empire.
To watch the video from today, just click on this link!
The post Jonah 1 God’s Compassion For The Ungodly – Even When We Run! appeared first on Living Rock Church.
During a period of 40 days between the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, and His Ascension, He met several times with His disciples. In this section, Jesus met with the eleven, who He had instructed to meet Him at a particular mountain in Galilee. When they saw Him they worshipped Him, although some took a while to grasp the reality of the situation. Then Jesus gave the eleven key instructions about how they should fulfill their mission, which we refer to as The Great Commission. This would involve the disciples going to ALL THE NATIONS, and MAKING DISCIPLES, and BAPTISING THEM, with the knowledge that Jesus would be always with them, overseeing the work!
To watch today’s church service, just click on this link!
The post Matthew 28 Pt.3 – The Great Commission! appeared first on Living Rock Church.
Whilst the women who had encountered the risen Lord were on their way to tell Jesus’ disciples what they had experienced, and to instruct them to go to Galilee, where they would meet the Lord, some of the soldiers who had been guarding the tomb, had a different story to tell. Which of the two accounts will you believe?
To watch the video from today on Youtube, just click on this link!
The post Matthew 28 Pt.2 – The Cover Story or The Truth of The Resurrection? appeared first on Living Rock Church.
The long awaited 4K version of the service from Sun 29th March, 2026 Click here to go to Youtube for the HD 4K video from today’s church service!
The post Palm Sunday 2026 – Eddie Manley appeared first on Living Rock Church.
This weekend we had Mark and Rosnah Anderson visiting the town and we obviously asked them to come and minister at Living Rock, and it was a joy to hear Rosnah sing and lead worship songs, and Mark coming with the Word of God concerning entering into that Rest that comes from knowing the assurances that come from God’s Word!
To watch the full video of today’s church service, just click on this link!
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From examples such as Joseph in Genesis, and seeing how God Providentially wordked behind the scenes, to Paul’s exhortation in Romans 8:28, where he wrote, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (ESV), we can learn to trust in God ourselves. Whatever circumstances you may be going through, believe that there is an Invisible Hand at work in your life, if indeed you are one who loves God and are called according to His purposes!
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A testimony of how God used the circumstances of illness to bring about New Life through Christ!
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The post A New Creation! appeared first on Living Rock Church.
As we start into this final chapter of Matthew’s Gospel, we will split this into 3 parts. This first section tells us that Jesus arose from the grave or tomb on The First Day of The Week, which just so happens to be the day after the Sabbath, which would be equal to our Sunday. This should do away with the concept that Christians should worship God on The Sabbath. They can if they wish, but there is no New Testament command to do so. However, the early church built upon the idea of the day of the Lord’s resurrection, as they met on the first day of the week, otherwise known as the Lord’s day (See Rev.1:10; 1 Cor.16:2).
The rest of the section describes what happened after the Lord arose, and what happened to the guarding soldiers, and to the women who had come to the tomb, and how the angel rolled back the stone, and sent the women to confirm the Lord’s resurrection to the rest of the disciples.
To watch the video for this service, just click on this link!
The post Matthew 28 Pt.1 The Resurrection of Jesus! appeared first on Living Rock Church.
From Genesis and on through the Bible we have evidences of what God in His Omnipresence (and Omniscience, and Omnipotence) does in the lives of individuals and with all creation. To watch the video from today’s church service, just click on this link!
The post “God’s Omnipresence” – Victor Ogiem Udia appeared first on Living Rock Church.
Worship led by Worship led by Aaron Jones Communion led by Conan Announcements by Oreana Short Sermon by Michael Robson
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The post Jesus Outshines Them All! appeared first on Living Rock Church.
First of all Eddie shared on how Jesus is the anchor of our souls, if we are in Christ. Then Nicky shared scriptures and gave examples of how it is possible to share your faith, even in a world that is often hostile to the Gospel.
To watch the full video from today, jut click here on this link!
The post “Sharing Your Faith In A Troubled World” – by Nicky Manley appeared first on Living Rock Church.
Some amazing things took place in the burial accounts of Jesus’ body. One outstanding thing was the way in which two formerly SECRET DISCIPLES of Jesus, Joseph of Aramathea and Nicodemus, stepped up to the plate and made their stand for Jesus by their actions. We discuss “the shroud of Turin”, only because a linen shroud was mention in the synoptic gospels. But we showed how there is more detail given in John’s account that would seriously bring into question the validity of the relic known as the shroud of Turin.
To watch the video from today, jut click on this link!
The post Matthew 27 Pt.9 – Jesus Is Buried! appeared first on Living Rock Church.
The message of the Cross and what Jesus accomplished there is the central theme of the Bible and of all history. Today we covered Matthew’s version of Jesus’ death, and brought in all 7 of the sayings of Jesus from the cross, although Matthew only recorded on of them. The rest of the chapter attests to the miraculous events that also took place when Jesus died, and the effects those things had on the soldiers and the centurion who were watching over Jesus at the cross, and how they admitted, “Truly, this was The Son of God!”
To watch the video from today’s service, just click on this link!
The post Matthew 27 Pt.8 The Death of Christ! appeared first on Living Rock Church.
Starting with an overview from the Old Testament on the relationship between God and Moses, then Joshua, and showing insights about The Tabernacle and the giving of the Old Testament, which is the Old Covenant, Eddie took us on a journey which led us to the New Testament, in which, from Hebrews 3-4 we see Jesus as The Mediator of The New Covenant.
We also used a different recording format, and we hope you like what you see and we will work on constantly improving the sound quality. But we would like to get some “feedback” from any who might view the video, which is available on Youtube by clicking on this link!
The post Jesus Is The Great Mediator! – Eddie Manley appeared first on Living Rock Church.
Today we started the New Year looking at the theme of The Sovereignty Of God. Sovereignty can be defined as ‘Supreme Ruler’, especially a monarch, authority, or power. When we speak of The Sovereignty of God, we refer to the belief that God has supreme authority, power, control, over ALL THINGS in the universe. It means that NOTHING happens outside of His will or permission, and that He governs creation according to His purpose and plan. We see God’s Sovereignty demonstrated in 5 key areas: 1. Creation 2. Providence 3. Salvation 4. Judgement 5. Miracles Key Scriptures would include Gen.1; Ps.33:6-11; Gen.50:19-21 Dan.4:34-37; Prov.21:1; Acts 17:24-28; Acts 4:27-30; Isa.45:9; 64:8; Jer.18:4-6; Rom.9:14-24 and Eph.1:11-14
To watch the video from today, just click on this link!
The post The Sovereignty Of God! appeared first on Living Rock Church.
Greetings from the apostles to the churches. This is how Paul and other apostles often wrote to the Christian churches that they ministered to.
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When you consider the birth of Christ, you should also realise that the child grew to become a man – and that the Christ, the Son of God was both FULLY DIVINE and yet at the same time FULLY HUMAN. Today John emphasised the Human side of Jesus.
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The post The Humanity of Christ – John Moriarty appeared first on Living Rock Church.
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Eddie shared on spiritual warfare in both the Old and New Testaments, focusing on the Armour of God spoken of by Paul in Ephesians 6.
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The post The Armour Of God – Eddie Manley appeared first on Living Rock Church.
There are no coincidences! From the moment that we opened the sermon today we saw that Simon of Cyrene was compelled by the Roman soldiers to carry the cross (or actually the cross-beam) of Jesus. This most likely had a great impact upon Simon’s life and that of his family (See Rom.16:13). Others were involved along the way, most likely including women (See Lk.23:27-31), who may have been trying to show compassion based on Proverbs 31:6-7, to condemned prisoners by offering some wine mixed with gall, perhaps as an anaesthetic. But Jesus was more concerned for them, and He refused it, most likely so that His senses wouldn’t be dulled on His way to the cross or during His time on the cross. Again Scriptures from Ps.22 and Isa.53 are fulfilled in the actions of the soldiers casting lots for Jesus’ garments, and with Jesus being crucified between two “robbers” or fellow insurrectionists, who were like Barabbas. Lots of detail is presented, but the main take away is that Jesus was “The Middle Man” (See 1 Tim.2:5; John 14:6), and He did not save Himself, even though He faced His “last temptation” (See vv.39-44, cf. Matt.4:3, 5). He stayed on the cross to guarantee the Salvation of His Elect, rather than simply making a “Provisional Atonement” that may never have been received by anyone. He always lives and makes intercession for the Believers!
To watch today’s video, just click on this link!
The post Matthew 27 Pt.7 – The Crucifixion Of Christ! appeared first on Living Rock Church.
This was as close as we could get to Reformation Day (31st Oct) to give our yearly update and reminder of the historical event in church history that has impacted the lives of multitudes. This was as close as we could get to Reformation Day (31st Oct) to give our yearly update and reminder of the historical event in church history that has impacted the lives of multitudes and still does.es and still does.
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The post “Semper Reformanda – Always Reforming!” appeared first on Living Rock Church.
Brother Larry O’Mahoney sharing the Word and Song on the theme of “In the Father’s House there’s a place for me!”
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The post “In The Father’s House There’s A Place For Me!” appeared first on Living Rock Church.
As if the flogging and scourging of Jesus was not enough, He was brought into the barracks of the Governor, and there the whole battalion was gathered, a number ranging between a few hundred to as many as 600 auxiliary troops; that is troops made up from the peoples of the surrounding regions, who were not kindly disposed towards the Jews, and would find having “The King of The Jews”, a great for of entertainment. Aside from dressing Jesus up as an Emperor and mockingly paying homage to Him, they then began to spit on Him and beat Him with their hands, and with the reed that they had placed in His right hand. All this was to mock Him and discourage any would-be followers of Him. Would you follow a Jesus like that? Maybe you’d prefer a conquering King, one who gives you all that you could want. Are you aware of who He really is, and that He holds the Universe in His hands?
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The post Matthew 27 Pt.6 – Jesus Is Mocked! appeared first on Living Rock Church.
Obviously Pilate knew that Jesus was an innocent man, and yet going against sound judgement he basically gave in to the demands of all the people in the crowd, just so as to avoid a riot.
The next phrase is quite shocking from the Jewish people, “His blood be upon us and our children!” This phrase has often been wrongly used as a reason why Jewish people down through the centuries since AD33 have suffered so much hostility and persecution. But in reality, it was the generation from AD 33 to AD 70 that really experienced the effects of this statement, and it was particularly fulfilled in the years between AD 66 and AD70.
The last verse, v.26 speaks of Jesus’ scourging. Not much is said about what a Roman scourging entailed, but historical details leave us in no doubt about how horrific a Roman scourging was. The fact that Jesus back was given stripes by the Roman whip, has been the basis for those who teach healing based on Isa. 53:4-5, Matt.8:17 and 1 Pet.2:24. In reality the writers of Isaiah and 1 Peter were not really thinking about divine healing of sick bodies, but on the other hand Matthew clearly saw this as being fulfilled when he witnessed Jesus casting out demons and healing all who were sick.
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The post Matthew 27 Pt.5 – “His Blood Be Upon Us!” appeared first on Living Rock Church.
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The post “Pressing In With A Touch Of Faith!” – Nicky Manley appeared first on Living Rock Church.
Here, only in Matthew’s Gospel we are given some details about what led up to Pilate’s giving in to the demands of the Jewish people, when they asked for “Jesus, Barabbas” (Jesus son of the father), and condemn Jesus the Christ to death by crucifixion. Yes the crowds were swayed by the religious leaders, and yet they still made the wrong choice – asking for a murderer rather than the life giver! Also, there is an interesting incident that took place that day, when while Pilate was on the judgement seat, his wife sent word to him, telling him of a dream she had had, which was probably some kind of warning to Pilate. And yet in spite of this, and the fact that Pilate stated numerous times that he believed Jesus to be innocent, he went against his own conscience in order to please men!
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The post Matthew 27 – “Which Jesus Do You Choose?” appeared first on Living Rock Church.
After going through 3 trials by the Jews, a short trial before Pilate and then before Herod, Jesus is brought back to Pilate the Governor of Judea. What takes place here is a detailed dialogue between these two men. One had been given the job to rule over Judea and to bring law and order and stop any uprisings, and the other is accused of being a leader of a sedition and one who opposed Rome. In the end Pilate stood Amazed in the Presence of Jesus the Nazarene!
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The post Matthew 27 Pt.3 – Jesus Before Pilate! appeared first on Living Rock Church.
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The post From Glory to Glory – Nicky Manley appeared first on Living Rock Church.
It is great to know what the LORD has done in the past for His people Israel, and for others you know who have shared their testimonies. But what happens when it SEEMS as if the LORD is not there, not helping, not listening? Does this mean you have sinned in some way, and are so self-deceived that you don’t even realise it? Or could it be that no matter what you will go through, you can be confident that NOTHING WILL EVER SEPARATE YOU from the LOVE of God. See the connection between this psalm, and part of it which Paul quoted in Romans 8, and how it could be an encouragement to any believer that was facing death, the sword, nakedness, persecutions etc.
To watch the video from today, you can click on this link!
The post Psalm 44 “Come To Our Help!” appeared first on Living Rock Church.
From the Glory of the Old Covenant to the Even Greater Glory of the New Covenant!
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The post From Glory to Glory – by Eddie Manley appeared first on Living Rock Church.
This is really a continuation of Psalm 42 that we looked at a few weeks ago. They would have been one psalm at one point, as you’ll find out in the opening comments on this psalm. There is a sense in which the psalmist knows what to do and needs to snap out of his negativity, and go back to where he ought to be – at the house of the Lord, the Temple or The Church, and there worship his God, who is his exceeding joy!
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This is the closing psalm of Book One of The Psalms. In it David speaks about those who consider the poor or needy, and is reminded of a time when he was on his sick bed or death bed. Whilst his enemies were spreading gossip and slander about him and hoping that he would die, David was asking the LORD for grace, and healing, and acknowledging his sin, and trusting that the LORD would raise him up.
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The post Psalm 41 – “O LORD, be gracious to me!” appeared first on Living Rock Church.
An exposition of Psalm 14 showing what David meant when he wrote that ‘The Fool has said in his heart, “There is no God!”
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The Lord has proved Himself time and time again as the one who can deliver on His promises. But like David, can we WAIT PATIENTLY on the LORD? When you have testimonies to share, don’t keep them to yourself, but rather share them with THE GREAT CONGREGATION and with the lost, so as they will SEE, and FEAR, and PUT THEIR TRUST IN THE LORD. Believers get a NEW SONG in their hearts and mouths and can recount countless times when they SOUGHT the LORD and cried out to Him, and He heard them and DELIVERED them. But there are also many who NEVER ONCE in their entire lives have ever CALLED UPON THE NAME OF THE LORD. We need to encourage them to do that, knowing that when they do, HE WILL SAVE THEM (See Rom.10:8-13).
The post Psalm 40- “My Help and My Deliverer!” appeared first on Living Rock Church.
David learned to be careful with his words when in the presence of the wicked. But he did find it hard to hold back and eventually he poured out his heart to God. However, David acknowledged that he was suffering for his sins and saw that the LORD was against him. He saw his need to confess his sin and know the LORD’s forgiveness.
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The post Psalm-39 – Teach Me To Measure My Days! appeared first on Living Rock Church.
This morning Larry walked us through Luke 10 on the story of the Good Samaritan, and challenged us as to whether we act like this Samaritan.
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This is one of the penitential psalms, which include Ps.6; 32; 51; 102; 130; 133; and 143. These are types of psalms in which a person acknowledges their sin and need of repentance and forgiveness. In this particular psalm, David acknowledges and confesses his sin as he sees it as the reason why he is experiencing physical pain and suffering. We need to bear in mind that not all suffering is directly caused by an individual’s sins (See Job and the Blind man in John 9).
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The post Psalm 38 “Do Not Forsake Me O LORD!” appeared first on Living Rock Church.
Today we returned to The Song Book of The Bible, or what Martin Luther called ‘The Little Bible’, and looked at the second half of Psalm 37 (vv.21-40).
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Today we returned to The Song Book of The Bible, or what Martin Luther called ‘The Little Bible’, and looked at the first half of Psalm 37 (vv.1-20).
To watch the video from today, on Youtube, just click on this link!
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This week Eddie continued on with the chapter that his wife Nicky began last week, emphasising that we are like jars of clay that God uses for His glory! To watch today’s video, just click on this link!
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Nicky Manley shared some words of encouragement from 2 Cor.4
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The post We have this treasure in earthen vessels! By Nicky Manley appeared first on Living Rock Church.
Matthew was the only Gospel writer to record the account of what happened to Judas and how he ended his life. But Matthew gives us some very interesting insights into how the Scriptures were fulfilled even through the actions of Judas. One of the things that stands out is that Matthew is the only one to use the term ‘went and hanged himself‘ (Matt.27:5), as there is no other occurrence of that phrase elsewhere in the New Testament. However, Matthew must have known that the phrase does occur once in the LXX of 2 Sam.17:23 (i.e., the Greek translation of the Old Testament), where David’s betrayer did the same thing – Ahithophel went and hung himself. Is there any connection? Well, Matthew seemed to think so, and it shows how well he knew the Old Testament, or that the Holy Spirit guided him, and the Holy Spirit reminded him of these verses.
However, then when it comes to Matt.27:9-10, we might think that Matthew got it all wrong when he wrote, ‘Then was fulfilled what had been spoken by the prophet Jeremiah…., since you see it was actually Zechariah who wrote those words in Zech.11:11-13. So we have to ask, “What was going on there?” Well it seems that Matthew’s mind was triggered by what Judas did and he saw a combination of Jer.19:1-13 and Zech.11:11-13, and put 2 and 2 together, and saw that in some way Zechariah was also fulfilled in Jer.19, and ultimately this was fulfilled through the actions of Judas.
If you’d like to watch the video from this service, you can do so by clicking on this link!
The post Matthew 27 Pt.2 – How Judas Ended His Life! appeared first on Living Rock Church.
We see from the beginning of Matthew 27 what looks like a recapping of what Matthew has already told us in Matthew 26. But NT writers were not ones to waste paper or papyrus and ink. No, what we have in the opening verses of Matt.27 is the 3rd part of the trial of Jesus before the Jewish leaders. That is not to say that we pin all the blame of the rejection of Jesus and His death only on the few religious leaders, nor do we want to blame all the Jewish people. We are told in John 1:10-13 that He who created the world came into the world and yet was not recognised for who He was. But then we are told that He came to His own, and his own people did not receive Him, and John could have ended with that, yet he went on to say, ‘but as many as did receive Him‘ He gave the right or power or ability to become the sons of God‘ which, by the way it is worded, would mean that that is not limited to Jewish people alone, but can include Gentiles too!
What we find in Matt.27:1-2 is how Jesus was betrayed or delivered by His own people, into the hands of their enemy, the Romans, and that the sole purpose for doing this was to insure that Jesus would not just be killed somehow, but to insure that He would be crucified or in other words, hanged on a tree, since this would mean that Jesus had been cursed by God according to the Mosaic Law.
Of course crucifixion was horrific, but even worse is that it stood for being ‘cursed‘ in the eyes of the Jews, and this would have been the goal of the Jewish leaders – to stamp out “Christianity” – i.e., that nobody would want to follow or be associated with a so-called Messiah, who had been cursed by God. Now, the early church realised this, and could have carefully avoided speaking about the cross, because of the shame associated with it. And yet instead of that that gloried in the cross, realising as Paul did, that Christ BECAME a curse FOR US – See Gal.3:13ff.
How many would respond to the Gospel appeal if it meant shame and humiliation, rather than a wonderful life of health and wealth, as promoted by preachers of today’s “modern gospel“?
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The post Matthew 27 Pt.1 Betrayed by His own people, and Delivered to the Gentiles! appeared first on Living Rock Church.
In this week’s episode of Matthew’s Gospel, we look more deeply into the denials of Peter. Was it just a matter of a momentary failure to share his faith, or was Peter pretty much guilty of apostasy? If it is the latter then of course it means that Peter’s conversion and return to Christ is so much more the more powerful!
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The post Matthew 26 Pt.12 – Peter’s Denials Of Jesus! appeared first on Living Rock Church.
The religious leaders realised that they couldn’t depend on the false and conflicting testimonies of those who claimed that Jesus said that He would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days. And besides, that was somewhat of the expectation of what The Messiah was to do in building a New temple. So, seeing that they were getting nowhere, the High Priest Caiaphas invoked the law to adjure the witness to answer the accusations. And this time Jesus confirmed that He was indeed not only The Messiah but also the Son of God, as spoken of in Psalm 2. Now they had a problem! To accept Jesus and His claims or reject them, because to accept them meant that they now had their long awaited Messiah. And that would spell trouble in the eyes of the Romans and that was have had a domino effect on their cushy lifestyles wherein they had ruled the roost. So there was no alternative for them but to reject Jesus’ claims. In fact no matter who the Messiah would turn out to be, they would have had to do the same thing. However, they knew that they couldn’t legally impose the death penalty, but they felt that they had found Jesus guilty of blasphemy and for that reason was to receive the death penalty under their law, if they could have carried it out. But as we shall see, they found a way to make Jesus’ guilt in their eyes, also be a grounds for accusing Him before the Romans.
To watch today’s video, just click on this link to open the video in Youtube.
The post Matt.26 Pt.11 – Jesus On Trial Before The Jews (Pt.2) appeared first on Living Rock Church.
We had quite a number of the church members contributing to the service this morning, but the main message was brought by Eddie Manley.
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Today Ninfa shared some words of exhortation from the basis of the texts relating to Palm Sunday!
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https://livingrock.info/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Matthew-26-Part-10-Audio.mp3Matthew has condensed his account of Jesus’ “Trial” before the Jewish leadership, leaving us the impression that all was carried out before Caiaphas, whereas in reality Jesus was first taken to Annas, the father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was the actual High Priest that year. But of course the two of them were in cahoots to have Jesus condemned. The big question was, how they would pin the death penalty on Jesus, “legally”! Was there ever anything that Jesus had said that could be used against Him? It was difficult for the Jewish leaders to find any viable false witnesses, but at last two did come forward, and yet even then their testimonies didn’t line up exactly. But the claim was made that Jesus had spoken about destroying The Temple and then rebuilding it. What is most interesting is that this was a veiled Messianic Claim, and anyone versed with Messianic Predictions would have known that The Messiah would of necessity Rebuild The Temple – but why Rebuild unless the one presently standing was somehow destroyed? So you see why this point was pivotal in the Jewish leader’s claim against Jesus!
To watch the video from church today, just click on this link!
The post Matthew 26 Pt.10 – Jesus On Trial Before The Jews (Pt.1) appeared first on Living Rock Church.
Today was Mother’s Day, so we had one of our sisters in Christ share some words of encouragement to us concerning motherhood! This was followed by more of Matthew’s Gospel, as we looked at the scene of Jesus’ arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane!
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In the message given by Nicky, the wife of one of our Elders, she shared from the Word of God and combined that with personal testimony. We heard how God can take someone easily broken ‘like a reed’, and make them strong, ‘like a rock’. Of course this was the case of Peter, who was also known as Simon Peter.
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The post The Transforming Power of Christ – by Nicky Manley appeared first on Living Rock Church.
Never mind all the myths, we can do a bit of research and discover some rich truths from the life of Saint Patrick that reflect that of a true missionary disciple, sent by the Lord Jesus Christ to reach the people of Ireland.
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The post The Truth about Saint Patrick – by John Moriarty appeared first on Living Rock Church.
What can we learn about Abraham’s faith? We know that he believed God against incredible odds – well, actually there was NO way in the natural for Abram and Sara to have children. That is because not only was Sara barren, but later in life they still had had no children together, and now they were getting too old, well beyond the natural age for having children. And yet Abram believed God! Abram’s name was changed by God to reflect this. No longer was he to be known as ‘exalted father’, but to be known as ‘father of a multitude of nations’, and yet with no children. However, Abraham did not DENY his circumstances and make all sorts of “Faith Confessions”, but rather his faith DEFIED the circumstances. And Abraham, experiencing miracles and having their child of promise, Isaac, born, sets the example of what God can do in us. But it is God who gives life and recreates us as New Creations and begins to work wonders in our lives!
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The post Faith Like Abraham – Mark Anderson appeared first on Living Rock Church.
What happened in the Garden of Gethsemane? We see the two natures of Jesus compared: His full humanity, and His full deity! On the one hand Jesus KNEW what would befall Him over the next few hours and He could face it, but on the other hand we see Him in His humanity, looking for the support of three of His closest disciples. We all may have to face “the oil press” (the meaning of Gethsemane), from time to time, but are we willing to accept whatever the WILL of God is for our lives, no matter what. We see Jesus in His humanity facing the persecution, and the impending death He would face, but we also see Jesus in His divinity, horrified and in agony of soul, at the prospect of becoming SIN for us (See 2 Cor.5:21).
To watch today’s video, just click on this link!
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When Jesus and His disciples had finished their Passover Meal, in which Jesus gave new meaning to the bread and the wine, telling the disciples that what they were partaking in was The New Covenant, they then sang a hymn. This may well mean that none of them partook of the 4th of the 4 cups that a part of the traditional Passover meal. But that makes sense, if as we read in The Lion Handbook to the Bible, that last cup was accompanied by a prayer for God’s wrath to be poured out on the nations that despise Him.
After they sang what was likely the great hallel (Psalm 136), which stresses The Mercy of the Lord that endures forever, they all went out to the slopes of the Mount of Olives.
There Jesus told His disciples what would unfold that very night – which was that they ALL would FALL AWAY because of Him Of course they all protested saying that they wouldn’t. Most of the attention is given to Peter, who thought he was made of better stuff than the rest of the disciples and though all of them may well fall away, he would not! But of course Jesus not only knew better, but also knew that this falling awaywould not be permanent.
This given us great encouragement, because each of us stumble and some fall away for a time. But the Good News is that the Lord is always interceding for Christians and can insure that we don’t fall away permanently!
The audio quality for the musical part of the service was too poor to use, but the rest of it is fine. To watch the full video, or what there is of it, just click on this link!
The post Matthew 26 Pt.7 Falling Away and Denying Christ! appeared first on Living Rock Church.
It was whilst going through The Passover meal on Thursday, the night before Jesus would be crucified, with His disciples, that Jesus stopped at certain intervals to make a comment. These stops seem to coincide with the 4 cups that are part of a Passover Seder. After breaking bread and blessing the 3rd cup, Jesus spoke of it as The New Covenant in His blood. Jesus would not drink from the fruit of the vine again until He would drink it New with His disciples and all those at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb (See Matt.8:11-13; Rev.19:9). This may mean that on the night of The Passover, that Jesus did not partake of the 4th cup, which is usually accompanied with a prayer for God’s wrath to come on the nations that despise Him. By not participating in that 4th cup, it supports the idea that the final cup that Jesus actually did partake of was that of God’s wrath, when He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, that ‘this cup might pass from Him’, and yet nevertheless He did partake of that cup, which He alone could drink.
To watch today’s video, just click on this link!
The post Matthew 26 Pt.6 The Institution of The New Covenant! appeared first on Living Rock Church.
The disciples had been fishing all night and caught nothing, but when Jesus turned up and told them to cast their net on the other side of the boat, they caught a miraculous load of fish. It is amazing what the Astonishing Christ can do. From working miracles like that to the changes that He brings to each of our individual lives – all through trusting in Him alone!
To watch today’s video, just click here on this link!
The post “Because You Say So Lord!” – Larry O’Mahoney appeared first on Living Rock Church.
We learn from The Book of Proverbs and the life of King Solomon that we need the wisdom of God, and examples are given on the attitude we need to have to have God’s Wisdom and to apply it to our lives!
To watch today’s video, just click on this link!
The post “The Wisdom of God!” – by Nicky Manley appeared first on Living Rock Church.
It would come as a big surprise to 11 of Jesus disciples, and one who would act shocked, to hear Jesus say that one of them at the Last Supper, would betray Jesus, the Son of Man. But even after spelling out the terrible fate that would await such a person, and after hearing that, Judas still went ahead with his plans!
To watch the video from Sunday 26th Jan, 2025 just click on this link, which will take you to Youtube!
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A great service today with a number of people taking part in one way or another, and Ninfa sharing from Colossians 3 about the practicalities of Putting Off The OLD Man and Putting On the NEW! To watch today’s video, just click on this link!
The post “Putting OFF the OLD man and Putting ON the New!” by Ninfa Robson appeared first on Living Rock Church.
It might seem like a straightforward enough text, in which Jesus simply made arrangements for a last supper, in which He and they could share one more Passover Meal together, but in fact there are some interesting details that describe how well prepared Jesus was and what preplanning had been made. But that is not unlike Jesus who has planned things from eternity past, that affect our lives!
To watch today’s video, on Youtube, click here!
The post Matthew 26 Pt.4 – Prepared In Advance! appeared first on Living Rock Church.
A testimony to the faithfulness of God through life’s ups and downs, based on texts such as Psalm 23 and others.
To watch the full video from today’s service, just click on this link!
The post “For Thou Are With Me!” appeared first on Living Rock Church.
On the 29th Dec, 2024, as we start to prepare to see the Old Year Out, and the New Year In, how about instead of turning over a New Leaf, turning your life over to Jesus? He makes old things new, He makes New Creation, He brings about The New Birth within us!
To watch the video from this morning, just click on this link!
The post Out with the Old and In with the New! appeared first on Living Rock Church.
Thanks to a whole host of characters, we had a great Christmas message, focusing on Bethlehem, with origins in the book Ruth.
To watch the full Christmas service, just click on this link!
The post A Return to Bethlehem! appeared first on Living Rock Church.
Starting the race (Hebrews 12) and reaching the Kingdom – that’s the goal!
To watch the video from this morning, just click on this link
The post A Higher Perspective! By Nicky Manley appeared first on Living Rock Church.
Whilst Mary of Bethany was pouring out her love for Jesus, someone else in that same room saw it as a waste. He saw that as “money down the drain”, that would have been put to better use – such as sold for money and put into the money bag, so he could have access to the funds. This one was none other than Judas Iscariot, one of the 12 Apostles. But for what reasons did Judas do what he did? Was he disappointed in Jesus and perhaps saw Jesus as letting him down, or was there another motivating factor? In the end, who was it that planned and orchestrated all the events surrounding the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ?
Would you like to watch the video from today’s church service? Just click on this link!
The post Matthew 26 Pt.3 – A Traitor In The Midst! appeared first on Living Rock Church.
At the home of Simon the leper of Bethany, a meal was prepared for a large group, who included Mary and Martha and Lazarus, and Jesus and His 12 disciples. During the dinner, whilst Jesus was reclined at the table, Mary (according to John 12) came with an alabaster flask of very expensive perfume of pure nard, and poured it out on Jesus’ head and also anointed His feet. We aren’t told why Mary did this, but Jesus didn’t see it as a waste, as some of His disciples did, but rather as a beautiful act done for Him. In fact He said that she had done this to prepare His body for burial. And also that what she had done would be told wherever the gospel was preached. It is interesting to note that there is no further mention of “anointing” of the body of Jesus for burial, or after He died, to be found in Matthew’s Gospel.
To watch the video from today’s church service, just click on this link!
The post Matthew 26 Pt. 2 – Anointed For Burial! appeared first on Living Rock Church.
When people generally think of “church”, the first thing that comes to mind is a building made of bricks and built by the hand of craftsmen. But not so the church that Jesus said He would build. He is using rocks, but not stones cut from the earth but living stones or living rocks, that He fits together to build His church. So today Eddie spoke about The Church and what it means to be part of The Church, which is also described as The Body of Christ.
To watch the full video from today, November 24th 2024, just click on this link!
The post Aspects of The Body of Christ! appeared first on Living Rock Church.
After His Olivet Discourse (Matt.24-25), Jesus predicted His coming death, for the fourth time, but this indicating more specifically, when it was going to take place. But in reality, these things had been PLANNED IN ADVANCE by God, and in His FOREKNOWLEDGE and COUNSEL, He had PREDESTINED what was DEFINITELY GOING TO TAKE PLACE. That means, that things were running according to God’s timetable and not mens’!
To watch the video from today’s service, just click on this link!
The post Matthew 26-Pt.1 – The Planning and The Plotting of Jesus’ Death! appeared first on Living Rock Church.
This is the final part of Jesus’ Olivet Discourse. So that bring this sermon series in total to 12 parts, starting at Matt.24 and ending at the end of Matt.25. If you recall the question or questions that Jesus’ disciples asked him in Matt.24:3, you are doing well. As R.C. Sproul said, the three hardest doctrines in the Bible are undoubtedly those of Judgement, Hell, and Predestination. And it will drive some people nuts to find all three of these doctrines mentioned in one sermon. Well, here it is, at least we find the reason why people believe those doctrines are taught in this last section!
To watch the full video from today’s church service, just click on this link!
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A special service remembering The Reformation!
To watch the full service from today, just click on this link!
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Here is another section of Jesus’ Olivet Discourse, that begins in Matt.24:1 and finishes just before Matt.26:1. Each of these last two sections stress the need for Christ’s disciples to be ready and prepared before His return. But it doesn’t mean sitting idle, ready and prepared. It means getting down to business and using the resources that the Lord has distributed to each of us, each according to our ability!
To watch today’s full Sunday service on video, click here to go to Youtube!
The post Matthew 25 Pt.2 – The Parable of The Talents! appeared first on Living Rock Church.
Starting in Psalm 1:1-6 Eddie traces how God’s Word and His Counsel is to be applied to our lives, and how we should be careful of all of the “other voices” that bombard our minds daily, and how we should reject the counsel of the wicked.
To watch today’s Youtube video, just click here!
The post Walking in the Counsel of God’s Word and Blessings! appeared first on Living Rock Church.
Today Ninfa exhorted us from Romans 12 about the need to apply the Word to our lives.
To watch today’s church service on video, click here to go to Youtube
The post Applying Romans 12 to our lives! appeared first on Living Rock Church.
Starting in Psalm 60, Nicky shared how David looked to the LORD for the FINAL and ULTIMATE VICTORY, and so we too, when we see that we might have missed the mark, or are wondering what is going on in the battle we are facing, should look to the LORD who will give the VICTORY and we shall TRIUMPH in the LORD!
To watch the video from today, just click on this link!
The post Our Triumphant God! appeared first on Living Rock Church.
What does the Bible actually say about Mary, the mother of Jesus?
To watch today’s service, just click on this link!
The post “Something about Mary”, by John Moriarty appeared first on Living Rock Church.
Jesus continued with His Olivet discourse that He began in Matt.24, and continues on till the end of Matt.25, with some of the same themes, such as the need to be ready and prepared for His return. So often we have heard this parable and have made several assumptions, such as the fact that the ten virgins were bridesmaids, whereas the text doesn’t actually say this.
Also, some have used this parable to teach or imply that a Christian could lose his or her salvation. But it is worth pointing out that at the end of this parable Jesus is quite clear when He told the five foolish virgins, “I do not know you”, which sounds just like Jesus’ words in Matt.7:21-23, where He told those who thought that they were believers because of “the works and miracles” that they had claimed to have done, “Depart from Me …I NEVER knew you.” We can therefore safely say that the FIVE (50%) of those who “professed” to be virgins (symbolic of being a sanctified and justified saint), were in fact unknown to the Lord!
To watch the video from this Sunday’s church service, just click on this link!
The post Matthew 25 Pt.1 – Ten Virgins! appeared first on Living Rock Church.
As David contemplates deep in his heart about the wickedness of the wicked, he then goes on to think of their final outcome. He starts by thinking on “The Bad News”, but then within a few more verses he begins to shift gear and think about the attributes of God and on “The Good News”!
To watch this morning’s video, just click on this link!
The post Psalm 36 – How Precious Is Your Steadfast Love! appeared first on Living Rock Church.
Here is a Psalm of David which depicts him as being hounded by lying, false witnesses, and how he knows that the LORD is looking on. But David wants more than the comfort of knowing that God sees – he wants the Lord to act; to come to his rescue. And he seeing the victory before he gets there, by foreseeing himself rejoicing with God’s people, who are happy to see him vindicated.
To watch the video from this morning, just click on this link!
The post Psalm 35 – Great Is The LORD! appeared first on Living Rock Church.
Psalm 107 read by Nicky Manley and then taught by Eddie Manley.
To watch the full video from today’s service, just click on this link!
The post Psalm 107 – Eddie Manley appeared first on Living Rock Church.
Well, according to the Subtitle of this Psalm, David wrote this after reflecting on the time that he had sought refuge with Achish the King of Gath. To watch the video from this morning, just click on this link!
The post Psalm 34 – Taste and See that The LORD is Good! appeared first on Living Rock Church.
The title given to this sermon may seem a bit long. That is because there are different titles for it depending on which Bible you use. Of course the titles are not part of the inspired word but nevertheless give us an idea of what this particular Psalm is about.
You could read through this Psalm and see repeated statements about ‘The Steadfast Love of The LORD“, and then at the same time you could see that the whole Psalm covers ‘The Sovereignty of The LORD in Creation and History” (especially vv.4-9 and vv.10-12)! So we would encourage readers of this Psalm to look for both elements and see how they also blend together!
To watch the full video from Sunday 11 Aug, 2024, just click on this link!
The post Psalm 33 – The-Steadfast Love of The LORD / The Sovereignty of The LORD in Creation and History! appeared first on Living Rock Church.
Thanks be to God that when The Books are opened on The Day of Judgement, believers aren’t worried in case their works are insufficient or that they have done so many bad deeds that they outweigh any good they have done. Jesus Christ “PAID IN FULL” for our sins and trespasses on the cross! He became our SUBSTITUTE. Not only did Jesus CARRY or BEAR AWAY our sins, He also IMPUTED to the Believer His very own RIGHTEOUSNESS! We are MADE or DECLARED to be RIGHTEOUS when we exercise FAITH in the Lord Jesus Christ, and what He has done for us!
To watch today’s video, just click on this link!
The post Christ, Our Substitute. appeared first on Living Rock Church.
Elder Eddie Manley sharing God’s Word on what the church is, where it originated, and its function.
To watch the full service from today, just click on this link!
The post The Church! appeared first on Living Rock Church.
Larry O’Mahoney sharing a word on the Offer of Living Water!
To watch today’s video, click on this link
The post Living Water! appeared first on Living Rock Church.
What way should the “servants” or “Slaves” of Christ be living prior to His return? We know we were once “slaves to sin” but have not been set free. But does that mean that we are “no longer slaves at all”? This also raises the question as to whether or not man is ever completely free, and concerning “free will”!
If you’d like to watch the video from today’s church service, just click on this link!
The post Matthew 24 Pt.9 – Good and Wicked Slaves! appeared first on Living Rock Church.
There were plenty of signs and warnings leading up to the destruction of the temple in AD70, but will there be any sign to prepare for the Second Coming of Christ? Is it possible that NO ONE KNOWS the DAY or the HOUR of that event, not even the angels of heaven, nor The Son, but ONLY the Father? Well, that is what Jesus, in the body of His humiliation said. And yet so many, over the years have tried, unsuccessfully, to calculate the time of the Lord’s Return. Will it come upon the World unexpectedly? Check out this teaching on Matt.24:36-44.
To watch the video from today’s church service, just click on this link!
The post Matthew 24 Pt.8 appeared first on Living Rock Church.
Some find this section of Matthew 24 to be quite problematic because in v.34 Jesus said quite plainly, “Truly, I say to you, THIS GENERATION will not pass away UNTIL ALL THESE THINGS take place.” As a result of this, even C.S. Lewis said that this is the most embarrassing verse in the Bible! Now, why would that be? Only because people with traditions have been sold on the idea that everything in Matthew 24 is speaking about future events that will happen before the Lord Returns and the End of the World. Therefore they have had to change the meaning of “this generation” to “that generation” or “those people of that race”! And yet it we took the plain meaning of the text, the literal meaning would be that Jesus was speaking to that generation alive at the time He was speaking to them, who would see ALL THESE THINGS TAKE PLACE in AD70. Some would die in the siege of Jerusalem, whilst others like the Apostle John, would outlive it, as did some of the rulers of Jesus’ day! So here’s the deal, because Jesus accurately prophesied ALL THESE THINGS, we can trust Him when He says all the other things, especially those that begin with the Words, “Truly, I say to you…” But in fact the words of Jesus are going to last forever (See. Matt.24:35).
To watch today’s video, click on this link!
The post Matthew 24 Pt.7 – The Lesson From The Fig Tree! appeared first on Living Rock Church.
In Matthew 24:29-31 Jesus spoke of things that would happen IMMEDIATELY AFTER the tribulation of THOSE DAYS. And THOSE DAYS that Jesus spoke of were undoubtedly those that would come upon Israel in judgement (See Lk.19:41-44; 21:20-24). The signs that Jesus spoke of in Matt.24:29 probably should not be taken literally, even as they are not taken literally when used elsewhere in the Old Testament, such as in Isa.13:10; 34:4; Ezek.32:7; Joel 2:10 & Amos 8:9. Then in V.30 Jesus spoke of ‘The Sign of The Son of Man’, but doesn’t say what it is. But we know that there were certain SIGNS that accompanied His First Coming. However, in Mk.13:26 and Lk.21:27 there is no mention of ANY SIGN but only of The Coming of The Son of Man on the clouds with great power and glory – an image that corresponds with Daniel 7:13-14, and which Jesus no doubt was referring to in His trial, when He answered the High Priest (Matt.26:64). So there are so many views on these verses, and today we just looked at a possible alternative that perhaps some of us have never considered.
To watch today’s video, just click on this link!
The post Matthew 24 Pt.6 – The Sign of The Son of Man! appeared first on Living Rock Church.
A view of Jesus’ prophetic words as seen from Matthew 24, Old Testament Prophecy, and The Book of Revelation!
To watch the video from today, just click on this link
The post The End Times According to Jesus! appeared first on Living Rock Church.
What would happen if there were false Christs and False Prophets running around prior to the events that took place in AD70? They could easily mislead people into thinking that there was another Messiah who would insure victory over the Romans, but which would actually lead to the total destruction of Jerusalem in AD70. When the Legionnaire Cestius Gallus, who was Governor of Syria, decided to quash the Jewish Revolt that began in AD66, he totally failed. This would have given rise to optimism and the belief that the Jewish Revolt was a success. But once Gallus had retreated, soon General Titus came back to finish off the job. During this short interval, no doubt the Christians took the opportunity to flee from Judea to Pella in the North. The noose was beginning to tighten around Jerusalem in AD70, and Jesus predicted everything that is recorded in Luke 21:20-24. But of course there was a plan unfolding that allow the Gospel to go out to the Nations, as Paul explains in Rom.11.
To watch the video from today, just click on this link!
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The post Matthew 24 Pt.5 – False Christs and False Prophets! appeared first on Living Rock Church.
Today we looked at Matthew 24:15-22 which concerns Jesus’ quoting a prophesy made by the prophet Daniel (See Dan.924-27 and Dan.11:35), which refers to a thing standing n the holy place (or temple) that makes ‘desolate’. What could Daniel have been speaking about? What could Jesus have been speaking about? There are many possibilities, but here are the top 5:
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What Antiochus IV Epiphanes did in 167BC
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What Emperor Gaius planned to do in AD40-41
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What the zealots did in AD67/68
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What the Romans did in AD70
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A future event to be carried out by the man of lawlessness, the son of destruction (See 2 Thess.2:1-4).
To view the full video from today, just click on this link!
The post Matthew 24 Pt.4 – The Abomination of Desolation! appeared first on Living Rock Church.
A word of encouragement straight from Psalm 104 by Nicky Manley!
To watch the full video, which includes the worship time, and a short testimony by Larry O’Mahoney, followed by the sermon by Nicky, just click on this link. Unfortunately some audio was lost in the original video recording and therefore a small section of the message had to be cut out to keep the message flowing!
The post Psalm 104 – Praise to The Sovereign Lord for His Creation and Providence! appeared first on Living Rock Church.
There would be a lot of obstacles for Christ’s disciples to overcome in the years leading up to the Destruction of The Temple in 70 AD. There were some certain signs that the disciples would see, including being delivered to tribulation, experience martyrdoms, betrayals, hated, lack of love – and yet Jesus assured His disciples that THIS GOSPEL of THE KINGDOM would go out to the WHOLE WORLD! How encouraging this must have been for them. Jesus didn’t promise them a walk in the park, trouble-free, without any opposition. If He had, they would surely have soon become very discouraged once it all began to happen in the years leading up to 70AD. And what can be said about the church of today, who have it relatively easy in some countries and amongst some people? And yet there is no real urgency to get the message of the Gospel out to the world! This should be a challenge to each and every one of us!
To watch the full video of this morning’s church service, just click on this link
The post Matthew 24 Pt.3 Persecution, Perseverance, and Preaching! appeared first on Living Rock Church.
Have the warnings given in Matt.24:4-8 perhaps often been taken out of context as if all have to do with futuristic “End-Time” events? Or could Jesus have been actually answering His disciples question(s) that they asked in v.3? And what was their question relating to? Could it have had something at all to do with what Jesus had said in vv.1-2 concerning The Destruction of The Temple? We think you will see from this passage that all the events were to do with things that would take place between AD33 and AD70, and in particular in relation to the years leading up to AD70. Of course Jesus didn’t state that these things WILL take place in 37 years or 40 years. But He told His disciples that certain events would precede this BIG EVENT, with one in particular being ‘The Revolt of the Jews’ against Roman Rule, a revolution or revolt that began in AD66 and was crushed by AD70 with the Destruction of the Temple and the Dispersion of the Jews to the nations.
To watch the video from today’s church service, just click on this link!
The post Matthew 24 Pt.2 – Signs of The End of The Age! appeared first on Living Rock Church.
Did Jesus predict the events that took place in AD70? He told His disciples that the Temple would be destroyed. But after mentioning this, Jesus’ disciples asked Him at least two questions.
- When will these things be? (relating to the destruction of the Temple)
- What will be the Sign of Your coming and of the End of the Age.
We will be going into more detail of how Jesus answered these questions over the coming instalments of Matthew 24, but today we simple looked at the first three verses of this chapter.
To watch the video of today’s church service, just click on this link!
The post Matthew 24 Pt.1- Jesus Predicts The Destruction Of The Temple! appeared first on Living Rock Church.
Eddie Manley on Christ the husband of the church, as an example of how husbands are to love their wives.
To view the video from this service, just click on this link!
The post God’s Covenant Covering! appeared first on Living Rock Church.
As we bring Matthew 23 to a close, we must remember that there were no chapter divisions in the Bible originally. So naturally, Matthew 23 runs right on into Matthew 24. The thing is that many people focus on Matthew 24 as they see it as awaiting a future fulfilment. Well, in one sense it was to be future, but not in the sense of a far distant future. As we see from Matt.23:36, ‘…all these things will come upon THIS GENERATION!’ And the question that needs to be asked is, “Which GENERATION did Jesus have in mind, and to whom was He speaking?” No doubt a major chunk of the prophetic word given in Matt.24 was given concerning that generation which Jesus was speaking to, and no doubt there is more to be fulfilled at a later date. But we will soon begin to look at Matthew 24 in the coming weeks or starting next month!
If you would like to watch the video from today’s service, just click on this link!
The post Matthew 23 Pt.4 – Jerusalem, Jerusalem! appeared first on Living Rock Church.
In the previous verses, covered in Matt.23 Part 2, Jesus issues 6 Woes against the scribes and Pharisees of His day. But the 7th Woe seems to speak of completion, and it is as if Jesus is saying that the cup is filling up and is almost full (they just have to kill Him), and then there will come the judgement that has been filling up for them, based on their A to Z of crimes against those that the LORD had sent to them, and which would include some of His own followers in the coming years.
To watch today’s video, just click on this link!
The post Matthew 23 Pt.3 – The-Seventh Woe! appeared first on Living Rock Church.
This particular doctrine is central to the Gospel, and it was certainly central to The Reformers, who brought back to the church this doctrine that seemed to have been lost for centuries. The central detail is that we are Justified through Faith, and not by any other means, such as good works. And even the faith that we have was first given to us by God as a gift. So, for sure, there can be no boasting!
The post The Order Of Salvation Pt.5 Justification (Right Legal Standing Before God)! appeared first on Living Rock Church.
This is a RE-RELEASE of an old series from back in 2019. This was our first time really hitting the ball out of the park on what it really means to be Regenerated! We prefer this term because so many Christians mix up the meaning of their words. They would speak of “Being Saved“, as if it is exactly the same as saying that they got “Born Again“, and then they will also refer to the same experience as when they were “Adopted” as a child of God. But the words and the terms have different meanings. We don’t want to separate them, but we do need to distinguish between the meaning of each word. Therefore from a Biblical and Reformed viewpoint we see that once God has Called those whom He has Predestined, then He Regenerates them – this is also known as Being Born Again.
Once a person has been Made Alive through Regeneration (Being Born Again), then at that moment God gives that person Faith andenables them to Repent, (which is what Conversion is), which means that they are then Justified (or declared to be righteous in God’s sight).
The post The Order of Salvation Pt.3 – Regeneration (Being Born Again)! appeared first on Living Rock Church.
A RE-RELEASE of an old series!
The post The Order Of Salvation Pt.1 – Predestination and Election! appeared first on Living Rock Church.
This year Pastor Eddie shared the message of the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, by showing the connection with The Feasts of Israel which foreshadowed Christ’s Death, and how Jesus fulfilled them!
To watch the full video from this year’s Resurrection Sunday Morning service, which included a video and a presentation by the children, led by Eddie’s wife, Nicky, just click on this link!
The post Resurrection Sunday 2024 appeared first on Living Rock Church.
A clear and accurate description of what happened on Palm Sunday as shared by John Moriarty. To watch today’s video, just click here!
The post Palm Sunday 2024 appeared first on Living Rock Church.
Our regular Sunday morning service failed to record, so we decided to ask Eddie to do a special recording for us to share with our friends on Youtube! To watch the video rerun. just click on this link!
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How many” Woes” did Jesus speak concerning the Scribes and Pharisees?
To watch the full video from today, just click on this link.
The post Matthew 23 Pt.2 – A Woeful Message! appeared first on Living Rock Church.
In this chapter Jesus speaks to the crowds and to His disciples about the Scribes and Pharisees. There are quite a few parallels with religious groups today, including even certain sects within Christianity, who have leaders who don’t practice what they preach, and rather than point people to real faith that pleases God, did more to condemn people and point out how they weren’t doing enough. But in the end their way of burdening the people was completely and diametrically opposed to Jesus’ way, as outline by Him in Matt.11:28-30.
To watch the video from today, just click on this link!
The post Matthew 23 Pt.1 – The Failure of Religion! appeared first on Living Rock Church.
Pastor Eddie Manley sharing an encouraging word from Hebrews 11. To watch the full video, click on this link!
The post The Faith that Saves and Pleases God! appeared first on Living Rock Church.
Ninfa shared a word of exhortation today based on some of the experiences from the life of Elijah! To watch today’s video, just click on this link!
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The Pharisees and Sadducees had had their turn in asking Jesus hard questions in order to test Him and entangle Him in His words. Now the shoe would be on the other foot, as Jesus didn’t let them retreat too far! He asked them a question of His own. I like this quote from R.C.Sproul, “If His answers made them look foolish, His questions removed any doubt!” That reminds me of people who try to wade into theological debates that they aren’t capable or trained well enough in. When asked to back up their points they often can’t and therefore try to change the subject. What Jesus did on this occasion was to out manoeuvre His opponents, and force them into a corner wherein they had to answer that the Promised Messiah (Christ) was to be the son of David (a descendant of David’s along his royal lineage. But then Jesus quoted Psalm 110:1 where Jehovah (YHWH) speaks to The Sovereign Lord (Adonay/Adonai), and yet David is saying that this Adonai (Lord) is his Sovereign Lord. And so Jesus asked, “Who was David speaking about about when he spoke or wrote under divine inspiration?” All the fingers point to David’s son as The Sovereign Lord! If there is any doubt about what is meant by Sovereign Lord, and who that actually is, then all you have to do is turn over to Psalm 8:1, where David again speaks, but this time to the same God, saying, “O LORD our Lord”, which basically means, “O LORD (God/Jehovah/I AM that I AM) our Sovereign Lord!” Are there TWO PERSONS or ONE? AHA! We could hardly say that The LORD is NOT The SOVEREIGN Lord, and so we can conclude that there are TWO PERSONS who are referred to and yet ONE BEING who is both LORD and Lord! I hope you aren’t confused. So, the conclusion is that Jesus is David’s son according to the flesh (a descendant of David’s), and also The Sovereign Lord, God in the flesh! But they wouldn’t receive it, just like many Jehovah’s Witnesses today, even when the TRUTH is staring them in the face, walk away and refuse to bow the knee to Jesus as Lord! The question is, “What think ye (you yourself) of Christ?”
To watch the full video of the service from today, just click on this link!
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Here we have “Round 4” of the theological battles between Jesus and various religious groups. This time, Jesus meets The Pharisees again, and they have put for their “Mighty Warrior”, to try to test Jesus with a trick question, so see if He knew the Law as well as they did.
To watch the video from today, just click on this link!
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In this episode Jesus took on another religious group called The Sadducees. They existed between 187 BC up until around the time of the destruction of The Temple in 70 AD. There were various factions and points of view amongst the religious leaders of the first century, and there were ongoing disputes between The Pharisees and The Sadducees. They had different points of views on a number of things. See particularly Acts 23:8 that tells us some of the differences between these two groups. However, they had a common enemy, and it seems that their attacks were relentless, coming every day whilst Jesus was teaching in The Temple during Christ’s final week. There are ongoing debates amongst Christians too, some of which have been going on for hundreds of years. Some of these disputes and debates are over minor issues or secondary issues, but yet people are willing to fight one another over them, name call, mock, and cause divisions in the body of Christ. It is ongoing in our day. Perhaps Jesus’ words are as applicable to us today as they were to these Sadducees: “You are MISTAKEN, NOT KNOWING THE SCRIPTURES NOR THE POWER OF GOD” (Matt.22:29). This could mean that there were TWO AREAS of IGNORANCE that needed addressing, or that BY KNOWING THE SCRIPTURES and going deeper into them, they would discover THE POWER OF GOD!
If you would like to watch the video from church today, just click on this link!
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Here we see Jesus being confronted by a mix of the disciples of The Pharisees (who likely just repeat arguments they heard from their teachers), and The Herodians. They usually did not see eye-to-eye, but now they have a common enemy – Jesus. Would He fall into their trap? By the way the batteries for the wireless mic died during the sermon, and were replaced, and you might notice “a glitch” there!
To watch the video of this morning, click on this link!
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Many people are able to quote the verse: “Many are called, but few are chosen”, but they may not know where to find it in the Bible. And many of those same people like to quote that verse out of context simply because they are either not aware of the context or they don’t care about context. So we can be sure to get a LOT of comments by the armchair, or kitchen chair, theologians who have their views on what the text means. But at least by seeing the verse in connection to the parable that Jesus gave preceding it, hopefully they will come to a better understanding of how the CALL goes out to MANY people, but that FEW there are that are CALLED and CHOSEN, and who for that reason are COMPELLED to COME to Christ for Salvation!
To watch the video from today, just click on this link!
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Today as a church we installed Eddie Manley as an Elder in our church and Ninfa shared a word of exhortation about serving! Eric Nugent led worship!
Click here for the full video!
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This morning we had worship led by Eric Nugent, and a message brought to us by Edd Manley, with the help of Nicky. Of course this was good spiritual food. But afterward we had great food and fellowship! To watch the full video from today, just click on this link!
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He left the splendour of heaven, knowing His destiny!
For the full version of today’s Christmas Eve Service, 2023, click on this link!
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This morning we had worship led by Eric Nugent, and a message brought to us by Edd Manley, with the help of Nicky. Of course this was good spiritual food. But afterward we had great food and fellowship! To watch the full video from today, just click on this link!
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It is clear from this parable that Jesus was speaking to the Jewish Religious leaders and they are caught in a conflict.
In this parable Jesus spoke of the rejection of The Son, and how he would be shamefully treated. In this case The ‘beloved son‘ was cast out of the vineyard and killed. Then Jesus quoted to them a similar metaphor of rejection, where it is The Stone which the builder rejected that ends up being the Chief Cornerstone for a new building project. That Stone was Christ our Living Rock, and people are either going to stumble over this rock, or they are going to be part of His building project, becoming Living Stones themselves (See Acts 4:11; 1 Pet.2:4-10).
Probably the most controversial aspect of Matt.21:33-46 is that of the Kingdom or Vineyard being taken from Israel and given to some other group or nation. Well, actually, upon hearing that, the religious leaders said, “Certainly Not!” (Lk.20:16). That new people, or the new Vinedressers, that it would be given to would be a Holy Nation, God’s own Special People, which was made up from people from every tribe and nation, both Jews and Gentiles, who had been Born Again, and who themselves had become Living Stones!
To watch the video from today’s church service, just click on this link!
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As Jesus was teaching or preaching the Gospel in The Temple (See Matt.21:23; Mk.12:27; Lk.20:1), he was interrupted or confronted by “the religious police”, who questioned Jesus on what gave Him the right to do the things He had done over the last couple of days!
To watch the full video of this Sunday’s meeting, just click on this link!
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Our guest speaker Mark Anderson, from Lisnadill Full Gospel Church near Armagh, brought the Word of the Lord from Jeremiah 18, and spoke of God’s dealing with us, and our need to obey the last word that He spoke to us. To watch the video from today, which also includes special songs from Mark’s wife, Rosnah, just click on this link!
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Today we actually had Larry who brought us a message from Isaiah 35, and this was followed by the teaching from Matthew 21 18-22 on Jesus’ Cursing of The Fig Tree, and what that would have symbolised. The last section on “Faith” should not be detached from the context, as many have done in the Word of Faith Movement, but it should be seen as a lesson on what real, fruitful, life looks like. It is not dead religion, with an outward show, but lives changed that results in fruit!
To watch the full video, including the message from Larry, just click on this link!
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Elder Eddy Manley shared some Reformation Truths, 506 years after The Reformation of 1517.
If you would like to watch the full video from today, just click on this link!
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Once again we looked at the significance and the timing of Jesus’ Cleansing of The Temple in Jerusalem.
To watch the video from today, just click on this link!
The post Matthew 21 Pt.3 – The Cleansing of The Temple! appeared first on Living Rock Church.
As we have been working our way through Matthew’s Gospel, we came to the moment of Jesus’ Triumphant Entry into Jerusalem. But Matthew has not given us all the details. Neither have any of the Gospel writers. But sometimes one of them will share some information that the others have not. What we end up doing is having to put all the pieces of this jigsaw together.
If we were to follow Matthew’s chronology, Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey’s foal, and straightaway went and cleansed the temple.
However, that doesn’t seem to be the case. And if we were to compare that account with what Luke says in Lk.19:37-44, we would see that Jesus must have departed from Bethphage and headed towards Jerusalem by heading up and over the Mount of Olives. And it is from here, it would seem, that Jesus stopped and looked over the city of Jerusalem, and wept over it, and even predicted (or prophesied) what would happen to the city.
What is surprising is that many Christians have read the text of Lk.19:43-44 as if Jesus was speaking about some event that would happen one day, maybe thousands of years later, when Israel would be attacked by some foreign armies. What they completely fail to see is that Jesus’ words were completely fulfilled in 70 AD when the Romans did just what Jesus said they would do, under General Titus. As a matter of fact many Christians are completely ignorant of what happened historically. Thankfully these days we have access to videos on Youtube, which will graphically show how the Romans carried out this prophesy.
What I personally found very revealing, was the last line of Lk.19:44 where in some Bibles we read that these things would happen, “‘…because you did not KNOW the TIME of your VISITATION.” Yet others translations including NIV, NLT, BSB, CSB, CEV, GNT say something much more profound:
NIV because you did not recognise the time of God’s coming to you
NLT because you did not recognise it when God visited you
BSB because you did not recognise the time of your visitation from God
CSB because you did not recognise the time when God visited you
CEV because you did not see that God had come to save you
GNT because you did not recognise the time when God came to save you
There is little doubt that Jesus had come to fulfil the prophesy of Mal.3:1 which tells of THE LORD COMING TO HIS TEMPLE. And that is exactly what He did. He came to visit His own house or temple. But He was not recognised (except perhaps by those who were physically blind – See Matt.20:29-34), and the people living there could not, since these things were Hidden from their eyes (See Lk.19:42).
To watch the full video from today’s service,https://youtu.be/Uf4aVxde698 just click on this link!
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Here are some sermon notes that might help any who want to study this further!
As we saw in the previous chapter, Jericho was the last leg of Jesus’ journey towards Jerusalem. However, more or less on the outskirts of Jerusalem there are two villages, Bethphage and Bethany. Perhaps the people standing by or the owner understood ‘The Lord’ to be ‘God’, but quite possibly they also understood that ‘The Lord’ was Jesus! Some have suggested that this was a prearranged ‘password’ or ‘codeword’, but it is more likely that it is the evidence of God Sovereignly ruling in every detail of life! We do need to be aware of the account of this event in Mk.11:1-6; Lk.19:28-34; John 12:12-16, because they don’t mention two animals – the colt or foal and its mother, whereas Matthew does. Remember Matthew wrote this maybe 30 years after these events telling us that these events were the fulfilment of a combination of Isa.62:11 and Zech.9:9, as you see in your Bible. There are slight differences in the text, and Matthew leaves out the line ‘He is just and having salvation’, but he gets to the main point of emphasis – ‘Lowly, and sitting on a donkey’, and even specifically – ‘A colt, the foal of a donkey’ (Matt.21:5, quoting Zech.9:9, from the penultimate book of our Old Testament). Now you can’t get any more specific than that can you? Why this is important is because of typical Jewish expectations of their Messiah riding on a white horse, or something, coming in as a King to Rule and Reign! And yet here He comes ‘riding on a donkey’s foal’! But to those who knew what was happening, it was a deliberate fulfilment and an enacting of prophesy so that who knew the Scriptures would make no mistake about it! Okay so the disciples did their bit, which we can also read about in Mk.11, especially vv.4-5, and in Lk.19:32-34. We had read of a great multitude earlier in Matt.20:29, 31, and here they are again in Matt.21:8. There is an episode in 1 Kgs. 1 where Adonijah presumed to be king and had chariots and horsemen to run before him (1 Kgs. 1:5). See also the use of garment on a similar occasion in 2 Kgs.9:11-13. So obviously Jesus’ approach was not only humble or lowly but fulfilling prophesy! What the people were shouting or crying out was based on the hallel psalms, which are Pss. 113-118. And this particular quotation is from Ps.118:26. Notice carefully what it says there, as it differs from Matt.21:9. So, Ps.118:26 says there ‘Save now, I pray, O LORD’; O LORD, I pray, send now prosperity. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD! So, can you ‘spot the differences’? Of course the Psalms, as part of the OT, were written in Hebrew, and Matthew in the NT was written in Koine Greek. And sometimes writers like Matthew quote and translate directly from the Hebrew text, and sometimes from the Greek Translation of the OT, called the LXX. But get this, Ps.118:26 is clearly Messianic and expects immediate results – “Save Now” and “Send Prosperity Now”, which we really miss in Matt.21:9 because he uses the word ‘Hosanna’, but at least we now know that the word ‘Hosanna’ means ‘Save Now’, which is pretty good! And even though he quotes Ps.118:26, somehow Matthew records that the people were saying, “Hosanna or Save Now” to The Son Of David, which means that they saw in Jesus the fulfilment of the Messianic Hope, who was to come down through the line of David, as we noted last time. However, it would appear that though many did see Jesus as the fulfilment of the Messianic prophecy, they were shouting “Save Now” in a different sense! They would have understood and picked up that cry as, “Save us from Roman Rule”, or “Save us from all our enemies”, whilst failing to realise that Jesus, in order to fulfil all the Messianic prophesies, would also be fulfilling Matt.1:21, where the angel said, “…and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” That one might have been overlooked at this time, if they even knew of it! The last time we read of trouble in Jerusalem in Matthew’s Gospel, was back in the days of Herod. We read in Matt.2:3 Now apparently the Greek word used on this occasion is the same as that from which we get the word ‘seismic’! 3 things they about this Messiah 1. This is Jesus. 2. The Prophet (See Deut.18:15-22) 3. From Nazareth of Galilee. Matthew had said previously in Matt.2:23, “He shall be called a Nazarene.” To watch this video click here
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Matthew’s Gospel gives the account of two blind men receiving their sight, in, or around, Jericho. Mark tells us of one blind man, and names him Bartimaeus. And Luke likewise speaks of one blind man. There are reasons for these different accounts, but the bottom line is that there are too many similarities to think that 3 Blind Men received their sight at the same location, and in the same way. These blind men had no physical sight, but they certainly had spiritual sight to be able to recognise who Jesus was, as Lord, and Son of David, the Messiah!
To watch the video from today, just click on this link!
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Jesus had just spoken in advance (“Predicted”) the betrayal, suffering, mocking, and scourging, and death by crucifixion, that He would shortly have to experience, followed by His resurrection. And straight after that, in interesting timing, the mother of two of His disciples, approached Him with her two son, James and John, with a “special request”! It could be that this woman was Salome, mentioned in Mk.15:40-41 and Mk.16:1. If so, then she could also be Mary’s sister (John 19:25), which would mean that James and John were cousins of Jesus. Could it be that three of them approached Jesus, based on His promise in Matt.19:28-30, to try to secure a good “spot” for themselves in the coming kingdom? We look at this request, and Jesus’ response to it in this message!
To watch the video from today, just click on this link!
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There are 3 occasions where Jesus told His disciples about the events that would soon unfold leading to His Death, Burial, and Resurrection. These began at Matt.16:21-23. Then again in Matt.17:22-23, And then again here at Matt.20:17-19. Each time Jesus added a little bit more information on how things would work out. He didn’t so much “predict” that “I don’t think things are looking to good as we go up to Jerusalem….The religious leaders might not like Me!” He had spoken of what MUST take place, and spoke of what WILL happen. You see, there are no coincidences or chance happenings – not in Jesus’ life and mission, and not in our lives either!
To watch today’s video, just click on this link!
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This parable sits between two identical statements of Jesus. In Matt. 19:30 Jesus had said, “But many who are the first will be last, and the last first.” Then in Matt.20:16 Jesus also said, “So the last will be first, and the first last. [For many are called, but few chosen.]” That last line isn’t found in the NU text, but it is found later in Matt.22:14, which might suggest a scribal error. The context throughout has been salvation, and you’ll find that the point of the parable of the labourers in the vineyard, quite an unexpected teaching on the grace and mercy of God towards those who don’t deserve it – which of course would be every single one of us.
To watch today’s video on Youtube, click on this link!
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Today Ninfa Robson shared a word of exhortation based primarily on Prov.4. As always, Ninfa gives very practical teachings from the word! To watch the service from today, just click on this link!
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In this didactic psalm of David’s he shows how he came under the conviction of God’s Spirit, leading him to acknowledge and confess his sin, which led him to forgiveness. Of course David had to believe that he was forgiven. After this experience, David seems to be describing the life of Christian believers today, who can teach and instruct others into the ways of righteousness. There is great reason to be glad, and rejoice and even sing songs of deliverance. To see the video from today’s service, you can simply click on this link!
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In this Psalm, which may well have been on Jesus’ mind, whilst going through His trials (based on His quotation of Ps.31:5 in Lk.23:46), we get the impression that David and his men are besieged within a city, surrounded by enemy troops, and with possible insurrection among the men of his own army. By the way, the phrase, “Into your hands I commit my spirit” has been quoted as used at the point of death of the likes of Luther, Knox, and Hus. This would be a very powerful Psalm to remember and quote from if you are going through various trials and feel as if attacks are coming from within and surrounding you. To watch the full video from today, just click on this link!
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This was quite a “deep subject” delivered to us by Elder/Pastor Eddie Manly, based on John 4 and the account of the woman of Samaria. To watch the video, which includes colour maps, just click on this Youtube link!
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In this Psalm it is clear that David had had “one foot in the grave”, and yet when he cried out to the LORD for mercy, the LORD healed him and raised him up from his deathbed. We have much to thank the LORD for, whether that be healing or salvation, and we have every reason to be glad. God has turned our mourning into dancing, and our sorrows into joy! To watch the full video of today’s church service, just click on this link!
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It is not immediately apparent what this Psalm of David’s is about. Commentaries on it say that David was aware of the beliefs of the other nations around Israel which believed in a different version of Creation and of The Flood than that found in Genesis. For this reason David refers to the ‘heavenly beings‘ or ‘mighty ones‘, which could refer to the angels as the sons of God (Bene Elim), or supposed beings who fought the battle between good and evil, the struggle over chaos: stories that sound a bit like that version in the Bible, but which are not the same. Therefore the pagans gave credit to all hosts of heavenly beings and gods, rather than giving all honour and glory to the LORD. To watch all of this morning’s video, just click on this link
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In this Psalm, David is able to offer praise to the LORD for answering his prayers, apparently before the answer actually showed up. It has been said that the occasion for this Psalm could have been at a time when David was on a deathbed, not sure if he would live or die. Therefore David made the argument that he should not be treated like the rest, such as the wicked, since he has placed his trust in the LORD. As usual, many people relate to David as he goes through things that some of us have been through too! If you’d like to watch the video from today, just click on this link.Share
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Here, as usual, David expresses his trust in the LORD, even whilst he is either being attacked or surrounded by his enemies. William Macdonald in ‘The Believer’s Bible Commentary’ saw quite a lot of parallels between David in this Psalm, and the events of Jesus’ arrest and trial. So much as so as you’d think that the whole Psalm was about Jesus. Well, we can see some similarities alright, but there are also many things that each of us could easily identify with too! This message was shared on the 9th July. That was approximately 25 years since Living Rock Church came to Killarney. Michael and Ninfa, Ashley and Hannah moved to Killarney on the 8th July, 1998. They didn’t start having church or meetings until September of 1998, meeting in The Cultural Centre, Killarney. If you would like to watch the video of the service today, just click on this link!
The post Psalm 27- A Declaration of Faith in God’s Salvation! appeared first on Living Rock Church.
How confident was David to invite Divine scrutiny of his life? This wasn’t David trying to be self-righteous, but rather because he had enemies who seem to have accused him wrongly, David asks the LORD to vindicate him. Of course our confidence is never to be in our own righteousness, but in Christ’s. Perhaps that’s why David asks the LORD to REDEEM him and show him MERCY. These are the very things that God has done for us in Christ. He has REDEEMED us with His own blood, and rather than God giving us the JUSTICE that we deserve, which would result in our CONDEMNATION, through Christ we have received or been shown MERCY (not getting what we deserve)! To watch today’s video, just click on this link!
The post Psalm 26 – A Prayer for Divine Scrutiny and Redemption! appeared first on Living Rock Church.
Here’s a cry of faith that many can identify with! As usual David speaks about his enemies and struggles and distresses he is going through, and yet at the same time he is reminded of the GOODNESS and TENDER MERCIES and KINDNESS of the LORD and how though God can remember ALL HIS GOODNESS in the past, David asks the LORD NOT to REMEMBER his SINS, TRANSGRESSIONS, and INIQUITIES! Sometimes it is our enemy who causes the problem, but sometimes its ourselves and sin in our lives. Thank God that He PARDONS our SINS and DELIVERS US from ALL KINDS OF SITUATIONS in life! To watch the video from today’s service, just click on this link!
The post Psalm 25 – A Prayer for Deliverance and Forgiveness! appeared first on Living Rock Church.
We aren’t told exactly the occasion for David writing this Psalm, but it may have been the time when David brought the Ark of The Covenant to the Temple in Jerusalem. It seems to start with the acknowledging of The LORD as Creator, and then moving into a realization of the Holiness of God, and finally to the LORD being Saviour and LORD! To view today’s video on Youtube, just click on this link!
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Sorry about the sound quality during the worship time. It came out so bad we had to delete it from this video. But Stefan did a wonderful job leading in worship. Hopefully the sound quality isn’t too bad for the remainder of the service. But of course that makes no difference to the audio on these Podcasts as long as you get the gist of what’s was said. But if you want to watch the video, just click on this link!
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This Psalm was written almost 1000 years before the crucifixion of Christ, and although we can see how it perfectly describes the events of the crucifixion , is not said to be a prophesy. First we should think about the kinds of things that David was going through, and then we can identify with him. But this psalm is undoubtedly fulfilled in a greater sense by Christ. Some have gone as far as to suggest that Jesus even quoted this whole Psalm whilst on the cross. That’s a bit of a stretch, but we can certainly conceive of the idea of Jesus thinking about this Psalm. To watch today’s service on our Youtube channel, just click on this link!
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Having just read of the rich young ruler in the previous section, we then must see this last section of Matt.19 as a continuation. A lot of people are used to taking verses out of context. One very popular one is “All things are possible with God“. But let us consider the context here. It was Jesus referring to the hardship or difficulty of a rich person entering the kingdom of God! And in reality it is not only hard for the rich, it is impossible for anyone, rich or poor to “be saved without the power of God doing a work in their life. Rich people tend to trust in themselves or in their possessions or riches, and have a difficulty letting go of that trust and placing all their trust in God alone. In this section Jesus also talked about the gains that believers would receive both in this life and in the life to come. But if we look at the parallel passage in Mk.10:29-30 we discover that these things that can be right here in the present come also with persecutions, which could well mean the loss of family, homes, things in this life, for the sake of the Gospel. But think of the benefits – not necessarily “Your Best Life Now“, but you will be rewarded in the life to come. However, many do testify that as believers they have gained brothers, and sisters, families, homes through all the new connections that they have found in Christian Fellowship! For today’s video, click on this link!
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One of the titles that should have been given to Jesus was “Astonishing“, since that was a common reaction to seeing or experiencing His miracles. In today’s message, Larry continued to speak more about this Astonishing Christ and the things He has done in people’s lives! To watch the video of today’s church service, click on this link!
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Earlier in this chapter Jesus spoke about The Kingdom of God, and how it must be received like a little child receives something. However, in this section we read of a rich young ruler (as we gather the information from the synoptic gospels), who appeared eager to have this gift of eternal life. But what he says reveals that he thinks that somehow he can earn or inherit eternal life by maybe doing some good deed. Jesus had to correct the young man’s understanding of what “Good” was, and show him that he couldn’t keep the law, and therefore could never merit eternal life. Having heard what Jesus told him, rather than accepting what Jesus said, we read that he went away sorrowful, since he had great possessions. And we never hear of this rich young ruler in the Bible again, so we can assume that he never entered into the eternal life that he seemed so eager to receive. To watch today’s video, click on this link!
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Don’t be fooled into thinking that the Pharisees that mingled in with the crowds in Judea were actually interested in asking Jesus about some theological questions that they had about marriage, divorce, and remarriage. This was a red herring, designed to trap Jesus in His words. But Jesus did take the opportunity to address these issues, pointing out that God’s Original plan for marriage, as found in Gen.2:24, was that the man and his wife be joined together in an unbreakable union, but that because of the hardness of men’s hearts God made the concession of allowing divorce. Listen as Jesus addresses not only questions on Marriage and Divorce, and the grounds for divorce, but also His disciple’s questions on ‘remaining single‘ for the sake of the Kingdom of God/Heaven. And lastly, it is important that Jesus took the time to minister a blessing and pray for children who were brought to Him, rather than sending them away. Children are often the ones that suffer most when marriages breakdown! To go straight to today’s video of the full service, just click on this link!
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From David’s experiences looking after sheep, he wrote the 23rd Psalm. The idea of The Good Shepherd is also found in John 10, where Jesus described Himself as The Good Shepherd. To watch the video, click on this link
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Lets not forget the overall context of Matthew 18 on Interpersonal Relationships within the Church, and how in light of the last teaching on the subject of offence and a sinning brother, Peter opens up this section with the question on “How many times would I have to forgive an offending or sinning brother?” (Matt.18:21). Jesus used this opportunity to talk about the great forgiveness that a certain servant had received from his master, and how that it would have been expected that he would learn from that the power of forgiveness, and yet he did not. The overall point Jesus makes in v.35 is that every Christian ought to forgive from the heart, those who have sinned against them, especially in the church, which ought to be a place where forgiveness is a common trait amongst us! To watch the video of today’s service, just click on this link!
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Oh if only believers read these words of Jesus in their context of Interpersonal Relationships within the Church. But sadly, as soon as someone in the church offends or sins against or even is at fault against another brother or sister, rarely do they follow Jesus explicit instructions in these verses (vv.15-17), but rather go either to step 2 or 3, sharing their with others and refusing to do what Jesus said to do. In fact they make themselves guilty by their refusal to adhere to these instructions. There are other statements made in vv.16-20 that so often have been ripped out of their context, whereas as you will see or hear in this message, the whole point is interpersonal relationships within the Church.
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There was a lot to unpack from the Last Week, and the last days, the last hours of Jesus’ life, where we hear Jesus last words, especially what are known as The Last Words of Jesus from the cross! To watch the video of this year’s Palm Sunday service, just click on this link.
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Many times we will have heard of Jesus’ parable of the lost sheep, found in Luke 15. In that context Jesus was clearly speaking evangelistically, as the shepherd goes and finds lost sheep! However, in the context of Matt.18, although it sounds like the same parable, Jesus was actually referring to His little ones, or His sheep, and of 1 of them that may go astray, or wander from the fold! Therefore we can be sure that once we have been found the first time by Jesus, as He came to save the lost, we can be confident that we won’t get lost forever again. Sure, true believers can go astray, but they will never get so lost that they end up perishing! We can thank God that we are in perfectly good hands (See John 10:26-30; Matt.18:14; 2 Pet.3:8-9)! If you’d like to view the service from today, including the worship time, just click on this link!
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In these verses Jesus is still referring to the little ones, which now refers to young believers, since He said ‘These little ones who believe in Me“. And if the context is still to do with interpersonal relationships, as in Church or amongst church members, then that is interesting because we would expect the temptations to sin to come from the world, and not from within the church. And yet there the warning is given, perhaps to “professing Christians” against anyone who was put a stumbling block, or cause a new believer to stumble into sin, perhaps by their own sinful “antinomian” lifestyle! The hard part of the text is whether we are to take Jesus’ sayings as literal when it come to cutting off feet, or hands, or plucking out eyes. It seems obvious enough that Jesus was using hyperbole! But if we are to see this all as hyperbole, then someone might accuse us (as has happened) of not taking the Bible literally. The thing is that if we don’t take it literally, how can we take the next words, that speak about everlasting hellfire, literally? Well these are called the hard sayings of Jesus, but perhaps you should listen to the sermon for more information. You can watch the video of this service on Youtube, by clicking on this link!
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This new chapter introduces us to a new section of Jesus’ teachings to His disciples to do with interpersonal relationship. First of all the disciples had been disputing amongst themselves as to who was the greatest (Matt.18:1). This could have meant that Peter, James, and John were thinking that because they had been on the Mount when Jesus was Transfigured before them, that they had secured the top 3 positions. Some to this day are convinced that Peter secured for himself the number one spot! But Jesus gave them an object lesson, showing them a little child and saying that “Unless you are converted and become as little children” you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven (Matt.18:2-3). A child in the first century AD didn’t really have any social standing. They were basically not important. Were Jesus’ disciples willing to become like little children, losing their standing in society? First must come conversion or change, and in this sense Matthew speaks similar language to John in his Gospel. If you compare Matt.18:2-4 with John 3:1-11 you’ll find that they report Jesus as saying pretty much the same thing. Of course we can’t bring about the New Birth any more than we can convert ourselves – it is a work of God within us. But we do have a responsibility to become as little children, in that we are to humble ourselves, following Jesus’ example (See Phil.2:5-11). To watch the video of today’s church service, just click on this link!
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Is this message Eddie Manly shared with us examples of how Jesus was the only one who ever perfectly obeyed God and always did the Father’s will. We are to follow Jesus’ pattern and instructions, such as He gave in “The Model Prayer” found in Matt.6:9ff. We are to believe that God is Sovereign over all things and therefore “controls” all things, yet at the same time are to pray that God’s will would be done on earth just as it is being done in heaven. If you’d like to watch the full service from March 5th 2023 with worship led by Stefan, and communion led by Eric, follow or click on this link!
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It was great to have brother Larry O’Mahoney share this message on his 84th Birthday – a message that was burning in his heart! Larry shared about some of the ways that the Lord has kept him in good health over the years, and keeps him glowing and reflecting the light of Christ! To watch the video of this morning’s service, just click on this link!
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That title is ‘like a joke’! You see, when Jesus and His disciples descended from the mountain on which Jesus gave Peter, James, and John a glimpse of His glory (Matt.17:1-4), they were met with a multitude and from that multitude there was a man who had a son who was terribly inflicted with epilepsy and had a demon. The two may be rolled up into one or seen as two things that needed to be addressed – his being set free from the demon and being cured or healed of epilepsy. Usually ‘healing’ is not a term given to exorcisms. The 9 disciples who had stayed at the bottom of the mountain had failed to cure or cast the demon out, which is strange because they had been given the power to do so, and there is no record of them having failed thus far (See Matt.10:1; Lk.10:18-20). Naturally, after Jesus very easily rebuked the demon and ‘cured’ the boy, the disciples wanted to know where they had gone wrong and why on this occasion they had not succeeded. Jesus told them that it was basically down to unbelief. That was something that Jesus said was characteristic of that generation. Actually, just as Moses came down from the mount having met with the LORD and having received the Law and instructions concerning the Tabernacle, he met with a scene of rebellion and idolatry. So likewise Jesus meets with a generation who He described as a faithless and perverse generation (Matt.17:17-18). And we should ask what would characterize today’s generation? Surely in our day things are very wicked indeed, and filled with unbelief and perversion! And Jesus seems to be saying that His disciples hadn’t very much faith either. Although it is hard to reconcile that statement with the fact that only a little faith is required to cast a mountain...
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We left Peter, James, and John up the mountain with Jesus, last week, as He was transformed before them. They would have liked to “camp out” there with Jesus, along also with Moses and Elijah. Today we read on and see how while Peter was still speaking about “three tabernacles” a cloud came and enveloped or overshadowed them, a cloud not unlike the one experienced by Moses in the Old Testament. Out of this cloud came the voice of God. The words spoken were almost word for word what God had spoken at Jesus’ water baptism (See Matt.3:16-17), but with one additional statement, “Listen to Him“, which are likely a reference back to Deut.18:15ff that speak of The Prophet that was to come (See John 1:19-27). So we conclude this episode by showing that not only had these three disciples had a glimpse of Jesus in all His glory (See Matt.16:27-28), and “a vision” of Moses and Elijah, and the Glory Cloud out of which they heard the audible voice of God, but even as they were coming down the mountain, they had their eschatology challenged. Its always a good thing to have our theology questioned so as we can correct things that we thought we were right about. There are no contradictions in the Bible, and any contradictions are with us. Jesus set His disciples straight on matters concerning the End Times or at least some of their eschatology! To watch the video of today’s church service, and sorry in advance for the sound quality- click on this link!
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As we saw in Matt.16: 27-28, Jesus said that there were some standing there who would not taste death until they saw the Lord Coming in His Glory. We looked at some possible interpretations of those verses. The common opinion is that what took place in Matthew 17:1-4 was the fulfilment of that for 3 of Jesus’ disciples: Peter, James, and John. They saw Jesus in all His glory for a brief moment on the mountain top, and then what appears to have been a vision of Moses and Elijah appeared to them. In this moment Jesus was transfigured or transformed before their very eyes. The Greek word used to describe what took place is μετεμορφώθη from which we get the word metamorphosis, a word used to describe the process that a caterpillar goes through to become a butterfly. Something took place there on that mountain in which Jesus crossed between the human and the divine and the veil was taken away – i.e., the veil of His flesh was somehow maybe made transparent so that these disciples saw Jesus in all His glory. John would later write about this in John 1:14 and Peter would write about it in 2 Peter 1:16-18. There is evidence all over the New Testament of people describing the Lord as The Light or a Light Brighter than the midday sun (See Acts 9:3; 22:6; 26:13; Rev.21:23). All these are descriptions of the One who is Light and not merely a reflection of the light. We need to see Jesus for who He really is: He is the blessed and Only Potentate, the King of kings and LORD of Lords, who ALONE has Immortality, dwelling in UNAPPROACHABLE LIGHT, whom no man has seen or can see, to whom be honour and everlasting power. Amen! (1 Tim.6:16). To watch the full video of today’s church service with our worship team and communion service, just click on this...
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I’m sure we have heard Paul’s words from Rom.12:1-2, whether in the NKJV or even in J.B. Phillips translation, which says ‘With eyes wide open to the mercies of God, I beg you, my brothers, as an act of intelligent worship, to give him your bodies, as a living sacrifice, consecrated to him and acceptable by him. Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mould, but let God re-mould your minds from within, so that you may prove in practice that the plan of God for you is good, meets all his demands and moves towards the goal of true maturity.’ Well it is always good to hear someone bringing a fresh perspective to these texts, and we think Eric did a great job with them this morning. If you’d like to watch the video of this service, just click on this link!
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We see in this section the words ‘From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples‘ (Matt.16:21) what ‘must‘ take place, which included going up to Jerusalem, suffering at the hands of the religious leaders there, being killed, and that He would be raised again on the third day. But of course this was not the course that Peter and the rest of the disciples had envisioned for the Messiah. They now believed wholeheartedly that Jesus was The Messiah, The Christ, but they just had never factored in a suffering Messiah. And so Peter, took Jesus to one side to give Him some advice and the tell Him that there was no way that these things would ever happen to Him, that God would never allow it. In fact one translation says, “God forbid that any such thing would happen to You, Lord.” This was Peter, the rock, that moments before had shown that he was good building material, that he was a rock that Jesus would build His church upon. But that rock was already beginning to crumble. And Jesus had to rebuke him for getting in the way of God and God’s plans. There was no way to avoid the suffering, and that this was the way that Jesus was going, and that this was the way that followers of Christ can expect to experience themselves. So, to be a follower of Jesus you need to count the cost. Will you be a disciple of Jesus. Then you need to deny yourself, take up the cross, and follow Him. To watch the video of this sermon, click on this link!
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Something happened at Caesarea Philippi when Jesus asked His disciple what the common views were on who He was. But did Jesus’ disciples really grasp hold of who He was? Peter boldly spoke up, saying, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” What Jesus said next is little difficult to understand and has been the basis for some wrong doctrine. But most importantly it was because Peter had been blessed to receive divine revelation that he would be one of the building blocks / living stones that Jesus would use to build His church.
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This is certainly a new chapter as Jesus encounters again the Pharisees and Sadducees once again (See very similar wording in Matt.12:38-42). These religious leaders who normally were antagonistic towards one another, came together to ‘test’ Jesus. They weren’t satisfied with the signs and wonders that Jesus had been doing in their territory or in Gentile regions, but asked Him if He could produce ‘A Sign‘ in the heavens above, as greater proof that He was indeed the Messiah. All these things led to a short teaching that Jesus gave to His disciples when they crossed back over into Gentile lands, and had forgotten to bring bread. But that wasn’t the only thing that they had forgotten (so soon after these events). This lead to Jesus warning to them to ‘Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees‘, which was another way of saying, “Be careful of the doctrine or teachings of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” The thing is that their doctrine wasn’t all that bad. They each had some solid beliefs (See Acts 23:6-9). So rather than say avoid anything they have to say, it seems more likely that Jesus was referring to the way those religious group understood the Messiah. They had a wrong view, that would lead to error. And similarly, there is so much bad teaching, bad leaven spread throughout the churches today, which can lead to a different Jesus, and a different Gospel. To watch the video from today, just click on this link.
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Did Jesus come to this earth in order to bring about World Peace? Why did God need to act first in order to bring about Peace between Himself and Sinners? How was that Peace accomplished? To watch the full video including singing by a Ukrainian lady, click on this link!
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Was Jesus’ ministry only for the nation of Israel? Did the loving Jesus really call a Gentile woman in great need, a dog? Did Jesus feed 5000+ or 4000+ people? Find out all this plus more in this instalment of Matthew’s Gospel! For the full video click on this link!
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Jesus was approached by a delegation of scribes and Pharisees from Jerusalem, who observed that Jesus’ disciples hadn’t washed their hands before eating food. This gave Jesus the opportunity to show the difference between ritualistic religion that has to do with outer things, and the true religion or the way God intends people to worship Him, from a changed heart! Jesus finished off this section by speaking of the source of all real spiritual defilement. It doesn’t come so much from the outside as it does from within, from the heart! We are still working on the sound quality, and for that reason we didn’t include the worship section of today’s recording. Soon it will be great. It’s actually fine in person, but just not for the recording. Anyway, click on this link to watch the video in Youtube!
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Just as we reach and finish the halfway point of Matthew’s Gospel, before going into Matt.15, we are told of what happened when Jesus and the disciples aboard the boat arrived at the other side of the lake. They were met by men who recognized Him, and who sent out word to all those in the surrounding region of Gennesaret, letting them know that Jesus was there. They brought all those they could find who were sick to bring them to Jesus. But, whereas on other occasions Jesus may have spoken the word or laid His hands on the sick, the people of this region, for some reason, begged Him that they could just touch the hem of His garment. We aren’t told why. But we are told of a previous incident in Matt.9, when a woman with a flow of blood twelve years grabbed a hold of the hem of Jesus’ garment, and on that occasion power flowed out from Jesus to her and she was instantly made well. Did she spread the news of her testimony so that people now believed that if they were to do what she had done, they too would be healed? Some have suggested that the hem of the garment, means the wings, and have drawn a connection between that and Mal.4:2, that speaks of The Sun of Righteousness who has risen with healing in His wings! But there seems to be little evidence for this, and most likely in Mal.4:2 the word should be “rays” rather than “wings“. The good news is that we don’t need a piece of Jesus’ hem now, as we have Him, who has truly Risen and does have Healing Rays that flow out to us and effect much more than our human bodies, but brings healing and wholeness to every part of our being. We may not see it this side of glory, but we who are...
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Here is an incident recorded in Matthew 14 where Jesus walked on water to go to His disciples in the middle of the sea. We know from Job 9:7-8 that the LORD treads on the waves, and so this incident confirms the deity of Christ. This is made doubly clear with Jesus’ words to His disciples, “Be of good cheer! IT IS I; do not be afraid!” We don’t catch that in the English as well as would have if we saw it in the Greek text. There in the Greek we would read ἐγώ εἰμι which are two ways of writing, “I AM”, which means that Jesus was saying, “I AM I AM“. Again, that might not seem important to some, but once you realise that this is how the LORD responded to Moses, when Moses asked, “What is Your name, in case I’m asked?” And the LORD told Him, “I AM who I AM” or “I AM that I AM“, which through the LXX or Septuagint (Greek Translation of the Old Testament), is also translated “ἐγώ εἰμι“, which means that Jesus was making a clear reference to Himself as the I AM or The LORD! No wonder the disciples came an worshipped Him! (Matt.14:33).It is Jesus who saw the disciples making no progress in the middle of the sea, and it was He who was praying and who always prays and intercedes for us (See John 17:9; Rom.8:34; Heb.7:25). One of the great takeaways from this story is how that the moment we begin to sink, we need to call upon the name of the LORD. Not only does this apply to all the circumstances of life, but also to our salvation (See Rom.10:8-13). As the song goes, “I was sinking deep in sin, far from that peaceful shore. Very deeply stained within, sinking to rise no more. But the Master of the sea, heard my despairing cry, from the waters lifted me,...
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In this part of Matthew 14 we see that Jesus and His disciples took themselves away for a time of R&R which didn’t exactly materialize. But it did turn out to be an opportunity for Jesus to feed over 5000 men, besides women and children, in a supernatural act in which Jesus multiplied a boy’s lunch of 5 loaves and 2 fish, to such an extent that all present were more than abundantly supplied and satisfied and there were even 12 baskets of leftovers that no doubt would be used for a later meal. Jesus would not have been working this miracle just to prover that the saying, “There is no such thing as a free lunch“, simply is not true. But because this event took place near to the time of The Feast of Passover (See John 6:4), Jesus would be acting like Moses in providing food for the people of Israel. There are a number of similarities of parallels between this event and Israel in the wilderness. Ultimately though Jesus took the time to minister healing and to teach the people and show that He was The True Bread that came down from heaven to give His life for the world! To watch the fuller video of this morning’s church service, click on this Youtube link
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At the beginning of this chapter we are given a little flashback to an event that had happened, concerning John the Baptist! The reason for bringing this to our attention now, is that Jesus was back in His own region of Galilee which was under the jurisdiction of Herod Antipas, who had previously had John the Baptist beheaded. Herod was now of the opinion that John must have been raised from the dead because there was someone going around working miracles, and Herod, troubled by his conscience was of the persuasion that the only way this could happen was by John being raised again from the dead. This scared Herod and therefore there is no telling what he would likely do. John’s ministry had come to and end. But he was also the last of the Old Testament prophets, and whose spoke as one of the prophets of old, challenging the “Royal Family”, or the Hierarchy with his message on the need for repentance, and calling people out of their particular sins. Of course the state of the house of the Herods was a one big mess, with all kinds of forbidden marriages and sins taking place, and John was right to call them out for it. It cost him his head. But in a similar way, the church must sometimes act as a prophet and speak to the conscience of a society. We may not be popular for it, but that is part of our calling from God! To watch the video of this, our first Sunday service in The Mon School, click on this link. Sorry about the sound quality – we are having teething problems with the new set up and the acoustics of the new premises. Please bear with us! Thanks.
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This is as close to the 31st Oct we are going to get this year, as we commemorate the events of The Reformation 31 Oct, 1517. But rather than focus on The Five Solas, like we did last year, this year we looked at the 5 Petals of The TULIP, which we truths held by The Reformers, and which normally come under the category of : T For Total Depravity (although Radical Corruption might be a better term to use). U For Unconditional Election (on what basis did God Elect or Choose someone to receive mercy, leading to Salvation?). L For Limited Atonement (which could better be termed Definite Atonement, as in God had a Definite or Particular people in mind). I For Irresistible Grace (Or perhaps better termed Effectual Grace, rather than Prevenient Grace). P For The Perseverance of the Saints and/or the Preservation of the Saints. To watch the full video of this special ‘longer than usual’ sermon and worship time, click on this link!
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What is the connection between the seven parables of this chapter, and the last remaining verses? Well, we are about the see these parables played out in real life, as people become more and more divided over who Jesus is. Some will believe and the rest wont. It begins in Nazareth, but we will see in the following chapter how people live out the things that Jesus taught in these parables and how they respond to the Gospel. For the full video of this service, including a special song at the end, click on this link!
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What are God’s purposes, and how do we fit into them? If God’s long-range goal and His ultimate purpose is for His own Glory to be revealed, then His plans start with Glory and end with Glory going to God Alone. Soli Deo Gloria! In this sermon, our guest speaker Mark Anderson, from Armagh, and from Lisnadill Full Gospel Church, takes us through the Scriptures, starting from 2 Cor.3:18 and from Genesis to Revelation shows us how is outworking or working out His plans in the lives of believers, and how we are being changed into His likeness! You can watch the video of the service, including Mark’s wife Rosnah singing, by clicking on this link.
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We nearly got finished the whole of Matthew 13 today. There is one last section about Jesus’ reception or rejection at His home town of Nazareth, still to go. But today we finished the last 3 of the 7 parables (or are there really 8 ?). You’ll notice some similarities between Parables #5 and #6, because the person described goes and sells all that they have in order to buy a treasure of some sort. And there is a similarity between Parable #7 and Parable #2 (The parable of the wheat and the tares), and Parable #7 (the parable of the dragnet), each ending with almost word-for-word sayings about the outcome of the wicked in a furnace. Probably Jesus did give another parable in vv.51-52, which is usually not counted along with the other 7, but Jesus did use the phrase ‘is like…’ in His explanation of how His disciples would be like scribes who are like householders, who have treasure in their house. But the job of the “scribe” or a preacher or teacher is to “bring out” of his house, or his treasuries, or from Scripture, old and new gems of truth, which to us would obviously refer to the Old and New Testaments – or in other words, The Bible! To watch the full video of this church service, just click on this link!
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The next two parables in this series of 7 parables in this chapter are not explained by Jesus. Therefore, none of us can be dogmatic about their meaning. However, since we do have the whole of the Bible to glean from, it may be possible to see some parallels with these two parables in other places. Then, before He continues with parables #5-7, Matthew tells us how Jesus was actually fulfilling prophesy by speaking in parables. We already saw in Matthew 13:10-17 the reason Jesus spoke in parables, but here Jesus is seen like one of the prophets, and yet we know He is more than a prophet, in the way that He spoke of things that had been hidden or kept secret from the beginning of the world. No doubt we could go all the way back to the proto evangelion found in Gen.3:15, and see how Jesus was God’s Plan of redemption, and that those who He would redeem, were chosen before the world began, as recorded in His books (See Eph.1:4-12; 2:8-10; 1 Pet.1:2, 20-22; John 17:24; Rev.13:8; 17:8; Acts 15:18; 2 Tim.1:9-10). To watch the whole church service, with minor editing, click on this link!
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In this second parable in this series of seven parables, Jesus also gave His disciples the explanation to it. But before He gave the explanation, privately to His disciples, He told them two more parables (#3 The Parable of The Mustard Seed) and (#4 The Parable of The Leaven) in vv.31-33, and quotes a reason why speaking in Parables fulfils Prophecy (vv.34-35). Once again, there is no need to speculate on the meaning of what is behind the Parable of The Wheat and The Tares, as Jesus Himself gave us His explanation. But one thing we should bear in mind is that just because some of the same phrases or words are used in one parable, does not mean automatically that you interpret them the same in each parable. For instance, in The Parable of The Sower, there The Seed is the Message of The Kingdom, whereas in this one, The Seed are The Sons of The Kingdom. Some interesting things about this parable are that Jesus was making a distinction between those who are The Seed (the true believers), and those who are The Weed (the false convert, the fake “Christian”)! Can you spot the difference? To watch the full video, click on this link!
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Last time we looked at Matt.13:1-17, in which Jesus gave the parable of the sower who went out to sow. But His disciples asked Him to explain the parable to them. He explained the parable only to His disciples, and this is recorded for us in Matt.13:18-23. Jesus described the types of ground that represent different people’s hearts. But we notice that each received and heard the Word of the Kingdom, and the only difference was whether or not each understood what he heard. We should be encouraged by the good ground hearer, as we don’t know how fruitful our sowing of God’s Word will be. It could be 30, 60, or 100 fold, which is an enormous return on any investment! To watch the video of the Sunday service, including worship time and preaching, just click on this link!
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There seems to be a very clear transition between Matthew 12:46-50 and when you read the opening words of Matthew 13:1, which says that Jesus went out of the house and went and sat by the sea. Some also see here a spiritual reference to Him leaving the House of Israel and going to the Sea, which would represent the Gentiles. Who was the Sower that Jesus referred to? Could it be Himself? ‘He went out’ and ‘The Sower went out’! Why did Jesus speak to the multitudes in parables? Was it to help them understand spiritual truths? Why were His disciples able to understand, and yet at the same time needed further help to understand, and have things explained to them? We will answer these questions in this chapter! To watch the video of this sermon and the whole service from 11th Sept, 2022, click on this link!
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Well this is the second half of the psalm wich, that is composed of Ps.20 a Pre-Battle Song/Psalm, and Ps.21 the Post-Battle Victory Song/Psalm. And this concludes our Summer Season in The Psalms for this year. Next week we pick up our Matthew’s Gospel Series, with Matt.13 Part 1, on the Sower. Anyway, this Psalm has a lot of parallels with the Christian life, and the battles we face, but it is as expected totally fulfilled in King David’s greater Son, Jesus, who truly is most blessed forever, and who lives for ever and ever, and those who believe in and trust in Him, will also live forever through Him. The enemies of God and of His anointed, are still at it (See Ps.2), but though they plot and plan evil and hate God and His people, they shall not live forever; they shall be cut off. We have every reason to rejoice in the LORD and His Strength, Power, and Might to Save! To watch the full video just click on this link!
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Well this is the second half of the psalm wich, that is composed of Ps.20 a Pre-Battle Song/Psalm, and Ps.21 the Post-Battle Victory Song/Psalm. And this concludes our Summer Season in The Psalms for this year. Next week we pick up our Matthew’s Gospel Series, with Matt.13 Part 1, on the Sower. Anyway, this Psalm has a lot of parallels with the Christian life, and the battles we face, but it is as expected totally fulfilled in King David’s greater Son, Jesus, who truly is most blessed forever, and who lives for ever and ever, and those who believe in and trust in Him, will also live forever through Him. The enemies of God and of His anointed, are still at it (See Ps.2), but though they plot and plan evil and hate God and His people, they shall not live forever; they shall be cut off. We have every reason to rejoice in the LORD and His Strength, Power, and Might to Save! To watch the full video just click on this link!
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Psalms 20 and 21 form a pair of Psalms. Psalm 20 is a “Pre-Battle” song, and Psalm 21 is “Post-War” Victory celebration. But because no specifics are given, and the opening words of Psalm 20 say, “May the LORD answer you in the day of trouble…”, it is possible to apply this Psalm to a variety of situations. We know David was facing natural human enemies, whereas the battles we face are more spiritual (though sometimes coming in fleshly forms), David and ourselves are assured of Victory! Most likely this Psalm was written for David or on behalf of David, based on the many times “We” and “Our” are used throughout. The Greatest Victory in Battle however was in the Battle for Souls. Jesus paid the ultimate sacrifice to insure Victory and our Salvation! Not only is this so, but Jesus is ever living and always making intercession FOR THE SAINTS (not to the Saints)! He saved King David, but David’s King would SAVE HIM, and if we put our trust in Jesus Christ, us as well (See (Ps.20:9; Rom.10:8-13). To watch the full service from 28/08/2022 including two great testimonies, click here!
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Psalms 20 and 21 form a pair of Psalms. Psalm 20 is a “Pre-Battle” song, and Psalm 21 is “Post-War” Victory celebration. But because no specifics are given, and the opening words of Psalm 20 say, “May the LORD answer you in the day of trouble…”, it is possible to apply this Psalm to a variety of situations. We know David was facing natural human enemies, whereas the battles we face are more spiritual (though sometimes coming in fleshly forms), David and ourselves are assured of Victory! Most likely this Psalm was written for David or on behalf of David, based on the many times “We” and “Our” are used throughout. The Greatest Victory in Battle however was in the Battle for Souls. Jesus paid the ultimate sacrifice to insure Victory and our Salvation! Not only is this so, but Jesus is ever living and always making intercession FOR THE SAINTS (not to the Saints)! He saved King David, but David’s King would SAVE HIM, and if we put our trust in Jesus Christ, us as well (See (Ps.20:9; Rom.10:8-13). To watch the full service from 28/08/2022 including two great testimonies, click here!
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WATCHLISTENDOWNLOAD Did you know that Ps.19 reveals two means of Revelation to us, known in theological terms as ‘General‘ and ‘Special‘ revelation. In the first 6 verses (vv.1-6), David spoke of the heavens and the earth giving Glory to God. But although there is ample evidence for there being a Creator, men have turned from the One True God (monotheism) to many gods of their own making (polytheism), as pointed out by Paul in Rom.1:18-23. So people require further revelation, which comes to us from God by His Word, in its many forms (See Ps.19:7-10), which is referred to as ‘Special Revelation‘. People can know about God from ‘General Revelation‘, but they don’t get saved that way. They absolutely must have ‘Special Revelation‘ that comes from The Word. And we see further that God gives light and revelation to His servants, resulting in greater sanctification, in vv.11-13. And yet the greatest ‘Revelation‘ of all comes through ‘The Revelation of Jesus Christ‘, God’s final word (See Heb.1:1-2). To watch the full video of today’s service, click on this link!
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In part 2 of this Psalm (vv.25-50) we see more evidence that David would have been speaking prophetically of Jesus, since even the Apostle Paul quoted some of these verses (see especially v.49) in Rom.15:9-13. Although the salvation and deliverances that David would have been primarily focusing on were temporal, we can see that his experiences would be a foreshadowing or a type of Christ’s Salvation that was to come. It is particularly amazing how David could foresee a day when The Nations or The Gentiles would come to the obedience of the LORD, just as Paul spoke of also in Rom.1:5; 15:18; 16:26. If you’d like to watch the full video of this service you can do so by clicking on this link! We had to edit and fix the sound quality. It might not be great, but it is better than it was!
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From the work of the Holy Spirit and God’s Word, there ought to be enough fuel to set our hearts on fire! That was the case of the two believers on The Road to Emmaus as the Risen Jesus spoke to them. It is also the case of others who had the Word of God burning within them, like Jeremiah or Ezekiel. And in the New Testament we meet Zacchaeus and the woman with the alabaster jar of perfume, whose lives were no doubt changed by meeting Jesus. He forgave them, and they expressed their love for Jesus in different ways
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In this Psalm of love and praise to the Lord, David thanks the LORD for delivering and rescuing him from all his enemies and especially from Saul. But David uses either hyperbole or imaginative language to describe how the LORD acts towards him. Could David have been prophesying the events of the death and burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ? William McDonald certainly thinks so in his commentary! Or is David simply using his imagination to describe how God acts in a spiritual sense? Whatever the case, we can look to the LORD as our Sovereign Saviour, who doesn’t come tippy-toeing in to rescue us, but uses all His power, such as the power He demonstrated when He raised Jesus from the dead. For the full service, click on this link!
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A great testimony from a former “Jehovah’s Witness” of God’s saving and healing power! Bertie had been raised a Roman Catholic, then studied with the Jehovah’s Witnesses, although never fully committing himself. Due to the onset of restrictions brought about by COVID 19, Bertie found himself studying the Bible on his own without the aid of The Watchtower. Anyway, listen to his testimony, or watch the video on Youtube. To do so, click on this link!
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Not only did David have confidence in the Lord to answer prayer, he also knew that he was saved and would see the Lord’s face one day, when he would awake in His likeness. Obviously there are major themes here that parallel our experience in the New Testament, and that show that David had a sure confidence beyond the grave, just as believers today have through Jesus Christ (See 1 John 3:1-3). To watch the full church service, just click on this link to open in YouTube.
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This was a very interesting end to this chapter. Lets say that there are basically 3 sections to it, starting off with the question or request by some of the scribes and Pharisees, when they asked Jesus to give them “a sign“(v.38). But of course Jesus had been performing signs, wonders and miracles all along. In fact, even earlier in this chapter (vv.9-14), Jesus had healed a man with a withered arm, and a man who was demon-possessed, blind, and mute (vv.22-23). Were these “signs” just not good enough for these scribes and Pharisees? Or was their request for “a sign” of a different order, such as a sign from heaven (See Matt.16:1). Some had wanted to see Jesus perform signs, seemingly for entertainment purposes (I.e., Herod, in Lk.23:8), whereas Nicodemus had said to Jesus, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him” (John 3:1-2). So for the first section we see Jesus respond to the scribes and Pharisees’ request for “a sign” (vv.39-42), showing them that no sign would be given except that of the Prophet Jonah, who is likened unto Christ. I.e., he requested that he be thrown overboard by the pagan sailors, and when they did, the storm was calmed. Then Jonah was swallowed by a huge fish and taken to the bottom of the sea, where he was in the belly of the big fish for 3 days and 3 nights. This corresponds to how Jesus was thrown into the raging sea of God’s wrath and calmed the storm, and was 3 days and 3 nights in the heart of the earth (which likely refers to the grave). We shouldn’t get too caught up with the exactness of the 3 days and 3 nights, since in Jewish reckoning, any part...
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This morning brother Larry O’Mahoney shared on the actions of The Good Samaritan, who is a great example to us of how Jesus saved and healed us when we were “dead in sins” or in the story found in Luke 10, where the man was found “half dead“; but we get the picture. And believers too are to act the part of Samaritans or Christians towards those we find in life who have been robbed and hurt, and left for dead, without hope and without God in this world! For the full video of today’s church service, click on this link!
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aIn this section of this chapter we see fresh hostilities between The Pharisees and Jesus. This time Jesus healed a man who was demon-possessed, and who was blind and mute. The miracle was so great that many really considered the possibility that Jesus really was ‘The Messiah‘ or Son of David. But not The Pharisees. They really stooped to new lows here when they said that Jesus was in cahoots or in league with the Devil, Beelzebub, or Lord or the flies, or Lord of the Dung Hill. Jesus demonstrated that this was silly logic, since it would mean that Satan was at war with himself and this would ruin his kingdom. He also raised the point that, if He was doing His miracles by Satanic power, how were their own people casting out demons. There were some Jewish exorcists, such as those recorded in Acts 19:13-17. Jesus warned The Pharisees that they were dangerously close to committing a sin for which there would never be forgiveness. This sin, known as The Unpardonable Sin, is a sin against The Holy Spirit. What is it? Well that has caused all kinds of trouble and vexation for those who think or have been told that they may have committed it. It appears that Jesus means that once the Holy Spirit has given clear revelation to a person as to who Jesus is, either through the teaching or clear demonstrations of miracles that came only from God, and they outrightly reject that evidence and the Spirit’s promptings, and insult the Spirit of Grace, then there is no hope of that person ever coming to Jesus Christ or experiencing His forgiveness. On the other hand, the good news in these verses is that all sin and blasphemy committed against The Son of God, or...
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Matthew 12:15-21 paints an accurate picture of the kind of leader that Jesus was. He was no rabble-rouser, ringleader, or trouble maker. Rather He was gentle and would win His victory by going about things that pleased His Father. God anointed Jesus not only to heal the sick, fulfilling Isa.53:4, but also to show that rather than break the bruised reeds and snuff out the smoking flax, representing broke and hurting people, He would bring HOPE and VICTORY, not only to His people Israel, but also in fulfilment of Isa.42:1-4, to bring Justice to the Gentiles, and that the Gentiles would come to trust in His name. To watch the full video of this Sunday Morning service, just click on this link!
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We saw in Matt.11:29-30 that Jesus said, “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me…For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” We know that in comparison, the Pharisees would place burdens on the people that were too hard to bear (See Matt.23:4; Acts 15:10). And to see this kind of dynamic in action, all we have to do is look at Matt.12:1-14. First we see Jesus and His disciples innocently walking through grain fields on the Sabbath day, and eating the odd handful of grain. This was actually right within the requirements of the law, as seen in Deut.23:24-25. And yet, these Pharisees were watching closely and must have found some kind of infringement of their laws. The Pharisees, based on Mishnah Shabbat 7:2 noted 39 areas of work that were prohibited on the Sabbath. Do a quick Google search and you’ll find them. Jesus came to the defence of His disciples, using several arguments: 1) From the life of David (1 Sam.21:1-6), 2) From the fact that the Levites and those who served in The Temple of the Sabbath, worked around the clock doing all kinds of work, 3) That One Greater than The Temple was there (The Temple pointed forward to something or someone greater than itself, 4) That as Lord of the Sabbath, He had the right to interpret the Sabbath the way He did. He was liberating the Sabbath from the rules that men had burdened it with (See Matt.12:3-8). Now after this, and actually according to Lk.6:6 it was on another Sabbath, Jesus entered the synagogue and healed a man who had a withered hand. It would seem that the Pharisees used the man as a pawn to test Jesus to see if He would perform a healing, one that wasn’t life-threatening, on the Sabbath. They would have seen such actions as work, just like the aforementioned 39 rules mentioned earlier. But...
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What was the difference between John the Baptist’s Ministry, and Jesus’ Ministry? One was associated with sadness and fasting and the other with joy and gladness. But some people would never be moved by one type of ministry or the other, whether by religion with its bells and smells or religion that is very entertaining. Actually, the only way anyone can truly know God the Father and Jesus the Son, is through Revelation. But as Jesus said, He reveals the Father to whomsoever He will to reveal Him to. Jesus made the appeal for His listeners to come and be His disciples, by coming under His yoke and learning from Him. To watch this sermon in its video format, click on this link!
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This morning brother Larry O’Mahoney shared about the living water that Jesus gives to all who thirst. Those who have been Born Again thirst no more for anything other than more of that Living water. The evidence of the changed life is Repentance and Forgiveness and Reconciliation, as seen in the story of the Prodigal Son (See Luke 15:11-32). To watch the full video from this morning, just click on this link!
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In the first part of this chapter Jesus sent a message of encouragement to John the Baptist, and spoke to the crowds about John and his ministry. John came as the last in a long line of prophets and was the last of the Old Testament prophets. Jesus actually said that John was the greatest of all the prophets and yet as great as John was, the least member in the Kingdom of Heaven was greater than John, having much better blessings and privileges than John could ever have dreamed of. People at that time were violently pressing in to lay hold of the things of the kingdom of heaven (See Luke 16:16). And yet the only way to enter into this kingdom is by Being Born Again (John 3:3-8). We can’t bring about the New Birth anymore than we brought about our own natural birth. But the evidence of Being Born Again will be that we have Faith and the ability to Repent. And the results of that is Eternal life here and now, and lasting all the way to “eternity”. I.e. It will never end! For the full Sunday service from today, Sunday 8th May, 2022, just click on this link.
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To encourage His Twelve Apostles, and likewise ourselves, Jesus told them that God has everything under control. That we should not fear those that can hurt or kill our body, but after that can do no more, since they can’t get at your soul. Rather we should have a fear of God who can destroy both body and soul in hell (See Matt.10:27-31; 2 Thess.1:9; 2 Thess. 2:8; Phil.3:19). The same God who can do that though, has a loving concern for His own, and the very hairs of our head are numbered and we are more valuable to Him than many sparrows. But it is important that we publicly confess our allegiance to Jesus Christ. Jesus said that if we would confess Him before men, He would confess us or acknowledge us before God the Father. But if we deny Him before men, He would deny us before the Father (See Matt.10:32-33; 7:21-23; Rom.10:8-13; 1 Tim.6:12). Some people will be surprized to discover that Jesus’ ultimate goal was not to bring about “World Peace“(See Matt.10:34-39). For sure, Jesus does make peace between God and Sinners (See 2 Cor.5:16-21; Eph.2:14-17), but our having peace with God might cause our very family members to go to war against us. The good news is that some people will receive us and the message we bring. And Jesus said that if they receive you they are receiving Him, and not only that, but if someone receives Jesus, they are also receiving the one who sent Him, which is The Father (See Matt.10:40-42). So we should not be discouraged if people reject us and the message we bring either. There are dangers involved in being an ambassador for Christ, but there are also rewards. Let us be encouraged to serve the Lord no matter what. To watch the full video of today’s worship service and the sermon, click on this link!
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We know from Matt.10:1-15 that the instructions and commands that Jesus gave to the twelve apostles were very specific. But when we come to vv.16ff we begin to see principles that also include other future missions. However, vv.16-20 include some elements that would only be fulfilled in a Jewish setting, such as the disciples being delivered to councils and that they would scourge them in their synagogues. These things certainly didn’t happen in relation to the commission given in Matt.10:1-15, or in relation to the mission of the further 70 that Jesus sent out in Lk.10:1-23. However, when Jesus spoke of them being brought before governors and kings for Jesus’ name sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles, we can see how that part was fulfilled in the Book of Acts, through the adventures of Peter and John, and Paul etc. The main thing was not to fear but to trust that God would speak though them. There is much to say about why Jesus’ disciples would be hated by all, and it was not because they told their audiences that they could “Live their best life Now“, or that “God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life!” Jesus said He was hated and called all kinds of names, so that the disciples would know what kind of treatment to expect from a hostile world. In fact in Lk. 6:26 He said “Woe onto you when all men speak well of you!” We could say all the things that tickle people’s ears and will win friends and influence people. But James wrote that, ‘Friendship with the world is enmity towards God’ (James 4:4). We know what to expect, but we should also learn not to fear man, but rather fear God! To watch the video version of this sermon with the rest of the church service, click on this link!
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Today we celebrated the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ from the grave. Obviously we have to back up a moment and speak of Jesus’ death by crucifixion, and why that event took place. The Resurrection is an Essential Truth of the Christian Faith, since if Jesus did not rise again, just as He had said, then as Paul pointed out in 1 Cor.15:1-19, the whole Christian religion is false! So Paul went to great lengths to show how important Christ’s Death, Burial, and Resurrection were. Let us not think for one moment that Jesus’ disciples were so gullible that they would easily believe that Jesus had actually been raised again from the dead. They were so convinced that He was 100% dead. In fact Thomas was so convinced that he said, “Unless I can put my fingers into those nail prints and put my hand into His pierced side, I will NEVER believe!” (John 20:24-25). Jesus provided ‘many infallible proofs‘ (Acts 1:3). And some of these ‘proofs‘ included: The empty tomb. The grave clothes left neatly folded up in the tomb (evidence that the body wasn’t stolen by grave robbers). Jesus’ appearance to Mary. His appearance to two disciples on the Road to Emmaus (Lk.24:13-35 His appearance to 10 of His disciples (Lk.24:36-48; John 20:19-23). His appearance to all 11 disciples, this time Thomas being present (John 20:26-28). As for us, we have not seen Jesus but we have believed. But Jesus spoke of us when He said to Thomas, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” (John 20:29). And that is you and me, if we have been blessed by God to have had our eyes opened, and our hearts and understanding opened. That is to say that we have been given a...
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Jesus did 3 things when He came to Jerusalem during Passion Week. 1) His Triumphant Entry (Matt.21:1-11). 2) His Cleansing of The Temple (Matt.21:12-17). 3) His Cursing of The Fig Tree (Matt.21:18-22). To watch the whole video of the service from Sunday 10th April, click on this link!
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It is very important to read verses in their context. If we don’t, we can come to the wrong conclusions. For instance, in the verses we looked at in this sermon, Matt.10:5-10, you could conclude that Jesus and His Gospel is not for Samaritans and Gentiles, but only for the lost sheep of the tribes of Israel. But this was a specific short-term missions trip, in which Jesus sent the twelve into Jewish homes, villages, towns and cities. They could expect good hospitality from their Jewish neighbours. But the crunch is that if these Jewish homes, towns, and cities rejected the messengers of Jesus, they would be held accountable. In fact Jesus made a shocking statement in v.15 where He said that it would be more tolerable for the lands of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgement, than for those Jewish places. After all, what witness did Sodom and Gomorrah have? ‘Sodom Had No Bible‘, and judgement fell upon them. These Jewish people had The Scriptures, the Preaching of The Apostles, and The Signs and Wonders that would accompany their ministry. So, if after all that, those people refused to take heed to the Gospel, then it would make sense that they would be held accountable to God and would receive a more severe judgement. In our day though, we have homes that all have at least one Bible. People have received the witness of the Gospel, and are really without any excuse. If you’d like to catch the service from this morning, just click on this link!
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We only looked at Matt.10:1-4 at Jesus’ commissioning of The Twelve Apostles. I think that a big mistake is made when people open up their Bible and see bits that they like and think to themselves, “Oh, that sounds good, I think I’ll have that!” Well, they might read Matt.10:1 and think to themselves, “Jesus gave us power and authority over all the devils and over all sickness and all disease. I claim that too!” I would like to ask those same people if they see their name listed in the following verses, which is a very specific list. This text is a commissioning, but it is not The Great Commission, which you won’t find until Matt.28:18-20. Therefore, not one of us qualify. Even the Apostle Paul would not have qualified. When Judas betrayed the Lord (Matt.10:4), and took his own life, the early church met together and discussed how they would have to replace Judas with someone who met the conditions set out (See Acts 1:12-26). They chose Mattias to replace Judas. When James was likely beheaded, in Acts 12:1-2, there was never any suggestion that he needed to be replaced. And amongst the Early Church Fathers, i.e., those who were disciples of The Twelve Apostles, there was never one that claimed to be an Apostle or to be even in the same category as The Twelve, or an Apostle like Paul. However today we do have people claiming to be Apostles and Prophets, of the same calibre as The Twelve or like Paul. They base this assumption on Eph.4:11-13 and Eph.2:19-22, saying that Jesus has set Apostles and Prophets in the church for all time! They also want to be in authority over churches and individuals, claiming often to have received extra-Biblical revelation from God. The Church on the whole has a problem with this, since The Foundations have already been laid, and don’t need to be relaid. And if we want a solid word from and Apostle or Prophet, all we would have...
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In this last section of Matt.9:27-31 we have the account of two blind men (perhaps for Matthew to affirm every event with 2 or 3 witnesses, according to Deut.19:15; 2 Cor.13:1), who followed after Jesus, calling or crying out, “Son of David, have mercy on us!” And of course they were seeking “pity” from the one that they perceived, though not with natural vision, as “The Messiah“! It is very important to comprehend who the Christ or Messiah is. When Jesus asked the Pharisees who they thought “The Messiah was?” they replied that He would be “The Son of David” (See Matt.22:41-46). In fact they were 100% sure of this. But Jesus quizzed them by quoting Ps.110:1, saying basically, “Well how is that, since the Scripture says, “The LORD said to my Lord sit at My right hand”? Surely David would not be calling his son, “Lord” – so Jesus wanted them to explain it. But they could not. Now then, here is something wonderful – these two blind men saw what the religious leaders could not see – That Jesus was both Lord and Christ. You need to know that when the Hebrew text reads “LORD” in all CAPS, that this means that the original word is the Tetragrammaton, whereas when the text reads “Lord” in LOWER CASE, it is reference to The Sovereign Lord. These two blind men not only perceived that Jesus was Lord and The Son of David, but they also recognised Him as the one that is Merciful and Full of Compassion (See Ex.33:19; Rom.9:15; Ps.103:1-10, 17; 136), and that in the Messianic age, there would be healings such as those Messianic prophecies foretold (Is.29:18; 35:5-6; 61:1-2a). Well, Jesus didn’t immediately give them sight, but waited until He got them indoors until He asked them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” (Matt.9:28) Was He calling the...
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Here is a double miracle. It is possible to differentiate between these two miracles, but at the same time, they do run into each other. First you have Jairus’ a ruler of the synagogue, whose only daughter is lying at the point of death. He begs and worships Jesus, and procures Jesus to come quickly to his home to lay hands on his daughter for healing. But then you have an interruption. A woman who has had an issue or fountain of blood or a hemorrhage for 12 years, came up in the crowds that were thronging Jesus, in the hopes of “stealing a blessing” and sneaking away back into the crowd. But Jesus caught her and she was healed on the spot. Eventually Jesus and His disciples and Jairus made up back to Jairus’ house, where in the meantime, his 12 year old daughter had died. Was it too late? No! Actually Jesus proclaimed that the girl was not dead but sleeping. And all Jesus had to do was awaken her, just like her mother would do in the morning to call her daughter for her breakfast. The same applied to every believer. We will not all sleep. But those who do have hope in the resurrection at the end of the ages (See 1 Cor.15:18-20; 1 Thess.4:13-18). Why? Well, because Jesus is The Resurrection and The Life (John 11:25). If you’d like to watch the video of the whole church service, just click on this link!
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This sermon covers Matthew 9:9-17 and includes the calling of Matthew, the feast he put on in honour of the Lord, and how Jesus answered the complaints of the scribes and Pharisees, and the disciples of John the Baptist. And then how it was time to leave the old ways of the old religion of Judaism for the New Life that Jesus offers. The two are incompatible with each other, just as it has been said, “Christianity is not just a patched up Judaism!” It is so much different! If you would like to watch the full church service from Sunday 6th March, you can click here which will take you straight to Youtube.
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A great healing took place in Matt.9:1-8, but Matthew only gives us the bare details. For the full account we need to read from Mark 2:1-12 and Luke 5:17-26, where we learn that 4 men brought their paralytic friend to the house in which Jesus was ministering, and where he was preaching or teaching the word, and where the power of the Lord was present to heal them. But rather than going straight to the point and healing the paralysed man, Jesus, the Great Physician went to the root cause of all our problems: sin! Jesus declared the man’s sins “Forgiven“! That would have been the best thing ever, but Jesus knew that everyone was thinking to themselves that “talk is cheap”, and that unless people saw evidence, they would never know whether Jesus words had any authority to them or not. So what did Jesus do next? He then told the paralysed man to arise and get up and pick up his mattress and go! Which he did immediately! Of course, the religious leaders who were sitting by were not too happy when they heard Jesus declare the man’s sins forgiven, and even accused Him of blasphemy, since only God can forgive sins. In this they assumed that Jesus was not God, and it is true that anyone who presumes to forgive sins is blaspheming, whether that be a bishop or any priest – God alone forgives sins. But Jesus is God-Incarnate and He did both Forgive the man his sins and Raised him up. Amidst all this was one of the best statements Jesus ever made, and He made it so that those listening would know that He the Son of Man has the power / authority on the earth, right there and then, to forgive sins. Why? Because He is none other...
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As we conclude Matthew 8 today we can look back over it and see Christ’s authority over sickness, disease, the forces of nature (when He calmed the storm), and now His power over demons. We have also seen that the two aspects of Christ’s nature can be seen in this chapter: both His humanity and His deity. In this last section Matthew reports the story of the freeing of two men who were demon-possessed, whereas in the accounts of Mark and Luke, we are only told of one man who was demon-possessed. Perhaps one man was more prominent than the other and Matthew focused his attention on his story, and that Matthew likes to make sure that there are two or three witnesses to his accounts. We often hear those involved in “deliverance ministry” tell stories about how they have to determine the number of demons and the names of those demons before they can actually “cast them out” of someone. There doesn’t seem to be much in the way of evidence to support this. What we do see is Jesus speaking to the man and asking his name. But then just as the man begins to speak, another voice, that of some demon, speaks up and says that his name is “Legion, for we are many” (Mk.5:9; Lk.8:30). Its almost as if those in deliverance ministry would have the oppressed to “Count your demons, name them one by one!” We aren’t actually told how many devils indwelt this man or these men. A Legion could be 5000 men plus 120 cavalry, or 6000 men, depending on what commentary you read. Many assume there is 2000 in a Legion because there were about 2000 swine in the nearby fields (See Mk.5:13). Matthew records that the locals, who most likely were Gentiles, weren’t happy with the destruction of their herd of...
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Jesus could easily draw crowds with His miracles, and He could easily have many “followers”! But what about true disciples? In vv.18-22 we see two “would-be” disciples of Jesus, who probably had not counted the cost. The first, unusually, was a certain “scribe”, who seems to have been a bit too eager to follow Jesus. If we compare the parallel account in Lk.9:57-62, we see that there were then two others who wanted to follow Jesus. But amazingly, both of them said, “Lord, let me first…” Shouldn’t Jesus, the one they called,”Lord,” have been first? The second incident in this section of Matthew is that of Jesus and His disciples crossing the Lake and encountering a storm (vv.23-27), and we related how scared they all were, except for Jesus who was asleep in the stern of the boat. There are some amazing parallels with the story of Jonah, and how he was running from the LORD and got into a boat, attempted to flee, and the LORD sent a storm into the sea. The sailors were all panicking and very frightened, just like Jesus’ disciples. But Jonah told them to throw him into the sea. They did and immediately the storm was calmed. Jesus’ disciples didn’t have to throw Jesus into the sea (or lake) but He demonstrated His deity in that He simply rebuked the raging sea and the storm. Likewise the wrath of God rages against the sinner. He turns to his idols, like the sailors in Jonah’s story (See Jonah 1).But the more they did that the worse the storm became. False religion doesn’t make things easier, or help us, nor is it a crutch as the atheists claim. But Jesus demonstrating His glory that day, was more frightening to Jesus’ disciples than that storm. And likewise, Jesus was thrown into the storm of...
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In this section of Matthew 8 we see plenty of miracles. First the cleansing of a leper, then the healing by the word of Jesus to the Centurion concerning his servant, and finally, the healing of Peter’s mother-in-law. Then once the Sabbath was over, hordes of sick and demon-possessed people turned up at the door of the house where Jesus was staying, and Jesus healed them all. In this, Matthew saw the fulfilment of Isa.53:4! To watch the video of this sermon, click on this link!
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From this section of Matt.7:13-29 we notice Jesus speaking words that are more challenging to whoever may be listening, speaking to them of two ways! There is one way that leads to destruction, and the other way, the more difficult way, is the narrow way that leads to life (vv.13-14). See also Jer.21:8 and Prov.16:25. Then Jesus warned about false prophets (vv.15-20), and could it be that these would be people who would act like sheep but who were actually wolves in sheep’s clothing, who would lead people down the wrong way, the path that leads to destruction? They may have “fruit” to show for themselves, but the question is, what kind of fruit do they produce? Do they produce true or false converts, as they promise them “their best life now”, in order to fill the pews of their churches (See also Paul’s warning in Acts 20:28-30). On the final day, the day of judgement, it will be Jesus who will say to many, “I NEVER knew you, depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!” These false teachers have played a part in people’s lives, building on foundations of sand rather than on the solid rock foundation of the teachings of the apostles and prophets (See Eph.2:20). Ultimately Jesus is our judge, and what we did with His words, that will determine whether we hear the words, “Well done Good and Faithful servant”, or “Depart from Me, I NEVER knew you!” To watch our full service from Sunday 23rd January 2022, and this sermon, just click here!
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This chapter starts with one of the best known verses in the Bible: “Judge not, that you be not judged.” What did Jesus mean by this? Are we known as people who judge and condemn one another? Are we never to exercise any judgement? What about making the judgement call on who is a a dog or a swine (Matt.7:6)? It is unfortunate that over the last couple of years Christians have been divided over the whole COVID issue with one side judging and even slandering others on how they should have behaved. What a sad reflection on Christians who are supposed to live life to a higher standard of righteousness than others (See Matt.5:20). Also in this section we learn about the need to be persistent in prayer. And that we are to live by “The Golden Rule”, which fulfils all that is contained within The Law and The Prophets. To watch the video of the whole church service, just click on this link!
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A few mini sermons from Jesus’ Sermon On The Mount! From vv.19-34, Jesus gave His disciples some mini-sermons on how they were to live. Followers of Jesus aren’t to be so focused on the possessions they have in this life, based on worry, and not based on faith in their Heavenly Father. To conclude this section, Jesus commanded His disciples not to worry, but trust in God’s Providence! To watch the video of this sermon click on this link, that will open up Youtube. Please subscribe!
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Three areas in which religious people tend to show their “spirituality”: Charitable Deeds, Prayer, and Fasting! But these are three areas that can be abused or misused for the purpose of drawing attention to ourselves. To watch this sermon on Youtube, click on this link! And please subscribe to our Youtube channel.
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You can have the best laid out plans ever, but that is no guarantee of success. The reason is that God alone knows the future. You may “prophesy” or “confess” or “say” all the so-called “right things” and yet not see things work out the way “you planned” them to. We are really supposed to summit all our plans to the Lord who knows our future. To watch the Youtube video of this sermon given on St. Stephen’s Day or “Boxing Day”, just click on this link!
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From Genesis to Malachi God had spoken through the prophets of the Coming One, The Anointed One, The Messiah. From Gen.3:15 Satan knew that he was cruising for a bruising. He didn’t know exactly when, where, how, or who this prophesy would be fulfilled. Ultimately Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil and free those were had been in bondage their whole lives, through fear of death. Jesus accomplished this in His death and resurrection, but the fact is that the moment that baby was conceived (perhaps around December) as far as prophesy is concerned, it was as good as done! If you would like to watch the video of this sermon in Youtube, click this link!
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In this message we cover 3 more of the ‘You have heard it said…but I say to you’ statements of Jesus from His “Sermon on The Mount” (Matthew 5:33-48). Are Christians forbidden to swear oaths, or did Jesus mean that we should be known as people of our word? Are we to retaliate “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth”, or are we to “turn the other cheek”? And are we only to love those that love us, or are we to go the second mile even for those who are our enemies? What did Jesus mean by saying, “Be perfect just as your Father in Heaven is perfect?” Can we expect “perfection” in this life? Lots of this is covered in this message. There was a problem with the video camera today, so quite a bit of that was lost. However, if you want to try to watch it on Youtube, click on this link!
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In Matthew 5 from vv.21-48, Jesus gave us 6 “You have heard that it was said…but I say unto you”, statements. In this sermon we cover the first 3 of these, concerning Murder, Adultery, and Divorce. The rabbis had touched on the basic meaning of these commands or sayings, whereas Jesus shows that God even looks to the heart and the motivations behind these sayings, as He basically expounds upon His meaning of a righteousness that is much greater than that of the Scribes and Pharisees (See Matt.5:20). If you would like to watch this sermon in its video format on Youtube, click on this link!
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In Matt.5:17-20 Jesus spoke of how rather than coming to demolish or destroy the Law and the Prophets, He would fulfill what was expected under the Law, and to fulfill all the Messianic prophecies. However some have been teaching that since we are ‘no longer under the law but are under grace’ (Rom.6:14), that that therefore means that the law plays no further role for us as Christians. But is this true? Check out www.livingwaters.com and find out about The Way of The Master evangelism training course. Did you know that ‘The Law of the LORD is perfect converting the soul‘? (Ps.19:7). Did you know that Paul would not have known of the sin in his life had it not been for the law (Rom.7:7-13). Paul actually taught Timothy that there is a proper use for the law, and a misuse of the law.The misuse of the law leads to Legalism or Antinomianism, whereas a proper use of the law is that the law acts as our tutor to bring us or point us to Christ (Gal.3:24). If you would like to watch this sermon in its video format, just click on this link! And please subscribe to our channel.
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This sermon is based on Jesus’ “Sermon on The Mount”, which can be found in both Matt.5:1ff and Lk.6:17ff. There are some differences between the two accounts. To be “blessed” is to to be one of those who the Lord has blessed or whose understanding and heart God has opened to the Truth. Bearing all this in mind, Christians can expect persecution, as we are the salt of the earth and the light of the world. We can’t be hiding our light but need to be distinctive as a witness to the world. If you’d like to watch this sermon in its video format, click on this link.
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Straight after Jesus time of testing in the wilderness that we saw in Matt.4 Part 1, Jesus returned in the power of the Holy Spirit and ministered in the synagogue in Nazareth (See Luke 4). He was rejected there and went to live and minister elsewhere. He came in fact in predominantly Gentile areas of Israel, and was a Light to those in the darkness. He called four fishermen to follow Him, and then began His ministry of healing and deliverance. It could be said that Jesus’ ministry was 3 Fold Teaching Preaching Healing the sick and casting out demons See (Matt.4:24-25). To watch this sermon on Youtube, click on this link!
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Straight away after Jesus was baptised, and the Spirit descended upon Him, and God (the Father) spoke to Him confirming Him as His Beloved Son, the same Holy Spirit “drove” (See Mark 1:12) Jesus into the wilderness to “test” Him. So that experience that Jesus had, concerning His Sonship, had to be tested and proved, and the means that God used was the devil. Jesus overcame and passed all His tests with flying colours, and would be ready to go and carry on a different style and type of ministry. We must remember that the primary weapon that Jesus used against the devil was ‘The Written Word of God’ (See Matt.4:4, 7, 10). Likewise we also need to know that Word so that when we are faced with various temptations, tests, and trials (See James 1:2-3), we can overcome! If you would like to watch this sermon on Youtube, just click on this link!
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Its been 504 years since Reformation Day! The Reformers wanted to bring Reform to the church of their day, because it was obvious that something was wrong. There was an over emphasis on church and papal authority, wherein the church was its own police force. The Reformers on the other hand saw the need for Scripture Alone as the basis for what the church teaches and as the measuring stick to gauge when the church starts to lose its shape and direction. The church all through the ages should remember this because if Scripture Alone is not sufficient to show us what the truth is that it is to uphold, then inevitably some other form of authority will take its place. Some in today’s churches believe in Sola Exclesia, or The Church Alone, is all that we need, whereas on the other end of the pendulum we have people who effectively reject Sola Exclesia and Sola Scriptura, and prefer Sola Spiritu, which really means that they claim that they are led by the Spirit. This becomes highly subjective, and that person becomes their own police man! We need Sola Scriptura, the unchanging Word of God to make sure that we as individuals and the church on the whole doesn’t get off track again. From Sola Scriptura we learn that Salvation is through Christ Alone, and that a person IS SAVED (though some well respected Bible Teachers unfortunately deny that we can KNOW that we are saved), by Grace Alone through Faith Alone. This will result in that God Alone will receive all the glory! See Rom.11:33-36. And until next year…keep reforming, informing, and transforming! For the video of this sermon, just click on this link!Sorry about the loss of video feed at a couple of parts of the sermon.
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It was one thing seeing the people of the land, or the common people responding to John’s baptism, but what did John make of the religious leaders coming out to him? Well, rather than embrace them with open arms, he was scathing towards them, using language such as, “You brood of vipers” (charming language)! Their reasons for coming to his baptism were only to investigate him and his theology and practice. Next came one who was sinless, blameless, and certainly one who didn’t need baptism nor the forgiveness of sins – Jesus! Obviously John saw the inadequacy of his own water baptism in comparison to the Baptism with the Holy Spirit and Fire that Jesus could give. Water baptism could only symbolise washing and cleansing outwardly, whereas Christ’s baptism would bring real inward washing and cleansing, and John wanted that! In the last part of this chapter we see a clear view or presentation of The Trinity, as The Father speaks from heaven, to the Son in the water, and the Holy Spirit descending and resting on Jesus. This is immediately followed by an open heaven and the voice of God the Father declaring His love for God the Son, and giving Him the Spirit to fulfil prophesy and prepare Him for ministry. If you would like to watch the video version of this sermon on Youtube, click on this link! And don’t forget to subscribe to our Youtube channel. Thanks!
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How is it that it was prophesied that Elijah must come first before the great and terrible day of the LORD (See Malachi 4:4-6)? How and in what way is John the Baptist the Elijah that the Scriptures foretold? There had been a silence of 400 years since the last prophet, Malachi spoke, until the beginning of the ministry of John the Baptist. John was sent to get the people ready for the coming of the Kingdom of Heaven. What on earth would attract masses of crowds of people to John preaching the unpopular message of repentance, in the middle of the wilderness? Clearly it is the LORD who draws people by His Spirit, bringing them to rebirth, repentance and faith. Those who came to John to be baptised confessed their sins, as a sign that they were entering into the new community of faith, people ready to meet their Lord.
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In this section we see the wise men on the road again because of a divine dream they had had (Matt.2:12), and then we see Joseph being warned by an angel in another dream (v.13), that told him to go in the middle of the night to Egypt. This may seem unusual except that it was known as a place of refuge from Roman dominance, and approximately 1 Million Jews lived in the city of Alexandria, so that the family was never entirely alone there. Obviously Herod flew into a rage when he realised he had been “hoodwinked” or “tricked” or “deceived” by these “wise guys”. But these guys weren’t so much wise in not returning to Herod, they were simply obeying what the Lord told them in their dream. Matthew loves to point out how Jesus fulfils prophesy, and quotes several incidents in which Old Testament texts have a deeper and greater fulfilment in Christ. I.e. Hosea 11:1; Jer.31:15-7. To watch the video of this sermon on our Youtube channel, click on this link, and don’t forget to subscribe to the channel, that would really help. God Bless.
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This first part of Matthew 2 should be familiar to us, as we have heard it read and acted out at countless school or church nativity plays. But there is so much more detail to be found in the text. God is actively drawing both Jews and Gentiles to Jesus, as He will save His people from their sins (Matt.1:21), and they will come and worship Him. If you would like to watch the sermon on Youtube, click on this link!
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This is the second part of Matthew 1. Not only is Joseph commanded to name “his son” JESUS and take Mary home to be his wife, but we are told that a prophecy is being fulfilled from Isaiah 7:14. Joseph will name “his son” JESUS, but the people will call Him “Immanuel” which means, “God With Us!” Jesus has come to “Save HIS PEOPLE from their sins” (Matt.1:21), but a big question is, “Who are HIS PEOPLE?” If we say, Israel, then what does that say about everyone else who is non Jewish? Won’t He save us from our sins? Therefore, this open-ended statement no doubt actually refers to all of God’s Elect, whether they be Jew or Gentile! If you’d like to watch the Youtube video of this sermon, just click on this link!
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We realise that reading a list of genealogies isn’t that interesting to most of us, unless we are big into history and family trees. But for Matthew, he felt the need to demonstrate the historicity of the Lord Jesus Christ. Matthew traced Jesus lineage all the way back to David, and even further back to Abraham. In today’s sermon we only covered vv.1-17, and no doubt may have to come back to these verses. But, this message will help as a springboard into the rest of what Matthew has to say in the rest of his Gospel. To watch this sermon in its video format, click on this link!
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Whatever circumstances that we face in life as a Christian, we can be confident because “we know” that all thingswork together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose (See Rom.8:28). Today we briefly considered the life of Joseph and how although his own brothers plotted evil against him, God was at the same time meaning or planning it for good (See Gen.50:20). Later we saw that the events that unfolded in the Life and Death and Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ were what He had foretold, and were also fulfilling ‘the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God‘ (See Acts 2:22-24), which was ‘what God’s hand and purpose determined before to be done‘ (See Acts 4:23-31). This was no accident. Joseph’s life was no accident. You’re life as a believer is no accident. God is Sovereignly in control of every circumstance. As the great theologian R.C. Sproul would often say, “There is not a single maverick molecule in the universe that outside of God’s Sovereign control!” Therefore we can have confidence in prayer and be believing that God is working all things out in order to fulfil His purpose. We need to fit into God’s purpose in order to find our purpose. To watch this sermon in its video format, click on this link to Youtube!
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We weren’t expecting another Psalm today, but we were able to squeeze one more into the series. Commentators are unsure as to the circumstances of David writing this “Michtam”, but there are at least two possibilities: David was facing an incurable or deadly disease that had attacked his flesh. Therefore he speaks of God being the one who will keep him safe. He also says his flesh has hope, and that the LORD will show him the path to life or the way to life, or the way back to health (v.11a). David was prophesying concerning one of his descendants down the line, who in fact is the Lord Jesus Christ. The Holy One would then be Christ. This is attested to by Peter in his first ever recorded sermon, on the Day of Pentecost, where he quoted Ps.16:9-11 in Acts 2:22-33. Then also Paul quoted Psalm 16:9-11 in one of his sermons recorded in Acts 13:34-39. In the last verse David speaks of joy in the presence of the LORD and pleasures forevermore. Some see this as a present reality, as if they are experiencing all that right now. Others see it as the glories that await the children or God, the true believers, in the place that Jesus went to prepare for them (See John 14:1-4; 1 Cor.2:9). Well the context of Psalm 16:9-11 is expounded on in the NT in Acts 2:22-33; 13:34-39, and we are told that David is dead and buried and that these verses were a prophesy about Christ. Also, some people think that the OT saints had no concept of resurrection or life after death. But these verses clearly show otherwise, and in that case surely David was not speaking of present realities but what he could look forward to in the resurrection. If you click this link, it will take you to this sermon in Youtube! Don’t...
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In this Psalm David asks a couple of question in v.1, which he takes the rest of the Psalm to answer. Actually when David asked, “LORD, who may abide in Your tabernacle? Who may dwell in Your holy hill?” he was referring to some of the earthly dwelling places of God, and ultimately to God’s heavenly abode. But who can dwell or abide there? David then lists a few of the things that would be required of such a person (See vv.2-5b), and which are basic requirements for living as an Israelite under the Law of Moses as found in the Books of Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy. Then in the New Testament you discover that Jesus spoke of a higher standard (See Matt.5:17-20). We can’t measure up, but we do have the very righteousness of Christ that has been given to us who have believed. David says that a person who lives as described in Ps.15:2-5b, will not be shaken (Ps.15:5c). If you would like to watch the video of the sermon, just click on this link!
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Brother John Moriarty shared the word of God with us this morning, on the important subject of Giving Thanks! John’s key texts was 1 Thessalonians 5:12-22, and especially v.18. To watch the sermon in its original video format, just click on this link right here!
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How many times have you come across people who say, “There is no God!” ? We have met them especially when doing street evangelism. But why do people deny the existence of God? we believe that Ps.14:1 reveals the answer. It is because they are corrupt and love their sinful lives! Of course we were all once like that, as was the whole earth in the days of Noah (See Gen.6:5, 11-12), and yet in the midst of it all we read that Noah found or obtained Grace from the LORD (Gen.6:8). We have every reason to be glad and rejoice for the great deliverance from captivity that the LORD has brought to us (See Ps.14:7; Ps.126). If you would like to watch the video of this sermon, you can click on this link.
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Have you ever wondered why prayers are taking so long to be answered? Ever wondered why you can’t sense the presence of the LORD? David did. He asked 4 times in Ps.13:1-2 “How long?” But by the end of this short psalm, in vv.5-6 he ends on a brighter note: “But I have trusted in Your mercy; my heart shall rejoice in Your salvation. I will sing to the LORD, because He has dealt bountifully with me.” If David could say that under the Old Covenant, how much more should we be able to sing and rejoice in the great mercy that has been shown us (See Eph.2:4-7; Titus 3:4-7. Again, if you’d like to watch the video of this sermon on Youtube, just click this link!
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Look around you today and maybe like David you’ll be concerned because of a lack of godly men and women, and a scarcity of the faithful! Where have they gone? Have they disappeared? Maybe we just need to come forth and let our light shine in the midst of this darkened world. Yes we are held or kept and preserved by the power of God (See Psalm 12:7; John 10:26-30), but whilst we are still in this world, we need to share our blessed hope with others who have no hope! To watch this sermon in its video format, just click on this link!
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In this Psalm David’s friends or close advisors appear to be giving him the advise to run, because the enemy is about to attack. But David has stated that he has put his trust in the LORD (v.1). David asked a very important question in v.3, saying, “If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?” We see the foundations of our society and the Biblical principles upon which our societies are built, under constant attack. We need to remain confident in the LORD and His righteousness, since He is working out His purposes, which include the fact that ‘we know that all things are working together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called, according to His purpose” (Rom.8:28). If you would like to watch the video of this sermon, just click on the link!
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This is “Part 2” of Psalms 9-10, and we pointed out that they are one Psalm in the Hebrew Bible. The first half (Psalm 9) speaks of God’s Judgements on The Nations, whereas the second half (Psalm 10) speaks of God’s Judgements in general. The bottom line reason why wicked people do the things they do is that they don’t think or have convinced themselves that they will never be held accountable for the way they have lived. Some verses from Luke 12:16-21and Heb.4:12-13 might sober such people up. David’s King, and our King Jesus, will rule and reign for ever and ever (See Ps.10:16), and under His rule and reign there will be no more sorrow or oppression any more. As always, if you’d like to watch this sermon on Youtube, just click on this link!
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Psalm 9 and Psalm 10 have been divided into two separate Psalms in our Bibles, whereas in the Hebrew Bible, they are both part of one Psalm. This is demonstrated by the fact that they are written in acrostic format (i.e.using each letter of the Hebrew alphabet to start each section using 22 letters, but if taken separately we would only have half of the acrostic complete). The focus however of Psalm 9 is that in it David speaks about God’s judgements on the nations, whereas perhaps Psalm 10 is more of a generalisation. God has judged nations and some of them don’t exist anymore. However, there will also be a final Judgement Day (See Rev.20:11-15), in which all the wicked and those who conveniently forget God (See Ps.9:17), will be ‘turned into hell’. Again, if you would like to watch this sermon on Youtube, just click on the link!
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This Psalm starts and finishes with the phrase, ‘O LORD, our Lord, how excellent is Your name in all the earth!’ Therefore we know that David was thanking and praising God from start to finish. And yet, this Psalm also highlights what God’s original intent for man was. But unfortunately, as we know, man has sinned and has fallen short of the glory of God (See Rom.3:23). So in this Psalm, as we follow how it is quoted in the New Testament, we’ll see how Jesus has come to earth as the perfect man, to represent man, to rescue man, and to save man, so that God will get all the glory! If you would like to watch this sermon in its original video format, just click on this Youtube link!
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According to the superscript of this Psalm, it was a meditation of David, which he sang to the LORD because of or concerning the words of Cush, a Benjamite. We aren’t told who this was but we know that Saul was of the tribe of Benjamin, and was always hounding David. Some commentators think that the person referred to was an officer of Saul’s army who was troubling David. Anyway, as Christians we can identify with the tactics of the enemy and pray that God will bring justice to the wicked and vindicate the righteous. He will do that ultimately on the day of judgement (See Rev.19:11-21), and also in our daily battles, we know that the LORD is fighting for us. If you would like to watch this sermon in its video format, click on this link to connect to Youtube!
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This Psalm has been referred to as a prayer for healing or restoration. It is also included as one of the penitential psalms, which include Ps.32; 38; 51; 102; 130; & 143, although this Psalm doesn’t contain any clear reference to or an acknowledgement of any sin. And yet David feels as if the LORD may be rebuking or chastising him. David speaks about some sickness he has that effects him right to the bones, and in fact even further, right to the soul, and David thinks he is at the point of death and has waited so long for God to answer him. In fact David has been crying and crying so much that he has drenched his bed with his tears. Yet at the end of the Psalm, David believes that God has heard his prayer and brought shame upon his enemies. If you would like to watch this sermon in its video format, click on this link!
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Psalm 4 was an evening prayer, and this one, Psalm 5 is referred to as a morning prayer. David compared the righteous with the wicked. The wicked, and those who were David’s enemies could not stand in God’s Presence, whereas the only reason why David could come into God’s presence/God’s house, was because of God’s Merciful Kindness (Hesed) towards him. Some people will be surprised to learn that there are certain people who God hates (See vv.5-6). They’ll say, “Doesn’t God love each and every person unconditionally?” or “God loves the sinner but hates the sin!” Well, we have heard much about God’s love and what God loves, but I wonder will we hear much about what God hates? Of course if that was the case that God hates all sin and detests the wicked, there would be no hope for any of us. It has been said, “The Gospel is the story of how God saves us from Himself, and for Himself!” And these verses in Psalm 5 didn’t only apply to David’s enemies. The apostle Paul quoted them in Rom.3:9-18, where he pointed out the universality of man’s sinfulness, and how that ‘God declares the whole world guilty before Him‘ (See Rom.3:19-20). The good news of course is that God can declare us NOT GUILTY, as He JUSTIFIES US BY FAITH! (Rom.5:1-2). We have every reason to rejoice and ever shout for joy, and be joyful in the LORD in whose name we have come to trust.
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According to this Psalm, David is in distress. No specifics are given, and therefore many of us can relate this to times in our lives when we have also been distressed. This is also known as an evening prayer, and like Ps.3:5 David prays and then is able to go to sleep peacefully, knowing that the LORD will make him dwell safely. Maybe David could only deal with this when he had dealt with any anger that he had in his heart. I hope this Psalm will encourage us and that there will be great or good or prosperous days ahead, especially as the LORD Himself smiles upon us. If you would like to watch this video in Youtube, just click on this link!
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On this Pentecost Sunday, 2021 brother Larry O’Mahoney shared a message entitled simply, “Repent!” This was the message in 2 Chron. 7:14, and the message of John the Baptist in Matt.3:2, followed by the Lord Jesus Christ in Matt.4:17, and the apostle Paul in Acts 17:30, and by the apostle John writing concerning the Church at Ephesus in Rev.2 It is therefore a timeless message, and as we see in the apostle Peter’s message on The Day of Pentecost in Acts 2, repentance would be followed by the outpouring of the Gift of The Holy Spirit (See Acts 2:36-39). To watch this sermon in its video format, follow or click on this link!
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It never ceases to amaze me how many Christians open their Bibles and grab a verse or a promise and start applying it to their lives, or in some cases, use it as sermon material. Does context mean nothing? Well, if you agree that context is important, then you’ll want to take note of the superscript written in your Bible under the title: Psalm 3. It says, “A Psalm of David when he fled from Absolom his son”, which relates to the events found in 2 Sam.13-18, in which David’s son, Absolom lead a treasonous revolt against King David. David and his men found themselves on the run. But at some point it would appear that David stopped and prayed. He was so confident in God’s answer to his prayer that he could lie down and sleep, even though he was surrounded by up to 10,000 enemies! We perhaps can identify with some of this, or we may simply feel as if our enemies have increased. Perhaps they have mocked you concerning your prayers, saying, “God won’t answer your prayer!” Ultimately Christ would come, and would be surrounded by many, many enemies. But He went to the cross, because of the joy that was set before Him (Heb.12:2-3). To watch this sermon in its video format, click on this link to Youtube!
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This is a great Psalm and one that is often quoted in the New Testament as referring to Christ. What is it that makes the nations and kings and rulers so mad? Why do they feel so held by God’s cords or chains? Why do they want to break free? How do these things apply to David and how do they find their ultimate fulfilment in The Messiah, The Anointed One, The Christ. Find out in this message. Then follow the advice that the LORD gives through David in vv.10-12: Be Wise Be Instructed Serve The LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling Kiss The Son Put your trust in Him Will you do that and avoid God’s wrath? Whose side are you on? The side of The LORD and His Anointed, or those in opposition? To watch the Youtube video of this sermon, click on this link!
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Once we finished preaching and studying through the Book of Job, people were asking, “What is next after Job?” Well, naturally if they know their Bible they will know that The Psalms come after Job. It is not our intention to start a series on The Psalms, but we might squeeze a few of them in before we embark upon our next series, whatever that may be. But those Psalms nevertheless can be put into a series of their own. So today we looked at Psalm 1. I had memorised this Psalm as a young believer, but I hadn’t realised until I had completed all my studies in Psalms, that in fact Psalm 1 sets the tone for the rest of the Psalms. This is because it speaks of two paths, and two types of people: The righteous and The ungodly. And this theme is elaborated upon in all the Psalms that follow. The righteous truly are blessed, and happy (regardless of what translation you use), and the reasons are given in vv.1-3. Then we also see the opposite – the path of the wicked and that they are on the road to destruction and that in the end they shall perish (vv.4-6). The thing is – how can one become “the righteous“? Is it by keeping all the laws? No, since that would be self-righteousness. And yet Abraham and David both discovered a righteousness that was received by faith, which meant they were “made righteous” or “justified” in the eyes of God (See Rom.4:1-8; 10:1-4), not based on their own personal merits, but by “faith alone” (See Rom.5:1). The Good News or Gospel is that though we were all once “ungodly” and headed for destruction, ‘God loved the world so much that He gave His one and only son, that the ones believing in Him would NOT PERISH but have EVERLASTING LIFE (See John 3:16-21). Is God...
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We started this series in Job on the 31st May 2020, and have finished it on the last Sunday of April, 2021. So that’s under a year, and we should include the fact that there were other speakers who preached from time to time. However, many Bible Commentators believe that Job’s experience from start to finish may have taken less than a year. It’s just good that we all don’t have to go through the same kind of suffering that Job had. Does God heal Job in the end? That isn’t specifically stated. But we do know that he lived for a further 120 years and enjoyed life to the full. So one could presume that Job must have recovered. He was fully restored in all the other areas of his life.
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Today we went into a little bit more detail on Job 40:15-24, and described ‘the behemoth‘ as a Monster or Large Beast of the land or earth, and then followed that with Job 41 with its description of ‘Leviathan‘ the beast from the sea! Isn’t it interesting that the Book of Revelation describes a Beast from the Sea and a Beast from the Earth (Rev.13), and a Dragon (Rev.12), both having some of the features of the beasts from Job 40-41. Again, if you’d like to watch the video of this sermon on Youtube, you can click on this link!
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We are coming towards the end of the Book of Job and there are some clues in this chapter that reveal what is at the core of the message and theology of the whole book. Today, we read the whole chapter, though the second part of Job 40 seems to be a completely different subject, and should be the first part of a section from Job 40:15-24 and Job 41:1-34. So we’ll hopefully cover them both next time. At any rate, Job has come to the place where he feels he can say nothing or say no more back to the LORD. And the point of the first section (vv.1-14) seems to be God saying, “If you think you could do I better job Job, how would you do it? As for the homework assignment – what do you think is ‘the behemoth‘? (Job 40:15-24). If you would like to watch this sermon in its video format, you can watch it on Youtube by clicking on this link!
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It is one thing simply accepting the fact that a man called Jesus of Nazareth lived 2000 years ago and died by crucifixion by the hands of the Romans. But once you start adding to that some other bits of information, such as the reason why He died, and who He said He was, and what He is supposed to have done, you have entered then into another zone: Theology. When Paul wrote 1 Cor.15:1-8, he wasn’t just giving us a snapshot of a person living 2000 years ago who was known for His teaching and so-called miracles. Paul spoke of Christ as the one fulfilling the scriptures and that He died ‘for our sins‘ according to the Scriptures. And we saw in the message on Palm Sunday that Jesus had predicted the things that would happen to Him when He and His disciples would go up to Jerusalem (See Matt.16:21; 17:22-23; 20:17-19). If we focus on Matt.20:17-19 we will see 5 things that Jesus said would happen, and we can follow these in detail to their fulfilment. But Jesus not only spoke of His betrayal, and being handed over to the religious authorities, and that they would condemn Him to death, but that in turn they would deliver Him over to the Gentiles, and the Gentiles would mock Him, scourge Him, and crucify Him. But wait, there is more! All that came to pass…would not His final prediction come to pass too? Could Jesus pull-off the greatest “stunt” of all by rising from the dead? That He certainly did, as we see, as we go through A LOT OF SCRIPTURE in this message! If you would like to watch the sermon on Youtube, you can click on this link!
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We took a couple of weeks break from Job as it was Palm Sunday and Easter is next week. In this message from Matt.21:1-22 we looked at the events leading up to and the events that took place when Jesus went up to Jerusalem for the final week leading to His Passion. These events include: His Triumphant Entry (Matt.21:1-11). His Cleansing of The Temple (Matt.21:12-17). His Cursing of The Fig Tree (Matt.21:18-22). Let us not think for one moment that Jesus did not know what would befall Him as He “entered the lion’s den”, since He had foretold to His disciples, not only that He would be betrayed, that he would suffer, be handed over to the Gentiles, and condemned to death, to be scourged, and crucified, but that He was also rise again the third day (See Matt.16:21-23; 17:22-23; 20:17-19). Knowing what was ahead of Him, He endured the cross, despising its shame (See Heb.12:2). If you’d like to watch the video of this sermon on Youtube, just click on this link!
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Into the wild we go! Now don’t you think it would be good to know something about how wild animals know what to do? You’d think Job was on “The Chase” or “Mastermind” or “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire”, with the kinds of questions that the LORD is asking him. The point seems to be that each animal, whether the wild mountain goats or deer, the wild donkeys or ostrich, or the wild ox , or the horse in battle, or the birds of prey, they all have something in-build or built into them by their creator. I’d love to know what the evolutionist would say if asked these questions! But man has something built into him too, since he is made in the image and likeness of God (See Gen.1:26-27). And yet he is also corrupted, fallen in his nature, so that he does things that go against what he knows he should be doing. But God will deliver creation, starting with man, into glorious liberty! See (Romans 8:18-25). If you would like to watch the video of this sermon on Youtube, then just click on this link!
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Today on Mothering Sunday or Mother’s Day, Ninfa brought a word of encouragement based on Philippians 4:1-8, with supporting Scriptures such as Proverbs 23:7 NKJV, Philippians 3:13; Isaiah 43:18-19; Romans 12:1-2; 2 Corinthians 10:5 If you would like to watch the video of this message on Youtube, you can do so by clicking on this link!
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Finally after all this time, God Himself speaks to Job. What will God say? Will He answer Job’s questions? Well in fact the LORD said that Job spoke in a manner that didn’t take into consideration His divine council (See Job 38:2 NASB and Berean). The LORD had Job to lift up his eyes to the heavens and consider how God organises His creation in the areas of Geology, Geography, Cosmology, Meteorology, and every other find of “-ology”, before coming down to earth to talk about animal life, and God’s care of each and every creature. Hopefully the idea is that if God so cares for the lions, and ravens, will He not show as much or greater care for you? See (Matt.6:25-27; 10:27-31). If you’d like to watch this sermon in its video format, clicking this link will take you to it on Youtube!
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In this chapter Elihu finally wraps up his argument and prepares the way for the LORD Himself to come and speak. However before that, Elihu does make some very interesting comments about the weather (vv.1-13). We may wonder if the weather has a mind of its own, or if things happen just by chance. Well in this chapter we are told that God actually controls it and may use all different types of weather to fulfil His purposes. See especially v.12. I wonder how many would agree with the statement made by R.C. Sproul: “There is not a single maverick molecule in this universe that is outside of the Sovereign control of God!”? In this chapter, Elihu says that God may send certain weather conditions: (Weather) Whether for correction (the rod), or for His land, or for Mercy! (v.13). After the description of God coming in what appears to be judgement (vv.1-13), we read of God coming in golden splendour (v.22). The best thing we can do is fear Him (v.24), as all the wise of heart do! If you would like to watch the Youtube video of this sermon, just click this link!
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In this chapter Elihu speaks ‘a little more’ words that he believes come straight from God. He seems to be quite full of himself, and may even be referring to himself when he says, “One who is perfect in knowledge is with you” (v.4). In this chapter Elihu describes God’s dealings with the wicked and the righteous, and their different responses to those dealings. God wants the wicked to turn from their wicked ways, and He wants the righteous to find out why He allowed them to go through tough times. The idea seems to be that Elihu believes that God is testing Job in order to bring him to repentance. If you’d like to watch the video of this sermon on Youtube, then click here!
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Another speech from Elihu, but this time he seems to be contradicting himself on what he had said previously. Is God untouched by human sin? Does right living affect God? Is God Transcendant or Immanent, or is He both? Find out in this short 16 verse chapter, with a few extra supporting scriptures thrown in to back them up. If you’d prefer to watch the video of the sermon on Youtube, then just click on this link!
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Elihu makes several points in this “sermon”, but mostly focuses on the Justice of God. It is absolutely true that God Alone Is Good, and that God is the Ultimate Judge and shows perfect justice to all who will come under His Judgement. But whilst focusing on the Justice of God, Elihu has missed something, and there are some things about the ways of God’s dealing that we don’t understand. In this “sermon” it sounds like Elihu is constantly seeking the approval of all who are within earshot of his words, hoping to get them on his side against Job. Probably the most bazaar of Elihu’s comments is his wish that Job were ‘tried to the limit‘ or ‘to the max‘ (v.36)! Does he not think that Job has been through enough yet? Perhaps you’d prefer to watch this sermon on Youtube. If so, click on this link!
The post Job 34 – God Is A Just God, So Just Accept That! appeared first on Living Rock Church.
In Job 32 Elihu was just getting warmed up. In this “evangelistic sermon” Elihu, describes how God can can speak to people through dreams and visions, or through sickness (which is a controversial point), in order to bring them back from the brink of destruction. It would seem that Elihu thinks that this is what Job needs to hear and that he is the messenger that God has sent to deliver the message to Job. His motivations may have been right, as he says he desired ‘to justify‘ Job (v.32). Perhaps it was a good message, but once again, aimed at the wrong person. If you would prefer to watch this sermon on Youtube, you can click here!
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In this chapter we are introduced for the first time to a new character named Elihu. He says he has been listening attentively from the very beginning of the discussion between Job and his three friends (See vv.10-14). He is fuming with wrath because he feels that the three friends have not done a very convincing job at condemning Job. So he makes a few opening remarks about respect for the elderly and their wisdom, but also wants to point out that wisdom doesn’t necessarily come with age. In fact he seems to believe he can do a much better job at condemning Job than them. Not only that but he is bursting to share his opinion. He mentions ‘my opinion‘ three times, and although he says he doesn’t know how to flatter anyone, he seems to flatter himself. Also he is convinced that he has the Spirit of God in him, and simply must share his opinion or else he is going to burst! If you want to watch the Youtube version of the sermon, just click on this link!
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In this chapter we learn a lot about the kind of life Job lived, and how he was able to live a righteous life before the LORD. Clearly Job feared God and His Judgements, and that comes through a number of times in this chapter. In fact the key words that keep appearing in this chapter are “IF” and “THEN” as Job argues his case and says, “IF I have done these things, these wrong things, these sinful things, THEN I deserve all that comes upon me!” But at the end of this chapter, as v.40 says, these are the end of Job’s words, or at least for the moment. So the whole chapter is Job making his final case hoping for “a hearing” before God, so that he can be finally vindicated and shown to be righteous. If you prefer to watch this video on Youtube, you can follow this link!
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In the previous chapter (Job 29) Job focused on his past. The words “But now” or “And now” appear in this chapter at vv.1, 9, 16, showing that Job is ‘Now‘ focused on his present circumstances, that have gone from him being respected to him now being made fun of by the dregs of society. Job has known prosperity, but now its is all ‘gone with the wind’ (See v.15), or evaporated like a cloud. Job was learning what it was like to be content in either abundance or lack, just as Paul spoke about in Phil.4:11-13. There is much we can learn from this chapter, including that even though we may have done good for others in the past, they may never repay us. But we look to God as our source and not to men. To watch the Youtube video of the sermon click here! Just bear in mind that the video camera was acting up during this recording for a few minutes.
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As we embark upon 2021 we find that although we want to be positive and hopeful for the future, the way forward is uncertain. In Job 29, rather than looking forward, Job thinks back on his past and the good old days. We get tremendous insight into the kind of person Job was from this chapter. Although it might appear to be a backward glance, the way forward is to look to our Captain and King, the Lord Jesus Christ. See Heb.12:1-2. If you’d like to watch this sermon in video format, click on this link!
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After all the debates and discussions and sermons between Job and his three friends we find a chapter on Wisdom that is like an interlude before the next book continues. Commentators tell us that this is like a stand-alone chapter in Job, yet it doesn’t take away from the story in any way but rather adds some great insights, especially concerning ancient mining and refining practices. In fact whilst reading through the list of precious commodities in vv.1-19 I was reminded of one of our favourite family board games: The Settlers of Catan. Plus we had played the computer game together: The Age of Empires, and knew that there was a lot involved in production from the basics such as food, stone, wood, gold, etc. Men will go to great depths just to find rare and precious jewels and minerals. I was also reminded of “Raiders of the Lost Ark”, and “Journey to the Centre of the Earth”, whilst reading through this chapter. But as precious as those things are that men excavate from the earth, or that grows on it, how much effort has been put in to the search for wisdom? According to Job, and his words parallel things we read in the Book of Proverbs (raising the question as to which came first and if one writer borrowed from the other), about how the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom (See Prov.1:7 etc). There is natural and supernatural wisdom (See Jas. 3:13-18), but truly the greatest wisdom is what God reveals to us about Himself (See Matt.11:25-27; 16:13-17). And Jesus told His disciples that Eternal Life was to know God the Father and Jesus whom He has sent (John 17:3). According to Paul, ‘Christ is the wisdom of God’ (1 Cor.1:24), and that is who wise men really need to...
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This morning brother Larry O’Mahoney brought us the Christmas message, and with it the song, “O Beautiful Star of Bethlehem”, that speaks about the real treasure, the real “Star”, who is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. This message is also available in video format, by clicking on this link!
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After all this time, Job still holds fast to his righteousness and integrity, whilst making some good comparisons between the righteous and the wicked. To view this sermon in its video format, click this link
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In Job 25 we have the last of Job’s three friends to speak, and it is a short ‘poem’ by Bildad. He and his friends seem to have run out of steam. But what is interesting about Bildad’s final speech is that he starts with a high view of God and works his way down to man, who is no more than a maggot and a worm (Job 25:6). In Job 26, Job begins by answering Bildad’s questions (Job 25:4), with 6 questions of his own (Job 26:1-4). But the final question, “And whose spirit came from you?” is quite revealing. If read in other translations, we are left with the question, “What spirit spoke through you to me?”(v.4). This reminds us of Jesus’ rebuke to His disciples in Lk.9:55, and to Peter, in Matt.16:21-23, where Jesus had to say to Peter, “Get behind Me Satan…” So we need to be aware that sometimes even Christians can speak things from the wrong source and could be an instrument of Satan if we are not careful. Then Job begins with death and the underworld (vv.5-6), and works his way up to the heavens. He speaks of God’s great power in creation, in the sky and in the sea. We need to be aware that vv.12-13 speak of the mythical sea monster “Rahab” in some translations, something that would have caused great fear to the people of the ANE (Ancient Near East). But the good news is that God has defeated all the ‘so-called’ monsters of the deep! Finally v.14 tells us that what Job has described are ‘the mere edges of His ways, and how small a whisper we hear of Him!’ That is to say in our modern vernacular, “You ain’t seen nothing yet!” So, Job has had enough of the arguments of the last 22 chapters, and has heard all the human...
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In this chapter Job lists many social injustices, and asks whether God does anything about them. This is no doubt in response to his friends arguments in which they insisted that the wicked always get God’s justice, seemingly instantly in this life. But Job disagrees, and asks where is the evidence of this. He certainly wishes that this would be the case.Job believes he has presented an air-tight argument. There are also many social injustices today all around us. This has led to some “christian ministries” switching their focus from spiritual welfare to social welfare, to the point that in some cases they don’t allow those on their teams to actively share the Gospel with those in need. Instead they are to try to help the person in all other ways, but say, “We don’t believe in shoving the Gospel down people’s throats!” Wow! Is that what they think street preachers do when we share the Gospel! What they must realise is that some of those people they are ministering to may not have tomorrow, as our times are in God’s hands (See Job 24:1; Ps.31:15; Lk.12:16-21). To watch this sermon in its video form, just follow this link!
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In this chapter we could have made it into a 3 point sermon by Job. Job wants to come before God and His seat of Judgement and present his case. He believes that God will tell him exactly how He sees him, and that God would take notice of him, and hear him fairly. There are a few textual problems, especially with vv.2, 5, which come out better in the NIV, HCSB, and NLT. As Job searches for God, he also realises that God is “testing” him. Though God doesn’t tempt any man (See Jas.1:12-15), He does “test” believers (See 1 Pet.1:6-9). Job firmly believed that once this test was over, that he would come forth as gold. In the last section (vv.13-17), Job shows that he has a good theology about God. He says, “But He is unique, and who can make Him change” (v.17), which reveals God is unique having certain incommunicable attributes, such as that God alone is Eternal, Immutable, Omnipotent, Omniscient, and Omnipresent. Then Job goes further, as he says, “And whatever His soul desires, that He does“, which confirms the doctrine of the Sovereignty of God (See also Ps.115:3; 135:6).And what perhaps frightens Job is the fact that God is working out His plans for Job (See Job 23:14 in the NIV and NLT). This doctrine of the Sovereignty of God freaks some people out, because they have such a high view of “the sovereignty of man” and the belief that man’s will is totally free, and God would never violate or go against “man’s free will” – Really? It might be worth studying that from cover to cover of the Bible, and see how often you can find verses that speak of “man’s sovereign free will”! If you would like to watch the sermon on Youtube, follow or click this link!
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In this chapter we hear from Eliphaz the Temanite once again. This time his sermon is in response to Job’s last sermon (Job 21). He questions the reason that Job claims to fear God. But of course he doesn’t have all the facts, like we do, from God’s own commentary in Job 1:1, 8; 2:3, 9-10. He makes out as if Job says and believes that God is so far removed from life on earth that He would not see the things that men do. But nowhere has Job ever said this. In fact, far from it, since Job believes that God watches him continually (See Job 7:19), and of course we also know from those references in Job 1:1, 8; 2:3, 9-10 that God does indeed take notice and holds Job up as an example of a God-fearing, righteous, man of integrity. Eliphaz fires a load of accusations against Job in vv.4-11, which Job will later challenge in Job 31. No doubt Eliphaz is like a well-meaning evangelist, but who has misdiagnosed his listeners – i.e. Job! However, Eliphaz, in his appeal of vv.21-30 makes around TEN POINTS that are encouraging: Get acquainted with God – then you will be at peace, and good will come to you! Receive instruction from God, i.e., by means of His words (See Prov.4:2-23). Return, in repentance, deal with your iniquity, and you will be built up. Lay aside earthly interests and goals, i.e. your gold! And let God be your treasure instead! Delight yourself in the LORD, He will lift up your countenance! You can make your prayer to Him and be sure of being heard; give thanks and pay vows! You will decree* or decide (NIV) a thing! Choose to do a thing and be able to carry it out. Light will shine on your ways! The believers walk in the light...
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This is the halfway point in the Book of Job and in this chapter Job responds particularly to the last message or sermon by Zophar in the previous chapter. If you recall, Zophar believed that the wicked always get what is coming to them in swift judgement. Here, Job asks, “Really, is that so?” Job describes the wicked as seemingly doing quite well and living to an old age surrounded with their children, and even apparently enjoying the “blessings” of Deut.28:1-4, rather than the curses of Deut.28:15-68. The fact is that rich and poor, wicked or righteous, all end up buried in the same ground (they may even be lying there side-by-side), and eaten by the same worms! But that is not the end, since Job believes that there will be a “Dooms Day”, the Day of God’s Wrath – a Day that has been set aside for Judgement. To finish off the chapter, Job asks how the empty words of his friends could possibly be of any encouragement to him. Thanks be to God however, we find comfort in the Scriptures and the Hope of the Gospel, which goes well beyond the grave! If you would prefer to watch this sermon on Youtube, then just click on this link!
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There are many believers who are not informed about the events of the 1517 Reformation, and could care less. They probably don’t know much about church history and how doctrinally deformed things had become – so much so that the Way of Salvation was not clear, and had rather shifted to something that was so far from what the Bible actually teaches. Then on October 31st 1517 an Augustinian monk by the name of Martin Luther, lit the fuse that would set Germany and much of Europe on fire with the truths of Justification and the true Gospel. From that Reformation, came the catchphrase, “Post Tenebras Lux“, which is Latin for “After Darkness Light”, as many old truths were rediscovered. In this message we will take a look at The Five Solas that defined The Reformed position: Sola Scriptura – Scripture Alone Solus Christus – Christ Alone Sola Gratia – Grace Aone Sola Fide – Faith Alone Soli Deo Gloria – To God Alone Be [the] Glory. If you would like to watch the video of this sermon on Youtube, you can click right here!
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We can tell from the opening verses of Job 20 that Zophar has been affected by what he heard Job say in the previous chapter (Job 19). So now we hear the second and last of Zophar’s speeches, only this time he gives a sermon on the Judgement of the wicked. As you go through Zophar’s sermon you’ll notice a lot of generalisations concerning the kinds of things that befall the wicked. But we have to stop him every once in a while and ask, “Really? Is that always the case?” Zophar seems to think that swift judgement always comes upon the wicked, and assumes that Job is under God’s judgement. But the big question then has got to be – ‘Why then is Job’s “judgement” lingering on so long?’ And another question would be, ‘So is it only the wicked who experience misfortunes in life?’ Zophar clearly has missed something, and perhaps a quote from Hab.3:2 would have helped. There we read, “O LORD, I have heard your speech and was afraid; O LORD, revive Your work in the midst of the years! In the midst of the years make it known, in wrath remember mercy.” We are taught in the New Testament that God will be Merciful on whomever He will have mercy, and that He will have compassion on whomever He will have compassion (Rom.9:15). We certainly shouldn’t presume that we will find mercy (See 2 Tim.2:25), because the ability to repent is something that only God can grant. There is true and false repentance, as seen in the cases of Esau and Judas Iscariot (Heb.12:16-17; Matt.27:3), and the believers at Corinth (2 Cor.7:10-11). And the natural man, the unregenerate, and without the Holy Spirit in his life – can do nothing that is pleasing to God, such as even coming to genuine...
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This was a great chapter emphasising Job’s high moments and low moments. By the end of this chapter you’ll see Job had had it all and lost it all, but he has absolute trust that his Redeemer will come and rescue him. Thank God that Job’s wishes that his word and the words of this story were recorded. If you want to see the video of this message, just click here
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This chapter presents us with a mini sermon given by Bildad to Job. It would have been a great sermon if only it was directed at the right audience. But unfortunately Bildad sees Job as ‘the wicked’ and proceeds accordingly, and although he makes some generalisations, much of what he is saying is clearly directed at Job.We can learn from this sermon that there is a way to speak to certain people. It has been said that, “Soft words produce hard hearts, and hard words produce soft hearts” (Mark Driscoll), and that it is inappropriate to preach about the grace and love of God to the heart-hearted and rebellious and proud, since ‘God resists the proud but grace to the humble’ (See Prov.3:34; Jas.4:6). So why do some preachers ‘give grace to the humble’, when God Himself is opposed to this? See also Isa.26:10. Some of the people we talk to, including militant atheists, think that they have great ‘counsel’ or are so wise with their arguments. They may lay traps for the person witnessing, but if a believer has done a course in apologetics and knows how to challenge views such as relativism, those arguments can be demolished. This actually is the point of 2 Cor.10:4-5. We need to call wicked sinners to repentance. Unfortunately, though some preachers may say they believe in repentance, they will water-down the meaning of repentance to something that they often quote from Thayer’s Bible Dictionary. Did you know that Thayer gives 2 definitions concerning repentance. 1) To change the mind. 2) To change one’s mind in respect to sin, God, and self. To turn to God and from sin.Now how come that these preachers or believers, only quote the first part of the definition? It is almost as if they are doing their level best to...
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What can we learn from Romans 8:28 which says, ‘And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose’ (NIV)? Well in this sermon, Eric Nugent shares 5 takeaways, that happen to begin with the letter ‘C‘ for us to remember: Certainty, Completeness, Cause, Condition, Consequences. And in fact we need to see the link in the text all the way from Rom.8:26-39, which includes the fact that the Purpose of the things that God is working for our Good, is ultimately for His Glory, and that means our being Conformed into the image of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ (Rom.8:29). If you’d like to watch the video of this sermon on YouTube, click here:
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Job 16 and Job 17 are both part of the same dialogue between Job and his friends, and prayer between Job and God! It would sound as if Job has come to the end of his rope, and yet by the end of this chapter, Job still talks about hope, even beyond the grave. Once again, like we saw in Job 16 there is someone else that the descriptions given could be referring to, and its like Job is a prophet speaking about Christ.If you were asked, “What comes to mind when you think of Job?” how would you answer? A lot of people, if they know anything about the Book of Job or the Biblical character, will answer, “An example of suffering!” And although that is true, in the letter of James, we are told that Job is the prime example of perseverance or patience (See James 5:11). Now then, what comes to mind when the same question is asked of you concerning the Lord Jesus Christ? Actually, Job said that he had become a byword and one that people had sang songs about (See Job 17:6; 30:9). But though that is true of Job, there has not been a name under heaven that has been more abused and used as a swear word, or a curse word, more so, and undeservingly, than that of the Lord Jesus! We never read in Job that people spat in his face or punched him, and yet the one that Job foreshadows, the Lord Jesus, received punches and men spat in His face (See Job 17:6-9; Matt.26:67-68; 27:41-43), all of which is really a fulfilment of Isa.53. If you would like to watch this sermon on Youtube, follow this link:
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Most believers will be aware that there are texts in the Old Testament that speak figuratively or prophetically about the coming Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. Usually they will cite Psalm 22 or Isaiah 53 as the most obvious. Which they are! But I wonder how many would turn to Job 16? Yes, Job suffered terribly. But how can the reader miss the quite obvious fact that ‘a greater than Job’ is also being referred to! As you listen to the descriptions Job gives, particularly in vv.9-14, and vv.15-17, I think you might recognise things spoken there that don’t seem to line up or match the experience of Job, but would be more fitting to the person of Jesus Christ. On the cross Jesus bore the fullness of the fury of God’s wrath, and Job describes his experience as, ‘He breaks me with wound upon wound; He runs at me like a warrior’. We could put this down to Job’s ignorance of what was actually happening, and that it wasn’t God at all that was attacking him but rather [the] Satan (Job 1-2). But there is also the possibility that he is describing someone else who would face the fullness of God’s wrath, and like Job, this person was innocent. I think this refers to none other than Jesus who suffered, like we see in Ps.22 and Isa.53, just as it was prophesied about Him (See Ps.2:1-2; Acts 2:22-24; 4:23-28; Lk. 24:25-27; Heb.2:10). All this to make the Way to the Father open to His people who trust in Him and Him alone (See Jn.14:6).
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So far in Job we have heard from Job and his three friends at least once. That was the end of “Round 1” and then for three chapters (Job 12, 13, & 14) we heard from Job as he prayed and spoke to his friends. So this chapter is the start of “Round 2”, and the first one of Job’s friends who spoke the last time (Job 4-5), known as Eliphaz the Temanite, who might as well have been named Eliphaz the Terminator, is the first to speak again. Maybe he thinks he will finish Job off this time. Sometimes believers who know that they stand Righteous before God, based solely upon the Righteousness of Christ, and not on any righteousness of our own, come across as arrogant or full of pride, if we make statements like, “I know I’m going to heaven”, or “I am a saint of God”, or even to say that we are Justified or Righteous. The religious mindset of the traditionalist thinks, “How dare you make such a statement? I would never declare that of myself! You are committing the sin of pride!” Well if we did declare ourselves to be righteous, they would be right – that would be the height of arrogance! But we aren’t doing that, all we are doing is believing God, taking God at His Word, and believing what God has said of us (See Rom.5:1; 8:33; Gal.2:16). Eliphaz represents the mindset of the traditional religious person. He sees no good in man and man could never become righteous (Job 15:14-16). He speaks of Job as if he was amongst the wicked, that Job’s secret sins are what have brought all his troubles upon him (vv.17-35). This chapter reminds us that the attacks against Job did not end in Job 1 with the...
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This is the third chapter of Job’s response to his friends so far, in which he takes us on a roller-coaster of a ride with his times of great hopefulness and other times of despair. There are many wonderful truths that come out in this chapter, including the concepts that Job sees in nature. For anyone who feels that they are unproductive, that they are dying inside, that all is lost, we are reminded that even a chopped down tree can send out its roots and ‘at the scent of water it will bring forth branches like a plant’ (v.9). There is great hope even for the believers who have died because they will live again, and change will come, such as when there is a new heavens and a new earth (Rev.21:1). The believers have “Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow, blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside”, because of God’s Great Faithfulness! Thanks be to God that we have hope in this life and the life to come, whereas there are sadly many who live and die without hope (See 1 Thess.4:13-14; Eph.2:11-12). In fact not only will God restore and bring back to life those believers who have died (See 1 Cor.15:50-55; 1 Thess.4:15-18), but God has promised to restore the earth and free it from the bondage it is under (Rom.8:20-23).
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This is the second chapter in Job’s response to his three friends, in which he does scold them a bit and even calls them ‘forgers of lies’ and told them, “You are all worthless physicians” (v.4). What Job wanted was an audience with the Almighty (v.3), and for his friends to listen in on his case (vv.6, 13-19). He also scolded his friends for the way they had wrongly spoken on God’s behalf (vv.7-12) and wonders how come they seem to have no fear of God. Then Job talks about taking this big risk of going before God with His case, knowing that He could die. He said, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him” (v.15), but was very confident of the outcome, since he went on to say, “See now, I have prepared my case, I know that I shall be vindicated” (v.18). In the final verses (vv.20-28) we have Job’s prayer in which he asks two things, although its hard to know exactly what he has asked. One thing is that God would not remove His hand from off Job’s life, and the other seems to be a request that God would reveal exactly what sins Job is supposed to have committed. In conclusion we see Job talking about human frailty, which will continue into the next chapter!
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Here in this chapter we see Job begin to answer his critics. First he points out that he is not stupid or an empty-headed dumb ass (See Job 11:12) nor inferior to any of his “wise” friends. Then Job lets them know that he feels mocked and ridiculed, much like many just and blameless people are despised by men, even though they are a lamp to help others. Jesus spoke of this principle also in Matt.5:11-12, and though Jesus is The Light of the World (Jn.8:12), He was despised and rejected by men (Isa.53:3). As the moon has no light of its own, but merely reflects the light of the sun, so likewise are we: we have no light of our own but reflect the light of the Son of God. We are to be salt and light in the midst of darkness (Matt.5:13-16). Even robbers and those who provoke God benefit from the Common Grace of God, in that He provides for them (See Matt.5:45). In vv.7-12Job says that we can ask the beasts, and they will teach you; and the birds of the air, and they will tell you; or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, and you can even go to school with the fish, to learn that God provides for all and the hand of the LORD has done this, in whose hand is the life of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind? We also need to learn to discern words with our ears, just as we taste food with our mouths, and become better discerning and more skilful with the Word of God (See Heb.5:12-14). Ultimately wisdom does not necessarily come with old age but rather with the fear of the LORD (See Prov.1:7; 9:10). God is ultimately in complete control! Some hate the idea of...
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This sermon was delivered to us by Cliff Dalton sharing on the importance of Spiritual Warfare! From the example of David and Goliath in 1 Sam.17, to the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, who entered the battle for souls, we see the importance of the Word and Prayer for every believer!
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Today’s sermon was given by Kenny McClatchey. We looked at Isaiah 6 and the prophet’s encounter with God. Isaiah had already been ministering for God but his ministry was going to be transformed after a fresh encounter with the almighty God. We all need to be encountering God afresh…..and He has made a way for us in Christ to do so.
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This chapter will mark “The End of Round One”, since Job and all three of Job’s friends will have spoken at least once, with the friends concluding that God alone knows that there must be some secret sin in Job’s life, and that if only he will repent everything will be bright and wonderful! Unfortunately whilst Zophar does say some true things, he accused Job of stating, “My doctrine is pure and I am clean in Your eyes” (v.4), although there is no record of Job ever having claimed this. But we can learn from this that although it should be our aim to get our doctrine right, it is important that our lives reflect what we believe. This is why “Orthodoxy must lead to Orthopraxy!” Zophar also hoped that God would speak. But isn’t that what a lot of people would like to claim – that God told them this or that, which then simply becomes a subjective feeling. Would you rather go on what you felt God said, or what someone told you God told them to tell you, or with something more solid, such as some divine word. By the way, the last words the Greek Philiospher Plato, said were, “All the wisdom of this world is but a tiny raft upon which we must set sail when we leave this earth. If only there was a firmer foundation upon which to sail, perhaps some divine word.” And yet here we believers are with God’s Word in our hands or on our phones or computers – if only we would believe it! In the end, as we conclude Zophar’s counsel, though he does warn of judgement to come, he has misdiagnosed Job’s situation, since Job is not at fault (See Job 1:1; 2:3). But also he presents the wrong solution because he depicts turning to God in repentance as something that will result in the wonderful life...
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What a great follow on from Job 9. Yes we can stand righteous before God (Rom.5:1), but God has not finished with us yet. Job mentioned that he felt ‘oppressed‘ by God (See vv.1-7), and there was no way to escape or flee from God’s Presence (See Ps.139:7-12), and that once God has us in His hands, He will never let us go (See John 10:28-29). Vv.8-12 uses language very similar to Gen.2 and Ps.139:13-16 to describe God’s creation of man. And even though God had done such a wonderful job of making man, Job’s body was under attack (See Job 2:6-8; 7:5; 30:28, 30), and Job couldn’t see the point in this. In vv.13-17 which are quite hard to understand, and which Bible commentators struggle with, we see Job wondering how if he is righteous before God, as in Job 9:2, how he still feels disgrace. We know that fromHeb.4:12-16 believers can come boldly to the throne of grace. The problem is that many people, whether they be Word of Faith people, or Roman Catholics, seem to make little or no distinction between Justification and Sanctification. Therefore the one thinks he can never actually be ‘Justified‘ and the other thinks he is as ‘Sanctified‘ as he’ll ever be. However, though we have been Justified by faith (Rom.5:1), there is an ongoing work of the Holy Spirit in our lives called ‘Sanctification‘! (See 1 Thess.4:3; 1 Jn.1:8-2:1). And finally vv.18-22 are where we connect with the Gospel and with Christ. Job had talked similarly in Job 3, and here, about going from the womb to the grave, and people who would live all their lives in nothing but darkness. But thanks to texts such as Isa.9; Matt.4:12-17, and Jesus who is the Light of the World (Jn.8:12), we can come out of the darkness. Yes, He delivered and called us ‘out of darkness‘ (1 Pet.2:9-10; Eph.5:8), and takes the...
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Bildad the Shuhite (Job 8:1) was the second of Job’s three friends to give his “counsel” or “opinion” on what was the reason for all of Job’s suffering. He couldn’t wait for Job to shut up so that he could tell Job that he was nothing but a wind bag! What we see with Bildad is someone with a very black and white view of things. I.e., since God would never subvert judgement or pervert justice (See v.3), there is no way that the things that happened to Job would have happened unless there was sin in Job’s life that God was judging. This man Bildad is so blunt that he even told Job, “When your children sinned against Him, He gave them over to the penalty of their sin” (Job 8:4 NIV). This goes totally against what we read in Job 1-2, and besides that, Job had regularly prayed for his children (See Job 1:4-5). Next Bildad told Job that if he was really pure and upright that God would bless him (Job 8:5-7). We have previously seen that the first of Job’s friends and counsellors (and likely the eldest), Eliphaz, claimed to have had a supernatural experience that brought him a word from the LORD (See Job 4:12-21), whereas Bildad seems to appeal to ‘Tradition’ or what the ancients have said. Some traditions are good, and some not so good. Some religious traditions are good too (See 1 Cor.11:1-2; Mk.7:3-4). But we are warned against ‘old wives’ tales’ (1 Tim.4:7). What we really need is wisdom from the right source, such as mentioned in Jas.3:15-18. Then of course there are “street-wise” people! They may not have done well at school, but they can be smart and think fast on their feet! Bildad compares those that flourish in life with things that grow and that depend on water. Remember he has a very black and white view...
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Life can be fairly tough! Job described it like a workman’s shift. We feel tired, but at least there is our pay at the end of the day! Some people look forward to their retirement because they have worked hard all their lives and they hope to be able to take it easy in their latter years. In the Bible we are told that God placed a curse upon the earth that would mean that man would have to work and sweat all his life because of original sin (See Gen.3:17-19). That curse will be lifted some day (See Rom.8:18-22). On top of that, because all men sin, the scriptures tell us, ‘For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life’ (Rom.6:23). Do you look forward to these wages, or to the gift of God? Job also realised how short life is (See Job 7:7); that it is like a breath. These are the same expressions that James used in Jas.4:14. Perhaps James was thinking about Job. After all he was aware of Job and even mentioned Job later on in Jas.5:11. Again Job”prays” to God, wondering why God seems to want to subdue him like ‘the Sea’ or like ‘a sea monster’ (Job 7:11-12), and wonders why God scares him with dreams and terrifies him with visions. This wouldn’t be the first time that God has worked through visions and dreams in this way. See Abimelech in Gen.20:3, where God appeared to him and basically said, “You are a dead man…!” Today people talk about “Big Brother” always watching and surveying people. But that’s nothing compared to God watching every move we make and every step we take (the lyrics of a song by The Police)! Job asked, like the Psalmist in Psalm 8:4, ‘What is man…?” Why does God have such an interest in us human beings?...
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This is Job’s first response since we heard from him in Job 3. He admits that he has been ‘rash’ with his words, even though he did wait 7 days and 7 nights before speaking. But he now feels that he has to give a response to the counsel of Eliphaz from Job 4-5. Job reminded his “friends” that he wasn’t made of stone, that he was flesh and bone, and that he didn’t have the strength within himself to endure and hope for a good outcome, such as what Eliphaz had said was possible for the one who truly believed God (See Job 5:24-27). But he also said that he feels let down by his friends, and that, “To him who is afflicted, kindness should be shown by his friend” (See Job 6:14-23), and that his friends and brothers should be a source of refreshing to him. We were reminded of Prov.18:24 which says, ‘A man who has friends MUST himself be friendly‘, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother‘, and the question is asked, “What kind of a friend would you be? Are you one that is like a well of water or a river of life?” (See John 4:10, 13-14; 7:37-39), or are you like ‘clouds without water’, such as those mentioned in Jude v.12? When it comes to proving that we are righteous, we shouldn’t need to be looking to others for their opinion, like Job seems to be doing in vv.24-30. We can have great confidence by looking to Rom.8:33-34; 8:1, to see that once we have been ‘Justified‘, there is nobody and nothing that can reverse or overturn God’s verdict. And even if and when we do sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous (1 John 2:1). Therefore we can thank God that though the enemy will accuse and slander us (See Rev.12:10),...
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Today we began actually with the last verse of the third chapter, in which Job said, “I cannot relax! And I cannot settle! And I cannot rest! And agitation keeps coming back!” (Job 3:25 translated by Francis I Anderson in the Tyndale Old Testament Commentary on Job). As you may readily see, this translation is somewhat different from what you may read in the KJV, which is rather odd, or the NKJV. So we are left with Job in a state of agitation and weary. It is at this point that Eliphaz, who may have been the eldest, since he spoke up first from Job’s three friends. Job wasn’t asking Eliphaz particularly for his counsel, but Eliphaz was going to give it anyway! Eliphaz describes to us something about Job that we would not have known otherwise, and that was that Job had been one that those in need, the weak and the feeble had gone to for help, and he had helped. But then Eliphaz seems to be saying, “But Job, the shoe is now on the other foot! I wonder will you take a dose of your own medicine and see how you like it (vv.4-5). Then Eliphaz “sucker punches” Job with a challenge to his ‘reverence’ and ‘integrity’ (v.6). We may wonder at the theology of Eliphaz, maybe expecting it to be off! But in fact it would be hard to find any fault with it (cf. Gal.6:7; Hos. 10:13), even though much of it could be based on what he has seen, or observed, or wether it is based on a “supernatural manifestation” that he has had (See vv.7-11, 12-16). We are not told whether the “spirit” that appeared to him and spoke to him was of the LORD or was demonic, and so we need to be discerning (See 1 Jn.4:1-3; 1...
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It had been 7 days and 7 nights of silence as Job sat in the ashes with his three best friends (Job 2:13). Finally Job broke the silence! What would he say? Would he finally crack and curse God and die (See Job 2:9)? Did he curse God, his enemies, the weather, the disease, or his wife? No! Did he curse himself? No! He just lets off steam and curses the day of his birth, moaning that it would have been better that he had never even been born. The next best thing, Jobs thinks, would have been to have died at birth. And in the rest of the chapter (vv.11ff) Job asked a lot of “Why?” questions. We aren’t told that he was asking God, or his three friends. Perhaps he was just thinking out loud. The text of this chapter does give us some insight into the way the ancients thought about life after death – that there was a certain freedom from the things of this world. It isn’t until we come to the New Testament that we are informed that there is a place of comfort and another place or torment (See Lk. 16:19-31; Jn.11; Acts 17:30-31; Rev. 20:11-15). What was it that Job so greatly feared? We are told that Job said, ‘For the thing I greatly feared has come upon me, and what I dreaded has happened to me’ (v.25). Over the years I read books and heard sermons that left us with the impression that Job’s problems were caused by himself because he had “let his hedge down”, that he “opened the door to the devil through fear”, that “he had stopped operating in faith and was operating in fear”! Where in the text does it ever say any of that? Such Bible teachers have...
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In the last chapter, Satan thought that if Job lost all his possessions and those dear to him, that he would surely curse the LORD right to His face! And yet instead of that, Job worshipped the LORD. Now it is Round 2 or Chapter 2, and Satan says that a man would do anything to save his own skin and bones, or his own life (See Mk.8:34-38). So he is permitted to strike Job, which he does with painful boils from the sole of his feet to the crown of his head. We seem to hear ‘the hiss of the serpent’ speaking through Job’s wife, as she says, “Do you still hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die!” (Job 2:9). Job points out to his wife that she speaks like one of the foolish women speaks, because she couldn’t see that they should accept both GOOD from God AND ADVERSITY!I know that there are many in ‘the faith camp’ who would be screaming at this point saying, “No! Evil and trouble don’t come from God, that only comes from the devil!”Perhaps they have never read what the inspired, God-breathed Word says next: ‘IN ALL THIS JOB DID NOT SIN WITH HIS LIPS‘ (Job 2:10). Finally we read of Job’s three friends, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, who had heard of all the adversity that had come upon Job, and they came to just sit and mourn and comfort Job. Our takeaway from this is that there are times when we should just sit and say nothing to those in pain and suffering. They don’t need your opinion or advice but just that you would be there. And lastly, I wonder how many of us, facing even a tiny amount of what Job went through would have thrown in the towel and started cursing God or blaming this...
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Everything was going well for Job until all of a sudden he is hit with one bad report after another. The only reason why we know what was going on is because we get to see behind the scenes in vv.6-12, but Job didn’t have that insight. Any one of those events that took place in vv.13-19 would be enough to knock the life out of anyone. These were ‘apparently’ natural occurrences in the life of a person living in the Ancient Near East. There was always the danger of being attacked or robbed by bandits, of natural disasters etc. Job would not have assumed that Satan was behind any of this. We have the benefits of reading the story of Job (whereas Job didn’t) and we have Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, where in Eph.6:12 we are told that we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. That unseen spiritual realm is not only the place of the devil and spiritual hosts of evil but the place where God and angels dwell. It is also the place in which believers dwell (See Eph.2:1-6), even though we are still living here on this earth. When Job heard all these bad reports he responded in grief and mourning, and then he fell down and worshipped (v.20)! So no, he did not curse God to His face, but rather acknowledged that nothing happens except that which is permitted by the LORD. In the end of the chapter we read that Job went on to say, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return there. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD” (v.21). I know that there are...
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What do we do when things go from being great, blessed, and peaceful, to where the bottom falls out of our world? Was it not for such wonderful texts as Rom.8:28, which states, ‘And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose‘, we might be completely in the dark! The alternatives are ‘bad luck’, ‘karma’, or in the words of Richard Dawkins, ‘The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect IF THERE IS, at bottom, no evil, no good, nothing but blind pitiless indifference!’ – Not the most encouraging words to hear when tragedy strikes! The Bible however shows that God is fulfilling His Plans and Purposes, and it is about Him and the Power of His Word both in Creation and the upkeep and sustaining of His creation (See Gen.1; Ps.33:9; Heb.1:3; Isaiah 55:10-11; Ps.33:8-11). So when we “consider” the man called Job, found in the Book of Job, and how everything was going great for him (See Job 1:1-5), we would have no clue that some seriously bad stuff is about to happen. But between vv.6-12 we are given, as it were a peek behind the scenes into an unseen realm, and something that Job would never get to know about. We see “The Satan” or adversary coming to a meeting which was between God and ‘the sons of God’ (which some believe was between God and the angels, possibly in heaven, but we are never told who the sons of God are or the location of this meeting). Satan had been roaming around the earth (See Job 1:7; 1 Pet.5:8; Matt.12:43-45). The strangest thing is that the LORD draws Satan’s attention to His servant Job. We might say, “Now why did He have to go and do that?” Does that reveal that we have more fear of Satan...
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This is the 6th and last part of ‘The Model Prayer’ series, and today we looked at the last line as found in Matt.6:10 (NKJV), where it reads, “For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.” Amen. When we think of the kingdom we should think about who the King is who reigns as the ONLY Sovereign in the Universe, and look at Scriptures that speak of God’s Free Will. Unfortunately there are world-renowned Bible teachers who have stated that “the teaching of the Sovereignty of God is the worst doctrine in church today.” And this is most likely due to them presenting a straw-man argument based on the idea that such a Biblical doctrine as understood by some is that “everything is God’s will” and so therefore we sing, “Que sera sera, whatever will be will be.” But is that the Biblical Doctrine of the Sovereignty of God? What actually ends up happening is that those who oppose the Sovereignty of God exalt the “free will of man” as that which cannot be touched and that even God would never violate a man’s “free will”! Clearly those who oppose this doctrine have never read the story of Jonah found in the Bible, where quite clearly God can be very persuasive. Nor do they understand that man is bound in sin until he is regenerated (Born Again). Let me recommend two great books on this subject: ‘The Bondage of the Will’ by Martin Luther, and ‘The Freedom of the Will’ by Jonathan Edwards. For evidence of God’s Freedom to do as He pleases, see Ps.115:3 and Ps.33:8-11. This is in opposition to the “supposed” mighty “free-will” of unregenerate men, who show their anger at God’s Sovereign control of all things (Ps.2). God ALONE has total and complete authority as ‘The ONLY Potentate, the King of kings and Lord or...
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In this sermon we covered Matt.6:13 and Lk.11:4 which says, “And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one” (NKJV). However this is a discrepancy with the translations, with some omitting the last line, “…but deliver us from the evil one”, and some which have “…and deliver us from evil”, such as the KJV. This is because that last line is absent from several of the most important early witnesses, representing the text of Matthew in use in various parts of the church from the 2nd Century, which convinces most scholars that it was not in the original text (though in use very easy and over a wide area), and it is absent from all texts of Luke. In our desire to be led by the Holy Spirit, we can be sure that God would never lead us into temptation (See Jas.1:13-15). And if we are tempted, we should not think that there must be something seriously wrong with us, since even the Lord Jesus Christ, who is God manifested in the flesh, was tempted in all points, just like us (See Heb.4:15). This by the way creates a theological problem, since as we saw in Jas.1:13-15, God is not tempted with evil, and yet Jesus, the God-Man was. And Matt.4:1ff go so far as to say that Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness ‘to be tempted by the devil’! This discrepancy also can be solved by noting that the word ‘peirazo‘ translated in Matt.4:1, 3 in Matthew’s Gospel, always signifies ‘testing‘. In its 36 New Testament occurrences, it is only ‘tempting to do wrong‘ in 1 Cor.7:5 and Jas.1:13-14. For some other New Testament examples where the word means ‘test‘, see Jn.6:6 and 2 Cor.13:5. We are to be led by the Spirit (See Rom.8:14), and in the midst of temptations, tests, and trials (See Jas.1:3; 1 Pet.4:12), we can ask God for wisdom (Jas.1:5-8) so that we can...
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Today we covered line 4 of The Model Prayer wherein we ask for forgiveness from God our Father, but also are expected to forgive those who have sinned against us. But can we be sure that we are being genuine in our repentance if in fact the heart of man is so evil and deceitful (See Jer.17:9-10)? David knew this and even prayed that the LORD would create within him a clean heart (See Ps.51). And did you know that even after we have been Born Again, sin still keeps popping up. Let us not think that Christians do not sin (See 1 Jn.1:8), and that as Jesus taught, “From the heart proceed…” all these evil things…and its not just the unregenerate. We have been forgiven much, but also need to learn to forgive those who have sinned against us, such as Jesus taught in Matt. 18:21-35.
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In this third part of this series we take time to look at praying for our “daily bread”! Does this mean that the Lord has promised to provide only our bread, much like He provided for the Israelites in the wilderness for 40 years with manna from heaven? Well the fact that He also provided quail, and the Psalmist referred to this provision as ‘the bread of heaven ‘ (Ps. 105:40), would suggest that ‘bread’ is just another way of saying ‘food’. In the New Testament, the Lord Jesus Christ, when responding to the devil’s temptation to turn stones into bread, quoted from Deut.8:3 (See Matt.4:1-4). We may wonder Jesus why would refer to this passage (Deut.8:1-5). There may be at least three reasons: He knew He was being tested to see what was in His heart and whether or not He would obey the LORD’s commands. That man only lives at God’s command, as do all living things (See Heb.1:3; Acts 17:26-28; and Ps.104:24-30). Man is “staying alive” because of God’s Word! That Jesus was saying that we need spiritual food to sustain the inner man. I believe all these are true, but I am focusing mostly on the last reason. Jesus had food that His own disciples did not know about (John 4:32), and He wasn’t referring to a secret stash of food hidden in His backpack. He referred to the food of doing His Father’s will (vv.34ff). Later on in John’s Gospel, Jesus referred to Himself as ‘The Bread of Life’ that had come down from heaven, given by The Father (John 6:26-27, 32-33, 35, 41-42, 48, 50-51, 58), and yet also said that His Words were Spirit and they are Life (John 6:63). We who have been BORN AGAIN / REGENERATED start off our New Life in Christ ‘desiring the pure milk of the...
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Today we covered line two of ‘The Model Prayer’, which says, “Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt.6:10; Lk.11:2), and we talked about how both Government and Church are to be impacted by God’s kingdom and His will. We don’t have to agree with all that our government does or the policies they implement, but we are commanded to pray for them as a matter of importance (See 1 Tim.2:1-4; cf. Rom.13:1-7), and we are to pray that God will establish His kingdom and that His will be done in the churches, and that His Spirit dwells there (1 Cor.3:16-17; Eph.2:19-22). Even if some rulers try to reject God’s sovereignty, as seen in Ps.2, He has a way of showing them who rules (See Dan.4; Rom.9:14-26; Acts 17:25-28). God is drawing His elect from East and West (Matt.8:10-11) to the kingdom of God. But they need to be born again (Jn.3,5). When it comes to praying that God’s will be done on earth, we need to realise that we don’t know everything that is God’s will. He has kept some things secret (Deut.29:29). But there are some things that have been clearly revealed to us as God’s Will for us; such as those things spelled out for us in 1 Thess.4:3 and 1 Thess.5:18. On the point of our sanctification, please note how sanctification differs from justification. Justification is a monergistic work of God, that only happens one time, whereas sanctification is an ongoing work of the Holy Spirit in us and that we must play a part in, thus making it a synergistic work done by the Holy Spirit and us (See the example in 2 Tim.20-21). When we don’t know the will of God, we should remember Jas.4:13-17 that tells us that we should leave certain things to “if the Lord wills”. Even in prayer, we don’t know what we should pray for...
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The post The Model Prayer (AKA “The Lord’s Prayer”) – Part 2. appeared first on Living Rock Church.
This is part 1 in a new series based on ‘The Model Prayer’ (Lk.11:1-4; Matt.6:9-13). We will do a workout as we take this six line prayer and break it down into six parts. Most people could rhythm this prayer off in less than 20 seconds, and yet it is recorded that some of the giants of ‘The Faith’ spent hours in prayer. What was their secret? Did they go slowly, line upon line, through this prayer, dwelling on each part and thinking about what each phrase of each line meant? In this first part in the series we only consider the first line, “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name,” and consider how it is that anyone of us, who were of our father the devil (Jn.8:44) could ever be called children of God. This is only actually possible through Regeneration and Adoption. This in turn means that God Chose us before the world was made, and has drawn us to Himself.We are taken also to Ex.3 where God revealed Himself as יהוה which is translated as “I AM WHO I AM“, and transliterated as YHWH, but denoted in our Bibles as LORD (for a comparison between LORD and Lord see Ps.110:1). The idea seems to be that God is revealing Himself as the ONE and ONLY self-existent BEING, through whom all things owe their existence, and as Paul said in Acts 17:28, ‘…In Him we live and move and have our being.’ We only exist because of the ONE WHO HAS ALWAYS EXISTED, and there is NONE OTHER. And yet it is this ONE, the ONE true God that has brought about our Salvation. This is a work of The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit.
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This is the audio version of our Easter Sunday, or Resurrection Sunday message. In the live version we had a few technical issues and a text from Mark that I couldn’t find. Later I was able to edit the recording and fix a few things, though I doubt anyone was paying that much attention to detail. At the beginning I mentioned John Stott’s book, ‘The Cross of Christ”, and quoted what he said about Holman Hunt’s painting called, “The Shadow of Death” (The Cross of Christ, p.17). Then I quoted Mk.10:32-34; Jn.10:17-18; 19:10:11; Isa.50:6-7; Lk.9:51 and Isa.53. Next we went to some of Jesus’ words from the cross from Matt.27:45-46 and Jn.19:30. Then we went to an early prediction by Jesus of His death and resurrection found in Jn.2:13-22. All this was to show that nothing took Jesus by surprise, and that He was always in complete control, trusting in the Sovereignty of God in every detail of what happened in the events surrounding the cross. Well if all those details were true – the fact of His resurrection be just as true, and yet the disciples were slow of heart to believe, as was pointed out in Lk.24:1-49, in which Christ made several appearances after He was raised and expounded the Scriptures to His disciples, opening their minds and eyes, and opening the Scriptures to them. And then ultimately commissioning them to go and preach the Gospel. This Gospel was spelled out for us in 1 Cor.15:1-8, and in vv.12-19 Paul agues why it is absolutely essential that Christ rose from the dead, and that if that was not a fact then the whole ministry of preaching was a sham. The disciples preached and prayed with the view that all the things that had happened were the fulfilment of God’s Foreknowledge and Determined Purpose (See Acts 2:22-24; 4:27-28), and the fulfilment...
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This Episode is the last instalment of the Ephesians Series, covering vv.18-24. In the previous sermon we talked about the spiritual battle we are in and the armour of God. It is hard to split up the text between v.17 and v.18 where Paul spoke about prayer, and some teach that prayer is part of the whole armour of God. But one way of looking at it is that the armour is for our protection and therefore it is for our defence, whereas prayer is part of our offence! In fact some take “offence” at our prayers. Here Paul urged the need for us to pray for all the saints (not to “the Saints”), meaning those believers throughout the world who are suffering persecutions or hardships because of their faith. Then he includes his own need of prayer. But strangely, Paul does not ask that prayers be offered for his release from imprisonment! If we had been around at the time and knew of Paul’s situation and were asked to pray for him, no doubt we would “assume” that it is God’s will that he should be set free. That’s why we need the aid of the Holy Spirit in our prayers, something that Paul wrote about in Rom.8:26-27. Actually what Paul really wanted was the opportunity and the boldness to preach the Gospel wherever and whenever he would be given opportunity. He was being taken to the rotten core of the Roman Empire and hoped to speak even to the high ranking officials within Rome. He assured also his Philippian readers that the fact that he was in chains and in Rome were actually turning toward a favourable outcome for the Gospel and other believers were becoming bold themselves (See Phil.1:12-14). Even though he was in chains, Paul still saw himself as an Ambassador For Christ...
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“We are at war with an invisible enemy” – Now that might have come from the pen of the apostle Paul, as in Eph.6:12, but this was actually a quote from President Donald Trump in light of the recent Corona Virus Pandemic. It still amazes me that there are people who will say, “I don’t believe in things I can’t see!” And those are most likely people who are going around spreading germs and diseases. Yet if you asked them if germs and disease exist, they’d probably say that they do. Well how would you wrestle with a virus? How would you wrestle against a spiritual, unseen enemy? Conventional weapons are not going to do you much good. Thats why, in this section from Eph.6, Paul tells Christians to make a stand! However, I think it is very important that Christians don’t just take Scriptures “out of context” the way they usually do! So what I’m saying is, that the one who can make a stand is the one who first knows where he is seated. And then what about that Christian’s walk? Is that not important too? There will be countless “Christians” claiming the promises of Psalm 91, who quite frankly are holding a two-edged sword which is powerful, and can cause damage and hurt in the hands of one who doesn’t know how to use it properly! Let us follow Christ’s example, and resist the devil – because he will flee when we stand our ground (See James 4:7; 1 Pet.5:8-9).
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Paul continues in this chapter his “focus on the family, on the theme that he had began to write about in Eph.5:22-33, to husbands and wives. In this section he talks to children, parents (fathers), bondslaves and masters (or employers and employees). This is important because, “…whenever there is a breakup of family value, where there is disrespect and disobedience of parents, and authority, that society will not last long” (IVP Commentary on Ephesians). Also, as Dale put it, “Parents should care more about the loyalty of their children to Christ than for anything besides, more for this than for their health, their intellectual vigour and brilliance, their material prosperity, their social position, their exemption from great sorrows and great misfortunes.” There are always going to be the critics who say things like, “Paul supported slavery”, or “Why doesn’t the Bible say something against the slave trade?” They should read the little book of Philemon, in which a “former slave” had become a Christian, and returned home as “a brother in Christ”! Philemon would never look on Onesimus in the same way again! And the same goes for all employer/employee relationships, especially when both are Christians.
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The Outbreak of the COVID 19 Corona Virus has had a major impact on the whole world! Everywhere you go you’ll hear people talking about it, and about their fears, and the uncertainty of the future. Any plans we may have made are basically on hold, possibly for months to come. In this message Ninfa addresses those fears with Scripture head on!
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In this last section of Ephesians 5, Paul talked about the special relationship that exists between a husband and his wife, and points out that this actually is based on the foundation of Gen.2:23-24, and that ultimately it is the best illustration to use for God to show us the special relationship that exists between Christ and His Church. Note vv.25-27, ‘Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. Then in vv.32-33 Paul informs us that ‘This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.’ So we should be asking ourselves what is expected in a marriage, in the home, between a husband and his wife? What roles do they each have? And then see how marriage is patterned on the great love relationship that Christ has for His church! He nourishes and cherishes it (vv.28-29).
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In light of having been brought from death to life, from darkness to light, Christians should not be ‘sleepy’ or ‘sleeping’ amongst the dead (Eph.5:14; 2:1-3). But then what? Well we are to be careful how we walk, making the most of every opportunity (Eph.5:15-17) seeking to know what the will of the Lord is. But in addition to this we are ‘Not to be drunk with wine’ (v.18)! The Bible has both positive and negative things to say about wine, but the warning here is against drunkenness with intoxicating drinks. However, we are encouraged, ‘but be filled with the Spirit‘ (See Acts 2:4, 13ff; 4:31). This being ‘filled with the Spirit‘ should mean that we are overflowing with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs that come from a heart of thanksgiving! In fact we are told ‘giving thanks always for all things‘ to God the Father in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ’ (Eph.5:18-21). Some may wonder how we could do that, but those who have grasped Rom.8:28 have surely an understanding as to why we can. And lastly, note that living the Spirit-Filled life will result in our ability to submit to one another in the fear of God (v.21).
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We were not just in the dark spiritually, we were in fact “darkness”! That is until the Light of the Glorious Gospel shined into our darkened souls (See 2 Cor.4:5-6). Then God brought us out of the Darkness and into the Light (See Eph.4:17-19; Matt.4:14-17; Acts 26:18; Col.1:13-14; 1 Pet.2:9). There was also a time when the Light of the Gospel had been lost throughout what is called ‘The Dark Ages”, and therefore we have a lot to thank God for since The Reformation in 1517, which gave us the Restoration of the Gospel that had been lost! So, although we have no excuse today nor can anyone claim that no light is available. However it is a fact that you can be “Darkness” whilst surrounded by Light! Unfortunately one phrase that has been picked out and used out of context from this section is v.11. This text has been used as an excuse for Christians to have “have no fellowship with” anyone who they think hasn’t got all their doctrine ducks all in a row (and use that as the excuse for getting into a row with those they disagree with). The point of what Paul is saying here is that our lives are to shine so brightly that the light in us will shine on the ‘unfruitful works of darkness’ showing them up for what they actually are, and may bring conviction to the hearts of those who are still in bondage to sin. Therefore, as Paul says, “Awake, you who sleep, arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light”, or as the NIV says, “And Christ will shine on you!”
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This morning Larry O’Mahoney shared many examples of how the Fire of God is used in the Bible. Texts included Jer.20:9, Jn.15:3; Heb.1:7; Lk.24:32; Jn.8:12; 2 Pet.3:10ff; Matt.3:11-12; Deut.4:24; Isa.43:1-2; Dan.3; Ps.39:3; Lk.24:17ff; Isa.35:8; Lk.16.
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We aren’t called to be imitation Christians, but we are to ‘Be imitators of God as dear children’ (Eph.5:1). Now there’s a verse that has been taken out of context by those who think they can be God or gods, or be ‘like God’ (See Gen.3:4-5). Why can’t people read the verse in context, starting off with the obvious word, ‘Therefore‘, showing how Eph.5:1 is the continuation from Eph.4:32, where Paul told the believers ‘And be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you (See also 2 Cor.5:19-20). But what is all this crude and primitive talk about Christ offering Himself as an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma? See Isa.53 for details! Just as Christ’s offering of Himself ‘smelt good’ to the Father, so our Christian service can smell, either good or bad to both God and either those being saved or those who are perishing (See 2 Cor.2:14-16). Some challenging stuff here about our behaviour and talk, and how we are not to partake of certain lifestyles.
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In this week’s episode we look at some practical areas that need to change in the new life of a believer. It may come as a bit of a surprise that Paul had to write to Christians to tell them that they need to stop lying, stealing, or continue to have angry outbursts of wrath (which is usually just bad temper), and not to slander (speak evil of) one another. Such things grieve the Holy Spirit of God. Therefore because we have been forgiven, we ought to forgive one another, just as Jesus taught in Matt.6:12, 14-16, and particularly in Matt.18:21-35. Paul says, ‘And be kind to one another, tender-hearted; forgiving one another, EVEN AS God in Christ forgave you‘ (Eph.4:32).
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This Sunday Eric shared this message on Faith and how various Biblical characters were ‘kept afloat during troubled times’, because of their obedience to God.Here are 3 Points to take away from this sermon: 1) Total Trust in the Written Word of God (2 Cor.5:7). 2) Total Dependance through a lifestyle of prayer and worship (See Matt.6:9-13; Lk.11:1ff). 3) Total Surrender to God’s Will and Purpose (1 Cor.2:9).
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What was our spiritual and mental state before we were regenerated by the Holy Spirit? Paul paints a dismal picture of ‘the rest of the Gentiles’ in Eph.4:17-19, which corresponds with his more lengthy discussion of the state of the whole world, as recorded in Romans 1-3 (See especially Rom.1:18-31). So it is a wonder that anyone at all has been saved out of that mess! Of course, if it was left to each one of us to find our way to Christ and be saved, none of us would have made it! But God broke into our darkness, just like He did in Gen.1:1-3, and Isa.9:2, and spoke into our hearts (2 Cor.4:5-6). Thank’s be to God for the Reformers’ Slogan: “Post Tenebras Lux“, which means “After Darkness Light“!Now that we have “Seen The Light”, we can’t continue to live and walk the way that we used to. We are a ‘New Man’ with ‘New Ways’, and a ‘New Creation’ (Eph.4:20-24 cf. 2 Cor.5:17; Eph.2:10; Col.3:10).
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What is the role of those of “The Five-Fold-Ministry” gifts mentioned in Ephesians 4:11-12 ? Are they there for all time throughout ‘the Church age’, or do we see Apostles and Prophets functioning the same today as in the formative days of the early church? What is their role? How can a church grow to maturity and hopefully numerically? Surely it is when every member, every joint and ligament “pulls its weight” or does its share, energised and empowered by the Spirit of the Lord.
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This is a very short section but it is important to understand what it meant for Christ to first descend into the lower parts of the earth, and then ascend, and what was the purpose of this! Did Christ really descend into Hell, or was it the grave? What was the Gift that Christ showered or poured out upon His people? Based on Ephesians 4:7-10.
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Today we had guest speaker, Pastor Jim Smith. Jim is the senior Pastor of Happy Trails Christian Fellowship, Surprise, Arizona. Go to www.htcfsurprise.com for further information. Today Jim pointed out that although in Luke 2:14 the angels announced, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men!” the people involved in the story experienced anything but peace! Their lives were in danger, they experienced fear, and their lives were in turmoil. So what was the “Peace” that God had in mind? Listen to this excellent word in season to find out more!
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What a wonderful theme is found in this title and the accompanying songs. Our Lord did not cling on to His heavenly glory but came to this sinful world, knowing His destiny. He was on a rescue mission: “To seek and to save that which was lost (Luke 19:10). He knew that He would not fail to “Save His people from their sins” (Matt.1:21). What is amazing is that God didn’t have to save any one! He set no plan in motion to save any of the angels who sinned (2 Pet.2:4ff), and in the Old Testament, when God flooded the world, He saved only 8 people! However, through Christ’s life and death, He plans to ‘bring many sons to glory (Heb.2:10). Thank God it wasn’t ‘Mission Impossible’, but ‘Mission Accomplished’!
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Can a man in his natural human state decide he wants to be born again? Can he come to Christ of his own accord or according to own “free will”? Or does it require a special act of God to renew his heart, quicken him or make him alive, so that he can respond freely and willingly to God? Toward the end of this message Michael shared about his mother’s life and testimony, and some excerpts from the eulogy that he shared at his mother’s funeral service on Friday 13th December.We have included here the transcript from Emma’s speech. Patricia was born in the home of her Granny Girvan in 39 Bryson Street, Belfast, on the 12th of July, 1945, just as the men were returning from the field. For the next 12 years she lived at the Central Fire Station, or the HQ, where her father James Webb served as fireman. Then, when he retired from the Fire Service, they moved to the Braniel, where he worked as a caretaker at Gilnahirk Primary School. Patricia had a very happy childhood, along with her siblings, Maud, Alfred, and her remaining living sister, Edris, who lives in Melbourne. Our parents met in 1964 when Patricia was 19, when, and this may be a bit of a surprize to some, she was handing out Gospel Tracts with members of the Coleman’s (or Coal Man’s) Mission. This first encounter took place on Gresham Street, and in fact my mum left behind a couple of Pocket Sized New Testaments, and each of them have an inscription. One of them says, “Best Wishes Christmas 1963….May God Bless you and may you have a happy Christian life.” I recently asked my mother how all this came about. I mean I had heard she professed to be...
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Thank you Stephan for sharing this word this morning, using examples from Lot and his family in the Old Testament, and some from the New. What a wonderful quote from Corrie Ten Boom towards the end!
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Today our guest speaker was Stephen Lane of Cork, who is married to a Killarney woman. Stephen spoke on various aspects of what it means to be a child of God! Does our status change depending on our behaviour ? What is our relationship to the Lord like? Are we more like the elder brother or the prodigal son? Many such issues were discussed!
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Today we began the practical side or the second part of Ephesians in which Paul has told us how we are to outwork or “walk out” our theology. We may have great ‘orthodoxy’ but how is our ‘orthopraxy’? There are a lot of things that every true believer in Christ has in common. We are part of the one body, having one Spirit, because we were called in one hope in the one Lord, having exercised the one faith, having been baptised with the one baptism. In fact there is one God and Father of all who is over all and is outworking His plans and purposes through all believers and is at work in all believers!
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This was the theme of the RCCG Annual Interdenominational Convention 2019 -“Excellency of God Manifested in Christ Jesus”, and based on the theme text – Hebrews 1:3. Each of the speakers was given 10 mins to minister on the same theme! This is only one of the messages shared.
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Today we had Larry O’Mahoney giving us the Word, Song, and Testimony about what “Living In Jesus” is supposed to look like!
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In Ephesians 1 Paul prayed his 3 “what” prayer. In Ephesians 3:16-19 he prayed his 4 “that” prayer. This was the prayer that he began putting together in Eph.3:1, until he had flashbacks of things to include in his prayer. Eventually he got around to praying this prayer which God the Father was surely willing to grant. All of this was based on Paul’s wonder and amazement at God’s unmeasurable love, which he couldn’t really give dimensions to! It is “So high you can’t get over it, so low you can’t get under it, so wide you can’t get round it, oh wonderful love!” All of these expressions of God’s love and mercy bring glory to God. Therefore, any theology that doesn’t give God all the glory(Soli Deo Gloria) is surely questionable. We believe that Salvation is ALL of God (See Eph.2:8-9), and give “Glory to God Alone!”
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It is God’s intention that NOW His manifold or multi-faceted wisdom should be made known by the church to the principalities and powers, or the angelic realm. In fact, we saw in 1 Pet.1:12 that angels desire to look into and understand the grace that has been revealed to us. Sure the angels can sing, “Holy, Holy, Holy” (See Isaiah 6:3), around the throne 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. But you’ll never hear them sing, “Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, I once was lost but now I’m found!” How blessed we are that we can sing amazing grace, and join in with the angels too, in singing, “Holy is the LORD!”
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It might not seem like too much of a mystery to us, but in fact God’s Plan of Salvation included parts that were kept “Top Secret” since the world began (Rom.16:25-27; Col.1:26), even though it was actually referred to in Scripture (Rom.15:9-13), that is that the Gentiles would be included in God’s Salvation Plan. You would think that this would be clear enough for Paul, but yet it took special grace from God for Paul to be able to see this, and further grace was given to him, because it was Paul who received the call as the Apostle to the Gentiles (Rom.11:13; Gal.2:6-10). God also has given each of us grace to be able to minister and to do whatever He has called us to do (Rom.12:3-8).
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One of the most important lessons we can ever learn from Christ and the Gospel is our need of God’s Forgiveness and our need to Forgive those that have hurt, offended, or sinned against us (See Matt.6:9-15). Even if someone sins or trespasses against us continually, we are to forgive (in hyperbole perhaps) 70 X 7 times (See Luke 17:3-4), and not like the unthankful man spoken of in Matt.18:21-35. We need to careful that no root of bitterness spring up in us (See Heb.12:14; James 3:9).
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Maybe you feel like you don’t fit in! Perhaps you have even been rejected! Well then, you are in good company. Our Lord Jesus Christ was ‘The stone that the builders rejected” (Ps.118:22; Mk. 12:1-12; Acts 4:1-12; 1 Pet.2:4-10). Yet now Christ has become the ‘Chief Cornerstone’ of the Temple that He is building (the church), a dwelling place for His Spirit (Eph.2:22). You can be a living stone, or a living rock in this building, when you are Regenerated (Born Again) by His Spirit and Fitted Together with other believers in the church that He is building (Matt.16:18).
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Can you remember what your life was like before you came to Christ? In vv.1-3 we learned that we were dead in our trespasses and sins, but God made us alive. But in this second part Paul tells the believers to think back on how far from God they really were. We were ‘aliens’, ‘strangers’, and ‘foreigners’ having no hope and without God and yet still here in this world! We knew nothing about all the special privileges that being a citizen of Israel could bring. We were far off (vv.11-13) at that time! ‘But now‘, Wow! That changes everything, because now we have been brought near by the blood of Christ, having FULL ACCESS to the Father!
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In this first part of Ephesians 2 we are told, ‘You were dead’ and had to be ‘quickened’ or ‘made alive’ (vv.1-3). This ‘being Regenerated’ or ‘Being Born Again’ took place in us ‘when we were dead in trespasses’ (v.5). God did not wait for us to reach out to Him, because in our ‘dead’ state, bound as we were by sin (John 8:33-34; Rom 6:12-23; 2 Tim.2:25-26) we never would have! Thank God that in ‘His great love with which He loved us’ (Eph.2:4), He took the initiative so that Salvation is completely of grace, and not of any works that we have done!
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Having meditated and written about the grace of God lavished upon the believers (vv.1-14), what could Paul do but launch into prayer and thanksgiving for all the believers. At the core of Paul’s prayer he asks that the believers would come to a greater understanding of 3 Main things: (1) What is the hope of His calling, (2) What are the riches of the glory of His Inheritance in the saints, and (3) What is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe!
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Not only do we have Redemption through the blood of Christ, but we are completely forgiven. This was an amazing act of God’s grace, which God has ‘lavished upon us’ (NIV). However, God has revealed the mystery of the Council of His Will in that these things were planned for His own chosen people before the world began, in the councils of God’s mind with complete wisdom and understanding !
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It was great to get back from the summer holidays and get right back into the pulpit and begin a new series. This time starting in Ephesians. This first part covers only vv.1-6, but it is amazing to see the emphasis that Paul makes on God’s Will and Purposes! All of God’s Will and Purposes are for the Praise of the Glory of His Grace, and so it should come as no surprise to find out that Paul loves to talk about the grace of God in Salvation, placing it outside of anything that man has anything to do with, even in choosing the believers, “marking them out beforehand” (the meaning of Predestination), so that the work of Salvation is ALL of God’s Grace and NOTHING ELSE!
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Thank you to the church and congregation in Hermanovce and Topl’ou for the opportunity to share a message. May God richly Bless this church in Slovakia (near to Presov).
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Pastor Shaun Abrahams, brought us the Word of the Lord this Sunday with a message from 1 John 4:7-21, and asked the question, “Am I abiding in God who is love?”
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This is Eric Nugent’s first Podcast, and he shared about God’s Grace in having a Purpose for his life, and shares in his testimony how that came about and from the text of Ephesians 1. Good job Eric, and may we hear a lot more from you!
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Today we heard Ninfa talking about how we can have a greater confidence in the LORD. This file also includes a short testimony from Randy King.
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Today’s service was a little different. We kept all the kids in the main church service and we had such a fun time learning how not to be “Selfish” and how to have the attitude of Christ as seen in Philippians 2.
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Wow! Not only can we be Born Again (Regenerated) but we are placed into the family of God as legal sons and daughters, joint heirs with Christ.
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Too often Christians use terms like Being Born Again to describe the whole of their Christian experience, not realising that this experience is only one part in the whole process of Salvation. In fact maybe we don’t fully understand just exactly what happens the moment we are raised from spiritual death to spiritual life (See Eph.2:1-3). Maybe you have never yet experienced the Regeneration that Jesus spoke about. Maybe you will as you listen to this message.
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Wow! If only we really did go from Predestination and Election as quick as a few steps in a process. But in fact it is a lifelong process. But at least we know what the final Destination is – Glory, and to be glorified together with Christ (Rom.8:17-18).
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Although this part in the series is only coming out now, it is in fact Part 1 in the series. Predestination and Election are words that can stir up a lot of debate. So much so that they are often avoided at all costs, especially by preachers! But we need to be people of the whole council of God’s Word, rather than treating the Bible like a smorgasbord on the particular things we like, such as our “pet doctrines”!
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The final chapter and final episode in the short OT Book of Ruth! Naomi had a ‘close-relative’ or ‘kinsman-redeemer’, and so do we! Thank God that the Lord Jesus Christ entered the human race, and paid the price of His own life’s Blood to Redeem those who are His!
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A very interesting text from Ruth Chapter 3, which raises the question, “What was really going on down at the threshing floor at midnight?” and other questions to do with the Sovereignty of God in ALL things!
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There is much that can be “gleaned” from the 2nd Chapter of Ruth concerning God’s Protection and Providence!
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Our first dip into an Old Testament Book as an Expository Teaching. Lots of lessons to be learnt from the Characters, in trusting “My God is King!”
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You’ve heard of “Gone in 60 Seconds“, well, this great catching up of the believers, “Up, Up, and Away”, will take place in moment, in the twinkling of an eye (1 Cor.15:52). But are you ready?
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Part 3 of the Revive and Refesh !
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Ted Leavenworth takes us through Luke 20:41-47 and asks 4 Big Questions of us!
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This was Part 1 of our 3 night’s of Revive and Refresh meetings, with Ted and Brenda Leavenworth, from Reliance Church, Temecula California.
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This is the second message by John. So this is now a series called, “Truth and Freedom!” What will the next message be on?
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Here’s a message spoken by Tom Raymond on September 10th, 2017. A very appropriate title for the message considering all the trials that Tom had to go through!
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Here is a repost of a message from Elder Tom Raymond, which he gave on March 04, 2018.
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Part 9 of the 10 Part Series. Death is a mystery to many, and something we would all prefer to avoid. But even our Lord Jesus Christ had to ‘suffer and rise from the dead’ before entering into His glory.
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This was the final instalment, part 48 of a 48 part series in 1 Corinthians. Praise the Lord for the completion of another Book of the Bible!
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We have finally come to the last chapter of 1 Corinthians, tune in next week for the conclusion!
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This was Joel Pacua the team leader for the Calvary Chapel Spring 2019 Missions Group to Ireland.
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One of the Calvary Chapel Students, Parker Hill.
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A Message on “Joy” by Larry O’mahoney.
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A timely message by the visit of a local Baptist Pastor, Shaun Abrahams.
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To compliment her message on “Heaven”, Ninfa also shared this on on ‘Hell’!
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Which came first in the Order of Salvation? Did we Repent and then have Faith and then as a result of that were we Regenerated? Or was it Regeneration (Being Born-Again) resulting in Faith and Repentance? In fact does it matter which is first – Repentance or Faith, since they are two sides to the same coin, namely “Conversion”
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Does God Call everyone? In one sense the Gospel call goes out to all, but in another sense, only Christ’s own sheep hear that call and obey and follow Him.
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Ninfa shares one of the most loved and practical Proverbs!
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