Bethesda Shalom

Of all the chapters in the NT, Romans 6-8a, are amongst the most misunderstood. Yet, when properly understood, these same three chapters become some of the most liberating in all the Word of God! For so many professing Christians, Romans chapter 7 offers a supporting crutch for them to continue living in sin — after all, didn’t Paul struggle in the battle against sin, failing miserably every time?  “For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do” (Rom. 7:19).  If that was the personal testimony of the mighty Apostle Paul, what chance this side of eternity have I got?! In this second sermon part, we seek to shed valuable light on this misunderstood chapter and to bring forth the liberation of Romans chapter 8!  

The doctrine of justification by faith (the imputed righteousness of Christ) is the cardinal pillar upon which Christianity stands. Take this pillar away, and the whole faith comes crashing down in ruin. Positionally, we stand righteousness before a holy God, not on the basis of our works (plural), but because of HIS work (singular), and our faith in that finished work, and in His son the Lord Jesus Christ whom He raised form the dead! Now for many Christians, this is where it begins and ends. Ask the average Christian what the difference is between them and those who know not the Lord and you will be told; “The only difference between us and them, is we’re forgiven and they are not!” In this first part of a two-part sermon series, we shall examine this statement and seek to understand the life-changing truths contained in Romans 6.

Isaiah 31:1 If I was to ask you this morning to tell me where the strength of the Church lies at this critical juncture in history, I wonder what you’d say?  Ah, I know what you’d like to say, you’d like to say the strength of the Church lies in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob!  However, if the Evangelical Church in Britain was to answer this question by her actions alone, I fear that it would contradict this answer entirely. They tell me, actions speak louder than words and I’m inclined to believe it.  It’s not so much what we say that counts as a pose to what we do.  I remember vividly that when my son was a baby, before ever he could speak a word of English, when he wanted the attention of his daddy and mommy he had ways and means of getting it A cry from the heart spoke a thousand word!!  Yet as I survey the Evangelical landscape of the Church this present hour; as I put my ear to the ground, I listen in vain to hear the same heartfelt cry! The first Church was birthed in prayer and the last century

Psalm 78:23-32 I’ve had the joy over the years of tasting a number of delicious world cuisines.  Greek and Italian, Chinese and Cantonese, Indian and Himalayan, Jamaican and of course English — the flavours and the tastes are enough to make your mouth water!  Yet of all the dishes I’ve ever had the privilege of eating, there’s one dish that to date I’ve yet to try, and that’s angels’ food.  You say what!? Angels’ food!  I’ve never seen a restaurant serving that on the menu! No, and I don’t suppose you ever will.  But did you know that for 40 years straight, heavenly corn was freshly served on a daily basis to the Israelites every single morning except for on the Sabbath?  Man did eat angels’ food.  Israel had it made! You’d think so, wouldn’t you? The problem was, they didn’t quite see things that way.  Novelty wears thin quickly you know, and when it does, it inevitably gives way to familiarity which in turn breeds contempt!!   This sermon is a challenging message to the Body of Christ not to despise the W

Luke 19:11-27 We have great need to remember that we no longer belong in this world, we are citizens of another Kingdom.  We live in an age and a generation where living is all about living for me!  My ambitions, my dreams, my desires!  We’re so taken up with self and self’s things.  Yet, when we get our hearts right, we’ll get our priorities right; and when we get our priorities right, the fruit of the Master’s basket will once again be full!! It WILL come at cost and it will also come at a loss.  Are you ready and willing to pay that price? 

1 Kings 13:1-10 As one peruses the pages of the New Testament, there stands on record a clear and visible warning to believers against the dangers of deception.  When asked by His disciples, “...what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world” (Mt. 24:3); before ever our Lord made mention of wars and rumours of wars, before ever He spoke of famines, pestilences and earthquakes in diverse places, He first gave warning against the dangers of deception.  In a day of great spiritual deception, we need more now than ever to be vigilant against the smooth infiltration of imposters into the Body of Christ.  May this sermon serve as a reminder and a warning for us to take heed.

Sermon 4 of 4  Preached @ 10th Anniversary of Bethesda Shalom 14th April 2024

Sermon 3 of 4  Preached @ 10th Anniversary of Bethesda Shalom 14th April 2024

Sermon 2 of 4 Preached @ 10th Anniversary of Bethesda Shalom 13th April 2024

Sermon 1 of 4  Preached @ 10th Anniversary of Bethesda Shalom 13th April 2024

Ephesians 4:31-32 Relationships matter!  How I treat my fellow man has direct bearing upon my personal relationship with God.  The two are not mutually exclusive. It’s not just me, God and forget everyone else.  Yet surprisingly, this is often how many Christians think.  Husbands can verbally abuse their wives and then turn up to the throne of grace like nothing ever happened.  Brethren, it doesn’t work like that, how I treat my wife is directly related to how God treats me.  Have you not read? “Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered (1 Pt. 3:7).  My dear people, this is just one example of many.  This sermon is an exhortation to tenderness of heart; “… be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you (Eph. 4:32). 

1 Kings 17:1-5 Suddenly, without announcement or herald, one of the greatest prophets to ever have been born entered into the national arena like a thunder bolt! No record is supplied us of his birth and as to his departure from this world, he was taken up into heaven while still alive! Like Melchisedec coming before him, he was “Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life” (Heb. 7:3). Here before us in 1 Kings 17:1, the prophet Elijah hastily makes his public debut. There’s no time for airs and graces — bypassing the common man, he heads straight for the spiritual White House of Israel for an appointment with the King!!  Now you know the rules Elijah, don’t upset the king — yet the prophet of God knows no such rule, that is if he wants to live up to his calling!!  When a prophet turned up at the door of the royal palace, he wasn't usually bearing glad tidings of peace! Join us as we walk through a portrait of the life of this man of God.

James 2:14-26 Two farmers got down on their knees to pray.  One lived on the east of the village and the other on the west.  The farmer living in the east of the village longed so much for it to rain — it hadn’t rained for months! The crops were perishing and the livestock was famished.  He prayed, “O God, I believe with all my heart that you are going to send rain on Monday!!” News travelled fast of this farmer’s praying efforts and it reached the ears of the farmer living on the other side of the village.  Ordinarily, he would have been the first to join his fellow farmer in prayer for he longed to see rain also; only on this occasion there was a problem.  Monday he had planned a great celebration, “...by all means let it rain on Tuesday or Wednesday or Friday — any day except for Monday or the planned celebration will be a washout!” Thus he got down on his knees and prayed, “O God, I believe with all my heart that you won’t send rain on Monday!!”  Allow me please if I may, to ask a question; which farmer

Psalm 46:1-3 They tell me, that Christianity is for weaklings; men with no courage or backbone. “Christianity is for those who need a crutch, but as for me and my house, we’ll stand in our own strength!” There are two things that I want to address in the comments I just made.  On both counts, you find the remarks to be erroneous — flawed on every hand.  In addressing the first point, “Christianity is for weaklings; men with no courage nor backbone”.  A precursory glance through the history of the first 300 years of Christianity will serve to amend such talk in an instant. Far from being a religion of comfortability, those early believers were systematically persecuted, first by their countrymen and later by the Romans. Bound by conviction, endued with power from on high; thousands upon thousands of courageous men, women and children embraced martyrdom, counting not their lives dear unto themselves that they might finish their course with joy!!   This sermon is a word of encouragement for those enduring pers

Isaiah 61:11 Imagine a United Kingdom where there was no Spring; a Britain where instead of four seasons, we only had three — Summer, Autumn and Winter!!  How would the landscape of our beautiful country be changed?  Well, I’m no climate expert, but I do know from observation; that in summer, the sun comes out and temperatures are at their hottest; the birds are singing and trees are bearing fruit.  The days are long and the nights are warm!!  Then comes the cooler chill of autumn’s dawn.  Gradually the landscape begins to change and that which was previously thriving beneath the summer’s sun begins to die. The crisp autumn air soon makes way for the bite of winter’s frost and by mid-winter, everything is well and truly dead!  As winter draws to a close having stripped all things bare, what next? Well ordinarily, we’d have spring, but remember, for the moment, we’ve imaginatively axed spring from the seasonal cycle!  From where shall the new life come?  When spring comes and God visits His people with a seaso

Acts 2:1-4 The word suddenly is an awesome word!!  Forty-one times it appears in the KJV.  It’s a word of wonder, of surprise and amazement! At midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them. Their backs were bloody, beaten black and blue, yet they held a prayer meeting and got so full of the Holy Ghost that they burst forth into songs of praises unto God!!!  “And suddenly (without premeditation, God showed up) there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one's bands were loosed”  (Acts 16:26).  As the wonderful events of that midnight hour died down, the best was yet to come - the jailor and his house were saved and baptised!  This sermon is about the suddenness of revival!  Here we are labouring in prayer — Lord, will we ever break through!?  Praying Saints, I want to encourage you, KEEP PRAYING — God will come through!  You say, Brother Paul, how will He come through?  Suddenl

2 Chronicles 7:13-14 My dear people, there is a price to be paid for revival — it’s a painful affair!  Duncan Campbell put it this way; “If you want revival, get right with God. If you are not prepared to bring the "last piece," for God's sake stop talking about revival, your talking and praying is but the laughing-stock of devils. It is about time we got into the grips of reality”.  The Welsh revival of 1904-05 began with a young man seeking the face of God by the name of Evan Roberts.  For over a decade he had prayed in private for God to send a revival to Wales.  At the age of 26, Evan attended a meeting at which a preacher named Seth Joshua prayed these famous words, “Lord, bend us”.  As Roberts heard these words, the Holy Spirit pressed Him sore and said, “That’s what you need”. Upon bended knees, with tears streaming down his face, Evan Roberts cried aloud, “Bend me, bend me!!”.  That same year, God used Evan Roberts as an instrument of revival, as God swept into Wales. You say, Lord, send revival — Bro

2 Chronicles 7:13-14 Without question, even on a precursory level, as one picks up the history books and begins to read the accounts of past revival, you will be met with a common pattern again and again. Before the sound of the mighty rushing wind, the prayers of God’s people were heard!  “And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting” (Acts 2:1-2).  What were they doing gathered together with one accord in one place?  The same thing they were doing previous to this, “These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren” (Acts 1:14).  The first business of the first Church of Jesus Christ was prayer!!  Quite literally, the Church was birthed in prayer.  When they hit upon hard times, they didn’t gather to deliberate and strategise, they held a prayer meeting and

Acts 2:37-38 Before every divine visitation, God begins to awaken the consciences of His people first to the possibility of revival, and secondly to the need for revival.  How can a thirst for revival begin in the hearts of God’s people unless there is a conviction that such a work of God is even for today? Perhaps the greatest hindrance to God sending revival amongst the so-called remnant Church in this land is the sin of unbelief.  Simply put, we do not believe that such a work of revival is possible today.  Just mention the word “revival” and with a disheartened look of disapproval, you will be pointed to the headline news which daily announces the moral and spiritual decadence of our nation. But look, Biblically and historically, revival has always come out of moral lows.  When God’s people get burdened over the spiritual rot in their own lives and the lives of those around them, then they begin to cry out to God if perhaps He might do something about it!!!  This sermon is part 2 of a 3-part mini-series,

Acts 2:37-38 My dear Brothers and Sisters, you don’t need me to tell you that we are living in a dry and thirsty land!  A land that once flowed with milk and honey is now a barren wasteland.  Once the Church of Jesus Christ stood as a bastion of faithfulness and a pillar of truth decrying the spiritual bankruptcy of a fallen world.  Once it stood as a blazing lighthouse, warning the wicked of their pending danger, guiding them into the Gospel harbour of saving grace. But now? Now it has made the world its bed-fellow, drinking from the same polluted cisterns, and eating from the same soiled troughs. Rather than it being the “ekklesia” - the salt and light of the earth, the Church of Jesus Christ has joined hands with the world and is marching in sync to the same humdrum tune. Horatius Bonar - that great Scottish light; in a day when giants still roamed the land, summed it up so well when he said; “I looked for the Church and I found it in the world; I looked for the world and I found it in the Church”.  If tha