TEXT: ‘Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think’ – Ephesians 3:20 THOUGHT: The Book of James makes a startling statement, ‘You do not have because you do not ask’ – James 4:2. Why we are reluctant to ask can usually be boiled down to just two main reasons. We have the wrong opinion about God We think that He cannot or will not do it, even when there is a Biblical promise that He will! Or that He is really not interested with what is happening in our lives as individuals because He has far too much to do looking after the universe. Nothing could be further from the truth. Knowing the number of hairs on our head proves how intimately He knows us – Matthew 10:30. Jesus also said, ‘Your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him’ – Matthew 6:8. We have the wrong opinion about ourselves Feelings of guilt and low self-esteem paralyse the desire to ask, for we feel we are not worthy. Why should God bother about me when there are much better people around? We forget that Christ came to save sinners and we all qualify in that respect!...
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TEXT: ‘Meditate on these things; give yourself entirely to them, that your progress may be evident to all’ – 1 Timothy 4:15 THOUGHT: Whether a new Christian, an inexperienced church leader or someone who has known the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal Saviour a long time, all of us need to be reminded of what is expected of a true believer. I often get asked the question, “Why read the Bible?” or “What is the best way to read it?” Unfortunately many Christians do not understand what they are reading and end up not bothering to read it at all, leaving it to gather dust on the shelf! Paul reminded Timothy of “These Things” which are important for faithfulness and godliness. Fortunately they have been recorded for our benefit too, along with the rest of the Bible. It certainly helps to make the Christian life much more rewarding when we believe that the Bible is not a collection of religious writings but the Word of God to be of help to us today. In writing to Timothy, Paul referred to “These Things” four times and these form the basis for Today’s Teaching. Meditate on these things – Meditate on these things; give yourself entirely to them, that your...
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TEXT: ‘For no matter how many promises God has made, they are ‘Yes’ in Christ. And so through him the ‘Amen’ is spoken by us to the glory of God’ – 2 Corinthians 1:20 NIV THOUGHT: When I first became a Christian, a popular hymn we used to sings with gusto was “All to Jesus I surrender, I surrender all”. We will make it much easier to do just that if we continually remind ourselves that God has given His “all” to us in the first place. Reading 2 Corinthians recently I was struck by the number of times “All” appears, six times in the first two chapters. These will become the focus for Today’s Teaching. With All the Saints who are in All Achaia – 1:1 Under Roman rule, Greece was divided into two provinces, Macedonia and Achaia. Achaia had prominent cities such as Corinth, Athens and Olympia and was an area the Apostle Paul evangelised extensively. Christianity is inclusive, not exclusive or elitist. Whatever your age, background, colour or locality, a Christian is called a saint. Some denominations only use this term for a special few, but the Bible does not make that distinction. We are not trying to be a Christian, we are one if our...
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TEXT: ‘They couldn’t reach him because of the crowd. So they went up to the roof and took off some tiles. Then they lowered the sick man on his mat down into the crowd, right in front of Jesus. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the man, “Young man, your sins are forgiven.”’ – Luke 5:19-20 NLT THOUGHT: Luke chapter 5 is full of wonderful events. After using Peter’s boat to preach to the lakeside crowds, Jesus rewards him with a miraculous catch of fish. This touched Peter deeply, causing him to declare his sinfulness (v9-10). Jesus replied, “Do not be afraid. From now on you will catch men.” What a catch of men started happening. First Peter, his brother Andrew, James and John (v11); then a leper miraculously healed (v12-16); next the paralytic (v17-26) and finally Levi the tax collector deserts his office desk to follow Jesus (v27-32). Truly Christianity is for the whole world and that includes anyone reading this. Today’s Teaching focuses on the healing of the paralytic and how this miracle can greatly stimulate our journey of faith. God is ready to heal whatever the congregation’s attitude – ‘the power of the Lord was present to heal’ v17 This congregation was largely made up of Pharisees and...
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TEXT: ‘Three things will last forever – faith, hope, and love – and the greatest of these is love’ – 1 Corinthians 13:13 NLT THOUGHT: Soon it will be Easter, when the following Bible texts are so poignant: ‘For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son’ – John 3:16, and ‘Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends’ – John15:13. In this teaching I want to take the word Love and use each letter as an acronym. L – Listen We are living in a world where everyone wants to be heard but few want to listen. The Epistle of James powerfully puts it like this, ‘You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry’ – 1:19 NLT. It’s hard not to be formulating a response before we have even heard, understood and digested what the other person is saying. The fact that we have two ears and one mouth reinforces the need to listen more! An over-fussy City Building Planner once said to me, “I hear what you are saying”, yet nothing was further from the truth. He was making sure I heard him. My concerns about his proposals...
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TEXT: ‘You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come and follow Me’– Luke 18:22 THOUGHT: The challenge of Today’s Teaching asks, “Where is your treasure?” Does being poor make us more spiritual and godly? Is God against us having riches? No, not at all, but God does not want riches to have us! Three of the Gospels record the account of The Rich Young Ruler. Reading Luke’s account recently – 18:18-23, I saw Jesus challenged him about having treasure in heaven. He had everything he could possibly want on earth and more besides, but what had he stored up for the other side of the grave? The very fact that Jesus challenged him to sell everything and distribute it to the poor in order to store up treasure in heaven, meant that for all his riches on earth, he had nothing as far as heavenly treasure was concerned. There are two main ways to deposit treasure in heaven Firstly, the treasure we produce through blessing others. The Rich Young Ruler was encouraged to give to the poor rather than accumulate more wealth. Jesus taught that even a simple act of giving someone a...
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