Bethesda Shalom

1 Peter 3:3-8 The word “joy” appears in some sixty verses in the New Testament of the KJB, and that’s not including the 40 additional occurrences of the same root derivatives “joyful”, “joyfully”, “joyfulness” “joying”, “joyous” and “rejoice”. This simple three-letter word “joy” is like buried treasure, everyone’s searching to find it but they're looking in all the wrong places!  The world you see deals in what is called “fool’s gold”.  To the naked eye, it bears some resemblance to the real thing, but when you run it through a few simple tests, it’s shown to be a fraud!  Happiness is just like this; a superficial counterfeit for joy.  You say, what’s the difference? Happiness is, the agreeable feeling of pleasure that one experiences when circumstances work in one's favour!! When circumstances are not working in one’s favour? Then you have the opposite of happiness, sorrow!! Christ has a better way for His people, which is the way of JOY!! 

Part 1 As of 2023, there are approximately 8.8 million Jehovah’s Witnesses globally, spread across 239 countries.  Between September 2022 and August 2023, 1.8 billion hours were spent in the field of service publishing the news of Jehovah’s Kingdom with an average of 7.3 million Bible studies being conducted each month.  If you compare this with the average amount of hours spent in outreach by Evangelicals, it is shameful on the part of us who profess to have the truth.  Concerning missionary zeal, one cannot fault Jehovah’s Witnesses for their witnessing endeavours  – it’s in their DNA.  What do they have to show for all of this effort?  Last year saw just short of 270,000 people baptised into the dedication of Jehovah’s service.  That’s just over a quarter of a million people, won over to a cult!   In this introductory teaching, we peel back the veneer of the exterior to uncover what Jehovah's Witnesses believe and teach.  Download PDF notes: https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/bethesdashalom/1._Introduction

2 Chronicles 34:14-21 I lament the deplorable days of biblical ignorance that pervades so much of the professing Church today Ministers in God’s pulpit without a Word from God because they don’t know the Word of God themselves — blind leaders of the blind!  Can I suggest to you, that it’s not through lack of education that men’s knowledge of the Bible is so meagre in this hour, literacy rates in the Western World are better than they’ve ever been in the history of the English-speaking world? Nor is it through want of material, the tramp on the street has better access to the Word of God today than most of history has ever had.  We’ve translations coming out of our nostrils, Bible Apps galore...NO the problem facing the Christian is not one of lack of opportunity, but one of desire and appetite. He delights in the things he enjoys doing most. Don’t get me wrong, he’ll give a precursory glance over a verse or two just before hopping into bed, but dig into the Bible? No thank you, I’ll leave that to Pastor!  The

The 19th Century has been rightly identified as the cults' spawning ground. Many of the major cults with us today were born at the later end of the 19th century, which saw a literal explosion of false prophets and teachers carried through to the last century. Joseph Smith, Charles T. Russell, and Ellen G. White are just a handful of such false teachers and prophets to rise out of the 19th Century – The cults that they forged and founded; namely Mormonism, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and Seventh Day Adventists have influenced millions for the cause of Satan!! Jesus warned His disciples when asked about the sign of His coming and the end of the world, saying ”…many false prophets shall rise and shall deceive many” (Mat. 24:11). In this teaching, we look at the definition of what constitutes a cult. We look at the warnings given in the Bible of the rise of such groups who would secretly bring in damnable heresies. We look too at the emotional and psychological strongholds that cults have on their victims. Download note

Matthew 21:28-32 In commenting upon James 1:22-25, Albert Barnes noted the following which we must take to heart: “It is implied here, that by merely hearing the word but not doing it, they would deceive their own souls. The nature of this deception was this, that they would imagine that that was all which was required, whereas the main thing was that they should be obedient. If a man supposes that by a mere punctual attendance on preaching, or a respectful attention to it, he has done all that is required of him, he is laboring under a most gross self-deception. And yet there are multitudes who seem to imagine that they have done all that is demanded of them when they have heard attentively the word preached. Of its influence on their lives, and its claims to obedience, they are utterly regardless”.  May the Lord move your heart to action through the hearing of this sermon so as not to be a hearer only, but a doer of His Word.

Dr. David Donovan brings an update on the precious work of New Foundations, a medical mission to the Niger Delta. Following the update, David brings a word from Scripture to the hearts of God’s people.

Proverbs 14:14 Adam Clarke in his famous commentary, asks the question: “Who is the backslider?”, he then answers it in three points: 1. The man who once walked in the ways of religion, but has withdrawn from them. 2. The man who once fought manfully against the world, the devil, and the flesh; but has retreated from the battle, or joined the enemy. 3. The man who once belonged to the congregation of the saints, but is now removed from them, and is set down in the synagogue of Satan”  This sermon is a warning against drifting and an exhortation to recover again the ground lost in our Christian walk.

Mark 15:21-47 If I was to say to you the words, “Carmen Christi”, there’s probably very few of you if any, who would understand what I’m on about.  “Carmen Christi” is Latin, which being interpreted means “Hymn to Christ”.  Now while you most likely are unfamiliar with the language, you ought be very familiar with the content. You may better know this hymn as Philippians 2:5-11. It is believed by scholars and historians that this passage in Paul’s letter to the Philippians pre-existed Paul’s letter itself in that it was an old Christian hymn rich in theological beauty!  One author wrote: “The Church which sang this hymn proclaimed for the first time the three 'epochs' in the existence of Christ: he is hailed and confessed first as pre-existent, then as incarnate and humiliated and finally as triumphant”.  Now, whatever its historical background, one cannot cast their eyes upon this text of Scripture without being deeply impacted.  It’s theological depth is almost unrivalled, it’s Christological content is sca

Matthew 27:24-26  First before the Jewish courts and then before the Roman courts — they lied point blank and accused Him to His face. Twice accused falsely?  Nay thrice!! Before Herod also, “...the chief priests and scribes stood and vehemently accused him” (Lk.23:10). What would you have done? What would have I? Surely we would have been quick and ready to plead our case and prove our innocence, but not the lowly Galilean.  In the presence of His enemies, HE HELD HIS PEACE! This is so alien to us and yet, to this end we have been called to suffer and to follow His example.

Matthew 26:36-46 It is my conviction, that it is in Gethsemane more than in any other place, that light is cast upon the full humanity of God our Saviour, Jesus Christ. In Bethlehem we see His birth, in Gethsemane we see His travail of His soul; in the manger we hear the cries of the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes but in the garden we hear the groans of the anguish of agonising prayer.  Consider with me, the great sorrows that His soul endured that night.  If the name Gethsemane (Lit. oil press), means anything historically, it was for this hour that it was named!  This message is a call for God’s people to watch and pray in the hour of their vulnerability.

John 6:60-69 When our Lord walked the earth, some 2000 years ago, without apology, He  laid down the cost to any potential would-be disciple!!  You see, it’s one thing to have intent and it’s another thing to follow through on that intent with an well-informed decision.  Both of these together will carry a man a long way, but these alone will never keep the disciple in the day of trouble.  There has to be something MORE!!!  What’s the more you ask?  A decision wrought in conviction born out of divine revelation.

Hebrews 12:1-2  I’ve watched a number of races in my time from 100m to 10,000m. I’ve seen runners fall unexpectedly and get back up to win gold!  I’ve seen runners have their dreams shattered by an injury mid-way through the race — I’ve seen them get back up and hobble the final lap to cross the finish line.  For sure, I’ve seen disappointments and setbacks on the track, but there’s one thing that I’ve never yet witnessed and that is a runner running back to the starting line!!  Yet what is considered an absurdity in the natural is sadly a common reality in the spiritual.  I see Christian athletes turning back all the time.  Running in the wrong direction!!  This sermon is a call to self-denial, to pick the cross and to follow Christ!

2 Timothy 2:3-4 No amount of preparation or training can fully prepare a soldier for war.  He’ll see and experience things on that battlefield that no college classroom or training expedition can ever replicate!  In the classroom, he’ll learn about tactical strategies and the theory of war; on the training expeditions, he’ll be given the necessary tools and skills to equip him for combat. But when the first shot is fired in a real life battle scenario, there’s no training or simulation that can adequately foresee how someone will react.  It’s one thing being in a mock exercise, your fellow soldiers are not trying to kill you!  On the battlefield, there’s an enemy that’s shooting to kill!!  This sermon is a call to battle!  A call to stand firm as a soldier of Jesus Christ.  May you be mightily encouraged!!

1 Samuel 16:1-7 Of all the many things that God can do that we humans cannot, the one that I have been pondering this week in preparing for this sermon is the omniscience of God!  Man is limited in his knowledge, he has present knowledge and past knowledge based on what he can and has observed and experienced around Him.  Much of this knowledge I dare say, he’s gleaned from other men.  God on the other hand has limitless knowledge — He knows all things past, present and future.  No one has ever had to teach God anything, He has all knowledge! He doesn’t have to take a stab in the dark based on mathematical probabilities as to what may be, He has absolute foreknowledge of every single thing that will ever happen under the sun.  As one ponders the omniscience of Almighty God, it ought to both sober us and to encourage us. May this sermon be a means of both to your dear soul. 

Hebrews 5:12 The clear command and expectation for us as believers, is that having been saved, we ought to grow up unto a place of Christian maturity!  What does Christian maturity look like?  In part, it looks like maturity in our understanding of doctrine!  This is no small matter.  Paul rebuked the Hebrew believers because he had truths to impart to them concerning the person of Christ that they were not able to receive due to their immaturity!!  One cannot blame a child for not being able to understand adult concepts, it’s not their fault, they’re a child.  However, this is not Paul’s complaint.  Paul’s complaint is this; “For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat” (Heb. 5:12).   

1 Peter 5:7 In Peter’s first epistle, he writes; “Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you”.  One might ask the question, how do I throw my care upon the Lord?  Of course, the language here is metaphorical!  Peter doesn’t mean that we are to physically do this, that would be an impossibility.  His language is figurative.  We are to cast our care/burdens upon Him by committing them into His care by faith.  We are to TRUST Him with our fears and anxieties, and when we do that, we don’t have to be anxious anymore because Father has got them.  He cares for me!!!  Oh, we’re awfully good at casting “some” of our cares upon Him, but that is not what the text says.  It says for us to cast ALL our care upon Him — IT’S ALL OR NOTHING!!!!  We are to cast all our care upon Him and to LEAVE them upon Him!!!  

Psalm 94:17-18 Hear the Word of God to your heart and take comfort O ye saints of His!  Maybe you’ve never been to rock bottom avenue, but when you get there and every crutch of support has been taken away such that you’re left with only one option, to cast yourself upon the mercy of God and to make Him your support; then, you’ll be able to say as the Psalmist said; “Unless the LORD had been my help, my soul had almost dwelt in silence. When I said, My foot slippeth; thy mercy, O LORD, held me up" (Ps. 94:17-18).

John 12:20-26 Many will gladly come to receive of the benefits of Christ’s redeeming sacrifice so long as it doesn’t require any sacrifice on their part. They’ll gladly own Him as their Saviour but deny Him the right to be Lord.  As I understand the language of the New Testament, the full name of our Saviour is not Jesus Christ — there’s a inseparable title that’s missing!  Do you know what it is?  Mr. Jesus Christ? Sir Jesus Christ? “LORD” Jesus Christ!!  “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved” (Rom. 10:9). Oh to hear confessions on this wise again!!  It’s the only confession that saves!!

1 Corinthians 13 Dr. David Donovan brings an update on the precious work of New Foundations, a medical mission to the Niger Delta. Following the update, David brings a word from Scripture to the hearts of God’s people.

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!