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Bethesda Shalom

Bethesda Shalom , "House of Mercy and Peace". A small independent Bible believing Church located in Wolverhampton, England; endeavouring to hold fast to truth and stand fast in love by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
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Now displaying: December, 2018

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Dec 30, 2018

James 3:13-18

The world in which we live in is full of war and bloodshed.  If history could count the total number of lives lost through this weapon of mass destruction, there would not be room on a conventional calculator to display all the digits!  For all of fallen man’s efforts in trying to secure peace, history informs us that man is not able to live at peace with his neighbour!!

It’s one thing for the world to behave in this manner, but what are we to say when Christians behave like this?  In the thirteenth verse of James chapter 3, a question is put; “Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you?”  The answer is given, “…let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom”.  It is this wisdom that James describes as coming from above on account of its peaceable fruit that is contrasted with the wisdom descending from below which is earthly, sensual and devilish, tending to confusion and every evil work.  May we be found in these last days walking in peace as the children of God!

Dec 29, 2018

Revelation 3:1-6

It’s amazing how so much can change over time!  If one was to visit Sardis in Western Turkey today, one would be greeted by a vast array of ruins; the crumbling shells of what was once a magnificent and illustrious city.  Seven hundred years before this letter was penned by John, Sardis stood as one of the greatest cities in the world!  Sardis was THE celebrated capital of the ancient kingdom of Lydia and was also of great importance in the era of the Persians and also the Romans.  Yet sadly, when one looks for this eminence and splendour today, one looks in vain; all is but a faded memory of a bye-gone day, Sardis’ former glory now confined to the pages of antiquity, its ruins serve as a testimony of what once was! 

The sad reality of the matter is that the passing glory of this ancient city was reflected by a Church which was found in it.  Once this Church excelled in spiritually and godliness; yet, by the time our Lord addressed them, they had retained the name but had lost the reality of what earned them that name in the first place.  “...thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead”.  There is much that we can learn from the Church in Sardis and the words that our Lord spoke to them; may God give us the grace to hear what the Spirit saith.   

Dec 17, 2018

2 Samuel 20:8-13

I wonder, how many of us as Christians live in light of the coming judgment.  How many of us walk in the shadow of this reality.  Paul a thoroughly saved and blood washed man, in light of the judgment seat of Christ, sought to live and labour in such a way so as to be blameless, commending himself in the sight of God and before the consciences of men.  My Brother, my Sister, when I look today in the professing Church of Christ, I see so little fear of God in the hearts of His people.  Where is the fear of God in light of the judgment seat of Christ?  Take just one area...Look at the way in which Christians treat one another, the callousness, the skullduggery and treachery.  The bitter envying and strife, the false slander and assignation of character which all has its origins from the Prince of darkness, ascending from the pit of hell!!  Who will take stock and recall to mind the terrifying words of our Lord who said “...That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment” (Mt. 12:36).  Who will remember the words of Jesus who said, “...whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea” (Mt. 18:6).  These are serious words that we must give due consideration of!! 

I tell you my Brother, there ought to be a holy fear and reverence for the fact that one day we are going to have to give a personal account to Jesus Christ as to how we have spent our lives.  This must and has to filter down into the reality of how we treat one another for which we shall MOST certainly give account!!  We look in this sermon at the life of Joab and conclude with this; YOUR SIN WILL FIND YOU OUT!  

Dec 15, 2018

Revelation 2:18-29

When one mentions the Church at Thyatira, what thoughts come readily to mind?  Good thoughts or bad thoughts?  If we’re honest, we’d have to concede ’bad’ thoughts’!  How bad? Jezebel, false prophetess, Idolatry, fornication, foods sacrificed to idols, great tribulation, killing, sickness and death!!  Yet, in keeping with the usual custom of our Lord, before He brings rebuke, He first brings commendation.  Can anything good come out of Thyatira you ask? Absolutely!!  “I know thy works, and charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience, and thy works; and the last to be more than the first”.

That said, the Lord had a few things against His people which though few in number, was by no means a small matter!  “I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols”.  We’ve much to learn from this Church and in this teaching we touch on many practical points that serve to forewarn and arm us.

Dec 3, 2018

Ephesians 5:18

Though as Christians our citizenship is rooted firmly in heaven, we nonetheless for the time being have a dual residency, being found also with our feet on planet earth.  It is for this reason that the New Testament is full exhortation, urging us on to personal holiness.  “Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit” (Eph. 5:18).  Drunkenness is a terrible blight upon any society that has given itself over to liquor; yet I want to suggest that there’s a far more subtle form of intoxication that is engulfing the masses in our day, namely that of the corrupting influences of modern media.  How many sway under the spirit of this age, drunk with the propaganda of filth that’s literally flooded into our homes via the satellite airwaves.  It’s time that we got sober, had an old fashioned cleanout and got rid of some of that old leaven from out of our homes!!

Brother, Sister, have you oil in your lamp?  Are you filled with Holy Spirit?  Show me a man yielded to God in absolute obedience; show me a woman that’s shut up with God in the closet in prayer and the study of His Word; show me one that is taking careful watch over their soul, cultivating holiness in the fear of God; and I’ll show you a man or a woman that is filled with the Spirit!!!!  May God help us to light a fire in our bosom that will never go out!!

Dec 1, 2018

Revelation 2:12-17

The ancient city of Pergamos had been for three hundred years, a capital city in that locale.  Like that of Ephesus and Smyrna, Pergamos was a famous centre of religious worship and among the Greek deities worshipped by the Pergamenes was the revered Asklepios.

There were some in Pergamos who had remained faithful under trial, suffering much at the hand of the wicked one and yet had not denied their Lord.  Others however had turned aside to the false doctrine of Balaam, eating things sacrificed to idols and committing fornication.  There’s a lot to be learned from this Church, both from their commendation and their rebuke.  By God’s grace we shall explore practically and theologically these precious lessons.   

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