Revelation 3:1-6
Sardis was a great city of the ancient world, a very wealthy and prosperous city. Into this city came the Gospel and the Church at Sardis was born!! The fame of their conversion and the fruits thereof were sounded out near and far, and overtime Sardis had amassed a reputation for being a Church that was alive!! Sadly, overtime the testimony of this Church had become nothing more than a label; still having repute before men, the spiritual condition of this Church was a far cry from what it was in their former days, our Lord tells us that they were now dead!
This sermon is a serious challenge to flee from sin and a solemn warning against hypocrisy!! The Lord is seeking one thing from the backslider, namely that he might return to Him in true brokenness and repentance. The hour is late and urgent is the day that we are living in. Dear Brethren, it’s no time for religious hypocrisy, we must at all costs seek to keep our garments unsoiled from this world and walk before our God with a clean heart.
Revelation 2:18-29
Despite the many hard things that our Lord had to say to His Church in Thyatira, it is often overlooked that He had some of the best things to say also to some within this Church who were shining examples. He commended them for their charity, service, faith, patience and works. In fact not only had this Church begun well, but they were praised that their last works were more than their first!! Yet, despite this, our Lord reserved some of His harshest words to those within the Church at Thyatira who had tolerated the false prophetess Jezebel, who was seducing God’s children, causing them to commit fornication and to eat things sacrificed to idols.
This sermon is a strong and passionate plea on two counts. Firstly an exhortation to practical Christianity and holiness and secondly a warning to flea sexual immorality!! Christianity Today in a 2000 survey found that 45% of Christians admitted to having done something sexually inappropriate while married, with 23% committing adultery!! Literally, there is an epidemic of sexual immorality that has swept into the Church with 1 in every 2 Christian men falling prey to pornography. If ever there was a need for sexual purity within the Body of Christ, it is now!!
Bible Prophecy (Pt.7)
On May 14 1948, in a single day, a nation was born as Israel declared its national independence. For some 1900 years the Jews have wondered the world over having no national homeland, suffering in every place they have sought to lay their head. AD 70 witnessed the tragedy of the destruction of the Jewish Temple and the beginning of the diaspora as Jews were exiled en-mass to every corner of the world. At the end of the 19th century due to growing widespread anti-Semitism in Europe Jews began leaving Eastern Europe and a small minority headed for Israel with the dream of returning to their ancient homeland. The twentieth century would see the greatest calamity ever perpetrated against the Jews as some 6 million were systematically exterminated being shot or gassed by Nazi Germany. Yet, defying all possible odds with European Jewry tinkering on the edge of annihilation, millions of Jews have since poured into their Biblical homeland of Israel from more than 100 different countries worldwide!!
In this teaching, we look at the amazing fulfillment of Bible prophecy as it relates to the restoration of God’s ancient people Israel. Indeed, the stage has been set and the countdown to eternity has begun!!!
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Revelation 2:12-17
This sermon is the third part in a series looking at the letters to the seven Churches of Revelation. Pergamos was a city distinguished as being one of the chief centres of religious worship, its landscape littered with shrines and altars to the false gods and goddesses of the Greek/Roman world. In the words of Jesus Christ, the seat of Satan himself!! As a Church under intense persecution from the dragon Satan, it was bearing up faithfully under severe trial and holding fast the name of Jesus Christ. However, that said, whilst our Lord praised them for their faithfulness, He rebuked those within Pergamos for allowing and holding to the doctrine of Balaam who cast a stumbling block before God’s people to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit fornication.
This sermon is a warning and a challenge to the body of Christ to be on guard against false teachers, who secretly bring in false and damnable heresies, even denying the Lord Himself. How will the body of Christ discern such false prophets? By their fruits you shall know them; for such are they that draw away after themselves unstable souls, alluring them through the lusts of the flesh. Is there a root of covetousness in your heart? Are you still enamoured by the love of this world? Are you prepared so as to resist the strategies of the serpent, who even now is deceiving many, turning the grace of God into lasciviousness?
Bible Prophecy (Pt.6)
When one mentions the name Christianity, automatically one is prone to think of a Western religion with predominantly Western followers. Images of stain glass windows, church spires and other medieval religious paraphernalia spring at once to mind. What would you say if I was to tell you that Christianity did not have its inception in the West but in the Middle East in Jerusalem, Israel? How was it then, that I, a Gentile (a non-Jew) and millions upon millions like me, came to find faith in a Jewish Messiah who during His lifetime upon this earth did not step foot outside the immediate vicinity of Israel’s borders, a tiny strip of land around the size of Wales? In order to answer this question, we must turn once again to Bible prophecy!
In this sixth part of our teaching on Bible prophecy we shall explore a number of fascinating questions. Firstly, what did the prophets have to say about the blessing that would be conferred upon the Gentile nations; secondly, by what means did this blessing come and thirdly where does this leave national Israel? May the answers to these questions provoke you to a deeper love for God and a greater life of praise and thanksgiving!!
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Revelation 2:8-11
This sermon is the second part in a series looking at the letters to the seven Churches of Asia Minor. The Church in Smyrna was a Church under fire! They were already in the midst of tribulation and were patiently bearing up under trial, suffering persecution and poverty. Our Lord’s words to this Church were words of encouragement, having no bad thing to say. He forewarned His Church in Smyrna that there was yet to face them a greater trial than that which they were already enduring and exhorted them to remain faithful unto death, that after they have suffered, they might receive a crown that shall not be taken away!!
This sermon is a warning and a challenge to the body of Christ in the West. Are you prepared for the coming wave of persecution? Already we see the storm gathering momentum. The homosexual agenda is being driven at a thundering pace and in the name of “tolerance” and on the back of Islamic terrorism, the stage is being set for the widespread persecution of Christian believers deemed extremists by the state, for daring to call what God calls good and declare as evil, that what God declares to be evil. This sermon is a challenge to all believers; is your all on the altar for Jesus Christ or are there things in our lives that we love more than Him?
Revelation 2:1-7
This sermon marks the first part in a series looking at the letters to the seven Churches of Asia Minor. These seven epistles comprise less than 1% of the New Testament and yet are some of the most powerful words in the New Testament. We need not wait for the coming of the Lord Jesus to see how we fair; we have the Lord’s verdict already!! These seven epistles are applicable to the universal Church of Jesus Christ worldwide in every generation and it is imperative that we judge ourselves according to the words spoken to these Churches.
The Church in Ephesus had both a commendation and a rebuke from our Lord. Commended for their standing fast in the truth of God’s Word and contending against false teachers and self-professing Apostles; yet rebuked for their lack of love for Christ and His Church!! This sermon is an exhortation for believers to contend earnestly for the truth and purity of doctrine and a warning to not allow the love of Christ in our hearts to wax cold!! How are you faring in these two areas? May this sermon serve to challenge and motivate you dear Saints of God!!
Bible Prophecy (Pt.5)
In this second teaching part on Messianic prophecies fulfilled, we continue to explore the staggering prophecies concerning the person, life and ministry of the Messiah contained within the Holy Scriptures. His suffering and betrayal; His rejection and ridicule; His death and resurrection, were all foretold by the prophets, written hundreds of years before Christ’s advent…His royal lineage, His place of birth, His birth to a virgin, His royal entry into Jerusalem riding on an ass… so the list goes on!! Each of these prophecies are unique and precise in nature; each require a unique individual to fulfil not one, but multitudes of these descriptive prophecies. The end conclusion of the matter is simple…If Jesus Christ of Nazareth is not the Messiah, then no-one is, for He alone has fulfilled the Messianic predictions at His first coming and is set to fulfil the remainder when He comes again to rule and to reign upon the throne of David and to usher in His Kingdom of peace.
In this teaching we shall explore many of the above prophecies and in so doing prove that Jesus is the very Christ of God!!
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Matthew 12:18-21
There along the lush green banks of the river Jordan, hugging its meandering paths lie scores of reeds; their long slender stems and firm brush-like heads project above the water’s surface, swaying to and fro in the wind. These delicate plants, so prone to bruising, oftentimes lay bent over, its heavy head drooping, the shattered stems no longer able to support the weight. There are many such bruised reeds both inside and outside the Church. In the natural, a bruised reed was good for nothing and spelt its end!
In this sermon hope is brought to the listener in the person of the Servant of Isaiah, Jesus Christ of Nazareth. He it is the prophet foretold, would come for the brokenhearted, to give them beauty for ashes and the oil of joy for the mourning. He it is, the good Shepherd of the sheep, binding up the broken, strengthening the sick and carrying the lame on His shoulders!! Be encouraged dear Saint...A bruised reed shall He not break!!
Bible Prophecy (Pt.4)
Perhaps one of the most powerful and fascinating themes of Bible prophecy are the prophecies surrounding Israel’s Messiah. These prophecies are not isolated verses in pockets of places, but rather are interwoven throughout the books of the Old Testament from Genesis to Revelation, having their exact fulfillment in the person of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. These prophecies spell out where Messiah would be born, who He would be born to, what He would do and accomplish during His unique ministry, His betrayal, death, burial, resurrection and ascension; factors that are totally outside the capacity to self-fabricate! One of the greatest objections and barriers to Jews believing that Jesus Christ is their Messiah is the notion that if He has indeed come, then why are Jews the world over still suffering? Why haven’t all wars ceased? As we shall see in this teaching, according to the Scriptures, Messiah must come twice to earth, the first to suffer and the second to reign!!
In this teaching we examine the spectacular prophecy contained in Isaiah 53 and demonstrate without question, its fulfillment in the person of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.
Download Teaching Notes (pdf)
http://traffic.libsyn.com/bethesdashalom/3a_Messianic_Prophecies_Fulfilled_Pt1.pdf