Bethesda Shalom

Psalm 127:1 Before the invention of the engine, there were only two ways to power a sea vessel; by human power or by nature's power.  You could row a boat or sail a boat!!  Without a doubt, rowing involves far more effort on the part of man than does sailing.  Those oars must be pulled through the waters at speed enough to create a drag that propels the boat forward. Stop rowing and the boat stops...

Jeremiah 17:5-8 I don't know if you've ever had the pleasurable experience of tracing the path of a river as it meanders through the iconic English countryside.  It is a sight to behold.  The 'S' curved bends of the river as it winds its way round hill and gully.  The flowing currents, sometimes gentle, sometimes fierce.  The exposed banks of the river with their clayey substrate. All makes for a...

Galatians 5:1 Part 1 of 2 Having asked the question last week, "Which Covenant?", and having answered it conclusively with authority from the Word of God; I want now in this second teaching part, to go on to look at the nature of this New Covenant as it pertains to justification and sanctification. When one understands the true nature of the Old Covenant as contrasted with that of the New, how cou...

Part 1 of 2 I stand as a watchman to lift my voice in warning, against a movement that is fast growing in momentum across the evangelical world.  Some call it Hebrew Roots, others call it Torah Observant Christianity — call it what you like, the overriding emphasis is the same.  They tell us that the Gentile Church has been infected with Greek culture and needs desperately to return to its Jewish...

Rebecca Cranch shares a powerful and moving testimony of God's faithfulness in the birth of her precious son Tobias!

2 Samuel 21:15-22 As I look at the spiritual condition of the Church in this country, I've no other way to explain it, except to say that we're in a spiritual crisis. As you turn on the news this evening, the headlines sound loud and clear, there's a coming global famine, and we must prepare for it!!  Headlines like this, make us sit up and take note, yet what if I was to tell you that we are alre...

1 Kings 18:36-39 It's commonly been said, "God helps those who help themselves".  Without a doubt, this is one the most oft-quoted phrases that many are fond of repeating, but did you know, it's nowhere to be found in the Bible?  All around us, we witness the sobering reality of spiritual dearth across the nation, both in the Church and out.  The Church resolves to pull itself up by their proverbi...

Philippians 2:1-11 There are some things in this life that can only be truly understood by divine revelation.  No amount of seeing will ever see, and no matter how many times one might hear a thing proclaimed, it's not until the penny drops that one really hears for the very first time!!   I do not think that one can begin to comprehend, Calvary's dying love, without the aid of divine revelation,...

Acts 3:19 Why is it that so many who name the name of Jesus Christ, can't ever seem to break free from the cycle of "struggle"; never coming to a place of spiritual maturity in their lives, never seeming to be able to overcome the besetting sins that have so easily entangle them for years?  At the heart of the issue lies a life that is un-surrendered to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, and until one...

Genesis 21:1-8 Patience is one of those virtues that we all speak about, but none of us really like to experience it.  It's a bit like "saving", who likes to save when you can spend! Well similarly, who likes to have to endure the pain of waiting when you can have it now!!  The whole of Western consumerism is built on this model— if you want it now, you can have it now!! Solomon wrote, "Hope defer...

Genesis 3:1-7 Faith is to undergird our whole Christian experience, without it, we cannot function!!  There is an enemy of our souls who well knows this fact.  You don't need me to tell you that we are in a spiritual battle — we feel its effects hourly!!  As believers in Christ, we are not to be ignorant of Satan's devices, lest he should gain an advantage over us (2 Cor. 2:11).  One of Satan's mo...

Mark 4:23 Four pastors were discussing the merits of the various translations of the Bible. One liked a particular version best because of its simple, beautiful English. Another preferred a more scholarly edition because it was closer to the original Hebrew and Greek. Still another liked a contemporary version because of its up-to-date vocabulary. The fourth minister was silent for a moment, then...

Numbers 13:26-33 How many know that the God of history, is the same God of the present?  God is known by His attributes - those characteristics and qualities which define His person and nature.  For some, studying these divine attributes is nothing more than an academic exercise. Instead of the knowledge of the Holy impacting the life, for many, it merely impacts the head.  Friends, God reveals Hi...

2 Chronicles 36:14-20 One of the fundamental ways by which we can know the nature and the character of God is by the attributes which He has chosen to reveal about Himself in Holy Scripture.  These attributes define His person —His eternality, his sovereignty, his omnipotence and omniscience, and His spiritual and triune nature. These very attributes define His character —His love, His grace, His...

Hebrews 3:12-13 The little phrase, "take heed", appears more than 50 times in the Word of God.  It may only be a tiny phrase consisting of two words but boy does it pack a punch and fire a shot across the bows. It is a phrase of warning; a sound of alarm; like a bell ringing or the town crier heralding FIRE!!, so the words "take heed" call immediately to arrest one's attention. When one sees the w...

Revelation 2:1-7 The Church in Ephesus was a Church that was in declension in regards to love.  They had departed from that they once knew in glowing fervour and had grown cold in that most vital of areas.  The heat of the battle had done something to them.  All that contention against the false had jaded their glow of love.  Simply put, their love had grown cold in Jesus because they had lost tha...

Matthew 26:17-25 Imagine being seated around the table on the night of the Last Supper with the twelve.  As you're enjoying some last and final moments together with the Lord, Jesus suddenly turns and interjects these words, "...Verily I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me". You try to compose yourself — who's He talking to?  Has an unwanted guest snuck in among us?  Looking around, you...

1 Thessalonians 5:25 Some of the most profound and sublime truths in life are not found in the abundance of paragraphs, but in the trimmed leanness of a single sentence.  Take for instance the sentence, "I love you" — it's not rocket science, you don't need a degree to understand its meaning, and yet it speaks a thousand words. How about, "I'm sorry" — two words strung together in three syllables,...

Isaiah 40:1-2 Isaiah is the most quoted prophet in the New Testament Scriptures, and one of the most quoted books, second only to that of Psalms. It has been referred to by scholars as a miniature Bible. There are 66 Books in the Bible, and there are 66 chapters in the Book of Isaiah. There are two divisions in the Bible, and there are two divisions in the Book of Isaiah. The first part of the Bib...

Nehemiah 4:1-6 When God begins to stir the hearts of His people to a work that He has determined to do, you can be sure of one thing; the devil will also stir the hearts of his own subjects to rise up in opposition against it.  There's scarcely a work that God has ever set about to do, that has not gone without such opposition.  In the days of Nehemiah, God was at work in the rebuilding of the cit...

Hebrews 12:1-2 A man's sickness is known by his symptoms.  The symptom is not the sickness, but rather, the symptom is the indicator of the sickness present.  As I look around at the Church of Jesus Christ in the West, I don't know any other way to say it, I see a sick Church.  You say, Brother, judge not, and I say, Brother, how can I not when the symptoms are staring me in the face!!  When a man...

Psalms 57:1 If I was to task a man with the arduous job of naming the greatest hymn ever written, I'm sure that opinions would abound.  Take, for instance, Charles Wesley; it has been calculated that he wrote no fewer than 6000 hymns during his lifetime. Of these 6000, many are in agreement in concluding that the greatest of these (and arguably they would say, the greatest hymn ever written) is th...

Matthew 24:3-14 Some view the Christian race as a 100 m dash.  On your marks…get set…go!!!  1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and it's over!  However, as one looks in the text of Holy Scripture, one quickly discovers that the Christian race is no 100m dash, but a marathon of lasting endurance!  In this sermon, we look at two indispensables that are necessary for Christian perseverance.  There's a rac...

1 John 2:12-14 What man plants a sapling, who upon his return ten years later, does not expect to find a fruit-yielding tree?  Imagine the horror at discovering that the bendy sapling is no further on in its progression as in the day it was first planted.  If it is an apple tree or a pear tree, we'd expect that tree to have come to maturity, and the sign of its maturity would be the beautiful frui...

1 John 1:5-7 There's something about light — its piercing rays of glory, its all-pervading brilliance, is no match for the darkened shadows cast by nature's night.  I find that for so many, though they name the name of Christ, they are content to live in the bluey shades of the twilight hours when Christ is calling them into the brightness of daylight.  Neither hot nor cold, neither wicked nor goo...