Bethesda Shalom

Sermon 1 of 4  Preached @ 10th Anniversary of Bethesda Shalom 13th April 2024

Ephesians 4:31-32 Relationships matter!   How I treat my fellow man has direct bearing upon my personal relationship with God.   The two are not mutually exclusive. It's not just me, God and forget everyone else.   Yet surprisingly, this is often how many Christians think.   Husbands can verbally abuse their wives and then turn up to the throne of grace like nothing ever happened.   Brethren, it d...

1 Kings 17:1-5 Suddenly, without announcement or herald, one of the greatest prophets to ever have been born entered into the national arena like a thunder bolt! No record is supplied us of his birth and as to his departure from this world, he was taken up into heaven while still alive! Like Melchisedec coming before him, he was "Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither begi...

James 2:14-26 Two farmers got down on their knees to pray.   One lived on the east of the village and the other on the west.   The farmer living in the east of the village longed so much for it to rain — it hadn't rained for months! The crops were perishing and the livestock was famished.   He prayed, "O God, I believe with all my heart that you are going to send rain on Monday!!" News travelled f...

Psalm 46:1-3 They tell me, that Christianity is for weaklings; men with no courage or backbone. "Christianity is for those who need a crutch, but as for me and my house, we'll stand in our own strength!" There are two things that I want to address in the comments I just made.   On both counts, you find the remarks to be erroneous — flawed on every hand.   In addressing the first point, "Christiani...

Isaiah 61:11 Imagine a United Kingdom where there was no Spring; a Britain where instead of four seasons, we only had three — Summer, Autumn and Winter!!   How would the landscape of our beautiful country be changed?   Well, I'm no climate expert, but I do know from observation; that in summer, the sun comes out and temperatures are at their hottest; the birds are singing and trees are bearing fru...

Acts 2:1-4 The word suddenly is an awesome word!!  Forty-one times it appears in the KJV.   It's a word of wonder, of surprise and amazement! At midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them. Their backs were bloody, beaten black and blue, yet they held a prayer meeting and got so full of the Holy Ghost that they burst forth into songs of praises unto God!...

2 Chronicles 7:13-14 My dear people, there is a price to be paid for revival — it's a painful affair!   Duncan Campbell put it this way; "If you want revival, get right with God. If you are not prepared to bring the "last piece," for God's sake stop talking about revival, your talking and praying is but the laughing-stock of devils. It is about time we got into the grips of reality".   The Welsh r...

2 Chronicles 7:13-14 Without question, even on a precursory level, as one picks up the history books and begins to read the accounts of past revival, you will be met with a common pattern again and again. Before the sound of the mighty rushing wind, the prayers of God's people were heard!   "And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly ther...

Acts 2:37-38 Before every divine visitation, God begins to awaken the consciences of His people first to the possibility of revival, and secondly to the need for revival.   How can a thirst for revival begin in the hearts of God's people unless there is a conviction that such a work of God is even for today? Perhaps the greatest hindrance to God sending revival amongst the so-called remnant Church...

Acts 2:37-38 My dear Brothers and Sisters, you don't need me to tell you that we are living in a dry and thirsty land!   A land that once flowed with milk and honey is now a barren wasteland.   Once the Church of Jesus Christ stood as a bastion of faithfulness and a pillar of truth decrying the spiritual bankruptcy of a fallen world.   Once it stood as a blazing lighthouse, warning the wicked of t...

Luke 15:11-32 Jason Wright brings an expository exposition of a parable that is so well-known to all of us.   May the Lord bless you as you hear the heart of our Heavenly Father!  

Exodus 40:33-38 If I were to ask you to tell me what the single greatest glory was attending the children of Israel as they wandered in the wilderness, I wonder what answer you would give?   Would it be the miraculous wonders — fresh manna by morning; the rock which was clave in two? Would it be the glory of the gold which adorned the holy furniture in the tent of the congregation? Would it be the...

Philippians 3:12-15 As each of you begins this New Year, I wonder this morning how much of 2023 you've allowed to stick?   How much of last year has come across as unwanted baggage into this year?   Do you know that for many a soul, their future has been mapped already for them by events that lie in the past? The child who all their life was told, you'll amount to nothing finds that those wretched...

Jeremiah 5:31 Many today are happy to live in an echo chamber where the only narrative they ever encounter is the one they want to hear.   You all know what an echo chamber is, don't you? Have you ever shouted from inside a cave?   What do you hear back?   More of the same!!   That's an echo chamber, and Brethren, if we're not careful we can find ourselves living in one!!   This sermon is an earne...

Hebrews 4:12 Once upon a time the preacher hastened fearlessly to climb the stairs of the pulpit, burdened with a message from heaven, armed in hand with a open Bible.   Book, chapter and verse was his modus operandi and for the unction of God He pleaded!!   Brothers and Sisters, it is the last part of this statement that has become my soul's burden over the last number of years — O for the unctio...

Overcoming the Fear of Man – Paul M. Williams Proverbs 29:25 There are over 500 recognised phobias in our world today For the most part, the fears that we experience as we walk through life are not good.   Rather than serving to be of benefit to us, they serve to be a hindrance.   Of all the fears I could list that are common to man, there is one fear in particular that has proved to be his downfa...

Genesis 12:1-4 It would seem on paper that man has more time on his hands than ever he had since time began.   Please don't misunderstand me, there are no more hours in a day — the same 24 that have always been are the same 24 available today — yet the sheer amount of what can be accomplished in a single hour is breathtaking!!   One study concluded that modern technology is saving the average man,...

Genesis 12:1-4 As I look back over the 23 years that I've had the privilege of walking with the Lord, every major turn in the road of my life, has been marked by the call of God.  Before ever I knew the Lord and at every junction since coming to saving faith in Him He hath called and faith's obedience has met that call!!!   In this sermon, Paul shares his testimony of God's call and faith's obedie...

1 Corinthians 6:18-20 Being raised in 21st-century Britain, I've never had the painful displeasure of attending a slave market. Yet in the days of the Roman Empire in the first century AD, it would have been commonplace. Under Roman law, slaves were regarded as the personal property of their masters, to be bought, sold, and mistreated at will. They had no rights of their own, no privileges to thei...

John 10:22-23 The Intertestamental period dated from the prophet Malachi's time (about 400 BC) to the preaching of John the Baptist (about AD 25) has been called the silent years. God is never silent! A lot happened in these 400 years.   In this teaching, we are going to explore one amazing event – The Feast of Dedication – in which we will discover who the Shammash of God is and where you and I f...

Isaiah 66:1-2 If I were to ask you to tell of the kind of man/woman who wins favour with God, I wonder what you'd say? I know full well of the kind that wins favour with the world — give a man a bit of money and prestige and see how rapidly his circle of friends increases.  But can I say; that which catches the eye of the world and that which turns the head of God are not the same — they're poles...

Matthew 21:42 From the moment that I got saved, some 23 years ago, I had a God-given burden that I could not extinguish, for my life to be used by God!!   I figured that for 20 years, I had given myself in full-time service to do the devil's bidding; how now, that I'm a born-again Christian could I give the True and Living God anything less?   Every fiber of my being cried forth, "Lord use me!! Ge...

Acts 12:1-5   When the people of God begin to pray, God begins to move! This, my dear friends, is an indisputable fact of history to which the Scriptures provide undeniable testimony .   In this sermon, example after example is laid bare, demonstrating that God responds to the prayers of His people.   Whether, Moses, Abraham, Hannah, Elisha, Hezekiah, or Elijah, they prayed unto God and were heard...

1 Samuel 3:10 I would argue that the single greatest tool the Devil has used to pervert a whole generation in this century and the latter half of the last has been the power of mass media — Film, music, radio, television, and now the internet. What was previously confined to the abominable opera houses and disgusting theatre halls is now aired en-mass 24-7/365 click-and-demand across the world!!  ...