The Bible Explored with Rico Tice

Although 1 Cor 13 is the great love portrait in scripture, Rico shows why it is not the most appropriate passage to use at a wedding. He explains the priority, portrait and perseverance of love and touches on the subject of speaking in tongues.

Rico explains what the Holy Spirit does in someone's life before they become a Christian and elaborates on what the Spirit continues to do in the believer after their conversion. He explains what the gifts of the Spirit are and their purpose.

There are times when our past sins come back to us and the belief that we still need to repent becomes real. Rico shows us that once we have repented and been forgiven by God, no charge can ever be brought against us.

Although it can sometimes be difficult to see how God works all things together for our good, Rico gives us clear examples of times when this has happened in recent history and how this gives us real hope in our struggles.

Although the doctrine of original sin is unpopular to some, Rico explains this doctrine from Romans 5 and shows how it is fundamental to the gospel. He shows how simply knowing that something is wrong doesn't stop us from doing it.

In the light of the great commission to go and preach the gospel, Rico takes us through Acts 18 and shows us the example of the apostle Paul's preaching and how this can be used by us today as we seek to witness to an ungodly society.

Although the gospel message unites believers, Rico is at pains to remind us that the proclamation of the gospel will always bring division. He also explains how forgiveness and justification are two sides of the same coin and what they mean.

Whilst some view history as a series of random, unconnected events, Rico takes us right through Acts 13 to demonstrate how that everything that has ever happened in the world has been orchestrated and brought about by God.

When a person's life is dramatically changed by something they suddenly realise, we call it a 'Damascus Road experience'. Rico takes us through the original Damascus Road experience that Saul had when he encountered Jesus for himself.

Rico encourages us to cross the pain line in our evangelism and believe that as we speak about Christ, God will do the miracle of opening blind eyes.

As Rico explores the occasion when Peter and John heal the crippled man at the temple gate as recorded in Acts 3, he asks whether Christians should pray for miraculous healings today.

Whilst the work of bringing people to salvation is what Christ does through the power of the Holy Spirit, Rico explains that we can play our part by showing what Christ has done in our own lives.

As some of today's children become increasingly defiant, Rico unpacks the principles of good parenting set out in Ephesians 6v4. Rico challenges himself as to whether he and his wife demonstrate a good example to their own children

With our present culture telling us that we are free to do as we wish provided nobody else gets hurt as a result, Rico shows us the Biblical principles of sexual intimacy and explains the difference between lust and love.

As Rico takes us through the book of Ephesians, he asks: Why does Paul pray? How does Paul pray? To whom does Paul pray and what does Paul pray? Rico challenges us to know the answers to these questions in our own prayer lives.

In the face of the assertion that we are only sinners because we do sinful things, Rico uses the words of Jesus who said that "it's what's inside a person's heart that defiles him" to explain original sin and the grace of God.

Rico uses the example of the relationship that Kate Middleton had with the future King of England to show us from Ephesians chapter 2 how we, as Christians, have been brought into a relationship with the King of Kings, Jesus Christ.

Our natural instinct will cause us to choose evil over good, so therefore it is not possible for us to discover Christ in and of ourselves. Rico explains how it's the Holy Spirit who opens our eyes to see who Christ is.

Whilst many people think that freedom means being able to do as I please, Rico turns that idea completely on its head by showing that true freedom for the believer can only be found in humbly serving others.

Rico continues his studies in the book of Galatians and shows what it was like for the Apostle Paul to be rejected by the Christians of his day because they would not accept his rebuke of their false teaching.

As Rico takes us into the book of Galatians, he explains how painful it must have been to the Apostle Paul to be falsely accused of not preaching the true gospel, when his accusers were actually the ones who were corrupting it.

Rico takes us into the Upper Room with Jesus and reveals fresh truths as Christ shared the Last Supper with His disciples. He draws our attention to the fact that, astonishingly, Judas was given a place of honour in the room by Jesus.

Whilst God supplies us with everthing we need for our existence on this earth, Rico explains from the parable in Matthew21 that we are not the owners of the world but merely tenants.

As Rico takes us through the events of Palm Sunday, he shows that Jesus riding on a donkey was a sign of power not weakness. Rico explains how that Jesus being in control of the situation then gives us hope when our circumstances are difficult.

Rico explains that a gospel that doesn't include the judgement to come is deficient because salvation can only be real if we know what we are being saved from.