The Semper Reformata Podcast

The Plain Unvarnished Truth about Jesus and Us Matthew 10v34-38  as Jesus speaks to his disciples, he never sugar-coats his words, or plays down the difficulties or promises them that life as a Christian will be easy. He’s not the ‘gentle Jesus meek and mild’ person some people think him to be. Jesus said: ‘ …he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. ’&...

 Idolatry 1st John 5:21 Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen As we come to the very last phrase in John’s first letter, we are driven back to the most basic premise of the Christian faith. That there is only one, True, Holy, God who will not tolerate the worship of any other god that we might invent. John warns us to guard our lives from idols. There is a deep pastoral concern th...

Clarity, Conviction and Confidence. Matthew 10:26-30 The disciples are being sent into a world that contains great dangers for them. They will be hated by everyone in the world. Yet despite all of that, they are being tasked to preach the Gospel despite the fact that doing so will inflame and antagonise the world even more! Surely a better approach would be for the disciples to keep their heads do...

Three Things that the World Needs but Hasn’t Got Text.  1 John 5:18-20 . John is going to remind Christians of three things we know, three blessings of the Christian life and they are all found in Christ alone. They are freedom from sin, victory over the world and a new perspective on life and death, AND these are what every person in the world really needs! I know they won't admit it, for wh...

Seek the Lord. Text .  Isaiah 55:6-7. Luke 19:1.  Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:  7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. We are all to be seekers… .  but who will search for God? recor...

PRAYER - A CASE STUDY Text: 1 John 5:16-17. John has been speaking about prayer, and how we may have confidence in prayer, and then he adds this next verse, perhaps as a case-study for what he has just taught us; praying for sinners! What does John mean when he says that there is a sin not unto death, and a sin unto death? Read the NOTES HERE . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more infor...

Living in a Hostile World Matthew 10:16-22 Christians are living in a hostile culture But it’s NEVER been any different, and it never will, until Jesus returns. In Matthew’s account of the ministry of Jesus, he records the words of the Saviour as he sends his disciples out to witness for him. Let’s see how he prepares them for the hostile environment they will be living and working in… T...

Fearfully and Wonderfully Psalm 139:14-16 In this special bonus episode, we look briefly at these very important verses from Psalm 139, verses 14-16, – to make a prophetic statement on events that have occurred over the past few days in our sovereign UK parliament, when MPs voted in strength for an amendment which will in certain circumstances, make legal the abortion of babies up to the moment of...

How to Pray with Confidence. 1 John 5:14 And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: 15And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him. Prayer is an essential part of the Christian life, so as soon as John has established that we KNOW that we are eternally saved, with a...

Ministry Ethics Matthew 10:8-17 Jesus has called his disciples, and now they get some really practical good advice for ministry, part of their ‘Seminary Evangelism Module’ – and its not just good advice for them, but for us also as we seek to represent the Saviour in this godless world:- Wisdom in Accounting Wisdom in Association Wisdom in Abandoning Apologies for the sound quality of this recordi...

The Internal Witness 1 John 5:9-12 V10 He that believed; on the Son of God hath the witness in himself… For this week's Bible Study I've reprised an episode from October 2024, recorded at TRC. No point recording the same thing again! Do you know for sure that you are saved and forgiven, through repentance and faith in Christ, and that because of his atoning death on the cross you have forgiveness...

Polycarp the Martyr In this episode were going to be thinking about the persecution of the early church, and focusing in on the martyrdom of Polycarp, the pastor of the church at Smyrna, in what is now called Turkey. Polycarp’s testimony for Jesus Christ led to his arrest and to his death in the city of Rome in the 2nd century AD. May his perseverance and steadfast determination to follow Jes...

Ministering in Word and Sacrament Matthew 10:5-8 Christ's were being trained in the school of the master, and they were to go forth as ambassadors, and missionaries, sent out to represent Christ in their words and acts. Now we see a little more detail about that commission… The margins of their ministry. To LOST SHEEP. The message of their ministry. The KINGDOM is at hand! The method of their...

The Water and the Blood 1st John 5:6-8 What does John mean by ‘ Water and Blood?’ There are four possibilities: The Wounded Side of Christ. The Sacraments A Witness to the Historicity of Christ's Baptism and Death - as an answer to gnosticism. The Application of the Cleansing Power of Christ to the believer. We look at these four possibilities - all of them views held by reformed evangelical comme...

The Day of Pentecost Acts 2:1-4 We look at the account of how God poured out his Holy Spirit upon the first Christian disciples, and its effects and results. This sermon was recorded live at Ballymacashon Congregational Church, and contains some extraneous noise and echo. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Overcomers 1st John 5:4-5 For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. 5 Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God? We know that we are Christians because we have overcome the world, and we are overcoming the world! This is John's next point. So, what is the WORLD that we ha...

Can We Die Before Our Time? Here's some seemingly opposed and contradictory texts: Ecclesiastes 7:17 Be not over much wicked, neither be thou foolish: why shouldest thou die before thy time Hebrews 9:27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: Psalm 31:15 My times are in thy hand : Which statement is right? Or are both? Let's unravel the mystery of Ecclesiastes 7:1...

The Victory 1 Corinthians 15:50-58  It is only because Jesus rose from the dead, that we too will also rise – on that final day of this earth’s history, when the trumpet of God shall sound, and the Lord Jesus will return to judge this world. The Apostle Paul turns his attention to the events and results of that last day. Bob's sermon for Easter Sunday morning, 2025. Recorded at Ballymacashon...

Christian Obedience Text.   1 John 5:2-4a  Is there an objective test for brotherly love? John suggests that there is. It is obedience. We will know that we love God's people, when we love God, and obey him. So we need to examine these verses and see what John is speaking about: The Legal Background to Christian Obedience. The Light Burden of Christian Obedience. Read the NOTES HERE . Ho...

REPARATIONS - Britain, the Bible, and the Slave Trade. You can’t have missed the increasing demands for the British government to pay ‘reparations’ for its part in the slave trade. It was an issue that confronted me when we were studying Ephesians, working our way through the book, verse by verse in an expository manner. When we came to chapter five, we were confronted by these verses, ...

Love Is…  Text:  1 John 4:19-5:5  John has been spending much time and ink on the importance of love. God’s love for us, and our love for God, and the resulting love that we have for each other. He tells us that: Love is a REACTION (To Christ's love for us) Love is a REVERSAL (Of the opinions and values of the world) Love is a RESPONSIBILITY (To obey the commandment even by Jesus) L...

Disciples in the School of Christ. Text. Matthew 10:1-4 In Matthew chapter 10, Jesus begins to prepare his disciples for ministry.  Before we see his particular instructions to them, his teaching on their ministry, lets see how he chooses and calls them… Read the NOTES HERE , APOLOGIES - THIS RECORDING WAS MADE LIVE AT BALLYMACASHON AND CONTAINS ECHO AND BACKGROUND NOISE. Hosted on Acast...

John’s Sermon on 4:12 Text.  1 John 4:12-21 John preaches a sermon, for the next few verses, v13-21 are actually a commentary and expansion on what he has taught in verse 12. Now, the biblical authors did not preach to amuse you or to tickle your ears – John is going to talk about the Christian’s confidence in the day of judgement. That will require some explanation, – and it won’t be casual...

Lazarus – Come Forth! Text: John 11:38-45 In this last piece of the story there is a wonderful illustration of the Gospel – and that is exactly what we would expect. John 20:30-31, …but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name. Let’s look for the Gospel, so that we too may believe in Him, and have eternal life...

God’s Love, Its Source, Satisfaction and Strategy Text. 1 John 4:7-12 According to James Montgomery Boice, John has applied three tests, by which a person may know that they are a child of God: The moral test – RIGHTEOUSNESS, the social test -LOVE, the doctrinal test – TRUTH, which is belief in the Lord Jesus Christ as God incarnate. For John, the greatest of these tests is the test of love....