Today’s Teaching

TEXT: ‘Now let me remind you, brothers, of what the Gospel really is, for it has not changed—it is the same Good News I preached to you before. You welcomed it then and still do now, for your faith is squarely built upon this wonderful message’ (1 Corinthians 15:1 TLB) THOUGHT: When the feelings of joy seem to have evaporated since becoming a Christian, what do you have left to hold on to? You have the fact of God’s Word! Bible-believing Christians are not wishy-washy, but steadfast and unmoveable. In his letters to the Corinthian church, Paul wrote to correct a number of beliefs and practises that were theologically incorrect. One of these errors concerned the resurrection of Jesus Christ and this is the gist of 1 Corinthians chapter 15. In the first few verses of this chapter Paul used the word “That” as something they could have absolute certainty about and we can too. The word “That” is emphatic and leaves no room for misunderstanding or misappropriation of the truth it is describing. What Paul was so emphatic about concerning the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the theme of Today’s Teaching. 1. That Word – ‘By which you are saved if you hold fast that word which I...

TEXT: ‘Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my Temple. If you do,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, “I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won’t have enough room to take it in! Try it! Put me to the test!’ (Malachi 3:10 NLT) THOUGHT: Of the Ten Commandments God gave to Moses, the eighth says, ‘You shall not steal’ (Exodus 20:15). In the last book of the Old Testament, the prophet Malachi asks, ‘Will a man rob God?’ (Malachi 3:8). The way that the Children of Israel robbed God was by withholding their tithes or the tenth of their income. There was a two-fold knock-on effect to their actions. Firstly, individually and as a nation, they ended up living under a curse, not under the blessing God had always intended. Secondly, the Temple was affected because the priests and Levites ended up living off the land and neglecting their ministry, instead of being fully supported by God’s people through their giving.1   Malachi threw down the challenge to bring all the tithes into God’s House and prove the truth that giving their tithes would cause them to be better off, because God...

TEXT: ‘But when they believed Philip as he preached the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, both men and women were baptized’ (Acts 8:12) THOUGHT: There is a fundamental difference between religion (which usually believes in a god) and Christianity. The difference is Christ! Religion puts the onus on a person to do enough good to earn heaven, whereas Jesus has done it all for us because we could not, and it is ours by faith. Philip, scattered by the persecution in Jerusalem, travelled to Samaria and started evangelising. His message was clear and concise. He preached about the Kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ. Later, when he met the Ethiopian chancellor, he preached Jesus to him.1 The cause of that persecution is recorded. The religious authorities said, ‘We gave you strict orders never again to teach in this man’s name! They called in the apostles and had them flogged. Then they ordered them never again to speak in the name of Jesus, and they let them go’ (Acts 5:28, 40 NLT).  The result of their threats and beatings, far from being like water to put out the gospel flames, became fuel on the fire that caused the message to...