Teaching

THE GREATEST STORY: Chapter 2 – The Middle

(September 02, 2024) Dr Jim McClure shares more about The Greatest Story…

Following the prophet Malachi’s death there were no further prophetic revelations about Israel. For over 400 years the nation went into spiritual decline, and lost its independence first to the Greeks and then to the Romans. 

Throughout the centuries the prophets consistently challenged the moral and social corruption which the Bible describes as ‘darkness’ — but also revealed that God had not turned His back on humankind. While they had strongly denounced humanity’s rejection of God, they also affirmed that this had not resulted in God’s rejection of humankind!  They also revealed that the message of the Old Testament was not the whole story but just the beginning of a much bigger story.

They further indicated that a new chapter would begin when God Himself would personally get involved on planet earth — a chapter revealing God’s loving plan to reach out to a fallen, broken world by becoming personally involved!

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THE GREATEST STORY: Chapter 1 – The Beginning

(August 28, 2024) Dr Jim McClure succinctly shares some great truths…

I love reading.

And recently I was reading a book by one of my favourite authors and was quite enjoying it until I got to the end when I felt quite frustrated for the ending was so abrupt. It seemed that the author had run out of ideas about how to conclude his story.

A great story has a beginning which sets the scene, a middle that centres on the main theme, and an end which draws it all together.

This article is the first ‘Chapter’ of three in a series which I am calling The Greatest Story and  it is based on a book on that was written over a few thousands of years by around 40 writers. It contains history, philosophy, poetry and religion. It is a story of love and hatred, humility and pride, heroism and cowardice, generosity and greed. It reveals some of the best characteristics of people and some of the worst. All the various parts of the story blend together to uncover truly the greatest story ever told.

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THE PEOPLE GOD CHOOSES – PART 3

(August 19, 2024) Brian Bell shares more on this theme, quoting from 1Samuel NLT(1996)…

In Part 1 of this short series, we looked at some thoughts about Noah, whom we might call him ‘God’s boat builder.’ And while God declared him to be the only righteous man on earth at that time, we also saw that Noah was overtaken by sin.

The sin of Noah did not take God by surprise, it was in God’s foreknowledge, yet it did not prevent God from choosing and using Noah and what encouragement that should bring to our hearts today.

In Part 2, we looked at some thoughts about a woman God chose to place in a leadership position, Deborah, a prophetess and judge.

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THE PEOPLE GOD CHOOSES – PART 2

(August 06, 2024) Brian Bell shares more on this theme quoting from Judges NLT(1996)…

In Part 2 of this short series I share with you some thoughts about a woman God chose to place in an Old Testament leadership position. Judges 4:4 introduces us to Deborah — a prophetess who had become a judge in Israel.

It is important to set the context. Following their entrance into the land God had promised to Abraham, under God’s direction and Joshua’s leadership, the children of Israel began to take possession of the land and subdue the occupants.

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THE PEOPLE GOD CHOOSES – PART 1

(July 27, 2024) Brian Bell shares some important points for our serious consideration…

Some years ago now, as I reached home one evening and began reversing my car into the driveway I heard these words on the Christian radio broadcasting channel to which I had been listening— ‘You can’t tell anything about God’s choices by the people He chooses.’

I didn’t get the name of the speaker, or hear any more of the broadcast as I locked the car and entered my home, but I wrote that phrase into a notebook. As the phrase has recently come back to my memory I am sharing with you the first in a short series of articles about some of the people God has chosen.

In Genesis 6:9 (NLT1996 version) the record tells us about Noah— that he was ‘… a righteous man, the only blameless man living on earth at the time. He consistently followed God’s will and enjoyed a close relationship with Him.’ 

A Question to Ponder
As Noah lived long before there was any written scripture record and that leads me to ask the question, how did Noah get to know God in this faithful and intimate way?

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THE LORD’S PRAYER – Part 3: ‘A DOXOLOGY ’

(July 19, 2024) Dr Jim McClure concludes his teaching on the Lord’s Prayer…

We have previously seen that the Lord’s Prayer falls into two main sections — The Lord’s Prayer-Part 1 God’s Dominion (Matthew 6:9-10) and The Lord’s Prayer-Part 2 Our Dependency (Matthew 6:11-13a).

The prayer concludes with the words ‘For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen’  (Matthew 6:13KJV and NKJV).

We describe such declarations which acknowledge God’s greatness and declare His praises as doxologies. Such as Ephesians 3:20-21, ‘Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.’

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THE LORD’S PRAYER – Part 2: ‘OUR DEPENDENCY’

(June 20, 2024) Dr Jim McClure shares more great insights on the Lord’s Prayer –

In The Lord’s Prayer-Part 1 God’s Dominion posted earlier this month, I wrote that Jesus was teaching His disciples in response to their request, ‘Lord, teach us to pray.’ It is such a short prayer – we can recite it in 30 seconds – but it is also very profound because it covers the foundational principles that should be present in all our praying. So really… it is not a prayer that can be adequately prayed in 30 seconds!

Notice that Jesus did not say, ‘This is what you pray,’ but ‘This is how you pray.’ Obviously, it is not wrong to pray this actual prayer, but Jesus gave it to the disciples to provide some basic prayer principles, not as a strict formula to be followed.

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SAYING ‘I LOVE YOU’ WITHOUT USING MANY WORDS

(June 10, 2024) Richard Winter shares ‘food for thought’…

Imagine this setting…
Great restaurant, soft music, your intended seated beside you, his hand reaching over and touching you, and voice filled with passion says, ‘I love you.’

Or settings like these…

  • Men bonding with men who jovially say, ‘Man, I love you. What a game!’ after a great football match.
  • Women doing something similar when they go shopping with another woman.

Ever looked for such settings in the New Testament?  They’re not to be found!

  • Jesus never said, ‘I love you’ to the woman at the well.
  • Nor is He recorded as saying, ‘I love you’ to the disciples.
  • Rather He asked them if they loved Him!
  • He demonstrated caring love to many!
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THE LORD’S PRAYER – Part 1: ‘GOD’S DOMINION’

(June 06, 2024) Dr Jim McClure teaches… and challenges –

How good is your prayer life?

I guess that for most of us prayer is lower on the ladder of importance in our lives than we would be prepared to admit.

We excuse ourselves by thinking that we are so busy that other urgent things make demands on us and, sadly, prayer is set to one side to be attended to later.

Many churches place an emphasis on the importance of their regular prayer meetings and sometimes Christian organisations plan citywide, and even nationwide, prayer meetings and Christians are encouraged to commit to them. However, valuable and important such gatherings may be, the number of participants is ultimately not the determining factor in the effectiveness of prayer.

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ZONING IN ON ZEPHANIAH – Part 2

(June 03, 2024) Brian Bell encourages…

For this my second meditation from the Old Testament prophecy of Zephaniah, I am sharing several additional thoughts from chapter 3.

God’s Prerogative  
In my May article we shared how Zephaniah’s messages had brought a stern rebuke to a spiritually cold or backslidden people.

However we also saw how God in His grace gave Zephaniah a word of encouragement as he reminded the wayward people of the certainty of God’s presence telling them ‘… the Lord is still there in the city and He does no wrong’ (Zephaniah 3:5NLT).

As we come to look at verse 16 there is no rebuke, indeed quite the opposite as we read, ‘Cheer up, Zion! Don’t be afraid.’

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