Category: Features

Lockdown Mental Health Support – Psalm 121

Posted on by Phill Sacre

In a world full of dangers, where does our protection come from? Psalm 121 is a short and wonderful Psalm which says that our protection is complete.

This evening I didn’t do a mental health livestream, it was pre-recorded and premiered at 8pm (I’m having a couple of days off!)

I am aiming to do a session each Friday night during lockdown. I find that it’s helpful for my own mental health, let alone anyone else’s!

Last week’s one was on Psalm 112 – “Do not fear bad news”. All previous sessions are available on this playlist.

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Why the Bible is best for mental health

Posted on by Phill Sacre

Mental Health has got big over the last few years. A lot of people turn to techniques such as mindfulness. But I believe the Bible is better than any technique. Here’s why.

What the video covers

  • The problem with techniques such as mindfulness
  • Five reasons the Bible is best when it comes to mental health:
    1. The Bible is God’s word (Psalm 19:7-9)
    2. The words of the Bible are powerful (Hebrews 4:12)
    3. The Bible reveals the truth about us (James 1:23-24)
    4. The Bible brings us to God (John 6:63)
    5. The Bible brings us to others (John 13:34)

What to do next

If you’d like to see some examples of the Bible ‘in action’ when it comes to mental health, check out my regular Lockdown Mental Health sessions.

If you’d like to learn more about Christianity, you can subscribe on YouTube or check out one of the various courses on this website to learn about Christianity. You might be interested in the What is Christianity? course, which goes through a very brief overview of the Bible in six sessions.

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Lockdown Mental Health Support – Psalm 112

Posted on by Phill Sacre

Last night’s mental health livestream was on Psalm 112: “Do not fear bad news”. I don’t like watching the news at the moment because it’s often bad! A lot of people have said to me how they don’t like watching the news either – some people have said they just turn it off! But this Psalm tells us of how we don’t need to fear bad news.

I am aiming to do a session each Friday night during lockdown. I find that it’s helpful for my own mental health, let alone anyone else’s!

Last week’s one was on Psalm 118 – “Will it be OK in the end?”. They will all be available on the playlist.

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Mark 5:21-43 – Learn to read the Bible #19

Posted on by Phill Sacre

I’ve just published the next part of the Learn to read the Bible series on Mark’s Gospel. This week we are looking at Mark 5:21-43, where Jesus heals a sick woman and raises a dead girl.

For those who are coming to this new, the idea behind this series is not for me to simply explain everything to you, but rather to give you things to think about yourself. This is about training you to read the Bible for yourself, rather than just giving you all the answers!

See this page if you’d like a few pointers for how to use these videos. Don’t forget to pray!

You can read the passage online here (although I’d suggest it’s better in a physical Bible). You may also want to have a pen and paper handy to jot down notes and things you want to look into more.

Key points from Mark 5:21-43

  • This passage is unusual because it has two healings. Are the two events related? I think Mark intends for us to see that they are – e.g. the girl is 12 years old, and the woman has been suffering for 12 years.
  • One of the things we need to look out for when we read the Bible is repetition – often things which are repeated are significant.
  • Something repeated in this passage is touching – significant given all the social distancing we’ve been having to do over the last 12 months! Might be worth spending some time thinking about how touch can be used to bring help and healing.
  • The woman who had been subject to bleeding for 12 years would have been “unclean” – you might like to look up some background about what made someone clean or unclean. She would have been isolated from the community and from God.
  • Lots of people were pressing around Jesus – it wasn’t the physical touch which healed the woman, but her faith. Maybe we could think about our own faith – what would we have done in that situation? Would we have had that kind of faith in Jesus?
  • The second thing which comes up again is faith – Jesus says “don’t be afraid, just believe”. It speaks to how confident Jesus was in God and his power!
  • Jesus takes the child’s hands. Touching a dead body is something else that would make you unclean – but cleanness flows from Jesus to the one he touches. Jesus is not made unclean, instead the girl is made clean.
  • Think about our faith and trust in Jesus: do we have the kind of faith that we need to come to Jesus and ask? Can we bring to him the things that we can’t do ourselves?

Explore Further: You might be interested in this post I wrote a few years ago on this passage.

Take a few moments to re-read the passage, think, and pray.

Looking for more?

You can see the rest of the videos in this series on the this page. If you’d like a more focussed series teaching the Christian faith, check out the teaching programme.

You might also want to see the previous episode in the series on Mark 5:1-20.

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The Trinity – Westminster Shorter Catechism #6

Posted on by Phill Sacre

One of the most important questions to ask about God is “Which God do we worship?” For Christians, it’s important to understand that we don’t worship “God” alone, we worship Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It really matters.

Explore Further

The page I mention in the video is part ten of the Get to know God series, on the Trinity.

You might also appreciate part 8 (“The Trinity”) of the Heidelberg Catechism series. which looks at this in a little more detail.

More Thought for the Week…

This is part of the weekly Thought for the Week series. This series is designed to give a short, 10-15 minute ‘thought’, including a Bible reading and a prayer. Currently I am working through the Westminster Shorter Catechism. You can see all videos on the catechism on this playlist.

Do subscribe to the mailing list if you want to get these delivered in a weekly email, or subscribe directly on YouTube if you want to see them there.

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Should Christians get involved in Politics?

Posted on by Phill Sacre

The Bible doesn’t tell us which political party to vote for. But, it does give us some principles to think about politics. In this session we take a brief look at some of those principles.

This session is part of the Your Questions Answered series.

Key points

  • The Bible gives us some principles which help us to think about politics. This session looks at five principles that help us think about political engagement as Christians.
  • #1: God made everything – Psalm 24:1. Christians should not be concerned just about themselves but concerned for everyone to worship and serve God.
  • #2: Real change comes through proclaiming the gospel. Faith comes through hearing the gospel (Romans 10:14, 17). This is how societies really change.
  • #3: Politics can aid the proclamation of the gospel. Many of us in the Western world have benefitted from a government which is broadly Christian. People involved in politics such as Thomas Cromwell have made a very big difference to Christians in this country.
  • #4: God calls us to care about others. Proverbs 31:8 – we are called to speak up for those who can’t speak for themselves. Some people feel a special call by God to go into politics to help people in this way.
  • #5: Politics has limitations. Psalm 118:8-9 – it’s better to trust in God than to trust in human beings. At the end of the day, humans have limited power and not every inequality or issue in society can be fixed. God is the only one who can solve all those things, and we should look to him.
  • We finish by looking at two examples, William Wilberforce (who was instrumental in abolishing the slave trade) and Black Lives Matter. I think these illustrate that politics can be a force for good, but at the end of the day only God can change people’s hearts.

Explore further

There’s a lot more you could say about Christians and politics! I’ve written a few posts on my own blog about politics which you might appreciate:

I hope that some of those are helpful.

Your questions answered

This is part of the Your questions answered feature. See that page for more videos in the series.

If you have a question about Christianity or the Bible, please send them in or comment below.

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Lockdown Mental Health Support – Psalm 118

Posted on by Phill Sacre

Last night’s mental health livestream was on Psalm 118: “Will it be OK in the end?” It’s so easy at the moment to be full of worries about how it’s all going to turn out. Maybe we think of what’s happening to our children, or to our jobs, or families, and the like. We just don’t know what’s going to happen. Psalm 118 helps us to be confident that things will work out in the end.

These verses really struck me this time round:

8 It is better to take refuge in the Lord
    than to trust in humans.
9 It is better to take refuge in the Lord
    than to trust in princes.

I am aiming to do a session each Friday night during lockdown. I find that it’s helpful for my own mental health, let alone anyone else’s!

Last week’s one was on Psalm 27 – “Don’t give up hope”. They will all be available on the playlist.

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Mark 5:1-20 – Learn to read the Bible #18

Posted on by Phill Sacre

I’ve just published the next part of the Learn to read the Bible series on Mark’s Gospel. This week we are looking at Mark 5:1-20, where Jesus heals a demon-possessed man.

For those who are coming to this new, the idea behind this series is not for me to simply explain everything to you, but rather to give you things to think about yourself. This is about training you to read the Bible for yourself, rather than just giving you all the answers!

See this page if you’d like a few pointers for how to use these videos. Don’t forget to pray!

You can read the passage online here (although I’d suggest it’s better in a physical Bible). You may also want to have a pen and paper handy to jot down notes and things you want to look into more.

Key points from Mark 5:1-20

  • Jesus goes into a region of the Gerasenes. Sometimes it’s helpful to have a bit of geographical background – it might be helpful to look up some information on this area to explain a bit about what happens in the story.
  • The Spirit is called an ‘Impure’ Spirit, which we saw before in Mark 3:20-35. Being pure and impure involved being different to other nations – one of the differences being, not eating meat of pigs.
  • Being demon-possessed wasn’t good for this man – it goes to show what being under the power of evil does for someone.
  • The demons beg Jesus not to send them out of the area. Why do you think the demons ask this? Is it because the people in this area in some sense welcomed them and didn’t want God / Jesus? Think about areas local to you – can you think of anything like this, and pray for them?
  • The demons are sent into the pigs. Was Jesus making the point that the people were wrong and shouldn’t have had the pigs? Is this why the people react so strongly against Jesus? Spend some time thinking about times when you have seen this reaction to you or others who are trying to do what God wants.
  • Jesus tells the man to tell what the Lord had done for him, and people are amazed. Think about how God can use the testimony even of one person for good. Isn’t that an encouragement for us to tell people what God has done for us!

Take a few moments to re-read the passage, think, and pray.

Looking for more?

You can see the rest of the videos in this series on the this page. If you’d like a more focussed series teaching the Christian faith, check out the teaching programme.

You might also want to see the previous episode in the series on Mark 4:35-41.

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Are there more gods than one? – Westminster Shorter Catechism #5

Posted on by Phill Sacre

The Bible makes clear that there is only one God. But have you ever thought about the implications of that deceptively simple statement? It’s one of the most fundamental things which has shaped our society for hundreds of years.

Explore Further

Part one of the “Get to know God” series is here.

Counterfeit Gods by Timothy Keller is available from 10 of those.

The God who is There by Francis Schaeffer is available from 10 of those. (A few months ago I wrote about why you should read his book, True Spirituality).

More Thought for the Week…

This is part of the weekly Thought for the Week series. This series is designed to give a short, 10-15 minute ‘thought’, including a Bible reading and a prayer. Currently I am working through the Westminster Shorter Catechism. You can see all videos on the catechism on this playlist.

Do subscribe to the mailing list if you want to get these delivered in a weekly email, or subscribe directly on YouTube if you want to see them there.

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Lockdown Mental Health Support – Psalm 27

Posted on by Phill Sacre

Last night’s lockdown mental health livestream was on Psalm 27: “Don’t give up hope!” Hope is a hugely powerful thing when it comes to resilience. If we think that things will never change and we’re stuck with awful circumstances forever, we might give up hope. On the other hand, if we trust that things will get better, we will have hope. Psalm 27 is full of hope, even in the midst of difficult times.

I was really struck by the final two verses:

13 I remain confident of this:
     I will see the goodness of the Lord
     in the land of the living.
 14 Wait for the Lord;
     be strong and take heart
     and wait for the Lord.

I am aiming to do a session each Friday night during lockdown. I find that it’s helpful for my own mental health, let alone anyone else’s!

Last week’s one was on Psalm 37. They will all be available on the playlist.

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