Category: Features

Wisdom of Proverbs: Love and Marriage

Posted on by Phill Sacre

Proverbs is full of wisdom: wisdom is how to live in God’s world in God’s ways. Many people love to turn to Proverbs to discover what wisdom it contains for living everyday life. However, one of the problems with Proverbs is that the wisdom is not really categorised – it doesn’t come with an index system! I have found one of the best way of getting into Proverbs is drawing out everything it says on a particular topic.

In this article we’re going to look at what Proverbs has to say about love and marriage.

One thing which we need to say to begin with is that Proverbs is addressed from a Father to a Son. This means that everything is written from a male perspective. This is not to say that women cannot read and benefit from this advice as well! But it does explain why it seems to address a man rather than women directly.

Let’s put together some of the wisdom that Proverbs contains about love and marriage.

Continue reading “Wisdom of Proverbs: Love and Marriage”
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Why is the fear of the Lord the BEGINNING of wisdom?

Posted on by Phill Sacre

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge,
but fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Proverbs 1:7

Someone asked me a question the other day about the fear of the Lord. It got me thinking about Proverbs 1:7, which famously says that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge (or wisdom). But the word which really struck me this time is the beginning. What does it mean for the fear of the Lord to be the beginning of wisdom? And what’s the end?

Let’s start by thinking about what the fear of the Lord actually is.

What is the fear of the Lord?

The Hebrew word translated ‘fear’ (yirah) can mean fear or terror, but when it is used in relation to God it means something like respect or reverence. It’s the same kind of idea we might say about treating those in authority – maybe parents, or teachers, or police. (We don’t tend to think in those terms these days – it does sound very old-fashioned!)

I think it’s important to say that doesn’t mean we have to be scared of God. A lot of people have had abusive fathers or authority figures and have been terrified of them. God is absolutely not like that! We’ll come onto this more in a moment.

So that’s what the fear of the Lord is not. Let’s look at what the fear of the Lord actually is.

Continue reading “Why is the fear of the Lord the BEGINNING of wisdom?”
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Mental Health Support – Psalm 91 – God our fortress

Posted on by Phill Sacre

Psalm 91 helps us to understand that God is our fortress – he can protect us from anything that might happen.

Please note – This is the final mental health livestream before Easter.

Last week’s session was on Psalm 84 – “Cast your anxiety on him”. All previous sessions are available on this playlist.

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God is the ruler that we need – WSC #11

Posted on by Phill Sacre

Who’s really in charge of the world? In this session we look at something called God’s providence, which means not only that God is in charge but that he’s a good ruler – the ruler we really need.

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 or the podcast if you want to see them there.

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Mental Health Support: When we’re going through the valley

Posted on by Phill Sacre

Psalm 84 was written to encourage us when we’re going through a difficult time – a valley. In these sessions we spend a few minutes reading the Bible, thinking about what it means for us and the current situation, and then praying.

Last week’s session was on 1 Peter 5 – “Cast your anxiety on him”. All previous sessions are available on this playlist.

There will be one more session next week before a two-week break over Easter!

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Do you have to go to Church to be a Christian?

Posted on by Phill Sacre

People often say that you don’t have to go to church to be a Christian. But this is a misunderstanding: church in the Bible is not something that you can actually go to.

This session is part of the Your Questions Answered series.

Key Points

  • Church is NOT…
    • A building. In the New Testament, a building is NEVER called a church.
    • A meeting. Again, in the New Testament, church is never called an event (like a service).
  • Church is always the people. A building or an event is only church inasmuch as it’s about the people.
  • In a sense, you can’t go to church. If you’re a Christian, you ARE church.
  • A lot of people seem to think of church like a social club, or something which we can dip in and out of. But actually we should see church like seeing our family.
  • When we come to Christ, God puts us in a family of believers. He gives us a whole new family. In fact, in Mark 3:31-35, Jesus says that anyone who does God’s will is in his family.
  • So asking “Can I be a Christian without going to church?” is like saying, “Can I be in a family without seeing my family?”
  • We need to change our mindset! Being a Christian means loving others, especially loving our church. It’s not about “going to church” – it’s about being with our families.

Explore further

There’s a whole session on church as part of the How to live as a Christian course.

You might also like Heidelberg session #21 on The Church.

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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What it means to be human – WSC #10

Posted on by Phill Sacre

One of the most basic questions of all we can ask is, what does it mean to be human? This is often explored in Sci-Fi stories such as Blade Runner. In this session we see what the Bible says about human beings with the help of the Westminster Shorter Catechism.

Explore Further

I didn’t mention any links in the video but if you’d like a short book dealing with transgender issues, Vaughan Roberts little book is worth reading as a short introduction: Talking Points – Transgender.

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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Mental Health Support: Cast your anxiety on him

Posted on by Phill Sacre

1 Peter 5v7 says: “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” But what does that mean, and how do we do it? Let’s spend a little while thinking about these wonderful words.

Last week’s session was on Proverbs 3:-12 – “Wisdom & Well-Being”. All previous sessions are available on this playlist.

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God made everything – WSC #9

Posted on by Phill Sacre

In this session we look at one of the most profound and life-changing truths in the Bible: God made everything. It’s something we often teach to kids, but have you ever considered what it means for us?

Explore Further

These are the links which I mentioned in the video.

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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Three books for beginners to Understand the Bible

Posted on by Phill Sacre

I know that the Bible is a big book, and it might seem difficult to know even where to start. I’ve found that books can be one of the most helpful things when learning to read the Bible. A good book can open your eyes and encourage you in your faith. But how do you know which books to choose? There are hundreds of thousands of Christian books available, and more are being published all the time! How do you know which are the best ones?

Let me help you. I’ve chosen three books which I think will help you to understand the Bible, even if you’re a complete beginner. I hope these give a good cross-section, so together they will help you understand the Bible and Christianity more broadly.

Before we begin, there is just one thing I’d like to say: when you’re looking for books, please don’t look simply for new books! C.S. Lewis, the Christian author most famous for his Chronicles of Narnia books, once wrote an essay about why you should read old books. It’s well worth reading. I’ve tried to include here older and newer books, but my suggestion is to try to read tried-and-tested books alongside modern books.

All that said, let’s get into it!

#1: A Study Bible

The first book I would recommend is… the Bible! But not just any old Bible – I would suggest beginning with a study Bible. What is a study Bible? Alongside the actual text of the Bible, it has notes which help to explain things in the text. Good study Bibles will often have other articles in them to help introduce Biblical themes, as well as introducing each book of the Bible. I would suggest that a good study Bible is the most useful thing you can buy to start understanding the Bible.

So, which study Bibles are good? There are two which I would recommend – the Zondervan NIV Study Bible and the ESV Study Bible (both available in various different editions). I have personally used the ESV Study Bible but I have heard good things about the NIV Study Bible also. I believe there is little to choose between them, apart from your particular translation preference. I use the NIV translation of the Bible day-to-day and in all the Understand the Bible videos. If you’re new to the Bible, I would recommend it as a good general purpose, easy-to-read version. (The other one I recommend which is a bit easier to read is the New Living Translation. There is an NLT Study Bible, but I don’t know much about it. If you use the NLT, you might want to check it out!)

#2: A Bible Reading Companion

The next thing on my list is a book to help you read the Bible day-by-day. There are lots of daily Bible reading notes, and I have a few links to some on the resources page. My suggestion for one book to begin with is Through the Bible Through the Year by John Stott. John Stott was a very capable Bible teacher, who for years was the rector of a large church in London. What I really like about this book is that it’s not complicated: for each day you have a short Bible reading and a page explaining it. It takes you through the whole Bible (in short!) and you focus on the Christmas and Easter passages at those times.

I think this book is a really good way of getting into reading the Bible every day and helping you understand it.

#3: A Bible overview

Another thing that will really help you to understand the Bible is a Bible overview. It’s so helpful to be able to pick up a Bible and know, whichever book you’re reading, roughly where it comes in the timeline of the Bible and how it fits in with the big picture. In fact, the What is Christianity? course on Understand the Bible is basically a mini-Bible overview. The most helpful thing I’ve ever done in understanding the Bible was an ‘Introduction to the Bible’ course, which was basically a Bible overview. It really does help put things together.

My suggestion for a Bible overview is God’s Big Picture by Vaughan Roberts. It’s a readable overview of how the whole Bible fits together, looking at it through the perspective of God’s Kingdom.

This is also available as a video course which is ideal for small groups.

The most important thing

As I’ve been writing this post, I’ve been thinking about the books which have been significant in my journey of understanding the Bible. There are lots of books which have been really helpful to me – but the most important thing hasn’t been any individual book (apart from the Bible itself!). The most significant thing is the day-by-day journeying with God, reading the Bible, praying, worshipping with other Christians, hearing sermons. It’s all significant in understanding the Bible.

I hope that these books will give you a head start. But remember that understanding the Bible is a journey, not a destination! In fact, I’d say that the more you understand the Bible, the more you realise there is to understand. It’s like walking into a building when it’s dark and thinking it’s only small, but then over time beginning to realise that it’s actually the size of a cathedral.

The most important thing is never to give up. God rewards those who seek him. As Jesus said:

Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

Matthew 7:7-8

Over to you

What books have been the most helpful for you in understanding the Bible? Let us know in the comments below! 👇

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