We are living in a society and church which feels very divided. How can we unite in the midst of all the division going on? What is the basis for true unity? Galatians 2:1-10 has the answer.
Read the passage online here.
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The last session finished on a bit of a cliffhanger: God had made big promises to Abraham, but how could he keep them? The Old Testament demonstrated that sin was too strong to overcome on our own. But God had a plan to save the world.
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The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge,
Proverbs 1:7
but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
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.
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?”Who should we put our trust in – especially when it comes to people who teach the Bible? In this opening section of Galatians, Paul commends himself as one who can be trusted, and teaches us what it means to trust as well.
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Sermons are also available on the podcast.
Stories are not just for entertainment – they are hugely powerful in shaping and teaching us. Maybe that’s why God gave us a story, the biggest story, in the Bible. In this session we look at what happened after Genesis 3 – how does the Old Testament message lead us to Jesus?
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“We find no rest for our weary bones unless we cling to the word of grace” (Martin Luther). You might have heard of grace – but do you really know what it is? And do you live it out? Galatians teaches that grace is essential to the gospel and to Christian living. In this first passage we start thinking about why it’s so important.
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Sermons are also available on the podcast.
If God made a good world, then why is there so much bad stuff in the world? Why are there wars, and pandemics, and break-ups, and death? Why is my life in such a mess? In the second part of the What is Christianity? course we look at where it all went wrong – the cause of every bad thing in the world. Here we explore Genesis chapter 3, which explains how evil entered into the world.
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We celebrate Easter once a year, but it should make a difference to our lives the whole year round. In this sermon we think about how Easter, and especially the resurrection, makes a difference to us all the time.
You might like to have the passage in front of you as you listen – find it online here.
Enjoyed this sermon? See more on the sermons page.
Sermons are also available on the podcast.
What is Christianity all about? Join me on the start of this journey as we work our way through the Bible. In this session we look at what the Bible is and why it’s important. Then we start at the beginning – the creation of everything.
As I promised last week, this is the first episode of the updated What is Christianity? course. I’m planning to film a new video each week and upload it, starting with this course.
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An announcement about what is happening with Understand the Bible after Easter 2021:
Obviously this will have implications for the existing features – I won’t be doing Thought for the Week or Learn to read the Bible. Instead, everything will be rolled into one weekly video. That may be a course, it may be on a specific book of the Bible or topic. The point is, hopefully by focussing on one topic per week it gives me a bit of time to create something of higher quality.
I will continue to do occasional other things such as the Your Questions Answered series.
Thanks for bearing with me, the last year or two have been a steep learning curve for me but, God-willing, I am beginning to get there! I’m pleased with the first of the “What is Christianity?” videos which is due to be published next week.
Thank you to everyone for your continued support of Understand the Bible, and I look forward to journeying with you over these coming months.
