It feels at the moment like we’re in something of a desert: away from family and friends and many of the things that we love. How do we pray in these times?
Update: my plan is to do a lockdown livestream up until Easter, and then to continue a regular Friday night mental health livestream in a similar vein after Easter.
Last week’s one was on Psalm 121 – “Where our help comes from”. All previous sessions are available on this playlist.
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 6:1-6, where Jesus goes back to his home town.
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.
Take a few moments to re-read the passage, think, and pray.
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 5:21-43.
If we have lots of bad emotions, that can lead to us having bad mental health. If we don’t do anything with those feelings bad things can happen. But there is good news – Jesus can help us!
Over the last few weeks I’ve been doing a Lockdown Mental Health session each week. I’ve also started to worry about children’s mental health, and so I decided to trial doing a children’s mental health session. I have been thinking about starting Understand the Bible for kids, so this was a good opportunity to try something out.
Let me know if you like it, and I will see if I can develop it into something more!
Our plans are often subject to change. The best laid plans don’t always come to pass. But is it really like that with God?
I don’t mention this in the video, but if you would like to read something more about God’s sovereignty and plan, especially in salvation, check out these books:
You might also appreciate Part #9 of the Heidelberg Catechism – “God our Father”.
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.
When we’re going through times of suffering or hardship we often ask “Why?” In this sermon we look at how Jesus transforms our suffering into something for God’s glory.
This is part three of the ‘Seven Signs in John’ series. See the previous sermon ‘You are not strong enough (and that’s OK)’ on John 6:16-24 here.
Enjoyed this sermon? See more on the sermons page.
Jesus taught that following him was not simply a private affair but had implications for how we engage with the world. In this session we explore two images he used to explain – “salt” and “light”.
The previous Sermon on the Mount video on the Beatitudes “The Blessed Life” is available here.
In due course this series will replace the existing Sermon on the Mount series.
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.
In this sermon we think about how we often try to accomplish things through our own strength, when we should be looking to Jesus. God’s strength is made perfect in our weakness.
This is part three of the ‘Seven Signs in John’ series. See the previous sermon ‘Jesus feeds 5000 people’ on John 6:1-15 here.
Enjoyed this sermon? See more on the sermons page.
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.
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.
What does it mean to be blessed by God? What does the Christian life look like? In this first part of the Sermon on the Mount, we look at Jesus’ manifesto for the Christian life.
Those of you who are paying attention may have noticed I already have a series on the Sermon on the Mount. What has happened to that one? Well, that series was originally recorded back in 2018. It was one of the first series I recorded – well before it was called Understand the Bible! Those videos look dated and are well due for an update. I’ve decided to record fresh videos, and I will be uploading those over the coming weeks. When it is completed, I will replace the existing Sermon on the Mount course here on the website with the new videos.
