Why did God give the Law, and why did God send Jesus? We can’t understand how Jesus fulfils the old covenant unless we understand what God wants from us in the first place. The answer is summed up in one word – holiness. In this sermon we think about holiness and how Jesus is the fulfilment of everything that God promised for us.
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If you asked Christians to name the key elements of Jesus’ life, most would include his birth, death and resurrection — but how many would include his ascension and second coming? In this session, we look at why Jesus needed to ascend to heaven. We also look at what Jesus is doing right now, and how Jesus will return as our judge.
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If you’re new to Christian circles, you might wonder why there is a regular reference to blood — especially to the blood of Christ. What is it about his blood in particular which is important? In Hebrews chapter 9, we see why blood was so important to the Old Testament sacrifices, and how Jesus came to fulfil it.
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The Resurrection is one of the most important aspects of the Christian faith — and yet many Christians don’t understand it fully. Why was it so important for Jesus to rise again? And what difference does it make to our lives now – is it only for the future? In this session we explore the significance of Jesus’ resurrection.
If you appreciate this video, please consider becoming a subscriber on Substack.
Is the Old Testament obsolete? Some people seem to think so! This passage helps us to understand the purpose of the Old Testament system of sacrifices and priests, and how we should understand it now as Christians. We need to understand that we have something far superior in Jesus to the old covenant.
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When I started Understand the Bible over five years ago, I decided the best platform to use was YouTube: it was (and is) the premiere video sharing site on the internet. However, it also has some serious shortcomings. In particular, I feel that YouTube’s whole business model is incompatible with what I want to do: YouTube is designed to keep people watching for as long as possible. In a sense, your videos are there to serve their agenda – selling more adverts and making more money.
I am finding that, while the number of subscribers to Understand the Bible is increasing steadily, the number of people actually watching and engaging with UTB content is not. I suspect this is to do with the UTB algorithm and the fact that subscribing to a channel on YouTube really doesn’t mean that much. (It may also be to do with the fact that there isn’t much of an appetite for Christian content out there at the moment, but let’s leave that aside for the moment.)
The whole design of YouTube encourages a ‘consumer’ mentality, where people only watch things which they think are going to entertain them. There is so much choice and competition, it’s very difficult for new channels to find a foothold – especially for someone like me, who doesn’t want to compete by ‘playing the game’. I hope that people subscribe to UTB because they find the content Biblically faithful and relevant to their lives, and want to listen to what I have to say because it them connect with God. I want people to watch the sermons because they want to hear from God’s word, and not because they’ve been enticed in with a catchy title.
What I’d like to do with UTB is build a community of people who really want to learn from God. It doesn’t matter if it’s a small community, but regular engagement is far better than occasionally dipping in for a video title which grabs attention. I have discovered that YouTube is simply not the right place to do this.
This is why I have decided to move Understand the Bible to substack. I have been using Substack for another podcast for a year now, and I have found it a much better experience. Substack has a few features which make it more attractive than YouTube, at least for the kind of content I want to create.
Thank you for reading, and please let me know if you have any comments or questions.
There are many things in life we need, and even more things we might think we need! But the truth is that only Christ can truly meet our needs. This passage draws on an obscure Old Testament character named Melchizedek to see how Jesus gives us something superior to anything else the world has to offer.
Sermons are also available on the podcast.
Church with UTB: This is part of Church with UTB. Please do have a look at that page for more information.
Hope is what can keep us going through hard times in life. But what kind of hope do we have as Christians? Is it something only for the future? Are there promises we can look to now? And how do we know God will keep them?
Sermons are also available on the podcast.
Church with UTB: This is part of Church with UTB. Please do have a look at that page for more information.
C.S. Lewis said the miracle of the Virgin Birth was “the hardest of all for the modern mind to accept”. Perhaps this is the case because people don’t understand why the virgin birth was important. In this video we explore why the virgin birth was necessary, and how it’s beneficial to us that Jesus shares in our humanity.
The previous session can be found here. You can see all sessions under the Apostle’s Creed category.
Some people just assume that Christians will grow, no matter what. But this passage from Hebrews warns us that spiritual growth is not a given, and warns us that it is in fact possible to go in the wrong direction. There is a solemn warning that those who fall away cannot be brought back to repentance. This should be an encouragement to us to keep going, no matter what.
Sermons are also available on the podcast.
Church with UTB: This is part of Church with UTB. Please do have a look at that page for more information.
