BBC Sermon Cast

If Psalm 111 exhorted and exemplified praise to God for who He is, Psalm 112 exhorts and exemplifies praise to God for what He produces: a godly man. We become like that which we worship. Psalm 112 exhorts us to praise God for producing those who praise God and gives us a number of characteristics of those who praise God.

Failure can be painful—hauntingly so. It maybe academic, athletic, relational or spiritual, but the question is always, can I be restored? Is there hope of restoration after miserable failure? John 21 gives us hope that failure need not be final.

Psalm 111 reminds us of the need to think God’s thoughts after Him, to think deeply, deliberately and devotedly about God. This is both the theme of Psalm 111 and of the Christian life. To the degree that we grow in our knowledge of God, we will grow in our appreciation of the love of God and therefore in our love for Him.

Message from Francois Koch on Jan 3, 2016

Jesus tells us that our behaviour proceeds from our heart. The fruit manifests the root and a tree is recognised by its fruit. Likewise, people are known by their fruit, by their behaviour. Those who consistently display bad behaviour manifest a bad heart. Those who consistently display good behaviour manifest a good heart.

Christmas time is most often associated with joy and gladness and cheer. And rightly so. The reality that God became man is the fulfilment of Emmanuel, “God with us.” And for those who follow through with the whole Christmas story—all the way through Easter—“God with us” translates into “God for us.” This truly is joyful. This gives us sufficient cause for gladness. And yet. Yes, there is a “yet” that attaches to the cheers of Yuletide. We live in a broken world and, where there is brokenness, happiness is often hard to come by. Even at Christmas. Perhaps especially at Christmas. For many, including some reading this, Christmas may be troubling.

In this study, I want to address the subject, “The Trouble with Christmas.” In fact, I will argue that, unless we are troubled by Christmas, unless we allow ourselves to be troubled by Christmas, we will never properly treasure Christmas.

This chapter records an oracle of Ezekiel intended to warn Israel’s unfaithful shepherds and people, and to encourage God’s scattered people that they have a faithful shepherd in the Lord their God.

The gospel is the good news of what God has done for believing sinners in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. But we need to digest the really bad news before we can truly appreciate the amazingly great news of the gospel. This is what Paul refers to as God being “rich in mercy” (Ephesians 2:4) and what the author of Psalm 107 refers to as “steadfast love” or “goodness” or “lovingkindness.” Though we are undeserving sinners, yet God in His steadfast love rescued us.

Psalm 107 allows us to revel in the steadfast love (mercy, lovingkindness) of God.

Luke 1:46–55 records Mary’s Magnificat, and it is the goal of this study to unpack it. While it has become trendy to see Jesus as a revolutionary, it is important that we understand what type of revolution He brought about and how one can be a part of it.

It is an inestimable privilege to be a member of the body of Christ, the church over which God the Father has placed Jesus as Head (1:22–23). Sadly, we often forget the magnitude of this glorious privilege. We forget that, as Paul teaches in the opening verses of Ephesians 2, members of the Body of Christ were once dead but are now, by the power of the living God, alive.

Ephesians 2:1–10, like the two sections in chapter one, is one long, unbroken sentence. In this study, however, we will focus on vv. 1–4, where we see the power of the gospel in changing us from what we were because who God is and therefore because of what He does.