Malcolm Cox

Basic preaching and teaching course for men and women

You can find the handout and feedback form by clicking here.

1. Feedback

2. Bibles

Remember who you are - not a ‘preacher’: Michael J. Quicke, “360 degree preaching”,  p201

Remember the power of humility: John Stott, “I believe in preaching”, p335

Remember the vision: Dr M. Lloyd-Jones, “Preaching and preachers”. p325

Remember the greatness of God: John Piper, “The supremacy of God in preaching”, p109

Please add your comments on this week’s topic. We learn best when we learn in community. 

Do you have a question about teaching the Bible? Is it theological, technical, practical? Send me your questions or suggestions. Here’s the email: [email protected].

If you’d like a copy of my free eBook on spiritual disciplines, “How God grows His people”, sign up at my website: http://www.malcolmcox.org.

Please pass the link on, subscribe, leave a review.

“Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.” (Psalms 100:2 NIV11)

God bless, Malcolm

PS: You might also be interested in my book: "An elephant's swimming pool", a devotional look at the Gospel of John

"This, then, is how you should pray" 

Class 3: “Give us this day our daily bread.”

Introduction 

Last week’s class: “your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven”

“Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.” (Matthew 6:8 NIV11)

Note: This is how you should pray, not, this is what you should say.

"The three clauses of prayer for God’s glory are now balanced by three petitions for the disciples’ needs."

What are we praying for, when we pray asking for our daily bread?

Looking to God for provision without anxiety

““Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?” (Matthew 6:25 NIV11)

Trust that he wants and delights to give

Ask with relaxed posture, not anxious demand

Not only my bread. Concern for needs of others.

Luther sees a social dimension to this prayer as well. For all to get daily bread, there must be a thriving economy, good employment, and adjust society. Therefore, to pray "give us all the people of our land-daily bread" is to pray against "wanton exploitation" in business, trade, and Labour, which "crushes the poor and deprives them of their daily bread.”

Luther goes on to warn those involved in the injustice that the church is praying against them!

espousios: today, tomorrow, coming day, the day at hand.

Perhaps an eschatological hint. The bread of life is here:

“I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” (John 6:35 NIV11)

And is coming again.

(a) Just today - manna in the wilderness. 

(b) Necessary for survival - need, not want. Contentment. 

Workers paid daily. Might be only enough for that day’s bread. Not enough to save. Very precarious existence.

Making a point about necessities rather than luxuries?

Contentment.

“Keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, ‘Who is the LORD?’ Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonour the name of my God.” (Proverbs 30:8–9 NIV11)

The prayer is for our needs, not our greeds

Don’t forget everything you have is from God.

“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” James 1:17 NIV11

He owes us nothing.  Apparent security in our society tends to engender entitlement and/or ingratitude, there must be countered by active recognition of dependence on God’s generosity.

What stands out to you from this verse?

How might your prayer life grow because of what this verse teaches you about God, yourself and prayer?

Suggestion: Pray this verse every day between now and the next class

Please contact me if you would like to share in the final class

Please add your comments on this week’s topic. We learn best when we learn in community. 

Do you have a question about teaching the Bible? Is it theological, technical, practical? Send me your questions or suggestions. Here’s the email: [email protected].

If you’d like a copy of my free eBook on spiritual disciplines, “How God grows His people”, sign up at my website: http://www.malcolmcox.org.

Please pass the link on, subscribe, leave a review.

“Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.” (Psalms 100:2 NIV11)

God bless, Malcolm

PS: You might also be interested in my book: "An elephant's swimming pool", a devotional look at the Gospel of John

“A song of ascents.   Praise the LORD, all you servants of the LORD  who minister by night in the house of the LORD. Lift up your hands in the sanctuary and praise the LORD. May the LORD bless you from Zion, he who is the Maker of heaven and earth.” (Psalm 134:0–3 NIV11)

Have you ever had the experience of seeing something that took your breath away or made you cry out loud something like “Wow!”?

End of pilgrimage - from Kedar to Jerusalem - (Psalm 120:5–6 NIV11)

As if pilgrims overwhelmed by very real presence of God as finally arrive at destination

The destination is not the goal - a relationship is the goal

We have ‘arrived’, therefore:

Put aside whatever has been going on during the journey & celebrate!

A. Minister/stand = same word

Accepted, secure; have a place, a role; we are servants of the Lord (Revelation 1:5–6)

B. Night/mundane

Levites on night duty - could be mundane security job

C. Safe and accepted - in God's presence

In Christ “house”:  “Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household,” (Eph 2:19 )

Question: “How do we know we are safe in God?” (Ephesians 1:11–14)

We have arrived, therefore we receive blessings from God…

“Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.”

“bless” in every verse (bless=praise, give thanks, extol) - barakh

A. Blessings go both ways

"When he ‘blesses’ us he reviews our needs and meets them; when we bless him we review his excellencies and worship him.”

Relationship is the point, not arrival, or the distractions of being a tourist in Jerusalem.

e.g. Not “going to heaven”, but getting to know the one we will be with in eternity

B. Enjoy God’s blessings

Do you fundamentally believe God wants to bless you?

Questions: What stimulates you to praise God? What helps you to ‘enjoy’ God?

Conclusion, v3b

Maker: Who we were made for.

He is not far off: (Deuteronomy 30:11–14)

Come near through the blood of Jesus: (Hebrews 12:22–24)

Please add your comments on this week’s topic. We learn best when we learn in community. 

Do you have a question about teaching the Bible? Is it theological, technical, practical? Send me your questions or suggestions. Here’s the email: [email protected].

If you’d like a copy of my free eBook on spiritual disciplines, “How God grows His people”, sign up at my website: http://www.malcolmcox.org.

Please pass the link on, subscribe, leave a review.

“Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.” (Psalms 100:2 NIV11)

God bless, Malcolm

PS: You might also be interested in my book: "An elephant's swimming pool", a devotional look at the Gospel of John

Actually, this title is disingenuous. I'm not sure we can be completely confident that we are fitting in to God's plan for our lives. At least, not at the moment in time we ask that question.

I am somewhat sceptical about the idea that God has a specific plan for my life or anybody else's. At least, in detail. What seems to me more illustrative of a genuine relationship, is that the connection between me and God is more of a dance than me figuring out his plan. 

However, it is reasonable to ask whether the way in which we are living fits with the circumstances God has given us. In the picture above you will see a terrarium. It's the wedding anniversary gift my parents sent Penny and me. A terrarium, if you don't know, is a small glass box in which one grows plants. Small plants. Plants that fit.

I may want a birch tree, a Laburnum, a Leyllandii. Yes, no matter how much I want them, they will not fit into that terrarium. It will not suit them. They will not thrive, and the terrarium would not survive. Forcing things to fit when we want them to only lead to breakages. Consequently when we went to the garden centre this week to buy some plants, we only looked at small ones. Ones that fit.

I do not have time to fully develop the concept this week. A combination of wedding anniversary celebrations, my son moving out and my father being in hospital makes time a little more precious than usual. However, what I would suggest is that you spend some time in prayer this week asking our heavenly father to give you insight as to whether you are fitting the circumstances he has given you.

When we accept his healthy restrictions, we are better equipped to flourish in the way he intends. Hebrews 12 is a good background passage on which to meditate.

Don't forget the excellent resources that my friend Simon Dinning is putting out these days. His latest post is "Has the Bible Been Changed?"

Many thanks to the person who agreed to let me coach them this week. Let me know if you would like some coaching. Sessions can be as short or as long as needed. I am currently looking for someone to help me with setting up a website for my coaching. Thank you to everybody who has already contacted me, but if you know someone or you would be interested in helping me with this please get in touch.

Until the next time, 

God bless, Malcolm

Introduction 

Reasons for the church avoiding the topic so far.

1. Politics.

2. The western church is largely sheltered from the impact of environmental degradation on the global community.

3. The theological posture taught by many in the church that the created order is bound only for destruction.

1. Creation as God’s blueprint

We all long for Eden:, and we are constantly glimpsing it: our whole nature at its best and least corrupted, it's gentlest and most human, is still soaked with the sense of exile. – Tolkein

In the opening chapter of Genesis, God reveals his blueprint for creation. A close reading of his chance to demonstrate that the questions to biblical author is attempting to answer are, who is God? What is humanity? And where do we all fit within this cosmic plan?

Both the biblical text and its ancient near Eastern counterparts make it clear that for humanity to be named seem (image) Is for humanity to be identified as the animate representation of God on this planet. In essence, woman and men are the embodiment of gods sovereignty in the created order.

In the language of covenant, Yahweh has identified himself as the suzerain and Adam as his vassal. Moreover, Yahweh has identified Eden as the land grant he is offering to Adam.

The curse in acted by humanities rebellion is not simply a list of random penalties – it is a reversal of God originally intended blessings. 12

2. The people of the old covenant and the landlord

Interesting insights about the significance of offering the first born, pages 18 to 21

On the moral mandate of the old Testament… Allow the land to rest. Don't take everything you can. Take only what you need. Leave enough so that the land might be able to restore itself for future harvest and future generations-even though such methods will cut into short term profits. 28

Deuteronomy 5:14-15 - Sabbath for the animals

You know all too well what it is to labour without relief, to live out your entire life captive to the whim of another, to be disallowed control over a single corner of your own existence. You know what it feels like not to be allowed to rest.

On taking animals to be slaughtered before the priest first… As regards the slaughterer himself, the Talmud requires that "by virtue of his training and piety, his soul shall never be torpified by his incessant butchery but kept ever sensitive to the magnitude of the divine concession in allowing him to bring death to living things." 41

… We can assume that when the societal regulations of Deuteronomy were conceived, the habitat of the wild creatures of the promised land was not yet under undue stress from human settlement. But Deuteronomy 22:6-7 offers us a very curious little law making it clear that even in this stage of human development, the preservation of the indigenous species of the region was a priority. 52

At the earliest stages of its urbanisation, Israel is commanded to live in a sustainable fashion in its engagement with the wild creature. 53

Regarding a mother bird with eggs, see page 56 contrast between Bible and Neo Assyria. 56

See long-term thinking, Deuteronomy 20:19. 61

The relationship that Israel had with their land serves as a model of gods intentions for our relationship with the land. 68

 Even the terminology for "family" in ancient Israel reflects the centrality of the patriarch, as the basic household unit was called the "fathers house". This household included the patriarch, his wife (or Wiles), his married sons with their wives, his onward children, and his grandchildren. 69

See illustration of Israelite tribal society, 70

Example of Job 31:16-22-the evidence of his integrity is his quantifiable act of charity to those outside his household. 72

See Deuteronomy 24:21-22 – the law code of Deuteronomy lists the three crops essential to Israel's agricultural cycle (and therefore survival), and demands that the small holder farmer not fully harvest his crops. Recognising the subsistence struggles with the typical family farm, this is a big ask. 77

See my podcast for detail on “The day of the Lord”, Romans 8  - resurrection not destruction, and Revelation 21/22 - new heaven and new earth

Short-term, desperation management that exhaust current resources in answer to the cry of the urgent was not acceptable in Israel, and it cannot be acceptable to us either. 109

See the list of ways to take action and various websites. 

Please add your comments on this week’s topic. We learn best when we learn in community. 

Do you have a question about teaching the Bible? Is it theological, technical, practical? Send me your questions or suggestions. Here’s the email: [email protected].

If you’d like a copy of my free eBook on spiritual disciplines, “How God grows His people”, sign up at my website: http://www.malcolmcox.org.

Please pass the link on, subscribe, leave a review.

“Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.” (Psalms 100:2 NIV11)

God bless, Malcolm

PS: You might also be interested in my book: "An elephant's swimming pool", a devotional look at the Gospel of John

Thames Valley teaching series: more theology

 

A disciple’s hope is that God’s kingdom will is part of this present age as well as the future one. 

We want God’s rule in our lives now, spreading, and moving towards ultimate fulfilment.

Two responsibilities flow from praying this prayer:

1. Committing ourselves to learn all we can about the father’s will

2. Living what we learn by God’s grace.

Questions to ask ourselves:

"This is, in fact, a prayer for the kingdom of God to become fully present: not for God’s people to be snatched away from earth to heaven, but for the glory and beauty of heaven to be turned into earthly reality as well. When that is done, God’s name — his character, his reputation, his very presence — will be held in high honour everywhere. The first half of the prayer is thus all about God. Prayer that doesn’t start there is always in danger of concentrating on ourselves, and very soon it stops being prayer altogether and collapses into the random thoughts, fears and longings of our own minds." Wright, N. T. Matthew for Everyone Part 1 Chapters 1–15.  1. Accordance electronic edition, version 2.2. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2011.

Tim Keller writes: "adoration and Thanksgiving – God-centredness, – comes first, because it heals the heart of its self-centredness, which curves us in on ourselves and distorts all our vision. Now that the prayer is nearly half over, and our vision is re-framed and clarified by the greatness of God, we can turn to our own needs and those of the world.” Keller, Prayer, 114First half of prayer all about God - good model for our times of quiet.

Please add your comments on this week’s topic. We learn best when we learn in community. 

Do you have a question about teaching the Bible? Is it theological, technical, practical? Send me your questions or suggestions. Here’s the email: [email protected].

If you’d like a copy of my free eBook on spiritual disciplines, “How God grows His people”, sign up at my website: http://www.malcolmcox.org.

Please pass the link on, subscribe, leave a review.

“Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.” (Psalms 100:2 NIV11)

God bless, Malcolm

PS: You might also be interested in my book: "An elephant's swimming pool", a devotional look at the Gospel of John

Class 10 of the series: "“They tell of the glory of your kingdom and speak of your might” (Psalm 145:11)

- You have chosen your text

- You have explored it

- You have mined other resources

- You have found the point

- You have chosen a structure

- You have planned how to start your lesson

- You have planned how to end your lesson

- You have added your illustrations

- You have planned your congregational involvement

- Now it’s time to prepare yourself

- Today: How to prepare yourself

- Don't become somebody different

- Strength in weakness

- Fear and insecurity are no barriers to God’s effectiveness through you

- Apply text to yourself - **James 3.1**

- Preparation in advance critical to this

- For courage: When Hugh Latimer was preaching one day in the presence of King Henry VIII, he reports that he said to himself, “Latimer! Latimer! Remember that the king is here; be careful what you say.” Then he said to himself, “Latimer! Latimer! Remember that the King of kings is here; be careful what you do not say.” For such unflinching faithfulness Latimer was eventually burned at the stake. But He feared failing God more than he feared offending men.

- For wisdom: What to cut out; attentiveness to the Spirit

- For peace: God’s Word is more powerful than your mistakes

- At start of message?

- Some people find routines helpful

- My Sunday morning routine:

    - Bruckner Symphony No. 7 - **play loudly in the background**

    - Read text

    - Review sermon

    - Make notes on things to be adjusted

    - Check slides et cetera

    - Go out to pray

    - Return, edit and leave it alone

    - Gap between final edit and preaching helpful

- Bible, notes ready?

- Energy?

    - Too little: Run up some stairs….

    - Too much: Breathe

- Voice: room temperature water

- Nervous: Good! Pray they will help you fly.

    - Tuesday Teaching Tips: "[Nervous? Good!]"

    - Tuesday Teaching Tips, Episode 127: ["How to make nerves your friend"] Part 1

    - Tuesday Teaching Tips 146, ["What to do when your nerves get the upper hand"]

- Question: “How do you know you are prepared?”

- Next time: Summary class

- Need questions for the concluding summary class

- “One generation commends your works to another; they tell of your mighty acts.” (Psalm 145:4 NIV11)

Please add your comments on this week’s topic. We learn best when we learn in community. 

Do you have a question about teaching the Bible? Is it theological, technical, practical? Send me your questions or suggestions. Here’s the email: [email protected].

If you’d like a copy of my free eBook on spiritual disciplines, “How God grows His people”, sign up at my website: http://www.malcolmcox.org.

Please pass the link on, subscribe, leave a review.

“Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.” (Psalms 100:2 NIV11)

God bless, Malcolm

PS: You might also be interested in my book: "An elephant's swimming pool", a devotional look at the Gospel of John

Hermon - 2,814m; snow all year; drenching; dew - soaking

Please add your comments on this week’s topic. We learn best when we learn in community. 

Do you have a question about teaching the Bible? Is it theological, technical, practical? Send me your questions or suggestions. Here’s the email: [email protected].

If you’d like a copy of my free eBook on spiritual disciplines, “How God grows His people”, sign up at my website: http://www.malcolmcox.org.

Please pass the link on, subscribe, leave a review.

“Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.” (Psalms 100:2 NIV11)

God bless, Malcolm

PS: You might also be interested in my book: "An elephant's swimming pool", a devotional look at the Gospel of John

We had the privilege of celebrating our daughter and son-in-law's first wedding anniversary on Wednesday. Lydia and Bintesh have had 12 months of married life together. A special "thank you" must go to my wonderful mother-in-law who paid for the lunch at "The Florist" in Watford.

Getting family together has proven to be somewhat challenging during the COVID-19 shenanigans. It feels all the sweeter when it works out like it did this week. But in between we miss that sense of doing life together.

I have the same feeling about our church fellowship. We see each other online, and occasionally as couples in each other's gardens. But it's not the same as having all 25 members of the Watford church singing together, praying together and chatting over tea and coffee at the end of the service.

While we all miss this, it may also creatively help us to consider the true nature of our unity. I'm speaking on the topic of unity this Sunday because it is the headline from Psalm 133 - the next in the Psalms of Ascent.

“How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity!” (Psalm 133:1 NIV11)  The NLT swaps the word "unity" for the word "harmony". The Message version translate the verse, “How wonderful, how beautiful, when brothers and sisters get along!” (Psalm 133:1 MESSAGE) 

Where does this harmony, this oneness (John 17: 20-23), come from? How is it developed? What stands in its way?

I dare say we will not fully answer all these questions in one short sermon on Sunday (though you are welcome to see how far we get). However, as I reflect on the picture of harmonious family life prompted by this verse, I am reminded that unity as God intended to be is a function of a spiritually healthy approach and commitment to relationships, and nothing to do with structures and organisations.

I have nothing against organisations and structures as such. But humanity has a propensity to depend upon adherence to the rules of an organisation as a poor, and indeed corrupted substitute for a godly unity. It does not seem to me that the Father, the Son and the Spirit are one because of any sense of structural conformity. What we term the Trinity is, in its essence, the fullest, most perfect and beautiful expression of what the Psalmist longs for. Consider this quote:

"Christian worship is nothing more, nor less, than the Spirit enabling us to join in with Christ's worship of the Father. Christian prayer is nothing more, nor less, than the Spirit enabling us to join in with Christ's prayer to the Father." From 'Worshipping Trinity' by Robin Parry.One of the reasons we gather is to join in the self-giving worship of each part of the Godhead towards one another, and, as we worship together, we are drawn into, purified and refined in our relationships. It is God who creates the harmony. Our part is to sing his song-together.

Please pray for us on Sunday that as a church, the Watford group will learn together how to be together, worship together, live together as God's people in the kind of harmony that brings him glory and us great joy.

Many thanks to the two people who have agreed to let me coach them. Let me know if you would like some coaching. Sessions can be as short or as long as needed. 

Until the next time, I hope you find greater and greater harmony developing in your local fellowships. Please let me know what you think helps this harmony to become a reality.

God bless, Malcolm

The Kingdom did come, has come and is coming.  The king is here, the king's power is here, the king will return.

What does this mean for how we live God's will?  Have a look at the beatitudes as translated by N. T. Wright:

"3‘Wonderful news for the poor in spirit! The kingdom of heaven is yours.  

  4‘Wonderful news for the mourners! You’re going to be comforted.  

  5‘Wonderful news for the meek! You’re going to inherit the earth.  

  6‘Wonderful news for people who hunger and thirst for God’s justice! You’re going to be satisfied.  

  7‘Wonderful news for the merciful! You’ll receive mercy yourselves.  

  8‘Wonderful news for the pure in heart! You will see God.  

  9‘Wonderful news for the peacemakers! You’ll be called God’s children.  

  10‘Wonderful news for people who are persecuted because of God’s way! The kingdom of heaven belongs to you. "

Wright, N. T. Matthew for Everyone Part 1 Chapters 1–15.We are asking God to help us live this way, and thanking him that it is possible.

““Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”

* (Matt. 7:21 NIV11-GK)

“For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.””

* (Matt. 12:50 NIV11-GK)

““My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.”

* (John 4:34 NIV11-GK)

“For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me.”

* (John 6:38 NIV11-GK)

“Epaphras, who is one of you and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends greetings. He is always wrestling in prayer for you, that you may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured.”

* (Col. 4:12 NIV11-GK)

“As a result, they do not live the rest of their earthly lives for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God.”

* (1 Pet. 4:2 NIV11-GK)

“Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.” (Psa. 51:10 NIV11-GK)

Please add your comments on this week’s topic. We learn best when we learn in community. 

Do you have a question about teaching the Bible? Is it theological, technical, practical? Send me your questions or suggestions. Here’s the email: [email protected].

If you’d like a copy of my free eBook on spiritual disciplines, “How God grows His people”, sign up at my website: http://www.malcolmcox.org.

Please pass the link on, subscribe, leave a review.

“Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.” (Psalms 100:2 NIV11)

God bless, Malcolm

PS: You might also be interested in my book: "An elephant's swimming pool", a devotional look at the Gospel of John