Category Archives: Ken Noakes

Listening to the Word

I had never read anything like it! It was amazing, it was as if the words were leaping off the page and calling out to me – these words were for me!

Those chariot journeys were a good time to read and reflect. Work was so busy and so much was asked of me. My day job is Head Official overseeing the Royal Treasury. I like the responsibility and I feel honoured to be working for the Ethiopian Queen making sure my people are provided for well. Not all eunuchs are given much respect so I know I am in a fortunate position.

I can’t tell you how I came across the scroll but I have to say it blew my mind.

Continue reading →

What must I do to be saved? (Part 3 of 4)

Why is salvation by grace so hard to accept?

This doctrine is one of the many points where the Bible is totally out of step with our society!

Romans 5 helps us:

5 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

9 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! 10 For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! 11 Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

Continue reading →

What must I do to be saved? (Part 2 of 4)

Salvation by Grace

According to Acts 16, the Philippian Jailer and his whole family listened to the Word of the Lord as spoken by the Apostle Paul, accepted it, and were baptised as a sign that they had been saved (Acts 16:16-40).

Christians are people who believe in the Lord Jesus. They are saved, not by what they have done, but by what he has done. Jesus’ greatest gift is his salvation – which is why Christians can clearer and confidently say that they are ‘saved by grace’.

This is a fundamental starting point.

Let me explain.

Continue reading →

What does it mean?

peters-pentecost-sermon

Amazed and perplexed they asked ‘What does this mean?’. You see, in Jerusalem that day there were Jews representing many nations and languages and yet each one heard the proclamation of the Holy Spirit in their own language. They were bewildered because the disciples of Jesus could speak in their own vernacular – and they made perfect sense! How strange to hear something so clearly and yet not understand.

Have you ever found yourself looking at what God is doing and wondering: ‘What does this mean?’ I have!

Continue reading →

Book Review: 40 Rockets

40 Rockets – Encouragement and tips for turbocharging your evangelism at work by Craig Josling & City Bible Forum (Sydney: Matthias Media, 2017).

40r_medium3d.rdi4xe6mei5u6krp7oxumsj3qyfm46fw

For any worker, so much of any given week is given to a job. For any Christian worker, this is their prime mission field.

Yet, how do you make the most of that opportunity? It is scary at points. There are risks. There are restrictions and workplace guidelines all of which need to be obeyed. No one said that talking about Jesus was a picnic, yet it is still our commission.

This book attempts to help – in a very practical sense.

Continue reading →