Category Archives: Ken Noakes

Do you pray?

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I struggle to pray. Prayer for me is not natural, it feels labored, it gets in the way of the ‘flow’ of my day. But I should pray.

Now I feel guilty.

I know that Christians should pray. Jesus taught me to pray (Matt 6:5-15) and his apostles called me to pray (Col 4:2) and to pray continually (1 Thess 5:17). Oh help.

J.C. Ryle (1816-1900) who was a prolific preacher and writer and also the Bishop of Liverpool suggested that private prayer is the most neglected of all Christian duties and asked the question ‘Do you Pray?’

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Gospel Encouragement

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‘You, Son of a …. ‘

How would you complete that statement – in an encouraging way or a cursing way?

On Sunday we met Joseph from Cyprus in Acts 4:36. This man was a man of encouragement. In fact, he had such an encouraging effect on people that Luke goes out of his way to identify him so readers would know who was being talked about – ‘Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means Son of Encouragement)’.

What does a man have to do, to gain such a good reputation among people, that he gets renamed in such a way that defines his character – ‘Son of Encouragement’?

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What the devil…

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Satan appearing in the heavenly realms to address God (as we saw on Sunday in Job 1 and 2) raises more than just eyebrows! What do we know about Satan? What was his plan? Does he have any power over God (such that he can just appear before him)? And how can we know that Satan won’t cause bad things to happen to us?

What do we know about Satan?

The Bible doesn’t say as much as you would expect – I guess God is not that willing to give Satan air time in his word to us. For the record, I can count just 80 passages that refer to either Satan, the devil or the evil one.

That said, it may be worth also pointing out that the Bible might not tell us everything there is to know about Satan (it doesn’t tell us everything there is to know about circumcision, the end times, predestination or Ehud for that matter!). We can be confident that the Bible tells us everything we need to know concerning Satan.

What we can say may be helpful.

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A Call to Arms

101 5pm church update headerThe body is a unit of many parts – why would you possibly think that the parts would act first of their own interest before that of the rest of the body?! Imagine if the foot said ‘Hey hand forget about me I add nothing’ or the ear shouted to the eye ‘leave me behind, I am worthless’!

Ludicrous! The point is we shouldn’t think it because it is such a ridiculous picture.

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Falling out of Love!

101 5pm church update headerWell if you missed Sunday night you missed this!

It is time that many at 5pm Church fell a little out of love with money! I have heard it said that the least believed verse in the Bible is this:

‘You can not serve both God and Money’ (Matt 6:24; Luke 16:13)

Least believed, because it is a verse that is either ignored, or a verse that most think is not something they should pay attention too, because they happen to be the exception – they are the one who can, love both God and Money!!

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Heaven Matters (Part 2)

101 5pm church update headerBaby you’re all that I want
When you’re lyin’ here in my arms

I’m findin’ it hard to believe
We’re in heaven
And love is all that I need
And I found it there in your heart
It isn’t too hard to see
We’re in heaven

So sings Bryan Adams (Yes I know it was right back in 1984, but tell me you don’t know the song!).

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For Heaven’s Sake (Part 1)

101 5pm church update headerSeveral weeks ago (in preparation for the 5pm Church Mission) I wrote three articles on the wonderfully rosy topic of Hell!

  1. O Hell – why talk about it?
  2. What the Hell – why we don’t talk about it?
  3. Scaring the Hell out of you – What is hell! 

I said I would return to the more digestible topic of Heaven and given that we are now working our way through Revelation, this is a good time. From one of the most unpopular doctrines to one of the most!

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