Category Archives: Ken Noakes

Growing Pains

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Ed – Written on 20th March 2013

As I read through the Acts of the Apostles I realize I am dealing with a unique book in the Bible. Acts links the gospel accounts of Jesus to the ministry letters of Paul, James, John and Peter – in other words – Acts gives us an understanding of how the ministry that Jesus commissioned his disciples to do, turned out (at least in that first generation) as the first church of Christians was established.

One of the key themes that appears in Acts is ‘growth’. Look at this…

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‘Forgiveness’ – easier said than done

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‘If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says ‘I repent,’ forgive him.’ (Luke 17:3b-4)

I have always found this verse to be a bit rich and pastorally insensitive. In fact this whole idea of what appears to be unconditional forgiveness seems to be a big ask – and it is not only mentioned here in Luke.

In the gospel of Matthew the disciple Peter asks Jesus ‘Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?’ and Jesus answers ‘not seven times, but seventy-seven times’!

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A ‘sorry’ tale – with apologies!

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At 5pm Church TOGETHER this week we looked at what ‘Apologetics’ is and what the Christian Apologist might look like.

The apostle Peter called upon Christians to be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have (1 Peter 3:15). The greek word for ‘answer’ here is apologia[n] which means ‘a speech in defense’. It is where we get the English word ‘apology’ and it is where the idea of ‘apologetics’ is derived.

There are several times in the New Testament where a verbal answer is on show. It is used when someone is defending themselves against falsehood (e.g. Acts 22:1; 25:16; 1 Co. 9:3; 2 Co. 7:11; 2 Tim. 4:16) as well when someone is defending the gospel (e.g. Phil. 1:7, 16; 1 Pet. 3:15). Nothing sorry about that!

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Light in a dark place

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The word had got out. The crowds were gathering and they were coming from miles all around. Under some pressure the disciples climb up the mountainside and approach. And Jesus speaks.

So the setting is drawn for possibly the most famous speech in history – the Sermon on the Mount (Matt 5:1-7:28). Jesus sets out for his disciples (but in full knowledge that the crowds are eagerly listening in) what it means to follow him.

What does a Christian look like? His answer: A light!

‘Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in Heaven’ (Matt 5:16)

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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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