Read the text – 1 John 1:5-2:2
Sin is serious, and even Christians can live as if it isn’t! In this talk, Ken Noakes looks at what the Bible calls sin and helps us to understand more of what sin is and means for our world, our church and our person. Yet to sit right alongside the trauma that is sin, is the wonder that is forgiveness in Jesus. Sin we love yet we should hate. Whereas Forgiveness we want and we all need.
Read the text – 1 John 3:11-24 & 1 John 4:7-21
Love that is Christian, is a love for others that is both pleasing and acceptable to God before it is to the world. This is a huge topic and so contested today. For today, love is often determined by popular opinion or consensus – and as directed by the loudest voices. In this talk, Ken Noakes looks at the importance of understanding Love in the context of truth and obedience. God indeed wants Christians to be loving – love that is truthful, sacrificial, obedient even if different to the way the world looks for love.
Read the text – 1 John 1:5-2:6 & 1 John 2:18-27
The second in this series from the little letter of 1 John – this talk looks at the contrast between truth and un-truth and more particularly the danger of not thinking that truth is important. Truth and knowledge matter when it comes to faith – so does untruth and error.
In this talk Ken Noakes suggests that if we lose sight of the truth of the gospel, then it is impossible to live by the truth of the gospel.
Ken Noakes preaches this Father’s Day message.
Aware of false teachings, the Apostle Paul encourages the church to resist these teachings and continue preaching the gospel messages as originally taught.
There is great encouragement here for all Christians to remain rooted in the Gospel as first delivered by the apostles, not following the lies and “clickbait” of our world.
Read the text – 2 Thess 2:13-3:5
As a society, we have become somewhat immune to hearing outrageous claims. They are issued, capture some newsworthy attention, and then are fairly quickly ignored or pushed aside. Jesus issued some outrageous claims, in fact, claims that were far beyond what we hear today. In this Bible Talk series, we look at the “I AM…” statements from the gospel of John. Newsworthy – yes. Ignored – yes. Pushed aside – yes. Yet, to look into them we will see the glory of God in the person of Jesus Christ. It would be to our loss to be immune.
This talk investigates one of Jesus’ boldest claims – he is the way, he is the truth, he is the life. Jesus invites us into his Father’s house with plenty of rooms – the best house we could ever imagine.
Read the text – John 14:1-14
Why is sound doctrine important and why should a church seek to appoint elders/leaders who are sound in doctrine. It has something to do with the true faith established.
Read the Bible Text – Titus 1:1-16
– Ken Noakes
Love, Truth and Obedience are three Christian values that together define Christian Love. Christian love, is love where truth is valued. Christian truth tells us how to obey. Christian obedience demonstrates true love.
In the previous posts from this series we have looked at each.
What happens if you corrupt any one of those values?
What is love that is pleasing first to God? It has something to do with obedience in the context of truth. We have considered ‘Love’ (Part 3 of this series) and ‘Truth’ (Part 4 of this series), so this time let’s focus on ‘Obedience’.
Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him. And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. The one who keeps God’s commands lives in him, and he in them (1 John 3:21-24)
A love that is pleasing to God is a love that obediently follows his commands.
What does it look like for Christians to love the other? It has something to do with that which is true and something to do with obedience. We considered ‘Love’ last time (Part 3 of this series), so this time let’s focus on ‘Truth’.
This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth. This is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence: If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. (1 John 3:16-20)
Without love, truth will not be valued. Without truth, it is difficult to know how to obey. Without obedience, it is impossible to demonstrate true love.
To understand Love, it will help to understand how it is integrally connected to Truth and to Obedience, such that you cannot separate the three. These three ideas intersect with one another at almost every point.
Taking our lead from the letter of 1 John, we have looked at Perfect Love (Part 2 of this series). We turn our attention now to the relationships between Love, Truth and Obedience.
Let’s consider ‘Love’.
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