In the Bible there are many statements or declarations made by God, which we can take to be promises. Very often, there is a condition attached to these promises that we need to fulfill in order to appropriate these promises.
In this message, David Hood commences with the Scripture from 2 Corinthians 1 which tells us that all the promises of god are “Yes” in Christ, so that the “Amen” is spoken by the believer. He then takes the listener on a guided tour of many Bible verses that demonstrate the importance of faith, obedience and patience in seeing the fruition of these promises.
In this enlightening message, John Alley opens up the subject of the tithe and the grace that it becomes to those who properly understand the principle of tithing. Answering the opinion of many that the tithe is an Old Testament matter of law, John goes on to explain that grace.
As New Testament believers, says John, we do not follow the ceremonial law, but we find that the New Testament instructs us as to which parts of the law we are to let go of, such as laws relating to food, and which parts we are to hold onto. These include matters such as the honouring of parents.
In this message john Alley teaches extensively about the power and grace that the Lord Jesus gives to the sacrament of baptism, bringing great freedom to believers. John continues his message, making the connection between baptism, and the cross and its place in the life of the believer.
Everything that we need for life and for righteousness is provided in the cross, says John. This is an offense to some, because it dispenses with all of the religious observances and the works of men. In baptism, John says, our hearts are not washed clean by the water, but by the submission of obedience.
Continuing on with his series of messages about the meaning and power of the cross of Christ, John Alley begins this message with 1 Corinthians 1:18. There will always be those who despise the cross and consider it to be foolish, says John, but there will also be those who become hungry for God and are saved through hearing the message of the cross.
John then takes the listener to Ephesians 2:1-9, a well known passage that speaks of the way that God, when we were dead in our sins, rescued us and made us alive with Christ and “seated with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus”.
John Alley begins this message by teaching that if our attitude towards other people
is right and our desire is for them to find Christ and for Christ to have the inheritance for which He died, then the body of Christ has healthy (spiritual) blood. We need to pray and seek God with right attitudes and desires, and it will happen.
Beginning with the Scriptures taken from Colossian 1:15 – 23, David Alley takes the listener on a journey explaining the gospel, what it means to be saved, the gift of righteousness, and the futility of our own efforts.
David illustrates from Scripture that when we try to earn God’s approval, our very efforts make it impossible to please Him. Abraham was the fourth most mentioned man in the entire Bible, and yet we do not see recorded many great deeds that are attributed to him. However, we read in James 2:23 that Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.
In this message Philip Alley takes the book of Hebrews as proof that Jesus is better than all other things. The writer to the Hebrews goes to great lengths to teach and explain that Christ is supreme. Philip takes the listener through a guided tour in which he shows from Scripture that Christ is better than riches, food, entertainment, or human intelligence – in fact, Christ is better than life itself! Philip concludes the message with an exhortation, echoing the writer to the Hebrews, to fix our thought on Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest.
John Alley, in discussing a publication about “The Holy Land”, raises the question, “Is one piece of land more holy than another?”
He then goes on to point out that anything that God has made is holy. God’s grace, says John, is not found in relics, or in locations, but it is in the fact of what He has done.
Our pilgrimage is not to a physical place, but is of the heart. It is a daily walk with God. Using many Scripture verses, John instructs the listener that historical places are of value for reflection and remembering, but the places are not in themselves holy.
Philip Alley begins this thought-provoking message by asking the question, “What can we do for Christ in 2010?” Traditionally, January is a time when many of us make resolutions and refocus our lives.
But Christ has called us to be a ‘peculiar people’, a people set apart from the ways of the world. Philip then lists from Scripture the ways in which Christ has called us to be different, to be holy so that others will be able to see the grace of God evident in our lives.
