The Watford Church of Christ Podcast
We are on a journey to that future life exploring the incredible plans God has for us on earth to love Him and to love others. Join us on this journey!
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Episodes
Monday Apr 04, 2022
Monday Apr 04, 2022
We continue on the road to the Resurrection.
1. The Silence of Jesus Amazes Pilate, vv2-5
A. v2King?“You? You must be kidding!”The key question for High PriestsThe key question for PilateThe key question for humankindThe key question for you and meQUESTION: What kind of king is Jesus?
B. v3Many accusations
C. vv4-5QUESTION: Why didn’t he answer?Calm, dignified, courageous. In contrast with the religious leaders, and even Peter.Silence not admission of guilt, but settled surrenderAmazedRoman law presumed the guilt of those who refused to defend themselvesNo faith
2. The Shouts of the Crowd Manipulate Pilate, vv6-15a
A. v8-11self-interestJealousy/Envy ‘phthonos’, ‘the heart burns’, ‘the stomach is hot.’QUESTION: What are they jealous of?
B. v12-15a“what crime?” - knows innocentcall to crucify - “he is a robber; Caesar is our king”Are you following the crowd? 1 Peter 4:1-5
3. The Strength of Jesus Defies the Soldiers’ Mockery, vv15b-20a
A. v17-19“Ancient images of crowns frequently show the kings wearing crowns with radiating points, symbolising the glory flowing from the head of the monarch. The thorny or spiked branches mock this type of crown, using materials ready at hand from the acanthus shrub or from palms.” One day – every knee shall bow – including ours! Phil 2:8-11.
B. v20aled - v1, 16 - to crucify
Conclusion, v20bChief priests, elders, teachers of law, whole Sanhedrin, Pilate, Crowd, Soldiers, whole companyWho is the focus?The who amazes, who surrenders, who is kind - JesusWill you let him be your king?
Please add your comments on this week’s topic. We learn best when we learn in community.
Do you have a question about teaching the Bible? Is it theological, technical, practical? Send me your questions or suggestions. Here’s the email: [malcolm@malcolmcox.org](mailto:malcolm@malcolmcox.org).
If you’d like a copy of my free eBook on spiritual disciplines, “How God grows His people”, sign up at my website: http://[www.malcolmcox.org](http://www.malcolmcox.org/).
Please pass the link on, subscribe, leave a review.
“Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.” (Psalms 100:2 NIV11)
God bless, Malcolm
Saturday Apr 02, 2022
Saturday Apr 02, 2022
As we continue on our road to the resurrection, we stop off to look at the two trials of Jesus and Peter.
1. The Garden, vv43-51 A. Darkness B. Betrayal by your bestie C. Abandonment
2. The House of the High Priest - Jesus’ Trial, vv53-65 4A. ‘illegal’ trial B. Silence and acknowledgment of identity C. Physical abuse
3. The Courtyard of the House of the High Priest - Peter’s Trial, vv66-72 A. Legitimate ‘trial’ B. Loud protestations and denial of identity C. Avoidance of consequences
Please add your comments on this week’s topic. We learn best when we learn in community.
Do you have a question about teaching the Bible? Is it theological, technical, practical? Send me your questions or suggestions. Here’s the email: [malcolm@malcolmcox.org](mailto:malcolm@malcolmcox.org).
If you’d like a copy of my free eBook on spiritual disciplines, “How God grows His people”, sign up at my website: http://[www.malcolmcox.org](http://www.malcolmcox.org/).
Please pass the link on, subscribe, leave a review.
“Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.” (Psalms 100:2 NIV11)
God bless, Malcolm
Thursday Mar 24, 2022
Thursday Mar 24, 2022
Stefan took us to Gethsemane where we see Jesus at his most vulnerable. What can we learn from his humility, his neediness, and his courage?
Please add your comments on this week’s topic. We learn best when we learn in community.
Do you have a question about teaching the Bible? Is it theological, technical, practical? Send me your questions or suggestions. Here’s the email: [malcolm@malcolmcox.org](mailto:malcolm@malcolmcox.org).
If you’d like a copy of my free eBook on spiritual disciplines, “How God grows His people”, sign up at my website: http://[www.malcolmcox.org](http://www.malcolmcox.org/).
Please pass the link on, subscribe, leave a review.
“Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.” (Psalms 100:2 NIV11)
God bless, Malcolm
Monday Mar 14, 2022
Monday Mar 14, 2022
1. Jesus prepares his disciples for hospitality, vv13-16Special occasions are often marked with special mealsJesus is not a victim. He is in control, the masterThe disciples lived by faith not by siteRoasting the lamb and providing unleavened biscuits, bitter herbs, sauce, water, and wine. The room itself would require special furnishings (such as couches and lamps).
ApplicationWhen you follow Jesus, you get more than you bargained for.When you invite Jesus into your life, you invite his friends, and not only that, but all the other people he loved to hang out with that we don’t.
2. Jesus prepares his disciples for understanding, vv22-26This meal explains what happens the next day. As the Passover is symbolic, so are these actions of Jesus.All meals in this culture were to establish or perpetuate a relationship. The way Jesus uses the bread and wine (“this is my person) make it clear that “to partake of the bread meant to join oneself to Jesus and his fate.”The cup is always connected with suffering, hence a symbolic joining with the suffering of Jesus, a symbolic participating in the restoration of Israel, instituting the new covenant (Acts 2).Covenants sealed with blood, Exodus 24:1-8.Blood poured out is symbolic of dying a violent death. Nothing to do with literal drinking a blood.He will die as a sacrifice and sin offering: Isa 53:10
ApplicationFollowing Jesus means eating his bread and drinking his cup - participating in his life.
3. Jesus prepares his disciples for failure, vv17-21; 27-31“To betray a friend after eating a meal with him was, and still is, regarded as the worst kind of treachery in the Middle East”“Even my close friend, someone I trusted, one who shared my bread, has turned against me.” Psalm 41:9If “one of the twelve” v20 can lose it, so can we.Better for him if he had not been born: this man's fate will be worse than that of Jesus. That's saying something!Heb 6:4-9
Judas - greedFailure of faith (loyalty), not couragePeter - boastingFailure of courage, not faith
C. ApplicationBe sober about your strengthMake a plan to be strongerTrust that God will bring you throughThe apostles were stronger after this, and endured severe persecution. Your past failures do not define your future.
What is God preparing us to do?What is God preparing you to do?
Jesus not caught off-guard. Always in control
“Rom. 5:6 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.”
Please add your comments on this week’s topic. We learn best when we learn in community.
Do you have a question about teaching the Bible? Is it theological, technical, practical? Send me your questions or suggestions. Here’s the email: [malcolm@malcolmcox.org](mailto:malcolm@malcolmcox.org).
If you’d like a copy of my free eBook on spiritual disciplines, “How God grows His people”, sign up at my website: http://[www.malcolmcox.org](http://www.malcolmcox.org/).
Please pass the link on, subscribe, leave a review.
“Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.” (Psalms 100:2 NIV11)
God bless, Malcolm
Monday Mar 07, 2022
Monday Mar 07, 2022
A sermon for the Watford Church of Christ in the series: "The Road to the Resurrection"
Handouts available here: https://www.malcolmcox.org/a-beautiful-thing-mark-141-11/
Please add your comments on this week’s topic. We learn best when we learn in community.
Do you have a question about teaching the Bible? Is it theological, technical, practical? Send me your questions or suggestions. Here’s the email: [malcolm@malcolmcox.org](mailto:malcolm@malcolmcox.org).
If you’d like a copy of my free eBook on spiritual disciplines, “How God grows His people”, sign up at my website: http://[www.malcolmcox.org](http://www.malcolmcox.org/).
Please pass the link on, subscribe, leave a review.
“Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.” (Psalms 100:2 NIV11)
God bless, Malcolm
Friday Mar 04, 2022
Friday Mar 04, 2022
Join us as Akin explores what it means to be a friend to God and to one another.
Please add your comments on this week’s topic. We learn best when we learn in community.
Do you have a question about teaching the Bible? Is it theological, technical, practical? Send me your questions or suggestions. Here’s the email: [malcolm@malcolmcox.org](mailto:malcolm@malcolmcox.org).
Please pass the link on, subscribe, leave a review.
“Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.” (Psalms 100:2 NIV11)
God bless, Malcolm
Monday Feb 21, 2022
Monday Feb 21, 2022
“Toiling to build the church well”: 1 Cor 15:58; Eph 3:20-21
1. Toiling in Vain
A. Meaningless
“when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun.”(Ecclesiastes 2:11 NIV11)
“I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who comes after me.” Eccl 2:18
1Cor. 9:26 Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air.
B. Unspiritual
Unless the LORD builds the house, the builders labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the guards stand watch in vain. In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat—for he grants sleep to those he loves. Ps 127:1-2
By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should build with care. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work. If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved—even though only as one escaping through the flames. 1 Cor 3:10-15
2. Toiling in Thessalonica
1Th. 1:2-3 We always thank God for all of you and continually mention you in our prayers. We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labour prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.
A. Work…labour…endurance
faith…love…hope
salvation is all of God, but faith is busy
endurance: ‘fortitude of the stout-hearted soldier’
If we know what inspires us, the work will flow
B. Inspired by Paul
1:6; 2:7bff, 17
You became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you welcomed the message in the midst of severe suffering with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. The Lord’s message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia—your faith in God has become known everywhere. 1 Thess 1:6-8
Patient, long-term building"we were like young children among you. Just as a nursing mother cares for her children, so we cared for you. Because we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well. Surely you remember, brothers and sisters, our toil and hardship; we worked night and day in order not to be a burden to anyone while we preached the gospel of God to you. You are witnesses, and so is God, of how holy, righteous and blameless we were among you who believed. For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory. 1 Thess 2:7-12
But, brothers and sisters, when we were orphaned by being separated from you for a short time (in person, not in thought), out of our intense longing we made every effort to see you. For we wanted to come to you—certainly I, Paul, did, again and again—but Satan blocked our way. For what is our hope, our joy, or the crown in which we will glory in the presence of our Lord Jesus when he comes? Is it not you? Indeed, you are our glory and joy. 1 Thess 2:17-20
C. Relationships
Rom 16 etc.
Toiling together can be a joy
Studying with people together
Praying together
Learning together (AIM!)
All about investment below the surface - iceberg
Love one another
Love the neighbour (the lost one)
“Love one person a week”
Pray for one another
For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. Gal 5:6
Conclusion, 1 Cor 15:54-58
“Death has been swallowed up in victory.” “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labour in the Lord is not in vain.
Victory - through the labour of Christ on the cross
Please add your comments on this week’s topic. We learn best when we learn in community. Do you have a question about teaching the Bible? Is it theological, technical, practical? Send me your questions or suggestions. Here’s the email: [malcolm@malcolmcox.org](mailto:malcolm@malcolmcox.org). If you’d like a copy of my free eBook on spiritual disciplines, “How God grows His people”, sign up at my website: http://[www.malcolmcox.org](http://www.malcolmcox.org/). Please pass the link on, subscribe, leave a review. “Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.” (Psalms 100:2 NIV11) God bless, Malcolm
Monday Feb 14, 2022
Monday Feb 14, 2022
Always Free, Yet SpiritualToday we are seeking to answer the following questions:Where does our freedom come from?What could compromise our freedom?What is this freedom for?This is an enormous spiritual topic. We will not do it for justice in one lesson. For the time being, I will concern myself with putting my sermon outline below along with the Scriptures referenced.“Always free, yet spiritual”, Gal 5:13Introduction, Luke 4:18-191. Where does our freedom come from?A. Jesus, John 8:31-36B. What kind of freedom?Is 61:1 - an event required every fifty years to restore Israelite slaves to freedom and Israelite land to tribal allotments.“To whatever extent the Gospel writers may have been influenced by other ways of thinking about freedom, the freedom they describe is neither the political freedom of individuals or states which was of primary interest to the Greeks, nor the inner philosophical freedom of the Stoics who abandoned themselves to circumstances, nor the freedom which the devout Jew found through observance of the Law, nor the freedom of separation from the material world found in much of gnostic thought.” IVP-Jesus and the GospelsC. How do we get it? Rom 6:1-142. What compromises our freedomA. Arguing for ‘rights’, Mark 15:5Jesus interested in doing will of father (John 6:38) and accomplishing his work of love for us, not in getting his ‘rights’Here, we do not look to get our rights from one another, but to serve each other's needsB. Legalism, Gal 5:1Cannot ‘earn’ approval of God, nor manufacture assurance of salvation.Easier to follow the law, than the sermon on the Mount.Here, we focus on the core, not disputable mattersC. Selfishness (libertarianism)Gal 5:13-15 - sin1 Cor 10:29 - damaging conscience of other ChristiansHere, we reject selfishness and embrace service3. What our freedom is forA. Love for the lostPhilip, Acts 8Peter, Acts 10B. Love for one anotherGal 5:6, “The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.”Use your freedom to love one another here (relationship-based)C. Love for GodCreates intimacy with God, Eph 3:12, approach God with freedom, παρρησία parrēsia boldness; freedom of speech; loose tongueConclusion, John 10:14-18His offer of freedom creates his friendship circle (Jn 15:14-15).Questions to ponderDo you have this freedom in Christ?What does freedom in Christ mean to you?How can you grow into your freedom?What opportunities has God given you to express your freedom in a Christ-like way?Please add your comments on this week’s topic. We learn best when we learn in community. Do you have a question about teaching the Bible? Is it theological, technical, practical? Send me your questions or suggestions. Here’s the email: [malcolm@malcolmcox.org](mailto:malcolm@malcolmcox.org). If you’d like a copy of my free eBook on spiritual disciplines, “How God grows His people”, sign up at my website: http://[www.malcolmcox.org](http://www.malcolmcox.org/). Please pass the link on, subscribe, leave a review. “Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.” (Psalms 100:2 NIV11) God bless, Malcolm
Monday Feb 07, 2022
Monday Feb 07, 2022
Join us as Stefan explores the theme of the antichrist and its relevance to present-day Christianity.
Please add your comments on this week’s topic. We learn best when we learn in community.
Do you have a question about teaching the Bible? Is it theological, technical, practical? Send me your questions or suggestions. Here’s the email: [malcolm@malcolmcox.org](mailto:malcolm@malcolmcox.org).
Please pass the link on, subscribe, leave a review.
“Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.” (Psalms 100:2 NIV11)
God bless, Malcolm
Sunday Jan 30, 2022
Sunday Jan 30, 2022
We are partway through our series on what it means to be a G.R.E.A.T. church. In other words, the kind of church that makes God look great and attracts people to him.
God-focussed Relationship basedEnabling our children to become ChristiansAlways free, yet spiritualToiling to build the church well
So far, we surveyed the Antioch congregation as an example of a God-focused church (Acts 11, 13, 14, 15). In addition, we have looked at what it means to love one another like Jesus loved his disciples (John 13:34-35).
This week we move on to what it looks like to be a congregation that enables our children to become Christians. The lesson is not about parenting as such (although we will look at parenting principles), it's about how we, as a community, can best prepare the children in this church to embrace the Christian faith.
Our key texts are:
“These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.” (Deuteronomy 6:6–7 NIV11)
“Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.” (Ephesians 6:4 NIV11)
“Fathers, do not embitter your children, or they will become discouraged.” (Colossians 3:21 NIV11)
Other relevant passages include: Genesis 1:28; Deuteronomy 1:39; 31:13; Proverbs 15:5; 13:24; 22:6, 15; 23:13-14; 29:15; Luke 1:16-17 (see Malachi 4:6); Acts 21:9; 1 Timothy 3:4-5.
There's no way around it - bringing up children is hard! Yet, nuclear families and extended families in the church community are part of God’s plan to help nurture young people to become Christians.
Indeed, God has a vision for young people:
““ ‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people.Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.” (Acts 2:17 NIV11)
In today's lesson we will be exploring God’s vision, compassion, provision, instruction and promises regarding children.
The Proverbs in particular contain a good deal of instruction under the heading of “discipline". My definition of ‘discipline’ as used in the lesson: “The application of training, correction and consequences that hurts, but bears fruit, and is done out of love, not frustration.”
What does it mean to raise children without exasperating them or embittering them? We will not have enough time to investigate this fully, but I can recommend the resources below under the heading "Good enough parenting”.
I believe that wherever we are at the moment regarding our own children, or children in the congregation, there is always hope. That hope resides in God, because God never gives up on people. We might be tempted to do so, but he will persevere because he is the God of everlasting compassion.
I invite all of us to consider our own part in helping the young people with whom God has blessed us, to come to love God, follow Jesus and be filled with his Spirit.
Questions to ponder1. Do I need to repent and turn my hearts to the children? (Luke 1:16-17)2. How can I grow in disciplining children effectively with love and without exasperating them?3. What is my role in the broader "children's ministry" in this congregation?
Please add your comments on this week’s topic. We learn best when we learn in community.
Do you have a question about teaching the Bible? Is it theological, technical, practical? Send me your questions or suggestions. Here’s the email: [malcolm@malcolmcox.org](mailto:malcolm@malcolmcox.org).
If you’d like a copy of my free eBook on spiritual disciplines, “How God grows His people”, sign up at my website: http://[www.malcolmcox.org](http://www.malcolmcox.org/).
Please pass the link on, subscribe, leave a review.
“Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.” (Psalms 100:2 NIV11)
God bless, Malcolm