Simon highlighted that there are two opposing worldviews that are constantly in conflict with each other. One is based on man’s wisdom and follows man’s rules. The other is based on the Bible – God’s wisdom – and His rules.

As parents, grandparents and any who have influence and impact in the lives of children, we need to lay a godly foundation for our children based on the Bible in every area of their lives. They will be bombarded by this ‘humanist worldview’ by the education system, the media, the entertainment industry and their peers. However, if we ‘train our children in the way they should go’, giving them a solid biblical foundation and reasons for the questions they have, they will not depart from it.

Those who were with us on Sunday were blessed by Simon’s talk. If you were unable to be there, it is worth listening to, and then sharing with others.

“The family is under attack today like never before. Wise parents need to recognize this and develop their own strategy for protection and counter-attack. A generation is arising around us that knows not the things of God, allowing (and even encouraging) pre-marital sex, abortion, homosexuality, gay marriages, gay clergy, and easy divorce. By and large, they do not believe there is such a thing as absolute truth or absolute morality. Not only is this degenerate generation arising, it already has arisen. While a remnant of truth seekers remains, the attack on the family has the potential to eliminate Christian absolutes from our society.

The attack is coming from those who build their thinking on the anti-God beliefs that are destroying society. This attack on the Word of God has resulted in the demise of the family unit—the very unit God uses to transmit the knowledge of himself to each generation and the world around”.

This extract is taken from: https://answersingenesis.org/family/welcome-to-the-war/

May you be challenged and encouraged by this teaching.

The post Raising Godly Children in an Ungodly World first appeared on Calvary Chapel Portsmouth.

In this study, we look at the Table of Nations as recorded in Genesis 10. This is a portion of scripture the critics tell us cannot be factual, but as Dr. Bill Cooper explains, it is the critic’s arguments that have been shown to lack substance:

“It is commonly thought in this present age that nothing is worthy of our belief unless first it can be scientifically demonstrated and observed to be true …it was assumed without further enquiry that nothing in especially the earlier portions of the biblical record could be demonstrated to be true and factual. This applied particularly to the book of Genesis. In other words, we were solemnly assured in the light of modern wisdom that, historically speaking, the book of Genesis was simply not worth the paper it was written on. On the one hand, I had the Bible itself claiming to be the very Word of God, and on the other, I was presented with numerous commentaries that spoke with one voice in telling me that the Bible was nothing of the kind. It was merely a hotch-potch collection of middle-eastern myths and fables that sought to explain the world in primitive terms. Now, it simply was not possible for both these claims to be valid. Only one of them could be right…

So it was then that I decided to select a certain portion of Genesis and submit it to a test which, if applied to any ordinary historical document, would be considered a test of the most unreasonable severity. And I would continue that test until either the book of Genesis revealed itself to be a false account, or it would be shown to be utterly reliable in its historical statements.

What I had not expected at the time was the fact that the task was to engage my attention and energies for more than twenty-five years!

The test that I devised was a simple one. If the names of the individuals, families, peoples and tribes listed in the Table of Nations were genuine, then those same names should appear also in the records of other nations of the Middle East. It simply was not realistic to expect that every name would have been recorded in the annals of the ancient Middle East and would also have survived to the present day. I, therefore, would have been content to have found say 40% of the list vindicated.  In fact, that would have been a very high achievement given the sheer antiquity of the Table of Nations itself and the reported scarcity of the surviving extra-biblical records from those ancient times. But when, over my twenty-five years of research, that confirmatory evidence grew past 40% to 50%, and then 60% and beyond, it soon became apparent that modern wisdom in this matter was wide of the mark. Very wide of the mark indeed. 

Today I can say that the names so far vindicated in the Table of Nations make up over 99% of the list!

…and I shall make no further comment on that other than to say that no other ancient historical document of purely human authorship could be expected to yield such a level of corroboration as that!”

(Excerpt taken from ‘After the Flood’ by Dr. Bill Cooper – available from www.genesisexpo.org.uk/product/after-the-flood-2nd-edition )

In this chapter, we also see the beginning of the first world government under the control of Noah’s great grandson, Nimrod; this, in turn, paved the way for a global deception so great it has infiltrated countless nations and cultures around the world for the last 4500 years.

You can listen to the audio on this web page, or save it for listening to later.  We have also made available the Powerpoint slides (in PDF format) that outline the key points of this study.

We hope and pray this teaching will bless you and encourage you to undertake your own personal study and adventure in God’s Word!

The post Genesis Chapter 10 first appeared on Calvary Chapel Portsmouth.

In this study, as we look at Chapter 3 of Genesis, the Seed plot of the entire Bible!

The first two chapters of the Bible deal with God’s wonderful creation, then we come to chapter 3. Everything after this chapter deals with fixing the problem of this chapter.

We see the Fall of man and the wickedness of Satan. Satan is not God’s enemy, he is man’s. There is no match or equal to God.

As we move into chapter 3, we are faced with some questions:

Why was the serpent more subtle than anything God had made?

Why did Eve enter into conversation with a talking snake?

When & why did Eve sin?

Why did Adam follow Eve into sin?

Why didn’t God stop Adam & Eve from falling?

You can listen to the audio on this web page, or save it for later listening.  We have also made available Powerpoint slides (in PDF format) that outline the key points of this study.

For those wanting to study further, verse-by-verse study notes are uploaded each week as part of the Pastor’s Blog section of this web-site. The Post accompanying this study is entitled “Three Words That Changed Everything!”.

We hope and pray this teaching will bless you and encourage you to undertake your own personal study and adventure in God’s Word!

The post Genesis 3 first appeared on Calvary Chapel Portsmouth.

In this study, as we look at Chapter 2 of Genesis, we see God sanctify the Sabbath, i.e. set it apart. Why was God so insistent on Israel keeping the Sabbath? In Numbers 15:32-36 we have the account of an individual who was put to death for simply gathering sticks on the Sabbath! Now, there is not a person on this planet who would say they think that is a reasonable response, yet we know that God is good and does good (Psalm 119:68). In other words, God cannot do anything that is not good. So how do we make sense of this?

Later in Israel’s history, we find that God actually has Israel removed from their land for 70 years because they had failed to keep the Sabbaths for the land (every 7th year)  – see 2 Chron 36:21

There is far more to the Sabbath than most are aware! As we study scripture we find there is a principle laid down here that has enormous implications. The Sabbath is about rest as opposed to work, and herein is the whole Gospel message!

We also look at the creation of Eve and make some interesting discoveries!

You can listen to the audio on this web page, or save it for later listening.  We have also made available Powerpoint slides (in PDF format) that outline the key points of this study.

For those wanting to study further, verse-by-verse study notes are uploaded each week as part of the Pastor’s Blog section of this web-site. The Post accompanying this study is entitled “The Sanctified Sabbath”.

We hope and pray this teaching will bless you and encourage you to undertake your own personal study and adventure in God’s Word!

The post Genesis 2 first appeared on Calvary Chapel Portsmouth.

In this study we look at the fifth and sixth day of creation, and we now find the beginning of self-replicating conscious life. This is the first time the word ‘life’ (Hebrew: ‘khah’-ee) appears in the Bible. God makes a clear distinction between non-conscious plants and vegetation, and that which has a distinct self-awareness (specifically here marine life and birds). The Biblical definition for that which is living is that which has blood. “The life of the flesh is in the blood” (Leviticus 17:11). The number 5 in the Bible speaks of ‘grace’, and it is no coincidence that we see a connection between the 5th day, life and blood. If it were not for God’s grace being shown by the blood of His Son, none of us could have true life.

We also look at the abundance of life that God creates in the waters and the air, clearly the result of design by an incredible mind and not the result of chance mutations over millions of years! Evolution is non-science and cannot offer a viable mechanism for the diversity of life, let alone the complexity of life we see around us. The Apostle Paul says that the evidence of God’s creation is so obvious that those who reject God as Creator are without excuse! (Romans 1:20).

We then conclude by looking at the pinnacle of God’s creation – man, who is ‘fearfully and wonderfully made’!

You can listen to the audio on this web page, or save it for later listening.  We have also made available all of the Powerpoint slides (in PDF format) used by pastor Barry during this study.

For further study, study notes are uploaded each week as part of the Pastor’s Blog section of this web-site entitled ‘The Beginning of Life – Day 5 & 6’

We hope and pray this study will bless you and encourage you to undertake your own personal study and adventure in God’s Word!

The post Genesis 1 20-31 first appeared on Calvary Chapel Portsmouth.

In this session we ask the question, can Genesis really be taken seriously in today’s high-tech and scientific world? This session also includes a short introduction to the Bible itself and then a more detailed introduction to the Book of Genesis, culminating in a look at the opening verse of the book.

You can listen to the audio on this web page, or save it for later listening.  We have also made available all of the Powerpoint slides (in PDF format) used by pastor Barry during this study.

For further study, detailed study notes are uploaded each week as part of the Pastor’s Blog section of this web-site. https://www.calvaryportsmouth.co.uk/2017/01/an-immovable-foundation/

We hope and pray this study will bless you and encourage you to undertake your own personal study and adventure in God’s Word!

The post Genesis – Introduction & verse 1 first appeared on Calvary Chapel Portsmouth.

However, regarding one of the changes it was said: “Science will shift towards a stronger sense of hard facts and “scientific knowledge”. “In primary school, there will be new content on the solar system, speed and evolution.” http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-23222068

I found it somewhat ironic that, in its attempt to shift towards a stronger sense of hard facts and scientific knowledge, the Government were intending to include the teaching of evolution to primary school children, for which, despite being 150 years on from Darwin, there are still no hard facts but rather a mishmash of conflicting and academically discredited ideas.

After raising my concerns, and wishing to clarify what the Government was actually intending, I received a reply on behalf of Rt. Honourable Mr Michael Gove, the then Secretary of State for Education, which stated:

“The theory of evolution by natural selection provides the explanation – central to the study of biology – of how life has changed, diversified and flourished over time, and it provides fundamental insights into the relationships and differences between all living things. Like the other fundamental theories of science taught in schools, evolution constitutes an established body of scientific knowledge, supported by extensive, robust evidence, and therefore reflects consensus of the scientific community”.

Confirming my initial concerns, the Government were clearly intending this to be taught to impressionable primary school children as the explanation. Furthermore, they were intending to promote evolution on a par with the fundamental theories of science. Yet evolution – and in particular, Darwinian evolution – is not, by definition, a scientific theory; nor is there any of the supposed ‘extensive, robust evidence’ the Government claims to have. I asked Michael Gove for one piece of scientific evidence, something that I don’t have to take by faith; just one thing that is observable, testable, repeatable? The answer I was given was simply “The government is very firm in its position. I am sorry but there is nothing more that the department can say on the matter”.

The Government chose not to answer a single scientific objection raised to them, but simply said , ‘we’re going to do it anyway’.

Surely the kind of ‘high quality science education’ we want in our schools is not the kind that eradicates the very essence of science, the ability to think freely, looking at the world around us and being honest enough to go wherever the evidence leads? Nor should we be so quick to promote a philosophy that states there are ‘favoured races’, and removes moral accountability?

The leaflet we have produced, in collaboration with scientists who hold doctorates in their field, shows clearly that the theory of evolution as proposed by Charles Darwin is scientifically impossible. We would encourage teachers and parents to read it, and if the theory of evolution is to be taught, be honest enough to inform our young and impressionable primary school children that it is a theory not supported by the hard facts of science.

You can download the Science Vs. Evolution PDF here (see link at the top of this page).

Every blessing,

Pastor Barry.

The post Science Vs. Evolution first appeared on Calvary Chapel Portsmouth.

The PDF slides are from the PowerPoint presentation used during the teaching session.

You can listen to the audio on this web page, or save it for later listening.

The post Session 1- Genesis 1-3 first appeared on Calvary Chapel Portsmouth.