Malcolm Cox

No complacency, room for growth Focus on purity and love 1. Purity     - Immorality was as part of the culture then as now. Expected, allowed. “Continence was regarded as an unreasonable demand on a man. Leon Morris, NICOTNT     - "Pagan temples regularly doubled as brothels, and sexual practices of all sorts were at least tolerated if not actively encouraged within the society as a whole." Wright, Everyone     - “Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body. Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honour God with your bodies.” (1 Corinthians 6:18–20 NIV11)     - Self-control - about habits, not instances     - ‘a holy life’ - it is possible. Reassuring! We breath ‘holy air’. 2. Love     - God-taught: ““This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,” declar

God’s message is for all generations ““‘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) I find it easier to connect with some generations, but harder with others. This is part of the reason I am off to a conference in Oklahoma next week. https://www.teleiosconference.com/  The 2023 conference theme will be “Gen Z: The Ongoing Conversation.” We have gathered thought leaders from different disciplines and different faith traditions to approach this discussion from many lenses, including cultural intelligence, current sociological research, family studies, adolescent development, psychology, youth ministry, and spirituality studies. Our hope is to engage thought leaders, scholars, church leaders, and youth and family ministers as we learn together how to better include and empower Gen Z in our faith communities. “Generation Z, colloquially known as zoomers, is the dem

You have found a daily devotional podcast on 1 Thessalonians. These recordings accompany the teaching and preaching series for the Thames Valley and Watford churches of Christ. The brief devotionals are aimed at encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God” 1 Thessalonians 2:12 “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.”  1 Thessalonians 1:3 NIV11 More notes, lessons and resources can be found here:  www.malcolmcox.org “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.” (1 Thessalonians 5:28 NIV11) God bless, Malcolm

You have found a daily devotional podcast on 1 Thessalonians. These recordings accompany the teaching and preaching series for the Thames Valley and Watford churches of Christ. The brief devotionals are aimed at encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God” 1 Thessalonians 2:12 “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.”  1 Thessalonians 1:3 NIV11 More notes, lessons and resources can be found here:  www.malcolmcox.org “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.” (1 Thessalonians 5:28 NIV11) God bless, Malcolm

You have found a daily devotional podcast on 1 Thessalonians. These recordings accompany the teaching and preaching series for the Thames Valley and Watford churches of Christ. The brief devotionals are aimed at encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God” 1 Thessalonians 2:12 “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.”  1 Thessalonians 1:3 NIV11 More notes, lessons and resources can be found here:  www.malcolmcox.org “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.” (1 Thessalonians 5:28 NIV11) God bless, Malcolm

You have found a daily devotional podcast on 1 Thessalonians. These recordings accompany the teaching and preaching series for the Thames Valley and Watford churches of Christ. The brief devotionals are aimed at encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God” 1 Thessalonians 2:12 “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.”  1 Thessalonians 1:3 NIV11 More notes, lessons and resources can be found here:  www.malcolmcox.org “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.” (1 Thessalonians 5:28 NIV11) God bless, Malcolm

You have found a daily devotional podcast on 1 Thessalonians. These recordings accompany the teaching and preaching series for the Thames Valley and Watford churches of Christ. The brief devotionals are aimed at encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God” 1 Thessalonians 2:12 “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.”  1 Thessalonians 1:3 NIV11 More notes, lessons and resources can be found here:  www.malcolmcox.org “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.” (1 Thessalonians 5:28 NIV11) God bless, Malcolm

A teaching class for the Watford and Thames Valley churches of Christ. “But Timothy has just now come to us from you and has brought good news about your faith and love. He has told us that you always have pleasant memories of us and that you long to see us, just as we also long to see you. Therefore, brothers and sisters, in all our distress and persecution we were encouraged about you because of your faith. For now we really live, since you are standing firm in the Lord. How can we thank God enough for you in return for all the joy we have in the presence of our God because of you? Night and day we pray most earnestly that we may see you again and supply what is lacking in your faith. Now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus clear the way for us to come to you. May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you. May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord

You have found a daily devotional podcast on 1 Thessalonians. These recordings accompany the teaching and preaching series for the Thames Valley and Watford churches of Christ. The brief devotionals are aimed at encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God” 1 Thessalonians 2:12 “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.”  1 Thessalonians 1:3 NIV11 More notes, lessons and resources can be found here:  www.malcolmcox.org “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.” (1 Thessalonians 5:28 NIV11) God bless, Malcolm

You have found a daily devotional podcast on 1 Thessalonians. These recordings accompany the teaching and preaching series for the Thames Valley and Watford churches of Christ. The brief devotionals are aimed at encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God” 1 Thessalonians 2:12 “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.”  1 Thessalonians 1:3 NIV11 More notes, lessons and resources can be found here:  www.malcolmcox.org “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.” (1 Thessalonians 5:28 NIV11) God bless, Malcolm

Introduction In my last two sermons for the Watford church of Christ and the Thames Valley churches of Christ I including some vulnerable personal sharing about a recent incident in my life. I noticed it had a profound effect on both groups, even causing some people to cry. Afterwards they came up to me to thank me. I apologised for making them cry, but they thanked me again, saying it was healing. So today I thought I would post a brief recording on how we use such sharing to help people, rather than manipulate them. I assume we are agreed on the value of personal sharing, so I will restrict myself to comments on best practices. “We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.” (2 Corinthians 1:8-

You have found a daily devotional podcast on 1 Thessalonians. These recordings accompany the teaching and preaching series for the Thames Valley and Watford churches of Christ. The brief devotionals are aimed at encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God” 1 Thessalonians 2:12 “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.”  1 Thessalonians 1:3 NIV11 More notes, lessons and resources can be found here:  www.malcolmcox.org “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.” (1 Thessalonians 5:28 NIV11) God bless, Malcolm

You have found a daily devotional podcast on 1 Thessalonians. These recordings accompany the teaching and preaching series for the Thames Valley and Watford churches of Christ. The brief devotionals are aimed at encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God” 1 Thessalonians 2:12 “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.”  1 Thessalonians 1:3 NIV11 More notes, lessons and resources can be found here:  www.malcolmcox.org “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.” (1 Thessalonians 5:28 NIV11) God bless, Malcolm

You have found a daily devotional podcast on 1 Thessalonians. These recordings accompany the teaching and preaching series for the Thames Valley and Watford churches of Christ. The brief devotionals are aimed at encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God” 1 Thessalonians 2:12 “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.”  1 Thessalonians 1:3 NIV11 More notes, lessons and resources can be found here:  www.malcolmcox.org “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.” (1 Thessalonians 5:28 NIV11) God bless, Malcolm

You have found a daily devotional podcast on 1 Thessalonians. These recordings accompany the teaching and preaching series for the Thames Valley and Watford churches of Christ. The brief devotionals are aimed at encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God” 1 Thessalonians 2:12 “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.”  1 Thessalonians 1:3 NIV11 More notes, lessons and resources can be found here:  www.malcolmcox.org “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.” (1 Thessalonians 5:28 NIV11) God bless, Malcolm

You have found a daily devotional podcast on 1 Thessalonians. These recordings accompany the teaching and preaching series for the Thames Valley and Watford churches of Christ. The brief devotionals are aimed at encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God” 1 Thessalonians 2:12 “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.”  1 Thessalonians 1:3 NIV11 More notes, lessons and resources can be found here:  www.malcolmcox.org “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.” (1 Thessalonians 5:28 NIV11) God bless, Malcolm

You have found a daily devotional podcast on 1 Thessalonians. These recordings accompany the teaching and preaching series for the Thames Valley and Watford churches of Christ. The brief devotionals are aimed at encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God” 1 Thessalonians 2:12 “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.”  1 Thessalonians 1:3 NIV11 More notes, lessons and resources can be found here:  www.malcolmcox.org “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.” (1 Thessalonians 5:28 NIV11) God bless, Malcolm

A sermon for the Watford Church of Christ Introduction, v1 Paul’s emotional state because suffering mentioned 2:14ff “We could stand it not longer” What kinds of things make you say something like, “I can’t stand it any longer!”? What are the things, as a Christian, that make you act because you can ‘stand it no longer’? Faith gets stronger when we get upset Faith gets stronger when we act A. Sacrifice Sending Timothy Riots last time Jealous Jews unlikely to be any less jealous Travel; time; energy B. Risk What if it does not work / rejected? Outcome uncertain In the end this is our faith in action Applications Pray for one another Take action to strengthen and encourage on another Do so because of love, gently and with compassion Do not charge in, but do not stand by and watch Speak truth: “Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbour, for we are all members of one body.” (Ephesians 4:25 NIV11) Conclusion, v5 We have an opponent Not to be feared, but respected Jes

You have found a daily devotional podcast on 1 Thessalonians. These recordings accompany the teaching and preaching series for the Thames Valley and Watford churches of Christ. The brief devotionals are aimed at encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God” 1 Thessalonians 2:12 “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.”  1 Thessalonians 1:3 NIV11 More notes, lessons and resources can be found here:  www.malcolmcox.org “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.” (1 Thessalonians 5:28 NIV11) God bless, Malcolm

1. Faith gets stronger when we get upset 2. Faith gets stronger when we act Introduction, v1 Paul’s emotional state because suffering mentioned 2:14ff “We could stand it not longer” What kinds of things make you say something like, “I can’t stand it any longer!”? What are the things, as a Christian, that make you act because you can ‘stand it no longer’? 1. Faith gets stronger when we get upset 2. Faith gets stronger when we act A. Sacrifice Sending Timothy Riots last time Jealous Jews unlikely to be any less jealous Travel; time; energy B. Risk What if it does not work / rejected? Outcome uncertain In the end this is our faith in action Applications Pray for one another Take action to strengthen and encourage on another Do so because of love, gently and with compassion Do not charge in, but do not stand by and watch Speak truth: “Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbour, for we are all members of one body.” (Ephesians 4:25 NIV11) Conclusion, v5 We have an oppo