Bible Basics
This website is designed for anyone who would like to know more about the Bible and the Christian faith, and would like to do so fairly seriously but isn't really into heavy theology.
The material here was originally a series of talks or sermons given at a church in Felixstowe (Suffolk, UK) between 1999 and 2004, under the overall heading of "Bible Basics". The talks are more or less in the form in which they were first given.
The structure of the series is taken from a book I found in 1997 in a second-hand bookshop in Felixstowe, "The Pocket Handbook of Christian Truth" by Richard Bewes and Robert Hicks, published by Scripture Union (1981). I wish to acknowledge my complete reliance on that book for the shape of this series, although I have only rarely quoted directly from it.
I would like to thank the members of Ranelagh Road Christian Fellowship, Felixstowe for their support as I delivered this long series. John Cooke, then an elder and now "elder emeritus", was especially encouraging.
You may download these sermons free of charge, but I would really appreciate it if - should you find them, or any of them, helpful - you would make a donation via Paypal by clicking where indicated. I would suggest £1 per sermon downloaded, but the amount is up to you. All funds received will be donated to Grindon Hall Christian School, Sunderland, UK, the school of which I am Principal. If Paypal is not for you, please feel free to send a cheque or PO payable to "Grindon Hall Christian School" to me as follows:
Chris Gray, Principal
Nookside
Sunderland, UK
SR4 8PG
Recommended Links:
www.church.org.uk - excellent sermons from Jesmond Parish Church, a large Anglican church in Newcastle, UK. Also has downloadable MP3s of all sermons.
www.scriptureunion.org.uk - the website of the Scripture Union.
www.nufc.co.uk - try it and see...
www.biblegateway.com - the best online Bible website.
www.christchurchdurham.org - the website of Christchurch, Durham (UK).
www.bethanychristiancentre.co.uk - downloadable sermons, some in MP3 format and including an excellent series on the Apostles' Creed.
www.ivpbooks.com - Inter-Varsity Press (Christian Publisher).
It should be noted that this material was designed originally to be preached. It is therefore not written with literary excellence in mind. Only fairly minimal editing has been carried out in preparing it for publication.
Further information is available from:
Chris Gray, Grindon Hall Christian School, Nookside, Sunderland, SR4 8PG. Tel: +44 (0)7984 619739
Copyright 2008 Chantry House. All Rights Reserved.
The series is divided up in the following way, with each part having a number of talks linked to it:
Part 1 The Bible
Part 2 God
Part 3 The Last Things
Part 4 Jesus Christ
Part 5 The Holy Spirit
Part 6 Mankind
Part 7 Salvation
Part 8 The Church
For anyone who might be interested, I have prepared these talks from what might be called an orthodox evangelical position. For those who understand that, it will add some clarity; for those who don’t, it almost certainly doesn’t matter!
I am a founder Director of North Eastern Christian Schools Ltd and now Principal of Grindon Hall Christian School in Sunderland on the north east coast of England. I worked for 15 years in industry, latterly as Organisational Development Manager with a multi-national company, and then ran my own consultancy business for three years. I have been at Grindon Hall since 2003. Whilst living in Felixstowe (a town on the east coast of England) I was an elder of Ranelagh Road Christian Fellowship. I am married to Penny and we have five children (Tom, Ed, Alice, George, Henry). One of my aims is to do what I can to fill the gap between "heavyweight" and "lightweight" theology: in other words, between academic theology which is often inaccessible and popular theology which is all too often - although not always - dumbed down. More than ever, Christians today need to understand their faith and I hope that in some way this series of talks will make a small contribution.
Why The Starfish?
A small boy was walking along the beach. As he walked, the waves threw starfish onto the sand. He bent down, picked them up and threw them back into the sea.
A man was watching him. "Why do you bother? There are far too many starfish being washed up onto the beach for you to make any difference."
The boy bent down and took another starfish. He looked at it briefly before tossing it back into the sea.
"It made a difference to that one," he said.
from The Starfish Story by L C Eiseley