David Hathaway

You are a child of God / 1 John Bible Study (Part 7) / Chapter 3

“Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called the sons of God!” Can you imagine how great the Love of God is in calling us ‘sons of God’?! This is a tremendous gift, a demonstration of His unlimited Love! 
But this is the downside: John says, the world doesn’t know us – because the world doesn’t recognise who God is! People of this world don’t recognise us as children of God, though they may consider us to be ‘Christian’ and ‘religious’. But the reality is, we are children of God. We are! We’re born again as God’s sons and daughters!
This is who we are now, but, John says in v2, we don’t know what we, one day, will be like… When Christ appears, we shall see Him, as He really is, and we shall be ‘like Him’! But what will this be is a mystery. In the beginning, in Genesis, God said, “Let US create man in Our Own Image”! And when the disciples asked Jesus, “Show us the Father”, He replied, “If you have seen Me, you have seen the Father!” Now, when Jesus comes back, we shall be ‘like Him’... I don’t think this means we lose our individual appearance, but rather that our earthly bodies will be transformed to be like His Resurrection Body… Remember, Jesus was able to ‘appear in their midst’ after His resurrection – without opening the doors! Because He was fully spirit, as well as flesh… So will we be.

You are anointed / 1 John Bible Study (Part 6) / Chapter 2

You have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth. I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it and because no lie comes from the truth. Who is the liar? It is whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a person is the antichrist – denying the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also.
As for you, see that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you. If it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father. And this is what he promised us – eternal life.
I am writing these things to you about those who are trying to lead you astray. As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit – just as it has taught you, remain in him.
And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming. If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of him. (1 John 2.20-29, NIV)

New Life in Christ / 1 John Bible Study (Part 5) / Chapter 2

John writes, v17, “The world passes away, and the lust of it, but he that does the Will of God lives forever.” The whole message of the New Testament is of a new birth! That’s what Jesus said to the rich Pharisee, Nicodemus, “You must be born again, from above!” We have to ‘die to the old’. Unfortunately, this is where Christian teaching is failing today, so many don’t understand: WE HAVE TO DIE TO THE OLD AND BE BORN INTO THE NEW.
Paul says the same in Romans 6:3-4, 8-9: “Aren’t you aware that we who are baptised into Christ Jesus were baptised into His death? We were buried with Him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the Glory of the Father, we too might live in newness of life.” When you are baptised you are submerged/buried in water, into Christ’s death, just as He was buried in the grave. And you come up out of the water into a new, eternal, resurrection life in Christ. Born again. By faith in Him.
John is correcting a serious misunderstanding. We are no longer under the old law of sin and death with its religious rituals. V17, “the world has passed away…but he that does the Will of God will live forever!” And the Will of God is to believe in Christ Jesus, His Son whom He sent – John 6:29. Under the laws of Moses, under the Old Covenant, the gift of eternal life was closed to men. Genesis 3. But I am certain from Scripture, those who died under the Old Covenant looking forward to Messiah WILL HAVE ETERNAL LIFE IN HIM! Daniel 12:1-2. The gift is retrospective, I’m sure of it – they will have new life in the Kingdom, just as we will. 1 Thess 4:16-17 / Hebr 11:39-40 are clear: all those Heroes of the Old Testament, ‘having obtained a good report through faith, did not receive the Promise, but will be made perfect together with us, and together with us, will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air’.

You belong to God / 1 John Bible Study (Part 4) / Chapter 2

John’s First Letter was probably written when he was already towards the end of his life and begins in much the same way as His Gospel, saying in wonderment: “We declare to you the One who was from the Beginning, whom we heard, whom we saw with our own eyes, and touched with our hands! We are witnesses that HE is the Eternal Life that was in the Father – HE appeared to us – and we declare HIM to you so that your joy may be full!” John saw and touched the Son of God when HE was in the flesh! It changed his life forever.
But Chapter Two of John’s letter begins with a sense of danger, John is troubled: “My little children, I WRITE TO YOU THAT YOU SIN NOT.” He’s possibly writing even as much as 100 years after the birth of Christ, so he’s an old man – which entitles him to address his readers as ‘little children’… But maybe here he’s also addressing some who are still ‘spiritually children’. What he says relates to anyone of us today, but in this case I am sensing John is writing particularly to Jewish people who had become followers of Christ; Jews, who when they believed, had accepted something that had been ‘hidden’ from them in their Jewish Law/Scriptures, something so completely new to them, they are  now finding it hard to fully accept, and that is: JESUS IS THE SON OF GOD, HIS SACRIFICIAL DEATH HAS PAID THE FULL PRICE OF SIN!

Be transformed / 1 John Bible Study (Part 3) / Chapter 1

“This is how we know we have come to know Him – IF we obey His Commands!” This is so important: if we know Jesus and the reality of being forgiven, then we need to demonstrate that by obedience to His Commands. Because John says in v4ff, “The man who says, ‘I know Jesus’, but doesn’t keep His Commandments, is a liar – this is a very strong statement – and the Truth is not in him. But if anyone obeys His Word, in him the LOVE of God is perfected. This is how we know we are in Him. Whoever claims to live in Him must walk as Jesus did.” It’s not just the talk, you must walk the walk. V9ff, “He that says he is in the Light and hates his brother, is still in darkness. Whoever loves his brother is in the Light and there is nothing in him to make him stumble. Whoever hates his brother is in darkness, and walks in darkness, and doesn’t know where he is going because the darkness has blinded him”… 
V12, John says, “I’m writing to you little children because your sins have been forgiven in Jesus’ Name.” Walk as He walked. Amen.

God is light / 1 John Bible Study (Part 2) / Chapter 1

John in vv3-4 says the reason he is writing this letter is ‘so that we may have fellowship with him – that’s John – and with the Father and His Son Jesus Christ, that our joy may be full’! He says, v5, “This is the message we have heard from Him and declare to you: GOD IS LIGHT and in Him is no darkness at all!” Scripture says, in the Beginning God created the Heaven and the earth, and darkness was over the deep, and God said, “LET THERE BE LIGHT!” GOD IS LIGHT! That’s why John says, “In Him there is no darkness!” 
Now John warns in v6ff, “If we claim to have fellowship with Jesus but walk in darkness, we lie – and we don’t live by the Truth! But if we walk in the Light, as He is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the Blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.”

We've seen Jesus (Part 1) / 1 John 1 Bible Study

We’re going through very difficult times worldwide; it needs much prayer. It’s even hard for us to look at the news. Why is there so much senseless violence and war? Satan is still in control, he’s still prince of this world – and that’s why God had to send His Son to die for us, to break the curse that’s on us. Thankfully, those of us who have come to Christ know that Peace which the world so desperately needs. Our world needs Jesus!
John’s First Letter starts: “That which was from the Beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have touched, the Word of Life – this Life has appeared, and we have seen it and testify to it…” He’s talking about Jesus!

What to do in a time of Chaos (Part 3) / Deuteronomy 4

When you trust God and act in faith, that’s when God begins to cooperate with you and work with you! Aged 92, I’ve tried to be obedient to God’s Word. I listen to Him through the Holy Spirit. Let God speak to you, instruct you, and bring vision and blessing into your life. From my teenage years I’ve lived by Isaiah 30:21, “YOU WILL HEAR A VOICE BEHIND YOU SAYING, “THIS IS THE WAY, WALK IN IT.”” I’ve always heard that Voice, saying, “Go this way, go that way; do this, do that.” Why? When I was 15, God called me, not to be an evangelist or a pastor, but to be a servant. A servant does what his master says. 
I’m challenging you, be obedient to the Word of God, KNOW who God is and His Power in your life! THEN, He will answer and deliver you out of affliction and trial and problems! O God bless you. Amen.

What to do in a time of Chaos (Part 2) / Deuteronomy 4

We’re facing enormous problems globally. Warfare in so many areas of the world. Unjust autocracies, rebellions, military governments. Economic hardship, poverty. Moses is saying to us, in the tribulations and trials – not in the comfort and the calm – if you call on God, He will answer you. When all these difficulties and problems come on you, even in the last days – and we are living in the last of the last days now – if you will call on the Lord your God AND BE OBEDIENT TO HIS VOICE – He will answer!
I believe God is speaking to the world now through the circumstances in which we find ourselves. How? Sometimes He speaks through His prophets, but He reveals Himself and speaks to you and me through the Holy Spirit! When I hear the Voice of God, it’s not God Himself in front of me, but revealed by the Holy Spirit. John 16:13-14; 1 Cor 2:9-14. The Holy Spirit, who is God and dwells in us, reveals the ‘deep things of God’, the things He has prepared for those of us who love Him! We need to have THIS relationship with the Holy Spirit so that He CAN speak to us! He will lead us into ‘all Truth and reveal the things to come’. So often we are consumed with all our other issues and don’t hear the Holy Spirit... 

What to do in a time of Chaos (Part 1) / Deuteronomy 4

God is speaking to me now, in our current chaos; I don’t yet know the full response to it, but it’s leading me to speak to you from Deuteronomy 4.29. God is saying through Moses, “If from where you are you will seek the Lord your God, you will find Him, if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul.” In so many countries, so many places, desperate people are crying out to God in prayer. How do we seek God, how do we pray? Do you go away alone, or pray with others? Do we need to be in a special, undisturbed sanctified atmosphere? But Moses says simply vv29-31, “If, from where you are, when you are in tribulation, when all these things are coming against you, even in the last days, if you will turn to the Lord and be obedient to His Voice – for the Lord Your God is a merciful God – He will not forsake you nor destroy you” – God will answer!

Something so big - you'll be amazed (Part 3) / Habakkuk Bible Study

In Habakkuk Ch 3, the prophet admits, “O Lord, I’ve heard Your speech, and I was afraid.” Yes, when we look at the world, and we see that prophecy of violence and destruction is part of the preparation for the Kingdom of Christ, we are afraid at what we see, afraid of what’s going on. But this is the key: Habakkuk continues his prayer, “O Lord revive Your Work, make Your Work known in the midst of the years and remember mercy…”
The prophet is asking God to revive His Work, to bring back to life something that is dead – in the midst of violence! This is the vision God gave me up on the mountain this summer! A revival of God’s Work in our days! This vision is for an ‘appointed time’! I believe we are living in the appointed time NOW! Yes, we’re afraid, but Lord, revive Your Work in the midst of it! Christian, as we see the unfolding situation, this is how we should pray, “O God, revive Your Work! Raise up the spiritually dead, fill the Church with new Power!”
This is why, aged 92, I’m fighting on, telling the young people everywhere, this is the time when God will fulfil the vision! And this is the vision: “Look at the nations, watch, be amazed! For I am going to do something in your days that you wouldn’t even believe if you were told!” I take this very strongly. It’s a challenge to me, in my life. God is going to do something in MY days, something amazing!

Something so big - you'll be amazed (Part 2) / Habakkuk Bible Study

The important thing I want to bring to you is this: Habakkuk, the prophet says in Ch 2:1, “I will stand at my watch and look to see what HE – God – will say to me, and what I shall answer!” This is a challenge to us who know the Lord, to be in prayer, to be watching, waiting to hear and to know what the Lord is showing us for the future! Because in v2ff, the Lord answers, “Write the vision, make it plain and run with it! The vision is for an appointed time! It will not fail!” 
God is in control of everything that is happening. He knows the future. He has set the times and seasons. He knew in advance, before He created the world, what would happen today. That’s why the Bible, speaking about Jesus, tells us that before sin entered the world, God had already prepared the answer! Because Jesus is described as the ‘Lamb slain before the world began’ – the sacrifice for our future sin! 

Something so big - you'll be amazed (Part 1) / Habakkuk Bible Study

Opening my Bible one morning this summer I was struck how God explains – in the Old Testament – the days that we are living in now! It was in Habakkuk. I was quite shocked when I read Ch 1 – it’s a description of how things are today! 
‘This is the burden which Habakkuk the prophet received’ – and this is his complaint – “How long O Lord must I call for help and You do not listen? Or cry out to You of violence, but You do not save? Why do You make me look at injustice, why do You tolerate wrong?! Destruction and violence are before me, strife and conflict abound…”’
This describes much of the world right now! So many nations simultaneously are facing violence, stress, civil unrest, war… Even in Britain this August, violence on the streets… The same in Europe. As I write in Summer 2024, the Russian terror war against Ukraine continues. The Bangladeshi Prime Minister, a woman, had to flee by helicopter to escape the violence in her country. There’s war between Israel and the Palestinians. Changes of government everywhere…
In v5, God answers the prophet, ‘“Look at the nations, watch – and be utterly amazed! For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told!”’

The Power of the Gospel (Part 3) / Romans 1.16

‘The Gospel of Christ is the Power of God’ (Romans 1:16). Evangelism should be part of our spiritual walk with God. If I ask you what are the essentials for every Christian, especially new converts, to do, you would quickly tell me – pray every day – read the Word every day – join a real live church. Water baptism and so on would quickly follow, along with serving God, fellowship with the saints and of course to be filled with the Spirit. I would add to this, evangelise – but not the way so many think of evangelism or evangelists. The Gospel is simply the good news. Your first responsibility after conversion is to spread the wonderful news of what God has done for you! 
Acts 2:22-36 describes how Jesus was approved of God through the miracles, wonders, and signs that God performed through Him. The Power in the Gospel is indelibly linked with the miraculous. Throughout Jesus' ministry in the Gospels, and then with the disciples in the book of Acts, we read that it was the miracles which was the evidence of the message they preached. In 1994 I was preaching in Khabarovsk, Siberia. The Crusade on the Saturday night saw us under a powerful anointing of the Holy Spirit, and many hundreds crowded into the open-air of the football stadium as the praise and worship team ministered. Then when I made the appeal almost every person came forward, so many, that surely everyone who had come into that stadium, lonely, lost, without faith or hope, and without Christ, found Him that night. Their hopelessness and despair had changed into the glory of the reality of knowing Him who loved us with a dying and undying love.

The Power of the Gospel (Part 2) / Romans 1.16

I see the Power of the Gospel in action – and I want you to understand the effectiveness of true conversion! Our faith is in God through Jesus Christ, and in the authority of His Word. Our Gospel has unlimited power to completely deliver and change men! Until you have such an absolute, powerful experience in your own life – that there is no uncertainty, no hesitation that there is one way only, one price, one salvation, complete and life-changing – you cannot demonstrate Christ to the unbelievers! When you yourself have this absolute experience of total salvation in your own life – then this is the demonstration of the Power of the Gospel! 'For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes,' (Romans 1.16, NIV).
In December 1959, I held evangelism in Dewsbury. The local newspaper, the Dewsbury Reporter, published the following report under the headline, ‘REVIVAL CAMPAIGN CLAIMS SUCCESESS’:‘Some astonishing results were obtained at the meeting on Monday of the Revival and Divine healing campaign run by Rev David G Hathaway and his team in Dewsbury Town Hall. At this meeting which I attended (writes our representative) a girl of twelve claimed the restoration of the sight of one eye which had been blind from the age of two, an elderly woman who could not before raise her arm waved it shakily above her head, an elderly man whose arm was permanently crooked straightened his arm in the meeting, and several others of the dozen subjects of the healing session claimed the loss of pain or at least some improvement in their condition. Long before the time of the meeting the Exchange Hall was filling up and by the time the meeting started the hall was comfortably filled. One of the main items of the campaign was a stirring address in a cheerful but determined and emphatic vein given by Mr Hathaway. In his address Mr Hathaway promised that in the crusade, “we shall hold services and pray for the sick and hope that God will pour out His power for us.” Following the address was prayer with a background of piano music, during which time Mr Hathaway exhorted people to make a decision for Christ by raising their hands. It was said that on Sunday out of 300 people present 170 responses had been made. When those who had made a decision had been instructed on what to do to carry out their decision, the healing campaign began, when about a dozen people presented themselves for healing. Mr Hathaway inquired the trouble of each person and then, placing his hands on the person, Mr Hathaway prayed fervently, the congregation joining in silent prayer. As each person described an improvement the congregation was informed. Mr Hathaway said after the meeting that all names and addresses of people healed are taken and the cases followed.’ 

The Power of the Gospel (Part 1) / Romans 1.16

The Apostle Paul said: “I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ.” (Romans 1.16). Why are we not ashamed of the Gospel? Because it is the greatest demonstration of the power of God on earth! – It is the power to deliver everyone who has faith to believe! What changes nations is not some new teaching or doctrine. No, it is the simplicity of God’s Word, the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ! Today we are in danger of underestimating the power of God, and that’s why Paul said, “I’m not ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, because it is the power of God!”