David Hathaway

Our reward for obedience / Colossians Bible Study (Part 13)

'And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him... Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.' (Colossians 3.18-25)
Paul is addressing workers in secular jobs, slaves, servants, employees, telling them to obey their employers, not as men pleasers, with eyeservice, but with singleness of heart, fearing God; whatever you do, do it heartily as unto the Lord, and not as unto men! You see, even in the secular world we have to serve a secular master – as if he were the Lord! But, v24, the Lord will reward us! So we must be faithful in whatever job we do.

Deeper and Higher with Jesus (February Audio Newsletter)

Be encouraged, God is at work! I am experiencing it in my life even more as I get older! There is always opposition, but significantly, I have always found that, if Satan attacks, it means that something big is about to happen! We need your support both in prayer and with finance more this year than ever. We are all living in a difficult time economically, but the seed which you sow will reap an even larger harvest in eternity because God Himself will reward you!

One family in Christ / Colossians Bible Study (Part 12)

The new life that we have in Christ is a renewed one, in a new image – the Image of Christ. Christ should be in us! That’s what Paul often says, “Christ in you, the hope of Glory!” The Life, the very essence of Christ – in us! When a child is born, that new life comes from father and mother – in their image! come on! By faith, you are born of God. It’s the Life of Christ in you that now makes you who you now are! Paul says in Galatians 4:19, “I travail until Christ be formed in you.” You are in Christ!
But v11 reveals complications: in this new Image, there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision or uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free. Paul is saying there’s no difference between any of us in Christ. There is no difference between cultures, between Jew and Gentile, no difference between those who obey the Jewish law, and those who don’t, no difference between a slave and a free person. Christ is in all. There is absolutely no difference. No difference between black and white, no difference whatever country you are from, whatever colour or creed you are – we are one in Christ!

Your new life in Christ / Colossians Bible Study (Part 11) Chapter 3:5-10

When Christ appears, we shall appear with Him. When a Christian dies, your body dies, but YOU are not dead! And when the Day of Resurrection comes, we shall rise with Christ with new Resurrection bodies! Where Christ is, there we shall be. With Him!
The new life that we have in Christ is a renewed one, in a new image – the Image of Christ. Christ should be in us! That’s what Paul often says, “Christ in you, the hope of Glory!” The Life, the very essence of Christ – in us! When a child is born, that new life comes from father and mother – in their image! By faith, you are born of God. It’s the Life of Christ in you that makes you who you now are! Paul says in Galatians 4:19, “I travail until Christ be formed in you.” You are in Christ!

Raised to new life with Christ / Colossians Bible Study (Part 10)

“If you are then risen with Christ…” You can ONLY have this experience of being ‘risen with Christ’ – IF you have died with Him! Being dead to the old life is the theme that runs throughout the Gospels and the Letters! Water baptism is the symbol of this! We’ve got to die to the old life. It’s got to be finished. Once we’ve had this experience of repenting of our sin and dying to the old, the devil can hold nothing against us. It’s gone! Dead! Buried! The past is gone, you are a new man, a new woman in Christ. 

Christ has disarmed powers and authorities / Colossians Bible Study (Part 9)

Our salvation consists in the fact that Christ, in His death, blotted out all accusation against us! When He, Christ, nailed our sin on the cross, He ‘spoiled’ principalities and powers, He disarmed the powers and authorities – and made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross, v15! Christ triumphed over all the powers of Satan and all the powers of evil that are against us and attack us! When Christ died on the cross, He did not only forgive our sin, but He broke the power the devil had against us.
The NIV translation sums up this triumph in a military sense: Christ on the cross, disarmed the powers and authorities! He disarmed the devil! That’s what the Ukrainians are trying to do with the Russians – to smash all their arms and ammunition depots, all their weapons and tanks and armaments and to disarm the enemy! And when they’re disarmed, they can’t fight! Christ has done for us what the Ukrainians are doing – disarming the enemy!

Walking in fellowship with Christ / Colossians Bible Study (Part 8) Chapter 2:6-12

“As you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him.” Walk in Him! To fulfil our Christian experience and calling, it’s not just a matter of the moment we receive Christ, which is the beginning of our salvation, but it’s the ‘going on’! Walking in fellowship with Christ. This is a daily walk! Not something that happens when you go to church on a Sunday, a prayer meeting or a Bible study. This is a daily experience of fellowship with Christ. I can see the depth of what Paul is saying here, that although he’s not present in the flesh with the believers in Laodicea and others whom he has never met personally, yet the link in the Holy Spirit, in the fellowship of love, makes him one with them! Just as, in our relationship with Christ – whom we have never seen in the flesh – it is our love and our unity in love in Him and with one another, that enables us to receive Christ’s blessings.

The treasures in Christ / Colossians Bible Study (Part 7) Chapter 2:1-6

The treasures of God are hidden in Christ. ONLY when we understand the person of Christ, can we begin to fully understand what the blessings of God are. The blessings of God come to us not from the Father alone, but through Christ. This is the importance of Jesus Christ to us! Yes, the Scripture tells us to ask God the Father for our needs, but Jesus said this: Whatsoever you ask God the Father IN MY NAME, I – Jesus – will do it. John 14:13,14. It is He who has the ability, the right to mediate and pass on the blessings of God to us. Although God is our Father, we still come in the Name of His Son in order to receive the blessing.

Christ in you, the hope of glory / Colossians Bible Study (Part 6)

'Christ in you, the hope of glory!' Writing to the Colossians, Paul is saying that Christ living in us is the living demonstration and proof of what is to come! CHRIST IN US! We have, within our new born-again bodies, the living evidence of ALL the Power, ALL the Glory of the Gospel – it is INCREDIBLE what God has done! Paul concludes here, v28ff, “This is what we preach, warning every man, teaching every man – that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.” When we get into the Kingdom of God at the time of Christ’s Second Coming, He will present us before the Father – and He will say, “Father, this is the evidence of My Work”!!! Do you realise?!! On the day of our bodily Resurrection, we come before the Father; Jesus will be there, and He’ll say, “Father, this man, this woman, this person – the life that they lived, who and what they are – is the evidence of My Work!!!” We are the living demonstration of Christ’s Work in us. 

Visiting Ukraine and Praying with Survivors (January Audio Newsletter)

We started this year at full speed. I left for Ukraine on Tuesday January 3rd. The only way is to fly to Poland, then go by car across the Polish and Ukrainian borders, then into Lviv. The first day was spent being shown how, for hundreds of years, Ukraine has had an independent identity from Russia, and has every reason to fight to be free from Russian intervention and control. In this New Year we are expecting to do more than in previous years – which means we need your support more than ever! To fulfil all that God has put in my heart this year, we will need your prayer support – and almost double our financial income.

Christ is the head of the Church / Colossians Bible Study

Christ is the Head, the Beginning, the Firstborn from the dead – yes, the First One to rise from the dead. And in Him, we are also born again and rise from the dead. But Christ is the first, that in ALL things He might have the pre-eminence. He’s the FIRST! The Elder Brother of us all. And in Colossians 1v19, Paul says, it pleased the Father that in Him all fullness should dwell. It pleases the Father that His Son should have the pre-eminence in the Church. 

Everything was created by God / Colossians Bible Study (Part 4) Chapter 1:14-17

We are made in the image of God. In Genesis 1:26 God said, “Let Us make man in Our Own Image.” Of whom Christ is the firstborn. Colossians 1:16 says, “For by Him ALL things were created that are in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible…” ALL things were created by Him and FOR HIM!
Everything in our vast universe – and I am aware of the new Webb telescope that is looking back years, billions of years, searching in fact for the beginning of time! But yet God, who created, is in an even more important and powerful position than that telescope! Because God can see past and present and future. He can still see the beginning of time, which He created, and beyond us, He can see the end of time! EVERYTHING was created by God, absolutely EVERYTHING.

Increasing in the knowledge of God / Colossians Bible Study (Part 3) Chapter 1:10-14

“That you might increase in the knowledge of God, strengthened with all might according to His glorious Power, with all patience, longsuffering – (but not being miserable) – but with joyfulness, giving thanks to God who has made us partakers of the inheritance of the saints!” (Colossians 1:10-11.) Christian, you may think of yourself sometimes as poor, but you are not. You have the richest inheritance of anybody, because you inherit everything God has given Jesus. An inheritance only comes when someone dies: Jesus died, not only to pay the price of our sin, but that we might have an inheritance – here and now – in the blessings of God. All the blessing Jesus had in His life and ministry on earth through His Father – passes to us.

Your life is planned by God (Our confidence is in God, Part 3) / New Year Message

I want you to have confidence in your own future. Confidence that God has got your future mapped out for you. This year I will be 91. I know that, just as my past was planned by God, so is my future - and yours! Put your trust in God! In Philippians 3:13, Paul says, forget those things which are behind, and press forward towards the mark of the prize of the high calling of God which is in Christ Jesus. This is my word to you for 2023. Forget the problems of the past, forget the glories. Forget the joys, the pain, and let’s press forward into the future with confidence in God.

Don’t let fear disturb your life (Our confidence is in God, Part 2) / New Year Message

Don’t let fear destroy or disturb your life. The Scripture teaches, 'Don’t cast away your confidence'. Confidence is trust. Confidence is the knowledge that God will do what He said. I want you to move into this new year with confidence that God is in control. I’m confident that this will be the best year of my life: seeing the biggest miracles, the biggest steps forward in evangelism – I am confident! Because I trust the Scripture! Hebrews 10:38-39 says, ‘The just shall live by faith, but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in Him.’ – Don’t draw back from your faith! – ‘But we are not of them that draw back into perdition, but of them that believe to the saving of the soul!’ It is our faith that carries us through to that final redemption!

Our confidence is in God (Part 1) / New Year Message

I want us to have a confidence and a hope for this new year. I want to share this word with you from Hebrews 10:35, “Cast not away your confidence which has great recompense of reward.” In 2023 we are entering an unknown. I often quote at the start of a new year the Christmas message spoken by King George VI to the nation at the beginning of the last war. At the suggestion of the then Princess Elizabeth, he quoted Minnie Louise Haskins, ‘I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year: “Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.” And he replied: “Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand of God. That shall be to you better than a light, and safer than a known way.”’ If the King could say that, facing the darkest days of the War, I want to say to you, if we want a light to walk safely into this new year, put you hand into the Hand of God, because that will be better than any light and safer than any known way!