Obstacles ( Matthew15 v 21 - 28 )

 While on holiday recently,in a charity shop,I managed to strike up a conversation with a man,I asked him  I wonder if you wouldn't mind me asking him a pertinent question, 'do you know the Lord as your Saviour?,' He replied that he had been brought up as a JW, but he left that,he went on to say he went to an Anglican church, but he left it because the minister was abusing young people.He then joined another church not Anglican,but they were to political,so he  left that.He raised different questions, which I did my best to answer.He mentioned that his wife was a nurse,who turned from a belief in God ,because of all the people she saw dying. He spoke about faith in a trivial way but I assured him it was far from trivial,but I sensed that this was still seeking God, in spite of all all the obstacles he had encountered.For most people there are obstacles which they have to face if they want to know Christ,so it will always be,let us remember that obstacles are not there to put  one off, coming to Christ,they are there as a test,in which we must show how much we want Christ ,how much do we value Him,well then tell me, how much do you value Him?.

Possible suffering ( Philippians 1 v 29)

R.Davis in his fine commentary on Luke's gospel writing on the death of John the baptist who was executed  by Herod Antipas comments,' It shows us that sometimes there is no 'fulfillment' in ministry, we are being shown that John had to bear the cross before the cross.Luke  who recorded this isn't  implying that being Jesus servant always leads to this, but he is saying it can and may lead to this? The Bible never hides the hard  stuff in the small print. You could face this,you must be ready for this, in life under the gospel,' Many years ago as a young married man with a young family,my dear wife and I sought to serve the Lord, we had in mind being in missionary service,with a mission called the,'Acre gospel mission'.they worked in the interior of Brazil,a missionary we knew served the Lord there, his  dear wife had died when they first went out.he said it was known as the green hell.Knowing this we were prepared to go ,even though we had four young children, so we applied to the mission,but we were not accepted. Reading the history of missions,many did go,and paid a heavy price. As a Christian I have never suffered for  my faith,but everyday  I pray for those who are suffering. Yes we may suffer but we may not ,if we are called to suffer may God grant us the grace to remain faithful to Him,who suffered greatly for us.

A strong weak man.( Philippians 4 v 13 )

Let us consider the  one I believe was  strongest  man who ever lived,Samson,he was not  a mythical figure, he was a real flesh and blood person, you can read about him in the book of Judges chap 13-16.He tore a lion apart with his bare hands.he slew one thousand of Gods enemies using a donkey's jawbone. On another occasion he uprooted the gates of a city and carried it up a hill. He didn't get his strength by going to the gym,although he was strong, why then did his enemies capture him ,and gouged out his eyes and make him their captive?.You see he had a weakness,remember strong men have their weakness'es,even strong Christian men,it can be money,sex,pride,or whatever,He was a womanizer,as was Solomon's ( 1 king 11 v 1ff,) It was a woman called Delilah who caused Samson's downfall,she found out the secret of his strength,revealed it to His enemies,and the rest is history.But id didn't stop there, for his hair grew again ,and he prayed unto God, for after all that's were his strength came from,and he brought the house down,killing many of the enemies of God,but also killing himself. It is interesting that Samson is mentioned in Hebrews 11 v32 ,as a man of faith.R.Davis writes the following as regards Samson as,' being a wild ass of a man', in many ways a man who failed yes even morally,but when he prayed,God forgive him,and granted him victory.Yes God can use us failures.

God gives the increase ( Revelation 7 v9 - 12 )

 I wonder if your like me,you pray for the unsaved, you witness to them,and you don't see many people saved.Thinking about this I prayed, I said, 'Lord I want to see people saved',and I thought I heard Him say 'you will', and I smiled.Now what does that mean?,it could mean,here and now ,before I go to heaven,but it also could mean when I get to heaven,and of course it could mean both. In John 4 v 37, our Saviour said,' One sows another reaps', and in 1 Corinthians 3 v7 we read,'God..gives the increase'.God is very patient and we must learn that ,especially when it comes to witnessing.we all have a part to play,all the witnessing I or others have done is not wasted,others will reap the benefit. One persons wrote the following ,' God uses human instruments to bring to men the message of his truth and love; but it is He alone who wakes the hearts of men to new life'.There is a great church in China and it came into being because Hudson Taylor and others went and declared the gospel in that great land,So like those of old let us go into all the world and tell others about our wonderful Saviour, trusting God to give the increase.

Are you a nobody? (James 5 v 17 - 18 )

There is a little chorus with the words,'With Christ in the vessel,we can smile at the storm, as we go saling on'.For many people, even great men of God, they struggled in the storms of life.Let me name one,Elijah a mighty man of God,He confronted a king, his prayers controlled the weather,imagine that. But when a wicked queen threatened him,he was afraid, and ran for his dear life,he lay down under a bush,and wished for God to take his life,which he didn't. A wonderful man of God ,but a man for all that,flawed and at times depressed, complaining to God that he was the only one left of the prophets,A powerful man but his power came from God,and God reminds us that in himself, he was just like you and me, with many  weaknesses .( James 5 v 17 - 18)When God looked on Elijah he did not think ,there's a mighty man, no when He looked at Elijah, He dropped the word mighty,for He just saw a man ,a man He would use  in  mighty ways. Remember ,God chooses the weak things, the foolish things so that no one can boast;(  1 Corinthians 1 v 31).So don't think God can't use you because your a nobody,the good news is, God uses nobodies.

Delayed answers.( 2 Peter 3 v 10 - 13 )

Let us consider delayed answers to our prayers,the following people had delayed  answers to their prayers,  Sarah ,she was 90 when she had her prayers answered by having a child (Hebrews 11 v11). Rebekah  Isaac's wife had to wait 20 years,before she had children,she had twins Esau and Jacob.Here is a few more ,Manoah and his wife Judges13,Hannah mother of Samuel , (1 Samuel 1).Then we  go to Luke 1, to Zechariah and Elizabeth. The Bible is full of examples of delayed answers to prayers,so the question is this why?, we have our timetable  God has  His,and it is perfect. His delay in answering our prayers will result in a manifestation of His glory , the impossible happens. It is true, delay is not denial, it calls upon us to exercise trust,and patience, as the prophet Habakkuk was told as regards the prophecy that he was given ,'it will be fulfilled.If it seems slow in coming wait patiently, for it will surely take place,it will not be delayed.(2 v 3). He is told also in 2 v 4, ' That the just shall live. by faith', we must never forget this, the non-Christian  is often filled with despair,while the Christian looks by faith to His God,who will  in His time, move in impossible ways.R .Davis, writes that the prayer we have raised to God is recorded in heaven, it is not forgotten, but will be answered in His time'.

Our greatest kindness ( James 5 v 20 )

 What is the greatest kindness one can do for anyone?, what would your answer be?,before I answer that I believe we as Christians should  remember those who have needs.James in his epistle tells up works without faith is dead (James 2 v 16 ff, our works do not save us but they are an necessary evidence that we are saved.We have still not answered the question,'What is the greatest kindness we can do for anyone?'.Here is what Albert Barnes said,'When we come to die,as we shall soon,it will give us more pleasure to be able  to recollect  that we have been the means of  saving one soul from death,than to have enjoyed all the pleasures which sense can furnish,or to have gained gained all the honour and wealth which the world can give'. Humanity's greatest need is be saved, and my greatest responsibility is to tell them of  the one who can save them. We are watchmen  who are called to warn people of coming judgement,  yes it is coming,consider the words of Jude v 14- 15,' See the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of His holy ones to judge everyone'. Charles Wesley wrote.

                                                 'My talents,gifts and graces,Lord,

                                                  Into thy blessed hands receive;

                                                  And let me live to preach Thy word.

                                                  And let my to Thy glory live;

                                                   My every  sacred moment spend

                                                    In publishing the sinners friend'

                                                     

A hard providence. ( Isaiah 43 v 2 )

Let us consider looking again on the  theme of providence ,in the life of a particular individual,his name was J C. Ryle. He was born in 1816 and died 1900,his father was a private banker.. He attended Eton college and Oxford university,he worked in his fathers business for awhile,but hoped to go into politics but that came to halt when his fathers business went bust,he lost everything. R.Davis continues the story,' He didn't know where he would live or what he was to do., he said,' if he had not been a Christian he might have found suicide inviting'.'He further said,' If my fathers affairs had prospered,and I had not been ruined,.....I  should never have been a clergyman,never preached a sermon, written a tract, or a book'.He went into the ministry because it was the only living opened to him. He noted that if had he not been ruined, he  likely would have gone into Parliament and' it would be impossible  to say what the effect of this might have been upon my soul'.I  heard this recently,'I think my Father made me for a purpose',God had a greater purpose for J. C. Ryle than being  an MP.God in His providence brought him into that purpose yes it was a hard providence,  

                                                  'Every joy or trial, falleth from above,

                                                  Traced upon our dial,by the Son of love.

                                                  We may trust Him fully,all for us to do,

                                                  They who trust Him wholly, find Him

                                                   wholly true.'.

                                                           Words . Frances  B. Havergal.

Providence.( Genesis 50 v 15 -17)

Spurgeon writing of his call to a particular Church wrote,''The call was providential, not of his solicitation'',I  am convinced that Christians do not think enough on the providence of God .I have always found it a great source of comfort, one could write a book on it ,many have. Looking back I see Gods hand in all the affairs of my life,the disappointments ,but also God's intervening in so many situations,and it will never cease. For the unsaved life can appear very fearful, the world appears to be out of control,awful things are happening, but for the Christian  there is the great comfort in the knowledge that God rules and overrules.So what about the suffering that Christians experience?,well we have plenty of that in the scriptures,and we have plenty of that in life. Consider the life of Joseph,the cruelty and the injustice he experienced, it had a very happy ending,but it is not always the case for the followers of the our blessed Saviour. In Exodus 3 ,we read of God calling a reluctant Moses to go into Egypt to bring his people out,and in v 12 He says,''I will be with you''. R.Davis writes,''Basically , God has nothing else or more to offer you.You can go through a lot with that promise,it does not answer your questions about details. It only provides the essential. Nothing about when or how or why. Only the what,or better the Who. 'But I will be with you'. And that is enough.'

Are you weary? ( Isaiah 40 v 28 - 31 )

 I like my little garden but recently  I did not  have the enthusiasm that I once had ,but we have had a bit of good weather which encouraged me to continue on in my garden.As with me in my  garden,so life can get us down ,and wear us down,there are different things that can get us us down like feeling guilty, failure, regrets, negatively, people pleasing. Life can throw many things at us that can affect and wear us down. In that wonderful 23rd Psalm v 3 ,we read ,'He restoreth my soul ',Another translation has,'He refreshes my soul', It is not the soul as  wandering or backsliding from God rather he is talking about the life or spirit as being exhausted,wearied.troubled,anxious, worn down with care and toil'.(Barnes) Remember God always understands, and He is there for us at all times,and it is important that we remember,it is in His strength we live the Christian life.Here are words from Isaiah 41 v10 ,' I will strengthen you and help you'.He further tells us that unlike us He does not grow tired or weary,and that He gives strength to the weary. He further tells us that those who wait (hope) upon the Lord will renew their strength' ( (Isaiah 40 v 28 - 31) Ralph Carmichael wrote the following words.

                                        'Is your burden heavy as you bear it all alone?

                                        Does the road you travel harbour dangers yet 

                                        unknow.?

                                        Are you growing weary in the struggle of it all?

                                       Jesus will help you when on His name you call'

Going against the stream. ( Acts 5 v 29 )

 It is so easy for us to go along with the crowd,because we feel intimated ,or because we just want to be part of the gang,want to feel accepted. I know of people who have done that,and they have got into trouble,I remember walking to school with a friend,and he influenced me to join him in picking on a young  lad,I still regret that.Think about the salmon,after they are born they swim out to sea,but it comes to the time to lay their eggs they come back to where they were born.That means they have  to swim against the stream,some don't make it because they are eaten by bears. It is like the Christian life it entails going against the stream.Daniel went against the stream and was thrown unto a den of lions,his three friends did the same and they were thrown into a fiery furnace,ten of the twelve apostles suffered violent deaths,why?,because they went against the stream. In order to bring salvation to humanity our dear Saviour had to go against the steam.Today He says to all those who are His,follow me, go against the stream..

Patience ( 1 Peter 2 v23

 In that wonderful chapter on love 1 Corinthians 13, one of the qualities of love is patience,a man called Horst points out that this word in the Greek Bible translates the Hebrew' to delay wrath'the idea being that being powerful one chooses to refrain.Kenneth E Bailey gives an example of this,'President Lincoln(at the end of Civil war) when a Northern victory was assured and many wanted to punish the South for the ''rebellion''.On March 4 1865  Lincoln delivered his second inaugural speech said,''With malice toward none, with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us....do all which may achieve and cherish a just, and a lasting peace,among ourselves, and with all nations''.Lincoln was expressing that patience as one who had the power to demolish the South but  choose not to.The opposite of this was shown by France and it's allies at the end of the 1st world war,when they imposed very severe penalties on Germany,and caused a lot bitterness,and was partly to blame for the second world war,This patience mentioned in 1 Cor 13,was shown in its fulness by our Saviour in His suffering in 1 Peter 2 v 23, we read,'When they hurled insults at Him  he did not retaliate; when He suffered, He made no threats. Instead, He entrusted Himself to Him who judges justly'.

A perfect Saviour. ( Hebrews 7 v 25 )

One of the most well known characters in the book of Judges is Samson ,Hollywood even made a movie about him He is remembered for his great strength .We read about him in chapters  13- 16 of Judges, chapter 13 starts with a recurring theme of Judges ,'Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord,so the Lord delivered  then the Lord delivered them into the hands of the Philistines for 40yrs.' There is no record of  the people repenting and turning to God for deliverance.,but that didn't stop God moving on their behalf,for better or worse they were His people.I remember a lecturer at Bible college telling us a about a liberal church,were God moved in revival .Israel needed a saviour a deliver ,a revival,that's were Samson comes in, a man endued with great strength from God, but a man with great weakness'es, weakness'es that would cost him  his sight and his life. It is interesting that he is mentioned  as one of the great hero's of faith ( Hebrews 11 v 32 ). We are told that Samson would begin to deliver Israel,the full deliverance would not some until the reign of David.Samson would be an imperfect saviour, but one  day long after Samson had died,God would send a perfect Saviour, to save not only and imperfect Israel but an imperfect world. His name is Jesus ,He saves sinners from eternal death,sin, and the punishment and misery of sin in other words He saves to the uttermost,or completely.  

Loving discipline. ( Psalm 138 v 8 )

It was the time of the Judges ( not Judges as we know them but local tribal leaders }it is a record of how Israel fared after Joshua died,sad to say it showed that the nation continually deteriorating spiritually.In many ways it was a chaotic time. We have these words  which sum up Israels behaviour during this time,'Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord'  (13 v1),and so God dealt with them,using the surrounding nations as a rod of correction. This would drive Israel back to their God ,until the next time,but the amazing thing which we see manifested time after time,God showing love, patience, forgiveness, and restoration. It is marvellous beyond words. the love and mercy poured out upon His erring children.It is in that hymn .'The church's one foundation',written by S A.Stone we have these word's ,'By schisms rent asunder,By heresies distressed'. so often the church again and again have fallen short of what it should be.But lets bring it down to a personal level , for so often we walk in our own ways,instead of His ways,causing Him to discipline us, for grieving His Holy Spirit,let us remember that always His purpose is to restore us to Himself.So if today you are under His rod  affliction remember in the words of another hymn by  James Edneston.

                                            'Then though Thou bend my spirit low

                                              Love only shall  I see

                                              The gracious hand that strikes the blow,

                                              Was wounded once for me'

Grace ( Luke 15 v 1 1 -32 )

I wonder do we underestimate God's grace? I think I do,there are people who do awful things to children,everyday people are doing awful things.I read about a certain American pastor who had the task of ministering to those being tried in Nuremberg,they were the top Nazis leaders.They were responsible for so much evil,the Pastor wrote later how some of those people did respond to the message of the gospel. there were those who resented that ,believing that those people should  know nothing of God's grace and mercy.There were people who wrote abusive letters to that Pastor calling him a Jew hater. They felt that in no way they should be saved and go to heaven. Could be that many of us are like the prodigals older brother.(Luke 15 v 25 -30),we sing ,'Amazing grace that saved a wretch  like me',but yet we limit that grace and even resent it,when a person is known as being really wicked experiences that grace.May God help us to understand that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners,no matter how dreadful a sinner they are, let us pray to that end,and let us remember that grace is not something we deserve, but something we need.

Witnessing ( 1 Thessalonians 1 v 4- 10 )

 I remember when I was at work, and someone commented about my pleasant demeanor,I cannot remember what I said, but it reminds me what I was reading today from 1 Peter 3 v 13 ff, the context  being of Christians coming under attack,and how we should respond, we are not to be intimidated by them,he goes on to say if someone ask you as regards your Christian hope,we should  always be ready to explain it, not in a threatening way,but in a gentle and respectful way.But we are also told,to live in such a way,that our lives will speak for themselves,I like how one person puts it,'So keep a clear conscience before God so that when people throw mud at you,none of it will stick. They'll end up realizing that they're the ones who need a bath' I want to highlight a number things,we will be attacked at times because of our faith in Christ,that should not silence us,we are not to be afraid,our dear Saviour wasn't. As regards witnessing ,how we do it is very important. in the town where I live,there are Christians who stand in the town centre  screaming at people to be saved.That is not appropriate ,if we want people to listen to the good news of  Christ ,we should not do it in an offensive manner.Last but not least ,our lives must be consistent with our Christian confession.

Our substitute. ( Romans 5 v 6 - 8

Tony Campolo writes about visiting Auschwitz Nazi murder camp,while there he was taken to the cell of a Roman  Catholic priest,Maximilian Kolbe. Tony tells how the Nazi captors had an ugly way of deterring prisoners from escaping. If someone escaped, they would choose six prisoners to be hung,nevertheless some did escape, so all the prisoners would be lined up, and six were chosen at random to be hung. So on one occasion  one did escape,so six prisoners were chosen and brought to the scaffold  to be hung. Before they were hung the priest asked to be heard, he pleaded with the commandant to be allowed to take the place of one of the men. He pointed to  a man,he said, ''He's from my village. I know him, he's a good man and he has a wife with several children. On the the other hand, I am a priest. I am not married and I  have no children. I do not have a family that needs me. Let be hung in his place'',and  so it happened.It is a lovely story,dying for that good man,but I want to point you to the cross of Jesus.Why was Jesus on that cross? he was laying down His life,for His enemies,for sinners,that means you and me, Christ died for the ungodly ,He bore the wrath of God,on that cross,so that we would not have to face that wrath of God when we die.We put that in motion when we trust Jesus to forgive our sins,when we do that ,our sins are forgiven, wrath is removed ,and we receive eternal life..

What we all need. ( Acta 4 v12

Peter Lewis in his book called  ,'The living God'gives an account of  a Chinese Christian leader,who spoke  to an American audience,(This was before communism took over)when he had finished, he invited people to ask questions.A student asked the following question,'Why should we send Christianity to China when it has Confucianism?'Mr Lee said;' There are three reasons. First of all , Confucius was a teacher and Christ is a Saviour. China needs a Saviour more than she needs a teacher. In the second place, Confucius is dead and Christ is alive. China needs a living Saviour. In the third place, Confucius is one day going to stand before Christ and be judged by Him. China needs to know Christ as Saviour before she meets Him as  Judge'

                                              'What we all need most, is a Saviour

                                               that Saviour is Jesus.

Testings. ( 2 Timothy 4 v 9- 10 )

 In Deuteronomy  13 v 3 we read, 'The Lord your God is testing you to find out whether you love Him with all your heart and with all your soul'. I often wonder why the Lord picked Judas,He knew the kind of person he was,he was thief ,so why did he put him in charge of the money bag? ( John 12 v 6)It appears we have the answer in those words from Deuteronomy,he failed that test,Christ our Saviour was seeking to to save him from his love of money.Here is a man who heard Jesus speaking,that wonderful sermon on the mount,he witnessed his miracles,his compassion,his love,and humility.But he choose to continue on in his thieving way,that was his choice ,instead of loving our Saviour with all his heart and soul, he failed the test.I remember as a young lad being faced with a choice,I can remember it, as if it was yesterday,and I like Judas made the wrong choice.Our Saviour said to Peter,'Do you love me more that these? ( John 21v 15) We will all be tested in this Christian life, those tests come in all shapes and sizes,no one will be exempt from these tests,no one,and we will hear that small still voice of  Jesus ,saying,''Do you love more than these?''.

Telling others ( Romans 1 v16

 One of the fastest growing church's in the world is Iran,but there is a price to pay,and many are paying it,here are a few names, Vahid Hakkani, Behnam Irani, Mohammed Roghangir ,Alireza Seyyedian,,they are just a few of the people who have served time in prison. Here are another few names, who are serving time in prison Joseph Shabazian (10 years)   ,Mina ( 6 years) Malihe ( 6 years).There are so many more we can mention,in some other Islamic countries to convert to Christianity brings with it a death sentence.Yes the church is growing in so many parts of the world but there is a price to pay, In Acts 1 v 8,our Saviour said to those early disciples and to all His church,' But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem,and in all Judea and Samaria, and even  to the remotest part of the earth'.This has not been rescinded ,what Jesus said all those years ago,still stands.How did they do it ?by the power of God's Spirit, and they did it,turning the world upside down, even conquering the great Roman Empire.Not with weapons of war but by the power of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, 

                                               Let us not be ashamed or afraid

                                              to proclaim the gospel'.

                                              

                                                

The enemy within. ( Acts 20 v 25 - 31 )

 In Acts 20 the Apostle Paul give a farewell talk to the Ephesian elders, in it he mentions a number of things, the hardships that he would face,he reminded them that he been a faithful minister of the word of God.He also warned them to be on their guard against those who would come into the church and cause  much harm to God's people,he called them savage wolves. He also said there would be those from there own number who would distort the truth ,their motive being to create a following of their own. And so it was and so it will always be,Paul during his three years with them continually warned them of these things. There are many ministers  in the UK who are faithful to God's word,but unfortunately there are many who are not. They hold dubious teaching and they side with the morality of the world,these are in the major denominations. If one's theology is wrong,it will effect so many things, when I mentioned to a minister that homosexuality was a sin he said that was my opinion,it is not my opinion,it was his opinion, what I said was based on the word of God . Often it appears the church is in more danger of those within, than those who are outside the church.

                                                     'Beware of the enemies within'.

The divine persistence. ( Luke 15 )

 Our Saviour said I will build my church,and that he will do,nothing and no one can stop Him, Dale R. Davis,writes of the victorious sovereignty  of the covenant God' God is in the business of saving people,and it is wonderful how he brings that about.D R. Davis tells the following story,' During the time of Charles Spurgeon's ministry in England the 19th century,an evangelist in England  was asked to go to a public house to see a landlord's wife who was dying. When he saw her she was rejoicing in Christ as her Saviour, he asked her how she had found the Lord.'Reading that', she handed him a torn piece of paper. It was part of an American newspaper containing an extract of one of Spurgeon's sermons. That extract had led to her conversion. He asked her where she had got the newspaper. It was wrapped round a package sent from Australia.So do the math;  A sermon, preached in London, conveyed to America,an extract reprinted in an American newspaper,that paper sent to Australia, part torn off .for the package being sent to England, and, after all the twists and turns, bringing the word of grace to that wife of a pub keeper'.

                                               'This divine stubbornness should be of immense 

                                                comfort to us- it tells us  among other things that nothing ,

                                                 no human rebellion, no human stupidity can stop

                                                God's kingdom plan. God is so stubborn that He 

                                                will make sure Jesus reigns over all the earth'.

                                                                    Words by D.R.Davis

                                                

Because of Jesus (Ephesians 2 v 18 )

 Suddenly the unexpected happened,Moses was minding his father-in -law's sheep,when he noticed something  strange a bush was on fire, yet it was not being consumed. Then out of that bush a voice spoke'Moses! Moses! it was God speaking, Moses replied,'Here I am'. Then God spoke again,'Do not come any closer,' 'Take off your sandals, for the place you are standing is holy ground'.'We read about this encounter in Exodus 3.an encounter with God,at this stage God was not revealing Himself as Abba , which is a very personal name for God, like daddy.Although  that is true,God is holy and awesome,and must always be treated with reverence.When Christ came and give his life up for us, all who have  trusted Jesus would be brought into a wonderful close relationship with God, Catesly  Paget wrote.

                                                    'Near,so very near to God,

                                                     Nearer I could not be;

                                                     For, in the person of His Son,

                                                     I, am as near as He.

Because of Jesus we have wonderful access into the presence of God,so let us not hang  back in fear, but let us come  boldly to the throne of our gracious God.There we will find grace to help us when we need it most ( Hebrews 4 v 16)

Are you a Christian? ( 2 Thessalonians 3 v2 NLT)

 Are you a Christian? that's the question I asked a neighbour this morning,it turns out she is not a Christian,but her mother is.She mentioned that she tried to live to a certain  Christian standard,she sounded a genuine person.She sounds like someone who is almost a Christian ,but of course she is not. I mentioned  briefly the  consequences of not knowing Christ, there is no substituted for that.One may be a good living person,but one will never be a perfect person,do you know any perfect people?,I don't,I have lived 79 yrs,and have not  met or known a perfect person.Perry Como sings a song called 'I'ts impossible',the fact is it's impossible to be perfect,no one has a perfect score card.Most of us know about the  commandments,they were not given by God as a means of salvation,but a means of bringing us to salvation. One must look not just look at the letter of the law, but the spirit of  the law. God considers how we think as well as what we do,what are our motives,is our hearts pure?.I have met some people who say they have never sinned,they are not telling the truth ,for God's word say's for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. All this is meant to bring us to a place of conviction of our sinfulness,and our need of forgiveness,and to the one who alone that can save us Jesus. When you trust Him as your Saviour then you are a Christian.

It is a thing most wonderful. ( Isaiah 53 )

Most of the pictures of Jesus on the cross show a sanitized Jesus,with hardly a mark on Him, in spite of   the fact that he had been brutalized,battered and beaten,nearly flogged to death, He wore. a crown made up of large thrones on his head.He would have been an awful sight to behold. Isaiah wrote of his suffering in Isaiah 52 v 14,'His appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being and His form marred beyond human likeness'. Of course it didn't stop there , for on that cross He bore the punishment for our sins,the wrath of God that was our due was laid upon Him, if we had been at the cross,we would only have seen part of what He suffered.What great suffering ,what great love, William W. How wrote the following.

                                                         

                                                        'I sometimes think about the cross,

                                                        And shut my eyes,and try and see

                                                        The cruel nails and crown of thorns

                                                        And Jesus crucified for me.

                                                        But even could I see Him die,

                                                        I could but see a little part

                                                        Of that great love, which like a fire,

                                                        Is always burning in His heart.

The cross of Christ. ( 1 Corinthians 1 v 18 - 31 )

  In his book,'The cross of Christ',John Stott  writes how the cross eventually became the universal  Christian symbol,he says,' The choice by Christians of this symbol was central to their understanding of Jesus,neither  His birth nor His youth,neither  His teaching  nor His service, neither His resurrection nor His reign, nor the gift of the Spirit, but His death,His crucifixion'.Now we are not denying the importance of all those things ,but without Christ death on the cross,all those things would mean nothing. The reason Christ came  was to die on the cross, without the cross we have nothing, I stress that again.There is no gospel of the Holy Spirit,it is the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ,it was Christ  who suffered and died on the cross,we are cleansed by His precious blood, we are forgiven on the bases of His death.On that cross He became our substitute,instead of us being punished  for our sins,He bore the punishment,meaning no longer would we be under under the wrath of God.( John 3 v36/ 1 Thessalonians 5 v10).

                                               'Christ crucified is God's power  and wisdom'

Priorities ( Matthew 6 v 33 ) 3

 We continue to look at the anointing  of  Jesus by  Mary  ( Mark 14 v 1-10/ John 12 v1 - 8 ) ,to the main person in this account,Jesus.Now our dear Saviour doesn't say much, until they started harassing Mary,then our Saviour speaks,while they thought that she actually did a bad thing,Jesus said it was a beautiful thing and that she would be remembered for what she had done. Jesus our Savior went about doing good,not just good but amazingly good,yet there were those who wanted to kill Him.What you do may not be appreciated, don't worry Jesus knows how you feel, remember it is His estimation of what we have done that counts .Jesus saw the depth of meaning in her gift,it was in relation to His death.People send flowers to the dead, in one sense the dead know nothing as regards life on planet earth.Would it not be more appropriate to send a person a nice gift before they die. Likewise when people die people say nice things about them ,would it not have been better to say nice things about them when they are alive.Last but not least ,He mentions that this was the proper time for what Mary did,a sort of farewell gift,which he much appreciated.and after He had gone ,he reminded His disciples there would be plenty of time to help the poor, 

                                                       'Jesus be the centre

                                             Be my source,be my light,Jesus.

                                                         Jesus be the centre

                                              Be my hope,Be my song, Jesus

                                                           Michael Fyre

                                                              

Judas (1 Timothy 6 v 10 )2

  Let us continue to consider the events in Lazarus home,and think a bit more as regards Judas,the one who laid a double life, the question is why did he follow Jesus? Well like many Jews he thought of Jesus as an earthly Messiah,who would reign on earth,and he may have considered the rewards that would come with that to him. I am not sure why he followed Jesus,but the fact is he did.,very imperfectly,but he wanted his rewards now.So he took advantage of his position  as treasurer and lined his pocket with  ill gotten gains. I imagine he was always looking for a a way to get money.So when he saw Mary pouring that very  expensive perfume over Jesus feet, he saw an opportunity to get hold of the  money from selling the ointment ,he pretended  that the money from the sale of perfume would have been better given to the poor and needy..The other disciples were taken in by Judas,and they joined in and rebuked Mary harshly.When this happened I am sure ,Judas was very angry at Jesus,at not being able to get hold of the money, so he went out to make a deal  with the religious leaders,to betray Him.He wanted money ,he got his wish,but he got more than he bargained for. Let us learn from this that if we give in to our sinful nature we will get more than we bargain for.

Mary. ( Mark 14 v 1- 10 / John 12 v 1- 8 ) 1

 It is six days before Passover ,Jesus was staying in a friends home called Lazarus whom he had raised from the dead,it was also the home of his two sisters,Mary and Martha. His disciples were there also and among them was Judas the thief,and he was the one who would betray Jesus ,for the love of his life ,money.(This account is in John 12 v 1-8 )  They were all sitting down to a meal, in which Martha was serving ,and as they reclined there, Mary came up to Jesus and poured very expensive  perfume on Jesus feet and wiping his feet with her hair..The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume,but it was also filled with  the voice of the lover of money,he made what seemed a valid point,why was the perfume not sold and the money given to the poor . It  would have  been an opportunity for him to get his hands on some of it,he didn't care for the poor. Sadly the other disciples joined in the criticism,and they rebuked her harshly. It was at that point our dear Saviour intervened, 'leave her alone' He said,'why are you bothering her?,She has done a beautiful thing to me.Jesus reminds them that she did this deed with his death in mind. J. C .Ryle wrote the following,' Let us not heed what men say or think of us because of our religion. The praise of Christ,at the last day, will more than compensate for all we suffer in this world from unkind tongues'.

                                                  

                                                 

Hope ( 1 Corinthians 15 )

 'I wrote this down recently,'This old world keeps going from one crises after another,like so many peoples lives.' I sense that so many people  underestimate the awfulness of mankind's history, take the 20th century,it was a century of absolute horror,yes even that word horror is not strong enough  to describe that century. I look with great concern on the century we live  in ,and wonder if it is going to be worse than 20th, it may be. Because of man's fallenness  the future is not  very bright,of course we have the so called natural  disasters,they are bad enough. I do not paint a very optimistic picture as regard this world, but history bears it out,things will not change. One could ask this old prophet of doom,me,is their no hope for this old world?,no,that's my final answer.In all the gloom and doom ,we are told there is going to be a new heaven and a new earth,whose inhabitants will be those who have been  made new in everyway. Those who have been made completely new with a new nature sinless and perfect (2 Corinthians 5 v17 ) They will have new bodies it will be a spiritual body,and Christ image will be stamped upon them from being a perishable body we will have an imperishable body,and we will be immortal, death will be no longer,life eternal with all it's glories will come into being,and it is all because of Jesus ,you can be part of it, if you trust Him as your Saviour.