One morning recently I had a bit of a scare,I was in my car and I came to a junction,but there was a problem, people park their cars in such a way, that one cannot see if it is safe to get out.Well I thought it was clear for me to pull out,and I was just about to do it,when a car zoomed by in front of me,if I had gone out a few seconds earlier,I would have been involved in a serious accident.should I put it down to luck?,or chance?, no,I put it down to Gods providence, I believe He held me back so that an accident didn't happen.While a lot of people are blind to this , I'm not, I believe in God's sovereignty, it means God rules, and overrules in an all the affairs of my life,and in His providence watches over me, His child .I have been driving a long time ,yes I have had accidents,but no harm has befallen me,is that because I am the perfect driver? no it is obvious I'm not, but I have been in God's providence a protected driver. oh yes I don't know what the future holds,but I know my times are in His hands (Psalm 31 v15 )
' Plagues and deaths around me fly;
Till He bids,I cannot die;
Not a single shaft can hit,
Till the God of love sees fit'
Words John Ryland
A friend told me of a preacher he knew called Billy Richard,whom God wonderfully used,he started with a church with just four people,and it grew ,and it grew to a church with four hundred people.He had a visiting preacher from America who ministered in his church,When he was leaving ,Billy accompanied him to where the ship was to take him home.Before he left he said to Billy should come to America to minister God's word ,but Billy said no,as he felt that it was not where God wanted him to be,but the preacher was very persistent, but to no avail. Finally in his efforts to change his mind,he said,''think of all the money you will make'',Billy looked at him and said,'' I feel like saying your money perish with you''.( Acts 8 v 20) It seems so obvious to me that a minister of God should not be in the ministry for money/,like the so called prosperity preachers.One of the qualifications of someone who is a leader in the Church of God was ,'not to be a lover of money'(1 Timothy 3 v3,/ Titus 1 v 7. 1 Peter 5 v 2) . God may bless a minister with money that's fine, let me add this ,the church is not to keep the minister poor, some churches actually believe that,well they are wrong .( Luke 10 v 7 / 1 Corinthians 9 v 13 - 14 ).
'No Christian minister, or Christian,
should be a lover of money'.
Nothing in some sense does not change, Spurgeon wrote,'Faith must embrace doctrinal truth. To the suggestion that the time would come when preaching the doctrines of grace would be passe, (No longer fashionable,out of date, obsolete) He responded,''Out on ye ,traitors, who tell us that we care to shape our gospel to suit this enlightened nineteenth century!Out on ye, falsehearts, who would have us tone down the everlasting truth that shall out live the sun,and moon, and stars, to suit your boasted culture,which is but vanished ignorance!'' It's the same in the 21st century many want us to tone down the question of sin,of hell,creation,the substitutionary death of Christ on the cross,there are those who teach that we do not go to heaven when we die( Seemingly it had a degree of popularity at one time,but died a death,it should have stayed dead. Peter writing on the scriptures says,''You must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophets own interpretation of things. For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit'' (2 Peter 1 v 20 -21). This means the Old and New testament,I get tired of hearing people say that the,' Old Testament', is not important,we just need the New Testament ,or that they dismiss what the apostle Paul writes ,by saying it is just Paul speaking, that's wrong ,for what Paul wrote is the word of God. E.J.Young writes, 'The Bible itself is the Word of God,it is not only a pointer to revelation; it is revelation.'
'In this wonderful Bible we are told a most
glorious truth,which a little children's song
tells us 'Jesus loves me this I know for the
Bible tells me so.'
0
Tale of the unexpected, we were visiting our youngest son and family,during our visit,my wife told us she could not find her car key,she was not a happy bunny,and although we hunted everywhere,we could not find that key,of course I prayed.It appeared that our son would take us home in his car to collect the spare key,and then drive back,a round journey of 200 miles. But the story did not end there, I decided to look in my son's car,and loo and behold,there it was ,it must have slipped out of my wife's pocket .What a relief ,I give thanks to God,and wife breathed a sigh of relief ,and of course so did I. People cry over many things they have lost,but I wonder how many cry over their lost estate?,and of course in case you didn't know ,that's very ,very serious.Today my wife and I will be flying to Belfast to attend my older brothers wife's funeral. she was a lovely person, when I attend a funeral ,or speak at a funeral whoever it may be,I stress the importance of being ready, it is sad that in spite of everyone knowing that they are going to die,very few are ready for what await them after death,to say the least,it is utterly fool Hardy,to ignore the importance of knowing Jesus as their Saviour, dying a lost soul,takes one to a lost eternity.
'Where will you spend eternity?
This question comes to you and me!
Tell me, what shall your answer be?
Where will you spend eternity?
Repent, and believe this very hour,
Trust in the Saviour's grace and power;
Then shall your joyous answer be,
Saved through a long eternity!
Words E.A,Hoffman.
I met a young man recently, he told me about himself,he had his own business,employed over 60 people, the business had a turnover of about 10 million pound.I asked him what car he had,it was a Bentley, a car worth about 147.000 pounds,he had a partner and a child,he was taking his partner to Venice,where he will propose to her. He was young and healthy and I suppose one could say he had everything,well not quite,he didn't know the Saviour, although he had been baptised as a child,that does not save one ,knowing Christ as your own and personal Saviour does. The following scriptures Luke 18 v18ff,and Matthew 19 v 16ff,and Mark 10 v 17ff, tells us of a rich young ruler who came to Jesus who wanted to know what he could do to to inherit eternal life.Jesus challenged his preconceptions.The man also named certain commandments which he kept,what more could he do?.Well it can be easy keeping the letter of the law ,but what about the spirit of the law that's different.( Matthew 5 v 27 ff).This is what Jesus hit on,our Lord knew that he was a rich man,and the challenge that Jesus brought to this young man was the answer to his inquiry ,as regards inheriting eternal life. Here is what the challenge was ,'Go ,sell everything you have and give to the poor... then come and follow me'.Sadly he could not rise to the challenge, and he went away sad,to him his love for his wealth,was more than his love for Jesus. Jesus demands that from all who want, what that young man wanted, He will not play second fiddle, unless we love Him most of all,the road to eternal glory is firmly shut.
'My God is so big so strong and so mighty,there's nothing my God cannot do'. These words are from a children's chorus and of course they are true, but the question is this, do we believe it? If one has in any measure studied the universe ,one can be so overwhelmed by its vastness, God spoke all things into existence that's how great He is.Consider planet earth, in contrast to this vast universe, we are minute,we are but a pin prick in size. Yet although that is true ,in this pin prick we call earth, there is a complexity and variety of living things that is mind blowing,The Bible says about the human body it is fearfully and wonderfully made,and yet we are made out of dust,by a great God. The words of a hymn sums it all up, ' How great Thou art', yes He is awesome, in so many ways when it comes to describe God's greatness,I am lost for words.This pin prick world is really important to God,and every living creature in it, contrary to what many people think,it is His world ,and He will not be robbed of it. Sin has effected this planet ,we human beings brought the virus we call sin into Gods's world.So God had a plan a great plan,he will make a new heaven and a new earth,free from sin.We can be part of it if we trust Jesus as our Saviour and enter into a wonderful future, that our Great God has for us.
I was crying, yes a grown man crying, and I was praying,the tears that I was shedding where tears of gratitude to my loving heavenly Father for all his blessing, and all His care for me,I trusted Jesus early in my life,but I wandered away from Him shortly after,it is something I regret with all my heart.It wasn't till a week before my 20th birthday ,59 years ago, the Lord graciously restored me.So here I am now weeping as I look back on all my life,and the words of a song come o mind,'When I think of all He's done,and for me the guilty one, can you wonder why it is ,I love Him so'.I think of how He has preserved me,even in my mothers womb,and when I was born I was premature, my mother had another child after me called Bobby,he died. I think of where I was born,in Belfast, a place of many churches,so as a child I heard the gospel ,and as I said I trusted Jesus as my Saviour. But then the backslidden years, well the lest said about them the better.From the restoration till now my life has been filled with many blessings but the most important one is Gods faithfulness,that means His presence,His patience,His provision, His promises,His power,and so it goes on ,and on,and on. Hallelujah.
'But drops of grief can ne'er repay
The debt of love I owe;
Here, Lord,I give myself away;
'Tis all that I can do.'
Isaac Watts.
In a famous Panorama interview on the BBC,Princess Diana said,''The greatest disease in the world is the disease of being unloved''. I am sure many people feel unloved,unloved by their family,by their husbands ,wives, parents,by society,and so the list can go on. Where does one find love? religion,not necessary ,sad to say that even in the Christian religion you find people,who have been anything but loving.Yes I am a Christian but one has to be honest, under the guise of Christianity much cruelty has been perpetrated. But thankfully there are many who have shown great love, evidence in love in action.Our Saviour is the one more than anyone else,who was and is love personified, He showed the loving heart of God. The greatest manifestation of that love is shown by His death on a cross, how and why is that so?. Here is a wonderful statement,'God demonstrates His own love for us in this; while we where yet sinners Christ died for us' , ( Romans 5 v 8 ) If you are not a Christian accept Christ as your Saviour, He loves you, do not turn Him away,trust Him today. If you are a Christian and you are feeling you are not loved, don't rest on your feelings, realise what He tells you in His word,that He is with you,that He loves you,and nothing can separate you from His love. Romans 8 v 37 -39 .
One my granddaughters was being bullied, plus there were those who were very disruptive in class, making it difficult for the teacher and for the other pupils who wanted to learn.The school did not address these things,so the only option was to take my granddaughter out of that school ,and teach her home,there is network set up for that. They did this for a while ,then they enrolled her in another school,she is very happy in this school,enjoying the lessons and not being bullied.My son told me that the school was strict and didn't stand for any nonsense,The children knew what the boundaries where,and so everyone benefit from that. In the book of Judges 21 v 25, we read that,' Everyone did what was right in his own eyes',the result was a repeating backsliding by Israel. The fact is we all need boundaries,society would fall apart if we didn't have them, but let me also say God has boundaries for all mankind to keep,the sacredness of life,the sacredness of marriage, and so many other things,of course most of us live in a secular society.,yes we may be in world ,but we are not off the world. But unfortunately there are those within the church who are rejecting some of God's boundaries,their views on the word of God are to pick out what they want to believe, and reject what they don't like, unlike the boundaries in society ,Gods boundaries don't change. The Prophet Jeremiah ministered at a time of Israels lowest point spiritually, he is known as the weeping prophet,he pleaded with them,prayed for them, through tears to obey God,I want to challenge you with the words that Jeremiah spoke to Israel chap 6 v 16.
'This is what the Lord says;'Stop at the crossroads
and look around.And ask for the old, godly way,
and walk in it, Travel its path,and you find rest for
your souls. But you reply, 'No,that's not the road
we want.'
' They where not for turning ,and they paid an awful price'
Everyday of our a Christian life is a miracle of grace,it should remind us of our great 'Divine Keeper', it does not nullify, our responsibility on the ongoing journey of our Christian life. In 1 Peter 1 v5 (AV) .we read of those who know Christ,' are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation',the new living translation ,puts it like this,' And through your faith,God is protecting you by His power until you receive this salvation.' He protected Joseph ,David,and every child of God,yes He protects and keeps us, until we get to heaven.we often sing , 'Through many dangers , toils and snares,I have already come; Tis grace has brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home'. (Words by John Newton) He whose eye is on the sparrow is upon us,He will loose none of those who are truly His (John 10 v 28 -29 ).I think it will be absolute amazing when we get to heaven,and remember how wonderful God has brought us through so much. If your struggling at this time ,facing problems, dangers,fear not ,have faith in Him who is your Divine Keeper.,I would urge all of us to read and memorise Psalm121 and rejoice how our great triune God , is watching over us,and keeping us by His power.
Many of us would not of heard of the Rev H.F.Lyte, he lived in Victorian times,he suffered from ill health which caused him to retire from the ministry,he died in 1847.He left behind ,as one writer puts it,' one of the most haunting lyrics of the 19th century ,the hymn 'Abide with Me'.It was the time when Darwin came on the scene,and so began the, 'Science vs Religion, controversy,'which has continued to this day,and will continue until our Lord comes back.We owe a lot to science,under God,but left to science alone we have no hope what so ever,life has no meaning, no future only the darkness of oblivion.It is interesting that Tennyson said of the hymn ,'Abide with Me', 'it was the cry of whole human race'. This hymn is sung every year at a major sporting event in England, sung as a tradition by most, yet for all that we have something of the longing of the human heart in which God has placed an eternal reality,that overrides ,the scepticism, secularism, modernism,atheism, which is so prevalent in life today.In the Christ event,God brings to us a message of hope, through His death on the cross , and resurrection,is a beacon of light to a lost world ,that in words from that hymn,'Shines through the gloom and points us to the skies'.
The world we live in,I come from Ireland,a land of the little people,of fairies,lets get real,one of my favourite movies is' ,The quite man', I've watched it many time,it depicts an Ireland that's not real.The history of Ireland is one of oppression of the poor, of division, violence. Oh yes there are many good things,but its not that little bit of heaven that fell from the sky one day,as an old Irish song puts it.Lets not look at the world and think that it will be an earthly paradise,it is a fallen world,how serious is it?,very, God's answer is Calvary,yes the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ,that's God's answer,for you and me.Leon Morris writes, 'Believers must live in this world, not an imaginary world of their own choosing,they must not expect to live in a world that understands them and welcomes their witness'. We are to be lights in the darkness,salt in the corruptness,messengers of hope,as we point sinners to Christ,and in doing so remember to be faithful in spite of the cost.
In Proverbs chap 11 v30, we read',He that winneth souls is wise',let us ask the question,'why did Jesus come?'. The answer is,'He will save His people from' their sins, it is as simple as that ,nothing complicated,He did not come to set up an earthly kingdom,or to rule from an earthly throne CP John 18 v36, He came to bring in a spiritual kingdom within the hearts of people,as Jesus said to the Pharisees''The kingdom of God is within you''Luke 17 v21,Michael Wilcock comments,'the Kingdom is primarily an inward reality and not a political institution'.When we are without Christ we are lost souls,we have a sinful nature, the fruit of that nature is sinful practices,thoughts, attitudes,wrong attitudes towards God and man.No one is excluded from this,all have sinned and come short of God's glory ( Rom 3 v 36 ).As Christians we know these things,and we know that people need to be saved,from the consequence of their sin and the power of their sin..The consequences of our sin,will follow us beyond the grave,and takes us to hell,to say it is serious,is an understatement,words fail to express the awfulness of that judgement on any human being.That is why we need to witness to people without fear or favour .In Psalm 142 David is in real difficulties,and he declares '.no man cared for my soul'.do we care? if we do not tell them,no one else will,don't be like a bull in a china shop when you witness to people,,be wise as a serpent and as harmless as a dove (Matthew 10 v16 ),you may be considered a fool.fear not man's judgement remember God's word say's he that winneth souls is wise and I would add .'in the home beyond the skies'.
In Solzhenitsyn book,'The Gulag Archipelago', the destructive- labour camps, brought in during the reign of Stalin ,were people suffered untold misery,and millions died. He writes this,'In this book there are no fictitious events. People and places are named with their own names.He received 227 letters from survivors who had been in these camps,which was further evidence as to the horrors that took place.Now I want to use what he wrote as regards to the word of God,it is not a fictitious book,the events and people are all real.Consider Christ miracles ,they were witnessed by the disciples,and vast crowds , His healings were not fake,in Luke 17 v 11-19, 10 lepers were healed,and Jesus told them to go to priests,who would verify that they were healed CP Leviticus 14 v2,His healings were real ,witnessed by many.Think about our Lord's resurrection,which He foretold ( Matthew 16 vv23),in spite of that the disciples didn't believe until He revealed Himself after His resurrection .But what evidence is there of His resurrection?,we move to 1 Corinthians 15 v 3-8,in these verses the Apostle Paul writes,'That Jesus died for our sins CP Isaiah 53/ Psalm 22 v 16 -18, Then he proceeds to the evidence of the resurrection,and he writes of those who witnessed seeing the risen Christ,and he mentions over 500 people,and then he includes himself ( Acts 9),these are the facts.
It is said that love is blind,but let me tell you hatred is blind,hatred does not discriminate ,Hitler was filled with hatred for all Jews yet the Jews living in Germany were very patriotic,many had fought in the first world war,they saw themselves as German citizens, it made no difference ,they must all die,Stalin was no different, When the communist took over Russia they made war on a certain class of people,and in the news paper called the 'Red Terror' they published the following article it read,'We are not fighting against single individuals.We are exterminating the bourgeoisie as a class' and so hate took over and so the exterminations began.It was hate that drove Cain to kill his brother, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn wrote the following,'If it's hate inscribing the lines,instead of love,they will inevitably be drawn so that the lowest , meanest, most cruel and useless of the conceptual geographers will be justified in manifesting the greatest possible evil,and producing the greatest possible misery'.It is true when love goes hatred takes it's place in the most unbelievable ways, The greatest example of this is the crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ,in that dastardly deed ,in that awful act mankind's hated reach its fullness,in spite of that, love was triumphant,the darkness could not extinguish the light.
' From that cross a shout of victory sounded forth'
' It is Finish'
It appears to me that there are those who want to soften what they see,or read in the Bible's teaching on judgement ,or Christ death on the cross.The fact we must stay faithful to God's word,we have to tell it as it is,one preacher said that Christ only mentioned hell a few times,but in actual fact He mentioned it quite a number times, at least ten times,not only mention hell but He vividly described it.Go through the gospels and look for yourself ,see how many times he did mention it. R C Sproul was a very popular and gifted preacher, who is now with the Lord,was asked which doctrine did he struggle with most,he replied ,hell'. I concur to that,most preachers would agree with that, one of my sons who is a Christian had a crises of faith,because he struggled with the doctrine of hell.My last pastor would not have believed in hell,he never completely denied it, but it was obvious that he didn't,for I discerned that, by the fact that he never mentioned it.Recently I witnessed to a person ,he said he didn't believe in God,but I reminded him that there is a heaven and there is a hell and told him I would be praying for him,as he was leaving he said,he would remember what I said, I don't regret telling him about hell,because I don't want anyone to go there,and I am sure you don't. Just to let you know I did mention Christ to that man.
A hymn by Anna L .Waring brings back memories of when my wife and I were at Bible college, it was a a testing time for we had no income coming in,we were sorely depending on God to supply our needs.Let me also add we had three children,it was very challenging,the principal spoke to me once,and he said he would understand if we had to give up, but we didn't,God tested us, we didn't give up,and God wonderfully provided for our needs.So I am going to leave you with the words of the second verse of the hymn by A L. Waring,
'Wherever He may guide me,
No want shall turn me back;
My Shepherd is beside me
And nothing can I lack;
His wisdom ever waketh ,
His sight is never dim;
He knows the way He taketh
And I will walk with Him.
William Plummer wrote the following,
'In every undertaking God is not only our Chief,but our sole dependence.
My wife works in the care sector, and each morning before she goes to work,I pray with her, recently she called in for a short time during the day ,and as she was leaving to go out again,I said to her ,'drive carefully,and prayerfully'.Those words indicate two things, being responsible,and yet depending on God. The two go together and are important.It was Spurgeon ,and William Carey, who had certain amount of opposition from those who where hyper Calvinist who frowned on evangelism.In the case of William Carey they disagreed with his desire to be a missionary,that did not stop him going to India and serving God.One can think of the different things we are responsible for. God calls none of us to neglect our responsibility,in all aspects of life in so called secular things and in spiritual matters.But in all matters we must never forget our dependence on God,that's what the great apostle said when he wrote,' I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.'(Philippians 4 v13 ) he was emphasising what our Saviour said in John 15 v 5,'apart from Me you can do nothing'. that means to simply rely on Christ working through us,yes there should be in all of us,a continual dependence on Christ, or as one put it,a continual dependence on a living Saviour.
'Weak as you are,you shall not faint;
Or fainting, shall not die;
Jesus, the strength of every saint,
Will aid you from on high.'
Words John Newton.
We continue to consider Proverbs 10 v 28, we saw the hope the righteous shall be gladness,now let us consider,'but the expectation of the wicked shall perish.' As Charles Bridges puts it,'they too have their expectation',consider Hitlers and his,' Third Reich',that would last for a thousand years ,but it lasted only 12 yrs,and he ended up committing suicide,amidst the ruins of Berlin. Wicked Haman's expectations was to destroy the Jewish race,especially Mordecai, but in a moment his expectation lay in the dust,as he was hung on the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai.(Esther chap 7) The enemies of Daniel,sought to destroy him,by having him cast into a den of lions,but God delivered Daniel,and his enemies were cast into that same den of lions,and were devoured by those same lions,not only did their expectation perish, they perished.( Daniel chap 6) Now let quote what Charles Bridges says as regards the wicked,those who know not Christ,'For none have a stronger hope than those,who have no grounds for hope. (Deut 29 v19 ) And this delusion often reaches the moment of eternity, expecting the door to be ''opened to them''but alas it was shut,they dreamt of heaven,and they woke up in hell' It is very sad,and solemn,but it is true ,the expectation of the wicked shall perish.
Proverbs 10 v 28 reads,'The hope of the righteous shall be gladness; but the expectation of the wicked shall perish.'We can bring this into the New Covenant , the righteous being true Christians, and the wicked being non-Christians. So what has the Christian got that the non-Christian does not have?,hope,a hope that goes beyond circumstances,goes beyond death itself. It was Voltaire who said,''I hate life,yet I am afraid to die'', That was a man with no hope, the Christian has hope because he 'she,is loved by the God of hope,that love that drew salvations plan,and brought it down to the unlovely, the demoralized, the desperate, and the downcast.None of us were innocent,far from it,but He embraced us with His love forgiving us ,and filling us with his love,through Jesus,and give us hope in this life and in the life to come. Yes the hope of the righteous shall be gladness.
'O happy day ! that fixed my choice
On Thee , my Saviour and my God;'
We owe a lot to science, but what science doesn't give us is moral guidelines, and for all their knowledge can they tell us,'Who we are,were ,where are we going,and what's the meaning of life,the fact is they don't know.The good news is,the word of God gives us the answer. Who are we ?, contrary to what many say we are those whom God has created,and that makes us special. we didn't self evolve, that is not in our power to do .The word of God says we are fearfully and wonderfully made,God is our Father through creation,though that relationship has been affected by our sin.Where are we going?it is a good question,are we just existing ?with no real meaning?,alas because of sin that is what most people are doing,they have shut God out of their lives,to them that's all there is? It seems that humanity is always seeking something,.why is there that emptiness in all of us that we cannot fill?,we keep searching yet never finding that something..It is Augustine who said ,'God made men for Himself and they will be restless until they find their rest in Him'. Without God there is no meaning to life , no matter who you are,.
'I heard myself saying I am lost and confused,
I heard a voice saying,follow Me,Who are you
I asked?, I am Jesus, follow Me' and I will bring
you to the land not of questions but of answers,
and you shall see the face of God'.
(The last part of this I owe to D .Kidner)
In Leviticus 10 Aaron's sons did something sinful they went against what God had commanded, and so God slew them.In God's eyes disobedience is a very serious thing,this applies to everybody,Christian and non-Christian. even Moses had to learn that lesson Exodus 4 v 24 -26,he had not circumcised his son,only his wife's intervention saved him.Whatever reason Moses had for not doing it, in God's eyes he was guilty of sinning against what God commanded .Coming back to Lev 10 ,God speaks to Aaron tells him clearly what was the required obedience within the tabernacle. 'So that you can distinguish between the holy and the common, between the clean and unclean.'We move unto chapter 11, God tells Israel what they should eat and what they shouldn't eat,or what is Kosher and what is not kosher,they had to obey God,eating only what was clean in God's eyes,and not eating what is unclean in God's eyes. These food laws do not apply to us now (1 Timothy 4 v 3-5/ Mark 7 v20 ) but the principal remains as to what God considers clean and unclean,sin and not sinful, holy and that which is unholy. Gods' word to us is very clear,Ephesians 1 v 4 reads,'For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy, and blameless in His sight'. We must make the right choice,that is God's choice,not the worlds choice,not the devils choice,not even our choice, but God's choice.
'Oh God make me as holy
as a pardoned sinner can be.'
R M. Mc Cheyne.
It is Charles Bridges who said in relation to prayer ,''Let God be your first port of call'',I must confess sometimes I don't.We do need to be reminded of what Charles says, I know I do,so I thank God for this reminder.Let me just share something with you as regards prayer,recently my dear wife ordered a few items from a catalog ,she wasn't sure how to go about it,so she asked her sister to do it for her.It was only the next day ,she received a text telling her it was coming but she noticed that our address shown on the text was not altogether right ,and this caused her to be concerned, so I said to her let us pray about it,so I prayed and asked God to sort things out. I had go out for a while and when I came back I went and had a shower,and as I was showering,I prayed,and asked God to answer my prayer,and that He might surprise me .I got out of the shower and was dressing and I heard the doorbell ring,it was the items that my wife had ordered,Yes he did surprise me,and my wife ,and then I reminded her that we should pray and thank God, and that is what we did.
Yes it is coming back again,I mean the Covid virus ,it is called Covid 19 ,and people are becoming unwell, it would be wonderful if we could get rid of it. Alas if we did then something else will take its place,this is a fallen world ,and so sickness and death cannot be banished.But God has a wonderful plan it is called a new heaven and a new earth,prepared for a redeemed people.John the apostle of love had a wonderful vision,here is what he recorded,in Revelation 21,'Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth,for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away',we don't know a lot about it,but we can be assured it will be wonderful.John further writes,that God will wipe away ever tear from our eyes,and that there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain,for the old order of things has passed away.Imagine all the things that cause us pain here,will cease to exist,can that be possible,yes,because the one who will create it declares,'I am making everything new' (Rev 21 v5)
'Yes when this flesh,and heart shall fail,
And mortal shall cease,
I shall possess within the veil
A life of joy and peace.
When we've been there a thousand years,
Bright shining as the sun,
We've no less days to sing God's praise,
Than when we first begun.
John Newton
Lets further consider yesterdays message when Charles Templeton turned from being a Christian and became an atheist. Charles spoke to Billy Graham,the conversation went like this.'Billy ,its simply not possible any longer to believe, for instance the biblical account of creation.The world was not created over a period of days a few thousand years ago; it has evolved over million of years'.Billy went on to stress there were many scholars who didn't believe that, he then went on to say,'I believe the Genesis account of creation because it's in the Bible. I've discovered something in my ministry;when I take the Bible literally, when I proclaim it as the word of God, my preaching has power.When I stand on the platform and say,'God says', or 'The Bible says,' the Holy Spirit uses me. There are results. Wiser men than you or I have been arguing questions like this for centuries ,I don't have the time or the intellect to examine all sides of the theological dispute, so I have decided once and for all to stop questioning the Bible as God's word,I've decided that's the path for me''. We read in Hebrews 11v 3 ,' By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible' Billy went on to faithfully preach the Gospel and many ,many lives were changed and transformed.were there was bondage ,people were set free,were there was despair came hope.How many lives has evolution changed?.The historical Christ death on the cross, and His resurrection, is the only message that grants us hope ,not just for time but also for eternity.
'How great is our God'
Let's have a final look at Hebrews 4 v16,which ends with the words,'so that we may receive mercy ,and find grace to help us in our time of need'.Pink writes the following,'' We should come therefore with boldness to the throne of grace''. Then let us do so , in the full confidence of our acceptance before God in the person of His Beloved(Ephesians 1 v6 ). The verb in 4 v16 is not aorist tense,but the present- let us ''come'' constantly,continually;let us form the habit of doing so.'Remember what our dear Saviour said,'That we should always pray and not give up' (Luke 18 v1),'Ask and it will be given to you;seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you'(Matthew 7 v7 ) Christmas Evans the Welsh preacher was going to minister God's word, but he felt a dullness in his soul.So he turned aside got off his horse,and prayed for two hours,and the Holy Spirit filled him,so he got on his horse ,and went on to preach ,and the Lord mightily blessed his ministry,to the salvation of many souls.I finish again by quoting Pink,' Whatever the need may be, spiritual or temporal, grace all sufficient is ever available. May it be ours to constantly seek it, for the unchanging promise is,''Seek and you shall find''.
