No longer a Christian country. ( Romans 10 v14 - 15 )

A leading church of England minister said recently, '' That England is no longer a Christian country'',I could have told him that years ago. Yes there is a church in England,many fine churches,but things are not what they used to be,the moral values of yesterday are crumbling,and the authorities frown upon those who  express any view that is contrary to theirs. We should not be surprised at what is happening,as mans fallen nature loves darkness rather than light. We do have freedom of religion, nobody hinders us,so what is the answer?,first of all we must remain faithful. Yes faithfulness is very important,faithfulness to Jesus,faithful to the word of God, unfortunately there is within the visible church,those who are departing from the truth.Without truth we are lost,we are going away from the God of truth,the blessed trinity,Our lives should reflect holiness,by our actions and by our words, I used to work with a professing Christian,who insisted in telling jokes that were not appropriate.We should be burdened for the souls of men and women,it saddens me as regards the youth of our country,and the children of our country. The dangers they face are very serious ,and without Christ they are lost. All these things should call us to action, to pray, let us never underestimate the power of prayer, whatever country you are in there are lost people,so pray not in despair but to our powerful God,who alone can raise up those who are dead in trespasses and sins.There is something else we can do ,we can tell people about Jesus, if we don't, how shall they hear, the answer is they won't.

Fear . ( Hebrews 10 v 31 )

Is fear a good thing? ,yes often it is,I am afraid of getting a ticket for speeding,so I watch my speed,I get inoculated for I am afraid of getting some illness.What should you and I fear most? or whom shall we fear most?. the answer is God.,in Matthew 10 v 28 we read,'Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul; but rather fear Him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell'. Yes fear God, don't fear men, they can only affect us as regards to this world, God's power to punish reaches into eternity,for we read after death the judgement. Hebrews 9 v27. God is a God of love but he is also the righteous judge,we must not forget this,someone has said ,' it is God's business to forgive sin,' that may be so , but it also His business to judge sin, with the severity it deserves.God is not sentimental as regards sin, He takes no  sin lightly,we just have to look at the cross to see this, the question is how serious do we take sin ?The awful suffering our Saviour endured on the cross,shouts with a deafening roar,'take sin  serious', look not kindly on it,In our unsaved days we acted so carelessly.I was only 15 and I was in the army boy service,some of the young lads went into a local town,when they came back,a young lad shouted out that he had intercourse with some girl.I also remember one of the adult soldiers boasting how he raped two women,one in Germany and one in Kenya,he laughed as he told us young lads.We must take sin seriously,for God does,on judgement day there will be no one laughing as regards sin, on that day there will be no mercy shown , none.Only those who have trusted Jesus as their Saviour  will escape God's wrath.

Trust worthy. ( Genesis 39 v 4 )

I read this story recently,'Constantius the father of Constantine tested the character of his Christian servants, by the imperative command to offer sacrifices to his god's.Some sunk under the trial.Those who had really ''bought the truth,'' would sell it for no price.( Proverbs 23 v23) They were inflexible. He banished the base compliants from his service. The true confessors he entrusted with the care of his own person. 'These men', said he,I can trust. I value them more than all my treasures'. This was sound judgement. For who are so likely to be faithful to their king, as those that proved themselves faithful to their God?. I remember my manager asking me to do something because she said  I could be be trusted to do it. A nice compliment but surely as Christians of all people we should be trust worthy . Let me say this our great triune God can be trusted, He is absolutely trust worthy, and He expects His children to be likewise,with money,with our wives and husbands,and with truth, alas many people are failing in the latter. May the Lord help us all, to be trust worthy in all things.

Watchmen . ( Ezekiel 3 v 18 )

 I attended a Christian meeting where a man and wife told of their ministry in Romania,but it also touched on Moldovia ,Ukraine.They ministered to the practical needs of the people in those countries,and helped so many people in dire straits.Many people don't realise the tremendous ministries like that mentioned ,that are involved  in helping so many needy people in so many needy places.Being a Christian brings with it a tremendous responsibility, that is in helping people,by our giving and our doing. No Christian can op out of that,or ignore it,it is our duty to do good works,but as I have pointed out often ,that that none of those good works save us Ephesians 2 V 8-9 , But they are the evidence of us being Christians, James 2 v 18. But another thing that impressed me as regards that couple,was their clarity in speaking about the gospel. They told of people being saved, and being baptised, and it made me think of days long ago in my beloved Ulster ,where the Gospel was faithfully proclaimed, in a clear manner.It appears to me that in the land that I now live in,many preachers have lost  that clarity and simplicity in relation to people as regards  being saved, I wonder why?. Well I suppose they don't want to offend people,or they may find the gospel  offensive to  them, so they avoid preaching it,or they camouflage it,such a dreadful thing to do. When we think of  the consequences of not being saved,shut out from heaven ,and shut in to hell for ever, I call it soul murder,and they will be held accountable before God.

Well done. ( Matthew 25 v 21 )

 I have been doing this blog for about 15 years,and its been an interesting experience,I do not desire any  comments,I just do it and pray the Lord will bless it. I  hope that people will get saved and Christians will be built up in their faith.This year has been interesting as regards numbers, one month I had 47 thousand, click on's ,now the numbers have plummeted to  hundreds .So does one give up because of so few people are  clicking on ?,what would the Lord want me to do,give up, why should I minister to the few?. The answer is if it is His will to give up then one should,But if it is His will to carry on,then that is what we must do. just be faithful.When our dear Saviour was on earth, he ministered to thousands, but He also ministered to  the few. I don't know how fruitful my ministry has been, and so I just leave that with God,after all it is He  who gives the increase 1 Corinthians 3 v 6/ John 4 v 38.

                                        'Won't it be wonderful when we stand before our 

                                         Saviour ,and hear Him say ,''Well done, good and 

                                         faithful servant''.

Painful memories.( Hebrews 4 v14 -16 )

It could be because I'm old, I feel more emotional , and feel past hurts past sorrows,but recently two elderly people whom I know died, and the dying process was painful.When my first wife died I grieved,  thereafter one tried not to dwell on ones loss,but every now and again, the memory resurrects itself, and its painful. I suppose it will always be that way. In Psalm 25 v7, David wrote ,'Do not remember the sins of my youth,and my rebellious ways'.but of course when God forgives us He chooses not to remember our sins, in Jeremiah 31 v 34 we read these words  spoken to Israel ,'For I will forgive their wickedness and will  remember their sins no more'.So it is when we trust Jesus our sins are forgiven there is no remembrance of them (Hebrews 10 v 17 -18). Of course we will always regret our sins,but we should never live under the guilt of them, but rejoice in the grace of God that brought us to Ghrist. Coming  back to where I started as regards the bad memories,the sad memories ,the hurtful memories. That's where Christ our great high priest comes in,Hebrews 2 v 18 reads ,'Since He himself has gone through suffering and testing, He is able to help us when we are tested'.Someone has written,'Through His sufferings Jesus Christ  identified Himself with man'. Because He experienced so much suffering He understands what we are going through, no one suffered greater,look at the cross. And so as we can come to Him in all our difficulties and painful memories,He is more than able to help us and to bring us through.

                                                     'No one understands like Jesus,

                                                      Every woe He sees and feels,

                                                      Tenderly He whispers comfort

                                                      And the broken heart He heals'.

                                                             Words J W. Peterson.

Brokenness ( Psalm 31 )

 What a wonderful  world we live in,and of course it is,but we live in a broken world,and you don't have far to look to see its brokenness, in the street I live in I see brokenness,broken marriages and with that brokenness comes a lot of pain. A neighbour who is disabled,whose son never visit her,yet she was a good mother,then there is her grandchildren who will only help if she gives them money.Then their is a elderly mother,who has infected her children with hatred,towards a certain person.Another neighbour  whose mother is an alcoholic and the pain she has brought to her family. Brokenness comes to us in different ways,death of a love one, being violently attacked,robbed,addictions,rejection,so one could on.Think about wars,the wars may finish but for many the brokenness continues,yes we live a broken world,but there is hope in the God of hope, King David had many traumatic experiences,being hunted like a criminal ,by a king who wanted him dead,a son who  led a rebellion against his father to kill him,and become king.He recorded how he felt in his times of trouble.In Psalm 31v12 he writes,'I am forgotten as though I were dead;  I have become like broken pottery'. He further speaks of people whispering and,terror on every side, of those conspiring to kill him and take his life v 13.What can one do in the brokenness of life,here is what David  did,he turned to the only one that could help him ,'God'. This is part of what he prayed,'But I trust in you,Lord; I say,''you are my God''.If you are a Christian and you feel so broken,turn to your God ,He is the one who heals the broken hearted (Psalm 147 v3 )

God will lead . (Proverbs 3 v 5-6 )2

 Now lets consider Proverbs 3 v 6, 'In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths'.our dear lord is not there just for emergencies,we need to consult Him,acknowledge in all our goings and doings,till one gets up in the morning,till we go to bed at night.Share everything with him,hold nothing back,our dependence  on Him ,must be total,as the hymn writer says,

                                                    ' Lead us heavenly Father, lead us

                                                      O'er the world's tempestuous sea;

                                                      Guard us, guide us,keep us ,feed us,

                                                      For we have no help but Thee.

                                                                J.H.Newman.

Here is the promise, if we obey the exhortation,He shall direct our paths,not  just path,but paths, all the different paths we take in life,no matter how difficult they may be. We can take God at His word ,he cannot lie ,Titus 1 v 2. He will keep His word;you can depend on it.Charles Bridges writes,' God loves to be consulted.Therefore take all thy difficulties to Him, Be in the habit of going to Him in the first place- before self-will, self pleasing,self wisdom, human friends,....Before any of these have been consulted go to God at once'.

                                             'He lead them on safely,so that they feared not' 

                                                                     Psalm78 v53.

Trust ,( Proverbs 3 v 5 -6 ) 1

 I love all the Bible and there are two verses that I have found both helpful and instructive, Proverbs 3 v 5 - 6. 'Trust in the Lord  with all thine heart, and lean not to thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths.' What wonderful  words they are even more wonderful if we put them into practice. It commences  with trusting the Lord, how do we get saved? ,by trusting the Lord Jesus as our Saviour. It is not hard to do that ,a child can  do it,in fact we are told unless we become as little children we can never enter the kingdom of  heaven. ( Mt 18 v3) Trusting Jesus for your salvation  is the beginning of our relationship with God, but it does not stop there.The words of a hymn by Edger Page come to mind,'Trust as the moment fly,trusting as the days go by,trusting Him whate'er befall,Trusting Jesus that is  all'. But next it says ,'with all thine heart,it demands no half heartedness, no wavering between two opinions ,remember He is the only one we can fully trust. Next it says ,' and lean not to thine own understanding'.Charles Bridges writes,''Our trust must not only be entire; it must be exclusive, no other confidence, no confidence in the flesh (Philippians   3 v 3 ) We will look further at verse 6 next time.

Home ( Hebrews 11 v 13 -16 )

 Recently I  went home to Ireland,that's my home of the past,then I  returned to England my home of the present,so that's it, no!.One day God knows when, I will go to my future home,its called heaven,I often think about heaven,and although I have never been there I feel homesick for that home.I  think with sadness of the many  people who will never know the unspeakable joy of heaven.Before Jesus went home to heaven He said ,''I go to prepare a place for you''  ( John 14 v 2),there He is preparing  a place for a prepared people,all those who are his, all those He purchased with His precious blood. In 2 Timothy 4 v 9,we read of a man called Demas, he is mentioned in Colossians 4 v14 and Philemon v24,  he was a fellow worker with Paul, but  there came a point when he stopped being his friend and fellow worker,why? because as Paul says in 2 Tim 4 v 9, 'he loved this present world'.Yes there is always reasons for giving up as a Christian,love of this present world, suffering,persecution, being hurt by a fellow Christian, and so we could go on.We forget that all the glory of this present world is temporary,not permanent,in contrast to heavens eternal glories. As regards suffering we are told,that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory  that will be revealed in us (Romans 8 v 18) I often imagine that as I enter heaven , I will hear my Saviour say,welcome home Billy,well its just a thought.

I love you. ( Galatians 2 v 20 )

 I was praying ,and I found myself saying,' I'm your Billy', and I am His Billy, I am not just one of the crowd,no,for my relationship with God my heavenly Father is very personal. What applies to me applies to every child  God,you are His Liz,Sam,and so on.I recently met up with a cousin,and it was a good while since I saw him,and I said,'and you are?' ,it was Brian.I do not know why it is but many of us old people have  a problem remembering peoples names. But not so with God he never forgets His children's names, in fact He never forgets us in anyway, we not just a number to Him,we are His children.It is the apostle of  love who declares, 'See what great love the Father has lavished on us,that we should be called the children of God! and that is what we are'. (1 John 3 v1 ) It is the blight of some family relationships that the parents have a favourite, such was the case of Jacob,and what animosity that created within that family. Consider the words of Peter spoken to gentiles,I now realise how true it is that God does not show favouritism but accepts from every nation the one who fears Him and does what is right.'  (Acts 10 v34 - 35 )And so when I said in my prayer ,''I am your Billy,'' I can imagine God would reply,'You are my Billy, and I love you, and I love all my Children.

'

Don't worry. ( Philippians 4 v19

 One of the most popular birds in our country is the Robin,with its red breast,to my very great disappointment I rarely see one in my Garden. Recently while on holiday I purchased a hand - crafted coaster,with a Robin painted on it,well I thought at least I will have a Robin to look at everyday,well ,'sort of'. Why am I writing this?,to remind us of what our Saviour taught as regards God our Fathers care ,for His children, He said look at creation,consider how your heavenly Father feeds the birds,if He does that,remember you are more valuable than them,In essence what He is saying don't worry ( Matthew 6 v 25 - 34 ). Even though He said those lovely words,we do worry. There is a little ditty that goes,'Said the robin to the sparrow; why these anxious human beings rush about and hurry so.''. Said the sparrow to the robin,'' I think that it must be, that they have no heavenly Father such as cares for you and me''.

Friendship ( John 15 v14 )

 I  was visiting a friend  ,who I have known a long time,he comes from Ulster our homeland,a land of division,a land torn apart at times.It still is tribal, but things are a bit better, as I spoke to my ,we discovered that when we were young,we each had a very close friend,and they both married girls from the the other tribe. It makes one smile,friendship is very important,one my favourite movies is ,'Lord of Rings', in it we have Frodo who  has the awesome task of taking the ring to be  destroyed,he faced tremendous dangers,but he had friend called Sam, who stuck with him till he accomplished his task.In Proverbs 17 v 17 we read,'A friend loves at all times', In 2 Timothy 4  ,the apostle Paul is in prison,he  was facing opposition,not only that he declares ,'At my defence , no one came to my to my support, but everyone deserted me'. But he adds. But the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength''.Christ is that friend that sticks closer than a brother, (Proverbs 18 v 24),someone has Said that Christ is a friend of the friendless,and here is the great thing ,He will  never leave you nor forsake you.

                                                      'Do thy friends despise forsake thee?

                                                      Take it to the Lord in prayer.

                                                       In His arms He'll take and shield thee,

                                                       Thou will find a solace there'

                                                             Words J M. Scriven

No finger pointing. ( Romans 8 v28)

 It  was said of Spurgeon ,that the black clouds of depression never permanently left him until he went to be with the Saviour, and of course he suffered from other severe illness'es.often he struggled to get to the pulpit to preach,with a twinkle in his eye he once said,''God gives  to some a talent for suffering''.I don't know about a talent for suffering but I know He gives grace. as the Apostle Paul experienced in his suffering ,he recorded what God said to him,'My grace is sufficient for you,for my power is made perfect in weakness',2 Corinthians 12 v 9 I am sure Spurgeon  would have agreed to that. What applies to Spurgeon and Paul applies to every child of God,He is no respecter of persons,There are those who will speak as if the Christian should not suffer depression ,not so,the Christian can suffer all sorts of things,that does not give anyone the right to criticise them,The fact is God brings us into many  difficult experiences for a reason,to teach us many precious lessons.Lets consider the case of Spurgeon what lessons did he learn ?this is what someone wrote,'His own vulnerability to his condition and the  criticism he received for it, made him acutely sensitive to the experience of others'.Let us lift this to a higher level to our Saviour, who is are great High Priest we read this in Hebrews 5 v 15- 16.

                                 'We have one who has been tempted  in every  way, just as we are- 

                                  yet He did not sin.Let us then approach God's throne  of grace with

                                   confidence so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us

                                   in our time of need'

                                 

Denial and Delay. ( Luke 12 v 13 - 21)

 Recently I my met with 2 cousins,John and Brian they both live in Dublin,and in conversation with Brian he told me about his medical history,he had two occurrences with cancer, but with treatment he has come through it,he mentioned that they had caught the disease early on,and that saved his life. But then he mentioned his father my uncle Jack,who died of prostate cancer,that was sad,but he added that his father ignored the early symptoms,and the result was the cancer could not be treated,so he died.Not so long ago a neighbour  of mine,who suffered from diabetes,instead of watching what he ate,he behaved foolishly,and when he got an injury to his leg,he acted carelessly not getting it looked at and it turned to  gangrene,he  became ill was rushed to the hospital,but he died on the operating table. It is all very sad and brings a warning to all us to have  things checked out ,like my cousin did. Denial and delay has consequences that can be very serious,let us move it into the spiritual,let us consider denial, the Bible says we are all sinners,but so many people don't take that serious, don't want to know about it.Then there is delay ,the old hymn speaks of one more convenient day,so instead of trusting  Jesus,they end up in a lost eternity. The Bible tells us now is the day of salvation,the important word is now,don't delay trust the Saviour now,you may not have some more convenient day

Don't be deceived. ( 2 Timothy4 v 1 - 5 )

There is book called ,'The sky was going to fall on them,' by Tom La  Padula, it  is about a silly hen who panicked and believed a lie, that the sky was going  to fall on them,and everyone began to panic,the sly old fox reaped the benefit,by eating them all up. Then there was a radio broadcast in 1930 of an episode of ,'War of the worlds', read by Orson Wells a famous actor. A  lot of people tuned in late and didn't hear the introduction,and so they panicked believing that this was an invasion of aliens,it caused quite a stir at the time.I often watch You Tube,  recently one contributor informed us that a famous actor had died,but it wasn't true. We can so easy be deceived ,everyday people believe  telephone scammers,and they loose a lot of money. Likewise many believe religious hucksters who promise them healing and prosperity,if they contribute money to them,it is all lies. The Jw's have said Christ would come back on  certain dates of course it didn't happen,and so we could go on. The bible is not a fictitious book,it is rooted in history,and the prophecies concerning the historical Christ came true ,what it says is the truth the whole truth,although many can  twist it to meet their own ends.There are many deceivers in this world ,Jesus said that would happen,but believe them not, (Matthew 24 v 5.) so do not be deceived, hold fast to the truth.

The curse He bore. ( 2 Corinthians 5 v21)

Recently  there was an  outcry because an ancient tree got cut down ,it was a Sycamore tree, that had stood for hundreds of years near a Roman landmark of Hadrian's wall. Trees are not only things of beauty, the wood from trees has many uses, but there is one thing that it can be used for,for hanging people on.We read in Deuteronomy 21 v 22 - 23 ,' And if  a man has committed a crime punishable by death and he is put to death on a tree, his body shall not remain all night on the tree,but you shall bury him the same day, for a hanged man is cursed by God.'Now let us move forward to Galatians 3 v13, 'Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become as a curse for us,( for it is written, ''Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree) Let me point out that the cross of Christ symbolically is seen as a tree.What is this curse? that we read about, in Galatians 3 v 10 we read' Cursed is everyone who does not observe and obey all the commands that are written in God's book of the law.'.The fact is no one can keep Gods law,so all of us are under a curse ,and under the judgement of God. John 3 v36  tells us that the wrath of God abides on those who have  never trusted Jesus . So God provided a way for the curse to be removed, by Jesus becoming a curse for us,in other words that curse He bore was our curse, it was our punishment He bore,so that we might not bear it.

                                                    ' The wrath of God that was my due

                                                      Upon the Lamb was laid;

                                                       And by the shedding of His blood

                                                       The debt for us was laid.

                                                            Words El. Nathan

                                               

Lost ( Luke 15

 Recently I found  five pound,but also recently I lost ten pound, then a key went missing ,I am not going to  take the blame,even though she who must be obeyed,in her heart of hearts  must have thought he is loosing the plot, never mind the key.I must confess I do not like loosing anything.I suppose I can always have the excuse,I am getting old,oh lets be honest, I am old.Many people hide behind  the softer word,they use the term senior citizens,it sounds nicer.Back to loosing things,our dear Saviour in Luke 15,speaks of three things that were lost, a  sheep,a coin,and a person, it has a happy ending,they were all found. I think sometimes  we do not take  in, the lostness of humanity.as we are born so we are all in the same boat,lost. It is recognising this important fact, often we do not want to recognise this, because the word of God says men love darkness rather than light. (John 3 v 19).Consider v 20 'Everyone who does evil hates the light,and will not come to the light because their deeds were evil'. That is what it means to be lost, hating the light ,and will not come to the light, for fear that their deeds will be exposed'.The plight of humanity is grave,make no mistake about this,hating ,resisting,and fearful, let us pray that the Holy Spirit may move in the lives of the lost ,CP John 16 v 8 - 11

None so blind as those who will not see.(Isaiah 53 v 2 )

 When a contestant appeared on TV's 'Britain's got Talent', the judges expected the worst, to all appearances it looked like she would be a flop,a 43 yr old lady,whose looks did not  portray the usual expectation .But when she sang everybody was amazed at her lovely voice,and she received rapturous applause,her name was Susan Boyle. The main judge said he learned a lesson that evening,'that one should not judge a book by it's cover '.I suppose we all can be guilty of doing that,but lets take this to a higher plane, in the book of Isaiah chap 53, 'we read of one who had no beauty or majesty to attract us to Him.He would be despised and rejected by mankind'And so it came to pass, Of course it is speaking about Jesus,in spite of the miracles He performed , and His teaching that left people spellbound and amazed, and yet those who should have known better,saw him as an imposter, and one in league with the devil ( Matthew 12 v 24) their sinful, wilful  fallen nature,blinded them, to see who Jesus  really was,they knew the word of God,but they missed the true meaning of it,Yes it is so easy to know about him ,and never really know Him It reminds me of a story I heard that bears this out .There was  a gathering of people,were a famous actor was present,he was asked to give a recitation, he choose the 23 Psalm ,which begins with the words ,'The Lord my Shepherd',he spoke it faultlessly,and everyone applauded .There was also a minister present,and he was asked to take part,so he also  recited Plasm, 23,when he had finished,there was silence,and people were genuinely moved.The actor made this comment,'I knew the Psalm,but the minister knows  the shepherd' ,the question is, do you know the  Shepherd?.

 

 

If we could see (Proverbs 3 v 5 - 6

 There is so much we cannot understand,the why's are always there,but faith looks up to Gods whose ways are perfect. I often think of those words spoken to Peter by our Lord as He was about to wash his feet,''You don't understand now what I am doing.but someday you will''.(John 13 v 8),yes someday.

                                           If we could see beyond the day,as God can see;

                                           If all the clouds should roll away,the shadows flee

                                           O'er present griefs we would not fret,

                                           Each sorrow we would soon forget,

                                           For many joys are waiting yet for you and me.

                                          If we could see beyond today,As  God does know;

                                          Why dearest treasures pass away,and tears must flow;

                                          And why the darkness leads to light,

                                           Why dreary paths will soon grow bright;

                                           Some day life's wrongs will be made right,faith tells us so.

                                          '' If we could see.if we could know'' we often say,

                                             But God in love a veil does throw,across our way,

                                             We cannot see what lies before,

                                             And so we cling to Him the more,

                                             He leads us till this life is o'er, trust and obey.

Accountability (Revelation 20 v 11 -15 )

 Do you know who I am?,the police officers were dealing with some young people who had committed a road offence,when the mother of  one of the young  people turned up, She attempted to interfere in the officers doing their  duty,and when the officer challenged her,she said,'Do you know who I am?'. The lady held a position in local government, and was a rich person, so she felt she had the right to interfere.She soon found out that she hadn't,for all she was doing and saying was being videoed, she later  had to apologise and she lost her job in government. If you want to know what a person is like give them power,very few can handle power,it often blinds morally, a famous and popular President in America in spite of being married ,was involved with many women.When kings ruled they did terrible things  as in the case of Henry 8th,and so many others.Often those  with power do not think they are accountable ,to man or to God.  Power is given to us by God,( John 3 v 27),and it is not given to us to abuse that position,be it a parent, pastor,politician,or whoever. No one is free from accountability,one day those abusers of power will stand before Jesus and in my imagination  I can hear him say,'Do you know who I am'?,now that's just my imagination.but they will be held accountable that's for sure.

Silence is golden ( James 1 v13 -15)

 Luke 22 v 22, reads ,'The  Son of man will go as it has been decreed. But woe to that man who betrays Him''. This verse emphasises two things,Michael Wilcock puts this way,'A divine plan was being unfolded as a counter plot to that of Satan'. Jesus fulfilled that plan,with His death on  the cross,so bringing salvation to mankind.But what about Judas? yes he was of part of Satan's plot,again MW writes it is all part of the divine scheme'.Doddridge says the following,'God made man neither to save nor damm him, but for His own glory.And it is secured, whether in his salvation or damnation( 2 Corinthians 2 v 15). Nor did,nor does, God make man wicked.He made man upright. Man  makes himself wicked; and being so, God may justly appoint him to damnation for his wickedness; in doing which He glorifies His justice'. In Genesis 18 v 25,Abraham declares,'Will not the Judge of all the earth do right'.God is just,holy and loving. He will not act outside His character,many speak, on advisedly about God. There is a saying which goes,' hold your tongue',it would be good for all of us to heed the words of Ecclesiastes 5 v 2.

                                                'Do not be quick with your mouth,

                                                 do not be hasty in your heart,to

                                                  utter anything before God, God 

                                                  is in heaven and you are on earth,

                                                  so let your words be few.'

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A cup of water.( Mark 9 v 41)

 It is John the Baptist  who was approached by his disciples who were concerned that more people were  going to Jesus,and not to John. He replied,' A  person can receive only what is given them from God'. Most of my ministry  was with small churches ,small groups, nothing very dramatic, but it is important to remember, indeed very important,as to what God intrusts to us. He give Billy Graham a world wide  ministry,and there are ministers who minister to massive churches,but there many who minister  to the few, In Matthew 10 v 42, we read'And if  you give even a cup of cold water to one of the least of my followers, you will surely be rewarded', One writer says,'The smallest act of giving 'that's it, the words of a song comes to mind, 'If just a cup of water I place within your hand, then just a cup of water is all that I demand'. ( Words by Ira F. Stanphill ) What has He placed in your hand?, a sick loved one,your children, your husband ,your wife, some small  seemingly insignificant task,that's the cup of water He has placed in your hand,be faithful in it and you will receive  that well done  faithful servant, from your Saviour.

I once was a stranger. ( Ephesians 2 v 19 )

 I was listening to the music of a well known hymn ,'Nearer my God to lead',and I remembered  there was a time that I was a stranger to God and His ways.separated from Him by my sins (Isaiah 59 v2), far away from Him,without hope  and without God .The words of a hymn  by Robert Murray M'Cheyne sum it up,'I once was a stranger to grace and to God; I knew not my danger,and felt not by load; Though friends spoke in rapture of Christ on the tree, ''Jehovah Tsidkenu'' was nothing to me''.That's were I was for many years,but then something profound happened, in the words of that same hymn,'When free grace awoke me,by light from on high,Then legal fears shook me,I trembled to die; No refuge,no safety, in self could I see; ''Jehovah Tisdkenu'' my Saviour must be'.From that moment on I was no longer a stranger 'Now in Christ Jesus I who once was far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ'. (Ephesians 2 v 10.) A man called James Houstan was speaking and was stressing the privilege's we have been granted to the divine life of God',he wrote the following words,

                                                       'So near,so very near to God,

                                                        I cannot nearer be ,for in the

                                                        person of His Son,I am as near

                                                        as He.'

When we see Jesus. ( 2 Timothy 4 v 6 - 8 )

 I  have just finished speaking to a lady on the phone whose husband had died recently, she mentioned that now he was in heaven,and that comforter her,and she wondered  how people with no faith managed.The word of God says for those who believe in Christ,death is not the end, it is the end of suffering,and the painful things in this world ,and it the beginning of an existence that will be perfect in everyway. It will be a place  where no one will lonely or feel left out. We will never have any bad memories ,we will never be frightened  again,no one will ever hurt us,by their words,or by any other means,there will be no bad news, no one will be considered a failure.There will be no cast system, no racialism, no nationalism,no one will look down on anybody,as inferior, the elephant man will be a perfect man. There will be no losers, no homeless, no beggars for everyone will have all they need.there will be no negatives,everything will be positive.  In Romans 8 v18, the apostle Paul wrote,'I  consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.( Romans 8 v 18).So let us not give up hope in our trials,pain and difficulties ,let us keep holding on,and pressing on,for the glory that lies before us,it truly will be worth it all, when we see Jesus.

All our yesterdays ( 1Timothy 1 v1 )

 Let me take you down a trip of memory lane,I am 79 so there have been a lot of changes during my lifetime,so here goes,I remember  air raid shelters in our street, trams,no supermarkets,the corner shop was your only option ,food stamps,that included sweets,pawn shops were popular,horses were still being used a lot,the teacher was allowed to use a cane to punish erring children, libraries were very popular,the main source of entertainment was the wireless,now called the radio,the cinema,and for older people going to dances,real dancing like the waltz,very few went to higher education,especially to university,very few people owned cars, or had holidays,and very few people had phones. So one could go on,down memory lane.It is amazing the changes that have taken place and are still taken place,so quickly,it is hard to keep up with them. Here is something that will never change, man kinds fallen nature,and all that means,the fact is we are born sinners,and from a very early age we manifest that,and the consequences of that is terrible,but let us not despair, there is hope,for Christ Jesus the Lord of glory came into the world to save sinners,to forgive us,change us,to give us eternal life,to save us from hell,and make us citizens of heaven,yes there is hope.

When to obey, and when not to obey' ( 1 Samuel 15 v 22)

 Edmund Burke an 18th century  British statesman parliamentary said the following, ' What is morally wrong can never be politically right'. We think of Daniel and his three friends who disobeyed the powers that be,because they were imposing upon them that which was wrong.Go back further to Egypt  when the Pharaoh commanded the Israelites to destroy their children by throwing male babies into  the Nile, Moses parents did not obey. I wonder can we not see that killing unborn babies in the womb as morally wrong,yet it has been passed politically ,in most countries it is acceptable. We are told in Romans 13 that we are  to be subject to the governing authorities as they have been placed there by God.But we need to qualify what that means, we should pay our taxes, don't drink and drive,don't take drugs,etc.but there are limits in obedience to anyone,those in authority,those we marry,those who employ us.No human authority wherever it is found can be absolute, there must be limits to that authority. The 20th century is full of many examples of governments abusing and going beyond what was morally right, unfortunately many obeyed them, and did unspeakable evils. Our Lord said in  Matthew 22 v 21, 'Give back to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's'.To sum it up, when we are commanded to accept and obey that which is morally wrong,wherever it comes from,we have to obey God rather than man. ( Acts 5 v 29 )

Fatal distractions. ( John 21 v 20 -21 )

 Senator John Kennedy  speaking to President Biden,about one of the problems people were facing, inflation,he made a point by giving an illustration as regards himself. He said that when he was young he played baseball,not very well,he could not cope with the curve of the ball, The coach advised him to ,'keep his eye on the ball',  in other words focus on the ball. It goes without saying there are so many distractions in life,and as Christians we should take that advice very serious. Take marriage, being faithful in marriage, I remember listening to dear Chuck Swindle who said  that when he was away from home,and would go and have a meal in a hotel , he would put a photo of his wife on the table in front of him. It  helped him to keep his eye on the ball, to stay focused on his marriage, so that he would not be sucked into a wrong relationship. So many things can distract us in our Christian journey,we take our eyes of the Lord,and that can lead to serious consequences The artist may say my life is painting, an entertainer may say my life is being an entertainer, and we can add many other things.There is nothing wrong with those things and if you are good at them ,you have to give of your best to them. This is what the apostle Paul said,' For to me to live is Christ',(Philippians 1 v21)we should never be distracted from that.Those other things are legitimate, but we must never allow them to takes our eyes of Christ no matter what they are.

But there are restrictions ( 1 John 5 v 14) 2

 We continue on looking at prayer,I started of  telling you that someone prayed for my healing,'receive your healing 'she said.as yet it has not happened ,one may ask the question why?,There are a number of reasons why prayer is not answered,and one of the reasons is this,'If we ask anything according to His will,He hears us', (1John 5 v14),in John 14v14  we read ,'You may ask anything in my name,and I will do it',yes He will ,if it be His will.John Stott tells us that 5 v14 'underlines and explains the restrictions the Lord Himself placed on asking. It must be according to His will'.  The lady who prayed for my healing did not bring that it into it.Again John Stott comments,''Prayer is not an attempt to get God to see things my way and to extract from Him what I  have decided or want. Prayer is submitting my will to His'.We hear  false prophets shout ,' in the name of Jesus be healed',and those they pray for are not.It is very sad because they are exploiting the vulnerable not caring to give them an answer,they are no better that scam callers,they take the money and run. They are even more brazen for they do it openly.There are other reasons why God will not answers our prayers , if their sin in our lives. ( Psalm 66 v 18)Also God may also say ,not now,Abraham was given a promise of a child but it did not come immediately,likewise Daniel's prayers were not answered immediately (Daniel 10 v 12 -13 )

Ask anything. (Matthew 7 v 7)(1)

 I was out with a friend at a cafe run by a church,we both knew some people there,so we went over to say hello,we talked a little.Someone asked how I was keeping,I replied ,and I mentioned a certain physical problems I had. One the ladies said do you want us to pray for you?,I agreed,who knows God may answer their prayer. Now one of the things she said in her prayer was,''receive your healing'', and I wondered what she meant by that,as I walked away, I prayed to God ,and said ,''all things are possible with you ''.As one whose young wife died of cancer,I realise that God does not always heal,and we can broaden this out to prayer in general, here is a scripture that tells us somethings very important in relation to prayer, it is found in John's first epistle ,chap 5 v 14- 15.'This is the confidence we have in approaching God; that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask,we know that we have what we asked of Him'.First we have the scope of our asking ,'anything'.Recently I attended my brothers wife's funeral,I asked that the weather would be kind to us,that morning as my wife and I got off the plane, it was raining very heavy ,and it was cold, but later on the weather changed, and it turned out a lovely day. Yes you can pray about anything,God does hear and answer prayer ,we will continue this next time .

Fools ( John 3 v36 )

 Proverbs 14 v 9 reads ,'Fools make a mock at sin; but  with the righteous there is favour', Charles Bridges wrote,' What! Are there  such, as will count sin a sport? They have never seen the sight, never felt the weight.Look into eternity. It is thought  a grave matter in heaven. It is felt so in hell'. Many make light of their sins, make excuses for their sins,but the fact is as one puts it,God does not excuse sin,but often we do, we say ,that's the way I am ,I can't help,that does not wash with God. Look at the nicest person you know, they are sinners, they may even be fooled ,that they will not go to hell,and indeed you may think that,but they will. That's the awful tragedy,the sheer folly of it all,let none us be fooled,by human niceness. In Psalm 14 v1 we read ,'The fool  says in his heart ,'There is no God'.this could apply to those who  believe they are not  accountable to God,they are practical  atheist, they don't believe God has any claim on their lives,so they live a life with disregard towards God,the Bible says they are fools just as much as those who make a mockery of sin,and they will both suffer the same consequences the judgement of God.

                                                         'Don't be a fool,be wise unto salvation,

                                                          and trust Jesus as your Saviour.'