There is an answer. ( John 1 v 1 - 13 )

In 1977 Voyager 1 was lunched into space,it was equipped to send back data.,it has now travelled billions of miles.From a far of distant point it sent back a picture of our planet. Earth looked so very small and insignificant,but in God's eyes it is the most significant planet in the whole universe. Scroggie  writes the following,'Earth ,this speck in space , is the home of the human race,and is the focus of all interest, divine, angelic, and demonic, as well as human;it is the theatre in which  the Redeemer has manifested Himself and has brought the offer of salvation to a ruined race'.The word of God tells us that God loves this world and everybody in it,he knows every individual in this world ,and knows everything about them.If we leave God out of the picture there is no meaning to life,no purpose,  we are just a freak accident, if that is the case then what value can we put on human life,the answer is none,where do we get our moral value's from?.Every year we celebrate Christmas ,well some of us do, but many fail to appreciate, that God who created this world ,stepped into His world in the person of His Son Jesus. He exercised powers beyond  mans power,healing the sick,raising the dead,controlling nature itself.His teaching has touched untold millions.The greatest problem mankind has,is a nature that is sinful,and there is nothing man can do to change that.Only God is preserving this planet,and only God provides an answer , for on the cross our sin can be forgiven when we accept Jesus as our Saviour, and when that happens,all things are changed, for the better,we find new life,we feel valued and loved,and have a purpose,that goes beyond this life into a glorious future. 

Preserved ( Psalm 118 )

 Psalm 118 is described as,''apples of gold in a basket of silver',it is a Psalm praising God for His deliverance, here are a few verses from it,

                                           ' The Lord is on my side;I will not fear

                                             It is better to trust in the Lord,

                                            Than put confidence in man,

                                             It is better to trust in the Lord

                                             Than to put trust in princes

                                             The Lord helped me

                                             The right hand of the Lord doeth valiantly

                                              I shall not die,but live, and declare the works of the Lord.

 This Psalm was Luther's favourite, he said, '' It had saved me from many a pressing danger, from which nor emperor, nor kings, nor sages,nor saints,could have saved me''. he wrote a wonderful hymn,here are the opening words,'A safe stronghold our God is still, a trusty  shield  and weapon; He'll help us clear from all the ill,that hath us now o'ertaken .' Martin Luther in standing for the truth put himself in great danger,but God in his mercy delivered him.

                          

Have courage.( 2 Timothy 4 v 1 -5)

 When one is a preacher of the gospel one must show a certain amount of courage, to speak the truth without fear or favour .I have attended funerals were the minister has miserable failed to be faithful to  their calling.It was the apostle Paul who was about to appear before Caesar asked the saints at Ephesus to pray for him,'That whenever I speak ,words may be given to me so that I will fearlessly make known   the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly ,as I should'. (Eph 6 v 19-20 )  Thomas Brooks a  renowned Puritan wrote the following.' Faithful ministers have a need to cry aloud,they have need to be courageous and zealous, to awaken sinners,that none may go sleeping  to hell. Cowardice in a minister is cruelty; if he fears the faces of men, he is a murderer of souls.'

Losses and Crosses. ( John 21 v 20 -22 )

 Just recently a friend told me that he met his ex--Pastor  and his wife,they told him they no longer believed in God, they said that people had hurt them in the church. I know from experience that one will receive hurts yes even from Christians,especially if you are a leader. The greatest leader who ever lived  was our Saviour , he experienced  many hurts,even from his own disciples,in fact it was a battle all the way for Him,but He just kept going on,likewise the apostle Paul had more than his fair share of troubles from Christians CP Philippians 1 v 15- 17. I personally had hurts in the church that I pastored, whatever the rights or wrongs ,one should still carry on in the faith,wherever the hurts come from. Not only should we carry on ,we are to have a spirit of forgiveness, our Saviour taught us to love our enemies and pray for them .Matthew 5 v 44.Let not hate for your fellow Christians fill your heart ,if a fellow Christian hurts you, remember.'Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother or sister is still in darkness 1 John 2v9. Let me stress, hurts come to us from many directions, from fellow Christians, from non Christians, from painful experiences,from losses to crosses. That last word is important,for remember what our dear Saviour said ,'take up your cross and follow me'. Matthew 10 v 38.

                                'I traveled down a lonely road, and no one seemed to care,

                                The burden on my weary back,had bowed me to despair;

                                 I oft complained to Jesus how folks were treating me,

                                 And then I heard Him  say so tenderly,My feet were also weary

                                 Upon the Calvary road,The cross became so heavy,

                                  I fell beneath the load,Be faithful ,weary pilgrim,

                                  The morning I can see- Just lift  your cross,

                                                and follow close to Me.'             (Words Ira F . Stanphill)

                                                     

                                                      

Not a comparison site. ( Romans 12 v 1 -8)

 When I need to insure my car,or my house I go on a comparison site,that's fair enough. When a new manager of a football takes over from a successful manager,his performance will be judged by the past manager's performance. Sometimes people come out of a family with a bad reputation and they are compared to that family . Salvation is not a comparison  site,there are people who compare themselves with others,they actually think that Christianity is for goody,goodies,not realising that every Christian is a sinner saved by grace and that has transformed their lives.Of course every Christian is a work in progress, yes there are no perfect people in the church of Christ.We are all different and even as Christians we must not compare ourselves to other Christians,we must keep our eyes of  people,we must not be overwhelmed by others,because they are more gifted that you or me.If we do that we could so easily be afraid to accomplish anything,or do anything.God has given all his Children gifts ,don't be afraid to use them,or even be ashamed of them.I read daily devotions and they often bless me,but they do not intimidate me from writing this blog, God  has given us different gifts for doing certain things well (Romans 12 v 6),if you step outside your gift,you will be a square peg in a round hole,it is John Stott who says the following .' We must avoid  both to high  an estimate  of ourselves and Paul might have added too low an estimate'.( Rom 12 v 3)

Facing Death. ( Luke 23v 39 -43 )

 I visited a dear brother in a hospice,he is a godly man,and of course the fact that he is in a hospice means he has not long to live. He found it difficult to speak so our conversation was limited,I read the scriptures at his request, it was from Romans 8 v 28-39. When I had finished reading,he repeated the words,'That neither death nor life'.the readings end with the words....'.can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord'. Yes death does not have the final say,One writer says the following,'Death is not the end;it is only ''the gate on the skyline'' leading to the presence of Jesus Christ'. I prayed with that dear brother,he held in his hand a wooden cross,for the Christian the cross reminds us that we are no longer alienated from God.We no longer stand condemned before a holy God,no longer does  the wrath of God rest upon us,no longer is heaven shut to us,why ? because of the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.In heaven we will cry out,'Worthy is the Lamb that was slain'.(Revelation 5 v 12)The Cross is the only way humanity can be saved and have hope for eternity.

                                                           ' There is victory in Jesus'

All things new. ( 21 v 1- 5 )

 I met a friend when out shopping she is two years older than me 82,she can walk but needs the use of a mobility scooter. She mentioned she needs two new knees,and two hip joints,I jokingly said to her she should go the 'Body Shop',(it sells perfume),well she laughed. In Psalm 139 v4 we read,'I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made'. yes that is so true,but,there's that but again,it wears down,to a point when we need more than body parts. Shakespeare wrote of the ,'Seven ages of man',highlighting the different periods of our existence,the last being ,'dotage and death'.In the 12th chap of Ecclesiastes there is a very descriptive passage of our bodies decline . The Message puts it like this,'Your hair turns apple-blossom white. Adorning a fragile and impotent matchstick body'. Sorry folks that's the way it is, but its not the end of the story for the Christian,in Revelation 21 v 5 we have Jesus declaring,'I am making everything new!.' In 1 Corinthians 15,we have spelt out what that  means as regards our future bodies,first of all it will be a spiritually body,from earthly beings to  heavenly beings,we will all be changed,from that which is perishable to an imperishable being,from being mortal to being immortal,death will have died,everlasting life commences,the future will not only be bright, it will be glorious,and here is a wonderful truth we shall be like Jesus. (1 John 3 v 2 )

                                          ' Yes wonder of wonders ,we shall be like Jesus'

Easy street. (Hebrews 12 v 1 - 13 )

 Someone said ,'When things are easy the Christian tends to stray from the path, whereas trouble sends him back to the word,of God'. Someone put this heading over  Deuteronomy 8, 'Do not forget the Lord'. Israel was about to enter the promised land,God had brought them through so much, He had delivered them from the Egyptians who had oppressed them and made them slaves. In spite of what God did Israel was not always faithful but God remained  faithful ,now the promised land lay ahead, As they were about to enter the land God spoke to them .He said when you possess the land, they were to obey His commands,and if they did they would prosper. We all want prosperity,but God knows the the human heart,so He tells them, 'Do not forget the Lord your God , and all that,that meant.They must not forget that their prosperity comes from God, their history,shows clearly they did forget ( Jeremiah 2 v11ff) Consider the lives of two godly people,David and Solomon,David was now king ,God had delivered him from so much,things were easier,but he strayed from the path of righteousness in a big way(2 Samuel 11)Then Solomon ,he was abundantly blessed but what do we read, he turned to false god's,(1 Kings 11).If you are on easy street remember it is so easy to take ones eyes of God  and stray from our Saviour. For Israel it had consequences,likewise for David and Solomon,and for all who stray from the path,God will deal with you, yes He  loves you,but remember whom He loveth He disciplines.

Blockage ( Lamentations 3 v 40)

 Every now again I pour a certain liquid down my drains, to clear any blockage,blockage has consequences.It caused me think about the things that come into our lives that can be classed as a blockage ,the result they have consequences in our relationship with God.It would be a good idea to pray what the Psalmist prayed.'Search me ,O God, and know my heart ; test me me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you,and lead me along the path of everlasting life'. (Psalm 139 v 23 -24 ) Francis Bottome wrote a hymn  based on the words from that Psalm, here are the words from that hymn.

                            'Search me, O God! my actions try,and let my life appear

                            As seen by Thine all searching eye,To mine my ways make clear.

                            Search all my sense and know my heart,who canst make known

                            And let the deep, the hidden part ,To me be fully shown.

                            Throw light into the darkened cells,where passions reign within;

                            Quicken my conscience till it feels, the loathsomeness of sin.

                             Search all my thoughts,the secret springs, the motives that control;

                             The rebel heart where evil things, hold empire o'er my soul.

                             Search,till Thy fiery glance! i'ts holy light through all

                             And I by grace am brought at last,before Thy face to fall.

                            Thus prostrate I shall learn of Thee,what now I feebly prove,

                             That God alone in Christ can be Unutterable love'

                            

The ripple effect. (1Corinthians 10 v 12 -13 )

We are all familiar with the term,'cause and effect', and it can be applied to so many things.what causes ripples in the water?.Well we all know that its when you throw a stone in the water, when you do the  ripples go out in a circle,having an affect on the surface of the water. Years ago I read in a book how a man was tempted,and then he thought about his family, and the damage to them ,if he yielded to that temptation . Chuck Swindoll a well known preacher,said that when  he was away preaching,and was out for a meal on his own ,he put a photo of his wife on the table,it was a reminder to him of  the consequences of being unfaithful. When one sins it has a ripple effect,it can cause so much hurt and pain,all the good things you have done will be forgotten ,you will always be remembered for that sinful act. Yes God forgives his erring children, if they repent and seek forgiveness, but when you consider the harm you have done,you may find it hard to forgive yourself. Your spouse may not forgive you,so you will have lost the one you love,who knows how far the effect  of what you have done will go.Whenever your tempted ,be it sexual,or financial, or whatever, think of the ripple effect.

                                                   'Yield not to temptation,for yielding is sin,

                                                    Each victory will help you some other to win;

                                                    Fight manfully onward,dark passions subdue,

                                                    Look ever to Jesus, He'll carry you through.'

                                                                   Words Horatio R.Palmer

Tomorrow ( Matthew 6 v25- 34)

 None of us know what tomorrow holds,oh yes we make our plans,but there is nothing certain,who knows what tomorrow will  bring to us,for good or ill.One of the things Jesus taught as regards tomorrow, we can read about in Matthew 6 v34,'Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.Each day has enough trouble of its own'.The word, ' therefore',  takes us back to what Jesus previously taught, He reminded his listener's  to consider how God looked after  his creation,the birds do not sow or reap.or store food  in barns, but our heavenly Father feeds them. and He reminds us that we are more valuable than them. As Christians our Saviour said that we are not to be like the non-Christians, nothing is hid from our heavenly Father ,what our priority must be, is to put God first and all will be well .He also reminds us of the pointlessness of worry. (Mt 6 v 25- 34)  Tomorrow inevitable will bring all sorts of troubles,so here is something helpful that David Livingstone wrote.,

                                             'Leave tomorrow's troubles for tomorrow's

                                             strength; tomorrow's work for tomorrow's

                                             time; tomorrow's trials for tomorrow's grace-

                                             and all for tomorrow's God.'

0                                                                                       

The worst of people. ( 1 Kings 1 v 12 - 17 )

 I wonder if the Christians living during the persecution by Saul ,later known as Paul ,(Acts 8 v 3),that one day he would become a Christian ,not only that, but an Apostle, they would  have have not believed it, would you have believed it?. Most of us wouldn't have,  it was just to far fetched,oh yes the Christians would have prayed for those being persecuted,and that God would him stop him persecuting God's people, someone may have prayed that God would deal with Him. The word of God says that Christ our Saviour came into the world to save sinners,no matter  how evil ,no matter how wicked,yes even the worst of sinners. And in the case of Saul / Paul ,he did just that.One of most amazing conversion in the Bible , was that of king Manasseh son of  King Hezekiah,read about him in 2 Kings 21 and 2 Chronicles 33.It was possible under his reign he had the prophet Isaiah put to death,he did terrible evil things.But God whose ways are not our ways dealt with him ,he was taken as a prisoner by the Assyrians with a hook in his nose,and bound with bronze shackles to Babylon.But there He greatly humbled himself,and prayed to God ,the result was God forgive him, He brought him back to Jerusalem and restored him as king,and blessed him,

                                                       ' God can save the worst of people'

It's all about Him. (Isaiah 53 )

 We owe Christ so much,in the book ,'The valley of Vison', we have a collection of prayers by the  Puritans ,we have one entitled,'Love Lustres at Calvary'.we read the following.

                                           'Christ was all anguish that I might  be all joy,

                                            cast off that I might be brought in ,

                                            trodden down as an enemy

                                            that I might be welcomed as a friend,

                                            surrendered  to hell's worst

                                            that I might attain heaven's  best,

                                            stripped that I might be clothed,

                                            wounded that I might be healed,

                                            made a shame that I might have eternal light.

                                            My Saviour  wept that all tears might be wiped

                                            from my eyes,

                                            bore a thorny    crown that I  might have

                                            a glory -diadem.

 'When I think of all He's done  for me the guilty one,can you wonder why it is I love Him so'

                                           

                                      

Such Love ( Romans 5 v 6-8)

 Psalm 103 written by David has much to say to us,it has 22 verses, Scroggie divides up into three sections,'1-5 are Personal; 6- 18 are National;  and 19-22 are Universal.' v1-5 begins by urging us to praise God,from our souls,and forget not all his benefits,'forgiveness,healing,redemption,satisfaction, and renewal.I will leave you to look at the Psalm yourself,  I want to highlight v 10-12,verse 10 reads ,'He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities'.in other words we don't get our just deserts,if we had we would be in hell,The reason why we are not consigned to that awful place is  because one called Jesus, bore are punishment, 'He took my sins and my sorrows, He made them His very own; He bore the burden to Calvary,and suffered and died alone'.  (Words C H. Gabriel) Next v11,Tells us, For as high as the heavens are above the earth,so great is His love for those who fear Him'.The driving force behind the work of salvation was love,In the Song of Solomon 8 v7 we read,'Many waters cannot quench love', Satan did all he could to quench that love,all to no avail,fallen humanity likewise committed unspeakable evil in their attempts to quench that love,they failed,'Such love springs from eternity; such love,streaming through history; such love,fountain of life to me; O Jesus such love. (Graham Kendrick) Last but not least v 12.'As far as east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. Spurgeon comments,'Sin is removed from us by an act of love, removed so far that the distance is incalculable'.

                                                        

No escape. (Genesis 2 v 16 -17.)

We live in different times than our forefathers,there have advances in medical care,the result is people living longer,It wasn't always so ,there was a high degree of child mortality,in the 17th century 400 out of a 1000 did not live to their first year,there were so things that could kill children. Of course there so many thing that kill people,medical science had not advanced much until the 20th century,As I go on life I  am amazed at the wonderful treatment that their is for fighting sickness now,for which we praise God.Yet there is one thing medical science can't do, is defeat death,they can prolong life,but that's all. Mankind has never come to terms with death, one person wrote as regards the aftermath of death the effects are often, rage and sorrow,and loss ,We cannot change it,often we cannot come to terms with it,So what can we say that may help? .I think of what King David wrote in the 23rd Psalm.as regards the valley of the shadow of death ,he would fear no evil for the good shepherd was with him.I think  one could broaden that out,as regards those Christians who have lost love ones, and its aftermath. It is like going through a dark valley,  it is very dark , butut hear is the good news ,in that valley of darkness there is one with you,even Jesus,He alone knows what you are going through,and He just asks one think of you,trust,yes trust Him,He will bring you through,The scripture tells us,' Weeping may endure for a night,but joy comes in the morning'.  (Psalm 30 v 9)

God's Kingdom ( Hebrew 12 v1 - 3)

When our dear Saviour stood before Pilate,he was asked,'Are you the king of the Jews?' (John 18 v33),this was a very important question,for Pilate the Roman governor would  have been keen of any one who was a threat  to the rule of Rome.In fact the Jewish leaders leaders played into that, when they  cried out,'We have no king but Caesar,(Jn 19 v 15) ,of course that was far from the truth,as they and the Jewish people hated the rule of Rome,but it suited them,as a means of persuading Pilate to put Jesus to death. So what did Jesus say to the question from Pilate?,here is His answer,'My kingdom is not of this world'.Jn 19 v 36 .Jesus never once spoke out against the rule of Rome,why because as He said His kingdom was not of this world.In Romans 13 we are told to be subject to the governing  authorities v 1,but we must balance that out with what Jesus said in Mark 12 v17,' Give back to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's'. Of course Jesus is a King Rev 17 v14, but He does not rule in an earthly place of power, in Psalm 96 v 10 we read,'The Lord reigns', the old Latin Version puts it like this,''The Lord hath reigned from a tree''.the tree is symbolic of the cross ,1 Peter 2 v24.A hymn by Mrs C Charles says the following,'Tell all the earth the Lord is King! Lo , from the Cross,a King He reigns'.The sinner comes to God at the foot of the cross to receive forgiveness,and as a saint lives a life in light of the cross.'His kingship  breaks out of the narrow confines  of nationalism, that kingdom embraces all humanity'.(Derek Tidball)

                                                        'Near the cross! O Lamb of God

                                                        Bring its scenes before me;

                                                         Help me walk from day to day

                                                         With its shadow o'er me.'   ( Words Fanny Crosby)

Getting your own back. ( 1 Peter 2 v 23)

 Romans 12 v 19 -21 reads,'Do not take revenge,my dear friends, but leave room for God's wrath,for it is written;'It is mine to avenge; I will repay, says the Lord. On the the contrary ; 'If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty , give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.' These are very challenging words, it points us to what God  says we shouldn't do,and what we should do,in relationship to wrongs we have suffered. The natural man will find it hard  to do what this scripture  says, but even as a Christian we may also find it very hard. The world is full of so much injustice ,bad things are happening all the time, we have a choice,to revenge ourselves,or do what the scriptures tell us to do . It is in 2 kings 6 v 18ff we have a wonderful example  of  Israel not taking revenge on their enemies,and showing kindness to them. When Elisha who manifested miraculous powers,blinded Israels enemies and led them into a trap,the King of Israel asked Elisha ,'shall I kill them?',and he was told no,he was to give them water to drink and food to eat, and let them go back to their own country. Amazing story, what about your story and my story?,it is natural to want to get our own back on those who have hurt us, we have a choice,do we leave it to God to deal with it,or  do we do it?. 

Anything ( John 8 v 12)

 A man called Chesterton said the following, 'When people no longer believe in something, they believe, not in nothing, but in anything'. Yes anything,I recent visited the town of Glastonbury,it is near where a  famous musical festival is held every year.As we walked around the town we noticed that many of the shops where catering for Paganism, such as Celtic traditions,witchcraft,or certain gods.I recently heard a commentator speaking of a famous  football stadium as a place of worship,and people are often asked who their idol is. Of course we are more civilised now, we have thrown of what  people see as the shackles of established beliefs, but that does not mean they don't worship something,as Chesterton rightly said they worship anything.Israel of old often forsook God and turned to idols.I believe there a vacuum in all our lives,but in our fallen state we fill that vacuum with anything but God. This creates great problems for mankind the moral absolutes set by God are thrown out,and replaced  by anything goes, and society slowly but surely slips into a downward abyss,with more and more people being sucked into it. Yesterdays wrongs are now acceptable.Lord denning wrote ,'if religion perishes in the land,truth and justice will also.'and he finishes by saying,'We have already strayed too far from the faith of our Fathers.Let us return to it, for it is the only thing that can save us'.If we keep walking away from the only God as revealed in his word,and was manifest in Jesus Christ,the darkness will increase,chaos will increase,remember what our dear Saviour said,' If you follow Me,you won't have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life'  (John  8 v 12)

I am an author. ( 1 Corinthians 1 v 26 - 31 )

   Just recently I turned 80,there is a lot of history in those  years,there was a time when my dear first wife and I went to Bible college,we believe God was calling us to be missionaries,but God had another plan for our lives.I became a minister ,and served God in that capacity.There was  a time I thought that I would love to minister on the radio it never happened.Seventeen years my so John helped me to get started on doing a Blog,and just recently the thought struck me ,God had given me my hearts desire in reaching out to the world.Now as I said I have just turned 80 ,and today I received a birthday present from my son John,and when I opened it,it was a large book , a daily devotional made up from the devotionals from my Blog,now I am an author. My son told me it took a number of years putting it together ,and it was a work of love.You can get it from Amazon,it is simply called ,'A Daily Devotional', by William A .Heasley, I will not get  any money from this,I just hope it will  bless people.I am amazed at this, and thank God for giving me this ministry. Lessons I have learnt from my experience,God will give us the desire of our hearts,in His time, and in ministries we never imagined. God in choosing me,chose one of those weaklings,He chose an ordinary person,this is not false humility,if He can use me,He can use you, go for it.

Great Jehovah.( John 20 v 28 )

 Scroggie points out that throughout the OT  the name Jehovah has a descriptive  affix,in other words something fastened to it .'Jehovah- Rohi meaning the Lord is my shepherd . Jehovah - Shalom ,the  Lord my peace, Jehovah- Ropheka, the Lord my health. Jehovah- Tsidkneu,the Lord my Righteousness,  Jehovah-Shammah, the Lord my Companion, Jehovah -Nissi,the Lord my Victory, Jehovah- Jireh,the Lord my Provision.David sees God in all of life, such a great God,as the hymn writer puts it ,'How great Thou art'.David was under the Old Covenant ,but we of the New Covenant are also blessed because of Jesus,in Him we have a twofold peace,we have peace with God and the peace of God that passes all understanding, in Jesus we have health that comes from Him,we stand before a holy God in the righteousness of Christ,the Lord,He is our constant companion, through Christ we have the victory,through Christ all our needs are met ,as children of the New Covenant we are truly blessed.Remember all that Jehovah is in the Old Covenant, is ours as children of the New Covenant.

                                             ' For this God is our God for ever and ever;

                                                 He will be our guide even to the end.'

                                                                 Psalm 48 v 14 

Our Guardian. ( Psalm 91 )

 Let us consider further thoughts from Psalm 86 ,v2 reads ,'Guard my life',and of course God did guard Davids life,from wild beasts,fearful enemies,and his fellow Israelites. But we could go further than that,from the moment he was conceived in his mothers womb God preserved him.I am convinced like David I was preserved from my mothers womb till now,I believe I was premature,and as a young lad I was  saved from drowning. Everyone has a destiny,death will come  in God's time for the word of God reminds us ,our times are in His hands,that includes the time of our death.All humanity lives in the shadow of death we can't escape it, God will preserve us until He see's fit.Now I read daily of so many Christians dying violent deaths,the word to them would be, to be faithful unto death (Revelation 2 v10) Many have experienced it,and many more will ,may we remember all those who are living  with that threat hanging over them,may they be given grace to not only to live for Christ but to die for Him .David was not to die as a  martyr, he was chosen to become Israels king,no one and nothing would stop that. God has got a purpose for all our lives ,no one,and nothing can prevent that happening.In Psalm 91 v7 we have these words ,'A thousand shall fall at your side ,but it will not come near you'.

                                                       'Never let us not forget  that our God

                                                                      is Sovereign'

Just as I am. (Matthew 5 v 2) 1

 Psalm 86 is a prayer of  David, a prayer that God would  hear and answer him, he comes with  a right attitude for he declares,'For I am poor and needy'.We are talking about, the man after God's own heart, but the important thing is this,when we come to God, we are still in this body of flesh.Here is what the apostle Paul wrote i Romans 7 v 18,'For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is,in my sinful nature'. He is not exaggerating he considers God  in his total holiness,and then he honestly considers himself.The hymn ,' Just as I am without one plea', was written by a Christian, Charlotte Elliott,who suffered from ill health.One day confined to her home,feeling depressed, useless and lonely,she recalled what someone once said to her,'Come to Jesus just as you are', That inspired her to write that hymn,which has blessed many people.Although it is associated with  evangelistic meetings, someone has said 'It is suitable  for altar calls, and also during Holy communion'. Here are some of the words from this hymn,to unsaved sinners, and saved sinners.

                                 'Just as I am without one plea,but that Thy blood was shed for me,

                                  And that Thou  bidd'st  me come to thee , O lamb of God, I come!

                                  Just as I am,poor,wretched,blind; sight,riches,healing of the mind,

                                  Yea all I need,in Thee to find,O Lamb of God I come!

Without Him. ( Mark 10 v 17 ff)

 Recently a couple won 61 million pounds on a lottery,my goodness that's a lot of money,there are many people who do the lottery.One day a man came up to Jesus ,he wanted eternal life,he was religious,and this is what he asked Jesus,' Teacher ,what good thing must I do to get eternal life? Jesus quizzed him,and then He gave him the answer to his question ,'he was to give away all his wealth to the poor, then come follow Him'. He got his answer, it was plain and simple,but not for him,he was very wealthy, and all that meant must have flashed through his mind,and it was a bridge to far.He didn't say a word,but he turned away and a sadness took hold of him. Was Jesus not asking to much of this young man  after all who wants to be poor, no He wasn't. Jesus loved this young man,but this young man did not love Jesus,or the poor for that matter,so he went away rich in material wealth,but not rich towards God, David Hanson wrote a song,here is a verse from it.

                                                    'O what emptiness without the Saviour  

                                                    Mid the sins and sorrows here below,

                                                    And eternity how dark without Him!

                                                    Only tears and endless woe!

                                                    When I come to die,how would it be?

                                                    O to face the valley's gloom without Him!

                                                    And without Him all eternity.'

I am the Lord thy God. ( Psalm 100)

One of the nicest person I know has Parkinson,he is a lovely Christian and served the Lord in his local church,and was a full time worker in a mission,and then in child evangelism. I am long enough as a Christian to know that the nicest of people cannot escape illness of the most sever type.The word of God makes that plain , it could be disease,persecution, and it may cause us to ask the question ,'why',and the truth is we often do not know.Job's friends  thought they knew but they were wrong.I don't think Job did,he declared 'Surely I spoke of things I did not understand',(Job 42 v3), The book of Psalms deals with many of God's people suffering severely, and unjustly,likewise in the New Testament we have suffering in many places. In Psalm 77 the writer Asaph.is suffering ,and it was getting to him,he prayed earnestly,and he appeared to get no response.also he could not get any sleep.He finds himself  asking questions v 8-9,'Has the Lord rejected him?,will He never be kind again?,has He removed his love for ever?,has His promises failed forever?, has God ceased to be gracious,has He in anger shut up his compassion, questions,questions, ,questions.What does he do?,he looks back, as to how God delivered Israel,and how God is one who does wonders, no one can be compared to Him.He has not changed ,we His children can rest assured that as He who was with us in the past ,He is with us in the present, and He will be with us in the future.

                                                  'He leads His dear children along'

                                                                 'TRUST HIM'

An Undivided Heart. ( Matthew 22 v 37 ) 3

 Let us consider Davids prayer in Psalm86 and a sentence from v11,''give me an undivided heart',sad to say that the history of  Israel shows that they sought to worship God and other gods.They did this often,one example is seen during the time of King Ahab (1 Kings 16-22),he married a woman called Jezebel who was a princess a daughter of a gentile king,and through her influence the foreign gods were introduced into Israel.There influence became so bad that God sent a judgement on them,no rain for  3yearsand 6 months,and so it happened,but eventually there was a stand off on Mount Carmel ,between Ahab and the false prophets, and Elijah.Elijah stood forth and challenged Israel with these words (1 kings 18 v 21) How long will you waver between  two opinions? If the Lord is God,follow Him; But if Baal is God ,follow him'. In  Exodus 20 , God tells Israel ,'You shall have no other gods before me'there is in essence only one God,In Isaiah 45  we read,'There is no other God v7 likewise in v18/22/23. God will not stand for a divided love, with him .it is,' all or nothing'.David cries unto God for an undivided heart,Christian is your heart an undivided heart? there are so many things that can cause us to have an undivided heart.Hear is a prayer we can all pray ,from a hymn by Philip Doddridge.

                                                       'Do not I love Thee, dearest Lord?

                                                       Behold my heart and see;

                                                       And cast each hated idol down

                                                       That dares to rival Thee' 

Feeling confused? (Psalm73)

The author of Psalm 73 Asaph ,and the prophet Habakkuk, found it hard to come to terms with certain things, and for they both  found themselves questioning God. Asaph struggled as to why the wicked prospered?,they appeared to get away with so much,they had no consideration for man or God,they sat back and gloated,and did not appear to have a care in the world.They appeared to get away with all sorts of evil,enjoying life so much ,always at ease and accumulating more wealth.Then it starts to become very personal Asaph asks the question ' did I keep my heart  pure for nothing?Did I keep my self innocent for no reason? I get nothing but trouble all day long; Yet he keeps it to himself,I have listened to a minister who aired certain things that he was struggling with,and it unsettled people, Scorggie says ,'Tell your certainties to others, but keep your doubts to yourself', Asaph did that v 15.But it does not finish there, in his troubled state of mind,He retreats to God and had a revelation,and he realised how foolish he had been. God revealed to him  their final destiny, that they were on a slippery path that in a moment they will be cast into a lost  eternity.The sad thing is that most people just take the short view, blind as to the uncertainty of life that death is certain and so is judgement. Asaph's spirit revived,he realised  true security and satisfaction  can only be found in the living God,and I would add Jesus Christ His Son.

Freedom . (John 3 v 16 )

 I was on holiday and I noticed a painting,it showed two hands grasping prison bars,and imposed on the painting  in large letters one word,'Freedom. When I think of  Easter that is one of the things comes to mind , in John 8 v36 Jesus declared, 'If the Son sets you free,you will be free indeed' .It is in Isaiah 61 v1-3,the promised Messiah would proclaim liberty to the captives'.The natural man is not a free man we are all to some extent slaves of sin. The wonderful news is, through Christ we can be set free,Jesus can break the power of sin in our lives.Next we can be set free from the guilt of sin,guilt is a heavy burden to bear ,yes we will always feel a degree of sadness for the things we have done,but the moment we receive Christ, God will forgives us, as one writer puts it,'we do not need to let shame and guilt control us, rather we can embrace forgiveness and our identity and worth in Christ;.Next Easter can mean we can receive freedom from fear of death,of eternal punishment,in our unsaved state we should fear Gods eternal judgement,Luke 12 v5 reads,'but I tell you whom to fear;Fear Him who, after your body has been killed, has authority .Next to throw you into hell,yes ,I tell you fear Him'. Next Easter gives us freedom from uncertainty,the Lord Jesus foretold clearly that He would rise from the dead, and He did, CP Mark 8 v21/ Matthew 17 v22/ Luke v 9 V22.In John 11 v25 we read these wonderful assuring words 'Jesus said ,''I am the resurrection and the life.The one who believes in me will live, even though they die''.

                                                          'There is freedom in Jesus'

The greatest miracle. ( Ephesians 2 v 1 -10 )

It was Dr Johnson who after seeing a castle and its greatness,remarked grimily,' These are the things which make it difficult to die',  It is possible that there are people who never give any thought of God through out their whole life.They are born ,they live,they die, and that's it, I once worked with a psychologist,a very well educated person and a nice man,who had never been to church and had no thoughts as regards God.There are multitudes like him, God is not even in their thoughts,they don't appear to be curious of things outside their bubble. But bubbles are very fragile things ,and when their bubble bursts what then?.It is said that many people are seeking the meaning of existence,but would the many accept the answer if they were told it?, I doubt it. Salvation is not about intelligence , as we are born we are all spiritually blind,we cannot comprehend spiritual things,1 Corinthians 2 v14, tells us clearly that the natural man cannot accept that the things of the Spirit, they are foolish to them. All unsaved people are born spiritually dead ,it takes a miracle of grace to change them, Ephesians 2 v 8 tells us,' For it is by grace are you saved, through faith-and this is not from yourselves,it is the gift of God'. There are people who talk a lot about miracles in relation to sickness,I do not rule out such things,but the greatest of miracles is the salvation of a sinner,everyone who trusts Christ has experienced a miracle of grace. When I preach the Gospel my greatest desire is to see a miracle,when I witness in the street likewise.

                                            'Dear God you who would have all men to be saved,

                                            may you in your mercy,bless our witness ,show us a 

                                            miracle of salvation ,by your grace in Jesus name

                                                                        Amen.'

                                            

                                            

 

Worthy the Lamb. ( Revelation 5 )

Recently my wife and I visited Chartwell which was once the home and estate of Winston Churchill,but is now owned and run by the,' National Trust'.There is much one could say about Winston,the things he said,and the things he did.He came from a certain class of people ,from the aristocracy who were held in high social rank. He loved to paint ,he did it for his own pleasure,he never sought to cash in on it.His mother was an American Jennie Jerome,she married Lord Randolph Churchill,they were people of their time,and didn't get to involved in bringing up their children. There was a lovely painting of Winston's wife  Clementine, someone mentioned her lovely hands,and some smart Alec,said ,'that's because she never washed the dishes or pealed the potatoes'. I  bowed my head in shame,as if.Most people admire and respect Winston for so many things,he is one of the most important people in the 20th century,for his stand against evil.As a Christian I believe the most important person in all of history was Jesus Christ,the uniqueness of His being,the Son of God, truly God and truly man.in all His weakness He accomplished the  work of salvation,in doing this He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death ,even death on a Cross.When He cried on the cross,'it is finished',a cry of horror must have been heard in the darkness of hell,and a cry of anguish from that repulsive being Satan.And in the courts of heaven angels cried out,

                                                    'Worthy is the Lamb,who was slain,

                                                     to receive power and wealth and 

                                                     wisdom and strength and honour

                                                      and glory and praise.'( Revelation5 v 12)

Strange ideas. ( Luke 11 v 4- 5 )

 Psalm 90 was written by Moses, it emphasises the transience of humanity, v10 ,Michael  Wilcock writes ,'We may say readily enough that we believe God is eternal,but we need to be reminded repeatedly  that our life in this world is not.. For every advance in medical or environmental technology helps to reinforce the illusion that it could be.It is easy to snigger at the the maudlin death-bed scenes of Victorian fiction , but  as someone once said( the modern world has forgotten who),'Blessed are those who mourn. Every death is a little undermining of humanity's pride in this respect' Yes life is brief like the falling of a leaf, ,not  many people think about God,many funeral services have no religious  content in them ,they can take the body away and bring it back in a container, no frills or fuss.They fail to realise or care, if God is cut out of ones life ,in time ,they will be cut out in eternity.We have a choice ,we can accept God's way  now,instead of being refused entry into heaven later.People have strange ideas about the after life ,I sought to witness to a man,I asked him was he a Christian?,he replied that he was a Catholic ,well I said one can .be a Catholic and not be a Christian,and you can be a Protestant and not be a Christian. Then he said something else, he said he saw his mother who had died,when he saw a robin sitting on a fence,he really believed that.I will tell you something else very strange,many people think that they are going to heaven ,even though they have not accepted Christ as their Saviour. Strange but not true,God's word teaches us clearly that  we need Christ to escape hell ,and to enter heaven,oh yes there is a heaven and there is a hell.

Prayer ( Romans 12 v1 - 2 )

 I read this recently,'A famous writer once said there are really only two useful prayers;'Thank you,thank you,thank you', and , 'Help me,help me, help me'.I am not sure what he means by useful prayers,I recently prayed that prayer,  In 1 Thessalonians 5 v 17- 18 we read,'Pray continually,give thanks in all circumstances;for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus'.There are three  things involved in this verse, 'Prayer,giving thanks,and the will of God'. I'm sure I don't have to tell you  the importance of prayer,but how important it is?, but what about praying continually,or without ceasing, now that's a big challenge but you may ask what can we pray about continually?.I am not going to rattle off a lot of things for you to pray about. I am not talking about a legal thing, but having a spirit of prayer.The next thing is that of giving thanks in all circumstances,John Stott points out,'We cannot of course thank God'for all circumstances', including those which our evil and displeasing to Him\;but we can and should thank Him in all circumstances'or whatever happens'. Last but not least the reason we should do these things,because it is the will of God,the will of God is of great importance,and vital in our relationship with our God.

                                                                      'Dear God'

                                                     'Help us to grow in our prayer life,

                                                     Help us to be thankful people,

                                                     Help us, that our lives in all things 

                                                     may  be conformed to Your perfect will'

                                                     

Ruthless Trust.( Habakkuk 3 v 17 -19 )

 Psalm 88 is a very sad prayer,it is titled ,'A psalm of the sons of Korah',so we don't know who it was who actually wrote it. He is pouring out his heart to God continually,his troubles are overwhelming,he feels he is under a death sentence,cut off from God,and that he is under His wrath,He feels that God has taken away his friends,and they are repulsed by him.There seems no escape from his suffering,and he reasons with God how pointless it all is; In spite of that he continues to cry unto God,yet feeling it is all in vain,his troubles has engulfed him,and he ends by saying,'darkness is my closest friend'. What can we learn from this mans prayer as regards his suffering?The first thought that comes to me is,that some things hath to be borne,and that there is no getting away from them,no matter how much we pray.Every day in this fallen world many of Gods dear children are suffering,and dying horrible deaths In spite all that this man was   going  through he still hung unto God,It was Job who said,' Should we accept only good things from the hand of God and never anything bad'( Job 2 v 10)Yes it is true,bad things do happen to the most godly people,the hymn writer wrote,'Every joy or trial ,falleth from above',but then he goes unto to say,'We may trust Him fully,all for us to do. They who trust Him wholly find Him wholly true'. There is a book called,'Ruthless Trust',what does that mean?,here is the words uttered by a man who suffered greatly,his name was Job,'Though He slay me.yet will I trust Him', that's ruthless trust.

We have a choice. ( Acts 16 v31 )

 I was with a friend and he spoke about a certain minister who he said was a very nice person, and that he could give a wonderful gospel message. That's wonderful,  yet he is advocating that we should accept the moral stance of the world as regards sex and gender. It is vital that we are true to the gospel ,true to Biblical doctrines, but it is wrong to compromise on Gods moral values, I stress God's moral  values.we need not to be surprised that the non-Christians accepts practices that are  not in keeping with God's moral values. In fact they are classed as being sinful, the cross on which Jesus died,was a sacrifice for sin.It tells us a number of things,first, how serious God views sin, He does not look kindly on sin of any  description.  One may be a nice person,but we are all sinners,and sin creates a great gulf between us and God. One can choose to ignore that  and rationalise that we are only human and that God will understand, the simple answer is ,He won't.In the Bible which is God's word we are told in no uncertain terms,what sin is and it's consequences, we can refuse to accept that. God has given all of us a choice,it is important that we make the right choice.Let me point you to the cross on which Christ died, it tells us that  we can be forgiven ,that means we cannot hold unto our sins,we must have them forgiven by trusting Jesus,and forsaking them.

                                                 'Wounded for me,wounded for me'

                                                 There on the cross He was wounded

                                                  me,gone my transgressions now I am 

                                                  free,all because Jesus was wounded for 

                                                   me'

It is important. ( 1 John 1v 7)

 There is an old hymn written by E A.Hoffman , and the first verse goes ,

                                         'Have you been to Jesus for the cleansing power?

                                          Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?

                                          Are you fully trusting in His grace this hour?

                                          Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb'.

This hymn is rarely song these days,I suppose because it is thought that it would not make sense to modern ears, for whatever reason. The fact is not many preachers explain what being washed in the blood of the Lamb  means.In the OT sacrifice was practiced, blood was shed and the animal was sacrificed on an altar.the blood  was splashed against the altar, (Lev8 v 19)Hebrews 9 v 22 tells us ,the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without  the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins, (or there is no forgiveness).In Isaiah 6 v 5, sin has with it a real sense of uncleanness ,or even defilement, which cuts us off from a holy God.Unless that sin is dealt with,we will remain cut off from God in time and in eternity. Sin cuts us off from a holy God,but Christ death on the cross changed all that,it paid the price to set us free from sin (1 Peter 1 v 18 -19) .It also  cleansed us, or washed us from our sinful defiled state. (Rev 7 v 14  )

                                                     'O Cavalry!  O Cavalry !

                                             Where Jesus shed His blood for me,

                                                     O  Cavalry! O Cavalry!

                                              Twas there my Saviour died for me. (Words William Mc Kendree)

The value of a soul. ( Matthew 16 v 26)

 Stalin said,'One death is a tragedy,one million is a statistic',sad to say sweet uncle Joe appeared to believe that. Yes one death is a tragedy,but how more is a million deaths,for everyone is a individual,let not numbers blind us of the value of every living soul . The mad bad dictators value no ones life,they take little account of the those they murder,of those they send into battle,or of those they conquer and slaughter.But not only mad and  bad dictators see human beings as of little value,there are many who see money as more important than human beings.There is a movie called 'The Train', it is about the 2nd world war,the German's are on the run,but they want to take back to Germany many ,'Old masters painting'. The french resistance are given the task of stopping them.The German officer in charge saw the paintings of more value that humanity.So the train set of for Berlin filled with these wonderful painting which he worshipped, a french resistance person  was able to stop the train,from going to Germany on the train there were French people , they were taken off the train and shot The movie ends with the German officer and French resistance fighter facing each other,he asked the French man why he stopped the train he didn't value the paintings,but the french man pointed to the people the Germans  had murdered,in other words,that was why he was fighting. In Gods eyes one human being is worth more than  all the art works in the world.Lucy A.Bennett wrote the following.

                                                          On teach me what it meaneth,

                                                          That cross lifted high,

                                                           With One, the Man of Sorrows,

                                                           Condemned to bleed and die,

                                                           O teach me what it cost Thee

                                                           To make a sinner whole;

                                                           And teach me, Saviour, teach me

                                                                   The value of a soul!

                                                               

Look at the Cross. ( John 3 v16 )

 Romans 8 v 32 reads,'He who did not spare his own Son,but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also,along with Him, graciously give us all things'. Paul guided by the Holy Spirit writes these wonderful words to encourage his readers,and indeed every Christian, that God who give the greater gift ,He most surely will give the lesser gifts. I remember a preacher describing the lesser gifts as the wrapping paper, It goes without saying that the gift of His own Son,cost Him,this gift was beyond price,it caused Him pain beyond our understanding. The hymn writer wrote,

                                                'Well might the sun in darkness hide,

                                                And shut His glories in,

                                                 When Christ,the mighty Maker, died

                                                  For man the creatures sin' (Isaac Watts)

No one forced Him to give His Son,and no one forced  Christ to die on the cross,it was all voluntary,John 10 v18 ,speaking of Him laying down His life,He said,' No one takes it from Me,but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again'.Yes it was costly,it was  voluntary,but it was given out of love,' Octavius  Winslow wrote, 'Who delivered up Jesus to die?Not Judas, for money; not Pilate,for fear; not the Jews,for envy,- but the Father, for love'.John Stott writes ,'In giving His Son He gave everything. The cross is the guarantee of the continuing ,unfailing generosity of God'.

                                     'How do we know that God loves us, and will care for us?

                                                           LOOK AT THE CROSS

Our eternal home.( Revelation 21 v 5 )

I was visiting two fellow elderly people, they live in a residential premises,and the conversation came about heaven,and I was  asked the question will we know each other in heaven?.The point is this we do not a lot about our eternal existence ,we can be sure there will be no need of doctors or dentist,no hospitals,no motor cars,no TV,no falling out. Relationships will have changed no wives ,husbands,sons and daughters, and so on,oh yes they will be there,but they are no longer what they once were.The bible speaks of a new heaven and a new earth,what it will be like we do not know. In Isaiah 64 v4 we read,'Since ancient times no one has heard , no ear has perceived, no eye  has seen a God besides you, who acts on behalf of those who wait for Him. We move into the NT, 1Corinthians 2 v9, it is repeated ,but in verse 10 we are told,that there are things God has revealed to us through His Spirit.Yes we can see and understand things that the non-Christian can't see.but there are things we cannot see we have now a limited understanding of, eternity is one of them.In Deuteronomy 29 v29 we read,'The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us,In Romans 11 v 33, we read ,'Oh the depth of the riches and wisdom of God! How unsearchable are His judgements and His ways are past finding out'.So rejoice in what we do know as regards our eternal existence, Now we see things imperfectly as in a cloudy mirror, but then  we will see everything with perfect clarity'. (1 Corinthians 13 v12),so be patient until that day comes,one thing for sure heaven will be wonderful,beyond our wildest dreams.

What's in a name? ( Psalm 121 v1)

It was William Shakespeare who wrote ,'What's in a name?,That which we call a rose by any other name would smell so sweet'.All names have  a meaning ,although I am called Bill, or Billy,my  Christian name is William,I can never understand why William can change to Bill or Billy.So what does William mean? Well it comes from the German  , 'Wil =desire', helm= helment protector'.from that ,people say it means ,'Resolute Protector'. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.Now in Proverbs 18 v 10,we read,'The name of the Lord is a fortified tower;the righteous run to it and our safe'.It is Charles Bridges writing on the term,' The name of the Lord, say's the following,'Not the bare outward words, operating as a charm, but His character ;'in other words  he is strong ,mighty,and the supreme protector.Israel often forgot this and looked to other god's,other nations,for the protection they needed. The question we ask is this when danger threatens where do we run to?,who should we run to?,the answer is simple to the Lord.He is the believers security and protector, he will not fail us.

                                             'How oft in the conflict,when pressed by the foe, 

                                              I have fled to my refuge,and breathed out my woe;

                                               How often ,when trials,like sea billows roll,

                                                Have I hidden in Thee,O Thou rock of my soul!

                                                                 Words William O. Cushing.

No scheme of man. ( Romans 8 v 31 -39 )

                   In Stuart Townends hymn ,'In Christ alone my hope is found', the last verse  reads,

                          ' No guilt in life, no fear of death, This is the power of Christ in me,

                            From life' first to cry, to final breath,No power of hell,no scheme of man,

                            Can ever pluck me from His hand, Till He returns or calls me home,

                                                    Here in the power of Christ I'll  stand'

 The words ,'no scheme of man', the words are very reassuring,as we read God's word we see so many occasions when God overthrew the scheme of man,as they sought to harm and destroy God's people.I think of Joseph,how his brothers sought to destroy him,likewise Potiphar's wife falsely accused him of rape,and he was thrown into prison.But in the end God overthrew their wicked schemes.Moses was preserved from Pharaoh's wicked decree, Haman's plot to destroy the Jewish people came to nothing. There are many more incidences when God brought to nought the wicked schemes of men. We must keep in mind that God is sovereign, hold unto that precious truth, As the words of the hymn puts it,

                        'From  life's first cry, to final breath, No power of hell, no scheme of of man,     

                        Can ever pluck me from His hand,Till He returns or calls me home,

                                                       Here in the power of Christ I stand'

                                                      

Saint Patrick. ( Acts 1 v 8 )

 Yesterday was St Patricks day, he is the Patron of  Ireland,he was born in Roman Britain ,at an early age he was taken as a slave to Ireland,and had a very hard time. After six years he managed to escape and returned home, eventually he became a cleric,and eventually he returned to Ireland to spread the gospel,it appears he may have had a vision of a man ,who told him to to Ireland, and so he obeyed.Let us consider a few things about Patrick,he did not get rid of all the snakes in Ireland.He is remembered as a Saint, but of course every Christian is a saint 1Peter 2v 9 tells us that all Christians are a chosen race , a royal priesthood ,a holy nation', we are all set apart for God.Speaking of the people who became Christians,he wrote,'Never before did they know God except to serve idols  and unclean things.But now they have become the people of the Lord,and are called children of God'.Wonderful truth ,but as to the present saint Patricks day it has nothing to with the gospel,it is just simply a day in which people declare that they are Irish,or of Irish parentage, for most people, religion does not come into it. Many do not know much about Patrick,and know even less of his God and Saviour. Let us rejoice and praise God for those whom God raised up to proclaim the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ,not only in history,but present day evangelist and missionaries.But let all of us who know Christ,remember that we also can and should tell people about our wonderful Saviour.

Forget me not. ( Luke 22 v19 )

 Daniel Defoe wrote a book called,'Journal of a Plague',  that came to London in 1665,many fled from the city,but there those who couldn't,many died.Yet there were those who survived,Defoe was one of them,he records in his Journal,as regards those who survived.'These poor recovering creatures,give them their due,appeared very sensible of their unexpected deliverance; and I should wrong them very much if I should not acknowledge that many of them were really thankful; but I must own that for the generality of the people it might too justly be said of them,as was said of the children of Israel ,after their being delivered from the host of Pharaoh, when they passed the Red sea and looked back, and saw the Egyptians overwhelmed in the water,viz, that they sang His praise, but they soon forgot His works.'' We need to continually remember Calvary,in fact we are commanded to do just that,why?because like Israel of old,we may forget , is it possible?,yes sad to say it is.

                                                  'King of my life I crown Thee now,

                                                   Thine shall the glory be;

                                                   Lest I forget Thy thorn-crowned brow,

                                                   Lead me to Calvary.'

                                                      Words Jenny E. Mussey.

No distinction ( Galatians 3 v 26 -29 )

Not so long ago people were judged by what class they were ,working class,middle class,or upper class,we do not hear so much about that now.In many countries they have casts systems,that means there are those who are looked down upon, they were  known as untouchables ,and could only work in the lowest of jobs.The class system,or even the cast systems,are an open invitation for pride to take over,and all that means.That aspect of pride encourages  so much evil,people  think that they are better than others,George Orwell's father served in the British colonial service in India,when he came back to England  he brought  with  him a rigid class structure ,he had a tailor who made his suits,but any attempt by his tailor to have a conversation  was met with a gruff monosyllabic responses.If he met him in the street he would  not acknowledge him.As Richard Bradford comments Orwell's father saw his tailor as belonging to a lower class.At a more evil level ,Nazism had an ideological belief built on a false idea of their superiority ,we all know what that led to. So where does that lead us to? it leads us to what God has to say about humanity,  that we are all one class,that is clearly declared in Romans 3 v23 ,'For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God',those words should put to rest any thoughts of  superiority.As sinners we all need to be saved,we all need to take our place with all our fellow sinners,and bow humbly before a holy God and ask Christ to save us .When we have trusted Jesus as our Saviour ,we become Children of God ,He  has no favourites in His family,there is no class or cast distinction ,we are all one in Christ Jesus.

'It is no secret' ( John 11 v 40 )

  Stuart Hamble was a very famous person in the entertainment world,a song writer,singer and picture actor  .He was  born into a family of a traveling Methodist Preacher,He himself was not a Christian until one night he was persuaded by his wife to go and hear Billy Graham preach,he personally spoke to Billy after the meeting and he gave his life to Jesus.He told how he and his wife visited John Wayne and during the evening  they had a conversation of how people can solve problems within themselves.Stuart made a statement,'It's no secret what God can do'',as they were leaving John said to him,'Stuart you ought to write a song about,it is no secret what God can do,that is a beautiful thought. When he arrived home he sat down at his organ,and at that moment his clock began to ''chime out the hour of midnight'' He got pen and paper,and to his amazement he wrote the words and music in 17 minutes.The song became a great favourite, I remember it well very popular,and very meaningful,here is one the verses and chorus.

                                                  'The chimes of time ring out the news,

                                                   Another day is through,

                                                   Someone slipped and fell,was that someone you?

                                                   You may have longed for added strength,

                                                    Your courage to renew,do not be disheartened,

                                                    I have news for you.

                                                    It is no secret what God can do,

                                                    What He's done for others,He'll do for you,

                                                   With arms wide open,He'll pardon you,

                                                    It is no secret what God can do'

                                                                                                         

                                           

 

Be careful (Romans 10 v1 )

In Psalm 78 the writer reminds his readers to not be like their fathers,now it is a long Psalm 72 verses,and most of it is taken up with a history of a people who were stubborn rebellious,disloyal and unfaithful,(v8) .In spite of all  that God had done for them, rescuing them ,performing miracles, time after time,providing for them, making unreasonable demands of God, sinning against Him.Not content with what God give them what they demanded,the food they craved for, challenging God by saying,'Can God really spread a table in the wilderness'.?  They were challenging God who was not pleased. they would come to regret  what they had said, for God in his anger slew many of them v31.In spite of this they kept on sinning,in spite of all He had done, but when God slew them  ,then they sought Him,and remembered  all He had done for them,They turned to Him but it was insincere,their heart was not in it,So we could go on,this is how they behaved throughout their history.Our Saviour  said how they persecuted the prophets. (Matthew 5 v12},but not only that, they crucified the Son of God their Messiah.The Jews I believed have paid a awful price for what they did ,but we must be careful not to write them off.Michael Wilcock writes,'Down the ages many  supposedly Christian nations have despised,if not persecuted, the Jews,often in the name of God.The fact is we would know nothing of our Christian God were it not for Israel and Judah. There and there alone our Christian heritage,with all its ramifications, has its roots.'Salvation' above all,its central trunk, is from the Jews'.cp John 4 v 22.

Rest (Matthew 11 v 28 - 30)

I read recently the following in one of my daily readings called ,,'Word for today',the following story,'An old, tired -looking dog wandered into a women's garden.She could tell from looking at him that he had a good home. He followed her inside,down the hall, and promptly fell asleep. Two hours later,he went to the door and she let him out.The next day he came back , resumed his position, and napped for a couple of hours. This went on for a week. Curious, the woman pinned this note to the collar; ' Every afternoon your dog comes for a nap. ' The next day, the dog showed up with a note that read;'He lives at a home with 10 children- apparently he needs some quite time. Can I come with him tomorrow?.'I hope that made you smile,but in the humour we have an underlying truth, relating to the business of life,and the pressures that many people are under,that can often lead to burn out,weariness and stress.We can be driven by the challenges that life puts upon us.I heard my son preach recently ,and the subject was ,'Where is your garden? In biblical times people would have an enclosed garden,which they would go to in the evening to relax,Jesus had such a garden called Gethsemane which he often went to Luke 22 v 39.,Jesus needed that a place where He could go to relax and commune  with His Father.We all need such a place it may be in your car or out walking or wherever.Our Saviour said in Matthew 11 v28 ,' Come to Me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens,and I will give you rest', where is your garden?

He is able. ( Psalm 121 )

It was George Muller who prayed that he would not like to a die a wicked old man,I prayed the same prayer recently,of course using different words.Like George I am an old man aged 79, and like George I feel very vulnerable.Let me stress this ,temptations do not cease when one gets older,it is Scrooge who sums it up,'We are all beset by foes,within and without,the devil,the world,the flesh,and for victory over these we are completely depended upon God'. How true those words are,and so I prayed to Him,I told I am not like Peter who foolishly boasted that he would not  deny his Lord ,saying he would even die for Him (John 13 v 37),and we know what became of that,yet the Lord was merciful and forgive him .So  I prayed for the Lord to keep me from  evil, for I know that the consequences of falling into sin can be very severe. The Lord heard my prayer,how do I know?well He answered me as I was reading a daily reading, it read ,'The Lord shall preserve you from all evil;He shall preserve your soul', Psalm 121 v 7 . In  Philippians  1 v 6,we read,'being confident of this,that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus'. God will finish what He started, He is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before His glorious presence without fault and with great joy. To the only wise God our Saviour be glory ,majesty,power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages,now and for evermore!Amen. (Jude 24-25)

Worthless no, Unworthy yes.( Romans 5 v 8)

I was praying and I said to God,'thank you for all I mean to you,words fail me to express what you mean to me'.You loved me when I didn't love you,and you continue to love me and treat me as a loving heavenly Father. Nothing I could do to deserve your great love ,I was the prodigal that went away from you,and  when I turned back to you ,you did not reject me,and turn me away,no ,you welcomed me back with open arms.  Many people could say what I  am saying,and say it more perfectly,how God  welcomed them home from their wanderings away from Him. The old hymn  says,'Though millions have come there's still room for one,there is room at the cross for you'.As long as this day of grace lasts there is always hope, there is a God who wants to restore you if you are a backslider,or if you are unsaved, to save you.If today you hear His voice don't harden your heart ,oh yes, God is speaking,remember you are not  worthless, God values you in your unworthy state,how much does He value you?.Well someone has said,We can never diminish  a person worth,for the King of Glory loves that person infinitely'.Look to the cross,look to the cross,see Jesus the sinless one,who left heaven to die on that cross,The hymn writer asks the question,'Alas! and did my Saviour bleed? 'And did my Saviour die? Would He devote that sacred head,for such a worm as I?. yes,Was it for sins that I had done,He groaned upon the tree?Amazing pity! grace unknown ! and love beyond degree!'

The Church. ( Hebrews 10 v 19 - 25 )

John Stott states the following,'Some people construct a Christianity which consists entirely of a personal relationship to Jesus Christ and has virtually nothing to do with Church. Others make a grudging concession to the need for church membership, but add that they have given up the ecclesiastical institution as hopeless'. In Ephesians 5 v 25 we read,'Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her'.Paul who  wrote those words writes in 2 Corinthians 11 of the great trials he had experienced,but then he adds,'Beside everything else,I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches'. Often those who leave the church are very critical of the church they have left,as they no longer identify with the Church.There are many people who stop meeting  with their local church,it is Philip Yancey who has written a book  called ,'Soul Survivor', He writes,'How my faith survived the Church'.We may have differences within the church but it does not give us the right to forsake the church.Jesus our Saviour tells the church  that He will not forsake them,so we should not forsake the Church in fact we are clearly told that we are not to give up meeting together (Hebrews 10 v25 ) We are all individuals, but we are all part of the body of Christ,the church needs us and we need the Church.  John Stott says three things about the church.

                                                 

                                             The church is central to history.

                                             The church is central to the gospel.

                                             The church is central to Christian living.