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.

He will take care of you. ( Psalm 23)

 Often when preparing a word an old hymn comes flooding back to me,such was the case recently,I was  studying Psalm 37, a Psalm by David,it starts with these words,'Do not fret because of evildoers',the word fret has a meaning of anger , David was angry , displeased with wrongdoers.So what does he say we should do? bring God into the situation,God will deal with them. He also seeks to reassure the believers that God would look after them and provide for them and their families.Verse 25 reads,'I have been young and now I am old; Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken , or his descendants  begging bread.So I return to that hymn that came flooding back to me,words by C.D.Martin.

                               Be not dismayed what'er betide ,God will take care of you!

                               Beneath His wings of love abide,God will take care of you!

                               Though days of toil when heart doth fail, God will take care of you!

                               All you may need He will provide,God will take care of you!

                               Trust Him,and you will be satisfied,God will take care of you!

                               Lonely or sad,from friends apart,God will take care of you!

                               He will give peace to your aching heart,God will take care of you!

                               No matter what may be the test,God will take care of you!

                               Lean weary on upon His breast,God will take care of you!

Hoarded resources. ( James 4 v 6 )

A couple in the church I attend have just lost their son,he was in his forties,I have known the family for a long time.The thing a the lad Simon at an early age had to have a kidney transplant,was also a special needs person. So his parents had to give him a lot of care and at times that was challenging but they loved him dearly,the couple had a daughter,and she supported her parents as best she could.  I would just say that Simon held down a part time job for a number of years and even learned to drive a car,but he still needed a lot of looking after.This death will affect them for a long time, death has that effect on many people, loss of a loved one can be exceedingly heartbreaking, the question is how does one cope?,human resources can only go so far in helping. So what is the answer?, the grace of God,Romans 16 v 20. speaks of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.We are saved by God's grace,but it does not stop there, He grants us grace everyday.God granted Paul grace with his affliction,that meant the strength to endure it. In 2 Corinthians 12 v 9, we read these words ,'My grace is sufficient for you',yes for you,what ever trial you are going through,He will by His grace ,grant you the strength to help you through.Annie Johnson Flint wrote the following,'

                                      'He giveth more grace as our burdens grow greater,

                                       He sendeth more strength as our labours increase;

                                       To added afflictions He addeth His mercy,

                                       To multiplied trials He multiplies peace.

                                       When we have exhausted our store of endurance,

                                       When our strength has failed ere the day has half done,

                                        When we reach the end of our hoarded resources

                                         Our Father's full giving is only begun.'

                                        

                                                                

                                       

                              

He makes all the difference.( Romans 8 v 31 - 39 )

 Writing on  Psalm 44 Scroggie  declares ,'Deity makes all the difference in a difficulty',just  think that as we face today we are not on our own.As Moses faced the challenge of leading Israel God assured him that His presence would go with them. ( Exodus 33 v 14).When David faced  Goliath,he declared the Lord was with him (1 Samuel 17 v 46.When Paul was a prisoner he tells us that everyone deserted him but then he adds,'But the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength', the Lord was with him. (2 Timothy 4 v16 -17)The Lord being with them made a difference to them ,and it will make a difference to us,one could say they were special people,so they received preferential treatment, not so,their status is our status we are children of God .The Lord is with us as He was with them, oh yes they had greater gifts than us,God used them in mighty ways,but that does not make us nobodies or inferior in God's eyes.Everyday we can rejoice that God is with  us, and means everything,you and I are the apple of God's eye.So let us be strong and courageous, let us not be afraid,let us not be discouraged,never forget that the Lord is with us wherever we go.( Joshua1v9.)

                                           'Behold what manner of love the

                                            Father has bestowed on us, that

                                            we should be called children of

                                            God.' (1 John3 v 1)

                                               

 

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Amazing. (Ephesians 2 v 8)

 There is one song I never get tired of hearing, its a song that touches many people,more than we realise, its 'Amazing Grace',written by John Newton,He wrote it out of his own experience ,he lived a very sinful life,and was bought to his senses by God,in the midst of a storm,when all seemed lost,it appeared a watery grave awaited him,and in desperation he cried unto God,and was delivered,not only from  dying but without Christ and going to a lost eternity. Just before he died,a friend saw that he was struggling to say something,He leaned over to catch it,this is what he said,''My memory is almost gone, but I remember two things'',he whispered,feebly. ''That I am great sinner''. He paused to summon up his last breath, before finishing the sentence, .... And Christ is a great Saviour!'' Every believer can identify with John's experience, because we are all sinners ,and we all have a great Saviour, and we have all experienced the amazing grace of God.

                                               'Amazing grace ! how sweet the sound

                                                That saved a wretch like me!

                                                 I once was lost,but now am found;

                                                 Was blind but now I see.'

                                                             John Newton

He will answer. ( Isaiah 30 v19 )

 In Psalm 65 v 2 we read ' O you who hear prayer',the NIV puts it this way,'You who answers prayer', no problem they compliment each other, CP 1 John 5 v 14-15.Scoggie writes ,'God heads and answers prayer,whether it be the silent supplication,or the vocal  vow'.Take confidence from these words, God does answer prayer,so pray believing,trust Him as regards that problem,that need ,that decision, whatever, Isaiah 65 v 24 ,reads,'Before they call I will answer, while they are still speaking I will hear', Matthew Henry writes,'God will anticipate their prayers with the blessings of His goodness' .He may also delay ,we cannot dictate to God,but rest assured He will answer,in His time.William Cowper wrote the following.

                               'What various hindrances we meet in coming to the mercy seat!

                                Yet who that knows the worth of prayer, but wishes to be often there.

                                 Prayer makes the darkened cloud withdraw; prayer climbs the ladder

                                 Jacob saw;

                                 Gives exercise to faith and love,brings every blessing from above;

                                 Restraining prayer,we cease to fight;prayer makes the Christians 

                                  armour bright;

                                  And Satan trembles when he sees,the weakest saint upon his knees;

Two Extremes. ( Matthew 1 v 21- 22)

When I think of God and humanity I see two extremes,in Psalm  8  David asks this question,'When I consider the heavens  the work of your fingers,the moon and the stars,which you have set in place, what is  mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them .William Macdonald writes the following,'Relatively speaking,the planet earth is a speck of dust in the universe. If this is so,what is a single man perched upon this planet? Yet God is interested in every individual!He has a personal, intimate concern for every human being'.It is amazing to think that,yet it is true,these two extremes exist,on one hand you have the being of God and in the other hand you have  man. In Isaiah 40 v 18 we read,' With whom, then will you compare God?',the fact is there is no being that you compare with God ,no one.God in His fulness is beyond our power to comprehend,humanity in their foolishness make idols and say this my God,poor blind wretched creatures that we are.God's ways are past finding out,His thoughts are beyond our thoughts.No wonder the Psalmist declares ,'What is human kind that you are mindful of Him?,but He is,that's the wonderful thing He is mindful of humanity, and that means you and me,it was Hagar who declared ,'You are the God who sees me'.(Gen 16 v 13).He has not forsake humanity, even though humanity has forsaken Him.(Romans 3 v 11-12).Our dear Lord Jesus who is truly God and truly Man came into this world to seek and save you and me,but there was at a great cost ,that involved Him dying on a cross that our sins might be forgiven,that's a great mystery . In that act on Calvary He was declaring,that He not only sees us,and cares for us,He loves us personally.

Forgive .( Matthew 5 v 43 -48/ 6 v14- 15)

 An awful lot of terrible things can happen in life,to awful to even contemplate,and yet it happens,and yet we are told to forgive.Every day people pray the Lord's prayer,possible not really thinking about what they are saying especially when they come to the words,'Forgive us our sins,for we also forgive everyone who sins against us.'  ( Luke 11 v 4).It is easy for all of us to say those words,but to put them into practice that's another matter,we have examples in the the Bible of people doing terrible things,an example of that is in  the life of Joseph. His brothers hated him to the point that they wanted to kill him,they were serious about it,he was the  favourite son of Jacob,it is very worth while to read the life of Joseph .( Genesis 37 -50)You may know the story. His brothers did him wrong didn't kill they sold him into slavery,that was bad enough but his troubles did not stop there a wicked woman accused him of trying to rape her,she was angry that he had rejected her advances,so he was wrongfully imprisoned,.At no point do we  hear Joseph crying out for vengeance.Instead  when it was in his  power to punish these people he forgave them.Of  course  the greatest example of  forgiveness is shown by Christ whom we  crucified.And yet in the midst of all that awfulness we hear our Saviour saying,'Father forgive them,for they do not know what they were doing'. (Luke 23 v34 ) One person has said the following,' Others may have in their hearts the unforgiving spirit; others may sin in ignorance; but we know better; we are Christ's men and women; and we must forgive as He forgave'.

None righteous . ( Jeremiah 23 v 6/ 33 v16 )

 In the epistle to the Romans chap 3, Paul writes as regards receiving the righteousness of Christ, let me just explain what that  means,in Isaiah 64v 6,we read ,'But we are all as unclean thing,and all our righteous deeds are as filthy rags'.There is nothing we can do to make ourselves righteous in God's sight,no matter what we do in our unsaved state,it will never make us righteous in God's sight, we will always be unclean like the leper of old. Why?, because all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, that includes the Jew and Gentile.v 22, in Gods sight there is no difference.So God does something wonderful when we trust Jesus as our Saviour He imparts Christ righteousness to us. The hymn writer sums it up like this,

                                                    'Jesus ,Thy  blood and righteousness

                                                     My beauty are,my glorious dress;

                                                     Midst flaming worlds,in these arrayed,

                                                     With joy shall I lift up my head.'

Failed ( 1 Corinthians 3 v 10 - 15 )

 I was preaching recently , I had prepared as much as I could,but when I went to preach there was a moment when I lost my way a bit.No one appeared to notice it and they said  how much they appreciated  what I had said,but somehow their nice words did not change how I felt, I had failed and I confess I was discouraged.Of course the biggest critic of ones preaching is oneself,as I have said,I did all I could in preparation and prayed to God to bless my ministry. So often we loose the plot we forget that the bread and fish that fed the thousands,had first to be broken.God can take our brokenness,what we may think is a failure God can bless it.I am sure it will be a surprise to us on that day when what we have done will be evaluated,what will be burnt up and what will remain.It will not be what I think,or what others think,but what God thinks, He will test the quality of what we have done, so I rebuke myself,and leave him to judge the worth of what I have done.. I'm conscious that people may think I am talking about salvation by works,I'm not,works have no part in our salvation  (Ephesians 2 v 8-9),it is the finished work on Christ that saves us.The works are a vital evidence that we are saved,and seemingly those works that we have mentioned,  that stands God's test will receive a reward. ( 1 Corinthians 3 v 14)