Look ( Luke 23 v 26 -43)

 Charles Hadden Spurgeon  was  born June 19 , 1834,he was born into a godly family,his grandfather,and father we're both ministers, so was he a Christian?. No he wasn't, when he was about fifty  he wrote ,'Grace does not run in the blood'.Everyone needs to trust Jesus as their Saviour, everyone ,yes even children. It wasn't until he was 16 that he became a Christian, he struggled against becoming a Christian, and then he struggled as how he could become a Christian,then by the grace of God things changed.One Sunday he was hindered from going to his fathers church,and he found himself in a Primitive Methodist Chapel were an unlearned Methodist rose to give a brief message on Isaiah 45 v22''Look unto to me and be ye saved,all the ends of the earth, for I am God and there is none else''. He addressed Spurgeon personally.to look to Christ and to obey the text....It wasn't a matter of lifting a finger,or a foot,or going to college or being rich,Look,Look,Look,the man said,look to Christ and live.'Spurgeon did just that and trusted Jesus as his Saviour.'

                                                 'Have you looked to Jesus to be your Saviour?'

Deep darkness ( Psalm 27 v1 )

                                                 'Who among you fears the Lord

                                                  and obeys the word of his servant?

                                                  Let the one who walks in the dark,

                                                  who has no light, trust in the name

                                                   of the Lord and rely on their God.'

                                                                 'Isaiah 50 v10'

The most godly people have experienced very dark times or as one person put it ,they find themselves in situations of '' deep darkness'',even to the point where ''not even a glimmer of light guides them''.William Cowper was a very lovely Christian,yet for most of his life he suffered from mental illness,(always remember it is an illness,so don't  judge Christians who are mentally ill') There was one period that lasted for 5 years without a glimmer of sunshine.But he wrote a hymn with the following words,' Sometimes a light surprises,the Christian when he sings; It is Lord who rises with healing in His wings; When comforts are declining,He grants the soul again, A season of clear shining,To cheer it after rain'.The book ,'The Hiding Place',tells the story of the Ten-boom family who were imprisoned for helping Jews, Corrie and Betsie were together during that time. All their possessions were taken from them,but Corrie managed to keep a Bible, in the midst of all their suffering  Corrie said,'The blacker the night around us grew,the brighter and truer and more beautiful burned the word of God'.

                                                  'May God's word sustain us in our 

                                                                darkest night'

                                         

The will of God. ( Romans 12 v1 - 2)

 A dear child of God became very ill to the point of death ,said 'that he had no fear of death,for Christ had died.but he prayed for recovery,if it was God's will'. When our dear Lord took that tremendous step to come from the glories of heaven to a sin cursed earth, it was to do the will of God,He would let nothing stand in the way of that,be it family, friends, foes,or whatever. He knew why he had come and He knew what it would cost him,yes the price He would have to pay, a death on cross,a shameful death,an horrendous death.Horrendous in the physical suffering,but it went much further than that ,He would 'drink the cup' the Father had given Him(  John 18 v11) what is our Lord referring to? we find the answer in the following scriptures ,Isaiah 51 v 18 , Jeremiah 25 v 15-28 , which speaks of a 'cup of wrath.' Consider that ever human being dwells under the wrath of God  (John 3 v 36) ,we all face the wrath of God when we die,hell is real,but in drinking that cup Christ would suffer the wrath of God,so that those who trust Jesus would escape God's wrath.All this was involved in Christ  doing the will of God,whatever you and I as Christians face,we must follow in the footsteps of our Saviour submitting  to the will of God,it may mean a recovery from illness,it may not,it may mean that God will open doors ,but it may not,we can apply it to so many areas of life.

                                        Jesus prayed,'Father ,if  you are willing,

                                        take this cup from Me; yet not my will,

                                        but yours be done'.

                                                        Luke 22 v 42

He knows best ( Psalm 47 v4)

 Our Lord said before He was taken back to heaven, 'You shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem,and in all Judea and Samaria and the ends of the earth' Acts 1 v 8.These words indicate a steady progression outward to the ends of earth,in other words the church would longer be a Jewish church.It is significant fot there were  those who felt that the Gentiles should have to be circumcised and obey the law,and this caused a lot of problems.(Acts 15 v 5 )In Galatians 2 v 11ff  Paul had to challenge Peter and Barnabas who sided with these people,and thankfully they retuned to the fold. Many Jews  wanted to keep the status quo to accept the fact that old convenant was now null and void,like circumcision,temple worship,food laws ,clothing laws, tithing laws,and so many other things.the Christian is not under any of these laws,The gospel liberated us from the Jewish swaddling clothes,and points us away from Jerusalem to a church where Jew and Gentile are one,a people saved only by the grace of God.Under Peter we have an ingathering of Jews 3-4v5,  under Philip we have ingathering of Samaraitans (Acts 8) ,and then we have Peter who  opened the door for the Gentiles (Acts 10) Then we have the conversion of Paul who became the apostle to the Gentiles (Romans 11 v13),and it is interesting that Peter is not mentioned after Acts 15 v 7, from then on he disappears,and as John Stott mentions Paul replaces Peter,and Paul who pushes on beyond Asia and into Europe.One the reasons  that this happened was , Paul who was born inTarsus a Roman city, was very familiar with Gentiles,God places us where  we are best suited to serve Him.

Total Depravity ( Roman 3 v 10 - 26)

 There are many people who are not Christians,in other religions,and in the secular world,who do good, this was borne in upon me as I watched a TV program.A retired top footballer is doing an awful lot to raise money for a certain charity,a young girl appeared on the show,who suffers greatly from a terrible condition,the ex-footballer had befriended her and helped her greatly.I was moved as I watched the program.,Now let me ask you a question, that I asked myself, are people like that lost? ,are they going to be excluded from heaven?, and will they be going to hell?.What is the answer?.From a human point of veiw many would say,if there is a heaven,they'll be there,but will they?.The answer is no ,for no matter how much good one does ,there is that other aspect of humanity,our sinful nature,you can't balance them against the other,God doesn't. He declares very clearly that there is no one who is righteous,and there is no one that does good,not even one ( Romans 3 v 10 /v 12) John Stott ,'mentions the doctrine of 'total depravity'It has never meant that all human beings are as depraved as they could possible be.Such a notion is manifestly absurd and untrue,and is contradicted by our everyday obervation.No,the 'totality' of our corruption refers to its extent,not to its degree.In other words as JS says ,'every part of our humanist,is twisted and tainted.'Dr J.I.Packer puts it like this,'No one is as bad as he or she might be, while on the other hand'no actions of ours is as good as it should be'.We all fall short of the glory of God, without Christ that short fall will take us to a lost eternity. If one is to be saved and go to heaven we must acknowledge our sinfulness,and throw ourselves on the mercy of a holy God.

Buried Treasure. ( Mark 10 v 17-23)

 You often hear of people finding treasure by using metal detectors,and one of my favourite stories is Treasure Island,written by Robert Louis Stevenson, every child should read Treasure Island.Well in the Bible our Saviour tells about someone who found treasure in a field.( Matthew 13 v44)But the field wasn't his ,so what did he do? he hid the treasure then sold all that he had and bought the field,and so the treasure became his. Was he ethically wrong in doing that?,no by Jewish law,the rabbis said,'If a man finds scattered money,it belongs  to the  finder'.Tell me what is the greatest treasure in all the world? Jesus ,the following scriptures describe Him as being king. ( Matt 2 v2/2v 15/ 27v 37/Rev 17v 14/ 19 v16) J.C.Ryle comments,'That the purpose of v44 and 45 is to stress of the importance of salvation  to the point that we are willing to give everything up to win Christ and eternal life, or you can put it like this,'that it's worth any sacrifice to enter God's kingdom'(W.Barclay)and to come under the authority of King Jesus.

                                                  'I'd rather have Jesus than silver or gold,

                                                   I'd rather be His than have riches untold;

                                                   I'd rather have Jesus than houses or lands,

                                                   I'd rather be led by His nail pierced hand.

                                                   Than to be a king of a vast domain,

                                                    And be held in sin's dread sway;

                                                    I'd rather have Jesus than anything,

                                                    This world affords today. ( Words Beverly Shea)

                                                

Witnessing. ( 1Peter 3 v15 )

 The times they are a changing, over my 80 years I have seen many changes,especially in relation to church atendance.Unlike years ago when the churches had two services on a Sunday,and a Sunday school in the afternoon,that has changed,most churches have one service on a Sunday, attended mainly by believers  ,but what about the unbelievers?.For they need to hear the gospel, they need Christ,that is the challenge to Christians everywhere to reach out to the unsaved. The Alpha course has been reasonally successful in reaching people with the gospel.But there is still a vast amount of people who are unreached with gospel, we all need to prayerfully ask God how we personally can  witness to people, if you  pray then be prepared for the answer to your prayer by God.If you know of an evangelist see if you can, invite them to your church, so you can get some ideas as to how to evangelise. Remember Jesus did not always speak to multitudes,he spoke to individuals,I can here some people say I would find that to hard, with God's help it can be done.One way which will help you to get talking to someone about Christ ,is to offer to pray for them, some may say no ,don't worry about that, move on to the next person. let us do what we can to reach others for Christ,things have changed  but people still need Christ that will never change.

An adventurous step of faith, ( Hebrews 11 v 8 )

 I read these words to by a writer on the book of Acts,'An adventurous step of faith', and indeed the book of Acts,is about people who took an advenurous step of faith .They didn't go to discover new lands but to establish a Kingdom different from all the kingdoms of this world,a spiritual kingdom called the Kingdom of God. For it to be established ,it would come at a cost,Paul and his fellow travellers, would suffer many hardships and difficulties,and many would pay with their lives,the list is endless it continues to this day. It often means going where others do not want to go,it means often moving out of your comfort ,read the lives of those of those who took that adventurous step of  faith,not just the biblical characters.David Livingston the Christian explorer mission, his wife died,he was attacked by a lion,suffered many illnesses,but was faithful to the gospel,and he died praying on His knees.Read the lives of so many servants of God not through tinted glasses,but what  often they had to endure.This adventurous step of faith is not a walk in the park but a walk with God,on a road less travelled.On that road your only security is God,that's the important thing,that is important thing for all of us called Christians,He is our only security,not our bank account,not our jobs or whatever.The life of following Christ is an adventurous step of faith,that means whatever it throws at us we must carry on,Have faith in Him,and you will find Him faithful,wherever we go He will be with us.Fanny Crosby  at 6wks became blind by a doctors using the wrong ointment, but she grew to be an amazingly independent person,but she wrote a hymn acknowledging her dependance on Christ,

                                                   'I must have the Saviour with me,

                                                    For I dare not walk alone.

                                                     I must feel His presence near me,

                                                     And His arms around me thrown.

                                                     Then my soul shall fear no ill,

                                                      Let Him lead me where He will,

                                                      I will go without a murmer,

                                                      And His footsteps follow still.'

                                                     

                                                    

He cares ( Hebrews 4 v14-16 )

During the second world war the cities in England were bombed, a few days into the Blitz  Churchill visited the docklands in the East End of London . 'Fires were still raging all over the place', some of the larger buildings were mere  skeletons,and many of the smaller house had been reduced to rubble.Churchill stopped at an aid -raid shelter where 40 people had been killed. Near by was a crowd of people,all seemingly very poor,one would have been resentful at what was happening and even blamed Churchill,but as he got out of the his car,they mobbed him,and were heard to cry,'Good old Winnie' they cried.' we thought you'd come and see us.We can take it.Give it'em back.' Churchill broke down,and some old lady was heard to say'You see,he really cares;he's crying'.Yes he cared,yes it is very touching when someone cares.The shortest verse in the  Bible reads,'He wept' (John 11 v 35) it is speaking of Jesus who stood outside the tomb of a dear friend who had died, why did He weep? because He cared, He showed His  care in the feeding of the hungry,the healing of the sick,and most of all His death on Calvary.He still cares us,and we are told in 1Peter 5 v7,to cast all our cares upon Him,for He cares for us '

                                                     'Does Jesus care when my way is dark

                                                      With a name-less dread and fear?

                                                      As the daylight fades into deep nightshades,

                                                      Does He care enough to be near?

                                                      O yes He cares; I know He cares, 

                                                      His heart is touched with my grief;

                                                      When the  days are weary,the long nights

                                                      dreary,I know my Saviour cares'.

We are secure if. ( Revelation19 v 6)

 It was Napoleon who said,'What a slender thread the greatest of things can hang by'I wonder why he said that?,it could have been as regards his last great battle were he was defeated at Waterloo.When victory seemed secured until Marshall Blucher came back to support Wellingtons army. There is proverb that goes,

                                                   'For want of a nail the shoe was lost,

                                                    For want of a shoe the horse was lost,

                                                    For want of a rider the message was lost,

                                                    For want of a message the battle was lost.'

                                                               'All for want of a nail.

It reminds us that a seemingly unimportat acts can have grave consequences, Leave God out of ones  life and what are we left with ,'silver threads',bring God into your life and one can proclaim that your times are in His hands,( Psalms 31 v 15)No man can pluck us out of His hands,when we trust Christ as Saviour then we are safe and secure.So let us look beyond Napoleon's 'slender thread',to our great  God and Saviour who has the whole world in His hands.'

Go. ( Romans 10 v 13- 15)

After the Sunday service at the church I attend,a number of us go out for meal, not just for a meal, but for a time of fellowship,and we usally all enjoy it.I arrived first at  the resturant ,and went to the table we were going to have our meal.There was a married couple there and I struck up a conversation with them and I witnessed to them for a short period,I could see that the lady was not interested,but I managed to briefly tell them about trusting Christ ,and left it at that,not entirely I have brought it to God in prayer.My experience in wittnessing to people is that not many are seeking after God, on the whole in our modern societies the words of Romans 3 v 11 are appropriate ,'that no one seeks after God'. Our Saviour said  that 'He had come to seek and to save',  (Luke 19 v 10 )and that is what we have to do,it is a challenge ,that we can't ignor. Remember we are dealing with fallen humanity no matter how nice they may appear,they are held captive by satan,they are lost and they don't even know it.Now think about it, that's the way you and I were,we are in a struggle for the souls of men,women,and young people. It is a life and death  situation that we are faced with,the barricades are up,they won't come down easily.We must pray,and witness faithfully,and not give up, it appears to me that I have been a sower,but that's important,hopefully there will be those who will reap what I have sown,and that the Lord will give the increase. Our dear Saviour said in Mark 16 v 15.

                                               'Go into all the world and preach the gospel'

Ask ( Matthew 6 v33)

 In the Matthew 6 v 11 we read,'Give us this day our daily bread', I remember many years ago my dear Pastor said that prayer was not for now,simply because in the West we have all we need . I didn't say anything to him, but I didn't agree with Him. For it is obivious that there are many people who have very little,and when my wife and I attended Bible college we had very little money,and often we had no food in the house,and that prayer was very appropiate,and God did answer our prayers.We are told that in Philippians 4 v19  that our God shall supply all our need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus'. Let's face it our needs may go further than a loaf of bread,we need to pay our mortgage or the rent, we need to run a car, maybe it needs repaired,we need to pay the energy bills,and so we could go on. We are told 'Ask , and it will be given to you',(Matthew 7 v7) that's the promise from God ,someone has written ''He will not renege on the promise'' He will definitely keep His word and will not go back on what he has promised'.Remember your heavenly Father knows all that you have need of, and we can be assured that God will undertake for us.One source may dry up,but God will supply our need from another source .( 1 Kings 17 v7 -9)

                                                        'Great is Thy faithfulness'

Selfishness ( Philippians 2 v 3 - 5 )

 Corrie-ten-Boom said,'Selfishness had a life of its own', I supposed most of us at times are selfish,it may be blatant,a certain politician said ,'it is my country first'.I understand the love of ones country,and the love of ones family, But as a Christian I know that we are not encouraged to be selfish,our Saviour said ,'Love your neighbour as yourself',(Mark 12 v 31) In Luke 17 v33 our Saviour also said,'Whoever tries to keep their life will lose it,and whoever loses their life will preserve it',one commentator said this,'If you prioritize your own self interest,above all else you will ultimately lose out'. Most dictators are self engrossed people,anyone whom they percieve as a threat,will be eliminated. I know of Christian minister who was called to a certain church,and in that church there was a godly man who was on the leadership of that church. He saw him as threat to his position ,he wasn't.Before that minister came to the church, that godly man could have been the leader of that church,but he turned it down,he was no threat to that minister.Yet that minister did everything he could to get rid of that man,the man eventually left. It reminds me of the words the apostle John wrote to a certain church ,' Diotrephes who loves to be first,will not welcome us'. ( 3John v 9)Eventually I believe God removed that minister, selfishness has its own reward .In Rom15 v 3 we read.

                                                     'Christ did not please Himself'

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Small things. ( Zechariah 4 v 10)

 Corrie ten Boom and her sister Betsie were in a Holocaust concentration campand the story is told how Corrie wanted a handkerchief,she told her sister.Well said Betsie we will pray about it,Corrie laughed at the idea of praying to God for a handkerchieh,but Betsie never the less prayed. A short time after this a lady who worked in the laundy,knocked on their hut,and said to them,that she had been making handkerchiehs out of old sheets,and she felt that Corrie would want one. There is nothing we can't pray to God about,God does not despise our small request,in fact I believe that He is pleased when we do.  Often I pray for a parking space,or were did I leave my glasses, or some other things.Some  people would say don't bother God with such trivia,oh He is too busy to be bothered with that,but not so.The verse of a song written by Cathy Viljoen wrote the folllowing.

                                                   ' Oh, He never will say I'm to busy today

                                                    Every tear,everycare, He's promised He will share.

                                                    And although He's the Lord of all glory.

                                                    Yet He's only a prayer away'

                                                          'Carry everything to God in prayer '

He is my Shepherd (Psalm 23)

 There are two scriptures that most people know, the first is the 23rd Psalm,and the Lord's prayer (Matthew 6 v9-13/Luke 11 v2 -4 ) The two start with  the relatonship that a saint has with God, in Psalm 23 v1 we read,'The Lord is my Shepherd',the Lord's prayer commences.'Our Father',becoming a Christian brings one into a wonderful close relationship,He is not a far of distant diety,unfeeling and uncaring.the 23rd Psalm highlights Davids confidence that all his needs will be provided,He will experience the Lord's refreshing and restoring care. He will guide him along right paths,bringing honour to His name.That the valley of death which he will  have to go through,will hold no fears,because the Lord will be with him.He will also know God's comfort and protection from his enemies ,for the Lord will  pour out His abundant care and provision upon him.He is assured that the Lord's goodness and mercy is life long. When his life is over he will go as Matthew Henry writes,' to a better country, where there are many mansions'. ( John 14 v 2)

                                                             'Jesus is that good Shepherd'

                                                                        John 10 v11.

The Giraffe Women ( John 14 v16 )

 The Giraffe women live in Myanmar and also live in  Thailand,when they are young they have brass coils put round their necks,and each year another one is added,and so gradually the neck is  stretched,hence the name Giraffe women.It is very detrimental to the body,it is very heavy,and can be very painful,the rings cannot be removed as it would lead to suffocation.It is banned in Myanmar but not in Thialand,They are mainly animists a belief that  plants rocks trees indeed everything is spiritual ,but some of these people have a little of Roman Catholicism in them.Some of them consult chicken bones as regards making decisions. In Romans 1 v 21-23 we read, 'of those whose minds became dark and confused.Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools. And instead of worshipping the glorious,ever living God.They worshiped idols made to look like mere people and birds and animals and reptiles'.It is very sad when one reads such things, John Stott writes 'That the culural  idolatry of the West is no better. To exchange the worship of the living God for the modern onbsession with wealth, fame and power is equally foolish and equally  blameworthy'. In Isaiah 45 v 21 we read,'There is no God apart from Me, a righteous God and a Saviour,there is none but Me'. Christ came ,because of humanities  darkness,the word of God tells us that they love darkness more that light,in fact they hate the light, and they sought to extinguish Him who is the light of the world,by klling Him on a cross.But praise God they didn't succeed, for He rose from the dead and lives to today in an endless life,and He declares.

                                                       'Whoever follows Me will not

                                                        walk in darkness, but will have

                                                        the light of life'

                                                                ( John 8 v 12)

                                                      

He implanted a song. ( 1Peter 1 v6-7)

Just think when Paul became a Christian he was told how much he would suffer by our Lord, (Acts 9 v16) I wonder how we would feel, if we knew that trusting Jesus would mean suffering ,would we want to become a Christian? Why are we surprised at this,our Saviour never promised any of us that we wouldn't suffer ,he said these words, ''Whoever wants to be my disciple must deney themselves and take up their cross and follow Me'' (Matthew 16 v24) There are many in this world who know that if they trusted  Jesus there would be a heavy cost ,we can name so many countries that is a grim reality. As regards Paul and his suffering,one has said,'Jesus sacrifice and suffered providing the way of salvation.Paul's will ensure the offer of salvation reaches the people'.  The apostle Paul during his life ,experienced a great deal of sufferring( 2 Corinthians 11 v 23-29) I want to highlight an occassion on which he suffered,we read it about in Acts 16,in the city of Philippi,Paul and Silas were arrested and severely flogged and then thrown into prison with their feet in the stocks.Then we read that at midnight they were praying and singing,they were not singing in the rain ,they were singing in their pain.They were singing praises to God ,what they did is a challenge to all of us,anyone can sing when the sun is shining bright, but what about when we are experencing pain and difficulties ,I will leave some words from the following  song.

                                       'There is never a night so dreary ,there is never a night so long

                                        But the soul that is trusting in Jesus,will somewhere find a song.

                                        There is never a care or burden,there's never a grief or a loss,

                                        But Jesus in love will lighten, when carried to the cross.

                                        Wonderful,wonderful,Jesus,In the heart He implanted a song,

                                         A song of deliverance, of courage of strength;

                                         In the heart He implanted a song.    ( Words Annie B. Russel)

The Kingdom of God. ( Matthew 6 v 10)

 I heard a person speak at a service on the Kingdom of God,and he defined it as being a party, I have given it a bit of thought to what he said,and I think it was a strange thing to say.There is a couple who attended the service and it didn't help them,they are still grieving the death of a son,to them I can assure you that descibing the Kingdom of God as having a party is very imbalanced.As indeed the prosperity gospel is  for it ignors the realtiy of what many Christians experience. I pray every day for many Christians who are suffering greatly,to describe the Kingdom of God as being a party, seems to me as being out of place,and insensitive.Of course our Saviour spoke of being blessed ( Matthew 5 v3-12),and 1Peter 1 v8 speaks of joy unspeakable and full of Glory.The blessedness comes because God's favour that rests upon us, the 'joy unspeaskable and full of Glory ( 1 Peter 1 v 8) comes from the fact that we have Christ, and all the blessings that brings to us . Betsie Ten Boom who died in a Nazi concentration camp ,said this before she died,'There is no pit so deep ,that God's love is not deeper'. I cannot honestly sing the words of a song 'Now I'm happy all the day', but I can say I am truly blest because of God's abiding presence with me,and that nothing can seperate me from His love'. 

                                                   ' For the Kingdom of God is not a matter

                                                     of eating and drinking,but of righteousness,

                                                     peace and joy in the Holy Spirit'.

                                                                 Romans 14 v 17.

Hope. ( Romasns 15 v 12 - 13)

During the 2nd world  war many people in the countries occupied by the Nazis listened to Churchill's broadcasts over the radio even though it was forbidden, and if they were caught ,the punishment was death. The reason being he could provide that one thing these tortured populations needed more than anything else;'hope'. Without hope you have only despair,I read recently that biggest killer of men under 50 in the UK is suicide,it seems to me that they are people who have lost hope. In a particular movie one of the character's said,' Hope is a good thing,maybe the best of things,and no good thing ever dies'. Of course there is false hope,I remember when I was young lad chasing the girls,and I arranged to this young girl, I waited hopefully at the arranged venue,but alas she never turned up, a false hope.On a more serious side many are building their eternal hopes on false hopes,I build my hope for eternity on Him who said He was the way ,the truth ,and the life,  His name is Jesus, He is not a false hope.And while I'm here on planet earth ,facing all the uncertainies that brings,that same Jesus is with me,and that brings into my heart a sweet message of hope.His words of hope bless me and encourage me in all the experiences of life.He will be our light in the darkness,our strength in our weakness,our helper in times of trouble,our guide on the pathway of life.

                                                     ' Jesus is a Rock in a weary land'

Kept from.(Genesis 20 v 6)

In Acts 16 v31 we read,'Believe in the Lord  Jesus, and you will be saved', the man who said this was the  Apostle Paul,formerly known as Saul. He was a very religious person and he really hated Christians to the point that he persecuted them and would have murdered them ( Acts 9 v1-3 /  22 v 3 ff/ 26 v 4ff).But this all changed  when on a journey to Damascus to arrest Christians ,he had a dramatic experience,Christ revealed Himself to him,and he became a Christian. Everyone's experience of becoming a Christian is different,not only that ,before they become a Christian they may not have been drunkards murderers, thieves,and so on,but of course they were still sinners and needed Christ,Their testimony may not be dramatic,but it is real,but they make think that they may not have much of testimony to give.I heard of a girl who was brought up in a Christian home and believed in Christ all her life.So at a large Christian gathering she gave her testimony,she had a paper in front of her and she started to read from it,praising God for preserving her from alcohol,and so followed a list of things that God had kept her from. Even in my own life I have been preserved from things that could have destroyed me.We all have  a testimony how God in His mercy saved us out of sin,but also how he saved us from sinning, both are valid evidence of God's saving grace .

No ( 1 Peter 1 v 15-16 )

 Winston Churchill  quoted Alexander the Great who remarked,'that the people of Asia were slaves because they had not learned to pronounce the word ,'No'. A song in musical has these words in it,'I'm just a girl who can't say no'.No is a very powerful word, which children often don't like, in supermarkets,you will hear a screech like a banshee, no its not, it comes from a child who has been told no,you can't have that.We can smile at that,but in the greater schemes of things ,saying no is very important for all of us to learn. People take to much on at times and have breakdowns because  of the pressure that they have put themselves under,or they have been put under.If only Eve had said no to the devil's temptation ,things for humanity would have been so different for all of us.It is interesting what Alexander the Great said that the people of Asia were slaves because they had not learned to say no ,for our dear Saviour said,' everyone who sins is a slave to sin'(John 8 v34 ) Christ told us that her he had come to set us free from the power of sin, that we should no longer be slaves of sin(Romans 6 v6 )Yes there will be times in which we will not say no to sin, because if we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves ( 1 John 1v8- 9)We will only be sinless when we get to heaven, but as John puts it 'No one who is born of God  will continue to sin'(1 Jn3 v6/9) we are not able to sin habitually,in other words  we don't walk in sin.

How much do we care? ( Matthew 12 v26)

So Jonah survived the belly of the fish experience,so God  speaks to him again,isn'it it amazing how patient God is with Jonah,and of course with all of us.Then God speaks ,'Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclam to it the message I gave you'. So off went Jonah, he walked through the city proclaiming 'f'orty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown'.And a wonderful thing happened in modern times it would be called the biggest revival of all time Nineveh repented,surely Jonah would have been praising God,but alas he wasn't,to the point that he asked God  to take his life.So he went of in an angry huff and sat down.Again we see the patients of God for He make a leafy plant to,to shade him from the sun.But God wasn't finished with him, for God caused the plant to die,the result  was the sun beat down upon him and God sent a scorching east wind to blow on Jonah who grew faint.The result was he wished to die.God challenged him as regards his anger. He pointed out to him that he had more concern for the plant, than the people and the animals in Nineveh. This brings a big challenge  to all of us,how much do we value the souls of  men and women,I read recently of a large leper colony in South Africa in the 19th century.Those who entered that colony were never allowed out again.Two Moravian missionaries entered knowing they would not return.As soon as they died others were prepared to go in their place. I share with you a prayer I read'

                                        'O Lord teach us the lostness of the lost,the hopelessness of 

                                         those without  Christ.  And enable us to go out and share in

                                         your work of redeeming for yourself a people .Amen'

                                         

                                        

Never to late. ( Isaiah 55 v 6-7)

What more can we say about Jonah,well if he had repented and did what God told him to do everything would have changed,but he didn't,that's all he had do. It appears that he was prepared to die rather change his ways, no one need to go to hell God has made a way for anyone to escape it,if they simply  repent of their sins and believe in Christ.We all have a choice,the question is, will we make the right choice?.Now consider Jonah he is in the belly of a great fish,yes he was still alive, humanly speaking his number was up, no one could save him,he was totally helpless. That's the place we have to come to if we are to be saved, we have to forget about our works ,our religious activities,the religious family that we were born into,or that we were a good father ,or a good mother,or even a good neighbour,none of that can save us,  salvation is of the Lord .So there was Jonah in the belly of a large fish, death was eminent,three days entombed in his slimley prison,but then he does something he should have done sooner,he prays a prayer of repentance. The result was God saved him,it is never to late to call upon God,there is verse that goes, 'Between the stirrup and the ground,I mercy sought ,and mercy found'. We will continue to look at Jonah next time.

The runaway.( 1 Samuel 15 v 22 - 23 ) 2

Last time we onsidered how Jonah looked for loopholes, and it appeared to that him he should run away from the Lord, here is a prophet ,surely he knew that one cannot get away from God.He knew  Psalms 139,in that Psalm David asks the question ,'Where can I go from your Spirit? and the answer was,its impossible to get away from God (v 8-12 ). There is an old song which goes,'I go to church on Sunday,the vows that I make ,I break them on Monday.The rest of the week I live as I please,come Sunday morning I'm down on my knees'.Often religion is confined to a church building.It may appear obivious that one cannot escape from God's presence, but that does not stop peopel acting as if you can,our parents did a Jonah when they sinned (Genesis 3 v 8) Jonah sought a hiding place from God, and in doing that he was putting himself in great danger,for he was being disobedient. God does not look kindly on disobedience.  Disobedience to God is a sin even if you are Christian, even if you are a man or woman after God's own heart,God makes no exceptions.The word of God says' be sure your sin will find you out' ,and one will suffer the consquences,as Jonah was to find out.Thinking of King David and his sins of adultery and murder,he must have thought he had got away with it,until that moment when the prophet declared,'You are the man.' a cold chill must have run down his spine.Think of the horror Jonah must have felt when he ended up in the belly of a great fish,Who knows where disobedience will lead us , but be assured it won't be pretty. We will cotinue next time looking  at the disobedient prophet.

Looking for loopholes.( Luke 14 v 15 - 23)

 There was a man who thought he could escape from doing God's will ,hoping that God would let him go his own way. Well it all began when God spoke very clearly to him as to what he wanted him to do ,it was simple but challenging he had to speak to a certain people,ah not just a certain people ,but a  people that were very wicked.He didn't appear to like them, in fact he may have hated them.Now this man knew his God and that knew He would forgive this people,if they forsook  their evil ways.God's like that.It appeared to that man that God was wrong,not only wrong but very wrong,if He let that people of the Hook,after all God is a just God ,one who hates evil,like those wicked people ,they should get what's coming to them,even if they repented.To that man it was beyond a joke what God was asking him to do,and although he didn't say anything to God,he was really thinking ,how can I get out this?,I don't want to do this,and its not right that should God should ask him do this,WC. Fields was a famous entertainer,and had many mistresses,he was ill in hospital and a friend visited him,and he saw that he was reading a Bible,and he asked him why was he reading a Bible,WC answered ,'I'm looking for loopholes'. the man whom God was speaking to ,was looking for loopholes, his name was Jonah.We are all a bit like Jonah, when God speaks to us to do something we don't like, we look for loopholes,like Moses we say,''Please send someone else'.! Well we will finish there , we may turn to it again tomorrow.

Prayer. ( 1 Chronicles 16 v 11 )

 Our pastors wife was in the process of being an hospital chaplin,I spoke to her about out it,and I said I would pray for her. On a later occasion I spoke to as to how she was getting on?,She said she had done to funeral services,and she further said that was finding it difficult,but then she said I remembered Billy was praying for me,and that helped her a lot.I was encouraged to hear that,and it was a reminder that when you know someone is praying for you it makes a difference,it is an encouragement. We can pray for people but  we can also pray with people,like the lady in our fellowship who is grieving over the lost of a son,and I prayed with her. I later visited her and her husband,and of course I talked with then ,and read God's word and prayed with them,and they wherever so thankful,and grateful. One of my sons and his wife spent time in Ibiza,leading a team who ministered to mainly young people ,what they usually did was to pray with them,and usually they responded. Dont ever think in a negative way as regards prayer,our dear Saviour encouraged us not to give up praying (Luke 18 v1 )There is much so to pray about ,people in your church need your prayers ,the district were God has placed you,there are so many people who need our prayers.It is not a pointless exercise,your prayers will make a difference,be assured of that.Alfred Tennyson wrote, ''Pray for my soul. More things are wrought by prayer,than the world dreams of. Wherefore let thy voice rise fot me day and night'. Someone wrote the following based on 2 Corinthians 10 v4.

                                    ''We use God's mighty weapons to knock down  

                                     the strongholds  of human reasoning  and to 

                                     destroy,false arguments.Prayer is the weapon''

                                        

What's in a name? (Revelation 5 v5 )

 My wife and I have just returned from seeing our 5th great grandchild, he is only 3 months old,a lovely little boy,his first name is Judah.I read once that at the time of John Calvin (who ministered in Geneva)  parents had to choose the names of their  children  from the OT,Jonny Cash used to sing a song about a man , whose father named him,Sue,he wasn't pleased. One of my friends said ,'Your family is growing like the children of Israel, and even using their names' .Judah was Leahs forth Child, she was married to Jacob, but she was not loved by her husband .(Genesis 29 v31),but God loved her  and he blessed her with six sons,and .and the name of one was Judah whose name means praise.One of the tribes of Israel was called after Judah ,and from that tribe came a great king called  David,and from that tribe  also was born a greater by far ,Jesus who is King of Kings.In Gen 49 v9 ,Jacob called Judah,'a lion cub' ,and the Lion of Judah is a  national  cultural symbol  of the nation of Israel.But in Revealation  5 v5 we read of 'The lion of the tribe of Judah,the root of David,has triumphed' ,yes He triumphed,for the lion of the tribe of Judah is none other than Jesus ,who won the victory over 'Sin ,Death,and Satan'

                                    'For the conquering Saviour shall break every chain,

                                     And give us the victory again and again'.

                                                   Words H.Q,Wilson.

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What if ? (Matthew 6 v 25-34)

 It is so easy to let fear take over our lives, one way in which we let that happen ,and I will  sum it up in this way,'What if ?'.We go on a journey and we think ,what if  the car breaks down?,what if we get a puncture?. If one was to go on a cruise we thing what if we get food poison,think of what if's when you decide to move home.or change jobs.Everyday you will think about the what if's,you may say to yourself .In the Tom Hanks movie''Bridge of Spies''.when he was asked the Soviet spy if He's not worried about his situation,the spy replies,''Would it help''.He essentially is saying worrying about the situation won't change the outcome.In  Matthew 6 v25ff our Saviour said the same thing,but he said more than that, what more did He say? He said 'Look at the birds of the air,they do not sow or reap,or store away in barnes,and yet your heavenly Father feeds them, are you not much more valuable than them .He adds something else, 'Do  not worry ,your heavenly Father knows your needs.He also adds this ,'Seek first His kingdom and His rightousness,and all these things will be given to you.'

                                                 'Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, 

                                                  For tomorrow will worry about itself.

                                                  Each day has enough trouble of its own;