True love. ( 1 Corinthians 15 v 3)

There must be so many people who don't know what love is,there are many  reasons for that,for some love means lust,for others it means possessions,power and so many other things.But they never really get into the meaning of true love.It is in 1 John 3 v16,we read of such love in it's fullness, here is what it says,'This is how we know what love is: Jesus laid down His life for us.'Let us consider true love, where do we find true love?,the answer is ,the God who is love  ( 1 John 4 v 8) ,what proof have we of that ?,It is the same John that tells us,'This is how we know what love is:Jesus Christ laid down His life for us,' (1 John 3 v16) that laying down of his life meant death on a cross,the crulety of such a death was terrible ,even before he got to the cross he experienced brute savagery from His captors. Isaiah describes His appearance  on the cross,' His appearance was so disfigured beyond any human being and His form marred beyond human likeness' ( Iaaiah 52 v 14)This was cruelty beyond cruelty, but it did not stop there,He knew what was going to happen next, it would be a suffering more severe than his terrible phyisical suffering,for we read,' It was the Lord's will to crush Him and cause Him to suffer . (Isa 53 v 10)The verse goes on to tell us that it was an offering for sin,whose sin? our sin,why ? because of love,a love that says I will suffer for their sins, that those who trust in me ,will not go to hell but go to heaven , now thats true love.

                                                     'It was for me my Saviour died

                                                      On Calvary's cross was crucifled'

                                                                Words S.L.Long.

                                                               

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Blindness ( Luke 4 v 18- 19)

It was John Newton who wrote the words ,'I once was blind but I now I see',I was speaking to two Jw's recently.I get frustrated talking to them,So this is what I said to them ,'When I say,'And the word was God' (John 1 v1),they reply ,'it doesn't mean that.' When I say Jesus is the mighty God,(Isaiah9 v6) they  reply,'it doesn't mean that'. When I say,'He was equal with God,they reply.,'It doesnt mean that'.When I say ,'For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, (Colossians 1 v 19)they reply,'It doesn't mean that'.When I repeat what Thomas said ,'My Lord and my God,(John 20 v28) they reply ,'it doesn't mean that'.You get the picture,why do they not see the truth of those words?. The reason is they are blind spiritually,and what I say as regards the Jw's,applies also to the Jews.(Romans 11 v 25),in fact it can be applied to every human being (2 Corinthians 4 v4) Along with that blindness the unsaved have a nature that is sinfull,willfull,as one has put it,'There is none so blind, as those who will not see'.  John Newton wrote of experiencing the amazing grace, that changed everything.

                                                      'Long my imprisoned  spirit lay

                                                    Fast bound in sin and natures night;

                                                    Thine eyes  diffused a quickening ray,

                                                    I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;

                                                    My chains fell off, my heart was free;

                                                     I rose,went forth,and followed Thee.'

                                                                       Charles Wesley

God's chosen (1 Corinthians 1 v 26 - 31)

It sometime appears that when a big personality shows interest in Christianity that we make a lot of it, but should we?,the answer is no.Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners,Christianity is not a personality cult.There are people who have a following ,and we hold them up as more special than others but are they,no.Many in the church at Corinth  had as one writer says taken their eyes of Christ,and began focusing on personalities,and Paul had to challenge that. Of course we honour those who should be  honoured,but lets not go beyond that.In God's eyes  we are all the same,sinners,and we will receive no preferential treatment from God. Those we consider the best of men,are imperfect,let us never forget that, and let us keep our eyes on Jesus.I know of two very well known personalites,one a best selling Christian author,and yet he denied that Christ was God.The other was a well known authour ,wrote some books,and yet denied the virgin birth.Paul in his effort to challenge the personality cult,wrote the following as regards those who were following Paul,or Apollos,that they were mere human beings,only servants.(1Corinthians3 v 4-5) I read the following,a well know minister ,was asked did he know C.S,Lewis,he replied he did,and the person said can I touch you ,don't put people on a pedestal,they may fall off it.

Our chief end. (John 17 v1 -5 )

 I read the following in ,'Word for Today' one of my devotional readings ,'There is a story about an American tourist's visit to the home of a nineteenth-century Polish rabbi. The tourist was surprised to find it sosparsely and inexpensively furnished. The living area ,a simple room lined with books,contained a table an a bench. When the tourist asked the rabbi,'Where's all your furniture? he replied, 'Where's yours? The man asked,'What do you mean?' I'm a visitor I'm just passing through.' 'Me too!' replied the rabbi This world is not my home,I'm just a passing through', so goes the old gospel song,and of course it's true,Moses the man of God wrote the following,' Our days may come to seventy years,or eighty,if our strength endures;yet  the best of them our trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass,and we fly away'. (Psalm 90 v9-10) Yes life is very brief ,and yet we over focus on it, life is precious,it is a gift from God,and during our brief time here, what should be our aim?,The Westminsters Shorter Catechism tells us that our chief end should be to glorify God,and to enjoy Him for ever',yes we were created to bring glory to God.Our  Saviour's life was short, but everyday of his life He glorified God.(John 17 v 4)In His death the glory of God was manifested in it's fullness.

                                                          'Jesus said follow thou me'

The wrath of God. ( Luke 16 v23)

I have a book about Heaven and Hell written by Bruce Milne its in ,'The Bible Speaks Today' series. I have read part of it and am puzzeled why he quoated a writer,who said we would have sex in heaven,when Jesus taught ,that in the resurrection we will not marry , or be given in marriage,but we will be like the angels.  (Matthew 22 v 30-31) Now lets move on from that and let us consider hell,I beleive in hell,I know its a difficult subject to bring up,but one must be faithful to what the scripture says. It is a painful subject to consider or even preach on,and that's why many  avoid even mention it in their sermons. There are many references in the Bible that speaks of the unsaved  eternal destiny,and none of them  are  very nice,in fact they are awful.We cannot  eradicate ,deny ,or ignor these scriptures ,there are many reasons that we may want to,when we think of are unsaved loved ones.Or we consider some nice people we know. We must put sentiment out of our minds,also flawed human reasoning .People may say that God is a monster,He's not,for God is love(1 John 4 v 8),but as John Stott says ,'it is a holy love.' Here are some scriptures as regard the wrath of God  ( Psam 9 v17/ John 3 v36/  Romans 1 v18 /Revelation  6 v 16-17/,I will mention also scriptures as regards Hell.(Psalm 9 v17/ Daniel22 v2/ Matthew 13 v 42/ 25v 41/ Luke 16 v23/ Revelation21 v8'.If you are not saved,take these scriptures seriously,and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved (Acts 16 v31)

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The holy Spirit. (Matthew 28 v18 - 19)

 As Christians we do not have temples to worship in,why?,because we are a temple in which the Holy Spirit dwells,yes these bodies of ours,are temples.The apostle wrote 'Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives among you.' (1Corinthians3 v16 ) In 1Corinthians 12 v13 we read,'For we were all bapised by one Spirit so as to form one body whether Jews or Gentiles,slave or free and we were all given one Spirit to drink'. This has nothing to do with water baptism ,rather it is that  spiritual experience that occurs whan a person accepts Jesus as their Lord and Saviour. Consider the all incllusiveness  what Paul writes there is no hint of an elitist group.The Pentecostal or the Charismatic movement,make Christians feel inferior they say they don't have the Holy Spirit.You cannot be a Christian without the Holy Spirit,it is the Spirit himself who bears witness with our spirit that we are God's children,the fact is ,'if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ' (Romans 8 v 9)So the Holy Spirit dwells in all God's children.Just a footnote the Holy Spirit is not just an influence, I read the following,'He is fully God,and described in scripture as possessing personal attributes like intellect, will, emotions,enabling Him to teach,comfort,guide,empowering followers with spiritual gifts for preaching Christ,and convicting the world of sin'.

Remembering John ( Acts 11 v 24)

In July  14/2025  John Macarthur died aged 86, he was a very godly man, I have a number of his books,he was a man of the word,a  man of Christian character, In Hebrews 11 v 4 we read  ,'And by faith Abel speaks,even though he is dead',that's the testimony that John leaves behind, yes he's  dead,but he continues to speak to us,though his literature,videos,and in our memories. Proverbs 10 v7 reads,'The memory of the righteous is blessed,' so true ,this applies not only to John Macarthur,but to all godly men ,and women,if you have had a godly parent, or a godly friend,their memory is blessed,and you thank God for them,we will never forget them.'.John was a watchman,sounding out a warning to God's people, to stay faithful to His word,He warned us as regards the errors being proclaimed by false prophets and preachers,sad to say there are many of them,millons of people are being led astray by them, our Saviour called them 'thieves and robbers.(John 10 v 1)I would call them soul murderers for that's what they are,clouds without rain,I will finish in the words of of our Lord in Revelation 14 v 13.

                                                Then I heard a voice from heaven say,Write this:

                                                Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from 

                                                now on.' Yes ', says thev Spirit,'they will rest 

                                                From their labour,for their deeds will follow them.'

Learn ( Luke 15 v11ff)

After Solomon died his son Rehoboam reigned,but he lacked the wisdom of Solomon,the result was the nation split in two,ten tribes became known as the northern kingdom,the other two became known as the southern kingdom . It was not long before the northern kingdom deteriorated spiritually.It reached it's pinnacle under king Hosea,in 2 Kings 17v16ff ,we read that they forsook  all the commands of the Lord' They committed idolatry,and worshipped the starry hosts,and sacrificed their children  in the fire,and many other things.The result was God sent the army of Assyria against then defeating them and taken them into exile, so all that was left was Judah. Spiritually they also declinded and ,they would suffer the same fate as the northern kingdom,when God sent the army of  Babylon against them.(2 Kings 25). It leaves me asking questions,why did they not learn a lesson from their own history?,but they never did.I  watched a video on Utube  as regards John Wayne,it talked about his finance.and how he left it in the hands of someone he trusted,but he made a mess of it,and lost a lot of money.He did the same again,trusting a family member,and the same happened again,but then the penny dropped ,and he started to manage his own affairs,and that went well he learned from his mistakes Judah didn't ,time and time again they repeated the same old folly.Let us all learn from the mistakes we have made in our history,and stop making the same mistakes again and again.In my early life I went away from Christ a number of times,and I suffered,it took me a long time to realise there are no advantages in walking away from Jesus,again and again.

Be discerning. ( Acts 20 v 25 -31)

 In ancient Rome when people were being tried for a crime they didn't have lawyers to defend themselves ,they had orators ,and one of the greatest of them was Cicero.By their elegance of speech rather than by evidence they sought to sway the senate ,even though they were guilty.Think of Hitler people were captivated by what he said,even though what he said was lies.Lets now consider,those we could call men of the cloth in other words Christian ministers,I think of two,who will remain nameless ,one  captivated people by what he wrote the other by his speech.Both of them were found wanting in relation to truth they both denied the divinty of Christ and threw doubt on the virgin birth.One of them denied Christ's  resurrection,and basically preached a social gospel,never mentioning the true gospel,that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners I was fooled by both of them as were many,and indeed many people still are,even though they are both dead. Most of them would be offended and angry if I said their names,I write this as a warning to all believers,be on your guard no matter how eloquent the preacher  may be,if they don't speak the truth as regards  Christ and all the truths concerning Him, it may be time that you changed your church.

Hallowed be Thy name. ( 1Samuel 2 v30)

I would to share some thoughts by another Puritan Thomas Watson,from his book on the Lords prayer. He is writing on Romans 14 v 8,which reads ,'If we live,we live to the Lord,and if we die,we die to the Lord,' It  will be great comfort to us when we die if we have hallowed God's name in our life; (Hallowed to honour  or to dedicate ) if  we have loved Him with our hearts,praised Him with our lips,and honoured Him with our lives(Eph 1 v6) At the hour of death,all your eartly comforts will vanish, and thinking of riches or pleasures you have enjoyed will not give you one ounce of comfort. Ah , but to have a conscience  witnessing that you have hallowed God's name, what a sweet peace and satisfaction this will give! How sweet will death be when they who have spent their lives honouring God, shall receive their reward! Abraham honoured God  by his faith, Moses by his meekness,David by his zeal,and Paul for his love of Christ'

                                                       ' I give you all the honour

                                                        And praise that's due Your name,

                                                        For you are the King of glory,

                                                        The Creator of all things'

                                                              Words Carl Tuttle

God's will. ( Romans 12 v1-2)

I would like share a few thoughts by Thomas Watson a Puritian. Writing on Ephesians 6 v6 ,'Doing the will of God from the heart,'The manner in which we do God's will is as important as the thing itself. Many do God's will by halves.They pick and choose .....it was a hard service for Abraham to sacrifice his son,and though he surely did not feel present joy, he obeyed,because God commanded it. The command, not comfort, is the ground of duty.Secondly, we obey sincerely when we do God's will with a pure eye for His  glory.The Pharisees obeyed for vain glory. He that does God's will rightly desires God's honour to be lifted up in all the world rather than his own glory.A gracious soul makes God his focus and obeys his commands with a pure motive of lifting up His glory'.

              

                                                   'I delight to do Your will, O my God.'

                                                                   ' Psalm 40 v 8.'

Total forgivness ( Isaiah 1 v18)

 I'm sure we have all stained our clothes,and we have tried everything to remove it,but to no avail, we may be annoyed,and despose of the  stained clothes.But let us consider another  type of stain, that we cannot remove ourselves,the stain of sin.We all carry that stain because we sin,a lot of people would not agree with that,but there are none of us lily white. Let us look at a wonderful  verse from Isaiah 1 v18,which reads,'Come now , and let us reason together.Says the Lord,''Though  your sins are like scarlet  ,They shall be as white snow;  Though they are red like crimson,They shall be as wool'.These words use the imagery of  scarlet and crimson,to emphasise the most extreme sinful state,but it goes on to tell us that we can know complete forgivness because Christ shed His blood  on the cross,that means that we can be cleansed from all our sins .1 John 1 v 7 tells us that the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin'. Alex Nifong wrote the following,

                                                          'I hear Thy welcome voice

                                                          That calls me, Lord to Thee,

                                                           For cleansing in Thy precious blood

                                                           That flowed from Calvary.

                                                                 I am coming , Lord!

                                                                 Coming now to Thee!

                                                         Wash me, cleanse me,in the blood   

                                                                That flowed from Calvary  '

                                                           

                                                       

                                                       

                                                       

                                                 

A watchman. ( Ezekiel 3 v16 - 19)

 Ezekiel was with the Judean exiles in Babylon,he was a priest,but also a prophet, the people in exile needed a prophet,a prophet is someone whom God will speak through.There were false prophets in those days and  there are many false prophets in these days,the prophets in the Bible were unique,for the words they proclaimed,were the actual words of God.What was their role? in Ezekiel 3 v 17 ,God speaks to him, this is what He said,''Son of man,I have appointed you as a watchman for Israel,'' it wasn't a self appointed role it was a divine appointment,It is important that whatever role God appoints us to,we keep within that,and be faithful. he was to speak what God told him to speak,and he had speak it immediately to the people. We may not be prophets,but God has given those who minister the responsibility to speak God's.,without fear or favour.The unsaved have to be warned as regards sin and its consequences,we must not shy away from that,if we do ,we will be held accountable.Ezekiel is given a very strong warning as to his responsibility,he is told, 'If you do not warn them,they will die in their sins.....and I will hold you responsible for their deaths'. There is given is to all Christians a degree of responsibility,to be witnesses for Jesus,but those who are called to minister will as James 3 v 1 tells us , they will be judged more strictly.

He is faithful ( John 21 v15 ff)

In one of my commentaries I read,'God himself needs to be reminded to act to save his people'. I must say  I found those words very strange .We must remind ourselves that God does not forget anything,especially in relation to His chidren. We must not take God for granted,assuming that we do not need to call on Him,in fact we do. because God is sovereign it does not mean that we leave God out our lives,we are to act in a responible way,we must not be selective in seeking God's help, we must acknowledge God in all our way's.  (Proverbs 3 v 6) We must lean heavy on our God ,and seek Him contiually,this will please God, He does not need to be reminded,but He desires that we his children would remember, that we are always depending on Him,and He is not to be shut out.We must not be like Samson who sought to fight his enemies,not realising  that God had temporary withdrawn from him .God does not need to be reminded ,but He does remind  His children to stay close to Him,and to be obedient to Him,alas we forget so soon and wander away from Him. Yes we do wander away in our foolishnes,but thankfully He will not forsake us.God will take action, the hymn writer describes it like this,'When I would wander from the path astray,then He will draw me back into the way'. Yes we might be unfaithful ,but He remains faithful.2 Timothy 2 v13.

A miraculous birth.( Luke 1 v 37)

When Mary was told she was going to have a baby ,she asked the question,''But how can this happen? I am a virgin.'' The virgin birth is something that many people find hard to believe.William Barclay does his best  to undermind it,likewise Malcolm Muggeridge they both squirm trying to make it a a normal birth. Both ignor what Mary said,'I am a virgin.'Luke 1 v 34', if we do  not accept what Mary said, we are calling Mary a liar,also they are calling Luke a liar,yet he was a doctor,as one person comments,'It would have been just as hard for him to believe in a virgin birth as it is for us,yet he reports it as fact'Not only that they are denying what Isaiah declared,'Behold a virgin shall conceive,and bear a son,and they shall call his his name Immanuel. Isaiah 7 v14. the whole context  would rule out  'a young woman ',it was a sign,  a miraculous sign, and it is confimed by what Mary said.To deney the virgin birth we are denying the word of God,the word of God is full of miraculous signs, it had to be a virgin birth,if Joseph had been his father ,his fallen nature would have been passed unto Jesus,'Romans 5v 12'. One writer comments,  'Christians  and Jews, who worship God as the Creator of the universe, should have no doubts  that God has the power to create  a child in a virgin's womb'.

This holy God, ( Colossians 1 v 21-22)

 In 1 Samuel  6 v 20 ,we read, Who can stand in the presence of the Lord,this holy God?.' These  words were spoken  at the time the when the ark of the Lord had  returned from the land of the Philistines,it stayed in Beth Shemesh.During its time there  some of the inhabitants looked into the ark and perished for  in Numbers 4 v20 we are told people were not allowed to touch or look at the holy things that  would go into the sanctuary,only the Levites were allowed to carry  the ark. It is a reminder to us all that God is holy,. the  holiness of God refers to the absolute moral purity of God  and the absolute moral  distance  between God and His human creatures'.In Exodus 33 v23 ,God told Moses that he could not see His  face and live . God is spirit, and does not have a phyisical body,but He relates to us in a way that we can understand and communicate with  Him.In our sinful condition our sins are a barrier between us and God, which means we are locked out from a Holy God,and can never go to heaven,and for all eternity we  will be in hell.But through faith in Christ and His atoning death,all that is changed

                                                   'A mind at perfect peace with God:

                                                   Oh, what a word is this!

                                                   A sinner reconciled through blood:

                                                   This,this indeed is peace.

                                                   So near,so very near to God,

                                                   I cannot nearer be;

                                                   For in the person of His Son,

                                                    I am as near as He. ( Words  Catesby Paget)

 

Don't be fooled by a false gospel. ( Galatians 1v 6-12)

 Habakkuk the prophet was crying unto God  as regards awful wickedness  that was abounding,and it appeared  to him that God was not doing anything about it.(1 v1-4).Then God does speak,He is going to do something that was unbelievable,God was going to raise up a cruel violent,nation ,who  would conquer Judah, and all that would involve, that nation was Babylon .This was not the answer that Habakkuk wanted,why would God use such a wicked idolatrous people to inflict such pain upon His people?.As a minister who has preached God's from the pulpit,personal witnessing,and through my writings, I have to tell people  what they don't want to hear,that is part of my responsibility. .On YouTube I see those who speak to mega gatherings of people,they are speaking a gospel which is not a gospel.it is called the prosperity gospel.it promises financial prosperity and physical health.Many thousands and thousands of people,flock to their gathering,and many millions follow these charlatans on TV.These mulitude don't want to hear the true gospel ,they don't want to hear of a Saviour,who came to save sinners,a Saviour who came to save sinners from going to hell ,and  says to all who trust Him ,deney yourselves and take up your cross and follw me.

                                               

Three things ( 1 John 2 v 15 -17) 2

 Lets consider further what John in his epistle wrote ,as regards not loving the world and indeed anything in the world (1 John 2 v15ff) So what is John saying? first of all he is not rubbishing the world, the hymn  writer wrote ,Of the beauty of the earth',there are many things that are beautiful. It is C.H.Dodd who says  John is speaking in a moral sense,he writes,Our author means human society in so far as it is organized on wrong principles,and characterized by base desires,false values,and egoism'.So John goes on to highlight three things that fallen humanity manifests,'The lust of the flesh/ The lust of the eyes/ The pride of life'. The lust of the flesh includes many things, one writer puts it like this,'a gratification of  worldly,earthly, and material desires'.The lust of the eyes,so much enters through the eye gate that in snares us, it takes just one look,lust is as good a word as any to describe mankinds fallen humanity. Then last but not least ,the pride of life,it manifest itself in so many ways,from  sport ,money ,power,oneself,These three things are not just occasional things,but lives that are given over to them. Verse 17 tells us two things,'The world and its desires will pass away,and then what? John tells us,'that whoever does the will of God lives for ever'.

Stranger in paradise ( Colossians 3 v1 - 2) 1

 There's an old song which had the following words in it,'Take my hand I'm a stranger in paradise',it's not a spiritual song,but I see a spiritual application in these words.I believe padadise and heaven are the same place.The dying thief was  assured that very day he would be with Jesus in paradise,although Jesus had not acended into heaven He was there in His diety.In 2 Corinthians 12 v4, Paul declares' that he was caught up into paradise',again I believe that is heaven he is talking about.The fact is, all true believers will go to paradise/heaven ,when we leave this mortal coil.and we will not  be strangers in paradise.But as regards this world the saints of old confessed,that they were strangers and pilgrims on earth (Hebrews 11v13). While we are on this planet earth we will never be at ease,because it is a fallen planet,the earths values are not the child of God's values,in a sense everything has been affected by sin,we must always be on our guard .It is James who writes,'Friendship with the world is enmity with God (4 V4),in John 2 v15-17 we read,'Love not the world neither the things that are in the world,If any man love the world,the love of the Father is not in them' We will consider this further next time

Peter the failure ( Matthew 14 v 22 ff)

The  traffic was flowing  along nicely I looked down at my dashboard ,and when I look up the car in front of me had braked suddenly,but I managed to stop. When you are driving you must keep your eye on the traffick in front of you.I often get annoyed when watching a movie,when a person who is driving, takes his eyes of the road ,and talks to people.I'm just so grateful that I braked in time, but it could have been so different , likewise taking our eyes off the Lord can have an affect on us.Consider Peter who walked on water  (MT 14  v29)  everything was fine,  he was doing what was humanly speaking impossible,but with Christ all things are possible, after all Jesus invited him to do that, unfortionately faith give way to fear,and he began to sink. Well did Jesus let him drown? no, He reached out to him and saved him,and they both got into the boat.It is so easy for any of us to let faith give way to fear,when we do let us remember Christ will not forsake us,He remains faithful.He didn't give up  on Peter, ,and He won't give up on you.

24 / 7 ( Micah 6 v 8)

Micah the prophet brought a message of judgment against Samaria and Jerusalem,judgment was coming,the wealthy powerful people were exploiting the poor and vunerable (2 v 1-2 ).There were false prophets, (2 v6ff/ 3 v5ff) and the rulers were destroying God's people (3 v 1ff), there are other things we could say as regards what the books about,it would be a profitable study,David Priors book  in ,'The Bible speaks today' series,would be helpful,it also covers Joel and Habakkuk) I just want to consider 3 v9 -11,whch highlights the blind  hypocrisy of the rulers,here is a summary,they despised justice,were violent,wicked,would accept bribes and were motivated by money'. Inspite of that,they looked to the Lord for support,and said,'Is not the Lord among us? No disaster will come upon us'.' It reminds me of song that Patsy Cline sang,here is a verse from it.

                                          'I go to church on a Sunday,the vows that I make,

                                        I break them on Monday,the rest of the week, I live

                                    as I please,then come Sunday morning,I pray on my knees' 

It is sad that there are people who have, as one person says,'A Sundays-only faith'.Chistianity is a 24/7 faith,that means in our home ,our work life,and every aspect of our lives

                                        

                                                       

Our foundation. (Ephesians 2 v20-21)

 Recently my wife and I where on hoilday in Malta,very popular  with tourist, 4 million people visited it every year,it has a population of half million,plus a vast number of foreign workers.It is a Roman Catholic country, many of the places they worship ,are beautiful, the one that stands out the most is the Cathedral in the  capital Valletta.You have to pay to see it and it is truly amazing,gold and paintings everywhere. While I appreciate such buildings,I am more concerned as to what is taught in those buildings,what does the Roman Catholic church stand for ?. Likewise there are mosques that are very beautiful and so we could go on, but we must ask the same question, what do they teach ?. Protestants usually have plain buildings, some  have a cross ,or scripture written on the wall,and I would still ask the same question,what do they believe?.The fact is that buildings are inconsequential,they are just buildings nothing more ,nothing less,The church is the people and it is built upon Christ,He is our foundation (1 Corinthians 3 v 11.)Let me stress, He must be the Christ of the Bible ,Edward Mote wrote.

                                                      'My hope is built on nothing less

                                                      Than Jesus blood and righteousness;

                                                       I dare not trust the sweetest frame,                                               

                                                       But wholly lean on Jesus name.

                                                       On Christ the solid rock I stand;

                                                       All other ground is sinking sand.'

                                                       

                                            

                                               

The Word of God.( Psalm 119 v 127-128)

Psalm 119 v 16 reads 'I will not neglect your word', why would he say this? very simply,because God's word is very important,Psalm 119 has much to say as regards the word of God, the one thing for sure we will be the poorer if we neglect it,we loose out in so many ways. . As Christians we so often need guidance in so many things,v 104  of 119 reads ,'I gain understanding from your precepts', likewise many get into a trouble because they lean on their own understanding, but the word of God instucts us ,as to the moral pitfalls in life, but the ungodly rush into so many things that can destroy them. Verse 105 reads,'Your word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path'. Iike countless others I have found it so.it will help us in this dark world of sin.One commentator wrote,'Scripture is light giving ,as well as life giving,guiding our footsteps with perfect direction'.

                                       

                                                        'I delight in your decrees;

                                                        I will not neglet your word'

                                                                   Psalm 119 v 16

Not impossible ( 1 John 1 v 1-3)

 At the end of  that wonderful chapter 5 of Matthew our Saviour leaves these challenging words,'Be ye therefore perfect,even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect'.Many years ago a friend of mine said,that this was an exhortation,and it something we are to aim at,it must,I stress,it must be taken very serious.Because of who spoke those words, Jesus,yes our Lord,He is not mocking us,  He is deadly serious. In 1 Corinthians15 v 31,the apostle Paul declares,'I die daily',this is the great apostle talking,it means everyday of our Christian lives,we die to self. Yes I'm sure I'm a better person that I once was,I have come a long way in following Jesus,yet sometime I feel I have not come very  far ,there is still  so much that needs to change.Michelangelo  was asked what he could see in a block of marble?,he answered,'I see an angel'.It did become an angel,but it did not happen over night.Someone has said ,'deliverance from sin is begun at conversion,but is only completed in glorification'.In 1 John 3 v2  we read of our future state ,'It doth not appear what we shall be;but we know when He shall  appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall seen Him as He is,That is what God is doing,but in v 3,we read what we have to do,' And every man that hath this hope in Him purifieth himself, even as He is pure'.

Growing.( Psalm 139 v 23-24)

Recently I was measured as to my height and discover that  I had shrunk  from five foot seven to five foot four and half inches,it has not happened suddenly,As an Irish man I rightly may be called one of the little people.  I first realised when one gets older one shrinks,when I visited and elderly aunt I hadn't seen for a long time,she was smaller than I remember her. But the bigger question I ask myself,am  I growing spititually?,I wouldn't like to think that I'm shrinking spiritually,I hope not.There are many things  that would indicate spiriual growth,one writer declares that spiritual growth includes,spiritual discipline,self examination,serving community, humility, and so on.  One even mentions different tools to help us grow, prayer.,the word of God,meditation, fasting and fellowship'. It appears that one has to  work hard as regards being spiritual,that's true to some extent,yes it is very challenging,but it is impossible to grow spiritually  without relying on the holy Spirit.,I believe we must spend  much time in the presence of God,like Enoch of old,for we read he walked faithfully with God.(Genesis 5 v 24)When Moses met with God on Mount Sinai it affected his appearance,his face shone,but here is the thing,he was unaware of it.{ Exodus 34 v 29)Spiritual growth  is a daily walk with our eye on Jesus,always aware we are far from perfect.

                                                         'May we walk with Jesus

                                                         And in His lkeness grow,

                                                         That in our daily walk

                                                          We may His Fragrance show,

                                                          That word and life may both agree,

                                                           A faithful witness ,Lord ,for Thee.  (C.C.White)

The greatest good. ( Romans 10 v15 )

It was Machiavellion in his book 'the Prince' ,who emphasized the greater good,it was Stalin who slept with a copy of that  book under his pillow. Stalin who was an athiest applied that phrase to justify all the wicked things he did,And of course Hitler in his madness and evilness,would have applied this to his obsession of exterminating the Jews,and those who followed him agreed with him.As Christians can we take on that phrase? yes we can,but not to justify doing evil of anykind.so let us  consider the greatest good we can do for mankind.The greatest good that we can do for mankind is to tell them about Jesus, it's as simple as that,yes it may be simple,but many of us don't do it. The question is why? after all it is good news, sins can be forgiven,the power of sin can be broken in peoples lives.They can stop walking in the darkness, and start walking in the light,no longer is their eternal destiny hell,and the awfulness of that, instead they will be going to heaven,and the wonderfulnes of that,just because we told them about a wonderful Saviour.

Bring them to Jesus, ( Matthew 19 v 13-15)

I was in a restaurant recently,and I witnessed a little child being a bit stroppy,and this thought came to me, 'Every child has a will of it's own',no matter how young they are.',and that does not change as they grow older.Can a young child come to Christ,of course they can,age is no barrier to coming to Christ,be that person a child or a very old person .I read a story of a very elderly lady ,she may have been a 100,and she came to Christ.'She said to the minister, isn't it wonderful that a person of 100 can come to Christ,the minister replied yes,''but risky''The fact is the younger we come to Christ ,the better,for not only will our soul be saved,but our  lives will be saved from so much that is evil. If  Adolf Hitler had come as a child to Christ he would have been a better person than he turned out to be. I believe in Child evangelism with all my heart,because they need Christ just as much as any adult needs him. It is said that 18 percent of children in our churches identify becoming a Christian age 5,and 31percent between the ages of 5-14.In some chuches the minister speaks as if child do not need to be saved,but they do.As I was out walking and thinking about this a little chorus came to mind ,and I started to sing it gently to myself,here it is.

                                                       'Jesus died for little Children

                                                       All the children of the world,

                                                       Red and yellow ,black and white,

                                                       All our precious in His sight,

                                                       Jesus died for little children'

                                                        

Look up (Psalm 121)

'There are a collection of 14 Psalms,120-134 that are called, Psalms of ascent, which would be sung  by the Hebrew pilgrims  as they journeyed to Jerusalem for the religious festivals.They reminded them of God's mercy ,grace and provision.giving them a sense of unity and hope',(Introduction by a commentator) But now as children of God  we are strangers and pilgrims on earth,we are on a spiritual pilgrimage to heaven and home.The best known of these psalms is 121, both 121/123 have a similar opening,of looking beyond any earthly help to God in heaven.It is a conscious looking up, beyond the distractions of this life.it is a look of faith.He reminds us our God is the God who made heaven and earth.Our sovereign God watches over all His children individually,not one of them are out of His sight. God is not a man  He is God and the only God,for He declares,'I am the Lord,and there is no other'.(Isaiah 45 v 18) He will protect and preserve us from all harm.

                                                   

                                                           'The Lord shall preserve thee

                                                            from all evil; He shall preserve

                                                            thy soul.

                                                            The Lord shall preserve thy going

                                                             out and thy coming in from this day

                                                             Forth,and even for evermore.'   

                                                                               v 7-8

                                                       

                                                 

                                                  

Telling others.'( Acts 1 v 8)

 Coming back to Malta and St Paul's bay, not far fron the shore line there is a tiny island ,and on that island there is a statue of Paul,it shows him standing looking out over the sea. Paul was a man with a mission that mission was to preach the gospel,in 1 Corinthians 9 v 16 he declares ,'Woe is unto me,if I preach not the gospel'.people  need to hear the Gospel and they won't hear unless someone tells them,in Romans 10  v13 we read,'For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved,'yes we agree on that,but then in verse 14 ,but then we read ,'How shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed?and  how can they believe in Him of whom they have not heard?; So Paul made it his task to preach the gospel, and so should we.Paul was the personification  of Isaac Wattts hymn',When I survey the wondrous cross' and that  last verse,'Love so amazing so divine ,demands my soul ,my life, my all',and he really meant that,Read 2Corinthians 11 v 23-27,just some of the things he endured for the task of telling others the gospel.In spite of all he suffered ,he never give up,and he declared shortly before he was going to suffer  a martyrs death ,'I have fought a good fight,I have finished the course,I have kept the faith.2 Timothy 4 v7). John Bunyan wrote,

                                                          'There's no discouragement

                                                           Shall make him once relent

                                                           His first avowed intent,

                                                           To be a pilgrim'.

Historical miraculous events. (Matthew 9 v 1-8)

My wife and I are holidaying in the island of Malta,so I am doing this blog from the hotel we are staying in.So far the internet is working,I am praying it will continue to work while we are here . In the northern region of Malta there is a bay called St Paul;s bay, it gets it's name from that moment when the ship that was carrying  Paul  to Rome to stand trial before Caesar was shipwrecked on the island of Melita,now known as Malta ,read about it in Acts 27-28. Two  miraculous things happened while Paul was on the Island,he was bitten by a venomous serpent and he surviived,there were those who thought he was going  to die,Next  he healed the chief man of the islands father,we read that Paul prayed for this man and laid hands on him and he was healed.These two things  really happened,they are historical events ,we should make much of the fact that the Bible is a historical book, not a book of mythology in other words made up stories.Moses was real the miracles recorded during his life really happened.Jesus was a real person,born of a virgin,miraculously performed miracles, died and rose from the dead, are true historical facts,I make no apologies for declaring that. One of the most miraculous things he ever did was to die on a cross that our sins could be forgiven. 

                                                  'It took a mircle to put the stars in place,

                                                   It took a miracle to hang the world in space,

                                                   But when He saved my soul ,

                                                    Cleansed and made me whole,

                                                    It took a miacle of love and grace.

                                                                   John Peterson