Love ( 1John 3 v1-3)

John Denver wrote a lovely song,called ,'Perhaps Love',three of the verses start as follows,'Perhaps love is like a resting place,A shelter from the storm/ Perhaps love is like a window,Perhaps an open door/ Perhaps love is like the ocean,Full of conflict ,full of pain'.It is a nice to listen to,but it is a bit ambiguous,in other words it is not very clear,nothing challenging.Much in all as I like the song it leaves much more to be said,so where do we turn to? and the answer is the Bible,do you know that God is love,(1 John 4 v 8) what a profound statement.Not only is he love. he loves in the most wonderful way,one just has to look at the cross,that is the greatest manifestation of love one can imagine,as the hymn writer puts it,'The love of God is greater far,than tongue or pen can ever tell; it goes beyond the highest star,And reaches to the lowest hell; Could we with ink the ocean fill,and were the skies of parchment made;Were every stalk on earth a quill, And every man a scribe by trade; To write the love of God above would drain the ocean dry,Nor could the scroll contain the whole,Tho stretched from sky to sky.'Yes it is beyond our comprehension,it is a love that reaches out to the world,but it is a personal love,as the apostle declared,'I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me' (Galatians 2 v 20)

Misfortune ( Psalm 30 v 5)

A Russian composer wrote a piece of music ,and called it,'I carried my misfortune',I'm sure many people could say that, it reminds me of words from Les Miserables ,'There's a grief that can't be spoken, There's a pain that goes on and on'.I was talking to a lady whose brothers wife had died,she was 91,they had been married 61 years,and he is struggling to cope.Yes there are so many people carrying misfortunes around with them, the Christian  is no different,and yet there is a difference,there is one who walks with us, his name is Jesus I like what he said to his disciples and to us also,'Lo I am with you always' (Matthew 28 v 20)  and he really cares for us,in all our misfortunes,all our sorrows,all all our losses. Though we walk through the darkest valley he is with us,we are not alone.May he grant unto us in our times of misfortune a abuntant measure of his grace,peace and love.

                                                            'In every pang that rends the heart

                                                             The man of sorrows has a part,

                                                             He sympathizes  with our grief,

                                                             And to the sufferer sends relief'

The will of God ( 2 Corinthians 12 v 7-10)

 Have you ever hoped and prayed for a miracle?at this time a dear friend of mine needs a miracle,I  do pray  for him,asking God ,and this is the most important point ,if it is God's will that he would heal him,John 5 v14-15 reads 'This is the confidence we have  in approaching God:that if we ask anything in according to his will,he hears us.And if we know that he hears us  whatever we ask we know that we have what we asked of him'.William Barclay wrote the following,'We are so apt to think that prayer is asking God  for what we want,whereas true prayer is asking  God for what He wants'.There is a great deal of wisdom in these words, remember what our Saviour  prayed in the garden just before he was betrayed,'My Father if it is possible,may this cup be taken from me',here was Jesus overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death'.and in his humanity he was not just asking  that he would he would not have to go through the terrible suffering he was going to experience,no he went on to pray,'Yet not as I will,but as you will' ( Matthew 26 v39)No human being would want to suffer what Jesus  suffered,remember he was truly a man and all that means,Paul writes in 2 Cor 13 v 4,'He was crucified in weakness'. Jesus came with the sole purpose of doing the will of God in all his weakness, but he triunphed over his weakness and boldly went on to fulfill his calling to be the Lamb of God ,that taketh away the sins of the world

                                                                'Thy will be done'

Doing good ( Matthew 5 v 16)

I take an interest in the work of 'The missionary aviation fellowship',they work in 24 countries,and have about 124 airplanes operating in those countries.They are a Christian humanitarian organization,they do so much good,but they also work with churches,and seek to spread the gospel.Papua New Guinea is their largest programine with a fleet of 14 aircraft.I just read an article how the power of the gospel transformed two waring tribes,that today former enemies are running  a church -run   health service work. The gospel means good news to a very needy world,people come to know Christ as their Saviour,and become new creations,they are better people.As Christians we are told that we should do good works,(Ephesians 2 v 10) That's what MAF are doing,and many other organizations are doing,and if we are Christians that's what we should be doing.

A new world coming. ( Revelation 21 v 1 )

 In Romans 8 v 22- 27 we have the word groaning mentioned three times,the first one relates to creation as it where groaning like a woman in child -birth for the new creation.When sin entered into this world everything  changed for the worst.W .Hendriksen writes,'Creation is subject to arrested development and constant decay,though it aspires,it is not able fully to achieve'. Paul writes of it being frustrated,but in verse 21 he writes of creation being liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.Again as WH writes ,'Natures destiny is intimately linked up with that of''the sons of God''A great day is coming  when all that is wrong with creation will be totally changed.Calvin says these groans are birth-pangs,not death panges' Our Saviour in Rev21 v5 proclaims ,'I am making everything new' that includes creation.

                                                           'There is an new world coming'

I will follow Him. ( Matthew 7 v13-14)

I was being shown the way to my bedroom in the hotel in which I was staying and the young lady said,'Follow me', it was then quietly ,I sung a few lines from the 'I will follow Him' song. I then asked her was she following Jesus?,she  said she wasn't,and then I said ,you should be.This may sound strange to some people but everybody should follow him. The question is why?firstly if you are not following Jesus,you are on the broad road to destruction,it is a broad road,many choose that road,it appears an easy road,but its not,it's a road where there are so many pitfalls,so many dangers,The end of that road leads to destruction, that does not mean we cease to exsist,no, our soul never dies,so for ever and ever our soul continues to exsist in a a state of awfulness,there is no escape,no way out ,no hope,no happiness,no joy,. only a weeping and wailing,intense grief and unending sorrow.I don't want anyone to go there,God dosen't either.and so He sent Jesus into the world to save them,but alas so few follow him,so few,so why don't you trust him to be your Saviour.

Are you listening? (Hebrews 12 v 25)

 I'm sure you have said,or you have heard how people in frustration say,'Your not listening',let us lift it to a higher level,God knows all about people not listening,his people,time after time he spoke to them and they did not listen.God continually spoke to His people,and unfortionately they refused to  listen,he pleaded with them,beseeching them to listen ,but they would not listen. Here is an example,from the prophet Zechariah he had returned from exile in Babylon,and ministered to the people in Jerusalem. In 7 v8ff it starts with him receiving a word from God  to his people,God exhorted his people to 'Administer true justice,show mercy and compassion to one another.Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless,the foreigner or the poor.Do not plot evil against one another'.Very reasonable but here is God's reply,'But they refused to pay attention,stubbornly they turned their backs and covered their ears'.These words were spoken to Israel before the exile,time after time still they would not listen.So God says,'When they called, I would not listen.'Not only would he would not listen,he poured out judgement upon them,very servere judgement.Just recently I have witnessed to a number of people,one in particular,a man who has turned away from God.I did not say much to him,other than he had a choice,like him we all have a choice,if we turn away God ,won't listen to him,there is consquences,so if today you hear his voice ,harden not your heart.