Old age ( Job 19 v 25 -29)

 I am aged 82 I am still driving, health not to bad,but old age does bring problems, the body wears out,I visite three elderly people today a married couple,the wife has dementia,her husband is very patient with her,he is reasonbly well,but it is a challenge.The other lady is housebound,it is my privilage to visit such people.As I left the residentual place they live in ,I spoke to a resident and he was affected  by the many people who were dying,the fact of the matter is if you live in an elderly residentual place everyone will eventually die,for that  man it was depressing him. The three people I visited are Christians they will die there is nothing can stop that.The word of God is very honest about old age, here is what Moses wrote, 'Our days may come to seventy years,or eighty.If our strength endures; yet the best of them are but trouble  and sorrow', (Psalm 90 v10)That is a reality for so many ,but the word of God has much to say that's positive,the apostle Paul wrote many things as regards death that it is not end,people will weep over our deaths,but as a Christian go to be with the Lord it will be joy unspeakable full of glory,yes absent from the body and present with Jesus our. Lord.

                                                          'For Christians ,death is just a door

                                                                        into HEAVEN'

                                                   

God leads ( Joshua 1 v 9)

 There was a TV program getting people to tell of the person who changed their lives, who would you choose?Who would I say change my life? , I would say that there are people who have influnced my life,for the better. I look back with thankfulness for so many people who have befriended me,and helped me in life,they have come into my life and then I moved on,and they moved on.Often God brings people into our live for a purpose,my answer as to who changed my life,is very simple Jesus. I supposed one would expect me to say that,I know,but the fact is it's true,for 62 yrs I have been following Christ and during those years many things have happened,I have had many challenges to face,there have been the dark times,difficult times.I have always had of a sense of His presence that He was with me.A sense that in the bad times,the hard times he was there.It is often in looking back we can trace the hand of God in ones life,you see how He shut doors and opened doors and all the time he was leading us on.R A.Hall and J K.Saetvent wrote a lovely song here are some of the verses,

'In shady,green pastures so rich and so sweet,God leads His dear children along,where the water's cool  flow bathes the weary one's feet,God leads His dear children along. Some through the water,some  through the flood,but all through theblood ,some through great sorrow. Sometimes on the mount where the sun shines  so bright,God leads His dear children along.Sometimes in the valley,in darkest of night,God leads His dear children along'.

                                           

We have a choice ( 2 Corinthians 12 v 1 - 10)

 None of us choose the hand that is dealt to us,but we have a choice as to how how we are going to play it out. There are so many things we have no control of,some of the things are  not very nice.Take that phenomenal writer of hymns Fanny Crosby who became blind through a mistake by her doctor,she said the following,'she did not veiw her blindness as a tragedy,but rather as a blessing and a divine gift ,She went as far to say,'if given the choice at birth she would have chosen to be born blind,so that the first face she would see in heaven would be her Saviours'.As one person wrote of her that she was a woman of unwavering faith,and profound contentment'Now of course that was Fanny but what about you,what about me?.Paul gloried in his afflictions,saw it as means of experiencing the grace of God,so that God's power would rest on him. So again I ask the question how are we going to play out the hand that God has given us,?remember we have a choice.

No add on' ,No take aways ( Matthew 7 v 24-29)

''The Word comes first,and with the Word the Spirit breathes upon my heart so that I believe'' ,so wrote Martin Luther.There are three foundational truths of Protestant theology ,they are,'Faith alone,grace alone,and scripture alone'' These are vital declarations which all Christions should hold fast to,to diviate from them  is putting one's soul in a  very precarious position. our Saviour told the story about two house builders,one built his house on rock,the other built his house on sand When the storms came the house built on rock stood firm ,the other one who had  built his house on sand, when the storms came it collapsed.If we start underminng scripture and scripture truths there will be conquences,there are Christian denominations were many of their churches cease to exsist,When the foundation of the church is eroded it will no longer exsist ,the Lord will remove it Cp Revelation 32 v5. 

Stand firm ( Galatians 1 v 6ff)

2 Thessalonians 2 v15 reads 'So then,brothers and sisters,stand firm and hold fast to the teachings we passed unto you,whether by word or mouth or by letter' It is more important than ever that we stand firm to the teaching of God's word.John Stott mentions  things that can attack our faith(1) opposition,and persecution.(2) false teaching.  (3)Temptation. In this country at this time we are not being persecuted, things may change make no mistake about it.We should not be surprised if we are,but in many lands our dear Christian family are suffering severely,we need to pray for them and help them in any way  we can. Next false teaching,sad to say we have so much of that,and I don't mean just the cults,we must hold fast to God's word,we must not add to it,or take away from it,In Revelation 22 v 18-19,there is a warning given as to the book of Revelation to not add to it or take away from it,I believe this applies to all the Bible.Next we have temptation ,in the Lords prayer we pray lead us not into temptation,but deliver us from evil.Let us remember in Matthew 4v3 the devil is called the tempter,he will tempt you to doubt God's word as he did with Eve,and we know the consquences of that.

Contentment (1Timothy 6 v6)

This world is a driven place,with so many discontented people,so many people want more and more,as a Christian we could learn much from the greatest of the apostles,Paul.He had so much as a Jew,in Philippians 4 he writes of his pedigree, he declares he was a Hebrew  born of the Hebrews,a pure blooded Jew,he  had been educated by the great Hebrew scholar Gamaliel and was thoroughly trained in the law(Acts 22 v 3.Paul was a rising star ,a great future lay ahead of him.,yet he gave it all up,and followed Christ and this meant a life of suffering and deprivation (2 Corinthians 11 v23 -28) One of the great lessons learned in all this was a godly contentment,Philippians 4 v12,he declares ,'I have learned the secret of being content in every situation',what was the secret? v13 I can do everything through Christ  who gives the peace of God which passeth all understanding Philippians  Phil4 v7.and of course the pesence of God with him.

                                                              'The more God fills our lives,

                                                                the more content we will be'.

The smart thing. (Romans 1 v 16)

When  we are growing up we are full of ourselves and we make so many wrong decisions a good name that describes us, ;Smart alec's.take some of the decisions I  made, I drank alcohol ,I was about 15 when  I had my first  drink,alcohol is a poison,it can be very addictive,and has destroyed many lives.One can  do many wrong things when one is entoxicated, we let our gaurd down down,The next thing I did was I started smoking at an early age,most people smoked  in those early days  we were ignorant as to the dangers of smoking  .Your are not smart consuming  alcohol or smoking or so many  things,but the sad thing is,  we act like our first parents did, it seems we have a self distruced button,and so in our blindness we pay the price.62 yrs ago I really did the smart thing,and broke the power of those things that would have  destroyed  me,by Gods grace I trusted Jesus to be my Saviour.