Wisdom (James 1 v 5)

The book of James has so much to tells us, but first let me ask you what is one important thing we need? 'Wisdom', yes wisdom,there is a whole book on wisdom,Proverbs,written by a very wise man. It is a manual on wisdom ,in chap 4 v5 we read two words,'Get wisdom'. How are we going to do that? ,read the book of Proverbs,and learn from what it tells us. Turning to what James tell us,'If any of you lack wisdom, 'you. should ask God,if you do,you will receive ,ask in faith and don't doubt. (1 v5-6)In  3 v13ff James tells us that there are two types of wisdom 'earthly wisdom, heavenly wisdom'. The earthly wisdom  includes harbouring bitterness,and indeed selfish ambition ,these lead to wrong practices.Whereas the heavenly wisdom is,'pure;peace-loving,considerate,submissive, full of mercy,and good fruit,impartial and sincere.Enough said , let us all get the heavenly wisdom.

Only Jesus. ( Revelation 14 v 13)

A dear friend has died recently,he was just over 90yrs,he was a fine Christian man,I visited  him on a regular bases,he told me a number of things about his early days, and how God saved save him.After he got saved  his mother commented how she never heard him swear any more.He was very musical ,played the according,the guitar,and the penny whistle,and yet he could  not read music.His wife was a lovely singer,and he and his wife sung together .He preached the word of God and would witness to people showing neither  fear or favour.He was a bright child of God and now he is with the Lord,that whom  he trusted many years ago,tell me have you trusted the Lord to be your Saviour?.Yes we can say many good things about that brother and rightly so,but none of those things saved him,for there is nothing we can to do to save ourselves,only Jesus can save us.

Are you thirsty? ( Matthew 7 v 7)

 In John 4 our Saviour was going through Samaria when he arrived at a town called Sychar,were there was a well known as Jacibs well.He was on His own ,his disciples had gone to buy some food. He was tired so he sat down,it was about noon.As He sat there a Samariitan woman came to draw water,Jesus asked her for a drink of water,she was surprised and asked Him,'you are a Jew and I am a Samaritan. How can you ask me for a drink?.But Jesus did not reply to what she had said, instead He said to her,'If you knew the gift God and who it is that asks you for a drink,you would have asked Him and he would have given you living water'. There are so called Christian preachers who offer good health,wealth,and prosperity, instead of telling them about the the gift of God through our Lord Jeus Christ.Then He says ,'Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again. But who drinks the water I give them will never thirst.Indeed ,the water I gave them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life'.

                                                   'Only Christ can meet our deepest needs'

Be on your ( Galatians 1 v 6- 10)

A  friend told me how he had attended a funeral service and at the end of it the minister dismissed the idea of an after life,now he was supposed to be a Christian minister. This is very sad and it is nothing new, for sometimes the greatest enemies the church has is not those outside the church,but those within the church. It is the apostle Paul,in a farewell talk to the Ephesian elders said,'I know that as soon as I am gone,   vicious wolves are going to show up and rip into this flock, men from your own ranks twisting words so as to seduce disciples into following them instead of Jesus .So stay awake and keep up your guard. (Acts 20 v- 29- 31) Paul writing to Timothy said that there will come a time when they will not endure sound doctrine (2 Timothy 4 v 3).So what can we do?we must hold fast to what the word of God teaches.We must always be on our guard,be vigilant, be strong,be uncompromising, Martin Luther said,'I cannot and will not recant anything, for to go against conscience is neither right or safe. Here I stand,I can do no other,so help me God'.

Mr Facing-Both-Ways ( Matthew 6 v 24)

 In John Bunyan's book Pilgrim's Progress one character's name is ,'Mr Facing-both -ways ,his name indicates someone who was hedging his bets.When the apostle Paul was in Athens he was distressed to see that city was full of idols,and he noticed an altar with an inscription on it which read,'To an unknown god.' they were hedging their bets like Mr Facing-Both-Ways,a  sort of better being safe than sorry.He was a person who was in fact going nowhere ,he was always trying to play it safe.He would not agree that Jesus is the only way to heaven,he would say ,what about those other religions?, they can't be all wrong,but they are.Jesus said so (John 14 v6) ' 'I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes unto the Father except through me'.Mr Facing-Both-Ways, will not accept this,that means he will be excluded from heaven,for all eternity.

                                                      'You must choose'

Fear Him. (Psalm 23 v 4)

 Why are we surprised at death,that which shall not be named,could it be that we consider it to morbid to mention?. During a Roman triumph, a slave accompanying the victorious general in his chariot  would whisper ,''Momento Mori' meaning ',remember you will die'. Inspite of his great success,it was to prevent him becoming too arrogant or believing himself a god,reminding him of his mortality. Jesus was always conscious of death and how important it  was to be in a right relationship with God.Jesus knowing that many of those who would follow Him,would suffer death,but not only death but very violent death,sought to reassure them,and this is what He said ,''Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.''(Matthew 10 v 28) One commentator writes,'Save your fear for God,who holds your entire life-body and soul in His hands'.

                                                         'Trust Jesus to be your Saviour'

A spiritual journey (Galatians 4 v 4 - 7)

I was with a group of people and someone spoke of a person  who did something very  noble,he looked after his dying wife. He called it the man's spiritual journey, I hope that I can speak to him about what he   meant by those words.There are many dear people who do good works of one sort or another, I don't believe that they are on a spiritual journey. I doubt if they even think that ,why should they?, man's sinful condition means that they never really give serious thought  as regards the true and only God.There are many who do a lot of good in the world in many religions,Gandi for one,he did think about God,but that was as far as it went,he admired our Saviour,but he would not accept Him. Whatever journey he was on ,it was not a spiritual journey ,he was a natural man,the spirit of God was not in him. Jesus stressed that we needed to be born again,' for only those who are lead by the Spirit are the children of God' (Romans 8 v14 ) And that Spirit  himself testifies with our spirit  that we are God's children (Rom 8 v16).The spiritual journey only begins when we trust Jesus as our Saviour, the moment that happens our Saviour says follow me on your walk into the eternal glories that shine afar.