He-who-Must not- be-named ( Matthew 9 v13)

In the Harry Potter movies the arch enemy was Lord Voldemort,he created a spirit of fear,so much so that we read,He-who-Must-not-be -named. I wonder why'Well could it be that,that even as Christians we never mention the devil,in many pulpits he is never mentioned,I want to mention three things about him. In 2Corintians 11 v14 we read , 'For Satan himself  masquerades as angel of light '. in other words he takes on many forms,he first appeared as a snake that could actually speak  (Gen3,) and look where that landed humanity.Things have not changed ,he comes at mankind in so many different ways,and humanity  believes his lies,to their destruction. Next verse 1Peter 5 v 8 which reads ,'Be alert and of sober mind,your enemy the devil prowls around  like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour'He hates us the most ,so he will do everything he can to destroy us.Take those words serious,because he is very serious,he will will leave us in tatters,so be on your gaurd. Next verse John 8 v 44, 'He was a murderer from the bginning,not holding to the truth,for there is no truth in him.When he lies,he speaks  his native language,for he is a liar and the father of lies' John Stott writes 'The devil disturbs the church as much by error as by evil.When he cannot entice Christian people into sin,he deceives them into false doctrine'.

The Bible ( Luke 4 v 14- 19)

Spurgeon said,''The Bible is our standard authority;none may turn from it,Others may worship science, reason,and their own judgements,but the God we worship is the God of the scriptures''.The Bible is unique ,what makes it so? because it God's word,when we read it God is speaking to us.Other religions have what they call holy scriptures,but they are neither holy or scriptures,They believe in gods who are not God's for there is only one God  the God of the Bible (Roman 3 v30).How do we get to know this God? read the Bible,hear the word of God proclaimed ,for faith cometh by hearing God's word. (Romans 1,0 v17)In the Bible we find the meaning of life read the first chapters of Genesis ,how this universe and earth came into beimg,and and how humanity came into being.At that time there was no sin in the world,everything was pure and holy until that moment when the greatest  catastrophe in all human history took place.The jewel the crown of God's creation did the unthinkable,they sinned,and that brought us under a curse,we were never meant to die that has changed,for the wages of sin is death,so we all die ,but we have a soul that will never die,and in that condition we will spend eternity in hellThat is the dark. side,it must be taken serious,God does,but He has provided a way to be saved.

                                                    A man once asked the question,

                                                    what must I do to be saved,he 

                                                    was told,'Believe in the Lord 

                                                     Jesus and thou shalt be saved.  (Acts 16 v31)

The great prophet (Isaiah 6 v 1ff)

One of the greatest of the prophets was Isaiah through him we have outstanding prophetic utterances,  in chapter 39,he told king  Hezekiah that the mighty army of Assyria would not conquer Jerusalem,not only that ,their king would return to his land,and that came about (Isa 37 v 21ff) In chap52-53 we have the  suffering of our redeemer Jesus proclaimed,in such graphic details ,it is as if Isaiah sat at the foot of the cross. No wonder we call the utterances of Isaiah,' the gospel according to Isaiah'.There are many other utterances made by this wonderful man, yes he was a man a very godly man, not a perfect man,it is not me that's says this,he says it himself,when he was called to be a prophet (chap 6 ),,and had a vision of God and of God's holiness ,and he cries out,'Woe to me!  I cried,'I am ruined! for I am a man of unclean lips,'We honour such people as Isaiah,but He needed a Saviour,just like you and me,he needed his sins forgiven,and in verse 6 ,we read that his sins were forgiven. If a great prophet had to have his sins forgiven,how much more do we need our sins forgiven.

                                                        'Thee are no exceptions to the rule ,

                                                         we all need to kneel at the foot of 

                                                          cross,and ask Jesus to be our 

                                                                          Saviour

The Holy Spirit. ( Ephesians 3 v16)

 As Christians we have the Holy Spirit ,we are told our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 6 v19-20),it is He who bears witness with our Spirit that we are God's children (Romans 8 v16). He also helps us in our weakness Rom 8 v 26, what are you facing today?, difficulties, temptation,tasks that seem to be beyond you, so let me repeat what I have said,the Holy Spirit will help us in our weakness. In that same verse we read ,that He will help us in our prayers, it tells us,'We do not know what to pray for,but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans'.John  Murry writes,' Christ is our intercessor in the court of heaven,while the Holy Spirit is our intercesser in the theatre of our own hearts'. Just a few more thoughts on the Holy Spirit,He empowers us Acts 1 v8, He guides us John 14 v26,and produces fruit in our lives ,Galatians 5 v22-23.

                                          'The Holy Spirit is here ,where saints in prayer agree,

                                           As Jesus parting gift He's near,each pleading company.

                                          He dwells within our soul,an ever welcome guest;

                                          Our bodies are His shrine,and He the indwelling Lord;

                                          All hail, Thou Comforter divine,be evermore adored.

                                                                  Words C H.Spurgeon

The man who got side tracked. ( Luke 15 v11 ff)

 I don't know much about baseball ,but I watched a movie of the life of Rob Hobbs,one of the all time greats. From an early age he loved basball and he was very good at it.But he got side tracked, went away from the game,but later on he came back to the game,and the rest is history.The Bible tells us about a young man, we read about in Luke 15,we don't know his name ,he had an older brother.Like a lot of young people he got side tracked,when the father died,they would both receive an inheritance ,but the young boy was impatient,he wanted it now,so he went to his father and said ''give me my share of the estate'',and the father did that.He went of into a far country and squandered his wealth on wine ,women and song, and to crown it all there was a severe famine,and he couldn't pay his way.Things got worse and worse and nobody would help him,he had hardly any cloths,and was  barefoot.He hired himself out to a pig farmer, and it was them he stopped and thought,my fathers servant are better of than me yet here I am starving .I will return to my father beg his forgiveness and asked him to make me like one of his hired servants.So of he went and you just can imagine what was going through his mind,Well his father father saw him coming he threw his arms around him and kissed him,the son asked his fathers forgiveness and that he was no more worthy to be his son.But the father called his servand to bring the best clothes,and sandals to wear,and a put a ring on his finger,and prepare a great meal, and said,For this son of mine was dead,is alive again,was lost and is found.We will finish there with these words you may be like that young been side tracked,and your life is a total mess,return to  Jesus and he will put you back on track.

                                                   'I've wandered far away from God;

                                                    Now I'm coming home;

                                                    The paths of sin too long I've trod;

                                                    Lord, I'm coming home.' ( Words William J. kirkpatrick)

                                                  

                                                    

Looking at things differently ( Philippians 4 v 8-9)

When we become a Christian,we enter a new relationship with Jesus,we are now children of God, and from that point onwards ,we look at life differently,we are guided by God's moral boundaries.We are not to look at the fair sex as being just sex objects,they are to be respected,When a person is raped,the rapists is treating that person purely as a sex object,likewise those who indulge in pornography,this also applies to prostitution.God did not create woman to be sex objects,to be abused,He made them to be coequal with man. The commandments and our Lord's teaching, plus not forgetting what we are taught in all scripture  become the norm of our moral boundaries.If God's word tells us something is wrong,we must not cross His moral boundaries,if we cross that line we are sinning.King David did and paid a price,if we do we will pay a price also,it will be hard to live with a guilty conscience.Remember we are called to be a holy people,thats the meaning of the word saint .The word saint is used 67 time in the NT,every child of God is  referred to as being a saint,one set apart for God's special purposes.

Changed ( 2 Corinthians 3 v 18)

 I remember one message I was preaching and I said God loves us but He does not love us as we are,after the message a lady came to me,and she was upset,at what I said.I tried to explain to her what I meant but to no avail.Now what did I mean? first let me say this,God's love is unmerited,undeserved,He loves us,but there are many things He doesn't love,and so a work  by God's Spirit begins, to transform us,to be more like Christ.(Roman 8 v 29)It's a process called sanctification ,where those unchristlike aspects of our lives are dealt with. In 2 Corithians 3 v18 we read ,'that we are being transformed into His likeness' it is not our physical likeness it is a Christlike charcter, that inner man,that needs changed. Galatians 3 v 22-23 spells it out,instead of being filled with sexual immorality, impurity,lustful pleasures,idolatry,sorcery, dissension.division,hostility,quarreling,jealousy,outburts of anger,selfish ambitition,dissension,division, envy, drunkenness,wild parties,and other sins,like these.These will be replaced by love,joy ,peace,patience, kindness,goodness,faithfulness ,gentleness,and self control.' Charles Wesley wrote,

                                                      'Finish then Thy new creation,

                                                       Pure and spotless may we be;

                                                       Let us see Thy great salvation

                                                       Perfectly restored in Thee!

                                                       Changed from glory into glory.

                                                        Till we cast our crowns before Thee,

                                                        Lost in wonder,love and praise.'

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