Two contrasts ( Psalm 1)

 Let us consider the first psalm,it is a psalm of two contrasts,the godly man,and the ungodly man,verse one  reads ,'Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly,nor standeth in the way of sinners ,nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful'. This sets the tone of the psalm. The word blessed means happy the ungodly yes are happy but they have no meaningful sense of spiritual well being. The godly are called to be seperate from the ungodly's sinful ways.The godly take great delight in God's word meditating on it continually v2,how much do we value God's word?. Verse 3 tells that the godly man will be like a fruitful tree bearing fruit,CP  Galatians 5 v 22ff.In verse 4 we are told ,'The ungodly are not so,instead of being secure ,he likens them' unto chaff which the wind drives away'Spurgeon writes,'death shall hurry them with its terrible blast into the fire in which they shall be utterly consumed'. Verses 5-6 tells us that in the day of judgement 'they will not have a leg to stand on'(Derek Kidner)He finishes by telling us that God knows the way of the righteous,yes He is watching over His children.But he ends on a very solemn note, 'The way of the ungodly shall perish',hell is every unsaved persons destination.

Never (Psalm 42/43)

Psalms 42 /43 te writer is a spiritual man in verses 1-2 he expresses his great thirst for God,he thinks of his past spiritual experiences,but now he is overwhelmed ,he feels oppressed by enemies and those who mock him. He is struggling feeling cast down, and he does something that we all do,he talked to himself, challenging himself.Yes the most godly people struggle at time feel overcome to the point of despair,in 2 Corinthians 1 v8 we read how Paul and his companions we're in such a situation that they despaired even of life.So here is what the psalmist said to himself,'Why ,my soul,are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me?Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him,my Saviour and my God'.His adversaries had  chided him,''Where is your God?''When my dear first wife died,her father who was not a Christian pointed mockingly at a plaque with words that read,'Jesus never fails' I never felt that Christ failed me,nor did the psalmist,and nor should you child of God.Let us all put our hope in our loving God who will never fail us.

Change ( John 3v30)1

•  Sitting on my desk there is a little square stone with words on it ,here is what it says,

                                                                                                                                                              

                                                   ' God grant me the serenity

                                                    to accept the things I can-

                                                    not change,the courage to

                                                    change the things I can and

                                                     the wisdom to know the

                                                    difference.'

In my long years,I have discovered there are things that I cannot change no matter how much I prayed, it took along time to accept that truth, There are so many things in life that can effect us and we find that so hard to accept, what I struggled with is different at to what you struggle with. We must not lean on our own understanding that's a trap we all fall into,no we must trust in our sovereign God,the hymn writer wrote the following words,

                                             'Every joy or trial falleth  from above,

                                             Traced upon our dial by the Sun of love.

                                             We must trust Him fully.

If God is sovereign which He is ,then there is a  purpose in those things in life which we cry out in tears for Him  to change,and yet He doesn't,why ?,well that very  thing which we want Him to change, is the very thing He is using to change us. 

                                                    ' Jesus you are changing me,

                                            By your Spirit You're making me like You'

God ( Matthew 28 v 19)

God knows His children no matter where they are,we are told that,' The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,and His ears are attentive to their cry.' ( Psalm34 v 15). His children are not out of His sight, the word 'Omnipresent' relates only to God meaning that He is everywhere at the same time. He see's all things,nothing is hidden from Him,when it comes to God there is no hiding place. Not only is God  omnipresent He is'Omniscient',which means that He is all knowing,there is nothing He doesn't know,He knows every thing about us, and everything about this world , after all He made it,God is infinite in His being .Who can we compare Him to? the answer is no one, He has no begining ,He always has exsisted  and He always will,He is unchanging, He is holy,He is just ,and He is love.He is a triune being,Father, Son,and Holy Ghost,three but one,and one but three.All three are mention in the scripture as being God, there is no other way to explain them. God is awesome,and mysterious who made us in his  image,one commentater writes the following,'When God made us we reflected Him,  we were given an unique status,a divine dignity as human beings.The fall effected that I'm not sure to what degree,but in eternity that will be restored completly (Romans 8 v 29)   

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