The will of God ( Matthew 26 v 39)

                                                    Jesus,all for Jesus                                       

                             (1)     All I am and have and ever  hope to be

                                                    Jesus, all for Jesus

                                       All I am and have and ever hope to be

                             (2)      All of my ambitions,hopes and plans

                                        I surrender these into your hands

                                        All of my ambitions,hopes and plans

                                        I surrender these into your hands.

                              (3)    For it's only in your will that I am free

                                       For it's only in your will that  I am free

                                                      Jesus,all for Jesus

                                       All I am and have and ever hope to be.

This is a lovely song,and it emphasises the importance of God's will in our lives, if we are living contray to his, then we are failing.Being in God's will is freedom indeed.God's will must be a priorty in every aspect of our lives,there must be no closed doors to God's will.

                      

                                                           

                                    

When I get home. (John 14 v1-6)

 I attended a funeral recently of a dear Christian brother,I've known for many years,he was 92 and had been a Christian  for 70 yrs,he worked till he was 86.He touched many peoples lives,He was very musical,he could play three musical instruments and yet he couldn't read music,plus he had a good singing voice,and he was also a preacher.We heard of his acts of generosity,and how people got saved through his prayers..A lady told how he had prayed for her daughter to be saved,the girl was living a life out of control,and the day the man died, the girl phoned her mum to tell her that she had trusted Jesus as her. Saviour.A godly life leaves its mark, were ever it is lived.As the service ended they played a recording of him singing ,it was a blessing hearing  him singing,here are some words from that song.

                                                ' I shall wear a golden crown, when I get home,

                                                  I shall lay my burden down, when I get home;

                                                  Glad in robes of glory, I shall sing the story,

                                                  Of the Lord who bought me,when I get home!

                                                   I shall see my Saviours face, when I get home,

                                                   Sing again of saving grace, when I get home;

                                                    I shall stand before Him,gladly I'll adore Him,

                                                    Ever to be near Him, when I get home.'( Words C A.Miles)

                                                

One body. ( Romans 11 v33-36)

Isaiah 52v 13-15 and chapter53are as one puts it,' the jewel in the crown of Isaiah's theology'.As one reads those scriptures it's amazing that the Jewish people,do not embrace what they mean.The apostle Paul gives a reason in Romans 11 v25 ,which reads 'That blindness in part has happened to Israel',other translations reads,' Some of the people of Israel have hard hearts'.Of course God still loves them'(Romans 11 v 28)and there will come a time when they will turn to the Lord,not as a separate entity,they will come with the Gentiles as that new covenant Israel. (Revelation7 v 9/Ephesians 2 v11-20) In this new covenant Israel there is neither Jew nor Gentile,neither slave nor free,nor is there male and femail,for you are all one in Christ Jesus If you belong to Christ ,then you are  Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise'. (Ga;atians 3 v 28-29) God's ways are far beyond our ways ,His thoughts are beyond our thoughts.

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'.