Mother's Heart. ( Ephesians 2 v 10)

In many countries Christians hospitals, schools,orphanages and a mulitude of other organisations are doing so much good in this world.Let me tell you about one other called'Mother's heart',it is in Cambodian it was founded by an Australian aid worker called Katrina Gliddon.Young women find themselves pregnant and have no support whatsoever,some have been abused.Many of those dear girls are very young and poor.Mother's Heart is led by a team of Cambodians.This is what they say'We exsist to be the hands and feet of Jesus; to love without condition,stand without judgement,and walk alongside women and girls facing one of the most  vulnerable moments of their lives'Im sure we all need to take to heart this ministry and the challenge it brings to all of us'

                                                    'If I can help somebody as I pass along,

                                                     If I can cheer somebody with a word or song,

                                                     If  I can show somebody that he's travelling wrong,

                                                     Them my living shall not be in  vain'

                                                                 Words by Alma Hazel Androzzo.

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The sainthood of every believer ( Jude 3/14)

Deuteronomy 7v 6  reads ' For you are a people holy to the Lord your God', these words were spoken to  Israel by Moses.Raymond Brown points out,'They are not urged to become holy,they are already holy....Israel's holiness is an act of God,not an act of man (They must be what they are)Likewise  Christian sanctification begins not with what we do but with what God has done'.In the New Testament the name for Christians is saints,theAV uses the word saint a lot  'Romans 1 v7,the NIV uses the words God's holy people,'Philippians 1 v 1.'this means that every Christian has been set apart,utterly dedicated to Christ. Raymond Brown writes,'Believers are not to became saints;they are saints,and then he adds,'They too must be what they are' Unfortunaately like so many Biblical truths the Roman Catholic Church has brought so much confusion into the meaning of saints.

                                                                 

Heed the warning (2 Thessalonians 1 v7-9)

 Throughout history,affluence has often led to spiritual indifference and moral carelessness'.I look around me and I see affluence everywhere. Street lined with cars,household filled with so many things.The majority people have more than enough to eat ,our health service may be struggleing,but a vast number of people are served well by it.I could go on.There is nothing wrong with prosperity,but how many raise a voice of thanks- giving to almighty God? ,not many.Even if people may acknowledge there may be a God they are spiritually indifferent and morally careless,The doors of their hearts are firmly shut,with a notice on in it which reads ,'don't disturb'. Im Matthew 24v 36ff  our Saviour said,'As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of man. for in the days before the flood,people were eating and drinking, marrying and given in marriage, up to the day of Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about about would happen until the flood came and took them away. This is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man'.The apostle Paul tells in 2 Thessalonians 1 v 7ff ,This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed  from heaven in blazing fire with His powerful angels. He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our  Lord Jesus'.

                                                           '

Not a change for the better ( Ephesians 5 v3-7)

 The times they are a changeing,I buy the times newspaper every Saturday,and I have read articles on peoples sexual behaviour,the latest one is about a cruise ship that caters for sexual deviants.I found it very sad how distubed these people are,anything goes, it was the Rolling Stones who sang a song with the words,'I can't get no satisfaction,Gonna Try,and I try ,and I try'.The pleasure one gets  from sex is not lasting but for many it's all consuming.Joy Davidman wrote, nobody  can reaonably expect  happiness from an insatiable appetite.God granted us the gift of sex so there is nothing wrong with that. The problem is the gift has taken over peoples lives,in an unhealthy way.Marriage for many is an after thought.We must remember God is a moral being who expects his people to abide by his morality,to go against His morallity is a sin that does not just mean sex,read the 10 commandments 

How could He love me.? ( Ephesians 2 v1 -10)

 We speak of  the Old Covenant Israel being God's special people,and they were,so why did He choose them? In Deuteronomy 7 V 7-8 we read,'The Lord did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples,but it was because the Lord loved you and kept the oath he swore to your ancestors'It ws not their choice it ws God's choice,Raymond Brown writes,'It was not that God lacked compassion for other nations or cared nothing for them......He deliberately chose Israel...to be a special instrument of his purposes in the world'His purposes was and is redemptive.Once that redemptive  purpose was fulfilled in Jesus the call for the new covenant went beyond that of a nation but to evangelise the world (John 3 v16/Acts1 v 8)We Gentiles who are now part of  the new covenant Israel but there was nothing good in us,Christ died for the ungodly He loved us while we were still sinners,not because we loved Him, but that He loved us.(1John 4 v 10)

                                                           'I stand amazed in the presence

                                                            Of Jesus the Nazarene.

                                                            And wonder how He could love me,

                                                            A sinner,condemmed, unclean.'

                                                                    Words  C H.Gabriel.

Dangerous divergence (Matthew 6 v 19 - 24)

 In Deuteronomy 5 v32 reads,'So be careful to do what the Lord your God  has commanded you;do not turn aside to the right or to the left',how people need to hear these words.Let me illustrate something from 'Pilgrims Progress',Christian is on his journey to the celestual land,he had a companion with him called Hopeful. As they journeyed they met a person called Demas who shouted out to them;'Turn aside!There's a silver mine here!With very little trouble,you'll be rich.' When gold was discovered in 1896 in Canada in Klondike gold fever took over and 100,000 people joined the gold rush,some succeeded,but many didn't.Back to Christian and Hopeful,Hopeful when he heard said ,'Let's go and see he said hopefully,but Christian  said he wasn't going ,for he had heard of that place,and it was dangerous' thankfully Hopeful listened to Christian ,and on they wemt on their journey .Let us listen to godly friends instead of rushing on into trouble and bringing our soul into mortal danger ,don't turn aside for anything.

Our Faher (Matthew 6 v 9)

When Egerton first preaced to the native Americans in Saskatchewan,the idea of the fatherhood of God  fascinated people who had hitherto seen God only in the thunder and lightning and the storm blast. An old chief  said to Egerton Young,'Did I hear you say to God''Our Father''?' I did',said Egerton Young.'God is your Father? asked the chief.'Yes',  said Egerton .'And', continued the chief,he is also my Father? 'He certainly is,'said Egerton. Suddenly the chiefs face lit up with a radiance. His hand went out,'Then', he said with the tone of someone making a dazzling discovery,'you and I  are brothers'.

                                                                'Behold, what manner of love

                                                                the Father hath bestowed upon us,

                                                                that we should be called the sons

                                                                of God' ( 1 John 3 v1)