Lives that speak. ( 1 Peter 3 v1 )

I visit an elderly lady  every other week,she is aged 94, and lives in a supportive houseing complex, her husband is in glory.They both served the Lord,her husband and I were joint leaders of a church.I often share with her the people I witnessed to,something of interest to talk about.But it started her on a guilt trip for she found it hard to witness to people,in my last visit she mentioned that again,mentioning feelings of regret.So this is what I said to her,calling her by name,'All your life, has been a witness for Jesus,that is very true,your children have had a godly mother,your husband a godly wife,your neighbours a godly neighbour' We are the only Bible  non Christians ever read,a godly life leaves it mark.Our Saviour said,'Let your light shine before others,that they may see  your good deeds and glorify your father in heaven' (Matthew 5 v 16) 

                                                   'Lord may our lives speak when we can't'

Judgement is coming ( 2 Corinthians 5 v 10)

Continuing on Nahum 1 v 3 we read ,'The Lord will not leave the guilty unpunished',these are very important words,Nineveh and Assyria,will not escape the righteous judgement of God.who will pour out His wrath upon them.As with every wicked tyrant God will judge them ,if not in the immediate most surely in eternity.Hebrews 9 v 27 reads,' As it is appointed unto men once to die,but after this the judgement'.Justice will be done,no excuses will be listened to.Many who worked in the death camps used the excuse,they were only obeying orders,will mean nothing ,when they appear before a holy God.We will have to broaden this out,to include all the unsaved,when he declares that he will not leave the guilty unpunished.Who are the guilty?we are all guilty,we are told that we are all sinners,everyone.Laetsch writes ,'His demand of perfection is irrevocable.His judgement of death and damnation for every sinner stand eternally unchanged'.He aso writes as regards  divine wrath,'It is not the whim of a cruel tyrant, the  unreasonable flaring up of the temper of one who has not learned to control his passion,not the fury of a hothead who strikes out without rhyme or reason,letting his blows fall where they may.'No one will escape the righteouse judgement of God. The great judgement day is coming seek Jesus and ask him to be your Saviour.

The Lord is patient ( 2 Peter 3 v9 ) 1

Nahum  1 v3  reads ,'The Lord is slow to anger but great in power; the Lord will not leave the guilty unpunished'.These words  emphasise three aspects of our great God,Let us consider, 'The Lord is slow to anger' Nahum was a prophet whom God raised up,to proclaim judgement against Nineveh the capital of  Assyria.One hundred years before Nahum spoke to Nineveh, God sent the prophet Jonah  to tell them that God's judgement was about to fall upon them in 40 days (Jonah 3v4),well they immediately  repented and this included the King,and God spared them,in mercy he withdrew his judgement.But now a hundred years later,they have returned to their old ways,it was a deja vu moment.This time God's mercy would not be held back this time,nor was it,for in 612 BC a combined army,made up of the Babylons, Medes,and Scythians overthrew them.I believe that God is patient with every generation,that they may repent and turn to Jesus. but in the end God's patience runs out,then Judgement will fall,if your not saved take heed to this message.

Great in power( 2 Chronicles 32 v20-22) 2

Last time we looked at,'The Lord is slow to anger',now we look at,'but great in power', it is important to look at the context. It is about a world power Nineveh the capital of Assyria ,they were cruel and very wicked,in their desire for power they had slain mulitudes,Nahum declares  that they had enslaved nations. What could anyone do,other than submit,in order to survive,if one lived in those days,one may have thought,no one can deliver us.When the Nazies were at the hight of their  power what could one do against them? Assyria had conqured the ten tribes of Israel let these words find a place in your heart,'God is great in power' .Assyria came against the small kingdon of Judah,he had conquered the cities in Judah,but then he turned his eyes towards Jerusalem,he and his army arrived at the city gates,making all sorts of threats, he said that the god's of the nations he had conqured could not save them,and threw scorn on Israels God. Hezekiak  did not surrrender and declared ,'there is a greater power with us than with him.With him is only the arm of flesh, but with us is the Lord our God to help us and to fight our battles' (2 Chronicles 32 v 7-8)Let us all take encouragement no matter how great the  difficulties we are facing,no matter if the enemy of our souls is at the gate ,and we feel overwhelmed,have faith in God, for power belongeth unto Him.  

Disunity ( Psalm 133)

I served in two churches,one as a full time minister and the other as a joint leader,in both Chuches you had people who were very unkind.I said in a lightherted way to the pastor of the church I attend,that I was glad  that I was not in a pastoral role now,for it seems that you always seem to have people who stir things up,usually for the minister. It is not nice but it happens,I heard R T.Kendall who became the minister of Westminster Chapel London,and the problems he had with certain people in that church.It is sometimes hard to know what can one do with such people.In the end we have usually to leave them with God ,but they can cause a lot problems in the church. God is not pleased with those who seek to cause disunity in the church.One person wrote the following,'Disunity in the church is a harmful division among believers, that damages relationships,weakens spiritual strength,and hurts Christian witness' 

                                                                         Jesus said ,

A new commandment I give you, that you love one another; just as I  have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.

                                                                         John 13 v34-35

Add on's ( Hebrews 9 v 12 ) 4

 Let us continue to look at what the RC church calls the mass and their very strange way they look at it,to say the least, it does not get any better,in fact it gets much worse.It clearly underminds the atonement,and when anyone does that it is very serious.We have pointed out their wrong interpetation of the bread and wine,the question is what do they believe the mass is,to them it is a literal sacrifice ,everytime they have a mass it becomes that self same sacrifice that happened on calvary .Every mass is a re-enacting of Calvary. Hebrews 9- 10  deals with Christ sacrifice ,the writer points out that the animal sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year was imperfect,they did not deal effectively with sin.They could never do that they were only a shadow, he points to the impossiblity of the blood of bulls and goats taking away sin.God had a bigger plan, Jesus the Lamb of God would take away the sin of the world (John 1 v29)Jesus one sacrifice would effectively  deal with sin ,Cp Hebrews 9 , read v23ff were it clearly tells us that He does not need to be offered again and again v25 reads,' Nor yet that He should offer himself often.' v28 so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many'. To say that Christ has to be sacrificed continully is really saying, it is not effective in dealing with sin. I have a friend who was ardent RC,as a RC he felt that his sins were not forgiven,that all changed when He trusted Jesus one time sacrifice on the cross.

Add on's ( Luke 22 v 17 -19)3

The last one of the add on's is the 'Mass', what is it? it is one of the core doctrines of the Catholic faith, the core of  this is the death of Christ .All Christian churches do what Christ told us to do ,when he eat bread and drink wine,the bread stands for his body,and the wine stands for His blood,these remind us, of his death on Calvary,He said do this in rememberance of me. (Luke 22 v14-20) The simplicity of it is wonderful,there is nothing complicated about it.But the mass turns it iinto more than that,based on John 6 v53 were Jesus says,'unless you eat the flesh of the Son of  Man and drink His blood,you have no life.'There were those who heard those words, took it literally,and they stopped following Jesus.No Jew would drink blood,and none of us would eat flesh,it was never to be taken literally.The simplest answer is this 'the taking of Christ within oneself  that is by the metaphor of eating and drinking'( Dr .Leon Morris) When Jesus said He was a door in John 10 v9 ,he was using a metaphor,when He said he said He was the good shepherd,he was using it to illustrate something people could identify with ,I suppose one could say that was a metaphor also,He never was a literal shepherd .Coming back to the mass,the RC church takes  what Jesus said literal,which to say the least is wrong,they believe the bread miraculously turns into the body of Christ so that  they believe they are literally eating the flesh of Christ,and the wine likewise when they drink the wine  they belive they are literally drinking the blood of Christ.

Add on's . (Colossians 2 v13) 2

 Now let us consider the next add on 'Purgatory', what is purgatory?It is seen as a tempory state or place after death where souls are cleansed and purified of remaining sins before entering heaven.This purifying is done by a spiritual fire which is agony.It did not become  official Roman Catholic doctrine until the 13th-15th centuries.I wonder what happened before then?The RC base it on a verse 2 Maccabees 12 v46,but the problem is that 2Maccabees was never accepted as being part of the cannon of scripture,by the Protestant church,and Jewish authorities. This teaching weakens the atoning death of Christ,which is the only thing that deals with sin 1John 1 v 7, make that clear,it reads ,'the blood of Jesus his Son,purifies us from all sin.' Hebrews 9v22 reads,'Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness'.There is no such thing as a spiritual purifying us from our sin after death.Nor is there any bases of going to a place called purgatory, we read of the dying thief in Luke 23 v43 'Jesus answered him,'Truly I tell you today you will be with me in paradise'2 Corinthians 5 v 8 reads,'We are confident,I say,and willing rather to be absent from the body,and to be present with the Lord' It is very clear that Enoch went straight to heaven.(Hebrews 11 v 5)The biggest argument against purgatory, there is no mention of it in the Bible it is just one of those add on's.

Add on's ( Romans 6 v23 )1

Beware of the add on's,for once  they start, who knows where they are going to end ,the result is they take people further and further from the truth.The greatest culpit who does this well, I won't mention them by name but we will consider the add on's they have brought in,well some of them. The first one is, we cannot be saved by faith alone,the next one is a place which they call purgatory,were one is purified by fire.and the next one is  the mass. Let us consider the first one,we can't be saved by faith alone,is that true?,no it's not,  they add on .'good works'. they base this on what James says in his epistle chap 2 v14ff in understanding what James says ,we must consider v18  which reads,'Show me your faith without deeds and I will show my you my faith by my deeds'. Our deeds are the evidence that our faith is true,as James says twice,'show me'.If we are showing no evidence of being a Christian then we not a Christian. We read throughout scripture,that we are saved by simple faith in Christ and his finished work.The thief  on the cross did no good works John 23 v43.Abraham did no good works to be saved Cp  Romans 4 v1-6. v3 reads 'What does scripture say? Abraham believed God,and it was counted unto as righteoudness' Rom 5 v1 'Therefore,since we have been justified by faith,we have peace with God through our Jesus Christ.I could go on but I leave  you with  Ephesians 2 v  8-9,'For it is by grace you are saved,through faith,and this is not from yourselves,it is a GIFT of God, not by WORKS,so that no one can boast.'

                                           'Martin Luther said 'We are saved by faith alone

                                            but the faith that saves is never alone'

Repentance ( 2 Peter 3 v 9)

 The Christian author Os Guinness said,'Confession is a source of strength not weakness,he also mentioned what  Margaret Thatcher said,'the womens not for turning',as being dangerous'.When we. sin it is is vital that we confess our sins and repent of them. 1John 1 v 9 reads ,'If we confess our sins,He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness'.King David committed a terrible sin, , adultery and murder ,he confessed this is to God  ,and God forgive him.No matter how terrible ones sins are ,God will forgive us.He forgave Paul,the persecuter of His Church he was shown mercy'.Paul never forgot that,he wrote,'Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man,'he was shown mercy (1 Timothy 1 v 13). Manasseh was one of the worse kings who ruled Judah,he sinned greatly ,read 2 Chronicles 33 ,but God forgave him. Remember in God's sight all sin is equally evil and needs to be confessed.Sin unconfessed will drive us away us away form God.Os Guinness pointed out that Jewish scholars spoken of repentance as coming home,the story of the prodigal illustrates that,the hymn writer wrote 

                                                          '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'.

Are you listening? ( Revelation 2 v 29)

I was out with fellow Christians ,having a meal,and I jokingly said husbands have a deaf ear,because so often the women says to their husbands,'your not listening' We may smile at those words,there may be a degree of truth in what is said. Often a parent says to their children,are you listening to what I say? of course they are,pull the other leg.But let us move on to a higher level,as regards God speaking and the importance of people listening and acting on what He says.In Psalm 95v 7-8/Hebrews 3 v 15,it reads 'Today, if you hear his voice not harden your hearts,as you did in the rebellion'.what does harden mean?it has different aspects to it,it can describe a person's feelings becoming tough and unfeeling,and unbelieving.During our Lords earthly ministery he spoke to many people,especially the religious leaders. In Matthew 13 v 15 He declares why 'Though seeing,they do not see; though hearing ,they do not hear or understand. ......For this people  have become calloused;the  word calloused means ,'cruel and not concerned with others fellings.It is a picture of people who do want to hear God's word.Such as the times we live in,we understand the non-Christian being like that ,but what about us who are Christians,are we listening? or do we have deaf ear?

Better He choose. ( Psalm 23 v 3)

 Sometimes in life you just have to accept things,I didn't get to be that missionary I wanted to be,but I have two son's in Chritian ministry,one who travels all over the world ministering.David wanted to build a temple but God said no, it didn't stop him from supplying the materials for the temple.Moses wanted to go into the promised land,but God said no,although he was allowed him to see it from afar. Paul wanted to be healed,but God said no,but God granted him the grace to bear it.Let us never forget God is in control in Psalm 47 v4 we read, 'He shall choose our inheritance for us'Jonah did not accept the task God had given him to do,but he soon learned,the folly of that,when he ended up in the belly of a great fish.You may have been let down in romance,consider that it was not God's choice for you.That promotion you wanted and it didn't happen,it was not God's choice for you.

                                                                 'Thy will be done'

Gangrene ( Romans 1 v16-17)

In Pauls letter to Timothy,who was  the leader of the church at Ephesus,and in chap 2 he warned him to deal with false teaching,and he describes the effects of  false teaching. If it was not dealt with it will spread like gangrene,or as John Stott puts it,'as dangerous as blood poisoning to the body and spreads like sepsis from a wound'.Thats how serious false teaching is,and yet sad to say some so called Christians  appear to be blind to that .There is a belief that that there are are different roads that lead to heaven,not so ,the historical Christ declared ,'That he was the way the truth and the life and that no man can come unto the Father but by Him.(John 14 v6 )I have just read how women are treated in Afghanistan ,being flogged ,and being kept as prisoners in their own home,and the terrible violence inflicted on so many dear people,because they are  Christians .But the problem is bigger than that ,false religions are built on falsehood,The Quran is built on falsehood,it denies that Christ did not die on the cross,and so millions of people are robbed of salvation,of having their sins forgiven,and that is very serious,and very sad.

Hope in God ( Psalm 42)

  Psalm 42 and 43,could be one Psalm, for they appear to have the same theme,of a man who is struggling ,yes there were reasons.He feels hemmed in and overwhelmed v7 he declares 'I hear the tumult of the raging sea as your waves and surging tides sweep over me'It could be he felt cut off from the house of God.(2/4)He was in such a state ,and there were those who kept asking him,'Where is your God?' Remember the enemy will always kick you when your down,in spite of this he had not lost his soul thirst for God v1-2 reads'As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you,my God. My soiul thirsts for God, for the living God.' May God help us from loosing our soul thirst for the living God.What can he do v 5/11 tells us the first things he did,he spoke to himself and here is what he said,'Why my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me?'and then he answers the question,'Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him, my Saviour and my God'V8 reads,'But each day the Lord pours his unfailing love upon me',this caused him to rejoice,as it should cause us to rejoice.For we are told in Romans 8 v37-39 that nothing can seperate us the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

It took a miracle. (Ephesians 2 v 1- 10)

 Do I believe that miracles still happen? yes I do,yet we must confess that miraculous healings don't happen often,but I'm sure they still happen. We often limit miracles to people being healed,but God's word dosen't.Right throughout the Bible we read  of healings,but also of people being delivered from slavery in a miraculous way. We read how God opened up the sea for His people to walk through on dry ground,so escaping from their enemies.Of a prophet being fed by birds,and that same prophet prayed and there was no rain for three and a half years.We read of Jesus walking on water,and turning water into wine, yes there are many miracles in the Bible.What is the greatest miracle that we can expereince?,what do you think it is?.It is Spurgeon who spoke of a 'Miracle of Grace',what did he mean by that? the answer is simple,it is the miracle of salvation,everytime a person gets saved it is a miracle.If you are a Christian then you have experienced a miracle,and of all miracles it is the greatest miracle of all.John W.Peterson wrote the following.

                                                    'It took a miracle to put the stars in place,

                                                     It took a miracle to hang the world in space;

                                           But when he saved my souls ,cleaned and made me whole,

                                                      It took a miracle of love and grace'

Escape ( Genesis 19 v17)

Like many countries we have experienced very sunny and dry weather, with the result fires have broken out in many places.Many people have had to flee from the flames,leaving their homes and possessions,and just escape for their lives.Unfortunately some people lost their live.which was very sad. This reminds me that when John Wesley was a young boy,the home he lived in caught fire,most of the family escaped. In the confusion John who was sleeping was overlooked. John was only just over 5, he did wake up,by that time fire had got a hold ,and the stairs were on fire,but John managed to drag a chest up to window climbed on it,and showed himself  to the people below.At that very moment his father,in agonies of despair, was commending the infant soul to God.Two brave fellows saw the boy at the window, and saved him just before the roof collapsed.It was in memory of this escape that Wesley oftened referred to himself as ''a brand plucked out of the burning''.These words are taken from Zechariah 3 v2 av It is our Saviour who spoke of hell fire (Matthew 5 v22) and in Matt 13 v42 that evildoers are thrown into the firey furnace.There are  other scriptures were Jesus speaks of hell,and judgement,and every Christian are indeed brands plucked out of the burning,no firey judgement awaits us,but not so for the non Christian.

No one is perfect (John 3 v36)

What are the ten safest countries in the world ,I went down the list,Ireland was one,Portugal another, I will just tell you the safest one ,'Japan'.I hope they all get comfort from being on that list,still as we say there are no perfect people in all these countries,God's law will be broken by everyone of them.Safety does not mean perfection, as regards the safest country,everyone in that country are sinners,and that goes for every country in the world,consider that, and it's implications.There are plenty of nice people in the world,but being nice does not  hide the fact that they sin.There are many people who do a lot of good,likewise this does not hide the fact they are sinners.Recently two young men killed a young ploiceman,he was  dragged 100yards caught up in their car,at their trial they could be seen laughing.Also there is man who killed and raped women,and I get angry  at the terrible things they have done.Lets go further back in history,to what the Nazies done,and the terrible cruel things they committed,they deserve to go to hell,Is that so?, ,yes they do, but going  to hell is not just  for extreme evil people,no it is for everyone,and I mean everyone. King David committed two dreadful sins,adultery and murder,and in his prayer of repentance ,he prayed  'Against you, you only,have I sinned.' Sin is an offence against against God (Psalm51 v 4),yes sin offends a holy God,sin seperates us from God,and brings us all under His wrath.Take this very serious,hell  awaits all  who have not repented of their sin.But here is the good news Jesus died so our sins can be forgiven,so why don't you not ask Him to be your Saviour now,before it is to late.

All Things ( Romans 8 v28 ) 2

We continue to look at one of Spurgeon's daily devotionals,''We know that all things work together for good to them that love God''. 'The Christian does not merely hold this as a theory,but he knows it as a matter of fact. Everything has worked for good as yet; the poisonous drugs mixed in fit proportions have worked the cure; the sharp cuts of the lancet have cleansed out the proud flesh and facilitated the healing. Every event as yet has worked out the most divinely blessed results; and so, believing that God rules all,  that He  governs  wisely, that He brings good out of  evil, the believer's heart is assured, and he is enabled calmly to meet each trial as it comes. The believer can in the spirit of true resignation pray . ''Send me what  thou wilt, my God, so long as it comes from Thee; never came there an ill portion from Thy table to any of Thy children''.

                                        ''Say not my soul,'From whence can God relieve my care?

                                         Remember that Omnipotence has servants everywhere.

                                         His method  is sublime,His heart profound kind,

                                         God never is before His time,can never be behind''.

                                        

All things ( Romans 8 v28) 1

Spurgeon was a wonderful man of God ,a man I believed raised up by God , and who served his generation well,one of the things he left was a daily devotional called ,'Morning and Evening'.I would like to share some thoughts from one of his readings.It starts with a verse of scripture,'We know that all things work together for good to them that love God'. 'Upon some points a believer is absolutely sure.He knows for instance that God sits in the stern of the vessel when it rocks most.He believes that an invisible hand is always on the world's tiller,and that whatever providence may drift,Jehovah steers it. That re-assuring knowledge prepares him for everything . He looks over the raging waters and sees the spirit of Jesus treading the billows, and he  hears a voice saying,''It is I, be not afraid''. He knows that God is always wise, and, knowing this he is confident that there can be no accidents, no mistakes;that nothing  can occur which ought not to arise.''If I should  loose all I have,it is better that I should loose than have,if God wills:the worst calamity is the wisest and the kindest thing that could befall me if God ordains it,''.We will continue this next time.

                                                                         ' God Reigns'

Trust Him. ( Habakkuk 3 v 16- 19)

Let us turn and look at those words  from Habakkuk ,'but the just shall live by faith'(  2 v 4),here was this awful event going to take place the invasion by Babylon.Consider what it would mean,thousands and thousands of people would be slaughtered,plus many other things,can you imagine oneself in that situation.It is Theo Laetsch points out that it was not God's plan to utterly  destroy His people but to correct them.The prophet may have had problems with what God  was going to do,but God is not accountable to the prophet or to any of us,God's way is perfect even in judgement.But God's answer was as Theo Laetch puts it,'Remain faithful,Trust Me,and you shall live'. In God's perfect will ,he will preserve his saints, think of how God preserved his people.I often  quote a verse of a hymn by John Ryland ,'Plagues  and death around me fly;Till He bids,I cannot die; Not a shaft can hit,Till the God of love sees fit'.Whatever situation we may find ourselves in, no matter how difficult it is,we are to trust our mighty God and be faithful to Him.