Welcome [ Romans 8 v14 -16 ]

There is an old Irish song , which goes ,If your Irish , come into the parlour, theres a welcome there for you, it is nice to feel welcome, there is nothing so awful as being in company and feeling unwelcome. In Belfast there is a place were Christians meet, and it is called ,The Welcome Hall, I preached there many years ago. I used to watch a program called Cheers about a bar in Boston, it was a place were people felt welcome, were everyone knew your name. It is nice to feel that you are welcome, today I want you to feel welcome in relation to God, picture Heaven, and picture in your imagination, the biggest mat you have ever seen spread out , and it has one word on it , Welcome.[ Father thank you , that we are always welcome to come into Your presence, I thank you that your son Jesus has made this possible, Amen.]

His eye is on you.[ Matthew 6v25 -34]

Consider the most insignificant creature, here are words by the poet, Sir Edward Dyer,[The lowest trees have tops , the ant her gall, The fly her spleen, the little sprark his heat, The slender hairs cast shadows, though small, All bees have stings, although they be not great.], These words may help us to grasp the idea that in this vast universe , we dwell in, God cares for everything, thats how great He is. In Matthew 10 v29-31, our Saviour tells how God, cares for his creatures, little insignificant sparrows, but He reminds us , that we are of more value than many sparrows, He is reminding us all , those who are His children, that God will care for us. [ Father we confess that we worry when we should trust, help us to trust you with all our needs,our emotional, phyisical, and spiritual, for you promised , to meet all our needs out of Your riches in glory by Christ Jesus, Amen.]

Moody [2 Corinthians 4 ]

We are creatures of our moods, some days we get up , and we are like a bear with a sore head, it was Joyce Meyer, who said sometimes she felt like slapping someone. Now we are all different , God made us that way, there are those who appear always to be in a good mood, but most of us have our bad mood moments. So what do we do? , talk to God about it in an honest way, and ask Him to help you. Ask Him to keep control of you, by His Spirit, hang in there, it will pass, your mood will change for the better, remember always ,Jesus loves you, yes He does, even when you are in a bad mood. [ Father we wish that we were always in a good mood, but the reality is not so, forgive us and help us in all our weaknesses, in Jesus name we ask this , Amen.]

I have blown it.[1 Samuel 15 ]

When you preach you are not just speaking to others, you are also speaking to yourself, and the fact of the matter is, I dont always obey what I preach, this happened recently, I blew it, and I dont feel good about it. When we hear the word of God , we are meant to obey it, to often we are critics of the poor preachers, and there are a few about, or we dont like his personality, or whatever. There was a prophet called Balaam, we read about him in Numbers22-24, and God spoke to him through a donkey, some preacher, listen, what I am writing here is vital to your walk with God, whatsoever He says unto you , do it. [Father help us to be obedient children, to do what You tell us to do, help us to see how vital obedience is, in Jesus name we pray this, Amen]

Ask God for grace.[2 Corinthians 12 v1-10]

Have you got that Monday morning feeling?well you are not on your own , many people are like you, so what is the answer? To ask God for grace , this is always the answer, because whither it is Monday morning, or whatever, the grace of God is the answer. So just were you are, bow your head ,and ask God for grace, the word grace means favour, when we ask, we are admitting we need help from God, that is a very healthy attitude. We are dependant children, and we always will be, depending on our loving heavenly Father, so let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we find grace to help us when we need it most.[ Hebrews 4 v16 ] [Father be pleased to grant us , the grace we need , in Jesus name we ask this, Amen.]

I dont understand.[Psalms. 42-43. ]

There are many things we dont understand, I was reading Psalm 45, it is a prayer ,offered up to God, by a man who didnt understand why Israel was suffering. You see he believed they were doing what was right, so why were they suffering?. Why did Job a good man suffer? he was a godly person, prayed ,and sacrificed, yet he suffered greatly. there are many reasons for suffering, many. Let us go back to the two previous Psalms, 42-43, the writer is going through a trial, he is discouraged, and in the midst of his trial he prays, I will put my hope in God,like him, we may not understand why we are suffering, but we can and should hope in God, by faith.[ Father have mercy upon us, help us to trust You , to hope in you, in the midst of our trials, in Jesus name.Amen.]

Honour.[Romans 12 v1 ]

There is a lovely story in John 12 of a lady called Mary, who honoured Jesus, by pouring very expensive perfume over Jesus feet. This word honour has a number of meanings, in the Hebrew, it can mean beauty, in English, it can mean worship. Often the things people do in the name of honour are far from beautiful, but what Mary did was beautiful, let us ask this question, are we prepared to honour Jesus in a manner that could be considered beautiful, even if we are criticised, like Mary was?. Next in honouring Jesus make it an act of worship, an act that pleases Jesus. [ Father , help us to copy Mary, to honour You , in ways that are beautiful, in Jesus name , Amen .]