Accident [Daniel 4 v24-26.]

One of the meanings for the word accident is chance, in other words it just happened, I do not believe in fate, a fixed state , something that we cannot do anything about, and while we do have what one can describe as accidents, as a Christian, I believe in a sovereign God, one who is in control of events, in this world and in my life. I cannot fully explain this, but I believe it to be true, for the Scripture teaches that God is ordering, and directing events, in this world, and this includes my life and yours, read the story of Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 4, he thought he ruled, that he was sovereign, not so, many have yet to learn the truth that God rules, and is ordering events. [ Great Sovereign God we bow in your presence, and acknowledge you as our sovereign Lord, we rejoice that you are in control , even if it appears that things are getting out of control, Amen.]

A BIT SEVERE.[Matthew 18 v7-9 ]

Go on pamper yourself, have that cream cake , buy that item of clothing,you deserve it, im sure there are times, we do deserve it. The only thing about this mentality it can take over , it becomes a mind set, I remember my dear mum, speaking about smoking, that it was the only pleasure she had, she died of cancer. There are pleasures we need to forego, the bible speaks about the pleasures of sin, [Hebrews 11v2] ,my translation reads ,the fleeting pleasures of sin, sin never completly satisfies, and of course it can have devastating affects on our lives. Alright pamper yourself occasionally, but be careful .[ Father gives us Grace to live lives that will glorify You, to keep our desires under control, and were we need to be severe , and deney ourselves, help us , in Jesus name. Amen.]

Control [ Psalm 121 ]

I believe in human responsibilty, in other words, not being silly, I work pay my bills, try to be responsible with my money, etc, yet the thought has come to me , and its this, there is so much I cant control, the list is endless, this may be a bit scarey at times, a bit worrying. What can you and I do ?,well we can pray, to Him who is in control, our Sovereign God, and commit all to Him. Prayer is the one effective means we have at our disposal,let us have confidence in God to order , control, and over rule in all things, and to cause all things to work together , for our good[ Romans 8 v28] [ Father God help us , to commit all things into Your hands, to act responsible, , help us to believe that You are in control, in Jesus name we ask this, Amen.]

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]