God repeating Himself. [ Revelation 2 v7 ]

Yesterday I was worried, it was not a major problem, but it was worrying,there was a moment when I said to myself , dont worry, and then I spoke to God, Your always telling me that. It is so true ,God is continually speaking to us,repeating the same things over and over again, because we continually forget what He has told us. The words of the old hymn come to mind, / for I forget so soon/, it is so true, we are all without exception a forgetful lot.I rarely preach the same sermon twice, but God is continually telling us the same things, dont worry,pray,read My word, keep meeting with other Christians,our bad habits, and so on, God will keep talking to us, until hopefully we obey what He is saying to us. and by the way that problem I had was solved. [Father we are sorry that you have to keep repeating yourself to us, we are so forgetful, , and often disobedient, it is to our shame that it is so, help us to change, in Jesus name we ask this, Amen ]

Timely advice [ Proverbs 8 v32 -36 ]

In James 1 v 19, we have the following wise and timely advice, it is threefold, [ 1 ] You must all be quick to listen/, how often have we heard the words, you dont listen to me, that could be said of all of us, today let us be listeners. [2 ] Slow to speak/, the idea is to weigh up things before we speak,remember wrong words can cause so much damage, [3 ] Slow to get angry,/ many of us are quick tempered ,let us remember that God is in the business of changing our temperament. [Father help us by your grace to heed what you say to us, to treasure your words, for in so doing we will be blessed, we ask this in Jesus name, Amen ]

Detached giving [1 Corinthians 13 ]

I woke up recently with the words, detached giving, in my head, I dont know why, so I looked up the meaning of the word detached, it means, disinterested, seperate,aloof , and impartial. It is in 1Corinthians 13, we are told that it is possible to help the poor,to have faith that can remove mountians, to exercise spiritual gifts,etc , and for those things to have no value in Gods sight, the reason being an absence of love. It is easy for a doctor to sit behind his desk and write prescriptions, it is possible for ministers to take funeral services, and just go through the motions.In Gods eyes love is to be the vital ingredient in all we do, if love is missing then what we do is of no worth, let me stress this again, no matter what we do, be it ever so noble, artistic, sacrificial, painful, in the service of others, and God, if love is lacking, it is of no value. [Soften my heart Lord, soften my heart, from all indifference set me a part, to feel Your compassion, to weep with Your tears, come soften my heart, O Lord, soften my heart, Amen ] [ The words of the prayer are by Graham Kenndrick ]

Doubts [Romans 4 v 18 - 25 ]

I wonder if you have doubts?, is it a sin to doubt?, the answer is no of course, the disciples appear to have doubted even after our Saviour rose from the dead. [Matthew 28 v17 ]. Most of us will have doubts , we have to face that fact, it is what we do with our doubts that is the important thing. When God promised Abraham and Sarah a child, they both initially doubted, [Genesis 17v17/18 v12, but faith was triumphant. There are many reasons for us to doubt, we just have to watch the news, our own personal lives, sickness, unemployment, the list is endless, some things touch us very deeply, we experience things that mar us for life. There are no easy answers, think of Job , think of Jesus , they both suffered, and suffered tremendously.Whatever doubts you may be having ,commit them to God in humility, let us remember we are called to walk by faith. I took down an old Bible from the shelf recently ,it belonged to someone who was very precious to me, and I read the words of an old hymn on the fly leaf, it read,/ O for a faith that will not shrink, Tho pressed by many a foe, That will not tremble on the brink of any earthly woe, That will not murmur or complain, Beneath the chastening rod, But in the hour of grief or pain,will lean upon its GOD/[Father so many things bombard us , pushing us into the darkness of doubt, grant us the grace of faith, so that inspite of our doubts,we will not give up, but will press on towards our ultimate goal, heaven and home, we ask this in Jesus name Amen ]

Glorify God.[ 1 Corinthians 10 v 31 ]

In the , Westminster Shorter Catechism,[ A cathechism is a hand book of questions and answers for teaching the pricipals of religion ], in this catechism there are 107, questions and answers. The first question is ,/ What is mans chief end ?, the answer- Mans chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him for ever. So many have different aims, many see lifes aim, is to be successful, to make money, to be happy, and so on, now of course there is nothing wrong with those things, but, ah that but again, most people, dont have a thought for God in their aims, or indeed for others, hence so much pain and hurt. Fellow Christians let us make it our aim to glorify God, by obeying His word, and the promptings of the Holy Spirit, that must be our chief aim in life. Let us always ask ourselves the question, is the thing I am going to do, say , or think ,is it going to bring glory to God?, if not decide against it.[ Dear God help us to make it our chief end to glorify You in everything, we ask this in the name of our precious Saviour, Jesus , Amen ]

I am going on holiday until next Saturday, keep that thought in mind of glorifying God, apply it to every situation ,the Lord bless you all.








/

















?

Obedience [ 1 Samuel 15 v22- 23 ]

In Proverbs 4 v23-27, we are advised to not be distracted, Look straight ahead, dont get sidetracked, guard your heart.The Christian life demands a singleness of vision, keeping our eyes on Jesus is vital . There was a prophet in the O T, we read about him in 1 Kings 13 who turned back, when God told him plainly not to, the result of his disobedience , he died. Obedience to God is not optional, it is vital, obedience to God is not a take it or leave it option. Consider that all the woes of life , have been caused by one thing disobedience. God made a perfect world ,imperfection came in when our first parents disobeyed. So dont run with your feelings, walk in obedience, dont yield to temptation, say an emphatic no, dont be fooled by the devil, and his lies, resist the devil and he will flee from you. [ Father it is so easy to loose sight of You, so easy to be distracted, and so easy to fall into sin, help us in the name of our Saviour your Son to have a singleness of vision, a vision of obedience. Amen ]

Debt [ Matthew 18 v21 - 35 ]

As I look at the credit crunch , it makes me realize how much the whole financial world is built on debt. Long gone our the days when people would only buy something when they had the ready cash, it is buy now pay later. It seems that every one owes someone,even the money people invest is used by the investors to grant loans to others. We all know how easy it has been to get loans, and it seems that the present credit crunch, has been caused by irresponsible lending to people who could not afford to pay their loans back. The bible uses the idea of debt in relation to our sins, and makes it clear that not one of us can pay that debt , years ago people who could not pay their debts, where put into the debtors prison,and there they stayed until their debts were paid, as far as God is concerned we are all without exception in the debtors prison , because we cannot pay that debt. The fact is unless that debt is paid we are doomed ,but the good news is Christ by dying on the cross made it possible for our debts to be paid, when we trust Christ , God forgives us our debts[ sins ] [ Merciful God we thank You for Jesus Your Son who died that our sins can be forgiven, Amen ]