Questions [ Acts 16 v 30- 31 ]

I am old enough to remember a radio programme,called twenty questions, a paniel would try to find out a given secret subject in just twenty questions. The secret subject was either, animal , vegtable, or mineral, it was a very popular radio programme. Questions, I am sure there are questions on all our minds, some , unimportant,some important,and some very important, I wonder do you know the most important question in life?, well let me tell you, it was asked by a man who was suicidal, and it this, /What must I do to be saved? /. Have you ever asked that question?, and is there an answer ? , yes there is, and here it is, / Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved, [ Acts 16v 30-31 ]/, its as simple as that, have you done this? [ Dear God thank You for showing us the answer to the most important question in life, how we can be saved, thank you that no one needs to be lost,thank You that by simply believing on Jesus Your son we can be saved, Amen ]

My most treasured possession. Matthew 10 v 37- 39 ]

There are a number of things that I value, my books, especially my commentaries, my car, my job, my music, especially Kate M, and my health, and so the list goes on. I also value relationships, friends, family, my dear wife, if you made a list what would at the top of it ?. It is in Matthew 13 v 45 - 46 ,we read of a man who discovered a pearl of great value, what did he do ?, he sold everything he owned, and bought it, he valued that pearl above everything else. That story reminds me of what is my most treasured possession, Jesus ,is he yours?, when our Saviour spoke to Peter in John 21, He asked Him a question, / do you love me more than these? /[ v 15], how would answer that question?, would you be able to say ,Lord I love You more than these,[ whatever the these is ]. [Dear Lord Jesus we praise You for your great love for each of us,a love that took You to Calvary, help us to treasure You most of all ,may You be our most treasued possession Amen .]

He remembers. [ Psalm 103 v 8-17 ]

In Psalm 136 v23, we read, /He remembered us in our weakness/, He remembered, but do we remember?.The most gifted person in Gods eyes is weak, they think they are strong,but they are not,the king of Babylon ,who ruled over , one of the greatest kingdoms ever, was weak, [Daniel 4 ]. David , Israels greatest king was weak ,[2 Samuel 11 ], and the great apostle Paul was weak,[ 2 Corinthians 12 ]. The fact of the matter is we are all weak, it does not take much to disturb us, todays heroes can be tomorrows villians, one minute we can be standing , the next minute we can be flat on our face,but listen we can be strong, let me repeat that, we can be strong. How can we be strong? by acknowledgeing to God our weakness, in fact we never can be saved until we confess our weakness, that we are sinners and we need Jesus to save us. Weakness is were the Christian life begins,and continues ,till we go to heaven. [ Almighty God we thank You that You remember that we are weak, we confess that so often we forget the truth that we are weak, so today we bow before You in all our weakness, clothe us in humility,and a reliance upon You, in Jesus name we ask this, Amen .]

A closet atheists [John 21 ]

I recently heard on the radio of a man who lost his faith, he had been a closet atheists for years, so eventually he declared his atheism. As a christian I feel sad when anyone looses their faith, but it happens, there are many reasons for this, we need to pray for them. Also we need to realize that we are all vulnerable, many things can cause doubt to come in, it is easy for any of us to become closet atheists. The thing that is most important to me is my relationship with my Saviour, I love Him, and He loves me, He is my dearest friend, He has been with me through so much, and he alone has brought meaning into my life, to loose faith, would be to loose Him, and that is unthinkable. [ Dear Saviour thank You for your friendship and love, thank You for being there for us in the hard times, and in the good times, thank you , we love You, Amen ]

They are watching.[ Matthew 5 v13-16 ]

In Luke 4 v 20,we read ,/All eyes in the synagogue looked at Him [ Jesus ] intently, it wasnt just in the synagogue that people watched Him,He was continually under observation, His every action every word was judged. If one is a believer then people are watching, we may not think they are, but rest assured they are,it has always been the same. In the book of Daniel ,we read how the enemies of Daniel, searched for some fault in Daniel, and this is what we read,/ they couldnt find anything to criticize or condemn. He was faithful, always responsible, and completely trustworthy,/[ 6v4 ]. We may not like it but the fact is we are being watched,and the challenge for all of us is to show forth Christ in our words, and actions. [ Father help us to live godly lives,help us to be faithful, responsible,and trustworthy,help us not to bring dishonour on You, in Jesus name we ask this, Amen ]

Should I .[ Luke 10 v 30-37 ]

I was driving back to the office when I noticed a man sitting on the rail of the bridge I was crossing over, and I thought was he going to jump of that rail into the traffic below,or I thought , was he just sitting, resting ?. I wondered what shall I do ?,go back or just keep on driving ?,if I drive on and he jumped, I would feel guilty for not doing anything, so I turned and drove back and was relieved to see he was not there, it had been, a should I ,or should I not moment, I am glad I turned back. This all reminded me of the story of the good Samartian, a story of missed opportunity ,by two men, and one man who took the opportunity to help someone in need. Today we may be faced with an opportunity to help someone, it may be a false alarm, or it may not. [ Father in Heaven help us to responed rightly to those opportunities to help others ,that present themselves to us each day, help us to not just look , and then walk by,we ask this in Your name ,Amen ]

Bravery. [ Daniel 6 ]

I wonder how you would define bravery?, we often relate it to the battlefield, but of course it includes many areas of life. Stop for a moment and think of someone you consider to be brave, a person battling with an illness, physical or mental . I am reading the book of Daniel at this time and in that book there are four brave people, people who were prepared to put their lives on the line. I often wonder how brave I would have been if I had lived in Nazi Germany, I will never know. To be a Christian in many areas of the world takes bravery, places like North Korea. The bravest person I know is Jesus, He left the security of Heaven, and came into a very dangerous place, earth, He knew what awaited Him, a cross,with all its phyisical suffering, but also the spiritual suffering as He experienced the wrath of God for our sin, He deserves a medal, but He deserves more than that, He deserves our trust, love and our loyalty. [ Lord there sometimes seems a fine live between being brave, and being a coward, helps us today to be brave, to face this day with courage ,a courage that comes to us as we trust in You, we ask this in Your name Lord Jesus, Amen ]