Changing me [ 1 Peter 1 v 6- 7 ]

Yesterday I spoke to a young lady, she shared with me the difficulties she was experiencing in her marriage, they were not immoral difficulties, but she was desperately looking for advice and help. What I did was listen and assure her of my prayers, my heart went out to her, from long experience I did not try to give any quick -fix answers. In my life I have met many well meaning Christians, who have done more harm than good in the area of helping others, I have listened to the all knowing Christian T V celebrities,read their books, and in the end , the problems has not been resolved. I am not saying problems cannot be resolved, but often they remain with us, and in them, God does a work in our lives, He creates Christian character, and that is more important than the healing we desire, or the resolving of that on going problem. It is Marilyn Baker, she is blind, who wrote,/ Jesus You are changing me,by Your Spirit You,re making me like You. Jesus You,re transforming me, that Your loveliness may be seen in all I do. You are the potter, I am the clay,help me to be willing to let You have You way/.[ Dear God grant unto us the grace of perseverance, the grace to hold on, and the grace to accept Your will for our lives in Jesus name Amen ]

Daily refreshing [Isaiah 40 v 28 - 31 ]

We have a garden, which means we have to water each day the plants we have put in, except when it rains. We are a bit like those plants each day we need to be refeshed spiritually, yesterdays blessings will not suffice for today, we cannot run on an empty tank. When the Israelites were in the wilderness , God sent manna each day to feed them, they could not store it ,except on the friday. Today we need to seek that daily refreshment from God ,by waiting in His presence, in prayer, and reading His word, in doing this we are acknowledging our dependance on Him. As our days so shall our strength be, one day at a time, we may not realise it ,but when we seek the Lord daily, we receive from God grace for each day, so today let us wait upon the Lord, pour out our hearts to Him, the result will be ,that refreshing we stand in need of. [ Dear God we ask that You would help us each day to spend time with You, and as we do , we ask that you would refresh us , we ask this in Jesus name Amen ]

Boldness [ Matthew 28 v 18 - 20 ]

We have all heard of the saying ,/ a bull in a china shop/,meaning to act in a way that does more damage than good, sometimes in our zeal to be a witness for our Saviour, we act unwisely, and hinder the cause of Christ. Now having said that, there is place for boldly witnessing for Jesus,and indeed it is necessary, we read in Acts 4 that when Peter and John ,were arrested for witnessing, and when they were brought before the Jewish leaders, that they were amazed at their boldness. In Matthew 10v16, our Saviour said we are to be as wise as serpents and as harmless as doves, ask God for that wisdom, and He will grant it[James 1 v 5 ], and let us not intimidate any one.and also let us ask, the Holy Spirit to empower us. So being filled by the Spirit, endued with the wisdom of God,and having a humble spirit , let us boldly witness for Jesus. [ Dear Lord grant us wisdom , power, and humility ,that will enable us to be Your bold witnesses Amen ]

Glorifying God. [ 1 Corinthians 10 v 31-33 ]

It is said that mans chief end is to glorify God, and this is true , in the healing of the man born blind from birth[John 9 ], and in the death and raising of Lazarus [John 11 ], and indeed in the death of our Saviour, the glory of God is manifest. All these three people were involved in suffering, and it was in their suffering that God was glorified, so this brings a challenge to all who are suffering, will God be glorified in this suffering?.Suffering involves many things,poverty, unemployment, sickness, and many other things. In 1 Corinthians 10v 31ff, we have the challening words ,/whatever we do , do all for the glory of God/, my study Bible says, / Our actions must be motivated by Gods love, so that all we do, will be for His glory. Keep this as a guiding principle by asking, is this action glorifying God ?,or how can I honour God through this action/. [ Dear God if my chief end is glorify You, grant me the grace to do this in the name of Jesus , Amen ]

The Gospel. [ John 1 v10 -13/ Romans 6 v23 ]

The term Gospel means good news, I have been pointing out our condition and its consequences, I have not been pointing out this to depress you, no more than a doctor means to depress their patient, when he tells them they have a serious illness.Their is much spiritual ignorance about, so many confusing voices, it is the task of the minister, to proclaim Gods truth, clearly, and lovingly.Yes we are sinners, but the good news is that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, our sins can be forgiven, we can be set free, we can know peace with God, we can recieve the gift of God which is eternal life. No matter how messed up our lives, no matter how far we have fallen, the good news is ,Christ is able to save to the uttermost, all that is required from any of us is to see our need. If today God is speaking to you, I would like you to pray the following prayer. [ Dear Lord Jesus I am trully lost, I come to you in all my need, please forgive my sins , and be my Saviour. Amen ]

Man know thyself . [ Isaiah 6 v 5 ]

Yesterday we considered the consequence of sin, there is much more could be said about that, one just has to read the newspaper ,or watch a movie, or your neighbours, or even, whats most important to look at oneself. The consequence of sin is all to apparent , so many lives destroyed by sinful habits,I was talking to a friend on the phone, this week and he told me about a person who had committed murder,but let us remember again what Jesus taught , to hate someone is the same as actually murdering them, to look and to lust is equivalent to actually committing adultery , the consequences of sin is very evident in this world, and none of us have escaped its effects, mybe as you read this , you are only to aware of sin, and its consequence, well there is hope , for you and indeed for everyone, tomorrow[ dv ] we will consider Gods answer. [Dear God we are only to aware of the effects and consequences of sin in this world and in our own lives, we ask that you would help us to be open and honest about our condition, in Jesus name we ask this Amen ]

Consequences [Hebrews 9 v 27 ]

Yesterday we considered sin, following on in this theme, I want to us to think on sins consequences, for the world and us as individuals.Consider every war, every conflict, every adultery,every criminal act,every sexual abuse, every wrong thought, and so on, all these are the consequences of sin, we who are sinners sin.The further consequences of sin is ,seperation from a Holy God, if sin remains unforgiven, this seperation continues after we die.[Luke 16 v 19-31 ], Hell is not something we have made up, it is not something I like speaking on, but as a preacher I must be faithful to my calling, Hell is not something just to scare us, it is a reality, it is a possiblity for all those who continue on in their sin, sin unforgiven will be judged, I am only the messenger, only a sinner saved by Gods grace, I did not invent Hell, I believe it to be a reality.[ Dear God help us to see sin for what it is, and help us to see that You will judge our sin, for You are Holy, in Jesus name we ask this Amen ]