Mercy [ Ephesians 2 v1-10]

Mercy is the act of God ,peace is the resulting experience in the heart of man, so reads Vine in his expository dictionary. We can never deserve mercy, we can only recieve it out of need, no one deserves it, and if we dont recieve it, we are lost. If we are to have an experience with God it is totally on the bases of the mercy of God,that means we have to ask Him for mercy. The cross is where it all must begin.The death of Jesus tells us ,that we are sinners, that is why Jesus had to die,all mankind is lost , sinful, Gods answer, the death of His Son, as a sacrifice for sin. The mercy of God is granted to us when we acknowledge our sinfulness, ask forgiveness, ask Christ to save us, God then shows us mercy, forgives our sins, grants us eternal life.W. P.. Newell wrote, /Years I spent in vanity in pride.Caring not my Lord was crucified. Knowing not it was for me He died on Calvary. By Gods Word at last my sin I learned. Then I trembled at the law Id spurned.Till my guilty soul, imploring turned to Calvary. Mercy there was great and grace was free. Pardon there was multiplied to me. There my burdened soul found liberty, At Calvary.[ Dear God we thank You that You are a merciful God, we ask that you would grant us the mercy that we need right now, in Jesus name. Amen ]

Do it to the Glory of God.[John 17v4]

Life for most of us is unexciting ,I suppose that is why we read,go to the cinema,watch sport,and so on,that does not mean that life is not demanding.We read of a young man in Luke 15, a young man who wanted to break free from the ordinary, from the mundane,many people are like that young man,so they go into drugs, sex,crime,and find themselves in a lot of trouble. In the sixties so called free love came in, people felt they could throw of the restrain of former generation, but there was a price to pay, they experimented with drugs, and like that young man in Luke 15, they found as the Rolling Stones, sung, they couldnt get satisfaction. People seek for meaning in the meaningless,I remember a young man berating me, he had giving up living conventional life,he had thrown off the ordinary for what he felt was better. Recently a young girl spoke to me of her desire to serve the Lord, of just one suitcase,nothing else,she spoke of being liberated. For most of us we cant do that, we may be called to do that, but in reality most of us are called to serve in the ordinary, in the unexciting, to shoulder the responsibilities of working, doing the unexciting, I end by saying this, because life is unexciting, and ordinary, does not make it meaningless.[ Father help us to glorify You in that place You have placed us , and in that task that You have given us to do , in Jesus name Amen ]

Stop me. [Psalm 23 ]

I found myself praying ,stop me becoming anxious, about a certain think, it was said of the great Charles H Spurgeon that he became anxious as regards the traffic. Imagine that great preacher , who stood before thousands and preached the word of God, becoming anixous. Let us be honest with ourselves he was not so different to you and I ,anxiety can hit any of us.Whoever we are,we can become anxious about our family,our future ,our finance,our friends, the list can go on forever. There is a good thing about anxiety, it can cause us to seek the Lord, just like I did, and that can only be good. I remember many years ago as a young boy being frightened ,what did I do ?,I literally ran to my mum as fast as I could, today if we are anxious let us run as fast as we can to our loving Heavenly Father.An old chorus comes to mind,[ I hope I get the words right],/ All your anxieties, all your cares ,bring to the mercy seat , leave them there, never a worry, never a care, never a friend like Jesus/.[ Dear God and Father ,You know all about us, how easily we can become anxious, help us in our weakness, to cast all our cares upon You , in Jesus name. Amen]

He is my Hero. [ Philippians 2 v5-11]

I am sure we all have our heroes,great statesmen, sports people,explorers, and of course there are the unsung heroes,firemen, doctors, nurses mybe your dad is ,or was your hero.But what about the term hero worship, now thats when we lose sight of reality, when we are carried away with our emotions.For many, Stalin and Hitler,became figures of hero worship, I have just finished a book on Napoleon [ By P Dwyer]and of course to many people , he is and was their hero,but in summing up Napoleon, the auther writes ,/ When it was a question of sacrificing lives, in order to promote his own ambition, Bonaparte never hesitated/.He deserted his army in Egypt, and in Russia, self preservation, and self glorification, appears always to have been his motivation. I do have a hero , His name is Jesus, and yes I worship Him, for unlike all those heroes that we have mentioned,He was not flawed, He was the bravest, most loving , selfsacrificing person who ever lived,in order to rescue sinners such as you and I ,He died upon a cross,yes He is my hero, but He is also my Saviour.[ Dear God thank You for Jesus the greatest hero who ever lived,the one who died to save us, Amen ]

Burdened[ Psalm 55v22]

There are many people and they are carrying burdens, behind many a smile there is a heavy heart, our Saviour always went to the heart of the matter. saw the need. One of the most lovely verses in the bible is to be found in Matthew 11v28,/Jesus said,come unto me, all you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest/. Whatever are burden ,we can come to Jesus, and experience rest, be it the burden of sin, illness, sadness, let us bring our burdens to Jesus. The words of an old hymn go like this,/When your enemies assail and your heart begins to fail, Dont forget that God in Heaven answers prayer.He will make a way for you,and will lead you safely thro. Take your burden to the Lord, and leave it there/.[ Dear Lord you know what burdens we are carrying, we bring them to You right now , in thy mercy undertake for us. Amen]

Follow that which is good.[Matthew 5 v13-16]

There is an awful lot of people follow that which is not good, they have a wrong emphasis on ,money,material things, power, idols,immorality, unfaithfulness,crime, sexual perversness, and many other things. In 1 Thessalonians 5 v15[av], we read ,/ever follow that which is good/, ever , in other words dont give up in following that which is good,be in it for the long haul.In Galations 6v9[av] we read,/Let us not be weary in well doing/,we are exhorted to keep at it,evil does not take a holiday, nor must we in relation to following that which is good. Good what?, good works, good doctrine,good words, good thoughts. There is a saying we used to use for those who became Christians, they have become good living, well let us all who profess to be Christians, be good living today, by following that which is good.[ Dear God we thank You for saving us from so much that was bad in our lives, help us to today to follow that which is good , in Jesus name, Amen ]

They blew it. [2 Samuel 11-12]

Moses, David, and Peter, what did have in common?, they all blew it,Moses lost his temper,David lost his holiness,and Peter well mister infalliblity lost it doctrinally. Yet these were great men of God ,men, ah ,thats it , they were men, inperfect men, the greatest of men are but men, capable of sinning, capable of blowing it ,big time.Elijah the great prophet was a man subject to like passions as we are[ James 5v17], again that important point, he was a man. The best of men are but men, they are the same as you and I , they had their faults, and failings. So today let us pray for those great men and women of God, and let us learn the important lesson that we are all vunerable, no matter how long we have been a Christian,no matter how gifted we may be, no matter how God may be using us, we all can blow it. [ Dear God in your great mercy keep us from blowing it in Jesus name Amen ]