Such a little sin.[ Romans 1v 18 ]

In Numbers 15 v32-36 ,we have an incident of a man who was found gathering sticks on the Jewish Sabbath, and God commanded him to be stoned to death. I wrote this in my Bible,/ Such a little sin/,it appears trivial to us ,that is our first reaction, but what he did was not a trival thing.There is a branch of the Christian church that have two types of sin,mortal and venial,one is serious ,the other not so serious,and of course that is the way many of us think. But this is not how a holy God sees sin, to Him all sin is equally evil, in Romans 1 v18, we read,/For the wrath of God is revealed against all ungodliness,and unrighteousness. John Owen wrote ,/We must hate all sin, as sin/. When it come to sin we must not make human judgements, we must rest on what is revealed in Gods word, which clearly teaches that all have not only sinned,[Romans 3v 23 ],but that all sin will ,and must be judged by a holy God. I stress the word all again,and that there is coming a day in which God will judge all sin, and that judgement will be an eternal Judgement.[Revelation 14 v11]. God in love and mercy has provided a way to escape such a fate ,through His son Jesus, through His death on the cross, all sin can be forgiven,and we will never be judged, when we accept Him as our saviour. [Holy God help me to see the seriousness of all sin, and its consequences,and to trust in Jesus for the forgiveness of all my sins, Amen ]

Nothing is wasted. [ 2 Corinthians 1 v 3-11 ]

When our Lord performed the miracle of feeding the 5.000 plus, he told his disciples to gather up the leftovers, so that nothing is wasted. Let us consider those words, of our Lord,/nothing is wasted/,and apply it into our lives, into the painful experiences. I purchased a book recently, by a puritan,John Flavel. [dont listen to those people who would despise the puritans, they were godly people, who have left us a wonderful legacy in their writings] Now John Flavel had a painful life, as one wrote of him, he lived a life acquainted with grief,three of his wives died, he was survived by his fourth wife, Dorothy,his parents died in tragic circumstances, he experienced the death of a child.How can one cope with such pain? bitterness,resentment, blame God,if we know of such people ,pray for them, that they may arise above their sorrow by the grace of God.Well J Flavel did ,through his writing, one of the books that he wrote is called , /Facing Grief/ first published in 1674. It was written to help those who are grieving, and it has instructed, and comforted many dear saints of God.If are called to experience trials, remember nothing is wasted by our sovereign Lord,try not to waste this experience, but use it to help others, as John Flavel did. [Dear Lord help me see that, nothing is wasted by You, even the painful experiences,help me to use the comfort You gave me, to comfort and help others, Amen]

An earthquake [ Acts 16 ]

It is just recently that I have become aware that New Zealand is prone to earthquakes,many people who were planning to live there ,will be having second thoughts. There is an account of an earthquake ,in the Bible, we read of it in Acts 16. Two of Gods servants, Paul and Silas, had been thrown into prison,after being whipped, and while in prison these two men started to sing and praise God. Then God sent an earthquake, all the prisoners chains fell of and the doors of the prison were opened. Now the man in charge of the prison,thought that all the prisoners had escaped,which meant that he would not only loose his job, but his life,so he decided to end it all, by killing himself. Then he heard a voice cry out ,do thyself no harm, for we all here,it was Paul, the jailer went into them ,fell down before Paul and Silas, and asked, what must I do to be saved?, and he was told , believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved,and he did just that.It took an earthquake to bring that man to the Lord Jesus, whats it going to take for you, before you trust Jesus to be your saviour?. [Dear God help me , to believe on the Lord Jesus Your son,to be my saviour, Amen ]

Am I a Christian?. [ John 3 v 1-16 ]

I came into contact with a person yesterday, and I asked him , was he a Christian?, he said he was, that he was a Catholic, now he may be a Christian,but he may not be,the lable we stick on ourselves does not really mean very much in Gods eyes. So let me ask the question to you ,are you a Christian?, not that you are a Catholic or a Baptist, or C of E,or a Methodist, oh yes there are many lables. The people our Saviour dealt with took great pride in their lable,that of being a Jew,of being an Israelite, a child of Abraham, yet they were not children of God, they showed this when they crucified the Son of God ,Jesus. [cp-John 8 v44]. One night a very religious person visited Jesus, surely he of all people was a true child of God, but no ,Jesus told him he needed to be born again[ John 3 v1-7]. No matter how religious we may be, no matter what religious lable we wear, it counts for nothing if we are not born again.In John 1 v12-13 we read,/But as many as recieved Him [Jesus ], to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name,who were born ,not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God./[ Dear God grant me salvation, through Jesus Your Son .Amen ]

The work of patience. [ Romans 5 v 4-5 tm]

I want to stress something that we need to be reminded of continually,patience, yesterday I asked someone ,what is God teaching me in a certain situation, she replied patience. Every day there are times when we are faced with frustration situations, if one is a driver,you are faced with, a lot of situations which can cause one to be impatient, the traffic lights, the learner drivers, the road works, the slow coaches. If you are a teacher,now there is a calling ,that needs a lot of patience,or if you work with difficult people. Then there is being a parent, my what patience one needs for that task,those little dears, can drive one to distraction. All these and many , many ,more situations, can really test us, causing us to loose it, which does not really help. So I hope you agree with me as regards ,to the need of having patience.The apostle Paul ,who had more than his share of troubles to cope with, wrote the following, /We know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us, and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue , keeping us alert for whatever God will do next./[Romans 5 v4-5 tm] [Dear God help me to be patient, and in that patience, work your good will out in my life , in Jesus name. Amen ]

A car crash. [Romans 8 v28 ]

Yesterday I stressed the important truth that God is sovereign, that He is in control of events,well what do you think happened. I got ready for work, set out in my car, travelled about 200yds and had an accident, a young lad who has a reputation for speeding overtook some park cars on the bend, and crashed into me. Is God still sovereign?, of course He is , will it all work out for my good? ,of course it will, God is looking after His children. Also let us consider the mercies in my accident, no phyisical harm,I am insured, I was near home, the young lad was insured.I have means to hire a car today to go to work, this will pass,God will sort it all out, for He is looking after me. If you are faced with a problem today, remember God is sovereign,and is working all things for your good,and in your difficulties look for the mercies, from a merciful God. [Dear God and Father we thank You that You are watching over us, even when the unexpected happens, like a parking ticket, a job loss, a car accident,an illness, or whatever, thank You in Jesus name Amen ]

He is in control. [ Revelation 19v6 av ]

Yesterday I was talking to another senior citizen about the changes that have taken place in our lifetime, many have been dramatic, politically, socially etc. Life by its very nature is one of change, and often we cannot do anything about the changes, king Canute who was a powerful king, he ruled Denmark,England, and Norway.He is best remembered as the king who is thought to have foolishly tried to stop the tide coming in,when in fact he was illustrating to his followers that powerful though he was,his power was limited.We cannot control the tide of change,that takes place in this world,and in our personal lives, but we can trust in one who is in control, our Sovereign God.Mens hearts may fail them for fear, but the person of faith,looks up beyond the the things of time, to the God who moves in mysterious ways, His wonders to perform, the one whose purposes cannot be thwarted,yes who is in control of the tide of life and especially in the lives of His children [Roman 8 v28 ] [ Dear God in the midst of this changing world, we rest in You, our sovereign God ,in Jesus name . Amen ]