Finish. [ Hebrews 12 v 2 ]

If I have an underlining desire, it is this ,to finish my Christian life as the apostle Paul did,he wrote the following words shortly before he died, [tradition has it that he was beheaded] I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith[ 2 Timothy 4 v7]. That is my desire, what a heartache to fail in this, I went to Bible colllege,things were difficult, money was so scarce, one day my principal spoke to me. He said he would understand if I had to give up ,he meant well,but I didnt give up ,I finished my course, yes with joy I finished it. There are always reasons to give up, yes legitimate reasons,there was legitimate reasons for our blessed Saviour, to not go to Calvary, the dreadful suffering involved, inflicted upon Him by those He loved. The great and good news is ,He didnt give up ,and on that old rugged cross He cried out ,it is finished[John 19 v30 ],yes He finished the work of redemption. [Dear Lord ,You who finished the work of salvation,help me not to give up in following You,help me to finish my course with joy. Amen ]

With God it is possible. [ Mark 10 v 27 ]

The disciples could not grasp what Jesus was saying, He had declared how hard it was for a rich person to be saved[ Mark 10 v17-27]. Why is it ,in poor countries people appear to respond to the gospel,and in the prosperous west especially Europe,it appears a spiritual wilderness?. As I look at my neighbours with their homes ,cars, and there desire to get on materially. I understand what Jesus said, more and more, and one wonders ,who can be saved, who will be saved?, but thankfully Jesus did not stop at the difficulties, He went on to say, with God all things are possible. He reminds us to not stop at the difficulties, so many of us stop there,and wring our hands in despair, I have prayed for years and years for people to be saved, it looks like they will never be saved, yet I continue to pray,to the God of the impossible,believeing as Jesus said that with Him all things are possible. So today as we see the difficulties, of materialism, or whatever, dont despair, God can save the rich and the poor.[ Dear God we bring to you our friends, neighbours,family and others ,who are blind to their true need,of Jesus, and ask that You would save , Amen]

Looking at life differently. [ Psalm 23 ]

A young man was talking to me yesterday,life for him it appears is so difficult, he appears to think that my generation had it so much easier. I dont think so, I can assure you that it is not true, life for every generation has its problems. As a Christian I can look back on my life ,when I was child, being brought up in a one parent family,life was hard,when I got married , wages were small, then I went to Bible college ,very little money to live on, often the cupboard was empty of food.Serving God as a minister, for a small wage in a small congregation,then my dear wife died , leaving me with four children. In all these things and more ,I want to testify to Gods faithfulness,I am not bitter,but grateful to a loving God.The thing that makes life better and not bitter is having Christ with me, knowing that He is with me in every situation. I can look back and see His hand in all my life, preserving me,providing for me, protecting me, in the words of the hymn, all the way my Saviour leads me,what have I to ask beside.[ Dear Lord thank You for Your faithfulness,thank You that when we come to know You as Saviour, we can look at life differently, and rightly. Amen]

Grace [ Acts 20 v24 ]

I woke this morning thinking of the words of a song,/Only by grace can we enter, only by grace can we stand ,not by our human endeavour . But by the blood of the Lamb/. What wonderful words they are, because of the wonderful truth they express,the wonderful reassuring truth, that we are accepted by the grace of God, when we succeed, or when we fail.When God saves us it is by the grace of God,things dont change,we have been saved ,are being saved ,will be saved by the grace of God. It is grace all the way, every day ,every week ,every year, it never changes,never,if we are not a Christian we need to realize that we need to be saved by the grace of God[ cp Ephesians 2 v8-9 ].If we are Christians ,we will hear our Saviours well done in a coming day for works,and service, even though they are imperfect, yes we will recieve a reward, from the God of all grace. Let me finish with these words,from that song,/Lord if You mark our transgressions,Who would stand?. Thanks to Your grace, we are cleansed by the blood of the Lamb/[ Dear God thank You for Your saving grace, Your keeping grace, Your enabling grace, in Jesus name Amen ]

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 ]