The missing piece. [ Galations 6 v 14 ]

You have heard of the missing link,well I am not going to write on that as one who believes in creation I dont believe there is a missing link, but I did hear a wonderful sermon , it was all about Christ,and I really enjoyed it. But it had a missing piece, it covered His diety, birth, life, His death and resurrection,but it did not really touch on his death on the cross ,which was a sacrifice for sin. I found this strange , for without this sacrificial death , we are all lost, without sin being dealt with,only judgment awaits us in the end,that means not heaven but hell.The cross is not just some symbol ,not just an ornament, when we speak of the cross, it is the cross of Christ ,yes many people died on a cross,but the cross of Christ ,and the shedding of His precious blood,was an atoning death, on that cross ,Christ the sinless one became my substitute. Without the death of Christ ,there is no message of salvation, no forgiveness, no hope,without that missing piece, the jigsaw of salvation is incomplete.
By the cross of Jesus standing,
Love our straitened souls expanding,
Taste we now the peace and grace,
Health from yonder tree is flowing,
Heav,nly Light is on it glowing,
From the blessed Suff,rers face.

Here is pardon,s pledge and token
Guilt,s strong chain forever broken,
Righteous peace securely made,
Brightens now the brow once shaded,
Freshens now the face once faded,
Peace with God now makes us glad.
[ Horatious Bonar ]
A prayer /Dear God we thankYou for the cross of Christ, and all it means for a world of sinners
in Jesus name. Amen .

Ye would not. [ Acts 16 v31/ Isaiah 45 v 21-22 ]

Isaiah 30v 15 reads, /For thus saith the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, in returning and rest shall ye be saved, in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength/. What a wonderful word from God, often it has spoken to me, and blessed me,God was saying this to His people, the Message puts it like this,/ Your salvation requires you to turn back to Me, and stop your silly efforts to save yourselves. Your strength will come from settling down in compete dependance on Me/. Now it appears to me a straightforward statement, a wonderful statement and yet a challenging statement, and unfortunately Israel did not see it like that,or accept it, or obey it, for God says,/ and ye would not/.You see they felt threatened by Assyria, so instead of trusting in God they went to Egypt for help,the application of this is very simple. First if you are not saved, who are you trusting to save you? is it self ?,many think that by living what they think is a good moral life, or by being religious, or whatever, they will be saved. Its all nonsense we must do what Gods word says, cease from self, and trust totally in Jesus. Next application is to believers, let me ask you, will you do what that verse says?, mybe you are facing difficulties, financial, personal problems,and you are looking for your help in others, instead of relying on your God and Saviour, yes He uses others to help us,but let Him tell,and prompt them to do so.
A prayer / Dear God we so often have our eyes on others instead of You, help us to see that if we are to be saved we must trust only in Jesus, and we who are Your children help us to keep our eyes firmly on You, in Jesus name. Amen .

A great leveller. [James 2 v 1-9 ]

We rightly recoil at the Nazis who saw other groups as inferior, and treated them despicably, but the fact of the matter is, mankind has always practiced discrimination in so many ways. Many native Australians were treated badly,likewise the American Indians,it was said by one American politician, that the only good Indian was a dead one, and he meant it. We all know how the black population were treated in America, and how black people were treated in South Africa. Some one wrote about a certain time in history, that everyone was a racist.My own nation were considered inferior and treated as such, in India there is still a lot discrimination , with abuses on the Dalit people or untouchables as they are better known.Sad to say Christianty has not always been true to its teaching which clearly teaches that any sort of discrimination is totally wrong. It is said by someone that the Jews believed that for God so loved the Jews , not the world . All this is contrary to what Christ taught, and why He died, He died for all, of whatever social standing,regardless of race,or colour,the Christian message is a great leveller, we are all sinners [Roman 3 v23 ]and we all need to accept Christ as our Saviour.
For God so loved the world,
that He gave His only Son,
that whosoever believeth in Him
should not perish,
but have everlasting life. [ John 3 v16 ]
A prayer /We thank You that You love everybody,help those people in this world who are discriminated against, and grant that we who are Your children, will have heart like Yours, in Jesus name .Amen.

Perfect peace,[ Israel 26 v 3-4 ]

Isaiah 26 has a title over it in my Bible, /A song of praise to the Lord/, and the opening words are very instructive, inspiring and comforting, and the chapter ends with the restoration of Israel. The nation of Israel would experience a tremendous lot of suffering throughout their whole history,and for the godly remnant these words would be treasured as they embraced them by faith. As members of the true Israel [Galations 6 v16 ]we will be called upon to suffer for righteousness sake, we should not expect to be carried to heaven on flowery beds of ease. The apostle Peter declares, /Beloved do not be surprised at the fiery trial, when it comes upon you. [1 Peter 5 v16 ],important words, the question is this,how can we cope?. It is in Isaiah 26 we find the answer,to knowing Gods peace, and Gods strength,/You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock/.
Drop Thy still dews of quietness,
till all our strivings cease,
take from our souls the strain and stress
and let our ordered lives confess
the beauty of Thy peace.
[John Greenleaf Whittier ]
A prayer / Dear God grant unto us strength and peace this day, in Jesus name, Amen.]

Weariness . [ Jeremiah 20 v 9 ]

It was George Whitfield who said that he was not tired of Gods work , but tired in it,we can appreciate these words,of course George was a great preacher, and much in demand. The word of God tells us, not to be weary in well doing, for in due season we shall reap if we faint not .[ Galations 6 v9 ] The great prophet Jeremiah had his moments when he felt weary, we read him saying in 20 v9,/ Then I said , I will not make mention of Him, nor speak any more in his name, / things had become so difficult that he was determined to say nothing, he was called to be a prophet but he felt like never preaching another sermon. It is no easy thing to preach especially if we see no results, how many hundreds of sermons I have preached, with no visible results, one could be tempted like Jeremiah to give up. Then we read Jeremiah saying, / but his word was in my heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones,/ and then he declares,/ and I was weary with forebearing, and I could not stay/. When one is called to preach Gods word,then it is nigh impossible not to preach it,the great apostle Paul declared woe is me if I preach not the gospel. [ 1 Corinthians 9 v16] It will always be the case for those called to preach, to not preach brings with it a great weariness, that is hard to endure.
Lord , fill Thy servant,s soul today
With pure seraphic fire,
And set his tongue at liberty,
And grant his soul,s desire.
[Daniel Herbert ]
A prayer /Grant to Thy servants who minister Thy word, grace to proclaim it, in Jesus name
Amen /

The Daily Light . [ Psalm 119 v105 ]

We all have favourite things, I have a favourite author, favourite hymns,songs, movies, food and many other things.One of my most favourite books is a book called, Daily Light, first published in 1794,it is a daily reading, and it is made up ,of scripture, there is a morning and evening reading.A godly man , Samuel Bagster and his family put it together. This little book has been such a blessing to me and to countless others, I love it in the AV , I bought my son John a copy ,and he mentioned recently how it was a blessing to him. So often this little book has brought me a needful word, of guidance, or encouragement, I remember on the day I was coming to England to be a minister, travelling in a little Morris Minor car with my four children, and of course my dear wife, I read the following. /He lead them on safely[Psalm 78v53] , this was followed by,/Behold, I send an angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared[ Exodus 23v20 ], and praise His name ,He did just that.
A prayer /Dear God thank you for those godly people who were guided by Your Spirit to
write godly literture, that comfort and bless Your people, in Jesus name. Amen ./

A fear I have.[ Galations 2 v 1- 21 ]

I attend a local church , so what, everyone should attend a local church , but I have a fear, and its this, causing trouble,causing division. I wear a little cross around my neck,but if I go to preach somewhere,and it may appear to be a problem, I will take it of. If I am asked to preach at a church, which holds a different veiw than what I hold, say on prophecy, I will try not to cross them. Now of course I hold clear veiws on Christian doctine, on hell,salvation, the Trinity, the Word of God. I am an evangelical ,all right I try not to be an obnoxious evangelical there are a few about. But coming back to causing trouble in a local fellowship, how can one avoid doing this? our Saviour said blessed are the peacemakers, yes we should seek to be a peacemaker, we should be prepared to yield on secondary things , but when it comes to vital truth, like Luther I declare, here I stand I can do no other.Let us never forget that the reformation was not about secondary things.
A prayer /Help us to see what is vital truth, to not yield on it,help us also to be willing to yeild
on those things that are secondary, in Jesus name. Amen /