The Christ way. [ 1 Peter 2 v23]

I have just seen, on the news a conflict, was it between ,Jews and Aribs,unionist and nationalist,north and south Korea,America and Russia?. No it took place in Bethlehem in a church building on the possible site of Christs birth, between Catholic,Orthodoxand Armenian clerics. They fought each other with broom sticks, this happened last year,it appears to becoming a regular event, my goodness what are they thinking of?. I must confess I felt very embarrassed as I viewed this on TV,I thought of the shame these events are bringing on Christianity. In 1 Corinthians 6, the Christians are challenged by Paul about certain actions they were taking, they were reminded of the folly of their actions, and then he rebukes them. /I speak to your shame/,is it not a shame what these clerics are doing? and then he asks,/ is there not a wise man,that can help them sort it out among themselves?. Next follows the challenge,/Why do ye not rather take wrong?why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded?/ What we are being told may not sound fair, but is the Christ way, who when He was reviled, reviled not again, when He suffered, He threatened not, but committed Himself to Him that judgeth righteously. [1 Peter 2 v23 ]
A prayer......Dear God help us all to always act in ways that glorify Your name,we ask this for Jesus sake. Amen.

Faithfulness. [ Luke 16 v10 ]

We continue to consider Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, and also great effectiveness in witnessing, which brought him into conflict,with those who disagreed with what he was teaching.Often there is a price to pay when we preach the gospel,as we will see in Stephens case, Stephen is arrested and brought before the religious authorities. So we have this godly man,what would he do water down his message, would he be like Peter, and deny his Lord?, no, he faithfully proclaimed Gods truth.Brennan Manning writes in his book,the Ragamuffin Gospel,/What makes authentic disciples is not visions, ecstasies, biblical mastery of chapter and verse, or spectacular success in the ministry, but a capacity for faithfulness/.
The church in Smyrna were told, be thou faithful unto death [Revelation 2 v10 ],unfaithfulness stalks our land, but those of us who are followers of the Lord Jesus,are called to be faithful,in our relationshiips, in holiness,in witnessing,in all things.A prayer..... /Dear God help us to be faithful in all things, in Jesus name Amen /

We continue to look at Stephen,this powerful but humble man, up to this point one could say that


his ministry was successful, but then he is arrested. He is brought before the religious leaders charged with speaking blasphemous words,this was a very serious charge, we see it in Islamiic countries. Well as Stephen stands in front of the jewish council,his facile appearanced is changed, to look like the face of an angel. Unlike the Israelites of old who were affected by Moses appearance [ Exodus34 v29 - 30 ],these hardened Jewish leaders were unaffected by what they saw. They question him, and this man of God , faithfully proclaimed Gods truth ,he was not intimidated, but stood and spoke Gods truth . It is Brennan Manning who wrote,/ What make authentic disciples is not visions, ecstasies,biblical mastery of chapter and verse, or spectacular success in the ministry, but a capacity for faithfulness./Stephen was a faithful witness yes even unto death.

By His Spirit . [Zechariah 4 v6 ]

Let us continue to look at Stephen ,this man who was full of faith, and the Holy Ghost,a man who was a servant, this man had a powerful ministry. For we read he did great wonders and miracles [Acts 6 v8 ], I would love to pray for people and see them being healed,but it does not happen, but in Gods sovereign purposes it can happen,the only thing I would be concerned with, could I cope with it ?.People can come to faith in Christ through witnessing the miraculos, and indeed some did believe as a result of seeing the miraculous[John 11v45 ] yet inspite of all the miracles Jesus performed He was rejected ,and murdered, we should not deney the miraculous ,but realise that sometimes the miraculous can be misunderstood and even hated. The fact of the matter is when it comes to miraculous ,very few people see these things happen, Jesus did perform miracles,but often he did not want these things made known .It is the Holy Spirits choice to grant unto any of us miraculous power [ 1 Corinthians 12 v 11],Stephen was not only used in the miraculous, but also was granted great wisdom and power in contending for truth.I read this morning in the book of Zezhariah 4 v6,/ Not by might , nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.
A prayer.../Dear God we leave our lives,our ministries in Your hands,and pray that Your Spirit may have full control,in Jesus name we ask this. Amen/

Boxing day [Acts 6/7 ]

The day after Christmas is known as Boxing day in this country and some other countries,so why is it called Boxing day,one of the reasons is connected to tradesmen collecting boxes with gifts in them from satisfied customers, it has nothing to do with the gentle art of boxing.But it is also known as Saint Stephens day, Stephen was the first Christian martyr, we read about him in the book of Acts 6-7. he was one of seven people who were chosen to be responsible for overseeing the practical help given to widows.Many see the seven as the first deacons,the term deacon is given to one who serves, as an office in the church its qualifications were very demanding [ cp 1 Timothy 3 v8 - 13 ].This office and that of elders gave a necessary structure to the leadership of the local church. Now what kind of man was Stephen?, Acts 6 v 5/8 tells us he was a man full of faith ,and of the Holy Ghost and of power. So here we have a mighty man of God, but a humble man, who was willing to be a servant, I believe the greatness of a Christian is shown in servanthood. In serving others we are following in the steps of our Saviour [ John 13 v 4 -17 ] and His defination of true greatness [Luke 22 v26 ]
A prayer.... Dear Saviour help us to be Your servants,to follow in Your footstep, Amen .

No ordinary chid. [ Isaiah 9 v 6 -7 ]

Christ came into an imperfect world, people we are told ,sit in darkness , and in the shadow of death[ Luke 1 v79 ],this is so true of so many places, in this world today. Mybe this applies to were you live, nothing changes in this world, only the setting alters, in the horn of Africa ,death stalks the land as thousands starve to death, in Colombia hundreds of children have been killed by land mines.The angel of death stalks this world, and no one will escape him,sooner or later he will catch up with us, does this fill you with fear?. But consider why Christ came,/To give light......and to guide our feet into the way of peace [Luke 1 v79 ] It is only Jesus who is the light of the world that can deliver us from darkness , and it is only the Prince of Peace ,Jesus who can bring us into the way of peace.If we open our hearts and lives to Him we shall not walk in darkness,and we shall know peace and walk in peace. Remember the babe of Christmas was no ordinary babe ,He came from heaven to earth, He would grow this God child , to become the God man,who through His death and resurrection, would bring life and immortality to all who accept Him as their Saviour.
A prayer..../Dear God on this Christmas day we praise You for Jesus ,Your dear Son,grant that even today many will come to know Him. Amen /

The greatest gift of all. [ 2 Corintthians 9 v 15 ]

It was Clement Clarke Moore who wrote, / Twas the night before Christmas,when all through the house,not a creature was stirring,not even a mouse/. I am sure we all remember the night before Christmas as children and as parents, I most certaintly do,when I was young money was scarce ,as it was for a lot of people. As a parent I remember putting the presents under the tree, of buying a turkey,and preparing it, and indeed cooking it,slowly during the night. All that is a memory now, but a pleasent one,memories are important especially good ones,I suppose that is what Christmas is for many, a trip down memory lane but of course it is more than that .It is a declaration of not Santa but a Saviour , not a mythical pretend person, but a flesh and blood person,called Jesus, who didnt come from a mythical planet but from heaven itself, to bring unto all of us the greatest gift of all, Himself.
A prayer.....Dear God we thank from the bottom of our hearts for Jesus the greatest gift of all. Amen /

Ostacles. [Matthew 15 v 21 - 28 ]

We said yesterday that these wise men possible came from Persia, in other words they travelled thousands of miles.Thousands of miles , this was not in a modern convenience,however we look at it,they took on a tremendous task. But here is the important thing they never turned back, they just kept on going,day after day, over rough and smooth terraine,irrespective of the cost, irrespective of any hardships,they just kept on going.They travelled thousands of miles to find Christ,if men would but seek they would find Christ, like those wise men of old. There may have been many obstacles in thier way,but they just kept on going until they found Him, He was that important to them,nothing was going to stop them, He was the most important person in the world to them.Let me ask the question, how important is Christ to you?,would you be willing to travel even a short journey to find Him?.I dont believe that God puts obstacles in our way, but rather He shows us the obstacles that we have erected,and then gives us the challege, to remove them[ Matthew 19 v21 ]Again let us consider those very wise men, when they set out on their journey ,they overcame every obstacle in order to find Jesus, and the good news is they did.
A prayer..../Dear God we thank You for the wise men for not only were they wise ,but they just kept on going,inspite of the obstacles, help us to follow in their footsteps, in Jesus name Amen /