Satan,sin, and death have not the last say,because.[ John 11 v25]

This week a family will be saying goodbye to their son,you see he has died, a lovely young man in his early twenties,after a valiant fight with cancer ,he died. I believed this young man touched many lives,especially his immediate family.What. can one say at such a time ?,are words not just useless,will not words just add to their sorrow,this is a dark night of the soul experience.Well let me tell you a story that Tony Campolo told,he was at his home church ,he was one of the preachers,after he had preached,an old brother arose to speak, he based his message on the following,/It's Friday but Sunday is coming/,he preached for an hour and a half,and  as he finished,he cried ,it's Friday,and 500 strong church shouted the relpy but Sundays coming. Dave Branon wrote ,/Out of that worst of days-out of the noontime darkness on that Jerusalem hillside, has come the only true hope for mankind ..Because Jesus, Took the nails,as the song says, He carried my sins far away,and one day He is coming ,O glorious day/ Yes it is Friday but praise God Sunday is coming, what a day ,glorious day that will be.
A prayer..../Dear God we thank You that Sunday is coming,we thank You for Jesus who died and rose again, Satan,sin,and death have not the last say,because Sunday is coming. Amen /

And sae the Lord be thanket. [ Psalm 116 v 12 ]

Sometimes I stop and remember former days,when I was young,no TV,very few had a telephone,or a car,poor housing,and many other things.Then I consider the here and now,the dramatic change in things,mobile phones,many people have a car,nice housing ,even computers,and I think how God has blessed me,and so many.in our nation. Yet so many people appear to take so much for granted,and are so quick to complain,and never raise a thank you to God. The days for many are gone when we would get things on tick,but how greatful are we?,it is a good question,how do you respond to the blessings that you have?. The Psalmist askes the same question,/What shall I render unto the Lord for all His benifites towards me?[ 116 v12]/,let us consider these words,here is the Psalmist response,/I will offer to Thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving,and will call upon the name of the Lord/[v17] Spurgeon wrote,This is due to our God,good for ourselves,and encouraging to others/ I was speaking to a friend telling them of a particular blessing,and she said, how lucky I was, but I said, the Lord is good.No it is not luck,it is the Lord who daily loads us with benifites.I had to smile at a grace,called Burns grace[Robert Burns],I will end with it.
                                          Some hae meat and canna eat,
                                          And some wad eat that want it,
                                          But we hae meat,and we can eat,
                                           And sae the Lord be thanked.

God of Truth. [ Isaiah 65 v16 ]

In Isaiah 65v 16, I noticed the following words ,God of truth,this is mentioned twice,the double emphasises, stresses  the importance of these words.In John 14 v6 Jesus declared Himself to be the truth ,He declares  this so that we see the importance of truth,of who He is, as to why He came, and as  to what He said. All those things are vital ,if our concept of God is wrong then we are wrong,if our beliefs don't correspond to Gods truth then we are wrong.The reformation happened because the church of Rome lost its way,and let many things come in that were contrary to Gods truth,the Bible.The church of Rome had lost its way,in so many area's,and unfortunately they have never  recovered from that. The cults like JW's  appear to be people of the Bible,but unfortunately,it is their Bible,and can be called a mistranslation.The Mormons would say they are people of the book,but what book?they choose to believe a book that has no bearing on Gods book the Bible.The God of truth will only speak the truth,as revealed in His word the Bible,that truth reveals to us Himself ,reveals to us that are created by Him,that we are fallen human beings,that we are lost. It reveals to us Gods plan of salvation,not our plan,His plan,a plan that involved Jesus, coming into this world,one who was truly God,and yet truly man,and dying on a cross,that all who believe in Him, would be eternally saved.
A prayer..../God of truth we praise You for Your word of truth,that reveals Yourself,ourselves,and Jesus  who is the way, the truth, and the life. Amen /

Two important truth's.[ Romans 11 v33ff]

It was my wife's birthday recently and I jokingly spoke about trading her in for a younger model,the challenge of marriage is great,to make it work, and to be faithful.God is sovereign but we are called to be responsible this includes marriage and all of life,we may never be able to understand ,Gods sovereignty and mans responsibility,but they are clearly taught in the word of God. There was a time many years ago when my first wife and I lived by faith,when for 4 years I attended Bible college,we trusted God to supply our needs,and He did.When that period in our lives ended I sought employment ,that is the norm,for all of us,even the apostle Paul for a time worked at  his trade[Acts18v3]. People get saved usually by someone telling them about Christ,I have heard of people being saved  whom God has spoken to in a dream,this is not the norm,but it does happen. The apostle Paul was saved by a vision ,why did God do that,because He choose to,He is sovereign,God can do what He chooses,best to understand this..God truly moves in mysterious ways ,there is so much truth in those words,He may heal ,He may not,He may grant success,He may not,He may promote or demote as He see's fit. We are not meant to throw our hands up in despair ,but to trust Him,to bow always to His will for our lives,and to always remember that His sovereignty does not nullify our responsibility.
A  prayer..... /Sovereign God we bow to Your perfect will in all things, help us understand that we are always to be responsible,in Jesus name Amen /

The is the love I am frightened of [John 3 v6 ]

There is a great deal of loneliness in our country ,over 5 million old people say their main contact /companionship is there TV. It appears a sad statement,about the society we live in. I know we do harp back to the good old days,but I know for many,they where hard old days, but we did especially when I was a wee boy, make more social contact with people than now.I remember neighbours coming into our home,I can still recall the names of many of our neighbours,and their children.Now of course people were not perfect,whats the difference now,where it appears people keep to themselves?. There used be a popular song , which went ,/we all live in little boxes,little boxes in a row/,  it is said that an Englishman's castle is his home,but unfortunately the draw bridge appears to be up. Someone I know, was in our town center and sat beside a couple of people, and attempted to make friendly conversation,and was told in no uncertain terms ,where to go to.The society we live in appears to want to keep itself to itself,and yet is desperately lonely, it is like they are afraid,a modern song, has these words in it,/This is the love I am frightened of/.People are desperate for love,but it appears they are frightened of it,frightened because,if they love they may  be hurt ,for the fact is love can be a costly business. The greatest love ever witnessed ,is seen in Jesus, who was pushed away continually by those He loved the most,the more he loved them, the more their fear took over,to the point that they stopped pushing, and started nailing Him to a cross.
A prayer...../ Dear God Have mercy upon this lonely planet, upon it's  inhabitants ,who are so frightened of  Your  love, that cries out to them from a cross,I love you Amen /

Revelation and the Lamb. [Revelation 7 v 10]

The letters to the 7 churches in Asia in Revelation are very profitable to consider ,I suppose that's as far as many people go in their study of Revelation ,but I am.sure there is much we  can learn from this ,yes ,wonderful  book.Take the 5th chapter ,in this chapter we have insight into heaven,and we have a vision of heaven ,and it is made clear to us the person of Christ,who alone is worthy. We may not understand a lot of things about this book,but what is clear Jesus truly takes the Highest station,He is the Lamb who appears to have been slaughtered,but now stands before the heavenly throne,[5v6].He is also the lamb who will display great wrath,humanity will fear Him,and rightly so [6 v16-17]. He is the Lamb who shed His precious blood and washed away the sins of all those who trust Him[7 v14],without the shedding of blood there is no remission or forgiveness of sins[Hebrews 9 v22]. He is also the Lamb who will eternally care for His own,they will never be in want,never feel hungry,He shall lead them and comfort them[8 v16-17] .The children of God will face many difficulties and a great enemy,even the Devil or Satan, but through the victory of  the Lamb they shall be overcomers[12v11],those who fight against the Lamb shall be defeated[ 17v14].Only those who have trusted the Lamb,and whose names are in the Lamb's book of life, will enter heaven[21 v27] We finish this brief look  of Christ as the Lamb, John finishes by repeating the phase ,/The throne of God, and of the Lamb  /  22 v1/3 /here we have God and the Lamb coupled together,it is Matthew Henry, who writes,/All our springs of grace,comfort,and glory,are in God,and all our streams from Him are through the Lamb/.
A  prayer......./ Dear God , we thank You for the wonderful book of  the revelation,and though there are many things we struggle to understand,we thank You for Jesus the Lamb of God ,who is all glory of  Immanuels land. Amen /

He knows what He is doing. [John 13 v7 ]

There was a young king called Josiah he ruled over the southern kingdom ,Judah, the two previous kings had been Amon and Manasseh,they had failed,especially Manasseh ,to walk in Gods ways.Josiah was so different,he was a godly young man ,who tried to turn the nation back to God,and to some extent he succeeded[ 2 Chronicles 34 v33].To some it may have appeared that things where at last looking up,but it was only a temporary revival,and would vanish a way as quickly as it had come.Josiah went into battle against Egypt who was led by king Necho and was slain,Josiah was only 26. Jeremiah the prophet led the people in a lament for Josiah[2 Chronicles 35 v25] ,a godly young man,I am sure there where those who may have asked the question ,why?.Why in Josiah case ?,there is a clue in Isaiah 57 v1,God had determined to judge this people, so as Leupold writes,/The righteous are always taken away from the evil to come/.It may not seem like a mercy when some godly young person dies, but God has His reasons,we may think ,what a waste,but not so,God is not wasteful,especially with His children's lives.
A prayer....  /Dear God we ask for those who have suffered bereavement,grant unto them, trust in Your Sovereign , perfect will, in Jesus name Amen/