Final words.[ 2Timothy.4 v6 -8]

The words of the apostle Paul in 2 Timothy 4 v6-8,are very instructive,he wrote just before he died,at the hands of the Romans.When he became a Christian he was not promised an easy life,but a life in which he would suffer[Acts 9 v16],and so it came to pass [CP 2 Corinthians 11-12].Of course Paul was the expounder of the grace of God,for salvation,and for living the Christian life. Let us learn from this great mans experience, we are saved by the grace of God,and enabled to live our Christian lives,how?
by the grace of God. As he comes to the end of his life,he sums it up in words of thankfulness,and wonder,he first of all writes,/I am ready/,let me ask you ,are you ready?have you trusted Jesus as your Saviour?.Then he writes ,/I have fought a good fight/,yes when we become a Christian we must be prepared,to fight the world the flesh and the devil,that means taking up our cross and following Jesus.Next he writes,/I have finished the course/,it is not about being first,second or third, but simply finishing what we have started. Next he writes,/ I have kept the faith/,in other words he had
not surrendered his commitment to what he believed in.As he faced the end he wrote of what lay ahead,not the darkness of death, but the wonderful radiance of eternal glories with His Lord.
                                    A prayer.
Dear God keep us faithful to You as we face trials and difficulties,help us to finish the course,in Jesus name Amen .

A no god.[ Romans 1 ]

Someone said to me that the religion that is most in decline is atheism,now I cannot say if this is true,but if it is,it is interesting.I am not sure of the reasons why people are atheists,observing the unanswerable in life,like tragedy's,leaning on ones own understanding,belief in the lie of evolution.
 Religion gets a bad press,and rightly so,especially Islam,with it's cruel practises.Of course you could say politics have also caused a tremendous amount of suffering.People with  a big idea fire the peoples imagination,that blinds them ,and causes them to commit awful things.But for the atheist everything is blamed on people having a belief in God.
   One the problems as I see it in advocating atheism ,they cannot give any meaning to life,how did life begin,a big bang,creates more problems than answers. What causes the life force in all of us?did we really start as sludge?,it all appears a bit absurd.Could this world with all its diversity
just have happened?have the atheist not just replaced God for another god
 called  evolution?.
     Now there is no end of questions,it boils down this,are we going to place
our faith in a no god,or in the God of the Bible,whom we are told made all things,but not only made all things, He so loved this world,messed up by sinful man,that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth on
Him should no perish but have everlasting life[John 3 v16]
                                       A  prayer.
Dear God we worship You as Creator of all things,as sovereign over all things,and as saviour of all men.through Jesus Your Son. Amen.
  

Duty. [ John 14 v15 ]

I have attended a certain prayer meeting for years,held once a month in which we pray for Gods persecuted people. Now I must confess that many times I did not feel like going,maybe I was tired,and often I wondered why I did go,but I still go.But recently I read these words by Alec Motyer,/Many times if we were to wait for emotion to prompt action,we should wait in vain and long lists of Christian duties would rot in the pipe line, because we
did not feel any stimulus to perform them./He rightly points out  emotions are a fickle and false guide ,and they are,of course we don't rule out emotions in our relationship with God ,which is based on loving Him,but for His sake and our love for Him,we will perform our duty,even though we may not feel like it.There are things we should do,pray,read Gods word ,fellowship with other believers,perform good works,tell others about Jesus,and so on.
Remember the message that Lord Nelson sent to the fleet on the eve of the battle of Trafalgar,England expects that every man will do his duty,now Nelson was loved greatly ,and it is thought that the love they had for him
inspired everyman to do their duty.So may our love for our blessed Saviour
inspire us all to do our duty.
                                            A  prayer.
Dear Lord forgive us for neglecting our Christian duty,help out of love for you to do our duty. Amen .

What might have been.[ Matthew 23 v37 ]

When one reads the history of Israel ,a nation blessed above many,a nation chosen by God,and yet a nation that choose so often to rebel,to turn from
God, a nation that so often forgot God for other so called gods,who were not gods.A nation that had so much potential to be used by God to be light to the world,and in all this they failed. And yet as one writer writes,/what might have been/,yes what might have been if only they had listened to the
prophets,if only they had obeyed Gods word,what might have been.They would not have experienced the suffering of defeat,and dare I say it the genocide of the Holocaust.Yes what might have been,and yet it has lesson for all of us,there is blessing in obeying God ,in following Him, loving trusting Jesus, and following and obeying Him.Let us hope and pray that we who know Christ will not have this as our epithet, what might have been
                                        A  prayer.
Dear God grant that it will not be said of us what might have been, in Jesus name we ask this.Amen.

Stay focused [ Hebrews 12 v 1-3 ]

Its Christmas time the season to be jolly,but for many it is anything but jolly,for many dear people life is very hard,very lonely and a reminder of how empty their life is.Now of course if we are Christians we should make a point to be focused,on Christ. If we loose our focus then we can be overwhelmed by so many things,things that in essence have very little to do with Christmas.I believe the Puritans sought to ban the keeping of Christmas it is obvious they did not succeed. I am sure those godly people had their reasons,but their reasoning never won the majority of people over.
   The book of Hebrews was written to Christians who were finding following Jesus hard because they were suffering,they were even in danger of giving up,but were warned of the consequences ,it is the true Christian that perseveres,endures to the end. So what does the writer of Hebrews tell them to do ?,well in chap12 he exhorts them,to get rid of everything that was holding them back. To go forward patiently ,yes we need patience, the more we follow Jesus we realise the importance of patience.But more than that , to focus on Jesus at all times,because He suffered ,He understands our suffering. Jesus in the midst of suffering fixed His eye of the eternal glories that shine afar.
  So today what have we been focusing on?a good question,what are we focusing on?.and what should we be focusing on? ,the answer is very simple, Jesus. let us look unto Jesus the author and the finisher of our faith,
He will never lead us into sin ,but if we take our eyes of Him then we could so easily fall headlong into sin
                                                A prayer.
Dear Lord help us to stay focused on you, in Jesus name Amen ..

Throwing stones. [John 8 v1-11]

I know a man ,we will call him Brian and he often comments on that
people never smile,and yet he himself is a very unhappy person,who rarely smiles,and is very negative in his out look in life. My observation in relation to driving is that there are no perfect drivers,and yet so many people act as if they never make mistakes.The fact of the matter is,none of us are perfect,let me repeat this none of us are perfect,we all have something that is broken.There are time when we are very angry to the point of doing someone bodily harm,we think thoughts we shouldn't,and as to what we say
enough said.We live in a world obsessed by sex,with very little restraint,our thoughts if others could see then,we  would bow our heads in shame.The entertainment and the inter-net help to feed our sexual appetite,without considering the consequence of what they are doing,though if truth were told it does not take much to lead us into the darker side of our nature
    In John chapter 8 we read of a woman who was caught in the act of
adultery,and she was brought to Jesus,trying to trip him up,they said she should be stoned to death,nothing has changed it seems,Jesus eventually spoke,with words that we all need to take on board,/He that is without sin,
let him first cast a stone at her/
                                     A  prayer
Dear Lord help us to refrain from throwing stones at others, Amen

There is hope.[ Ephesians 2 v1-8]

Do you remember what Jeremy cricket said,always let your conscience be your guide. It is A. Motyer who writes,/Conscience is a God given faculty, part of the image of God. Like every other aspect of this image,it was tampered with,diluted and depraved as soon as human nature
gave house-room to rebellion against God,and the process of sin hardening,now countless generations old,has not improved the sensitivity
of conscience as an instrument of moral judgement./
   A. Motyer points out that our human nature can be seen according to scripture as being totally depraved,in other words no part or aspect is untainted by corruption.
      The natural man needs a restraint  ,by the gracious gift of common grace,this gracious gift holds us back ,although  at times ,man can still  act it seems without a conscience . Paul writes about people like this
whose conscience has been seared with a hot iron.W. Hendriksen writes,/By constantly arguing with conscience,stifling its warnings,and muffling its bell,they at last have reached the point where conscience no longer bothers, them. Grieving the holy Spirit has let to resist,and resisting Him, to quenching Him/
                                         A  prayer.
Dear God we thank You that although we are sinners,You are a God of all grace,we thank for Your common grace,and for Your saving Grace,that can
break into these darkened minds,and bring us to the place of faith ,and
forgiveness through Jesus Your dear son.Amen