New hearts for old ones.[ Ezekiel 19 -21 ]

There it was on the front page of a newspaper,daddy has become mammy,there is much talk driven by the media as regards gender.We read of children who have  a fixation in their minds are acting in a confused manner,  end up saying, God has made a mistake,boys say that they believe they are girls,and girls saying they are boys.It is all very confusion,long held views are discarded,mans fallen nature takes over,people become trapped in a wrong thought process.
   One of my sons spoke of the supermarket he shopped in,a person on the till,was dressed as woman,but it was very obvious the person was a man,if that person was a woman they would have one first prize in the ugly sisters competition. One can smile at this but it is all very sad,and one wonders,
whats next on the agenda?.
    Now I know from experience how ones mind can become ensnared in
wrong thought patterns ,that can destroy our lives.Millions of people are ensnared in pornography,years ago people used to buy sexual explicit
photos,from wherever,now it is so easy to view these things on the net.
     Mankind is advancing in so many areas of life in health,in technology,
but  none of these things can change the human heart,which the Bible
tells us is deceitful and desperately wicked [Jeremiah 17 v9] Thankfully
there is an answer, God,who can change us when we repent ,seek forgiveness and trust Jesus to be ones Saviour.
                                     A  prayer.
Dear God help us not be drawn into a world of confusion,and for those who  have ,grant mercy,save and deliver them through Your son Jesus,Amen.

Looking back. [Psalm 37 v 23 ]

Let us consider a looking back that is profitable,and for that, we turn to king David,the man after Gods own heart,and the words he wrote in Psalm 37v25
/I have been young,and now am old ,yet I have seen the righteous forsaken ,
nor his seed begging bread/. I would say a big amen to that.I have just turned 71,and have retired, I have been following the Lord for 51 years,I have brought up a family of 5 lads,and in all this ,I can say God has been faithful.Although all this is true I continually need encouragement,because life is ongoing,one is still prone to worry,still vulnerable,still tempted to doubt,still tempted and attacked by the Devil.
  So like David I can take encouragement from looking back at how God has cared for me,and for others who know the Lord.Yes God has no favourites,He loves all His children,not just the privileged few.
      Consider all that David experienced,he had his successes,but he also had his failures,but God continued to be faithful.
      In this Psalm he tells us to keep our eyes firmly on the Lord,v1 we are told not to worry about those who do wrong.Stop looking at others ,that can only pull us down,why? may be, the word you are continually using?,God says, stop it, instead we are told to do three things.
                                [a]Trust in the Lord and do good.v3.
                                 [b]Delight yourself in the Lord.v4
                                 [c]Commit your way to the Lordv5
Each of these verses stress , when we do those three things, good  will follow.
                                       A prayer
Dear God  we praise you for your faithfulness, and that You are the same yesterday,today,and forever, in Jesus name Amen .
    

Looking back. [Philippians 3 v 10-14 ]

Next let us consider a looking back that is unprofitable ,and hindering,we read about in Philippians 3 v12-14. The great apostle had achieved much,he
was a very spiritual mature man,but he makes it clear that he is not resting in that,no he declares,/I focus on this one thing,forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead. I press on to reach the end of the race/.
     I come from a country that has known so much trouble,so much conflict,when I was young I used to go and watch the 12th of July parades.
banners would be carried depicting the victory of William of Orange a
Protestant King and his victory over James a Catholic king,at the battle of
the Boyne,in 1690.The battle of the Boyne is over but unfortunately the war continues on,because so many are prisoners of their past.
      The second world  war was caused because of the 1st world war,and Germany pride,the result they embraced Hitler the mass murderer.
      So many present troubles between nations and individuals can be traced back to the past,the Muslin's still hold bitterness because of the Crusaders.
                                       A prayer.
 Dear God help us not to be prisoners of our past hurts,failures,traditions
successes,grant unto us us the freedom to move to forget and move on in Jesus name Amen.
     

Looking back [Genesis 19 v 26]

Today let us consider ,/Looking back/, firstly, the looking back that is dangerous, the greatest example of this ,was Lots wife,we do not know her name,other that she was Lots wife.She lived with her husband and family in
a place called Sodom,now that was a very wicked place,so wicked that God decided to destroy it. God is a God of mercy,we are told that He delights in mercy,but if men and women reject that mercy,and continue to live in sin He will judge. Sodom and its sister city Gomorrah were such a people, and were ripe for the judgement.
    The godly Abraham,had pleaded with God ,the words he used in Genesis
18v23,very significant,Shall not the judge of all the earth do right,and God
did just that,yes He judged the wicked,but He rescued Lot and his  two daughters.He will have mercy on whom He will have mercy.
     Before God judged  these cities,Lot ,his wife,and daughters were told,
escape for thy life,look not behind thee[Genesis19v17]. Unfortunately she did not take those words serious ,in 19 v27,she looked back and immediately,she turned into a pillar of salt.We cannot tell why she did this,
But we do know the consequences,whither it was curiosity,or nostalgia.The sad thing is she paid a terrible price.We must learn the lesson of taking God serious,and obeying Him,for if we don't we may have to pay a terrible price.
                                             A  prayer.
Dear God help us to take serious what You say,by our obedience,in Jesus name Amen.

A delema [ Jude v3 ]

There is a Christian of long standing,he is in church,which is friendly,the minister is a nice person,who he prays for every day.It is an evangelical
church,but the minister lacks a evangelical voice,this  causes my friend great concern.For my friend knows that faith cometh by hearing and hearing
by the word of God.
   What can my friend do?,he does not want to cause trouble in the church,
before the present minister came,the church had experienced a lot of trouble
So again the question arises what should my friend do?to speak out or not to speak that is the question?.
    The words of our Saviour come to mind,speaking as regards His church,
that they may be one [John 17v21].It should always be our chief concern to promote unity within the church.In Psalm 133 we read,/Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for the brethren to dwell together in unity. Is this  always possible?, it may not always be ,but it appears to me,it should be our aim.
      It was the apostle Paul who had challenged Peter,who was by his
behaviour  compromising the truth of the Gospel[ Galatians 2 v11ff].Paul
puts this way,/I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the Gospel/.So it would appear to be acceptable to intervene when the truth of the Gospel is being undermined.
     The importance of unity is of major importance,and so the truth,
                                          A  prayer
Dear God grant that we will all we can to maintain unity,but help us also be faithful to truth in Jesus name Amen.

Christ [Jude 3-4]

The reformation came about because the visible church ,had fallen into error
,often this has been  the case.The church under the Papacy had become
political powerful,with its own army,one does not have to look back on the history of Rome,to see how far from the truth they had strayed.But  they are not on their own, Germany the birth place of the reformation,gave way to liberal Theology,when the Nazi party came into power,some Christian groups identified with them.In South Africa the church took on board
apartheid,with all its evils,and in the land of the free,many churches were deeply racist.
    It is in 1 Corinthians 1 v23,we,/ But we preach Christ and Him crucified,/
having said that,it is one thing to say that,and unlike Paul not really preach the  the truth of whom Christ really is, and miss out in what His death is really about.The cults can sound like Christians, but under the searchlight of
Gods word,they show  themselves to be in the land of make believe.
     True Christian faith is commitment to the Christ of the Bible,when we stray from this then we have left the path of truth. This means accepting
who the Bible says He is,the Son of God,which means He is divine,God manifested in the flesh.It means trusting in him alone,and his saving work,
on the cross,we must not add to it,or weaken this truth.
       Now there will be many things that even as Christians we will differ on
that is no a problem,we will have to agree to disagree,but there it must stop.
We must not compromise,must not ,on the person of Christ,and His atoning work.
                                               A  prayer.
Dear God help to hold fast to Your word,and the truth who Christ is and His saving work on Calvary. in His name we ask this Amen .
     
   

Christ alone [ John 14 v6]

David  Atkinson writes the following , /Christian faith is not in baptism,or faith in the church. Nor is it faith in faith itself,as though our believing was what mattered. Christian faith is commitment to Christ Himself./
     I believe that we need to grasp what that brother has written, because there are so many,who believe that Baptism saves on its own,and there are millions who believe that their church will save them.As to the latter, how
many churches in New Testament times fell  into error[CP.Revelation 2-3]
The fact of the matter churches can get it wrong, and when they do,it can cause tremendous problems.As one reads the New Testament the people who opposed our Saviour the most were the church leaders.Compare what
He said to them in John 8 v44,that they were of their father the Devil.also chapter 23 of Matthew,which is very scatting,and its in verse 15,the awful effect they had on others in their care.
     Now let us seek to balance things up,I am not seeking to provoke a riot,
or unsettle you as regards your church or church leaders.In 1 Corithians11 v1,the apostle wrote ,/Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ/.
Also in Galations 1v8,the apostle writes,/But though we,or an angel from heaven,preach any other gospel unto you.....let him be accursed.
     We will consider this more tomorrow,
                                           A prayer.
Dear God help us to be sure that we are trusting in Christ alone for our Salvation,Amen.