The church. [ Hebrews 10 v 23- 25]

Recently we met together in our fellowship the Pastor showed us a leaflet,that one would give to someone whose is interested in our church.
He pointed to the photo of our church building on the leaflet,and reminded us that the church is not the building,the church is the people.The building
is where the church meets,he then asked us to go outside where he would
take a photo, and have it put on a new leaflet,this we did,and duly had our photo's taken.It is important as individuals we see ourselves as part of the church. Now the church is made up of individuals,and as individuals we trust Christ to be our Saviour.[Have you did this?],but we must not as one
writer wrote, be seduced by the modern cult of individualism. How many
times, I  have heard people say to me,I do not  have to go to church
to pray,that is absolutely right,but if you are a Christian [are you?],then we are called to meet with other Christians,to pray with, and for them.The fellowship of other believers is vital for all of us if we are going to grow
spiritually,we all need each other. We read in Ephesians 5 v24, Christ also loved the church and give Himself for it,so get in the picture.
                                        A   prayer.
Dear God thank you that You love all of us as individuals,but  You also love us as a vital part of your church,help us to be part of it,for Jesus sake Amen

Pilgrmage [Hebrews 11 v 13-16 ]

It was a common thing in times past to go on pilgrimages ,Luther  went on a pilgrimage to Rome but what he saw there was not helpful.Often  the pilgrim would want to go to some so called saints shrine,like Thomas a Becket,whose shrine was at Canterbury,the road to that shrine was called the Pilgrims Way.I must confess I do not see the purpose of such pilgrimages.These pilgrimages where focused on people ,and places,so called holy places. One could point to the OT where people made pilgrimages to Jerusalem where the temple was,Psalm 84 was written for such a pilgrimage,yes it stresses the house of God,but as M. Wilcock writes
/The pilgrim loves the house only because of the one whose house it is,he is crying out for the living God. He goes on to write ,/Gods house is anywhere that Gods people congregate in His presence.The pilgrimage need mean
nothing more exotic, than regular church going,a determination not to give up meeting together, as some are the habit of doing,seduced by the modern cult of individualism,leisure, mobility,and lack of commitment/ This is one aspect of pilgrimage, which takes on the larger picture of that pilgrimage every believer is on, that pilgrimage  that Christian was on in Pilgrims Progress,that Celestial city.
                                           A  prayer.
Dear God help us,on our pilgrimage to Heaven,to be faithful,keeping our
eyes fixed on Jesus the author and finisher of our faith, Amen.

God speaking. [ Revelation 1 v8]

As one surveys the scene of the far east,in the Land where Islam holds sway
, there could easily be a feeling of despair ,filling our hearts,the church is under tremendous pressure, to capitulate.Whats the use of taking stand IS to powerful.Even this morning I read of another attack on Christians in Nigeria ,85 at last where killed in a village.the writer describes the scene in the following way,/The entire village is like a killing field,with
the stench of blood everywhere/.This is not an isolated case,it is happening
in many countries now I am not seeking to inflame hatred against Islam,no
as a Christian,I am seeking to encourage that prayer be made on behalf of
our Christian family. Plus I want us all to lift our sights beyond earthly
powers, be it poltical,or religious ,to our Sovereign God. He has not forsaken His people,He is on the throne,even when He is most invisible.
Yes He is on the throne,how is that you say?,because His word tells me so,
our God reigns. Evil will have its day,but God will have the last and final say.Christ is the Alpha and Omega the beginning and the end,we often use the term' humanally speaking',as Christians we must move beyond  that,to
God speaking,the one who reigns over all,and all things.
                                            A  prayer.
Dear Lord Jesus ,You who have been given all power in heaven and upon earth,have mercy upon your dear children,who are being persecuted,grant
them grace to endure,and in all things to glorify You. Amen.
                                    

My desire. [John 12 v 24 ]

When I came to live in England I met a lady a Mrs Barber,she was a lovely
Christian.I was a minister and visited her for the first time over 30yrs ago,but I remember her quoting words from an old hymn,should I be carried to the skies on flowery beds of ease.She experienced a divorce from her unfaithful husband,and later on ,one her sons died,he was a young man.She had brought her four children up on her own,in later life she and one of her daughters returned to her native land, the West Indies.That must have been
about 12 years ago,and then I heard that she had died,I prayed for the family
Then to my surprise I met her daughter,from the West Indies,I spoke to her and she told me that two people where saved at her mothers funeral.I honour that dear lady,and I hope that when I die God will save people at my funeral.But it is also  a challenge and a reminder that we can live such a Godly life that it will speak to the unsaved even when we die,but I am not satisfied with that,I want,yes I want to see people been saved while I am still alive.
                                        A  prayer.
Dear God thank You for Mrs Barber a godly child of yours,and that at her funeral two people got saved.Lord help us to live ,such lives ,that even when we die,our lives will leave,a powerful witness,but we ask for more,we ask that while we still are living You will use us to be fishers of men,in your name Lord Jesus we ask this Amen.

Ye fearful saints. [Habakkuk 3 v 16 -19]

Sunday was the longest day in the year,as to where we live in the world,and so it was still light late evening,and instead of seeing the stars,I saw the clouds,and it looked to me that we were going to have rain.As I viewed them , the words of the poet came to mind ,/Ye fearful saints fresh courage take, the clouds ye so much dread,are filled with mercies and will break with blessing on your head[W . Cowper]/ I am reading the Psalms at this
time,and of course I love them for their honesty,those who wrote  them
 felt despair,when they focused on their enemies,and circumstances.
Which led them to think very negatively, take  Psalm 77,we have a man in the depths,humanally speaking with good reason,he feels rejected by God,God's unfailing love appears to have failed,for all time,He questions God,as regards to  His mercy,and to withholding His compassion.Here we have self focus, We then come to v10, which one calls the hinge of the Psalm,for now we have to then end of the Psalm, the God focus.Verse ten commences,Then I thought,what did he think ?,He thought on God and how
He had acted in a miraculous way for His people,He thought on His power,and his miraculous works. In shifting the focus from self, and to focus on God,and His  word , He as M  Wilcock writes,/is equipped to
cope with the most desperate circumstances/
                                     A prayer
Dear God help us to keep our focus on You,instead of self,in Jesus name Amen.

His way. [ ISAIAH 55 v 8 - 9 ]

In Isaiah 55v 9, we read /For my thoughts are not your thoughts,neither are
my ways your ways,saith the Lord.  Michael Wilcock in his book on the Psalms ,writing on Psalm76,which he believes  may have been written to
celebrate the deliverance of Jerusalem from Assyria[2Kings 18-19/Isaiah
36-37] /It is human nature for us to  tell God how to help us,it is divine wisdom to recognize that He may well achieve the same ends by quite different means/ Israel often, wrongly looked to other nation for help,but in the case of deliverance from the massive army of Assyria ,God would send His angel to put to death a hundred and eighty-five thousand men in the Assyrian army/This is a theme throughout scripture,He saves Israel by a young lad[ 1Samuel 17]He uses ravens to supply Elijah the prophet with food, and then He also uses a poor widow  to do the same [1 Kings 17], He uses a young lads lunch to feed 5,000, plus[ John 6 ].We are called to trust God to do for us,in ways that He see's fit,and most important, where He will receive all the glory.
                                           A  prayer.
Dear God we acknowledge that we presume to ask you to answer our prayers in our way,forgave us Lord,answer our prayers in ways that give you all the glory, in Jesus name Amen .

Parables [ Mark 4 v1-20]

In Mark 4, Jesus speaks the parable of the sower,when He had finished His disciples came to Him and asked Him to explain the meaning.He tells them
that they where permitted to understand these parables,but to those who were not His disciples,they would only have the parables,and then He quoited a scripture from Isaiah 6v9-10,which reads,/ that they be ever seeing but never perceiving and ever hearing but never understanding,
otherwise they might turn and be forgiven/ What is He saying?does that mean He does not want them to be saved?.Of course not,for God  our Saviour wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth
[1 Timothy 2 v4].M .Wilcock writes/ His hearers have to have a willing spirit,the parables would only make sense to the teachable but remained riddles to the self-willed./He quotes words from a hymn by ,Sir Henry
Baker'Who recount the treasure,by Thy word implanted ,to the simple -
hearted'.Any teacher would bear witness to the fact,that there are children
who do not want to be taught,the teacher is willing to teach them,but they just do not want to be taught,and so condemn themselves,of an education.
                                     A  prayer.
Dear God help us to be of the simple hearted,teachable, in Jesus Amen.