Faith alone,scripture alone,Christ alone. [ 2 Timothy 3 v 15-17]

I come from Ireland the land where saint Patrick brought the gospel,and each year we have saint Patricks day, in protestant north we acknowledged it  but that was all.I praise God for Patrick who was a saint,a saint now what does that mean?.Lets face it, it is a very misunderstood term,which has led to so much unbiblical thinking and teaching,and to say the least is very,very dangerous.The reformation came into being by God ,returning people back to the Bible,to the truth of faith alone,scripture alone,and Christ alone.In other words we are only saved by exercising faith in Christ alone,as is seen in Gods word.The then church went beyond this, they brought in church teaching and tradition,just like the scribes and the Pharisee's,with the oral law.The result was Jesus called them blind guides,that their teaching were but rules made by men.[ Matthew 15v 13/9].He had much more to say to them as to the harm they were doing to the ordinary people[Matthew 23]I have a friend who attended a religious place , to be trained as a leader in that religion,the Bible was never taught.My friend left that so called Christian training place,and eventually left that so called Christian church,because in spite of him being very religious,he had no assurance of his sins being forgiven.That changed when he turned to Gods word the Bible,and discovered Christ as his Saviour.
                                     A prayer.
Dear God we thank for Your word,which alone makes us wise unto salvation,through trusting Christ alone. Amen.

When they are gone,they are gone.[ Hebrews 4 v 14-16]

A number of  Christian denominations use terms in an unbiblical way,one
is the term priest,they call those who lead the people priests.I raised this with a Christian once ,she replied,it does not matter as long as you are able to serve God.But it does matter ,where as in the OT church the term Priest was legitimate. The Holy Spirit indicated that the way into the Most Holy Place had not...been disclosed,until the coming of Jesus[Hebrews 9 v8].Until Christ came priests where necessary,but once Christ came that priesthood was no longer necessary.A new priesthood came into being which was foretold in the OT.CP,Psalm 110v4.no longer would there be sacrifices,no longer would we need a priest on earth ,it was finished,because it was only meant to be temporary.[CP Hebrews 7 v18-19].We only need Christ to intercede for us,as he has made it possible for us to enter Gods presence by the shedding of His blood on Calvary[Hebrews10 v19].He is an all sufficient saviour and priest,one who fully understands us and our condition [ Hebrews 4 v14-16].In introducing another priesthood into the church of Christ,we are rebuilding what God has destroyed[Galatians 2 v18],and that's a serious thing to do.I have not touched on the priesthood
of every believer,which is a separate issue to one I have written on.
                                     A  prayer.
Dear God we thank You for Jesus our great high priest, Amen .

Only Jesus .[ John 14 v6 ]

Through out the scripture we are continually reminded that the greatest of men are but men,James reminds us that great prophet Elijah was just a man like us [James 5 v17]. No where in scripture do we read of anyone praying
to the dead,the dead still exist but there dealings with this life is finished.
Why did God bury Moses,and to this day no one knows where his grave is.
[Deuteronomy 34v5-6].The reason being his connection with Israel was finished,he served Gods purpose,we are not meant to hold unto the dead.
Barnes in his commentary,points the reason being ,that his grave would not become an object of superstitious honour.Israel had to learn this lesson,if only the church of Christ  could have learned this lesson,yes we honour the
memory of godly people,but it must stop at that,they are gone,their work for
God is finished.The most godly of people have only one task that is pointing people to Christ,who alone saves us,and who alone intercedes for us,as the scripture teaches us,in 1 Timothy 2v5 ,we read,/For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus/.
                                  A  prayer.
Dear God we thank you for the apostles and prophets ,help us always to look beyond them to our Saviour Jesus. Amen.

Oaths [ Mark 6 v 26]

Going back in history to the second world war when awful things where happening,and why both Germany and Japan armies kept on fighting,and why they fought so fanatically.One of the reasons I believe was,that both armies took oaths of absolute obedience .These oaths bound  them to their
leaders ,to Hitler,and in Japans case to their Emperor,honour was at stake.
To take an oath of absolute obedience to anyone is wrong,for it means that
you are bound by that oath. For both armies it meant doing things that no
one should ever do,in acting in barbaric ways. The fact is taking oaths can
get us into all sorts of trouble we read how king Herod made an oath to a young girl,he swore an oath that he would give her whatever she desired.
Her request was for the head of John the Baptist,Herod  deeply regretted
when he heard her request,yet because he had made an oath,and the breaking of that oath would have affected his honour in the sight of those present,he had dear John executed.Many people bind themselves to things
they should not ,and find themselves doing things they bitterly regret.
Whatever one may think about oath taking,God expects no one to stand by an oath or to take an oath that involves committing themselves to some dubious ,moral evil action.
                                          A  prayer.
Dear God help us not to bind ourselves with anyone or any authority to
commit any dubious wrong actions ,in Jesus name we ask this Amen.

He makes all the difference. [1 John 4 v19 ]

I found my self singing ,oh yes we can sing unto Lord without the musical
instruments,or worship leaders,and outside the church building.Wherever I
am I'll praise Him ,after all He is worthy of our praise,is this not so?.In 1 John 4v19, we read,/We love Him,because He first loved us/,yes we do love Him,was not always so,do you remember those times?.Well I do ,yes I
remember those days when I did it my way,my wrong thought patterns,my
carelessness,yes I did it my way. That well known song ,I did it my way
 has become top of the pops at funeral services,it is obvious that people are going into eternity and not appreciating the significance of the words.
Yes they did it their way,not Gods,such was my life once,not appreciating the danger I was in.Then something wonderful happened ,in loving kindness
Jesus came and with the cords of love drew me to Himself.As I look back
I can now see the great danger I was in,only a breath a way from a lost
eternity. I was rescued from a life that in essence had no meaning,to a life that has a purpose,yes there have been the struggles,the disappointments.
Everybody has struggles,and disappointments,but not everybody has the Saviour with them ,and let me assure you,He makes all the difference.
                                  A  prayer.
Dear God, for sending Jesus we thank You, we thank You that His coming to are lives has made all the difference Amen.

A nightmare. [ Job 1-2 ]

She was getting very annoyed,and I heard her say this is a nightmare,it was
to do with something very simple,and of little consequence,she was getting
herself into such a state.It was then I spoke to her and reminded her that it was not nightmare,and that there are many things could be classed as nightmares.I can think of so many nightmare situations in this world,
recently I was speaking to a Christian whose young son died of cancer,and
he said it was a nightmare.The challenge so often for us is to keep things in proportion to not let the insignificant things become what they are not.I could mention so many awful things that many people are suffering,and
facing.I mention one family and what they are going,the husband has Parkinson,then the daughter was diagnosed with cancer,the daughter is married and has two little children,and then the wife has been diagnosed with cancer.Now all that is serious ,very serious,let us all try to not let things get out of proportion,that problem that was seen as a nightmare was easily solved.
                                        A  prayer.
Dear God help us to keep things in proportion,and help us to remember those who are in what one could call nightmare situations,to pray for them
and to support them in whatever way we can in Jesus name Amen .

Thou God seest me. [Psalm 34 v17]

All through his life David experienced many difficulties,as a young shepherd ,he faced a lion and a bear,which he killed,later a giant,then the
Philistines. One of his greatest enemies was Saul king of Israel,who out
jealousy and fear sought to kill him.On one occasion he fled and hid in a cave in Adullam [1 Samuel 22],he was on his own,his friends and family
had not yet joined him,and my he felt utterly alone.It is in Psalm 142
we read how he felt,he felt no one was concerned  for him,do you feel this,we all do at times. He felt no one was cared whither he lived or died,he felt desperate ,like a prisoner. We turn to another soul who was in difficulties,her name was Hagar,she was pregnant and alone,at that moment
the angel of the Lord visited her and spoke to her,reassuring her. When he left her ,she called the name of that place,Thou God seest me[Genesis 16 v13].There are times like David we may feel very alone,feel no one cares,no one is concerned for us,feel desperate,be assured that God has not forgotten you,nor has He forsaken you. In Psalm34 v 17, we read,/The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and His ears are open unto their cry/.
                                        A  prayer.
Dear God we thank You that will never leave us,nor forsake us,and that You are not a million miles away,we cast our burden upon You,knowing that You will care for us,in Jesus name Amen.