No Pharisee. [Isaiah 6 v 5]

As a minister of the word of God,I am called upon to be faithful,to preach the whole council of God.This may appear obvious,but for many they fall short of this,because they struggle with doctrines like sin, and Hell.It appears to some if you do,you are judging and condemning people,after all they say Jesus did not come to condemn the world. They say that many evangelicals are like the Pharisees,I hope not,but maybe some are.An old Puritan preacher ,said he was a dying man preaching to dying men.In one sense we are all the same,and yet we are not,the Christian has experienced
the saving grace of God.Most us our familiar with John Newtons hymn, Amazing grace,the opening verse has the words ,that saved a wretch like me.In other words John Newton,was no self righteous Pharisee,judging others,the apostle Paul called himself the chief of sinners [1Timothy 1 v15]
When I preach about sin  ,I am but speaking the truth,because I know
my own heart and history,and I know the consequences,of sin,the door of
heaven will remain shut,and the doors  of Hell open,if our sins are not forgiven.The purpose of Christs coming was to save people from their sin
[Matthew 1 v21/ John 1 v29],we cannot water this down,nor to neglect
to preach,in love,as a dying man,to dying men.
                                    A Prayer.
Dear God help all of us to tell people about sin and its consequences,and most of all the  remedy,Jesus who died for sinners,Amen.

The bad news,the good news.[Revelation 2-3]

I remember a Pastor in a south American country,speaking of many, so called evangelical Christian leaders,who milked their congregations,for money.He said he was asked was he a Pastor,and he denied it,because he did not want to be associated with,those so called Christian leaders.My favourite author was brought up in a racist church,I could mention many
other serious shortcoming.In the end the Lord knows, who are His,and who are not,yet all these things are a hindrance to many coming to the Lord,after
all who wants to be associated with such people.I have to confess that often we have not always reflected that Christ likeness that we should.But let us get some balance into this,I know many fine Christians,a couple in the church I attend ,fostered many children,and ended up adopting a brood of them,she had children of her own.I know of many fine people working
among the poor,needy people of this world.After over fifty years following the Lord Jesus, I have met many truly nice kind Christians.As I read the Bible I have confidence that Christ will deal with the shortcomings of  His
church.Read the letters to the seven churches in Asia,in the book of Revelation,and we see that our Lord misses nothing,He sees all ,knows all,and will act accordingly.
                                             A prayer.
Dear Lord Jesus,we bring your people to you,ourselves included,and ask that you would send a revival,also help us all,not to be part of the problem,Amen

The dark side. [ Matthew 13 v24-30]

In the book of  Ecclesiastes 3v 1-8 we are reminded that there is a time for so many things, in v 7,we read of a time to be silent,and a time to speak.We
live in changing times, people are not familiar as former generations with church,with terms like sin.The old ways of evangelism appear to be outdated, and ineffective,I raise these things,because many leaders in churches,and even Christian writers,are trying to understand how best to
communicate the Christian message.They emphasise what was the failures
of certain churches they attended,and point to those who are anti everything,
they stress the hypocrisy,of certain Christians.We could go on,and of course sadly to say,much of its true,it always has been true,to some extent.All of us  who are Christians,need to reflect on Christ, who continually challenged the hypocrisy,of his day.Many of the early NT churches were far from perfect,and had to be put right,church history is not  history of perfect Christians.To some extent nothing has changed,within the NT church as in the OT church,were leaders who failed,idolitry,sexual immorality,were common.So what is my conclusion?,well, I will write on this tomorrow.
                                                  A  prayer.
Dear God forgave your people ,send a revival,and purify your Church,for
Jesus your Sons sake Amen.

Secret sins. [ Psalm 139]

There is and old gospel song,with the following words in it,'Forgave the secret sins I do not see,'.Yes often we are blind to those things in our lives,
which unbeknown to us,can be called secret sins.Our Saviour revealed many things that people did not see,He touched on peoples wrong attitude even in their prayer life ,and their giving[Matthew 6  v 1-7]. Their wrong
attitude to money [Matthew 6 v19-21],even to forgiveness[ Matthew 18v21-22].He showed Peter the pride that lurked in his boastful words,that though all men would be offended because of Him,he would not,but he was[Matthew 26 v 31-34].Those who condemned and judged others were shown,that they also stood condemned by their own conscience[John 8v9].
The fact is we are so often blind to so many things in our lives,that can be
classed as sinful,we hold racial attitudes,vengeful thoughts, need I go on,
The words of Jeremiah 17 v9,are so meaningful,/The human heart is the most deceitful of all things ,and desperately wicked.Who really knows how bad he is?/.The answer, we don't,but the Lord does,/I the Lord,search all hearts,and examine secret motives,[17v10].
                                        A prayer.
Search me, O God,and know my heart,test me,and know my anxious thoughts.Point out anything in me that offends you,and lead me along the path of everlasting life.in Jesus name we ask this Amen.
                           [ Words from Psalm 139 v23-24 ]

The Lords calf.[ Malachi 1 v 6-9]

I am studying the book of Malachi,it is a sad book,the restored people of
Israel,who had returned from Babylon,were treating God with disrespect.
One of they ways they were doing this was to offer animals that were crippled,and diseased,this was contrary to Gods law.It reminds me of a story
I read many years ago,it was about a farmer who told his wife that their best cow,had given birth to twin calves,one red,and the other white.The farmer said to his wife I feel I should dedicate one of these calves to the Lord.When they are grown up ,we will sell them,we will keep money from one of them for ourselves,and the money from the other we will give to the
Lords work.Which one are we going to dedicate to the Lord,the farmer
relied he had not decided yet.A few months later,he came in looking sad,
and told his wife,the white calf had died,the Lords calf had died,his wife
said but we never  decided which one was the Lords calf,I had always decided the white one was the Lords calf.Dr M.L.Jones comments on this
it is always the Lords calf that dies.
                                              A  prayer.
Dear God help us to honour you in our giving,and not to give you second best,in Jesus name Amen.

Hold fast to this truth. [ Psalm 103 v19 ]

We must not yield or tire in our belief in Gods sovereignty,I know I mention this a lot,I make no apologies for this,because I personally need
to hold unto this truth.It is so easy to loose sight of this vital truth,and in so doing we loose out.Even as I write this I have offered up a prayer,for a war torn country,because we read in Gods word ,that He makes wars to cease unto the ends of the earth [Psalm 46 v9].It is not that we should do nothing, no  we are called upon to do is pray,we pray things happen,when we don't pray things don't happen.The doctrine of the sovereignty of God ,brings with it a responsibility ,for us to act in accordance with Gods will, and word.it means  we act by  faith,many years ago ,when my then wife and I were living by faith in relation to God meeting our needs.There was no food in the house,and no money,my wife went out,taking her shopping bag with her,and as she leaving our home a friend drew up in his car,with a gift.Just a word of caution,none of us are called to act irresponsible,some times we are called to stand still and see the salvation of God,other times we are called to go forward.
                                      A  prayer.
Dear God we thank you that you rule over all the affairs of life,help us to
walk by faith,and to trust in your power,and providence,in Jesus name Amen.

My sins our ?. [ Romans 8 v31- 39]

Recently I was attending home group meeting,and the person had list of a famous children's publications,called ,'Mr Men',there is quite a lot of them.
We were asked to choose what Mr Man were we,and I choose Mr. Forgetful
,I do have my moments when I do not remember certain things.Recently I saw a person I had worked with for many years,I just could not remember her name, I felt a bit annoyed with myself,but I am nearly 72,so I suppose it comes with the territory,after she left I did remember.Remembering It is important,it is a wonderful gift,I  wonder how does our brains remember smells,or even taste,we are truly  wonderfully made.Even though I am getting on I still can remember a lot of things,but I wish I could forget
somethings ,that I did when I was younger,the Bible calls them ,the sins of our youth[Psalm 25 v7],what about the sins I do not remember?. On Judgement day what is going to happen?and the answer is nothing,am I sure of that,that does not sound fair,surely God is going to judge me,for my sins?,I may have forgotten ,but surely He has not.This answer is,I will not be judged,because,they have all been forgiven me,the moment I trusted Jesus as my Saviour,God forgive every sin,that I ever committed,or will commit.Does this sound to good to be true,yes it may seem that way,but in actual fact it is true.As far as the east is from the west ,so far has God removed my transgression from me,[Psalm 103 v12],because the blood of
of Jesus, Gods Son, cleanses from all sin[1 John 1 v7]

                            Gone, gone,gone,gone,
                            yes my sins are gone.
                             Now my soul is free,
                             and in my heart a song.
                             Buried in the deepest sea,
                             yes that's good enough for me,
                             I shall live eternally,praise God,
                             my sins are gone.