Age is no excuse. [ Galations 5 v 16- 25]

Peter Adam, writing about Thomas Brooks says,/ He was a generous preacher , because his nickname  was 'Babbling Brooks',He said.''Two things are very rare; to see a young man humble and watchful;and the other
is,to see an old man contented and cheerful''./ Humility,consider He who made all things,who sustains all things,humbled himself,he became obedient unto death,even the death of the cross[Philippians 2 v8].Watchful
I suppose the young are impetuous,not cautious,or careful,they rush in were angels fear to tread. Brooks points that the old are rarely contented, or cheerful,why is that?,is that  me, is that you?.Lacking humility,being prone to act without thinking,not contented,and not cheerful.Let consider
Christ, his humility,we are told ,that what he experienced was ,a incredibly
humbling process,we all want to rise higher,he did the opposite.Jesus never acted in an impetuous way,he walked in step with God His Fathers will.Jesus had little of this worlds goods,in fact he had nowhere to lay His head,yet he must have been the most contented person who ever lived.Was Jesus a cheerful person?,we know that he was a man of sorrows,what do you think?.The thought came to me,surley he would have manifested,love,
joy,and peace.
                                        A prayer.
Dear Saviour ,help us to reflect all that you are in our lives,and let us not make age an excuse for those failings in our lives, Amen.

Sow a thought. [ 1 Corinthians 6 v 9-11 ]

Peter Adams ,wrote the following,/ Sin binds,because every time we sin we weaken our power to resist sinning,and take the first steps in forming the habit of repeating that sin. As has often been said,'Sow a thought ,and you reap an act. Sow an act,and you reap a habit.Sow a habit,and you reap a
character,and reap a destiny./Think of Judas one of the 12 apostles who
betrayed his Lord,he did it for money,this was not a one of act,the fact of the matter was, he was a thief,his thieving starting with a thought,he acted on that thought,got away with it,then did it again and again,he had formed a habit,these acts formed his character,and alas ,for him his awful destiny/.
Jesus said that he was destined to be lost[John 17 v12],and it started with a thought,a wrong thought,so many are in slavery ,because they ran with their
wrong thoughts,and they acted on their thoughts,very soon they had formed
a destructive habit, that formed their character,and alas like Judas an awful destiny.
                                            A  prayer.
Dear Saviour ,we ask that you would deliver us from all evil,from acting on our evil thoughts,deliver us from sinful habits,set us free from all that blinds us and binds us Amen

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.