A favourite actor. [ 1 Timothy 1 v 12-15 ]

Just recently I watched a famous actor being interviewed, it  was awful to watch, I do not know how to describe his, manner and attitude. I hope I am not judging him, it just made me feel so sad, for as a child, I remember going to the cinema and watching him, he made us children laugh and even cry. But there he was a hard and cynical old man, he was no longer that person, he portrayed on silver screen. I am so glad that he is not my next door neighbour, and yet as I wrote this blog, I offered up a prayer for him. For I know that Jesus did not come into a world that is perfect, He did not come for those who thought themselves righteous, He came for sinners, yes even for the hard and cynical people, let us not write anybody off, no one is beyond redemption.
                                        A  prayer
Dear God we pray for that old  hard, and cynical actor, have mercy upon him, we thank you that Christ came into the world to save sinners, In His name we ask this Amen.

It is no myth. [ John 3 v16 ]

I transported a lady to a friends funeral, those gathered were told that the
deceased had not wanted a service. A young man took the service, he did pray the Lords prayer, but it was obvious that he did not touch on anything spiritual . He spoke well from a purely secular point of view, after the service I spoke to him, he told me he was funeral facilitator, and said he was an agnostic. I felt laid to say to him, that the resurrection of Jesus was an
historical fact. Our faith is not built upon myth, or make believe, Christ was born in Bethlehem, the story of his birth is not just a little homely, it actually happened .When a follower of Christ wrote about Him, he testified
how he had heard Him speak, seen Him, touched Him.[ 1 John 1 v 1 ].They saw the miracles that He had performed, listened to His teaching, heard him tell them of His death and His resurrection. [ Matthew 17 v 22-23]. The
disciples witnessed His death, and His resurrection, they heard His farewell
message, before He was taken up to heaven. Many stop thinking about Christ after Christmas,but the story is larger than His birth, the meaning
of His birth, life and death, is of vital importance for the whole of humanity
To sum up, when it come to Christ ,He was a historical reality, the meaning
of that reality, was, Gods answer to mans great need, the salvation of this world, that does not mean that all will be saved, even though Christs death
could save everyone, it is a gift freely offered, and as many as receive that gift, receive forgiveness, and eternal life.
                                           A  prayer.
Dear God we thank you for Jesus ,His birth , life, death and resurrection,
grant that this Christmas,many will receive,Him as their Saviour Amen.

Nice people. [ Romans 3 v23 / 6 v23 ]

Lionel Blue a well known radio rabbi died aged 86,I remember listening to
him years ago, he seemed a nice person. A newspaper published an article
by him, where he related how he came to a belief in God, at a Quaker meeting, and how he eventually became a Rabbi .The god he discovered he called Fred, he believed in an afterlife. As I thought of him my mind turned to another religious person ,the Dalai Lama, aged 81,he is still alive, he like LB appears a nice person, he is a Buddhist. There are many nice people in the world, nice Muslims, Hindu's, non -Christians ,atheist, and so on, nice people, that 's how we see them, but the important question how does God see them?.How  can a person know, does He see people as I see them?,no , He see's that we are all sinners, who are in rebellion against Him. It is interesting that the Dalai Lama is called ,''His Holiness'', like a certain nice man in the Vatican. There is an old hymn which proclaims ,''Only Thou art Holy''. speaking of God, we should call no man his holiness, for only God is truly holy. The fact is nice people are but sinners, and who do they  need ? Jesus who came to save sinful nice people.
                                       A  prayer.
Dear God forgive us in ignoring what Your word tells us ,that we all have sinned and come short of Your glory, and that all men need a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord Amen

The seriousness of.....[Romans 6 v 23 ]

A man called Kellogg wrote the following,  ''Many are exceedingly loth to
believe that sin can be such a serious matter''. As I study the book of Leviticus ,it is becoming more and more clear how serious sin is, how contact with God was a very restricted affair,this is seen in the sacrifices, in all the regulations, in the tabernacle, and in the temple, there was a place called ,the holiest of hollies. Gods presence was there, He who is holy, only one person could enter that place, and that only once a year, on the day of atonement, and when he did he had to take the blood of  a sacrificed animal,
and sprinkle it on those things within. We read in Hebrews 9 v22,''Without
shedding of blood there is no forgiveness''. These animal sacrifices did not completely deal with sin, they were but a temporary answer  [Psalm 40 v6], but God had a plan, The plan God came up with was extreme ,and this plan shows the seriousness of sin, it was beyond words to fully describe. Gods ,
answer was Jesus His son, He would leave heaven, be born of a virgin,He
would have an earthly name Jesus which means ,that he would save people from their sin[Matthew 1 v21].The seriousness of sin meant that if Jesus had not come, Hell for all us would be the result, that's the consequence of sin. But Jesus did come, and through His death sinners could be saved. The awful tragedy is this most people do not see the true meaning and purpose
of  Christs coming. We return to that opening statement, ''Many are exceedingly loth to believe that sin can be such a very serious matter''
                                               A  prayer
Dear Holy God and Father, open the eyes of our understanding, to the seriousness of our sins, and the vital importance  of accepting Christ as our Saviour. Amen.

Merry , ?. [Isaiah 53 ]

Do you believe in Santa?well of course ,as an adult you don't, but if one  is a parent we play a pretend game with our children .Our next door neighbour has a little sign outside her door which reads, ''Santa call here''. Now of course it is just make believe, we sing about him getting stuck up the chimney,even though many new homes have no chimneys. People even put food out and we sing about his reindeer's, and the one with the shiny nose, hopefully all it is, is innocent fun. Many put on nativity plays, mainly for the children,that tells the story of a couple who find themselves with no shelter for the night, but manage to find room in a stable, were baby Jesus is born, later shepherds come to see the child, that angels told them about. Then we have the wise men coming who bring gifts, so that's it, a nice little story, for children ,along with Santa, it all adds up to what? .For many that is all there is to it, along with the carols, turkey and Christmas lights, Christmas cards, and a merry Halloween, oh I mean Christmas.
                                        A   prayer.
Dear God we ask that in your mercy ,that the true meaning of the Christ event may ,become real to each of us, in Jesus name Amen.

Christmas Carol. [ Matthew 1 v 23 ]

Charles Dickens wrote many wonderful stories, that have given millions of
people great pleasure. Christmas Carol is a great favourite  at this time, which has a message for everyone of us. The main character in the story is
Ebenezer Scrooge, a mean, and miserable person,  who hates Christmas.
Then one  night when he goes to sleep, he has a visit from the ghost of Christmas past, who takes him on a journey, of his past history, and how unloving he had been, and other aspects of his existence, and ends with him
 looking at a gravestone with his name on it. All this awakens him, the awfulness of his past life, and the fate that awaits him. So he turns to his ghostly companion, and he asks this question,''Are these things that shall be, or are they things that may be?''. I do not believe in fatalism, we can choose, just like our first parents did,[Genesis 2 v 15-17].in Deuteronomy 30 v15, we read,'' See, I set before you today  life and prosperity, death and destruction''.  Continually God pleads through the prophets, to turn from their sin, warning them of the consequences if they didn't. Judgement which fell upon them was not fixed, but alas they maintained a stubborn resistance and so they suffered. Yes nothing is fixed Nineveh repented and was shown mercy,in the book of Revelation  the seven churches ,are warned [chapter 2-3] the church at Ephesus was called on to repent, in other words, they had
a choice. The coming of Christ, means we all have a choice, when we accept Him, we can be different, we can change, we can know there is a wonderful future.
                                         A  prayer.
Dear God we thank you that in Christ we can change, and our future ,both for time, and eternity can change Amen.

Denial [ John 9 v25 ]

Many people are in denial, those who have addictions, will deny that they
have a problem, many of us will not acknowledge our short comings. The result is we continue on,and suffer, or make others suffer, because we are not willing to face reality. Better to face up to the truth, for its only as we do
will we hopefully begin to deal with those things ,that need dealt with. they say that honesty is the best policy, especially when it comes to ourselves. Especially when it comes to knowing God, we can never know Him unless we are honest with Him. Until we realise that He demands and expects openness from everyone, nothing will change, and its change that we all need, if we are honest enough to admit it. Think about the most important thing that you need, your salvation, yes we all need to be saved.
Right away pride raises its ugly head and we are into denial, I have been there, we all start there. From the moment we are born we go astray, and we
will not acknowledge the truth ,that we are sinners. We  are on the run from
a holy God, yet denying that reality, Germany were never willing to face the
reality of Nazism, because under Hitler they had employment, and food on their tables, and we all know where that led to.

                                        A prayer.
Dear God open our minds, and help to see our lostness, our need of Christ,
Amen.