Fundamentalism [Ephesians 2 v20]

The NEB ,entitles 1 John,' Recall to fundamentals', as a Christian ,the fundamentals ,are the foundation on which I build my faith. What I believe as a Christian, is of vital importance, the fundamentals, the foundation of the Christians faith, we are told in Ephesians 2 v20, is built on,the apostles,
and prophets, and Jesus Christ who is the cornerstone, the cornerstone holds everything together, take that away and everything  will collapse. There is a tendency for some Christians to ignore the Old Testament, I recently preached on the book of Zechariah, and I said ,how I have never heard many sermons from that wonderful book. That goes for many of the OT books, a brother told me that he avoided the OT because of the violence in it. There is awful violence in it, but there are valid reasons,why God dealt with people,in such a way. In 2 Timothy 3 v16,we read,' All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction,for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete,thoroughly equipped for every good work.' John Stott wrote,'[All]Scripture is God breathed and profitable. Even in the midst of these grievous times in which evil men and impostors go from bad to worse. It can make you complete and it can equip you for your work. Let the word of God make you a man of God, remain loyal to it and it will lead you on into Christian maturity'.
                                        A  prayer.
Dear God we thank you for all your word ,grant that we may not stray from it, in Jesus name Amen.

Who knows best?..[ Matthew 6 v25-34 ]

One the responsibilities of being a parent is guiding them, and helping them,
and trying to equip them for adulthood. We by our example, and words seek to help them to develop as they grow up. Often we do know what is best for
our children, although not always, but we love them and try our best. The fact is, there are no perfect parents, but one thing for sure, as Gods children we have a loving heavenly Father, who always knows what is best for His children. God always knows what is best for His children. We can fully trust his judgement, He is perfect in knowledge and wisdom,and He always
acts from a heart of love, always. Unlike us, our knowledge as a parent is imperfect ,He knows us fully, there is nothing hidden from Him,our knowledge of our children is imperfect, not so Gods. No matter how drastic and incomprehensible His dealing with His children, it is always best. Simple put ,our loving heavenly Father always knows what is best for His children. God our heavenly Father makes no mistakes,

                                   Said the Robin to the Sparrow;
                                   ''I should really like to know
                                   Why these anxious human beings
                                    Rush about and worry so''

                                   Said the Sparrow to the Robin;
                                   ''Friend, I think that it must be
                                    That they have no Heavenly Father
                                    Such as cares for you and me''.
                                       [ Words,, E. Cheney]

Dont run away. [Psalm 40]

In the movie Lord of the Rings, two of the characters are talking, they are faced with an army of hawks, and one asks the other,'' What does one do when faced with such evil?'', his companion replied,'' You ride out to meet it''. There was great monster of a man called Goliath, everybody was afraid
of  him, well not everyone ,there was young lad called David,he volunteered
to fight that giant, and so out he went and faced him with his little sling and five smooth stones. The fool ,many must have thought, even among his own people, and of course not forgetting the giant,who mocked him. Well what did that young man do? did he run away?, no, he ran towards him, for he
looked beyond this giant, to his great God, When we are faced with fearful whatever ,we can run away and hide, or like David we can by faith face our fears. And cry out ,thanks be to God who gives me the victory through Jesus
Christ my Lord.

                                Blessed is the man,who makes
                                the Lord his trust, who does not
                                 look to the proud , .
                                        [Psalm 40 v 4 ]    

The old Bill. [ 1 Corinthians 15]

Why did Christ die, for me?, well in case I forget ,the old Bill comes to the surface, and that old Bill is not very nice. Yes not very nice, ,yes but its true
.instead of thinking pure thoughts, or loving thoughts, or forgiving thoughts, I do the opposite. It was John Stott who spoke of the two aspects of salvation, [A] Saved from Gods judgement, when Christ become our Saviour, we are saved from wrath to come[1 Thessalonians 1 v10,Acts 16 v31 ],I am saved, from Gods righteous judgement, because Christ on the cross bore Gods wrath for me. Hell is no longer my destination, but Heaven . [B] The next aspect of salvation is being saved from our sinful condition, Stott speak of not yet saved from all those sinful tendencies, which plague us continually. John writes in 1John 1v8,that if we think that we are without sin ,we are deluded ,'' We deceive ourselves-but probably no one else''[ JS]'. Yes we are still in the body of flesh and all that this means, still a citizen of planet earth ,and all that this means. It was 53years ago that I came back to the Lord, I need to remind myself that this has been a work of God, That means I have experienced Gods enabling grace, and His assurance, that He has and will continue to help me, that applies to every child of God. The resurrection is coming, and on that day, the old Bill will cease to exist, all things will be made new.

                                         A  prayer.
Dear  God for the wonder of the resurrection we praise You, help us to press on by your grace, towards that time when all things will be made new, in Jesus name we ask this Amen.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      ;

Gods discipline. [Hebrews 12 v 5-12. ]

I do not like going to the dentist, but I go, because it will do me good, it was
the practise in the past to give children cod liver oil ,the reason being it was considered good for them. Our parents would tell us to eat our vegetable's because they said ,they were good for us. In the book of Hebrews chapter 12v5-12 the writer touches on something that is painful, discipline ,He reminds them to not make rash , quick judgements when we experience Gods discipline. Yes unlike many preachers, and church ministries who rarely touch on this subject, the writer of Hebrews teaches that God does discipline us. The readers of Hebrews were experiencing hardship, how should they view hardship and suffering?, the writers answer is very simple, the discipline of God. He reminds them that just as our Fathers
disciplined us believing it to be necessary, so our Heavenly Father
disciplines us for our own good, the fact that He disciplines us is an evidence that we are His children. R. Brown writes,'' The whole experience
of hardship, suffering and discipline is essentially purposive. No matter how
painful the experience may be, God will use it. In His sovereignty  nothing
is wasted or useless. When confronted by trials we must think of their immediate benefit, ultimate outcome and permanent effect.'' All discipline is
painful, but Gods  ultimate purpose to produce in all His children ,in the
words of D. Brown,''  both an inward peace and moral uprightness,'' seen from that point of view, we are reminded as D.B,writes ''we cannot possibly have suffered in vain''.

                                        Romans 8 v28.
                           And we know that all things work
                           together for good, to those who love
                                             God.

The unexpected [Luke 12 v16-21 ]

The scripture tells us something that is so obvious,'' Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth''[Proverbs 27 v1] How few people ever give consideration to these words of wisdom, they are not meant to make us a nervous wreck. they are given as a needful reminder, of the uncertainty of life. People are boasting all the time, making their plans, with no real thought of God, or their spiritual well being. In the days of Noah, we read,'' they married wives, and were given in marriage, until the very day when the flood came, and destroyed them all[Luke 17 v28-29] I heard recently that a close friend of one of my grandsons and two others ,were killed in a car crash. It is so very sad, yet it reminds us, no matter how we try to ignore, that life is so uncertain. All these uncertain events are Gods messengers to all of us, reminding us that we need to be ready, from the uninvited happenings.As C. Bridges writes,'' Heaven and Hell are no trifles. Tomorrow presumed upon, today neglected, ruins all,
Standing on the brink of the precipice - how precious the moment for
prayer-ere the door of mercy is closed for ever''.

                         ''Where will you spend eternity?''

Living Water [John 4 ]

As I passed a van of a local water company, I notice the words printed on the side of the van,'' Living Water''. These are  unusual yet meaningful words for without water we would all die. Without water this planet earth would die, we would be just a dust bowls like Mars and the Moon. Many people are dying in Africa at this time because of severe drought. And in other places many are dying because people are drinking polluted water. This planet has plenty of water, but most of it is sea water, and so we cannot drink it, the scientist have discovered a materially that can separate the salt from sea water, it will be interesting to see if this can be developed. In Johns  Gospel chapter 4 ,Jesus spoke to a woman who had come to draw water from a well. He spoke to her about living water, He went on to say that if she received this water she would never thirst again. What do you think He meant? the woman did not understand, well it involved two things.
The first it would satisfy, are you satisfied?, next he relates it to eternal life, now eternal life mean more than just living for ever, it involves our total well being. Listen to the words of Jesus ,''If you knew the gift of God, ......you would have asked him and he would have given you living water''

                                 ''Ask and it will be given to you''
                                      [Matthew 7 v7 ]