Free at last. [ John 8 v 34- 36 ]

John tells us something that is very disturbing,''  that the whole world is under the control of the evil one''.[1 John 5 v 19].Yes one has just to read the history of the 20th century to appreciate what John writes. I thought on the darkness that mankind so readily embraces , to appreciate the darkness that is in this world. Who knows how dark it will become, who cares?, and yet God has not forsaken this world, and He causes good things to happen. For we read,'' For we know that we are children of God, and that God watches over His own[1 John 5 v 1],and keeps His own safe. Although Gods people do suffer, ultimately they cannot be destroyed.[Romans 8v 23ff] It is John Stott who writes,' There is no third category everyone is therefore either 'of God' or 'in the evil one'. There is no third category''
It is a very dark and awful state to be in, Yet here is the very, very good ,
news. ''The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work.
[ 1 John 3 v 8]We read these wonderful words of hope spoken by Christ,
'The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed  me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners, and recovery of sight to the blind, to release the oppressed'.
[Luke 4 v 18]Whatever pit ,whatever strangle hold the devil has on a persons life, Jesus can set them free.

                                           A  Prayer.
Dear Lord Jesus we thank you that you came to set us free from sin and the
devil,Amen

Dont be afraid [Luke 11 v 10]

I read that hippies used to greet old friends by saying,'' Brief and deep,man''.
meaning they were not going to impose on that friendship. I used to call at friends uninvited and at unsuitable times, thinking it was alright, but the friend instead of telling me, talking to me, became very unpleasant, and our friendship was never the same. But of course it did teach me a lesson ,not to assume that people,  appreciate people calling uninvited. It is our Saviour who tells a story of someone calling unexpectedly, we read about it in Luke 11 v 9-10.In the middle of the night a man calls at his friend, he says that he has a visitor, who has been on a journey, and he has nothing to feed him, would he loan him three loaves of bread. He is told that it is not convenient, but the man is persistent, so the he gets what he needs.You see it was not the done thing to call on someone in the middle of the night, but says Jesus he got what he wanted. If a reluctant person responds to his friends needs,how much more will God respond to us when we pray. After all He is our loving heavenly Father, one who delights to answer our prayers.

                                                A  prayer.
Dear God and Father we thank you that you delight in your children, and delight to bless them, because you love them,Amen

Suicide [Acts 16 v27-31 ]

I remember years ago a well known minister committed suicide, working as I did for many years, with mentally ill people, I have known people who committed suicide. I have known a number of people who have attempted suicide.  Death is hard enough to cope with, but suicide brings with it extra pain for those near to the person. Our dear Lord told us not to judge, we need to take these words to heart as regards those who commit suicide, and pray for those affected by such a sad death. Recently I was told of a young girl who was in continual pain, who attended an alpha course, which is a
helpful way of introducing people to what it means to becoming a Christian.
This dear girl attended and trusted Jesus, wonderful, but it appeared her suffering was to much for her, and she committed suicide. I believe the good thing  in all this, she is with the Lord, I am not going to judge her,but
as I write this I offered up a little prayer for her family and friends. Let me
finish by saying ,God can help you, suicide is not the answer.

                                         A prayer.
Dear God  help those who are suffering, be it mentally, physically, or emotionally, have mercy upon them, may they look to you Lord Jesus,
comfort all those who have been affected by the suicide of a loved one or friend, in Jesus name I ask this Amen.

A good adverisement [ 2 Corinthians 3 v2 ]

David Jackson wrote the following,'' the greatest of scholars are frequently the humblest of people''. True humility is a very precious quality, because it
is truly Christ like, we see it displayed by many people in the Bible, but of course we  must not just relegate it to the Bible, Paul the apostle told those who were challenging his apostleship, to look at those who were saved  through his ministry. Their lives appear as an open letter of what a Christian should be [2Corinthians 3 v2].William Barclay write,'' When we go out into the world, we have the awe-inspiring responsibility of being open letters, advertisements, for Christ and his Church''.  That means manifesting Christian love, and forgiveness ,I read recently of a lady running a Christian ministry in Afghanistan, someone threw a rock through a window in the premises they were working at. Then they received a threatening phone call, it was discovered that it was one of the people employed by the ministry as a teacher. The immediate reaction was to punish him by sacking him, but the lady remembered what Jesus taught as regards forgiving your enemies. She went to the person and told him she forgive him, which shocked him, .and it had a tremendous effect on him. I am sure as Christians we should manifest a reality that will shock people.

                                          A  prayer.
Dear Lord help us to walk humbly before you and before our fellow men,
to manifest a Christ likeness that will shock and challenge , Amen.

Betrayal [ Luke 22 v48]

I have to minister at a local church, and I have been asked to speak to the children, I am thinking of speaking on friendship. I  will start by showing a picture of a dog otherwise known as mans best friend, speak generally about the friends I have had. We all need friends, I can remember one of my earliest friends Billy Harris, I remember, visiting him at home, his mother asked him to go to go to a shop and get some shopping. Billy lost some money and for some reason his mother suspected me of taking it, I never took it, It is sad to be accused on the wrong, of betraying a friendship. Jesus had a friend his name was Judas, and he did something awful, he betrayed Jesus, for money, how painful that must have been, I recently met a Christian, who told me how a person he employed had he said turned him over, the result was his company went into liquidation. The thing that stuck me about that man he did not appear to be bitter, but manifested a godly spirit. The fact is those we consider friends can betray us, can hurt us, Being betrayed was part of the suffering Christ had to endure, He did not retaliate, instead He entrusted himself to Him who judges justly[1 Peter 2 v 19-23]

                                          A prayer
Dear Saviour grant us grace to bear with  hurts caused by  people we consider to be our friends, Amen.

The pride of life. [Daniel 4 ]

Yesterday we emphasised the importance of humility, next let us consider pride. Now pride is manifest in many ways, obvious ways, and how it affects lives. There is racial pride ,Hitler latched unto that, he adopted a term for a true German, Aryan, and twisted its meaning. applied it to mean a
superior race, many believed his lie, and despised those who were not Aryan. The Jews and others suffered so much on Hitler's perverted beliefs.
Those nations who conquered and ruled nations, often manifested pride and despised those they conquered. In 1John2v 16,we have the term ,''the pride of life'', it is an interesting term, and it effects all of mankind. It is a term that can be described in the following ways, Dodd calls it ,'conceited
pretentious humbug'', Barclay ,''an arrogance or vainglory relating to one's
external circumstances, whither wealth or rank or glorying in show''. If you buy  certain magazines, you will see the rich and famous, in their beautiful homes, dressed in their beautiful clothes, with their beautiful, .you get the picture, that's the pride of life. Yet this applies to most of us, we all take pride in our achievements,our possessions, health, I suppose that's why we do not like the term sinner, for it reminds us and challenges us, as to the proud creatures we are.

                                The things that I love
                                and hold dear to my heart,
                                Are just borrowed
                                 they're not mine at all;
                                Jesus only let me have them,
                                to brighten my life,
                                 So remind me, remind me
                                          dear Lord.
                                  [Words by Dottie Rambo]

                                  

I will not apologise [ Proverbs 16 v 18-19]

She will not apologise, even though it may have consequences, sometimes it is better to acknowledge one may have been wrong, unintentionally, there is place for a humble spirit. So the lady is not for turning ,but is she right? one will have to leave that in the hands of God. Humility is a wonderful quality,
for many it is sign of weakness, consider Christ, He stepped down, from heaven to earth, most of us want to go in the opposite direction. Christ became a servant from being equal with God. Oh yes He was still equal but the role he choose, to lay aside all the glory of Heaven. He understood what that would mean, but He never faltered, going through an earthly existence,
that led to a death on a cross. Yes He humbled Himself, and now He is exalted in Heaven once more, the scriptures tells us,' Humble yourselves
before the Lord, and He will lift you up[James 4 v10].There is a tendency
in all of us ,to seek to get what we want by anyway we can. The humble in spirit will be blessed by God, and all that this means.From heaven, to earth, to the cross, to death, to resurrection ,to exaltation, such are the fruits and rewards of humility. It still applies to those who tread the pathway of humility, and just sometimes that means saying one is sorry.

                                           A  prayer.
Dear God forgive us  the sin of pride, help us to walk the path of humility
in Jesus name Amen.