Special because.....( 1 John 3 v 1 )

         He was the Son of God,who was also the Son of Man  that men and women could become
         children of God. What we were before that wonderful experience happened , objects of
        wrath , but we received mercy through Christ (  2 Peter  2 v 10 ), now we belong to God.
          William Barclay writes,
         '' In any museum we will find quite ordinary things - clothes, a walking- stick, a pen, books,
         pieces of furniture- which are only of value because they were once possessed and used by
         some great person. It is the ownership which gives them worth.It is so with the Christian .
         The Christian may be a very ordinary person , but he acquires a new value and dignity and
         greatness because he belongs to God. The greatness of the Christian lies in the fact that he
         is  God's ''
                                               Jesus makes us special.
       
       

Are you listening? ( 2 Chronicles 15 )

             God granted Asa victory over the enemy,and as he returns from the battle ,the prophet
             Azariah  meets him ,The first thing he says is ,''listen to me'', and he did listen. There
             are so many things that stop us from listening,the sermon was to long, our minds are
             to tired,we don't want to be disturbed ,it may be surprised that God is speaking ,but
             we are not listening.. The prophet tells him that God is with him,
             what a wonderful word to receive ,dear fellow Christian ,the Lord is with you,( Mt 28 v
             20) Think what these words meant to Asa, comfort,confidence, encouragement. But
             there is a word of warning also be faithful or else I will not be with you,says the Lord.
             Faithfulness is vital in our relationship with God,yes even unto death .( Revelation 2 v 10 )

                                               Let Me have My way among you,
                                               Do not strive, do not strive,
                                                         (Words by G. Kendrick )
           


     

Trust wholly in God. ( Ephesians 3 v 20 -21 )

            We read about King Asa in 1 Kings 15, and in 2 Chronicles 14-16 who was king of Judah,
             for most of  his reign he acted in a godly manner, for most of his reign. He received
             encouraging words from God,and sought Him and trusted him ,when faced with an enemy
             who had a vast army,he prayed a wonderful prayer.'' Lord,there is no one like you to help
             powerless against the mighty.Help us , O Lord our  God, for we rely on you, and in your
             name we come against this vast army.O Lord, you are our God; do not let man prevail
            against  you.'' What a wonderful prayer, those words ,''we rely on you'',are key words
            he could run away,but no, he stands by faith, depending upon his God,and so faith was
            rewarded,and God granted him the victory. Later on a prophet goes to him , with  words
            of encouragement, God would continue to bless him if he continued to seek God.

                                            Trust wholly in your God ,no matter
                                             how great the difficulties are.
       
           

God is speaking, ( Romans 1 v 16 - 20 )

       It was reported  on the news recently that light pollution is increasing ,that means when
       we look up into the sky at night we cannot see very many ,if any stars. Now of course this
       has consequences ,we blot out one aspect of seeing the glory of God,not by means entirely.
       The Westminster  confession of  faith begins by saying that ''the lights of nature, and
       works of creation and providence do so far manifest the goodness,wisdom and power of
       God as to leave men inexcusable''. The apostle Paul in Romans 1 v 20, writes how creation
       has a wonderful message for us ,there is a God who has made all things.Of course believing
       in a creator is important,but to get to know that God ,then there must be salvation, that does
       not come through through looking at creation,no it comes  through Christ.

                                            Oh Lord my God when I in  awesome wonder
                                            consider all the works Thy hands hath done,
                                            I see the stars , I hear the mighty thunder,
                                            the power throughout the universe displayed.

                                            When through the woods and forest glades I wander
                                             and hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees;
                                            when I look down  from lofty mountain grandeur,
                                            and hear the brook, and feel the gentle breeze.

                                            And when I think that God His Son not sparing,
                                            sent Him to die - I scarce can take it in,
                                            that on the cross my burden gladly bearing,
                                            He bled and died to take away my sin.

                                           When Christ shall come with shout of  acclamation
                                           and take me home, what joy shall fill my heart,
                                           Then shall I bow in humble adoration,
                                           and there proclaim ,my God, how great Thou art.

                                          Then sings my soul,my Saviour  God, to Thee,
                                           how great Thou art, how great Thou art
                                           Then sings my soul, my Saviour God to Thee,
                                           how great Thou art,how great Thou art.

                                                      (  Words by S.K,Hine )

                                                 
                                         
                                           

                                       

                                 


                                           
     
   

An old Bible. ( John 5 v 39 )

        What does one do with old  Bible's ?, I have a number of Bible's different translations, but
        one I use everyday, and for preaching, is beginning  to show serious  deterioration.So I have
        ordered a new one.,what does one do with the old one? ,after all it is the word of God. I
        remember a lady visitor , voicing concern because people placed their Bible's on the floor.
       I appreciate people treating the Bible with respect ,yet I know we are not meant to worship
       the Bible, we are meant to worship the God of the Bible.The Jews of our Lords time held the
       the scriptures as being very important as they do today. The Jews are the people of the Book,
       in every synagogue  it holds an honoured place. The Jew has only what Christians call the Old
       Testament ,this holds 39 books., today it is commonly called the Tanakh..One thing Jews will
       not call it,is the Old Testament. Such a label  to them implies the Hebrew Bible has been  been
       superseded  by its Christian successor.To the Jew it was everything ,to acquaint yourself  with
       it brought  great blessings from God. Yet it is W. Barclay who points out ,''The best Bible
       students in the world,the people with the greatest reverence for the scriptures ,fail to see
       Jesus in their  Scriptures.So it is ,that no matter how knowledgeable one is as regards the
       scriptures, without a true saving knowledge of the Christ of the whole Bible ,one will never
       be saved.

                          I still have no answer to my question, what do I do with
                          my old Bibles? .



     
     


       ,he
   

Not disposable . ( Jonah 3 )

         Years ago when things broke down, we took it to someone to fix it,I have a little drill,
         which shortly after I bought it, needed repaired. So the people I purchased it from
         fixed it.that's over 40 years ago,I have used that little drill many time ,I am glad I got
         it repaired. Many things do not get repaired now, sometimes it is to dear to repair,so we
         dispose  of whatever it is.In fact we live at a time when many things are disposed off.
         All these items are good for ,is the local dump ,somethings they are recycled,  the
         fact is ,that's life . The question is what about humanity ?, looking through history
         and scanning through the news ,it seems so very often,political ,and religious movements
         often appear to class people  as disposable,so millions and millions have
         been disposed of in the most awful ways. In Gods eyes no one is disposable, not one,
         every soul that ever lived,all were precious in His sight,even those whom He judged .
       

                                              For God so loved the world,
                                              that gave His only begotten
                                              son, that whosoever believeth
                                              in Him should not perish ,but
                                              have everlasting life.

                                                    (  John 3 v 16 )

The beast in us. ( Romans 3 v 9 - 23 )

              I wonder how you would describe humanity , it was Robert L. Stevenson who wrote
              about Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde,two names but one person. They stand for a person who
              turned into a wicked destructive beast, oh yes he was not a beast in the literal sense,
              but from being a reasonable person, to being a wicked person. Yet it fully describes
              humanity,all humanity,many nice people belonged to the Nazi party,and did awful .
              things.Hitler liked dogs,Stalin liked roses.These two may be two extreme examples,
              but they had a multitude who followed and obeyed them.Those who professed to be
              Christian have committed awful things,now it is the Moslem's  turn,whose turn will
              it be next ?.There is a fallenness in mankind  something waiting to happen,a beast
              no one can cure,that can manifest itself in so many ways. Even though I am a
              Christian I know there is inside me,that which could take over, with dire consequences.
              David the king of Israel discovered it,the road rage person shows it,the abuser shows
              the beast ,they all do and so do we.In a moment we can as Oscar Wilde wrote,kill
              the thing we love ,he wrote while in jail, and observed a man who was going to be hung
              for murdering the one he loved. It is a wonderful poem,here are a few verses from it.
                                   
                                                    Yet each man kills the thing he loves
                                                     By this let this be heard,
                                                     Some do it with a bitter look,
                                                     Some with a flattering word.
                                                     The coward does it with a kiss
                                                     The brave man with a sword.

                                                    Some kill their love when they are young,
                                                    Some when they are old.
                                                    Some strangle with the hands of lust
                                                    Some with the hands of gold.
                                                    The kindest use a knife, because
                                                    The dead so soon grow cold.

                                                    Some love too little, some too long,
                                                    Some sell, and others buy;
                                                    Some do the deed with many tears,
                                                    And some without a sigh;
                                                    For each man kills the thing he loves,
                                                    Yet  each man does not die.

                                           For all have sinned and come short of the glory
                                           of God
                                                                     ( Romans 3 v 23 )

                                          Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners

                                                                     ( 1 Timothy 1 v 15 )