The salt of the earth ( Matthew 5 v 13 )

I was given a lawn treatment.,by a neighbour,I thought it was for making my lawn green,But unfortunately the places I put it on  turned to dust.I  have tried to grow grass on this but alas,the soil has been turned in dust ,just fit for.to be dug  up and  dumped  . This reminds me of what Jesus taught in Matthew 5 v 13,''You are the salt of the earth.But if salt loses its saltiness,  how can it be made salty again?. It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men''.. Now I do not think that Jesus is teaching that salt loses its saltiness, but He is simply saying if it did, its of no worth. Salt was valued highly in the ancient world, the  Romans said ,' There is nothing more useful than sun and salt'.It was used as  a preservative ,saving food from corruption. So many people get corrupted by money ,sex ,and power. the Christian, must not be like them. When that old testament saint Daniel's life was examined by his enemies ,we read,'They could find no corruption in him, because he was trustworthy and  neither corrupt nor negligent'.( Daniel 6 v 4 ) he was being the salt of the earth, we are called by our dear Saviour to follow in Daniels footsteps.

Apostleship ( Ephesians 2 v 19 - 22 )

I have stared studying Galatians again, I use a book from ,the Bible speaks today series ,by John Stott, He points out that it was written to the church in Galatia Paul wrote to them because false teachers had come into the church, and were seeking to undermine the gospel, and his authority.If they can undermine Paul's  authority then they can undermine the gospel. Paul belonged to that select band of people who were apostles,John Stott writes the following,''It was a special term reserved for the Twelve and for one or two others whom Christ had personally appointed.   There can , therefore, be no apostolic  succession,other than a loyalty to the apostolic doctrine of the New Testament. The apostles had no successors........no one could succeed them. They were unique ''. When we the read what the apostle Paul in his epistles wrote, and all the other writers of scripture,we are reading Gods word. There are Christians today like those who would  challenge Paul's apostleship and would undermine  Paul's authority still,like professor C. H. Dodd a very scholarly person who said''Sometimes I think Paul is wrong, I have venture  to say so.'' His scholarship of course also got in the way, when he was one of the people translating the,New English Bible when he took exception  to the word propitiation ( Romans 3 v 25 ).John Stott further says ,''The apostles of Jesus Christ were unique,unique in their experience of the Jesus of history,unique in their sight of the risen Lord, unique in their commission by Christ's authority and unique in their inspiration by Christ's Spirit. We may not exalt our opinions over theirs or claim that our authority is  as great as theirs. For their opinions and authority, we must bow therefore to theirs.''

I got annoyed ( James 1 v 19 - 20 )

I parked my car,in the car park of a supermarket,and then for safety ,I used the walk way, and suddenly a man on a bike ,near hit me,and frightened me.He stopped and boasted about his skill in not knocking me down. I reminded him that this was walk way,but he  would have none of it.He turned the whole thing on me blame me for not watching where I was walking, I found myself shouting at him that it was a walk way.I know that I should not have shouted.So often it is the unexpected that catches us out.The word of God tells us in 2 Timothy 2 v 23 - 24.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             Don't have anything to do with foolish and stupid                                                                                     arguments, because you know that they provoke                                                                                       quarrels. And the Lords servant must not quarrel,                                                                                     instead , he must be kind to everyone,able to                                                                                           teach , not resentful.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             Dear Lord forgive.

Why. ( Romans 5 v 19 )

Why have we so much wrong in the world, I read recently that 70 percent of women in New Guinea  have experienced rape Why?  what causes humanity to do awful thing, continually we are hearing of well known personalities being charged with rape.The world can be a very dangerous place to live in,why?, the simple answer is disobedience to God,from that time in Eden, an evil disposition took root in our nature,a nature that causes us to disobey God. This is borne out,  by the fact that everyone of us without exception have broken Gods law, read them in Exodus 20 v 1 - 17. and let us remember that if we think it in our hearts, then we have sin because it is in our nature,there is a spirit of disobedience, ( Ephesians 2 v 2) other translations have sons of disobedience,to be accepted by God it takes perfect obedience.So the world continues on its downward path. How often have we said ,how could they do such a thing?,the answer is ,they are at odds with a Holy God . Now God conceived a way out for us,by sending Jesus, who would fulfil  the law perfectly, not breaking it in word. thought, or deed, and God  said that through this mans perfect obedience I will save save mankind, ( Romans 5 v 19 ),the man Jesus would pay the price for our disobedience,by taking our punishment for our sins. It means that no matter how much we have disobeyed God ,He will forgive us, if we call on Him, we will be saved.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        The wages of sin is death                                                                                                                          but the free gift of God is                                                                                                                          eternal life in Christ Jesus                                                                                                                          our Lord.                                                                                                                                                         ( Romans 6 v 23 )

The wicked ( Romans 5 v 6 - 8 )

The bible shows God as being forgiving ,this upset Jonah,so he fled  away from Gods command to go to the city of Nineveh. Eventually he went and preached to them a message of judgement,the result was ,the people of Nineveh repented of their sins ,God responded to them ,and had  compassion on them, and did not bring destruction upon them.Well this did not go down to well with Jonah,so much so ,that he was angry that God had spared such a wicked city.In his anger he prayed to God  he knew that He was gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in love ,one who relents from sending calamity. Because of this he ran away from God ,in other words He wanted God to destroy the Ninevites, After praying he wanted God to take his life, he went and lay down,God caused a plant to spring up to give him shade,and then caused it to die,which caused Jonah again ,to desire to die.But God spoke to him,pointing out that Jonah was more concerned with the plant dying, than the one hundred and twenty thousand people plus the animals whom he wanted God to destroy. I wonder sometimes how people care more for their comforts than the souls of the lost . Well even though there are people who are wicked and are in our eyes worthy of destruction God loves them,                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           Christ died for the ungodly,                                                                                                                       Christ for His enemies,                                                                                                                                Christ did for us.                                                                                                               

The indescribable. ( 1 John 4 v 8 / John 3 v 16 )

How does one describe the indescribable ?,I am talking about the love of God,but we can try,it was F.M.Lehman who wrote a wonderful hymn called , 'The love of God',actually one of the verses was penciled on the wall of a narrow room of  an asylum by a man said to have been demented.                                                                                                                                                                                                                               The love of God is greater far,Than tongue or pen can ever tell;                                                               It goes beyond the highest star. And reach-es to the lowest hell;                                                             The guilty pair, bowed down with care,God give His son to win;                                                             His erring child He reconciled,And pardoned from his sin.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         When hoary time shall pass away,And earthly thrones and kingdoms fall;                                               When men who here refuse to pray,On rocks and hills and mountains call;                                             God's love, so sure, shall still endure, All measure-less and strong;                                                         Redeeming grace to Adam's race- The saints and angels song.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     Could we with ink the ocean  fill, And were the skies of parchment made;                                             Were every stalk on earth a quill, And every man a scribe by trade;                                                         To write the love of God above, Would drain the ocean dry;                                                                   Nor could the scroll contain the whole,Tho stretched from sky to sky.                                                                                                                                                                                                                         Oh, love of God, how  rich and pure,How measure-less and strong,                                                         It shall for ever-more endure-The saints and angels song.

It is our choice . ( 1 Samuel 18 v 21 )

When Hitler came to power, one of the things he brought into being, and oath by the army of absolute obedience to him.That oath was very influential and many soldiers found themselves involved in acts of cruelty,they otherwise would not have done. I believe we should never take an oath of absolute obedience to any earthly power, or person. Of course obedience is vital to any society ,or household ,we cannot have anarchy,without obedience ,things will fall apart.We read how Christ became obedient unto death even death on a cross,without this obedience we would have no salvation.Israel 's history is one of continual disobedience,and they paid a price for it,but when they obeyed what a difference that made,God caused them to prosper,obedience to God will always make not only a difference, but it will bring blessings.When Israel disobeyed they suffered, when they obeyed God  and honoured Him,their enemies were defeated, the country never looked back. We will never lose out by obeying God, disobedience will cause us to loose out in so many things,Jonah disobeyed his call from God and he found Himself in dire straits.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               To obey God is always                                                                                                                                          Better                                                                                                                                                          Safer                                                                                                                                                          Rewarding,                                                                                                                                     To disobey God is always                                                                                                                                       Dangerous                                                                                                                                                 Foolhardy                                                                                                                                                   Sinful