How great is our God . ( Isaiah 40 )

How great is our God?Raymond Brown writes the following , 'God is unique,God is attentive, He is righteous,He is powerful,He is holy, He is sovereign, He is unfailing.'Much more could be said about our great God, He is indescribable,He is a great God,who encourages us to look to Him ,to have confidence in Him, to trust in Him and all that He is. Human beings are created ,limited.Not so so God,read of one who not only made all things but sustains all thing,and that in Him we live and move and have our being ( Acts 17 v 2 8 ),our every breath is in His hands.Let us raise our sights  beyond the power of nature,of man, and even ourselves.Why? because God is greater than all, power belongs  unto God.Let us fix our eyes on our great God,let us start by looking beyond ourselves,but not beyond our great God.Read that wonderful chapter in Isaiah ,chapter 40,and heed verse 10 which reads,'So do not fear, for I  am with you, do not be dismayed, for I am your God'.

Erosion (1 Kings 3 v 9 )

I  was struck by what I read recently,by Raymond  Brown, I wonder what you think of it,''Every believer needs a greater sensitivity to sin. All to easily, the ugly thing gradually becomes tolerated,even viewed as the possibly useful thing,and finally the attractive thing. It does not happen in a moment. Standards are lowered gradually and imperceptibly . Sin becomes known by another name. We accommodate at one stage of life things which earlier would have been totally unacceptable. ''I want you think about what I have written, and how it applies to you, and to the society you live in and the church you attend.

God is in control. ( 1 Corinthians 1 v 26 - 29 )

I remember listening to a well known minister whose ministry God had wonderfully blessed,as regards his conversion,he had attended a  number of meetings at a Gospel campaign,and he was the only person who got saved. CH Spurgeon was saved one wintry Sunday morning, the man who spoke was not a preacher,but God used him to bring him into His kingdom .Likewise D.L.Moody was used to bring many thousands to Christ , he was saved through the ministry of a man who was no preacher. Who knows God at this time may in some Gospel meeting or service, may use someone very unqualified to preach, and a Moody,Spurgeon,Billy Graham,etc will come forth. God is sovereign He uses whom He will to accomplish His plans.and He will save whom He will,and He will receive all the glory

Ad on. ( 1 Corinthians 1 v 1 7 )

The question we could ask has baptism replaced circumcision?,the answer is no, is baptism necessary for salvation? the answer is no.I have already pointed out that we are saved by faith.The most obvious answer is the dying thief,unbaptised went straight to heaven. Many Christians believe that the Lords table, and baptism are sacraments,and one receives grace from them,I do not hold to this,the Lords table is a remembrance occasion ,baptism is but a declaration of us dying with Christ and rising in newness of life,it is a confession of our faith,nothing else.In our baptism we are declaring that we have died to our old life and now living in newness of life.The symbols of our are faith are just that, nothing else,important though they are,I regularly partake of the Lords table,and I have been baptised,but I was saved as a youngster in a Children's meeting baptism eventually followed.Consider many people have deathbed conversions,and die unbaptised,yet go straight to heaven,to make baptism essential to our salvation,is contrary to the word of God.

Ad on ( John 3 v 16 )

The  simplicity of the Gospel is wonderful,the sinner seeks forgiveness by believing,the man who cried out to the apostles,''Sirs, what must I do be saved? was''Believe on the Lord Jesus,and you will be saved'' ( Acts 16 v 31 ). In Ephesians 2 v 8 ,we read,'For by Grace are you saved, through faith, and not from yourselves,it is the gift of God'.Now there is a vast amount of scriptures that stress this simple truth,but unfortunately the church from day one had to contend with those differ with this,they are those who desire  to ad on an extra something if we are to be saved.In the early church it was circumcision,read the epistle to the Galatians.The Roman Catholic church has opposed salvation by faith,stressing good works,in spite of the scriptures clearing teaching that  works are but evidence of salvation not the bases.( C P  James 2 v 18) I will continue this, next time.

Our struggle .( Romans 7 )

As I grow older in the faith ,I have become  more conscious of my sinful nature,I identify with the apostles experience, which he writes about in Romans chap 7.Stuart Olyott  in his little book on Romans is very helpful, here is a few of the things he writes, as regards the Christian experience,'' He is not ruled by sin ( Rom 6 )but  nor is he free from sin (Chap 7 ) He knows nothing more of reigning sin (Chap 6 ),but nevertheless he is agonized by surviving sin ( Chap 7 ) He is not the same as the unconverted. They are at peace with sin, but he is at war with it. They live in sin; he does not ( 6 ) ,     although sin still lives in him ( Chap 7 ).'' S O,sums it up in these words, ''Romans 7 v 14 - 25 as the experience of the normal Christian life. ''It is a life of agonizing dismay at imperfection, not of claimed 'victory'. It is a life of earnest longing for glory, not of satisfaction at having arrived.''

Trust and obey. ( Psalm 37 )

Under the Old Covenant the Jews were required to fulfill certain things,one of them was that every seventh year, they were to let the land in which they grew their crops rest.(remember they were an agricultural people)They were not to sow anything on their land for one whole year( Leviticus 25 ) Even land needs  to rest, as we do,sabbath rest is important ,for us  and all creation. Of course it would  still produce some crops,these would feed the poor and the wild beasts (Lev 23 v 11 ).God has a heart for the poor, and wild beasts,so should we.What would the farmer and his family live on? well Raymond Brown makes this very important point,'obeying God means trusting Him', he goes on to say,''There are times in all our lives when obedience to God involves us in a venture of faith.We cannot always see the way  ahead with the clarity we would like but,if we are doing what He says, he will never disappoint us. Adequate resources will never be lacking.'