Two things.. ( John 3 v 16 )

Again while on holiday I had an opportunity to speak to four lovely girls from Ulster,after talking about were in Ulster they came from,I mentioned the reason I live in England,to be a minister.This opened a way for me to speak a short word of witness.Here is what I said,''We need Christ for life and for eternity''.I then said to them ,'remember that ,they said they would.'.It was Martin Luther who mentioned two things ,''Every man must do two things alone,he must do his own believing ,and his own dying''.

Is it in the Bible?. ( Matthew 22 v 29 )

Recently on holiday in Malta with my wife and brother-in-law,and we passed a group of people wearing a little tag with the words on it ,'Love never fails''.Out of curiosity I asked one of them if they were a church,he replied they were, Jehovah witnesses .We moved on our walk and then sat down for a rest and to enjoy the sea view,I noticed a couple not for from us sitting having a bit lunch, I could tell they were JW's so I made my way to them prayerfully. I opened up a conversation with them ,they were a nice couple, they had their little boy with them,they come from Macedonia,and were  attending a conference,inviting us to go which we declined.They were surprised that I studied my Bible,mentioned how few people did,which is true.Our conversation ended by me asking them two questions,( 1 )Was the Christ that they believed in , the Christ of the Bible ?. ( 2 ) Was the salvation they believed in,the salvation that was in the Bible?, and of course the answer to the two questions is ,it is not.

Confusion ( Romans 1 v 18 - 32 )

There is a program on the BBC called songs of praise,and just recently it featured a same sex marriage,I ask why?.Why is this being pushed upon us?,it is something totally at odds with what the Bible teaches, why our so called Christians running with this?,we can understand societies position.   they are not Christians,for them God and His word does not matter. They deny creation, for chance,it just happened by chance, chance is nothing,and it can do nothing. From a lot of muck and gasses somehow it all happened.There is an old saying that states ,that there are none so blind as though who do not see,or should  I add,who do not want to see. The fact is, it is impossible that it just happened, or could happen.or may happen,not in ten billion ,billion , billion years .And yet even some so called Christians believe it just happened.When God is rejected,and when His word is rejected,people will end up in confusion, morally,intellectually, and spiritually,and then it becomes a case of the blind leading the blind.

Backsliding ( 51 )

As a young lad I followed the Lord then there was a point when I stopped and I became a backslider, I read these words recently,'Backsliding is a sad possibility in every Christians life'. Sad to say it was for me,but it goes on to say,'but there is always a way back'.There was for me,and if you are a backslider there is for you,it is wonderful how gracious God can be.If one reads the history of Israel we see a nation that continual went away from God, in other words they backslid, but when they repented and sought forgiveness, God forgive them and restored them, the prodigal was restored and welcomed home,with words of kindness and love. ( Luke 15 v 11 ff  )Here is the word of the Lord for all who have have gone back, ''I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely  '' ( Hosea 14 v 4 )

Through it all. ( 2 Corinthians 12 v 7 - 10 )

There are reasons if we are a child of God, that trials,afflictions come into our lives,after all God is sovereign, and as the hymn writer wrote, 'Every joy or trial, falleth from above'. We are not God's playthings ,we are his children, and He loves us,he will not cause us to experience   needless pain.It is in that blessed  book of the Psalms we read,'It was good for me that I have been afflicted', how many of us can say that?,why was he able to say those words?,well here is what follows,'that I may learn thy statutes'.There is gospel song which was very popular years ago,called ,'Through it all',the last verse and chorus  reads,'I thank God for the mountains,and I thank Him for the valleys., I thank Him for the storms He bro't me through.For if I never had a problem I would-n't know that He could solve them, I'd never know what faith in God could do.  Through it all. Through it all, I've learned to trust in Jesus, I've learned to trust in God; Through it all, Through it all, I've learned to depend upon His word'

Amazing ( 1 Corinthians 1 v 18 - 31 )

It is amazing that God met with this man of dubious characters, this man became a child of God, His name means, deceives,and he lived up to his name, cheating his brother out of his fathers blessing ( CP Gen 27 ) that is why his brother wanted to kill him. Yes it was Jacob who was chosen by God to be one whom God would bless with many descendants,who would be granted the promised land,and from his descendants the Messiah would come.and through that Messiah all the nations of the earth would be blessed. ( Genesis 27 v 14 ) Al this would come through this Jacob, Gods ways are past finding out, but Gods ways are perfect. He chooses the poor of this world,( James 2 v 5 ), the foolish,the weak, the lowly,and the despised,that is you and me. None of us can boast, to God alone be the glory,it truly is amazing.

A pillow. ( Psalm 23 v 1 )

I have for a while been suffering with a sore neck,caused by the pillows I have slept on, I have just purchased pillows filled with duck feathers and down,this is third lot of pillows I have purchased ,here's  hoping they will help eradicate my neck pain.In Genesis 28 we read of Jacob who left home in a hurry,because his brother wanted to kill him.He was instructed to leave where he lived by his mother and father,and go to a place called Haran, to his mothers relatives. He  obeyed them and set of  on his journey , on his way  there he rested at a certain place,to sleep for the night.,and he used as a pillow a stone.( rather him than me).During the night things began to happen,he had a wonderful dream from God, in which the Lord spoke to him and promised to bless him and his descendants.  when he  awoke he realised God had met with him.It is significant that God met with this man on his own, Joyce Baldwin writes ,' no longer was the Lord the God of his father,but Jacob's own God'.Remember our fathers God, our fathers Saviour must become our God and Saviour.