Decision time ( Acts 16 v 31 )

My friend and I were talking about evangelism,he recounted how years ago he got tired of preachers making appeals for people to trust Christ.Then he told he had a dream, it was the only one like it, he ever had,in the dream hr was walking along the sea shore,when he noticed an angel walking beside him.He spoke to the angel as to why he was there, the angel said I want you to catch fish.As they came to certain fishermen casting in their nets. The angel told him to pick up a net and cast it into the sea ,this he did, and did it perfectly,he turned to the angel thinking he would be congratulated,instead the angel said, 'yes you did it well, but why did you not pull in your catch',and with that he awoke.It is not wrong to challenge people to come forth and trust Christ as Saviour, otherwise they may not come.

Prickly. ( James 4 v 1 - 12 )

A friend of mine bought a rose bush ,called fellowship,and she said it was the most prickly rose she has ever had. One of the precious things about being a Christian should be fellowship a bond of like minded people ,who share in a common faith. Share their love for one another,care for one another,pray for one another,stand together in the struggles of the Christian life.That is way it should   be,in the words of an old hymn,' We share our mutual woes,our mutual burdens bear,and often for each other flows ,the sympathising tear,' yes that is way it is meant to be. But sad to say sometimes what we get is a prickly rose  called fellowship,where love is absent our presence resented. The apostle wrote and thanked the believers at Philippi for their  support, and that it was good of them to share in his troubles ( Philippians 4 v  14),that's fellowship, may none of us be like that rose bush my friend bought that had a name called Fellowship ,but was like a prickly hedgehog.

Two Gods ( Exodus 20 v 3 )

Coming back to my conversation with the JWs, it appears in order to undermine the word of Gods teaching on the deity of Christ,they say Christ was a God,not almighty God.So in actual fact they are saying that there is more than one God.Jesus is a God but He is not almighty God. The fact is the Jews did not believe in gods,although so many times they turned to the gods of the nations around them, and were judged for it.In Isaiah 44 v 6 /8 we read these very important words and these words cut across what the Mormons believe and what the JWs believe.,'This is what the Lord says Israel's King and Redeemer the Lord Almighty. I am the first and I  am the last, apart from Me there is no God./..........You are my witnesses. Is there any God beside me? No, there is no other Rock,I know not one'. As a Christian I believe in one God,Father,Son and Holy Ghost.the blessed Trinity.I again remind you of what Luther said,that reason is the enemy of faith.

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 )