Faithfulness ( Ezekiel 3 v 16 ff )

In 2 Corinthians 5 v 11 we read,' Since we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade men' R.V.G. Tasker writing on this verse explains it in the following way,'Paul's' primary work is to persuade man of the truth of the gospel ( see Acts 18 v 4 ,and 28 v 23 ); and had he not continually 'walked in the fear of the Lord' ( see Acts 9 v 31 ) , he might have yielded to the temptation to curry favour with his hearers by whittling down his message to suit their tastes'. There is also that temptation to play to the gallery,but we cannot do that,we must be faithful to our calling to speak  Gods word,taht means the whole of Gods word.I do not get speaking in the church  I attend because of what I preach,I preach about sin,of heaven and hell, and the importance of people making a decision to trust Christ, for I know that one day I will be accountable as to my faithfulness in my preaching.

We all want to go to heaven. ( Acts 16 v 30 - 31 )

Johnny Cash was a famous and popular singer,he had a Christian background,him and his wife  used to sing with Billy Graham.I watched his last interview before he died, and the interviewer asked him about his views on heaven and hell.His answer was simple and uncomplicated,he replied, ''We all want to go to heaven''. Let me ask you a question, do you want to go to heaven?,you don't want to go to hell?. Nobody wants to go to hell,  I witnessed to a couple recently,when I mentioned hell they acted if it didn't matter.Sad because it does matter, do you want assurance that you are going to heaven?. well the answer is very simple,first you cannot enter heaven without you sins being forgiven,secondly the only way our sins are forgiven is by trusting Jesus,who died that we might be forgiven,and go at last to heaven.So ask Him to forgive your sins,accept him  as your Saviour and you will go to heaven.

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.