Eight days to live. ( Luke 12 v 13 -21 )

'What you do if you had eight days to live?', these are the words I heard from my TV, what would one do?.Well one could look at this in different ways,one may be bitter and curse whatever,one may be very passive,it is an intriguing question. The point is this ,that we are all going to die, yes we are ,we are mortal,even if its eight days, or eight months,or eight years.If you are not a Christian I would urge you to trust Christ, as your Saviour, consider what He said, ''I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Me,though he die,yet shall he live''( John 11 v 25)When one trusts Jesus ,He forgives us our sins, and we receive the gift of eternal life ( Romans 3 v 36 )

The mysterious One. ( Matthew 28 v 16 - 20 )

 Isaac Watts, wrote the following, 'Where reason fails and all her powers,/ There faith prevails and love adores.' It is said that in mathematics ,one plus one plus one equals three. but in theology one plus one plus one equals one,the implication is that theology, especially trinitarian theology, is illogical,self-contradictory and absurd.But the teaching is not that God is mathematically three in one but that  he is personally three in one,that the one God exists eternally as three persons. ........God is'The undivided  Three / And the mysterious One. 'When reason fails and all her powers,/ There faith prevails and love adores'. ( Taken from Peter Lewis writings )

Change ( 2 Corinthians 5 v 17 )

My old granny came to know the Lord under the ministry of W.P.Nicholson  ,a Presbyterian minister, whom God used in a mighty way in Ulster. His nickname was ,' The tornado of the Pulpit', he was man filled with the Holy Spirit, and many thousands came to know Christ,under his ministry. People go on about the environment ,the need of change,and rightly so,we all should be concerned as regards the environment. But I believe the greatest change comes when people are changed by Christ, as a Christian  minister I believe that with all my  heart. What changed me for the better was Christ, he alone can heal the brokenness of humanity, He alone can bring forgiveness  to people,and through Christ changing people ,families will be changed,society will be changed.For the Bible tells us if  any person trusts Christ ,they become new creations ,we receive  a new nature,and our lives will never be the same.

Confucius ( 1 Corinthians 2 v 18 - 25 )

 The word of God tells us we are all sinners, that is serious,because any sin,makes it impossible for us to have a relationship with God who is holy. That means we cannot enter heaven,but we will go to Hell,serious stuff,we have to say it the way it is,no fudging ,no ducking the issue,it is the biggest challenge that mankind has to face.But what if we were to get all the brainiest  people in the world  and  lock them in a room and ask them to solve this problem,no matter how long it takes.But alas they would not be able to solve that problem ,even if Einstein was one of those brainy people.Do world religions have the answer? A Chinese Christian leader,C.K.Lee spoke to an American audience and afterwords invited questions. A student asked this question,'Why should we should we send Christianity to China when it has Confucianism?Mr  Lee replied;'There are three reasons. , First of all, Confucius was a teacher and Christ is a Saviour. China needs a Saviour more than she needs teacher. In the second place, Confucius is dead and Christ is alive China needs a living Saviour. In the third place, Confucius is one day going to stand before Christ and be judged by Him.China needs to know to know Christ as Saviour before she meets Him as Judge''What applies to China applies to every human being,yes even you.

Coalface. ( Ephesians 6 v 18 - 20 )

I remember reading  George Orwell's book ,The road to Wigan Pier' ,the author wrote a searing account of the dreadful conditions in the heart of England's industrial heartland. This included ,social injustice, cramped slum  housing conditions,injustice,squalor, hunger, and growing unemployment. One of his investigations took him down a coal mine,and there he witnessed,the awful conditions, and the dangers involved. It was dreadfully hard work,those working at the coalface worked on their knees , the term working at the coalface ,is about those who  are at most danger, and experience the hardest tasks.Every day I pray for many dear Christian who are at the coalface, they are continually in danger, many suffer beatings ,imprisonments and even death. In Hebrews 13 v 3, we are exhorted ',to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison,and those who are ill-treated as if you yourselves were suffering.

Worthlessness ( John 3 v 16 )

In his book ,The Message of the Cross', Derek Tidball  writes,''There is a danger of unhealthy attitudes to oneself and to people in general,as in Elizabeth  Clephne's otherwise beautiful hymn, 'Beneath the cross of Jesus'.  It includes the words, 'Two wonders I confess-/ The wonder of redeeming love,/ And my own worthlessness in view of the doctrine of creation and the cost of redemption, it is surely wrong to speak of our 'worthlessness'. We should readily sing of our 'unworthiness',but not of our worthlessness'. I have sung that lovely hymn many times,yet it is only as I read  Derek Tidballs  words did I  see the truth of what he says. We are not worthless ,so many feel they are worthless, and it effects them ,they feel unloved ,and it effects their whole life,the unsaved person may feel ,that God would never accept them,because they think they are worthless. Even Christians may feel that they are worthless,and they live under a cloud, every person in Gods sight is precious, and are loved by God. When we trust Jesus as our Saviour, our sins will be forgiven,and no matter how unworthy we are,we will be welcomed into the family of God.

Change ( 1 Thessalonians 1 v 9 )

Returning to the movie Aeronauts ,the scientist wanted do something that would help mankind,and their is a point in the movie where someone uttered these words,'' Few are given opportunity to change the world''.I believe as a Christian we have the opportunity to change maybe not the world,but were we live,were we work,or wherever God has placed us.We have a message that can effectively change people for the better, and that's why we should support ministries that are being used by God to transform lives.As a parent you have been given an opportunity to point your children to Christ, who will change their lives for the better.Let us pray to God,to use us in a way that will change,situations,and people for the better.