The Holy Spirit. ( Ephesians 5 v 18 )

How can we live the Christian life ?,it is a massive challenge ,what are the challenges?, forgiveness,  it is not easy to forgive,some people live with unforgiveness, Yes awful things happen to people ,things that are hard to forgive,yet the challenge is to forgive.Then there is the challenge to love,now of course the word love rolls of peoples lips so easily,the apostles  description in 1 Corinthians 13 is mind blowing.Or the words that our Saviour said in reply to Peters question as to how often are we to forgive someone ,he put a limit on it, but Jesus must have rocked Peter back on his heels,when he replied there is no limit on forgiveness (  Matthew 18 v 22 ).As I said the challenge of the Christian life  seems  impossible  ,how can I even attempt it? That's a good place to start ,remember what Jesus said,''Apart from Me you can do nothing ( John 15 v 5 ) . If we are Christians we all have the Holy Spirit ,He will help us to live the Christian life,and enable us to show Christ in our lives. Here is a little prayer I read recently,I have started to pray it,it reads,' Dear Holy Spirit ,as the sun is full of light,the ocean full of water,Heaven full of glory,so may my heart be full of thee' Amen

Truth ( Psalm 119 v 157 - 160 )

I heard these words recently,'Truth can be cruel', and of course we know the other saying,'The truth  hurts'.Truth is important, but ,ah that but,many so called ministers,(to many),are failing in their responsibility to speak the truth.Many shying away from what the Bible teaches,and let me say this,the Christian minister and all of us as Christians, should stand for what the Bible says ,from Genesis to Revelation,this involves creation,not evolution,humanities sinful condition,the need of salvation,  through Jesus, heaven ,hell,a moral universe. There are many other things we could mention, so you get the picture. In a court of law one puts their hand on the Bible and swears to tell the truth,the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. That is exactly what  all Christians are called to do,to believe the whole truth of the  Bible, and proclaim the truth that is in the Bible. Nothing has changed, or will ever change,for truth does not change,and our responsibility to stand for truth,and proclaim the truth, will never change.

The Christian Passover. (Isaiah 53 )

 One of the first things the Jews were told to do ,was in take a lamb ,it was to become a meal for the whole family On the night of the Passover the the lamb would be killed ,cooked and eaten,and this was the vital part, the blood from the lamb would be on the tops and sides  of the doors.That night the Lord passed through the land of Egypt and struck down every firstborn,the only ones who did not suffer were those who had put the blood around their doors. Now lets move forward to the time of Christ and John the Baptist ,John sees Christ ,and he declares,''Look ,the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world'' ( John 1 v 29 )In other words Jesus would become the Christian Passover ,He would be slain and His blood would be shed ,the result would be,that all who trust in Him,and His shed blood,would not come under judgement ,for judgement is coming ( Hebrews 9 v 27 ). We must takes this serious, God must and will judge sin,but He has made away out for all,by Jesus bearing the judgement for sin on the cross ,and shedding His precious blood.

The Passover. ( Exodus 12 )

Every year the Jewish people celebrate the Passover, a remembrance feast that reminds them of the time when ancient Israel, were delivered from 400 years of slavery in Egypt. It is in the New Testament we have these words written,'Christ ,our Passover Lamb , has been sacrificed'.( 1 Corinthians 5 v 17 ) .Both events speak of deliverance,one speaks of deliverance from slavery,The  first one reminds the Israelites of the physical slavery,were they endured great hardship from their cruel Egyptian masters.The second Passover reminds us of our slavery from sin,  we are all sinners,and whosoever committed sin is a slave of sin ( John 8 v 34 ).On the night of the Passover in Egypt a lamb had to be slain  and the blood painted on the the door frames of their homes, The other Passover the Christian one includes the sacrifice of a person, Jesus,the lamb of God who would deal with sin.(John 1 v 29).The first Passover reminded people of a people who were slaves,and how God saved them ,they had to obey Him and how he instructed them. We will consider this next time.

Old Sins ( Hebrews 7 v 25 )

In one of the episodes of Poirot  the Belgium detective ,he is heard saying, ''Old sins cast long shadows'', so true. Consider that sin in Eden a long time ago indeed ,that sin still casts a long shadow  over this present time.The shadow of death ,of sickness,of sinful behaviour lies heavy on us all at times,but it does not have to be that, for Christ is a Saviour,if we ask him he can save us.In Hebrews 7 v 25 ,we read,' He is able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him.' No matter how long  a shadow your sin is,Jesus can forgive you and set you free from it.

Money ( Matthew 25 v 31 - 48 )

A famous footballers mother became upset when she heard how much he was being paid,but her son said to her,''mother ,as long as I am receiving the money I will make sure that I will use it for good. It is not wrong to be rich  it is what one does with the money we have. That goes not only for the very rich but for all of us,we are all responsible as to what we do with our money.Jesus said the poor we will have with us always,could that be that God has planned it that way in order to test us, to see what we will do.

Money ( James 1 v 9 - 11 )

I like football,when I was young I played for a team, and even help manage a young team,football has changed or should I say the rewards for playing for top teams have escalated.People are earning what amounts to a kings ransom,many people feel that this is immoral even obscene,the question is it?, I think that attitude is a bit hypocritical ,when millions of people do the lottery , a couple have just won over a 100 million pounds,.Is it wrong to be rich ?,should we give all our saving away,no,but it could  be  that because of our wrong attitude towards  money we may be challenged by God to give it away. The word of God tells   us that the love of money is the root of  all evil ,( 1 Timothy 6  v 10) the result is in their eagerness for money they have wandered away from the faith, and pierced themselves with may griefs.Our Saviour told us,''No one can serve two masters,Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. ( Matthew 6 v 24 )