It is Finished. ( Colossians 1 V 13 - 14 )

On the cross  Jesus uttered the following words,'it is finished',what did He mean?,we speak of the finished work of Christ,what it simply means,is this,he finished the work of salvation,and that work was, dealing with sin and its terrible consequences for humanity.Listen there is no more horrible thing than sin, and no greater punishment .Everyone who dies in their sin must suffer eternal separation from a holy God, no matter how much we try,there is nothing, we can do ,to deal with our sin,and nothing we can do, to escape the consequences of our sin,absolutely nothing. It is all of Jesus or nothing,it is Gods remedy,it is the only remedy Thomas Kelly wrote ,'Inscribed upon the cross we see,In shining letters, God is love.He bears our sins upon the cross,He brings us mercy from above'

Do not fear.

Just want to leave a verse with you as you go into the new year,God is speaking  ,'So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand'.  ( Isaiah 41 v 10 )

Witnessing ( Matthew 10 v 32 - 39 )

Derek Tidball writes the following, ' In an age of user friendly' evangelism, perhaps we should  be more prepared to accept that the cross will cause offence to some, and that many ,even among our family and friends, will reject its message. Not everyone can be won to Christ by affable evangelism and genial  friendship.' Many years ago in a church were I was  a joint minister,I witnessed to a man, his mother attended the church. I left it at that ,of course I prayed about it. Shortly after this my fellow minister reproached me for witnessing  to that man. I can only think that man had complained to his mother and she had told my fellow minister, who if truth were told had it in for me. He said that I had to earn the right to witness to that man, looking back I feel so sad that a supposed evangelical ,reproached me for witnessing to someone. One should never have to apologise for witnessing to anyone,nor will anyone be reproached or condemned by our Saviour, for witnessing,but it may be when many so called ministers  and Christians will be reminded of their failing in not witnessing to others.,when they hear the Lord saying,''WELL''.

He knows what's best. ( Acts 16 v 7 )

When we entered Bible college we believed that we were going to be missionaries in Brazil,so we applied to two missions and were turned down. Our desire to serve God was strong so we continue to seek a way forward,we made inquires, we applied to different missions,but every door remained shut,  it was heartbreaking at times. Considering all we had gone through one wondered why? ,yes why was a door not opening for us we were willing to go anywhere. Yes we prayed how we prayed crying unto God ,oh yes a way did open eventually,but it was not where I would have chosen.It is said that we only understand Gods providence with hindsight,yes as I look back now, I can see that He knew what was best for my wife and me,and yes for my Children also.

Going to Church ( John 14 v 6 )

I try to  go for a walk each day,and as  I walk I pray,one day,praying I sensed someone behind me,it was bit unexpected.The man reassured me he did not mean to scare me,will I told him that as I walked I was praying, he responded by saying he was doing as much himself. I asked him if he was a Christian?. So the conversation started up,he spoke of a minister he knew who said that he wasn't going  heaven,I asked what reason did he give,he told me it was because I didn't go to church.Well I told him was not right,so I went on to explain to him what stops one going to heaven.The answer is sin ,very simple ,and that one needs one's sin forgiven, by accepting Christ as their  Saviour  ,and then one will get to heaven..

Answers ( Psalm 23 v 1 )

Many years ago my then wife Eileen and  I ,had a desire to go into full time ministry, we had three children.We sought advice and were told we needed training ,and that I needed to go to Bible,college so I applied and was accepted. It meant leaving my employment, we were faced  with a large difficulty,we had absolutely no savings. Yet believing it was Gods will, we went forth in faith,trusting God to supply,our faith was at times severely tried, it was no picnic,but we got through.Then my wife went to Bible college for one year,again we had no savings,again we went forward in faith,and to Gods glory we got through.So many times we were put to the test but God was faithful, our needs were met,I stress needs.You see God does answer prayer.

We do not know whats best. ( Romans 8 v 26 -27 )

Yesterday we sought to stress the importance of the will of God when we pray for certain things,this is  is not meant to discourage us as regards making requests to God.In fact the word of God tells us clearly to let our requests be made unto God  ( Philippians  4 v 6 )We are all familiar with the words of the Lords prayer it has requests ( Matthew 6 v 11 - 12 ). We are encouraged to ask....for everyone who asks receives (  Matthew 7 v 7 - 8 ).So there is an assurance given that we can ask and our prayers will be answered.But let us return to the words in 1 John 5 v 14 ,were we have the words ,'according to  his will'. Barnes .writes the following on these words,'This expression must limit the answer to prayer, to what he sees as best for us. Of that we are not always good judges.rightly so,as we read in Romans 8 v 26 that we do not know what we ought to pray. But we are reassured that the Holy Spirit intercedes for us according to the will of God. He the Holy Spirit knows what is best for us ,He will as it were translate our prayers to God for us.