Whose world is it. ( Psalm 24 v 1 - 2 )

Greta Thunberg a 16 yr old Swedish girl has become an international environmentalist,listening to her on the TV ,she mentioned a couple of things. People do not appear to be acting on the issues raised as regards global warming.It was President Putin who commenting on what this little girl was doing,that the issues as regards the environment are complicated. Could it be that one of the issues why people are not acting on what Greta was saying,is that they are not prepared to leave their'comfort zone'.We possible are unwilling to pay the price of  the changes that are necessary, I think it is  complicated ,but the fact is the problems are not going away,by doing nothing.In Psalm 24 we are told ,'The earth is the Lord's and everything in it,the world, and all who live in it.' We are but the tenants of this world, and if I owned a home, and had a tenant,I would not be to pleased if they destroyed my home. Well what can we say to all this?let all of us begin to be better tenants of planet earth.

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.