Hedging ones bets. ( Acts 17 v 16 - 34 )

A well known news reader spoke of his experience when he had cancer,and then he mentioned certain things that he kept,a good luck charm,rosary beads, and a stone carving of a Hindu deity. A Clinton Arnold refers to a prayer excavated in Egypt ,it reads' Hor, Hor, Hor, Phor, Eloei, Adonai, Lao,Sabaoth, Michael, Jesus Christ. Help us and this household, Amen.' When people do these things,pray such things, they are so far from the truth,and so confused,In Colossians 2 v  9, we read,' For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form'.In Isaiah 46 v 9, we read,'I am God, and there is no other'.In these words we hear Christ speaking, we hear the Father speaking,we hear the Holy Spirit speaking,the blessed triune God .And God the Son declared that He was the way ,the truth and the life, and no one could come unto the father but by Him ( John 14 v 6 ) All other ways are delusional ,and pointless, all they are doing is hedging there bets.

His Destiny . ( Revelation 13 v 8 )

So Christmas has gone it is all over for another year,people will take their Christmas lights down,and try to get to back to a degree of normality.No more corals, no more listening to that famous song where the words go,'I'm dreaming of a white Christmas',nice song ,but I so glad we did not have a white Christmas.it's all over till next time.Christmas may be over,but it is not the end,no, the Christ child moved on with a purpose, he became a young boy then a young man, still moving on ,and as he walked he had the shadow of a cross falling over Him. The cross was his destiny, yes there were those who would try to stop him,but thankfully they all failed. Lets us offer a prayer of thanksgiving, for the bravest man who ever lived,the holiest man who ever lived,the only who never sinned,and yet on that cross he would pay the price for our sin.

Then why the Law?. ( Romans 7 )

If no one can keep the law, why was it given by God? to make what sin is,as Paul the apostle writes ,'I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had said,'you shall not covet'. ( Romans 7 v 7) .This is a very important reason why ministers must not avoid spelling out clearly,what is a sin,the morality of the world can be a very flawed thing, and often goes contrary to what Gods word declares as sin.I remember saying that a certain thing was a sin ,and was told that's your opinion.No it was not just my opinion ,it was based on what God's word said, the person who said this was a minister.When God's word declares that something is a sin,it should not be a matter of opinion, it is a sin.As Christians we must not lean on our own understanding,or the worlds understanding ,as regards morality.

It is impossible . ( Romans 3 v 23 )

The path of legalism is a dead end,so writes Derek Tidball, most religions demand that one obeys certain rules if one is going to be accepted.The JWs are expected to do their appointed hours on the    doorsteps,the Jews have many rules they are meant to keep Derek Tidball  does point out that most Jewish Christians would have agreed that the Law was not merit- earning or favour- inducing.But this still plagued the church by stressing that these rules and laws were indispensable.Those who add on anything to the Gospel are in grave error.Our acceptance by God rules out law keeping,if we are to be saved  then it must be Christ and His finished work that saves.The law which is good was never meant to save us, it was yes to be obeyed, but not to save, no ,but it has another lesson to teach us, and its this,we are sinners. The fact is no one except Jesus ,who never sinned,can or could ever  not break the law, our sinful nature,makes it impossible to keep the law.

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 )