More than. ( John 21 v 15 )

Becoming a Christian brings with it real challenges, when people came to Jesus,he would tell them to count the cost, in Luke 14 v 25 -34 Jesus tells the crowd.That if they  are going to follow Him ,they must hate their nearest and dearest,immediately we may be stunned at such a statement, hate, surely not?.What on earth did He mean? it is W. Hendriksen who tells us,''The word hate has the same meaning- to love less- in Gen.29 v 31  ,'Jehovah saw that Leah was hated,v 30, clarifies this by reading, ''Jacob....loved  Leah less than Rachel ( They were both his wives) Jacob had a favourite son Joseph, he loved him more than any of his other sons.( Gen 37 v 3 ) In Matthew 10 v 37 ,our dear Saviour said  ,''He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; he who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me''. We see this illustrated in Gen 22 when Abraham is commanded to take his only son, whom he loved and sacrifice him there as a burnt offering.God was testing Abraham,  what was that test? would he reverence God more than his son,he passed the test, he was restrained at the last minute from actually slaying Isaac.Jesus says to all, if you want to follow me then you must love me more than anyone else, or anything else.Yes there is a cost in following Jesus ,are we willing  to pay the cost?

Suffering ( Job 23 v 10 )

A friend has been suffering from cancer, in spite of drugs ministered ,he has been in great deal of pain,and it has steadily increased. He is in a hospice at this time ,nearing that point of death I have been praying that the Lord would take him home.As I arose to go to bed I asked myself,I wonder was he still in the land of the living,and then I thought this is not the land of the living ,it is the land of the dying. That dear person is going to the land of the living,there will be no death to where he is going, he is  going to a place where there will be no more suffering. We always want to know why?.his family may be asking ,why,  he had to suffer?, he was a godly man, surely he didn't deserve to suffer,of  course he didn't ,why had his wife and family to watch him suffer?. Good people suffer, godly people suffer,lovely people suffer,so why?,but the answer  is, we often do not know . For him thankfully, he will be  finished with suffering, and the Lord who suffered ,will more than compensate him. The apostle Paul who knew his share of suffering,wrote 'For I am convinced, that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future ,nor any powers, neither height nor depth,nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.  ( Romans 8 v 38 - 39 )

The good shepherd ( Isaiah 53 )

Here is the best known  and best loved Psalm. 'The Lord is my shepherd ;I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures; he leadeth me  beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul; he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for thou art  with me; thy rod and thy staff comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies; thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the day of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever. ' In John 10 v 11,  Jesus said ,''I am the good shepherd ; the good shepherd giveth his life  for the sheep''.The question is,is He your shepherd?,let me remind you it is not enough to know the Psalm,one must know the good shepherd, then all the blessings of this lovely Psalm will be yours.

Two kinds of people ( John 11 v 25 )

Let us continue to look at Romans 8 v 5 - 11,which deals with two types of people,we considered the person who lives according to the flesh,or their sinful nature.This time we will consider the person, a Christian ,who possesses the Spirit of God, and what that means. Now we are told that every Christian has the Spirit of God within them. God no longer takes residence in a temple made with hands,that is all gone,the Christian has become a temple ( 1 Corinthians 3 v 16 - 17 . 6 v 19 ) Leon Morris writes,''The Spirit is not an occasional visitor; He takes up residence in God's people'', and goes on to remind us ,that ''Paul is not identifying Christ with the Spirit, but he is saying that in the indwelling of the Spirit none less is Christ, is present,''Spirit in you' is impossible apart from 'Christ in you'.  William Barclay writing on the Spirit filled Christian,  as one who is, 'Spirit -controlled,Christ -controlled,God -focussed'. It is the Spirit that enables us to live a godly life, it is Spirit that bears witness that we are children of God  ( Galatians 4 v  6 - 7 ) It is the Spirit who is linked with our resurrection,W.Barclay has some very meaningful and encouraging words to say on this,''The Spirit-controlled life,the Christ -centered life,the God  - focussed life, is on the way to life.Daily it is coming nearer heaven even when it is still on earth.......It is like Enoch who walked with God and God took him, As the child said;''Enoch was a man who went walks with God- and one day he didn't come back''. He points out that there are those  who say ,that we say the Spirit - controlled man is on the way to life;but in point of fact every man must die.Yes that is true, we are all involved in the human situation .Sin has come into the world so like everyone else we will die,but as Jesus said in John 11 v 25, that the one who believes in Him will live even though he dies.

Two kinds of people. ( Matthew 7 v 13 - 14 )

Romans 8 is a wonderful chapter, and I was  struck with v 5 - 8, contrasting those who have the Holy Spirit and those who don't. In other words the Christian , and the non-Christian.Let us consider the non- Christian, they are described as those who live according to  the flesh ,or as another translation puts it,those who are dominated by their sinful nature.This can mean religious people as well as those who are not religious ,but whoever they are they will always be walking the broad that will lead to destruction.L. Morris writes ,that such a' person outside of Christ sees nothing beyond the here and now and, however  altruistic( unselfish ) he may be,in the end, is wrapped up in the things he wants  or on that which he has set his seal of approval' He goes on to say,''They may  have good intentions, but their horizon is bounded by the things of this life''.As our Saviour said to Peter, ''your mind is not set on the things of God but the things of men''( Matthew 16 v 23 ).No matter how much they try they cannot please God,and of course pleasing God is the last thing on their mind.. On the whole they are absorbed with  the   things of this life.,God is not in their thoughts,William Barclay puts it like this  ''they  are passion - controlled,or lust- controlled, or pride- controlled, or ambition- controlled.'' Such a life  is without Christ, and such a life can only have one destination, a lost eternity.

The Cup ( Romans 12 v 1 - 2 )

Following on from the previous reading,when Jesus was asked to grant a special privilege to James and John to sit one at the right hand, and one on His left hand ,in His Kingdom. Jesus answer was very honest ,telling them there was a cost to such a desire,even death,but it is W.Barclay who writes,''It is quite wrong to think that for the Christian the cup must always mean the short ,sharp, bitter,agonizing struggle of  martyrdom;the cup may well be the long routine of the Christian life, with all its daily sacrifices, its daily  struggle,and its heartbreaks and its disappointments and its tears.A Roman coin was once found with the picture of an ox on it; the ox was facing two things- an ox (sacrifice) and a plough (service ); and the inscription read;''Ready for either.'' When I was younger my wife and I  felt led to serve God on the mission field,but God shut that door in His will,and led us in another direction.There is a gospel song called ,''Follow Me,'' the last verse reads,'O Jesus if I die upon a foreign field some day,Twould be no more than love demands- No less could I repay. No greater love hath mortal man ,than for a friend to die. These are the words He gently spoke to me; If just a cup of water I place within your hand, then just a cup of water is all that I demand,'But if by death to living, they can Thy glory see, I'll take my cross and follow close to Thee.'

The cup ( Matthew 10 v 21 - 42 )

In Matthew 20 v 20 ff we read how the mother of Zebedee's sons came to Jesus,kneeling before Him,asked that her two sons would sit ,one on His right hand,and one on his left hand,in His Kingdom.. I wonder what she meant by His kingdom,at this stage the Jews were expecting an earthly King, who with the Jews would rule over the nations. Whatever it may mean she wanted her sons to have a special place in that Kingdom, all the disciples likewise wanted that special place.( 18 v 1) Jesus reply was,'' do they really understand what that meant, and were they prepared to drink from the bitter cup of suffering that he was going to drink. Jesus knew what lay ahead the cross was never hidden from Him (C. P. 20 v 17 v - 19 ) The cup of suffering has been the lot of many Christians  from the beginning ,  right down to this present day.This is graphically shown in pictures  of Christians kneeling before Islamic State  people,and they are about to be beheaded.This will always be,for some of those who put there faith in Jesus,in will not change,this world is not a friend of Jesus, what can we do? we can pray for  those who are called by God to suffer for Christ.Such actions by the like of Islamic S. is not only evil ,but,' utterly evil'.and has with it a demonic character,it goes beyond the person suffering, it is directed at God'( quote by W. Grundmann )