Are you worthy? ( Luke 18 v 9 - 14 )

In one of  G.K.Chesterton's book ,about Father Brown, we have the priest saying to someone,'Everyone  is worthy of forgiveness'. It appears a nice thought, but it is not true,in fact no one is worthy of forgiveness,  absolutely no one. Mankind we are told in Romans 3 v 23 are all without exception sinners,always remember we must consider ,not how we look at things,but how God looks at things as revealed in His word. God is not swayed by sentiment, or ill judgement,no, God knows the full picture as regards everyone of us. Consider how humanly speaking we look at things,yes the Hitlers and the like ,those real baddies deserve no forgiveness,but not that nice little old lady,or that nice old man,or that nice.....,so we could go on. Or we could replace the word nice,with the word innocent,but the fact is no one  ,no one, is innocent in Gods sight. Why did Christ come? .We read in 1 Timothy 1 v 15,that'Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners',that means you,  and it means me. The truth is, forgiveness  is an act of mercy by a merciful God,to unworthy sinners, such as you and I ,to think otherwise is to shut yourself of  from forgiveness. If we come by faith to Jesus acknowledging our unworthiness,and that we are not innocent,and ask him to be our Saviour ,then we will receive as an act of mercy from God, forgiveness for all our sins.

Entertainment ( Romans 1 v 16 )

During the first world war ,the cinemas were continually showing films about the conflict that was taking place,it was very hard for people to bear. So a number of cinemas decided to stop showing war scenes,they displayed notices assuring people they were not showing any filmed reports about the war,instead they would show movies that were entertaining. Entertainment is important ,people want to be entertained,be it in sport, the gladiatorial games were grim ,no more than a licence to kill,but to those ancient Romans,it was entertainment. I wonder if much that passes in many so called Christian gatherings ,has become nothing more than entertainment?,I point to the prosperity preachers,but there are other gatherings,were music led by the song leaders, work people up to an emotional high.and of course none of this comes cheap,your healing's ,blessings, comes at a price. I read this recently ,'The gospel is not meant to entertain, it is to serious for that.life and death hang on it'. These are very important words,as a preacher I am not there to entertain,it is to serious for that,when we as God's people meet we are not there to be entertained, we are there to worship,we are not there to have an emotional high.There is nothing wrong with singing modern songs or old songs when we meet together,but they should prepare our hearts ,as we come to hear Gods word preached. As for  the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ ,it is good news,wonderful news,something we can rejoice in,why?   because no other message has the power to save us,no other message can tell us ,how our sins can be forgiven,no other message has the power to set us free from the sins that enslave us,no other message can save from Gods wrath,no other message can take us to heaven,is this not good news Christian, rejoice.,if you are not a Christian,why not trust Jesus as your Saviour.

Are you desperate?. ( Luke 15 v 11 ff )

In his introduction to the gospel of Mark,Donald  English,comments on how few people showed faith in Jesus?,his answer was,mostly they didn't. His family took offence at him (MK 6 v 3 ) ,his townspeople rejected him ( MK 6 v 6 ),and of course we know how the religious leaders acted towards him. Mark mentioned two groups who did respond- the desperate and the demoniacs,but mainly the desperate. The desperate women who were ostracized by their community,especially by the religious leaders. A young man came to a wise man ,and asked a question,how can I receive eternal life?,the wise man said come with me,and he led to the sea.,and he took him into the sea,and he grabbed him,and plunged him beneath the water. He eventually released Him. The young stood up gasping for breath,and he asked the wise man,why did you do that I was desperate for breath?. The wise man said,you will find the answer to your question as regards eternal when you are desperate enough.Mark comments, ''That the desperate had nowhere else to go......and so they cast themselves on Jesus ,and found all they needed in Him ,and more.'

Three Requests ( Psalm 121 )

While out walking ,a man heard himself praying,''Help me! Guide me! Use me!'', six simple words,with three requests.the first one is a cry for help. Life continually faces us with all sorts of problems,some of our our own making,some caused by others. One could write a long list of problems,financial,health, work marriage,  children, addiction,and so on ,the list goes on. The old spiritual song goes,'No body knows the trouble I've seen,nobody knows ,but Jesus'. In 1 Peter  5 v 7,we read,'Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you'.Jesus knows all about your troubles,He cares for you, We read  the following in Psalm 50 v 15,'Call on me in the day of trouble;I will deliver you', so call upon Him. The next word is, 'Guide',when Jesus looked ,'he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them,because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd ( Matthew 9 v 36 ) Sheep need a shepherd,in Bible times the shepherd led the sheep,Jesus  called himself the good shepherd,in Psalm 23 , the shepherd Psalm, He leads ,Jesus knows us,knows how easily we can loose our way,so call upon Him, he will guide you.Rest assured ,for the word of God says,'For this God is our God for ever and ever; He will be our guide even to the end'( Psalm 48 v 14 ). The next word is a request ,for God to use us,or should I say,'use me',a noble desire , the question is are we willing to be used?.We are told that the labourers are few,there is always vacancies in Gods kingdom, God can use, even you,whatever task he allots , rest assured he will equip you,guide you , use you,and will provide for you.

My garden ( James 4 v 7 )

Like many people I love my garden,my favourite flower would be a rose, a friend of mine, told me his  favourite plant was the cactus,he mentioned that they produce lovely flower,well everyone to their own.The garden is a lovely place to sit in ,in the evening,and to pray ,or just to read,or whatever,yes the garden is a thing of beauty. Let me ask you a question,do you know were the greatest and most awful sin was committed?,in a garden,a sin that would effect all humanity. We read about it in Genesis 2- 3,in that garden Satan deceived Eve,and her husband followed in her footsteps.The result was that sin entered the world and death followed,we were never meant to die, but we do,because the wages of sin is death.Consider, there is no earthly paradise were sin and Satan,can be excluded from, the fact is we live in a very dangerous world,were no one is safe, because we carry out fallen nature with us at all times,and of course Satan knows this ,and will take full advantage , 2 Corinthians 2 v 11 speaks of his evil schemes,one of his schemes is telling lies, our Saviour called him a murderer and a liar ( John 8 v 44). So be on your guard,remember we can resist the Devil as our Saviour did, by holding fast to God's word.  let us remember he cannot make us sin,thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.  ( 1 Corinthians 15 v 55 ). 

The hard times. ( Psalm 23 )

 Many people are having it hard in eastern Europe,we are fortunate in this country people are receiving help,but through out the world many are receiving no help whatsoever.Keep praying and keep supporting those missions and charities who are seeking to help.Pray for our Christian family,that they may prove Gods faithfulness,.at this time. God is faithful, he does not forsake us in the hard times,I look back and remember the hard times,I remember times when we had no food ,we had 3 children,and no money,our faith was severely tested at times.,but God was faithful.I remember our needs being met.God's word assures his Children that He will care for them. Think of all the examples in scripture of God meeting his children's needs,the manna in the wilderness,and the prophet Elijah who was fed by ravens. God can provide a table in the wilderness,consider the promises of  God, Philippians 4 v 19,' And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus'  Our loving heavenly knows what things we have need of, he will not fail His children. The Psalmist David declared,' I was young and now I am old,yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread ( Ps 37 v 25 ),God will provide,our part is to trust Him.

He could not sleep ( Daniel 4 v 34 - 35 )

I  am sure many of us have times when we just cannot get to sleep, I have,you toss and turn,but sleep won't come..In the book of Esther ,we read how the Persian King, Xerxes could not sleep,so that's,that.no in fact it was very significant. Let me explain, and let me say this actually happened ,the date was about  483 B.C. Many of the Jews had returned from the 70 year exile, but many hadn't,among them was a man called Mordecai,now he had an adoptive daughter called Esther,who became Queen,Mordecai had sent news of  a plot to assassinate the king, to Esther ,the result was the plot was foiled. A record was made of this,and that was it. Meanwhile Mordecai offended a very high official,called Haman, he belonged to a race of people who hated the Jews.The result  was he persuaded the king to pass a law to exterminate all the Jews in the vast Persian empire. Haman also made plans to kill Mordecai,and just before it was about to happen the king could not sleep, so like many of us he started to read,and he read of the event when his life was saved,and what Mordecai had done, he asked his attendants had he been rewarded,and he was told no.Just at that moment Haman came to ask permission to have Mordecai executed. All Haman's plans fell apart, he  was told to reward Mordecai,so his life was saved in the providence of God,all because a king could not sleep,and the God of Mordecai who neither slumbers nor sleep,wonderfully acted to save his Child .Remember child of God,that he is in control ,he is your sovereign God,who can suddenly change events in your favour, no matter how dark they are.