There is an answer. ( John 3 v 16 )

A prisoner on death row in America, said,'Is there ever a good way to die?',of course death comes to all,a man who was facing execution was asked,you have a choice as to how you will die,they waited for his answer,and he replied,'I would like to die of old age'. But is there an answer to that question,is there a good way  to die?,yes ,we cannot stop death ,it is an appointment we all have to keep. We know this, there is no escape, resistance is futile,it will happen, this is not a cheery subject, it is not meant to be, the answer to this question is the most important thing you will ever hear in all your life.I do not exaggerate,first let me quote part of a verse  from the book of  Revelation ,chap 14 v 13,'Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord'.it simple means those who have trusted Christ as their Saviour, the old  hymn  says,  'He died that we might be forgiven ,and go at last to heaven.' Yes death is not the end,there is an after life,where we will spend eternity ,in heaven or hell,depends on whither we have trusted or rejected Christ.If God is speaking to you now and you want to trust Christ,there is a little prayer  you can pray,'Come into my heart Lord Jesus,come into to stay, come in today,come into my heart Lord Jesus Amen'.

Stigma ( 1 Corinthians 12 v 9 )

I wonder if you have ever thought,how contrary the apostle Paul's honesty is to many people attitude,when he speaks very honestly about his thorn in the flesh ( 2 Cor 12 ). Especially when he doesn't reveal what it was, we know what people are like, I wonder if he was alive today,what would people be saying?. one can imagine,whats he hiding from us,why doesn't he tell us what it is,we have a right to know. Lets have him up before the leadership we must consider our reputation,its not good enough,we need to know.He can't be our Pastor,we can't have him preaching in our church,we want a strong man of God,we do not want a person with a thorn n the flesh,we hear also that he has been in prison. Well you get the picture,   people can be very cruel,if you don't live up to their standard,as Christians ,we are meant to be different than the world.I remember a Pastor a godly man who suffered from mental illness, and he was told by another minster that he should not be in the ministry. Now mental illness takes many forms,it can be very severe,and very disabling ,it sometimes can effect the personality. Of course there is a stigma attached to mental illness.so one can imagine that if one was a minister,one would not like anyone to know,it could affect their position as a leader. Remember mental illness is an illness,and like any person who is ill they ,should be supported,let us remember weakness does not disqualify anyone from serving God..

The heart ( Psalm 19 )

Last time we considered a prayer,with words from Psalm 19 v 14, 'May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart ,be pleasing in your sight, O Lord,my Rock,and my redeemer'. We considered our words,next let us consider ,the ,'meditation of my heart'.this is something that this person practiced,it did not just happen,he made a deliberate decision, to meditate.He speaks of the heart.Vine puts it like this,the heart,' Came to stand for man's entire mental and moral activity,both the rational and the emotional elements.In other words,the hidden springs of the personal life'. We are thinking emotional beings.and often our emotions,take over our thinking,which leads to our actions,David looked at a very beautiful woman bathing,his emotions were stirred, and they took over his thinking,which led to adultery.. So we can appreciate why the Psalmist prayed what he did,he wanted that his emotions and thinking would  please God. Focusing on the wrong things,can lead us into wrong things,things that can destroy us, and others.Here is a man who wants his life ,his words,his inner being,to be pleasing to his God.If we read Psalm 19 we are told that the glory of God can be seen in the heavens, then the wonderfulness of God's word, and the positive results of obeying God's word.Then he finishes by opening himself  up to a holy God, acknowledging his sinful nature,and a desire that God would keep him from sinning. He ends with these wonderful words,'O Lord, my Rock, and my Redeemer'.We need not to be driven and controlled by our emotions ,there is victory in Jesus.

Words ( Colossians 4 v 6 )

Here is a prayer, 'May the words of my mouth,and the meditation of my heart,be pleasing in your sight, O Lord , my Rock,and my Redeemer', ( Psalm 19 v 14 ).It is a simple prayer,yet very challenging ,for it deals with two aspects of our being,our words,and our hearts.Consider how many wrong words being spoken at this time,hateful words,vain words,filthy words,spiteful words,foolish words, deceptive words,harsh words.Our Saviour said, 'But I tell you that men will have to give an account on the day of judgement for every careless word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned'.( Matthew 12 v 36 - 37 ) Here Jesus is responding to evil things said about Him by religious leaders,there is coming a day in which they will be judged,and on that day they will be speechless. The great prophet Isaiah confessed, that he was a man of unclean lips , and I live among a people of unclean lips ( Isaiah 6 v 5 ), Consider, as Christians is our speech ,any different than the non-Christians?,do we take the name of the Lord in vain?,do we tell lies?,how many sinful words have you spoken?.There is forgiveness as Isaiah experienced, C P V 6 - 7 .Let us remember if we confess our sins that God is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins( 1 John 1 v 9 ),even the sinful words of our mouth.

Historical Truth. ( 1 Corinthians 15 v 1

Malcolm Muggeridge wrote the following, ''If you say to me,do you believe that Jesus's birth was by a virgin ?.Yes I do,because I think the whole drama requires that. But that's entirely different from saying  that I believe that a particular female,without anything happening, conceived and bore a child and that, that child was Jesus. In other words, I see it as an artistic truth rather than an historical truth''.Here is a man who was admired for his wonderful writing, a man who professed to be a Christian,and many people got carried away with that,but let be very clear ,that Mr Muggeridge  was very much in error in what he said  Our faith must be based on historical truth ,not in so called artistic truth, no,the birth of  Christ,and the life of  Christ, the death of Christ,and the resurrection of Christ,and His ascension, were historical facts.If any of these are not historical happenings then they are not true,but they are true,these wonderful things really happened, and when one embraces the  Jesus of history,then your life and your destiny will be gloriously changed for ever.

Not the minority. ( Romans 8 v 31 - 39 )

I remember a missionary telling  about two brothers who were the only Christians in their school,when asked about this,one of the lads said,' we are many'. What did he mean by that?well I believe he was saying that when God is with you,then God and all of heaven are for you. In 2 Kings 6 we read that  Elisha and his servant were at a place called Dothan and  they were under attack by the  army of Syria..  It all got a bit to much for Elisha's servant, and he cried out in fear 'what shall we do?'.Elisha replied,''Don't be afraid'...   Those who are with us, are more than those who are with them''.The servant may have wondered why he said that,for the reality staring him in the face did not appear good. Elisha stopped trying to persuade him that what he said was true,so he prayed,and asked God ,to open the eyes of his servant.The Lord answered,his eyes were open,and what did he see?, he saw the hills all around them were filled  with horses and chariots.In Romans 8 v 31, we read,'If God is for us, who can be against us,and in v 37,we read,'we are more than conquerors through him who loved us'. Like that servant of old you may be very afraid,difficulties are piling up,the enemies at the gate,there is no way out,you are not on your own,you are not the minority,for God and all heavens resources are your's.

Likes and dislikes ( Romans 1 v 18 )

We all have our likes and dislikes ,when I was young ,like many children I did not like eating vegetables ,I like them now,often our likes and dislikes,are not important. But of course there are times they are, like how we view race,or women.Lets turn the spotlight on the Christian faith ,many people dislike it when we point out that accepting Jesus is the only way to heaven,even some who say they are Christians,,even though Jesus said that He was the way, the truth, and the life, and that no one can go unto the Father,except by him ( John 4 v 16 ). There are some ,even Christians who dislike  the doctrine of the wrath of God,they would argue that it is inconsistent with the Scripture teaching that God is  a God of love. So it was that a man called C.H.Dodd who took issue with those who believed in the wrath of God,he believed that the sacrifice of Christ had nothing  to do with wrath. He challenged  the use of the term propitiation ,which  means that God had to be appeased , because  God was angry with humanity.because of their sin  C.P  John 3 v 16 / 36. There are many scriptures that speaks of God being angry,in Psalm 7 v 11 we read that God is angry with the wicked every day..In spite of  this C.H.Dodds rejecting this , and sought to make a case against the use of the word propitiation ,it is Leon Morris who points out,'Throughout Greek literature,biblical and non-biblical  alike,hilasmos ( Greek) means ''propitiation''. We cannot now decide that we like another better''