The glories that shine afar. ( Hebrews 12 v 1 - 3 )

Most of us have heard of the Olympic games,but there was another similar event called ,'The Isthmian Games', which included ,chariot racing,wrestling, boxing,music,and poetry.Now you never knew that music,were considered a sport.It is recorded that Nero took part,by singing,the singing lasted hours,he by all accounts was not a very nice singer,and no one was allowed to leave while he sung, yet he won,by bribing the judges. The city of Corinth was about 10 miles from were it was held,it was very popular. On an ancient monument there was found the following epitaph of a boxer,'Here he died boxing in the stadium,having prayed to Zeus, for a wreath or death,aged 35 farewell'. Winning was everything ,the prize was a wreath made out of celery or pine.It was the Apostle Paul who wrote to the Christians at Corinth ,he wrote the following as regards those who partook in the games,''They do it to win a prize that will fade away,but we do it for an eternal prize''(1 Cor 9 v 25) Paul is not saying that salvation is based on what we do,but the Christian life demands effort, discipline C P  Philippians 3 v 10 - 14.Jesus  for the glory that was set before him endured the cross Hebrews 12 v 2,so we must not shrink back,the things of this life are but a wreath of celery no matter how they are dressed up,keep your eyes on Jesus, and the glories that shine afar.

Be faithful ( Proverbs 20 v 6)

 I shot a prayer up to God,it was a question,'What do you want me to do Lord?,',and the thought came into my mind,'be faithful'.What will Jesus say when  we stand before him?,''Well done good and faithful servant'  (Matthew 25 v 21 ). I hope we will all hear those words.,faithful,one of the qualities of God is His faithfulness 1 Corinthians 1 v 9 , tells us ,'God is faithful.',simple and plain, praise God that he is faithful,without his faithfulness where would we be?. In Proverbs 20 v 6,we read,'Many claim to have unfailing love, but a faithful person who can find'.?.Is the writer being to cynical? I am sure we would all like to think that we would always be faithful,we would protest if someone said we where not.Consider that awful night when they came to arrest our Saviour,we read,'Then everyone deserted him and fled'(Mark 14 v 50),yet earlier that evening they had all, not just Peter,  said that they would never do that v 31,I wonder would you or I have acted differently?. Yet our faithful Lord challenges all his followers to be faithful,it is a massive challenge,consider the following,in relation to being faithful in marriage,. I have been married twice, my first wife died,so I have a good idea,what it takes in any marriage . I do not consider my self an expert,so here is a few words from Charles Swindoll,''The married life is hard,yes, healthy marriages can bring love,joy, fulfillment,and excitement, all at a high cost of production. '' He goes unto to say ,''That far too many young couples who rush passionately into  a marriage commitment without fully understanding that the marriage life is hard work''.Hard in all, as it may be,the Christian is called to be faithful. 

Works ( Matthew 7 v 21 v 23 )

  The Roman Catholic and the Eastern Orthodox ,believe that we not saved by faith alone,but by faith and works.But this would contradict what we read in so many places in the  Bible,they both stress what James wrote in his epistle, which appears to support their views. There is an old hymn with the following words, 'What can wash away my stain?,nothing but the blood of Jesus',The thief on the cross was saved without works,by simply believing in Christ,he went straight to heaven,( Luke 23 v 42 - 43.).So what can we say about the teaching of James,in that he says that works and faith justify us.In v 18 of chap 2, we have these words,'Show me your faith',in other words ,prove to me you have faith,manifest the reality of your faith,as Abraham and Rahab did.Jesus said by our fruits we are known, John says ,'So how can we tell who are children of God and who are the children of the devil. Anyone who does not live  righteously and does not love other believers does not belong to God'( 1 Jn 3 v 10 ).The English Standard Version, puts it like this,'It is evident',in other  words these are proof ,that we have been forgiven. . Luther said ,''We are saved by faith alone, but the faith that saves is never alone''.

Faith ( Ephesians 2 v 8- 9 )

 The great missionary John .G.Paton , struggling to find a local word which would translate 'faith' and failing to find one,was interrupted by someone in great trouble and needing help.'Please, may I come and lean heavily on you?' he said.Commenting  on this Alec Motyer says ,'Faith is leaning heavily upon Christ; not labour but cessation of labour, not doing,but ceasing to do; simply leaning the whole weight of our needs upon him, and finding in Him acceptance before the presence of God, and a righteousness which could never be ours by our own works'. We are saved through faith in the finished work of  Christ there is no plus,the finished work of Christ and that alone saves,believe on the Lord Jesus and you shall be saved   ( Acts 16 v 31 )

Greatest moment. ( Philippians 2 v 5 - 11 )

 A lady called Merry who came in third  in the Olympics held in Sydney Australia in 2009 ,spoke how 49 seconds changed her life, because the winner of that race was an native Australian Cathy Freeman,who won the gold,and it had a positive effect on the whole of Australia. I believe that when Winston Churchill became Prime Minister,it changed the course of  history,for many were in favour of negotiating with Hitler, Churchill said no. When Susan Boyle appeared on TV, in the talent  show ,'Britain's Got Talent',it changed her life. I'm sure we can look back in our personal history,and say such, and such a thing, changed our lives, meeting the person whom we married,getting a particular job.Fifty six years ago ,I came back to the Lord ,  without a doubt that was the most amazing thing that has ever happened to me.If you where to ask me what is the most important event in all history,I would have to say the coming of Jesus, because his coming had consequences for all mankind,The greatest problem ,which no human being can solve,is sin,Jesus is God's answer to that problem,for it says that Jesus will save his people from their sins.

Christian ( Galatians 6 v 14 )

I love John Bunyan's,' Pilgrim's Progress' ,he was reckoned to be a wonderful preacher,of course he spent a   great deal of time in prison for that very thing,but he never gave up.He was a man with a wonderful imagination. The people in' Pilgrims Progress', have all sorts of names,here are a few of them, Mr Worldly Wiseman  ,Mr Pickthank,Mr Blindman,Mr Malace, Mr High-mind,Mr No-good,all these names depict people of the world,their names tells you everything about them.The main character is Christian,who fled from the city of destruction, and was directed by Evangelist ,to the place were the heavy load he was carrying could be removed..There were those who tried to stop him,his wife and children,cried to him ,to return,but he didn't ,he kept on going.Two of his neighbours ran after him,their names were,Obstinate, Pliable,they caught up with him and sought to reason with him, but Christian reminded them that they lived in the city of destruction,he told them he sought an endless kingdom,Obstinate left, but Pliable stayed on,and Christian spoke to him of Heaven,that place where there would be no more crying ,for the owner of that place will wipe all tears from our eyes. They set off but because of the the difficulties they experienced Pliable went back,but  Christian went on,he met other difficulties,but eventually he came to a cross,and as its shadow fell across him,the burden on his back fell off,his sins had been forgiven.He was overwhelmed with joy ,and he spoke,''Blest cross,blest  sepulchre,blest rather be,the man that there was put to shame for me''. If you are not a Christian ,you are living in the city of destruction,flee from the wrath to come,as it sure will,flee to Jesus who died on the cross that you may be forgiven, trust Him as your Saviour.

Show a little kindness ( 1 Corinthians 13 v 4 )

 A young famous footballer called Marcus Rashford  received a letter from a 7 yr old boy,thanking him for all the good things he is doing in helping children through the hard times. It was a nice letter that the little boy wrote,Marcus  said the letter made him smile,and added,''Kindness makes the world go round'' At a time of so much gloom it is nice to read things like that, I don't know about kindness making the world go round,but I do believe, as I am sure you do, that kindness is very important.I often think that people have a picture of God,as some harsh severe person ,of course He is Holy,of course He will judge ,but we are told that God is love (1 John 4 v 8 ),and He loves this world ( John 3 v 16 ),we also are told that He is merciful  ( Ephesians 2 v 4),and in Luke 6 v 35, we read,' that God is kind',,and then it adds,'to the ungrateful and wicked.' It was Frederick William Faber, who wrote,' And the heart of the Eternal is most wonderfully kind'. Consider the life of Christ,how kind he was, as he went about doing good,he was kindness in person, the world needs kind people,Jesus said,' follow me,how?',well here is one aspect of following him,be kind in the words we speak,and by helping others,yes let us show a little kindness.