Jesus is coming again. ( Acts 1 v 7 )

 Many years ago an elderly Christian man, told me that the Lord told him that he would live to see the Lord returning  before he died, of course it did not happen. Many Christians in their eagerness for Christ's return , stress the signs of the times,there shall be wars and rumours of wars,in Matthew 24 v 6, but our Saviour followed that by saying don't be alarmed,that end is not yet. In verses 6- 14 our Saviour mentions a number  of things that will take place,but there is nothing to indicate a definite time when he would come back again.Jesus is saying, these things  to reassure His followers,not to panic. In spite of  what Jesus said , people have panicked,throughout history, no, let us not  panic,what we must do, in spite of challenging situations,persecution,increase in immorality,lawlessness,and whatever,is to hold on,press on .Verse 14 ends with these words ,'the end will come',when Jesus comes again,(whenever that may be),yes let that hope burn bright in your heart,

Filthy Rags. ( 1 Corinthians 1 v 26 - 31 )

 In the 18 century there was in America what is known as the great awakening,one of the preachers God used was  George Whitefield. It is said that God prepared the people,for what he was going to do, I wonder is that what He is doing now, with this pandemic?, I hope so,let us pray so.In Whitefield's journal we read the following,there was farmer called Nathan Cole who was also  a carpenter in America, who was anxious about his soul . He heard that George Whitefield was preaching,but it was 20 miles away,a good distance in those days to travel,but he was desperate So he went to his wife and told her ,we are going to hear George Whitefield,he told her to get their horse,which she did,he told her to get on it,and to start off to were Whitefield was ,he would   hold unto the horses tail,and run behind,she was to keep going. And so they set of,he rode a bit on the horse ,but ran most of the way. When he got there a vast crowd had gathered,as he looked on Whitefield ,he thought he looked very young and angelic,when he preached it was with the authority of the great God. The word preached,convicted him, realising his own righteousness could not save him, he asked Christ to save him.In Isaiah 64 v 6, we read,'all our righteousness are as filthy rags',it means that no matter what good you do,it will never save you,they are classed as filthy rags.The only righteousness that can make us and make us acceptable to God,is the righteousness of Christ,when we trust Christ we are as it were are clothed in His righteousness.

Trust Him. ( Romans 8 v 28 )

 Although I am retired I  am still active , my wife continues to work ,so I help in the home,each day,one task I do is the washing,I usually hang it outside. Often when I hang it out I spy a dark cloud on the arising,it is then I hear myself quoting a verse from my favourite hymn,'Ye fearful saints fresh courage take, the clouds you so much dread,are big with mercy, and shall break in blessings on your head'.  These words were written by a wonderful poet William Cowper,he had a very difficult background,loosing his mother at a very early age,being sent to a boarding school,boarding schools were notoriously harsh places,which did not help him.He suffered severe mental illness,attempted to take his life at least four times,he was put into an asylum for the insane,but there he read a bible and he put his faith in Christ. That helped him and eventually he lived with John Newton,who befriended him. .As one reads those words from that wonderful hymn,'God moves in a mysterious way', we sense a man who was sustained by his faith,not  understanding the trials he had gone through ,but trusting in a sovereign God. It is so easy to give into despair,as one looks at the world, and our own trouble history,let us like William Cowper   trust in our Sovereign God ,who loves and cares for us,.Remember,'Blind unbelief is sure to err,and scan his works in vain;God is His own interpreter,and He will make it plain.'

Are you weary? ( Matthew 11 v 28 - 29 )

 It was George Whitfield who said that he was tired in the Lords word,but not tired of it, if you read his life,you can understand his tiredness ,His day started at four in the morning until 10 in the evening,his preaching took up 40 to 60 hrs a week,he was so busy he had scarce time to eat. He said the following.  ''fear not, weak  body,we are immortal till our work is done''.''I must lie down to refresh this weary body, my soul , through grace smiles at bodily weakness'' Yes he must have been tired, very few ministers if any would be as busy ,as George was.We do live in a busy world and do become tired,mentally ,physically,yes and even spiritually.In my garden I have two hanging baskets, one was fine the other near deaths door,it looked wilted,I felt the soil and realised the problem,it needed water.So I  watered it and it has revived and looked like its old self.In Psalm 23 we have these words,'He restoreth my soul' Barnes says he word restoreth ,does not refer to the soul wandering or backsliding from God, but to the life or spirit as exhausted,wearied,troubled,anxious worn down with and toil' What is the answer?,or should we say who is the answer? .Hear is what the Lord Jesus says,'Come to Me,all you who are weary and burdened,  and I will give you rest' ( Matthew 11 v 28 )Sinner come to Jesus,he will remove the burden of your sin,child of God,go your Saviour,cast your burden upon the Lord and he will sustain you.

Deo Volente ( Luke 22 v 42 )

The meaning of Deo Volente is, 'God Willing',it is illustrated in the book of James chap 4 v 13 - 16,There we have people who are boasting about tomorrow,what they are going to do,James calls them arrogant and informs them and us,what the right attitude should be,and what they should be saying is,'If it is the Lord's  will, we will do this or that'.The word of God teaches us to acknowledge God in all our ways ( Proverbs 3 v 6 ).to confess that we need him,which we do. If we live in a spirit of  being independent from God,we are no better than the non Christian,the word of God declares the danger of choosing our way,( Proverb 14 v 12 ),where does it lead ?,to death'.The challenge for the Christian is the will of God,when our first parents sinned they disobeyed God's ,and from that time on ,we have lived contrary to God's will,  resisting,and even hating it.Many pray these words every day,in what we know as the Lord's prayer,'Your will be done',without really living it out in their lives,may God help us all ,to mean what we pray,and bring God into all of our lives.

Oblivion. ( John 3 v 16 )

Lying on my desk is a rose ,it is no longer , a  thing of beauty, it comes from a bunch of roses I bought,when I purchased them ,they were lovely ,truly a thing of beauty. Not now, only fit to be thrown out,the poet wrote as regards roses,'Here they bloom but for a season,soon their beauty is decayed'. But then it goes unto sat,'I am going to a city were the roses never fade',it reminds me of the words of a well known hymn.  'Change and decay in all around I see;'And it all ends in one way,death,there is no escape, it will come to us all, one day ,then what?,David Hockney the artist, is 83, was being interviewed, said, ''I expect I will die soon'',when asked did he believe in an afterlife?,he replied,'' Then oblivion''.So that's it,oblivion?, we are all end up dead roses,just another dead rose. The Christian message  teaches that there  is a life after death,how I do know this?,the answer is Jesus, who died,yet rose from the dead,as he said he would,and after his resurrection he appeared to over 500 people ( 1 Corinthians 15 v 3 - 8 ). This Jesus promised that all who believed in him,even though they die, they would live. ( John 11 v 25 ),and dwell with him eternally in heaven.You may ask what happens to those who don't believe?,well they die of course ,but it will not be oblivion,they will exist,in that place of eternal judgement,spiritually dead . Both these options must be taken seriously,it is your choice,heaven or hell,God in mercy offers you life eternal,believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved.

Schindler. ( Romans 3 v 10 - 26 )

 I have just finished watching the movie,'Schindler's List', a very moving movie,about a German who managed to rescue 1,200 Jews from death.The movie ends with Schindler speaking to the Jews he saved, and their guards,one of the things he said was,'' 6 years of mass murder has ended''. It raises a lot of questions we don't know the answer to,why the carnage?,why the Jews ?,why?.And yet it bears out  the truth at to what God's word declares about mankind, that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God ( Romans 3 v 23 ). You may have heard  this before , you may not like this truth,or the fact that we are told that our hearts, (nature) is deceitful and desperately wicked ( Jeremiah  17 v 9 ). Can any person give a more true answer?,no ,do not think it will not happen again, the history of mankind,shows us how soon,the facade of respectability can evaporate in a moment,and the beast of  our fallen humanity is let loose,to commit unspeakable evil . I found myself saying,there are so few Schindler's,yet even  Schindler's are sinners,  everyone shows there fallen human nature to some degree.The reality is this ,we do not want to know of the evil we are capable of. God amazingly loves humanity, the answer again shows man at his worse,and  God  manifesting a love that's indescribable and mind blowing,when Jesus came and was   put to death on an infamous cross,taking sinners judgement,and so enabling God to forgive and forget our sins,this happens when we ask Him to be our  Saviour.Philip Bliss wrote about Jesus,'Bearing  shame and scoffing rude,in my place he stood; Sealed my pardon with his blood,Hallelujah what a Saviour'.Dear fellow sinner why not trust Him to be your Saviour and know the joy of knowing forgiveness of all your sins.