It became a reality. ( Isaiah 9 v 6 )

 In Matthew 2 we have recorded the visit of  the wise men from the east ,possibly from Persia, and they came seeking the king of the Jews, it is understandable that they went to Jerusalem initially, as it is very near Bethlehem. They assumed that the king of the Jews would be born in a palace, but not so, as they soon found out  ,when they met with  King Herod. The Jewish religious leaders pointed out from scripture, that it was to be in Bethlehem as foretold by the prophet Micah ( 5 v 2 ) that the Messiah was to be born. It is important to emphasize, that the coming of  Christ was foretold in the OT. In Isaiah  7 v 14/  9 v 6 we have his birth foretold,  in Isaiah 53, and Psalm 22, his suffering and death, in Psalm 16 v 10, we have His resurrection foretold. Christianity is not something  that we have made up , it was clearly foretold in scripture. Those Jews who made up the early Church, saw Christ  as the promised Messiah, that He was the one the scriptures clearly foretold was coming. Yes they followed  that prophecy given by  God, that became a reality, in that little town of Bethlehem, in a babe called Jesus, the Saviour of the world.

The future. ( Isaiah 50 v 10 )

 In 1939 Great Britain and many other countries were facing a very uncertain future, Germany  ruled by a  dictator called Hitler,  had set his sights on conquest by force  on the nations of Europe. The British Prime Minister thought he had secured peace, and the nation rejoiced, but alas it was not  so, and so war was declared. Difficult and uncertain times lay ahead the then King George the sixth on 25th of December 1939 ,spoke to the nation on the radio, his young daughter  Princess Elisabeth, passed unto him a poem by Minnie Louise Haskins, called,' The Gate of the Year', the king read this in his talk. Considering the uncertainties that we as a nation face and indeed the world ,its is a very appropriate poem to read. As  someone has said, 'No one knows what the 'New Year 'will bring, but God knows'.  

                                      'And I said to the man who stood  at the gate of the year, 

                                       Give me a light that I may tread safely  into the unknown,

                                        And he replied,   

                                        Go out into the darkness, and put your  hand, in the Hand of God  ,

                                        That shall be to you better than light, and safer than a known way.'

That God ,can be known through Jesus his Son, who said '' I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life''.  (John 8 v 12 )

                                                                                                   

           

Trivial Pursuit ( Mark 8 v 3 6 - 37 )

A writer ,writing about a certain billionaire  , wrote the following, He splashed out on a  46 million pound jet, then a 100 million pound yacht , to add to the two he already owned. The yacht  was everything, you imagine it would be, ''Gold taps '',she comments,' after he had finished showing of the rest of the yacht ,he got bored and grumpy'. We may ask the question how can a billionaire be bored?, could it be that he is just playing 'Trivial Pursuit' ?. Sad to say a lot of our lives are made up of playing the game of  , 'Trivial Pursuit'. Philip Yancey  attending a life - threatening illness support group, which met monthly  in a hospital support group,  writes,'  I cannot say I' enjoyed ' those meetings, yet when walking home, I had the sense that the evening was one of the most meaningful I had spent. We skipped  trivialities and faced into the issues most urgent to everyone in the room- death and life, and how best to spend what time remained'. He goes on to quote the poet John Donne ,'  I need Thy thunder, O my God;  thy music will not serve  Thee'. I often ask myself the question what is God saying in these days?, could it be , that it is Gods voice thundering ,asking this question,' Are  we ready to meet Him?. Let us stop playing 'Trivial  Pursuit', and seek the Lord Jesus while  He can be found, and to call on Him while He is near.

Perfect no. ( 1 John 1 v 8 - 10 )

The neighbour heard raised voices next door, the couple  who lived there were Christians, so when he saw his neighbour, he mentioned to him , what he had heard. The Christian looked at him and said, I am sorry you heard that, but the fact is I am not a perfect husband, a perfect father, or a perfect neighbour. But he went on to say this, ''but I  will  try be a good husband, a good father, and a good neighbour''. As a Christian I know  Jesus exhorted us to be perfect , that's the ongoing goal of every Christian, we must never forget this, and never cease trying to attain to that challenge, you may ask ,how can one achieve this daily challenge?. Well it is obvious that it must be by relying on our helper, the Holy Spirit, and with His help we can be better people, more Christlike. The greatest of the apostles said that he wasn't perfect, he did not give up, he continue to press on, so must we, until when all things will be changed, listen ,on that day we be like Him, totally  conformed to the image of Christ. In the meanwhile  remember repentance does not stop when we get saved, it is ongoing, keep short accounts with God your Father, seek forgiveness. He has promised in His word ,'that if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness . ( 1 John 1 v 9 )

Change the meaning ( Psalm 32 v 1 - 2 )

I have just purchased a lovely book by Charlie Mackesy called ,' The boy, the mole, the fox, and the horse'.  Charlie is a cartoonist , I would commend to you this book, I don't know the author, nor am I on a commission, it would not take long to read it, if you buy it you will see why. I will give you a little flavour of the book,' Do you have a favourite saying asked the boy ?,'' Yes'' said the mole  ,'' What is it?'' '' If at first you don't succeed, have some cake,'' ''I see, does it work?'' ''Every time''. I hope that made you smile. Just one more, ''Often the  hardest person to forgive is yourself'' I think that's right , looking back on my life there are things I have said, and things I have done, and  I  find it hard to forgive myself. Yes I  have been forgiven all my sins, when I trusted Jesus, yes all of them, not one sin remains ( 1 John 1 v 7)  So why can't we forgive ourselves?  if we have been forgiven  all our sins, maybe, we need to drop the word forgive and replace with it the word ,''Regret''. The fact is we will always have regrets, we can't change that, but if we are a Christian, let us not live with unforgiveness, 

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No excuses ( John 13 v 34 - 35 )

 A number of years ago my  wife and I went for a holiday in Turkey, and we visited Ephesus , one of its inhabitants had been the Philosopher Heraclitus  who lived in 7BC. He is remembered for saying,'' No one can wash his feet twice in the same river.''  When we visited  Ephesus we visited the site were the virgin Mary had  supposedly lived ,and were John the Apostle spent his later years' It is of course uninhabited , all there is now is ruins. Very early it became in the Christian era a Christian church , it came into being under the ministry of the Apostle Paul. Paul moved on , his purpose was to establish churches. Later on when he was in prison  in Rome ,he wrote a letter to them , in chapter  1 v  15, he wrote a lovely  thing about this  church, that they had,' a love for all God's people,' I wonder can it be said of you and me that we a love of all God's people?, all the people in your fellowship, let us remember  what our Saviour said, ''A new command I give you; love one another , as I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another '' No excuses ,do it.

It can happen to you. ( 1 Corinthians 10 v 12 )

 Recently a person was  passing judgement on a young person  who is expecting a baby,  who is not married. Now let me say this what she has done is a sin, it is sin ,sex is a sacred gift from God, but when we act in a way that's outside  of  God's sacred purpose it  becomes a sin.  So how should we look at what that young  person has done?, well we can see the occasion when a woman  was caught in the very act of adultery ( John 8 v 1 - 11 ) ,the religious leaders had alternative for bringing her to Jesus. They wanted Jesus to pass judgement, which meant stoning her to death, but he did not do that, he said he that is without sin cast the first stone. They all  left, convicted by what Jesus said ,leaving the lady, he said, that he did  not condemn her, go and sin no more. Now in no way was he condoning what she did,, he called it for what it  was, sin, and told her to change her life of sinful ways. If we are to pass judgement, let it be righteous judgement, in other words, let us  have a right spirit in dealing with the fallen, for as they are, so at one time were we. Let us  remember we are all vulnerable, it happened to them, it can happen  to you and to me.