What's in a name. ( Matthew 1 v 21 )

Many people don't think much about the meaning  of their name, imagine if nobody had a name what would we do?. Who would we address our letters to,?, or what would they do to announce the winners of the Oscars?, yes we need names. Children call other children names ,not very nice name, Jesus experienced this ,not when when he was a child, but when he was grown up. We read about it in the gospel of John chap 8 v 48 , the religious leaders were challenging him, and the longer it went on the more frustrated they became, and so  they thought of the worst thing they could call him. Here is what they said, ''You are a Samaritan and have  a demon'', the NLT puts it like this,'' You Samaritan devil''. The Jews hated and despised the Samaritans, so that was bad enough, but it did not stop there, your also demonic. This illustrates how much they hated and despised Jesus.it is in Isaiah 53 v 3, we read these words,' He was despised  and rejected of men'. that hatred of Him would cause them ,to commit  the greatest crime ever perpetrated, when  they  later had Him arrested and crucified. Jesus knew all this, none of this surprised Him, he knew what he would have to endure, compare the following,  'Matthew 16 v 21/  17 v 12/ 26 v2 / Mark 8 v 31/ 9  v 9/ Luke  9 v 22/ v 41. There are other scriptures that shows clearly that He knew what was coming, even death on the cross. Not only did He know what  was coming, He knew why  he would suffer .

                                               Wounded for me ,wounded for me,

                                               There on the cross He was wounded for me;

                                               Gone my transgressions, and now I am free,

                                               All because Jesus was wounded for me.

Adapting ( Philippians 4 v 13 )

 As one looks at life  ,one of the great lessons one has to learn, is to adopt to so many things, because  if one  doesn't then life can become  difficult . I suppose there are three groups of people in life in relation to adapting. those  who do adopt, those who struggle with adapting, and those who refuse to adopt. Those who willingly embrace the challenge of adopting ,who say I am going  to do it, I am going to embrace it , and they do,  The worlds population is on the move ,people are having to live in new countries, and many of them do, and then there others who retire to foreign countries, and never learn the language of their new country. When the industrial revolution came in ,life changed dramatically, many fought against it, to no avail.  The Bible is full of examples of people like Abraham who had to adopt to a new life in a foreign  country, the Israelites  in exile. It is inevitable  that change will come  ,we loose our job, a loved one, old age with all the changes that can bring. It is vital that we learn to adopt in life, if you are a Christian then you have  a decided advantage ,I hear someone say ,no I haven't, yes you have, you have Christ with you. If you are old, remember the Christ of your youth, is still the Christ of your old age. Every change that comes into your life is not a reason to wring ones hands in despair, it is an opportunity to prove the faithfulness of God, to trust Him to help you to adopt ,to every new situation ,and He will.

Heaven . ( Hebrews 11 v 13 - 16 )

 I heard Billy Graham speaking on You Tube , that he was just turning 80 yrs of age, and he said he was asked, 'What was the greatest surprise in his life, he replied, ''the brevity of life,'', of course he went on to live another nineteen years. I am sure  he would  have still have said the same answer. Moses the man of God said that the days of our life ,' quickly pass and we fly away', (Psalm 90 v 10 ). Just before Billy Graham died, he wrote this in his last column, ''By the time you read this, I will be in heaven''. Some people say that  to be to heavenly minded, makes you of no earthly use, it is not true. Colossians  3 v 2 ,reads,  'Set your mind on things above , not on earthly things'. Again a quote by Billy Graham, ''Heaven doesn't make life less important, it makes it more important, the Bible says as long as we are here on earth, we are strangers in a foreign land. There are enemies  to be conquered  before we  return home. This world is  not our home, our citizenship is in heaven'.

                                           When all my labours and trials are o'er

                                           And I am safe on that beautiful shore,

                                           Just to be near the dear  Lord I adore,

                                            Will through the ages  be glory for me.

                                            O that will be glory for me, glory for me,

                                            When by His grace  I shall look on His face,

                                             That will be glory, be glory for me.   ( Words by C.H. Gabriel )

                                            

Messiah ( John 6 v 35 )

 So Jesus fed the multitudes ,did that make him the bread providing Master?, the  multitudes appeared to think he was .In John chapter they  followed him in their droves after the miraculous feeding of the 5,000 plus. The Jews  had a hope of a Messiah the anointed One, at Christmas we quote many OT scriptures like Isaiah 9 v 6 -7, just recently I heard a Jewish scholar mentioning about the Messiah coming. They are still the waiting people, their Messiah will come and establish his throne upon the earth, and they would never more be oppressed, never more go hunger, and they  his people would rule over all the gentiles . In John 6 v 14 ,they identified  Jesus with the prophet  of  Deut 18 v 15-18 ,and the fact that they wanted to make him a king, as they saw him as the Messiah. Moses declared that the prophet would be like him, for they gave Moses the credit for feeding them, in the wilderness. To them Jesus  was the bread providing Master, or was he?, and of course Jesus had to tell that he wasn't. In the early days of missionary work in China , there were those who were known as rice Christians, they converted to Christianity for material gain, not out of conviction. The bases of coming to Christ must never be for material needs, but for the need of Him, and the Salvation that comes through trusting Him.

Compassion .( Psalm 86 v 15)

 Someone called our Lord ,'the bread providing Master', I suppose He could be seen as that ,after all He  performed two wonderful  miracles,  the first  was the feeding of the 5,000, (plus )  in John 6  and Mark 6, the next one ,the feeding of the 4,ooo, ( Plus) in Matthew 15, and Mark 8.Jesus was very popular, crowds numbering in their thousands followed Him, on both occasions they had nothing to eat, and Jesus responded to their needs, He fed them. In the second one, we have Jesus saying , '' I have compassion on the multitude'', that compassion led  Him to feed them. We read in a number of places of Jesus being compassionate in Matt 9 v36 ;14 v14; 15v 32; 18 v27; 20 v34 ; Mark 1 v 41; 6 v34 ; 8 v2;9 v22; Luke 7 v 13; 10 v33; 15 v 20;.  Compassion is not just crocodile tears, it should have desire to help, to lift up the fallen, to give to the needy. to comfort the sorrowing, to visit the lonely ,Jesus did, and He says to all of us follow Me.

That's a fact. ( 2 ) ( 1 Corinthians 1 v 18 - 31 )

' I'm  thinking, don't confuse me with the facts', so wrote Plato, what are the facts as regards human history, at this time I am reading a book ,called, ' Anarchy ',it is a historical account as to how the East  Indian  company, took over a country. I have reached the half way stage, and it suddenly struck me, how many  wars, there are recorded , and I thought I wonder how many wars there have been since time the fall of man. One writer commenting on Cain killing his brother says, ' since that time the world has become  a slaughter house'. That's a fact, in describing mans sinful condition, the word of God tells us in Romans 3 v 15,' Their feet  are swift to shed blood'. Although we are small  we are capital of so much violence, that's a fact. As regards sex ,the list of offences, are innumerable, that's a fact, we could say the same as regards murder, that's a fact.  Mankind has an addictive nature, be it with gambling, drugs ,alcohol, that's a fact. All these I have mentioned are but the tip of an iceberg, I have not even touched on  mans fraught attitude to God ,He is not even in their thoughts, and his name is blasphemed continually, that's a fact. We live in a broken world, were death  is ever present ,  reminding us of that fatal fall in Eden's garden, that's a fact.  I wonder would  you turn  your thoughts to the God who loves this world, to the God who loves you. For only He could provide a means for us to recover ,'Jesus', through  his death and resurrection, when we trust the Christ of the cross our sins are forgiven, we receive eternal life, and our lives are changed for ever ,that's a fact.

I feel quite small. ( 1 ) ( Proverbs 15 v 3 )

There is a song by one of my favourite singers, Katie Melua , which goes, 'There are nine million bicycles in Beijing,/We are twelve billion  light years from the edge, that's a guess,/There are six billion people in the world, more or less, and it makes me  feel quite small 'It is a  bit mind blowing  all those millions and billions, it does make one feel quite small. Six billion people more or less, a lot of people, but God knows everyone of them, yes even a little old you ,and a little old me. He knows  everything about us, and here is a point He is no respecter of persons, and it may come as a surprise to you, everyone is precious to Him, yes even you, and even me. He even loves us ,but don't be fooled ,His   love is not blind , He see's  us as we really are, and what He see's is not very pretty . When  Oliver Cromwell was having his portrait painted, he told the artist to paint warts and all. My old mother when she was going out to a party, used to say, as she put on her make up, I am putting on my new face, the fact the camera can lie .But God see's us as we are, and He would speak the truth to us, sometimes the truth is the last thing we  want to hear, Plato said, 'I'm  trying to think, don't confuse with the facts'. We  will consider this more next time.