Prone to wander. ( Jude v 24 - 25)

 A  minister Robert Robinson in the 18th century wrote a lovely hymn ,'Come Thou Fount of every blessing,' based on the words 1 Samuel 7 v 12, which reads, 'Thus far the Lord has helped'. These words were spoken by Samuel the Prophet, at a time  when their enemy  the Philistines where a great threat to them. Samuel encourages the people of God to direct their hearts to God, to serve only Him, for as per usual, they had wondered away from God, worshipping other  gods, making themselves idols. They responded to Samuels words and put away the idols, and turned from the false worship. Having done that Samuel reminds them how God had helped them up to now, inferring that He would continue to do so, which he did. Like Israel of old ,we can so easily wander from God, we start living like those around us, morally confused, doctrinally confused. We need all of us, to stay close  to God, and if we do , He will help us, I leave the last verse of that hymn with you , as  a prayer.

                                              O to grace how great a debtor 

                                              Daily I'm constrained to be!

                                              Let that grace, Lord , like a fetter,

                                              Bind my wandering heart to Thee.

                                              Prone to wander, Lord I feel it,

                                              Prone to leave the God I love;

                                              Here's my heart, Lord, take and seal it,

                                              Seal it from Thy courts above.

                                                                    Amen.

Deck chairs. ( Matthew 9 v 9 - 12 )

While on holiday ,we went to the town of Weymouth ,and spent time on the beach,  our youngest son and family were with us. My two grandchildren had great fun ,and we hired deck chairs, when one returned them you received your deposit back .So when  we took them back ,a young fellow was sitting at a table, it was he who would give us our deposit back. As I looked at him, it reminded me of the account of Jesus who came to a man called Matthew who was collecting taxes, and Jesus spoke to him, simply saying ,''Follow Me'', and he did. I took the opportunity  to tell  the young man that story, challenging him to trust Jesus. He said to me, why?, so I said to him, He will forgive you your sins, save you from hell, take you to heaven , and give you a new life. He did not respond much to what I said, I then  said, I would pray for him, and he said thank you. Will you pray for him?, and if you are not a Christian, Jesus is saying to you,'' Follow Me''.

I wonder ( Luke 24 v 13 ff )

Sometimes I wonder how am I going to get through certain situations, yes how? Do you every feel like that, could be situations at work, at home, situations with friends, whatever. How does a person who has been married to someone for a life time and they die, how oh how, do they get through that situation?. For every situation there is only one answer Jesus, here is what He would say to us, trust Me, take my hand  and I will bring you through. Although we cannot see Him ,He is there as the old hymn reminds us,' Standing somewhere in the shadows you'll find Jesus', could be you have forgotten that .Remember those two people on the Emmaus road, their world had fallen apart, every time they thought of what had  happened, their heart would ache, and feel like breaking .Is that your situation is that how you feel?, what's the point of going on. They were at their lowest ebb what could possible change things?, we read one came on the scene, it was Jesus ,we read that they were kept from recognising Him .But He knew them, He knew the reason for their sadness,, and so He ministered to them, and  their  hearts were touched.

                                                         Sometimes when my faith would falter,

                                                         And no sunlight I can see,

                                                         I just lift my eyes to Jesus,

                                                         And I whisper, Pilot me.

                                                         Fear thou not for I'll be with thee

                                                         I will still thou pilot be,

                                                         Never mind the tossing billows,

                                                         Take my hand and trust in Me.

                                                                Words Emily D. Wilson.

Imperfect (Mark 12 v 41 - 44 )

 I  have just watched the service from Stonebriar Community church in Frisco, Texas, the Pastor is Chuck Swindoll, a wonderful man of God, with a wonderful ministry, you can get it up on You Tube. He preached on 'Growing  old, and growing deeper', at the end of his message, he mentioned the cross, and living 24/7 in light of the cross. Just before he finished, he sang a verse of  a well known hymn.

                                          When I survey the wondrous cross

                                          On which the Prince of glory died,

                                          My richest gain I count but loss,

                                           And pour contempt on all my pride. ( Words . Isaac Watts )

Chuck is an older man than I am, he would never win a singing contest, but I am sure God was pleased and accepted his song of praise. I have a very dear friend who  was booked to speak to the young people in his church many years ago, he had a miserable cold, but God honoured the word he gave, to the salvation of those young people.

                                           Fear not to enter His courts in the

                                           slenderness

                                           Of  the poor wealth thou would'st

                                           reckon as thine;

                                           Truth in its beauty, and love in its

                                           tenderness,

                                           These are the offerings to lay on His 

                                           shrine.  

                                                     ( Words . J.S.B. Monsell)

Tears. ( 1 Peter 5 v 7 )

 A tear fell on my cars windscreen , and my cars wipers, wiped it away ,and that tear was no longer there, as I write this, I am conscious that we live in a world, were many tears are falling, for all sorts of different reasons. Everyone one of us will have occasions when we will shed tears, could be that you have been shedding tears at this time. The great prophet Jeremiah was known as the weeping prophet CP Jer 3 v 9, King David had his time of weeping ,CP  1 Samuel 30 v 4, no one can expect to escape shedding tears. Even our blessed Saviour shed tears, when a dear friend died ,we read ,' Jesus wept', CP John 11 v 35. He was called a man of sorrows, CP Isaiah 53 v 3. After Jesus died on the cross, and rose again,  He then ascended to heaven, He became our great High Priest, the one who understands fully out tears, as  William Kapp wrote,

                                                   In every pang that rends the heart, 

                                                    The man of sorrows has a part. 

                                                     He sympathizes with our grief,

                                                      And to the sufferer sends relief.

                              Come to Jesus, He will comfort you, and He will dry  your tears.

Revival. ( Acts 1 v 8 )

I  recently read about the revival that happened in 1949 in the Hebrides under the ministry of Duncan Campbell, but the one place it did not effect was the capital Stornoway. Why?, well there were doctrinal differences, some Christians ,opposed it, one of the reasons some ministers used  to undermine it was, that the preacher wore brown boots. black boots were the norm. It seems comical that anyone would take that serious, but they did, if this is true, it is tragic .I know God is sovereign so I wonder how  this fits into this, only God knows. The   country I come from Northern Ireland, in the past experienced revival, and left its mark to this day on the Provence of Ulster. Unfortunately  revival  in western countries is non existence, why?, I am sure there are many reason, that go further than brown boots. Revival often came as result of people praying earnestly ,pleading with God with tears, we cannot force revival but we are told , that the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man can achieve wonderful things CP James 5  v 16..

I am bound to the scriptures. ( 2 Timothy 2 v 15 )

Hercule Poirot the fictitious Belgian detective created by Agatha Christie said the following,' 'In all the world there is nothing so curious and interesting, and so beautiful as truth'' ,I would add to that by saying, there is nothing so important as  truth. Yet it is that very thing we struggle with, consider how many people  do struggle with it, yet we want people to be truthful, people have been sent to jail for telling lies. When a witness  is called in court, he swears on the Bible to tell ,the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. That book that he swears on ,is the is truth, and yet so few people accept it, the cults distort the truth, likewise Muhammad who reportedly wrote the Quran, is another great example of that. In doing so he has robbed his followers of a Saviour, and that is so serious. and so sad, for we all need a Saviour, that Saviour being Jesus. Many Christians want to pick and choose what they will believe, not accepting ,that God who is love, is also the righteous judge, so they reject much that is in the OT. William Barclay was a very popular writer ,well known for his daily study Bible , denied the deity of Christ. among other things. When we start changing the truth of Gods word, putting wrong meanings on it, refuse to accept the difficult bits, we are asking for trouble. We are called as Christians, to accept the Bible, as the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth., as Luther said, ''I am bound by the scriptures'',  ''Here I stand, I cannot do otherwise. God help me. Amen''