The importance of. (1 ) ( Matthew 4 v 4 )

 Two things I was reminded of this morning, first one was all things are possible with God, I was reading Mark 6 v 14 ff, when Jesus seeing a huge crowd of people, he had compassion on them, he described them as sheep without a shepherd, a miracle was coming, but first He taught them. We do not know what He taught them, as Christians we need to be taught by Jesus, that's not hard, it means we must take time to read God's word, seek to understand ,and live it out  Feed ourselves, we can buy good books, even commentaries ,to help us understand Gods word, also godly teachers on the internet, two I would recommend, Charles   Swindoll, and John MacArthur, I have found them helpful, Hopefully you have a godly minister who does not deviate from God's word, sadly there are an increasing number who are straying from the truth, they will not build you up in your faith, always be discerning, the Holy Spirit will be your guide, John 16 v13. Remember what our dear Saviour taught, ''Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God''  Matthew 4 v 4''. We will move on next time next in Mark 6 v 14ff .

He does care . ( 1 Peter 5 v 7 )

 Continuing on from last time recorded in Mark 4 v 35ff ,Jesus and His disciples in a storm, how they  woke the sleeping Jesus, with the words, 'Teacher, don't you care if we drown?'', these words were spoken out by fear ,it is apparent that they did not know the character of Jesus. they at this time could only see the teacher, but as time went on they would see and understand that Jesus was the most loving , caring person who ever lived. At that moment it appeared He didn't care, but He did, we look on Jesus who had compassion on the multitudes, He would feed them, He would heal the sick, comfort the down cast, He wept outside the tomb of one He loved. And they would see how loving and compassionate He was when He died on the cross. Christian are you in  storm , don't be tempted to think that He does not care, it may be a mystery to you ,as regards your suffering, but as Jesus said to Peter when He was going to wash his feet, and Peter objected,'' You don't understand now what I am doing, but some day you will'', John 13 v 7 In my living room hangs a embroidery from a poem by Florence M. Alt,  which my first wife did, it reads,

                               '  Not till the loom is silent, and the shuttles cease to fly

                                Shall God unroll the canvas - and explain the reason why,

                                The dark threads are so needful in the weavers skilful hand,

                                As the threads of  gold and silver, in the pattern He has planned'

I don't know why my dear young wife died, but someday I will ,never let any of us  think that  Jesus does not care, He does.

Just a teacher? .( 1) ( Romans 10 v 9 - 13 )

 In  Mark 4 v 35ff  Jesus and His disciples were in a boat, in a storm, it appeared that the boat would be swamped and they would all be drowned. Now Jesus was asleep at the back of the boat  ,He must have been totally exhausted so the disciples went to Jesus woke Him and said, '' Teacher ,don't you care if we drown''. They called Him teacher, of course He was a teacher, the greatest who ever lived, there are many who like Gandhi accepted the teaching of Jesus, but that is where it stopped. Even His enemies said, 'No one ever spoke the was this man does '. John 7 v 46. But neither Gandhi nor his enemies accepted Him as Saviour, Jesus is not a  Shakespeare ,Dickens, etc, He is a Saviour, in fact the only Saviour, who can forgive you your sins, and grant you eternal life. Of course we should not discount His teaching, for the words He spoke when believed ,will save us from error ,false religions, false ideas, and like Abraham we will be declared righteous by God.

There is a cure. ( Matthew 9 v 1 - 8 )

 Just imagine if someone had a cure for all illnesses,  no matter what illness, and you went to that person to get the cure, you listen to him, he shows you one tablet, it cost it a fortune ,but it is will not cost you anything, yes it will be absolutely free. You don't have to take it with water, for if you do,  it will not work ,just swallow it on its own, and wonder of wonders, it will have no bad side effects. He went on  to say that he  guaranteed  it would work, he said many people have been cured by it. I wish this was true, but let me apply this spiritually, the Bible tells us clearly that we are all sinners, you may have heard the term ,sin sick souls, in Isaiah 1v 5 - 6, the nations sinfulness is likened unto physical illness. our Saviour speaks of sinners as those who need a doctor Mark 2 v 17, I have heard people  say to me, 'I don't sin, if only that were true, but its not so, we all ,let me stress the all, have sinned and come short of the glory of  God Romans 3 v23. and the need to have our sins forgiven, is more important than anything else.  There are many religions in the world ,and  they put many demands put on their followers, no Muslin has assurance of eternal life, there is only one cure, Jesus, the only one who can truly save and forgive us our sins, He has paid the price for our  sins to be forgiven, there are no add-ons , it is effective for all sins, and it is  guaranteed to work.

                                                    Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe,

                                                    Sin had left a crimson stain,

                                                    He washed it white as snow.

                                                      Words Elvina  M. Hall.

Ruthless Trust. ( Isaiah 12 v 2 )

I  borrowed the words 'Ruthless Trust', from the title of a book by Brennan Manning, it made me think how appropriate, for all who will embrace faith in God, which always starts at the cross, were we trust Christ as our Saviour. What does ruthless mean?, it can be understood as being harsh even cruel. But it can have a good aspect to it, in our relationship with God, who desires that we trust Him unconditionally. One person  speaks of, 'heroic courage', in a loving God, no matter what happens'. Think of the courage it took for  Job to declare as regards God, ''Though He slay me, yet I will trust Him'', Job 13 v 15. He lost all his ,children, wealth, health, and  his friends were saying it was his fault, which it wasn't . A person wad asked to define  his life in one sentence, he replied,'' I can define it in a single word, 'Trust'.  When I am experiencing some difficulty ,I often hear these two words in my mind ,'Trust Me', it is as if God is talking to me. We all have a choice ,do we let unbelief, bitterness, suspicion, take over,  or we can ruthlessly cut across them, and trust our sovereign loving God?.

                                                     Trust in the Lord with all you heart,

                                                     And lean not upon your own understanding.

                                                                   Proverbs 3 v 5 .

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The Cross. ( Philippians 2 v 5 - 11)

 Tom Holland the historian writes the following on crucifixion ,' No death was more excruciation , more contemptible , than crucifixion' .It was a chosen means of punishment for slaves and thieves ,TH, writes the following, 'Exposed to public view  like slabs of meat hung from a market  stall' , it was a grim warning to any slave who stepped out of line.  Naturally ,if it were to serve as a deterrent  it needed to be public. Nothing spoke more eloquently of a failed  revolt than the sight of hundreds of corpse- hung on crosses'. TH writes 'The death of Jesus on a cross is an established fact', yes it really did happen, as did the resurrection, The cross was a excruciating death, it was also a humiliating way to die, reserved for those of  no standing in society. When one thinks of the awfulness of the cross, the total horror of it, one is utterly amazed that Christ choose to die such a death, and He did. In John 12 v 33 - 34, He knew how He was going to die, and He knew when He was going to die, John 13 v1 ,and He knew why he had to die on that cross. ( John 3 v 14 -15 )

                                                        Wonderful love coming to me,

                                                        Wonderful grace, freedom and mercy;

                                                        Bought with a price, death on a cross,

                                                        Wonderful love, Jesus, You've given to me.

                                                                      Words David Fellingham .

If only. ( Psalm 81 )

 Lets consider Psalm  81,believed to be written to the Northern  Kingdom Israel, V 1-4  ,there we have one of the festivals mention, Israel had a number of festivals, major ones and minor ones, most of them related to their ,deliverance from Egypt ,and other historical events. When  we read about Israel in the Bible we are not just  reading  something that was made up, but actual history, the events and characters mentioned were real. When we move into the New Testament the same applies, it is history, Calvary really did happen, .likewise the resurrection. V 5- 7 of the Psalm  reminds us how God delivered them from Egypt, Think back child of God, and how He delivered you in the past ,you called upon Him in your distress, He did not forsake you ,turn away from you, no, He delivered you .Our salvation was the greatest deliverance of all, He delivered us from sin and Satan's power, indeed from death itself ,'Hallelujah''. The  rest of the Psalm reminds Israel of their failures to listen to God, and their tendency to worship other gods. Things could have been different, V 18 -19. ' If my people would only listen to me ,if  Israel would follow my ways, How  quickly I would subdue their enemies and turn my hand against  their foes'.

                                                    Listen to God.

                                                    Obey God.

                                                    God will bless.