The have nots.( Proverbs 28 v 27 )

I was watching a movie about a rich couple befriended a very poor person, they let him live with them, and there is a moment in the movie when he is shown his bedroom. The lad looks a bit overwhelmed, and the wife of the couple says to him,'I  suppose you never a bedroom before?'.he replied,'no I have never had a bed of my own'. For many the real world is made up of children ,who have never had a bed of their own,never had a pair of shoes,never had clean water to drink, never had new clothes to wear,never had a home to live in,never tasted chocolate. Never had someone who told them that they loved them,and have never heard about the love of Jesus. Such is the world that we lived in,we glibly speak of the haves and the have nots, and that's that. We who have, neglect the poor to our cost, we will be the poor ones, remember we are not saved by our good works , but the evidence that we are saved,is our good works,as James says we are to show our faith by our good works. ( James 2 v 18 )

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Request Denied. ( 1 John 5 v 14 - 15 )

 He wrote many of the Psalms, he was king of Israel,a man after God's own heart, his name was David, but God refused hie request ,to be allowed to build a temple (1 Chronicles 17). In 2 Chron 28 v 3 David tells us why,he was a warrior, and had shed much blood.David never showed any resentment as regards his request being rejected.God said his son Solomon would build it, so instead of feeling hurt or getting angry he provided all that was necessary for his son to build the temple.The fact is God will not always give us what we request,it is important for us to see this. I wanted to be a missionary,God did not grant me my request,in hindsight I understand  that His will must prevail, not mine. I know so very little ,I do not always know why God says no,but it is important,to accept it as I have said ,His will must prevails. Even though Davids request was a noble admirable request it was not in God's will to grant his request.It did not mean that He did not love David, for it is obvious that He did, He was not rejecting David ,he was rejecting His request. Let us turn to one dark night in a garden were a lonely figure lay prostrate on the ground,and He was praying with such an intensity that he sweated as it were great drops of blood.He was facing suffering greater than what any other human would ever face.Here is what He prayed,' My Father , if it is not  possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done'.Someone has said every true prayer has at its heart, those words,'your will be done', his name was Jesus.

Peaceful Trust. ( Psalm 37 )

 In one of Agatha Christie's novels ,Hercule Poirot the private detective and a girl called Deirdre were going through the contents of a room of an old lady who had been murdered. They spoke about the things she had kept,Poirot mentioned how those things she kept, spoke to that lady of old memories .Deirdre agreed but said ,'that she never kept anything'.Poirot replied,'that's because you look forward, not back', she replied,'I  don't know that I look back anywhere,I mean today's usually enough,isn't it,?'  It was our Saviour who said,' So don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring it's own worries. Today's trouble is enough for today'. Someone passes the following comments, on those word,'Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don't get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes'.

                                                         'No profit canst thou gain

                                                         By self -consuming care;

                                                         To Him commend thy cause; His ear

                                                         Attends the softest prayer.'

                                                                 John Wesley

                                                        

Creativity. ( John 1 v 9 - 13 )

 I was walking around a store, I was not going to buy anything, just  looking,so many things I found interesting,like kitchen utensils,glassware,and I was filled with admiration at humanities creativity.I looked at the design of things,many things which we all take for granted, not given those things a second thought.I have been to art galleries, looked on Michelangelo's statue of David,things of beauty that we admire, reminding us of the wonderful creativity  that's all  around us everyday.Our wonderful God has given the gift of  creativity to those He created in his own image. Humanity can create so much that's wonderful, but the negative side is ,we create an awful lot of things that are awful, who created that virus?.Consider the weapons of destruction,they are the things that nightmares are made of. We cannot escape the fact that humanities fallen nature takes over in some way or other,the creative artist may be a pervert, a child abuser.We all admire the gifts of of those who are very creative,but as people they may have dark hidden secrets, the dark side of our nature is always ready to take over in a destructive way, towards ourselves ,and towards others.There is only one remedy for all of us, we need to turn back to the one who created us, and lost us,but is now come  to save us, His name is Jesus, by whom all things were made. 

What am I?. ( Luke 12 v 16 - 21)

 An ancient Greek called Horace said,' We are just statistics, born to consume  resources',are we just a statistic?,it is a good question.This little planet appears to be getting smaller as the population of the world increases ,  in 2019 it was 7.674 billion (2019). Mind blowing and of course we are all  consumers,but is that all there is to our existence?.The mass murderer Stalin said,' A single death is a tragedy, a million is a statistic.' But the fact is a million people  are a million individuals,and each death is a tragedy.When God said he loved the world,he was not thinking of them as a statistic, no, he knows everyone of those 7.674 billion people intimately. Yes we all are consumers, but is that sum total of life?,our Saviour warned us  that life does not consist in the abundance of our possessions (Luke 12 v 15 ).This world which God has entrusted to us ,is being stripped bare, by its inhabitants,who want more, not because of need, but because of greed.If we leave God out of the reckoning ,then all we become is a meaningless statistic,with a heart that just cries out for ,more ,more ,more.Yet if we listen we can hear the whispers of Jesus saying, 'What good would it do to get everything you want and lose you, the real you?    What could you ever trade your soul for'. (Mark 8 v 36- 37)

Lost (2)( Colossians 1 v 13 - 14 )

 How few people know that they are lost, but many feel lost for all that,it is alright singing the words of an old song,' I know where I'm going', but do you,were are we all heading?. It was Shakespeare who wrote,  

                                                      'Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player

                                                      That struts and frets his hour upon the stage

                                                      And then is heard no more. It is a tale

                                                      Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,

                                                      Signifying nothing.'

Is that it? is that all life signifies?, nothing, we are all a freak meaningless accident,being lost leads us  nowhere,we don't know where we are,or where we are going. What is the answer?,is there an answer?, it was John Newton who wrote,'I once was lost but now am found'.what brought the change?, Jesus, without Him there is no meaning,there is a future but where will that future be?.Writing to Christians, the apostle Paul reminded them that before before coming to Christ,they were without hope and without God (Ephesians 2 v 12) It was Jesus who said ,that He had come to seek and to save that which is lost ( Luke 19 v 10).Millions can testify that Christ brought forgiveness,freedom from sinful bondage,hope and purpose, and meaning into their lives.I look at so many people and  I say  to myself ,if only they knew Christ,if only.

                                                       Without Christ there is no meaning.

Lost (1 ) ( Matthew 9 v 36 )

 I could not find it, a sense of panic  was beginning to set in,were did I last have,it?.  What was I looking for ?, you probably have guessed,it was my wallet, with two bank cards in it, well silly Billy that I am, I found it, panic over, and then I uttered a thank you to God In this age of technology ,why can't they invent something that would help us at times like this?,who knows they may .Loosing a wallet or whatever can be stressful ,mobile phones are another problem ,and so we can go on. There used to be a place called a lost and found department, they may still exist,one of the major themes in the Bible is taken up with that very thing. That which is lost and that which is found, the lost is humanity,consider, we all from day one ,are classed as being lost.You may have someone say to you,'are you lost?'. Well let me ask you, are you lost?, you may think , what a silly question,but its not.for the bible tells us,'We're all like sheep who've wandered off and are lost',( Isaiah  53 v 6).This wandering off  is a deliberate act by humanity, of  us going away from God. A favourite song comes to mind,'I did it my way ',these words sum up humanities lostness, no longer do we acknowledge God's way, or want  God's way,so the result is, we are lost. Do think about this, we will continue this next time.

                                                            No one is truly wise; no

                                                            one is seeking after God.

                                                                  Romans 3 v 10.