Children.( Proverbs 22 v 6 )

 I was asked to lead in our local church a time of intercessory  prayer,and one of things I mentioned was for parents and their children. I prayed that they may see their children trusting Jesus as their Saviour, and I added that there was no age limit in coming to Jesus. Yes we must never forget that our children need the Saviour like we do,and that they can  come to Him young as they are,and He will receive them.They like us will receive eternal life and go to heaven, also that child will be saved from many of the pitfalls that many young people fall into as they grow up. Ever child has potential who knows,God may give to you a young Samuel,David,Joseph,or a young Spurgeon ,or Charles Wesley.  Who knows ?,we do our bit as parents,and God will honour that,remember what our dear Saviour said,'' Let the little children come to Me,and do not hinder them,''( Matthew 19 v16)There are awaiting them so many things that can hinder them coming Christ,so you bring then to Jesus He will watch over them,yes they may go astray,but God can bring them back again,I speak from experience. Cover them with your prayers,and your love, for love never fails.

Lost causes. ( Mark 5 v 1 - 20 )

I heard this recently,''I don't believe in lost causes, I believe in lost souls'', I am sure we all know of someone whom you have looked at, and you have thought that there was no hope for them.You may have  helped them many times,but nothing has changed,you may have stopped praying for them,or  you  may  be still praying for them, but not with much hope,humanly speaking they are a lost cause, they will never change. There are plenty examples of lost causes in the Bible,I want to point you to two people,one in the OT ,and the other in the NT, The first was King Manasseh one of the most wicked kings in Israels history ,he had a godly father King Hezekiah,but of course godliness is not transferable .CP Kings 21/ 2 Chronicles 33.Thankully God does not give up on lost causes ,and He dealt with him severely,,with the result  he sought the Lord,humbling himself,and God forgive him,he was lost but now he was found.The next person was a man no one could tame,we read about him in Mark 5 ,possessed by demons,people tried to help him, but to no avail.He was to all intent a lost cause,but Jesus came and set this lost cause free,and it showed,for we read of him being dressed and in his right mind'. He was lost but was now found by Jesus the one who came to seek and to save that which was lost.

                                              No one is too far gone that Jesus cannot save them.

Lukewarm ( Revelation 3 v14 - 22 )

 In the book of Revelation,there are seven churches mentioned,  chapters 2 - 3,  the Lord speaks to each of them. I like us to consider one of them, Laodicea, this church stands as a challenge to the prosperity movement,because on one level they had everything,on another they had nothing. Our Lord does not commend them in anyway, all He sees is a church that had lost its way.The cry of the church was,'I am rich',our Lord answers ,''But you do not realise that you are wretched,pitiful; blind and naked'.Their prosperity had blinded them of true spiritual values, that's always a danger with prosperity.It is instructive how the Lord  in highlighting the things that Laodicea were known for,and how He applies spiritual truths to them .The eye ointment,the manufacturing of cloth,a spring of water,that if one drank it ,it would cause one to vomit.This is how our Lord sums up the church.,'you are lukewarm,neither hot nor cold'. Lukewarm is a very interesting word, here is some of its meaning,'showing little enthusiasm, halfhearted, uninterested, couldn't care less. No wonder the Lord says,'' I will vomit you out of my mouth'',the seriousness of  their situation is found in 3 v 20,where it appears that the Lord is shut out of the church, He is depicted as one standing at a door,knocking ,asking to be let in.He declares to them that He will deal with them v 19,  v22  this is a plea for them to listen to what He is saying to them, or else.

                                                    The dearest idol I have known,

                                                    Whate'er that idol be,

                                                    Help me to tear it from Thy throne

                                                    And worship only Thee.

                                                        Words William Cowper.

God's ultimate purpose. ( Philippians 2 v 12 -13)

 What is the ultimate purpose for God's children? ,as we look back we could say a number of things,to save us  from judgement,that we may not go to Hell ,and that we may go to heaven.We could mention a number of other things,but the ultimate  purpose is that we who are His children may be conformed to the image of His Son.Romans 8 v 29. It is not an instant thing,it is a process, it comes under the term of sanctification. Sanctification means we are  called to be holy separating  ourselves from all that is evil, all that is sinful,it cannot be done in our own in our strength, the Holy Spirit plays a vital role in this process.That aspect of holiness is not something we receive it is something we do. again let me stress as Vine puts it ,the Holy Spirit is the Agent in our sanctification. Lets add that sanctification does not make us a Christian, we become a Christian by faith in Christ and His finished work,when we do that ,we are Justified,Romans 5 v1,that means we are no longer guilty,on the cross Christ bore our guilt, and punishment. That means we are totally accepted by God,in the words of a hymn,'Near,near I cannot be,for in the person of His Son I'm just as near as He'. Spurgeon put it like this,'Those for whom Christ has died,were perfected by His death. It  does not mean that He made them perfect in character, so that they are no longer sinners, but that He made those for whom He died, perfectly free from the guilt of sin. Jeremiah 31 v34/ Hebrews 10 v 1 - 10.

He knows. ( 2 Corinthians 4 v 7 - 18 )

 I was looking for something, and couldn't find it,and I found myself saying,''God you can see it,I can't'', so it set me of thinking.Consider how often we look at life, and we cannot see the why into certain events ,be they personal,or to do with events outside ourselves.Why? ,is something that hunts all of us at some time or other, faced with a sudden bereavement,a break up of a marriage,the present battle against the virus that we all are trying to avoid. I can't see the why in it all, but God can,yes He most surly can, so does that leaves us in the dark ?.When we declare that God is sovereign,it is a statement of faith,and of course all men have not faith. As Christians we are not fatalist ,we are called to act in a responsible manner , God can aid and help us,through difficult situations.When things happen that we can do nothing about,then we are called to exercised trust in a our sovereign God . This is a very positive thing to do,it is not thing of despair, the apostle Paul wrote, inspired by the Holy Spirit,'that all things are working together for  the good of God's children. ,Romans 8 v28. That rules out fatalism that statement of despair,and  points us to the path of faith, Remember we are on a journey ,not a road that leads to nowhere , as Proverbs  4 v18 reads,'The path of the just is as a shining light, that shineth more and more unto that perfect day'.

Kindness. ( John 3 v16 )

 Titus 3 v  4, reads ,' But when the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward men appeared'.v3 Expresses mankind's sinfulness,it is not complementary ,it describes us as being foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another.It is a sad commentary on humanities state,and God does not lie,why did God  come into into such a world in the person of His son Jesus?.The answer is very simple,because He is kind and loving.,and we could add to that,He is merciful, and forgiving..Many people see God as an Ogre,not at all friendly,yet if we read the Gospels, we see Jesus showing tremendous kindness,by healing multitudes of people,feeding the hungry,and raising the dead.We read that He went about doing good Acts 10 v 38,yes He was very kind, reflecting in all He did the kindness of God.And yet that same Lord Jesus spoke often of judgement ,of a place called hell Matthew 10 v 2/23 v 15/ 24 v 51.25 v 41/46 Luke 13 v 28..Judgement is coming, Jesus made that very clear. and there will be no exceptions Hebrews 9 v27. It didn't  give any  joy for Christ to have tell people about judgement, likewise it has never given me any joy,to mention hell. But the greatest kindness I can do,is to warn people of that reality,one  way one can look at it,its like sounding  the alarm  to resident in their home, that it was on fire,I may even get a medal for doing it. People need to be told as regards judgement ,that is coming,and point to the only one ,who can save them, Jesus.

We are different ( 5 v 9 )

 I was talking to my 6yr old grandson,I was explaining to him that we are all different,I am not the same as his uncle,or his dad,I am  77 , I will not do what they do with him.I have not the energy that they have but I still love him.When God made us he made us all different,we are  not clones, even twins are different,like snowflakes everyone of us is different. Here is a very important thing, Christ church is made up of people who are different. and the important think is we are not  meant to make that difference a problem.Jesus said that those who are truly His ,must love and except one another.It seems to me that conformity is not the order of the day, though some people would like to change that,it can't be done.In the temple court yard of the temple in Jerusalem  there where partitions,there was a court for women, a court for the Gentiles, a court for Israel( for men)and a court for the Priests .With the coming in of the new covenant,all that changed, the temple became obsolete, a new temple came into place the people of God ,Ephesians 2 v 21- 22/  1Perter 2 v 4-5. All things pertaining to the temple likewise became obsolete, that  includes the different partitions. There is no more barriers that separate us,the moment we trust Christ ,we are no longer Gentiles,Jews,all those distinctions are gone forever.We are now the new Israel,if we belong to Christ we are Abraham's seed, Galatians 3 v 28- 29. as Gentiles we are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God's people. Ephesians 2 v 19. Let us rejoice in our differences ,and our oneness in Christ,and to strive always for the unity of  His church.