Some doubted. ( Isaiah 35 v 3- 4 )

What does God value ?,there are many things God values,but one thing for sure it is trust, we are so easily blown of course, things we think which may happen,and yet don't. We often anticipate the worst, and it doesn't happen,and you say to yourself,' why did I worry?' The answer is we let doubt take over,instead of simply trusting, our loving heavenly Father,we know we should,for we know He can be trusted. Is this not true?, of course it is, true beyond words,true beyond feelings,because God can be trusted.Just before our Saviour was about to leave and return to heaven,we read,that when the disciple saw Him they worshipped him ; but some doubted (Matthew 28 v 17)I wonder are we any different?, let us not be to quick to judge the weaker brother or sister, for our faith is not always consistent.

                                                       Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus,

                                                       Just to take Him at His word;

                                                       Just to rest upon His promise;

                                                        Just to know thus saith the Lord.

                                                        Jesus, Jesus how I trust Him,

                                                         How I've proved Him o'er and o'er,

                                                         Jesus ,Jesus, Precious Saviour,

                                                         O for grace To trust Him more.

                                                           Words by Louisa M.R. Stead.

Liar. ( John 8 v 44 )

I saw a photo recently, it depicted a plaque on the wall of a dental surgery,with the following words on it,'Painless dentist'.  Underneath the plaque a young lad was stretching up with chalk in his hand,and he wrote the word liar.It made me laugh,but telling lies is not a laugh,God is not pleased when we lie,in Proverbs 12 v22 we read, ' The Lord detests lying lips, the Av ,translates it,'Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord'. One writer makes the following comment on these words,'God can't stomach lies', yes these words are severe but God takes lying very seriously,after all he is the God of truth. We read in Hebrews 6 v 18,'It is impossible for God to lie',when He speaks the truth,when He gives a promise he keeps it, that means that God is utterly trustworthy, and so we can take Him at his word.Hitlers Third Reich ,(Reich means kingdom) was built on lies.Hitler declared that the Third Reich would last a 1000 years,instead it only lasted about 12 .A kingdom built on lies will not last, God will see to that,likewise a life or relationship will not last,that is why we can be assured Satan's kingdom will one day cease to exist.There is an old saying that goes, 'Tell the truth and shame the devil',it is always right to speak the truth and honour God, than telling a lie and dishonouring Him.

To believe or not to believe.( Philippians 2 v 5 - 11)

 I just listened to a program about Arianism ,which many believed,it is named after  Arius who advocated a belief that opposed the doctrine of the Trinity. This was a belief that Christ was less than God, lets face it many people find this doctrine strange,and even not rationale .There are many things that people reject  as regards belief,that does not make the thing rejected ,wrong. Now consider who the early followers were ,they were Jews,who in no way would have tolerated anything,or anyone who undermined their scriptures, meaning what we call the Old Testament. In the OT  we have some pointers to the deity of Christ, Genesis 1 v26, Isaiah 9 v 6-7, Psalm 45 v6 -7/ 110 v1 ( CP Mt,22 v 41 -45) .So we go into the NT which I believe shows clearly that Christ was truly God, and truly man. The early disciples who followed Jesus,must have  asked who was this Jesus,?yes the Messiah, but was that all, but when He stilled the storm (Mark 4 v 35 - 45),they were terrified and did ask each other,'Who is this? Even the wind and waves obey Him.'I wonder is that what you are saying?,again they were men of the word of God, they would have died for the truth.It is John the beloved disciple who emphasises the deity of Christ, John 20 v 31. The very first verse in his gospel tells us,'In the beginning was the word , and the word was with God, and the word was God', v14 reads,'The word became flesh and made His dwelling among us'.There are many other passages in the NT that clearly declare Jesus to be God the Son.The program I listened to did not really deal with the Christ of the bible, and I feel in doing this,they were   following in the footsteps of Arius.

Such love. ( 1 John 4 v 19 )

 Let us consider the wonderful historical event about our Saviours coming into this world,and  let us remember that He existed as God before He was born.  John 1 v1. In 2 Corinthians 8 v 9,'For  you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich'. It is E.K.Simpson who writes,' Jesus takes on utter poverty that we might become unutterably rich. Here then is One who for our sakes gave up more than any other being  ever possessed, nay yielded Himself up body and soul to inexpressible pangs as our Hostage.'. The question is ,what motivated Him to do such a thing?,love,the hymn writer ,declared,'Love came down at Christmas',another wrote that it was not the nails that kept Him on the cross, no it was His love. E.K.Simpson declares,'Love is best gauged by  sacrifice'.If we want to see love in its totality,look at that person hanging on that cross,as E.K.Simpson puts it,''the offended died to set the offenders free'' But not only set us free,but as John the apostle wrote,'Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us that we should be called ,children of God'.( 1 John 3 v1 )

                                                    'Such love springs from eternity;

                                                     such love, streaming through history;

                                                     such love, fountain of life to me;

                                                      O Jesus,such love'

                                                              Words Graham Kendrick.

Hope ( 2 Peter 3 v 10 - 13 )

 Sometimes its hard to be an optimist .everything is rises in price,war in Ukraine,Putin the great,people being  murdered, in so many places in the world,the reluctance of the American government  to bring effective gun laws in. Yes I could on ,but I won't, the fact is we live in a broken world, we are a Humpty Dumpty world, fallen, broken .Is this world going to get better?, I'm afraid not, in  Matthew  24 v 4 we have what Jesus said,'Don't let anyone  mislead you, for many will come in my name, claiming ,'I am the Messiah'. They will deceive many . And you will hear of wars and threats of wars, but don't panic. read the rest of what our Lord had to say in that chapter, it is awesome,but Jesus tells us not to panic,he stresses the importance of not giving up v13, And here is the task that church has in the midst of all this,' The gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations,and then comes the end' What people need to hear is the good news of the gospel, that Jesus saves, he is the only hope for mankind,So let us set our minds on things that are above, not on things on the earth,...........for when Christ who is our life appears, we also will appear with Him in Glory ( Colossians 3 v 2 )

                                                         'Christ is our only hope'

Wine and Vinegar.( Ecclesiastes 7 v 8 )

It is John Piper who wrote a book called ' A Sweet and Bitter Providence', it is a based upon the book of Ruth. There are two main women in this book, Naomi , and Ruth,and both experienced what the Puritan Richard Baxter calls,'wine and vinegar', in the same cup. Naomi lost her husband ,and sons,and Ruth lost her husband. The book starts by telling us how Elimelek ,Naomi's husband and their two sons, left Israel because of Famine,and they went to the land of Moab. There the two sons married Moabite women,one called Orpah and Ruth, during the next ten years the three men died. A bitter providence.That meant that the three women were left in dire straits,no social security in those days,so it was a difficult time, but then a light of hope shone into the situation. Naomi heard encouraging news,that God in his mercy had come to the aid of his people providing them with food, so here we have a sweet providence. So Naomi told her two daughters- in - laws that she was going to return home.Naomi was a very understanding woman,she told them it would be better if they stayed in their own land. Orpah did stay in the land of Moab, but dear Ruth refused to leave her mother -in -law.This would became a very sweet providence, for as you read the whole story you would discover, that God would bring blessing upon Naomi, Israel, and the world,which is and was a very sweet providence. ( 4 v  13 - 22)

War on truth. ( John 14 v 6 )

 Is truth important?, are we Christians  not just being narrow minded?are we not just being divisive?,it depends on your view point,it was Pilate who  said ,'what is truth?'. We look at the world, so many opinions, so many religions,confusion reigns,and like Pilate we may ask the question the same question as Pilate.There is a book  called,  'Who moved the stone', written by man called,Frank Morrison. When he set out to write the book he was not a Christian, but he was intrigued by the person of  Christ, and the last days of his life, let us bear in that Christ was an historical person,his life and death are historical facts.  Frank believed that, but he wanted to rid His life of the seemingly miraculous accounts associated with his life and death.But as he wrote his book the evidence convinced him of those very things ,he was sceptical of. Yes Christ had died on the cross but also on the third day, he rose from the dead.After He rose from the dead  he was seen by over 500 people,and we have personal accounts of  some of the people he met with .Frank Morrison became a Christian, convinced by evidence of his life, death and resurrection. They were historical facts,but they were more than that,they were about a person who was equal with God coming from heaven,for the sole purpose,of dying on cross. He was sinless, but on the cross He died that we can have our sins forgiven,it also meant He would bear the punishment for our sins,that is very important.So Jesus accomplished a perfect salvation, for all those who trust Him to be their Saviour, that is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

                                                Read Isaiah 52 v13-15/ 53v 1 -12.