Fighting. ( Hebrews 12 v 1 - 2 )

 Every though I am not that tall,when I was  young I always seemed to be getting into scraps when I was young, of course as a youngster you had to hold your own.It was part of my back ground,  part of my culture,of course the word of God tells us that violence is part of our fallen human nature ( Romans 3 v15). I still have an aggressive streak in me,I am not good at debating with the cults, I get a bit frustrated annoyed with them.I suppose I will have to leave that task for others more capable than I to deal with them. I am inclined to go over things in my mind arguing with different people,and really it so unprofitable disturbs ones peace of mind ,so just recently I have been praying against this,I need to change, need to leave everything in God's hands.Now that's my confession , what about you?,none of us are perfect,do you recognize that you need to change,and like me begin to pray for change in your life.When you asked Christ to be your Saviour, He forgave you ,and you were enabled by the power of God to break away from so much that was controlling your life,but if we are honest and we need to be honest,to ourselves and to God that there is still much that needs to change in our lives,and we need to  pray for His power to deliver us,remember,' He is able ,through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we ask or think.'( Ephesians 3 v20 )

Thank you. (Luke 16 v 5 )

'Thank you', is a common expression it is often on my lips,when people open a door  for you,we do it with our hand when we are driving,someone lets us out at road junction.We say it by sending someone a thank you card for a kindness shown.On refection ,one wishes one had said more thank you's ,to the parents that brought us up. Sometimes our thank you's are just from our lips,not our hearts,I often thank God for his many mercies to me.Yet even though that's true the half has not been revealed to us ,of all God's goodness ,even during our life time.What dangers he has saved us from, the hidden hand of God is always at work for us, He has shut doors , holding us back,saving us from making the wrong decisions,and all that, would have entailed.It was Robert M.M'Cheyne, who wrote the following words.

                                             'When this passing world is done,

                                             When has sunk the radiant sun,

                                             When I stand with Christ on high,

                                             Looking o'er life's history,

                                            Then ,Lord, on earth to know,

                                             Not to then how much I know'

                                                     

                                                      'Thank you Lord'.

                                                                            

All things. ( Psalm 14 v1 )

 Just recently images have come back from  space from the James Webb space telescope,when those in NASA saw them they were astounded, and rightly so.   One has said, that this means we will be able to unlock key mysteries of the universe,it used to be said that no astronomer could be an atheist,how times have changed,instead of God being given the glory,science has become the authority,instead of thus saith the Lord,it is thus says science.They have taken over as mankind's hope,they have the answer,or so it seems,they speak of unlocking key mysteries,and yet they refuse to accept the greatest mystery of all,God.Consider the following words ,'The heavens declare the glory of God , the skies proclaim the work of His hands', ( Psalm 19 v1 )There is a saying that goes',there are none so blind who will not see'. seemingly that saying is taken from the bible,Jeremiah 5 v12 reads,'Hear now this,oh foolish people and without understanding which have eyes, and see not; and have ears and hear not'. These words describe, the many who do not see what the heavens are telling them, that God made the heavens and the earth.

                                                        'All things bright and beautiful,

                                                         All creatures great and small,

                                                         All things wise and wonderful,

                                                         The Lord God made them all.'

                                                             '  Words C.F.Alexander'.

Christ is enough. ( Hebrews 7 v 25 )

 If I have Christ as my Saviour ,do I need anything else?,the answer is no,and yet there are those who  say in one way or another there is more,Many of the problems in the early church was caused by people who said to the Christians that they needed more than  Christ,they were wrong. The church in Colosse were being told this, Bishop Stephen Neil writes,'The false teachers came in with the claim that they would complete and perfect the simple and elementary faith the Colossians had been introduced by Paul and his friends.This is what false teachers always do.What you have is quite all right, and a good foundation for faith. Now let us just finish it off for you, and you really will be Christians.In our tragically divided state today,exactly the same thing can happen .though being rather politer than the apostle Paul we shall talk of other communions rather than of false teachers. In many areas where Protestant missions have been at work, Roman Catholic missionaries have later come in, and set themselves to 'complete' the imperfect Christianity of the Protestant converts. Where older Churches have been at work Christians of the Pentecostal  groups have come in, and assured the converts that, unless they speak with tongues, they can no assurance that they have received the Holy Spirit. Anglicans have been known  to convey the blessings of episcopacy to those who thought  that the were getting on very nicely without them. All this is very sad, but it may help us to realize that we are not so very far from the  New Testament and its problems.'

                                                  'I have Christ what need I more'

The eye gate. ( Exodus 20 v 17 )

 I want to mention three people ,(1) Eve, 'She saw that the tree was beautiful ,and its fruit looked delicious. (Gen 3)  (2) Achan  ' I saw in the plunder a beautiful robe from Babylonia ,two hundred shekels  of silver and a bar of gold ' ...'.and I coveted them'. (Joshua 8) (3 ) ' David  saw a woman washing. The woman was very beautiful'  ( 2 Samuel 11 ) There s a little children's chorus we used to sing,the words went like this,'Be careful little eyes what you see,There's a Saviour up above looking down with tender love.Be careful little eyes what you see'.Those three were not children, no they were adults, if only they had not focused on that which was forbidden if only.I believe the sin of coveting is one of the most ignored sins by most people,it can be a very simple thing, like wanting that cake someone else is eating.Or a piece of fruit, think about it,some of it appears so trivial,almost of no importance,but don't be fooled,no sin no matter how it appears in our eyes,should be underestimated.Of for goodness sake surely its harmless no ,it offends a holy  God, sin is sin for all that,and will be judged by a holy God.Those three people did not just look at what they saw, that look took hold upon them,they became its slave,and the consequences was  awful, and nothing has changed ,Lets take coveting serious and recognise it for what it is,and to realise that all sin must be forgiven through faith in Jesus Christ.

Make the right choice. ( Deuteronomy 30 v 19 )

 I heard someone say the following,'Its a sad world and is very complicated',and then he added,' I wish it wasn't'.  We have many brilliant people in this world,but the sadness and the complications of life don't change.Tragedy's happen ,wickedness still happens, unresolved complications still are there, is there an answer?.Not if you are just looking at one level, one level does not help,we need to lift our vision heavenward, to our sovereign God who rules over all the affairs of mankind. You see we are not alone in the universe ,and I am not talking about aliens,forget that rubbish,I am talking about a sovereign God,who knows why the world is like it is.Of  course the world is not like it should be,or even meant to be,although  God is sovereign,when he created humanity,he let them have a choice,and they made the wrong choice, a terrible choice, and brought gloom and doom into our existence. From then on sadness would be part of existence, and we would ever be confronted with complications to solve one thing after another . I wish it wasn't so,as I look at life, wars,death, need I go on?.So that's it ,it appears so hopeless, looking at one level ,it just depress'es us, so we need to look to God,who through His Son Jesus who  solved the greatest dilemma for all us, sin and its consequences,through faith in Him ,we walk through a door that gives us a wonderful future in Gods new creation,were there will be no sadness no complications ,don't be like our first parents Adam and Eve who made the wrong choice,make the right choice,trust Jesus, and you will never regret it.

The kingdom of God. ( John 18 v 36 )

 Jesus said,'My kingdom is not an earthly kingdom'. (John 18 v 36), I wonder have you asked yourself what this means.I think it means what it says.A great example of the problems of going against the words of Christ, was when Pope Stephen11 ,received from Pepin the king of the Franks 20 cities ,they developed into what became known as the Papal states.From that time on the papacy became nothing more than a means for people being able to ingratiate themselves, Giovanni' de' Mussi in 1350  wrote ,'These territories and cities have been given to the priests and ever since then most violent wars have been waged on their account  .......the consequences of temporal power have been innumerable wars and the overthrow of peoples and cities. How is it possible that there never has been any good pope to remedy such evils and that so many wars have been waged for these transient possessions. Truly we cannot serve God and mammon at the same time, we cannot stand with one foot in heaven and the other on earth'.  The Kingdom of God is a spiritual kingdom,made up of all God's people, and only that,it is ruled from heaven.Our task as Christians is to preach the gospel of that kingdom, that it may be established in the hearts and lives of men and women ,who have trusted Jesus as their Saviour.