I came ,I saw ,I conquered ( Romans 8 v 37 - 39 )

 It was said that Julius Caesar utter the following words,'I came,I saw ,I conquered',he was a great general , who won many battles.I thought on his words, and thought of someone so much greater than him Jesus ,  but unlike Caesar He did not come with an army,no, He came himself. Where did He come from?,from heaven,and He came to fight a battle, to destroy the works of the devil 1 John 3 v 8,and to destroy the power of death,and  the power of sin.That which Caesar could not destroy.As we see the history of humanity those three  things are every evident.Look out the at  the world,what do you see?, take the blinkers off,look at reality,oh yes we cannot see the devil, but there is plenty of evidence that he exists,sin and death are only to real,and we are affected by them,we are born without hope and without God Ephesians 2 v 12.  But Christ came to change all that, and He did  it in a strange way ,by dying on a cross, there sin was dealt with,and there death was dealt with,as was manifested by His resurrection .It means that the devils power can be broken in our lives,sin can be forgiven,and death will not have the final say,death will eventually die,but we who have trusted Jesus shall live.

                                                 'Jesus came, He saw,and He conquered'

I exaggerate not. ( Romans 5 v 6 - 11)

A  survivor of the Holocaust attended the trial of one person involved in the Holocaust,and as he looked at him he said, he saw an ordinary man,and that upset him,and he thought ,that could me standing their.The problem of all us is ,we underestimate our fallen human nature.We all know the saying,'there but by the grace of God go I',so true, the scripture tells us a very important truth  ,' The heart is more deceitful than all else,and is desperately sick;Who can understand it'. Jeremiah 17 v19,in v 10, we read ,' I, the Lord, search the heart',only God knows the full  fallenness of our human nature,and the dreadful potential towards evil that dwells within,  potentially there is a Judas Iscariot in all of us, it is as serious as that, I do not exaggerate.We are all sin sick souls, in fact as we are born, we are dead spiritually, separated from a holy God by our sinful condition.  The problem is, no human being has the answer, for our sickness,yes mankind finds answers for many things, but only God and He alone,has the answer of humanities sinful condition, left to ourselves we are lost and hell beckons.God has provided the answer through Jesus death on the cross,if you are not Christian I urge you to trust Jesus as your Saviour ,He alone can forgive you  your sins,and set you free .

We are all His favourites. ( Acts 10 v 34-35)

There is a modern song with these words in it,'You raise me up to more than I can be',those words struck a cord in me.It reminds me what God do for us ,that is lift us up. In Psalm 40 , we read some wonderful words,

                                          'I waited patiently for the Lord;

                                          And He inclined unto me,

                                          And He heard my cry.

Note those words I waited patiently,we are all in a hurry,except God, are you in difficulties,and your saying, why is  God not answering my prayers?, because we have need of patience,learn that the lesson.Then we read  that God  heard his cry,dear child of God,it is not a vain thing to wait upon the Lord in prayer.Next we read,

                                           'He also brought me up out of a horrible pit,

                                            out of the miry clay,

                                            And set my feet upon a rock,

                                            And established my steps.'

David was in dire straits ,he describes it as being like being in horrible pit,stuck in miry clay, it seems that there was no escape,that his number was up, unless the Lord would answer his prayer,and the wonderful thing is ,He did..What He did for David He can do for you,but you may say He did that for David, he was a special person,but God has no favourites, all God's children are precious in His sight, we are all His favourites.

                                            'It is no secret what God do,

                                            What He's done for others,he

                                            can do for you.'

                                            

Christian love. ( John 15 v 12 )

Bruce Milne wrote,' To love like Jesus is to love inclusively, indiscriminately and  universally.When that kind of love flows within a congregation the world will take note that' they have been with Jesus'.Nor need this standard daunt us. Tertullian  reported in the late second century  the comments of the pagans in his day;' Behold, how these Christians love each other! How ready they are to die for each other! ' There mutual love was the magnet which drew the pagan multitudes to Christ. It has the potential to do so again'.

                                                                      Psalm 133.

                                             

                                                    How wonderful and pleasant it is

                                                    when brothers live together in harmony!

                                                    For  harmony is as precious as the anointing oil

                                                    that was poured over Aaron's head,

                                                    that ran down his beard

                                                    and unto the border of his robe.

                                                    Harmony is as refreshing as the dew of  Mount 

                                                    Hermon that falls on the mountains of  Zion.

                                                    And there the Lord has pronounced His blessing

                                                    even life everlasting.

                                                   

                                             

Nothing. ( Hebrews 12 v 4-11)

                                                           In Romans 8 v 38- 39 we read.

                                           ' For I am convinced that neither death nor life,

                                            neither angels or demons,neither the present or

                                            the future, nor any powers,neither height nor                                           

                                            depth,nor  anything else in all creation,will be 

                                            able to separate us from the love of God that is

                                            in Christ Jesus our Lord.'

Wonderful words of assurance to those who belong to Christ,that does not mean we can do anything we like,to presume on the word of God.If we fall morally ,act in a wrong way, He will not reject us,but out of  love for us His children, He will correct us and discipline us, that's what our heavenly Father will do. Hebrews 12 v 6.

                                         

The preacher.( Acts 4 v 13 )

 Many years ago while out walking  I came across a place where a tent was being taken down, it had been used to hold a gospel meeting.I knew one of the people,so I spoke to him.There was another man there who had been the preacher, I engaged in a conversation with him,and I wish I hadn't ,I mentioned I was going to  bible college,and that didn't go down to well, not much encouragement from him,I mentioned to him a friend  of mine who was a fine Christian,but the person spoke unkindly of him.The person was going to be a missionary to South Korea, I didn't respond to his unpleasantness ,but felt concerned for those he was going to minister to,and I ask myself this question in relation to him taking the gospel to South Korea,was he taken Christ with him?.Here is a general thought for all of us to consider, it is not all about preaching , important though that is, it's also about manifesting Christ in our lives.As regards that person I spoke to,yes he had just finished preaching the  gospel ,but as a young Christian I didn't see the reality of that in his life, even now I feel so sad with my encounter with that man.

Our example ( John 13 v 15 )

 We have been looking at Jesus who is our teacher, which involved His words,deeds and example. a certain politician during the pandemic  appeared on the TV stressing the importance of certain things,but he himself did not do what he said,it was a case ,do what I say ,but don't do what I do. When it all came out it was not long before he had to resign,he had lost the peoples confidence, and respect.Our dear lovely Saviour lived as He spoke,there were no inconsistences in His life,no one could call him a hypocrite.That is the challenge that we who are Christians face,I remember hearing about a minister who said ,'they are watching us',and indeed they are. As the non-Christians look on us what do they see?,as our family looks at us what do they see?. We are not talking about being a person pleaser, but one who  pleases God, there is a big difference ,our lovely Saviour always did that which pleased His Father,that should be our aim in life. We need not be to concerned if people are unpleased with us,because we stand for truth,and when we live a holy life,in doing so , we are walking in the footsteps of our Saviour ,Lord and teacher.