Strong reasoning. ( Isaiah 41 v 21)

 I read the following story ,about a Christian called ''Holy Ann'',who lived in Canada,she lived to be one hundred years old.    When she was young she worked for a family ,for a very small wage,they treated her very badly.They made her carry water for a mile up a steep hill. At one time there was a well near were she worked,but it had dried up.One night she was very tired,and she fell on her knees and cried to God; and while on her knees  she read these words,''I will open...fountains in the midst of  valleys; I will make the dry land springs of water.''. ''Produce your cause,saith the Lord; bring forth your strong reasons''So Holy Ann produced her cause before the Lord. She told Him how badly they needed water and how hard it was for her to carry the water up the hill; then she lay down and fell asleep. The next morning early she was seen  to take a bucket and start for the well.She was asked by someone where she was going, she told them she was going to the well to draw water, but they told her,that the well was dry. But Holy Ann carried on,and  when she got to the well,it was full of water,and the well never did run dry after that. We can't command God to answer our prayers, but we can reason with Him and use arguments, strong reasons,why He should answer our prayers.

He is able. (Ephesians 3 v20-21 ) 2

We continue to look at Ephesians 3 v 20 ,and John Stott's comments,he writes on the words ,'according to the power that worketh in us'. 'The infinite ability of God to work beyond our prayers,thoughts and dreams is by the power at work within us, within us individually( Christ dwelling in our hearts by faith) and within us as a people  (who are the dwelling place of God by His Sprit) It is the power of the resurrection, the power which raised Christ from the dead, enthroned Him in the  heavenlies, and then raised and enthroned us there with Him. That is the power which is at work within the Christian church. Because of this power there are no limits to what God can do. The power comes from Him; the glory must go to Him'.

                                      'More powerful than all the dark and mighty powers

                                       let loose in the world, more powerful that anything

                                       else, is the power of prayer set ablaze by the fire of 

                                       God and cast upon the earth.'

                                                                   (Torrance)

He is able . (Ephesians 3 v 20- 21) ( 1)

 Ephesians 3 v 20 - 21 ,reads,'Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh within us,Unto Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus through out all the ages, world without end. Amen.I want to quote John Stott on these verses. He lays seven stages in relation to these verses.

(1)He is able to do or to work,for He is neither idle,nor inactive,nor dead.

(2) He is able to do what we ask,for He hears and answers prayer.

(3) He is able to do what we ask or think,for He reads our thoughts,and sometimes we imagine things for which we dare not and therefore do not ask.

(4)He is able to do all that we ask or think, for He knows it all and can perform it all.

(5) He is able to do more......than( beyond) all that we ask or think,for His expectations are higher than ours.

(6) He is able to do much more,or more abundantly, than all we ask or think, for He does not give His grace by calculated measure.

(7) He is able to do very much more, far more abundantly, that all we ask or think,for He is a God of super- abundance.

God cannot be bought off. ( 1 Peter 1 v 18-19 ) 1

 The first sermon I preached in England was from the book of Micah chap 6 v 8 , it reads ,'He has told you,O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you. But to do justice, to love mercy,and to walk humbly with your God'. Micah ministered during the reign of 3 kings of Judah, 'Jotham , Ahaz, and Hezekiah. Bear in mind that the nation of Israel split in two under the rule of Rehoboam ,Solomon's son, it was  a judgement caused by the sin of Solomon.It is to these two nations that Micah spoke to, telling  them God's judgement was coming, and it did. but their was also a degree of hope,things would change eventually.Micah answers the question,as to what the Lord required from the nation.would multitude of  sacrifices be the answer?, the answer was no. David Prior writes ,' This notion of atonement by means of costly gifts,of virtually buying God off , dies very hard in the human heart'.The Roman Catholic church sought to do this in the selling of indulgence,the more you give the less time you spent in purgatory.a man called Simon in Acts 8 thought the gifts of God could be bought with money, he was rebuked severally by Peter. There is a saying everyone can be bought,but let me assure you, God cannot be bought off.Peter sums it up like this ,'You were not redeemed with corruptible things,like silver and gold,from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ,as of  a lamb without blemish and without spot', (1 Peter 1 v 18- 19)

Are you blind? ( John 3 )

 Have you ever wandered why when you talk to JWs, Mormon's, that no matter what one says from the scripture,they refuse to accept it. Also why did the religious leaders failed to recognise Jesus for whom He was,their Messiah  .In present Israel there is a group of Jews called Hasidic Jews,and most of the men spend their days studying the Torah ,the first five books of what we Christians call the Old Covenant scriptures,they also  fail to  recognise their Messiah?.What is obvious to the Christian, ,is not obvious to them, why can't they understand,why?,but they don't.Paul writing to the Christians at Corinth declares,' And we have received God's Spirit (not the worlds spirit), so we can know the wonderful things  God has freely given us (1 Cor 2 v 12)then he follows it up by saying,'But people who aren't spiritual can't receive these truths from God's Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them and they can't understand what the Spirit means'. (v 14).Our Saviour was faced with people who like the Hasidic studied the scriptures, the Pharisees,the separated ones, the defenders of the Law.This is what Jesus said to them,  You search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. But the scriptures point to me. Yet you refuse to come to me to receive this life'.(John 5 v 39- 40). The fact is,it is not enough to know the scriptures,you must know the Christ of the scriptures as your Saviour.

/

The best thing you have ever done. ( John 11 v25 )

Are you a rational person? most people are rational to some extent, some people choose not to be,for whatever reason .They ignore reality,and they do foolish things with dire consequences,they  do the lottery ,instead of paying into a pension scheme.They refuse to be vaccinated even though it has a proven record of being an effective means of protecting one from certain illnesses.People still smoke even though it is potentially very dangerous, instead of being rational and saying no ,and of course we have the flat earth society,very rational, I think not .Many people who are Christians,stop believing certain Christian beliefs because they seem irrational.Doctrines like the deity of Christ,hell ,certain moral things,they may even reject the resurrection of Jesus,in fact an awful lot of non- Christians,believe when your dead that's it. In spite of the fact that Christ rose from the dead,so many people will not believe, because they do know of anyone who was truly dead and come back  to life.There are those who believe that the body can be resuscitated,  so they have their bodies frozen..As to Christs resurrection Jesus foretold that He would rise again Matthew 27 v 62 - 63 ., and the fact is He did, after his resurrection he was saw by over 500 people 1 Corinthians 15 v 3ff,the result is, all who put their faith in Christ,even though they die they shall  live again,with a new body in that place that Christ has gone to prepare for all who believe in Him. It will be best thing you have ever done,and the most rational thing,if you would believe in Him.

Shedding blood. ( Exodus 20 v13 / Joel 3 v19 - 21)

When Cain murdered his brother Abel,the Lord said,'What have you done?, Listen! Your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground.'.This followed by these words ,'Now you are under a curse  and driven from the ground which opened its mouth to receive your brothers blood from your hands'. Genesis 4 v10- 11. It is said that visitors to Babylon ,and to other Chaldean towns and cities, saw unrivalled magnificence and grandeur. They were hugely impressed by what they saw, but all they could see was splendid buildings. God looked at the city and saw bloodshed'.Think of all awful violence perpetrated in the history of mankind,,the innocent blood that has been shed. David Prior writes,' Human blood has a voice. When it is shed,it speaks,its voice cries out to God,God responds to human bloodshed with a curse on those He would prefer to bless. The voice of every victim cries out to God.Their agony rings through the streets and squares,through the marketplaces and corridors of power. They reach the throne-room of heaven and rend the heart of God. He, therefore,  decrees that all such enterprises will be doomed to frustration and to failure'.

                                                                 ' Jesus said'

                                    'All who take to the sword will perish by the sword'