What is it? ( Genesis 1 v 1}

 Alec Motyer said ,' The life which walks in the truth is impregnable',you cannot destroy truth,Martin Luther writing as  regards ,being justified by faith alone said,'on this I stand I can do no other',Think of all the religions  there are and have been, built upon lies,think about all political systems ,that are built upon lie's.If we have not truth ,we are believing a lie,or living a lie. People say silly unthought out things ,like ',it doesn't matter what you believe as long as your sincere'.That is not true,for it does matter what you believe no matter how sincere you may be.In the courts of law people swear on the Bible,promising', to tell the truth, the whole truth,and nothing but the truth,so help them God'.There is a certain very popular presenter of  wild life and nature  programs ,everybody loves and admires him,he is always mentioning evolution and telling us what he believes it does,but He does not tell us what it is. I forget to mention that he doesn't believe in God, not the God of truth,but the god that is a lie.

                                                   'In the beginning God created

                                                              All things,

                                                And that's the truth ,the whole truth

                                                   

Brokenness. ( Psalm 34 v 18 )

In Psalm 34 v18 we read,'The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit'.I was listening to that song by Leonard Cohen ,'Hallelujah, ' near the end of it ,we have these words, that all he could offer was ,'A cold and broken Hallelujah' ,these words struck a cord with me,in their honesty. God knows how we feel, and He wants us to be honest,and he will respect our sacrifice of praise,even though it may be cold and broken. Life brings many heartaches and often much brokenness, think of  those words ,'A cold and broken hallelujah'and the wonderful words that God is near the broken hearted. Don't  think God expects you be always full of joy and bubbliness, the most  meaningful prayer ever prayed was when our Saviours  heart was full of sorrow ( Matthew 26 v38 ) There is an old gospel song called,'The song of a wounded bird'. Here are the words from it.

                               Once I heard a song of sweetness, as it cleft the morning air,

                               Sounding in its best completeness,like a tender,pleading prayer.

                              And I sought to find the singer. whence the wondrous song was borne;

                              And I found a bird sore wounded,pinioned by a cruel thorn.

                            

                              You are told of one who loved you, of a Saviour crucified

                              You are told of nails that pinioned, and a spear that pierced His side;

                               You are told of cruel scourging,of a Saviour bearing scorn.

                               And He died for your salvation, with his brow against a thorn.

                               You are not above the Master; will you breathe a sweet refrain?

                                And His grace will be sufficient, when your heart is pierced with pain.

                                Will you live to blest His loved ones,Tho' your life is bruised and torn,

                                Like the bird that sang so sweetly, with its heart against a thorn.

We have a choice. ( Luke 12 v 49 - 53)

I want to hammer home why our great triune God choose to send Christ into the world,my  grandmother  used to say about some victim or perpetrator of crime ,'well they are  someones child'.Whose child are you? here is what Jesus called some,' You belong to your father the devil', (John 8 v 44). The apostle wrote to certain believers,before they knew Christ, he said ,that before they trusted Christ they were,' without hope and without God'( Ephesians 2 v 12. ) John writing in his gospel wrote the following,'To all who did receive Him, to those who believed in His name,He gave the right to become children of God'.(1 v 12). The question is this ,are you in the devils family or God's family?,is Christ your Saviour or is He not your Saviour?. One writer wrote the following. 'Christs coming would inevitably mean divisions',those who were His and those who are not,no one can stand before the cross without making a decision,to accept Christ or reject Him.To stay as they are,or to become what they could be,children of the Living God,and wonder of all that means. Dear friend it is your choice.

I Wish . ( Revelation 21 v 1 - 5 )

 One of the things that happened when in that earthly paradise our first parents sinned,we lost our innocence,no longer would we look at things perfectly,no longer we would act perfectly.Sometimes I have a deep longing for that innocence we lost in that garden,to look on all things with unsullied eyes.To always have pure thoughts,and right motives,to be colour blind , to be sweet and nice,if only. It  was Louisa Fletcher,who wrote a poem called ,'The land of beginning again', here is one verse from it.

                                              ' I wish that there were some wonderful place,

                                                called the land of Beginning Again,

                                                Where all our mistakes and all our heartaches

                                                 And all our poor selfish grief

                                                 Could be dropped like a shabby old coat at the door,

                                                 And never be put on again'.

Of course we cannot go back, but as Christians we can look forward to the future when we will be part of that new existence we read about in book of Revelation were we have Christ declaring.'  I am making everything new'.21 v 5,in that day all our old sinful tainted nature will' be dropped like a shabby old coat at the door,and never to be put on again'.

                                                  

The clock is ticking. ( 2 Peter 3 v 8 - 13

David Prior makes this statement,'In Jesus Christ the end has come,the countdown has begun'.Before He left to go heaven ,He said, 'I will come back'. With every tick of the clock we are drawing nearer and nearer to His return,in Habakkuk 2 v 3 we read,'Though it linger, wait for it,it will certainly come and will not delay'.As we look at the world we see a deterioration,things progressively getting worse,I am not a prophet of doom and gloom, but things are not getting any better in this world.The scientist who have brought much improvement to this world have also given us much that can destroy it. There will always be those people who want to rule the world even if that means destroying it,we live on a knife edge situation. We have not much control over many things,we cannot control nature,nor can we control,the fallen nature of mankind,and its bent for self destruction. Everything we see now is not permanent ,they are but a shadow.The things that are not seen are eternal 2 Corinthians 4 v 18, yes everything you see now is temporal.The clock is ticking,the question is this, will you be ready? have you trusted Christ as your Saviour?

Hope ( 1 Timothy 1 v 1 )

 Hope is a wonderful thing, it is one the triplets mentioned in 1Cor 13v13, Leon Morris wrote,'Men cannot live without hope. In the first centuries Christianity made a habit of taking people from the depressed classes, slaves,women,outcasts,and giving them a living hope'. In the society we live in there are so many people who have so much of this worlds goods,and that is their only hope. I like what Leon Morris says.and I believe we should aim our evangelism at the, hopeless of our society .We are not here to give people health,wealth and prosperity ,we are here to give people hope not only for time but for eternity  ,that hope comes through faith in Jesus Christ.Behind the facade of prosperity that people long after, there is sadness, loneliness, pain, lostness, hopelessness.Recently I spoke to someone who is part of a pastorally team in a university,and he mentioned how so many young people are in crisis,mentally ill, and suicidal. We live in a broken world,filled with broken people,who have no hope,and don't know where to turn to,whatever hopes they have had, has crumbled into dust. Many years ago as a young man with nothing really to look forward to,I trusted Jesus and found hope.

Hope. ( Romans 4 v 18 - 21)

I heard someone say recently,'how he had learned not to give up on hope', I am sure many people have lost hope,as I look back on my life,there will be things I hoped for,that have not come to past.On hindsight,it was for the best,at the time it didn't seem so, if one is a Christian we realise that God knows best.I pray for many people to be saved day after day,faithfully,and yet it appears that none have been saved, should I give up?,no,not a hope ,God says he will have mercy on whom He will have mercy (Romans 9 v 15).We must remember as Leon Morris puts it,' Paul is saying that God's freedom is absolute.It is important to be clear that before God we have no rights. That is why mercy is so important for sinners'.None of us deserve to be saved, do remember that,so I keep praying in the hope  that there will be those who will be saved by God's mercy. Abraham is a great example of a man who believed that God would give him and Sarah  a child ,a special child,It was a promise given by God, and Abraham and Sarah believed it,and their faith was tested,but God was faithful to His word,for He cannot lie,and so Abraham was 100yrs of age, and Sarah was 90,and they had a child.

                                                          ' Hope on child of God'