Busy,busy,busy. ( Luke 16 v 19 -31)

 We live in a busy world bombarded by many things,many are like the rabbit in 'Alice in Wonderland', who ran holding a clock and crying out,'I'm late! I'm late! for a very important date'.The poet writes of those who have no time to stop and stare, they are busy,busy busy. There is a  story of an explorer in Africa,he was accompanied only by porters,So they drove on relentlessly,but after a couple of hours they stopped,the man asked why they had stopped ,where they tired?. 'No they replied they where not tired, it's just that we have been moving very quickly,so we left our souls behind,now we have to wait, for it catch up with us'.Yes the world rushes on, not considering that they have and are an everlasting soul,and without Christ they will spend eternity in hell,it is a grim message,a sad message,stop for a moment,pause and consider what I am saying before it is to late,turn to the Saviour today.

Things above. ( 2 Corinthians 4 v18 )

 There is a saying that if you are to heavenly minded you are no earthly good,I wonder if that is  true?. In Colossians 3 v 1-2 ,we read,,'Since, then, you have been raised with Christ,set your hearts on things above,where Christ is,seated at the right of God.Set your mind on things above,not on earthly things'.I don't think we are told that life on planet earth is ont important,no ,things of life are important,your family,your job etc,As one writer has said,'He  is not saying we should withdraw from the world',our Saviour prayed that we should not be taken out of this world (John 17 v 15) Life is to be lived out in the here and now, but we are here that we may be light to those who are in spiritual darkness,we are here that we may be the salt in a corrupt world. We have been raised up in newness of life,we must manifest that life,we must hold unto to the things of this life loosely,nothing should take the place of Christ and future glory. We must all ask ourselves the following questions,are the things of earth more important than the things of heaven,are the things of time more important than the things of eternity. Matthew Henry wrote of that world to come,'Our head is there, our home is there,our treasure is there,and we hope to be there for ever'.

We are fragile. ( Isaiah 40 v 28 - 31 )

 'You could have knocked me down with a feather',so the saying goes,yes sometimes it does not take much to knock us down. The strongest person can go down with a cold or whatever, A big giant got knocked down by a young lad, and mighty army got defeated by a few hundred,another person lost his sight ,when he got his hair cut.One day a great king stood boasting about his power ,the next moment,he has lost his senses,and he ended up in a  field eating grass.Paul was a great man of God and accomplished so much,what was this secret? .The answer is found in the words of Philippians  4 v13,'I can do all things through him who gives me strength'.It is through Him we conqueror,it is by Him we are kept safe,we fragile human beings need look to look to Him ,call upon Him continually.Recently I was staying at my sons,that morning as my daughter-in-law was about to leave for work,I prayed with her,she then left and went to work. Later she sent me a text thanking me for praying for her,she said that she she had so much to do at work ,and she didn't think she would be able to get through it all, but things went much better than she hoped,the burden had lifted' 

                                                      'He gives strength to the weary,

                                                      and increases the power of the weak.'

                                                                    Isaiah 40 v 29.

                                                       

I spoke to my hair. ( Matthew 7 v 15- 25)

' I spoke to my hair,' these are the words spoken by a so called preacher who a vast number of followers, the point is this man is 85,and his hair is black,and people have been wondering how an 85yr old man has no gray hair.So he went on to say he talked about it to God,and God supposedly told him to speak to his hair,and he did just that,and so he has no gray hairs, His name is Kenneth Copeland,he is a man who says he is a god,and he can speak things into existence,he boasts about being a billionaire,he also said that Isaiah 9 v7 applied to him and to all Christians. This man speaks to vast numbers of people,plus he reaches many people on the television,what really saddens me, many people who attend his gatherings , to hear him,have  bibles with them,but they have no discernment. Our Saviour said this ,'Watch out for false prophets'(Matthew 7 v 15) He goes on to remind us that there will come a day in which they will stand before Him and even call Him Lord,and say  they have done many wonderful things  in His name, and He will say,'I never knew you. Depart from Me, you evildoers. '

If only ( Luke 15 v 11- 24)

I wish I could sleep in the midst of a storm, like Jesus did (Matthew 8 v 23-27)but I think I would be just like the disciples,who thought they were going to drown. Fifty eight years following the our dear Lord ,yet one can get anxious about even small things. Yes I know the bible,the promises,the answers to prayer I have had many,God is faithful,in spite of our weakness,why?,yes why?.Well the words in Psalm 103 v 13 -14 tells us something very special,'As a father has compassion on his children,so the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him, for He knows how we are formed that we are dust'.I like the words in Deut 7 v7,spoken to Israel ,'The Lord did not set His affection upon you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it was because the Lord loved you'.The Lord knows all about us and wonder of wonders,He still loves us,and He always will.

                                                     'Charles Spurgeon wrote'

                   'Blessed be His holy name for this gentleness towards His frail creatures'

   

A famine. ( Amos 8 v 11)

We looked last time how a priest tried to shut Amos the prophet from declaring God's message to His people and how dangerous that is,it has fearful consequences. In spite of this Amos continued to minister,but sad  to say,the people did not listen,so Amos proclaims a message of judgement and one of the things included ,was a coming famine, not the usual famine,but a famine of hearing the word of God. Such a thing has terrible, terrible consequences, an absence of God's word, If the Word of God is withdrawn or even corrupted,how are people going to be saved,for faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God.the word of God (Romans 10 v 17) It is Alec Motyer who writes,' Have we got a Bible still in our hands? Let us prize it,read it and commit its precious truths to heart and mind. It is not an inalienable possession; it may may not be ours for ever. Is the Bible still preached in our church? Let us love to hear the Word of God;let us be urgent to bring others within earshot of it. It is not our guaranteed privilege;the voice of the preacher could be silenced.The truth of God is our only fence against error. In this as in everything else the way of strength is to keep close to God and to fear much, much more the peril of falling out of His power and truth than of  falling into the power and error of Satan'.

A dangerous thing to do. ( Genesis 17-26) 1

 Amos a prophet was sent to Israel and Judah with a message of judgement, to the surrounding nations ,and also a message  judgement. Israel and Judah and those nations could have escaped this judgement  if only they would  have repented of their wicked ways,but alas they didn't. God is a forgiving God,when Nineveh was under judgement for their sinful wickedness,they repented and God forgive them.Anyone no matter how wicked they are,God will forgive if they truly repent and seek forgiveness through Jesus.But alas  neither Judah or Israel would listen to God's servant who proclaimed the word of God to them.Indeed a so called priest tried to shut the prophet  up,and have him removed,but failed.( 7 v 10-17)  It is a very serious and dangerous thing to silence Gods voice, or try to,as we will see next time. 

                                                       ' Today, if you hear His voice,

                                                         do not harden your hearts.'

                                                                  Hebrews 3 v 7-8 .