Without fear or favour. ( Acts 20 v 25 - 27 )

 I was reading 1Samuel 3 in which we read of the young Samuel having an encounter with God,he did not know it was the Lord who was speaking to him,he thought it was Eli the priest but eventually Eli told him it was the Lord . So he began to converse with the Lord, it was simply to tell Samuel that the judgement that God ,would bring upon Eli and his sons was about to happen. The  next morning we read Samuel was afraid to tell Eli what God had said. Dale Ralph Davis comments,'No sooner is Samuel called to the prophetic task than he finds how difficult and heart rending that can be'.This does only apply to prophets but it also applies to preachers, if you are in the ministry,or thinking of going into it, bear that in mind. As a minister you will bring comfort and instruction to people,that's important, but you will also have to tell things things they don't want to hear. You should tell them about heaven but you will also have to tell them about hell,you will have to tell  them about the moral values of Gods kingdom. In the pulpit,  in the church I  ministered in ,there was a little rug,with the following words on it.''Preach the word'.

                                                       'Preach the word without fear 

                                                        or  favour'.

He cares. ( 1 Peter 5 v7)

In Mark 4 v 35-43 we read that Jesus and the disciples were in a boat ,when a severe storm came up ,the boat was nearly swamped. Jesus was asleep in the stern of the boat.and it appeared to them that He didn't care,so they woke Him and said just that,' Teacher , don't you care if we drown?. With that He got up and stilled the storm, and challenged them as regards their lack of faith.We are not so different from those early disciples, in our troubles we may think even though we don't say it,why is He not helping? ,why,oh why?,does He not care?.I want to leave with you the words of a song written by F,E.Graeff.

                                            Does Jesus care when my heart is pained

                                            Too deeply for mirth or song,

                                            And the way grows weary and long?

                                             Does Jesus care when my way is dark

                                             With a nameless dread and fear?

                                             As the daylight fades into deep night shades,

                                             Does He care enough to be near?

                                             Does Jesus care when I've tried and failed

                                             To resist some temptation strong;

                                             When  for my deep grief there is no relief,

                                              Though my tears flow all the night long?

                                              Oh, yes , He cares,I know He cares,

                                               His heart is touched with my grief;

                                               When the days are weary, the long nights dreary,

                                                I know my Saviour cares.'

Providence. ( Psalm 107 )

 It is always profitable to consider the providence of God,in his little book  'The mystery of providence',John Flavel asks this question,' How is it that you have survived so many mortal dangers, sicknesses, accidents, designs of enemies to ruin you?.'It is a good question to ask,and there  can only  one answer,God's providential care,why did I survive,when my younger brother died? why was I rescued from drowning.Often we will not understand God's providence at that time ,we may later grasp it in some measure .Let's consider the providence of God in relation to prayer, now it seems we think or hope God will grant us what we pray for every time ,but it will not happen ,God in His  mercy has a plan for all His children's lives. D R .Davis writes ,'Sometimes God's greatest kindness is in not answering our prayers exactly  as we desire'.I remember thinking I would like a certain job and so I applied for one,of course I prayed,coinciding with this my present job was coming to an end,and as we often say,'one door shuts another opens',and in the providence of God that happened. I would have loved it to have been in full time ministry but it wasn't to be,but I loved my new job and worked at it for 20yrs.Coinciding with that I became a joint leader of the church  I attended, and got my desire,regular preaching,it all worked out for the best in the providence of God. Again let me stress God has a plan for all our lives,He has promised to guide us,in what we call the providence of God, trust Him He makes no mistakes.

Repentance. ( Luke 19 v 1 - 10)

 I want to consider the subject of repentance,but first of all I want to tell you about a man called, W P.Nicholson ,he was born in Ulster/N.Ireland.He had a godly mother who prayed for him to be saved ,and her prayers were answered,he eventually went to Bible College,and after that he became a very  powerful  evangelist .my grandmother became a Christian under his ministry.Thousands of people were saved under his ministry,little Ulster was transformed,many who worked in Harland and Wolf's shipyard came to know the lord,their lives were transformed ,so much so, that the owners of the shipyard,erected a building  to hold all the items that had been stolen from the shipyard which the workers returned .Now let us think about repentance ,what does it mean?.it has with it regret and a sorrow.It is not always used for a godly repentance,as in the case of Judas whom we are told repented or showed great sorrow for what he had done,but he did not change his life.True repentance has with it sorrow,but goes further than just a emotional response. It is best illustrated  in the conversion of a corrupt tax collector we read of in Luke 19,who declared to our Lord,he would give half of his money to the poor,and right the wrongs he had committed.

                                             'True repentance goes beyond a

                                              merely emotional response'

Our littleness. ( John 6 v 9 )

 In Dale Ralph Davis's commentary on 1Samuel he tells an event that happened during world war 2, when German cities were being bombed.The air craft was hit by antiaircraft flak lodging in the gas tank,but they didn't  explode,when they landed ,the pilot asked for the  unexploded shells.There were eleven shells,they were taken to the armorers to be defused,the armorers found that the shells contained no explosive charge,all but one contained a rolled-up -note,written in Czech. When it was translated it contained this message,''This is all we can do for you now''.These Czechs were compelled to work in an munitions plant for the Nazi war effort. The world is a very needy place,in so many place evil appears to reign, so many lost souls,so many people hurting,and suffering,and we think we can only pray,we can only give so little. Dear brothers and sisters in Christ remember He commended the woman who gave two small copper coins,( Mark 12 v 42). and with 5 small barley loaves,and two fish, he fed 5,000 plus people.

                                                ' Fear not to enter His courts in thy slenderness,

                                                  Of  the poor wealth thou would'st reckon as thine;

                                                  These ,though we bring them in trembling and fearfulness,

                                                  He will accept for the name that is dear;'

                                                                 Words John S.B. Monsell.

The worst of times ( Jonah 3 )

 'It  was the best of times,it was the worst of times,( Quote from ,'Tale of two cities',by Charles Dicken) In Ezekiel 22 v 30 ,we have God speaking through the prophet Ezekiel who was a captive in Babylon, here is what he said.'I looked for someone among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so that I would not have to destroy it,but I found no one'.This was written of one of the worst time in Jewish history.As one reads chap 22 we are made aware of the dreadful decline of the nation of Israel,morally and spiritually. It was so serious that God would judge them,by sending  an invading army upon them to practically destroy them.John B.Taylor writes ,'The over-all picture of extortion ,bloodshed,immorality,incest and irreligion is a terrifying description of any nation whose appointed  time is drawing near'.To emphasise how bad things had become God looks for even one person to stand in the gap, someone as J.B.Taylor puts it,'who would try to interpose himself to stop the national ruin.But there was no one with the moral courage to stem the tide'.so judgement would fall.Just one man,but it was not to be. No one listened to the prophet Jeremiah in Jerusalem,but if the king had stood in the gap,bringing people back to God, the city would have been spared,but alas it  was not to be.There comes a time when things become so bad ,that God says enough is enough.

                                                ' Heed the voice of God before it is to late'

Man Plans, and God laughs.( Psalm 27 v 11)

 Sometimes if we are honest we are faced with situations,decisions,and we just do not know what to do.It was a cousin of mine ,who quoted those words,'Man Plans, God laughs', is it true?,I suppose it reminds one that God and He only knows what is going to happen God is never surprised,He knows the beginning to the very end.In  Proverbs 3 v5-6 we read,'Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him,and He shall direct your paths'. David Livingstone sought to find the source of the Nile ,he never did find it, could it be that the journey he took was more important than the destination he was going for. God has many lessons to teach us,some are painful, upsetting,mysterious, but if it is God's way it is perfect.Saul went looking for donkeys ,he ended up being Israels first king (1 Samuel 10).Joseph went looking for his brothers and eventually he became a ruler in Egypt.( Genesis 45 v 41).Some fishermen became fishers of men (Matthew 4 v 19), Saul the persecutor became Paul the the Christian.

                                               'God may not lead us to our desired destination

                                                but He will lead us to His destination.

                                                God  may not fulfil our desires ,but He will fulfil

                                                His will in our lives.'