Where are you going? ( Matthew 10 v 28 )

 I was in a traffic jam,the driver in the car behind me pumped their horn telling me to move,but I couldn't,when I did move I saw him shooting off ,going to his destination.All these car owners speeding everywhere, were is their destination?.From the moment we are born we are heading towards a destination I am not just talking about death,but after death. There are only two destinations one is heaven the other is hell,no one would want to go to hell that seems reasonably enough, and everybody would want to go to heaven.Oh yes I know that many people do not believe in either,they think there is no such place as heaven or hell. I do not say this flippantly,but they are in for a big,big surprise.Hell is a terrible place,best avoided, heaven is an absolute wonderful place.It is Bruce Milne who writes,'It is not that hell is so terrible, but that heaven is so wonderful that every effort is to be made and every possession ,if necessary, relinquished in order to arrive there'. Everything here is worth losing if it leads to the incalculable gain of 'life' everlasting'. Our blessed Saviour personified truth,He never told a life,and he spoke of judgement  a lot ,and made it clear that death does not end our existence  , and He did something wonderful on  the cross in which he died,that if we asked forgiveness, and trust Him as our Saviour , the door of heaven would be opened. We all have a destiny,what is going to be your destination?                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         ,                                                                                                                                                                                          

Are you a plodder? ( 2 Timothy 4 v 7 )

 I am not a fast reader,it usually takes me awhile reading a book,but I usually get there in the end,I was encouraged to read that William Carey otherwise known as the father of modern missions, suffered  innumerable  hardships during a lifetime of missionary service ,said the following to his nephew,'' I  can plod. That is my only genius. I  can persevere in any given pursuit. To this I owe everything''. There is a lot to be said for being a plodder,there are those who start with great enthusiasm, but they give up that thing they were doing. There is an old song called ,'Old father Thames', by Raymond Wallace,here is a verse from it,

                                                'He never seems to worry

                                                 Doesn't care for fortune's fame,

                                                 He never seems to hurry

                                                 But he gets there just the same'

As Christians we are in a race, but it's not about who finishes first,it is about finishing,no matter what the difficulties, plod on ,persevere on by God's grace,don't give up.

Everything's gone. ( Romans 8 v 28/ 38 -39 )

The German  miserabilist wrote,''The ordinary man places his life's happiness in things  external to him,in property, rank,wife and children,friends, society and the like, so that when he loses them....the foundation of his happiness is destroyed''.Of course those thing are important to most of us, yet in a moment all things can be destroyed,or taken from us. The fact is we can end up standing,naked and barefoot bereft us of all these things. Natural disasters, unforeseen events,can rob us of everything,and there is nothing you can do about it ,no matter how unjust it may seem. We who are in a comfort zone,and daily view on our TV's the terrible disaster in Ukraine caused by the war,it is sad beyond we can imagine,yet it may be that it could happen to us.The greatest example of this is to be found in the book of Job,were Job lost everything , a very extreme trial. I do know how I would react if such a thing would happen to me,but one thing for sure these things mentioned cannot rob us of  God's love which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

                                                 'Every joy or trial, falleth from above,

                                                 Traced upon our dial. by the Sun of Love.

                                                 We may trust Him fully,all for us to do,

                                                 They who trust Him wholly, find Him 

                                                                   wholly true.

                                                          Words Frances R. Havergal

Truth matters ( John 8 v 31 -47)

    We were eating at a well known  establishment, and I saw  a stand with  magazines on it,the words on  the front page read,'Does truth matter?'.It appears that during the covid they were accused of  wrong doing,the magazine sought to challenge what had been said about them/.The were seeking to show that truth matters,not the lies that they believe were told about them.. Whatever the truth of this matter is the fact is  ,truth does matter,in business,politics, the media, the justice system.When the truth is denied, suppressed,distorted,what takes its place is lies?. In his poem ,'If', Rudyard Kipling,speaks of truth being  ',twisted by knaves'. The Nazi regime was supposed to last a thousand years,instead it lasted 12 years,one should not be surprised , for it was built on lies,among other things. It was Jesus who declared that He was the way the truth and the life ( John 14 v6 ), the death of Jesus on the cross, was an attempt by Satan ,and indeed the world,  trying to kill the truth.but of course they did not succeed,for you cannot destroy the truth,and Him who is the truth.His birth,His life,His message,his death and resurrection are built on truth,the thing is ,we are sinners ,and Christ Jesus came to save sinners,that is the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

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Ignore Him at your cost. (Genesis 19 v 26 )

 There were two brothers,they were religious,you read about them in Genesis 4.they were named Cain and Abel,They both worked at different jobs,the Bible says, Abel kept flocks,Cain worked with the soil.One day they both brought an offering to God, Able brought  what the Bible calls the firstborn of his flock, Cain brought the fruits of his soil.Then we read how God looked with favour on Abel's offering,but on Cain's offering He did not look with favour. The result was Cain was very angry, and God spoke to him, assuring him if he did what was right he would be accepted. So it follows that what he had done had not been right in God's eyes. What that was we do not know,it is not revealed to us,and God cautioned him about his anger that it was like a wild beast ,he must not let his anger rule him. Alas it does not appear that he listened to what God said,instead of saying to himself , I will do what God says,I will seek to do what's right in Gods eyes,and I will not be ruled by my temper.The thing is when you ignore what God says you are heading for trouble,he ended up with the infamous title,'the first murderer'.

Humility. ( Philippians 2 v5- 11)

A little bit of humility goes a long way ,true humility is not a showy thing, it should be genuine,not a Uriah Heep, 'I'm every so humble',  false  confession. Nor should it be a one off occasion,rather it should be a life manifestation. Peter exhorts the younger men to submit themselves to the elders.and to clothe themselves with humility towards one another,because, 'God  opposes the proud but shows favour to the humble ( 1 Peter 5 v 5 ) How is it manifest? by taking the place of a servant, as our Saviour did  (Philippians 2 v 5 -11). Peter declares,'Be clothed with humility', our dear Saviour personified that,I have looked at many examples of humility by preachers and so many other people,but they would all agree that in our dear Saviour ,we have by far the greatest manifestation of true humility. Charles R. Swindle  wrote the following,'Though  enwrapped in the radian light of His own divine glory, God the Son put a veil over His glory- not diminishing it or extinguishing it, but concealing it- all on behalf of a cold, dark world that sought to plunge Him into the shadow of death'. What a incomprehensible, unfathomable   example of selfless humility' Try following that.

'Fight the good fight . ( Romans 8 v31 - 39 )

 When we were young ,one of my older brothers was being picked on by a fellow who lived in our street,you may have heard of a child who would say,'i'll get my big brother for you', well that's what happened,our eldest brother did go and deal with him.Israel had come out of Egypt and they were going into the promised land,there would be many battles to be fought,those nations would be equipped with horses and chariots,and their armies would be greater than theirs.and this is what they were told,' Do not be faint hearted or afraid; do not panic or be terrified by them. For the Lord your God is the one who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to give you victory'. ( Deuteronomy 20 v 3 - 4 ) Yes they would have to fight,one writer say's,' Divine  sovereignty does not negate human activity,' it is not ,'Lets go and let God', no,they were going to to have to fight,the important thing is the Lord  would be with them and  would give them the victory,and so victory would be assured.We new covenant Israelites have many battles to fight on our way to glory,because the Lord will be with us ,victory is assured.

                                                     'Onward Christian soldiers'