Old age. (Psalm 37 )

They  say the camera doesn't lie, and I suppose a lot of  people wish it did. I had a photo taken of recently and it brought home to that I am 79 but I look 79, I'm an old man, what can we say about old age, has it got  advantages?,old age can be a blessing it can be a burden. King David in his old age wrote a lovely Psalm and this is what he had to say,'I was young and now am old,yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread',  (Ps 37 v25 )Like David I look back on my life and I can testify to God's faithfulness,how He has never forsaken any of His children, and that includes me,I have been so conscious of His presence with me.Yes I can look back and rejoice that God has been with me,and  I can also can look forward with wonderful assurance that He will still be with me.  So in this Psalm David encourages  and instructs His children to not fret when evil people seem to prosper but to simple trust and delight in God  and he will not disappoint. We are to be still before the Lord rest in his presence, there is no point in worrying( Matthew 6 v 19ff) One day in the fall of 1874, in a flat in Lower Manhattan, a blind woman answered a knock on her door. On opening the door, she felt some folded paper being pressed into her hand by someone who left without a word. It turned out to be ten dollars. The woman had not had the money to pay the rent, and so had prayed for the Lord to supply her need. And here it was.So it was later that day Fanny Crosby wrote.

                                       'All the way my Saviour leads me,what have I to ask beside ?

                                        Can I doubt His tender mercy, who through life has been my guide?

                                        For I know , whate'er befall me,Jesus doeth all things well.'

                                                 ( I am indebted to R .Davis for the story)

It's not the end ( 1 Corinthians 15 )

If your  are like me and you've suffered the lost of one you loved dearly, well if you haven't, the thing is it will happen,and that brings with it a lot of pain.The pain will ease but it will always be there,when your not expecting it, and you will shed a tear. We all live in the shadow of death hanging over us , when death will happen we don't know, there is nothing we can do about it.What a great comfort to know that the one you loved is in heaven, it is tremendous source of comfort.As I wept a tear recently ,I heard myself saying ,'it is not the end'.Remember this statement is not based on nonsense or  false sentimentality,but on the solid word of God, and a historical person called Jesus, who said,' I will die , but on the third day I will rise again', and you know something wonderful He did just that.His death was foretold in scripture (Isaiah 53),likewise His resurrection (Psalm 16 v10), hallelujah, yes praise the Lord.Because He lives, everyone who trusts in Him will  live also,no ifs or buts,yes it is not the end

                                                     ' Because He lives we shall live also' .

Obstacles ( Matthew15 v 21 - 28 )

 While on holiday recently,in a charity shop,I managed to strike up a conversation with a man,I asked him  I wonder if you wouldn't mind me asking him a pertinent question, 'do you know the Lord as your Saviour?,' He replied that he had been brought up as a JW, but he left that,he went on to say he went to an Anglican church, but he left it because the minister was abusing young people.He then joined another church not Anglican,but they were to political,so he  left that.He raised different questions, which I did my best to answer.He mentioned that his wife was a nurse,who turned from a belief in God ,because of all the people she saw dying. He spoke about faith in a trivial way but I assured him it was far from trivial,but I sensed that this was still seeking God, in spite of all all the obstacles he had encountered.For most people there are obstacles which they have to face if they want to know Christ,so it will always be,let us remember that obstacles are not there to put  one off, coming to Christ,they are there as a test,in which we must show how much we want Christ ,how much do we value Him,well then tell me, how much do you value Him?.

Possible suffering ( Philippians 1 v 29)

R.Davis in his fine commentary on Luke's gospel writing on the death of John the baptist who was executed  by Herod Antipas comments,' It shows us that sometimes there is no 'fulfillment' in ministry, we are being shown that John had to bear the cross before the cross.Luke  who recorded this isn't  implying that being Jesus servant always leads to this, but he is saying it can and may lead to this? The Bible never hides the hard  stuff in the small print. You could face this,you must be ready for this, in life under the gospel,' Many years ago as a young married man with a young family,my dear wife and I sought to serve the Lord, we had in mind being in missionary service,with a mission called the,'Acre gospel mission'.they worked in the interior of Brazil,a missionary we knew served the Lord there, his  dear wife had died when they first went out.he said it was known as the green hell.Knowing this we were prepared to go ,even though we had four young children, so we applied to the mission,but we were not accepted. Reading the history of missions,many did go,and paid a heavy price. As a Christian I have never suffered for  my faith,but everyday  I pray for those who are suffering. Yes we may suffer but we may not ,if we are called to suffer may God grant us the grace to remain faithful to Him,who suffered greatly for us.

A strong weak man.( Philippians 4 v 13 )

Let us consider the  one I believe was  strongest  man who ever lived,Samson,he was not  a mythical figure, he was a real flesh and blood person, you can read about him in the book of Judges chap 13-16.He tore a lion apart with his bare hands.he slew one thousand of Gods enemies using a donkey's jawbone. On another occasion he uprooted the gates of a city and carried it up a hill. He didn't get his strength by going to the gym,although he was strong, why then did his enemies capture him ,and gouged out his eyes and make him their captive?.You see he had a weakness,remember strong men have their weakness'es,even strong Christian men,it can be money,sex,pride,or whatever,He was a womanizer,as was Solomon's ( 1 king 11 v 1ff,) It was a woman called Delilah who caused Samson's downfall,she found out the secret of his strength,revealed it to His enemies,and the rest is history.But id didn't stop there, for his hair grew again ,and he prayed unto God, for after all that's were his strength came from,and he brought the house down,killing many of the enemies of God,but also killing himself. It is interesting that Samson is mentioned in Hebrews 11 v32 ,as a man of faith.R.Davis writes the following as regards Samson as,' being a wild ass of a man', in many ways a man who failed yes even morally,but when he prayed,God forgive him,and granted him victory.Yes God can use us failures.

God gives the increase ( Revelation 7 v9 - 12 )

 I wonder if your like me,you pray for the unsaved, you witness to them,and you don't see many people saved.Thinking about this I prayed, I said, 'Lord I want to see people saved',and I thought I heard Him say 'you will', and I smiled.Now what does that mean?,it could mean,here and now ,before I go to heaven,but it also could mean when I get to heaven,and of course it could mean both. In John 4 v 37, our Saviour said,' One sows another reaps', and in 1 Corinthians 3 v7 we read,'God..gives the increase'.God is very patient and we must learn that ,especially when it comes to witnessing.we all have a part to play,all the witnessing I or others have done is not wasted,others will reap the benefit. One persons wrote the following ,' God uses human instruments to bring to men the message of his truth and love; but it is He alone who wakes the hearts of men to new life'.There is a great church in China and it came into being because Hudson Taylor and others went and declared the gospel in that great land,So like those of old let us go into all the world and tell others about our wonderful Saviour, trusting God to give the increase.

Are you a nobody? (James 5 v 17 - 18 )

There is a little chorus with the words,'With Christ in the vessel,we can smile at the storm, as we go saling on'.For many people, even great men of God, they struggled in the storms of life.Let me name one,Elijah a mighty man of God,He confronted a king, his prayers controlled the weather,imagine that. But when a wicked queen threatened him,he was afraid, and ran for his dear life,he lay down under a bush,and wished for God to take his life,which he didn't. A wonderful man of God ,but a man for all that,flawed and at times depressed, complaining to God that he was the only one left of the prophets,A powerful man but his power came from God,and God reminds us that in himself, he was just like you and me, with many  weaknesses .( James 5 v 17 - 18)When God looked on Elijah he did not think ,there's a mighty man, no when He looked at Elijah, He dropped the word mighty,for He just saw a man ,a man He would use  in  mighty ways. Remember ,God chooses the weak things, the foolish things so that no one can boast;(  1 Corinthians 1 v 31).So don't think God can't use you because your a nobody,the good news is, God uses nobodies.