He must be first. ( Mark 10 v 23 )

 I met a young man recently, he told me about himself,he had his own business,employed over 60 people, the business had a turnover of about 10 million pound.I asked him what car he had,it was a Bentley, a car worth about 147.000 pounds,he had a partner and a child,he was taking his partner to Venice,where he will propose to her. He was young and healthy and I suppose one could say he had everything,well not quite,he didn't know the Saviour, although he had been baptised as a child,that does not save one ,knowing Christ as your own and personal Saviour does. The following scriptures Luke 18  v18ff,and Matthew 19 v 16ff,and Mark 10 v 17ff, tells us of  a rich young ruler who came to Jesus who wanted to know what he could do to to inherit eternal life.Jesus challenged his preconceptions.The man also named certain commandments  which he kept,what more could he do?.Well it can be easy keeping the letter of the law ,but what about the spirit of  the law that's different.( Matthew 5 v 27 ff).This is what Jesus hit on,our Lord knew that he was a rich man,and the challenge that Jesus brought to this young man was the answer to his inquiry ,as regards inheriting eternal life. Here is what the challenge was ,'Go ,sell everything you have and give to the poor... then come and follow me'.Sadly he could not rise to the challenge, and he went away sad,to him his love  for his wealth,was more than his love for Jesus. Jesus demands that from all who want, what that young man wanted,  He will not play second fiddle, unless we love Him most of all,the road to eternal glory is firmly shut.

Our great God.( 1 Corinthians 2 v 9)

 'My God is so big so strong and so mighty,there's nothing my God cannot do'. These words are from  a children's chorus and of course they are true, but the question is this, do we believe it? If one has in any measure studied the universe ,one can be so overwhelmed by its vastness, God spoke all things into existence that's how great He is.Consider  planet earth, in contrast to this vast universe, we are minute,we are but a pin prick in size. Yet  although that is true ,in this pin prick we call earth, there is a complexity and variety of living things that is mind blowing,The Bible says about the human body it is fearfully and wonderfully made,and yet we are made out of dust,by a great God. The words of  a hymn sums it all up, ' How great Thou art', yes He is awesome, in so many ways when it comes to describe God's greatness,I am lost for words.This pin prick world is really important to God,and every living creature in it, contrary to what many people think,it is His world ,and He will not be robbed of it. Sin has effected  this planet ,we human beings brought the virus we call sin into Gods's world.So God had a plan  a great plan,he will make a new heaven and a new earth,free from sin.We can be part of it if we trust Jesus as our Saviour and enter into a wonderful future, that our Great God  has for us.

Shedding tears.( Lamentations 3 v 22- 23)

I was crying, yes a grown man crying, and I was praying,the tears  that I was shedding  where tears of gratitude to my loving heavenly Father for all his blessing, and all His care for me,I trusted Jesus early in my life,but I wandered away from Him shortly after,it is something I regret with all my heart.It wasn't till a week before my 20th birthday ,59 years ago, the Lord graciously restored me.So here I am now weeping as I look back on all my life,and the words of a song come o mind,'When I think  of all He's done,and for me the guilty one, can you wonder why it is ,I love Him so'.I think of how He has preserved me,even in my mothers womb,and when I was born I was premature, my mother had  another child after me called Bobby,he died. I think of where I was born,in Belfast, a place of many churches,so as a child I heard the gospel ,and as I said I trusted Jesus as my Saviour. But then the backslidden years, well the lest said about  them the better.From the restoration till now my life has been filled with many blessings but the most important one is Gods faithfulness,that means His presence,His patience,His provision, His promises,His power,and so it goes on ,and on,and on. Hallelujah.

                                                    'But  drops of grief can ne'er repay

                                                     The debt of love I owe;

                                                      Here, Lord,I give myself away;

                                                      'Tis all that I can do.'

                                                                Isaac Watts.

You are loved. ( Romans 5 v 6 -8)

 In a famous Panorama interview on the BBC,Princess Diana  said,''The greatest disease in the world is the disease of being unloved''. I  am sure many people feel unloved,unloved by their family,by their husbands ,wives, parents,by society,and so the list can go on. Where does one find love? religion,not necessary ,sad to say that even in the Christian religion you  find people,who have been anything but loving.Yes I am a Christian but one has to be honest, under the guise of Christianity much cruelty has been perpetrated. But thankfully there are many who have shown great love, evidence in love in action.Our Saviour is the one more than anyone else,who was and is love personified, He showed the loving heart of God. The greatest manifestation of that love is shown by His death on a cross, how and why is that so?. Here is a wonderful statement,'God  demonstrates His  own love for us in this; while we where yet sinners Christ died for us' , ( Romans 5 v 8 )  If you are  not a Christian accept Christ as your Saviour, He loves you, do not turn Him away,trust Him today. If you are a Christian and you are feeling you are not loved, don't rest on your feelings,  realise  what He tells you in His word,that He is with you,that He loves you,and nothing can separate you from His love. Romans 8 v 37 -39 .

Boundaries. ( Matthew 7 v 13- 14 )

One my granddaughters was being bullied, plus there were those who were very disruptive  in class, making it difficult for the teacher and for the other pupils who wanted to learn.The school did not address these things,so the only option was to take  my granddaughter out of that school ,and teach her home,there is network set up for that. They did this for a while ,then they enrolled her in another school,she is very happy in this school,enjoying the lessons and not being bullied.My son told me that the school was strict and didn't stand for any nonsense,The children knew what the boundaries where,and so everyone benefit from that. In the book of  Judges 21 v 25, we read that,' Everyone did what was right in his own eyes',the result was a repeating backsliding by Israel. The fact is we all need boundaries,society would fall apart if we didn't have them, but let me also say God has boundaries for all mankind to keep,the sacredness of life,the sacredness of marriage, and so many other things,of course most of us live in a secular society.,yes we may be in world ,but we are not off the world. But unfortunately there are those within the church who are rejecting some of God's boundaries,their views on the word  of God are to pick out what they want to believe, and reject what they don't like, unlike the boundaries in society ,Gods boundaries don't change. The Prophet Jeremiah ministered at  a time of Israels lowest point spiritually, he is known as the weeping prophet,he pleaded with them,prayed for them, through tears to obey God,I want to challenge you  with the words that Jeremiah spoke to Israel chap 6 v 16.

                                        'This is what the Lord says;'Stop at the crossroads

                                         and look around.And ask for the old, godly way,

                                         and walk in it, Travel its path,and you find rest for 

                                         your souls. But you reply, 'No,that's not the road

                                         we want.'

                                   ' They where not for turning ,and they paid an awful price'

Hope triumphant. ( Romans 4 v18 -25 )

Proverbs 13 v 12, reads,'Hope deferred makes the heart sick,But when the heart desire comes,it is a tree of life'. When one reads those words we can think of many examples of this happening,we can think of Abraham  and Sarah and their promised child, It was a promise given by God,we read  in Genesis 15 how Abraham was getting anxious about not having an heir, so God told him he would have a son,He took him outside and told  him to look up  at the stars and count then if he could.That's how many descendants he would have'. and Abraham believed God,and He counted him righteous because of His faith'.But it didn't happen right away,in fact they had to wait and wait years.It was a severe trial, Sarah and Abraham we're getting old ,to old  to have children , but God had promised,and Abraham kept hoping ,believing what God had said, and so it came to pass ,CP Romans 4 v 18-21.What joy must have filled his heart,but the promise went further than just  Isaac,it would have its fulfillment in Christ,and it goes beyond physical descendants ,but spiritual descendants,for everyone who puts their faith in Christ  becomes a Child of Abraham Galatians 4 v 29,and of course a child of God.And one day hopefully soon we who are children of Abraham,people from every tribe and every nation , will declare before the throne in heaven, worthy is the Lamb who was slain,and we will all bow down before our great triune God, Father, Son,and Holy Spirit ,and worship Him.

Divine Keeping ( Psalm 121 )

 Everyday of our a Christian life is  a miracle of grace,it should remind us of our great 'Divine Keeper', it does not nullify, our responsibility  on the ongoing  journey of our Christian life. In 1 Peter 1 v5 (AV) .we read of those who know Christ,' are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation',the new living translation ,puts it like this,' And through your faith,God is protecting you by His power until you receive this salvation.' He protected Joseph ,David,and every child of  God,yes He protects and keeps us, until we get to heaven.we often sing , 'Through many dangers , toils and snares,I have already come; Tis grace has brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home'. (Words by John Newton) He whose  eye is on the sparrow is upon us,He will loose none of those who are truly His (John 10 v 28 -29 ).I think it will be absolute amazing when we get to heaven,and remember how wonderful God has brought us through  so much. If your struggling at this time ,facing problems, dangers,fear not ,have faith in  Him who is your Divine Keeper.,I would urge  all of us to read and memorise Psalm121 and rejoice how our great triune God , is watching over us,and keeping us by His power.