When we see Jesus. ( 2 Timothy 4 v 6 - 8 )

 I  have just finished speaking to a lady on the phone whose husband had died recently, she mentioned that now he was in heaven,and that comforter her,and she wondered  how people with no faith managed.The word of God says for those who believe in Christ,death is not the end, it is the end of suffering,and the painful things in this world ,and it the beginning of an existence that will be perfect in everyway. It will be a place  where no one will lonely or feel left out. We will never have any bad memories ,we will never be frightened  again,no one will ever hurt us,by their words,or by any other means,there will be no bad news, no one will be considered a failure.There will be no cast system, no racialism, no nationalism,no one will look down on anybody,as inferior, the elephant man will be a perfect man. There will be no losers, no homeless, no beggars for everyone will have all they need.there will be no negatives,everything will be positive.  In Romans 8 v18, the apostle Paul wrote,'I  consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.( Romans 8 v 18).So let us not give up hope in our trials,pain and difficulties ,let us keep holding on,and pressing on,for the glory that lies before us,it truly will be worth it all, when we see Jesus.

All our yesterdays ( 1Timothy 1 v1 )

 Let me take you down a trip of memory lane,I am 79 so there have been a lot of changes during my lifetime,so here goes,I remember  air raid shelters in our street, trams,no supermarkets,the corner shop was your only option ,food stamps,that included sweets,pawn shops were popular,horses were still being used a lot,the teacher was allowed to use a cane to punish erring children, libraries were very popular,the main source of entertainment was the wireless,now called the radio,the cinema,and for older people going to dances,real dancing like the waltz,very few went to higher education,especially to university,very few people owned cars, or had holidays,and very few people had phones. So one could go on,down memory lane.It is amazing the changes that have taken place and are still taken place,so quickly,it is hard to keep up with them. Here is something that will never change, man kinds fallen nature,and all that means,the fact is we are born sinners,and from a very early age we manifest that,and the consequences of that is terrible,but let us not despair, there is hope,for Christ Jesus the Lord of glory came into the world to save sinners,to forgive us,change us,to give us eternal life,to save us from hell,and make us citizens of heaven,yes there is hope.

When to obey, and when not to obey' ( 1 Samuel 15 v 22)

 Edmund Burke an 18th century  British statesman parliamentary said the following, ' What is morally wrong can never be politically right'. We think of Daniel and his three friends who disobeyed the powers that be,because they were imposing upon them that which was wrong.Go back further to Egypt  when the Pharaoh commanded the Israelites to destroy their children by throwing male babies into  the Nile, Moses parents did not obey. I wonder can we not see that killing unborn babies in the womb as morally wrong,yet it has been passed politically ,in most countries it is acceptable. We are told in Romans 13 that we are  to be subject to the governing authorities as they have been placed there by God.But we need to qualify what that means, we should pay our taxes, don't drink and drive,don't take drugs,etc.but there are limits in obedience to anyone,those in authority,those we marry,those who employ us.No human authority wherever it is found can be absolute, there must be limits to that authority. The 20th century is full of many examples of governments abusing and going beyond what was morally right, unfortunately many obeyed them, and did unspeakable evils. Our Lord said in  Matthew 22 v 21, 'Give back to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's'.To sum it up, when we are commanded to accept and obey that which is morally wrong,wherever it comes from,we have to obey God rather than man. ( Acts 5 v 29 )

Fatal distractions. ( John 21 v 20 -21 )

 Senator John Kennedy  speaking to President Biden,about one of the problems people were facing, inflation,he made a point by giving an illustration as regards himself. He said that when he was young he played baseball,not very well,he could not cope with the curve of the ball, The coach advised him to ,'keep his eye on the ball',  in other words focus on the ball. It goes without saying there are so many distractions in life,and as Christians we should take that advice very serious. Take marriage, being faithful in marriage, I remember listening to dear Chuck Swindle who said  that when he was away from home,and would go and have a meal in a hotel , he would put a photo of his wife on the table in front of him. It  helped him to keep his eye on the ball, to stay focused on his marriage, so that he would not be sucked into a wrong relationship. So many things can distract us in our Christian journey,we take our eyes of the Lord,and that can lead to serious consequences The artist may say my life is painting, an entertainer may say my life is being an entertainer, and we can add many other things.There is nothing wrong with those things and if you are good at them ,you have to give of your best to them. This is what the apostle Paul said,' For to me to live is Christ',(Philippians 1 v21)we should never be distracted from that.Those other things are legitimate, but we must never allow them to takes our eyes of Christ no matter what they are.

But there are restrictions ( 1 John 5 v 14) 2

 We continue on looking at prayer,I started of  telling you that someone prayed for my healing,'receive your healing 'she said.as yet it has not happened ,one may ask the question why?,There are a number of reasons why prayer is not answered,and one of the reasons is this,'If we ask anything according to His will,He hears us', (1John 5 v14),in John 14v14  we read ,'You may ask anything in my name,and I will do it',yes He will ,if it be His will.John Stott tells us that 5 v14 'underlines and explains the restrictions the Lord Himself placed on asking. It must be according to His will'.  The lady who prayed for my healing did not bring that it into it.Again John Stott comments,''Prayer is not an attempt to get God to see things my way and to extract from Him what I  have decided or want. Prayer is submitting my will to His'.We hear  false prophets shout ,' in the name of Jesus be healed',and those they pray for are not.It is very sad because they are exploiting the vulnerable not caring to give them an answer,they are no better that scam callers,they take the money and run. They are even more brazen for they do it openly.There are other reasons why God will not answers our prayers , if their sin in our lives. ( Psalm 66 v 18)Also God may also say ,not now,Abraham was given a promise of a child but it did not come immediately,likewise Daniel's prayers were not answered immediately (Daniel 10 v 12 -13 )

Ask anything. (Matthew 7 v 7)(1)

 I was out with a friend at a cafe run by a church,we both knew some people there,so we went over to say hello,we talked a little.Someone asked how I was keeping,I replied ,and I mentioned a certain physical problems I had. One the ladies said do you want us to pray for you?,I agreed,who knows God may answer their prayer. Now one of the things she said in her prayer was,''receive your healing'', and I wondered what she meant by that,as I walked away, I prayed to God ,and said ,''all things are possible with you ''.As one whose young wife died of cancer,I realise that God does not always heal,and we can broaden this out to prayer in general, here is a scripture that tells us somethings very important in relation to prayer, it is found in John's first epistle ,chap 5 v 14- 15.'This is the confidence we have in approaching God; that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask,we know that we have what we asked of Him'.First we have the scope of our asking ,'anything'.Recently I attended my brothers wife's funeral,I asked that the weather would be kind to us,that morning as my wife and I got off the plane, it was raining very heavy ,and it was cold, but later on the weather changed, and it turned out a lovely day. Yes you can pray about anything,God does hear and answer prayer ,we will continue this next time .

Fools ( John 3 v36 )

 Proverbs 14 v 9 reads ,'Fools make a mock at sin; but  with the righteous there is favour', Charles Bridges wrote,' What! Are there  such, as will count sin a sport? They have never seen the sight, never felt the weight.Look into eternity. It is thought  a grave matter in heaven. It is felt so in hell'. Many make light of their sins, make excuses for their sins,but the fact is as one puts it,God does not excuse sin,but often we do, we say ,that's the way I am ,I can't help,that does not wash with God. Look at the nicest person you know, they are sinners, they may even be fooled ,that they will not go to hell,and indeed you may think that,but they will. That's the awful tragedy,the sheer folly of it all,let none us be fooled,by human niceness. In Psalm 14 v1 we read ,'The fool  says in his heart ,'There is no God'.this could apply to those who  believe they are not  accountable to God,they are practical  atheist, they don't believe God has any claim on their lives,so they live a life with disregard towards God,the Bible says they are fools just as much as those who make a mockery of sin,and they will both suffer the same consequences the judgement of God.

                                                         'Don't be a fool,be wise unto salvation,

                                                          and trust Jesus as your Saviour.'