Only the Word and nothing but the word. ( 2 Timothy 3 v 16 )

 Lets consider Proverbs 30 v 5-6, 'Every word of God is Flawless; He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him. Do not add to His words,or He will rebuke you and prove you a liar'. These words are penned by a man called Agur, we do not know much about him,but that is of no consequence, it is the word of God. The first thing we are told, that the word of God is flawless,One translation has the word  pure,it is not defiled or unclean,a man I know said that when the Israelites invaded and conquered the land of Canaan, killing the inhabitants ,they were murders.That is wrong they were God's executioners,on a very sinful people, He was defining what God the righteous Judge had commanded as being murder The word of has been wonderfully preserved,make no mistake about it.Charles Bridges comments ,''Every word of God is pure gold,..Having God for its Author,it has truth without any mixture or error for its matter'. To all who put their trust in it, will experience tremendous beneficial results,both in this life and in the afterlife.Next we have a warning,' Do not add to His words',there are many examples of this,the Roman Catholic Church,puts church teaching,tradition,and apocryphal writing on par with the scripture,likewise the cults,in an attempt to undermine the word of God,have their false translations,and false teaching. Alas there are so called Christens  who I would class as rationalist,as CB comments they are those who expound their own mind, instead of the mind of God. 'It is only the holy  Scriptures that are able to make us wise unto salvation',(2 Timothy 3 v15)

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Don't despair. ( Psalm 145 v 3)

There are so many things in this world,bad things,disturbing things, it may appear to us that the world is out of control.In our own lives problems with family, within our own personal situations,we may cry what's going on?.And then I remember ,God is still on His throne, that He is sovereign,that means just what it says,'He is sovereign'. We much not judge the Lord by feeble sense,you may be asking ,who can we turn to?, we need to turn to the Lord,who can help us? the Lord,He is still on the throne and He will remember His own.God is a reality,He rules,He is working out His will in all the earth, We have two choices,the first one is, our natural sight,or with the eye of faith. we can let what we see with our natural sight rule our lives,and that can cause us to despair,and drive us away from God,and the way will appear darker by the hour.The eye of faith calls us to look beyond the chaos,beyond this dark world,to one who said ,' I am the light of the world .Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness,but will have the light of life' (John 8 v 12 ) He holds the whole world in His hands,and his focus is on us His children,  let us take our eyes of Him for one moment,let us not stop trusting Him for one  moment.Don't be distracted, don't be discourage,don't be downcast , remember our God rules, our God loves,and in a mysterious way He is working all things out for us His children's good.  ( Romans 8 v28 )

                                                         ' He's got the whole in His hands,

                                                          But praise God He's got you and

                                                          me,dear child of God in His hands'

Love covers ( 1 Peter 4 v8)

 There is not much said about Joseph the husband of Mary but he played his part in that great event ,the birth of Jesus,of course he was not the actual father of Jesus.But he was  a godly man ,but the question is how do we divine godliness?,well one aspect of his godliness was seen when he found out that Mary was pregnant.He really thought Mary had fallen into sin,this would mean she would be exposed to public disgrace,Joseph did not want that,he wanted to shield her from that. It is in 1 Peter 4 v 8 we read this exhortation,' And above all things have fervent love for one another, for'' love will cover a multitude of sins'',and that's what Joseph did.A church I know had a leader  who fell into sin, the main leader was away in business,so the other leaders dealt with it, The brother confessed his sin and repented of it,he was married and his wife forgave him.,the leaders kept it quite. When the main leader came back and heard what happened,he insisted on telling it to the church,he was asked not to do that,as it would destroy that man,but he would not listen,and it had a serious effect on that man and his wife.There is a time for exposing sin,an example is child abuse,but there is also a time to do what Joseph was prepared to do..It was later that Joseph was told  by the angel of the Lord,that the child had been conceived by the Holy Spirit.

Judge not. ( Matthew 7 v 1- 2)

 I visited a friend recently he suffers from mental illness,one aspect of his illness is panic attacks, but he suffers other symptoms. His sister who is deceased also suffered from severe mental illness,she would phone him up very distressed,but he had very little sympathy for his sister.He was impatient with her,thinking ,why doesn't she pull herself together?.Now he looks at things differently, now he understands how she must have felt.  I worked with a mental health team for twenty years,so I have a degree of understanding as regards this condition,first of all it is an illness, mainly  treated with medication.Now lets come back to my friends attitude to his sisters illness,and lets broaden it out,first of all Jesus said judge not, ( Matthew 7v 1-2). I remember watching  a program on TV as to the victims of a serial killer,most of them were prostitutes,and people at the time were making moral judgements on them,it was as if they deserved what they got, the police were not much better. This was a time when one got very little help from the state,many of these women had children,but no resources to feed them, or even clothed them,  some had escaped abusive relationships,others had husbands who had left them, so they turned to prostitution in order for their families to survive.Yes prostitution is wrong, does that give us a right to pass judgement on them?,our dear Saviour said this to very religious people who wanted a lady stoned to death,because she had committed adultery,'Let anyone of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her,and they all left.( John 8 v 1- 11 )

                                                     ' Judge not, but tell them about 

                                                       Jesus who came to save sinners.

                                                       Remember you have not walked 

                                                        in their footsteps.'

The next question is. ( Psalm 46 v 10 )

 The next question is ,'What will the future hold?', well I am no fortune teller,and nor is anybody else in this world,but there is  one who does know, and of course that is God. As we look at the world,it can be a very scary place,there are so many uncertainties ,things appear to be out of  control at times.Well on that happy note what can we say, well first of all let us bring God into this situation,for the sad thing is when it comes to the future,for most people God is sidelined,instead we have so called experts with their forecasts.But as a Christian the one vital thing we must do,is to to simply trust God,yes that seems simple,but never the lest ,that's what we must do if we are going to get through. As we look into the future it may appear that it holds nothing but foreboding,but ours is not a blind faith,yes I once was blind ,but now I see, but what do I see?, that God has not forsaken me in the past,and indeed assures me that He will never leave me nor forsake me,here is what the Lord God says,'Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you'....So we can say with confidence,'The Lord is our helper,we will not be afraid'. (Hebrews 13 v 5-6) He is not just a spectator looking on ,leaving us to our own devices,no, He is involved in our future to guide us through, what to us is the unknown future,but it is not unknown to Him, Remember He is totally trust worthy,He keeps His word, and those  exceeding great and precious promises to us His children.

                                               'Peace perfect peace,our future all unknown,

                                                Jesus we know and He is on the throne'

                                                            Words E.H. Bickersteth.

                                                

                                                           

How will we cope? ( Isaiah 40 v 29) 1

 So we have entered  another year by the grace of God, so what about the year that lies ahead?,how are we going to cope?.what will the future hold?. Well lets think about the first question,how are we going to cope?,well just like last year,by the grace of God,nothing has changed, grace has not changed.God says to us, 'As your days, so shall your strength be'(Deuteronomy 33 v 25 )This goes beyond natural   strength ,for we have little strength in ourselves (Revelation 3 v 8) ,this comes  from a dependence on God.Consider Samson  was he a mister universe,how did he accomplish all those great feats?,in God's strength. How will we cope?,how will we manage?, how will we face each day?,in the strength of the Lord.who is the Lord?, He is  our refuge and strength (Psalm 46 v 1).When we feel down down He will lift us up,when we feel like giving up he will give us strength to go on. David was overwhelmed he was living among his enemies  ,disaster came upon him and his men,and his own men turned on him threatening to stone him,but we read these words,'But David found strength in the Lord , and went on to victory( 1 Samuel 30 v 3- 6 ) The great God of David is our God, here is the word of God for us as we go forward in our journey to glory.

                                                       'So do not fear, for I am with you;

                                                       do not be dismayed,for I am your God.

                                                        I will strengthen you and help you; 

                                                        I will uphold you with my righteous

                                                        right hand'.

                                                                            Isaiah 41 v10.

                                         

                                                                  

He is qualified ( Acts 4 v12 )

 Writing about Jesus  the writer of Hebrews in 5 v 8 -10,declares  , 'Though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things He suffered.And  having been perfected,He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him, called by God as High Priest''according to the order of Melchizedek''. Let me point out that the word perfected,can be translated ,' Qualified'. So what the writer is saying that all Christ suffered qualified Him to be the source of our salvation.'That meant surrendering His will to the obedience and will of  God ;  so on the cross He offered the perfect sacrifice.'(Thomas Hewitt} ,which means ,He bore the wrath of God,so that we do not have to bear it Who is the ,'We', to all who obey Him,Again Thomas Hewitt points out something very important,'This leaves no room for,'universal salvation'.God has provided the perfect salvation for us sinners,for all those who trust Jesus as their Saviour.

                                                    'Christ suffered that we may not suffer.

                                                     Christ died that we might live,