Amazing (Galatians 6 v 14)

 Most of us receive gifts,but there are times we receive something special, I can recall a time when my then wife and I  were living by faith,we had no savings,no bank account.We received gifts from different people  some anonymous, everyone one of those gifts were precious. One man in my church give on a regular bases a small gift ,small  but it was precious. At that time I passed my driving test,but we could not afford a  car but a lady in my church give a car it was very precious.During my lifetime I have received three cars,all very precious. Now of course salvation is a free gift,ask and you shall receive,( Romans 3 v24), and yet there are so many who believe that its not so,most religions and even some who profess to be Christian think that while Christ died on the cross,it is not just enough to save,they must do something,so they add on,their good works,and so doing they nullify what Christ has done.The question is very simple,is our Saviours death on the cross sufficient to save us or not?.If you say it is not ,then the whole purpose of His coming was pointless . Imagine how wonderful the gift of salvation is ,all that it brings  us into,and what it showers upon us,it is absolutely amazing beyond words.It cost us nothing ,but love so amazing,so divine,demands everything.

Extremes, ( Proverbs 30 v8 -9 )

Let us consider again what Agur writes ,' O God ,I beg two favours from you;let me have them before I die.First, help me never to tell a lie. Second, give me neither poverty nor riches! Give me just enough to satisfy my needs.(Proverbs 30 v 7-8)  One translation  puts it like this,'Remove far  from me vanity and lies'.The word of God  speaks of the pride of live,( 1 John 2 v16) We are called to walk humble with our God (Micah 6 v 8) Pride is a sin, in whatever form it manifests itself, be it a car,home,or are so called good looks,the gifts we have,the money we have,the success we have ,and so we could go on. Agur wants God to keep him humble. Then He ask God to shield him from extremes ,from being poor and being rich,let us be honest not many of us want to be poor,migration is fulled by people who are poor, Yet Jesus said the poor you will have with you always (John 12 v 8) Indeed we are told that God chooses the poor of the world to be rich in faith (James 2 v5) And yet it can have its disadvantages it brings with it temptations,( Pr v 30 v9) which we may yield to, become a thief ,become  embittered. He also mentions the dangers of riches,Judas wanted to be rich,consider what he did, there are dangers in prosperity Israel was warned about it,it is so easy to forget the Lord and forsake Him.( Deuteronomy 6 v 10 - 12)So Agur recognises the dangers of extremes, because they  both may draw us away from God. Charles Bridges writes as regards poverty and riches says the following,  'Many of God's children are in both these conditions let them seek for grace to glorify God in either estate'.

 

 

0

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)

,

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.