Obedience ( Acts 4 v 1-22)

One of the things Hitler brought in,was for the Wehrmacht ( German armed forces) to  take an oath to God of unconditional obedience to Hitler. That came back to bite them eventually,there are those who say that oaths were for the old covenant and that Jesus taught that we of the new covenant should not take oaths (Matthew 5 v 33-37,well it is something to think about.No one except God should be given absolute or unconditional obedience,whither in marriage,employment,or the church.We see what it led to in Germany and in so many places , I want us to consider leadership within the church,looking back on church history we see the evils perpetrated by so called leaders and their followers. and the errors that were introduced by a leader who claimed to be infallible in relation to truth. Thankfully we have the example of  the apostle Paul who challenged Peter in what he was doing,as he slipped momentarily back into the old covenant (Galatians 2 v 11-21) Yes when leaders in the church are slipping into error or immorality,it is important that they should be challenged.I am not trying to stir up a revolution ,but simply to stress that we have a God given right to challenge the idea of unquestionable obedience to any human being or system.

The Gospel. ( 1Corinthians 6 v 9 - 11)

 I was watching an old movie ,in which it showed a building being erected,,and over the entrance were the following words,'Gospel Church'.Wonderful words,every church should be a Gospel church,but unfortunately its not so,many so called churches have lost their way. I read this,'The word gospel reflects the Greek word for.'' good news''. The good news is what God has done in Jesus Christ,supremely in Jesus' life,death,and resurrection. This God did in fulfillment of all that he had promise ,((Luke 24 v44) to reconcile  lost and guilty human beings to Himself,powerfully transforming them by His Spirit in anticipation of their resurrection  existence in the new heaven and the new earth'.Yes the gospel does all that,yes it is good news,we live in a world were there is so much bad news,it is great to tell people the good news of the Gospel,it is the apostle Paul who wrote,'For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ,for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes'.  (Romans 1 v16),I say this with great sadness many are ashamed of the gospel,they don't like the word sin, and what it means.I read this recently,'Nowhere  does the Bible refer to our sins as mistakes, bad judgements, and slips',The Bible tells us  clearly that when we do wrong it is a sin, because it concerns us and God.If you want to get to heaven, then your only option  is to confess,and forsake your sin ,and  trust Jesus  and the good news is this, you will be forgiven'Not only will you be forgiven, Christ will break the power of sin in your life.

                                                           'Now that's good news'

Fixed on God. ( Philippians 4 v 5 - 7 )

 There is one thing I do not like is buying a car,usually a second hand one,experience tells me there may be troubles ahead,and often there is. Not only is it picking a car for myself my wife drives as well and she needs a car for her job.When I purchased my present car a person told me,' those cars are dreadful,very unreliable,I must confess I had heart palpitations,but it turned out to be a lovely little car,no ongoing problems.There are so many things that can cause us to worry and loose our peace,they can be little things,not so little things,or major things.Things that keep one awake at night ,gnaw at us, so here is a word for us all .

                                              'You will keep in perfect peace,

                                               all who trust in you,

                                               all whose thoughts are fixed on you!

                                              Trust in the Lord always,

                                               for the Lord God is an everlasting rock'  (Isaiah 26 v 3-4)

Jesus says come.( Luke 8 v26 - 39)

In  the first chapter of Isaiah Israel is challenged as to their hypocrisy,yes they went through the motions of following God, but He calls them a sinful nation,the description of them paints a very dark picture  right at the beginning judgement is forecast.He likens their condition to a person  as a  physically wreck.It is obvious that God is angry with them and it was coming to a point of no return,judgement was coming, and did come  95 yrs later, they never improved ,they only got worse CP  Ezekiel 8. Yet judgement was'n't inevitable ,here is what God said,''Come now, and let us reason together'', Though your sins are like scarlet,they shall be as white as snow;  though they are red like crimson,they shall be as wool. (1 v18 ) God is holding out to them His hand of forgiveness judgement need not fall, God declares'As surely as I live says the Sovereign Lord, I  take no pleasure in the death of wicked people.I only want them to turn from their wicked ways so they can live (Ezekiel 33 v 11) This applies to a nation ,but it also applies to the individual,that no matter how wicked we are, no matter what sins we have committed, there is forgiveness by God who would have all men to be saved,we are told that the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all  sin(1John 1 v7)

                                                ' Come,ye sinners,lost and hopeless,

                                                  Jesus blood can make you free;

                                                  For He saved the worst among you,

                                                  When He saved a wretch like me.

                                                      (Words Anna W. Waterman)

When hate and love collided'.( Colossians 1 v 13 -14)

What is the opposite of hate? 'love,' there is a song the title being,'When love and hate collide', I don't have to tell you there have been  many wars fought,but the greatest war  ever fought took place on a hill far away were three cross'es stood,and on that middle cross a great battle took place.Hell in all it's awfulness aided by fallen humanity collided with love personified in the person of Jesus .That love defeated the enemies of God, now there was hope for the hopeless,death died a death, eternal life beckoned for mankind,eternal glory in heaven awaits all who embrace Christ as their  Saviour .Peace with God could become a reality,no longer would we be shut out from His presence,from being lost to being saved,to have a hope that will surly endure after the passing of time.When Jesus cried ,'It is Finished', it was a cry of victory ,hate and love had collided,and love had won the victory.

                                                     'On the cross Jesus won the victory for us,'

                                                                           ' Hallelujah'

Paradise. ( Revelation 21 v1 -8 )

 It was John Milton who  wrote a book called ,'Paradise Lost',God placed our first parents in an earthly paradise,then the unthinkable happened,in a moment paradise was lost because our first parents sinned,and everything was changed,not for the better,it was catastrophic a terrible disaster,of monumental proportion, the very universe must have give a shudder. It would affect the whole of humanity ,but it would also effect creation ,( Romans 8 v 19- 22),the earthly paradise would now have a curse upon it ,( Genesis 3 v 17-19).We are at odds with creation and creation is at odds with us. Daily we hear of the damage being done to our planet and so it continues and its not improving, Finbar Furey sings a song that only partly  tells the damage being done to our home planet earth.here are some of the words from it.

                                           Look at our world now,she must have been beautiful

                                           When her rivers ran clear and her skies were so blue.

                                           Blue jewel in the sky,so precious to all of us

                                          The oceans are choking the rain forest's almost gone,

                                           How could you destroy what you didn't own.?

Yes it is very  depressing what is happening to our planet,but God has a plan ,and you can be part of it,John Milton touches on it when he wrote another book 'Paradise Regained', a new heaven and a new earth( Isaiah 65v17/2 Peter2 v13/Revelation 21 v1 ) .It is for a new people ,who are part of God's new creation( 2 Corinthians 5 v17) they are those who have trusted Christ as Saviour, their sin has been dealt with,the result  will be for them,'Paradise Regained'.

]

Ethics ( James 5 v 1 -6)

 My wife's car has a problem,the garage said it would need a new engine, and the cost would be very high, I told a friend who is a mechanic,one of his suggestions was just trade it in,without revealing that there was a problem.I told him I would not do that. We went to see the garage that said it needed a new engine, one of the things they said was trade it in,and I told them the same answer.The point is it would be ethically wrong to do that as a Christian,or even if your not a Christian. So many people are acting unethically, one of my sons is a salesman,and he tells me that so many unethically practices go on,as a Christian he tries to be ethical. If as a  person you do not have ethics,then anything goes,a mam I know had a position in his job ,and he said that before he became a Christian he was really bad,in other words he didn't treat people fairly.Again a man I know who had a very high paid job in a bank ,he told me that a number of years ago,many people were given mortgages they couldn't afford to pay back,someone raised that issue,he was not liked for raising that issue as many people were making a lot of money out of it.Where there are people who are in charge  who  can't be challenged ,be it in politics.business, then ethics will not count.There are people who are very successful  the questions it raises,'How many people did they walk over,how many lies did they tell,how many times did they break their word?. It is not just business I'm talking about ,I know of ministers who did not act ethically,the wealth and prosperity people do not act ethically.,a Christian should always aim to act ethically.