I have done enough. ( Luke 17 v 10)

I recently ministered in a church,not a very large church,and they have a problem,they desperately need people to be deacons,they don't have a pastor,.After the  service was over and we met  to have a cup of tea,there was a married couple there and I said to the man would you not consider being a deacon?he sort of  said he may,but it wasn't a very positive reply..Then his wife started to speak as to their  past Christian ministry ,she mentioned the different things they had done in the church,and now she felt they had done enough,and they wanted more time to themselves. I didn't say to much more,I thought it was very sad that they thought like that,because it seemed to me that they,particularly the wife,thought she had served God enough .The next morning at home I was praying giving thanks to God for his mercies,and I said to God ,that words seem inadequate for all that he has done for me,and I said what can I give you?,my reply was,' I give my life back to you'.But I am eighty but I cannot retire from serving God,oh yes I may have to cut down  on certain things,through age or infirmity.That church has a needs if  they don't get people willing to serve in that little church it will close.We read these very challenging words from  what  I call the gospel of Romans verses 12 v 1 ,'I plead with you to give your bodies to God because all He has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice,the kind He will find acceptable. This is truly the way to wordhip Him.'

                                             'Yes God does require sacrifice from us'

Thank you. (Lamentations 3 v 22-23 )

I was having a time of prayer and I found myself  saying to God ,'Thank you for always being there',as I said this I felt very emotional. I have been on a long journey,full of many twists and turns,and many up's and downs, some successes and many failures.Yet through it all God my loving heavenly Father has been there for me, words in some ways I feel are inadequate ,could be the emotions I felt were a more acceptable thank you. When I trusted my blessed Saviour things did change in my life and for the better for I had a big heavenly Father looking after me. So I look back with gratitude and thankfulness,there is a Christian song with these words in it,'Why me Lord', yes it is a mystery,as the song also says,'What have I ever done to deserve such love?' and the answer is nothing. God did not  set His upon me because I deserved it, I didn't,here is what the scripture has to say,'God demonstrate his love on us in this; while we were still sinners,Christ died for us',( Romans 5 v 8 ) He didn't say to me go and clean your act up first, no He said come to me,simply ask Me to forgive you your sins through my Son Jesus,and I will,and you know something ,He did.That's not the end of the story it was only the beginning,the best is yet to be.

                                       'Nothing good have I done, to deserve God's own Son,

                                        I'm not worthy of the scars in His hands;

                                        Yet He chose the road to Calvary to die in my stead,

                                         Why He loved me, I can't understand.'

                                                        Words by Dottie Rambo.

 

I found the answer. ( Luke 19 v 1 -10)

 I was shopping in a supermarket and something caught my eye,it was describing the benefits of a certain product it read,'It will warm your soul'.Most people think they don't have a soul, but they do ,so everything in life is geared to a being without meaning.I read this recently,a  description of two fictitious ladies,' The first is tall and impossibly slim (a Soul without a body), the second was short and squat ( a Body without a soul)'. I found  that amusing, but the fact is we all have souls,and they are the most precious thing we possess. A famous young footballer has 6 cars each one worth hundreds of thousands of pounds, Is that the answer for that young man?,our Saviour declared this ,'what shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world and looses his soul.?'.Is possessing things,money fame ,what life is all about?,sad to say that's what many think. None of these thing are the meaning of life,they just blind us to the deepest need of our souls,which is Christ,He and He alone can meet the deepest needs of our hearts, sixty years ago,my life was empty,it appeared to have no meaning,but then I found the answer ,Jesus Christ.

Please be ready.( Genesis 19 v 14 )

 The Regency period lasted from 1811-1820,it was when George Prince of Wales ruled as Regent, he was a bit of a scallywag, his eating ,drinking,and spending was always excessive.The nobility of that time followed in the princes footsteps,they cared little for the future,or even for tomorrow.They lived  unapologetically in the moment.Charles Wesley called these so gentlemen the great vulgar,they were described  as being stupid,and vain, Sometime  animals show more sense than us humans,the squirrels puts a supply of nuts away  for the winter.Yet there are those who do prepare for old age,but I wonder how many people prepare for eternity?.There used to be people who carried posters on a wooden frame,with the words ,'Prepare to meet your God', I wonder how many people took those words serious?.Do you take it serious?,is it just a joke,when God speaks it ceases to be a joke.There is coming a time when time will be no more (Revelation 10 v6)or as one person put .'their time will be up'.judgement shall begin,and I do pray that whoever is reading this blog ,will not leave it to late,and they will trust Jesus as their Saviour.

                                                    'Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ

                                                    and you shall be saved.

                                                               Acts 16 v 31'

Would I pass with flying colours? ( Exodus 20 v 3 )

 When Abram  was  called to move and go to the place of God'd appointmen, what became known as the promise land,he in faith obeyed that call.  (Genesis 12 v1 / Hebrews 11 v 8) Leupold says,'Abram's faith  yielded obedience'.Luther said , 'Faith is a lively and powerful thing;it is not merely a  drowsy and idle thought; nor does it float somewhere upon the heart of a duck upon the water,but it is like water warmed through and through by a good warm fire'. Faith is an active experience,when God spoke to Abram he obeyed and so he set off with his wife Sarai and Lot his nephew,and all his possessions.Leupold points out,'It is becoming apparent ,that he was a very rich man'.It is not wrong for a child of God to be rich. It was John the Basptist who said, 'A person can receive only what is given them from heaven',(John 3v27 )Yes it covers money,but it covers so many things,There's a song that goes,'The things that I love have and hold dear my heart,are just borrowed,there not mine at all,Jesus only let me use them to brighten my life,so remind me,remind me dear Lord'.I dont think that money was a problem for Abram, but there was a moment in His life when God commanded him,to sacrifice his beloved son,now that was a test (Gen 22),and he passed the test  with flying colours.I wonder,I wonder if God put me to the test would I pass with flying colours?. PS just to say he didn't sacrifice his son,God was more concerned about his willingness to obey Him.

Old age.( 2 Corinthians 4 v 16 -18 )

 Just recently I turned eighty,and  I though jokingly I am as old as my granny was, and I wonder is  it all down hill from now on?. Couple of my friends are older than me and it shows, and if one thinks about it old age can appear a frighting time, and it could fill us with fear and concerns. The big ,'what if, 'comes to mind .So what can one do? first of all we can look back and remember that the God of our youth is the God  of our old age.This is what King David wrote,'I was young and now am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken' (Psalm 37 v 25) I have been following the Lord for 60 years and like David I have experienced God's faithfulness.In Ruth 4v 15 we read,' He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age', in other words God will help us to go on, for as our days so shall our strength be. We have a similar promise in Isaiah 46 v 4, which reads,'Even to your old  age and grey hairs  I am He,I am He who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you'.When we get old we may have to make decisions, Psalm 48 v 14,reads ,'For this God is our God for ever and ever,'yes for ever and ever,He does not throw us off in old ages ,and that applies to our eternal future. Then the rest of v14  reads .'He will be our guide even unto death'.He will continue to guide us all our lives.Psalm 92 v14 tells us that 'They will still bear fruit in old age',what a lovely thought.Finally even though our bodies are wasting away,we can be renewed spiritually daily.(2Corinthians  4 v 16)

He missed his chance. ( Isaiah 55 v 8-7 )

 Michael Green  wrote the following,'If  you want to know what God is like,look to Jesus. If you want to get through to God,come to Jesus. If you want to discover the epicentre of God's self- disclosure,you will find it in Jesus'. He goes on to write,'This is the claim. That is what makes Christianity at once so attractive and so widely hated. The sheer exclusivity of the claims drives people in one direction or the other'. Mahatma Gandhi was a man to be admired,he thought much of our Saviour, but he never came to know Him as his Saviour. He would say that many Christians failed to be Christians,failed to be like Christ,and I'm sure that was true,India was ruled by those who professed to be Christian's and felt that they were superior  to the Indian population.One can understand Gandhi's point of view, when he was dying  one of his relatives came to him and asked,''Babaki ,you have been looking for God all your life. Have you found him yet?' No,' was his reply. 'I'm still looking'.It is unfortunate to say the least that he missed the chance that he had to trust Christ ,could it be that this so called holy man could not come to terms with the fact that he was a sinner who needed a Saviour, as we all do.