Singleness, ( James 1 v 7 -8 ) 1

We all need wisdom as Christians we have a choice ,it is James in his epistle who stresses the importance of wisdom,in chapter 1 v 5 he writes,'If any of you lack wisdom',often we are faced with situations ,and we don't know what we should do.If that is so you situation James say's ,'ask our generous God for wisdom , and He will give it to you,He will not rebuke you for asking'That's very simple,but he goes on to say,be sure your faith is in God alone.Do not waver,Motyer says ,'we should have a singleness of vision but, unfortionately most of us have double vision' ,that will get us nowhere ,and we will receive nothing from the Lord. God is the giving God who delights  in those who come to Him with a singleness of purpose.Consider  Solomon he had a singleness of vision ,when God said to  him, 'Ask for whatever you want me to give you,'  Solomon made a choice,here is what he asked for,\.Give me an understanding heart so that I can govern your people well and know the difference between right and wrong', (1v9)We may not be a king like Solomon, but we do need to know the difference right and wrong. God gave him a wise and understanding heart'. (1 v 12) God was so pleased with his choice  He give him more than he asked . May God grant  us  that singleness of  vision ,that godly wisdom, in our walk of holiness, and as we walk with Jesus.

Continue walking. ( Psalm 23 ) 3

 I want us to further consider Enoch,that godly man who walked with God,in Genesis 5 v 22  we read that he had a family, Leupold comments,'Celibacy is not a requisite for a holy life', So having a wife and a family did not stop him in his relationship with God.Marriage is God's way for humanity and yet it is coming more and more under attack,in Hebrews 13 v 4 reads 'Marriage should be honoured by all,'.and of course it should only be between a man and a woman'. Likewise in Hebrews 11 v 5 ,we read he was a man of faith, ,we are told the just shall live by faith, Paul wrote,'I live by faith in the son of God,{Galatians 2 v 20) John Stott comments on these words ,'Faith is not just an intellectual conviction , but a personal commitment to Christ....a daily running to Him  for refuge  and calling on Him for mercy',that's the walk that Enoch walked ,and we are called to walk.

                                                       'O  walk with Jesus! to thy view

                                                       He will make all things sweet and new;

                                                       Will bring new fragrance from each flower,

                                                         And hallow every passing hour.

                                                        Jesus a great desire have we

                                                        To walk life's troubled path with Thee;

                                                         Come to us now,in converse stay;

                                                          And walk with us day by day'

                                                                    'E.Paxton Hood.

Saving Faith ( Isaiah 53) Enoch 2

 In Hebrews 11 that great chapter on faith and the heroes of faith, in v5 we have Enoch mentioned ,it commences by saying ,'by faith'. Hughes says ,'Faith must have an object and God is the supreme and eternal object of all faith.' Without faith in the God of the Bible,God will not be pleased.An elderly lady who comes to our church ,said that she  believed that there was something out there.That is not faith in God ,if we are to  be accepted by God ,as I have said we must have faith in the  God of the Bible,and we must  take that further ,God is a triune being,'Father,Son,and Holy Spirit'.and it goes further still we must accept by faith the Son of God as our Saviour. To reject Him is to reject God , that is the faith  God is well pleased with. Enoch had that faith, Leupold writes,' Since  Enoch was of the Sethite line, where faith in the Saviour to come prevailed,he having  lived in such faith,after his removal  shares the glory that is theirs who believed on  the Saviour. He is glorified as believers in Christ are, and that of course ,at once.'The saints in the OT believed in a coming Messiah ,Abraham did ( John 8 v 56), the OT saints looked forward to Christ sacrificial  atoning sacrifice on the cross,yes  Enoch was one of them,Whither in the OT or the NT,faith in Jesus  is the only way to be saved.

Just keep on walking.( Genesis 19 v14/ 26) 1

In Genesis 5 Moses records a list of  people starting  from Adam to Noah,and in the midst of all those names we have one whom we are told  walked with God v22., his name was Enoch. John Calvin writes,'This holy man,whom the Holy Spirit excepted from the common order,was rare and almost singular'. JC  goes on to say ,' This one man , stood firmly in the season of most dreadful dissipation'yes this one,walking with God can be lonely experience,the narrow way restricts us and saves us,from much that is wrong in life.When I came back to the Lord 60yrs ago,my best friend  went his way,I went God's way. JC comments 'If we wish to live rightly and orderly, we may learn  to regard God more than men' Enoch lived a long time, he didn't become a drop out,like old father Thames he just kept rolling along. We do not read of what trials and difficulties he experienced I'm sure he had his share,but he didn't give up. nor should we ,we have to endure whatever comes at us, right to the end ,how? by God's grace.

                                                                ' No looking back and

                                                                  No turning back'

Be faithful ( Jonah 1 v 1- 3 )

 I read this recently.' The problem in politics is that operatives tell candidates what they want to hear rather than what they need to know'. Political parties do this, especially when it comes to an election,very few of them spell out the difficulties,one politician did it, Winston Churchill,'On May the 13th 1940 ,he told the House of Commons,' I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears,and sweat',he followed this by saying why,' We have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind'. The OT prophets had to tell it as it was ,had to tell what people didn't want to hear, if they didn't proclaim God's word faithfully they would be held resonsible.(Ezekiel 33 v 8-9 )Things have not changed for the New Covenant Isreal,we are called  to proclaim the truth of  God,without fear or favour. In Romans 10 v 14, we read'And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?'the answer is they wont,likewise if the preacher only tells people what they want to hear instead of what they need to hear,there is a measure of guilt on them also.Romans 10 v15 declares, 'How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news'.Yes it is a beautiful thing to proclaim the Gospel to people ,and that is what we are called to do, let us not fail in that task.

The Lord's table. ( 1 Corinthians 11 v 23 -26 )

 We had a lovely time on Sunday morning at our fellowship,it included what we call the Lords table,so we sang a song by Graham Kendrick,just let say I love many  of the modern songs.So as we sang the song,I wasn't happy with one of the verses which goes,'In this bread there is healing,In this cup there's life forever'.There are people who really believe that,I don't, they are symbols  ,that's all.and we must be careful not to transfer to them,what Christ can only do.the Catholic church have made the wafer a thing to worship.There are also those within the Protestant fold who likewise are what  one would call sacramentilist.Let us turn back to the Lord's table,what did Jesus say about it?, in Luke 22 v 19 -20 we read ,'This do in rememberance of Me',it is a rememberance feast,nothing else nothing more. The bread speaks of His body that was given for us,given to be a sacrifice for our sins,given to bear the wrath of God so that we don't have to bear it.The blood  we  are told it is a sign of the New Covenant which tells us that the Lord will forgive our wickedness, and will remember our sins no more.( Jeremiah 31 v 33 34 )The Lords table is symbolic nothing more nothing else,and yet very important ,in taking the bread and wine we are reminded afresh that it is all about Jesus and His work of salvation for us.

Out with the old in with the new, ( Hebrews 11 v 8 -16)

Father Abraham was called by God to leave his own country and go to the land God would give him,he was 75 and he was told by God ,that through him all the peoples on the earth would be blessed, indicating he would have children. (Genesis 15 v4) How did Abram react to this promise ? 'Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness '.This is a most wonderful verse, it answers the question of how those in the OT were saved,very simple the same way the saints in the NT were saved Romans 5 v1. Salvation is granted to us when by faith we trust in Jesus,the result is we become Children of God,and we are children of Abraham also Galatians 3 v29. Isreal's history  is our history,,we are no  longer foreigners and strangers,but fellow citizens with God's people and members of his household'. (Ephesians 2 v 19) All the promises in the OT are ours,everyone one of them,their future is our future,the old covenat is gone ,the new covenant has arrived,and we are new creations through our wonderful Jesus, our Messiah.,the moral laws remain,the legalist laws are finished,the temple is gone,a new temple has come into place ,not one built by human beings.Every Christian is a temple in which the Holy Spirit dwell's (/1 Corinthians  3 v15 / 2  Corinthians 6 v 16/).We God's new creation  have a wonderful future in that wonderful new heaven and new earth, in which we will sing a new song to Him who hath loved us and cleansed us from our sin.

                                                        ' Truly worthy is Lamb'