Faithful words ( Psalm 16 v 5-8 )

I recently visited two dear elderly Christians, one has Parkinson,and the other is not able to walk,I have known them a long time.The brother with Parkinson and I ,were joint leaders of a church for a number of  years. So there they are,the one with Parkinson does not talk much,so I mainly converse with his wife.Before leaving I usually pray and read a scripture, I read from Proverbs  3 v 5-6 ,in those two verses we have so much to think about, I prefer the AV ,here they are,

                                                   'Trust in the Lord with all thine heart

                                                     and lean not unto thine own understanding.

                                                     In all thy ways acknowledge Him in all our ways,

                                                      and He shall direct thy paths.'

It starts with trusting the Lord, this is where the Christian life  begins,,and where it contiues ,every day and every hour of every day,there are no days off.It goes further than that, For we are told  that this trust is not a half  hearted ,there should be no letting up  whatsoever.' Next we have,'Not leaning on our own unerstanding, we err by leaning on our understanding,in doctrine,and so many ways.Why do we not acknowledge Him in all our ways?why do we not bring Hin into every aspect of our lives?, for if we do, He has promised to direct our paths.

                                                   ' Take time to be holy,let Him be Thy guide;

                                                    And run not before Him,whatever betide;

                                                    In joy or in sorrow still follow Thy Lord,

                                                   And, looking to Jesus,still trust in His word'  ( Words  W.D.Longstaff)

He gave up everything. ( Philippians 3 v 1-9)

 One of the most dominate people in the New Testament is Paul the apostle,it is in that lovely book of Philippians chapter 3, that has this title over it,'No confidence in the flesh' Paul is warning his readers against being taken in by by people he calls dogs,evildoers,and mutilators,not very complimentary. William Barclay says' that wherever Paul taught, the Jews followed him,and tried to undo his teaching',They tried to draw the Christians back into a religion of works, so Paul uses very strong words and clear teaching as to the folly of that,and he uses his own experience to refute them.The challenge he brought to them can be summed up in the following  words ,are they going to put their confidence in religious works,including being born an Israelite ,to be saved,or are they to going to put their faith in Christ alone and His finished work to save them. Pual writes out of his own background, he was an Israelite of the tribe of Benjamin,that tribe stood with Judah (1 Kings 12 v21)and after the exile formed the nucleus of the nation reborn   (Ezra 4 v1)  . He was circumcised and was a Hebrew of the Hebrews a true Israelite.,and he was a Phariisee a separated one,a strict keeper of the law.If a Jew had that sort of background he would be very proud of it.But Paul did not think like that ,for when he met Christ he realised that the righteousness he professed counted for nothing,so he cast it all aside as rubbish,or  dung,now he declared ,to be in found in the righteousness of Christ was everything .

                                                       ' Christ's Righteousness Alone'

                                    'Not the labour of my hands can fulfil Thy law's demands;

                                    Could my zeal no respite know,could my tears forever flow,

                                     All for sin could not atone,Thou must save and Thou alone.

                                                                  ' A.M.Toplady'

                                                                 

Can you wonder. ( John 3 v36) 2.

 Last time we considered  the price Christ paid for our salvation,the price involved Christ becoming a man and coming into this world, and dying on a cross,All that was mind blowing, but we go a bit further ,the question why? what did it all mean? .We are told that He would save his people from their sins,how was He going to do that ?,This leads on to consider a  certain word ,which some peopel don't like, it is the word propitiation, it is mentioned four times in the NT,in Romans3 v25/  /Hebrews 2 v7/1John 2v2/ 1John 4 v10/. the word means satisfying the wrath of God,turning away that wrath,appesseing God's just judgement and righteous anger against us and our sins..Consider John 3 v36,' Whoever  rejects the Son will not see life,for Gods wrath remains on them.' In other words if you are not a Christian the wrath of God abides on you,there is no middle ground.But God has made a way for that wrath to be removed,And that is where Christ  sacrifice comes in,on that cross He choose to be a substitute,in other words he would take our the place on the cross ,so that when we put our trust in Him for salvation, the wrath of God is taken from us and put on Him.Consider the depth of  suffering He endured,no one can calculate the depth of that suffering,that's the price He paid.

                                                     ' Can you wonder,can you wonder 

                                                             Why it is I love Him so ?

                                                          When I think of all He's done,

                                                             And for me the guilty one,

                                                             Can you wonder why it is

                                                                      I love Him so'

Amazing (Philippians 2 v5 -8 ) 1

 I had some loose change sitting on my desk,and the words of a song came to mind.'Thirty piecec of silver was the price they paid,Thirty pieces of silver just the price of a slave.And my heart I have given to this Christ betrayed,for I know just how much He loved by the price he paid.' I don't know who wrote those words,or if I have the words right,but they are lovely words with a profound meaning. From eternity Christ knew the price that He would have to pay for our salvation,He would have to leave heaven,He who was the Son of God,equal with God, he didn't grasp at that ,but emptied Himself(Figuratatively speaking)He would still be God,but as one writer puts it,'He would divest Himself of His rightful dignity, by decending to an inferior condition abasing Himself.' When Neil Armstrong stepped on the moon he said,' One small step for man, one giant step for mankind'.When we think of the step that Christ took when He left heaven and came to planet earth, it's beyond words to describe .He didn't come as a visitor,He came, taking upon Himself the very nature of a servant, but it didn't stop there,for we read, He humbled Himself ,by becoming obedient to death,but not just to death but death on a cross.That's part of the price He paid for our salvation one words sums it up amazing,we will continue to look further at this, next time.

Prayer ( Luke 11 v 1 )

Are there people who are experts in praying?, its a good question,I wonder what's a good answer ? One of my favourite hymns is all about prayer,I feel led to leave it with you,it is by James Montgomery.

                                   'Prayer  is the soul's sincere desire,uttered or unexpressed,

                                   The motion of a hidden fire,that trembles on the breast.

                                   Prayer is the burden of a sky,the falling of a tear,

                                   The upward glancing of an eye,when none but God is near

                                   Prayer is the simplest form of speech,that infant lips can try;

                                   Prayer, the sublimest strains that reach, the Majesty on high.

                                   Prayer is the Christian's vital breath,the Christian's native air,

                                   His watchword at the gates of death,he enters heaven with prayer.

                                   Prayer is the contrite sinners voice,returning from his ways;

                                   While angels in their songs rrejoice,and cry,behold he prays!

                                   O Thou by whom we come to God,the Life,the Truth,the Way!

                                   The path of prayerThyself hast trod; Lord teach us how to pray.'

                          

Fear or Trust. ( Proverbs 3 v 5-6 )

    I  read recently that we are born   with two inherent fears,'a fear of falling, and a fear of loud noises',while that may be true, one thing for sure we all develop other fears,we call them phobias.Often they are very irrational,yet they are real to us,most of them of then don't affect us to much,but some affect us a great deal.God alone knows what we are like,and so in His word we read,'fear not', many times.Often the disciple were afraid like us,what is the answer to our fears?.I believe trust in God, whatever the fear is., simply trusting our God and Saviour,that seems very simple,but it would surprise  us if we knew how many people refuse to do this.A friend of mine who when he was told that the doctors could not  do anymore for him,  realised he was going to die,from that moment on fear took over,and this caused him and his family a great deal of pain.When difficultess arise be what they may,we have two options,on one side there is panic and fear,On the other side we can trust and not be afraid,we have a choice.Faithful trust in God will bring peace,it is there for the asking,our dear Saviour say's to us today,'Trust Me',have faith in me'

                                                       'Commit thou all thy griefs

                                                       And ways into His hands,

                                                       To His sure truth and tender care,

                                                       Who heaven and earth commands.'

                                                        

Pilgrims. ( 2 Timothy 4 v7-8)

Jacob ttravelled up to Egypt to be reunited  to his son Joseph,the son whom he was told had  died , when he arrived, Joseph introduced him to Pharaoh. he asked Jacob,''How old are you?' Jacob replied,''The years of my pilgrimage are a hundred and thirty. My  years have been few and difficult,'' Jacob viewed his time on earth as a pilgrimage, he described it as being few and difficult.( Genesis 47 v8 - 9)Many people go on pilgrimages to so called holy places .Jacob describes his life as a pilgrimage,the fact is, every Christian is on a pilgrimage, the destiny that we are heading toward is no earthly place,like the saints of old, who considered themselves foreigners and strangers on earth.(Hebrews 11 v 13) They longed for a better  country - a heavenly country,  (Hebrews11v 16) This contaminated  planted is only a stop gap,its a tempory residence,it will soon no longer be.Like Jacob we will face difficulties challenges,trisls, they are enevitablei, its the way it is on planet earth. Dear John Bunyan wrote a book called Pilgrims progress,it is worth reading,he describes the journey of Christian the main character in the book, from his salvation to glorification in heaven.We used to sing  a wonderful hynm ,words by John Bunyan ,It  emphasises the steadfastness  that we need to have on our journey to glory and home,

                                          'He who would valiant be gainst all disaster,

                                           Let him in constancy,follow the Master.

                                           There's no discouragement shall make him once relent

                                           His first avowed intent to be a pilgrim.

                                           Who so beset him round with dismal stories,

                                            Do but themselves confound;His strength the more is.

                                            No foes shall stay his might, though he with giants fight

                                            He will make good his right to be a pilgrim.'