Shine (John 5 v 14-16 )

 There is a hymn with the words'this dark world of sin' yes it is a dark world,be very sure about that,and it is in John 8 v 12,our Saviour said,'I am the light of the world',when we trust Jesus as our Saviour,we are translated from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light.That means that we will no longer  walking in darkness,I witnessed to two people recently and the things they were saying, and it revealed to me,the darkness that they were in. We  see clearly the darkness people that people are in so many aspects of life it is very sad,and very serious in its consequences. We are not to despair as to the darkness ,no, we are to shine,our Saviour has gone to heavem and he has left us a task,we read about it Matthew 5v16,He said ,'You are the light of the world' and He goes on to say,'Let your light shine before others,that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven' there are two ways in which we can witness to people by our words and by our lives.It was Nietzsche the philospher said, 'Show me you are redeemed, and I will believe in your redeemer'. I read of a family in China who had a daughter who had special needs her name is Abigal.Her parents took her to a Christian education project, called ,'Well of love',she came after dark as her father was ashamed of her, but things changed for the better, Abigail made great progressed,this had an effect especially on the father,so one day he appeared at the centre and asked if he could know the God who had so changed his family's life. I leave you with a verse from a children's hymn.

                                                    'Jesus bids us shine with a pure ,clear light;

                                                     Like a little candle burning in the night,

                                                     In this world of darkness,so we must shine,

                                                     You in your small corner and I in mime.'

The call of God.(Joshua 1 v 9)

 What had Moses,Gideon,and Jeremiah in common? ,they all felt weak and inadequate,and yet God called the three of them to serve him.Moses was called to lead Israel out of Egypt. For Moses it started in a strange way,while out looking after his father in laws sheep,God spoke to him from  a bush, why a bush?ask God. Moses replied  to God's call,that he was an inadequate speaker,he also requested God to send someone else.I knew a man who when he was young had a stutter,God helped him to overcome that, and he went on to establish a Christian mission. (Exodus 3 -4 v 1-17) When God called Gideon he said to God,'Pardon me,my Lord......'but how can I  save Isreal? my clan is the weakest in Manasseh,and I am least in my family.'Your background is no hindrance in relation to the call of God, many of God's sevants came from a poor background.William Carey was a cobbler by trade and God used him mightly in India.Next Jeremiah ,when God called him,he said a similar thing as Moses, but he also said ,'I am to young' ( Jeremiah 1 v 6) one of the greatet minister in England was C H.Spurgeon, he became a minister at 19. God said to Moses,'I will be with you( Exodus 3 v12) God said to Gideon ,'I will be with you' (Judges 6 v16) God said to Jeremiah ,'I am with you'( Jeremiah 1 v 8).When God calls us to His service,He will be  with us.

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New sight. ( Psalm 146 v 8 )

 A dear friend of mind recently had a cataract operation,a cataract is a clouding of the  lens of the eye, he mentioned  the tremendous improvement in his sight.He could see things so much better,sight  is a very precious gift.Our Saviour healed the blind ,it is hard to take it in how they must have felt.Now there is another type of blindness that is spiritual blindness,our Saviour called the religious leaders blind guides Matthew 23 v19.and speaking of the non-Christian  the apostle Pual writes that they walk  in the futility of their mind,having their understanding darkened,being alienated  from the life of God , because of the ignorance that is them, and the blindness of their hearts',John Newton wrote that he was once blind ,but now he could see.When Christ becomes your Saviour,you see things with new sight and new  understanding ,George Robinson wrote ,'Heaven above is softer blue,earth around is sweeter green something lives in every hue Christless eyes have never seen; birds with gladder songs o'erflow,flowers with deeper  beauties shine,since I know as now I know, I am His and He is mine' Yes when Christ becomes our Saviour we see things change.We see Christ as he truly is, we see the importance of  obeying God,we see the importance of  walking in newness of life, we see that God's will must always take first place in our lives.

                                                     'I once was blind but now I see'

We all underestimate. ( Romans 3 v 23)

 The more I read the history of the 20th century,and the terrible wars that took place,it really makes me think how true what the word of God says about human nature.It is summed up in 10 words,hear they are', 'The heart is deceitful above all things,and desperately wicked'.(Jeremiah 17 v 9) There is a line that follows these words,which reads,'Who really knows how bad it is?' I catch a glimps of the wickedness of my own heart so often, and I must confess it frightens me, I read of a soldier who wrote a letter to his loved ones, in it he wrote of the love for his family,and eulogised of the beauty of a sunset. Then he went on to describe how he participated in a massacre of many civilians during which he clubbed a baby against a tree'.Because of our fallen nature we all can commit things that our unthinkable.I mentioned before that I and a number of boy soldiers,listened to an adult soldier, boasting how he and another friend raped two women,I thought he was a nice person,but but he showed no awareness of the evil he had committed.Our fallen nature manifests itself in different degrees, but we all need to be saved ,God who is holy is offended by any degree of sin,there are no exceptions ,without Christ saving you, you will suffer the wrath of God just as much as that soldier I have mentioned.

Hope beyond. ( Revelation 21 v 1 -5 )

  We're born,we live, and we die, so that's it?,for most people that's it, but of course we were never meant to die,but the moment sin entered in ,death entered ,in Romans 5 v12 we read,'Therefore ,just as sin entered the world through  one man,and death through sin,and in this way death came to all people, because all have sinned'.I spoke to a man recently, I brought death into the conversation,I asked him what happens when you die,he pointed downwards,I said to him it does'nt have be ,trust the Saviour and it will be upwards. As a minister I have to remind people about death ,I know that man didn't want to hear about death,but it is important that he did hear,not just about death,but after death. He pointed down,he may have indicating that was it,but of course its not ,there is a heaven and there is a hell,that's something else he didn't want to hear,like most people,and sad to say most preachers don't mention it.Why ? that's a good question.  I visited two dear Christians,both are very elderly,the man had  Parkinson,he has died since ,his dear wife is wheelchair bound.None of  it is very nice,in my prayer time  I wept for them,Yet during the visit  to them I read from Revelation 21,it speaks of eternal glories,how God will be wth them,and that God will wipe away  all tears,and there will be no more death or mournng or crying or pain, for all those things will have passed away'.What a wonderful  word of  comfort,to God's children,yes there is hope beyond the awfulness of death,when you trust Jesus as your Saviour.

This far the Lord has helped us. ( I Samuel 7 v 2-14 )5

                                                             Psalm 37 v 25.

                                           'I have been young and now I am old,

                                           yet I have never seen the righteous

                                           forsaken or their children begging 

                                           bread.'

Here we have David and he is old, and this is what he testifies,that he has never seen the righteous forsaken,or  their children begging bread. Of course there will be exceptions when God's children will know hardships and difficulties,but they will not be forsaken.Whither it be fair weather or stormy weather God  will never forsake them.As regards our needs God will provide,that is my experience, I have mentioned a time when my first wife and I lived by faith,when we attended college ,God supplied our needs.During that time I told a lady how we were living ,and she said we were begging,but we weren't, I never in my life begged of anybody, nor has any of my children. God  honoured our faith and our needs were met.If we read Davids life we see that there were two times that he asked people for help ,the first one was of the priest Ahimelek (1 Samuel 21) the second one was when he asked Nabal(1 Samuel 25). We should not box ourselves into a corner,sometimes it is permissible to go to someone for help, sometimes God would be using  you to test them,to see if they will give. God is faithful and will provide for  his peoples needs,and His chilldrens needs,

                                             'Begone unbelief ! my Saviour is near

                                              And for my relief will surely appear.

                                              By prayer let me wrestle and He will perform;

                                              With Christ in the vessel I smile at the storm.

                                                                 John Newton

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Be still. ( Psalm 27 ) 4

                                            ' Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him;

                                             do not fret when people succeed in their ways, when

                                             they carry out their wicked schemes.'

                                                                    Psalm 37 v 7

Rudyard Kipling the poet wrote,'If you can keep your head when all about are losing theirs and blaming it on you,'it is not easy to do that,so let us take a moment to consider the writer of psalm 37, David a man who found himself in many a tight spot. When king Saul ruled, David became a fugitive and a  wanted man,in that Saul wanted to kill him.So often it was not just a matter of panicking,that would not have helped,but he learned a very important lesson,that of resting in God and waiting patiently for God to act on his behalf. He is telling us to not to press the panic button,even though everything is against us,even though our enemies have the upper hand. Their success was a false dawn, the reality was  that God was against them and would deal with them,and would rescue David out of their clutches.The apostle Paul wrote  .'If God be for us ,who can be against us'  (Romans 8 v 31),you cannot be beaten if God is for you,you cannot loose,so be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him.

                                                     'A mighty fortress is our God,

                                                      A mighty shield and weapon'

                                                               Matin Luther