How much do we care? ( Matthew 12 v26)

So Jonah survived the belly of the fish experience,so God  speaks to him again,isn'it it amazing how patient God is with Jonah,and of course with all of us.Then God speaks ,'Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclam to it the message I gave you'. So off went Jonah, he walked through the city proclaiming 'f'orty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown'.And a wonderful thing happened in modern times it would be called the biggest revival of all time Nineveh repented,surely Jonah would have been praising God,but alas he wasn't,to the point that he asked God  to take his life.So he went of in an angry huff and sat down.Again we see the patients of God for He make a leafy plant to,to shade him from the sun.But God wasn't finished with him, for God caused the plant to die,the result  was the sun beat down upon him and God sent a scorching east wind to blow on Jonah who grew faint.The result was he wished to die.God challenged him as regards his anger. He pointed out to him that he had more concern for the plant, than the people and the animals in Nineveh. This brings a big challenge  to all of us,how much do we value the souls of  men and women,I read recently of a large leper colony in South Africa in the 19th century.Those who entered that colony were never allowed out again.Two Moravian missionaries entered knowing they would not return.As soon as they died others were prepared to go in their place. I share with you a prayer I read'

                                        'O Lord teach us the lostness of the lost,the hopelessness of 

                                         those without  Christ.  And enable us to go out and share in

                                         your work of redeeming for yourself a people .Amen'

                                         

                                        

Never to late. ( Isaiah 55 v 6-7)

What more can we say about Jonah,well if he had repented and did what God told him to do everything would have changed,but he didn't,that's all he had do. It appears that he was prepared to die rather change his ways, no one need to go to hell God has made a way for anyone to escape it,if they simply  repent of their sins and believe in Christ.We all have a choice,the question is, will we make the right choice?.Now consider Jonah he is in the belly of a great fish,yes he was still alive, humanly speaking his number was up, no one could save him,he was totally helpless. That's the place we have to come to if we are to be saved, we have to forget about our works ,our religious activities,the religious family that we were born into,or that we were a good father ,or a good mother,or even a good neighbour,none of that can save us,  salvation is of the Lord .So there was Jonah in the belly of a large fish, death was eminent,three days entombed in his slimley prison,but then he does something he should have done sooner,he prays a prayer of repentance. The result was God saved him,it is never to late to call upon God,there is verse that goes, 'Between the stirrup and the ground,I mercy sought ,and mercy found'. We will continue to look at Jonah next time.

The runaway.( 1 Samuel 15 v 22 - 23 ) 2

Last time we onsidered how Jonah looked for loopholes, and it appeared to that him he should run away from the Lord, here is a prophet ,surely he knew that one cannot get away from God.He knew  Psalms 139,in that Psalm David asks the question ,'Where can I go from your Spirit? and the answer was,its impossible to get away from God (v 8-12 ). There is an old song which goes,'I go to church on Sunday,the vows that I make ,I break them on Monday.The rest of the week I live as I please,come Sunday morning I'm down on my knees'.Often religion is confined to a church building.It may appear obivious that one cannot escape from God's presence, but that does not stop peopel acting as if you can,our parents did a Jonah when they sinned (Genesis 3 v 8) Jonah sought a hiding place from God, and in doing that he was putting himself in great danger,for he was being disobedient. God does not look kindly on disobedience.  Disobedience to God is a sin even if you are Christian, even if you are a man or woman after God's own heart,God makes no exceptions.The word of God says' be sure your sin will find you out' ,and one will suffer the consquences,as Jonah was to find out.Thinking of King David and his sins of adultery and murder,he must have thought he had got away with it,until that moment when the prophet declared,'You are the man.' a cold chill must have run down his spine.Think of the horror Jonah must have felt when he ended up in the belly of a great fish,Who knows where disobedience will lead us , but be assured it won't be pretty. We will cotinue next time looking  at the disobedient prophet.

Looking for loopholes.( Luke 14 v 15 - 23)

 There was a man who thought he could escape from doing God's will ,hoping that God would let him go his own way. Well it all began when God spoke very clearly to him as to what he wanted him to do ,it was simple but challenging he had to speak to a certain people,ah not just a certain people ,but a  people that were very wicked.He didn't appear to like them, in fact he may have hated them.Now this man knew his God and that knew He would forgive this people,if they forsook  their evil ways.God's like that.It appeared to that man that God was wrong,not only wrong but very wrong,if He let that people of the Hook,after all God is a just God ,one who hates evil,like those wicked people ,they should get what's coming to them,even if they repented.To that man it was beyond a joke what God was asking him to do,and although he didn't say anything to God,he was really thinking ,how can I get out this?,I don't want to do this,and its not right that should God should ask him do this,WC. Fields was a famous entertainer,and had many mistresses,he was ill in hospital and a friend visited him,and he saw that he was reading a Bible,and he asked him why was he reading a Bible,WC answered ,'I'm looking for loopholes'. the man whom God was speaking to ,was looking for loopholes, his name was Jonah.We are all a bit like Jonah, when God speaks to us to do something we don't like, we look for loopholes,like Moses we say,''Please send someone else'.! Well we will finish there , we may turn to it again tomorrow.

Prayer. ( 1 Chronicles 16 v 11 )

 Our pastors wife was in the process of being an hospital chaplin,I spoke to her about out it,and I said I would pray for her. On a later occasion I spoke to as to how she was getting on?,She said she had done to funeral services,and she further said that was finding it difficult,but then she said I remembered Billy was praying for me,and that helped her a lot.I was encouraged to hear that,and it was a reminder that when you know someone is praying for you it makes a difference,it is an encouragement. We can pray for people but  we can also pray with people,like the lady in our fellowship who is grieving over the lost of a son,and I prayed with her. I later visited her and her husband,and of course I talked with then ,and read God's word and prayed with them,and they wherever so thankful,and grateful. One of my sons and his wife spent time in Ibiza,leading a team who ministered to mainly young people ,what they usually did was to pray with them,and usually they responded. Dont ever think in a negative way as regards prayer,our dear Saviour encouraged us not to give up praying (Luke 18 v1 )There is much so to pray about ,people in your church need your prayers ,the district were God has placed you,there are so many people who need our prayers.It is not a pointless exercise,your prayers will make a difference,be assured of that.Alfred Tennyson wrote, ''Pray for my soul. More things are wrought by prayer,than the world dreams of. Wherefore let thy voice rise fot me day and night'. Someone wrote the following based on 2 Corinthians 10 v4.

                                    ''We use God's mighty weapons to knock down  

                                     the strongholds  of human reasoning  and to 

                                     destroy,false arguments.Prayer is the weapon''

                                        

What's in a name? (Revelation 5 v5 )

 My wife and I have just returned from seeing our 5th great grandchild, he is only 3 months old,a lovely little boy,his first name is Judah.I read once that at the time of John Calvin (who ministered in Geneva)  parents had to choose the names of their  children  from the OT,Jonny Cash used to sing a song about a man , whose father named him,Sue,he wasn't pleased. One of my friends said ,'Your family is growing like the children of Israel, and even using their names' .Judah was Leahs forth Child, she was married to Jacob, but she was not loved by her husband .(Genesis 29 v31),but God loved her  and he blessed her with six sons,and .and the name of one was Judah whose name means praise.One of the tribes of Israel was called after Judah ,and from that tribe came a great king called  David,and from that tribe  also was born a greater by far ,Jesus who is King of Kings.In Gen 49 v9 ,Jacob called Judah,'a lion cub' ,and the Lion of Judah is a  national  cultural symbol  of the nation of Israel.But in Revealation  5 v5 we read of 'The lion of the tribe of Judah,the root of David,has triumphed' ,yes He triumphed,for the lion of the tribe of Judah is none other than Jesus ,who won the victory over 'Sin ,Death,and Satan'

                                    'For the conquering Saviour shall break every chain,

                                     And give us the victory again and again'.

                                                   Words H.Q,Wilson.

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What if ? (Matthew 6 v 25-34)

 It is so easy to let fear take over our lives, one way in which we let that happen ,and I will  sum it up in this way,'What if ?'.We go on a journey and we think ,what if  the car breaks down?,what if we get a puncture?. If one was to go on a cruise we thing what if we get food poison,think of what if's when you decide to move home.or change jobs.Everyday you will think about the what if's,you may say to yourself .In the Tom Hanks movie''Bridge of Spies''.when he was asked the Soviet spy if He's not worried about his situation,the spy replies,''Would it help''.He essentially is saying worrying about the situation won't change the outcome.In  Matthew 6 v25ff our Saviour said the same thing,but he said more than that, what more did He say? He said 'Look at the birds of the air,they do not sow or reap,or store away in barnes,and yet your heavenly Father feeds them, are you not much more valuable than them .He adds something else, 'Do  not worry ,your heavenly Father knows your needs.He also adds this ,'Seek first His kingdom and His rightousness,and all these things will be given to you.'

                                                 'Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, 

                                                  For tomorrow will worry about itself.

                                                  Each day has enough trouble of its own;