The Kingdom of God. ( Matthew 6 v 10)

 I heard a person speak at a service on the Kingdom of God,and he defined it as being a party, I have given it a bit of thought to what he said,and I think it was a strange thing to say.There is a couple who attended the service and it didn't help them,they are still grieving the death of a son,to them I can assure you that descibing the Kingdom of God as having a party is very imbalanced.As indeed the prosperity gospel is  for it ignors the realtiy of what many Christians experience. I pray every day for many Christians who are suffering greatly,to describe the Kingdom of God as being a party, seems to me as being out of place,and insensitive.Of course our Saviour spoke of being blessed ( Matthew 5 v3-12),and 1Peter 1 v8 speaks of joy unspeakable and full of Glory.The blessedness comes because God's favour that rests upon us, the 'joy unspeaskable and full of Glory ( 1 Peter 1 v 8) comes from the fact that we have Christ, and all the blessings that brings to us . Betsie Ten Boom who died in a Nazi concentration camp ,said this before she died,'There is no pit so deep ,that God's love is not deeper'. I cannot honestly sing the words of a song 'Now I'm happy all the day', but I can say I am truly blest because of God's abiding presence with me,and that nothing can seperate me from His love'. 

                                                   ' For the Kingdom of God is not a matter

                                                     of eating and drinking,but of righteousness,

                                                     peace and joy in the Holy Spirit'.

                                                                 Romans 14 v 17.

Hope. ( Romasns 15 v 12 - 13)

During the 2nd world  war many people in the countries occupied by the Nazis listened to Churchill's broadcasts over the radio even though it was forbidden, and if they were caught ,the punishment was death. The reason being he could provide that one thing these tortured populations needed more than anything else;'hope'. Without hope you have only despair,I read recently that biggest killer of men under 50 in the UK is suicide,it seems to me that they are people who have lost hope. In a particular movie one of the character's said,' Hope is a good thing,maybe the best of things,and no good thing ever dies'. Of course there is false hope,I remember when I was young lad chasing the girls,and I arranged to this young girl, I waited hopefully at the arranged venue,but alas she never turned up, a false hope.On a more serious side many are building their eternal hopes on false hopes,I build my hope for eternity on Him who said He was the way ,the truth ,and the life,  His name is Jesus, He is not a false hope.And while I'm here on planet earth ,facing all the uncertainies that brings,that same Jesus is with me,and that brings into my heart a sweet message of hope.His words of hope bless me and encourage me in all the experiences of life.He will be our light in the darkness,our strength in our weakness,our helper in times of trouble,our guide on the pathway of life.

                                                     ' Jesus is a Rock in a weary land'

Kept from.(Genesis 20 v 6)

In Acts 16 v31 we read,'Believe in the Lord  Jesus, and you will be saved', the man who said this was the  Apostle Paul,formerly known as Saul. He was a very religious person and he really hated Christians to the point that he persecuted them and would have murdered them ( Acts 9 v1-3 /  22 v 3 ff/ 26 v 4ff).But this all changed  when on a journey to Damascus to arrest Christians ,he had a dramatic experience,Christ revealed Himself to him,and he became a Christian. Everyone's experience of becoming a Christian is different,not only that ,before they become a Christian they may not have been drunkards murderers, thieves,and so on,but of course they were still sinners and needed Christ,Their testimony may not be dramatic,but it is real,but they make think that they may not have much of testimony to give.I heard of a girl who was brought up in a Christian home and believed in Christ all her life.So at a large Christian gathering she gave her testimony,she had a paper in front of her and she started to read from it,praising God for preserving her from alcohol,and so followed a list of things that God had kept her from. Even in my own life I have been preserved from things that could have destroyed me.We all have  a testimony how God in His mercy saved us out of sin,but also how he saved us from sinning, both are valid evidence of God's saving grace .

No ( 1 Peter 1 v 15-16 )

 Winston Churchill  quoted Alexander the Great who remarked,'that the people of Asia were slaves because they had not learned to pronounce the word ,'No'. A song in musical has these words in it,'I'm just a girl who can't say no'.No is a very powerful word, which children often don't like, in supermarkets,you will hear a screech like a banshee, no its not, it comes from a child who has been told no,you can't have that.We can smile at that,but in the greater schemes of things ,saying no is very important for all of us to learn. People take to much on at times and have breakdowns because  of the pressure that they have put themselves under,or they have been put under.If only Eve had said no to the devil's temptation ,things for humanity would have been so different for all of us.It is interesting what Alexander the Great said that the people of Asia were slaves because they had not learned to say no ,for our dear Saviour said,' everyone who sins is a slave to sin'(John 8 v34 ) Christ told us that her he had come to set us free from the power of sin, that we should no longer be slaves of sin(Romans 6 v6 )Yes there will be times in which we will not say no to sin, because if we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves ( 1 John 1v8- 9)We will only be sinless when we get to heaven, but as John puts it 'No one who is born of God  will continue to sin'(1 Jn3 v6/9) we are not able to sin habitually,in other words  we don't walk in sin.

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.